I Love Dandelions

Tomatoes finally

2008-09-18T14:51:00.001-07:00

Top: Purple Cherokee, Fireball/Moira, Black Pear, Thai Pink Egg
Bottom: Mystery Yellow, White Currant, Mystery Cherry, Golden Honey, Isis Candy

I lost a couple of the tags for the ones bought for me down south, hence the Mystery status. Also the Moira and Fireball look a lot the same to me, so now that I've picked them I can't tell them apart.

I was starting to think that tomatoes were not going to happen for me this year, but finally in the last couple of weeks I've been harvesting. First, just the Golden Honey. And then a few Moira, and a few White Currants. Then finally the rest. Earlier this week, due to a risk of frost I pulled in every tomato that looked like it stood a chance of ripening, and they must like the indoors, because I have a pile of tomatoes now!! I will most certainly be making a fresh tomato and mozzarella salad this weekend!

The only ones that didn't work out for me were the Green Zebra (again). They seem to need too much time to ripen - not sure I'll bother with them next year.

Potato Problems

2008-09-06T10:10:00.001-07:00

I won't repeat myself here - but see my post on the UBC botanical forums for the problems we've had with potatoes:

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43427

Carrots, finally

2008-09-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my eyes - I have tried growing carrots every year... and this is the first year that they have finally made it! This success was not without it's failures. I originally planted 3 rows of 3 different varieties: Napoli organic, Purple Haze, and Chantenay Red Cored Carrot. Only the Napoli (on the right in picture) produced a significant amount of carrots, but a few purple ones made it, quite to my surprise. They didn't do much at the start, and then I kind of forgot about them, until I went down to the garden the other day and ta-da! What you see in the picture is ALL of the purple ones that made it, but better than nothing! I have plenty more Napoli still in the ground to last the next few weeks. There is nothing like fresh carrots.

What I did this year that was different, that may have led to success?

1) added peat moss to the garden - the earth has always been really really heavy, which carrot seeds do not generally like.

2) watered them - or rather, the fact that it rained almost every day seemed to help.

3) I planted radishes in the same row. I do think that this broke the soil for the carrot seeds - the rows (Napoli) where I had lots of radishes were the rows where carrots did the best. A terribly unscientific-ly derived conclusion, but I think I will continue to do this.

Next year:

1) I've heard that planting carrots into long hills is the way to go - my mom's neighbour does this, and has amazing carrots every year, so I think I will try this next year.

2) Also, add more sand! I didn't have any around this year, and just got lazy at planting time. Next year - add sand into the planting trough. Carrots like sand.

Garden goodies!

2008-08-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

So far - this has been the majority of my bounty - which has been awesome and delicious! But somehow all I keep thinking about are tomatoes... still not ready to eat. I pruned them within an inch of their life tonight, so I'm hoping to see some improvement in the next week or so.

I have been eating a few Golden Honey tomatoes from a plant that my mom purchased for me down south.

Can't seem to find a lot about them, and they aren't one of the varieties that my regular source carries, although I may suggest it to him. Remarkably early! Here's what I could find out them:

Golden Honey Bunch Grape: Vigorous vines produce clusters of 10 to 20 fruit. First golden grape tomato .

I think this is it... they are definitely the bunching-est tomatoes I think I've grown, and early is right. I may save seeds from these guys. Here's a link to a good picture of what I might expect from this plant!

Some things are growing...others, not-so-much

2008-08-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

The lack of heat and enormous amount of rain has definitely had a dramatic effect on my garden this year. Here's the long and the short of it:

Lettuce (3 kinds) = booming! This picture shows the 3 varieties nicely starting with the Baby Leaf Blend on the right, the Sangria butterhead lettuce next, and then the Little Gems romaine. The Sangria came in more like leaf lettuce than a head lettuce, but it's still awesome. May also be because of the rain, flattening everything out, especially that variety being so fragile to begin with. You can also see the beaten-up Tatsoi on the far left.

Zucchini (4 kinds) = growing fast. The Sunburst patty pans are what I'm most excited about, but they haven't really produced any fruit yet, I have tiny Golden Dawn and Richgreen ones starting (regular style), and the Magda are almost ready to eat. From Vesey's: "The Magda is a Cousa (Lebanese zucchini) variety. Beautiful, uniform mid-sized 4" fruit have a creamy green color and succulent, nutty, white flesh. Magda is early and very productive over a long season. Maturity 50 days" - very exciting!! Here's a peek under the zucchini leaves of the Magda:

Cucumbers: they are struggling, but there is one Sultan ready to be picked - can't wait to try it!

Tomatoes: the plants look pretty good.. I top-dressed with a combination of compost, eggshells and banana skins the other day. There are a lot of green tomatoes still.... we need more heat!!! The Thai Pink eggs (old faithful) look like they are on the verge of turning color. I'm hoping for tomatoes within a week or so. And the one Isis Candy plant that Science Nerd gave me is starting to show it's stripes (in a good way!!) see picture (they are about an inch or so here)

Beans: despite my aggravation with them at the beginning (stupid cutworms!!), they have filled out to a beautiful bean patch and I should be eating beans within days. I originally planted 2 varieties, but then as theses plants were getting eaten, I was re-planting using whatever seeds I had lying around, so I've basically lost track of what I have. There will be some yellow beans and some green beans.

More promises from the weatherman, but apparently it will be hot in the next week, so hopefully I will have some exciting ripe tomato pictures and news soon!

Report on Tatsoi

2008-08-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

I harvested the first bits of Tatsoi today .... or the first bits that I have dared to eat. The plants have taken a beating with some kind of pest eating a good deal of the leaves, and giving them a less-than-appealing look. But upon closer examination I found many of the leaves not as bad as my initial impression told me, in particular the newest growth in the middle.

After picking out the "bad" stuff, the tatsoi was quickly stir fried with garlic and was healthy and DELICIOUS.

NERD NOTE1: Tatsoi is in the genus Brassica, (along with cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip and others) which is part of the mustard family (Cruciferae aka Brassicaeae). I now remember where the term cruciferous veggies comes from... and I'm thinking cruciferae is probably latin for noxious gasses. Turns out it's something to do with the shape of their flowers. I suppose that's easier to key out.

Not sure what is eating the Tatsoi.... but from the reading I've been doing I suspect that it's Flea Beetles. Apparently they LOVE all things Brassica. Which explains why there are 3 rows of delicious lettuce varieties that haven't been touched. Obviously very fussy eaters.

For next year some suggestions I've read (non-chemical):
- row covers
- early spring or fall planting (Tatsoi is extremely cold resistant, even seems to do better in cold weather)
- encourage faster more vigorous growth (larger plants=more resistance) by planting more vigorous varieties, and shallower planting

NERD NOTE2: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA366540 Apparently cruciferous veggies are fart-makers, as they contain raffinose, an indigestible sugar that the methane producing bacteria in your guts go nuts for.

Spotlight on Potatoes

2008-07-30T16:11:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist digging around the base of my potato plants to try and harvest a few young ones - and sure enough found a few of the early varieties (a toonie would have been helpful here, but FYI they were about 2 inches across). I roasted them and they were delicious:

1) Caribe: (purple potato) Early variety. Caribe is a high yeilding oblong potatoes. Excellent storage qualities and great for boiling.

2) Dark red norland: Early variety. Smooth red skin, shallow eyes white flesh. No internal defects, few irregular tubers. Some resistance to scab and rhizoctonia (black scurf)

3) Yukon Gold (??): received from my neighbour, can't remember which kind

Apparently, rather than pulling whole plant, you can dig around the base once they start flowering, and harvest the potatoes young. These "early" varieties according to my math should be ready to fully harvest in mid-August, so it's great to be able to pull a few ones even earlier.

Still remaining are a medium and late varieties, which will be ready in mid to late September!

4) All Red: Round tubers that are rated as medium to late maturity. This potato has a good yield with red skinned and distinctive red flesh tubers that maintain their color after cooking. It has an excellent flavor and a moist texture.

5) Shepody: Medium variety. Long tubers, white skin, white moist flesh medium deep eyes. Excellent tasting potato. Excellent for boiling, baking or french fries. Some resistance to rhizoctonia (black scurf).

Potatoes were bought from Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes out in Alberta. Funny story... having no impulse control whatsoever, the moment I decided I wanted to grow potatoes I called the company, even though it was Easter Sundy. Surprisingly, an man answered and we proceeded to talk for an hour about potatoes. Sold.

Raspberries

2008-07-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's raspberry time again!!

As usual, despite doing a good job of pruning the raspberries (both sides of the fence this year), I did a terrible job of staking them. I wait too long to do it, until they are flopping all over the place. At this point I try and make sense of it all, but it's gotten messy, some end up breaking, and there are crazy shoots all over the place. It looks terrible, and it makes picking the berries way harder than it has to be. Having said all this... I always get lots of raspberries, more than I need, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Rewind, press play. See you in 2009.

The Radish Principle

2008-07-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

The Radish Principle states that whatever vegetable you are best at growing will likely be the one that the fewest people enjoy eatting. Anyone want 40 radishes?

Snow peas - found!!

2008-07-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

I planted a few snow peas this year, in my herb garden along the fence, and didn't see much action at first. Some of the more aggressive herbs kind of took over, and I didn't think they stood a chance. But a few weeks ago I noticed a few shoots made it though, and yesterday I ate my first snow pea!!

Herb Garden:
Speaking of aggressive herbs, I need to move 2 monstrous plants were taking over: Lemon Balm and Oregano. I knew the oregano was a ticking time bomb, but I didn't read much about the Lemon Balm before planting it, and in one year it grew into a gigantic bush. I dug it up and moved it to it's own spot against the house. I will do the same with the oregano this weekend. The thyme and rosemary were completely strangling under it all, so hopefully this will give them some relief.

Veggie Garden: I now have an amazing cucumber trellis that my father-in-law built me!!

Perenial Bed #2:
And on a sad note, the perenial bed that I got looking so nice on the backside of the house was demo'd by 2 idiot dogs. I've installed a pretty ridiculous looking fence that should keep them out for now. I can't even post a picture, because I'm so aggravated, but the victims were my rhubard, one hosta, one balloon flower and one Icelandic poppy. I think they'll probably bounce back next year, but for now they look terrible. A snow ball was also chewed, but it sort of needed pruning anyway, so no harm, no foul.

Grow please!

2008-07-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

I think today might be the day that the garden really starts growing - temperatures up to 25 degrees C, and sunny!

Potatoes and Tomatoes seem to be doing well (left side of garden)- a good ego boost for now, hopefully the final product will be as amazing as they look right now.

I've been hilling the potatoes which should increase the number of potatoes produced per plant - but I've run out of soil, so I must get more tonight.

The hot pepper plants have tiny little hot peppers starting, although the plant itself isn't that big yet... hopefully with some more hot weather, they will shoot up! These are plants given to me by my aunt. We had one plant last year that we inherited at the end of the season and kept in a pot through the fall, and these peppers are crazy hot!

I think I might have carrots afterall! I planted some radishes with the carrots because I've heard they will break up the soil and allow the delicate carrot seeds to break through more easily. I had given up, but I see there are some carrot tops emerging in the understory of the radish tops.

If all goes well these tiny tops will become delicious Napoli carrots pictured below.

Garden 2008 is finally in

2008-07-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

Once the rain stopped for more than a day at a time, I was finally able to get the garden planted with some help from mom and dad. The final layout is as follows, and is constructed of raised beds within the larger bed which is handy for keeping things organized. Tomatoes aren't labeled on the diagram yet, but there are roughly 11 varieties this year:

Here's how the garden looks in real life:

Some major trimming around the perimeter was done shortly after this was taken, and the garden is a little further along now. With a few more days of warm weather hopefully I'll have more to report on.

Tomatoes, Potatoes, Onions, Hot Peppers, Squash, Celery and Radishes are doing well so far (fingers crossed).

Lettuce and beans are spotty (I re-seeded some bare spots today), but I think once it gets warmer, things will start to grow. Something is eatting the Chinese Green Tatsoi that I planted. I sprayed with insecticidal soap, but don't want to do too much - I'd rather stick to more resistant varieties than get into the chemicals too much.

Carrots are a disaster again - I re-seeded tonight and will pay close attention to watering over the next weeks while they germinate. Cucumbers weren't much better - only 2 plants came up, so my mom and dad nicely bought me some more at C.T. Next year I will start them inside a few weeks early to get them nice and strong before they go outside.

Tomato Watch 2008

2008-06-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

The tomatoes are starting to get leggy again... although not as bad as last year. I definitely need another grow light next year if I want to grow this many tomatoes. And I'm considering the idea of a cold-frame that would allow me to put them outside a lot earlier too.

I've given quite a few plants away to my mom and aunt, which takes the pressure off finding space for all of them. Currently I have most of my plants sitting outside as often as the weather will allow, but I've also had to set up a tomato infirmary back under the grow lights for some of the ones that aren't doing as well. All in all it looks like I'll have (after recent give-aways):

-15 good healthy plants - a little leggy, but ok
- 6 shaky plants currently in the infirmary (general ward) that will probably rebound
- 1 really shaky plant currently in the infirmary (ICU) - broken stem, repotted above the wound, might rebound
- 1 critically shaky plant, I've made it comfortable, but I don't think there's much I can do... broken stem, high on the neck... ouch.... but miracles do happen, we'll see.

I will likely put these guys in the ground early next week, and be prepared to cover them at night if there is a risk of frost. It is supposed to be really warm this weekend though, so if I get really ambitious I will put them in on Friday, but I don't want to rush.

Cool Moth ??

2008-06-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

We saw the coolest thing buzzing around my Forget-Me-Nots the other day. My first thought was that it was a very small hummingbird, as we could see what looked like a long beak. The flight pattern was very hummingbird like too, but it had more of a moth-like appearance. My dad found some info on it, and we think it is a Hummingbird Moth (and what we thought was a beak was a proboscis). VERY cool - I've never seen anything like it. Here it is - if anyone knows for sure what this is, please let me know.

The picture almost doesn't do it justice, because it really was the way it was flying around the plant that had us really fooled. Once I saw the picture, it looked a lot more like a moth. I wish I would have taken a video.... oh wait, that's what youtube is for. I love the internet, and especially other geeks like me who would take a 2 and a half minute video of a Hummingbird Moth. Enjoy.

Perenial Bed Overhaul

2008-06-05T14:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we did a major overhaul of the perenial bed at the side of the yard. I had an old overgrown perenial bed that was far too large for me to keep ontop of. It had become completely overrun with weeds, so I decided to tear it apart and plant the perenials from the bed, plus some new ones from my mom, in a smaller bed along our side fence. Here is the final product (left), which I am much happier with.

I also added some more plants to the shade garden at the back of the house - hopefully I can keep this clear of weeds (the full bag of cedar mulch should help). Here is the final product so far:

Bad news on the nest front is that there is no more nest to speak of..... there were signs of a struggle .... I'm not pointing any fingers, or should I say paws?

Muddy Monday

2008-05-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

A pretty good Monday - I managed to get the veggie garden weeded as hoped, although it ended up being a ridiculously muddy affair! Hopefully we'll do another till next Saturday (add some compost and peat moss) and then I'm good to start planting!

Snow peas have been soaking since yesterday, so I'm about to put them into the ground - they seemed to do well in behind the herb garden, climbing the fence, so I'll do that again.

Did a little bit more pruning and tidying in the various beds... transplanted one sad looking violet into the shady garden on the backside of the house. I also added a whole bag of cedar chips to this garden to try and keep the weeds down. I'm not a huge fan of this look, but it's a lot cleaner looking that a bed full of weeds. And once I start adding a few more things here and there, it will look a lot fuller.

Finally, I discovered a bird's nest in the tall grass inside the raspberry patch (but outside the fence, thankfully). Today, I checked up on it, and there were 3 little birds inside! I snuck a couple of pictures, but didn't want to be too obnoxious. Here are a couple:

Tomato Chronicles

2008-05-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

After last year's success, Science Nerd and I ordered tomato seeds from Upper Canada Seeds again this year. We went with a few of same varieties as last year, and a few new ones for fun.

1. Black Pear - black spicy flavor

2. Fireball - earliest in the garden

3. Green Zebra - green & yellow eye catcher

4. Isis Candy Cherry - multicolor

5. Moira - best seller

6. Quinte - dark red - for canning

7. Thai Pink Egg - prolific good taste

8. White Currant - cherry size -good flavor

I decided to plant the seeds a few weeks later than last year, hopefully avoiding the leggy seedlings I had last year. Ultimately I'm aiming for 6 -7 week old transplants as suggested on the UCS website. I planted the seeds on April 21st, 2 seeds per cubicle, put the cover on, and sat them on my old heating blanket as I did last year. Germination was quick (within a few days) and germination success rate varied among the different varieties, but at least a couple of each popped up, and in some cases more. One exception... only one Isis Candy germinated! I am going to have to be extra nurturing to that one. The White Currants are teeny tiny little plants, but look super strong and healthy. And I was happy to see the distinctive Black Pear leaves!

One they germinated I removed the cover and lit them up with the nice grow light I bought last year, moving the light higher and higher as they grew. Once they had true leaves I repotted (May 12th - 3 weeks old). I think I waited a lot longer this year before re-potting than last year. They seemed stronger this year anyway, not sure if waiting made a difference.

I have to make a decision about applying fertilizer now. I did last year (a couple of applications of very dilute solution), but I've read that over fertilizing can cause leggy plants. They really don't look like they are struggling, and they did get some compost in with their potting soil when transplanted. I bought some Wegener's Organic Liquid from Lee Valley, which is supposed to be pretty conservative, so I think I'll give them one application of that and see how it goes.

Here's a quick pic of the current tomato set-up.

I've supplemented the grow light with 2 Philips Agro-Lite bulbs that I bought last year. These are incandescent bulbs, so they give off some heat, and I have to be careful not to get them too close to the plants. I'm not really even sure if these lights are any good - I may just buy another fluorescent set-up next year and be done with it.

2008 Begins

2008-05-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have been a terrible terrible blogger, but it's time to get back on the horse. The spring has been slow so far, but I have managed to do a bit of gardening so far:

1) started tomato seeds 3.5 weeks ago - blog post with details to follow

2) some yard and bed cleanup and the beginning of an inventory of what made it over the winter (to come later)

3) 2 crabapple trees professionally pruned (they look awesome!).

4) moved the wretched rhubarb - it was so close to the back door, and I was losing things (like my shoes) under it's enormous leaves. So far it looks good!

5) prune Raspberries (both sides of the fence)

6) dug up blasted elm-ish type spready thing on backside of the house, and replaced with hosta and Snowball I moved from old perennial bed

7) tilled the vegetable garden (will incorporate some peat moss and compost on next till)

8) cleaned up 75% of my herb garden

This weekend I hope to:

1) plant some garlic (I'll try this again this year, I may have waited too long again)

2) plant snow peas and sweet peas

3) finish cleaning herb garden

4) continue bed clean-up including spreading more wood chips as mulch.

5) plant some Arugula along back of house - I'm hoping in the shade it won't go to seed as quickly

6) pick weeds out of the veggie garden and get ready for second till

More details later, with pictures, but I had to get something started!

Long Overdue Garden Update #1

2006-06-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Woweee - haven't updated in a while.

General News:

Biggest storm ever caused some big damage to the property. We lost a couple of big trees, but mostly everything else stayed in tact. We did end up with a big pile of firewood as a result, and the city came by and took away all the rest. They have also commited to planting a new tree in it's spot - very cool and totally unexpected.

Veggie Garden:

Successes: Snow peas and Beans are the best - I'm never NOT doing them again - so easy, and we're already harvesting crops. Next year I'm definitely doing successive planting of beans. Tomatoes are looking good, I've been trying to keep up on the watering. Surprisingly some last minute additions of cucumbers have done really well. I will start more of them way earlier next year (probably on a dedicated trellis of some kind - they are just climbing the fence this year). Onions are yummy and so easy - I'm going to plant more varieties next year.

Unsuccesses: Absolutely no luck with the green peppers. I've heard many others saying the same thing, so either it's a bad year for peppers, or we're all doing something wrong. Lettuce, carrots and radishes were a disaster. I think in my eagerness to conserve water I let a nice crusty layer form on this bed, and the seeds couldn't break through. Note to self for next year.

Perenials:

Things looked alot better this summer in general in this bed. Yarrow is going crazy right now, and the Phlox is just about ready to bloom. They are both pink and definitely look good together. I ended up adding tons of stuff over the spring and early summer, so it will be interesting to see what happens next year. What's new: Feverfew, Lavender, Bee Balm, Purple Coneflower, Monkshood, Mint, Liatris, Maltese Cross. Hopefully I'll see most of it again next year.

Shrubville:

Since I cleaned up this bed, I bought some awesome cocoa shells for mulch, but then realized that this is toxic to dogs, so I'll be digging it up this week, and giving the rest of the bag away to Science Nrrd. It smelled SO nice though, and the birds seemed to love it.

I got a nice clump of Stonecrop from a friend of mine at at work. I think it's Sedum herbstfreude 'Autumn Joy' if I'm not mistaken. Here it is. It will grow to roughly 3' x 3'.

Other:

The Sweet Pea trench worked out well, as did the Sweet Peas that I planted in the pot. I think I may continue to use the trench, but seed them a little thinner next year because they were tangling around themselves like crazy this year.

Potted Herbs are doing well except the SEED TAPE BASIL - no surprise, only one measly plant popped up. I also completely forgot about it after I planted them and never watered them so that MIGHT be part of the problem.

Shrubby-goodness

2006-06-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

I bought a couple of shrubs on the weekend, one for the front bed (Weigela Florida Minuet) and one for the back bed (Genista lydia). Here's the low-down:

Genista lydia (Dwarf Genista)
After I got home (and of course after I already planted the Genista) I did some googling and found mixed info regarding its hardiness zone. I like this page because it tells me what I want to hear which is that this shrub is good for Zone 3. Other pages (like this one on the Ontario Gardening site) say as high as zone 9. After looking at the Canada Zone Map and confirming that we are indeed at most Zone 4a, we'll have to wait and see what happens with this one. Worst case scenario it's going to be a $14 annual. Personally, I have a hard time believing that a local greenhouse would carry a shrub that is only good to grow down south. P.S. Lois Hole says it good for Zone 3. After reading her book I realize that (I think) the above zone confusion comes from a slight difference in classification between this genus (Genista sp., common name "Genista") the genus Cytisus sp. (common name "Broom"). Apparently they are often confused, and I've seen G. lydia refered to as "Lydia Broom" which I suspect is outdated and/or wrong. I think it's all good.

Weigela Florida 'Minuet'
Thankfully I spoke to the greenhouse owner about this one before I bought it, and he said it should do really well in my front bed. Good for Zone 3. Phew. The hummingbirds also love them! One discrepancy - according to Lois Hole they are one of the longest blooming shrubs, sometimes up to 6 weeks, well into the summer. The greenhouse guy actually said the opposite, that they were more like Lilacs. I guess we'll see.

Other quick jobs I did tonight were plant my tomatoes & onions as well as that stupid seed tape basil. If that grows I will be super surprised.

Veggie Planting

2006-06-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

With lots of help I finally planted my vegetable garden. I decided to only put 2 tomato plants in the general veggie bed, and put the other 3 in pots. I've planted a small variety of things, some new and some old standards. I'm especially interested in the Lemongrass (not sure if this will be the same one we buy at the grocery store) and the green beans!

Snow peas all along the fence should be pretty when it starts happening - I have to get those in earlier next year for sure, but it is actually still pretty early.

Marigolds are supposed to ward off pests so I planted them around the bed where I had room.

Made a few additions to the perenial bed. Bought a Bee Balm and a Liatris. Finally planted the Maltese cross and am going to put one more in the same spot. Found 2 cool kinds of mint at the greenhouse (Pineapple and Ginger mint) and put them in here too.

Pruned the Lilac back hard thanks to my dad and now it looks great. Unfortunately, there are so many roots in the ground underneath the Lilac I don't think anything will easily grow here (except more Lilac and weeds). The best thing I think that I can do at this point is lay down some cloth and cover it up with bark, just around the base of the Lilac to keep the suckers from coming back up, and the weeds from invading again. Maybe once I put more thought into it I will choose a ground cover and start to let it take over. I will do the same type of pruning on the Ninebark when I get a chance, and the whole bed should look a lot cleaner.

I put the less hardy herbs in pots and prepared some pots for the remaining tomato plants.

Just a few more jobs this week and weekend:
- Stake raspberries, weed and add compost
- Prune Hydrangea & Big tree in the back
- Buy yellow shrub I saw at the greenhouse for the shrub bed and plant
- Plant Nasturtiums
- Plant green onions
- Plant tomato plants into pots
- Plant hot pepper plants into pots
- Lay cloth around Lilac and spread cedar bark
- Plant more marigolds into Basil pot

.

Veggie Beds Begun

2006-05-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

I am anticipating some veggie planting this weekend so I have started readying my beds. Tonight I turned the small bed and added compost. This is where lettuce will probably live, as well as a few beans, snow peas, and maybe a few herbs (basil, coriander, dill). It doesn't get a ton of sun, so it will be a bit of an experiment. I know lettuce has done great here before.. we'll see about the rest. The columbines are so out of place here - I moved a bunch of them to the perenial bed but they keep multiplying here. The hosta that I moved last year seems to be doing pretty well. (lower right corner).

Perenialville is starting to look promising... lots of blues which I wanted. I still have to get some Bee Balm for in front of the Daisies, and some Maltese cross for behind the Jacob's ladder. And that will be it for now.

I've got some major pruning to do on the Lilac once it's done blooming. It's so overgrown underneath, and there are tons of suckers.

Also, I found a hydrangea type think hiding in amongst the Ninebark that I should find a better spot for.

Guess Who I am?

2006-05-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well I couldn't resist doing the quiz on Science Nerd's page - here are the (not-so) surprising results..... I'm not sure about the neat-freak part?

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them!

You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you

You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil

How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Garden-wise there isn't too much to report - kind of took the weekend off after my manic gardening the weekend before. I have to start gearing up for vegetable planting. More updates later in the week.

Perenial Bed Sunday update

2006-05-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

Brought over some Jacob's ladder (mid row) and some Purple Coneflower (back row). Plans are to get some more Lily -of-the-Valley (front row) and some Maltese Cross (back row) later in the week. To round it all out I'm going to try and find some Bee Balm (mid row) at the greenhouse, and that should be MORE than good enough for this bed for this year. Just a bit more cleaning up, but otherwise I'll let it grow and see how it looks. Most of the stuff that I've planted it pretty bird and butterfly friendly, so hopefully I'll see alot of them this summer. Also, I'm curious to see how the color come together. So far I've got all blues, whites and pinks, and no yellows that I know of (which I was trying to stay away from). Hopefully it will be nice. I can't remember what color the Lupines are... purple and white I think.

I think I've identified the mystery shrub in the back as Ninebark - it is supposed to get white flowers and berries later in the summer but I don't remember from last year at all. Also found what looks like a young Hydrangea which I plan to move this weekend... maybe outside the bed beside the fence if it's going to grow tall.

Probably won't do much this week, but I'll update this weekend.

Front Raised Bed

2006-05-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

The raised bed got finished in a mere three or so hours, and we filled it in today with nice loam. I worked it into the rest of the old dirt, removing all the weeds as I went. Brought over a nice Monkshood into the bare spot where I stole some Cornflower and Phlox for the back, and the bed is starting to take shape. I still need something else for beside the Peony. The False Indigo is coming along slowly, and something else should go there in the meantime. Mostly blues and pinks in this bed already, aside from the yellow Forsythia which is long finished, so I'll go poke around the greenhouse for something to match.

Back Shrub Bed

2006-05-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Lots of work on this bed this weekend - moved a green and white Euonymus from the back of the bed into the front corner, as well as a small Potentilla. Found a yellow and green Euonymus in the back of the Perenial garden (could hardly see it behind everything) and moved it in here too. Removed a huge overgrown and mangey looking creeping juniper, and the whole thing looks tons better. Pruned the dogwood and elder, all with the help of my mom (thanks!). Plans are to finish pulling the creeping juniper at the other end of the bed, and then cover it all with cloth and then cedar wood chips to keep the weeds down. I'll start to think of some other things to put in later on, even next year or in the fall, but I'll be happy with it after that. I have to figure out what that evergreen is...

Perenial Bed

2006-05-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

I cleaned up my perenial bed finally. This included digging up and transplanting numerous raspberry shoots back into the raspberry bed itself and then putting up stakes and string to keep it all in place. Next came a bunch of weed pulling and a bit more transplanting. I moved some (correction) Cornflower and Phlox from the front bed into this one. After it was all cleaned up I could actually see what I had, and most of it looked pretty good. Even the Perenial Sage I bought last year is slowly coming back. Major players in this garden continue to be Forget-Me-Nots and Yarrow. I have a few more things I want to transplant ie. some more Lily-of-the-Valley along the front edge, some Jacob's ladder and some taller plants towards the back (maybe some Purple Coneflower - thanks for the seeds Sly!).

Sunday update

2006-05-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Not too much happening in the garden this week - I planted my Sweet Peas in the trench, and ended up with tons of leftover seeds, all soaked and ready to go. I planted another row of them in the front, to cover the ugly area underneath the stairs. I still had a bunch left, so I planted some in pot which I've put on the front steps. It rained for a good few days afterwards, so hopefully I will be swimming in sweet peas in no time.

I'm going to do an inventory of my other beds this week and then post like crazy!

Sweet Pea Trench Part 2 and Raspberries

2006-05-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

I finished the Sweet Pea trench today - bought some Triple Mix from C.T. and mixed with the existing soil and it seems to be pretty good. I had some left over stones so I kind of made an extension of the corner bed so it's connected now. I have to level out a few more stones, but I think I'm going to like it. I'll soak the Sweet Pea and Snow Pea seeds tonight and plant them tomorrow. The snow peas will go in the corner bed. Originally I was going to put some stakes so they can climb, but I'm thinking of just putting them along the fence similar to the Sweet Peas. I can use the inside area for something else then.

I also pruned my raspberries - I never really know what I'm doing, so I just cut down the old canes from last year, and cleaned up around them, as it's getting really cluttered with dead leaves and also pretty weedy. Last year I thought the raspberries didn't do very well, but now I'm starting to think that they are just migrating. There are a ton of suckers popping up in my perenial garden (great) and behind the fence (ok) but less so in the actual raspberry bed. I think I may have to do some cutting down of suckers - I'll read more and do more this week, but for now the bed looks tons better (see pile of old canes in the foreground).

One funny thing - for some reason I hate working with gloves in the garden. FYI - not a good idea when pruning raspberries - I always forget.... check it out - OUCH!!

So my plan for the week is to get the Sweet Peas in the ground and maybe transplant some perenials from the front bed to the back bed, and put that's Monk's Hood from my mom in the front in their place. I'll do some research on the best time for transplanting perenials, but I think it's now. Maybe a bit more work with the Raspberries if I can figure out what they want from me.

Planting Guide

2006-05-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Just found a couple of cool links:

The website You Grow Girl has a downloadable excel spreadsheet called "The Lazy Gardener's Automatic Seed Starting Chart". You type in the Last Frost Date for your region and it calculates when to plant, and/or when to start the seeds for many plants.

According to the Farmer's Almanac our Last Frost Date here in Sudbury is May 17th this year. From this it seems I could have planted my peas back in April. Good to know for next year.

Sweet Pea Trench

2006-05-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night project was digging a trench for my Sweet Peas. I planted them in my veggie garden last year, and it was a little cramped. I thought this would be better, and they can climb up the fence and look all pretty.

I got as far as digging the trench and emptying out the soil. The soil was a little sad looking, so I added a bit of Sheep Manure and tossed it all together. It looked better, but still not great. I think I will just go and get some proper soil tomorrow (Triple Mix or something like that), so the project is on hold until then. I have some of that plastic barrier stuff that I'll put down to prevent the lawn from taking the space back. Then it's planting time.

As I was digging this trench I was thinking that if this spot turns out to be good for sun-loving plants I may widen it next year (taking over more lawn) and make a big L shaped vegetable garden.

Front Bed

2006-05-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

So I'll start with the front bed, which despite what it looks like has come along way

There is a nice Forsythia at the far end, which I pruned like crazy last year. Not knowing any better at the time I pruned it too soon and it didn't look even close to this nice last year. It still needs a bit more shaping, but I'll wait until the bloom is finished to do it as are the rules.

At the nearest side there is an amazing Peony. I'll post pics once it blooms but it was absolutely gorgeous last year. I haven't done a thing to it except put up the support rod, and clean out the junk from last year. Hopefully this year's blooms are as nice.

Next to the Peony I planted 2 new things last year:

1. Blue False Indigo which is apparently good for poorer soil, and can tolerate lots of sun. It's a wildflower. I can already see healthy looking growth, so that's a good sign. It has a pole in place as it is a climber.

2. Spanish Thrift - a cute pink ground cover - almost looks a bit cactus-like right now. Supposedly good in poorer soils and full sun. I see 2 healthy looking tufts already, but not too spready looking yet. I don't think it's overly aggressive. Probably good for this bed, but not perennial-ville in the back. It would get eaten alive.

In between are a mish-mash of Periwinkle, some kind of Flox, Evening Primrose and a random Daffodil. A few Lily-of-the-Valley showed up last year, as well as Sunflowers and some Pansies. I'm not in love with this stuff in the front. I think I'm going to move at least some of the Flox and Primrose to the back perennial bed to fill it out. Neither of them seem overly spready, so I think I can keep them under control back there. Why I don't like them in the front is 2 fold:

1. Color - Most of them don't bloom until later on in the summer. With the forsythia color over so quickly, there is not much color in the bed except the Peony for much of the summer. While the Peony is gorgeous it is just one plant. So at the very least I need to make some room for something else.

2. Size and Feel - Although there are several plants they feel kind of small, and make the bed look a bit messy, and half hazard in my opinion. I'd like to add something a tad bigger, that has a more substantial feel on it's own, without being overly formal. I am inheriting a Monk's Hood from my mom which I think will fit the bill.

I'm going to do the moving this weekend, so I'll post pics of the finished product then. For now here's two pics of the new members of the front bed:

Blue False Indigo (back around the pole) and Spanish Thrift in the front. And some weeds of course. I hate pulling anything right now in case it is actually something good. I'm also very lazy. Check out the plant on the back left - it almost looks like raspberry leaves, but I'm sure it's not. Any ideas?

Lastly, the soil is ridiculously dry in this bed. I put so much top soil in it last year, but to little avail. Ultimately I'd like to built it up a bit - maybe make a nice wooden raised bed here, and try and keep the soil in place a bit better.

I almost feel like I have a plan.

Seed Purchase

2006-04-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

I did some impromptu seed shopping today - the word impromptu will hopefully not be making too many appearances in my garden planning notes. However here's the damage:

Sweet Peas - Spencer Giant Mixture - Climbing Vine
Snow Peas - Edible
Mesclun mix
Green Onions
Carrot - Berlikum
Radish - Scarlet Globe
Bean - Bush Contender - apparently a short season variety
Nasturtium - Jewel Mixed
Basil Mixture - Seed tape variety

I can't even speak about the seed tape - it's a little silly, but imagine if it turns out to be the best thing ever? I'm going to plant some everywhere and see where they do best. I didn't have a tremendous amount of luck with the Basil last year. I'm definitely hitting the basil with soapy water hard in the beginning, and putting my beery bug traps out like last year. And I think I will still buy some pre-started also, just in case. If all goes well it will be the summer of Pesto.

I'll post some pics later when I have actually done something more than buying the makings of a garden.

So it begins.

First Post

2006-04-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, this is going to be the summer that I finally get my garden under control (or hopefully somewhat). We bought the house a few years ago, and inherited several beds of shrubs and perenials which I am only now beginning to identify, let alone learn how to take care of. So far my approach has been a mish-mash of things, and I swore that I would create a gardening journal this summer to keep track of what I do, so I can refer back later, see what worked, and what didn't. He's goes nothing!!! If anyone has any gardening advice, I welcome it all!