Gardening Notes- 2005

Surprise! I picked tomatoes on Saturday! I ate one and saved the best one for Randy. He celebrated with a sandwich and was so happy. It had been a year since we'd had that delicious taste. I had noticed that our out of season tomatoes were imported for Spain and while that seems a long distance, they cost nearly $4 a pound. And they had no taste at all. Ours are small and not very many but they are heavenly. In honor of the ones we do have, Randy bought a head a lettuce for lots of salads. We have plenty of cucumbers and I have even sent out messages looking for more cuke recipes. Such fun. Randy is not interested in any that require the cucumber to be cooked so those are out!

I need to get out tomorrow and do the fertilizing and perhaps bring back a bit of wheat hay for mulching around the tomatoes. That would help them. We are being teased with rain showers but not getting enough to stop the watering for the day. We could use the saving on the bills but it is wonderful to have some harvest. 

We've had two meals of green beans, the blackeye pea variety. They are so delicious. No other variety of green bean has the good flavor. We'll not go back to other varieties. 

There are even about 6 tiny ears of corn. It is the tiny variety so they can be picked any time now. Cute, just wish there were more of them.

The chickens are out every day going around the garden beds and eating all the grasshoppers they can catch. They have learned to follow me as I go through the garden and scare out more of the hoppers. Tasty snacks. They don't lay many eggs now but that's okay.

It doesn't seem possible that July is gone now. We get to start August and the dog days of summer. But we did have a few weeks of cooler temps. I made notes in the Weather section to describe the first cold front of the season. Sure was early and may be a sign of an early and long winter but we won't know until next spring. 

I have used all of Randy's Weed-X fabric to create shade for the cucumbers. They are the only plant doing well in the garden and that deserves pampering. Right now, we are getting a cuke every day. The morning starts with deciding what we will have with our daily cuke. I looked yesterday to find one I had missed. It was bigger that I would have picked it but it was sure good, despite the big seeds. This isn't a burpless variety like the Park's All-Season but then we didn't have a choice this year and I was glad that I had something to plant.

I had moved the Trumpet Vine plants I started earlier this year into big pots and the grasshopper promptly ate all but one. I should have moved them directly into the greenhouse and now I wish I had. But the vines are producing many new pods and I know what to expect now and should be able to save lots and lots of seeds for giving away next year. 

We may yet get a few ears of tiny corn since what was left is doing well right now. The blackeye peas are producing wonderfully and there should be another mess to pick today or tomorrow. Excellent! They are better than any other variety of green bean and so worth the effort. But I think I've mentioned that before. 

I may just splurge and plant some late season Zinnias. Hey, the butterflies and hummers are still around and would sure like the blooms.

There are only a few things left the grasshoppers have not eaten. I had actually thought about keeping the fig tree in the kitchen window. Hey, it is a dwarf variety. But I do figure that in the garden with the new spaces protected by the chickens, the tree might stand a chance. Since Figs need a lot of water, I will plant it on the soaker line. There is actually a second cucumber and we look forward to having it one of these evenings, chilled and ready to eat. We've only had one other so far but with lots more work on the cuke bed, I do hope for a lot more. 

The tomatoes are looking good. Now they are enclosed with the extra fence so the hens can roam the area eating grasshoppers. There are lots of blooms and a few fruit. It won't be easy to take the fence apart to get inside but that won't need to be as often as moving the hose to water the rows.  

The yard long green beans have not grown in weeks. They have not taken to the trellis and are still only about 4 inches tall. Their section of the garden will allow the hens to clean their area. The blackeye peas are doing great and the okra as well. What is left of the corn might actually make a few of the tiny sized ears. I've not taken any photos this year especially since it is all so pitiful.

The grasshoppers have taken over. We ordered a Park's Fig Tree that was on sale. That was when things were not so very bad. I had told Randy that we'd have to plant anything else in the chicken's yard so they could eat all the hoppers. It sounded silly at first but it is the only way that we will be able to grow anything. We'll need to build protection to keep the chickens out of the area where any plant is growing but the fig tree will be easy enough. Now, to figure a way to enclose the rest of the garden. Keep the chickens in but let them forage around the plants. The corn is now gone. Almost completely. The beans are disappearing fast but the okra looks okay. The Zinnias are completely gone. I found two onions today for supper but could not see any more.

I checked prices today on Guinea Fowl. Only one type is ready now from McMurray Hatchery but I will call tomorrow and get dates and prices for our local feed store. All we need to do is figure out where to get them started and then we can start again on fencing Max off. Just to where the birds cannot get within his reach.

A rabbit got into the garden and took down the big tomato plant. Now the 4 tomatoes are just dying. Why do the critters just chew through a stem and leave the plant to die. I am dragging up more fencing to use only the smaller opening chicken wire. I see no other opening that rabbits can get through. The onions are nearly all gone. The other tomatoes are doing fine as are the cucumbers but the squash are gone now. Eaten up just a little at a time. And they are in a separate garden. Being near out of energy, I can hardly see a reason to plant the vines and other flowers. One of the cherry tomato plants disappeared completely while the other is doing great. Go figure. The mums were covered with grasshoppers. I dusted with DE and checked again. No difference at all. I hate using poison and even those note that it will do little good against grown grasshoppers. The online help noted the problems to be greater in dry years; well, this proves that wrong. We had a wet year last year and are having the same this year. No drought now. In some areas the hoppers are numbering about 10 per square yard. Hoards!

I did replant the corn and the blackeye peas are doing great. The yard long green beans are doing well. But all my banana peppers are gone, every last one. One variety of okra has sprouted and is doing quite well.

Still signs of rabbits getting in. The only thing to do is to walk along the fence line until I find the opening and sure enough, I found two. The outside of the garden is well overgrown with briar and small oaks. At least I already know where I needed to block off the entrance. But I had not looked on that stretch of fence. No bunnies allowed.

I finished planting the okra. Randy doesn't like it but I sure do. I am hoping for enough this year to freeze some for the winter. Wouldn't that be nice. I didn't have any last summer at all and have a taste for some fresh from the garden. Slightly steamed tender pods. Uuuummmm.  Something had scratched around in the Zinnia bed and there were many fewer baby plants today. I planted thick and have more seeds of the same so maybe we will get lots yet. I missed those last year as well.

The cucumbers are doing great. Also the tomato plants that had survived. Today I will finish planting the cherry tomatoes. The yard long beans are slowly growing back to the size they were when the bunnies ate them down to the ground. The Zinnias are sprouting nicely as are the tiny corn and the blackeye peas. Today the okra will go into the next row in the garden. I am just fixing and planting one row at a time. I have a few sweet banana peppers ready to go into the garden. Along with some marigolds that are already blooming. They look to be the dwarf variety. Very nice.

The volunteer tomato plant is producing nicely. Four tomatoes about 1 1/2 in diameter each. And about 4 more flowers on the plant. The onions are doing okay but are attracting the baby grasshoppers.

The huge mounds of briar are going to have to wait until we do get another brush cutter. They are thick and mean. The hoe cannot begin to cut through them. Many of the flowering weeds are taller than I am. A real jungle with all our lovely rain of late.

I was out tending the mums and killed 3 little grasshoppers in 5 minutes time. There are no big ones left over from last year, these are all babies and seem to be moving in from outside our area. There are lots of hiding places so the theory of turning their nesting areas is okay but we are in a forest with hundreds of miles of open space around us. We need roaming chickens and ducks and guinea hens. We had fewer hoppers before the dogs were here and the wild turkeys roamed our yard. 

I may just try Kathy E.'s remedy for the worms but I will use the grasshoppers. It would just take a lot of them to make any amount of solution.

I do have a lot of plants still to put out into the garden. The Banana Peppers are looking great. The cherry tomatoes are very fine. There are a few surviving Marigolds and assorted pretty flowering goodies. 

Kathy E. in New York sent me a remedy for the little green worms. But they have disappeared to be replaced by the very tiniest of little green grasshoppers. They have really developed a fondness for the mums Randy has started. The worms do strip down the tomato plant to the nub and then to the ground but if they are tomato hornworms they have not shown up as the giants they grow to be. Out of all the over 100 tomato plants I started from seeds Randy had to buy what the feed store had for sale yesterday and today. Sigh. A few of the originals survived but very few. Randy also bought Diatomatous Earth and everything has a nice heavy layer of powder on it. 

I was so proud that the cucumber seeds had sprouted yesterday only to look this morning and find they were all gone. There were a few I'd started in cups in the lighthouse weeks ago that were about 2 inches tall that survived. But 4 packets of Park's All Season are gone. I did kill the caterpillar that ate them. I rounded up all the seeds that I had left and will get them planted tomorrow morning. The yard long green beans were showing no signs of bugs but I dusted them as well. Since the dill had already disappeared, I will use their bed to plant something else. 

On a good note, the onions are doing GREAT! The globe types are making sweet little bulbs and we've actually eaten several. Had some of the red ones on hamburgers the other night. What a taste treat. Used some little green ones in the egg drop soup and they were wonderful! 

We got rain! Lots of rain probably 3 to 5 inches worth but it came with giant storms full of thunder and lightening. Some areas got lots of hail but we got just a brief spell of the tiny size. I had already taken all the plants back inside the lighthouse that had not already gone out into the gardens. One tray of cucumbers was down in the garden and I left them where they were. Just wished they were already in the ground. Just hoping the 4 packets of seeds I had just planted in the row were not washed away.

Won't be needing to water today. We are never too wet for working in the garden. I had watered nearly everything in the last few days. We can't go without and there had not been much chance for getting any rain. The storms tend to defy the weather forecaster. 

I did get the yard long green beans into their new bed. They were wonderful last year and these are more of the same seeds. Every morning I sort through and set out the seeds I want to get planted for the day. This morning is the squash. But the tomato plants are taking priority. Since I had moved everything inside the lighthouse, I don't want to have to move them back to their shelves outside the lighthouse. I want to start carrying them on down to the garden. 

The tomatoes seem to be the delight of all the mean little bugs. Even the little moths seem to feed on them. There is a small shiny beetle type bug and then there are the green worms. Now, those can strip a plant down to nubs and little bits of stems. But the good news is that there will still be plenty of tomato plants for us to have a garden. Maybe not to do any canning as I had hoped. If there are lots of Roma, we can dry some. 

The sweet banana peppers are holding their own but still way too small to go out into the garden. I have a tray full of still tiny cherry tomatoes. It was a packet of free seeds and didn't get started until later than the other seeds. 

The spinach disappeared on about the third day of over 90 degree temps. The dill looks to be doing okay though. The onions are doing wonderfully. We've enjoyed several with out Egg Drop Soup. Just wish for some asparagus. Perhaps next year.

Since we are without the brush cutter to clear the new garden and keep the briar down in the two gardens already going, I  am having to cut everything with the hoe and dig one garden completely (shovel.) So we won't have any melons but will have the beans and tomatoes and cucumbers. Lots of flowers. The little worms have consumed lots of baby plants and most all of my mint but we may yet survive. 

The spinach is about 2 inches tall but already the days are nearing 90°F and that will make they go to seed no matter what their size. I am sprinkling them every day during the hottest part of the day in hopes of keeping them going. We are forecast for a cool front this weekend. That will help. Days with highs in the mid 70s but the nights in the upper 40s will keep the tomato plants protected for a while longer. The spinach prefer the cool and wouldn't mind a light freeze. 

I have given up my hopes of making a new sunny garden. I have the fencing and the post but not the brush cutter or time and energy. Randy put the cutter back into the shop on Tuesday. He has decided that we cannot garden without a tiller and a brush cutter and goats to keep the briar down. And all it took was him wearing himself out trying to dig more tomato beds. The shovel with the sharp blade is nice but takes a lot of work still to cut through the briar and roots. It is heavy and tends to hurt the shoulders and elbows. 

The materials I will use on the cucumber vines is set out and ready. I am holding out hopes of having the brush cutter back in time to make quick work of the new garden area. If not, it will take me weeks to finish it up. 

This week, the days are hot. About 40 every night which makes it noon before I can get out in the garden to work. I am finally getting all the baby tomato plants into cups so they can grow big and strong. I made the mistake of leaving them outside for an afternoon and found them near death with burn marks on their little leaves. Most have recovered but they stay inside under the lights now.

The tomato varieties are: Beefsteak, Super Sioux, Vintage Wine, Black from Tula, Dinner Plate, Roma, Watermelon and Stripped Stuffer.

Tomorrow I will get started on more seeds that need to go into soil for sprouting. And I will take some photos to include in this section. Randy had ordered a bunch of Chrysanthemums but most are near death. I think the California company had them boxed up for several weeks before they sent them. I clipped them at soil level today in hopes they will come back from the roots. 

When I tried to move my BIG tomato plant, it broke in half. The long piece wilted and died but the growth from the soil has not shown any new growth yet. It had already started making blooms. 

Our weather forecast calls for a cold front this Easter weekend where we'll be down near freezing with a day with the high of 50. Not springtime but pretty normal. A blizzard in April is also normal. 

We've gone back to wintertime again. It was 34 degrees F this morning and will only get up to about 50 if we are lucky. The miserable sunshine on baby tomato  plants burned the leaves. I can only hope they will recover. 

The forecast shows that we won't even be back to a normal 60 until Friday but then it should hold through the beginning of next week. Perhaps a little rain while it is cold.

I haven't been back to the garden and digging since getting half the new bed finished. The onions are really looking great and this cool spell will only do them some good.

It is hot today! Started out cold at 40°F but all sunshine with nary a cloud. I found my Spinach seeds but we need a cool spring for them to do well. 85 and the plants go to seed. No matter what the variety. Today is forecast to be 80 and it could be hotter than that already. But the rest of the week should be cooler.

I have made a garlic bed at the end of the onion bed. There are 3 garlic plants coming back from last year. That's a good start. I noticed one of the giant garlic coming back and hope to move it and a few others into the new bed soon.

Randy has been digging the tomato beds and hauling the rich dirt from the chicken yard. A bit of old straw and they will be ready for the tomato plants in about a month. We could have a blizzard in the middle of April so we want to be ready but not too early. Most of the baby plants are about 2 inches tall now. I am slowing getting them moved into little cups and taking them outside everyday to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. 

We are ordering just a few more seeds for the season but from two different companies. Shumway because they have one that no one else carries any longer. It is a hummingbird "plant" or sage as it's often called. Parks Seeds is the only place that has the All Season Cucumber that does so well here. 

The weather is still mild but we've had enough rain to keep me from digging in the garden or doing any brush cutting. Randy had done some leaf shredding but not lately. The clouds are dark now but the storms seem to be dying out for now.

The space in the Shop is wonderful. I planted the last of the tomatoes today. The first batch is almost ready to go into individual cups. The second batch sprouted faster when I used a plastic container with cover and they stayed warmer and more moist. Excellent to remember.

The daffodils are up to about 6 inches tall but look just like most years when they don't bloom at all. I asked Byron Tumlinson about getting them to flower again but never was able to move them into new beds. Besides the daffodils, there are iris galore, some daylilies and all the periwinkle I could ever want. I had found 10 trumpet vine seeds in the dead pods on the vine so they went into dirt today in hopes they will sprout.

The seed catalogs are all in and it is so much fun to look through them. We ordered early from the first catalogs but will have a few things yet to order from the old favorite, Park Seeds.

I am getting some onions from Dixondale Farms into the ground this afternoon. I have everything set out and ready to carry with me. I had to go back to their website when I couldn't find my catalog to remember which variety of the three I ordered that was best for using as green onions. First stop, turn on the water so I can soak down the ground. I will have a corner in the old greenhouse for now. I figure a few dozen here and save the rest for later. I will be out in the garden every day (rain or shine) to get the beds ready for all the onions. Early is good. If the grasshoppers show up, harvest all the onions EARLY.

There are a few garlic that have come back from last year out in the original garden. It will be a good spot for onions if it isn't full of zinnias again this year. The volunteers did far better than any of the other zinnia seeds I planted. The were all given from a reader but few were any good.

Again I am reminded of the joy of seeing sprouts from seeds I have planted. New life to bring more veggies to our table. There is nothing like the taste of a fresh tomato still warm from the garden.

I went all year with no okra. It was a waste of time and space to try and squeeze them in between the corn and the peas. This year, they will get plenty of space and attention.