Notes for June 30, 2008

Here is a picture of Salvia I purchased a few weeks ago and planted in a garden I just started this year.

It rained last night. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to wet the ground under the trees.

Saturday afternoon, after working at the office for 7 hours, I got a chance to cut my grass, tie up and trim my tomato plants and pick some green beans. Nearly ran over a toad with the mower but I saw him just in time. After I finished, I took my customary 10 minute rest sitting on the back patio to enjoy my backyard. I have about 12 Bee Balm flowers in bloom and it was just buzzing with hummingbirds (ok it was just one at a time, but it was there quite often).

Notes for June 28, 2008

Here is a picture of Yarrow. This one has really taken off.

We got a little bit of the wet stuff yesterday. I emptied 0.4" from the rain guage this morning.

Haven't done any work outside lately. I've been working close to 65 hours a week and this week looks like another.

Notes for June 24, 2008

Here is a picture of a Pincushion flower that I purchased. Ironically, I just noticed this morning a Pincushion in bloom somewhere else that I had forgotten about that I had grown from seed and planted last year.

Notes for June 23, 2008

Here is a picture of another Hosta.

I got a few hours yesterday (literally only a few hours). Went to church in the morning, got home at 1:30 and then went back for a farewell picnic for our associate pastor at 5 PM. But I think I made the most of it.

Watered everything, but I did it in stages (didn't want to have the pump straining to keep up since we've been lacking in rain, I know my well is fairly shallow or at least shallower than my comfort level).

Tied up my tomato plants (which is nearly a weekly thing from now until August). I would have to read my blog to remember when I did it last but I had about 18 inches of new growth since I tied them last.

When I first came out of the house, on my way across the yard I saw a hummingbird visiting the Bee Balm that is now in bloom (and that the primary reason I planted the Bee Balm). If you ever want to plant it, watch it, it spreads easily.

The cucumbers I planted last week are growing nicely so I mulched them and I transplanted the Cosmos seedlings along the inside of my veggie garden but I didn't mulch them. I want to give them a week to get their heads up.

My sunflowers are about three feet tall now and I adjusted them so that they are being supported by the twine I have strung between some posts just for them.

I also mulched some more of my flower beds, but I still have one more that really needs to be done but it has a bunch of new perennials that I am waiting for them to get a little bigger but I did weed that garden a little so it doesn't look too bad. While mulching the flower beds I came across a baby praying mantis. it was about an inch long. Friday night I was outside and noticed a toad in the yard.

Notes for June 21, 2008

Here is a picture of the red rhododendron. Ok its not in bloom anymore so its not impresive. But I really fell in love with the red last year when I discovered that rhodos come in more colors than just the common lavender or white. It was a challenge for me to find a place to plant it (the wife didn't want any more new flower beds, can you believe it?).

Notes for June 19, 2008

I have been working late hours and unable to do any work in the gardens but I am happy to report that we got just a little bit more rain yesterday than the last two times combined. This morning I emptied 0.4" from the rain gauge. I'll take whatever I can get.

The picture today is of one of a few Hostas given to me last year. This one is doing rather well.

When I got home last night the mother Robin did not leave the nest as I walked past her only a few feet away.

Notes for June 18, 2008

Of the four Robin's eggs, one had hatched some time yesterday. This morning, three had hatched and one of those was out of the nest and obviously not living. The other two were flopping over each other and the other egg.

Notes for June 17, 2008

Here is a picture of the corner of the first flower garden I started. The Tiger Lilly and the Iris are well established. The two Sedums to the left I planted last year and the one to the right I planted this year. They are doing so well, I bought more this year and now have a total of six in the yard. The little Hosta in the middle was a transplant from a friend of mine. They gave it to me because the deer in their neighborhood were not letting the Hosta grow.

Thunderstorms passed all around yesterday afternoon and evening but Moses was still at work. We didn't get any rain and all the storms passed either to our north or south.

Notes for June 16, 2008

This picture is of a 4 foot tall evergreen by our front door. Now we know why the male Robin has been going psycho on our cars in the driveway!

Over the weekend we got about only 0.1" inches of rain. It seemed like Moses was living in south Jersey. The rain went to the north of us to near Trenton and to the south of us like Delaware. So I had to water this weekend. That makes about 0.2" in the past two weeks. Thunderstorms are forecasted this evening, maybe we'll be the target.

Yesterday (yes on fathers day) I worked in the yard for a couple of hours. I had too, since I had to work on Saturday and then went directly to our church to help out with our annual chicken barbecue. I left the house at 6:30 and didn't get home until Saturday night around 8:30. So on Sunday afternoon I planted 26 cucumber seedlings and then mulched my sunflowers and my second row of green beans. In between I watered everything. The ironic thing was that we had a five minute shower while I was planting the cucumbers. It was heavy enough for me to stop and open up a folding chair in the shed and sit for a few minutes. All it really did was successfully make me look as if I was wading in the creek, my pants were wet from the knees down from kneeling.

Notes for June 12, 2008

Here is a picture of the Coreopsis I recently purchased. Notice that it is planted between two Iris that I planted earlier this year. The Iris is looking pretty small and they usually do the year that you transplant them. next year it will grow tremendously in size but not bloom. the following year they will bloom.

I forgot to mention that last night I also thinned the sunflowers a little bit and made sure the taller ones were being supported by the twine fence.

Notes for June 11, 2008

Here is a picture of my yellow Stella D'Oro Daylily in bloom.

Watched the rain dissipate as it crossed the Delaware River last night (it must be summer now) and so we only got a little bit bit of thunder and 0.1 inch of rain.

Was able to tie each of my tomato plants tonight as well as trim off the suckers. I bought an old sheet from Goodwill thrift shop to make the ties for the tomato plants.

Notes for June 10, 2008

Last night I noticed that my yellow Daylilly (Stella D'Oro) is in bloom.

Also, last Friday night I saw my first lightning bug of the season and on Saturday I heard the first cicada.

Notes for June 9, 2008

I was able to cut the grass Thursday night albeit later than when I wanted to start. But if I was going to get any other yard work done this past weekend, I had to cut the grass Thursday night and with the current heat wave (we've been in the 90's the past two day and is forecasted today and tomorrow) it was better sooner than later. I wanted to bag the clippings but since I got started late I didn't (one of my compost piles is completely empty and I wanted to start filling it again in order to bury kitchen scraps this summer).

Saturday in the heat I did work outside but I took a gallon of water with me and drank it all during frequent breaks. I got all of my tomatoes and peppers staked (but not tied). I will need more stakes next spring due to the amount that broke during installation (I start with 8 ft 1x2's for my tomatoes and as they break I use them for the peppers and other posts). I planted the remaining perennials I started from seed (Cupid's Dart, Dames Rocket, Yarrow, Pyrethrum and some Columbine). Then I continued mulching. I mulched one and a half flower beds. Wanted to do more but I was starting to get a headache (which is my body signal to stop working in the heat) and the flower beds I was going to do next, I had just planted the perennial seedlings, so I wanted to wait for them to establish themselves a little bit.

I did notice on Sunday the cucumber and cosmos seedlings were starting to come up in the six packs I started them in last week. However, the germination is still not that great, about 10 have not sprouted yet. I think next year and every year after, I am going to start them in six packs and not in the ground and start them in early May.

Before I mulched, I used up my fish emulsion fertilizer and gave all of my tomatoes and peppers a drink and I noticed the bottle starting to leak and so I used it up and gave a bunch of my new perennials a drink as well.

Notes for June 5, 2008

Yesterday when I got home from work I emptied 1.3" from the rain gauge and this morning I emptied 0.3". Hopefully for the seeds I just planted, we'll get some sun today.

Notes for June 4, 2008

Was able to work outside last night after dinner. It was such a wonderful evening, not hot and there was a breeze most of the time. I didn't water much since rain was forecasted (and it did rain throughout the night and was still raining this morning and more is forecasted today). I watered the newest perennials and the seedlings still in pots.

I am not happy with the germination of my cucumbers. I had 5 sprout out of about 50. The same goes for the row of cosmos I planted along the edge of the veggie garden. I counted two. So the first thing I did last night was to start some more cucumbers and cosmos, but this time I started them in the six packs and will transplant. I really don't understand what happened to the cukes. The past years I have had no problem with germination in place. Maybe next year I will start them in the six packs and transplant them.

My sunflowers are about 5 inches tall and I thinned them some but will have to thin them some more.

Then I started to mulch some more. The first area I mulched was my row of yellow marigolds in the veggie garden. I thinned them fist and transplanted the ones I thought worth saving (I now have about 8 in pots to transplant later) and then weeded the area before I mulched. Then I mulched two of my flower beds.

My mulch is probably really considered leaf mold. It is in three compost piles and is a combination of ground up leaves, grass clippings, pulled weeds, shrubbery trimmings and sometimes kitchen scraps.

Notes for June 3, 2008

By the way, we turned on our Air Conditioner Sunday night. It will probably be on from now until September.

Notes for June 2, 2008

We had thunderstorms on Saturday that gave me 0.35" of rain.

Took off from work on Friday for other reasons and was able to spend the day working outside. I was happy with the work I got done but I was not happy on Saturday. I am 45 years old and I can't do as much as I once did and not pay for it the next day. It made me concerned but I was better on Sunday (still sore but better).

Friday I was able to plant another row of green beans after I finished picking my spinach. I planted about 12 volunteer tomato plants (probably all cherry tomatoes, yum). Each tomato plant was planted in the same way ( a 2 gallon hole filled with manure and sprinkled with wood ashes mixed thoroughly with the excavated soil and the remaining soil used to make a bowled wall around the plant to channel all watering). On Thursday on my way home from work, I bought a Coreopsis (tickseed), a purple/blue Salvia, a Pincushion flower and a green Hosta. I planted all these on Friday. I found several more volunteer marigolds in my veggie patch and transplanted them back in to my veggie patch between the tomato plants. I have more coming as seedlings that I will plant in with the cucumbers and peppers.

Then I mulched. I had ambitions of mulching my veggie garden and all my flower beds but of course, I didn't get that far. I ended up only mulching all the tomato and pepper plants and their walking rows and the row of green beans that is about 8" tall. I will mulch the rest as the plants mature. I used up one compost pile completely, but I still have the big one and another of the same size I used up. To use up the remainder of the wood ashes I had, I sprinkled it heavily in the walking rows before I mulched it over. That way it will get into the soil. While digging out the compost pile I saw plenty of earthworms.

Some of the cucumbers are starting to sprout and it looks like all of the sunflowers have sprouted (so I will have to thin them).

Friday afternoon I called a friend up and asked him if he wanted some tomato plants. he came over and I gave him about 12 volunteer tomato plants and the remainder of my radishes.

The Mountain Laurels are in full bloom in my area and there are many in the woods all around. I wouldn't mind finding one in the woods to transplant into my yard. I had one at my home but it died. I still have a Mountain Pink and it is beautiful.