since reading about old ways before greenhouses I added this cement stepping stone at a slight angle against the southern facing wall to see if it gives off heat at night to the tiny eaten by bugs passionfruit vine.
That wall must be hot because Snow Queen passiflora overwintered easily and is climing. You cannot really see it but the male hardy kiwi vine is growing right next to it well.
Last fall, I bought 4 violets with interesting colors and either that new striped or more common faced. Seems the golden browns do better than burgendies, and faces better than stripes.
My grape arbor in July. The grapes will become deep reddish purple on left and purple black on right by Sept. Here is a photo of them as green unripe grapes, which some I will soon prune off and make into a sour lime substitute.
Nasturtiums climbing tree makes hummingbirds happy.
No photo today, but now am down to 8 persimmons growing. They are between US nickle and quarter sized. Some green but some lightly tinged copper.
I’ve had trouble growing rhubarb. But l read somewhere on the forum that rhubarb grows best in sandy soil. I bought another pot of rhubarb this spring and planted it in a mound. Also “borrowed” a bucket of sand from kids’ sand box to amend the soil mound. This year the rhubarb is growing great.
rhubarb grows like weeds here. it needs no attention whatsoever. i give it some mulch and compost occasionally in the spring. t the stuff grows 5ft tall. i have 4 patches of 2 varieties. i give it away to friends and family. we have heavy clay rocky soil and it grows great in it. one of the few things that does. it does like cold weather. it sprouts thru the snow once it melts down to 6in. or so.
I have very heavy clay with rocks too. 1st time it seemed I planted a bit too deep. It was small for years. I moved it, and it improved. I have 3, but not enough to eat for 1.
Food for the pollenizers. I am not sure of the rose, but it smells great. I believe the succulent is ‘Purple Emperor’, and reaches peak bloom just as ‘Autumn Joy’ is starting to open. It really brings in the bees and butterflies.