Notes for Tuesday September 1, 2009

September already? Can't believe it.

We got back from our vacation (a week at the Jersey shore) on Saturday. There ought to be a law that all vacations need to be a minimum of two weeks. Yesterday was a difficult day to get back into the rhythm (didn't really want to either).

Friday before we left I emptied 0.9" from the rain gauge and hoped that we would get some rain while we were gone. Upon return I emptied 1.5", not sure when we got it though. Then again on Sunday morning I emptied 0.6" from a thunderstorm that rumbled through at bed time Saturday night.

Before we left for vacation I told my neighbors and emailed my friends to please come by and pick some veggies while we were gone. When I got home it didn't look like anyone did. I picked about a bushel of juliet tomatoes, a half a bushel of regular tomatoes, a bushel of cucumbers and about a half a dozen peppers. Still no hornworms!??

On Sunday afternoon I pulled the third string beans (picking about two gallons) and planted a row of radishes alongside where the beans were leaving room for another row in a couple of weeks. There were only about 6 spinach seedlings in the row I planted a couple of weeks ago so I pulled them and planted another row. I also tied several of my cosmos plants to the fence since they were falling over. Some of my cosmos are over 6 foot tall and haven't flowered yet.

I need to take some pictures. Some of my zinnias are about 3 foot tall and in bloom and my five pots of chives are in full bloom and were buzzing with small what looked to be small carpenter bees. The tithonia I planted have really taken over and are alot more bushier than I expected and are full of blooms.

Then later on Sunday afternoon, I cut the grass. I wish I had a combine instead of just my push mower. We had two weeks of wet weather since I last cut it (wet at least for August, the news said that it was the third wettest August on record). I had to keep the deck of the mower raised again and still had to cut it at half width and half speed. While pushing the mower I avoided three toads.

There was no sign of the groundhog the whole week before we left and when we got back his hole had reopened. So on Sunday I threw another handful of moth balls in his hole and filled it the best I could packing the soil in using a 3 foot 2x4. Yesterday morning there was no indication that he had returned but when I got home from work he had started to dig his hole again but didn't get very far so I filled the hole again.

Notes for August 19, 2009

Last night I picked tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. With the abundance of Juliet tomatoes, I even brought some into work today. I think I might change the number of plants next year. Instead of 12 plants of small tomatoes (cherry/grape or juliet again), I may decrease it to 9 and increase the medium sized tomato plant. I may even try a earlier variety to see how that works. As I was picking last night I was thinking that I should water the carrot seeds but never did. Mother Nature took care of that for me. I emptied 0.5" from the rain gauge this morning.

Notes for August 13, 2009

Looks like we had more thunder than rain yesterday. I was surprised this morning when I emptied only 0.2" from the rain gauge. The calendar has settled down and it looks like I will get a nice chunk of time on Saturday. In addition to the regular chores in the veggie garden, I plan on cleaning out the onion patch and planting carrots. We've had some regular rain this year so the grass is need of cutting. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow night because tonight looks like its going to be rainy again. And I have some weeding to do in the flower beds against the front of the house.

Who needs a fig leaf, I'll use cucumber?

Someone else likes the garden.

Tithonia.

Last Saturday's harvest. Yesterday's was the same.

The cosmos were getting big enough that I had to tie them to the fence.

Friday I emptied 0.25".

Yesterday I picked and pulled the second green beans and then planted spinach in its place. then I picked some peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes (plums and regular). I also picked a few more onions. Next week I am planning to pull all the onions and plant carrots.

This morning we had some heavy rain and I emptied 1.2" after I got home from church.

Now what I want to know is who wished the ground hog on me? We have a juvenile ground hog who has taken up residence under the concrete slab under my shed. We have a box trap set with apple nearby but he doesn't seem interested (there's enough grass all around). Today I put a bunch of moth balls into the hole and filled it in the best I could. Maybe he'll get the message and move on?

Veggies

It's a jungle out there. Here is the path between the cukes on the right and the tomatoes on the left.

This is something new for me, I have peppers in August! This variety is called New Ace.

Here are my tomatoes getting ripe (Juliet). I thought they were a grape but they are more like a plum and very meaty.

On the left are two rows of green beans next to a row of lima beans, next to a row of peppers.

Here are the tomato plants. The stakes are 8 ft 1 x 2's, each driven into the ground about a foot and a half. Yes my plants are 6.5 ft tall. Saturday I picked the second picking of the second green beans, I picked 5 peppers, 10 cukes and 6 plum tomatoes. Sunday we had another round of storms. This time we got 1.7".

flowers

The Joe Pye Weed around the mail box is about to bloom.

The Agastache (rupestins) I grew from seed a few years ago are in bloom.

A red daylilly.

These marigolds came up on their own and I left them.

The daisies are blooming and the marigolds in fron but not the zinnias in between.

Friday night we were in Medford Lakes. There are still some people without power or phone and some might not get it back until Tuesday. It wasn't a tornado but it was 80 mph winds. We were spared at home and the wind wasn't that bad either. I did empty 0.5" from the rain gauge.

Notes for July 12, 2009

Here is a pic of the veggie garden, beans in the front hiding the peppers, tomatoes tied to the tall stakes and cukes in the back on their own fence.

Here are the beans in the front. Each row was planted three weeks apart (the family complained when all three rows had to be picked at once). I started picking last week so I will be picking each week for the next seven which puts me into September. The first row (on the right) I picked their second picking yesterday and I filled two one gallon bowls.

This flower bed has mostly annuals. Our cold winter this past year was down to the negative numbers and the winter winds buried it with a foot of leaves that I was unable to dig out until late and so all but a few volunteer daisies survived. I replanted some volunteer daisies in the back with zinnias in the middle and some marigolds in the front.

Yesterday in addition to the second picking of the first green beans, I picked 12 cukes. Then I tied and trimmed the tomatoes and finished mulching the third green beans. Next week I will pull the first green beans and replant lima beans. When the second green beans are done I am thinking of planting spinach and the third will be replaced with radish. My tomatoes will be super late this year because of the cooler wet June. I will have some grape tomatoes in a few weeks but the bigger varietties will be into August.

Last night Mother Nature smiled on me and provided 0.75" rain, otherwise I was going to water today. Unfortunately is was a noisy rain complete with light show which the thunderstorm proximity alarm didn't like (the 80 lb Golden Retriever) so we had company in bed with us from 1 AM to 2 AM.

Notes for July 1, 2009

Yes I watched weather radar do its magic again. There was a nice line of thunderstorms marching across Pennsylvania only to break up as it crossed the Delaware river into the Coastal Plain of southern New Jersey. So all I got last night at dinner time was dark clouds and a couple of sprinkles that would not even warrant turning on the wiper blades. With that being said... I emptied 0.15" from the rain gauge this morning from an overnight shower. Hopefully we will get some more today, otherwise I need to water my veggie garden.

Father's Day or 1-2-3-4- Nap

Had a couple of late nights and early mornings this weekend, so a nap Sunday afternoon was good. Funny thing was that three other people in the house were also napping (hence the 1-2-3-4). The wife had the nerve of accusing me of snoring on Father's Day. Hmmmmph!

But she made up for it by getting me a digital camera (of course the hints two weeks ago helped). Now this blog will have more pics. Here are some I took today.

Last year some one gave me a 12-inch square brick of Joe Pye Weed. I cut the brick (with a hatchet) into four squares. I planted two of them next to the mailbox. This year, its looking great.

The Tiger Lillies are in full bloom this week, although last year they were about a foot taller (I swear). In this bed I planted a $3.99 Magnolia that's only 15" tall. It's in there and seems to be doing well. Yes I know it won't be seen for a couple of years.

It was in this bunch of tigers that I first spotted the rabbit this year and the following day I noticed that he had eaten some of the painted daisies.

Saturday afternoon I emptied 0.35" from the rain gauge (remember it started raining when I was planting marigolds). Sunday morning I emptied another 0.2".

5-4-3-2-1-speed marigold planting

Well the weather radar looked like it was going to give me a few hours of time this morning but I forgot to check it again right before I went outside. I got about 45 minutes. It was just enough time to tie up the tomato plants and start to speed plant the yellow marigolds in between the tomato plants before in started to pour. Okay I did get a few other things done. I transplanted four volunteer tomato plants replacing four very small tomato plants that weren't growing well for what ever reason. The volunteers were about 4 to 5 times larger than the ones I dug up. I also planted several cosmos along the fence of the veggie garden. I worked about ten minutes in a light drizzle before I had had enough. This afternoon I emptied 0.35" from the rain gauge. Just after dinner we had a couple of downpours.

Notes for Friday June 19

I emptied 0.8" from the rain gauge this morning (this rain started Wednesday night).

As I emptied the rain gauge I did do a quick check of the veggie garden.

- Tomatoes are ready to be tied again.
- Three tomato plants could/should be replaced with larger volunteers.

- First green beans flowering, second coming along nicely, must check diary for when to plant third (did check, tomorrow is three weeks, so could plant third this weekend).

- Marigolds, zinnia and cosmos are of nice size ready to plant.
- At least one cucumber plant has a flower.

- Some cucumbers have attached themselves to the wrong fence (not a real problem unless a cucumber grows in a hard to reach spot between the outer fence and the cucumber fence.

- There will be NO sunflowers this year. All have been eaten.

Between the family schedule and the constant rain (no I don't live in Seattle, that's the joke going around here), I'm not sure when life will grant me some time in the garden this weekend. One forecast I saw this morning shows rain/showers from now until next Friday. We are definitely above average for the month of June but we are still behind for the year. We had a very dry January and February and April showers really didn't happen until May.

Surprise! It's raining.

I never did get out into the yard on Tuesday night. There was too much to do inside when I got home from work. So I thought I might have an opportunity last night, but surprise, it's raining.

The family schedule will prevent me from trying again either tonight or tomorrow night, so I am hoping for dryer conditions on Saturday and Sunday. Yes I know that Sunday is Father's day and the way my week has been going, working outside sounds kind of nice.

Tops on my list to do is to transplant some annuals I started from seed. I have Marigolds to plant in my veggie garden and in my flower beds. I have cosmos to plant along the inside of my fence of my veggie garden and I have zinnias to plant in a flower bed.

Then I have still a good chunk of mulching required in my veggie garden. Once caught up there, I need to mulch my flower beds.

Notes for June 16, 2009

I was pleasantly surprised this morning. We got more rain during the night. :-) I'll take it. My sandy soil can definitely take it in. During the summer I have to water every 3 to 4 days when it doesn't rain. Anyway I emptied 0.5" this morning.

I never did work outside last night. Between the nearby thunder and honey-do list inside, I thought better to work inside and try again tonight.

I have some transplanting of annuals to do and of course some mulching. I have some yellow marigolds and cosmos ready for the veggie patch and some zinnias to go in another flower bed.

Notes for June 14, 2009

I emptied 0.3" from the rain gauge this morning and in the next town over they got 2.5" early Saturday afternoon in about an hour and half.

I did end up cutting the grass in the afternoon but when it drizzled in the AM I wasn't sure if it would be dry by the afternoon. Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't get home from church until later than normal and it was dry by that time. But my window of opportunity was limited since I had to take my daughter some where later in the afternoon before dinner. I did guilt my son into helping me but he didn't come out until I was more than half done.

While I was cutting the grass I did come across a toad. I once read that the leading killer of suburban toads is the lawn mower. So I stopped the mower and tried to corner him so I could pick him up and put him in my veggie patch. But he did a circle on me and went for cover in a hole in a stump of a tree I had cut down last spring. What a perfect place, especially since there was a piece of a brick partially covering the hole giving him shade.

I did take a walk through the veggie garden to check things out. The cukes are about 18" tall now so I made sure they knew where the fence is. I grow a vine type of cuke (not a bush variety). It also looks like all the sunflowers I planted last week have been dug up. Looks like I will have to start them somewhere else and transplant them in future. The first green beans planted are about to flower.

The tiger lillies in my yard have started to bloom. The blooms aren't as tall this year. Last year some of the blooms were 6 foot tall.

After I cut the grass I did my customary cooling down while replenishing fluids and sitting on the back patio. There was a nice breeze and sitting in the shade and it felt wonderful. As I was listening to the birds, it sounded as if they were telling each other "there fresh cut grass here!" Not that they are eating the grass but can now walk in the grass (because its shorter) to get at the bugs in the grass.

I am hoping the weather cooperates this evening to do some more transplanting and mulching.

Notes for June 12, 2009

I emptied 0.35" from the rain gauge this morning. We had a good downpour in the night that woke us up (briefly). Luckily the thunder was at a distance or the golden retriever would have told us it was storming as well.

The family schedule has a busy Saturday but Sunday looks like I will be able to work outside. I have to at least get the grass cut with all this rain we have been getting. Of course I really like to bank this rain until July or August when I am watering the veggies every three or four days as the water just filters through my sandy soil.

Notes for June 10, 2009

Emptied 0.75" from the rain gauge yesterday afternoon. Thought we were going to get more, but it went to our south.

Last week a co-worker of mine showed me pictures of snapping turtles laying egs in his mulch pile (he lives near a small stream). This week I have noticed the remains of several turtles run over.

Notes for June 7, 2009

I emptied 0.7" from the rain gauge yesterday. It was a nice even rain all day on Friday, nothing real heavy.

I never did get to the garden yesterday. Between the family schedule and we had a homeowner problem rear its ugly head that I am hoping to get taken care of today. I am hoping to get out into the garden this afternoon.

Notes for Friday June 5, 2009

Emptied 0.45" from the rain gauge this morning in the rain. I hope the rain continues as they say its supposed to for the rest of the day

I have a long list of garden chores to do this weekend but the family schedule is going to take a large chunk of Saturday. I have much staking and mulching to do. And I need to transplant some annuals (some that I started and some that I dug up in the veggie garden). I have noticed that I have other marigolds coming up in my flower beds and they need to be thinned/transplanted since they are coming up in bunches where I had them planted last year. But the tomato and pepper plant staking is the priority. I may get some time Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon and evening. We have things going on tonight as well and the rain isn't supposed to let up until tonight and tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be beautiful.

As I emptied the rain gauge I observed the cosmos germination. About 50 percent of the mixed sprouted, about 20 percent of the red sprouted and none of the orange have sprouted so far. I guess I have to start them indoors and earlier. Unfortunately I don't have enough room to do as much seed starting indoors as I want.

Notes for June 4, 2009

Emptied 0.3" from the rain gauge this morning. Looks like the Moses effect is in full summer operation now. You see, the Delaware River acts like a wall of fire and doesn't let much rain cross the Delaware River from Pennsylvania into New Jersey. Then what does get across is divided like the Red Sea making the storm break up and rain to the north or to the south of my garden. Welcome to the Coastal Plain of southern New Jersey.

On another thing... it really annoys me to see sprinklers in use in the rain. This morning on my way to work I saw someone's sprinklers on and it was raining. I realize they are on timers and its on every day at this time but I think there should be an ordinance that if a sprinkler system is on a timer it should have a moisture sensor so that it doesn't run if its raining or rained recently.

Here is a perennial I started from seed last year and I have no clue what it is. I think I grew it because my daughter picked it out because of its pretty blue color. I like the color too. Note the red Rhododendron finishing blooming in the background.

Here is an Iris I bought last year from a retired woman who has a perennial business.


This Iris I got from my brothers house. He remarried and they bought a new house a couple of years ago that had this Iris.


Here is my Mountain Pink in bloom.


Here is one of my Rhododendrons.

I emptied 0.5" from the rain gauge this morning. I was awoken at 4:30 AM with a couple of rumbles of thunder and some heavy rain.

This morning I remembered something else I did yesterday but failed to blog. I tied twine to the posts I put up for the sunflowers. I put three levels of double twine and as the sunflowers grow, I just put the plants in between the double twine. Once the plants are about 4 ft tall, they really don't need any support but until they are that tall, they do need support.