Getting there

I got the leeks in yesterday.  I'm not sure it was the best place to put them,  right in front of the potatoes...
in the 18 inches behind the potatoes i planted some striped maize.  Japonica striped maize to be specific.  However i was being watched closely by a perky, gray Catbird and i'm not sure if she's going to undo my work.

Lack of room seems to be this year's gardening theme.

When i run the rows North to South instead of East to West i lose a few feet on each row so i have less room. But i do it to enforce a fairly consistent crop rotation thing.  This year, as usual, i overbooked my space. Turns out that the almost complete failure of the root crop row has freed up some space for some of that overbooking.  I put in a whole row of sunflowers there.  In between the sunflowers,  i tucked in the broccoli.  The sunflowers look good,  but the broccoli are pathetic. Barely 3 inches high and a malnourished color.  Most of my seedlings spent too much time languishing in the seed flats with either too much water or too little and fertilizing attempts were somewhat wasted when the trays overflowed with rainwater and roots suffered further when they didn't properly drain.

I got the rest of the squashes in and most of the herbs.  There's a couple flat-leaved parsley, a few lettuce-leafed basil and some pathetic looking Red Russian kale.

This is what i am doing to try and contain some of the overflow.

SOme herbs, some chinese cabbage, assorted salad greens seedlings, flowers and a few pots of herbs i just seeded. I realized with annoyance yesterday that i have no more cilantro seeds.

The tomatoes are looking great. They need pruning and i have to get them staked and twined.  That is planned for today.

Eggplants and peppers.... The peppers already have blooms and little fruit started.

Freshly planted ornamental sunflowers:

A couple broccoli plants tucked in among them.   I didn't want to put the broccoli on plastic. They are heat stressed enough and i don't think broccoli likes the extra heat from the plastic later in the season.

The beans are looking good.  Wish i had allowed room for another row of them.  I might be able to sneak some in on the other side of the cuke/melon row....  early enough so they won't get shaded out?

I have seeds for Yard Long beans.  I read a lot that vining beans are room savers,  but the trellising and staking seems to be beyond my ability to plan for,  so it never happens.  Instead of bush beans i just might sneak in a few yard-long seeds behind the melons....



a little while later....

Tomatoes,  Pruned, staked and weaved.

Lessons in seed starting soil.

Because of generally decent price and constant availability,  i normally use Miracle Grow Seed starting mix.  After i used up most of the Miracle Grow i bought a bag of Pro Mix potting soil and continued seeding.  The Pro Mix seedlings look very different than the MG seedlings.

This is two seedlings of Ancient Sweet peppers growing in Pro Mix



And these are Snapper sweet peppers and Raveena eggplant growing in MG




Also,  my tomato seedlings have also  had a purple tinge to the underside of their leaves when grown in MG, though MG SS mix claims to have extra nitrogen in it.  I can't seem to get that color to show up well in pictures.



Now the eggplant and peppers in the peat pots...   it could have something to do with that and the fact that the Ancients are in a paper tray,  but its pretty drastic for that to make such a difference.

So,  even though the Pro Mix was not labeled for seed starting ( i forget the exact product,  but i'll remember the packaging for next year)  i'll be using it next year instead of the MG.  I sterilize it anyway when i wet the soil in a bucket.

No more Miracle Grow.

Finally planted some more!

I got all of the tomatoes planted, the schizandra, some borage, basil, the Ancient sweet peppers and nasturtiums.

Tomatoes:
Cherokee Purple
Martino's Roma
Matt's Wild Cherry
Mortgage Lifter
San Marzano Lampadina
and
San Marzano from Providence Acres

Nasturtium- Trailing mix
Borage- common
Basil- Genovese

Sweet Peppers- Ancient

and 26 Schizandra Chinensis seeds.

I didn't take pictures of the dirt filled pots,  but i do have pics of things i saw in the last few days:

Not sure if this is a mushroom or a lichen.


The colors were really that blue

And this is a picture of an oak leaf that melted straight into the ice:



I scraped a teeny bit of bark off one of my Carmine Jewel cherry plants and saw green!  Looks like this one made it ok so far


Moving some pieces of wood,  i noticed one with what looks like toe prints


Garden looks so awful at this time of year.  Its hard to believe that in a few months it will be green again

Tomato caging and pruning.

Now and then i whine about not getting how to prune indeterminate tomatoes no matter how much i read.  I hadn't found instructions that came with pictures or illustrations to go along with the text. I'm a visual learner,  so just reading won't get me where i need to be.  Also trellising.  I have tried a few makeshift ideas,  but last year was the worst.  I used standard cone cages that i thought i could stake upright,  but the cages snapped and the stakes still leaned over.  Then blight came and it didn't matter anymore.

However,  i did find some videos i need to save:




Pruning tomatoes

A lot going on actually

I just don't know where to start.

The blueberries are almost done,  we've gotten a number of overflowing handfuls of beautiful, flavorful berries this year. That's even with my youngest daughter grabbing the unripe ones before they all started to ripen.

My tomatoes are going strong.  We have many green tomatoes growing and sizing up.  We ran out of tomato cages this Spring so only about a third are caged up,  the others are kinda growing naturally-- which i know is going to turn into a big mess, lol.  I know they can be staked,  but that takes pruning and its way too late for that.   Besides,  after all my reading i still don't get how to stake and prune tomatoes.

Out weeding and my daughter pulled up my Kai Lan Queen kales.  I guess its ok.  We haven't more than snacked from them.  If i grow them again i'll do a whole row,  they don't seem to produce enough tips for a meal all at once if you only plant 3.

Three days ago she picked our first Golden Zebra summer squash.  It was a little small (5 inches or less) but it was crisp and flavorful.  I'll plant it again.  More are on the way.

Funny thing happened to one of my beach plums and one of my cherry plants.  The main stem seems to have died,  all the leaves crumbled and dried,  but both are resprouting at the roots.  They are on opposite ends of the yard and looked like they got hit with Round-up or something.  Butthey are coming back strong anyway.

The green beans are flowering right now, looks like a good potential crop.

The weather has finally cooled down,  we'd been dry and hot for the last 2 weeks the lawn is going brown in places which has my hubby all annoyed. 


Well thats it for now.  I'm still working on getting my phone working for posting,  hopefully i'll get some pics up with it soon!

Photo post

Grape patch

Autumn Olive,  growing like the weed that it is.

The healthier of the two Carmine Jewel cherry plants

Blueberries and Lingonberries

Lingonberry flowers

Blueberries in fruit

Side bed all filled up

The less impressive Carmine Jewel cherry,  i hope it survives winter

The Yard

Wild kitty in my garden,  digging in the bean row

Other end of the Yard

Autumn Olive a few weeks later-- even bigger than before

Goldbeere Elderberry

York (left) and Nova (right) Elderberries

Caerulea Blue elderberry

Grape row

Full garden shot

Photo shortly after getting most everything planted in.

I've enjoyed things so far this year.  I have managed to keep up with the weeds at this point- using my scuffle hoe.  Keeping my 3-year-old and feral kitties out of the garden has been the main challenge.  I lost a cucumber plant the other day to one of the two. At this point, its too late to do anything about it.

Next year i definitely have to get an earlier start with seeds,  i held myself too tight this time and then ran out of time.  The older my little one gets,  the easier it should be,  i'll be able to direct her away from things more easily. 

Its been a cool couple of weeks,  its been in the 60's during the day,  40-50's overnight.  We are expecting 90 degree weather in the next few days,  the cool air does not seem to have damaged anything,  but things like the beans are growing slowly.  The tomatoes are about to bloom though and the grapes are in full flush right now.  The cukes and squashes have just kind of sat there.

We'll see what a few days in the 90's can do to get things going.

Drenched

We got some good rain this weekend,  its been a steady downpour since Saturday evening.

My hubby wanted me to try those Jobe's fertilizer spikes for tomatoes since our soil is so sandy we suspect much of the fertilizers get washed away rather quickly.  I poked them in the other day,  i expect them to make a difference.

My squash and cuke seeds and seedlings are still in the flat,  they are going slow and some are not germinating at all.  I'll be lucky if i get one Delicata plant.  The butternut are large though and almost ready to go in.

I really started them too late,  but the germination  percent is quite disappointing. I planted two seeds in each pot.

The rain has overflowed the flats so i'll need to drain them...again.  So much rain,  its been steady for almost 3 days now.  I expect my green bean seeds have been well watered by now, lol

Stanley will have to be staked again,  the water on his leaves has him bending down  alarmingly once more.  I'm still not understanding this pruning thing,  i simply don't know what needs to be cut.  I let my grapes go this year,  it warmed up way too fast for me to get in and winter prune,  so i'm letting them go just to see what it "looks like" when they grow on their own.  I think i have enough of a handle on how to prune grapes that i can make repairs next spring.

I need also to make name plates for my plants.  I'm not sure how i'll do this.  They are outgrowing their nursery tags and they'll have to be removed .....  and i'm forgetful. I want to know who is who.  I am very disorganised at the same time i like to be precise.  I'll spend hours charting and graphing,  but in the end i just wing it.   Like this year.   I mapped and plotted with my Grow Veg subscription,  but when it got  down to it,  i didn't print it off,  i just dug in and planted.  This year i didn't even label varieties,  some of the tomatoes i recognise by sight this year (pruden's purple, san marzanos and aunt molly's ground cherries) and the kales (red russian and kai lan queen),  i know where the beans are.  The squashes i'll know by the time they grow and the cukes will sort themselves out.  Once the rain stops and i can start digging again,  i'll plant them out.

I did find my camera cable (yay!)   but no pics because of the rain.  I plan to do a picture post soon. Maybe i'll do one of those "Wordless Wednesday" posts i see other bloggers doing.

Thunder and rain

It would have been nice to know we were going to get heavy rain overnight and today.  I would have planted bean seeds.  Last night the forecast called for 0.08 inches of rain.  My guess is about 3.0 inches of rain.  It was nice, however,  to be woken up a few times last night by flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder.  I find it relaxing.

If i had known,  i would have finished mounding and digging the rows and planted those green bean seeds,  i don't like to manually water if i can help it.  It would have been perfect.

But the tomatoes are enjoying it and the kales and ground cherries. It has been on the dry side since i planted and the rain was really needed.

Still,  it would have been nice to know! lol

Tomatoes Planted

Got all the tomatoes planted today.  What a relief to get that  done on time. 

Last plant

My male Seabuckthorn came in this morning (Friday),  so that is the last of my plants.

Did i mention that my dad delivered me 3/4 of a yard of black mulch on Monday?  I expect it to be almost more than enough to mulch all the beds fairly deep.  I'll be working on that over the next few days or weeks if the rain stays away  ...after i get Mr Seabuckthorn planted.  He's acclimating right now.

Marechal Foch (grape) is the first to open leaves this year,  such a vigorous plant.

Some of the blossoms are dropping off of the blueberry plants.  I really hope something pollinated them.

It looks like i can gauge the timing of my grapes leafing out  when the apple tree is in full bloom.

My tomato seedlings look good,  i just put them out in the shade today (Saturday),  the night time temps look steady in the high 40's to mid 50's,  so i think its ok.   They have reached the maximum height of my lights,  so its time to get them some real light.  It will be time to sow more things in the next couple days.

Catch-up

Didn't i say i was going to plug in the list of what i seeded the other day?

So i'll do it now:

Tomatoes
4 Pruden's Purple
2 Sweet Chelsea
4 San Marzano Lampadina
4 Banana Legs
4 San Marzano from Providence Acres
3 Aunt Molly'sGround Cherries (also from Providence Acres)

Everything is up except 2 Banana Legs and the 4 Aunt Molly's

Kale
3 Red Russian
3 Kai Lan Queen
1 Starbor   (only had one seed left!)
3 Peacock Red- Flowering
3 Fringed Formula- Flowering
3 Teasel
2 Saltwort

None up yet.  They are outside anyway.  In the weirdly warm weather  we've been getting.

I may rethink the teasel. I often wanted it for a couple interesting seedheads, but further research calls it a potentially noxious weed,  and i had assumed this biennial plant was an annual and not hardy to my area.

I am going to try and make room for some Job's Tears and Leonotis,  Job's Tears have such pretty seeds for beading and i love the Leonotis flowers.

So...  i'll probably stuff  some Job's Tear seeds in the Teasel pots and call it good.  Same with the Saltwort.  Further  research on that shows seed viability of about 4 months. {facepalm} My seeds are 2 years old.  Bleh.

My Carmine Jewel cherry trees came today.  They look pretty good actually. Small,  but fully leafed, sturdy little things.  I am not disappointed.  Wish i could post a pic,  but like i mentioned before,  i can't find my camera-to-laptop cable or my minidisk adapter.

The grapes are now waking up and getting full sun much of the day.  The apple is getting pink buds.  The blueberries are getting ready to blossom. The prune plum has leafed out, lilac buds are the length of my index finger, grape buds are swelling, the Autumn olive is looking good, the asparagus is almost 2 feet tall (can be harvested next spring).  Well,  i think that is it for today...

'Maters

Looks like German Orange Strawberry is leading the ripening race

Blueberries are really coming on,  they are too yummy to take pics though!

Pictures June, 28, 2011

Finally decided to retake the pictures i lost in the computer fiasco.  Please excuse the weeds... between rain and my limited time its been hard to keep up again this year- even with my scuffle hoe.

 Remove the bug and it will look delicious!

 Potatoes--  i think i should take pics of the garden from this side more often.  Our patio might be littered with toddler toys but its a better backdrop than our neighbors' melted siding and bare clapboard! lol

 Tomato, cucumber and 49r summer squash.  I'm really disappointed by the cucumbers.  They are going very slowly. I've learned for next year to not direct sow anything! lol

 One tricky thing about raised beds is how quickly weeds grow up the slopes. 


49r summer squash....  Not sure if that silvery color along the veins is normal for this variety.  I had wanted to plant Golden Zebra, but 49r came as the substitute.

Tomatoes are starting to bloom!

Front end of the tomatoes

 Potatoes again

 Kossack kohlrabi and then cabbages.  There are some volunteer tomatoes in that row where the kohlrabi are. I'm planning on leaving them there so when i harvest the kohlrabi, i can have some extra tomatoes growing. I'm guessing they are from the yellow pear tomatoes i had last year.

 Onions. They always look so bare and forsaken.  The herbs are at the far end with the marigolds.  I have parsley, oregano, dill, basil, rosemary, cilantro and sage.

 Mostly full shot.  The empty spot near the clump of marigolds is where i planted the second round of green beans.

 Some houseplants vacationing outside. Mostly hoyas,  some citrus, cloves and a jade plant.   I need to bring my cardamom plant and bay laurel outside too.

My potted fig

My Nova elderberry might be thinking about setting a bloom. It would be a nice treat to see that in its first year. 

My unnamed elderberry from last year died to the ground, so its no closer to blooming right now than it was in fall of last year.


Stanley simply looks awesome.

Blueberries, starting to get blue

Comfrey, Bocking 14

It needed water, but the big leaves are almost the length of my arm from wrist to elbow.  This is the infertile type, propagation is by crowns i guess--- not sure if cuttings can be taken from this plant with its growth habit.  I'm hoping to be able to share these out because they are not cheap or easy to find.

So i got to take a little stroll around the house with no purpose but to enjoy it. I just let myself look at things for how they are right now, not how they will look once i can get this or that done- or how they will look if they survive the winter or how i have to prune in a year...  It was nice to be able to let go of some of my self-inflicted anxiety for once.
The air was fresh and warm, little breeze making the leaves float a little on the branches...  birds were chirping. The sun was getting ready to set.  It was really nice to just be in my little yard with all the things growing.