Starting to Grow

I wanted to show you my vegetable plot. It is slowly filling in. The peas enjoyed the cool spring and we've had handfuls of snow peas daily for a while now. The "Wando" shelling peas still need a few more days to get to a good size. I don't notice many new blossoms so I think our heat wave may have told them to stop producing. The zucchini are doing OK, just a bit behind previous years. Some of the zucchini appear to have vine borer damage. I just learned that you can bury the stem of squash if it gets damaged, as it will grow more roots along the stem. I will try burying the damaged areas. The plants themselves look great and leafy. We have had some lettuce to eat, though not nearly as much as last year. The kale is starting to look respectable. I think I'll plant more kale where the peas are when the peas are all done producing.
The sweet peas have finally woken up and started blooming. We've had enough to bring in two full bouquets already. They say the trick is to keep them well-picked so they will keep blooming, and to keep them cool. They've been sitting out there waiting to grow since February, so I hope they've put in a good root system to keep themselves cool and watered on our few unusually hot days. I wish I could post a scent for you. They are just lovely.

My Oregon Spring tomatoes are looking pretty good. I don't think we'll have any in July as these are advertised to do, but it's been a strange year with the weather. I'm just happy to see a tomato!

The scarlet runner beans are climbing up the trellis very quickly with huge leaves. The Kentucky Lake Pole beans, on the other hand, have had a hard start. We had a lot of rain and cold weather when I first planted the seeds, and most of the first set got eaten by slugs. I bought more seed and tried again, with the addition of slug bait every other day. That sounds excessive, but the slugs have been out of control this year. I finally have a good bunch of pole beans going and husband added more slug bait last night. In the middle of the picture is a Sugar Pie pumpkin volunteer plant. I threw our pumpkin out there last fall just to see what would happen. And now I know! I don't think slugs like pumpkin leaves. They appear to be untouched.

I ran out of cultivated, non-lawn ground, so I'm growing four tomato plants and four pepper plants in pots. The tomatoes are in 5-gallon buckets. They are looking pretty good for the most part. They are in a nice sunny spot and I have a few green tomatoes growing. The peppers are starting to blossom. It's a late start because of our cold spring. I hope that with the number of plants I have, I will have a respectable harvest sometime in August.




Our Berkeley blueberries are getting bigger but we still have a while to wait till they are blue and ready to eat. We put up some netting in the hopes that we will eat the berries before our resident robin family gets to them.

Sorry, no pictures of the strawberries. The kids eat them as soon as they get red. Few make it inside the house.

Rain

Between rain-showers today, I went outside to survey my flowers. Here is a surprisingly early Indian Blanket Flower (Gaillardia pulchella). These flowers first came to my garden via a wildflower mix I spread around one year. The only flower I can remember getting that year was a single marigold, but the next year I had some Indian Blanket flowers and some Bachelor's Buttons. I have been letting them seed themselves and they faithfully return each year. The Indian Blankets have gotten better each year and flower through October. So I have several months still to enjoy these.




I just love Violas, and this one has some unusual coloring.


Out in the back yard, I've eaten a few very good Tri-Star strawberries already. The kids have eaten a bunch of Alpine strawberries. They love foraging for them. Preschooler has enjoyed a radish or two though I'm afraid most of them have some tiny icky worms in them.

The cold weather and rain seems to have been slowing down the garden. We still haven't had a salad from the lettuce, but I'm hopeful that we will by the end of next week. I had to spread more slug bait because everything had holes chewed into them. The kale is slowly recovering from the slug damage but the kholrabi just doesn't look like it's going to produce anything. Maybe I'm being impatient. The spinach is languishing. I'll dig up another spot for spinach seeds with more compost and see if it does better there.

Yesterday, we had a dry spell for the day and I took advantage of that by putting out three spaghetti squash seedlings and planting cucumber, dill and green onion seeds. Now, because of the rain, the spaghetti squash is practically laying down in the soil so I spread a bunch of slug bait around to keep those pests from chewing down my potential harvest. I also managed to seed my pole green beans and scarlet runner pole beans.

During the next dry spell, I will set out my "Eight Ball" zucchini, regular green zucchini and sugar pumpkin seedlings. I still need to wait for warmer weather before I can get the pepper plants outside. Looks like next week will be warm so maybe I'll give it a go then and see how they do. I still have carrot and fennel to seed. It's a busy time here even as I wait and hope for a relief from this rain.

Peonies in the Cold

I got three huge blooms from the peony this year. The first spring that we were in this house, I decided to clean up the border along the back of the house where the roses are. I weeded, laid out newspaper and covered it with mulch. I started to see something growing up next to the roses and was annoyed by this stubborn weed growing up through my mulch. So I cut it back. I'm not sure for how long I cut this thing back, but last year I let it grow and saw big beautiful flowers grow from it. Soon I realized that it is not a weed, but a peony. Huge blooms with lots of petals. Glad I took a photo because the blooms really don't last long.

This is one of my birthday irises. Blooming the first year in, not bad!

I was surprised to see the Spanish Lavender growing out front already. It's beating it's peers by a few weeks at least. The Spanish is my favorite lavender. I like it's purple tufts at the top.

In other garden news, preschooler has already eaten about a dozen Alpine Strawberries. The Tri-star and Seascape strawberries might be ready within the next month. Apparently, I made a mistake when I planted tomatoes behind a row of strawberries. Of course, I researched my garden placements too late, once I'd already done it. It turns out the strawberries can get some of the same diseases (Fusarium and Verticillium Wilt) as tomatoes, so it's not recommended to plant them in the same spot. I will leave things as they are but I will keep it in mind for next time. There's always the chance that both the strawberries and tomatoes will grow and ripen just fine. My tomatoes are all resistant to at least one of those diseases, and both Tri-star and Seascape strawberries are labeled "disease resistant", so I will call it an experiment and see what happens.

I think I'll have some pepper plants to pass out soon. I have about a dozen down in the basement and I don't know where I'd put them all. We really need to dig up some more of the lawn for a bigger garden next year. Peppers are great for freezing and the whole family loves them, so the more the merrier if I have a place to put them. Perhaps I can squeeze a few into the flower garden out front?

Mayuary

Yes, that is a new word. Mayuary means a time when a given area has the exact same weather in May as it did in January. As is happening here. A few days ago, we had a winter storm warning with high winds and snow up in the mountains. The good thing is, the snow pack is back up and once again we have no worries for drought this summer. Nonetheless, our high summer water rates are back. I really wish I had another option to water my garden, but all we have is city water. Anyways, right now it's a balmy 49 degrees outside on this 5th day of May 2010. I'll admit it's a little humorous. I'll also admit that I am tired of the chilly weather and I am wishing for a perfect 73 degree day. The lettuce is just sitting out there barely growing and the spinach looks extremely sad. Looks like my cold weather plants have some more time left. The peas are growing happily as are the strawberries.

Which brings me to the battle against ants and their aphids. I have learned that little sugar type ants farm aphids. The ants bring aphids into their nests and keep them over the winter, then in the spring, the ants plant the aphids onto your favorite plants with new growth, and farm them. Sometimes, the ants remove the aphids' wings so they will just stay in one spot. Then the ants feed off of the "discharge" from the aphids as they suck on your plants. The ants also go after the natural predators of aphids, such as ladybugs and their larvae. What I have done is allow husband to go after the ants any way he chooses, because only by getting the ants can we control the aphids. I'm refusing to spray my plants with anything besides insecticidal soap, so it works to let husband go after the ant nests as he hunts and destroys them. I hope we can get the ants under control, then I plan to buy some extra ladybugs and "plant" them in our yard to build the ladybug population back up. I'm providing a link to one of the many articles on this creepy ant behavior: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009212548.htm

In other news, I was curious as to why some of my tomato plants have leaves curling inwards while they otherwise look fine. I found an interesting article that put my worries to rest. I will just try to water more carefully and hope for the best. Here is a link to the article in case your tomatoes are doing the same:
http://www.gardenguides.com/95515-causes-curled-tomato-plant-leaves.html

Spanish Bluebells

The first spring that we lived in this house, I was happily surprised to see a few Spanish bluebells growing at the edge of the walk. A year or two later when I saw them getting crowded, I decided to dig some bulbs up and spread them around out front. Now they are lining the front flower garden on two sides. They do spread like mad, so I don't worry when I go to put in a summer annual and spear or dig up several bulbs in the process. Spanish bluebells spread by growing baby bulbs and also by seed. I've decided to cut them down before they go to seed to keep them contained to certain areas. Right now I am enjoying these super easy bloomers.

These forget-me-nots put themselves here out front! I laughed when I saw a 3" pot at the nursery going for $3.49. Seriously? Maybe I should start a forget-me-not nursery business.

Here's a little view of that front flower garden. A few plants are waking up and it's looking prettier each day. I went out and seeded some dwarf Cosmos, Cosmos Sensations, German Chamomile and Pansies.

These tulips came with the house. They have, surprisingly, been naturalizing. This is unusual because tulips don't like our soggy winter soil. I think these have been happy because they are under the eaves against the house where they keep dry.

Wando shelling peas are starting to creep up. I also have spinach, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, arugula, cilantro, green onions and chives planted outside. I need to get on with the parsley but I admit I've been procrastinating due to past failures. I need help with germinating parsley seeds. Last year I just bought a parsley plant.

Here are my Seascape strawberries in the strawberry pot. This is only 10 of my 29 plants.

Indoor gardening:

I have several pepper, basil and tomato plants started inside. I have "Gypsy" pepper, which is sweet and matures to yellow, and miniature red bell peppers. I also started "Honey-Bunch Grape", "Oregon Spring", and "Roma VF" tomatoes.

I double-planted my gypsy peppers because they were being so slow that I almost gave up on the first set. I decided to put them in a warmer spot. I have a kitchen cupboard that has an old heat vent underneath. I used to use it to rise bread, but now I've found that it's a good, warm place to put basil and pepper seeds to germinate. I plant the seeds in my cell trays as usual, and keep them in the warm cupboard until I spot any growth. Then I move them into light. It works and now I have at least 9 gypsy pepper starts. It's my version of greenhouse gardening, without all the fancy supplies.

The tomatoes did fine germinating in the basement along a large south-facing window. Once it starts warming up into the mid-60's outside, I will probably start hardening off the tomatoes, peppers, and basil by putting them outside on dry days, and bringing them back in at night.

Early Spring Bouquet

I am so happy with this blend of "Tete-a-Tete" Narcissus and purple Crocuses in a back border. It looks like a little patch of Easter colors. The Crocuses have been here and gone already, but these Narcissus' just keep sitting pretty back there. I planted these in fall, actually there are several drifts just like this; the bulbs were my birthday gift from husband. Definitely the gift that keeps on giving.

More of my birthday gift peeking up for a surprise. This is Puschkinia libanotica. It is very tiny, 3-4 inches tall. I planted a mixed pack of bulbs that also came with large Crocus, Iris danfordiae and Chionodoxa luciliae. I now wish I had planted them in drifts according to kind, because now they are spaced few and far between and flower at different times. I have heard that this particular flower will naturalize in time, so I might have to wait for more. I do like this tiny flower with its dainty stripes.

This is an Anemone (windflower). It is supposed to naturalize very well, so though they are a bit thin this year, I am looking forward to them filling in over time. They've been blooming for several weeks now and keep getting more flowers.

The vegetable plot is ready to go. This year I put a little path down the center. I plan to plant more closely together this year in square plots instead of rows, and use the center path to access everything. Just waiting for some warm weather. After an unusually warm winter, spring is now COLD. Back in the warm stretch, I put up some cages for my bush peas. I planted Wando shelling peas in two cages, and Oregon Sugar Snap II in two more cages. They are finally starting to come up, and I have been sprinkling slug bait every few weeks to keep my seedlings from turning into slug-fest 2010.

I have also seeded in the garden: spinach, kale, kohlrabi and radishes.


Twenty-nine bare-root Seascape strawberry plants arrived in the mail from Nichols Garden Nursery a couple of weeks ago. I was able to plant ten of them in a new strawberry pot, and found room for the rest in borders along the back of the house. Hopefully, with this many plants, I will have so many berries, we will have to share! They are already growing fresh green leaves and look happy and healthy at their new home. I chose Seascape because my dad is growing these and said they grow fruit all summer and taste good...like real strawberries.


In other gardening news, husband planted two Olympia Blueberry bushes in the front lawn. We are slowly trying to break up that flat expanse of lawn out there with some food producing plants. It will be a while before they get very big, but they are "high-bush", so they should get up to at least six feet if we allow them to. We hope to get a few berries before the birds find them.

Early Bloomers and the Return of the Bumblebee

Who would not be happy to see these beautiful dark purple crocuses growing in their own backyard? All I can say is, "I want more!" The good news is, in my garden research, I have read that crocuses usually naturalize quickly, which means I will most likely have more...someday. These are the crocuses I was worried that I buried too deep, so it's extra wonderful to have them now.

More and more daffodils in the front border. The little ones have been naturalizing quickly. When my Grandma came up to visit one spring about six years ago, she gave me a little pot with daffodils and tulips to put by the front door. When they were done flowering that year, I moved the bulbs to the garden and hoped some would come back. I think most of them did and it's always nice to remember Grandma's visit when these flowers come back each year.

Bumblebees are very loud. By the sound of this one's "buzz", you'd think he was unfriendly, but he was kind enough to stop for a photo-op on the rosemary bush.

Other Work in the Garden:

I set the sweet pea starts out along the side fence in the backyard. Husband stapled twine to the fence for me so the sweet peas will have something to grow on. We had a minor catastrophe when I used my organic fertilizer to amend the soil along the fence-line. Apparently, the bone meal in my Whitney Farm's All-Purpose Plant Food was too much of a temptation for the neighbor's dog, who tried to dig under the fence to get at it. Our other neighbors saw the dog poking through the fence and gave us a call, but by then husband was already on his way to plug the hole with concrete and put up a few new fence boards. You never saw such and instantaneous fence repair! A few of the sweet peas were a bit trampled, but they seem pretty tough and I think they will all survive. I am waiting a bit nervously for them to grow. I just don't know what to expect as I've never grown them or even remember seeing them firsthand. Will definitely post pictures as they grow.