Hi and welcome to my gardens! I just joined GardenBuddies today and hope to meet a lot of great new garden lovers. I follow a gardening schedule that I put together over the winter, but since I didn't have any specific gardening activities scheduled for today, I thought I'd start my garden journal off with a post about what I plan to do in my gardens this year.
One of my gardening projects this year is to grow several varieties of heirloom flowers for a cottage garden that I have been slowly creating in my front yard. I am growing numerous flowers indoors under lights right now, but I also sowed a few outdoors using the winter sowing method. This is my first year winter sowing and so far I have sprouts in several containers. Things seem to sprout just when I am about to give up on them. This was just an experiment, but now that I see that WS really works, I am already looking forward to this coming winter when I can start a whole sea of winter sown containers.
Another project I have this year is to raise heirloom vegetables for market using the Square Foot Gardening method. I have never used the SFG method before; I previously planted my vegetable crops using traditional long rows. That is a real hassle because I'm the only person who works the farm and it's difficult to keep up with the weeding. I am very excited about the thought that SFG may actually give me the time to just sit back and enjoy the garden for once.
I have already planted an heirloom berry and perennial vegetable patch for my family this spring. I've been wanting to do that ever since we moved here (almost 5 years ago). I planted blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, red currants, gooseberries, and cranberries, plus rhubarb and asparagus. I know that for the most part there won't be much to harvest for another couple of years, but I am already dreaming of sitting in the patch and eating myself sick.
My fourth project is the same as usual: growing numerous different types of pumpkins and gourds for market. The only difference is that I will be planting them in hills this year, rather than in long rows.
I also have a whole new patch of yard to renovate, but that may not get any further than seeding with hay this year. It used to be an overgrown Christmas tree lot filled with weed trees. Now that it's been cleared out, it just has some old rhubarb and a few winter sown seedlings in it. Eventually I'd like to put in a reflecting pool and lots of beds filled with heirloom flowers.
Aside from that, the daffodils and forsythia are in bloom right now, along with Johnny Jump-Ups, a pear tree, and a peach tree. I have a bunch of perennials coming up, too. I am glad to see that they made it through our weird winter weather. |
I received my antique/heirloom roses today and actually managed to get them planted, too. Digging holes around here is a lot of work because the soil hasn't been worked in decades and it's full of rocks. I picked the rocks out and amended the soil, so hopefully they'll be happy with their new home.
List of Roses
American Beauty (Hybrid Perpetual, dark red, 1875, planted next to the chicken coop)
Chrysler Imperial (Hybrid Tea, dark red, 1952, planted at the corner of the driveway)
Kazanlik (Damask, pink, pre-1850, planted beside the driveway)
White Dawn (Climber, white, 1949, planted by the front porch)
I first saw American Beauty and Chrysler Imperial at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in 1991 or so. They smelled so wonderful that I never forgot them. |
It was sunny and 84 degrees today, so I took all of my seedlings outside for their first taste of real sunshine. I have sixteen trays of seedlings that I raised in an extra room on the second floor. It is quite a lot of work to carry all of those trays down a steep and narrow old stairway. Once they were all outside, I set to work building a little shade house for them. It's not quite finished, so that will be one of my projects for tomorrow. All of the seedlings are back inside (but staying on the first floor!) for the evening since the temperature will drop into the lower 50s tonight. As it is, it will probably get quite chilly in their new location. I might have to set them up with a space heater just to keep them from going into shock overnight, but I just don't have it in me to carry them all back upstairs.
It has been very windy and dry here for several days and I find myself watering my direct sown sprouts several times a day, despite the vermiculite and row covers. There is a chance of rain on Friday, but if this weather pattern keeps up, watering the crops this summer is going to be a real chore with long, hot trips to the pond and back. |
May 10, 2007 (Thursday)
I started the day out by finishing the shade house for my seedlings. I moved them all back outside for the day and then went around mulching my new ferns and lilies-of-the-valley. I also mulched my new roses and removed the pest covers that I was using to slowly acclimate them to the constant wind. Then I spent three hours watering and mulching my berry patch. My three heirloom fuchsias arrived, too.
List of Fuchsias
Chillerton Beauty (1847, pink sepals with purple corolla)
Claire de Lune (1880, pink and salmon orange tubular flowers)
Hidcote Beauty (1949, white sepals with pink corolla)
May 11, 2007 (Friday)
It finally rained. My potted seedlings got drenched, so we'll see if they survive; if not, I will be starting over on some things.
May 14, 2007 (Monday)
I hoed the strawberry patch and my SFG rows today. I don't have anything planted in the SFG, yet; I'm just keeping up with the weeds. My Stella de Oro daylilies also arrived. Saturday, I planted out some of my winter sown seedlings (kniphofia, delphiniums, and daylilies) and then had to cover them up Sunday night for the frost and near-freezing overnight temperatures. I knew the frost was coming when I planted them, but I really needed to get them out of their pots. I covered them just to prevent additional transplant shock. They all looked fine this morning. I also covered my coveted delphinium plant and its friends. I finally ordered some cloning gel and I didn't want my special delphinium to get trashed before I had the chance to clone it.
May 15, 2007 (Tuesday)
Today I ordered five Lime Fizz tall bearded iris. That's the only iris I know for sure that my Grandmother had in her iris garden. It was my favorite and when I told my Mom that I had ordered some, she said that had been my Grandmother's favorite iris. I ordered dozens of different types of iris in 2004, many of which were introduced in the 1960s and '70s, to remind me of my Grandmother's iris garden. I hadn't been able to find Lime Fizz at the time. My Mom used to have some of my Grandmother's old iris, but her gardener thought they were weeds and sprayed them with weed killer and killed them all. She was going to give them to me. All I have left is a photograph of the iris that she had. It's not a very good photo, so I can't tell if the yellow iris in the photo was the Lime Fizz or not, but eventually I'm going to try to find iris similar to the other iris in the photograph and add them to my patch of Lime Fizz.
May 16, 2007 (Wednesday)
I started my heirloom watermelon and squash seeds (Kleckley's Sweet, Moon and Stars, and Early Summer Yellow Crookneck) and direct sowed several types of flower seeds (Jackpot Tanacetum, Liatris, Blue Sea Holly, Purple Coneflower, Arikara Sunflower, Black Oil Sunflower, Country Romance Hollyhocks, Broom Corn, Carnation Rose Poppy, Germander, Bouncing Bet, Fordhook Finest Mix Phlox, Harlequin Marigold, Alaska Shasta Daisy, Butterfly Weed, Teasel, California Poppy, Johnny Jump-Up, and Scarlet Runner Bean). I had collected a lot of the seeds from my garden in 2005, but others were seeds leftover from commercial packets that went as far back as 2004. Three seed packets were from trades. It will be interesting to see what was viable and/or survives. It rained a lot, which is good, but the temperatures are going to be in the mid-40s day and night for a few days. Hopefully my seeds won't rot in the cool and rainy weather.
May 17, 2007 (Thursday)
The potted seedlings that had been drenched by last Friday's rain seem to be doing fine. They have dried out and I have reduced their watering to get them ready for transplanting. I forgot and left my bowl of young lotus plants out overnight. The tips of a couple of the leaves are black and I don't know if that is because they got too cold last night or if maybe they got a little sunburned a few days ago during their transition to outdoor living. I've brought them back inside to ride out the cold weather over the next few days.
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May 22, 2007 (Tuesday)
I transplanted some winter sown seedlings into their permanent positions. I think they were Shasta Daisy 'Alaska' and Iceland Poppies. Either that or I just wasted a lot of time carefully transplanting some very interesting-looking weeds. Then I dug up some grass around the wild ferns that grow by our front door. I want to make the area into mulched beds so that the ferns won't get mowed. Later I started weeding a daffodil bed and lopped off the dried blossoms. Actually, this time I yanked them off instead of cutting them. There were a lot of them and it took a lot less time than cutting. I also discovered that the ancient shrub in my daffodil bed is honeysuckle and for once I could actually smell it, although just barely. It was very overgrown, shabby, and odorless when we moved in almost five years ago. After whacking it back and threatening to dig it all out every year, it has finally saved itself.
May 23, 2007 (Wednesday)
Today was the first big outdoor seeding day of the season. It didn't go as planned, of course. First I did all of the usual chores of making sure my indoor seedlings hadn't dried up or died from a chill overnight. I had the window open to help them get used to cooler temperatures. Then I let the chickens out, walked my husband's new puppy, got my son up and made him breakfast, and harrowed the field. After all that, I started seeds for two kinds of pumpkins, two kinds of gourds, zucchini, and ornamental wheat. That included getting the peat pots ready. I'm just glad I already had the soil mixed. Then I went out and made a pen for the pup and my son to play in by my garden so I could get some gardening done without chasing everyone all over the farm. Chocolate labs are not supposed to be escape artists, but after the pup's third escape I gave up and put him in a cage so I could get my planting done. I started laying some solar mulch, but same as last year, I decided that it is total junk if you live where there is ever more than a 2-3 mph wind. I even tried a new technique of jamming the edge into the dirt with a shovel, but of course that doesn't work around here. Last year, I shoveled dirt onto the edge all the way up and down each row to hold it down, but I just don't have it in me to do that again this year, so I will stick with doing the extra weeding. I even tried using rocks as weights, and I have plenty of them, but that was a joke in this wind and it wasn't even as windy as usual. I then planted the season's first bean crop. After lunch, I spread vermiculite around some of my winter sown transplants, then started seeds for cornflowers, two kinds of mint, and nasturtiums. I have a couple of other things scheduled for today, but at this point they are going to have to wait until tomorrow.
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May 24, 2007 (Thursday)
Yesterday evening, I transplanted a hosta that was barely surviving down near the foot of the driveway. I had started with 5 mixed hosta down there, but the deer took care of that in pretty short order. I divided the remaining hosta into two hostas and planted it with the wild ferns by the front door. It should be nice and safe there. I also dug up and transplanted what I think was straggling primroses from down by the mailbox... again with the deer. I have been very busy again today. I rebuilt my shade house after it got trashed in a wind storm. Or at least that was my husband's version of what happened... I don't recall it being windy that day, but whatever. Then I toted all of my seedlings back downstairs and out to the shade house. I weeded my "shade garden". It has ostrich ferns, lilies-of-the-valley, old-fashioned bleeding hearts, pulmonaria, hostas, violets, spiderwort, and moss in it, plus an antique cultivator and milk can. Some of the L-O-V and hostas were pre-existing, the moss is naturally occurring, and the violets and spiderwort have migrated in from pre-existing patches on the other side of the driveway. I went around watering the transplants all over my yard, plus my roses and the berry patch. My Stella de Oro sprouts don't look so great. They were under a row cover to help retain moisture, so it was sort of a case of out of sight, out of mind. Hopefully I watered them just in time. At least I bought them on sale! I weeded my patch of moss rose seedlings; I am glad to see that some of them actually came up and survived our roller coaster weather. I ordered 3 hardy fuchsias, 200 mixed crocus, 32 pompon dahlias, 175 gladioli, and 5 hostas. I'm hoping to sell dahlia and gladiolus bouquets. I guess I should save myself the headache and start building beds for them over the next couple of days. I moved the plant stand downstairs into the "dog room" where it is much cooler at night, so now I am one step closer to transplant time. I set up an umbrella tent over the plant stand to keep mice and bugs from eating my seedlings and then brought the plants back in for the night.
May 25, 2007 (Friday)
I bought and spread mulch for the shade garden, wild ferns, and Stella de Oro daylilies. It's hard to believe that aside from toting the seedlings in and out again, that's all of the garden work I did, especially considering that it was a non-stop busy day from the time I woke up in the morning to the time I tucked in the chickens for the night.
May 27, 2007 (Sunday)
The first iris of the season opened: 'Witch of Endor'.
May 28, 2007 (Monday)
The next two iris of the season opened: 'Harvest of Memories' and 'Eternal Bliss'. I harrowed the little patch of yard in front of the chicken coop. I intended to then use the tractor to disassemble a couple of nearby rock walls to make a path to the coop. Easier said than done. I will leave that for another day when I don't have any planting to do and no one is around to bother me. Hahaha!!
May 29, 2007 (Tuesday)
I started seeds for Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, 'Empress of India' Nasturtium, Feverfew, Foxglove 'Alba', Levant Cotton, Mignonette, Moon Vine, Woodland Tobacco, and 'Yellow Peruvian' Zinnia.
May 30, 2007 (Wednesday)
'Blueberry Bliss' iris opened today. It is so much more gigantic than my older iris varieties. A pink Russell lupine also opened. I finished pulling grass and weeds in the shade garden and spread the rest of the mulch there. I marked out the rows for my pumpkin patch and planted CT Field pumpkins and Howden Biggies. My new hostas should arrive tomorrow. I think I'll plant a few in the shade garden and a couple by the front door with the wild ferns. I ordered 1000 more mixed crocus. I'll plant the first order of 200 in my flower beds in the front yard and this new batch in the yard where people can see it from the road. I also ordered 500 yellow 'Carlton' daffodils (also for roadway viewing), 200 grape hyacinths, and 25 each of red 'Kingsblood' and white 'Duke of Wellington' tulips. The last three items are for my flower beds in the front yard... if I have room to plant them this fall after I get everything else planted in there this spring.
May 31, 2007 (Thursday)
I left all of my seedlings outside in the shade house for the first time last night, except for the tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, okra, and dahlias. Everything looked fine this morning... no chilling shock and no apparent rodent damage. I might leave the other group outside tonight, depending on the weather. (The forecasters can't seem to get anywhere close to right, which is why I've been bringing everything in until now.) I planted a patch of Hopi Blue Flour Corn and California Valley Yokut Indian sunflower. The iris 'Going My Way' opened today. The front yard is beginning to smell like a candy factory with all of the iris and the lilac in bloom. The snowball bush has been blooming for several days now and it is absolutely huge. I finally got the blue flower in my front flower bed identified. Gardenfiend and Treelover said it was flax, so I looked through my seed purchases and saw that I had planted Linum perenne lewisii (Blue Flax) in the spring of 2005. Since it didn't come up until 2006, it's no wonder I had no idea what it was... I had completely forgotten about it! I planted my seedlings for Snapdragon 'Black Prince', Amish Cockscomb, Chinese Foxglove, Morning Glory 'Kniola's Purple', Tassel Flower, Blue Lace Flower, Blackberry Lily, Daylily 'Happy Returns', Love-Lies-Bleeding, Delphinium 'Fantasia Mixed Colors', Red Hot Poker, and Sweet Scabious 'Black Knight'. I planted seedlings for either Heliotrope or Chilean Jasmine. It's supposed to be Heliotrope, but doesn't look like what I thought Heliotrope would look like and looks more like what I expect the Jasmine to look like. Maybe it's neither. That should be interesting! I covered most of my transplanted seedlings with Agribon row covers to [hopefully] help keep the rain from smashing them over the next few days. And finally, I topped off the day with planting my new hostas. |
June 1, 2007 (Friday)
I am keeping track of my iris as they open so that I know which ones have survived over the years. I have a map of the layout, but since they've had three years to grow and spread into each other, it's hard to tell which ones might be missing. So, 'Going My Way', 'Spiced Custard', 'Afternoon Delight', 'Stellar Lights', 'Witch's Wand', and 'Codi's Angel Face' iris opened today. An unknown deep pink clematis is in bloom, possibly for the first time ever. We finally hung the second tomato trellis and put an extra post on each trellis. Hopefully that'll hold all of the tomatoes!
June 2, 2007 (Saturday)
I didn't do any gardening today. Hooray, a break for me! I just got to enjoy taking photographs of my iris and other miscellaneous flowers. Newly flowering iris were 'Ecstatic Echo', 'Lady Friend', 'Edith Wolford', 'Mary Frances', and 'Fringe Benefits'.
June 3, 2007 (Sunday)
I planted Ambrosia, Anise, Horehound, Early Summer Yellow Crookneck Squash, Cocozelle Zucchini, Klari Baby Cheese Sweet Peppers, Rosa Bianca Eggplant, Boothby's Blonde Cucumbers, Moon and Stars Watermelon, three types of pumpkins and gourds, and 12 types of heirloom tomatoes. I staked a few iris blossoms that have been toppled by the rain.
June 4, 2007 (Monday)
I planted Cardoon, 9 types of hot peppers, and Cow Horn Okra this morning. A couple of the pepper plants smelled nice and spicy. I figured out that what I thought was Heliotrope was indeed the Chilean Jasmine, and vice versa. Good to know!
June 5, 2007 (Tuesday)
'John Kearney', 'Play with Fire', and 'Victoria Falls' iris opened today. 'Victoria Falls' has really spread into 'Fringe Benefits', so much so that I wonder if I accidentally planted those two rows closer together than I had intended. I planted some cucumbers in my sunflower patch, plus some Kleckley's Sweet Watermelons and Blue Solaize Leeks in my private garden. I planted some heirloom pumpkins in my son's daffodil patch and one at the head of the driveway to the barn. I also finally planted the Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkins in the compost pile. Lots of other pumpkins have unexpectedly shown up there in the past and have done quite well. We'll see how the Dill's like it. It might hail today, so I put row covers on my tomatoes and moved the last of my seedling trays into the bed of my pickup in the garage. Those are the last four seedling trays left to plant, although I might start three more trays. I just haven't decided... |
June 11, 2007
June 6, 2007 (Wednesday)
I found out last night that the Hardy Fuchsias I ordered will not be available this spring... something about poor quality at this time of year. That's too bad!! Oh, well, maybe next year. It got colder last night than the weather forecasters said it would, of course. So, I spent the morning putting plastic over my peppers and eggplants. I strung up half of my tomatoes and tried to put plastic over them, but I'm going to have to find a better way to do that. It is supposed to be cold for a couple more nights, depending on which weather "forecaster" I listen to... I don't want to take chances, so I will get those tomatoes covered somehow. As the morning has continued, I have strung up more tomatoes and tried a new way of hanging plastic on the tomatoes. It seems to be working, but I'm no longer in the mood to finish what I started. I guess I will finish it later... I planted some seeds for big heirloom pumpkins and Luffa Gourds. I dug up a patch of grass in the front yard so my son could plant some sunflower seeds. He's been wanting to do that for quite some time now. I also gave him some pumpkin seeds and Red Stalker corn seeds to plant. It's hard to tell which of us is more excited about his little garden.
June 7, 2007 (Thursday)
Naturally, I did not get my tomatoes covered and the temperature dropped into the mid-30s last night. On top of that, several of my tomatoes got ripped out of the ground by the wind. I've decided to not grow the carrots, radishes, and lettuce. The soil here is not conducive to growing the root vegetables, so I don't see much point in supplying the lettuce if the tasty toppings won't be available. I'll just stick with the big ticket items, like peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. I think I'll try starting some replacement tomato seeds now... it will be interesting to see if they can catch up to the ones I started indoors over the winter. I transplanted my Utrecht Blue Wheat seedlings yesterday evening. As for today, 'Swazi Princess' iris is open and I have planted 75 ruffled gladioli. I am going completely experimental around here now and planted the glads closer together than recommended. Next are the 32 dahlias, which I think will be planted the recommended spacing because I've seen how gargantuan the tubers can get if you let them. I planted my 'Glorious Gleam Mix' Nasturtium seedlings in a couple of hanging baskets. I can't wait to see them fill out and blossom. I also just realized that the giant-leafed seedlings that I couldn't readily identify are my Moonvines. HOORAY!!!! I have not been able to get those to grow from direct seeding around here, so this is very exciting. Okay, so I planted the dahlias, but there were only 25 clumps. The other 7 had been completely broken down into individual tubers, presumably during shipping. I have put the individual bits into some trays and I'll transplant anything that sprouts. What a disappointment. I also decided to go ahead and plant the clumps closer together than recommended. They're pompon dahlias, so I don't expect that to be a big deal. Even if the glads and dahlias are a total failure, at least I'm only out 21 bucks. Late spring sales are great!
June 8, 2007 (Friday)
My husband surprised me by bringing home a new mower for me. I mowed the front yard and the paths between the front flower beds. Then I spread the mulch around my hot peppers, Cardoon, and watermelons. That was fun and exciting.
June 9, 2007 (Saturday)
I finished spreading cedar mulch on the rest of my flower beds.
June 10, 2007 (Sunday)
'Aphrodisiac', 'Blue Aristocrat', and 'Fragrant Lilac' iris opened today. 'Fragrant Lilac' is a very small flower compared to all of the others that have opened so far, and 'Blue Aristocrat' looks suspiciously like 'Victoria Falls'. I'm going to have to closely examine BA and VF to see if I got two of something rather than one of each. I planted cotton, Moonvine, and 'Empress of India' Nasturtium seedlings this morning, and then I planted my Dahlias. They were a bit droopy after that, so I hung some landscape cloth over them for shade. They looked better after a while, so hopefully they will have completely recovered by tomorrow. Only four of the five sprouted. I think they are 'Winsome' (1940), 'Hockley Maroon' (1935), 'Little Beeswings' (1909), and 'Union Jack' (1882). I think that 'Jersey's Beauty' (1923) is the one that never sprouted, but I will have to wait until bloom time to be sure. I think at least a couple of them already have buds on them. As long as 'Union Jack' made it, I will be happy. I mowed some more and then I went to check the vegetable and berry gardens and discovered that I have some green strawberries in my new strawberry patch. I certainly wasn't expecting that, between it being new and the lack of bees we are experiencing this year. I noticed that my Purple Coneflowers are developing flower buds and that the plants are noticeably taller this year. I pulled some weed asters out of the iris bed. I knew that they were weeds, but I was waiting to see if I liked the flowers before I pulled them. They finally bloomed and I decided that I don't particularly like them. Something seems to be eating my pumpkin plants as soon as they sprout, so I'm going to have to replant them and cover them with Agribon row covers. The wild rose by the big living room window has flowered at last, but I can't tell if it is Multiflora Rose, so I need to consult the Audubon book. The Mountain Bells in my Allium bed are in blossom, but only the yellow ones. The puppy sat on the wild ferns by the front door... twice. At least he didn't break the new, still-curled fronds.
June 11, 2007 (Monday)
'Warrior King' iris opened today. I studied the 'Blue Aristocrat' and 'Victoria Falls' irises. BA has blue veining on the standards, but VF has white. The beards on BA have a splash of yellow-orange, whereas VF beards are mostly white. Aside from that, they look almost exactly alike even though the catalog seemed to show that VF would be a darker blue. I planted more CT Field and Howden Biggie pumpkin seeds today because something is eating the seedlings. I think it is the crows because I can hear them in the trees at the edge of the field every time I'm out in the pumpkin field. The plants either get the cotyledons eaten or get completely uprooted. I've also found holes in the ground where the seeds used to be. Bad birds!!! I've covered the rows with the Agribon now, too. |
June 12, 2007 (Tuesday)
I weeded around the blueberries and strawberries. The layer of straw around them has proven to be a very successful method of mulching and preventing weeds. Very few weeds have grown up through the straw and the ground seems to stay quite moist and soft beneath the straw. My son and I shared the first red strawberry of the season. It wasn't completely ripe, but it was still wonderfully sweet and juicy, and just a little tart... but that was fine with us!
June 13, 2007 (Wednesday)
I planted seeds for more gourds, pie pumpkins, and unusual squash. We shared another strawberry and then later I put plastic over the sweet peppers and eggplants again because the nights are supposed to be in the 40s and the days will only be in the 60s. The tomatoes are on their own again.
June 15, 2007 (Friday)
I put some of my old veggie and flower seeds up for SASBE on the GW site and got two takers. I like being able to give away seeds rather than let them go to waste. I prefer to make offers of entirely flowers or entirely veggies and then give all available flower seeds to one person and all available veggie seeds to one person. That way they are bound to get something that germinates and makes the offer worthwhile.
June 17, 2007 (Sunday)
I used the tractor to scrape out the grass and some of the dirt leading up to the front door. The tractor bucket was just the right size to squeeze between the rows of Stargazer Lilies that flank the path. Then my husband and I went to a nursery to look for stones to fill in the path. We picked out 1/2" grey stone and bought 5 yards of it. That is more than we need, but that was the minimum order size for delivery. I'm sure I'll find a use for the leftovers. I also bought three Hidcote Lavender plants. I've been trying to start my own from seed, but it just hasn't happened yet and I love lavender so much that I just don't want to wait any longer to have some. I will still try to grow some from seed, though. I never like to give up!
June 18, 2007 (Monday)
The grey stone came today and we filled in the path to the front door. It isn't edged, so it looks a little rustic, but at least now it looks like someone lives here. People are always going to the door by the garage and I can't hear anyone knock way over there, so this will be an improvement... unless they are too programmed to not use the front door at this point. My 'Little Beeswings' dahlia has opened. A couple of my dahlia plants have been droopy ever since the transplanting, so it is very exciting to see flowers beginning to open. All four of my dahlias have buds, so any day now they should be putting on quite a show together. I cannot wait to see 'Union Jack'.
June 19, 2007 (Tuesday)
I transplanted the Yellow Peruvian Zinnia, Foxglove 'Alba', Mignonette, and Woodland Tobacco seedlings. The YPZ and Mignonette got planted in what used to be the square flower garden, but is now referred to as the new garden since I expanded it earlier this year. The Foxgloves 'Alba' are in the shade garden where they can lighten up the place with their pure white flowers and, hopefully, avoid cross-pollinating with the Foxy Foxgloves which are taking over the rest of the flower gardens. The Woodland Tobacco has been planted in the iris garden. Hopefully they won't mind and neither will the irises. I also planted some in the shade garden, but I don't know if they will like it there. I went out to water the pumpkins and gourds and when I pulled back the row covers, I discovered that something is still eating the cucurbits. Ugh! Things have had the leaves eaten off, or they've been pulled up by the roots and left to wither, or the seeds have been dug up and eaten. Same as always, again!! So, I watered everything anyway and then I planted three more plug trays (72 cells each) of cucurbits. I don't think anything will eat them out of the plug trays, but I don't know how to protect them after transplanting since obviously the row covers aren't working. Oh, what to do?! My husband has suggested a CO2 rifle. HAHA!! While I was tending the crops, I decided to use one row cover per two rows, instead of one per one like I had been doing. That will mean fewer rocks and covers to move every time I need to do something beneath the covers. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the beginning. Oh, well, at least the extra row covers will be ready if I need to use them when the plants get bigger. Also, the UPS truck pulled up while I was out in the crops. He drove up, turned the truck around by the garage, then pulled up to the front path and left the boxes on the front porch. HOORAY!! The new path works!!! My husband noticed that the old pink roses growing wild in the compost pile have blossomed. Oh, boy, do they smell nice... I love that thick, old rose smell.
June 20, 2007 (Wednesday)
My son's garden has a pumpkin and 5 or so cornstalks growing in it. So much for the sunflowers I guess, but not too bad for old seeds. It makes him happy, anyway. I have Evening Stock in bloom and Shasta Daisy 'Silver Princess'. I'm not sure if the Shastas are first generation grown from commercial seed or if they are second generation grown from self-collected seed. They look nice, either way. |
June 23, 2007 (Saturday)
I weeded the garden and then I watered it. Then I ate a big handful of fresh strawberries, straight from my strawberry patch. I weeded the berry patch a bit, mowed the paths in it, and then weeded it some more. I came inside and drank a lot of lemonade. It was a cool, breezy day, perfect for weeding and other garden chores. Later, I went around watering the flower beds. I used up most of the water in the kiddie pools. I hope we get some decent rain soon or things are going to start to suffer. I sniffed the Evening Stock (Matthiola longipetala) this evening. It smells like baby powder... aaaaahhhhhhhhhh, nice and clean.
June 24, 2007 (Sunday)
I took down the deer net that I had around the garden. I think it'll be easier to mow with it out of my way. I put solar mulch down on the garden paths and anchored it with rocks. I don't know why I bother... I'm sure it'll just blow all over the place on the next windy day. Mainly I am just hoping that the three days of 90+ degree weather that we're supposed to have will bake the hay and weeds growing in the paths. I harrowed the unplanted portion of the area around the garden. I haven't decided what I want to plant next year for crops, so in the meantime I am just trying to keep the weeds from growing. I removed a section of the rock wall in front of the house, so now I can walk straight from the house to the chicken coop. That is a nice improvement, especially for when winter comes. I only removed a section about as wide as the bucket on the tractor and it took two hours. I might remove the freestanding portion of the wall to the right of the opening; that shouldn't take more than a day I would think. I can't wait to plant something (flowers and a vegetable garden, maybe?) along the path to the coop. I finally took apart the plant stand that I use for starting seeds indoors. I guess that means that summer has officially started here on the farm.
June 25, 2007 (Monday)
UGH!!!! I thought I'd take my latest batch of pumpkin seedlings outside this morning, so I went to get them out of the plant room and discovered that something (probably a mouse) had eaten a lot of them during the night. What is with the pests this year?!! I placed an order for some more pumpkin seeds this morning, some of which should grow much more quickly than any others I have in stock, so MAYBE things will still turn out okay this year. This is getting ridiculous. Now I'm about to go outside and see how my other crops fared during the night... I forgot to cover them and protect them from rodents before I went to bed last night. :-O ... Oh, good, no damage! I spread some mulch around the glads, pompon dahlias, and cucurbits while I was out there and watered everything in the veg garden. I just have to try to remember to cover everything tonight. I watered my heirloom dahlias and next I'll water my private veg garden. Then, if there's any water left in the well, I'll water the pumpkin crop. I should do things the other way around, but I'm afraid to look under the pumpkin row covers and see that everything else has been eaten since the last time I looked. I don't think I could deal with something like that today. Not this early in the morning, anyway. ... I just changed the food in the hummingbird feeder. The hummers usually get a little worked up and hunt me down while I'm cleaning the feeder, like I'm not fast enough to suit them. But this time, I hung the newly-filled feeder, came inside, and was closing the door when I noticed one of the hummers feeding from the flowers on the lettuce that has bolted. Interesting! It sampled several of them, so I guess that is a suitable source of food for when they're in a pinch. Guess it hadn't noticed the feeder was back up. ... Well, I watered all but 2 rows in the pumpkin crop. Things didn't look any worse than last time, so that's encouraging. Slightly. I'll finish watering them either this evening or in the morning. I found ONE wallflower blooming in my flower gardens. I always seem to have just ONE wallflower. One of these years I'd like to manage to sprout more than one! My Moonstone rose has two pretty blossoms on it. I discovered that I have some Crimson Clover in bloom. Once it finishes coloring up, I'll decide whether I want to bother planting a LARGE patch of it next year. So far it looks pretty nice. It will be interesting to see if it comes back next year (another thing to consider in planting a bigger patch next time). ... I think I have some Oxeye Daisy growing in my flower garden. I tried to grow some from seed (winter sown), but things got a little mixed up so I'm not too sure about some things. I've been wanting to grow Oxeye for years, so of course yesterday I discovered that Oxeye Daisy is the type of daisy that has been growing wild in the barnyard all along. HAHAHA!!!
June 26, 2007 (Tuesday)
Wow, what is wrong with me?! I forgot to cover my veggies again last night, but luckily there wasn't any rodent damage this morning. Good grief! Anyway, I watered the last rows of the pumpkin crop and watered the berry patch. I ate a couple of strawberries while I was at it. Mmmmm. Today is supposed to be 90+ degrees. I'd like to move my clematis, plant my grapes, move the wisteria, plant my Citron Melon seedlings, and plant my herbs, but I know that this won't be a good day to do it. I just have to hold on for one more day. I think I finally found buds for my coveted delphinium. I wanted to take cuttings and root them, but I guess it is too late for that. I will have to put a marker around it so I know which one to take cuttings from in the spring. I HOPE IT COMES BACK AGAIN. I FEEL LIKE I AM REALLY PUSHING MY LUCK WITH THIS ONE. The delphinium has three flower stalks, so maybe it is getting close to time to divide it. That makes me as nervous as the thought of taking cuttings from it. My husband brought back some honeysuckle cuttings from New York over the weekend, so maybe I will drag out the rooting gel and get the honeysuckle going. I think I will try to root my trumpet vine cuttings, too.
June 27, 2007 (Wednesday)
The kiddie pool rain catchers are still empty, but with any luck they will fill up some either tonight or tomorrow. I watered the sq ft garden and a few flowers, but there isn't enough water in the well to do any more watering until later. The first forget-me-not of the season is open. I am always shocked at their true shade of blue. I researched the pollination of wallflowers. It didn't sound feasible, but I tried it myself anyway. I discovered that I actually have TWO wallflower plants rather than the usual ONE. Yeah! If this doubling continues every year, eventually I will have an actual patch of wallflowers. HAHAHA!!! ... I noticed a couple of days ago that I have what I think are some Principe Borghese cherry tomatoes growing on a couple of plants. That is exciting. I can't wait to try one. I tried some Klari Baby Cheese peppers the other day and didn't like the flavor at all. They were still small and young, so that might have been part of the problem, but I picked them off so that the plants could grow a bit bigger before producing more peppers. I think the hot peppers that have come on might be the Tabasco peppers. I can't wait to try those, either. ... I picked the last iris flower either yesterday or the day before. ... I noticed that the flax was in bloom again this morning. I wonder if I just always stop by too late because I hadn't been seeing any flowers lately. I was starting to think that maybe it only bloomed for a short period, set seed, and that was all. ... I have noticed that many spots in my garden are nearly devoid of flowers at any given time and that other spots seem to have the same colors at the same time, so I am going to try to start taking note of what is in bloom or will be in bloom soon. Maybe then I can add flowers that bloom on other schedules and in different colors to keep the garden colorful and overflowing with flowers on a daily basis. My iris bed is mostly flowerless now. The allium bed only has foxgloves blooming in it. My son's daffodil garden also only has foxgloves in it right now. I would also like to start a cutting garden. I don't like clipping flowers out of my flower beds. ... I need to stake my delphiniums before (in case?) it rains. ... I rooted the honeysuckle and some Trumpet Vine; we'll see how that goes. The Purple Coneflowers, Helenium, and Rudbeckia were about to pass out from the heat, so I gave them a drink. I just went out again and gave a little sip of water to the cotton, hot peppers, watermelons, herbs, and hanging baskets. It started to cloud up while I was out there, but I don't think any of those plants really wanted to hold out for the rain.
BLOOMING
Alliums------------------------------straw-colored seed heads, some green seed pods
Crimson Clover-----------------------red
Dahlias------------------------------Little Beeswings (yellow/red)
Daylily 'Happy Returns'--------------yellow
Delphinium 'Fantasia Mixed Colors'---white, pink, lavender
Evening Stock------------------------white, lavender, pinkish, bright purple
Flax---------------------------------lavender/blue
Forget-Me-Not------------------------blue
Foxgloves 'Foxy' 2nd gen-------------pink, white
Germander----------------------------lavender (just starting)
Jackpot Tanacetum--------------------white
Johnny Jump-Up-----------------------purple
Peonies------------------------------white, hot pink (the peonies are finishing up)
Perennial Pea------------------------pink
Roses--------------------------------Moonstone (pink), Chrysler Imperial (red)
Sage---------------------------------lavender
Shasta Daisy 'Silver Princess'-------white
Snapdragon 'Black Prince'------------maroon
Tassel Flower------------------------coral/red
Wallflower---------------------------orange
WEEDS IN BLOOM
Geranium (lavender), Horehound (lavender), Oxeye Daisy (white), Sulphur Cinquefoil (yellow), White Clover (white), Red Clover (lavender), Yarrow (white)
BUDDING
Bee Balm 'Panorama Red Shades' (red), Blue Sea Holly (lavender/blue), Dahlias (maybe 'Winsome' and 'Hockley Maroon'), Hollyhock 'Country Romance' (mixed colors, probably mostly pink), Liatris (lavender), Lilies (mixed colors), Moss Rose (mixed colors), Oregano (or is it Marjoram?), Purple Coneflower (lavender), Rudbeckia (golden yellow), Stargazer Lilies (pink & white) |
June 28, 2007 (Thursday)
Shockingly, my other clematis bloomed today. That means all three of them have bloomed this year. WOW!! So from north to south I have: Everblooming White, Everblooming Purple, and Everblooming Red. If I can successfully move them and plant them closer together, I think that they will make a nice display.
June 29, 2007 (Friday)
One of my Stella de Oro daylilies opened yesterday. That seemed odd since I just bought them this year. I am also disappointed in the color. I knew it was a popular flower, but now that I see them all around town and realize that is what I am looking at, I am not a happy camper. If I had known it was such a golden, almost orangey color, I wouldn't have bought them. Oh, well, maybe I will learn to like it. I definitely prefer the Happy Returns daylily, though. My first Moss Rose opened. It is red. I can't wait to see what other colors I have. The Orange Daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva), also known as Ditch Lilies, are opening along the driveway. That's pretty much the only thing that has bloomed there since the forsythia that blossomed earlier this year.
June 30, 2007 (Saturday)
My fast-growing pumpkin seeds haven't arrived, so I am hoping that they get here on Monday. Monday is exactly 85 days to our official first-frost date, and that is how long the faster of the fast-growing pumpkin seeds are supposed to take to produce a crop. The slower ones take 13 days longer than that. That means that about 1/3 of my pumpkin crop will be a real life version of "Beat the Clock". Joy.
July 2, 2007 (Monday)
My pumpkin seeds arrived. I calculated how many seeds to try to germinate based on their advertised germination rate and then stuck that many seeds between some wet paper towels in a zippy bag and placed them on the heat mat. Now if only the mice stay out of them. I set a trap just in case. ... I went on a photo expedition through the north field to see what was in bloom. That was very educational. I found Bird's-foot Trefoil, Blue Toadflax, Butter and Eggs, Common Milkweed, Common Mullein, Common St. John's Wort, Peppergrass, Pokeweed, some sort of Polygonum, and Wild Garlic. I certainly wasn't expecting to find something like St. John's Wort. Figures, though, that it gives me hives. I found an escaped Johnny Jump-Up that was mostly purple. It was very pretty and I'm surprised it has made it to way over there. My Hockley Maroon dahlia has opened. That was another interesting flower because it is maroon, but the buds look deep purple. The Union Jack dahlia opened, too, but I was very disappointed in the flower. It is supposed to be red and white striped, but instead it was mostly white with very faint red edging. Some sort of insect has been munching all of the dahlia flowers before they open, so I plucked off the Union Jack because it was in bad shape and a poor color, so I'll see if the next flower looks any better. I'll be annoyed if this particular Union Jack is just a poor specimen. ... I saw a chipmunk stealing my peaches. The peaches are still green, so I can't imagine what the chipmunk was thinking. I put some deer net around part of the tree, so we'll see if that helps any. I'm sure it won't, which figures since I have never seen so many peaches on this tree before. Maybe the chipmunk thinks I just finally have enough to spare.
July 3, 2007 (Tuesday)
I caught a rather large mouse, but I really don't think it's mice that have been doing in my pumpkin crop this year. I saw a squirrel in the dog room, so I think that's probably the problem. I've seen mouse damage before and it certainly was never as bad as what I've seen this year. At least my pumpkin seeds are okay, so far. ... My husband and I pruned most of the old lilacs by cutting back anything bigger than about 3 inches thick. This probably wasn't the best time of year to do that, but they were in really tough shape. Some of the trunks were rotten in the middle, so hopefully they will sprout some new branches from the base, survive the winter, get another trimming next year, and be rejuvenated to their full glory... which I have never seen them in. I mowed part of the yard and used the weed eater along part of the rock wall overlooking the road. The weed eater kept clogging and dying from cutting the tall grass and weeds, so after unclogging it and restarting it on at least six separate occasions, I finally decided that was enough for one day. One of my 'Country Romance' Hollyhocks opened. It is a beautiful color, almost fuchsia. Two of my actual fuchsias have several flowers now.
July 4, 2007 (Wednesday)
I didn't reset the mouse trap last night and this morning I discovered that the leftover peanut butter in the trap was gone. That means that I need to set the trap again before my pumpkin seeds start to disappear. ... We went down to the pond today. That's the first time in probably a couple of years that I have gone back there. It was very peaceful. I found Downy Rattlesnake Plantain, which is an orchid. I also saw Tree Clubmoss and Haircap Moss. The Skunk Cabbage was enormous. The meadows are becoming overgrown, so we really need to get the land cleared before it gets any worse. A yellow Moss Rose opened, plus the first Scarlet Runner Bean. That is a very striking color! Between the orangey-red flower and the sort of chartreuse foliage, the bean is definitely invited back. The Tassel Flowers are beginning to go to seed. The seedhead looks sort of like a dandelion puff. The Perennial Peas are blossoming in shades of a bright deep pink, white with lavender tint, white with pale pink tint, and I think just a plain white. I am thrilled to see that because, based on last year's blossoms, I thought I only had pink ones... and I don't particularly like pink flowers! ... I saw some sort of odd bee. It had a chartreuse head and thorax and yellow bands on the abdomen. It didn't look metallic green, so I don't think it was a Sweat Bee, but who knows. It looked like it had been painted with flat paint that is used on home exteriors. ... There is a 90% chance of rain tonight and we REALLY, REALLY need it.
July 5, 2007 (Thursday)
We got about 1/2" of rain last night. That is nice and was desperately needed, but I wish it had been more like an inch or two of rain. There is about a 50% chance of rain today and tomorrow, but so far we have only had sprinkles today. My arm and back are killing me from fighting to start the weed eater the other day. I am SO GLAD that my mower uses a key to start! ... I didn't reset the mouse trap last night like I should have, but still no damage. I moved all of the seeds into their cell trays today. All of the faster pumpkin seeds germinated, but I broke the root tip off one of them. I don't think that will matter, but even if it dies, I will still have 10 more plants than I need of that type. It is interesting that all of that batch germinated since they only have an 80% germination rate. Seven seeds of the slower pumpkin type did not germinate. That leaves me with the exact number of plants that I need. They have an 80% germination rate, but it is still possible that some or all of the ungerminated ones are just being slow to germinate. I have put the cell trays on the heat mat on top of the clothes dryer. I am hoping that mice don't go up there. I really need to remember to set the mouse trap tonight. Maybe even the Havahart trap in case there are more mice than I think there are. It can just keep going and going and going... :-) A pink Moss Rose and a yellow Moss Rose opened today. Of course, I missed the chance to take a photo because it got cloudy before I remembered to do it. I didn't realize that they would close just because it got cloudy. I had noticed that the blossoms only seem to last for one day. |
July 6, 2007 (Friday)
I have an itty-bitty yellow squash and a few teeny-tiny green Marianna's Peace tomatoes. I found a Japanese Beetle on my Moonstone Rose and several on a wild polygonum by the sq ft garden.
July 7, 2007 (Saturday)
We removed the free-standing rock wall that was blocking the view of the chicken pen. We also transplanted the two wisterias and the three clematis. I think the clematis are planted purple, red, and white from left to right. I'm not sure if anything will survive the transplant, but it had to be done. If something dies, that will give me an opportunity to replace it with a better-known and better-performing specimen. I finally planted the two grapes beside the berry patch.
July 8, 2007 (Sunday)
This morning, the larger of the two wisterias looks like it might die. Of course!! The morning glories are already doing a pretty good job of climbing up their new trellis.
July 9, 2007 (Monday)
So far this morning I have weeded and watered the gourd row and two rows of pumpkins. It will be 90 degrees or so and it is already steamy even though it is only about 80 degrees. We got about a three-minute sprinkle, which is probably why the weeds weren't too hard to pull, but it certainly wasn't enough for anything else. ... I have weeded and watered two more rows of pumpkins today. Only two more to go!
July 10, 2007 (Tuesday)
I ordered numerous 1 gph emitters for my pumpkin patch, plus a few compression tees to connect the individual zones to the mainline. I managed to scavenge all of the other parts and hose that I need from my old t-tape system. I cannot wait for the emitters to arrive so that I can stop watering the pumpkins by hand.
July 11, 2007 (Wednesday)
I weeded and watered the last two rows of pumpkins. I also planted the slower type of the two fast-growing types of pumpkins to fill in the blanks in those last two rows. The great pumpkin race has begun!! It occurred to me that if the last two batches of pumpkins aren't ready by Halloween, and if I can manage to keep the pumpkins cozy when the frosts come, then I could store them until people want some for Thanksgiving decorations. All is not lost, yet. ... Another 'Country Romance' Hollyhock opened today and it is such a dark maroon that it is almost black. Very pretty.
July 12, 2007 (Thursday)
I planted the faster type of my fast-growing pumpkins this morning, so I am all done planting pumpkins now. It's too late in the season to do anything if something else goes wrong with them. Not the greatest thought, but at least it means that the planting is done for the year. Woohoo! ... I think the two wisteria are dead. Oh, well. The clematis are doing alright so far and the red one has a bunch of flowers on it. The grapes are still hanging in there. I have two morning glory blossoms on my trellis. The dog destroyed one of my Yellow Peruvian Zinnias last night. It is always something around here. ... On the bright side, I have hit the point where there isn't much to do except water and pull the occasional weed. Now I can sit back, enjoy the flowers, and wait for the pumpkin harvest. And speaking of the pumpkin harvest, it was 70 degrees when I planted the pumpkins this morning... more like a beautiful fall day than a day in July. ... I was surprised to receive my Lime Fizz tall bearded iris today. I wasn't expecting them until August. They are VERY, VERY small. That's the last time I order from that iris company! I wouldn't have ordered from them in the first place except that I could only find two places that sell Lime Fizz and one of them wasn't taking any orders for some reason. ... I received my irrigation supplies today. That was fast, considering it came all the way from California.
July 13, 2007 (Friday)
I gathered seeds from Tassel Flower, alliums, and flax. I'm not sure if there are actually any seeds in the flax pods, but I saw bees pollinating the flowers while I was collecting pods, so I'll keep collecting flax throughout the season and maybe in the end I'll get some seeds out of at least a few of the pods. ... I put a bread loaf baggy over the Moonstone Rose blossoms one by one and snipped them off to get rid of the Japanese Beetles that were hiding in them. I guess I need to start buying JB traps. I've never seen so many JBs around here before. ... I counted out my irrigation parts, so now I'm ready to go put the system together. ... I finished putting together the irrigation system. One of my old shut off valves has a leak, but the system works fine aside from that. I'll have to see if I can find a replacement for the valve locally. It's a good thing the parts came when they did and that I decided to finish the system today rather than waiting because the pumpkins were very dry considering that I just watered them in the last couple of days. I thought they could've waited at least a couple more days before their next watering, but if I had done that they'd probably have been dead when I pulled the row covers back to water them. That was a close call!! The emitters are interesting. I was expecting a drip, but it's more like a fast trickle. I'll have to keep my eye on the system when I use it so that I don't accidentally run the well dry. ... I weeded my private garden and discovered a very wee Kleckley's Sweet Watermelon. I hope it survives the dry weather, bugs, and animals and turns into a giant, tasty melon. Mmmmm. |
July 14, 2007 (Saturday)
As I was lying in bed this morning, I solved one mystery. I realized that the emitters are probably trickling instead of dripping because I forgot to put the filter and pressure regulator on the system. I hope that didn't ruin the emitters. Not like it would really matter since I could just measure how much water is trickling out and then run them for the appropriate amount of time. This might explain why rotating the emitter flags didn't seem to affect the amount of water coming out. Either they are ruined or they only work under lower pressure. ... I also figured something else out late last night. The dog trashed a Mignonette, not a Yellow Peruvian Zinnia. One of the Mignonettes is just starting to blossom, so I got down on my knees and sniffed it. I think it smells citrusy, like a California orange grove. If that's what it will smell like when it really gets going, I'll probably pass out from all of the sniffing I'll be doing. Mmmm! ... I took the deer net down from around the berry patch so that I could mow. I think I'll leave it down; I can't stand that stuff. I mowed the daffodil end of the pumpkin field, then I mowed in the berry patch and around the sq ft garden. I weeded the strawberries and raspberries and then covered the strawberries with deer net. I found one lone currant. Not bad, considering I hadn't expected any at all this year. Then I weeded the blueberries.
July 15, 2007 (Sunday)
I picked up some Zinnia and Iceland Poppy seeds yesterday, so I think I'll get those started today. The Zinnias take 35-60 days to bloom, so it'll be interesting to see if they can beat the frosts this year. It'll also be interesting to see if the IPs will get big enough to make it through the winter and flower next year. ... I mowed the hay around one end of the pumpkin field and dumped the mulch around four of the pumpkin mounds. It'll take a lot of mowing to get all of the mounds mulched. Not sure that'll ever happen. ... I weeded the asparagus and the rhubarb in the berry patch and watered the gooseberries and most of the currants. ... So much for rain. Some people got whacked with 70 mph winds, lightning, trees down, and microbursts, and all we got was a slight sprinkle on the kitchen window. I noticed earlier that the hydrangeas and peonies were drooping and some of the grass is dying. Considering that Massachusetts is supposedly having a normal amount of rainfall this year, I seem to have my own private desert microclimate. I gave all of the pumpkins a minuscule amount of water, so tomorrow I'll have to water them again and give the gourds a little something, too. If we don't get some real rain soon, something is going to have to be sacrificed for the greater good. ... On the bright side, I noticed an 'Empress of India' Nasturtium bud. I cannot wait to see if it is true to type; I've tried for about three years to get the real thing. My Nigella is beautiful. One started out pale blue and has turned to very dark blue with almost purple lower petals. The other started out white and is now turning a very faint pink. Except for the pods, it has never really appealed to me before, but this freebie batch of seeds is changing my mind. The Chrysler Imperial Rose has produced another flower. I love that smell. I planted some of the extra pumpkin vines over by the chicken coop. I don't really expect them to produce anything, but the vine will at least give me something to look at and anything extra from them will be greatly treasured. I also planted the basil and cilantro seedlings. I guess I am just worn out because I can't come up with any other excuse for putting that off for so long. I'll have to remember this for next year. I still have to do something with the three different mints, other extra who-knows-what (maybe gourds?), and duplicate tomatoes. Maybe an indoor garden just for experimental purposes. Four season gardening in Massachusetts. That'll be the day!
July 16, 2007 (Monday)
The power went out for some reason last night. That created a whole new thing to think about: no power, no water for the pumpkins. So either I'm going to have to push the well to the limit and beyond when there is power or I'm going to have to buy something to haul water up from the pond. I am glad that the power is on this morning so I can water as planned. That was another very close call. ... My husband went to the creek yesterday to see how dry it was, but I already knew it was dry because I was there a week or two ago. He found some fish flopping around in some very small pools and decided to come back to the house to get a container to put them in. When he got back to the creek, he discovered that the fish were all dead, but he found some tadpoles flopping around and rescued them. We will take them to the pond tonight and maybe I will take my lotuses down there to plant. I'm starting to think that maybe I will keep my lotuses inside for the winter and maybe try to grow another batch for the pond next year. Either that or plant my lotuses out next spring if they survive the winter inside. ... I have the emitters going on half the pumpkins this morning. Oh, good, 15 minutes is up and the pump came on twice in that time. So, that sounds like I used about 10 gallons, which is about what I would expect to use in that amount of time. Yeah!! Now, since my husband showered this morning, I'll let the pump recharge for a while and water the rest of the pumpkins later. If anything gets sacrificed, I can tell already that the first to go will be the gourds because they haven't been watered in a long time. My flowers and bushes will be right on their heels depending on how far I can push the well. ... The rest of the pumpkins are being watered now. I strolled down the rows and even through the row covers I could see that the emitters did a very good job of watering that first batch in those 15 minutes. That's a relief. ... I forgot to mention yesterday that I have a couple of Cocozelle Zucchinis coming on. What a nice surprise. I wonder how many times I looked at them and just thought I was looking at a flower stem. HAHAHA!!! I guess I am just used to growing darker green zucchini. ... I also forgot to mention that I started a barrel of alfalfa tea for my roses yesterday. I hope they like it. So far it smells pretty much the way I expect it would. It feels quite warm and cozy in the barrel, especially considering that it is cool and overcast today. I wonder which thermometer is correct... the one on the garage says 78 and the one behind my office says 70. Definitely feels more like 70. I wonder what the one in the chicken coop says. ... I am finished watering the pumpkins now. Yeah! I'll wait a while and see if I can water the peonies and hydrangeas today, too. I guess I should start with the gourds first, though. Ugh. I'm afraid to look at them. ... Wow, I just took a trip outside to do something (can't remember why now) and just felt like throwing up. My Ligularia was about dead, the peonies were practically flattened, wildflowers were wilting everywhere, and my coneflowers were drooping very badly. Not a pretty sight. I had hoped to make a logical plan of how to push the well to its limit, but that thought went right out the window. I watered the Ligularia, the peonies, Helenium, something that might be Shasta Daisy 'Alaska' seedlings, the wild yarrow, and the Black-eyed Susans by the driveway. That was 8 gallons. I'll wait a bit and head for the hydrangeas and then maybe the coneflowers. I guess I really ought to spy on the poor gourds first. ... The only bright side to the whole trip was a very odd discovery. I thought I had planted Rose Campion in the allium bed and near the daffodils. Wrong! They are California Poppies. Where in the world did those come from? I need to reread my notes and figure out where I really put the Rose Campion. I wonder what other surprises are lurking out there. The 'Persian Jewels' Nigella has certainly been interesting, with the pale blue/mostly white turning to very deep blue today and the pale pink/mostly white turning to a more thorough pink today. Fascinating. They are like mood rings. I also saw the first open 'Jubilee Gem' Cornflower today. Looks like something sampled it before I found it, though. ... Okay, I'm off to the gourds. I know I shouldn't wait any longer. ... The gourds are hanging in there, so that's excellent news. I used 8 gallons to water them, a couple of seed trays, some other pumpkin vines, some of my son's daffodils, the heirloom fuchsias, and the Christmas cactus. Oh! I need to remember to water the heirloom dahlias next time I go out. At least now I'm starting to see what ranks where on the gardening totem pole. ... I see a 20% to 50% chance of rain from now through Sunday. I hope we get something decent out of that. For future reference, it's not just the drought around here that is killing everything. It's the incessant wind. I need to stockpile hay and straw over the winter for mulching with next year. I was just going to compost it, but hopefully I can wrangle up enough for both. Actually, now that I think about it, I have a couple of big compost piles right now that might be big enough to get me through the crop season next year without having to add to it. I really need to rethink this pumpkin business if this is the way the weather is going to be from now on. ... I used 8 more gallons to water the dahlias, nasturtiums, bee balm, blue lupines, hyssop, veronica, cotton, cardoon, and watermelons. ... I used 20 more gallons to water some flowers and some things in the shade garden. Bees have landed on my watering can twice today to get a drink of water, so I got their point and sprayed some flowers so they could help themselves without my having to stand around and serve them. But it is interesting to note that I have used a lot of water today (54 gallons, plus however much my husband used to shower this morning), spread out over a huge amount of time, and haven't overtasked the pump. I'd be afraid to push it for anything major like my own shower or laundry, but I might try to sneak in a few more flower waterings before the day is over. If things can make it through tomorrow (with a little watering if need be) and if we finally get some decent rain on Wednesday, then I will make a point to do the laundry. What a day it's been. I know that the hydrangea is still weeping around the corner, so maybe that will be the final chore of the day. ... The hydrangea is watered and so are most of the other flowers. That was 10 gallons plus a whole bunch more.
July 17, 2007 (Tuesday)
It is cloudy today. Come on rain!!
Time for an update on flowers in bloom. As a side note, the garden appears to be mostly lavender at present. The foxgloves are either dying because they are biennial and have finished flowering or because of the lack of rain. Either way, they aren't particularly attractive so I'm going to have to mix them with something that has good foliage cover next year.
BLOOMING
Amish Cockscomb----------------------pinkish red
Bee Balm 'Monarda citriodora'--------------------------pinkish/lavender
Bee Balm 'Panorama Red Shades'-------red (but this has got to go; enough with the mildew!)
Blue Sea Holly----------------------lavender/blue (can barely see it among the Rudbeckia)
California Poppy-------------------orange (they close up in the evening and when cloudy)
Cornflower 'Jubilee Gem'------------blue
Crimson Clover---------------------red
Dahlias Little Beeswings-----------(yellow/red)
Daylily 'Happy Returns'------------yellow
Delphinium 'Fantasia Mixed Colors'-------blue and untrimmed bits of white, pink, lavender
Echinops ritro---------------------lavender/blue
Evening Stock----------------------white, lavender, pinkish, bright purple
Flax-------------------------------lavender/blue
Forget-Me-Not----------------------blue (a whole sea of it now)
Germander--------------------------lavender (in full swing)
Hollyhock 'Country Romance'--------pink, maroon
Hosta------------------------------lavender/white
Hydrangea--------------------------blue
Hyssop-----------------------------purple
Johnny Jump-Up---------------------purple
Liatris----------------------------lavender
Love-Lies-Bleeding-----------------deep pink
Mignonette-------------------------insignificant flower (looks orange, so maybe it's not fully open yet)
Morning Glory 'Kniola's Purple'----purple
Moss Rose (Portulaca)--------------hot shades of pink, yellow, and red
Nigella 'Persian Jewels'-----------shades of blue and pink
Old Fashioned Vining Petunia-------white, pink
Oregano----------------------------pink (still don't know if maybe this is Marjoram)
Perennial Pea----------------------pink, white, and mixes of the two
Purple Coneflower------------------lavender (unbelievably tall this year)
Roses------------------------------Chrysler Imperial (red), White Dawn (white)
Scarlet Runner Bean----------------scarlet
Shasta Daisy 'Silver Princess'-----white
Snapdragon 'Black Prince'----------maroon
Tassel Flower----------------------coral/red
Veronica---------------------------mostly purple with one pink (all on the way out)
Wallflower-------------------------orange
WEEDS IN BLOOM
Butter and Eggs (yellow), Geranium (lavender, white), Greater Celandine (yellow), Motherwort (it wasn't Horehound like I listed it as before) (lavender), Oxeye Daisy (white), Polygonum (pink), St. John's Wort (yellow), Sulphur Cinquefoil (yellow), White Clover (white), Queen Anne's Lace (white), Red Clover (lavender), Yarrow (white), Black-eyed Susans (golden yellow)
BUDDING
Blue Lace Flower (pale blue), Canada Goldenrod (yellow), Dahlias (all have buds), Helenium 'Autumnale' (maroon/golden), Lupine 'Russell Mixed Colors' (new one planted this year), Nasturtium 'Empress of India' (red), Orange Lilies (orange, by the driveway), Rudbeckia (golden yellow), Stargazer Lilies (pink & white), Zinnia 'Yellow Peruvian'
July 18, 2007 (Wednesday)
It finally decided to rain here today. Of course it rained on the west side of the house first, where I don't have anything important planted. But at last it started raining on the other side of the house and one of the kiddie pools is full now. The other one wasn't filling. I guess that gutter is clogged, so I moved the pool and tucked it under the lip of the other pool. It is a very light rain. I am hoping for something more drenching between now and the weekend. ... I've been working on next year's garden plan, trying to stick to the "Keep it simple, Stupid" rule. I was thinking maybe I would try to get by with only buying two types of plants next year, but who am I kidding? Let's make it four: orange poppies, a Moss Rose bush, one or two Cabbage Roses, and a couple of Dutchman's Pipe plants to climb that huge, ugly, blank kitchen wall. Any other projects are just going to have to come out of the seeds that I already have, unless I decide to trade for something different. Now, to think about the farm crop plans... ugh. ... 4:57 PM and only 0.3" of rain. Hopefully there is more to come. It has only filled the one kiddie pool.
July 19, 2007 (Thursday)
No more rain last night, but I'll do laundry today anyway. I think that the flowers, pumpkins, and veggies can hold off for one more day with what little rain they had. ... I harvested two Boothby's Blonde Cucumbers today. Since I've never had them before, I took the requisite taste test (I'm not the salesperson-type and I certainly wouldn't want to try to sell something if I didn't like it myself). At any rate, it was quite tasty and tasted just like a cucumber should. Much better than Lemon Cucumbers, in my opinion. Boothby's are short (about 3.5" long), very rotund, and vary from a creamy whitish-green to a very ripe yellow. Boothby's are officially on my keeper list. ... Well, we got another 0.9" of rain today. I definitely shouldn't have to water for a couple of days at this rate.
July 20, 2007 (Friday)
It rained a little more this morning. I drained the water out of my Zinnia/Iceland Poppy seed tray. I noticed that bugs are eating the Zinnia seedlings. The pests around here really ought to give it a rest! I've arranged to trade Morning Glory seeds with Mimi (Linda). I can't wait. I think I'll plant the Heavenly Blues I get on the two extra posts in the sq ft garden so that I can keep my MGs from cross-pollinating and still have something pretty to look at out there. I cannot wait. Maybe I could start the flower garden around the wishing well, too. I bet Heavenly Blues would look very nice climbing up the wishing well. I could even mix my two MGs on it, but I bet the color of the Kniola's Purple would overpower the Heavenly Blues. Might get some interesting crosses out of it, though. ... I went out and pulled the row covers off the pumpkins. I've left them anchored down with rocks beside the rows in case I need them, but they trapped and killed a few bees while they were on the rows, so I think I'll just fold them all up and put them away for the year. I might resort to plastic row covers in the future. I don't think bees would get stuck to plastic. On the bright side, either the bees homed right in on the flowers or they were already there working away under the row covers, but the flowers got swarmed in any case. I wondered how long it would take for them to find them once I uncovered them. Now I know! At any rate, I only saw male flowers, and yet I HAVE A PUMPKIN!! WOOHOO!!! Maybe I won't need to do the pollinating myself after all. I suppose I should feed the vines a flower-boosting fertilizer to help get those female flowers going right away.
July 21, 2007 (Saturday)
Yesterday, we found Sprucedale Gardens in Woodstock, CT. What a fantastic nursery! I bought a hanging basket full of red tuberous begonias. They had a bunch of other hanging baskets that were absolutely lovely, too, especially considering the time of year. I wanted two of them, but there really wasn’t enough room in the car. As it was, I had to ride in the back seat while the basket rode in the passenger seat. ... I mowed some of the lawn this morning. I saw three Swallowtail butterflies in one spot on my Purple Coneflower, along with a couple of other butterflies. Everything was jam-packed with bees. One of the last of the Happy Returns Daylily blossoms had six bees dozing in it this morning, plus one camped outside the blossom on a leaf. Silly bees! For future reference, I should plant a whole lot more Purple Coneflowers (because bees and butterflies seem to love them the most) and a bunch more flowers that the bees can sleep in at night. Some bees were just sitting dead still on the coneflowers, exposed to the elements, waiting for the sun to reach them. Also, the bumble bees really love Oregano. Or is it Marjoram? I should really figure that out and plant more of it. It makes a huge and lovely bush. ... The dog chewed on my rubber gardening boots. It didn't look like he didn't any damage, but they were my poison ivy boots, so now the dog is going to spread P.I. everywhere. Joy.
July 22, 2007 (Sunday)
I mixed up some blood meal, bone meal, and epsom. I spread it around the pumpkins and gourds and worked it into the dirt. I also added some of the epsom to the alfalfa tea for the roses. ... My husband and I weeded around the private garden. I saw some cucumbers, maybe three watermelons, and several hot peppers. I worked on getting the weeds out of the hollyhock seedlings. I still have a large patch of that to finish. Considering that we had a little over an inch of rain last week, the soil was unbelievably dry. I don't know how anything survives out there. At least the ground was soft and the weeds were easy to pull. ... I collected seeds from Tassel Flower, Crimson Clover, and Moss Rose (Portulaca). The Moss Rose seeds are very pretty, sort of an iridescent metallic grey. I’m not sure there are actually any seeds in what I gathered from the Crimson Clover. I vaguely remember sowing claw-shaped things when I started the commercial pack of seeds, and that's the sort of shape that I gathered, but it still seemed very odd. ... One of my generic pink lilies opened. It sure smells good. It almost looks like a Stargazer Lily, but I know it's not. ... The dog dug up the stones by the dog room and got dirt mixed in with them. That's going to have to be fixed before weeds start growing in it. Maybe that area should be covered with something else, like a mat of coco fiber. ... I could smell the pink lily from across the yard when I came back from the chicken coop. Hard to believe that just those two blossoms could overpower the scent of the Evening Stock.
July 23, 2007 (Monday)
It is 9:40 AM and only 65 degrees. It isn't supposed to reach 70 degrees and it looks like it might rain. I was just outside taking pictures and some of the bumble bees were still asleep among the flowers. Weird weather for the end of July. .. 11:00 AM and it is raining. Yeah!! ... 1:06 PM and we got a little over 0.3" of rain. Woohoo! Every little bit helps. |
July 24, 2007 (Tuesday)
Overall, I think we got 0.5" of rain yesterday. The bees were conked out en masse in the pumpkin flowers this morning. That seems very strange. I don't remember seeing that sort of behavior in previous years. Don't they have hives to go to? I picked strawberries, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. ... The bees conked out in droves in the two remaining blossoms on my 'Happy Returns' Daylily this evening.
July 25, 2007 (Wednesday)
Today, the lone lily in my originally square garden opened. It is pure white. I can't smell it from the edge of the garden and I can't get through the mass of surrounding flowers to smell it, either. It is one of a batch of mixed lilies that I planted a long time ago, maybe in 2004. The rest of the batch was eaten by some kind of burrowing animal. I remember seeing the puffed up tunnels where the bulbs used to be and I was so upset. It's still upsetting all these years later. It's nice to see the sole survivor, though. I think it's an Oriental Lily. ... The bees were conked out in my pumpkin flowers again. I guess that is the new way of things. ... I picked some more cucumbers. I need to keep a closer eye on them. They seem to ripen much more quickly than I expect them to. ... I watered the three heirloom roses and the 'All Ablaze' Rose with the alfalfa tea. It smelled okay, but it looked kind of gross. I hope it doesn't kill them. Guess I will find out in short order. ... They are still very small, but I have a couple more Stella de Oro in bloom. It will be interesting to see how they look next year. ... I just checked my cubes of Trumpet Vine and Honeysuckle. The Trumpet Vines are all dead and at least one of the Honeysuckle cuttings has roots. Okay. I'll count that as a success. But now what do I do with it? Maybe I can move them into a very moist soilless mix. I'll have to look on the Internet and find out just exactly what I am supposed to do. With my luck, the Honeysuckle cuttings will turn out to not be hardy in this zone.
July 26, 2007 (Thursday)
I used up one kiddie pool watering the smaller flower bed and the sage and oregano. I did a little weeding in the private garden, but it was just too hot to do much of that. Actually, it was only about 86 degrees, but I guess the humidity was through the roof today because it felt way over 90.
July 27, 2007 (Friday)
I watered the pumpkins this morning, half an hour per row. I'll see if I can water them every other day this way. I watered the flowers by the rock wall. They were very wilty. I need to go to the private garden and do some watering. I'll do that in a moment. I guess tomorrow I will water the sq ft garden. ... I ordered |
