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The Vegitect

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Today’s image is my response to DJ @Oxherder Arts’ recent garden picture. DJ is in Texas, we’re in North Carolina, though sometimes the distance between us seems immeasurably small.

Here in NC, earlier in the year we discerned that this was going to be a very interesting summer for those with a hearty vegetable garden, as well as for those without. Between food prices spiraling out of control, epic drought and floods, and the pernicious influence of ‘FRaNkEnFOodS’, we decided to ramp it up a notch to provide for ourselves and loved ones.

This is the result, largely due to the constant efforts of The Vegitect, seen in the background.

For the image above, I’ve linked over to Flickr, where I’ve put Note boxes around the various plants in the garden. Click on the picture above, and a new tab or window will open. Take a tour of the garden by checking the note boxes in the Flickr version. You might be surprised at all that is packed into this small area.

In fact, though, this is only a portion of the garden. Off the to the right and out of sight, we also have blueberry bushes, fig trees, sweet potatoes, sunflowers, more tomatoes, peppers, herbs, stevia (a natural sweetener), watercress, and a few other greens. On the other side of the property is a compost pile complex.

Everything in the gardens is totally organic. We never use pesticides, Miracle Grow, synthetic fertilizer, or anything of the sort. The one item that has produced this tremendous result is something called MYCOGROW, a mycorrhizal fungi and plant inoculum. The mycorrhizae aid in root growth and extension, and assist in nutrient and water absorption, yet the product is completely safe and natural.

Now, if we could only work on the Property Owner’s Association to allow chickens to go after the insects, we’d be golden.

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Spinning in Infinity

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Following up on the previous image Angels in the Architecture,  I again found fascination and beauty in an Italian Summer Squash bud, backlit by the setting sun. The varietal name is ‘Climbing Trombocino.’ (“Squash” seems like a rather unromantic name for such a plant, and certainly didn’t conjure up appetizing thoughts when I was a kid.)

I was delightfully surprised to see the bokeh come out so well on this image, especially since the aperture was f/6.3, though the tall hedgerow that caused the bokeh was some distance away from the subject. ISO was 800, 1/80 sec., at 55mm.

The title, once again, is the next snippet from Paul Simon’s song “You Can Call Me Al”

News Update:

The release of my HDR video tutorial has been delayed a bit. Since I created the video for a friend and wasn’t at all concerned about length, it’s a full hour of fun and games. Problem is, I hadn’t accounted for where I’d store the beast, and have had to break it up into 15-minute segments before posting on YouTube. I hope to have the finals uploaded by the end of this week after I re-index it.

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Angels in the Architecture

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Following up on yesterday’s strawberry image, The Overachiever, I managed to catch this Italian Squash bud in the light of late afternoon. (I always thought that I disliked squash of any sort, until I tried some fresh out of the garden.)

I never cease to be amazed at what plants like this can present as they unfurl their leaves and send out spiraling tendrils to grab onto the nearest bit of infrastructure.

The title is a snippet from Paul Simon’s song “You Can Call Me Al”

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