Author: Steve

Green bean harvest!

This is the first time I’ve grown green beans, and they turned out pretty good. I harvested most of them on Sunday, October 5th. They were planted on July 23rd, so that made 74 days till harvest. The package said they’d be ripe in 60 days, but I imagine the cold nights have slowed them […]

Started Master Gardener class — answer on my apple problem

Last Thursday, I started the Master Gardener class with Utah State University Extension at Thanksgiving Point. Larry Sagers is the primary instructor — he’s the guy who does the KSL Radio Greenhouse Show on Saturday mornings and writes a gardening column in the Deseret News. By the way, I want to know why the D-News […]

Fall color on the mountains by our house

With my new zoom lens, I can capture some very close images up on the mountains from my backyard. The fall colors are really peaking right now. I’m actually surprised how close I can get with this lens, because those mountain tops are pretty far up there! Sometimes, I’ve been sad as fall arrives, because […]

I got a new zoom/macro lens for my SLR

For my birthday, I got a great Sigma 70-300mm APO DG zoom lens for my Canon digital SLR. With this digital camera, that lens is almost an 11x zoom! Pretty darn cool. It has a nice macro function that allows you to take these ultra closeups from four feet away. I’m having a lot of […]

First hints of frost this morning

I did not notice frost on my lawn this morning, but I did notice that as I drove through the middle of American Fork on my way to work that the houses had frost on their roofs. That’s the first sign of frost that I’ve seen yet this season. But we are heading into another […]

I made it in!

I have been accepted to the Utah County Master Gardener program starting in October. I’ll be taking a class twice a week until December and then doing 40 hours of community work in the next year to earn the certificate. I’m excited about this! I’ll be writing more about what I learn in the class […]

Dying branch on a Japanese maple

My beautiful Japanese maple in front of my house has a disease or something. I’m worried about it. This one main branch and all the smaller branches that shoot off of it are dying. It started with some leaves turning red about a month ago, and now they’ve shriveled up. Some of the smaller twigs […]

Things blooming in my yard

OK, starting at the top, from left to right: The Pink Simplicity roses are in their second wave of bloom, and it’s starting to look pretty darn good! These bright pink petunias are the best flowering ones in my garden. They really are that bright — the photo was not modified to increase saturation or […]