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The state of the garden
(Not to be confused with the Garden State.)
As is usual with the garden, there's good news and bad news.
As seems to be true at least throughout the northeast this year, lots of stuff is about three weeks earlier than normal. the most striking example is the strawberries is the strawberries, which started to set fruit several weeks ago; yesterday, I noticed that not only were some of them turing quite pink, but that, even though none were ripe enough for human consumption, chunks had been pecked out of several. So we put the straw mulch down and the netting on -- on June 1st! Strawberry feasts should start within the week, if the weather cooperates.
The (snap and snow) peas are also covered with blossoms. The new place (much more sun) seems to agree with them.
The wood poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) that we put in last year has grown enormously ("1.5 feet tall" my ass!) and spread so much that we're having to move all the things planted too close to it. And after we thought it was done blooming, it's started all over again.
A couple of the tomatoes didn't make it, but the rest look pretty good, and as usual we have more than enough of them.
The lettuce, however, is very sparse this year, and the beets that I planted in late April and early May never came up. Both lettuce and beets are from last year's seeds, which might be the problem, although the peas are also last year's. I planted some more beet seeds on Monday, so we'll see.
Annuals started from seed have been disappointing. This is the second year in a row that I've attempted Salvia patens, which are not easy to find; it's also the second year in a row that they haven't done well -- of a dozen or so seedlings (some dark blue, some sky blue) only four have survived (none of the sky blue), and they don't look good. The cosmos, California poppies, and two of the five varieties of zinnias (all sown in place outdoors) have germinated poorly or not at all; I'm going to start some more in flats, just in case.
We bought a bunch of annuals (and some more perennials -- I'm especially happy with the two kinds of blue-purpl;e geraniums, although I'll be less happy if they don't make it to next year; they were expensive). We still have holes that will need to be filled.
We got a couple of thousand dill volunteers (well, perhaps I exaggerate, but perhaps not). We're not going to lack for dill or mint. Quite a few cilantro volunteers, too; I hope they don't bolt as quickly as they did last year.
It's time to stop typing about this stuff and start doing some of it.
As is usual with the garden, there's good news and bad news.
As seems to be true at least throughout the northeast this year, lots of stuff is about three weeks earlier than normal. the most striking example is the strawberries is the strawberries, which started to set fruit several weeks ago; yesterday, I noticed that not only were some of them turing quite pink, but that, even though none were ripe enough for human consumption, chunks had been pecked out of several. So we put the straw mulch down and the netting on -- on June 1st! Strawberry feasts should start within the week, if the weather cooperates.
The (snap and snow) peas are also covered with blossoms. The new place (much more sun) seems to agree with them.
The wood poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) that we put in last year has grown enormously ("1.5 feet tall" my ass!) and spread so much that we're having to move all the things planted too close to it. And after we thought it was done blooming, it's started all over again.
A couple of the tomatoes didn't make it, but the rest look pretty good, and as usual we have more than enough of them.
The lettuce, however, is very sparse this year, and the beets that I planted in late April and early May never came up. Both lettuce and beets are from last year's seeds, which might be the problem, although the peas are also last year's. I planted some more beet seeds on Monday, so we'll see.
Annuals started from seed have been disappointing. This is the second year in a row that I've attempted Salvia patens, which are not easy to find; it's also the second year in a row that they haven't done well -- of a dozen or so seedlings (some dark blue, some sky blue) only four have survived (none of the sky blue), and they don't look good. The cosmos, California poppies, and two of the five varieties of zinnias (all sown in place outdoors) have germinated poorly or not at all; I'm going to start some more in flats, just in case.
We bought a bunch of annuals (and some more perennials -- I'm especially happy with the two kinds of blue-purpl;e geraniums, although I'll be less happy if they don't make it to next year; they were expensive). We still have holes that will need to be filled.
We got a couple of thousand dill volunteers (well, perhaps I exaggerate, but perhaps not). We're not going to lack for dill or mint. Quite a few cilantro volunteers, too; I hope they don't bolt as quickly as they did last year.
It's time to stop typing about this stuff and start doing some of it.
no subject
Hope you can correct this situation.
no subject
I'm not sure what the story is with the Cosmos. We used to have great success with them, but in recent years they haven't done well. This year I planted different varieties than in the past.
A catalogue I was looking at a few years ago, to emphasize how easy Cosmos are, included the line "If you can't grow Cosmos, consider taking up golf". I'm not planning on taking this advice.
no subject
We would water plants with hoses and sprinklers at the farm; it never seemed to rain much from the beginning of June to Labor Day. The gardens would never have flourished had we not done so.
no subject