Long time...No See

Hello again! It’s been far too long since my last post. And in the intervening years (has it truly been 4 years?!?), we moved from North Carolina to Georgia...so, all new gardens to talk about. I will take the next few posts to catch you up, but for now... I just wanted to jump back in to my blogging journey at my current spot. It’s the first of June, 2020, so that means posting my “first of the month” photo. And here it is:

First of the Month Photo: June 2020

Well, that looks very different from the title photo, doesn’t it? Yes, when we retired, we downsized from 2500 square feet of row gardens with a few raised beds to about 500 square feet of raised beds (unimaginatively called the Raised Bed Garden or RBG) and containers (located mostly in the Garden Pen). You might notice a different pup, too. That’s Logan, my pointer mix garden guard guy...we adopted him in 2017 after we moved to our smaller abode in Loganville (called Casa 303), where we helped our hearts heal after having to say an unexpected goodbye to Abbie (who developed cancer of the spleen).

Logan is one of four current members of Our Drool Gang, the others being Winston (you remember him...Aussie mix); Pepper (another Georgia adoptee...supposed to have been part black lab; turned out to be mixed with either Great Dane or Appaloosa); and Rowan (the family basset hound...you know we have to have one, right? He is technically Missy M’s dog, but he has lived with us since he arrived...when he bonded with then-puppy Pepper.) All of that is to say, if we want to grow anything here, it must be protected by a fence or barrier of some sort. Sigh. We do what we must, right? At least we do not have a deer problem!

As we near the 3rd anniversary of closing on this property, I’m happy to report we have made great strides in putting down roots and making this our own. We started with excellent bones, including mature landscape with trees (including a gorgeous magnolia), flowering shrubs (like the gardenias ), and fencing around the rear and sides, as well as well-established bermudagrass lawn, front and back.

The first thing we added was the garden shed...the exact model as we built in HPNC...but we paid a bit extra to have this one built onsite for us.

Then, Mr. T built the U-shaped, hip-high raised beds...and we promptly enclosed the RBG with a gate. After one season, we knew we needed more growing area that could be a bit more adaptable to changing needs...and the (enclosed) Garden Pen was born. This year, he added a newer version of a feature of the Wayback Garden in HPNC that we missed (visible in the title photo): the tuteur!

Additionally we have planted our roses in our side yard, visible from our Coffee Room just off the kitchen. And we have recently tested the waters to see if any can survive the Backyard Dogs by adding 4 container specimens we bought at a recent estate sale of the former Prez of our local Rose Society. Mr. T took inventory last week of the survivors after the first winter: 33 bushes. Half of the number we had in High Point, but that’s ok...especially when it comes time to do the monthly rose care chores. One of the 6 successful transplants from the HPNC Rose Garden includes Don Juan, in full bloom on a trellis as I write this.

Don Juan

And you know we have our share of irises and day lilies...many brought as transplants when we moved. This is the first year to bloom in their new home for several...and we are doing our best to chart their new locations around the property.

Forever Redeemed 

Elvis’s Cape 

Strawberry Shortcake

So that brings us up to date...sort of. At least it gives us a place to begin...again.

Stay tuned!

Say Hello to Summer

With the thermometer approaching 100 degrees on a daily basis and little (if any) measurable moisture in the rain gauge, we are seeing an alignment of the calendar and our concepts: Summer has definitely arrived in High Point. And nearly everything in our garden seems to be on the fast track to harvest...or wilting. Sigh. 

Kitchen Gardens —

In the Box Garden (shown in the photo above), I've pulled most of the cool season crops (broccoli, lettuce, etc.) and succession-planted most of the raised beds with several varieties of beans. And I have already harvested several pounds of green and burgundy beauties. 

In the Row Garden, I've harvested quite a few Juliets, as well as my first slicer (a Celebrity) for my first BLT of the season. 

I've also gotten a couple of sweet peppers, mini-eggplants, plus the first zucchini and cucumbers. 

I see several tiny watermelons peeping out of the vines. This little Sugar Baby baby may be our first test case on how to support melons on a wire-fence trellis (we're thinking of repurposed T-shirts threaded with wire coat hangers).

Because of some mislabeled seeds, we will have twice as many cukes (like this guy, below)...and no cantaloupes this year. I looked it up...June 10 was the last day to plant them in the Piedmont. 

And more beans...pole, as well as Limas. I sprayed with Sevin to help combat Mesican bean beetles and Japanese beetles...both of which devastated our bean crop last year. I do need to spray again, but it's just too hot. The label recommends temps BELOW 85 degrees (and the thermometer in the center of the Way Back is reporting 101.1 as I type this!)

And in the Block Garden, the corn is getting taller and the pumpkins have germinated. I have to water, water, water all of the above just to keep it alive.

Orchard —

While we have more fruit on the trees than last year when the late freeze zapped all of the flowers, we also have more pests to contend with. I've sprayed once with Orchard Spray, but need to spray a second time. Unfortunately we have usually passed the upper temperature limit of 85 degrees by 9:00 in the morning. Sigh.

Roses —

The first flush of blooms has come and gone on the David Austen English bushes. And now it is time for the hybrid teas to shine! I've fed and applied all-in-one product to the bushes, and I've sprayed with Sevin to protect against Japanese beetles...which showed up extremely early this year. We are now up to 74 roses, including our "bucket brigade:" we set up a temporary 'holding' area for several bareroot roses we got from Jackson & Perkins at their end-of-season sale...$9.95, plus a coupon for no shipping charges. While it's too hot to plant them in their permanent locations, we got 10 (5-gallon) buckets, drilled holes for drainage, and filled with a rose-friendly mixture of garden soil, compost, and leaf mold...and they stand in a shaded area like soldiers getting ready to do battle.

One fella (who was a container rose when purchased at Roses Unlimited on our recent trip to Lauren's, SC) is looking pretty good in his new home next to the fence, sporting a bud already. Don Juan is a red, climbing rose, which will need the support of the trellis and the fence.

Day lilies —

The show has begun! Even though our lack of rain is showing up in smaller and fewer flowers, you can't stop these beauties from producing. Here are a few stars:

Forever Redeemed 

Symmetry in Yellow

Buttered Popcorn 

Purple Pinwheel 

Alabama Jubilee 

Dad's Best White

Berry Patch —

The blueberry harvest has begun, and even though the lack of rain means fewer berries, it does seem the ones we are getting are sweeter. Amazingly, the blackberries are ripening at the same time as the blueberries. And while the grapes appear to be full of fruit, I noticed that the size of the clusters is smaller than last year.

That's how are garden is growing (in spite of the lack of rain). Hope yours is surviving.

Happy hoeing!

Garden Begins to Give

I love June! This is the month in the gardening year when the warm-season crops and many of the inhabitants of the Berry Patch begin to ripen. Every morning's coffee walk yields exciting finds, with just enough of a harvest to determine what we are having for supper...but not too much to start the panicked: "Yikes! What am I going to do with all this zucchin?!"

Since pictures tell a better story, here are a few for you, starting with the first zukes, the first cuke, the first blueberries...and the garlic and potato harvest:

A word about the potatoes...we realized we were fighting a losing battle with the potato bugs this year, so we dumped the potato bags and harvested what we had. (Yes, those ARE purple-skinned potatoes, called Midnight.) Our neighbor's fig tree (right over the fence from where we had the grow bags of potatoes) usually provides shelter for an army of birds that make short work of the potato bug larvae; alas, that tree suffered much in the harsh Winter past and the birds were little in evidence during the crucial time. I will try to get a late crop...fingers crossed.

A word about bugs...

With the arrival of the warm-season crops comes the arrival of the warm-season pests, especially the prolific squash bugs. I hate squash bugs! I have been diligent in squashing the squash bugs and squishing their eggs, then removing the affected squash leaves. These bypass the compost bin and go straight to the yard waste toter...getting them off the property! I'm taking no chances here.

In addition to employing "mechanical controls" in managing pests, I do use chemical controls in the form of insecticidal soap and neem oil. The latter seemed to do best sprayed directly on the nymphs, if I missed any of the eggs and they hatched. Need more info? Check it out here: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74144.html

I also hate squash vine borers, which haven't made their presence known...yet. I've done all I can organically do to prevent them (which is the best line of defense) by rotating the location of the squash from last year's planting and turning the rows after the first killing frost last Fall to expose the grubs that take to the soil to wait for the next opportunity to ruin my squash crop.

Speaking of pests I hate...with a passion...did I tell you that the Japanese beetles have arrived? Oh yes, they have once again invaded the Rose Garden, which has produced the first flush of blooms, taken a little rest, and is now on the second flush. The best organic line of defense for these terrors is...well, once again, a picture tells the story:

Some gardeners use a jar, filled with water and a squirt of dish detergent (to break the surface tension). I use a JUG, as I know a jar is totally inadequate. I use the top of the coffee canister to knock the beasties off the blooms and into the jug. Bwwwwwahahahahah! You do have to get rid of the contents of the jug, or the smell will overpower you.

I spent all day moving a mountain of leaf mold from the caged area where it has been composting in place since last Fall to its new home...as mulch for all the plants in the Row Garden. Whew! Ten wheelbarrows-full. That was a huge...and heavy...undertaking! But the plants look good...and I know they will do better in the hot months of July and August if mulched. 

I'll close out this post with some more pics, showing some good things to come.

Happy hoeing!

Garden Party

As I said on a recent Facebook post, you leave for 10 days and your garden will have a party without you. Hoo-boy, howdy...no truer words!

See what you can see in this picture, taken on the morning after our return home.




It's a jungle out there!

Looking from the Box Garden (raised beds) back toward the southwest, you can see how some of the tomatoes have outgrown their cages...and almost over-topping their stakes.  The really tall ones you are looking at about center of the shot are German Johnsons, an Open-pollinated (AKA: "Heirloom") variety that is particularly happy here this year. In the right foreground, you are seeing the Fordhook Lima beans, growing up nicely in the box garden. Between the limas and the tomatoes, you can see the okra on the rise in the black fabric-covered row. And, off to the left, between the tomatoes and the fence and shed, you can see the daylilies in bloom.

Here are some of our daylilies, currently in bloom:

Elvis' Cape (and Abbie near Enon)

Alabama Jubilee

Joe Marinello

Persian Peach

Purple Pinwheel

Red Ribbons

No, I don't necessarily remember all of their names. I do need to look them up on occasion. Especially since we missed most of their blooms last year due to our extended stay in KY. Ah well, it's good to get reacquainted, don't you think?

Daylilies really bring the pollinators (bees and other beneficials) into the Way Back, which is good because most members of the cucurbit family are in bloom: the cucumbers (on a lattice-work trellis*), the yellow crookneck squash, the zucchini, and the watermelons (Sugar Baby and Crimson Sweet). The pumpkins and the muskmelons (which we persist in calling cantaloupes...:-) are not yet blooming...but that shouldn't be too much longer at the rate they are growing.

Crookneck Squash

 

 

Crimson Sweet Watermelon

Straight Eight Cucumbers on trellis

Now, all is not a bed of roses around the Kitchen Garden, sad to say. While we were away, the squash bugs came out to play...and lay eggs. Yuck. While I had kept them at bay for the early days of the vulnerable plants with row covers, when the cucurbits started to flower I had to remove the covers to give access to the pollinators, so they could do their part in giving us a good harvest. Upon my return, I was doing my due diligence in pest management when I noticed a few leaves that looked like this picture:



Where's my water bucket?

If you follow that link on squash bugs to the Organic Gardening site, you will learn that "they" recommend squashing the squash bugs on the leaf. My method is to cut the leaf off and dunk it in a pail of water. You see, I have a habit of tasting my harvest, straight off the vine...and I really don't want to think about having bug-egg guts on my gloves...or worse yet, on my fingers and under my nails.  Personal preference.

Speaking of tasting...

Sun Gold tomatoes

My tomatoes are beginning to ripen, and I just couldn't help myself. I popped one of these luscious Sun Golds from the bottom grouping in my mouth just after taking this picture. Can you blame me? Oh, how sweet it is! JA, my Master Gardener friend and mentor, was the first to sing the praises of this wonderful tomato. And, then I learned that it had won two out of three of the top honors in the Greensboro Tomato Festival last year. Promise: this one will be on my "must grow" list from now on!

Yes, the daylilies and the Kitchen Garden have been particularly productive while we were away, as has the Berry Patch. I was so excited to get a cup of blackberries and nearly 2 cups of blueberries.  My recipe for blueberry pie calls for 4 cups...and if I can stop eating the ones I've harvested, I hope to have enough to start baking this weekend.

If only I can stop eating the ones I've already harvested...

Blueberries!

Happy hoeing!