Garden Diary 29 July 2018

The month of July is always full of grandies enjoying Camp Sonnystone.  The garden takes a back seat, but we did manage to pote our buckets around and keep everything as watered as we could…well, almost everything.  Despite our best efforts, the lack of rain combined with the heat took its toll.

After the Jose’ fam left, we surveyed the damage and brought in whatever veggies we could, which was plenty.  Most of the yellow squash had bit the dust (literally) earlier, but there were 3 zucchini producing.  The tomatoes were covered with ripening fruit and the bell peppers are (still) carrying on.  I ended up freezing a dozen quart bags of zucch and squash, though, so I’m happy.  Now there’s one more zucchini on the last plant.

I had to take down a tomato that suddenly went yellow on me, and the better boys have slowed down, but I’m hoping they’ll get started again.  I still have dozens of tomatoes, even after making a huge greek tomato salad and slicing every chance I get.

I’ve harvested 4 pots of basil and made an ice cube tray of pesto.  There’s a pound or so of onions, and some chive put up.  Casey’s barrel of potatoes only produced a handful, but the experiment gave us great ideas of next year.

Oh, and that’s a jar of lemon verbena leaves, ready to be transformed into tea, or infused into some nice vodka.

I’m really grateful, as I know many gardeners have had worse seasons and I do have a lot to show for my work.  It’s just that vegetables are a bit of a gamble.  Yet each year I learn something new.

The flowers, though….  daisies, rudbeckia, roses (!), pineapple sage, butterfly bushes… they are blooming, attracting the birds and bugs and making me smile.

 

Casey has started a Major New Project, and I’m planning an August Extravaganza of sorts…  You’ll want to read about it over at The News from Sonnystone Acres…

Peace

 

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July 2 Garden Photos

The rains continued to do our watering, perhaps a little over-zealously, until Friday last and now it’s our turn.  The garden is in Full Summer Swing…

I pulled up the first crop of green beans — about 3 lbs — and got them cleaned and ready to be snapped by Sonnystone Campers next week.  Grandpa should have plenty of new potatoes, too.

We’re over-run with Squash And Zucchini!!!  It is a regular on the menu now, and I’ve frozen a couple of lbs! The Garden Fairies Love Me Again…!

Still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen up, but that should be just in time for my visitors.  We’re leaving the garden under Jr’s care while we drive down to Disney World to pick up the Joses and bring them back for Camp Sonnystone.  They will be here until the 20th or so, and I know you’ll want to check out the Fun we’ll be having over at The News.

 

Peace

Garden Diary 5 June 2018

Thank-you, Alberto, for dropping a whole lotta rain.  From 5/29 to 6/3 the plants jumped from…well, look!

5-29-18

6-3-18

The edible garden is earning its keep, scoring a First with a lovely Better Belle followed closely by 3! Big Berthas.  A dozen tomatoes are on the Better Boys and Celebrity.  The cherry tomatoes are blooming all over the place.  I’m especially proud of the zucchini and yellow squash.  I’ve had so many Fails with them in the recent past.  When we lived over on Harmon Ct. they grew like crazy, and I’ve stubbornly persisted in trying to replicate those years.  It looks like this might be My Year with the Squash.  I don’t want to jinx myself, though, and rile up the squash bugs that are just looking around for a cocky gardener to bring down.

It really was a Whole Lotta Rain, possibly too much for some of my containers, so I’ve moved stuff around in my usual OCD manner.  I’m still not done….Will I ever be?  Do I want to be?

We are taking a break and heading up to camp at Harmonie SP for a couple of days.  I’m ready to cook some foil meals,  hike some easy trails, soak my clothing in Off!, and sit and stare at the campfire…

Peace

Back in the Garden

So, we just skipped Spring this year, it seems.  Since April 29, when our lows were a chilly 40’s and highs mid-50’s, we have had 2 weeks of blazing highs in the upper 80’s to 90’s, even set some records.  We also got a hail storm, the likes of which I have never witnessed.  It was high anxiety watching as my newly-planted veggies were pelted, but they all made it through with minimal trauma.  Now we’re in a holding pattern of clouds and rain, which is just fine.

Here’s this year’s edible garden, as of today…

 

My roses were devastated by rose slugs.  Can you believe it?  They have bloomed beautifully, but within about 3 days went from having a few holes in the leaves, to being literally foliage-free….not a good look.  We have sprayed, twice, so we are hopeful that they will recover, but…  I sincerely regret buying all these knock-out roses. I guess these blooms  almost…kinda…sorta.. make up for the trouble.

 

Still, this lovely honeysuckle bloom is as easy and pest resistant as it gets…  I should stick with native plants…

I planted lavender in containers this year, throwing in the towel at growing them in the ground.  My original plan was to keep them out in the edible garden, but I’m babying them on sunniest spot on the front porch for now.

Since it was summer-like, we got the pool up and the water was quickly comfortable, especially after working up a sweat schlepping around plants.  We expanded the pool area and changed some stuff around.  I’ll catch you up with that and the front porch (we have had some good rummage sale buys this year) over at Sonnystone Acres .

There’s some good-looking cilantro out back begging me to make Salsa…

Peace

All done but the eating…

All that’s left is the basil, sage, rosemary, and that patch of garlic chive in the corner…

It was a wonderful garden season, and I learned a bunch of stuff I was already supposed to know:

1. It’s all about the soil.  These beds were filled with fresh promix in the Spring.  All the difference…
2. Square-foot gardening really doubles your space, but don’t crowd the squash…
3. Mark the transplants clearly or you’ll never figure out which tomatoes are which until they fruit…
4. Even though Casey put out the soaker hoses as I requested, he watered with watering cans…  It worked fine.

We’ve cut back the hydrangea and butterfly bushes so we can see out the windows.  The roses are not to be pruned until late Winter, early Spring.  I do need to cut back the perennial herbs, but no hurry.

I feel a little sad, but restless to move on to Autumn weather and colors.  We’re already planning for next year’s edition of the gardens.  For now, though, it’s time to sit and enjoy the harvest…

Peace

and the Garden Grows on…

We’re harvesting tomatoes and peppers daily, and this week-end we’ll have a big pot of green beans (with new potatoes and bacon) from the poles.  It’s time to make pesto with the basil, smudge sticks with the sage, and dry the oregano and thyme.  I like basil, mozzarella, and tomato sandwiches and Casey likes bacon, basil, and tomato sandwiches.  …Mmmm yum…  It’s all Good…

When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden.

— Minnie Aumonier

Peace

 

Good heavens, it’s been over a month…

While I was wrangling grand-daughters around Sonnystone Acres, husband was taking care of the watering.  I managed to do some trimming and deadheading, and of course, some harvesting.  We’ve had an abundance of all kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, bell and banana peppers, and onions.  With a crew of eaters, it’s all been enjoyed!

We’ve now pulled up most of the squash plants (finally succumbed to the powdery mildew), the onions, and the arugula is long gone, so we tilled and treated and planted a second crop of green beans, beets, and spinach for the fall.  There’s still a ton of tomatoes and a plethora of peppers on the vine.

We saved most of the roses that we put in pots.  One more had to be removed from the front, so we have plenty to fill in with this fall after we do some serious soil amending.  Just the way it goes, that now I have too many!

While the kids were here, playing out in the pool, we heard the ca-racking and swish of a tree falling nearby.  It is a tall, old,  cherry tree that is on the border of our property and it fell toward the center of our front yard, stopping in a cluster of branches of another tree,  just above the electrical wires that connect our house to the street lines.  Hmm…it will inevitably fall–maybe tomorrow, maybe next year–so do we want to let nature take its course?  Hell, no.  We went through that when “the trees fell” from straight-line winds slamming through and the entire electrical box was pulled from the side of the house.  Power outages do not amuse me.  Actually, it’s a little cheaper to let it happen and then fix it, since the Tree Guys will have to bring in a crane, but we’re not really that broke!  Yet.

I need to do some dead-heading, but the flowers are looking good.  The front roses are okay, too.  For now, I’m just enjoying the gardens from the porch.

Peace