Pumpkins Stage 2

 I have had the Pumpkins protected with wire cloches but they are out growing them.  Pumpkin vines are quite prickly, so I don't expect that the deer would eat them all to the ground, but I want to err on the safe side.  Today I removed the cloches, side dressed with fertilizer and watered that in.

Then I covered them with a floating row cover to keep the deer (and squash vine borers because I saw one of those today too) out for a few more weeks.

The plants are nowhere near as robust as they were last year but I don't know if that can be attributed to the later planting date or the cooler night time temperatures.  We will see.

Pumpkins July 2nd 2025

Today I also planted out my summer squash.  I really did not intend to plant any for myself this year but I seeded them for other people and when I seed something, I always have a backup.  So - now I have summer squash.  I didn't really have a spot planned for them unless it would have been the beds vacated by the peas in a few weeks.  But these are root bound and we are going into a heat wave, so they got stuck in corners.

They were getting a little wilty each day and now starting to bloom.

I picked my first two red raspberries.  Yum!

Today was lawn mowing day.  The lawn that has the three London Plane Trees was proving too challenging to mow with the large, 60" wide, diesel powered zero turn mower.  It is very wet in the spring and fall and with all of the turning and tight spots the large mower would either leave ruts or tear up the corners with the tight turns.  I was considering one of those robotic lawn mowers, but in the end we decided on a DeWalt battery powered, self propelled push mower and I have been mowing it with that while my husband cuts the rest of the acreage.  

This lawn has changed to much in the last 15 years.  Here is a before and after.

It is the prettiest lawn we have.

I'm proud of this lawn.  The lawn clippings get bagged and go straight into my compost pile.  This view is from the neighbor's driveway.  They get to enjoy it more than we do, and it isn't really visible from the road.  But it is the best lawn we have.

Puttering

 Today I worked on getting a few more odds and ends out of the cold frame.  The first was the late seeding of the Candy onions.  First they got a haircut.  My camera wasn't sure what we were looking at.

Then I popped them out and shook most of the soil out of the roots.

I trimmed back the roots too.  Then you just get a pencil, poke a hole in the soil, stick the onion in there about half an inch deep and water them in.

I had a few spare Marigolds after planting the pole bean bed.  I just walked around planting them in any bare spot left by trimmed Daffodils or whatever.  I protected them with wire cloches until they can root in.  I planted four and still have two more to find spots for.

Here are a couple of updates.  The bigger grape vine is already tall enough to start training along the cables in each direction.

The replacement vine has some catching up to do but it is growing fine.

The combination pots near the fire pit are looking "decadent" just like the name of the Proven Winners recipe.  It is curious to note that the Black Cherry Supertunias are putting out a few blooms that are a different red.

The ones under the Pear tree are doing something similar.  That is something a hybridizer would consider a flaw and a sign of an unstable strain, but when I get variations like this in my garden they always seem just a little prettier than the rest of the mill plants.

Beans, Peas, Tomatoes

 Today I uncovered the second planting of pole beans and installed the trellis that they climb.  This stackable, expandable "pea fence" from Gardeners is a pain in the neck to set up but it works great.

I used to grow Wando peas on it because those crazy peas would just keep on growing until they outgrew the five foot fence and I was using a step ladder to harvest them.  I used to make bean teepees out of bamboo or conduit until I found that the bean plants would much rather climb this pea trellis

I am pretty sure I have confirmed that the culprit that was eating the bean leaves just as soon as they developed was the little brown locusts.  They are shy and elusive, but some of them were sitting on top of the row cover wishing they were inside destroying my crop before it grew.  They will be happy to eat the leaves now that they are uncovered, but the plants will outgrow the damage.  It is the beginning stage when all that is available to eat is the little growth tip that the bean plants are most vulnerable. I tried to get a good photo but they are classic "no-see-ums"

Anyway, the bean plants are doing well now and they will soon begin to climb up the wire fence.

I am pretty happy with my Durango Marigolds that I seeded indoors the first of May.  I have been growing this mix for years to fill in spots around the garden.  I dislike the Tangerine color of all  Marigolds so much (and they seem to be most prolific) that I buy the color sorted seed so that I only get the Yellow, Red and Bolero  colors.

Durango Bolero

I am counting the days until my Penelope Peas are ready to start harvesting.  I have sampled a few but they are not quite big enough to make a good harvest yet.  I planted four thick rows because I need to restock my seed inventory.  I have been saving my own pea seeds for five seasons now.

They are heavily loaded with pods.

The Tomatoes are also setting fruit.

My Orange Hat Micro Tomatoes are just turning,

I replated the Sweet Potatoes after the Racoon destroyed them.  One of the missing plants has reappeared.  See that little guy?  It really wants to live,

My Strawberries are still producing.  I have enough batches of freezer jam put away to last the year, and a few berries just in the freezer for miscellaneous uses.  These are for snacking.  They are so sweet!

It seems that I spend as much time and money (and brain power) in defeating the deer as any other thing in the garden.  The deer have been coming through, trimming the lower leaves off of the apple tree and then cutting through the Dahlia bed.  Hey! You don't need to be in there!

I drove some conduit in the corners and clipped some bird netting in a band around the Dahlia bed.  I didn't unroll it completely because all I need is a barrier to divert them around the bed and I am tired of trying to fold that stuff up after I use it.

While I was at it I expanded and re-netted the net room around the pear tree which has to stay on all year around until the pear tree improves in shape.  It is already filling out on the lower branches, but some of the branches were trying to push through the net and the deer nipped those off.  The shape is already beginning to improve.

And lastly the Triple Crown Blackberries that I planted last fall are blooming.  These only bloom on old wood, so only the two stems that each plant had on them last year when they arrived could produce berries this year.  I'll take it!

A Plan Comes Together

Here is my successful planting plan along the brick walk between the two Dahlia beds.  Last year I tried to do this and it didn't turn out the way I had hoped.  To the left are all of the Dahlias that are in the copper, bronze, peach color family and I seeded and grew out the white Marigolds and Apricot Profusion Zinnias to border them.  On the right is the Dahlia bed with the pink, burgundy, purple color scheme.  I chose the Double Hot Cherry Profusion Zinnias to alternate with the white Marigolds.  Today is the first day when enough color is showing on both sides for me to see my vision.

It will still be another five or six weeks before the Dahlias begin to show their color.  I can't wait!

Cool Weather

 This growing season has been a challenge because of cool weather, especially at night.  Today's forecast high is 59F (15C) and that will be brief.  Tonight's low will be 48F (9C) and there are several things in the garden now that do NOT like to be velow 55F.   It is very overcast.  We got a wonderful drenching rain yesterday evening which was much appreciated, and now the rest of the week will be cool but mostly sunny.  

I still have my sweet potato vines covered because of the night time temperatures.  The first batch planted in May, gave it up pretty quickly.  I didn't cover those because I was being stubborn.  Their leaves dropped off pretty quick, despite being hardened to the sun, but the stems remained green and I thought maybe they were rooting in under the soil.  But then one night a racoon climbed the fence and rummaged through the entire grow bag.  I only found two of the five stems and they were not so good looking.  After that the electric fence went on.  I replanted (always save backups!) and covered them and they are doing well.

Looking a little pale and shivery this morning, but putting out new leaves.

Another do over was the sweet corn.  I had great germination from the replant so I must have gotten the seeds too deep the first time.  I planted the second batch with a marked dibber so I got them exactly 1.5" deep.

Third replant of the day:  the grape vine.  My Dad told me that he tried growing grapes and they "died back then came back up and the grapes were awful".  Yup, his must have come up from root stock also.  This one is safely growing above the graft.

My first Dahlia bloom of the season.  This is a border height (2 foot) Dahlia which reach mature height and bloom much earlier.  I need more of these for annuals.  A few years ago I planted Pablo in front of the house but all of the tubers had leafy gall so I tossed them.  I had planted Geraniums in that area several years in a row so the leafy gall was probably in that soil.  Next year I'll try Pablo again in a different area.  Border Dahlias are a pretty efficient way of getting annual color and not spending a fortune year after year.

Border Dahlia Art Deco

Strawberry Jam

 This is why we work so hard. The most perfect bowl of strawberries I have ever picked.  No slug damage.  None rotting in the soil.  None stolen by chipmunks or pecked at by birds.  And its not easy.  There is trimming and weeding and fertilizing and watering and outsmarting pests.

There is nothing better than fresh Strawberry freezer Jam.  This is my second batch this week.  I would like to make three and it looks like that won't be any trouble at all.  Last year the plants were too young and I only got one batch, had none to share and I ran out back in February.  I've been eating honey on my toast since then.

This makes the hard work worth while.

The Annual Struggle

 It seems to me that each year I struggle to decide what annual plants I am going to put together for my planters.  I always grow Marigolds, Dahlias and some Celosia and either Zinnias or Snapdragons from seed.  These plants I tuck here and there around the garden and landscape, filling in blank spots and adding color in areas where the perennials are more subtle.  But when it comes to the five or six combination planters, I try to come up with something new, and I want to use plants that will grow well together.  I get tired of the same old Geraniums and Begonias that are tried and true and predictable.  Petunias are another dependable "go to" annual.  The old fashioned kind require regular deadheading.  Several nurseries stock the newer, easier to care for Supertunias but the colors available are always unpredictable from one year to the next.

This year I planned to go with a patriotic theme in honor of the Semiquincentennial.  I figured that it wouldn't be too difficult to find nice red and blue Petunias.  Some people like to point out that blue Petunias are really purple, but how blue do you need them to be to get your point across?  If you really want true blue, there is always Lobelia.   I don't mind dead heading a couple of planters of Petunias, but I refuse to plant old fashioned white Petunias.  Rain ruins their appearance immediately.   I actually picked up a couple fo packs of them at the greenhouse and carried them around for a few minutes, but the dried up flowers on them were brown and yucky and I just couldn't do it.  So I used Euphorbia for my white.  For the two planters that flank our deck steps I went with the Dreams series from Ball.  They were very affordable at $2 a four pack and they are looking beautiful.

For the fire pit planters, I splurged on Supertunias, using the Decadent Patriotic recipe but substituting Black Cherry Supertunias instead of Pomegranate Calibrachoa.  I had to mail order these to be sure to get what I wanted and the plants were quite small and bedraggled when they arrived but they are finally hitting their stride.

When I was at the fancy schmancy greenhouse two weeks ago, looking for odds and ends, I came across about a dozen trays of “black” Petunias (actually deep red or purple) called Black Satin Sweetunias.  They were stunning.  When I laid eyes on them I said "Wow" out loud.  I couldn’t get them out of my head. It was obvious that no one else had seen their potential because there were a lot of them sitting there with seemingly none purchased.  I suppose that it can be a bit of a challenge to figure out how to use black flowers.... After several days of thinking that I really needed them in my life somehow, I suddenly saw a spot where I could use them.  And I had the perfect container.

I wanted to pair them with silver (either Helichrysum or Dichondra) and a splash of bright red to bring the burgundy tones out and downplay their blackness. As I was collecting up options to pair them with, I also accumulated several greenhouse employees who asked “are you going to plant those together? That’s GORGEOUS!” And I agree, it is a stunner. I placed this planter in a spot where the background is afternoon shade and it really stands out. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in another week. If I do this again next year I may substitute a white Salvia (which has silver stems over silvery sage leaves) for the center instead of the Rediculous Coleus that I chose this year.  See - I need inspiration when it comes to putting together annuals.  I don't want the same old thing over and over.

Here is a promotional photo of this variety which captures their true color better than my phone does. They look like black velvet.

The Proven Winners recipe of the year for 2026 is "Pixie Powder".  I have had my eye on it for a couple of years.  I believed that the east side of the garden shed would be shady enough for it but I'm not sure it really is.  This wall gets about four and a half hours of morning sun then full shade.  The Impatiens have not been happy about the night time temperatures in the 40s.  I started covering them each evening with a heavy frost cloth and they still haven't been too happy, but we are finally getting night time temps in the fifties so they have stopped shivering and turning blue.  I am trying giving this a little water each morning and the Impatiens have been opening up better.  They sure are full of buds.  So far - underwhelming.

In keeping with the orange/pink theme along this wall, I bought some Peachy Keen Superbena plants to put at the foot of an extra Dahlia.  I used a trellis that will support the Dahlia which will get four to five feet tall.

A couple of years ago I was trying to get the hard to find Bloomquist Pumpkin Dahlia.  I fibally bought a tuber last year and I also ordered a pair of cuttings from a different grower.  The grower had cutting crop failure and said that they would try to ship this spring instead.  I completely forgot about it but the cuttings showed up back in early May and were really nice.  I have another one out in the landscape.

Bloomqist Pumpkin

Also along the lines of shipping issues.  I was shipped half a dozen Blue Tiara Supertunias instead of the Blue Velvet for the Decadence recipe.  I felt they were too purple to use in those planters, but I've planted them in a row, alternating with my extra Vanilla Cream Marigolds.  These are the plants that the racoons dug up.  Twice.  But they are determined little plants and I think they will end up looking really nice.  Since the company refunded my cost, these are free plants.

So that is the gist of my annual struggle this year.  I have a few other annual plantings that I will reveal later when the plants start to look really nice.  Sometimes it takes awhile.