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!

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.

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.

The Waiting Place

 I have started moving trays out to the cold frame.  The Waiting Place.  In a cooler, less lighted environment, their growth will slow and they will have to hang out there until better weather comes.

Marigolds

I am so proud of my tray of white Marigolds and my Profusion Zinnias.  A commercial grower couldn't do any better.  I also have my Dahlias grown from seed in the cold frame.  This frees up space under the grow light.

Zinnias

We have a 10 day forecast of cool, gloomy weather. The lower graph is cloud cover.  I wouldn't mind the rain if it would clear up after and give us a little ray of sunshine.

wunderground.com

Moving three trays out into the cold frame frees up space under the new grow lights for some of the second string plants.  A few days after their rotten FedEx ordeal, the Romence annuals are putting out some blooms.  But the first thing I see when I walk through the door is the baby tomato on the Orange Hat micro tomatoes.

The new Dahlia tubers that are being "woken up" in a tray of soil are doing well.  I even tried pinching one back and rooting the sprout.  I have a plastic bag over the pot as a make-shift humidity dome.

The past few years I have direct sown Durango Marigolds at the feet of the pole beans.  I may as well start them indoors on a heat mat.  When I transplant them into cells they can go out into the cold frame.

My Ornamental Peppers could stand some leg room.  I need to transplant them into 3.5" pots.  This will require some culling as I have 36 cells and the tray will only hold 18 pots.  Okay, I seeded some extra just in case and at this point it is time to let some go.  What I will probably do is plant into two trays and one will stay under grow lights and one tray will go out to the cold frame to continue their role as spares.

Peppers

The Indeterminate Tomatoes are doing well.  Probably no need to bump them up to larger pots.  If they start to get root bound that will just slow their growth until they can go outside,

And outside, the Strawberry plants are blooming their heads off.

As far as I can tell, there is still at least a week until the Dahlia tubers can go out into the bed and two weeks until the Tomatoes and Peppers can go out to the Cold Frame to begin the hardening off process.

Early Spring Chores

It's time to start the spring garden chores.  

I removed the dead leaves from the strawberries as the new growth is coming in.  I gave them a shot of fertilizer.  Then I sprinkled some more pansy seeds in there to fill in the bare spots and compete with the weeds.

There is already a Citrus Mix of orange, yellow and white pansies.  This white plant is blooming already.  The honey bees are out looking for the crocuses.  This time of year I have to juggle my wire cloches around taking them off of lower risk plants and protecting the yummy Crocuses from both deer and rabbits.  I also go around sprinkling Milorganite fertilizer on anything with new growth.  Critters don't like the smell and it helps to get a few more days out of unprotected crocus flowers and protects the new shoots of Hosta as they emerge.

The Snowdrops and Winter Aconite (yellow) are blooming.  Next will be Hyacinths then Daffodils.

Time to empty the compost tube.  We drag it out to the center and lift it off the pile.  This will still need to be turned for a couple of months to finish composting before it is ready to use.  This has accumulated from last June until fall when I started the tall tube.  The tall tube will be added to until the pea plants come out. 

I removed one layer of surrounding netting from the Pear tree to make it easier for me to get in there and spray with dormant oil and copper fungicide.  Everything is pruned, now I just need a dry day without a March wind so I don't end up wearing it.  I will post about the pruning when that is done.

The other thing I have done is to check on the woody stemmed shrubs. About half of them had lower branches break off from the weight of the snow pinning them down.  I trim the ragged edges cleanly and check for any splits that need to be cut back.  Next we will start edging and mulching.  The lawn is firm enough, but the mulch pile is still frozen.

 

Autumn Odds and Ends

 I am puttering along doing seasonal things.  It is difficult to realize that we are only two weeks away from our average first frost date.  It feels like June!  The plants don't look like June though.  They are tired out.  I took cuttings from my Coleus plants to over winter indoors.  I am also experimenting with Marigold cuttings.  You can root them in water, but I mix up worm castings and vermiculite and use a rooting hormone powder.  I put the cells in a solid tray so I can bottom water them  I had great luck with these last year.  I have turned four Coleus plants into dozens.

Let's take a moment before I pull this Thai Basil plant out to admire its amazing growth habit.  This is Thai Towers.  Last year I grew Emerald Towers.  These two varieties are specifically bred to be slow to bolt.  Both varieties made it through the entire gardening season with no flowers.  Of course when Basil plants flower they begin to taste bitter, and they stop putting out fresh leaves.  This plant is 43 inches tall.

We have started our biggest fall landscaping chore - cutting down ornamental grasses.  We whittle them down to size by looping a rope around them and cutting them off with a Stihl gas powered scythe much like a hedge trimmer.  It makes short work of them.  I have already done all of the Daylilies and Hosta and have started on other plants like Echinacea.  I like to take my time dividing and transplanting and removing things over several weeks, but grasses are a team effort.  Now I have to go through the dry creek bed, cleaning up stray blades of grass and pulling all of the weeds that the grasses have been hiding.

The grasses are showing their fall colors.  Below is Cheyenne Sky Panicum.

Can you guess how delicious this Seascape strawberry was?

Seascape is an everbearing variety that I just planted from bare root plants this past spring.  They are getting well established now and have recently begun blooming again.

Summer Squash and Strawberries

 My Zucchini plants have hit their stride and I have to stay sharp and pick them small so I don't get flooded with squash.  My favorite way to eat these is to grill or fry them with onions and serve them on buttered pasta with garlic salt.  But last week I did make Blueberry Zucchini Muffins because I had wonderful, fresh picked Blueberries.  

Clarimore and Dunja Summer Squash

I always plant two seeds together when I plant Zucchini.  One plant grows left and the other grows right making an attractive mound of leaves instead of ending as scraggly, one sided plants.  Sometimes I over indulge with too many Zucchini plants, but usually I just plant one mound, and maybe keep a backup in a gallon pot in case of squash bugs.

This year I mixed my varieties so one mound is producing two different squash.  It makes for a nice, colorful harvest.  My favorite varieties (mostly for their disease resistance) are Clarimore and Dunja.

Note the old kitchen knife stock in the seam of the raised bed size.  It is always there available for cutting off a Zucchini without tearing the stem.

My Seascape Strawberries planted as bareroot plants this spring have finally begun to grow and produce a good crop.  The rest of my plants are Honeoye Junebearing which I have planted several times.  But I keep seeing good reviews of the Seascape Day Neutral berries which continue to produce berries all season.  I made freezer jam from the June harvest, but it is nice to have berries all summer.  And not just one or two like other varieties, but a good handful.  This is the second handful I have picked and the first one was more impressive.  I just didn't have a camera with me.   These could have gone another day or two to sweeten up more, but we had a rainy day forecast and rainy day Strawberries are blah.  I love Strawberries on my salads, and it is nice to have a bowl sitting on the counter for snacking throughout the day.

We are currently enjoying a much needed all day rain.  The temperature is 59F (15C) and the house is opened up.  My plans for my non-gardening day are to bake a cheesecake with Blueberry topping and to put up a batch of Dill pickles.