green onions

First cutting. Not many- I only have three onions growing there. But cutting them is supposed to encourage the bunching growth, and this was just enough to sprinkle over some portabellas cooked in a tamari sauce for dinner.

We're continuing to eat carrots from the garden almost every other day- because that's what I have the most of, that's doing well out there. Beets once or twice a week, chard about as often now. Their regrowth has slowed down, I think because of the heat. I somehow lost half my swiss chard patch last week- there are only three plants on that side remaining. Were a bit smothered by some of the carrot foliage falling over- did the shade and heat do them in? or bugs got it, I don't know. 

The peas are done. The tomatoes are slowly coming on- my sweet 100's completely died (dunno why) but I have a handful of cherokee purple cherry tomatoes every few days, and larger ones too- beefsteak and others. I pick them when they are just starting to turn color and then finish ripening on windowsill, otherwise the animals/bugs get them.

Had a second helping of turnips, once again cooked with peas and salmon. My husband really likes that dish so I definitely have to grow more turnips next year. Seems like such a homely vegetable, but it does so well without any care! Cut the first lot of collard greens to eat tonight- the leaves are on the small side, and not great-looking. I've read that the purplish hue is probably from potassium deficiency in the soil, though they're still fine to eat. Funny, I planted more blue collards than yellow this year- because in the past I have preferred the blue ones. But the yellow ones are looking much healthier, so I should have done it the other way around!

A few purple podded green beans. I picked a small handful (enough for just one serving) last week, and only two ready-sized beans today. Missed half a dozen the first time around that are now too fat with seed maturing- so I will leave those to dry on the vine and be my seed next year. But now there are no new beans forming. I'm not sure if this is because of heat stress, or because my leaving some pods to ripen made the plant think its job is done.

Lost one small asparagus plant. Two others are doing great (so far as I can tell) and the third is half the size of the others. 

Nothing else to report. We're having hot days in the upper nineties again. On the days where I happen to wake up too early- at five or six am- instead of trying to go back to sleep I get up (even though still tired) and go out to the garden before it is hot. I have just enough time to put out the compost, weed a few beds, harvest food for the day and water the garden with the hose, before temperatures rise and the sweat starts rolling down my back just standing still.

first turnips

a few days ago, actually. They are small- little bigger than golf ball I think. But I didn't pull them too early- the texture was smooth, the flavor mild even sweet. I liked them better than turnips in the past. Couldn't find my recipe notes but remember how to cook them- diced small, sauteed in butter with peas and dill. Served with rice and salmon. Even the greens were pretty good. So easy to grow. I should do an entire bed of just turnips next year.

Have also been pulling more carrots. I have to say, the short ones that come up so stubby and feel a pain to prep with the peeling- at least they pull easy! The ones in the middle section have nice long straight roots but some of them the tops break off and even digging around exposing half of it I can't get a grip and I broke a few in half, the lower end is still in the ground. 

We're having a terrible heat wave- over a hundred degrees the past few days- and I've been out watering the garden with hose every morning at 7 or 8am. Gathering food for the day same time- but when the soil is damp those carrots cling.

Pulled beets today for dinner. They were great. The greens also, cooked in avocado oil with garlic.

My first purple green beans are forming- but I have to keep my cat from chewing on them. The stems grew all up the deck railings and she sees it as free salad! I propped up some acrylic panels to actually barricade off the green bean leaves- don't care if she nibbles a few of those but if she bites through a stem everything above it will die. It looks silly.

beets!

I've been thinking how good they look, and yes, they were.

Especially because gave us lots of nice greens. I do like fresh beet greens. 

how all my plants are doing-

My beets are looking nice- healthier than ever I think. Some of the leaves get pale, bleached-looking patches I've read this is probably leaf miner and the best thing to do is just remove those leaves, throwing away the bugs on them in the process. I've been doing that and the incidents of bleach-patched leaves is reducing.

Carrots are also nice and thick now. Added more straw mulch and there's few weeds. Those bits I had pulled up earlier thinking they were carrots, turns out is a sedge. Still pulling some.

Tomatoes are planted out, around the tokyo bekana. About twice a week I cut all the tokyo bek (it grows back quickly) and we eat it sauteed in butter and salt. After cutting out the worst bits with slug holes, it's just enough for one side dish. I ought to set a slug trap again- the coffee grounds doesn't seem to be much deterrent.

Some of my tomato plants had yellowing leaves (see just lower left of center) at the end of their time in pots. But the new leaves are growing in a healthier green- as you can see on the upper part of this plant- so I think they'll be okay. There are some flowers appearing (top right)!

We have begun eating the chard:

Lettuces and tatsoi are starting to bolt, we're having a few days in the eighties now. The last cutting I took of lettuce was a bit bitter, blanched that out in cold water all day to make it edible, but now they're at end. On the right in bed 5, lavender on the near side of it is awfully scraggly- it suffered this past winter- but after flowering I will cut it back and hope it regrows nicer. 

On the far end, sorrel is overwhelming the bit of lemon balm. Which is okay, I never really use the lemon balm. Sorrel is sending up flower stalks which I regularly cut off. I will probably have to divide this plant soon, it's getting too big! There's green onions there in the middle and some sculpit, but too small to see from the overhead shot.

and the lower center plant is purple clematis climbing the deck post- just at the end of its bloom time

Turnips are doing okay here in bed 9, but collards remain small. I think it is because I made the mistake of putting layer sticks and wood bits over the cardboard when I started this bed years ago- nothing has done well in 8 or 9 since. Why do people recommend that so much? It definitely hasn't work for me. Other sources tell me that wood buried in the garden bed can tie up nitrogen for five to seven years! I am not positive of course, that's the reason my plants falter in this bed (tomatos did poorly here several years ago) but I'm not repeating the experiment.

In that round repurposed planter in the corner, I've put out the hyssop.

More later

progress in the garden

Tokyo bekana is big enough to eat now.

Same with the lettuces- 

and tatsoi- which is getting bitten however- probably flea beetles

I had sowed more beet seeds in the gaps and some are coming up now- smaller plants on either side of these larger ones

I really like sitting on the garden bench and looking at the light through the young beet leaves- with the red veins

Have mulched the turnips- though they probably don't need it - but it keeps the beds looking tidy and uniform.

Seems like just a week ago my peas were barely emerging-

and now they're climbing up

garden update

I thinned beets today.

I started replacing straw mulch on some of the beds- a very light layer, not even a half inch thick- will add more when the plants are bigger. Around the collard greens

and tokyo bekana

and chard.

I have a lot more peas now-

though still all mostly on one side (the left of the 'L' bottom edge- top half of this bed, viewed from the deck, is tatsoi and lettuces).

I didn't put any around the turnips- they still seem too small

some are rather close together but perhaps I will eat them young.

Two bunches of leeks are in the middle of the turnips. Came up on their own.

And a surprise in the greenhouse- on a whim I had stuck that sprouting almond in a pot, weeks ago. I'ts now growing leaves!

seedling progress

Two days ago my beets started sprouting 

along with something I wish wasn't growing- the sticks of virburnum I used as pea supports. Well, that tells me I could just shove trimmings in the ground to extend the hedge!

Tatsoi and tokyo bekana have grown their first true leaves- I'll probably plant them straight out into the garden (skipping potting up)

My collards,

chard

and lettuces all have first true leaves also. (Lettuces are not doing so well as the others).

Had a few mishaps already- I accidentally dropped two seedling trays facedown on the floor. Rescued these tomato seedlings and they seem okay after a few days- although now I can't tell which are the sweetie 100's and which are the black cherry tomatoes!

The other tray I faceplanted had chives and dill- they didn't fare so well. (But these I can tell apart).

So I made some mistakes, but here's something that's gone well: that patch of grass I sowed in the backyard where there's a sunken spot (in the fall). It's greener than anything! (see the surrounding "lawn").

I am honestly quite surprised. All these years I thought I had done well to mix grass seed with compost and ashes, or to scatter just compost and ashes to feed the lawn. This grew far better, and stayed way greener, and looks much healthier. Forget saving ashes for the lawn anymore. Pro mix and a handful of compost, on top of bare clay soil seemed to work! 

one day's harvest

I've been lamnenting how poorly most of my garden is doing this year (due to some neglect) but really it isn't all that bad. My yellow summer squash is doing stupendous, I still have plenty of greens (even if not my favorites), and the beets are small but tasty.

garden update

But again, without pictures. I have not been out there enough- almost six weeks of very minimal garden work and it's all overgrown, shabby, full of bugs. Whitefly, aphids, leaf hoppers, striped beetles galore. At least I'm pleased to see the birds, skinks, spiders and dragonflies frequently- I'm sure they're eating some pests! Haven't spotted a preying mantis yet, but I was pleased a week ago to see a snake in the grass- and even more so today when trimming some grass away from the garden edges, I found two baby snakes! They were no thicker than a pencil, in fact at first glance I mistook them for a worm- but not as shiny, very dark, and when I looked close I could see the minute perfect scales, the shape of the head. I really wanted to gently catch one and take inside to briefly show my family members- but the first one quickly darted into a gap under a brick, and the second one I found disappeared when I stepped aside to pick up dry leaf and a container. Oh well.

We have been eating beets, collards, swiss and leaf beet chard, blue kale, turnips, amaranth greens, turnip-rutabagas, the occasional tomato, plenty of herbs. I have not yet tried pulling any carrots, though some look ready enough and they could stand thinning. No green beans or cowpeas yet, though the plants are growing. Last week I cut summer savory to dry for winter- it was prolific again this year. My fenugreek grew lovely tall and I kept it by the door to enjoy its scent, but now it is dead (insects?). My figs are doing alright. The other day I pulled the largest turnip-rutabaga- it was 2.5 pounds! Made enough "baked turnip whip" dish it fed my family for four days (the kids get tired of it but my husband likes it a lot). I was surprised but glad that in spite of its large size, this turnip-rutabaga still had tender flesh, and I cooked the leaves like most greens, they were good too.

Today I finally pulled the garlics. None had very large bulbs, though altogether it more than quadrupled the amount of cloves I started with. They are curing on a mesh chair seat under the deck in breezy shade, will show a picture after I've rubbed off the dirt next week. The hardnecks seemed to do better than the softnecks, so probably I will grow just those next year, though I haven't tried the flavor yet. That bed is mostly empty now except for the leeks- I lost a few but still have enough.

Also the tomato bed is a mess. I wasn't out there doing garden work for so long, the plants started to fall over because I hadn't tied them up to the stakes again, and they fell and dragged the supports over too. Haven't yet made the effort to go straighten it all up yet. Difficult to get out much because the heat hits hard once it's past 10am.

I did tidy up some of the yard today in preparation for my husband to mow- he doesn't always know where the edges of perennial or garden beds are because it got so messy. So I trimmed edges by hand, picked up sticks fallen from the wind, laid down a few as boundary markers. Dismayed to find the deer have eaten all my hostas again (I didn't get out to scatter irish spring soap, dang it) plus the solomon's seal and disappointingly my newest azaleas which we had bought from friends of my husband (they have a very extensive azalea garden it was a so lovely to visit and I was so happy to have these striking azaleas- one the salmon-colored flowers are shaped a lot like daylilies). The deer also knocked over some of the protective wire fencing I'd circled new baby trees with- I lost three redbuds and the persimmon. Glad they didn't get the pawpaw yet, and the spicebushes are okay too.

The pretty mixed-parentage japanese maple is doing fine on the sideyard, even though the fencing doesn't extend high enough to prevent deer from nibbling the branches, they haven't touched it. My tithonias over there are kinda pathetic, not very large yet, but I hope they grow enough to give some blooms. Milkweed has sprung back better than ever, but I see no caterpillars (though on the carrots, dill and rue I've found plenty of swallowtail caterpillars, and the other day saw a swallowtail butterfly in the yard!)

Also happy to see goldfinches visiting to check out my echinacea patch again. The echinacea plants look better than ever this year, I'd like to hope it's because I removed (by hand) the mealy bugs two years in a row.

The wren, cardinals and catbirds frequently come up on the deck, and I think I saw a fledgling last week too. I am sad the hummingbird has not come back again. My black-and-blue salvia isn't as large this year and not flowering yet; the cardinal climber vine is growing up its supports but hasn't flowered yet either. 

What else to say? I need very much to get out and clean up the other sideyard where joe pye weed is gloriously battling with gladiolas for space, falling all over the lambs-ears and the swamp milkweed is getting choked out by grass, dandelions and sprawling vinca. Just haven't felt the energy yet. It was enough to do a bit of cleanup and weeding today, see the state of things. 

it's been a while

I kind of lost interest in keeping this blog going- I don't seem to have many readers, and nobody to talk about plants with. Didn't feel the need to track when things get started for the right timing to go in the ground and such (as reminders to myself) anymore. And then I had a setback, minor car accident, sprained ankle, on crutches for three weeks- so things got shoddy out there. Overgrown, neglected. 

However today I finally was able to go out again (my ankle strapped, I'm allowed to do "light walking" now) And there are things to note.

First, here's a picture from months ago. After our spring heat wave, it cooled off again and I actually got a decent amount of lettuce. We had fresh salads for weeks, plus I gave some away. The heads were beautiful thick green rosettes in the garden.

Where the lettuces came out, I planted the tomatoes. They had waited too long, some lower leaves were wilting so I pulled those off. And then remembering a tip from a gardener I read, removed more lower leaf petioles, planted the tomatoes deeply, burying half the stem. Watered on planting, then left them alone for ten days. This encourages stronger root system and what do you know, I think it worked. I have only been out to water once since (due to being laid up) and the rain has been enough- the tomaoto plants look fantastic. I tied them up once to some poles, they are sturdier than usual too. Either the deep planting and witholding water at the start helped, or the soil was richer than usual.

My turnips are also doing great. We've been eating them- made a new dish just last night. Turnips simmered until tender, mashed with onions and a bit of sugar, stirred w/eggs and baked in the oven. Surprisingly good. It's the first year I've actually had good turnips- not dry or tough. Even the bigger ones I pull are tender when I slice them up, almost buttery. And they're still not bothered by much, out in the garden!

Can't say the same for other things. I went out to cut greens for dinner and instead cut and heaped most of the entire bed of chard into the compost pile. It was all mottled pale sickly from leaf hoppers. (Why are such aggravating pests so darn cute? This year they're dark grayish purple with bright blue or red eyes). I could only keep the youngest unblemished leaves to cook with, but hope that a lot of the leaf hoppers got removed with the mass of chard foliage, smothered under leaf mulch and grass clippings in the hot compost pile!

My beets are swarming with whitefly. I cleaned up the worst pale and dead foliage, doused them with soapy water, but need to go get some actual insecticide. In the next bed over, garlics have all fallen over, and scapes are reaching tall. But I don't think they're ready to pull yet. Not enough watering? Too much heat? 

I removed all the pea plants- saving some for next year's seed. Of the shelling peas, there was only enough for one meal. However, they were really good! Into those empty beds today I planted out the cowpeas (to grow up the trellis), bush beans (only two, the rest succumbed to heat and neglect while still in pots), two yellow summer squash, and a third of the amaranth 'calaloo' seedlings. The rest are still too small for transplanting. 

Then planted out on the sunny sideyard my few tithonias for the year. And I only have three cardinal climbers, which is sad. A few weeks ago my husband saw a hummingbird come by and scout around the deck. But my cardinal climbers weren't planted out, and I think the black and blue salvia isn't flowering yet either, so there was nothing here for it.

It is nice to still see the wrens, robins, sparrows, cardinals, blackbirds and grey catbirds busy around the yard and garden. And the skinks! They come upon the deck. I only have one cucumber plant that survived the period of neglect, it's in a deck pot. My carrots aren't doing too great in pots, they keep drying out if I am not able to get out and water. My sweet peas died. 

But I am glad that the rosemary and stevia survived the winter, and this year the fenugreek I planted is doing well. I have it by the sliding door to the deck and often bend to catch its scent when going in or out. Summer savory in the deck planters is doing great, and parsley- have been using both. Most of the herbs have come back well- thyme came through the winter indoors, sculpit and tarragon out in the garden have grown, I did plant one new sage because the old two didn't survive the transplant when I added broken rock to the perennial bed. And my green onions all failed. The older ones never regrew this year, I started a few new but they died.

I like the catmint (not same as catnip) in the garden, so this spring when I had to trim it back (sprawling all over into the space where collards grow) I stuck a bunch of cuttings into little water jars to try for new plants. I had over a dozen cuttings, but only three actually grew roots. The rest just got moldy. (I did change the water out, but probably not often enough). Those three got planted today too- two against the fence between the patch of joe pye weed and the row of shiso (which is looking nice). At least I think it's shiso. Maybe this year I'll get brave enough to try eating it. The third one I put also against the fence but in the back, between the yarrow (tall and floweirng now!) and my kinda sad camellia. 

It was nice to see a bright glitter of blue skittering around- the small brilliantly colored wasps that frequent my joe pye weed, and are predators of japanese beetles.

One of my jacob's ladder plants has grown so much, doubled in height! and it had the most beautiful sky-blue/violet flowers. But the other one is overshadowed by yellow salvia spreading out from under the skirts of hydrangea nearby. I thought it had died but found it getting smothered. Pulled out some of the salvia to give it room. I'm going to have to start thinning that stuff more.

That's my update.

last beets, herbs

Pulled the last few golden beets from the garden.

Finally cut some herbs to hang and dry. 

I don't have enough parsley or thyme to do this, and the summer savory suddenly died, but there's a decent bunch of sage. 

What's really done well this year is the tarragon. So I cut several bunches of that. 

Also one small bundle of lavender. To make sachets. 

Cut back the sorrel in the garden, because it was overwhelming the sage and winter savory nearby. 

Still eating some sculpit, but the salad burnet didn't did well here. In fact I forgot it was there, and never ate any of it. 

My digital camera is having issues- I have lots of photos on it but can't move them to the computer. So this will be a journal without pictures for a while. Which isn't nearly as fun.

Edit add 9/18- Found my husband has a little usb device that can plug the SD memory card from my camera straight into computer. So I retrieved all my photos and am updating the posts now!