[hikr00]

I planted the oregano and the mint yesterday. I’d bought another basil when I bought those as my other basil froze. Well, when I pulled the basil out of the kitchen sink to plant I discovered apparently dh must have poured a cup of water over it. I had tucked all three plants in the sink so our cat wouldn’t see them. The basil does not look good and I think it’s pretty close to drowned. I put down a pile of napkins and set the plant on that hoping the napkins will draw out some of the water? I’ve been checking it every hour or so and each time the napkins are saturated so I swap them out for dry. I’m hoping I can save the plant.

My red potatoes have started peeking above the soil. Yay! Signs of life coming from the soil. My strawberries and the Yukon gold potatoes haven’t sprouted yet. Still waiting on those.

CH your yard is gorgeous.

Zhoen did you wind up getting the planter bags?

 

[marthamfi]

got my flowering baskets.. moved some of them around. have bedding ones to plant too. dd moved some of the stones so has the rest to do and get from under bushes. my little veggie area is full of buttercups so that needs digging out.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

I love buttercups! I don't think they grow around here.

DH mowed and all the violets and false strawberry and dandelion heads are gone now. The yard looks a little less wild. I got the last board painted and the two milkweed plants in the ground. Have seen a couple of swallowtails flitting about, but haven't had my camera on me, and they move too fast anyway.

Last year's quick and easy spring project is finally coming to an end. The new strawberry bed has been built, and while it needs some settling, it looks nice. There's still a pile of debris, supports, wire, and hardware cloth to deal with, but for now it is out of sight under the deck.

Brought my seed trays up from the garage last week and put them outside. Still not a single thing has sprouted. I started more tomatoes, plus thai basil and sage. Running out of pots to put things in, using some plastic drink cups for the herbs. Meanwhile in the garden a spare piece of hardware cloth has kept the cats off the newly planted lettuce and chard, which is coming up now.

DH saw some old sprouting potatoes I was going to toss and said he wanted to plant them. I said he could dig the holes. He said maybe we could plant in a barrel, and I told him we could buy 10lbs of potatoes for less than one bag of soil.....

Still need to fix the hose, I'm going to nag DH right now....

View of the garden. Strawberries (and lilac bushes) on right. You can see my new pavers leaning on a post and a bag of topsoil for the bed. Strawberries and garlic growing everywhere. Peas are up in the raised bed on the far left. There's a row of onions next to it.

Ground view of the new bed.

 

[renmerc446]

Yesterday's first community garden work day got pushed off until next Saturday due to weather. It was too wet and windy (and cold!!) to do anything. This will allow me to start working on my own plot this week, though. The weather should be warming up and the garden is on the way home from work. On the other hand, next Saturday was a steampunk fair that I was planning on going to. I was already wondering about going or not. I'm sure a lot of people will probably end up going since this is the first in-person one in two years. (They had virtual ones in 2020 and 2021.) I'm still a little leary about large indoor crowds.

 

[renmerc446]

Got into the garden this afternoon, after work. Well, I dropped off my form and fee to the garden coordinator this morning. Haven't bought anything to plant yet but I have to get the ground cover out and the plot ready to go. I can pick plants up from the farmer's market this upcoming weekend or next week. I'm planning on putting more strawberry plants (the opportunistic plants are most gone) and some herbs for the end I tend to not use as much in the past. Especially perennials.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

It's been 92 two days in a row now, with high humidity, but since these are our first hot days it hasn't been too bad yet. All the moisture hasn't been baked out of the ground yet. I went out this evening to water the seedlings that got put in over the weekend. Tripped over a cinderblock end post on the new bed, bruised my ankle. Going to need a way to mark that so I don't keep doing that.

 

[rujerro]

I put all of our plants in buckets and they are on the back porch. We've got tomatoes, oregano, strawberry, blueberry, wolfberry and a planter that's sprouting onions, tomato, and marigolds (to keep bugs away). The wine barrel is sprouting basil, thyme, and carrots. I'm still waiting for the potatoes to bud and then they'll be planted in a bucket. I'm really trying hard this year to grow something.

The peach tree is full of peaches and the apple tree may or may not produce. It did bloom, however.

The apple sprig (a year old) was uprooted and placed in a bucket. We'll decide where to plant it. The most room is in the front lawn, near the driveway. DH prefers it against the house, in the rocks. It could be placed in the middle of the back yard but DH likes his lawn.....

The indoor lemon plant has many lemons on it and is making more flowers. It did lose most of its leaves so we're not sure what it will do. There was a cottony clump on it, which I removed. I tried to figure out what it was and maybe it was some type of aphid, although it never came back and I didn't see any insects on it.

 

[renmerc446]

Got a little bit done in the garden yesterday but it started to rain again. Haven't planted anything but I hope to get something in the ground next week. Even if it's just a few plants while I work on cleaning up the rest of the plot.

The second half of the plot, where I've rarely planted anything in the past, I hope to plant perennial herbs. This way I won't have to worry about planting anything on a yearly basis. Will have to deal with the weeds, though.

 

[hikr00]

My potatoes are coming up and the peas look good. The strawberries do not seem to be doing a thing so they may be a bust for this year.

I did find a chamomile plant Yesterday and will plant that today. My other herbs are doing ok. I did lose another basil and I bought a replacement yesterday.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Hikr, if you just planted strawberries they may not fruit the first year, they'll be developing roots and leaves. They go through a multi-year cycle of maturing, fruiting, sending runners out to create daughter plants, etc. Ideally you'll have a bed with lots of plants in various stages. They love water and sun, and you need to keep weeds out.

Rujerro, if the apple tree is that young and you moved it, it may not produce fruit this year. Plants generally don't like being moved when they are blooming or fruiting, it stresses them.

I think our rain has stopped. Hope to get some planting done today.

OK, editing this to say I got some plants in the ground. First, more weeding, cut grapevines and tree seedlings that have sprung up. Pulled lots of dandelion and violets out of the soft soil. Put in the first 3 bell peppers, a miniature variety. Noticed my 2nd round of peas is coming up.

Had a break for lunch, planted some cucumber seed and shishito peppers. Should be warm enough for them to sprout this week. Went out and, with help from one of the porch cats, planted 3 yellow tomatoes. Pushed cages into the ground for them. Need DH's help to get them firmly set before summer. Should buy a few more heavy cages this year.

 

[hikr00]

CH, thank you. This is the first year I’ve planted them so maybe it’s just what you said. I’ll keep watering them and keep an eye on them for weeds and see how it goes. Today was kind of gloomy so except for watering my plants I didn’t plant the basil and chamomile. Tomorrow I hope!

 

[rujerro]

CH- The apple sprig is quite small and I believe it has to be 4-5 years old to produce. It's up to my knee but leafy. The other apple tree is 5 years old now and was in bloom but I couldn't get to the neighbor to grab their blooms and pollinate. The neighbors weren't home and the son tried to help using the Ring doorbell and coordinate all of it but it just didn't work out.

DS2 has been trying to water the plants but misses some. And boy, were they dry and wilted. I hope I got to them in time.

The planter has sprouts but I have no idea what they are....I first planted seeds and then it snowed..I waited 2 months and planted more and have no idea how this will turn out. I got a potato bag and will buy potatoes and put in water so they sprout. Then in the bag they go. The weatherman says that snow can be in the forecast, so don't be surprised...Whaaa?!

The goji has really got long branches. As in feet....I told DH it could probably go in the ground since it's getting big but he is cautious. So, I put a wire cage around it to try to prop up the branches but they hang over the cage.

I'm sowing carrots, cabbage and beans today. I have extra buckets. I want to attempt garlic and tobacco but have to see when to sow them.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Ruj, I hope the plants survived. The apple trees might be too small to fruit even if they got pollinated. When they are small the weight of the fruit can break branches off.

I saw the crazy forecast for snow in the mountains. Strong, very low pressure front expected to come through this weekend. Bring in the pots, cover everything else. They're saying we could have temps in the 50's Saturday. That would be fantastic, as we have much work to do and it's been very warm.

I'm expecting hurricane season to be bad this year. Not only are we having these strong fronts across the plains, but the gulf currents are shaping up with warmer water, which means stronger storms. The oceanographic experts are saying it looks a lot like it did the year Katrina hit.

Garlic is planted in the fall, after first freeze, but before it's solidly winter. For us that is sometime in November. It needs to be cold, and will come up in the spring when the ground starts to warm. Mine is over a foot tall already.

Today I got the last of the wildflowers planted, including the one I bought last year and kept in a pot all year. It's hardy, I like that. I also put in a packet of wildflower seed I got for free. Given my luck with seeds this year I'm not expecting much. Some more peas came up, and one of DH's spuds. We really need to get newspaper/cardboard and straw down to prevent weeds and keep the tomatoes mulched. I'm going out tomorrow to see who has straw for sale.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

I got the straw earlier this week but it has been in my car due to weather. Price went up from 6.50 to 8.50 this year. DH moved it this morning and I got started laying it down. Been saving newspaper ads since early this year. I put layers of paper on the ground and straw on top. It seems to work well for weed control here. Thought I had enough newsprint, but nope, will have to grab some of the freebie advertising papers next time I go out.

Went out and got started on the newspaper and straw. Noticed the peas were producing so I picked a small handful of those. Saw we had a lot of strawberries, so I started picking those. Over a pint already and I only did 1/3 of the garden. Going to send DH out for more. Cleaned up some of the mess left from the old strawberry garden, put edging away under the deck, the pvc piping, rolled up the old hardware cloth, etc. for use later. Planted my 3 jalapenos and watered them with rainwater from buckets that had been left out.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

More work today. Started easy by potting up the starter geraniums into larger planters on the deck. Decided it's well past time for my lemongrass to have come back and dug it out in favor of the basil that was outgrowing its pot. Tended to everything else and washed out the foam cooler that's been housing the geraniums these past weeks.

Porch cat showed up and was meowing so I went to see what was going on with her. She brought lunch and wanted to share.

Went down to the garden and planted the last 2 peppers. Watered them, and dumped a bag of garden soil into the bed. We had been meaning to add to it every year but haven't in a while. Was going to do more newspaper mulching but saw tons of strawberries that needed picking, so started in on that. DH came out and helped. Have half a gallon in the sink.

Too hot now. Might go out later if I have the energy.

 

[hikr00]

My potatoes and peas are coming along. Still no sign of the strawberries though. Debating whether to be patient or whether to just get another plant and start over.

 

[renmerc446]

Got some more weeding done on my plot this morning before it got too hot. I doubt I'll get any more done tomorrow since it's going to be even hotter than it was today. At least I have enough done to plant more things this coming Saturday, once I get some from the farmer's market.

 

[rujerro]

I finally planted some potatoes. It was raining so I just got a little done in a small pot and a bag (not seen in photo). I took this picture at night.

 

[MaggieTru]

I have given up planting for a couple weeks. Just too wet! It is deep muck. Corn/beans/squash area is on along with potatoes and I may lose it all to the rain. Hope we have a warm fall or I get nothing but radishes.

 

[rujerro]

We decided to walk through a local nursery to enjoy nature. I had no intention of buying anything....But then I saw all those gorgeous fruit trees/berry bushes........I got 2 raspberry bushes (fall gold and coho red) and we planted one but the other is going to stay in its pot until an arborist comes out....

I contacted 2 arborists to grind down a stump and tell me if walnut trees are growing in that corner...Once I hear an opinion, if we must get rid of the saplings, then I'll see if we can plant the other raspberry bush there (i hear that black walnuts are not friendly with other plants).