Notes for Monday August 17, 2009

I watered the veggies last night, (haven't had much rain since the beginning of last week). We had a couple of small showers late last week but it wasn't much. I can't believe I haven't seen any hornworms yet this year. I checked my records and last year I saw them as early as July 15. Because of June's weather my tomatoes are about a month behind, maybe the same for these ugly buggers? Last night while I was talking to my neighbor out in the yard, I saw a humming bird visit the Agastache Rupestins. It's a three foot tall weedy looking perennial that I started from seed a couple of years ago. They have a slender cylindrical flower similar to Bee Balm but is a pale orange in color. That was the first time I saw a hummingbird visit it. I wonder if they frequent it or if he was just checking it out? I will be on vacation next week at the Jersey shore enjoying some much needed down time. When I return and now that I am caught up with all the regular seasonal gardening chores, I plan on starting to remove an 8 year old stump by axe and shovel.

What's in bloom?

We'll start off with a bonus, two for the price of one. We have a dark red daylilly and some white Yarrow.


Here is a lavender day lilly.

And now I have a double bloomer! There is a story to go with this one. Got this one (and others not blooming this year) from the next door neighbor of a relative while attending the annual fourth of July family picnic last year.

Any guesses? How about ONION! Yes, my onions are in bloom.



Here is a look at my onion patch. they are starting to fall over so I will be picking in a few weeks.

Yesterday I watered the veggie garden and the annuals planted this year. Tied and trimmed the tomatoes (thank goodness that most of the stunted one are looking better). I figure the wet and not very warm June has put me back about a month. I also picked 10 cucumbers.

Notes from May 28, 2009

This Hosta was saved from a friend's house where their Hostas were deer food. Of all the ones they gave me, this one is doing the best. To the right is Agastache.

I bought a white Rhododendron two years ago and this year it bloomed.

This is a painted Daisy (in the chrysanthemum family). It doesn't look impressive because its become rabbit food. Five other nearby have also been eaten. Not surpised because the leaves are similar to carrot leaves.

Can't remember the name of this perennial. I started it from seed a couple of years ago and its been steadily growing in size. I think it was called Centaurea?

Here is a painted Daisy that the rabbit didn't get to. And for a bonus there is some sort of bug on the flower.

Stayed home from work today but didn't get to work in the yard until the afternoon.

Today I planted the remaining cukes, replacing several cukes that had died and picked a handful of radishes.

I fertilized the cukes, tomatoes and peppers with a drink of fish emulsion.

I planted tithonia along the fence of the veggie garden along with 6 of the transplanted marigolds that I dug up last week.

I trimmed several trees of lower branches (two holly trees, a dogwood and several oak trees).

I watered what I didn't fertilize (radishes, beans, onions and two patches of young grass in the lawn).

Then I started mulching the paths of the veggie garden. I didn't mulch around the plants yet, I'd like them to get a little bigger.

Some of the sunflowers have started to sprout and all of the annuals I started two weeks ago appear to have sprouted.

I am planning on planting another row of green beans on Saturday. I hope to start a row every three weeks.

Notes for May 18, 2009

Watered the radishes, onions, green beans and the patches of grass I put down earlier this year (grass looks nice so far). While I was putting away the garden hose, I apparently disturbed Mr. chipmunk as he dashed past the back of the house.

The green beans have sprouted.

Notes for May 12, 2009

Watered radishes, green beans, onions and the two patches of grass in the back yard.

I think I saw a orange rhododendron but upon a second look, is more like a Mountain Laurel with larger orange blooms. I wonder what that is?

Notes for October 15, 2008

Its now officially mid October and I'm still picking. Last night I picked tomatoes (cherry and regular) and a couple of peppers. Then I watered my radishes (which are starting to form) and my carrots (which are getting bushier).

What kind of made my day yesterday was when as I entered my veggie garden, I waited for the monarch butterfly to finish as he was on the cosmos drooping over the gate into my garden.

Notes for October 11, 2008

Yes its October and I am still picking. Today I picked tomatoes and a pepper and then watered the tomatoes, peppers, radishes and carrots.

I didn't cut the grass or mulch leaves. This morning I had to go to my mothers place and do some work for her, so pushing a mower will have to wait until next week.

I still have flowers in bloom, but its any of my perennials. I have marigolds all over the place (kind of nice that I started them from seed and planted them all over) and my cosmos are in bloom (red, pink and white). Did I mention that they are 7 feet tall. I swear to you that I did nothing to them but water them every few days as I did my veggies. The stems are an inch thick at the bottom.

Notes for October 8, 2008

This morning and yesterday the temperature started at 36 degrees F but I'm still picking veggies. I picked tomatoes and peppers yesterday and then I watered the carrots and radishes.

Last night we did turn the heat on for the first time this season (it was chilly when I got out of the shower).

Notes for October 6,2008

Saturday afternoon I was able to work in the yard. I first used the leaf blower and cleared the leaves out of the driveway into the grass and then cut the grass throughout the yard (mulching the leaves along with it). There weren't that many leaves yet, not enough to bag really for mulch. I had a scare with the lawn mower. I ran over something (a stick I think) that bent the inner mulching housing. I was able to fix it by using a hammer and bending the housing back away from the blade which was hitting it. I had to do this one more time after I bumped into a stump. So I kept the hammer close by for the rest of the day.

I picked tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and peppers. I pulled the Lima beans and the string beans. The Lima Beans weren't really worth it (what I picked wasn't enough for a serving). So I may have learned that I need to plant them earlier. I then thinned the radishes and carrots and weeded the carrots as well. Then I watered the carrots and radishes.

Notes for September 1, 2008

What a jam packed weekend (situation normal here). Always too short and tomorrow its back to work and my son goes back to college (he's commuting this year). My daughter goes back to High School on Wednesday.

Saturday I picked vegetables (tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, couple of cucumbers and one green pepper). I also planted carrot seeds and I had to water them five times before the water started to soak in instead of just run off (we haven't had rain for 17 days). I think next year I will plant the carrots as soon as I clean out my onions.

Also on Saturday I went through the onions I had drying in the shed. I threw away (into the compost pile) about one-third of them because they were getting soft and rotting. I wonder if I left them in the ground too long, or on the picnic table too long or in the shed too long? Is it too hot for them in the shed?

I also tried to transplant a 30" tall dogwood I had growing up against the house but the roots were entangled with a nearby bush and were about an inch from the house so it was hard to isolate the roots. So I ended up just digging it up. I think I found another one but its much smaller. Next time I am working outside I may dig that up and give it to a friend.

I also found some garlic chives growing on their own next to the flower pot I have the chives in. I did dig them up and placed them in another pot and I will pass them on to one of my flowering friends.

Sunday was another picnic day but later in the day I watered everything in the veggie patch.
Today I picked tomatoes and cucumbers and wax beans. We had some of the wax beans with dinner and again I swear they are sweeter tasting than green beans. I also watered the carrots.

Notes for August 29, 2008

We haven't had any rain in two weeks... so I watered the veggie garden last night.

All of my sunflower heads are pointing at the ground now and half of the plants are leaning pretty good from the weight which makes it intersting to move around the garden. The other night when I picked the wax beans I remember hitting my head on a sunflower head as I was on my hands and knees.

The stalks of my cosmos are about a half an inch thick.

Notes for August 25, 2008

Well we returned from vacation on Saturday after a week at the Jersey shore. We had great weather and had a great time (at until the alarm went off this morning).

And what equaled great weather on vacation meant that the garden didn't get any rain while we were gone. So in addition to picking, I had to water. The tomatoes and peppers didn't look bad but the cucumbers were really wilting so I watered them and the beans again on Sunday.

On Saturday I picked about 60 tomatoes and about 150 cherry tomatoes and about 8 cucumbers. We took a bunch of the tomatoes to church on Sunday and I took the rest to work this morning. My wax beans are ready to pick and I plan to pick them either tonight or tomorrow.

Sometime this week or this weekend, I plan on planting carrots.

Sunday afternoon I cut the grass, or at this time of year... I lowered the crabgrass.

Notes for August 7, 2008

I watered the veggie garden and some of my flower beds last night. My cucumbers in the shady side are doing much better than the ones that get more sun. The ones in the sun seem to be getting burned, I guess I'm not watering them enough.

While I was watering my flower beds, I also did some weeding. The funny thing was that some of the weeds were tomato and watermelon plants (not surprised since I throw the rotting tomatoes and the water melon rinds in the compost pile).

Earlier this spring I transplanted a Dogwood tree. I transplanted it when the leaves were still small. I guess I should have waited until the leaves were mature because the leaves stayed the same size. Last night I noticed from a distance that half of the leaves appear to be of normal size. I will have to check this out closer.

I purchased a large green Hosta late this spring and thought it was big enough to split. I wrote earlier that the smaller one died. Last night I noticed that the larger remaining plant was in bloom. It has three stalks with white flowers.

Notes for August 1, 2008

Watered the veggie garden last night and picked a bunch of cucumbers, a couple of large tomatoes and a couple dozen cherry tomatoes (after eating about 6 while picking).

I ought to get a couple of pictures of my sunflowers, they are all at least 8 feet tall. One of them is now in bloom. My daughter asked how come they are so tall. My answer was that "I water them?" I planted a row of them in my veggie garden (sacrificing a row of beans) just for my wife and daughter to enjoy because they like them. It was rather ironic that I read this week that sunflowers make wonderful trap crops (meaning they attract the bad bugs away from other crops). I thought that was pretty neat.

Notes for July 21, 2008

I hated to do it but it was the only time open in my schedule. I had to water during mid day. I had about an hour and a half after I got home from church and it was the only I had yesterday. I watered everything in my veggie garden. I did not water the flower beds. We haven't had rain for a week now and last night I saw a line of thunderstorms on the weather radar come across the state of Pennsylvania. This morning everything was as dry as it was when I went to bed. No rain. Again the line must have died at the Delaware River or shortly thereafter. I swear this is the only drawback living in the coastal plain in the summer time. The ocean has quite a moderating effect on our weather.

Anyway, I did pick about 8 cucumbers and three cherry tomatoes yesterday. I also picked about 2/3 of my onions. They are in "flats" used to hold trays of plants (like when you buy a flat of annuals). I am going to let them sit there for a week and then put them in the shed to continue drying for two more weeks.

Notes for July 18, 2008

Last night I picked green beans from the second row. I almost hated to pick them, they were kind of limp. Everything needed water. I really should pick beans the day after I water. But unfortunately, we all have to deal with the cards we're dealt with and last night was the first chance I had this week to tend to the garden since the weekend.

After picking beans, I watered. I watered everything. When I say everything I mean everything in the veggie garden (tomatoes, cukes, peppers, cosmos, marigolds, beans, sunflowers, beans and onions) and then I water all the flower beds in the backyard (watering mainly the perennials I planted this year and not so much the iris or tiger lillies that are already established).

My lima beans have sprouted and looks like I got good germination. The yellow beans I planted two weeks ago are ready to be finished mulching. The cosmos are looking healthy (nice thick stem). Most of my tomato plants are averaging 6 feet tall (remember they only get about 3-4 hours of direct sunlight, so its like they are looking for sun, which gives me later season tomatoes but I am usually picking until frost in November), my sunflowers are over 6 feet tall. I will be picking some of the onions this weekend (about 97 percent of the stems have fallen over and some of them have turned brown, and that's when I know that they are ready to be picked). I plan on leaving them on the picnic table for at least a few days and then putting them in the shed for a couple of weeks. Anyone else do onions?

Surprisingly I did not find any hornworms on my tomatoes last night. I have two cherry tomatoes getting ripe so it won't be long. I'm pretty sure that both of those tomatoes probably won't make it out of the garden. I love to eat a few when I am outside. When I am picking, I usually eat about a half a dozen (at least, yum).

Notes for July 12, 2008

I watered everything again last night and in between watering I trimmed and tied my tomatoes.

I pulled off two hornworms last night and two this morning.

I picked two cucumbers last night.

I pulled out the first row of green beans and picked off all the beans this morning and then planted a row of lima beans.

The wax beans I planted last week sprouted during the week and are about 4" inches tall today. I am not very pleased with the germaination (only about 70 percent, which is low in the warm weather), so after the wax beans I have are used up, I may just stick to green beans.

Notes for July 9, 2008

This past Saturday I was able to get caught up in the yard.

I had a pair of yellow daisies growing in my veggie patch (the seeds must have been in the mulch) and so I transplanted them first.

I planted the double bloom orange tiger lillies after I split them into nice handful sized plantings. I planted eight bunches overall.

I turned the next area for planting beans using the spade (I didn't want to get the tiller out of the shed).

I had previously trimmed the tomato suckers on Thursday but I still trimmed and tied the tomato plants.

Then I planted a row of wax beans in the area I just turned.

Then I mulched. I mulched the row of cosmos I have planted along the inside fence of my veggie garden and then mulched the row of wax bean seeds (just stopping short of the row, which I will mulch just after the beans are about six inches tall). I then continued and finished mulching the remainder of my flower beds.

On Sunday, all I did was water everything and pull renegade weeds.

On Monday night I picked green beans. I picked about two large Ziploc bags full. I let them dry out on the kitchen counter before I put them in the fridge since we had rain earlier in the day. The wife made green bean casserole with the first picking, and it was good. I will get one more picking from that first row of beans (I will do that by pulling out the plants and picking off the beans). Then I will probably plant a row of Lima Beans in its location.

Notes for July 7, 2008

Had a very nice weekend and started to get caught up on the work at home. But in all the showers around us, I managed to get only 0.1" of rain Friday night. So I ended up having to water the gardens on Sunday. I did get to the gardens on Saturday and I will give the details later.

Notes for July 3, 2008

Here is a picture of a Daylily in bloom right now.

I watered everything last night and did some weeding.

My onions will be ready to pick in a few weeks, the stems have started to fall over.

I hope to plant another row of string beans and mulch this weekend. The second row of string beans is starting to flower.

My sunflowers are about 4-5 ft tall now.

The Hosta I bought a couple of weeks and split, the smaller split has died completely. Haven't a clue why