short and divided

Most of my carrots have had nice straight roots. This one must've hit a rock!

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.

first carrots

These are the short'n'sweet variety. About twice the size of my thumb. Mild flavor. So nice to just walk out and yank food out of the ground! 

Ate the first few tomatoes today, too. Still pulling beets every week, and cutting chard every other day. There are a few peas as well. Turnips look ready but I haven't eaten those yet. Have yet to use the collards- yellow chard looks fine (not great) but the blue collards a lot of leaves are purple and I'm not sure why.

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

work outside

I've been pulling dandelions and purple dead nettle. Think am starting to finally get ahead of the creeping jenny- the patch didn't take nearly as long to clear out this year as the last time I tackled it, and only three more pieces were showing green when I walked by it again today (pausing at once to tease those out of the ground). Cleared vinca off the smaller sideyard today, will get to the rest of it on the upper area around the lilac bush soon. 

Peonies and turtlehead are up, black-and-blue salvia showing lots of leaves, joe pye just starting to peek above the ground.

The week before when I thinned the beets, I tucked some of them back into the ground. Didn't expect a high survival rate, but actually most of them are still alive and have perked up again! So I tried the same with the carrots. The bed is full of weeds and unevenly spaced carrot seedlings, crowded here and there.

I tidied it up and all the pulled carrots that actually had some roots, put them back into the ground in blank spots, using the blade of a butter knife and sliding them into the gap, then pressing tight around. Except- I think a bunch of these weren't carrots after all, but grass of some kind? Did I just save a bunch of grass bits in neat little rows. They don't have the pretty ferny leaves. Will keep an eye on them and yank out again if I've made a mistake.

At least it looks more orderly now.

Have started eating tatsoi- there's not enough of it! and lovage, which is thick and lovely. And today had some sculpit sauteed in butter with rice and carrots. There's actually only one sculpit plant left in the herb bed- I think the winter cold did them in- and two that sprouted under the deck which I will move.

Monarda all seems to be missing from the rear flower bed, too. Just one or two, and lots of mock strawberry, where they used to be thick. I wonder if it was too cold for them (but all the echinacea are alive and well). However there's this one that was in bed 9, which I dug up and moved to the larger sideyard, so when multiplies itself I can restock the back area as well.

last to sprout

My carrots have finally come up! 

and there are more peas emerging in bed 6.

I had planted two varieties- on one side nearly everything has come up, and on the other side only about a third are germinating so far. I thought I would remember which is where but now I don't.

sticks and seeds

Italian heirloom tomatoes sprouted, and a few of the garlic chives- and now there's seedlings in every single tray I sowed. Not all varieties grew, but something of each. My expectations were too low, this year! Outside I planted carrots, turnips and sugar snap peas today. I trimmed the viburnum and that gave me a lot of sticks with little twigs going every which way for pea supports.

Put a makeshift shield of wire shelving and old fencing mesh over the carrot bed, and scattered hot pepper flakes and coffee grounds on the other two, to deter the squirrel from digging. (That's turnips sown in bed 10 left corner background of the photo).

Squirrels have obviously been all over burying stash in the mulch. I found a lot of empty and half-rotted peanut shells, some halved walnuts, a few acorns, and one sprouted almond!

That's a first.

some final harvest

And small. Pulled all the beets- they were small, and didn't taste good. Cleaned up my pots of carrots, pulled some- they look okay, if on the small side! Probably because I didn't water often enough, and there was whitefly and swallowtail caterpillars (which I moved to the rue or lovage plant when I found them).

Well, there are still yellow summer squash to eat, and collard greens. The chard is getting hit pretty hard by leafhoppers again. I think I'm going to cut it all to the ground and eat what grows back (now that it's cooler weather, should taste better). Tomatoes are a loss. Stink bugs and something else have spread disease among them. Still eating a bit of amaranth greens, and herbs from the deck containers though!

I've picked almost enough cowpeas as small pods to eat like green beans (enough for one serving). There's quite a few pods matured and dried to collect for good black-eyed peas. But I feel the same about this plant that I did last year- love how lush it grows, mostly untroubled by bugs. Disappointed that I get tons of vines and foliage, and it seems very few pods for all that growth!

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.

caterpillars

Saw some bare stems in my carrot patch. Thought a rabbit had got into the garden, but the damage was too slight. Looked close and found a bunch of swallowtail caterpillars.

Funny that even so small, they put their 'horns' out to threaten when I gently pick them up.

I moved them the rue plant. 

They seem happy enough there.

One by itself on the lovage. 

I let it be- there's enough lovage to go around!

I did find one monarch caterpillar on the first sideyard, where the milkweed plants look scraggly this year.

for chicken soup

fresh out of the garden: carrots, lovage, leeks and tarragon.

I used the tarragon from the perennial herb bed- it was great. Thriving. The more tender mexican mint marigold in the pot is also doing well, but I don't like the flavor as much. 

On the cutting board the lovage, tarragon, leeks

garden

First the good. I harvested sweet pea seeds to save

and tatsoi (so many!)

Lavender is done flowering, so I cut it back. Chopped up all the trimmed stems, leaves and flowers, scattered on the beds of amaranth calaloo and leaf beet chard / cowpeas. I think some bugs don't like the scent! A few striped beetles immediately took flight away from the bed onto collards. I tracked with my eyes and smacked 'em.

The cowpea, bush green bean and leaf beet chard bed:

with collard greens behind:

I trimmed out over half the leaves of the sorrel- because they looked sickly- leaving more room for the sage and lemon balm now. Tarragon has grown nice! I used some in a soup but a bit too much, my kid complained the flavor was strong

Then moved on to a dismal chore: cleaning up all the wilted foliage. Carrots- all looking dead and brown-

but the smallest inner leaves are fine. And I pulled one- the root is fine. No rot. So I don't think it was the downpour.

What's left of my tomatoes, after I cut off all the brown and yellow and wilted leaves. Dreadfully familiar, this. At least now you can see how many tomatoes I have! But I don't know if they'll be okay.

I didn't find any pests on the tomato or carrot plants, but startled a few stinkbugs in the zucchini and cucumbers. After clearing out half the zucchini leaves that were rotting or blanched of color, this is what's left. It looks so leggy and open now.

But maybe enough still healthy to recover. Here's one zucchini growing!

On the opposite end of that bed, what's left of the lovage (that towered over my head just a few days ago)

I haven't been out here enough the past two weeks, to keep ahead of the bugs. There's whitefly and cabbage loopers on the collard greens. Leaf hoppers in the chard and green beans. Some kind of beetle in the amaranth, and slugs in several places. I have biodegradable, organic insecticidal soap, but can't use it in hot sunny weather or it will cause leaf burn. We have several more days of sun before it rains again. I'm considering coming out to spray the plants very early in the morning, before it's hot- and then hose them down after . . . 

grey

The garden is withering. I was going to take photos and post happily about how the cardinal climber has grown up to deck height and wound through the trellis my sweet peas vacated, and the zucchini leaves are bigger than my head now with bold yellow flowers- but yesterday I saw to my dismay that half the beds are unwell. All the leaves turned a sickly greyish color and severely wilted. Carrots, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, lovage, cantaloupe and zucchini affected. So many nice tomatoes in there, but all still too green to pick! It's spread to the cardinal climber vine too so I'm doing work to cut things out.

We had three days of very heavy afternoon downpours- I wonder if the plants simply drowned. Also I caught a half dozen harlequin bugs among the collard greens- they could very well be the culprits. It's time to go out with gloves and a trash bag. I'm acutely reminded of the time years ago, on another property, when I had to rip out most of my garden plants- especially the green beans- due to similar symptoms. Harlequin bugs showed up in that garden, too.

home-grown dinner

Chard today- both swiss chard and leaf-beet variety.

Pulled more carrots- including some of the red 'dragon' ones. 

Edit add: Funny thing, when I started peeling them, they're not red underneath- just regular orange. And two were yellow. All tasted the same. Very sweet when roasted.

Also ate some amaranth 'calaloo' greens in eggs for breakfast. They've been riddled with holes. I thought it was slugs- so numerous my traps weren't getting enough of them. Had a bout of insomnia last night- woke at three am couldn't sleep. So I went out in the garden with a flashlight and found the culprits. Very small pale grey larvae. I think from a beetle because I caught a few of those on the plants too. I removed what larvae I found, squished the beetles, and simply cut a bunch to eat myself, even with the bug holes. Found two more of the larvae when I washed the leaves. Will have to be more diligent on that bed or the bugs will overwhelm the plants.