Frost on the Pumpkin

 We had a good frost this morning, quite a few degrees colder than the first frost on Sept 25th.  This is right on time and welcome.  I am ready for the next season.

I am hoping to save one of each of my black pepper plants under a grow light this winter.  However, I do not want to play the watch for frost game, worrying about whether to bring them in or not. For a few more weeks anyway. They belong there by the steps.  It is warmer near the house with radiant heat from the driveway.  If they make it they make it.  If not, too bad, so sad.  I ditched the cornstalks after a week of soggy weather because they looked absolutely awful, but these Dracaena spikes were still looking nice.

I am actually looking forward to frost on the Dahlias.  Over the past couple of years I have noted that newly purchased tubers I plant do awesome the first year, blooming early and profusely.  And then in years after they dwindle.  Not in all cases, but often.  Some of this could be due to the fact that I did not fertilize the Dahlia beds this year.  I plan on dumping a whole bag of Garden-Tone in them next spring.  But, my theory is that I am not handling my tubers correctly in the fall.  The larger Dahlia farms wait until a killing frost to begin digging tubers.  The frost tells the plant to stop producing flowers and start storing energy for next year.  It is sort of like removing Daffodil foliage too early.  You won't get blooms the next year.  That is my theory anyway.  I need to wait longer to begin digging tubers.

Ice Tea

No frost on these yet.  They may wait to show some damage until this afternoon, but what I need is enough frost to kill the leaves.  Last year our first killing frost was Oct 27th.  I dug the Bee's Choice Dahlias after that and they are performing well this year.

Hootenany

I already moved my Coleus cuttings indoors after that first light frost. 

When they start to show some good roots I move them over to the soil in the cells.

Coleus are so sensitive to cold that they begin dropping leaves and I have already pulled all of the Coleus that was in the garden.  These cuttings are all I am going to get.  I will lose some throughout the winter, but I think I have a large enough selection to have a good start next spring.  After they establish well in their cells I will bump them up to 3.5" pots.

Maintenance

 I have finally dug out all of the 18 daylilies slated for removal and refilled the empty holes with top soil.  In some cases I have already placed a plant, others will wait until next year.

I want to use at least one division of these Black Eyed Susans.

Mother plant

I last divided them in 2024 and they need it again.

First division from 2024

I am chucking annuals that are not making me happy.  This Gallery Art Deco Dahlia has petered out.

I replaced it with a Masquerade Ornamental Hot Pepper.

I am still working raking out on that bed full of Purslane.  This is round three.

My slicing Cucumbers (Gateway)  are still going strong.

(it was wet and rainy this morning)

One almost got away.

My second grapevine is starting to put out side shoots that look like they will make good cordons.

...so that has been my day.  Sweet Corn for supper again.

Early August Status Report

 The first tomato of the season is taking its sweet time.  The plants themselves are looking amazing and they are covered in fruit.  This year I got the pairings exactly right.  Two on the left are the super vigorous varieties that are much like Brandywine, Elsie's Amish Tomato and the Barlow Tomato.  Two in the middle are the black Paul Robeson and Carbon.  Two on the right are Sun Sugar Cherry and Adelaide Festival Dwarf.

The Barlow tomato first spotted on June 23rd is just starting to change.

The Sweet Corn will also be ready any day.  I have been feeling the ear tips but I haven't gotten anxious enough to start peaking inside yet.

I am seeing some good sized ears in here.  There should be as much as we want.

The pole beans are climbing and starting to produce.  They really stalled out there in the heat wave because I did not have them mulched and the Marigolds weren't big enough to properly shade their roots.  The vines are really healthy and should produce well for many weeks to come.

It is proving to be a stellar year for Peppers.

The plants are LOADED with Peppers.

Now that I have more than enough pickles made, it is time to pull the tired out Cucumber vines.  The vines are still flowering well but not setting fruit.

I remove all of the pickling vines but left the two slicer vines because they had some nice cucumbers still developing on them.

My refrigerator is full from these two vines, and the cukes should last for weeks still.

The Blackberries will be ready soon.  Below is the first clump of berries but there are many more behind that.  I have hoops set up and I am ready to throw some insect netting over them to keep the birds from stealing my berries.  I am not willing to share these first precious fruit.

That pretty much covers the food coming out of the vegetable garden.  I would like to show off the Tiara Blue Supertunias that Romence Gardens shipped my by mistake.  I wasn't in love with them when  planted them but they are really growing on me.

The white Marigolds are in a bit of a lull right now but are covered in buds.

My annuals should continue looking beautiful all through August

Early July Vegetable Update

 These twice monthly status reports are very helpful to me to look back on and gauge the relative progress each year.  I checked back to last year's post and I can see that the corn and tomatoes are doing well, the cucumbers are ahead this year and the beans are behind.  This is due mainly to the weather because the weather initially dictates when a crop can be seeded and then the temperatures will makes changes in the growth rates.  Initially, cold night time temperatures in early June stalled some things (tomatoes) and then the extreme heat affected others (pole beans).  Overall, it is a good year and things are on track.

Solstice Sweet Corn

Gotta Have It Sweet Corn

Both varieties of sweet corn showed tassels this weekend so I side dressed with fertilizer and put another layer of string to keep them from being blown over in the wind.

The cantaloupe vines are short but flowering.  The Sunflowers down the center are doing great.

I think the cucumbers are ahead.  There is fruit set on the earliest vines.  The zucchini are flowering like crazy, but the male flowers just started so the earlier flowers did not pollinate.

The Blackberries and Black Raspberries are growing great and I will get some Blackberries to taste.  This bed will need support, but I want to see the growth habits before I make any final decisions.  I think I will sink a post in the middle of each end and run a cattle panel down the middle.

Grapevines

The Pole Beans are behind despite getting a good start.  They suffered in the extreme heat, and I should have gotten them mulched ahead of time because the leaf tips nearest the soil burned a bit.  Now that they have mulch and cooler roots they are growing again and putting out flowers.

The early peas are pretty much done.

The vines are dying and I can start pulling dried pods.  Harvesting for seed is different than harvesting to eat and satisfying in a different way.

The later peas are in their prime.

The tomato plants are doing very well.  They have been trimmed and supported.

The early fruit set from when it was transplanted is growing, and the vines are flowering again.

The bell pepper plants are looking terrific.  These were pretty pale and spindly when I planted them, but they love the container set up and the partial shade from the fence rail and they are branching out well from the lower leaf nodes despite having shed all of the original lower leaves.

They are flowering and setting fruit.

My Havasu Hot Peppers are having a great year.  They grew well under the lights and were setting fruit at transplant time.

The peppers are just beginning to show some ripe (orange) color around the stem.

The onions are behind this year but I side dressed with fertilizer and they loved that heat wave.

All in all it is a good, average year.  No disappointments yet, and just your average challenges.  I didn't say much about the cole crops because I was too lazy to uncover them.  The Broccoli was good and the plants were healthy enough to leave standing for side shoots.  The Cauliflower has been slow and small.  The one that we already harvested was small but exceedingly sweet and the next one is about ready.

The Romaine Lettuce has been excellent and the Cabbages are ready.

Status Report

 Yesterday I planted my single and 2025 Bee's Choice dahlia tubers.  I still have a tray of Bee's Choice from seed in 4" pots that I am planning to plant after peas like I did last year (in July)

The first planting of peas is not yet blooming.  I'm going to have to bump the Dahlias up to larger pots.

The cucumbers, summer squash and sunflowers are on the move.  My pickling cuke seeds were old.  I've reseeded what has not germinated.  I'll give that a shot before I reorder seeds.

In the beds, Cantaloupe seeds are up.

Sweet Corn seeds are starting

Tomatoes are planted and happy in their new home.

Peppers are also happy and starting to produce already.

The Sweet Potatoes are transplanted.

I am just doing one grow bag this year, to maintain my stock.

The Panola pansies are going gangbusters in the everbearing end of the Strawberry bed.  The Strawberry plants are also doing very well and the berries will start ripening soon.  Whatever weeds are still hiding in that riot are sure not bothering me.

I also have pole beans planted but since I am still trying to find a solution an ongoing pest problem with that crop, I will elaborate later when they start to come up.