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flowers?

Wednesday, June 29th

Fruits, Berries & Flowers


It's a nice time of year, at least for fruity edibles (the heat and humidity are rather oppressive).

The black raspberries are just starting to ripen, and there seem to be many this year. The cherries on the tree closest to the house (the one that can be seen right out my windows) are also ripening, or ripe (not sure if they get sweeter or stay sour). I just ran into a few small but sweet and tangy wild strawberries in the lawn to the East side of the house; actually the plants are all over the place, so I should start looking for more.

Apples are growing on the red and green trees in front of the house. And I think I saw a small plum on a recently planted tree next to the driveway.

The peonies are actually just coming to the end of their blooming period, which I believe started about a week or a week and a half ago. They were beautiful this year - I guess they always are but I seemed to notice them more than usual. The lillies just started opening a few days ago, with a larger number opening now; especially the ones between here and the chicken house. Though I worry that these are being over run by some new weed with small, bunched white flowers and many-lobed leaves - I guess we'll see next year how the lilies do. It seems the weed flowers a little earlier than the lilies, so maybe they won't compete with each other too much. There also seems to be much wild rose this year - they have small, uni-layered, white flowers, though I believe they bloomed several weeks ago.

Amazingly enough, I found some of my grandmother's "money plants" growing again at the NW corner of the house where they used to grow. I thought they had been all wiped out, but there are at least five plants again, very exciting. Her jack-o-lantern or "pumpkin" plants were taken over by lilies many years ago. There are many broadleaf ferns growing just to the West of the money plants, along the side of the house where it is wet - they have been succeeding for some years now, but they are very bushy this year and cover that patch of ground completely; they are even competing with the lilies at the corner. The grass in the front has really taken off and is lush and green. There is some crab grass in spots, but I think the lawn grass will take it over this year or the next. The clover is starting to come up too, and the clover by the garden is about an inch high; doing very well and starting to look like a carpet.

Jesse on 06.29.05 @ 04:05 PM EST [link]


Thursday, June 16th

Garden VI


Yesterday, planted 2nd batch of sunflowers (used new seed this time), buttercup squash (winter) and transplanted some gourd seedlings to main bed where nothing sprouted (they were still alive today).

No more fruit on the strawberries (they might have been eaten).

It's raining.!

Jesse on 06.16.05 @ 10:13 PM EST [link]


Tuesday, June 14th

Garden V (& Front Lawn II)


I'm happy to report that almost everything is growing well.

The first set of peas are at least 3 (if not 4) inches high and are in need of climbing material. The beets are also out and about 3 inches high, and I have thinned them to 3 inches apart. The swiss chard is doing so well that I had to thin them quickly to 10-12 inches; the thinned plants tasted quite good. Cucumbers and gourds have sprouted and are growing strong, ornamental popcorn has shot up in multitudes, the 2nd set of peas look as good as the first did, strawberry plants are starting to produce, tomato and basil plants are really starting to take off (the basil plants probably have 4X as many leaves now as they did when I planted them), and peppers are stable.

In fact, the ace peppers were looking yellow and wilty for a while, but now they have become firm and are healthier than the mandarins, which seem to have an insect problem. One of them is so bad I wonder if it will survive - will have to look into this. None of the broccoli, cauliflower or spinach sprouted; I am attributing this to the fact that the seeds were 5 years old. The cilantro has not sprouted yet, or if it has I haven't been able to distinguish.

I dug up the area where the above mentioned un-sprouted seeds were planted (some of the area may have had 5 year old beet seeds planted in it), and have freshly planted two new rows of beets. **Note: it is not necessary to plant seeds 1" apart, as beet seed-units contain multiple seeds and it is very unlikely that one of them will not sprout, in fact I had 2 or 3 seedlings in each spot with the first planting. Sow seeds 3" apart, which is what they are thinned if planted traditionally.
In the rest of the patch I will plant swiss chard, as it seems to do quite well in the garden and apparently can be harvested throughout the growing season.

I spread about 2" of goat manure/hay mix under and around the pepper, tomato, and basil plants, as mulch, and eventually fertilizer. I left 2" rings around the base of each plant to prevent burning. Hopefully these plants will do very well now.

Outside the fence the beans are growing and only about half have been eaten by the chickens (I think the other half are safe now because of their larger size); the clover is finally coming up, but is still very small; it seems that it is hard to get started, and next time I will try to use finer soil and better raked, and spread the seed more thickly. Jason's pumpkins are coming up well, and our corn is too (will need to weed it from grass very soon). The muskmelon hills have all been successful except for the two at the Eastern edge (possibly from competition with that weed bush that is obiquitous in that location), and there are 3 or 4 seedlings in each that are looking just as good and strong as the other vine plants. A few sunflowers are coming up, but as I feared many of the seeds have not germinated. There is also a second batch of beans, which I just threw down and barely covered with soil (maybe a week ago), which is just starting to break through the crust of the soil.

No lupine yet, but it does say germination can take between 2 and 4 weeks (planted two weeks ago, May 31st.)

The grass in the front lawn is starting to become quite thick, though another grass is popping up as well (though much more sparesly), and there is no sign yet of clover.

It has been quite hot and humid recently, which might account for some of the rapid growth we have seen. Rain has been variable; there have been one or two good downpours, and we have watered plants by hand much of the rest of the time, at least twice a week. If the weather keeps up as it has, I believe this will be quite a good season.

Jesse on 06.14.05 @ 10:00 PM EST [link]


Saturday, June 4th

Garden IV


Today will probably be the last significant day of planting.

In the garden planted ornamental popcorn; cucumbers along the SSE wall, gourds along the ESE wall. Lastly I planted a small plot of cilantro near the entrance and in the shade of the pin oak. There is still a small patch unplanted between the tomato plants and the cucumber row.

Outside, in the South section of the old garden (which was the only one tilled this year) planted muskmelons in mounds, and sunflowers in two rows.

Let's hope it rains soon...

Jesse on 06.04.05 @ 08:46 PM EST [link]


Thursday, June 2nd

Garden III


Ok, I know you're probably sick of hearing about the garden by now, but this is important stuff, really.

Yesterday, I planted strawberry plants in the NE corner of the garden (the garden meaning the "fenced garden" from now on). I may have to get a third though, as two may not be enough. I'm also not sure if it will be a problem that they are of two different varieties (Fragaria Junebearing, Fragaria Everbearing). We finished the fence yesterday, all but for putting on a proper gate.

Today was a major planting day. I planted all the tomato and pepper plants, about 20 and 10, and 6 basil plants among the tomato plants. The variety of tomatoes: supersweet, viva italia, and another whose name I'll have to fill in later. Peppers: Ace Bell and Mandarin. I also planted 4 Roma paste tomato plants in large pots by the house - we were running out of room in the garden, and it will be nice to experiment with them; they didn't look too healthy anyway.

I planted two types of sugar peas on both sides of part of the West fence. Also put beans in a patch to the NW of the garden, mainly for nitrogenizing purposes - don't a big fan of green beans.

The previously planted peas are definitely coming up, as well as the beets and swiss chard. I think I see sprouts among the spinach, broccoli and cauliflower as well, but we'll see.

Jason also planted many pumpkins to the East of the garden yesterday, and some gourds around the outside of the SE corner. We were just able to see many of the corn shoots peaking above the soil today. There is also another patch where our old garden used to be where me might plant muskmelons and watermelons.

Ah, the joys of planting a garden...

Jesse on 06.02.05 @ 10:05 PM EST [link]