Today’s shot:
After the ground had been moistened by rain, this weeding job was surprisingly easy and did not take long. Very satisfying results. Ready for mulch!
Today’s shot:
Okay, wow. The tomatoes are to the tops of their cages already! I am delighted to see all the yellow blooms. I guess a little compost and rain go a long way!
This photo is from June 12:
While we’re on a depressing subject, check out the leaves on the young oak tree growing in our front sunny flower bed.
From what I’ve found/read, these appear to be galls, which the tree produces in defense to some kind of bug. Ryan sprayed the tree with fruit-tree spray (insecticide, fungicide, aphicide, miticide, scalicide) when he took care of our fruit trees on Sunday. If we spray it on the fruit tree schedule, will that help put an end to this? I understand future galls can be prevented, but already existing ones will never go away.
If you know more, please leave a comment. Click image for larger view.
I’m watching one of my six eggplants die right before my eyes. Every day I look at it, it seems another leaf is wilted and drying. This is alarming! Will it spread? What is it? Bummer.
You will see the plant on the right appears fine so far, along with four others.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the freshly-transplanted perennials in their new home, but I am happy to report there is a little bit of blooming going on. This pleases me, and keeps me checking the beds almost daily!
I admit I’m not much of a photographer, but I managed to catch this dragonfly posing in my peas.
Click on the photo to see a neat close-up! =)
(See red onions in background.)
Well, I am happy to report I am very pleased with the garden’s progress so far. The almost-daily rain and hot days have really started things growing!
Here you will see the scarlet runner beans are about to latch onto the fencing, and the tomatoes are nearly to their 2nd rung on the cages.
I’m sure anyone that planted tomatoes this spring is thankful that they did, in light of the recent salmonella outbreak announced on Sunday. Hmmm… kinda glad we took the time to remove all that raw manure from the garden!
I have to share my amazement at learning hands-on that seed planted early does not necessarily beat seed planted on time. The rationale for seed-planting guidelines is so painfully obvious when you yourself observe the large % of seeds that do not sprout with cool evenings and cold ground.
My advice is to definitely wait for warmth. Your seeds then magically sprout instead of rot, and produce volumes of plants instead of only around 30% of what you expect.
I suppose the opposite view is that seeds are cheap and if you get some early plants, it’s nice to have early vegetables. I guess you would then have to weigh the value of your time to the value of the earlier harvest. I can say it was fairly easy for me to re-seed the bare areas of my planted rows with fresh seed.
All I know is that next year, I’m not going to bother trying to out-perform my planting zone. =)
(Update: See photo – I originally planted 7 seeds in this cucumber mound, of which only 1 sprouted. After warmer weather arrived, I added 4 seeds… which you see ALL grew!)