Rotten Dahlia

 

I went ahead and dug up that wilted Dahlia today.  Yup.  Complete mush.  

I planted a sprouted tuber in its place since I had them.  I did not plant it as deep.  The soil around it didn't seem any more saturated than I would expect so it could be that this tuber had a nick or bruise that I hadn't noticed that made it more susceptible to rot.

I got my strawberry freezer jam made.  Just enough berries today and plenty more to come.  It isn't raining today but it looks like something could develop at any minute.  Complete cloud cover.

That's the fun of living close to the Great Lakes.    Not only to we get unpredictable lake effect snow, but we get lake effect rain too.

What to Title This? More Water I Guess

 Yesterday we got another 8/10 of a inch of rain.  That first picture right there is a Dahlia tuber that has had too much to drink.  I sometimes have water problems in this bed.  It is very dense soil and holds a lot of moisture.  I guess I'd better throw in the rest of the bag of Gypsum.  That is a Cafe Au Lait Dahlia.  I have a replacement but I may just pull it and leave a little more space for the others. I really doubt that it will recover at this point.  We are supposed to have "a couple of showers or a thunderstorm" five out of the next seven days.  Ugh.

At least my Pepper plants are enjoying the Iron-Tone being dissolved into their roots and are putting on some darker shades of green in their new growth.

That looks encouraging

Peas are forming pods

Hello Lady Bug
My camera was asking "what are we focusing on here?"

I had already done most of my perennial dividing, moving and replacing this spring.  There weren't really too many perennials to replace this year.  My Butterfly bushes all died back to the the roots and the largest one died completely so I had to replace it with one of my spare volunteers that I had tucked away. Also the Lemon Squeeze Pennisetum that we added to the big river bed last year didn't make it. 

I was sort of surprised because last summer it put on a lot of growth  (below) and was well rooted in.  I had planted two and both of them failed to break dormancy.  At first I gave them some time because having two plants in different spots of the same variety doing the same thing doesn't immediately say "dead" to me.  It may just say "late to awaken" like Karley Rose Pennisetum.  But by Mid-June I am declaring them dead.  Which is too bad because I really liked the grass.

Late Last Summer

The other plants we added are doing awesome.  Especially the Onyx and Pearl Penstemon.  This is an evergreen plant and so far (knock on wood) the deer have shown no interest.

I actually added a bunch of them, both Onyx and Pearl and Husker's Red.  Below there is one of each side by side.  The blooms are alike, but the Onyx and Pearl leaves are a deeper, more consistent color.

Neither one are as black as shown in the catalogs, but they certainly are doing well.  The one shown below has gotten a little beat up by the storms, but the stems just bend and keep on going.  I may put the two nearest the walkway in grow-thru grids next year just to keep them tidy.

A close up of the blooms.
The plant looks blacker in this photo.

Also added was an Instant Karma Elderberry

So anyway... since the ground was saturated I figured today was a good day to dig out those two Lemon Squeeze.  The roots were just fine, not rotted.  I had to cut them out with a Hori Hori knife.  There was no lifting them.   I replaced both with Uptick Creme Coreopsis that I had ordered to put somewhere near the side porch,but so far I hadn't had any big urge to put them where I'd planned to.  I want something yellowish in this spot and I still have one more Coreopsis that I can plant up front if I want.

It's handy to have a few options on hand to fill in spaces as inspiration strikes.  I hope this plant does better in this spot.  If it does, it will look appropriate in the creek bed environment.  If it doesn't... back to the drawing board.

Fertilizer Friday

 Friday is the day that I make sure everything has been fertilized as needed, both the annuals and vegetables.  I use a combination of side dressing with dry fertilizer and watering in with some fish emulsion.  We sure don't need to water considering the inch and a quarter of rain we got on Monday, but following up with a liquid fertilizer makes sure any dry fertilizer is off of the leaves.  This week I am out of the general Garden-Tone, so until I get back into town to stock up I am using the amendments I have on hand.  Bone Meal (Potassium) for the root crops and Blood Meal (Nitrogen) for the others.

The Cabbages, Broccoli and Cauliflowers have been enjoying the cool weather.  And they are also completely protected from the hail.  They have no idea what all the fuss is about.

The Peas and Lettuce also miraculously sustained little hail damage and are going about their business as if nothing has been happening,

That last storm on Monday was a doozy.  We got over an inch of rain in about 20 minutes combined with 5 to 10 minutes of huge hail.  I have spent the past few days picking up dead leaves and putting away frost cloths and the garden in general looks more like a garden and less like a war zone.  The tree leaves that came down in the hail made the whole area look as if it had been put through a blender.

The Dwarf Tomatoes and the Onions look pretty good.  The Micro Tomatoes in the pots are blooming and the Dwarfs have buds on them.  They will not be early like last year but otherwise they should be fine.

The Indeterminate Tomatoes are growing slowly but are nice and green.  They need some sun.  We have had rather overcast days and cool nights.

The Bell Peppers in the ground look abominable but they are all flowering and producing peppers.

The same Bell Pepper varieties in the pots look better but are not producing yet.  I guess it must be true that when a plant thinks it is going to die it gets busy with the reproduction end of things.

Havasu Hot Peppers

The Sweet Corn is fine.  There are some tattered leaves but they have been making good use of the rain and growing well.  This crop could use some heat too.

Solstice Sweet Corn

Gotta Have It Sweet Corn

The Pole Beans are fine.  Last year the timing was such that the new plants put out their first leaves right before the June heat wave and got burned to a crisp.  This year's weather is much more gentle on them.

Monte Gusto Yellow Pole Beans

I frequently have a problem with grass hoppers or earwigs or something munching on the green beans as they put out their cotyledons.  I reseeded the row below and covered it.  I was planning to complete the row down the center of the bed with a second seeding next week, but I will probably wait until the end of the month now.

Seychelles Green Pole Beans

The Cucumbers and Cantaloupes will soon be ready to transplant.  The 6 pack that looks empty is one kind of Cantaloupe that is just now cautiously popping through.

Dill and Sunflowers

Perennial Herbs, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots

Potatoes
with Bone Meal on their leaves

The Flea Beetles have awakened.  I seeded some Mustard along the Potatoes that is just now coming up.  That should attract them away and I can sprinkle that with Diatomaceous Earth.

The annuals surrounding the Dahlias are showing color.
You can't see it in the photo but I have corner posts and have constructed a protective room out of netting.  It saves me a lot of spraying.

The other side of the Dahlias

This spring I ordered in a container raspberry plant.  They are supposed to stay compact and bush like.  It has just begin to put on some real growth.  All I want is enough to nibble on.  Something that I can protect from the birds and bear without too much trouble.  They can have all of the blackberries in the briar patch on the other side of the fence.  The Raspberries are mine!

Bushel and Berry Raspberry Shortcake

The strawberries are producing well now but they are not sweet because we have had overcast days.  They only sweeten in clear sunshine which is not a problem if you are making jam, but is a bummer when you are just snacking on them.  I need 4 cups to make a batch of jam.  Even though half of this bed was just planted this spring, I have not given up hope of a batch of freezer jam.

Today In Pictures

 

A New Septic Sand Filter

Baby Snapping Turtle just passing through
Initially met him on the garden shed steps... eye to eye.
Had to come back and take a picture to prove it.  They're cute at this stage

Burning the spring brush pile between downpours
Including the top of that tree that fell in December

Golf Ball sized hail
And this had been melting for 10 minutes
Freaky lightening and tornado warnings

An inch of rain in 20 minutes
This was after half an hour.  the water was a runnin'

Time to hit the shower

Stick a fork in me I'm done

Early June Veggie Update

 I went back over the National Weather Service data for May 2024 and this May has an average temperature 7 degrees lower.  Now last year was a really good year and a little above average.  This year has been a challenge.  At this point everything is OK and growing, but it is not doing as well as last year.  See my Early June Update last year.  

Penelope Peas planted April 16th

Pea blooms ready to open

Carrots are absolutely outstanding compared to last year.  We had warm weather in April...

The first planting of beans is just coming up today.  I waited until this past week to sow these because beans seeds in cool, wet weather just turn to mush.  I have Marigolds direct sown alongside these and they are germinating too, but too tiny to bother photographing.

Dwarf tomatoes green and stocky but nowhere near budding.
Onions are growing well

The cabbage patch is unaffected by the cool, damp spring

Indeterminate Tomatoes and Bell Peppers are two or three weeks behind.
I gave the peppers some Iron-Tone today hoping to green them up.  The tomato plants are just fine and starting to put on a little size.

Havasu Hot Pepper Plants
Well....  compared to last year they are tiny.  But alive.
They weathered it better in this location than the Bell Peppers did in the cold frame.

This is a selection of each of the Bell Pepper varieties.
Again - happier than the same plants were in the cold frame.

The Perennial Herb Bed all over wintered plants

The Dill is the same as last year but down the center is a row of Sunflowers.  Last year I was unable to get these same Sunflower seeds to germinate without the mice eating them so this is a big win.

I am looking forward to some blooms

The Sweet Potatoes are small but survived and rooting in

Strawberries - are fantastic.  I have been snacking on these all day.  There were a couple of ripe ones yesterday and today they were ripening left and right.

First planting of Sweet Corn thinned

Last year I skipped Sweet Corn.  I just wasn't in the mood.  I was glad that I didn't have to water it through our extremely dry summer.  I would have been seriously rationing the rain water tank and prioritizing food crops only.  I bought farmstand corn once last year and even though they were SH2 super sweet hybrid varieties it was completely tasteless.  This variety is Solstice.  I have put corner posts in because I don't know if it will be prone to lodging.  Until I can observe it's reaction to wind and rain I want to have the option to tie it up if I have to. 

Second Planting of Sweet Corn not thinned yet
Gurney's Gotta Have It, my old standby

I also went back to growing potatoes.  I skipped growing them in grow bags last year because of the resources they take up in both potting soil and water and I used this location to grow dahlias last year.  But I missed having new potatoes to fix as "salt potatoes" so I need some fresh baby potatoes, something you just can't get at the store.  

Things are not as far along as last year, or even the year before, but we made it through a very challenging May and lived to tell about it.  The tropical type plants (tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes) are the most affected, but the cool weather crops like peas, cabbages, carrots, strawberries and even potatoes are thriving.  I have a nice apple crop going and will be bagging those this coming week.

My Dahlias are doing fine.  Maybe not as well as last year, but still pretty good.

And of course, almost all of my perennials are doing excellent.  I just have two grasses that have not broken dormancy.  I am reluctant to pronounce them dead just yet.  In a spring like this you just have to be patient.