After a Week of Neglect Through a Heat Wave...

My tomatoes have started to ripen. As I've stated before, the Cherokee Green tomatoes were by far the most delicious tomato I've ever grown. Instead of just one plant, I grew two this year. Good thing, because as you can see from the picture below, my Cherokee GREEN is RED!!! I used the seed from the same source as last year. I guess it has some cross-pollinated seed or other variety accidentally mixed in. I won't be upset if it still tastes anything like Cherokee Green though...Well, I hope the other plant is green.

The garden held up relatively well without receiving any care over the last week. It endured the high heat and humidity with only a few setbacks.

A severe rain a few days ago really took a toll on the potato foliage. It's still growing strong though. I can't wait to harvest these!

We had a period of drought, high heat, and humidity last week. I failed to water my new blueberry bushes. I use the hose for all of my plants with the exception of the blueberries since our water is so alkaline. I use rain water for the blueberries instead. I forgot to go back and water them separately. One held up beautifully with the aide of some potato foliage shading it a bit. The other two didn't fair so well. They both had a severe reaction to the shortage of water. :(

STEP 1

The foliage has completely died back. This is so exciting!

STEP 2

Time to dump it. I feel like a kid again. Wait! Could it be?

STEP 3

I found potatoes!!!! I planted one seed potato and yielded about 4 times what I planted. My first potato growing experience has got me hooked. I can't wait to see how the other varieties faired. Especially the ones that were grown in the ground.

Amish Paste tomato with blossom end rot. The only loss so far this season.

I took a peek under my enormous Spirit pumpkin foliage from my two plants this morning. There are three pumpkins!I harvested all of my garlic today. Since I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with the watering of my hanging flower pouches full of strawberry plants last week, I improvised. I moved them out of the strong direct sun and hung them on a couple of pepper cages that were staked on top of one another. I decided that the top of the cages would be great to hang my garlic on while it cures. I think I might do the same when I start pulling up some of my onions.

I harvested over seven pounds of cucumbers this morning. This time I used my water bath canner to make these cucumber sandwich pickles. I also used the cukes to start the process of making sweet icicle pickles. For the first step they needed to be quartered and soaked in a brine for a week. I will finish them up next weekend.

Garden Pictures

Below is my backyard. It is on a very steep slope. This area used to be covered by a very large, diseased bush. That was removed when we moved in. Now this is my perennial and vegetable garden.
On the far left, drooped over by blossoms, is my Bristol Ruby weigela. There is a Pink Knockout rose in bloom to the right of the weigela.
On the far right is my Knockout rose and Pink Delight butterfly bush.
In the bad middle are two climbing roses, William Baffin. The thorns are vicious, but it's just starting to bloom. It will reach its peak very soon. It's very large arching canes work very well at filling in the empty air space below the blue spruces. The spruces won't allow anything to grow in that middle sections due to the canopy created by it's branches. The soil is bone dry. Baffin helps to fill in that area.
Although you can't tell from the picture, there are two large open areas. One on the back left (behind the Walker's Low nepeta) and in front of my Blue Hill salvia on the right. On the left I will be planting a hybrid, bush pumpkin with compact vines, Spirit. On the right I will be planting one Verde tomatillo and one Black Beauty zucchini.

These are my five square foot beds. From front to back I plan on using them for the following:

Bed #1 (front bed): Right now there is Jericho and Little Gem romaine and Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach. Soon it will be the bed used for my Serendipity sweet corn.

Beds #2-4 (the middle three) will hold my tomato plants. One plant in each corner and one in the middle. That's 5 tomatoes per bed.

Bed #5 (last bed) currently holds my garlic that was planted last fall in six squares (16 cloves per square). Another square holds a Fort Laraumie strawberry plant, and one will be for my celery (4 per square foot).

Normally I wouldn't say that thorns are pretty, but the thorns on my Golden Zest rose that I planted last season are quite breathtaking. Who knew?

These are my onions from Dixondale Farms. The long day storage sampler. They are all doing beautifully. I think my first time growing onions from starts is going to turn out very well. The black plastic is just leftover weed barrier that I didn't fully get around to pulling up yet.

:)

Little Marvel peas. These are the peas that my son planted in his large container. They are performing better than any of the other three varieties planted around the garden. I wouldn't exactly call these peas little though. The vines are already over two feet tall. They are very vigorous and blooming heavily. It's great that my son is having such good garden success his first time around!

Lady Emma Hamilton rose by David Austin. These flowers really pop in the garden. They look like little bursts of flame. They have a strong citrus fragrance. I can't wait to bring some of these indoors. As you can see in the picture, the aphid infestation that has subsided left behind some damage to a few of the leaves.

Immaculee peony. I purchased this peony on clearance at the grocery store last season. It has a light-moderate spicy fragrance. It isn't fully open yet, but I wanted to get a picture in case the thunderstorms knock it down tomorrow.

I call this picture 'Wishful Thinking'. It is one of my five new hummingbird feeders (for a total of six). Every year I only have a couple of sightings. I'm determined to see more! Not only have I purchased the feeders, but I planted some Jacob Cline monarda and red impatiens. I've also have Flare salvia and Empress of India nasturtium ready to plant once the weather stabilizes a bit more. They seem to like my Royal Red butterfly bush in past seasons. My Magnifica coral honeysuckle is blooming heavily right now, but I haven't had a sighting yet. That doesn't mean much though since it is on the side of the house that doesn't get paid much attention.

Blooms From Around the Garden and HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Above is my son's container. Right now he has Little Marvel peas growing on the trellis he made out of butterfly bush branches. There is also one strawberry plant and onion start hidden among the peas. Just yesterday (after this picture was taken) he added a bean plant that he started in school. Although it's still too early for beans here, I figure I can protect it pretty easily in this container.

The chives are opening. I was surprised to find that the flowers have a surprisingly pleasant, floral scent. I guess I expected them to smell oniony.

Below is the newly expanded bed. You can see the bricks that still mark where the old bed ended and the grass began. Keeping the grass trimmed between the sidewalk and old bed was must too much work. This is easier, and it gives me more room to plant!

HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYONE!

My Favorite Plant....EVER!

Last fall I ordered an Acapulco Salmon and Pink Agastache from High Country Gardens (back left). This has quickly become my favorite plant ever! Not only has it bloomed NON-STOP, but bees love it. I have it between the sidewalk to my house and driveway. This highly-scented gem fills the air with the scent of lemons. Rain or shine. I wish I could afford more of them to place all over the garden. It's a nasal treat. :) I've never had such a fragrant, free bloomer.

This plant looked like nothing more than a few dormant twigs last fall. Look at it now. It took no time to fill in and be a real stunner. This photo doesn't do it justice...at all.

Late Summer Garden

Summer is coming to an end, but there is still a lot of pep left in these plants. There are scarlet runner beans and Scarlet O' Hara morning glories climbing up the trellises. The back includes red, Will Rogers zinnia. The front is a mix of Butterfly pentas, Red Rubin basil, petunias, Lady in Red and Coral Nymph salvia, a Jalapeno M pepper plant, and anaheim chili pepper plants. Moss Curled parsley is hiding behind the peppers on the right. Closer to the birdbath are volunteer marigolds from last years plants.

Butterfly Garden

Scarlet Runner Beans- On two trellises along with Scarlet O'Hara morning glories that haven't started to bloom yet.

Torch Mexican Sunflower- In the back corner. Unfortunately a drenching storm caused the gutters to overflow and it crushed the main stem. A cleome growing next to it was destroyed as well. Currently Torch is propped up with a cage and is horribly wilted every evening from the sun. I don't think it will recover. It's a shame too. I hear they are butterfly magnets. Plus they had opened up their first bloom the day before the storm. It looks like the Torch has been put out. :(

Will Rogers Zinnia- in front of Torch

Coral Nymph and Lady In Red salvia- front, left near cracked birdbath that I use for a puddling site for butterflies.

Lady In Red and one Yvonne's salvia- mid-right

Assorted petunias, Red Rubin basil, Butterfly mix pentas, Orange lantana mixed throughout the front of the bed.

Red, white, and purple Quartz mix verbenas in the middle of the bed.

4 Anaheim chili peppers and one Jalapeno M plant are in front of 16 moss curled parsley plants to the back, right of the bed.

Back Garden Blooms

This garden began a few years ago when we had to remove a large, diseased shrub from the backyard. Now lined with shell-shaped, concrete pavers it contains many plants. This Spring we placed four Emerald Green thujas in the far back to help shield the house in the back during the winters. There are two large William Baffin roses (that are currently putting out a few more blooms) to the back left and right. Between those are two Blue Spire russian sages. Verbena bonariensis is sprinkled throughout the middle of the bed, my favorite new addition this season. There are two Autumn Joy sedum that are developing blooms in the middle. Bush Sugar Baby watermelon is to the left of the sedum (you cannot see it in this photo). To the right of the sedum, crawling along the entire edge, are two Iroquois muskmelon plants. The very front is a mix of 5 daylilies. There are also some Oriental lilies and liatris blooming in the middle of the bed. Other plants are contained within the bed, but they cannot be seen in this photo (gloriosa daisies, Sunshine Blue caryopteris, yarrow, Husker's Red penstemon, Walker's Low nepeta, Strawberry Fields gomphrena).

Time for Change

We purchased our house a few years ago. I've always hated the front pachysandra bed along the sidewalk. As of this season it is officially gone! After pulling as many runners out by hand as possible, I finally had the chance to start planting. Once they fill in it will be a huge improvement. In my eyes it already is. :) I did place chunky, bark nugget mulch on the bed to also help prevent erosion while the plants are rooting out. This bed now has the following plants for more curb appeal:

Hostas: Guacamole, Patriot, Paul's Glory, Wide Brim, William Frances

Heuchera: Creme Brulee, Peach Melba, Can Can, Silvery Scrolls

Unnamed blue columbine

Stella de Oro daylilies

Impatiens (as filler to prevent soil erosion on this steep slope)

Two unknown azaleas, a pink and white one, are at the back of the bed.