Will work for mulch

Oct31

Back in the day when I was younger and fresher I used to do yard cleanups and odd jobs on the side for a little extra spending money. It doesn’t make much sense, but I still hold on to a job or two, ask myself why, and then drag myself out on a damp morning for a day of hard labor. Long hours working in someone else’s garden gives you plenty of time to think, and the conclusion I’ve come to is that I do it for the mulch. I don’t get nearly enough chopped leaves around here and my thin topsoil greedily eats up every leaf I dump on or turn into it.

Colchicum and vegetable beds tucked in nicely under a layer of whatever the mower sucked up off the lawn. Pity the poor seed grown chrysanthemum which spent all summer waiting to be transplanted out of its tiny pot. Amazing it lived, let alone bloomed.

I do the cleanup and take home a couple bags of weeds for compost and chopped leaves for mulch. It’s not easy coming to terms with the idea I’m a mulch whore but when I’m home and showered and looking at my haul I feel a little less cheap.

A bonanza of chopped leaves for the garden. If I had more I’d start a leaf mould pile, instead I use them all up as garden mulch.

I snuck into my brother in law’s yard last weekend and mowed up his back yard. It was only fair since most of his leaves are off the trees which suck the life out of the North side of my yard. I don’t think he even noticed, and the daffodil beds thank him. My fingers are also crossed for the neighbor across the street and the chance that he dumps his mower bags out in the woods rather than into unmarked trash bags. That would be quite the haul 🙂

The last of the dahlias still dodging winter. The plants look more than ready to give up but the blooms are still coming.

We have a freeze coming this weekend which should finish off the last of the tender plants. Normally October 10th is what I think of as our first frost date, so sneaking through into the first of November is a treat, even though most of the annuals seem more than ready to give up.

The formerly lush red leaved castor bean is all ripening seedheads now. Take a little care when handling these, they’re the source of the poison ricin.

I’m ready to do the final cleanup. After a freeze the dahlias and cannas will be dug and the roots thrown into the garage. Then with the exception of late bulb sales I’ll be taking a bit of a rest for the holidays. Time for bird feeding and snow watching 🙂

One of my last bloomers of the season, this selfsown chrysanthemum looks nice paired with the red of yet another dogwood seedling and the yellow of fall hosta leaves.

So I think this season is just about a wrap! Bulb planting counts as work for next season -which makes cutting back and removing the frozen annuals the last chore of the 2014 season. Most people look forward to a winter rest, but not me. I’m already antsy for late winter’s cyclamen and snowdrops!!

Glass Gem Corn

Oct16

The title explains it all. After nearly giving up on the watering a few times, and feeling guilty for the curled up/droughty leaves nearly all of the time, the Glass Gem corn has finally limped on in to the finish line. It’s not a huge harvest but I love it all the same.

Just in time for all the harvest displays, ‘Glass Gem’ corn looks just as you would imagine…. glassy.

“Glass Gem” is a popcorn type who’s origins trace back to the corns grown by the Native Americans. This of course doesn’t seem a far stretch since all corn originates out of the fields of the earliest American farmers, but “Glass Gem” is a strain reselected by an Oklahoman farmer out of several of the oldest of corn strains available. That’s the short version of the story. There’s much more to it and if you’re interested check it out by clicking here.

I hope I don’t do the history of this corn a disservice by just hanging it around the house for decoration, but I think it’s just too cool to pop or grind (plus I only have a few kernels!) I’ll have to grow it again next year and see if I can improve the harvest. Having a couple real ears and not the tiny little deformed things I picked should really up the wow factor!

It sounded like rain…..

Oct12

There were a few raindrops on the roof last night, I’m sure of it. In fact there was light rain lingering in the morning, enough so that I put off going next door to help dig holes for a fence moving project (I really didn’t need much of an excuse to put that off….). By the time late-afternoon rolled around and bowling and hole digging was done for the day, the garden looked as dry as ever. The only plants still looking somewhat fresh are the chrysanthemums.

On an 85F degree day a few weeks ago I dug up and threw this plant into a pot by the front door. It barely wilted, the buds are opening, and I’m quite pleased with the show. This is chrysanthemum ‘pink cadillac’.

I might have to spread the good cheer of chrysanthemums around the garden a little more next spring. It’s hard to think fall flowers in May but they really do stand up to a lot of abuse, and by abuse I mean bone dry soil and little attention from me for pretty much the entire growing season.

I’ve had this one for a few years and oddly enough last week found its original nursery tag mixed in with a batch of compost. Of all the mums I’ve killed it must have been destiny to recover the ID of chrysanthemum ‘vicki’.

Potted mums are always a nice autumn treat, but my success in overwintering them has been hit or miss. This spring I dabbled in the world of hardier chrysanthemums by ordering a few rooted cuttings from Faribault Growers in Minnesota. They offer “Mums from Minnesota” which are mums developed and grown locally for the harsher winters of the upper Midwest. I’m afraid I might have to order a few more this spring, I really like how they worked out… even though I don’t think I have room for any more!

A late, taller mum, “Carousel” should make a nice cut flower. To bad the leaves are starting to yellow from lack of water….

This spring I opted for mostly ‘novelty’ types with quilled and spooned petals. I like them well enough but I think what I really want are a few fat, football types. I’m not saying I’ll fertilize, stake and disbud to get the largest of show blooms, but I did try out a single football type this summer and loved it most of all (please don’t tell the others). I think I need more 😉

An interesting bloom, ‘dolliette’ is a little clumpy for me, I like looser sprays of flowers and these seem a little crowded.

Hopefully no one has been offended by my use of the name ‘chrysanthemum’ for these flowers. The new genus name is ‘dendranthema’ of course and I’m not thrilled with learning a new trick. Will they also no longer be mums? I guess we can call them mas, but that doesn’t seem as catchy even though it does still gives mom her due.

Lettuce transplants in the garden. My half-hearted attempt at a fall garden.

The only other thing I’ve been enjoying in the garden lately is the one lonely patch of garden which has been receiving regular water. I planted it up with lettuce transplants found at my favorite local nursery and according to my calculations I’ll need to pick approximately 8 salads from this patch in order to make it a worthwhile investment.

But like they say: price of transplants- $5, having a tiny fall garden patch- priceless….. unless you still add in the time, compost, watering 🙂

In a vase on Monday

Aug19

Surprisingly enough I’ve made the Monday vase twice in a row, unheard of!

Not a bad group of sunflowers, all volunteers from the birdfeeder.

The sunflowers inspired me, and their carefree summer spirit made it easy as pie to put this arrangement together. After they were in place I was told they needed some other vase, and the red didn’t look good, but “don’t push me” is what I said! I added the blue wine bottle, I guess I was feeling very primary with all the sunflower yellow.

I didn’t do much fussing over them and I think they look fine, but I noticed this evening they had done a little of their own arranging, and heads were lifted and there was less of the droopy down facing that you see here. It’s kind of like a vase of tulips in that they keep growing and twisting to get into a better position. This should have come as no surprise from a flower that keeps turning its head to face the sun.

The birds have been enjoying the seedheads outside for weeks, I guess it’s time for me to enjoy a few myself indoors.

You would think a bunch of volunteer sunflowers grown from seed out of the feeder would all just run the range of yellow, yellow, yellow, but there is some variation in these. They’re taller and shorter, branched higher and lower, longer petals, shorter, quilled petals, darker centers, pale yellow, splash of brown, deep golden… it’s quite the surprise.

Different colors and sizes, nothing real fancy, but nice surprises none the less.

I feel like I splurged in cutting these all for a few days in the house, but I’m sure more will come. The patch still has plenty to look forward to and even a steady stream of goldfinches can’t eat them all.

Sunflowers at sunset. They’ve officially taken over.

So that’s my Monday vase. I may jump back in here and there to fill a vase, but work is gearing up again and the shorter days really kill my gardening vibe. The vases are fun though and if you’re interested in joining I’m sure Cathy at Rambling in the Garden would be happy to have you. Thanks for hosting Cathy!

And the clouds opened

Aug17

For some reason my little valley has been missing all the rains again, and up until last week it’s just been dry, dry, dry…. until Tuesday. The cold front came through and we enjoyed two days of on and off rain, and the garden just soaked it all up. It reminded me of one of those nature specials out of the Serengeti.

You can’t even weed this rock hard “topsoil”. My new heucheras are toughing it out, but this bed sure won’t make it onto a postcard any time soon!

The grass dried up, the trees started dropping leaves, the waterhole pulled in all the wildlife, and animals were on the move. Anything not within hose range shriveled up, but at least the temperatures were low. Last year we had a hot baking which killed off the weak, this year I think everyone should recover.

Asclepias tuberosa is a tough one. I planted these seedlings out last summer and after a few weeks they shriveled up and died due to neglect. Spring resurrected them and they are now trying so hard…. but they’re not cacti!

It looks horrible though. The front yard had two sprinkler days and just looks dry, the back looks dead! Here’s the director of cinematography following me around getting the shots that I missed.

I would call this dormant. The weeds even gave up.

But just like in the nature specials, when the rains return the landscape springs back into life. I took a couple pictures at the end of the two days and although a few things look a bit battered, even the dead back lawn is giving out a sigh of relief.

The front street border starts to put on its best show at this time of year, and although polite people would refer to its plantings as “a riot of color” others would call it a mess. Suits me just fine though!

The front foundation bed is a much calmer mix this year. No bright oranges or over-bright coleus, but all my good intentions from last year of removing the overgrown evergreen and NOT letting any sunflowers grow up kinda fell to the wayside.

I don’t think I can physically pull and compost a sunflower, it’s just unethical to me…. sunflowers and dogwood seedlings, can’t pull either one.

I spend way too much time admiring the “Limelight” hydrangea. It’s just about at full bloom now and I love its green going into white phase and the way its heavy flower heads are held up on strong stems. It’s the only white plant out there, and it does stick out, but each spring I look proudly at its buds and imagine how much bigger the show will be!

“Limelight” hydrangea nearly overwhelming the border….More of a purple-yellow theme going on here, but none of my planting plans are ever set in stone.

For some reason prior to the rain the yard was overrun with birds. Flocks of starlings, catbirds, sparrows, house finches, hummingbirds, goldfinches, cardinals, doves, robins and mockingbirds would swarm each morning. A large cherry and staghorn sumac berries brought in the fruit eaters, but the others were just all milling about looking for what-nots. With all those hungry eyes it’s no wonder I’ve seen so few butterflies.

The day after the rain the back lawn was riddled with all these bill holes. I don’t know what they found in the freshly wetted grass, but there was a flock of around 50 who kept milling around going from lawn to cherry to sumac to lawn.

Strangely enough since the rains came there seem to be far fewer birds. I need to get out there and explain why their straying from script is throwing off the documentary. On TV the return of the rains always brings on the migrating hordes!

The rains were just in time for the former tropical bed. Leaves were starting to wilt and I just didn’t have it in me to add another bed to the water-triage list.

So we are back in business. I hate drought and I hate watering and between the two of them dry spells always get ugly. Now if it can only get a little warmer again this could have the makings of a great end of summer rally.

Maybe the birds can stop pecking off the tips of the cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) long enough for it to scale the arbor. It’s heading for the top but the birds are relentless. Good thing it’s not a bunny though, the other side for some reason is abused daily by our single resident baby bunny, and can’t even start climbing.

I should be thinking fall garden but I’m going to hide behind denial for a few more days. The cool weather is supposed to warm up again and hopefully summer will stay strong for another couple weeks. It’s hard to deny though as the cyclamen sprout and the corn ripens. Go away autumn, I’m not a fall person!

Innocent until proven guilty

Jun22

Last week the usual garden inspection turned up a massacre in the broccoli patch. My luck had run out and the rabbits had finally found the tender lettuce and cole crops… just when they were finally settling in. All the tender lush growth from the cool, damp weather has been nipped back, and I’m left with these leafless stalks.

The day before yesterday would have been the perfect time to fence off the vegetable garden….

What a setback! Of course it’s my own fault since even with the local stray cats, rabbits are still in and out of the garden, but I like to think the bunnies won’t take advantage of me and a nibble here and there is no big deal….. so I didn’t bother with a fence. That of course changed, and the fence is up again.

A little chicken wire to keep the bunnies out. Rabbits around here tend to be lazy, so a weak fence or even a few brushy twigs will keep them off my delicious ‘Matina Sweet’ lettuce.

Something was different though. The onslaught of damage was pretty severe for a stray rabbit finding a tender bit of broccoli, and the lettuce and cauliflower were also sampled. That’s a lot of nibbling for one or two rabbits on one or two nights. I began to wonder if a groundhog had returned….. a little plant leveling, bulldozing, little garden pig, who eats everything in sight…. but no, the damage wasn’t that bad.

I found my answer the next morning. Two young bucks were on the other side of the fence plotting their return. I knew they were around -three weeks ago a doe bounded over the fence while the kids and I were playing back there- but now I know they’re moving in. Deer are something I don’t want. Where are all the hunters when you need them?

Barbarians at the gate

Figures they would go straight for the broccoli and lettuce, they’re two of the only vegetables I actually eat. Why couldn’t they start with the chard?

Rumor has it vegetables make for healthy eating. I like to think of these unpicked and uneaten ‘bright lights’ swiss chard as being good food for the soul.

We’re not exactly country around here, but we do have our share of wildlife drama. Snakes and toads come and go, bugs abound, and all kinds of birds stop by to eat and drink and sometimes set up house. I finally found the tiny field sparrow nest (or at least I think that’s what they are) in the small blue spruce by the sandbox. Two chicks have hatched and it amuses me that they spring to life begging for food the second I tap the nest.

I’m not a good nest finder, and the only reason I found this one (after three tries -and the spruce is barely three feet around!) is that I noticed a female cowbird staking out the bush. Cowbirds will sneak in and remove an egg from an unguarded nest and replace it with one of their own, and this is what they did here. When I found the nest there were two white speckled eggs alongside the three blue speckled. I may or may not have removed the cowbird eggs.

Cowbirds are a native species and as such are protected under the Migratory Bird Act, so tampering with their eggs would be illegal…. but I also may at times roll through stop signs and push the speed limit, so I’m not sure where this puts me on the spectrum of criminal activity. All I’ll add is that cowbird chicks will usually outgrow their nestmates and end up displacing them, so I’m glad these parents won’t be stuffing food into a chick which grows to be twice their size.

Another thing which borders on illegal is the number of weeds and out of control plantings in this wanna-be iris border. It’s almost criminal how the campanula took over and the daisies moved in…. not to mention the clover.

Still on the to-do list is the iris bed. I think it needs a complete overhaul to get rid of the beautiful purple campanula glomerata which has taken over. The only legitimate planting here is the yellow variegated iris which is still just barely hanging on.

The iris bed is just one of many yet-to-be-done projects. I’m still getting the last of the seedling out from under the glow lights in the garage, and the overwintered geraniums are still sitting outside the garage, making quite the colorful accent on the driveway 🙂

All in due time they say, but I suspect due time might have passed along with the summer solstice. Instead of humming along, the garden is still taking form. Someday I hope to have things together but I suspect I just might not be that kind of gardener. It would help if a simple planting up of the deck pots didn’t turn into a table refinishing, light fixture replacing, porch chair repainting, trim rebuilding… .kind of project, but such is life!

Enjoy the first days of summer 🙂

Welcome to Fall

Sep29

Now that autumn is here I have officially given up on watering the garden. The cooler temperatures are not as deadly as the summertime heat, and the rain we had a week ago should be enough to keep things alive. So things are on their own for a while.

Most of the vegetable garden is done anyway. Yesterday I let the kids pick the pumpkins and decorate the porch for Halloween.

The ‘Red Wing’ onions were also harvested as well as the last of the eggplant. This pretty much finishes up the garden for the year (with the exception of a few peppers and a single brussel sprout plant). It’s a shame the dry weather sapped all my enthusiasm for a fall planting, the idea of a fresh lettuce harvest right about now sounds very nice.

Despite the end of regular watering, the dahlias continue to put out flowers and carry on. But they are beginning to look tired, and anytime the sun gets strong the leaves wilt. Just about everything looks tired. dahlias in the vegetable garden

The only dahlia that actually looks better now is this one. I need to look up the name, but the color that looked awful in July shines in autumn.

In case you haven’t already picked up on it, the vegetable garden tends to become a flower garden as the season progresses. Any gap in the plantings quickly fills with self sown verbena, Persicaria orientalis, and amaranthus ‘hot biscuits’. The amaranthus has a weedy look that not everyone appreciates, but I like it, and have been very generous with spreading the seedlings throughout the yard. At this time the seedheads seem to glow in the autumn sun. the late summer vegetable garden

The glow of autumn light is a signal to start thinking about protecting the tender plants for winter. My fig has had a troubled season. It spent the winter in the dark of the garage and began sprouting in January. The sprouts dried off by March but then a few pots of water brought some new shoots for April. By May I decided to use its pot for other, healthier looking plants, and while the fig waited for a new home (perched with rootball exposed on a spare saucer) it died again, this time I thought for good… on to the compost pile it went. But like cats, apparently figs have several lives. Around July I noticed a few sprouts coming up out of the compost and upon investigation found the fig root ball to be the source. Finally it was given a decent home, and it’s grown this year without any resentment. Now what to do this winter…..

Also needing a winter home are the tropicals on the deck. Even though I only paid three dollars for this red dipladenia, I can’t let it die! So either the dipladenia or the pansies will need to be repotted and brought in. I would have never thought of this combo, but pansy seeds do their own thing.

I don’t even want to think about the rest of the non-hardy deck plants. They’re growing and blooming and doing well in general even though I never got around to any of the summertime repotting or transplanting I had planned. blooming succulents on deck

The geranium should hang on in the dark of the garage, maybe the rosemary, but I’ll need someplace warmer for the coleus.

Fortunately the tropical garden survives the winter by seed or stored tuber. No windowsills needed for this end of the garden.

…and I’m finally getting some work done instead of just sipping drinks in the shade. The compost pile was turned and a bonanza of “god enough” compost was found underneath. It’s as dry as a bone in the pile, so I’m surprised there was any decay going on at all, but the plants will love it and I’m grateful for any scraps I find. the question will be “who gets it?”

Actually there’s no question, my favorite new bulbs always get the scarce compost. Here’s the newest bed in the back of the meadow. A privet hedge (luckily privet isn’t invasive here) is planned for along the fence, and a snowdrop (galanthus) bed will get its start here. I’ll bore you with the varieties next spring but for now here’s a picture of my usual low work (ie lazy) bed preparations.A couple inches of topsoil from elsewhere in the garden is spread out, bulbs are pressed down into the raked surface, a few inches of compost is used to top off and cover. The compost I used has a good amount of soil mixed in, but if it was more organic I’d cover the bulbs with a layer of garden soil too. They should be just fine here, and I’ll give them a good mulch of chopped autumn leaves once they come down.

I celebrate fall with bulb planting, I love getting the bulbs nestled down into the earth for next spring, I just wish the soil wasn’t so unfriendly and dry.

Enough with the bugs!

Aug24

So I’m bored with the garden, ok?

Until we get some decent rain most things are at a standstill…. except for the bugs. They’re going full tilt and doing what bugs do (which is eat and multiply). The grasshoppers are moving in off the dead grass of the meadow and taking advantage of the lush, watered parts of the garden. I can do without a plague of these suckers, and fortunately they don’t seem to do too much damage. I just pick them off and toss them on their way.

Katydids always show up on the purple leaved cannas. I’m not sure if it’s just that the holes are more obvious on these big leaves, but I always seem to find one here. If you look carefully you’ll see a second one further back, to the lower right. These guys (actually this one might be a female) get their names from the “Ka-ty-did, she-didn’t, she-did” song they sing at night. It’s one of the summer sounds I always look forward to. If you want to see something even cooler, look up “pink katydid” and you’ll see some uncommon color forms of this already far too pettable insect.

Believe it or not these things can fly too, and between their cool leaf shape, summertime song, and impressive size, I really don’t mind them eating as much canna leaves as they want. Plus the kids love to play with these slow moving gentle giants. I love having all this life going on in the garden and it’s the number one reason I avoid spraying whenever I can.

The bugs don’t always have it that easy….. A big bug makes for a big meal and besides all the birds that search the garden each morning, these yellow garden spiders wouldn’t mind making a meal out of a fat bumble bee or grasshopper. Judging by it’s plumpness I’d say the living is easy right now.

As you can see the phlox is still holding on, and I’ll try to show a couple flowers next time instead of continuing this parade of creepy crawlies. But just look at the size of that spider! Oh, and also notice the white zigzag “writing” on the web above and below the spider. These orb spiders are sometimes called writing spiders, and I think the pattern is supposed to keep birds from flying into and ruining their webs…. Flowers next time, I promise.

Wild Kingdom

Aug22

It’s confirmed. Our little patch of Pennsylvania which hasn’t had decent rain since mid July, sits in the middle of a rain-garden of Eden. In the last few weeks we’ve traveled out on each of the points of the compass and in each direction the lawns are lush and green and the roadsides are bursting with flowers. But not here. The lawn hasn’t needed mowing since the second week of July and the less popular plantings are dried and hanging with drought. Such goes our summer. Still I prefer this to the icy blast of winter, and I’ll take it. I’ll just slow down the pace, stare at the brown lawn, and continue to drag around the hose.

The watered areas of the yard seem to be drawing in more than their share of wildlife this summer. Besides drought, we’re experiencing a plague of frogs this season. Gray tree frogs both large and small are showing up all over, particularly around the house.

Before grilling the bbq gets a once over, and before moving furniture a quick look around helps prevent an ugly accident. Raising the deck umbrella is always fun, since the plopping down of a frog or two on the table and umbrella-raiser is always a possibility and refreshing shock.

I like the frogs but never really thought I’d have to add “sweep frog-poop off deck” to the pre-party to-do list.

This year’s babies seem to prefer the large leaves of amaranthus and corn, and in the baby-green phase they fit in pretty good.

Another surprise this year is the bumper crop of snakes showing up. Our plague of snakes is fortunately of the garter snake variety and because of that, non-poisonous and small (two pluses), but there’s always a shock to seeing a snake slither away from the path or slide behind a step. A different kind of shock than having a frog drop on your shoulder, but a surprise still.

Here’s a shaky shot of one that was calmly hunting through the plantings just off the front porch. I didn’t know they were such good climbers of shrubbery, maybe I’d still rather not know that fact.

Drought, Frogs, snakes…. I think we’re still far clear of repeating the 10 plagues of Egypt, but we do have a lot of gnats this summer, and we did get a number of flies when a garbage bag stayed around too long.

Next: bees and wasps. This is paper wasp nest #3 on this year’s list of evicted wasp nests, it was brought to my attention one evening by the screaming of a stung five year old playing in the playhouse where they set up shop. I’ve never had a large wasp nest in the garden until this year, so I’m not sure what’s brought on all these new neighbors, but at least I now know none of my kids nor the neighborhood kids are allergic. They’ve all been tested as well as a few kids who were over for a birthday party last week.

One day I’m going to try and figure out what all the bumblebees are. The kids call them “fat bees” to group them away from “skinny bees” and “paper wasps”. I still don’t follow their logic on the skinny bees, but it might be time for me to go a little more scientific and figure out all these black and yellow fatties.

The bumblebees are interesting to watch. On most of the flowers they “cheat” since their mouth parts are too “fat” to fit into the flower openings (hey, maybe the kids are on to something!) On phlox for example, they stab a hole into the base and suck out the nectar without returning the favor of pollination to the bloom. They seem to do this with a lot of plants such as butterfly bush, agastache, salvia… it’s actually a little annoying since on flowers such as the salvia and butterfly bush, they push in their mouths with enough force that they rip open the entire side. The split flowers brown and fall off and I’m left with nothing colorful. Oh well, at least they’re not stinging everyone. I guess they’re more suited for open flowers such as hibiscus and sunflowers, or flat topped flowers like thistle.

Butterflies have been late to the party. I’ve only just seen my first Monarch this week, and other types have been scarce all year. But it looks like they’re working on it. Here’s a Black Swallowtail on the potted parsley. There’s something about these guys that I always like, and they’re more than welcome to a share of the herbs.

Vegetable update

Jun26

I have a few hours this morning and rather than get some real work done I wanted to give a quick vegetable garden update. We’ve been picking lettuce from the deck planters and now also out of the fenced garden area. This “Matina Sweet” butterhead is tasty and if you look closer to the fence you’ll see the first two “Packman” broccoli are ready…. even though I’m not exactly sure how to tell when broccoli is fit for harvesting.

Last year’s broccoli went towards raising a healthy, vitamin rich, wild bunny population, this year the fence has really made a difference. Too bad it doesn’t keep out my newest pest- slugs.

Here’s a slug chewed kohlrabi. I hate peeling anything off these super fresh home grown veggies, but this one will need it.

The “Bright Lights” swiss chard looks good enough to eat. I cheated and prestarted in pots, that way when planting out the colors could be arranged 🙂

I just like the looks of red cabbage. Better soil would have done this plant good but it’s not bad considering the only fertilizer for this bed was the bag of chopped maple leaves dug in during spring planting. I did break down yesterday and gave everything a dose of miracle grow, we’ll see what that does.

Onions look good, I just hope they make it in spite of my late planting. They still have a way to go….. if worst comes to worst I guess we can try passing them off as tiny gourmet pearl onions or something.

“Lancelot” leek. We’ll see if anyone eats these, they’re new this year, but at least they have all year to get to a good size…. unlike the bulbing onions which will die back and bulb up once the days get short enough.

The zucchini seeds are up and growing fast now that summer temperatures are here. If I had more room it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put in a couple new seeds for a late summer crop…. just in case the vine borers kill off this batch.

Pole beans, bush beans, corn, peppers…. all are starting to come along but for some reason the eggplants are a bit sluggish this year. Just a few inches tall and they’ve got to deal with flea beetles and the little holes they make, plus some random bug (unfriendly I’m sure) leaving a batch of orange eggs….. possibly potato beetles….

Enough vegetables, it’s about time some flowers got in here and there are plenty coming along for July. Next post should have a couple blooms, until then all I have are tomato flowers. Not the most impressive but they make for promising green tomatoes.

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

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