The Mid-June Update

 Music and German Extra Hardy garlic.  I just removed the scapes earlier this week.  They are doing beautifully in the raised bed.

 Winona strawberry bed after being renovated.  Old foliage was removed.  The middle and rear plants were removed to leave room for air circulation.

 Snow Princess sweet alyssum that was started from seed.

 Jacob Kline Monarda

 Navaho blackberries are developing.

 Tiki Torch coneflower.  This is it's third year.  Not a very vigorous coneflower by any means.  Still not much bigger than when I ordered it.  Disappointing.

 Major Wheeler honeysuckle is blooming its heart out.  Hummingbirds have been visiting it!

 My "shell" garden.  Heirloom, vining petunias are along the left side.  Copra onions in front.  Scarlet Nantes carrots and Salad Bush cucumbers are to the right.  Two Tango celery plants are ready for harvest in the rear.

An interesting comparison.  Above are my Copra onions on June 2nd.

 Exactly 14 days later.  It is a great gardening year so far!

 Salad Bush cukes on their compact 3 foot vines are already ready for their first harvest.

 I bagged blossoms a few weeks ago.  I'm considering leaving on the bag to see what happens.  I will probably have to cut it away at some point since this is a Kellogg's Breakfast tomato.  They're not tiny.  :)

 A Sandul Moldovan, Kellogg's Breakfast, and two Sun Gold tomatoes in one of the 3' x 3' raised beds.  THRIVING!  Finally a great tomato year....so far.

 Fat N' Sassy bell peppers are doing wonderfully.

 They are already producing a bunch of peppers.

 One of my favorites.  Echinacea purpurea.  Unimproved, and perfect.

 My Meyer's Lemon is taking off.  Too bad the Lime (in the green container) has been a dud since day one.  Strange.

I have my first lemons developing and more blossoms!
Happy Gardening!

After a quick trip to the A. C. Moore craft store for some drawstring tulle bags, tomato bagging has commenced.  These are the 5 x 6/5" bags.  Not too big, not too small.  They have printable coupons, so I got these at 40% off.  So $3 for 18 bags.  I didn't think of it at the time, but the store also had a large size bag.  I was thinking those might be perfect to protect my grapes from the birds.  Last year the birds ate every last grape in the course of one night.  Not this year!

Veggies in the Garden

Red Zeppelin and Copra onions. About 75% of the plants were harvested yesterday. They were a lot smaller than last season, but that's mostly my fault. Lack of fertilization and regular watering stunted them. Who knew?
Salad Bush cucumbers, or as my three-year old calls them, pickles.
The Cherokee Green blossoms that I bagged are looking picture perfect so far. I forgot to remove the bags before my vacation last week, so they grew enough where the clothespin released the bag for them. This was my absolute favorite tomato in 2009! Delicious!
Stupice tomatoes are coming along nicely. I've never grown or tasted this variety before, so I'm anxiously awaiting their ripening.My daughters little hands make our first two Sun Gold tomatoes look huge! They barely survived long enough for me to snap a picture. That girl loves tomatoes. Turns out she also loves blackberries. The first few that were ripe didn't make it two steps before she gulped them as well.
Tomatoes in the back from left to right: Four Sun Golds, Lucky Cross, Cherokee Green, and Stupice. My Spirit pumpkin taking up most of the other space. Salad Bush cucumbers weaving around in the front left. Sweet basil blooming in the front. There are still some onions planted on the front right.
These hot days are rough on the Spirit pumpkin. Looks pretty pathetic, huh? Once the sun goes down, it springs back to life. A good shower with the hose perks it up as well.As with every season, I'm having my ups and downs. Overall, I am pleased. I hope you are pleased with your gardens as well. There is one thing that I have learned over the years that make each year more and more enjoyable. It is more rewarding to grow things that I will enjoy eating. Why did I want to grow broccoli? I wouldn't eat enough to justify the space. I need to be in a really strange mood to WANT to eat broccoli. It would end up being nothing more than a large blooming flower here. Yet I have a hard time resisting the urge to grow something after reading about how great they are in seed catalogs. Self-control Kim. Self-control. Now this doesn't mean that I will no longer experiment with different things and different varieties. I just know that about 90% of my annual flower and veggie plantings need to be something that has been successful in the past. The other 10% keeps me learning and satiates my need to experiment with new things. It's what makes gardening fun for me. What makes it fun for you?
I hope your gardens are full of successes this season! Happy gardening!

This morning I decided to bag some blossoms. I used bridal tulle circles to cover the blossoms. A bagged blossom. The clothespins are holding the "bags" together and their weight is supported by clipping them over the cages. I will remove the bags once I see tomatoes forming.
Fused tomato stems on my Lucky Cross tomato plant.
Copra and Red Zeppelin onions starting to bulb up.
Reliance Grapes
Blueray Blueberry
Newly expanded front garden. The entire middle portion was grass in the beginning of the season. Now it is filled with marigolds, dwarf sunflowers, lots of carrots, and other assorted annuals as fillers.
Scarlet Oklahoma Red Zinnia
Jacob Kline Monarda
Purple Coneflower

Bagging Blossoms?

I know it's a bit early....or very late, but I wanted to share how I bag blossoms for seed-saving. This is a technique that I use primarily for my tomatoes and peppers.

The Easy Method:
Many large craft stores such as Michaels and A. C. Moore carry bags made of tulle that have drawstrings. Buy these in light colors and cinch them around your blossoms before they open. They come in different sizes, but I would definitely recommend the largest bags they have. These can be a bit pricey, but there's a way to make them more affordable. Check the ads in the Sunday paper. Most large craft stores have circulars with great coupons. For instance, "Get 40% off one regular priced item". Find the largest pack of bags they have and get them! If that is still too pricey, try this other option.

A Little Self-Help:
Use pre-cut white tulle circles or tulle rolls that they sell in craft stores. Typically with the wedding decorations. Thread a needle with a large eye with some yarn. If you need to, sew the tulle into a bag and tie off the yarn. Then sew along the top edge of your bag all the way around. Weaving in and out until you get back to where you started. Place the bag over the blossoms, and pull the loose ends. You can cinch it as tightly or loosely as you want. This takes a bit more work then buying pre-made bags, but it should save you some money.

No matter how you bag your blossoms, be creative. And remember, it's not important how you do it, it's just important that you do it for the sake of your seed purity.