Patience and Self Control

I will not plant cucumbers before June.  I will not plant cucumbers before June.  I will not plant cucumbers before June.  I will not plant cucumbers before June.  I will not plant cucumbers before June.  I will not plant cucumbers before June.  I will not plant.....

Maybe I'll plant the beans...

One of my general rules is to wait until June before planting cucumbers, summer squash and beans.  That way the soil is warm and dry, night temps are high enough, and I don't have to deal with the wild fluctuations of May.  And most importantly the cucumber beetles hatch and there is nothing out there to eat.   The past week has had daytime temps in the eighties and night time temps in the sixties and it is getting harder and harder to wait. Yesterday I was sitting near the garden and the table next to me looked like it had been sprinkled with black pepper.  It was flea beetles!  I haven't planted anything that they will want to eat this year but it was a good reminder.  There are pests out there ready to devour my garden.  

Peas and Lettuce

Broccoli, Cauliflower and Cabbages
And some annuals seeking refuge from the blistering sun

Three plantings of Carrots

To distract myself from planting seeds, I worked on my sweet potato slips.  The past few years I have grown Mahon Yam from Johnny's Seeds.  It is a variety exclusive to them and it has been excellent.  Last year's harvest wasn't the greatest as far as quantity.  The grower had trouble producing slips due to weather and they came late and dilapidated.  I experimented with my soil mixture because by the time they arrived I was out of potting mix and I was cheap - and the end result was a very small harvest.  

But I still have a few in storage including some from my 2020 crop (!).  If you cure them properly the storage life is Amazing.  Usually 25 slips are $24.99.  That's expensive enough but this year they were priced at $37.00  I don't think so!  Not for my success rate.  And since I was still on the fence about it when I placed my main order, I would have had to pay the minimum shipping on top of that.  But I still had those tubers so,,,,

I decided to try growing my own slips.

I have two tubers sprouting and I am starting with just the one... since I am new to this.  I snapped off the slips, preserving as many roots as possible, and put them in a jar of water to continue rooting.  I put them back in the cold frame so they are in sun and won't need to be hardened off.  We'll see how this works.  They already look a hundred times better than any slips I ever got in the mail.

I am slowly starting on my annuals.  Celosia in the fire pit planter...

The Charming Beauty tulips are blooming.  These are suppose to deepen in color as they age.  Right now they are a very pale lemon which I'm not crazy about but...

Each bulb is producing two, three and even four blooms each!

Dahlia Day

The dahlias were sorted and planted today.  Its a lot of work and the thing is - after you get done sorting and cleaning

Dahlia tubers laid out per plan

and dividing and planting, and sifting your vermiculite and putting everything away ....

The sorting area

You cover it up and it looks like you didn't do a darned thing.

and under they go

The weather has been Junelike in the 80s and sunny.  I got the potatoes into their bags on Saturday May 7th.  The panels are on the first corn bed to warm the soil before seeding. I'm half tempted to harden off tomato plants but the cold frame is out of real estate.

Sweet Corn Bed

The peas, lettuce and carrots have been growing nicely but require daily watering to keep them growing.  I reseeded the second row of lettuce because it was at that critical point of germination right when we got that last eight inches of snow which either shut it down or froze whatever came up and it was a bit sparse.

 I have been putting the shade cloth back on the cauliflower broccoli cabbage bed every afternoon because we went from day after day of overcast skies to full intense sun and I don't want to sunburn the larger leaves.  I got my full summer tan in the first three sunny days.  Yesterday after four hours of morning sun and three applications of spf 50 sunscreen I gave up and put a long sleeved sunshirt on because I wasn't burnt but I was red as a beet.  It's HOT out.

And there is no shade to be found anywhere.

First and second planting of peas and lettuce
Carrots in foreground and potato grow bags in background

The tulips are looking spectacular.  The second and third varieties are opening but these big doubles look like red hot peonies.  They just glow.

Gudoshnik Tulips

Smaller are Parrot King tulips and Charming Beauty ready to bloom

The lawn is finally beginning to dry out so we can actually walk across it.  The backyard finally got fully mowed and then the ruts rolled out.  This corner is sometimes standing in water.

I have begun making the greenhouse rounds buying odds and ends for annual planters and herbs and such.  I've had a few things arrive in the mail.  Its about time to get busy planting out but things still have to be protected.  This year it is not from snow and cold but from sun and heat instead.

The Chilly Pear Tree has bloomed on three of the four grafted varieties and I am hoping for a good fruit set.  The new apple tree is breaking dormancy but it doesn't look like it has any blossoms on it so we will hope the pollinators find the wild apple trees in the woods.

Tulips are Poppin'

 They have been ready to go for a couple of days but had the good sense to wait for a sunny day.

These are Gudoshnik doubles

I think I need more of these next year.  

They don't need as much room as I gave them so I can fit about twice as many.

A Totally Average Day

 Finally the temperatures are back to "normal".  It was cold and snowy all day yesterday, never getting out of the 30s. But this morning dawned bright and clear and the temps have been in the mid-40s which is average for our April.  For a change I didn't have to worry about anything being too hot or too cold.  Everything was just as it should be.

It always amazes me when I plant cole crops out in cold, crappy weather and the next day they are standing up green and eager to grow.  I can tell these have all rooted in well and are already beginning to put on some new growth.

The peas were a little flat after that heavy snow and the second lettuce seeding is still being a bit careful but no harm done. The last row of peas goes in tomorrow. The carrots are looking awesome.

Nantes Half Long Carrots

I potted up my Caladium and Begonia tubers today.

This is my first time for these and they look great.  They are all big, healthy tubers and starting to show growth at the eyes.  I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out.  They are destined for containers which normally have store-bought annuals in them, and I can store them over the winter for next season.

They look like big hairy donuts.
The sprouts are pink and the white stuff is the shavings they were packed in

I transplanted four varieties of Marigolds, two dozen each of Fireball, Strawberry Blonde, Durango Outback Mix and Snowball.  Marigolds are my favorite fill in annual so I always like to have a bunch ready to go.  You can buy a packet of 50 seeds for little more than a 6 pack of plants cost.  This is the first time I've grown them from seed and I was amazed at how quickly they germinated and grew.  If they are this easy then its a no-brainer.

Soon the Tulips will be in bloom

A Hot Mess

Today's forecasted high was 78 degrees.  It was 53 when I got up this morning and by noon it had hit 83 degrees in the shade and it stayed there all day.  It is currently, at 5pm,  81 on the north wall of the house.  For several days I debated whether to change the broccoli and cauliflowers to the insect mesh but since tomorrow is supposed to return to more reasonable weather, I decided instead to just run their pant legs up.  I didn't want them to cook in their little greenhouse.

The cold frame was another challenge.  I have several trays of young seedlings in there.  I can't just open it up the because the polycarbonate panels do block some of the sun and experience tells me I can easily scorch them.  With one panel down, a 50% shade cloth, and a fan running the air temp was 95 and the soil surface temp was 103.  I think everyone is OK

There was at least a nice stiff breeze today and we got another chunk of the mulching done around the house.  It was actually sort of pleasant because I had already cleaned, raked out and weeded the beds earlier in the week and we just had to cut some edging and do a lot of shoveling of new material.  Then we turned on the fridge in the garden shed and stocked it with water, sweet tea and beer.  Then the lawn was mowed for the first time.

I went around taking photos of daffodils to keep track of where they are for the next time I decide I must need a whole bunch more.  Which I don't.

I might add some yellow with deep orange centers.  They are a real stand out.  Most of mine are the giant mix for naturalizing and over time, the standard all yellow or white with yellow tend to take over.  I have only ever singled out the all white Mount Hood or the white with peach Salome.  But I am seeing a whole lot of the Ice Follies with their wide open pale yellow centers.  I was so sad last week when we got the eight inches of snow because I was afraid they would all have been crushed, but the two cold and lightly snowy days before hand had made all of the flowers close back up so when the heavier snow came on Tuesday they were less vulnerable and very few bent over.

It is a banner year for daffodils

Rescuing the Broccoli and Cauliflower Transplants

 The broccoli and cauliflower plants are just fine.  

I think that transplanting marigold seedlings can wait until tomorrow.

Typical Easter Morning

 It seems it always does this on Easter morning, no matter how many pretty days we have beforehand.  It's as if Mother Nature has something against little girls in bright bonnets and egg hunts on the lawn.

No gardening planned today