What a Difference a Rain Makes

 Most things are growing as expected this year despite their challenging start with the hot, dry weather before they were rooted in.  The big exception is my "hands off" annual seeds.  Despite being carefully planted, and watered regularly, they were wisely holding off until they deemed the environment more hospitable.  Over the past few days we have had over an inch of rain and much cooler temperatures with some breaks of sun.

I overseed more seeds between the early starts of the Celosia

I had moved on to "Plan B" and transplanted my winter sown Snapdragons along side.

A tiny Zinnia pokes up between the Snapdragons

Now both the Zinnias and the Cosmos have decided it is safe to come out.

Cosmos at the feet of a Snapdragon

I also had to move the pepper plants.   They did not like to be in full sun.  I know that pepper plants like to touch each other and they can stand some dappled shade.  These pepper plants made it known that they specifically prefer shade.  They were NOT happy in full sun.  I moved them to the spot I had them last year where they are partially shaded by the fence rail most of the day.

They responded immediately by greening up and putting out some flower buds.

Rain!

After a 21 day dry spell we finally have a rainy day.

The rain has been coming down gently since last night.  As much as we wish for a downpour I know that this slow rain will let everything soak in and not a drop will run off.  This is so much needed after the many days of wildfire smoke which choked us out.  Two days ago I could still smell smoke when the wind changed.

We mowed the lawn yesterday in preparation for several forecasted days of rain (the next three days) and hopefully fresh growth.  The lawns have already dried up and burned out and are looking very ragged except for the white clover which is thriving.  You can plainly see the outline of our septic tank and we have many brown patches elsewhere. What a dust bowl!  We were both sneezing and our eyes were burning both from the smoke and the dust.

My rainwater tank was inches from being bone dry and this rain should give me weeks more water for the vegetables.

 

Done Planting

 I transplanted the last of the vegetables today.  Cucumbers and cantaloupes.  The weather has been cool, about 60F in the garden.  If I wanted to be pessimistic, I could honestly say it is more like 59, but 60 seems more realistic in June especially after the persistent heat we have had.  It keeps promising to rain and then reneging.

These covers will stay on for awhile.

The Cauliflower, Broccoli and Cabbages will stay under this insect netting to the end.
No little green worms!

The Cucumbers will stay under this floating row cover until they flower.
This will prevent cucumber beetles from doing any damage to the young plants.

This frost cover will stay over the Cantaloupes until they flower and then be replaced every night to retain heat.  Cantaloupes love heat.

The Pole Beans are growing well.
I planted half of what I planted last year because I ended up with way too many.

Penelope Peas and leaf lettuce.
For many years I started planting my peas on March 15th.  Last year I decided I was done with that.  The later peas always caught up and did better.  This year I planted on April 15th.  If you look back at this date last year, the April 15th peas are performing as the March 15th peas did. 

The Gotta Have It Sweet Corn is doing very well.
 

 My intent is to get past four dozen ears per bed by thinning to 60 plants in the bed.  I have just about that many at this point.  You will usually see a few stalks fall behind as they mature and I can remove those later so they are not competing for resources.

The peppers and this tomato plant are almost ready to bloom.

All of the tomatoes are growing well.

This Pike Co. Yellow plant felt a little wimpy after transplant,
but the Wherokowhai dwarf plant in the green container is growing well.

Hi Bun-Bun
He's a good little neighbor.  I've never caught him eating anything he's not supposed to.

Honeoye strawberries producing well.
I fertilize my strawberries with Tomato-Tone and they seem to love it.

The Dahlia plants are beginning to show.
I planted my spare Marigolds and Celosia seedlings around the edge again.

Because of the late frosts, the Dahlias were set out two weeks later than last year.

The other side of the garden still looks pretty bare, but things are growing.  In this bed, I seeded Cosmos which are not doing much and transplanted winter sown Snapdragons which you can sort of see.  There is also a Mystery tomato plant that I was really curious about and a zucchini which I don't really need.  The tomato is one of a few seedlings that came from a Jap tomato whose seeds I have grown out before, but which are oddly not potato leafed.  I am hoping it will be an interesting cross.  I like having an extra bed where I can plant last minute ideas.  Its a good antidote to my overall strict planning.

I was unsure if the hard frost would have damaged the Peony buds.
The answer is - No.

Rebecca Clematis

Now, for the rest of June, it is just Weed, Water and Wait.

Bagging Apples

 Today I bagged a hundred apples on the south tree.  I explained my reasons for doing so each year in this older post.  

That's a pretty good result.  After we had to replace the pollinator tree last year, I was hopeful that we would get another good harvest like we had been getting.  The best year, 2021, I bagged 110 apples on this tree. The hard frost while the trees were in full bloom had me a little worried, but it looks like it stayed warm enough underneath this tree to save most of them.  The gravel is a good heat sink.  Most of the apples I am seeing are within reach while I am standing on the ground.  No ladder needed.  You can see that some of the new growth here and there did get frozen back.

Now all the tree has to do is hold onto them.

Strawberries

 I've picked a few strawberries over the past few days, but today there were quite a few.  There were more but I ate some "in the field".

I have heard that the best way to store fresh strawberries is in a Mason jar in the fridge.  I tried it last year and it seemed to work well.  Of course, the secret to having nice fresh berries is to eat them quick.

I put some in jars then made myself a salad with this year's lettuce, and last year's peas and sliced strawberries. It would be even better with cucumbers but those are still in transplant stage.

Tom Thumb Butterhead Lettuce

 I just have to take a moment to compliment the Tom Thumb Butterhead lettuces.  Seeds for this variety are available from several different sources, but I got mine from Baker Creek.  The seeds germinated right away and the seedlings grew fast.  They are at their peak and I just now went out and cut a few out that had scorched in the heat this week and begun to rot. 

I still have a dozen ready to eat.  These form a nice little iceberg head the size of your fist in the center which is the right size for a single salad.  The outer leaves are tougher but look beautiful peeking out from a sandwich.  I still plant a lot of the leaf lettuces along my pod peas which helps shade the roots and keep down weeds, but for eating, these butterheads are far and away my favorite.  I'll have to remember to start some later this summer for fall harvest.

Summer Burn Out

 Listen to me... its June second and I've already had enough.  But let me tell you, we have had our share of summer already.  All week and really for the past two weeks it has been clear and sunny.  High eighties.  Dry.  There has not been a cloud in the sky for days.  All day today I felt on the edge of heat exhaustion and as we were working outside I had to take breaks every 20 minutes or so.  It may be 85 degrees in general but it is hotter in the gravel areas and the breeze, often as not, turned from cool and pleasant to a blast furnace as it shifted over the radiating rock areas.

As the cold front moves down from the north, we are getting a little bit of cloud cover and this afternoon when the sun finally passed behind a big cloud I breathed a sigh of relief.  What a difference. I have a lot of plants in the ground that are not well rooted and they have suffered and some are being real drama queens about it.  But they appear to be surviving.  You can't just dump water on them with unrelenting sun because you will cook them with steamy soil.  Applying shredded leaf mulch has saved a few things as well as giving them a good drink in the evening and again in the early morning.  My 500 gallon water tank was full when this started and I still have more than half a tank.

Monday I finally got my own tomatoes planted and then delivered plants to my Dad and friend Elsie.  They were absolutely gorgeous plants and Tuesday I actually felt depressed from the let down of getting out from under the responsibility, receiving the compliments and then moving on.  I gave a few more away to a neighbor and planted an extra myself.

The sweet corn is loving the heat and I went through and thinned the extra plants and side dressed with fertilizer.  Last night the pole beans emerged.  I went out this morning to find a row of little bean plants where just the evening before there were none.

The peas will soon be blooming.

The cucumbers, cantaloupes and summer squash absolutely love their little row cover shelter and shot up immediately.  They are beginning to get their first true leaves and can be transplanted sometime next week.

The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages look amazing and we already have little broccoli florets.  They are remaining cool under the insect netting and are being watered every other day.

The butterleaf lettuce (under shade cloth) is OK so far and hopefully the cool weather next week will prolong their season enough to enjoy more of the harvest.

The pepper plants have been scorching.  Pure and simple. I put shredded leaves under them to help cool their roots.  They look happier in the mornings but have basically been sitting there in stunned silence for two weeks.  My moisture meter has come in handy to help me not drown the container plants.  They're stressed enough already without being loved to death.

The celosia in the firepit clings to life.  Celosia don't transplant well because they are not quick to root in.  I pulled one that was a goner and will replace it in the cooler weather. These are another thing that looks very hopeful in the mornings and then as the afternoon wears on becomes a worrisome sight.

Another thing that will need replacing is this Marigold that got Chomped off and spat right back out.  "That's right!  It tastes nasty.  That'll learn ya."  Deer repellent works but deer are slow learners. And this deer apparently does not have a very sensitive sniffer because she keeps tasting smelly things on her nightly trip up the sidewalk.

Luckily I have some spares hanging about.

The full tray is the winter sown Sahara Rudbeckia seedlings.

Not everything is doom and gloom, hanging on by a thread.  There is a lot of color around, and more established plants are quite happy.

Even the combination pots

There are irises

Bearded irises

and Siberian irises

Bright pops of color that so far (knock on wood) the deer have left alone.

Caesar's Brother Siberian Iris

Callie's Memory Itoh Peony

beautiful from every angle

Southern Charm Verbascum

Some apples survived the hard freeze

And the strawberries are looking spectacular.