It's Summer!

The weather is beautiful outside! Sunny with a slight breeze. However, the forecast for the next several days calls for rain but that is a good thing. We need the water.

In this weeks gardening e-newsletter, there was an observation that made me pause for a moment and reflect. Janet made a comment that she couldn't understand why people were in such a hurry to get their planting done. She enjoys planting things all during the season. It's true that there are some things that need to get into the ground in Michigan especially vegetables like tomatoes. But that doesn't mean the all of the annuals and perennials need to be put in by June.

Nurseries in Michigan tend to sell out of their annuals by the end of June and even then they are starting to be pot bound. Any annuals that can be found after this time are often in larger pots and are expensive. Does this leave the passionate but frugal gardener in the position of starting annuals indoors at a later date?

There are many "chores" that Ken and I have been able to do the last few days since the weather has been pleasant. Ken weeded an area in the large back flower bed and put newspaper and cocoa mulch in it. The columbines are done flowering and are producing seeds but the Stella d'Oro daylillies are in full bloom. Even though I thinned out the daylilly garden last year, it has totally filled in again. This fall, I'm going to have to dig out and divide all of the plants in that bed. I'm going to keep a record of where the different types of daylillies are in the bed so that I can replant the ones that I like the best.

It's June!

The weather has been very pleasant the last few days--light showers at night and temperatures in the 70s. However, forecasters are saying that it will be in the high 80s and low 90s later in the week.

I was able to get a lot of things done in the garden in the early spring but then time and weather turned against me! I have finally started to get back out and finish some of the chores that I wasn't able to get to earlier.

The violas in the pots are still blooming but I don't think that they are going to survive the hot, humid weather that is coming. I bought four hanging baskets at Targets and transplanted wave petunias in them. The petunias were volunteers from last year and came up in the small bed between the garage and house. (This is the second year that this has happened.) I probably will switch the viola pots for the new ones this weekend.

Three of the tomatoes have flowers on them already--a Roma, a Sungold and a Sweet 100. Eight of the nine asparagus roots that we planted have come up and are looking very good. I finished harvesting all of the green lettuce mix but I have just started to pick the red lettuce. Also, I planted two more rows of onions two days ago for a total of 4 rows. I told Ken that he should be able to start harvesting onions for his 4th of July BBQs.

Yesterday, we planted four Gold Coast junipers in the front brick bed. We also put down a layer of papers and covered them with cocoa mulch. The newspapers and cocoa mulch has really helped to keep down the weeds. There is a marked difference between the beds that had this treatment and those that did not.

The weather has gone from being hot (in the 80s) and sunny to being cold and rainy. Yesterday, it rained like crazy and the temperature was in the 50s. Right now there are black clouds and the wind is gusting. Not only that, but the temperature tonight will be in the 30s. YIKES! Ken planted sunflower seeds the other day so I hope that they make it through this cold spell.

Ken also finished one of the raised brick beds. It looks great. Wednesday, I planted onions, radishes and a red lettuce mixture in it. I left the middle section open so that I have space for the bush beans.



I took this picture of the coral belles over a week ago. Those small buds are now full fledged flowers. The columbines and the bleeding heart are also in bloom. The irises are sending up buds and should be open soon.









On Wednesday, Ken noticed that four of the asparagus roots had sent up stems. If the weather clears up by Sunday, he will take some more of the worm compost and mix it with the soil from the bed. He'll use it to mound around the stems. The russet and red potatoes are also sprouting so he'll have to add more soil to their pots too very soon.

I thinned out the carrots last week. In addition, I should be able to start picking the mesclun mix and some of the radishes. I look forward to making roll-ups for lunch. Not only are they tasty, but they are easy to make. Just spread some vegetable cream cheese on flat bread, put thinly sliced radishes on top, cover with lettuce and then roll. Nothing tastes better than fresh produce from the garden especially in the spring.

The tomato seedlings are growing like crazy. On Monday, I need to repot them. Currently, there are 28 seed pellets but I think that I will only repot about half that many. I'm still trying to decide exactly how many of each variety I will plant in the garden. Any extras that I have will be given away. The jalapeno peppers are just starting to sprout.

It's May!

Earlier this week the weather was on the cool side--in the 50s but yesterday, the temperature was in the 80s. This morning we has a crazy thunderstorm and the rain was intense. In fact, it rained so hard that many of the trees that are in bloom lost their flowers.




The tomatoes that I have been growing under lights are doing great. All of the seeds have germinated and the plants have their first true leaves. I'll have to lower the shelf this week because the plants are almost touching the light bulbs. The pepper plants haven't germinated yet.

Many of the early blooming perennials are beginning to set bloom and even flower. The coral belles are sending up stalks of flowers and a few are beginning to open. The bleeding heart also has flowers on it. The columbines have doubled in size this week and are covered with buds. They'll probably have flowers on them by the end of the week.



Most of the bulbs have finished blooming. There still are a few daffodils left in the back yard but they are definitely at the end of their cycle. The yellow tulips are still in bloom in the front yard but I noticed this morning that the rain storm has knocked the heads off of some of them.


I went to Lowe's last Sunday to buy some more violas but they were out of the six packs that I had purchased at the beginning of the month. I planted the purple and yellow pansies in four hanging pots and six planters but I have not planted the orange ones yet. I'm waiting for the cherry tree in front to finish blooming because I don't want clashing colors.

I also went to Panettas on Thursday to buy onion sets. Ken has finished one of the raised beds and as soon as he fills it with soil, I will plant the onions. I'll place them around the edges and then put green beans in the center when the weather warms up. I will plant the sets close so that we can pull up some to use as scallions and let others mature to full size.

The weather has been beautiful during the day time but in the high 30s at night. All of the plants have been able to weather the cold nights without any negative effects.

I was ill last weekend so I wasn't able to do any gardening. However, I have been trying to make up for it during the evenings this week. I now have four hanging pots and 10 planters filled with violas. They really add a splash of color to the gardens in the backyard. Also, I have planted two containers of lettuce, one container of radishes, and three containers of carrots. Yesterday, Ken and I planted four cans of potatoes. Two of the cans contain Yukon Golds (early to midseason), one can contains Russet Burbanks (early to midseason), and one can contains Red Norlands (labelled best early season). We filled the containers two-thirds full with a mixture of top soil and composted manure.

We also planted two types of two year old asparagus roots (Jersey King and Mary Washington) several weeks ago. I have wanted to raise this crop for more than thirty years but I never seemed to get around to it. So I decided that this was the year that I would do something about it. Ken dug a long, deep ditch next to the house next to the sunroom. Then he spread out the roots of the plants and put three to four inches of soil over them. On Thursday (April 22), he mixed some of the soil from the trench with the worm compost that he had been making this winter and spread another few inches over the plants. When they begin to emerge from the ground, he'll mound more dirt around them and then we'll add mulch to keep the weeds at bay.

In addition, I started seeds indoors. On Friday, April 16, I sowed six different types of tomato seeds--Lemon Boy, Super Sweet 100, Sungold, 4th of July, Italian Romas, and Jubilee. I have grown all of these varieties in the past except for the Italian Romas. These specific seeds were from Botanical Interests and the label on the package says that they are "an excellent old heirloom tomato used for sauce or canning and that they have firm, meaty 3 inch oblong fruits with few seeds growing on compact determinate vines."

When I went to water these tomatoes on Thursday, I noticed that all of the seeds had already germinated. Last year, the peppers would not grow and I had a feeling that it might be the peat pots that I was using. So yesterday, I decided to try growing peppers again. I planted jalapenos, anchos, and poblanos.

PURCHASES

This year I want to be more vigilant about how much I am spending on the garden. So here it goes!

Thursday, March 11

• Six packets of vegetable seeds (English Gardens): $7.80. This price includes a 30% discount.

Wednesday, March 17

• Four packets of vegetable seeds (English Gardens): $5.89. this price includes a 30% discount.

Thursday, April 1

• A pair of Woman's Work gardening gloves (English Gardens): $24.99 plus tax. However, I had a coupon for $5 off so I saved this amound off of the regular price.
• Four packages of potato seeds (English Gardens): $19.04. They were on sale for buy one get one half off. Each package was $5.99 so the two half-off packages were $2.99.
• Two packages of asparagus (English Gardens): $10.49 plus tax; They were on sale for buy one get one half off. Each package was regularly $6.99 so the half-off package was $3.50.

Friday, April 2:

• Two bags of pottting soil (Lowe's): $15.00
• Flat of 18 Violas (Westborn Market): $14.99 + tax. If I had purchased the six packs separately, I would have spent $5.99 for each one.

Friday, April 9:

• Two flats of 36 Violas each (Lowe's): $10.68 plus tax. The violas were priced at 89 cents per six pack and there were 6 six-packs per flat.

Sunday, April 25

• One 32 quart bag of Moisture Control Potting Soil (Lowe's): $8.97 plus tax

Sunday, May 2

• Four bags of Cocoa Mulch (Panetta's): $23.29

Sunday, May 9

• Bronze Sierra Planter (Lowe's): $19.97 plus tax (-10.00 discount)
• All Purpose Potting Soil (Lowe's): 2 x $3.67 = $7.34 plus tax
• Four bags of Cocoa Mulch (Panetta's): $18.00 plus tax (On Sale!)

Friday, May 14

• Four-pack of broccoli (English Gardens): $2.11

Saturday, May 14

• Four hanging baskets (Targets): $25.40 ($5.99 each)
• Four bags cocoa mulch (Panetta's): $19.07

Sunday, May 23

• Two bags of topsoil for potatoes (Lowe's): $2.50

It's April!

The first few days of April have been gorgeous. We even broke a record the other day. The high was 8o degrees and the old record was 79 degrees.

We have been cleaning out the beds since I didn't do this last fall. I prefer to let the dead stems capture leaves so that there is a cover of mulch on the ground. This is especially important during the winters when there is little insulating snow fall.

Yesterday, I planted four pots of violas. I also took Ken's old grill (he bought a new one last week) and put it in the back garden. I planted one Marguerite daisy, three trailing Lysimachia "Aurea" and six violas in it. I dug the Marguerite daisy out of the butterfly house bed and took the Lysimachias out of the pots that they were growing in last summer. After the violas die off, I will put another type of annual in that space. Ken said that he when I told him that I was going to use the grill as a planter that he didn't think that he liked the idea but after he saw it he changed his mind.

Ken and I also clipped back the butterfly bushes and the clematises. Last week I checked out the two clematises and they had no new growth. A few days later they were loaded with buds. Ken hated to cut them back but I assured him that they would be much stronger if he did.

I want to keep track of the purchases that I make. However, I think that I will use a separate posting for this.

It's Spring 2010!

The weather during the first few weeks of March has been great. It has been in the 50s and 60s during the daytime and not much cooler at night.

Actually, the weather this winter has been mild compared to the last five or six years. We have had average snowfall--most of it came during February. I know that snow can be a great insulator for the plants but I hate driving in it early in the morning.

All of the bulbs and perennials are responding to the warmth. I'm not sure if that is a good thing. Like the saying goes, "In like a lamb, out like a lion." I'm hoping that we don't get a serious cold streak that kills off the new growth.



The small bulbs near the front door are up and beginning to bloom. I took this picture yesterday and this morning I noticed that the flowers are beginning to open. The purple crocuses are also starting to open up.


Even more surprising is the fact that both of the butterfly bushes are filled with foliage. This rarely happens so early in the year.

Ken is going to take down the two brick beds--the one that is in the middle of the front yard and the one surrounding the maple tree in the back yard. The bricks will then be used to build two raised beds in the back yard. They will be used to plant vegetables such as green beans and Brussels sprouts.

I've purchased most of the seed packets that I need for vegetables and flowers. I'll also use some of the seeds that I have left over from last year. I haven't started to grow any of the vegetables under lights yet; I decided to wait until after Easter. But if the mild weather continues, I will plant lettuce and radishes later on next week.