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

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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

Roses, tomatoes, and edibles

The roses were a disaster.

First I underwatered, then I overwatered, then the bugs ate lots of leaves, so we sprayed insecticide soap. Casey had piled the mulch on too thick around the roots so fungus set it, so we pulled the mulch away and sprayed with Neem oil.

 At that point,  there were 3 of the 9 that were looking good.  The middle 2 were gone, so I pulled them and continued to baby the rest.

 Finally, I gave in and removed all but the 3 good ones, cleaned up the mulch and soil, planted 6 more (25% off, thank goodness) and we’re back in business.

I’m still a little afraid of them, though…

 

The Edible Garden has provided us with a meal of green beans, 1 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, shallots, basil, a bell pepper, and a couple handfuls of sweet cherry tomatoes.

 

 A Case of Mistaken Identity

Back Story:  I originally planted 3 better boy tomatoes and 2 romas.

The romas looked strong, but 2 of the better boys looked really spindly, so I planted 3 more.

Did you guess?  The spindly “better boys” were really romas…

Better Boys

Romas

It’s all looking quite grand…

 

Everything is ready for a visit from my grandies…

the banana tree unfurls…

We’ll be having Camp Sonnystone beginning the 10th.  That’s a lot of fun. We’re going to trip in the trailer for a couple of days.  We’ll go to the zoo, the museum, the library, Ellis Park, New Harmony…

Join us in July at  The News from Sonnystone Acres and don’t miss out on any festivities!

Peace

 

6-or-so-weeks-old…

I had bought some better-boys that looked so much sturdier than the others, but when I got them home, they looked (and grew) nothing like the usual bb’s I’ve planted.  They continued to just bush out, sort of like a husky cherry, so I ran out and bought 3 more better boys just before we went to NYC.   I just popped the weird ones over to some pots and they’re okay.  The new, normal-looking, plants are small, but they’ll catch up by August or so…  In the meantime, I evidently mislabeled a roma as a better boy when I was separating starts, so there is no telling what we’ll end up with!

Michael kept the veggies in good shape while we were gone and added the roses to the water-list.  Still, the roses want attention:  the leaves were pretty well chewed when we returned.  We’ve saturated them with insecticide soap and they look some better, but…  I thought knockout roses were supposed to be easy-peasy.  Is it just me?

As we sneak up on summer, the humidity around here is sticky, and the bugs are god-awful.  I have a patch of chiggers living where the sun don’t shine, and the itching is insufferable.  We spray our lawn with something that keeps down the insects, but by the time we get it done this year I’m going to be raw…  No amount of deet works against chiggers, so I’m just spraying off the upper torso.  So far, skeeters are minimal.

It will be worth it when I’m feasting on zucchini and tomatoes and green beans and bell peppers…

Peace

Still growing…

3 weeks + 3 days post planting…

My zucchini/squash are fruiting like crazy!

I’m still a little leery about a few of my tomatoes, but this husky cherry and 2 romas are strong!

I already have 3 bell peppers ready to harvest— that’s 2 more than I had all year last year!

I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of green beans soon.  I have planted a second crop to keep us supplied…

My Cousin Jimmy gave me these banana trees.  I think the grandkids will love them, though I have no idea (yet) where I’m going to plant them..

I finished up this morning, planting some containers, a Black-eyed Susan vine, Lavender, and the green beans.  I trimmed the basil and now have a lovely lot of fresh pesto to smear on my toast.

I hate to tell you, but my roses look like crap.  I failed to have Michael water them while we were gone and they’ve been suffering ever since.  I have fed and watered them, talked sweetly, and I have hope.  A gardener has to have a Lot of Hope.

Now it’s time to sit on the porch swing and relax…

Peace

Garden Photos

2 weeks old…