Friday, June 21, 2013

Garden Work Continues


My hand-carved good luck Pike pin.


Night time of -

-the IKEA lanterns in the oak tree - fun

The Alpine strawberry border by the front walk.

The blueberry Earthbox plant.

The quinoa looks just like a weed - will see what the results are.


Cucumbers on the trellis and lettuce underneath.

The greenhouse cucumber soon should have fruit.

The lettuce inter planted with the parsnips after thinning to a few seedlings

My sliver maple bonsai is looking good this year.

Two events have made it difficult to get a new entry done - I went to Canada fishing for 10 days and that gave seedling care to Susan who did a wonderful job; and we tore up one bathroom  and put new flooring in the entire house!  This has made getting caught up challenging but we are finally there - I think.
The blueberries are doing fair - one has died but the others are growing nicely in the Earthboxes.  I have peppers planted in another Earthbox and I have enough plants to plant another container.  The spinach in the cold frames did not do too well this season but we are eating it anyways.  I have built two new frames and will have almost the same sq ft space that I had in the old hoop house and the cold frames are so much easier to manage.
The parsnips are up and I did the first thinning of them. The lettuce that was inter planted in the garlic and onions is now ready along with the lettuce that was planted in the with the parsnips.  I planted leeks in trenches and got a nice seeding of red stemmed dandelions ( endive) that the bunnies are really attracted to.  Cayenne pepper dusting's will keep them away until those pesky rabbits get too big to get through the fence.  I started to install a 7 in piece of plastic fencing to protect the bottom of the fence and try to discourage the young bunnies from getting into the yard - we will see how effective this measure.
Apple bagging is in full swing and I have done over 200 bags to date.  The trees did not seem to have many flowers this year - especially my 7 on one tree.  I pruned this spring correctly and that tree should have had flowers but it really does not have much fruit set - so who knows what's going on.  I do have some insect damage but I have bagged that fruit anyway.  I think I will have at least another 200 bags and then I will have the trees done.
The tomatoes were strung up today and I have not planted as many as in the past.  I have four rows and about 8-10 plants per row.  Cucumbers are on the trellis and I have one plant in the green house that will have fruit in less than 2 weeks. I have some squash planted and I hope to get the beans started soon and then the garden will almost be done. I do not direct seed beans but plant them in peat pots so I can position the bean poles and then plant the beans. The flower beds have mostly been planted and last years strawberry border in the font of the house is really nice this year - I really like those Alpine strawberry plants - now lets hope the robins leave them alone...
Happy Gardening