Sunday, August 2, 2015

Wow, so much has happened....

The yard grew of course since May.  Lettuce ended, peppers and tomatoes are ripening on a regular basis now that it is August.

My veggie beds need a rest next year.  The plants just aren't as big, harvest is down.  So next spring will be the "Year of the Soybean."  Plant the whole thing in them and flowers and let it go.  It will help rebuild the soil.

This Fall, I'm planning on replacing my raised beds after 10 years.  A little tweaking on the size and placement, but not a lot.

On to pictures!

Here's a few from June:

CiCi with her buddies the Koi


Walter the Rabbit


 
Pepper in a patch of Lemon Verbena.
Right now, the verbena is about the only perennial that looks half way decent.  Man, it's dry out here.

Some Garden Notes

What has worked:

  • Shredding leaves for mulch and adding rabbit bedding.
  • Buying herbs and annuals from Hay's in Clarkston
  • Chard has done great
  • Strawberries used in perennial beds (for looks, not covered so the birds and dogs are getting the fruit) - I do intend to put a permanent strawberry bed SOMEWHERE up on my hill with a cover.  
  • All the plants I picked for the pots around the pond are doing wonderfully.
  • So far so good on the new blueberry plants.
    • One regular
    • One pink blueberry bush
  • Snow peas did great in the half circle frame.  I'll do that again.


What has NOT worked:

  • Welded wire covers over beds with bird netting.
    • Robin got caught in it.  Hence, the need for a better location and cover for strawberries.  
    • Plus, it just didn't look neat and it got in the way  - A LOT.
  • Waiting forever to ship and shred leaves.  Do it earlier next year!
  • The year round lettuce never sprouted.  Either it is too hot, or the birds ate them.
    • I am going to make frames with bird netting when we make the new raised beds. The seeds need to be protected.
  • The lawn.  The freakin' lawn.  Getting water but is UGLY. Need to aerate and fertilize better next year.
Overall, the yard is still our little slice of sanctuary.  Green, water, aaahhhhh.





Sunday, May 3, 2015

Just another day out there in the garden.

Emotionally, it's been a tough week for hubby and I.  I thank God for our house and garden as our sanctuary.

I did promise some pics of lettuce!
Snow Peas and Lettuce Mix

Today I planted two kinds of cucumbers.  Marketmore and Burpless.  One is tall, the other is not, so I planted them every other one so they would intertwine.

Marketmore and Burpless Cucumbers




These pics are taking For.ev.er. to upload.  I'll do some more another day.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Gardening Today

Put out a half full bin of finished compost.  Three wheelbarrows of dirt went into the fenceline perennial bed in the side yard.

The pups were out there with me of course.

I found two tree peony seedlings!  Supposedly, they are very hard to grow from seed.  I wonder what color they will be.  I do not know if they are true to color from seed.

For dinner tonight, I am being able to serve my first fresh salad!!!  Freckles, Red Sails, and Butter.

Two wrens are back and nesting in the "Snow in Winter" plant in the dog yard.  This year I saw them, so I know not to go sticking my hand in the plant.

It was pretty windy, so we didn't spend a lot of time sitting out in the yard.

Tomorrow I'll post some pics of the grown up lettuce bed.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

We Were Gardening Fools Today!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Started out by making a quiche for Kermit and me.  It turned out well.  Late breakfast, laid around and goofed off until about 11am.

After breakfast, Kermit and I got to work!

Yesterday, we went plant shopping at Hay's in Clarkston.  They have really good plant stock. 

A plug for Green Things Nursery in Orofino - don't know I'd survive without their local knowledge! 

Today, 9 bags of dirt with manure mixed in from Orofino Builder's Supply.  All of my finished compost, and the leaf/bunny shavings mix I had rotting.

Planted

Early Girl
Roma
Gypsy Pepper
Sun Gold
Anaheim
Pablano
Jalepeno
24 annual flowers mostly Dianthus, Wave Petunias in burgundy, and some grasses for filler.
Quinalt strawberries
Basil - wherever I get this, they come all packed together and you have to rip the poor things apart.  They are all floppy right now, but they always seem to snap into it and produce like crazy.

Seeded 

Chard
Radish
Annual flower that I did not identify for the envelope last year.  It says "I have no idea what this is, but I must have liked it since I saved it."  Now there's some good record keeping for you.

Fiber Optic Grass with Raspberry Dianthus


Roma Tomatoes, Basil, and Radishes



Early Girl Tomatoes, Basil, and Radish


Strawberry Patch  - Quinalt from Green Things and Hay's in Clarkston.
It has welded wire and netting over is so I actually get to eat some of them.  The dogs and birds love the.


Lettuce - almost ready to eat!  Will seed some more on Monday.
Welded wire so the birds didn't eat the seed.
Last year was not a good lettuce year because nothing sprouted.


The chipping and shredding pile from heck.


But then that pile turns into the BEST mulch EVER.


I'll put up the annual mix tomorrow.  

I'm a little sunburnt, but I feel great.





Sunday, April 12, 2015

Got to REALLY play in the dirt today!

First of all, a BIG thank you to Joan at Green Things Nursery for selling me strawberry plants when they were technically closed.

I was going to try to plant them up on the hill, but I gave up that idea when it was obvious I'd have to spend at least a week relocating other stuff to make it happen, and that isn't going to happen.

Planted Today:
Pink Lemonade Highbush part Deu.
We planted one last year and the thing died.  Got it from a different source this year and put it in a different spot.  If it produces, it will have pink blueberries!

Elliot Northern Highbush
Smaller variety, blueberry.  When I put this in, I found the rootball to the bush I tried last year.  Did not change AT ALL.  No root growth at all, no wonder it didn't survive.

I planted 25 strawberry plants, and cannot for the life of me remember their name.  They are a variety that grows runners.  I put a cage over the bed to keep the birdies and rottweilers out.  Ok, not Rottweilers, but CiCi!!!!  She has no concept of "Keep the heck out of my beds" yet.  She's getting better.  Lucky she's cute.

The lettuce looks like lettuce now.  Fresh greens in a few weeks!  A bunch of cilantro is sprouting.

Daffodils and Hyacinth faded.  Lilacs and Narcissus are on their way.  Red and yellow tulips in full bloom.  Looks like they actually naturalized a little.  I picked some Tulips from out front because I rather enjoy them inside than let the deer eat them.  Deer LOVE tulips. And lots of other things.

Some pictures from a few days ago:
Miss CiCi

Toad House

Pepper - 10 yr old Rabbit - eating Lemon Verbena!

Can't remember the name.  Very STINKY bulbs.  Deer HATE IT.  I LOVE IT.

Daffodils

Hyacinth

A good roll on the grass

Lettuce.  Three varieties there.  Spreckles, don't know, Red Sails.

Red Tulip - Doubled in spread in 4 years.
Yellow Tulip - about the same naturalization.


Friday, April 3, 2015

Just a log post

In Bloom:
Early Tulips
Grape Hyacinth
Regular Hyacinth
Dandelions are starting

Budding:
Lilacs
Narcissus

Planted:
Huntington Carpet Rosemary
Zones 8-10, so it's a long shot that they'll be here next year.

Blood Veined Sorrel
Annual Ornamental/Culinary


Sunday, February 15, 2015

First day of GARDENING SEASON!!!

It's the middle of February, and I planted seeds.  Lettuce and Snow Peas.

I must have had my act together in the Fall, because I have 2 beds that are completely ready for planting, and one where I need to fill it with compost and dirt, and I'm done with that one.

The beds I use for flowers and vegetables are pretty much ready too.  I'm not going to till this year.

Since I cannot rotate my night shade crops, I need to do some research and see what I need to do in order to recharge the soil. I really don't want to pull up all of my supports in order to plant a Spring cover crop and till it in.

Things I want to plant this year:
Lemon Grass
Roma
Early Girl or other early variety 
ONLY two sungold plants  (last year was the year of the cherry tomato)

Of course, I saw a bunch of things in the gardening catalogs that I would like, but don't remember them now.

We've had a LOT of birds in the backyard already this year.  Finches, Woodpeckers, Juncos, Grosbeaks, and some Tanagers (I least I think they were).

I saw one this morning that I need to ID again.  I've looked it up before, but I don't see them often enough to remember.

Today was "Clean Up Day" in the yard.  Sifted dirt, put dirt out, turned the compost.  There were soooo many worms.  A few really large ones.  Trimmed some bushes, raked up Fall debri, cut back the roses.

One piece of advice I got from Marc McGrath of gardening fame was "Leave the tomatoes up on the supports if you live in the North.  When Spring comes, it will be easier to clean up."  It definitely is.  They're all dried up and just snap right off the supports.

Raked the bed that were ready to plant, put out eggshells.  Last year, I think a lot of seeds got eaten.  This year, I put welded wire with netting over it up to keep the birds and our new dog out of the bed where I put the lettuce.

Here's to Spring!