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View of the east garden looking south. The large container on the right has the Spacemaster cucumbers and the smaller black ones were seeded with nasturtiums. The container against the chain link fence will hold the Diva cucumbers. The bed in the center front is empty, but will probably be planted with late corn. The rougher bed on the right was planted last week with Honey Select corn.
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Another view of the east garden, looking north toward the kennel garden.
My next chore was to begin cleaning out the flower beds around the patio. My goodness, they are so overgrown with grass that has grown right over the edging!
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Just look at all that grass creeping into the bed. I need to get it cleaned out, so I can get my Four O'Clock seeds planted!
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It's a tough job, as the grass roots were growing over the top of the edging. It probably took me an hour or more just to get this much accomplished. Then company came, so the job is on hold until tomorrow.
Before I came inside, I took photos of all the tomatoes, peppers and the recently sprouted green beans.
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West fence tomato buckets.
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"Tomato Alley", now with peppers as well as tomatoes.
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The shed garden, with all of the cherry tomatoes and one leftover Marglobe Supreme.
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Gourmet Green French bush beans on the left, 10 sweet peppers down the center, and Velour bush beans, seeds from Ed, on the right.
Inside the garden shed. I cleaned it out the other day.....I can finally actually see the floor!
Your garden looks great and this is my first year for Diva cucumbers.
ReplyDeleteLisa
Lisa, this is my first year for Diva cucumbers, too. I wish it would warm up enough to get them planted! I already planted my Spacemaster cucumbers, but it's too cold for them to do much of anything yet. The forecast was for temps in the mid 70s, and instead we're back to mid 60s!
DeleteVery impressed with your garden...so nicely organized! I had a moment of nostalgia when I read "Four O'Clocks." We used to have them in Ohio and they did open fully at 4 o'clock. I have never had luck trying to germinate their seeds in So. California.
ReplyDeleteI am struggling with my cucumbers. I want Persian ones this year but some bugs are getting to the seedlings. Maybe I need to consider containers.
I have tasked my husband with finding the skill saw and I am going to try a tomato bucket this year. Thank you for the instructions.
Patricia, the Four O' Clocks volunteer here. This will be the third year since i planted them. My friend Ed sent me another variety to add to my plain red, white and yellow ones, so I'm looking forward to some salmon blossoms as well. I have them planted on the north side of the house, around the patio, so they stay open most of the day. Like this.....
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Be sure your tomato buckets are secured to something. Once they have full grown, bearing plants, they can topple easily. Once that happens, they're dead, as it rips the tap root right out of the ground! Good luck!
You "sound" surprised that grass leaped over the boundary and into your beds :-) I thought that was absolutely the way of things. The grass here is tenacious stuff and there's no keeping it from where it wants to go. It hops right into the raised bed, never mind the barrier. I never get it all out. Temporary fixes.
ReplyDeleteDianefaith, I'm usually better about keeping the flower bed borders under control, before the grass gets so invasive. I was just so busy getting the new garden area ready this spring, everything else got put on the back burner. Now I regret having procrastinated!
DeleteReally? A garden shed with a floor? Mine is so small. I ought to show it sometime. It is packed with things but tiny. But then our place has three sheds. The bike shed (the only one you can walk into, but our two townhouses have only two cars and four people. Most of us bike more than use the car), the lawnmower shed (very short but just long enough to fit the mower), and my garden shed that is tall enough for the rakes and such on one side and shelves on the other.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, it's been such a mess this sporing, I forgot it had a floor ;-) Now I'm finished with the big dump cart that was taking up most of the room, so it has been tipped up and secured to the back wall. That gives me floor space!
DeleteHi Annie, I just love looking at your garden pictures! You also reminded me that I had better get my nasturtium seeds planted so put that on my list! My instructions for planting my seed potatoes said to place the cut potato in a bag with a small amount of dusting sulfur and shake to coat the potatoes cut surfaces. I didn't have any dusting sulfur so just planted them! Do you do that to yours before you plant? Weeding that grass sure looks like hard work! Nancy at Cozy Thyme Cottage
ReplyDeleteNancy, I have never in my life dusted my seed potatoes with anything! I either buy very small seed potatoes and plant them whole (preferable) or larger ones and cut them into chunks containing at least 2-3 eyes (what I did this year). If I cut them, I just leave them out on the windowsill for a couple of days to slightly dry out the cut edges, then plant them. Don't worry too much....they'll grow regardless! You can even plant your potato peelings and get a crop of small potatoes, as long as they aren't treated to keep them from sprouting. My grandmother always "planted" her peelings.
Deletewow everything looks amazing!!! I am sitting here trying to read about how to transplant seedlings from peat pots and whether or not I need to transplant them to bigger pots before the go outside in a few weeks.....lol So just a bit behind you in the garden planting...lol
ReplyDeleteYou'd better hurry up, Mrs. P. I'm a gardening fool this year!
DeleteEverything looks great as always! Grass is not my issue right now, it's thousands of seedlings from the neighbor's danged maple tree. I'll pulling them out for the months! I see your peppers are in the ground, mine just got potted up to 3" pots. The weather is warmer now, so things should be sizing up quickly.
ReplyDeleteEd, I hate those maple seeds! I was almost glad when our maple tree blew down, because it seems like I've spent half my lifetime cleaning up those %#*&@ seeds! Now I spend my time digging out walnut trees. The squirrels bury the walnuts so deep you can't just pull them out, you have to dig.
DeleteDid you notice how nicely the Velour beans came up? I only had 3-4 seeds in each row of bush beans that hadn't yet popped up. I decided to plant single rows this year, I think the picking will be much easier, and I have plenty of room for beans ;-) It was supposed to be in the mid 70s this week....didn't happen, it's mid 60s, a good 10-12 degrees below our normal temps for the first week of May.
You continue to get so much done! It is all looking very nice.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gardener! I try to get as much done as possible, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.....or I get worn out too quickly!
Deletepeppers and 'maters in? Wow. I have to wait. It is still in the upper 30's here in Issaquah. arghhh. We'll be getting warmer temps next week I hear.
ReplyDeleteSpent the day weeding out the 3rd patch, noticed the tatos are much bigger in two days, not sure why but the temps were cooler and the tatos had been weeded and mounded for the first time plus plenty of rain. They looked very pretty and big!
Back killing tonight from the weeding. almost done, then I can put in the beans, nasturtiums, brussels sprouts, extra broc and then it'll be time for tomatoes, basil, peppers, bee balm, etc. I dunno, but looks like we'll go from winter to summer overnight. I loved the pic of the shed and those onions are getting BIG! Your growth seems about 1-2 weeks or so ahead of ours.
I really love tomato alley! Both of them! I keep thinking Alicia will love to walk along and nibble on granny's cherry tomatoes and will be learning so much from observing you gardening as I did with my "grammy". You have a ton of stuff planted. I can't wait to see how well u do with harvesting later. I'm thinking you might need help harvesting around august! Calling all kids, come help Granny!
Amy T., HAH! Alicia (who turns 18 this summer) hates tomatoes, and her little sister Alicyn (age 3) hates food of any kind! Except cinnamon toast. It used to be French fries, but that was so 2011 ;-)
Deletewhoopsie! I thought Alicia was the granddaughter you have over and makes you watch Justin Bieber!
DeleteLOL, Amy T., I figured that's what you thought! No, Alicia is my baby girl who is all grown up....and still my baby girl :-)
DeleteOh, if only everything in the garden grew as well as the durn grass we try and keep out of it! It's all looking great. My garden is still as barren as a desert. Thank goodness for this internet or I'd go looney (er?)
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Sou, and that's the truth! If only the garden grew half as fast as the grass....LOL!
DeleteWe are finally getting some much needed rain. It storms at night and then heats up to the mid-eighties during the day. Perfect for getting things going. I noticed my peas are popping up and I have a few tomatoes starting and a few more that are blooming.
ReplyDeleteThere are times that I wish I had a smaller yard in order to keep it as pretty as yours. But then again, I'd miss my hours and hours of mowing each week (my quiet time from kids' questions).
Langela, what little rain we've had hasn't done much good, the constant winds dry everything out too quickly. Today is supposed to be our last windy day....but the weather man lied about this week's temps (they're 10 degrees lower than forecast), so I 'm not holding my breath that the wind will stop anytime soon.
DeleteIt's SO beautiful. Just when I get down and think it's all so overwhelming, I look at your beautiful yard and remind myself that it CAN be done. Nice job!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, 1st. Man, but you have so much natural beauty around you. I have to work for every little bit I get!
DeleteYour onions have grown so big! Mine are just refusing to grow and still pretty much the same size as I planted. Maybe I need to feed them more. Love your clean shed :) But isn't it a bit too early for peppers? I thought it should be in mid-80s's to plant them.
ReplyDeleteJenny, my peppers have been outside 24/7 for the past two weeks, so I figured I might as well get them planted. I usually plant them any time between May 1 and May 10. They won't do much growing before the temperature gets up into the 70s, but their roots can get established and the weather should be fine by Sunday. I've never waited for temps to be in the 80s.
DeleteIt all looks so lovely and productive! Wonderful to see.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stefaneener.
DeleteOh everything looks just perfect in your gardens! I cannot wait to get some more stuff planted!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Farmers Wife. I think I have just about everything planted, now I just need it to grow!
DeleteLook at that garden, not a weed in sight! Tomato and pepper allay are going to be awesome. You should be loaded with tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Kris, there was a lot of Bermuda grass digging going on that day! I'm on the "bucket a day" plan on digging it out, and it's getting better.
DeleteGranny,
ReplyDeleteI wished my garden looked as clean as yours. I see nothing but bare soil around your plants. I'm impressed and at the same time, jealous! Also, I'm leaving for Moses Lake in the morning. They've got me flying into Spokane. I'll be there for 4 days working at J.R. Simplot nearby.
Darn it, Greg. Too bad they aren't flying you into the Tri-Cities airport (which is closer to M.L. than Spokane is). We have some plans for the next couple of days, with three family birthdays coming up. Maybe the next time they fly you out to this part of the country we can arrange to meet somewhere. Have a good trip, and at least the weather got nice!
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