My sources say that a 10 mile ride is about right for relocation. We know of a few places where a woodchuck won't become someone else's problem, will be able to quickly make itself at home and have plenty of forage.
I used the Mantis as a weed-eater in the walking rows of the garden. Well, most of them anyway... the vining plants are taking over too widely and were in the way too much. I got what i could. It clogged up the tines quite a bit! I also snapped my wrist good and sharp with the handle of the starter cord. Right where i got a cortizone shot for tendinitis around this time last year. I really hope it won't inflame again!
I also carved out the rest of the area that needs weed fabric and will become home to the Beach Plums and whatever else i come up with.
We got about an inch of rain last night, we are now right about where we should be for average rainfall this year. I treated the tomatoes for blights since its a preventative thing. The alternative is for them to contract it themselves and be part of the spreading of it. I'd rather that not happen.
Almost all of the plants have a green fruit on them by now.
I just got back from the dentist, needed my one filling replaced, it was loose. They had to numb me to the eyebrow cause i kept feeling it. So i'm not feeling all that well. Anxiety attacks are awful.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Bean picking and seed envelopes...
Went out to check the garden and the Havahart (which was empty of vermin) and i noticed that the Provider green beans are ready. I picked 1 pound, 3.9 ounces in about 10 minutes or less. Not bad for the first picking. There's plenty more left to grow and still a number of flowers. They taste great and they release from the plant easily but don't fall off by themselves. I remember picking beans when i was little and you had to be careful to not uproot the whole plant for one bean, they'd pull off so hard. Jacob's Cattle can be like that sometimes, i have grown those most recently. They make a great fresh bean and if i missed harvesting them, i'd fall back on them being a dried bean.
Oh, i came across this the other day, Really easy to make seed packets:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/wtrsow/con021447346105.html
You have to scroll down a ways to get to the picture instructions. I wanted to post them here but i didn't want to steal the OP's images, so i made my own real quick. If the Gardenweb thread ever disappears i will still have the instructions here to remind myself.
1 sheet of regular or pretty paper.
Make it into a square
Damp air is not conducive to crisp torn edges.
Fold it into a triangle
Then fold the top down almost to the edge
Then bring the corners in to the middlle
Clear tape does not photo well so i used some old, ugly masking tape.
This makes a very secure seed pocket.
Tape to close
I really like these envelopes much better than plastic baggies. If your seeds aren't quite finished drying when you store them, they are less likely to be ruined since they can continue curing in the paper packets. The other packet types i have made were the ones that looked just like the commercial types. What i didn't like about those were that they had to be cut out with scissors, folded precisely, and either stapled, taped or glued in at least 3 places. Like these, they are really very nice looking and presentable, but time consuming. I used to trade seeds a lot and i wish i had the simpler design back then!
The folded ones can be scaled up or down in size, The example is 3"x6" with the flap down. If i want to make them more special or color-coded i can use Origami paper and pretty post card seals.
Now i have to go vacuum stuff.
Oh, i came across this the other day, Really easy to make seed packets:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/wtrsow/con021447346105.html
You have to scroll down a ways to get to the picture instructions. I wanted to post them here but i didn't want to steal the OP's images, so i made my own real quick. If the Gardenweb thread ever disappears i will still have the instructions here to remind myself.
1 sheet of regular or pretty paper.
Fold it into a triangle
Then bring the corners in to the middlle
This makes a very secure seed pocket.
Tape to close
I really like these envelopes much better than plastic baggies. If your seeds aren't quite finished drying when you store them, they are less likely to be ruined since they can continue curing in the paper packets. The other packet types i have made were the ones that looked just like the commercial types. What i didn't like about those were that they had to be cut out with scissors, folded precisely, and either stapled, taped or glued in at least 3 places. Like these, they are really very nice looking and presentable, but time consuming. I used to trade seeds a lot and i wish i had the simpler design back then!
The folded ones can be scaled up or down in size, The example is 3"x6" with the flap down. If i want to make them more special or color-coded i can use Origami paper and pretty post card seals.
Now i have to go vacuum stuff.
Late Blight returns....
Link to Article.
I didn't garden last year so i missed it last year. This only gives me a slight advantage because my plants can't catch it from contaminated remnants of the previous season. But since it can simply spread through the air, its really not much of an advantage. Bonide Fung-o-Nil or Ortho's Garden Disease Control can work i understand. I'll ask hubby if he can grab me a bottle of one of them at Home Depot if he goes shopping during lunch. He was planning to get some driveway sealer so he might be going there anyway. I looked them up at Aubuchon, but all their concentrated garden fungicides are by order only and not in store.
I guess its been around for a while this year but i have not seen any reports of it reaching Maine yet... i did a search for articles but didn't find anything dated for this year.
Not much else going on. I haven't checked the Havahart trap yet and the weather is off and on sunny, not too hot but still quite humid.
I was going to start clearing out the flower boxes yesterday, but i wasn't able to find my big Fiskars pruning shears. I haven't seen hide or hair of them since last year. I hope they didn't get left outside to rust and then hubby had to throw them out. I asked him if he's seen them and he hasn't. I tried to do a little of it by hand but it was too much to do. Pulling out the vines broke the stems off at the roots which will make it hard to locate and dig up the plants for their move. The thing is that i can't get into the mess without removing the vines first.
I've decided to use the Mantis on the walking rows in the garden. The weeds have come back too thickly to try and pull them. On the plus side, its more organic matter that will break down in the garden.
Plenty to do today and in the next few days.
I didn't garden last year so i missed it last year. This only gives me a slight advantage because my plants can't catch it from contaminated remnants of the previous season. But since it can simply spread through the air, its really not much of an advantage. Bonide Fung-o-Nil or Ortho's Garden Disease Control can work i understand. I'll ask hubby if he can grab me a bottle of one of them at Home Depot if he goes shopping during lunch. He was planning to get some driveway sealer so he might be going there anyway. I looked them up at Aubuchon, but all their concentrated garden fungicides are by order only and not in store.
I guess its been around for a while this year but i have not seen any reports of it reaching Maine yet... i did a search for articles but didn't find anything dated for this year.
Not much else going on. I haven't checked the Havahart trap yet and the weather is off and on sunny, not too hot but still quite humid.
I was going to start clearing out the flower boxes yesterday, but i wasn't able to find my big Fiskars pruning shears. I haven't seen hide or hair of them since last year. I hope they didn't get left outside to rust and then hubby had to throw them out. I asked him if he's seen them and he hasn't. I tried to do a little of it by hand but it was too much to do. Pulling out the vines broke the stems off at the roots which will make it hard to locate and dig up the plants for their move. The thing is that i can't get into the mess without removing the vines first.
I've decided to use the Mantis on the walking rows in the garden. The weeds have come back too thickly to try and pull them. On the plus side, its more organic matter that will break down in the garden.
Plenty to do today and in the next few days.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Woodchuck....round 2.
Its wonderful how it feels to be complacent when something is not raiding your garden. Taking a stroll through the rows and watching things get larger instead of smaller, watching the gaps between the leaves close in rather than become gaping and ragged....there is an Eden-like tranquility in the air.
Then while having your morning cup of coffee, you spy another brown beastie in the vicinity of the garden....
Now i'll be fair.... it was eating dandelions off the edge of the weed fabric between the Patriot blueberry and the Marechal Foch. But he didn't stay there. He had sampled a leaf tip off one of the horseradish. I saw the little scratch in the dirt from its paw and the indent where he plunked his little, furry rump.
A quick check up and down the rows showed no sign of its entry into the actual garden as the horse radish is on the outskirts.
I conducted a serious thinning/pruning of the Swiss chard yesterday and only selected the smallest and tenderest leaves for eating. The bigger ones went into the compost bin.... i think the 'chuck was attracted by the scent of the freshly cut leaves in there. Its possible that it only just discovered my garden this morning- or hasn't discovered the interior yet. I'd like to keep it that way.
So the havahart trap contains some nummy things like apples and pears. I'll add peanut butter and an overripe banana when i rebait it tomorrow. If its not bold to the extent of virtual rabidness like the last one was, it might not return to my yard until later today and bait will be wasted. At $.99 a pound, 2 apples a day for who knows how long, is not cheap. They might as well eat my broccoli.
I need to come up with some sort of flag for the trap. If you've ever been ice fishing you'll get what sort of flag thing i want. Ice fishing traps have a bar that pivots when a fish takes the bait, on the end of the bar that pops up is a long, stiff wire with an orange flag on it. So while you are on a frozen lake with large distances between sets, you can see at once when a flag whips up into the air and you can begin your shambling penguin-like race to the trap to reel in your catch.
Where i have the Havahart set parallel to the row of Jerusalem Artichokes, my view to the contents from the side window of the house is blocked. I won't quickly see if i catch anything. I put it in the shade so anything captured won't suffer before discovery. I can't keep going out and checking the trap or i'll scare the vermin away and reduce my chances.
Of course i have work to do out in that area, so the soonest caught the better.
I'm debating whether or not i'll bother growing Swiss Chard next year. This year they turned out very muddy in flavor. They are usually quite earthy, but this time they smelled of mud in a not pleasant way. Of course the difference could be because we have had an early heat wave. The last time i grew chard i picked them around the time the woodchuck ate them this year.
I understand they begin to taste nice again when the weather gets cooler. So i'll make my decision later this Fall. I have "Bright Lights" and they truly are pretty enough that i'll consider using up my last seeds to plant them in the flower bed. They might even draw woodchucks away from my veggie garden...hmmm....
I'll have to go out today and clear the fence wires. The grass and the birdhouse gourd really took off and are clogging the wire so i will have to take care of that before i can turn the fence back on. This woodchuck is much larger than the last and i don't think it will be able to fit under or between the wires. If the zap truly is a deterrent i will find out with this one.
I spend the weekend reading up on some Heirloom seed sources. I joined the SSE messageboard/forum yesterday. Its a nice place to read despite the recent drama in the organization itself. They have kept the actual forum clear of it.
Besides the SSE (which actually is more limited a seed source than i expected) i found a couple of interesting seed sellers that i bookmarked for future purchasing.
Bountiful Gardens Has Sea Kale, mycorrhizal inoculant (by the ounce, yay!), land race veggies and various herbs- both common culinary and more uncommon medicinal.
Seed S.E.A.R.C.H , fascinating Native American seed strains.
We had rain all weekend, much needed. Today is expected to be in the mid 80's, its already 80 degrees at 9:30 am.
Oh, i am all excited about a plant i just bought. Its one i have been looking to get for years. Its a Clove Tree. The actual plant you get cloves from. Syzygium aromaticum. Its partially hard to find because looking up "clove tree" gets you results for carnations and pinks because they are clove scented. Looking them up by "Syzygium aromaticum" only gives you links to dried herb resources or Spice Road history. I did find one for sale at a citrus houseplant website, but they wanted $275 for it. Uh, no!
There are seeds, but they are available rarely, shipping is expensive and they are reported to have low germination rates. And as i mentioned above, sifting through search results is tedious and time consuming.
I found it on eBay, from a seller with 100% positive feedback, located in NJ, so its not too far from here. Shipping should be quick.
I have been looking for this plant for years.
There are a lot of plants i have been looking for on the order of years. Most of it is because i really started to be interested in more rare plants when the Hubby and i got our first apartment. I couldn't do anything with the land the apartment was on, so i took over the window space.
If i could find pictures i'd scan them and post them. My living room was a virtual jungle. I had 2 types of Jasmine, one in a 5 gallon pot and one small one. The small one was a pink jasmine and i had a net draped across the corner of the window and the jasmine grew on it like a living curtain. I also had Hoyas and Passiflora, like i still have now. I had a little cavendish banana plant, a queen's tears, various cactus, a bunch of mini roses that were always getting aphids, a vanilla orchid, phalenopsis, i even had plumeria and stephanotis floribunda....there were also lots of standard tropical foliage plants. I tried to grow every fruit seed from the grocery store. Avocado, cherimoya, blood orange, key lime, i'd even sprout potatoes. Drove. Hubby. Nuts. I lost a lot of plants due to sabotage. But now he's learned that this is just the way i am and has realized that there are much worse things that i could be doing. He's actually interested ( though mildly) in this stuff now.
But i swear i almost died being stuck in an apartment for so long, if it weren't for the houseplants....
Hopefully this Clove seedling will arrive safely and i will be able to provide decent conditions for it.
Nothing much to take pictures of today. Garden things have continued to grow rapidly, but that is the usual way of things.
I think i am going to try air layering the silky dogwood plant. I also decided to move the porcelainberry vines to the back yard on the outside of the fence so it can climb the 12-15' of the retaining wall and fence... they won't be such a nuisance in a larger space with something to climb. I might try to move them today. At least i should be able to work on the dogwood today.
I'm going to do these things because rooting them in a bucket causes more clutter and more containers to keep watered.
I think i'm going to heavily prune the lilac bush in the back corner behind the shed. It will make it much easier to move later on. When the fence goes up it will get almost no sun being between the fence and the shed, so its move or die.
I will have a good place to plant fiddlehead ferns and maybe edible mushrooms though.... I still haven't started those fern spores yet. I may wait a few more months. They take a long time, don't need much light.... they should be a good winter project. If they grow, the seedlings should be just big enough to set out in the Spring.
I just got my ship notification for the Clove Tree... USPS Priority.... should be here by Tomorrow i hope... or Wednesday.
I forget when i did it, ut it was at least 3 days ago.... i finally planted the two Temptation strawberries that actually sprouted. I also planted the Red Shiso out there with them. They are between the rosemary. I don't think i wrote it down that i did this. So just in case...there it is.
Then while having your morning cup of coffee, you spy another brown beastie in the vicinity of the garden....
Now i'll be fair.... it was eating dandelions off the edge of the weed fabric between the Patriot blueberry and the Marechal Foch. But he didn't stay there. He had sampled a leaf tip off one of the horseradish. I saw the little scratch in the dirt from its paw and the indent where he plunked his little, furry rump.
A quick check up and down the rows showed no sign of its entry into the actual garden as the horse radish is on the outskirts.
I conducted a serious thinning/pruning of the Swiss chard yesterday and only selected the smallest and tenderest leaves for eating. The bigger ones went into the compost bin.... i think the 'chuck was attracted by the scent of the freshly cut leaves in there. Its possible that it only just discovered my garden this morning- or hasn't discovered the interior yet. I'd like to keep it that way.
So the havahart trap contains some nummy things like apples and pears. I'll add peanut butter and an overripe banana when i rebait it tomorrow. If its not bold to the extent of virtual rabidness like the last one was, it might not return to my yard until later today and bait will be wasted. At $.99 a pound, 2 apples a day for who knows how long, is not cheap. They might as well eat my broccoli.
I need to come up with some sort of flag for the trap. If you've ever been ice fishing you'll get what sort of flag thing i want. Ice fishing traps have a bar that pivots when a fish takes the bait, on the end of the bar that pops up is a long, stiff wire with an orange flag on it. So while you are on a frozen lake with large distances between sets, you can see at once when a flag whips up into the air and you can begin your shambling penguin-like race to the trap to reel in your catch.
Where i have the Havahart set parallel to the row of Jerusalem Artichokes, my view to the contents from the side window of the house is blocked. I won't quickly see if i catch anything. I put it in the shade so anything captured won't suffer before discovery. I can't keep going out and checking the trap or i'll scare the vermin away and reduce my chances.
Of course i have work to do out in that area, so the soonest caught the better.
I'm debating whether or not i'll bother growing Swiss Chard next year. This year they turned out very muddy in flavor. They are usually quite earthy, but this time they smelled of mud in a not pleasant way. Of course the difference could be because we have had an early heat wave. The last time i grew chard i picked them around the time the woodchuck ate them this year.
I understand they begin to taste nice again when the weather gets cooler. So i'll make my decision later this Fall. I have "Bright Lights" and they truly are pretty enough that i'll consider using up my last seeds to plant them in the flower bed. They might even draw woodchucks away from my veggie garden...hmmm....
I'll have to go out today and clear the fence wires. The grass and the birdhouse gourd really took off and are clogging the wire so i will have to take care of that before i can turn the fence back on. This woodchuck is much larger than the last and i don't think it will be able to fit under or between the wires. If the zap truly is a deterrent i will find out with this one.
I spend the weekend reading up on some Heirloom seed sources. I joined the SSE messageboard/forum yesterday. Its a nice place to read despite the recent drama in the organization itself. They have kept the actual forum clear of it.
Besides the SSE (which actually is more limited a seed source than i expected) i found a couple of interesting seed sellers that i bookmarked for future purchasing.
Bountiful Gardens Has Sea Kale, mycorrhizal inoculant (by the ounce, yay!), land race veggies and various herbs- both common culinary and more uncommon medicinal.
Seed S.E.A.R.C.H , fascinating Native American seed strains.
We had rain all weekend, much needed. Today is expected to be in the mid 80's, its already 80 degrees at 9:30 am.
Oh, i am all excited about a plant i just bought. Its one i have been looking to get for years. Its a Clove Tree. The actual plant you get cloves from. Syzygium aromaticum. Its partially hard to find because looking up "clove tree" gets you results for carnations and pinks because they are clove scented. Looking them up by "Syzygium aromaticum" only gives you links to dried herb resources or Spice Road history. I did find one for sale at a citrus houseplant website, but they wanted $275 for it. Uh, no!
There are seeds, but they are available rarely, shipping is expensive and they are reported to have low germination rates. And as i mentioned above, sifting through search results is tedious and time consuming.
I found it on eBay, from a seller with 100% positive feedback, located in NJ, so its not too far from here. Shipping should be quick.
I have been looking for this plant for years.
There are a lot of plants i have been looking for on the order of years. Most of it is because i really started to be interested in more rare plants when the Hubby and i got our first apartment. I couldn't do anything with the land the apartment was on, so i took over the window space.
If i could find pictures i'd scan them and post them. My living room was a virtual jungle. I had 2 types of Jasmine, one in a 5 gallon pot and one small one. The small one was a pink jasmine and i had a net draped across the corner of the window and the jasmine grew on it like a living curtain. I also had Hoyas and Passiflora, like i still have now. I had a little cavendish banana plant, a queen's tears, various cactus, a bunch of mini roses that were always getting aphids, a vanilla orchid, phalenopsis, i even had plumeria and stephanotis floribunda....there were also lots of standard tropical foliage plants. I tried to grow every fruit seed from the grocery store. Avocado, cherimoya, blood orange, key lime, i'd even sprout potatoes. Drove. Hubby. Nuts. I lost a lot of plants due to sabotage. But now he's learned that this is just the way i am and has realized that there are much worse things that i could be doing. He's actually interested ( though mildly) in this stuff now.
But i swear i almost died being stuck in an apartment for so long, if it weren't for the houseplants....
Hopefully this Clove seedling will arrive safely and i will be able to provide decent conditions for it.
Nothing much to take pictures of today. Garden things have continued to grow rapidly, but that is the usual way of things.
I think i am going to try air layering the silky dogwood plant. I also decided to move the porcelainberry vines to the back yard on the outside of the fence so it can climb the 12-15' of the retaining wall and fence... they won't be such a nuisance in a larger space with something to climb. I might try to move them today. At least i should be able to work on the dogwood today.
I'm going to do these things because rooting them in a bucket causes more clutter and more containers to keep watered.
I think i'm going to heavily prune the lilac bush in the back corner behind the shed. It will make it much easier to move later on. When the fence goes up it will get almost no sun being between the fence and the shed, so its move or die.
I will have a good place to plant fiddlehead ferns and maybe edible mushrooms though.... I still haven't started those fern spores yet. I may wait a few more months. They take a long time, don't need much light.... they should be a good winter project. If they grow, the seedlings should be just big enough to set out in the Spring.
I just got my ship notification for the Clove Tree... USPS Priority.... should be here by Tomorrow i hope... or Wednesday.
I forget when i did it, ut it was at least 3 days ago.... i finally planted the two Temptation strawberries that actually sprouted. I also planted the Red Shiso out there with them. They are between the rosemary. I don't think i wrote it down that i did this. So just in case...there it is.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The plot thickens..
I know i'm going to regret wasting that title so early in the season. Ok, so maybe its not as catchy as i think it is.
But in any case, i went out and looked at my string beans. Looks like "Provider" will turn out to be a well named bean. My plants are covered with clusters of growing pods. I only planted about a 4'x6' area but i'm going to be up to my ears in beans. Which is fine because i like string beans.
I also planted those purple podded beans on July 4, and they are up now. I planted them between the rows of corn that didn't germinate so well and are still way behind.
Tiny watermelon, this is a Pony Yellow
I think i have convinced myself that this is Swamp Milkweed and not hyssop like i was told. That's ok because i prefer the milkweed to hyssop.
I like the idea that every plant in this year's garden came from seeds i planted. It dawned on me last night that though i have spent plenty of time in hardware stores this year, i have not bought any vegetable seedlings.
I think i can reasonably exclude the horseradish and JA tubers, grapes and berry plants- though i am trying to grow some of those from seed. I'd like to start collecting my own vegetable seed and see if i can grow a totally independent garden some day, but from what i have read i don't have enough space to grow the number of plants to have a proper gene pool for each variety. I am trying to use open pollinated types when i can, they are usually heirlooms and i am drawn to the history of these plants. For now i can be happy to be a part of the financial support of the companies that offer these seeds.
^ Friday afternoon
Saturday morning:
So, i guess we are supposed to get some good rain today. It has been over a week since we have had any and the heat was fierce for this time of year and area. I don't think we actually broke any records but we definitely met a number of them that had been set more than 30 years ago.
I watered the garden pretty deeply yesterday. I knew rain was in the forecast for today but where it was so warm overnight i wanted to have stuff watered deeply and early enough for the soil to warm back up. I read in "Gardening When it Counts" that plants grow at night. There is actually a bit of a formula that can be used to estimate plant growth based on night time temperature. Here is the excerpt from "Gardening When it Counts"
I don't know what i am going to do with my birdhouse gourd plant... well, i won't really be doing anything actually, but it is growing and spreading so rapidly. It has already escaped its row and has made good headway into the next. I tried to train the vines to head out along the walkways, but the plant is so lush that its hard to walk in the paths without stepping on it. I'm thankful the leaves it grows are so soft and velvety. I think if i grow it next year i will have to plant it against a trellis or i will have to put any defensive garden fencing well away from it. It invaded the electric fence wires about 3 days ago. I haven't had the fence on lately anyway. Last time i grew this plant was in my parent's garden when i was home from College. My parent's garden is almost the size of the entire "New Yard" lot we purchased. A birdhouse gourd plant looks much smaller in a garden that size than it does in mine! :o)
I ordered some lawn edging from Ace Hardware yesterday. Its this stuff. I was thinking of using landscape timbers or 4x4 posts like we did in the front flower beds. The drawback is that they need painting or staining most years. This terrace board stuff is ready to use, and its a nice brown shade. I usually only see lawn edging in black or what Thalassa Crusoe called "poison green". I also didn't want wide edging since i will be literally standing in the mulch to do my work in the grape and berry row. A wide board will probably get in the way and probably won't be easily secured. The terrace board is just over 5" high and set in the ground a few inches and held with 10" spikes it should hold up pretty well. Its also something i think i can handle installing on my own. Timbers or 4x4s would be too awkward and heavy and i'd have to borrow my dad's truck and rope hubby into helping me load and unload. If it works out well i think we will nix the front boxes and install this stuff.
I do need to grab 4 of these so the ends won't pop up and i can get a nice neat shape. The boards will be in next week.
I also used an Ortho product on the weeds where i will be extending the row. They are thick enough that it might be hard to get the landscape fabric to keep them at bay... even though i plan to till the area before i cover it.
Only issue with the Ortho product is that hubby bought it for me and i didn't read the label . It is a "season long" weed killer, which i guess means it is made to stick around longer. I did some research on the active ingredients to understand a little about how this works. The Glyphosate is the stuff that is a post emergent herbicide. Meaning that it damages stuff that has set its leaves. The other ingredient is Oxyfluorfen, this is both a pre and post emergent herbicide used mainly on annual weeds. Glyphosate is generally used on perennials i guess. Since it is billed as a "season long" product- the part i missed, i wasn't sure if i was even going to be able to plant there this summer!
I was kicking myself. I always read labels. I'm such a stickler for label reading that i get teased for it at times... this time i didn't... But when i did read the label it didn't answer my post treatment question, though the info on the label would have stopped me from using it there. I emailed Scotts' customer service and they did reply with useful information:
If you wish to plant a sensitive annual, you may want to test your soil with a radish test. The radish seed is a very fast germinating seed, and when planted in a treated area, the seeds will germinate in 7 - 10 days if the area is clear of herbicide. If the radish germinates, it is safe to plant your sensitive plants. Do not eat radishes grown for these testing purposes.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in Scotts. Please feel free to contact our company anytime we may be of assistance.
Using radish seeds to test the soil is a great idea. Only thing is that by the time they emerge, the area will be ready for me to plant anyway. I used the stuff sparingly and i'll be tilling the area under, so i'm sure that will help. The berry plants won't be yielding anything edible for another whole season at least so i'm not really worried about contamination.
I did a short crop walk of my own this morning before the rain came and i took some pictures. I love having a blog to record all this stuff. I get to compare growth photos from one year to the next and the blog setup allows me to easily recall the information by date or keyword.
Ok, so here are the pics:
One of the Aurora Mix French Marigolds
.
I swear these weren't this big yesterday before i watered. I wish i had a yardstick to put in the pictures to independently gauge the daily and weekly growth.
Birdhouse gourd, trying to take over the world. I tried to use a broken baby gate to see if i could direct its march, i think i only encouraged it.
Horseradish plants recovering in the absence of woodchucks.
I did it.... i pulled off the flowers of Marechal Foch.... here is the proof.
Here are the row-by-row pictures. Looking East
Tomato and corn (and now purple string beans) row.
Kale, cabbage, and stuff. A couple lettuces still hanging on.
Parsnips, onions, shallots, a couple swiss chard plants, fennel.
Carrots, beets, rutabagas and bush beans.
Cucumbers, winter squash, melons, watermelons and gourds.
Asparagus from seed look pretty good now. But the weeds are totally taking over again!
Jerusalem artichokes are behind the horseradish.
From the other direction...
The corn end of the Tomato and Corn row
Peppers and eggplant at the end of the cabbage, broccoli, kale etc. row.
Burdock, globe artichokes and summer squash. Beyond is the fennel, onions & shallots and parsnips.
Salsify, rosemary, whats left of the Brussels sprouts and purple cauliflower, then string beans, rutabagas, beets and then carrots.
I never did write down the name or company the purple string beans were from, so i remembered now.
Rhubarb. Never did move it to the perennial corner of the garden.
Just picked these before the rain gets them muddy. First of the summer squash today. :o)
I did end up digging out the Suffolk Red grape and i put it in a 5 gallon bucket. I'll try it as a container plant this winter.
I think that's pretty much it for now.
But in any case, i went out and looked at my string beans. Looks like "Provider" will turn out to be a well named bean. My plants are covered with clusters of growing pods. I only planted about a 4'x6' area but i'm going to be up to my ears in beans. Which is fine because i like string beans.
I also planted those purple podded beans on July 4, and they are up now. I planted them between the rows of corn that didn't germinate so well and are still way behind.
Tiny watermelon, this is a Pony Yellow
I think i have convinced myself that this is Swamp Milkweed and not hyssop like i was told. That's ok because i prefer the milkweed to hyssop.
I like the idea that every plant in this year's garden came from seeds i planted. It dawned on me last night that though i have spent plenty of time in hardware stores this year, i have not bought any vegetable seedlings.
I think i can reasonably exclude the horseradish and JA tubers, grapes and berry plants- though i am trying to grow some of those from seed. I'd like to start collecting my own vegetable seed and see if i can grow a totally independent garden some day, but from what i have read i don't have enough space to grow the number of plants to have a proper gene pool for each variety. I am trying to use open pollinated types when i can, they are usually heirlooms and i am drawn to the history of these plants. For now i can be happy to be a part of the financial support of the companies that offer these seeds.
^ Friday afternoon
Saturday morning:
So, i guess we are supposed to get some good rain today. It has been over a week since we have had any and the heat was fierce for this time of year and area. I don't think we actually broke any records but we definitely met a number of them that had been set more than 30 years ago.
I watered the garden pretty deeply yesterday. I knew rain was in the forecast for today but where it was so warm overnight i wanted to have stuff watered deeply and early enough for the soil to warm back up. I read in "Gardening When it Counts" that plants grow at night. There is actually a bit of a formula that can be used to estimate plant growth based on night time temperature. Here is the excerpt from "Gardening When it Counts"
I don't know what i am going to do with my birdhouse gourd plant... well, i won't really be doing anything actually, but it is growing and spreading so rapidly. It has already escaped its row and has made good headway into the next. I tried to train the vines to head out along the walkways, but the plant is so lush that its hard to walk in the paths without stepping on it. I'm thankful the leaves it grows are so soft and velvety. I think if i grow it next year i will have to plant it against a trellis or i will have to put any defensive garden fencing well away from it. It invaded the electric fence wires about 3 days ago. I haven't had the fence on lately anyway. Last time i grew this plant was in my parent's garden when i was home from College. My parent's garden is almost the size of the entire "New Yard" lot we purchased. A birdhouse gourd plant looks much smaller in a garden that size than it does in mine! :o)
I ordered some lawn edging from Ace Hardware yesterday. Its this stuff. I was thinking of using landscape timbers or 4x4 posts like we did in the front flower beds. The drawback is that they need painting or staining most years. This terrace board stuff is ready to use, and its a nice brown shade. I usually only see lawn edging in black or what Thalassa Crusoe called "poison green". I also didn't want wide edging since i will be literally standing in the mulch to do my work in the grape and berry row. A wide board will probably get in the way and probably won't be easily secured. The terrace board is just over 5" high and set in the ground a few inches and held with 10" spikes it should hold up pretty well. Its also something i think i can handle installing on my own. Timbers or 4x4s would be too awkward and heavy and i'd have to borrow my dad's truck and rope hubby into helping me load and unload. If it works out well i think we will nix the front boxes and install this stuff.
I do need to grab 4 of these so the ends won't pop up and i can get a nice neat shape. The boards will be in next week.
I also used an Ortho product on the weeds where i will be extending the row. They are thick enough that it might be hard to get the landscape fabric to keep them at bay... even though i plan to till the area before i cover it.
Only issue with the Ortho product is that hubby bought it for me and i didn't read the label . It is a "season long" weed killer, which i guess means it is made to stick around longer. I did some research on the active ingredients to understand a little about how this works. The Glyphosate is the stuff that is a post emergent herbicide. Meaning that it damages stuff that has set its leaves. The other ingredient is Oxyfluorfen, this is both a pre and post emergent herbicide used mainly on annual weeds. Glyphosate is generally used on perennials i guess. Since it is billed as a "season long" product- the part i missed, i wasn't sure if i was even going to be able to plant there this summer!
I was kicking myself. I always read labels. I'm such a stickler for label reading that i get teased for it at times... this time i didn't... But when i did read the label it didn't answer my post treatment question, though the info on the label would have stopped me from using it there. I emailed Scotts' customer service and they did reply with useful information:
If you used the Season Long ready to use formula: (which i did)
TREES & SHRUBS - 2 Weeks
ANNUALS* - 4 Weeks
PERENNIALS - 2 Weeks
ANNUALS* - 4 Weeks
PERENNIALS - 2 Weeks
If you used the Season Long CONCENTRATE:
TREES & SHRUBS - 4 Weeks
ANNUALS* - 8 Weeks
PERENNIALS - 4 Weeks
*Sensitive annuals, such as be begonias and petunias, may NOT recover if transplanted into treated areas to soon.TREES & SHRUBS - 4 Weeks
ANNUALS* - 8 Weeks
PERENNIALS - 4 Weeks
If you wish to plant a sensitive annual, you may want to test your soil with a radish test. The radish seed is a very fast germinating seed, and when planted in a treated area, the seeds will germinate in 7 - 10 days if the area is clear of herbicide. If the radish germinates, it is safe to plant your sensitive plants. Do not eat radishes grown for these testing purposes.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in Scotts. Please feel free to contact our company anytime we may be of assistance.
Using radish seeds to test the soil is a great idea. Only thing is that by the time they emerge, the area will be ready for me to plant anyway. I used the stuff sparingly and i'll be tilling the area under, so i'm sure that will help. The berry plants won't be yielding anything edible for another whole season at least so i'm not really worried about contamination.
I did a short crop walk of my own this morning before the rain came and i took some pictures. I love having a blog to record all this stuff. I get to compare growth photos from one year to the next and the blog setup allows me to easily recall the information by date or keyword.
Ok, so here are the pics:
One of the Aurora Mix French Marigolds
I swear these weren't this big yesterday before i watered. I wish i had a yardstick to put in the pictures to independently gauge the daily and weekly growth.
Here are the row-by-row pictures. Looking East
Tomato and corn (and now purple string beans) row.
Jerusalem artichokes are behind the horseradish.
The corn end of the Tomato and Corn row
Peppers and eggplant at the end of the cabbage, broccoli, kale etc. row.
Burdock, globe artichokes and summer squash. Beyond is the fennel, onions & shallots and parsnips.
I never did write down the name or company the purple string beans were from, so i remembered now.
Just picked these before the rain gets them muddy. First of the summer squash today. :o)
I did end up digging out the Suffolk Red grape and i put it in a 5 gallon bucket. I'll try it as a container plant this winter.
I think that's pretty much it for now.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Perennial Vegetables.
I was buzzing around the Amazon bookstore hoping to find a decent priced copy of This Book.
One of the recommendations listed along the page was a book on perennial veggies. It sounded interesting so i went to the site. Here. The site gives you a list of edibles that should be perennial in the area you choose from the left column, under the "Resources" heading.
Here is the list for my area:
Cold Temperate
Cold Temperate: East, Midwest, and Mountain West
This is a large and highly populated region covering much the eastern and central United States, as well as much of the warmer parts of Canada. This region corresponds with USDA Zones 4–7, and Sunset Zones 2–4, 6, 11, and 32–43.
Perennial in all of the Cold Temperate zone:
Allium fistulosum Welsh onion-- have
Allium tricoccum ramps --plan to get
Allium tuberosum garlic chives
Apios americana groundnut
Aralia cordata udo
Asparagus officinalis asparagus --have
Bunias orientalis Turkish rocket
Camassia cusickii Cusick’s camass
Camassia leichtlinnii Leichtlin’s camass
Camassia quamash camass
Camassia scillioides wild hyacinth
Chenopodium bonus-henricus good king Henry
Cicorium intybus chicory
Crambe maritima sea kale --have been looking for
Dioscorea japonica jinenjo
Dioscorea opposita Chinese yam
Helianthus tuberosa sunchoke --have
Hemerocallis daylily
Laportaea canadensis wood nettle
Levisticum officinale lovage --have
Malva moschata musk mallow
Matteuccia struthiopteris ostrich fern --have
Nasturtium officinale watercress
Oenanthe javanica water celery
Oxyria digyna mountain sorrel
Petasites japonicus fuki
Phytolacca americana pokeweed
Polygonatum biflorum canaliculatum giant Solomon’s seal
Rheum rubarbarum rhubarb --have
Rumex acetosa French sorrel
Rumex acetosa ‘Profusion’ sorrel
Rumex acetosella sheep sorrel
Rumex scutatus silver shield sorrel
Sagittaria latifolia arrowhead
Scorzonera hispanica scorzonera
Sium sisarum skirret
Stachys sieboldii Chinese artichoke
Taraxacum officinale dandelion -- who doesn't have this?
Tilia spp. linden
Urtica dioica nettles --have
Some of them i have, some of them sound interesting and some are...uh? Like Linden. Flowers i understand are good for tea... but the nuts, i have never seen listed as edible.
I don't quite consider tea a vegetable. Dandelion.... yes i know it is edible. I have eaten it and i would try making wine from the flowers if i dared to allow it to get out of hand that far. I have seen seeds for a garden type, the leaves are larger, more tender and less bitter, but i think hubby would quit on me...as in no more help in the garden! lol
Though it is not on the list, somewhere along the way i saw mentioned Walking Stick Kale. Pinetree used to carry the seed, but it looks like they don't anymore which is too bad. I did find a couple places that have it, so i will put it on my list for next year. During that search i did enjoy looking through Baker Creek's website. I got their catalog last winter but i don't remember looking at it much. I tried to find it- i keep my favorite catalogs in plastic sleeves in a fat 3-ring binder. Its the best way to keep them from being ruined or thrown away before they expire. I might have to put myself on their mailing list to make sure i get a catalog for next Spring just in case i am mistaken about getting one.
Back to the perennial veg... I didn't see Purple Sprouting Broccoli. I have never grown that before, but i was under the impression that it was hardy enough to be planted around this time of year and it would survive the winter if mulched and be one of the first things ready to harvest in the Spring.
I plan to try it so i need to know. My idea is to have a few bites of broccoli before the incoming woodchucks discover my garden.
I guess i'll have to do more research on that.
I guess that is it so far on this subject.
One of the recommendations listed along the page was a book on perennial veggies. It sounded interesting so i went to the site. Here. The site gives you a list of edibles that should be perennial in the area you choose from the left column, under the "Resources" heading.
Here is the list for my area:
Cold Temperate
Cold Temperate: East, Midwest, and Mountain West
This is a large and highly populated region covering much the eastern and central United States, as well as much of the warmer parts of Canada. This region corresponds with USDA Zones 4–7, and Sunset Zones 2–4, 6, 11, and 32–43.
Perennial in all of the Cold Temperate zone:
Allium fistulosum Welsh onion-- have
Allium tricoccum ramps --plan to get
Allium tuberosum garlic chives
Apios americana groundnut
Aralia cordata udo
Asparagus officinalis asparagus --have
Bunias orientalis Turkish rocket
Camassia cusickii Cusick’s camass
Camassia leichtlinnii Leichtlin’s camass
Camassia quamash camass
Camassia scillioides wild hyacinth
Chenopodium bonus-henricus good king Henry
Cicorium intybus chicory
Crambe maritima sea kale --have been looking for
Dioscorea japonica jinenjo
Dioscorea opposita Chinese yam
Helianthus tuberosa sunchoke --have
Hemerocallis daylily
Laportaea canadensis wood nettle
Levisticum officinale lovage --have
Malva moschata musk mallow
Matteuccia struthiopteris ostrich fern --have
Nasturtium officinale watercress
Oenanthe javanica water celery
Oxyria digyna mountain sorrel
Petasites japonicus fuki
Phytolacca americana pokeweed
Polygonatum biflorum canaliculatum giant Solomon’s seal
Rheum rubarbarum rhubarb --have
Rumex acetosa French sorrel
Rumex acetosa ‘Profusion’ sorrel
Rumex acetosella sheep sorrel
Rumex scutatus silver shield sorrel
Sagittaria latifolia arrowhead
Scorzonera hispanica scorzonera
Sium sisarum skirret
Stachys sieboldii Chinese artichoke
Taraxacum officinale dandelion -- who doesn't have this?
Tilia spp. linden
Urtica dioica nettles --have
Some of them i have, some of them sound interesting and some are...uh? Like Linden. Flowers i understand are good for tea... but the nuts, i have never seen listed as edible.
I don't quite consider tea a vegetable. Dandelion.... yes i know it is edible. I have eaten it and i would try making wine from the flowers if i dared to allow it to get out of hand that far. I have seen seeds for a garden type, the leaves are larger, more tender and less bitter, but i think hubby would quit on me...as in no more help in the garden! lol
Though it is not on the list, somewhere along the way i saw mentioned Walking Stick Kale. Pinetree used to carry the seed, but it looks like they don't anymore which is too bad. I did find a couple places that have it, so i will put it on my list for next year. During that search i did enjoy looking through Baker Creek's website. I got their catalog last winter but i don't remember looking at it much. I tried to find it- i keep my favorite catalogs in plastic sleeves in a fat 3-ring binder. Its the best way to keep them from being ruined or thrown away before they expire. I might have to put myself on their mailing list to make sure i get a catalog for next Spring just in case i am mistaken about getting one.
Back to the perennial veg... I didn't see Purple Sprouting Broccoli. I have never grown that before, but i was under the impression that it was hardy enough to be planted around this time of year and it would survive the winter if mulched and be one of the first things ready to harvest in the Spring.
I plan to try it so i need to know. My idea is to have a few bites of broccoli before the incoming woodchucks discover my garden.
I guess i'll have to do more research on that.
I guess that is it so far on this subject.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
There are things going on, but trying to write something about them isn't all that exciting. They are little tidbits like:
The globe artichokes are growing very slowly, i wonder why. Its my first year with them so i have no basis for comparison. Maybe this is normal?
and
The corn is growing like crazy i need to remember to give them some blood meal and side dress them with some fertilizer which i have yet to buy.
There are a bunch of things i need to do still, like harvest castings from the indoor worm bin.
The roller brush with the herbicide....it hasn't happened yet.
Things i need to complain about, like how Triscuit seems to think they invented some "Home Gardening Movement".... puhleease.... home gardening has been going on in my family since half my ancestors came over on boats and before that my other ancestors were already here and had things figured out quite well, thank you very much. Triscuit, who sells a box of crackers for almost $3, made of ingredients that costs them less than 3 cents a box wants to encourage me to 'eat healthy'... Without getting into it too much, i'll just say that a load of manure has more potential nutrition in it than a Triscuit.
Things that i am dreading, like pruning off the clusters of flowers from my Marechal Foch. I know i have to, i intend to, i prepared myself mentally for the reality that grapes have to be treated in just such a way, especially up here where every bit of energy they gather their first summer must be used to fortify themselves for the zone 5 winter ahead. But i want to see grapes. I'm also being a bit pessimistic in expecting the winter to kill the vines and this might be the closest i'll get to having grapes. I want to see the process through. But i have to follow the instructions on this. Not anecdotal instructions, but ones that come from people who have worked with grapes for years, pruned plants on the order of millions....
Now i know i seem a little obsessed, but this is my hobby and some things take a certain amount of obsession to be done right. I really get into things in the beginning, i take in all the information i can find, i think about it, mull it over. Later, if i find that the information i have collected is good and following it has led me to succeed in that area, i let up on the obsession and let the guidelines i found become second nature. If i hit a snag, i become obsessive in that one area until i get it solved.
If it wasn't for some of these challenges i think gardening wouldn't be so much fun. No its not fun to see my prized broccoli and cabbages being decimated by a furry subterranean Houdini... but researching, trying and failing to deter the creature, constructing, reconstructing, and deconstructing the the defenses gave me a challenge with a deadline. The deadline was determined by the appetite of my foe and the growth rate of my vegetables. The irony is that in the end the solution (to this one single raider- it certainly won't work forever) was the first thing i thought of, but the last thing i expected to work. This taught me to never leave any options out.
Oh, did i say how i caught him? I went to a nice Messageboard made up from hunters and trappers in Michigan. I told them of my situation and that i needed a bait that would be more interesting and tempting than my fresh garden vegetables. I was advised to load up the trap, groundhogs are greedy. A piece or two of store-bought broccoli was not going to be tempting enough, but a whole pile of delicious things would be visibly tempting. So i used a small plastic plate and loaded it up with chunks of banana, muskmelon, watermelon, the sacrificed stubs of what had been some of my raided plants, peanut butter, fresh sweet corn, both grape and strawberry jelly.... Within 12 hours i had captured my little furry enemy.
I thanked the guys for their help and my garden has been untouched since.
The rule of woodchucks unfortunately is that there are always more where the first one came from, so i won't declare any sort of victory- ever.
I wonder if my garden would be as interesting to me if Eden-like, it brought forth all manner of unblemished deliciousness. I have thought about that often and i really think it still would. Its that seed planting thing. You can plant a million seeds, but each time one germinates and breaks the soil, there is a thrill that does not get old. Even when things go without a hitch, there is always something else to decide, something to change or something to try out. A different plant, method or technique.
Every morning i go to the window and take a peek at my rows. I normally don't get to escape the house and really take a close look until the little one has begun her nap or the oldest one has gotten up and can watch the little one for me. I often start my mornings with a journal entry here. I'll start at 6:30 and usually by 11 i can get it published. I type between breakfast and cleanup...cups of coffee. The dog goes out and comes back in. I look out the window a few times and try to remember if i recorded some interesting (to me at least) observation about weather, plants, sky.... first sighting of what insect -friendly or ferocious, what flowers are in bloom- which ones have done extra well this year and which were duds. I try to remember bare spots, crowded spaces and plans to change it. I look along the areas waiting to be planted and try to remember if i have planned to plant one thing or three things in that exact spot. I stare at the sun and shade patterns as the season changes and try to decide if there will be enough sun there for the plants i want to grow all season. I wish there was a way to chart it. I wish i had time to chart it. i am almost tempted to get some spray paint and trace the shadows at hourly intervals and then photo it for later reference. Is that too weird? Should i care if it is? It will tell me what i want to know, so why not?
Obsession is only bad if it causes a problem.
I'm a failed perfectionist, i think that is why i feel the need to chart everything....
I did find this interesting webtool:
www.suncalc.net
I may even buy this gadget:
http://www.lusterleaf.com/SunCalc/1875.htm
It has good reviews.
I'm also researching the EasyBloom products which are more expensive, but also provide more than just sunlight readings.
So i might buy another gadget to play with.
Another thing i never got to was the pine litter i planned to gather for the blueberry plants. I was going to mulch them under the row cover with the pine to get the soil nicely acidic. I could probably still do it, but coordinating it might be complicated. I might simply buy a package of Job's Fertilizer spikes for acid loving plants. That is if they acidify the soil as well as fertilize. I'll look it up to be sure.
Its getting close to the time when i have to do something with the Suffolk red grape. I have been putting it off. If i try making it into a potted plant i will have to find a winter home for it. Even if it would make it through the winter, it can't stay where it is right now. It messes up the pattern of plants i have along the fence. Its also in the way because i need to extend the landscape fabric down the line to add in my beach plums, autumn olive, goji and sea-buckthorn, etc.
I did get the cuttings of the porcelainberry vine and the silky dogwood. I don't know if they will root, but i guess it is worth a shot. I might prune the silky dogwood down to the nubs again in the next couple of days and i just might try digging it up and moving it. Then i'll have to move the purple smokebush over. The hydrangea will have to be pruned hard since its getting far too big. I wanted a short accent plant, not another tree sized hydrangea.
I'm tempted to use Roundup on the whole area and then start over. I have some clematis that i don't want to lose though. And i'd hate to lose my spring bulbs. When i actually think about it, i relent, and that is why nothing gets done.
Today's weather started out dim, which is probably a good thing. If it was blazing sun the temp would be well over 85 by now. The sun is just starting to peek out of a hazy sky. This is sunburn weather. Humidity is 68%. I will need to water this evening or tomorrow early. I planted two more celery stubs and 4 inches down the soil was a bit dry feeling.
I have been prepping some 2 liter plastic bottles to hold some of the seedlings i have yet to plant anywhere. They can't go into the flowerbeds yet so they are kind of stuck in the seed flats still. I'll lose them all if i don't plant them into something soon. I made the bottles into self-watering pots. Ugly but serviceable. There they can stay until later when i have space to put them. I am still saving milk jugs for Wintersowing, i'll save them until i use them all up.
The globe artichokes are growing very slowly, i wonder why. Its my first year with them so i have no basis for comparison. Maybe this is normal?
and
The corn is growing like crazy i need to remember to give them some blood meal and side dress them with some fertilizer which i have yet to buy.
There are a bunch of things i need to do still, like harvest castings from the indoor worm bin.
The roller brush with the herbicide....it hasn't happened yet.
Things i need to complain about, like how Triscuit seems to think they invented some "Home Gardening Movement".... puhleease.... home gardening has been going on in my family since half my ancestors came over on boats and before that my other ancestors were already here and had things figured out quite well, thank you very much. Triscuit, who sells a box of crackers for almost $3, made of ingredients that costs them less than 3 cents a box wants to encourage me to 'eat healthy'... Without getting into it too much, i'll just say that a load of manure has more potential nutrition in it than a Triscuit.
Things that i am dreading, like pruning off the clusters of flowers from my Marechal Foch. I know i have to, i intend to, i prepared myself mentally for the reality that grapes have to be treated in just such a way, especially up here where every bit of energy they gather their first summer must be used to fortify themselves for the zone 5 winter ahead. But i want to see grapes. I'm also being a bit pessimistic in expecting the winter to kill the vines and this might be the closest i'll get to having grapes. I want to see the process through. But i have to follow the instructions on this. Not anecdotal instructions, but ones that come from people who have worked with grapes for years, pruned plants on the order of millions....
Now i know i seem a little obsessed, but this is my hobby and some things take a certain amount of obsession to be done right. I really get into things in the beginning, i take in all the information i can find, i think about it, mull it over. Later, if i find that the information i have collected is good and following it has led me to succeed in that area, i let up on the obsession and let the guidelines i found become second nature. If i hit a snag, i become obsessive in that one area until i get it solved.
If it wasn't for some of these challenges i think gardening wouldn't be so much fun. No its not fun to see my prized broccoli and cabbages being decimated by a furry subterranean Houdini... but researching, trying and failing to deter the creature, constructing, reconstructing, and deconstructing the the defenses gave me a challenge with a deadline. The deadline was determined by the appetite of my foe and the growth rate of my vegetables. The irony is that in the end the solution (to this one single raider- it certainly won't work forever) was the first thing i thought of, but the last thing i expected to work. This taught me to never leave any options out.
Oh, did i say how i caught him? I went to a nice Messageboard made up from hunters and trappers in Michigan. I told them of my situation and that i needed a bait that would be more interesting and tempting than my fresh garden vegetables. I was advised to load up the trap, groundhogs are greedy. A piece or two of store-bought broccoli was not going to be tempting enough, but a whole pile of delicious things would be visibly tempting. So i used a small plastic plate and loaded it up with chunks of banana, muskmelon, watermelon, the sacrificed stubs of what had been some of my raided plants, peanut butter, fresh sweet corn, both grape and strawberry jelly.... Within 12 hours i had captured my little furry enemy.
I thanked the guys for their help and my garden has been untouched since.
The rule of woodchucks unfortunately is that there are always more where the first one came from, so i won't declare any sort of victory- ever.
I wonder if my garden would be as interesting to me if Eden-like, it brought forth all manner of unblemished deliciousness. I have thought about that often and i really think it still would. Its that seed planting thing. You can plant a million seeds, but each time one germinates and breaks the soil, there is a thrill that does not get old. Even when things go without a hitch, there is always something else to decide, something to change or something to try out. A different plant, method or technique.
Every morning i go to the window and take a peek at my rows. I normally don't get to escape the house and really take a close look until the little one has begun her nap or the oldest one has gotten up and can watch the little one for me. I often start my mornings with a journal entry here. I'll start at 6:30 and usually by 11 i can get it published. I type between breakfast and cleanup...cups of coffee. The dog goes out and comes back in. I look out the window a few times and try to remember if i recorded some interesting (to me at least) observation about weather, plants, sky.... first sighting of what insect -friendly or ferocious, what flowers are in bloom- which ones have done extra well this year and which were duds. I try to remember bare spots, crowded spaces and plans to change it. I look along the areas waiting to be planted and try to remember if i have planned to plant one thing or three things in that exact spot. I stare at the sun and shade patterns as the season changes and try to decide if there will be enough sun there for the plants i want to grow all season. I wish there was a way to chart it. I wish i had time to chart it. i am almost tempted to get some spray paint and trace the shadows at hourly intervals and then photo it for later reference. Is that too weird? Should i care if it is? It will tell me what i want to know, so why not?
Obsession is only bad if it causes a problem.
I'm a failed perfectionist, i think that is why i feel the need to chart everything....
I did find this interesting webtool:
www.suncalc.net
I may even buy this gadget:
http://www.lusterleaf.com/SunCalc/1875.htm
It has good reviews.
I'm also researching the EasyBloom products which are more expensive, but also provide more than just sunlight readings.
So i might buy another gadget to play with.
Another thing i never got to was the pine litter i planned to gather for the blueberry plants. I was going to mulch them under the row cover with the pine to get the soil nicely acidic. I could probably still do it, but coordinating it might be complicated. I might simply buy a package of Job's Fertilizer spikes for acid loving plants. That is if they acidify the soil as well as fertilize. I'll look it up to be sure.
Its getting close to the time when i have to do something with the Suffolk red grape. I have been putting it off. If i try making it into a potted plant i will have to find a winter home for it. Even if it would make it through the winter, it can't stay where it is right now. It messes up the pattern of plants i have along the fence. Its also in the way because i need to extend the landscape fabric down the line to add in my beach plums, autumn olive, goji and sea-buckthorn, etc.
I did get the cuttings of the porcelainberry vine and the silky dogwood. I don't know if they will root, but i guess it is worth a shot. I might prune the silky dogwood down to the nubs again in the next couple of days and i just might try digging it up and moving it. Then i'll have to move the purple smokebush over. The hydrangea will have to be pruned hard since its getting far too big. I wanted a short accent plant, not another tree sized hydrangea.
I'm tempted to use Roundup on the whole area and then start over. I have some clematis that i don't want to lose though. And i'd hate to lose my spring bulbs. When i actually think about it, i relent, and that is why nothing gets done.
Today's weather started out dim, which is probably a good thing. If it was blazing sun the temp would be well over 85 by now. The sun is just starting to peek out of a hazy sky. This is sunburn weather. Humidity is 68%. I will need to water this evening or tomorrow early. I planted two more celery stubs and 4 inches down the soil was a bit dry feeling.
I have been prepping some 2 liter plastic bottles to hold some of the seedlings i have yet to plant anywhere. They can't go into the flowerbeds yet so they are kind of stuck in the seed flats still. I'll lose them all if i don't plant them into something soon. I made the bottles into self-watering pots. Ugly but serviceable. There they can stay until later when i have space to put them. I am still saving milk jugs for Wintersowing, i'll save them until i use them all up.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The heat wave is almost over....
But first, we have to get through today. High humidity expected, its about 7:30am and the temperature is 80. Humidity is 61%. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, relatively, but after that one more day of extra hot. Then thunderstorms.
I watered the garden as well as i could yesterday morning as i hoped to do, so it shouldn't really need it today.
I took some pictures of things here and there and for my records i'll post them.
I love seeing how fast the plant can grow once this type of weather hits.
Those berry plants i saw on the roadside... i did get to stop and photo them:
In my original guess i was sort of half right. I was wrong when i hoped it was Sea Buckthorn, but i'm confident that i was correct thinking that they are some sort of wild Honeysuckle. I didn't realize that the berries also come in orange as well as red.
Its too bad they are inedible, there's so many of them.
I decided to buy one of those Japanese Beetle Traps yesterday. I know there is debate whether or not they actually attract beetles to your plants or away, but i had so many on my plants i figure it couldn't hurt at this point. I have a porcelainberry vine in the overgrown flower beds and they attract the beetles most shamefully.... Within 2 minutes of opening the pheromone packet, they came swarming! It was like a cross between Hitchcock's "The Birds" and Pearl Harbor rendered in Popillia japonica!
Not sure anyone else can make out the beetles, they are the tiny, white, somewhat blurry spots... there were about 30 of them in the trap within minutes. I'm sure there are hundreds in there by now.
I have green tomatoes! These are Polfast.
Swiss Chard recovering... i think i need to pick some.
Slim Jim eggplant. The leaf color is so deep its almost black. The camera did not capture the color.
I have been thinking that the beds that currently hold overgrown flowers might be better used as veggie or berry plots... if i do decide to go in that direction, i think this plant would be a great edible/ornamental candidate.
Rutabagas.... Two naughty ones trying to go to seed....
.
Provider bush bean flowers
Finoccio
Rosemary
Summer squash... hopefully this one won't fade away.
Sunburst patty pan squash, these are really yummy and best when small, so it won't be long before these are ready to collect.
Blogger is uploading these photos extraordinarily slow today....
Birdhouse gourd.... i think it is going for world domination here.
Watermelon, finally starting to get somewhere. I forget which one this is... the others aren't as big as this.
.
If these flowers set fruit there should be enough time for them to ripen to eating stage before summer is over. We usually run out of time with melons so i hope this year is going to be a good one.
Borage. This plant has struggled to grow, its no more than 8" tall, but it has a flower!
Marechal Foch in bloom. Fascinating teeny flowers.
Edelweiss making an unexpected comeback.
The big tree hydrangea budding up.
Marigolds from seed... finally blooming. These are in a large pot at the front door, there are others scattered throughout the veggie garden. They are also beginning to bloom. The potted ones are Aurora Mix from Park Seed.
This rose came with the house. Its been hit pretty hard by the Japanese Beetles, but it manages to bloom nicely anyway. I think i found the name tag that goes with it, but i don't remember for sure what the name is. I think it might have been Mary Washington ... its some historical American woman's name at any rate.
.Purple Smokebush. I need to move it someplace it can spread out. The silky dogwood is crowding it out. I might take cuttings of the dogwood and then use an herbicide on the rest. I can't dig it out like i want to.
Not exactly sure what this is, i tried to get it ID'd at Gardenweb and i think they guessed "Nettle-leaved Bellflower" but this plant looks more hefty than the pictures i have been seeing online, but i think i agree.
Yes, the picture is upside down. I couldn't reach through the raspberry canes (they belong to the nice neighbors but the plants have totally invaded my flowerbed) to get a picture any other way.
Clematis Henryi
My Bay Laurel might have enough leaves this year for me to harvest and use without killing the plant. lol
I bought some landscape fabric yesterday. When the hot weather lets up i hope to start digging up the flowerbeds. I'll have to use herbicide on some of the ornamental grasses that have overstayed their welcome and overgrown their boundaries. Then i can use the landscape fabric to prevent things from getting so darn crazy so quickly. It only took one year (the year i spent on the couch in recovery) for the gardens to totally get out of control. I don't ever want to see that happen again.
Well, that is pretty much it. The rest of the day will consist of house work. I might take a roller brush with herbicide on it to the aisles in my garden. The weeds are harder to pull from there because the earth is packed. Some of the weeds are trying to go to seed and i can't allow that.
I watered the garden as well as i could yesterday morning as i hoped to do, so it shouldn't really need it today.
I took some pictures of things here and there and for my records i'll post them.
I love seeing how fast the plant can grow once this type of weather hits.
Those berry plants i saw on the roadside... i did get to stop and photo them:
Its too bad they are inedible, there's so many of them.
Not sure anyone else can make out the beetles, they are the tiny, white, somewhat blurry spots... there were about 30 of them in the trap within minutes. I'm sure there are hundreds in there by now.
I have green tomatoes! These are Polfast.
Swiss Chard recovering... i think i need to pick some.
Slim Jim eggplant. The leaf color is so deep its almost black. The camera did not capture the color.
I have been thinking that the beds that currently hold overgrown flowers might be better used as veggie or berry plots... if i do decide to go in that direction, i think this plant would be a great edible/ornamental candidate.
.
Provider bush bean flowers
Finoccio
Rosemary
Sunburst patty pan squash, these are really yummy and best when small, so it won't be long before these are ready to collect.
Blogger is uploading these photos extraordinarily slow today....
Birdhouse gourd.... i think it is going for world domination here.
Watermelon, finally starting to get somewhere. I forget which one this is... the others aren't as big as this.
.
If these flowers set fruit there should be enough time for them to ripen to eating stage before summer is over. We usually run out of time with melons so i hope this year is going to be a good one.
Borage. This plant has struggled to grow, its no more than 8" tall, but it has a flower!
Marechal Foch in bloom. Fascinating teeny flowers.
Edelweiss making an unexpected comeback.
The big tree hydrangea budding up.
Marigolds from seed... finally blooming. These are in a large pot at the front door, there are others scattered throughout the veggie garden. They are also beginning to bloom. The potted ones are Aurora Mix from Park Seed.
This rose came with the house. Its been hit pretty hard by the Japanese Beetles, but it manages to bloom nicely anyway. I think i found the name tag that goes with it, but i don't remember for sure what the name is. I think it might have been Mary Washington ... its some historical American woman's name at any rate.
.Purple Smokebush. I need to move it someplace it can spread out. The silky dogwood is crowding it out. I might take cuttings of the dogwood and then use an herbicide on the rest. I can't dig it out like i want to.
Not exactly sure what this is, i tried to get it ID'd at Gardenweb and i think they guessed "Nettle-leaved Bellflower" but this plant looks more hefty than the pictures i have been seeing online, but i think i agree.
Yes, the picture is upside down. I couldn't reach through the raspberry canes (they belong to the nice neighbors but the plants have totally invaded my flowerbed) to get a picture any other way.
I bought some landscape fabric yesterday. When the hot weather lets up i hope to start digging up the flowerbeds. I'll have to use herbicide on some of the ornamental grasses that have overstayed their welcome and overgrown their boundaries. Then i can use the landscape fabric to prevent things from getting so darn crazy so quickly. It only took one year (the year i spent on the couch in recovery) for the gardens to totally get out of control. I don't ever want to see that happen again.
Well, that is pretty much it. The rest of the day will consist of house work. I might take a roller brush with herbicide on it to the aisles in my garden. The weeds are harder to pull from there because the earth is packed. Some of the weeds are trying to go to seed and i can't allow that.
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