The wrens feeding their babies.

 Tango celery fresh from the garden.  Delicious.

The first Salad Bush cukes of the season were picked a few days ago.  The three plants are really taking off.  I'll be swimming in cukes soon.

 First tomatoes of the season are forming.  Sun Golds.

 Lincoln shelling peas.  Delicious.  Unfortunately the 15+ degrees over average temps we have been having for weeks have shut down the blossoms.  Hopefully the cool temps predicted for the next week will get them going again.  The foliage is still in great shape.

 Salad Bush cucumbers are starting to blossom.

Copra onions are a bit battered from last nights heavy rain storm, but they are developing nicely.

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!

My Prairiefire Crabapple tree is in full bloom. The other night we reached 27 degrees with a Real Feel of 19. I was worried about the blossoms that were waiting to open. They must be tougher than I thought. What gorgeous pink blossoms against burgundy and green foliage. I love this tree.
Last year I cut back the laterals on my blackberry bushes. Tossed them in a pile to be taken up to back to decompose. After an hour I thought, why don't I try to plant some and see what happens. So I decided to take 1 foot cuttings and cram them upright into a container of soil. I tossed some plastic wrap over the top to keep the humidity up a bit since it was still quite hot and dry outside. I gave them a quick drink of water and ignored them. Darned if those cuttings didn't survive over the winter unprotected. Just sitting in this container out front. Wow. Blackberries are tough. The cuttings are putting out new growth. A friend of mine is now the proud owner of a few blackberry plants. Plant propagation is cool.
My Copra onions from Dixondale Farms arrived this weekend! This variety (along with Red Zeppelin) did very well for me last season. I still have some in the fridge from last season! This year I gave them approximately 4 inches of space rather than just the 3 I usually give. Curious to see if there is a significant difference.
They were just planted this morning. Above them are some Scarlet Nantes carrots that have germinated (too small to see in the photo). I direct sowed some a couple of weeks ago and tossed down a few more seeds to fill in some bare spots while I was working on the onions. I direct sowed some more Jericho lettuce in one of the raised beds as well.

I planted Scarlet Nantes carrots this Spring. Not for myself, but for the black swallowtails. One of the perks is that I do get to eat some of the carrots. Knowing that I was planting them for butterflies, I didn't bother to thin them. Nor did I amend the soil with compost to loosen it up. This location was lawn until I dug out the grass this past Spring. I wanted foliage, not the actual root, so I just planted and hoped for good germination. Good germination is what I got.
This is the result of compacted soil. Forked roots. There small size, most likely due to drought and neglect. The largest carrot on the right was on the back edge of the planting. It had some room on all sides where other carrots weren't crowding it. Obviously it took advantage of the space. Next year, no matter how hard it is. I will have to thin out my carrots. Finding a happy medium between tons of foliage for the black swallowtails to devour and some large carrots for me. In the meantime, the carrots above will be going into a slow cooker stew first thing tomorrow morning.

A portion of my Red Norland and Yukon Gold harvest. I planted about 6 to 8 seed potatoes in a 2 x 3 foot space in a raised bed. I know the drought and extreme heat this summer impacted their numbers. I also found it tough to find the time to water as often as they needed. Even still, the ones we did get looked very healthy and colorful. Next season I am going back to growing them in 3 gallon containers like last season. My containers get much more regular watering than anything in the ground. They did really well last season. Even still, these will taste great in the slow cooker tomorrow night with a roast. Doesn't everything taste better when it was grown in your own garden?

I'm beat. On this lovely afternoon, I planted my tomatoes, peppers, celery, zinnia, asclepias curassavica, fennel, cosmos, and marigolds. I still have a few more leftovers and other plants that need to get planted, but I'm exhausted. That's hard work. Sure feels good though.

Today's Garden

Post number 2 of the morning.
Unknown iris.Atropurpurea barberry in bloom.Magnifica honeysuckle just starting to bloom. I'm hoping the hummers will find it soon! Reliance grape leafing out.
Scarlet Nantes carrot seedlings. I was worried that my first sowing might not be germinating, so I bought fresh, 20 cent Walmart seed. Now I have a lot of thinning to do.
Stella de Oro daylilies, Green Spice heuchera, Little Lanterns columbine (tucked in behind the heuchera).Three Golden Acre cabbage overwintered in my raised bed without protection. I was wondering if they were going to produce a good head since the spring growth has been so good. Turns out this one is bolting. Am I disappointed? No way. Free seed!

Potatoes and Carrots

Yukon Gold potatoes and Scarlet Nantes carrots are now planted!

MUST PLANT!

Seed catalogs are coming in the mail. It has me thinking about what I will be planting this year. With such limited space I need to really be sure that I plant a lot of tried and true plants and limit my experimentation. These are the specific varieties of veggies that I've grown in the past, that I can really depend on every year, and wouldn't be without. These are all very disease resistant, heavy producers in my garden.

Here's my list of 'MUST PLANT!' varieties:

Tomatoes: Sun Gold, Celebrity, Jet Star, Kellogg's Breakfast
Cukes: Salad Bush
Radishes: Cherry Belle
Peppers: Fat n' Sassy bell peppers
Garlic: Music, German Extra Hardy
Lettuce: Little Gem, Jericho

I was wondering if any of you would share the varieties that you just have to plant each year.

2010 Garden Review Part II

2010 REVIEW
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BIGGEST HITS
Salad Bush Hybrid Cucumber - Excellent production and flavor. A must-have, compact cucumber. Vine are about 3’ long. Has yet to disappoint me like other varieties. Canned TONS of pickles using these (not picklers) and they were excellent. Maintained a pleasing texture and crispiness with canning. Seed is a bit pricier and has to be ordered online, but it will definitely be returning next season.
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Reliance Grape- Newly planted in the beginning of the season. Very vigorous, disease resistant. Very happy with its growth so far.
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Apache Blackberry- I planted one in the beginning of the season. It is an upright variety, healthy, and growing vigorously. Branches topped at around 4 feet to encourage laterals. Fruits on previous years growth.
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Red Norland potato- Good production and flavor in container. Beautiful color. Will be back.
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Russet Burbank potato- Very large potatoes in ground. Good flavor and great production. Rough skin. Will be replaced with Yukons.
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Yukon Gold potato- Good production and flavor in containers. Will be the staple potato here next season. Love it!
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Golden Acre Cabbage- Small cabbage that produces quickly. Very easy to grow with great flavor. Successful in Spring and Fall. Will be back.
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Lady Emma Hamilton rose- An excellent David Austin, disease resistant shrub rose. I don’t spray, so this is important. The heavy humidity didn’t take a toll until very late in the season. A light spotting of black spot. No big deal. New foliage is a gorgeous burgundy which sets of the deep apricot-colored blooms. A stunning rose. Branches form a nicely rounded shape. Heavy bloomer. Strong, citrus scent. Love it!
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Scarlet Nantes carrots- I could place these in either category. Last year these were fantastic. Sweet, large, they froze well. A huge hit. This year, well…black swallowtail butterflies used the to lay their eggs on. They would devour all of the young, supple foliage. I would bring them indoors and raise the cats…picking off the young foliage myself to feed them. Although the plants kept pumping out fresh leaves, it took a huge toll on the size of the carrot. Would I have changed a thing? Not for a second. We may not be eating homegrown carrots this winter, but we have lots of great memories of the butterflies we raised and released.
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Sterling onion- from Dixondale Farms. Large, white onion. Storing well so far. Only a few
Began to spoil. Great flavor.
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Red Zeppelin onion- from Dixondale Farms- still storing well, very strong flavor. Lovely red rings.
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Copra onion- from Dixondale Farms, yellow, long storer, small size, but weather was quite dry.
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BIGGEST MISSES - A large part of these varieties landing in the “misses” list was due to the weather. Record heat. Drought. High humidity. Not exactly a recipe for success. Another huge factor was the soil mix that was filling the raised beds. I used Mel’s Mix. A combination of 1/3 peat, 1/3 compost, and 1/3 vermiculite. The peat portion was detrimental to many of my plants because it refused to stay moist or remoisten despite repetitive, deep waterings. My recommendation. DON’T USE MEL’S MIX. Half of the soil in these beds will be removed and mixed into spots with heavy clay soil. The other half will stay in the beds and get mixed with my existing clay soil to help it retain water and nutrients better. With that said, here were the biggest misses:
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Spirit Hybrid Pumpkins - All three plants succumbed to borers early in the season. Willing to try this shorter-vined pumpkin one more time next season.
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Black Beauty Squash- I must be the only one that has yet to grow a successful squash. Of the two I planted, one was eaten by rabbits. The other….just barely hung onto life until the drought hit. Then died. Not willing to save space and try it again. I like zucchini bread, but not that much. I’ll just ask for one or two from my in-laws. They can’t get rid of their fast enough.
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Serendipity Corn- Bicolor, synergistic. Started out so impressive, but it was impossible to get the peat in Mel’s mix within the raised bed to moisten. Would try again. The few ears produced were filled out well with excellent flavor.

Potatoes and Garden Treasures

Yesterday I let the kids help me dig up most of the potatoes we planted this Spring. The Russet Burbanks. I admit I was terrible about watering them. Terrible. In fact, I'm surprised they survived the heat and drought. We yielded about 7 pounds of potatoes from 4 of the seed potatoes. I know it would have been more if I watered regularly, but it was still worth it after seeing the smiles on my kids' faces when they pulled them out of the ground.There were a couple interesting finds as well.
This little female ruby-throated hummingbird spent quite a while hanging out at the feeder, clothes line, and in the holly tree. It was like she wanted to me to refill it with fresh nectar. You don't have to ask me twice! I'd do anything to keep her happy.
A clearwing hummingbird moth on my Pink Delight butterfly bush.
A cicada clinging to a tomato stem.
A black swallowtail cat that I found in the garden the other day! The first time I ever found one here!
Only two days later...
I also found these two eggs! The one on the right is blurry.
It's a great butterfly year!

The Beauties and the Uglies

I had yet another fun discovery last night. As I was checking on my new friend before going to bed I noticed something interesting on the fennel. A swallowtail egg! This morning the kids and I went out and bought a 10 gallon fish tank and reptile cover for them. The kids found sticks and we placed the fennel plant with the egg and cat on it within their temporary me.Here is a better picture of the little guy. He is significantly larger than when I went to bed last night. That's pretty cool.
The monster gourd that has traveled over 30 feet up and partially down my American Holly has started developing quite a few gourds with some interesting mottling. Anyone know what kind of gourds these are? There are two in this picture. One on the bottom left and one on the upper right.
Squash Vine Borers! Hate them! Slowly they have been burrowing their way into the vines.
This is probably the only thing in my garden that I've been impatiently waiting to get ugly. My Russet Burbank potatoes. I might be digging these up this weekend. They are finally dying back. I'm not expecting a great yield though. I've been bad about watering them during the dry, hot summer.
My three Salad Bush cucumbers plants. The leaves and newest cukes are starting to turn yellow. I can't complain though. They produced an excellent harvest!
Hot and dry summers are not a friend to corn. Here is what I've been finding lately. Extremely poorly pollinated corn. I tried to hand pollinate, but I couldn't collect any pollen. The multiple heat waves were too much for them. Only the first couple of years turned out well...those that pollinated before the extreme weather hit. Next season I'll be planting an early variety of corn instead. I'm thinking a Mirai or other synergistic variety. Any suggestions on an early sweet corn?

Quarky Corn

I was out grabbing a few ears of corn and found an ear with a strange growth on it. It had a spongy exterior that looked like styrofoam. The interior looked like dirt and roots. I'm not sure if it is some sort of fungus or a nest for a pest. Anyone know what it is?

Tomato Harvest

Here are a few of my ripe tomatoes from yesterday. Clockwise from top left: Aker's West Virginia, 3 Kellogg's Breakfast, 3 Sungold (many more were eaten or left in the garden), Brandywine

Summer Cabbage

I few months ago I planted one early-season, heirloom Golden Acre cabbage plant. The seed purchase was an impulse buy. One of those 20 cent packets sold at Walmart. Knowing that I should have planted it in early Spring....not late Spring....I didn't expect much. It was more of just an experiment. Turns out that this cabbage did incredibly well in the high heat, humidity, and long periods of drought. Not sure how, but I'm amazed. I can only imagine how well it would have done if I watered it more. This was my first attempt at growing cabbage, and I will definitely be growing it again next season. This is going to make a nice side of sweet and sour cabbage for lunch tomorrow!

Todays Harvest and More

My 2 year old daughter and I picked these tomatoes this morning. A combination of Box Car Willies, Celebrity, Cherokee Green, and Sun Golds. As you can see, my daughter can't keep her hands off of them. She ate almost half of these shortly after taking this picture. That's my girl!
"Shell" garden- Blue Lake pole beans along the walls, Salad Bush cukes, a volunteer marigold, and th remainder of my onion plants.

The corn started to tassel, but there were no ears on the stalks. I wasn't sure where the corn pops up. Now I know. There are two ears developing from between the leaves and stalk. Pretty cool.

Below are my sunflowers. Looks like something really finds the leaves tasty.

Most of my onion harvest. I think I pulled some of them too soon. The leaves had fallen over and had some yellowing on the tips. Oops. This was my first season growing onions, so I'm still learning.

Cucumber and Tomato Harvest

This is what I've been waiting for! My first cucumbers and tomatoes were picked today!

Salad Bush cucumbers. By far my favorite cucumber to grow despite the cost of getting the seed for it. This is my third year with the same packet of seed and they had no problem germinating. It's worth the cost. My garden won't be without these tasty cukes.

Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. I've heard a lot of hype about the candylike sweetness of these little guys. I thought they just tasted like....cherry tomatoes....good cherry tomatoes.