Picture post

I got my Bountiful Gardens seed order yesterday. That was fast. The seeds look good and there are plenty of them.
I got things like SeaKale, Schizandra,  Serviceberry, Amole and Hawthorn, among other things

My Horizon Herbs order has not shipped yet, i looked up my account and it says backorder.... so i guess i won't know for a while.  I'm a little annoyed, i wish the website was kept up to date better.  If something is unavailable it should not be purchasable until it is ready. Its not a huge problem to me, but i'm just sayin'.....

Shopping bag-full in the fridge

Out in the garden i have more yellow squashes.  I'm still enjoying it but the yearly novelty has worn off.
I need to pick more green beans today and i'm out of room in the freezer so i will eat or give them away.
They aren't producing enough for a big enough canner-load that i'd consider worth the effort.  If i had ripe tomatoes i'd do some cans of beans and some cans of tomatoes in one load.
I have been enjoying the Canning forum at the Ball website.  Its a bit slow there, but the members do answer questions within a day and seem to know their stuff.  They are also patient with multiple questions.

I have an  Artichoke!

And... what is this?

A little closer....

Ooooh!  Its turning color!

I didn't expect Siberia to be the first to start ripening. It was the last tomato seedling i was able to get in the garden and it was not the first to flower. Its also partially shaded from both ends- the corn in the morning and the other tomatoes by the afternoon....

And look at all these green tomatoes!

Even the Topsy Turvy is putting a real effort forward.

Size comparison with the onions

Hale's Best i think....

Are you ready for some Football?   Almost.

Unfortunately the Pony Yellow cracked,  but there are more.
;;

Surprised this missed my daughter's attention....

Carnival squash

The great pumpkin turning orange

A  Point One cabbage that seems to have fully recovered

Corn silk

And tassels

Siberian Motherwort

The patio set...  sans camp chairs. It was threatening rain so we put them away.  We got those Coleman folding canvas chairs. They are more convenient than non-foldy chairs because we can take them anywhere and they store much easier.

And this is Chuck...  Chuck likes collard greens....

Chuck won't be eating my collard greenss anymore, since he has been relocated to a nice place about 8 miles from here.

Oh, and here's what my hubby calls my Nuclear Reactor

Its the warning stickers that freak him out.


We've had sporadic rain showers but nothing substantial. It has gotten hotter in the last day or so and humidity was really high today. Nothing like the middle of the US is getting.

Still trying to keep up on weeding. That seems to be the way of it this time of year.
The seeds i got from Bountiful Gardens will likely be Wintersown since they are shrubby or hardy type plants.

I need to sort through my collection so i have some idea of what i have going on or else i will end up buying even more seeds....  i can't use them all as it is!


,

Quiet day, so far.

Expecting rain today, which means there won't be a lot of outside time. Good thing its not supposed to be heavy rain.

I moved the new plant tower out to the driveway to catch any available sun before the clouds take over completely, and this time i strapped the thing to the post of the basketball hoop with a length of stout airline cable my hubby had for tying down the bicycles when the neighborhood kids were in theft mode.

If that doesn't hold i down i will have to stake it to the ground i guess.


Here's the one that behaves:

I need to move it out to full sun soon as well and then the covers can probably come off when the rain moves on.



Pictures of sprouts:

broccoli

buttercrunch lettuce

shallots and Welsh onions

the rosemary that wasn't expected to do anything

I added my seed stash list yesterday, it is going to take some time to finish it. I am amazed at how many different seeds i have. Total junkie. They aren't all veggies either. But a lot are old and i tried to use those up this year -not expecting much of them.
I also ordered more herb and 'stuff' seeds from Richters...


I have been trying to find one plant for about 16 years.

It was a plant i saw when i was visiting my sister when she lived in San Diego, CA. It was some sort of  silvery colored mint that had a bergamot look to it, had those whorled clumps of flowers... i had picked a single cluster because i liked the smell and i brought it back with me and kept it in the console of my car for a few years before it disintegrated.

  I have tried a few plants that turned out to not be it, from wild monardas and cultivated bee balm, to pennyroyal, jerusalem sage and even leonits leonura....    i think i may have finally found it, maybe. It is a leonotis but it is siberica  (Siberian Motherwort) i am trying it out this year. I'm pretty well anchored by smells and i think if it is the right one i will know right off... the leaves are different from monardas- which is how i was also pretty certain they were not the ones as they were growing from seed...
The smell was a little citrusy, minty and herbal.  I am also trying out monarda citrodora just in case.


So, we will see.  But its been a very long search and it might not be over yet.

I prepped up 3 more flats to re sow my herbs that got bunked yesterday. I ran out to the Miracle Grow seed mix so i had bought some Jiffy.  Big difference in textures. The MG seed stuff is much like regular potting soil, spongy and heavy. The juffy mix is very light and almost pure vermiculite and powdered peat.  I'm used to using peat pellets so i am not very well versed on the pros and cons of different brand mixes. But i really like the fine texture of the Jiffy mix. If it works out well i might use only that from year to year.

It does seem dryer though, and if i were to spray it with a regular spray bottle to water the seeds, it would just blow away. I even bought the bags that felt heaviest to be sure i didn't get mix that had dried out too much. I watered the bottoms of the flats heavily and i am going to see if the mix will draw up the water so i don't have to spray,  if it was sunny out today i'd put the flats on the driveway with the clear domes on top and that would evaporate the water to the top. But they are just sitting on my counter for now....  does not look or feel like the mix is pulling the water in yet.  I need to buy a pump mister anyway, i need it for seedlings, but it could also help with this.


I hope my dad will be able to get the tractor out this weekend to rototill the plot....  we need to get that ryegrass tilled under and decomposing. The weeds need to be disrupted too... later any survivors will meet the Mantis tiller, then planting can happen and then i can get the hoops up... or i'll hoop it first.  Have not decided.  I also wanted to lay down some plastic to get the soil warmer faster...  but i think i have 45 days left and when i can only get help on weekends,  we are running out of them.

Eep! 

It is all very exciting for me cause i love this stuff.