An Englishman in Eugene: How Many Fruit and Vegetables Grow in an Oregon Country Garden?

I'll tell you now of some that I know and those I miss you'll surely pardon.

Tomatoes

cucumbers

more tomatoes...

more tomatoes

grapes

and pumpkins

yet more tomatoes

sweetcorn

yes sweetcorn

and strawberries

beans

carrots

broccoli

chives (or maybe shallots)

garlic

lettuce

and more grapes in an Oregon country garden.

Beth is the real gardener and I have lawn tending and weed pulling duties most of the time, but Beth's away this week at a music camp near Portland, so I've had the twice daily duty of watering all her plants.

We have an automatic sprinkler system which I've set to go off twice a day for 5 minutes each time, but it's mostly directed at keeping the lawns green. It hasn't rained a drop here since early June. We also have a sprinkle/drip system for some of the raised beds and grapes but we're still playing around with that, so manual watering is necessary, and a good opportunity to examine everything for growth and possible harvesting. Our house has several outside taps (two at the front, one at the side and three out back), and we have hoses connected up to three of these for easy watering of different areas.

The pumpkins are my one contribution so far to the growing part of our garden, intended for harvesting and making into jack-o-lanterns. They have about ten weeks to make something worth putting a candle in.

Verse Two:

How many black cats feel at home in an Oregon Country Garden?
I'll tell you now of two that I know and those I miss must be very elusive.

Ghost spies LB, rushes over, LB looks less than impressed

Ghost tries to start a fight, LB ignores him

Ghost pretends he didn't want a fight and examines the fence

Ghost measures himself

and LB makes good his escape.

Our cats enjoy hanging out down by the creek. We have a small gate at the southeast corner of the garden which leads out to this area, and the cats can often be found sunning themselves here between mealbreaks. It's not all fights, despite recent cinetmatic and photographic evidence, and when Ghost is sufficiently sleepy the two will settle down within paws' length and doze.

The fence here is actually a neighbour's, and they have access to this bank too but only seem to use it as a dumping ground for tree cuttings. In the Fall I plan to start chopping away at the enormous blackberry brambles on the bank, as neither Beth nor I are particularly fond of blackberries, and hopefully we'll make more room for wildlife and the other plants there.

How many creepy-crawlies find their home in an English country garden?

I'll tell you now of some I know and those I miss I hope you'll pardon.