June 20, 2012 - Wednesday's Walk Around the Garden (part 1)

I have to make more than one post today, because there are so many pictures!

 I'll start with the North and Kennel gardens.


 Jackpot Zucchini on the left, Early Yellow Crookneck squash on the right.


Star of Yelta morning glory and Johnny Jump Ups

The flower corner.  Pink hollyhocks have begun blooming, as well as the Shasta daisies.  The lettuce in the foreground has been nipped off by the sparrows.  I had it caged, but the openings in the wire were too large, so the birds still got in and had their buffet.  Parsley under the ladder, and two leftover pepper plants in the foreground.


 The cantaloupe in this hill is not growing well at all.  This was a compost mound, and should have been an excellent spot for them, but they are stunted and chewed up.


 These four cantaloupe plants, seeded later than the others, are growing much better.  I'll soon have to decide which two to keep, and which to pull or move.


 White onions, grown from seed, have not yet formed round bulbs.  The remainder of this bed has been planted in carrots.  Three of the rows have germinated, the remaining rows were just planted last week.


 Strawberries in the raised bed are just beginning their second round of blossoms, which should finally give me some decent berries.  These plants were just moved here this spring, and the first flush of blossoms resulted in some very small, useless, berries.  Two broccoli plants in the foreground.  The one on the right was "dead" a month ago, but is now almost ready to give me a nice head of broccoli to harvest.  The large one on the left is just now showing a little broccoli button.  All of the broccoli plants are from a packet of mixed seeds (3 varieties), so I have no idea what they are.


 The best of three beds of Fortex beans.  Yesterday I sprayed them (and myself) with fish fertilizer.  They seem to be snapping out of their bug chewed state now, and have begun their climb up the fence.


 Dill, in the pot, has begun to go to seed.  Camomile is blooming, and cilantro, in the smaller pot, is sporting its true leaves.


 Raspberries and zinnias.


 Beets are sprouting under cover, protected from leaf miners.  A few carrots, from an earlier (spotty) planting are in the foreground, and the rest of the bed was planted to carrots last week.


 A triangle of bush beans emerging on the left, cauliflower on the right.  I put in a few celery plants behind the cauliflower.  I'm hoping they grow by fall, as the earlier celery has bolted to seed.  Yesterday I pulled out the sugar snap peas and planted more Fortex bean seeds against the chain link fence on the far right.


 The oregano is beginning to flower.  I really don't need any, so I'll let the bees enjoy it for now.  Sweet peas are just beginning to blossom, but I pick them before they can give much of a show in the garden.  They smell so sweet in the vase on my desk.


 Lettuce is happy in "The Thing I", untouched by hungry sparrows and still sweet and crisp in the light shade of the kennel garden.


 Three broccoli plants shading three lettuce plants.  That's a volunteer nasturtium in front.


 The kennel garden seating area, with Grandpa Ott morning glories beginning to grow behind the bench.  The morning glories are late, due to the cold spring and the semi shaded area in which they are planted, but in past years this has been the best area for them.  I expect once they take off, they will cover the chain link and be beautiful.  All of the nasturtiums and alyssum are volunteers.


 Yellow crookneck squash in front of the Honey Select corn, which has now reached the height of 3 feet.


 Waltham Butternut squash, in the barrel and on the ground.


 Velour beans (left), mixed varieties of sweet peppers (center) and Gourmet Green French beans (right).  All of these beans are covered with blossoms and forming tiny beans.


 Pixie and Gonzales dwarf cabbages (left), celery that has all bolted (center) and carrots that may or may not be affected by nematodes (right).  I'll have to make a decision on whether to just pull out the celery and plant another row of bush beans there, or try to harvest a few more small stalks.  It was planted out way too early, before the night temperatures were 50F or higher, which caused it to go to seed.  This was my first try at growing celery, next year I'll start the seedlings much later.  I picked my first cabbage, a Pixie, this week.  At two pounds, it was quite large for a dwarf variety.  The Gonzales cabbages are much smaller.


 The triangle beds are full of broccoli, carrot seedlings a single volunteer tomato plant and flowers.  I just harvested the lettuce, which gives me room for even more carrots.  I'm determined to grow enough carrots this year!


The tomatoes next to the shed are strong, healthy and blossoming and/or fruiting.  There are basil and lettuce plants in between the tomato pots.


To be continued in post #2.

23 comments:

  1. Quick question - what is the beet 'cage' made of (I had terrible leaf miners this year even after being under a plastic cover) and what variety of beet do you grow? The Ed Hume seeds (which I know you use) tasted terrible and not very sweet at all (despite roasting) so I'm looking for new varieties of beets.

    Thanks Granny!

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    1. Shannan, it's plain old tulle (like bridal veils and tutus), 72" width, from Walmart, under $1 a yard. I cannot grow beets or spinach without it. I like it, because I can see through it. You need to get it over the beets as soon as they emerge. Once the miners are in them, their life cycle has started in the soil and you'll not stop them with a cover.

      I grow Red Ace Hybrid beets, Ed Hume seeds. I also grew Chioggia beets this spring, good taste but not pretty when cooked or pickled as they lose their color.

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  2. Holy moley! That's a lot going on, and we've not even made it to page 2!

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  3. I bet you smelled good after that spraying. When I use fish fertilizer on the plants in the basement, I warn "The Italian" that it smells like an old whore down there :)

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    1. Robin, I was using a small pressure sprayer, and evidently didn't have the top screwed down tightly. It released the pressure and sprayed all over me! OMG, did I ever stink :-(

      Our next door neighbors were out on their patio, which abuts our west fence, and that's where I was spraying the tomatoes. The didn't stay long, once I began LOL!

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  4. Your warm weather crops are way ahead of mine. Your squash look huge. Mine are just sitting there. I picked some carrots today and there were signs of nematodes on most. I might have to transplant one of the two volunteer marigolds in the bed that will get the next set of carrots. Maybe that will help. Next year I need to plant marigolds all over the place.

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    1. Daphne, I was reading a study on nematodes and carrots, which said the bed had to be planted solid with marigolds for two months, then turned under, then carrots planted, or they were ineffective against the nematodes. We wouldn't have a long enough season to do that!

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  5. wow everything looks great and you haven't had good weather just wait till it gets warm!!

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    1. Mrs. P., it definitely got warm out there today! I went out to dig Bermuda grass, but I didn't last long in the sun.

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  6. Looks great, Granny! The heat here has hovered around 100 the past couple days. My poor tomatoes are getting crunchy leaves even with extra water. They tomatoes are still very sweet though.

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    1. Thanks, Langela. We finally got into the 80s today, still nearly 10 degrees below our normal temps, but I'll take it!

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  7. Sorry Annie but I drooled all over your garden pictures!!! Nancy

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    1. Nancy, you go get a towel and clean that drool up....right now! LOL!!!

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  8. My comments are endless but I'm drawn to the trials. The butternut squash in the half barrel is cool. I need to try that. I have a nice pumpkin started that needs to be transplanted. Hmm. I also love the trial of various small cabbages. Which of the two in the pic are Pixie? Is it the top in the pic or the bottom ones? I see one in bottom that looks larger than the others that are smaller and darker green (in the picture). Just curious b/c I like the idea of smaller cabbages since we are so space limited.
    The rest all looks great. The corn is pretty and the flowers of course are pretty. I love to see the development and appreciate your efforts in taking and uploading all of the pics! Today I became intrigued with growing celery so might pick a small area and do a trial run. (if there's still time) My squash plants are sad sorry plants that i planted too early in the season so we'll see what they become. I did seed in some cucumber seeds wondering if i'd actually get any before the end of the season. LOL. Wish me luck! What happens with dill when it's done for you? Do you cut it down and reseed or?

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    1. The Gonzales (top) are the small ones, Pixie (bottom) are larger. Either variety can be planted at 12" spacing.

      You should be fine seeding cucumbers right now. In fact, I planted a pot of flowers yesterday, then kicked myself because I didn't do cucumbers instead.

      Dill reseeds itself readily. I didn't plant any at all this year, and I have it growing in several spots around the pot it was in last year...including in the pot. When it gets big seed heads, I cut it down and dry them. I really need to dry some of the dill weed, 'cause Mr. granny absolutely loves the recipe for ranch dressing.

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    2. Oh, I learned last year that you can freeze it also. I froze whole dill heads for the pickling process but never got to the 2nd batch of pickles so used it for something else...or...maybe it's still in there? lol I think it's been tossed by now if not! Time to harvest and save for pickles. I may just buy some big dill heads from the farmer's market for them but prefer to use what I'm growing b/c I know where it "came from" as in what was used on and near it.

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  9. love...it...all! Your garden overfloweth! Mine too. Though as we talked about, we are now harvesting areas enough to do a new planting but the decision making is hard when you're busy tending and harvesting the first round. I guess that's June in the northwest for ya. I got a little bummed out about some failed plants and the bad weather for the tomatoes here but hoping that we'll have better days coming up here for the next few months. Today was HOT. (for us!)

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    1. Amy T., temps in the mid 80s were very welcome here yesterday! I wish it wouldn't get any hotter than that, though.

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  10. Granny, your garden is beautiful!!! Looks like you are going to have a great year! I love looking at all the pictures but I must admit that I smiled big when I saw the picture with the Star of Yelta morning glory and Johnny Jump Ups. Love sharing seeds with friends.

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    1. LOL, Debbie...yes, the flowers had to wait a year, as I already had those spots planted when you sent the seeds, but there they are! Aren't those Johnny Jump Ups just beautiful? And they are really filling in that spot nicely. I have some in the kennel garden too. I have your morning glories on one side of the garden, and Ed's "Grandpa Ott" on the other side!

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  11. Granny, I just love your pictures and hope one day can have such a beautiful garden. Do you ever have a problem with the lower older leaves on the tomato plants turning yellow? My 'Sweet 100' plants produce tomatoes but don't look lush and green like yours. Shoba

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    1. Shoba, I remove the lower leaves of the tomato plants, right up to just under the first fruits. Yes, they would yellow if I didn't. It also keeps mud from splattering on the leaves, possibly transmitting diseases. If you're getting fruits, I wouldn't worry too much about lush and green.

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