[marthamfi]

has been a very rainy spring so of course weeds loving it! did get the yards cleaned up during the few days of sun. my roses are out and latest peonies . my hanging baskets are looking great..growing well. did get the veggie ring garden cleaned out and the tomato plants are planted w a few marigolds. just have the 3 big pots of marigolds to plant now.

even the csa was delayed a week cus of lack of sun..lettuce, radishes, green onions, kale and bok choy from there. different types..mustard greens etc too.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

It's been too hot here to do anything but I am hoping for a few cooler days this weekend. Some mulch still needs to go down, and weeds have sprung up again and need cleared first. Few more plants to get in the ground, then I can sit back and wait for things to bloom and produce.

 

[hikr00]

My peas and potatoes are doing really well. I’ve harvested a couple of pea pods and dh ate the peas and pronounced them “excellent”. I’ve got to let the rest grow a bit more.

 

[rujerro]

No rain. And sometimes it's in the 80's but it's been so cloudy that we are getting cooler temps. Plants seem to enjoy it.
The apple tree is home but not planted yet. It has grown many apples since I last saw it. We'll get it in the ground tomorrow.
The yellow raspberries are producing well and it gets all day sun. The red raspberry isn't as quick producing but it is shaded by a tree somewhat.
I wanted to plant the goji but it says to plant when it's dormant. Which means it will come in the house for winter. Good grief. That thing is like Jack's beanstalk.
I've got tomatoes growing but very green. The planter with the items I started from seed (peppers/tomatoes/onions) are sprouting well and crowded so let's see what happens. Things take a long time out here to produce.
The peaches are bending the branches. We were thinking of putting a chair to hold up the branches.

 

[marthamfi]

everything is growing though should have gotten tomatoes in earlier but had a few days of sun so they are growing. weeds of course going nuts. need to get ds to do a clean out of random maple seedlings, brambles etc. but the flowers and bushes are loving the wet weather w some sun growing big and fast.

 

[MaggieTru]

I am about to concede defeat on the gardens. still cold and rainy here which is nearly unheard of. Normally HOT and dry by now. I keep weeding and weeding what I did get planted, but the open gardens are too wet and mucky to plant more stuff! The raised beds and tiny greenhouse might be it. If I can get more of the big gardens weeded I'm just throwing out radish and other super short season things and hoping for the best. Not even planting in rows.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Some years are like that.

This year I have tomatoes coming in earlier than I can remember, and lettuce lasting longer than I thought possible, but my swiss chard is just sitting there at 2" tall. Meanwhile my onions are over, about a month early and not much larger than when I planted them. The garlic that self seeded is doing well, and the random carrots that came up are blooming and drawing bees.

 

[miteigenenhaenden]

Our harvest of strawberries, white and black currants and gooseberries is over. There are a lot of currants this year. That's good, because last year there wasn't a good harvest, so the stock was gone.
At the moment I'm still harvesting red currants and raspberries.
I harvest cucumbers, beans and peas every 2-3 days.
Gradually I can fill the storage cellar.

 

[rujerro]

The weather is all over the place- hot & steamy, dry & hot, cool and rainy........

I thought the raspberries and new apple was going to drown with some of the storms. The last time this happened, the apple sprouted yellow leaves overnight. So, I picked them off and didn't water it. It has sprouted new leaves so I guess it can handle the wild weather now.

The tomatoes love water and I have a bunch growing in their own pot.

The lemon has new leaves and usually hates water but is doing well in the storms. The heat dries it up.

The potatoes are doing better since moving them to get more sun. I guess I'll harvest those in October? I know nothing about them.

The thyme and chives have been ignored but the rain has made more grow. The lavender never sprouted.
The garlic and shallots have long sprouts but I don't know when to harvest. They are in pots and sharing space.
The peppers sprouted but no peppers......Just tall sprouts. The spinach is crowded so it's very short. I think the onions sprouted but no idea when to harvest. Alot is sharing this planter and the tomatoes in there are blossoming. it's a big slumber party going on in there.

 

[rujerro]

I've been picking the chokecherries and freezing them. I have 2 full gallon bags so far. I'll attempt to can the juice and mix it with apple juice for sweetness. Has anyone done this or canned juice from berries before?

 

[Contrary Housewife]

A friend of mine does chokecherries, but she freezes the juice. I don't think they get enough to can.

Onions and potatoes are harvested when the part above ground turns brown and starts to die. You want to dig them up if the season is wet, otherwise they start to go bad. Same with garlic. I need to get out and dig mine. I've been pulling onions to use, but I'm about to loose track of the row because the green parts are all gone. It's also time for us to put in fall crops for leafy greens, turnips, etc. Maybe, if I get a nice day when I'm not already busy.

Right now my garden is in a kind of limbo. Was too hot for anything so I've got very little right now. Teeny tiny cucumbers I'll keep an eye on, tomatoes and peppers have flowers and I hope we don't get another run of 100+ days. Garlic and onions are done. Who knows if DH's potatoes grew anything, he didn't water or weed them. The broccoli and kale haven't produced anything. It's too hot for lettuce, but it isn't dead. My chard is just sitting there 2" tall doing nothing.

The weeds, on the other hand, are magnificent.

 

[MaggieTru]

Pulled up the2 garlics the gophers hadn't eaten. Have radishes and lettuce coming on in the tiny green house and have had a steady supply of good king Henry (perennial spinach). A friend gave me some chive seed to try to get that going again, so many things just died this year and random other things came back from years of apparently being dead

 

[rujerro]

It rained a little tonight. The daytime was very hot.
I have picked 3 gallons of chokecherries so far. Will try to get another gallon this week as the berries are shriveling up.
One raspberry bush has sprouted more and is growing upwards and outwards. It's in the sun with no shelter. The other raspberry has grown upwards. I'm expecting a new crop of berries in the Fall.
The tomatoes are growing (green) with a red one on the vine. They're taking their sweet time......

 

[miteigenenhaenden]

Today will become 104 °F. I will going out this morning and see if I can find blackberries. They grow near us.

 

[MaggieTru]

have had a few days of salads from the tiny greenhouse and my wee raised bed garden. Not giant salads but oh well. The radishes in the wee greenhouse are HOT! They were "french breakfast" type seeds and I thought they would be mild. I don't mind hot, just surprised. The greens fry up nicely in my morning eggs.

 

[marthamfi]

I love the carpet of violets ..we get some but not enough. Buttercups are like dandelions get everywhere but choke things out more. After all the rain lots of heat so tomatoes are loving it. not as big as should be but that is my fault for not planting them early. some green tomatoes so far. My raspberries are all over and some can't access but stopped picking them. May take a last look today. Rained for first time in long time.

Boys did some cleanup but like pulling teeth.. actually ds has been working for someone re plumbing but on low rung so is helping clean up his house shed etc. (in nice way) I am really aren't you suppose to be doing that around here...dh is well he is getting paid..I said if we added up all the costs of living here he would still end up owing us money. ..just cus he is a normal teen boy lol needs reminder at times. dh is a softy until he is home from work for a few days. still plum trees to dig up and some maple trees etc. I go rip out morning glory every other day cus it is going nuts. but blackberries didn't seem to come or my astromaria only a few blooms.

dh got the landscape fabric for the river rock bed..thinking about a little pond or water feature..have the pond parts. dh is no but lol rest of us are yes.. research time. ds wanted a proper pond but said can't cus if someone does something stupid our fault. and the raccoons would love it too lol ds wants fish pond. I said we tried that before lol gave up. raccoons love fish.

 

[rujerro]

I picked tomatoes and quite tasty. They were advertised as "slicing tomatoes" when we bought the sprouts but are quite deformed and small. DS2 calls them heirlooms....
The Goji berry hasn't sprouted flowers or made many berries since putting it outside several months ago. The leaves turned purple, which means its stressed. So, I brought it inside and put it in its favorite window. Within hours, it grew 4 clumps of flowers-in full bloom. DH claimed it was going to do that anyways.........uh no.
With all of the rain, the tomatoes are not loving it. They love water but the monsoon is dumping a lot. The lemon plant is a different story. I changed its soil and its leaves grew back. It loves hot weather and despite all of the water being dropped, it is loving life.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Glad you are having some successes, Ruj.

Most of my plants are covering from the horrible hot streak we had a month ago, and we're getting too little rain. Half the garden is overrun by weeds, DH is likely not going to dig the potatoes he insisted on, and I'm not planting a fall crop because it would mean clearing that mess.

My sungold tomatoes are producing a handful every week. My heirlooms have finally started to set, but they are coming slow and two are starting to rot, not even ripe yet.

Peppers, on the other hand, are producing well, albeit very small fruit. I did get a mini bell, but I don't think the jalapenos were supposed to be 2". Plenty spicy though, and since I am the only one who eats them, there's enough.

Picked 2 cucumbers yesterday, one's a little over ripe, but I think we can eat them in the next 11 days.

If Sept comes in normal I think the garden will flourish.

 

[rujerro]

The peaches are huge (baseball size) and will be picked soon. We've tasted some and they are yummy......
The tomatoes that I planted from seed are producing. Very small in size.
The yellow raspberry is producing again and the nursery sold out of them.......
The apples from both trees went rotten but I hope next year is a better year.
I put up a japanese beetle trap and have caught alot of them. They were eating the leaves of the raspberries/apples and even the peaches themselves.

 

[marthamfi]

lots of green tomatoes on my bushes so hopefully will stay warm enough for them to ripen. a hole infront of the big boulder was dug and old bin put in and the landscape fabric was put down. almost all my flowers are done blooming but my big spiky bush that has grow like 2 ft this year..don't remember its name..burgundy ..has branches varigated white and purple each year. had planted it to keep out dogs. now fills out that area. everything grew a lot this year. I will get some mums later on for the front. the hanging baskets etc are still lovely so don't need flowers.