Whew! There was quite alot to do at the lotties today. The sun was shining and it was a bit hot. It was hot enough to take several breaks to sit in the shade of the parasol and sip cold water. The ground had to be prepared and furrows dug to receive the second batch of corn plants, the toms had to be pruned and fed, peas and strawberries had to be harvested again, the runners and French climbers had to be weeded, the Ceanothus had to be pruned and of course some more of the flower beds had to be cleaned. The Runner bean, "Lady Di" and it's scarlet bloom buds. Inside the hot greenhouse the toms had to be pruned. To give an idea of how I prune them. This is the first of several pruning episodes which will take place over the course of the summer months. You can also see here one plant where the "king sucker" was allowed to remain (R) and another plant where the king sucker was removed (L). The Salvia in the herb garden is blooming and it is quite lovely to see. I wasn't the only busy one at work in the lottie. Here is a honey bee taking nectar from an Astrantia.
I feel like I was out there working ya'll.Your bean blooms are so pretty and will be beans before you know it and that bee knows where to go to sip that nectar.You had a great day all in all.
Your toms are so ahead of what I have. But then it seems your weather has been so much better then ours. After Saturday I should be able to 'start' working on my garden. I can't wait to get my things in. I have corn, toms, cucumbers, Pickling cucs, some watermelon, acorn squash, pumpkins. So much to get in. I love walking thru your lottie, with all your flowers and your strawberries-mmmm, they looked sooo good. Question,--your watering system your using on your toms there, Do you use this all season long? I think I might try this on a few of my potted plants. Sounds like you had a busy day on the lottie-thanks for sharing.
NOW I see what all the fuss has been about the blooms on the runner beans! They are unlike any I've ever seen and fabulously scarlet! Always love to see photos of your lottie. Neat how you have the toms staked too. How do you decide which plant keeps the king sucker and which has it pruned off?
You are an inspiration Sjoerd . I see some plastic bottles sticking out in the second photograph . Is that your irrigation system ? If yes how often do you need to top it up and how do you ensure that the water trickles out slowly and wouldn't it be better if the bottles were dug a bit deeper ?
Your lottie's looking very attractive as always. I have a feeling I might try beans just to have those fabulous flowers. The TLC your tomatoes are getting really shows, doesn't it? Well done!
A true inspiration is what you are Sjoerd. Your lottie looks lovely. Soon you will have lovely harvest making it all worthwhile.
Thank you Glenda & Nettie. I'm glad you liked the posting. Those blooms are even prettier when they open. I shall try and remember to take a pic when they do. Petunia & Arv--I have put clear plastic tubes and in some cases large, cut-off soft drink bottles directly above the root ball. The drink bottles have a long and somewhat sharpish point to it (a nozzle, if you like) that is perforated and lets the water seep out down close to the rootball. I give rainwater through these tubes. As I had mentioned on an earlier posting, I also give water with "food" in it between the plant and the tube which is where the feeding roots are closer to the surface. Do you remember that I plant my plants horizontally? Arv, those tubes are in actuality quite deep. Of course you can't see that because about a third of the tube is underground. As for how often I give water through that tube: It totally depends upoon the weather--generally I give water once or twice a week now that it isn't too hot. The feeding of the surface roots perhaps the same or twice a week since most of the plants are in bloom. When it gets to be end June or into July and it becomes very hot and much dryer, I give water and oddo every other day. I alternate "feeding" with water. That is to say, water one time feed and water the next. It really is difficult to give you a clear and exact answer to the "topping-off" question because of the weather factor and 'signs' that I use to make the call. After a while it becomes a thing of experience. One develops this after making alot of mistakes and seeing the results of them over the years. Some guidelines that I use in making the decisions are I know that toms are voracious eaters and drinkers, (1) so when the weather is draughty they get more water and (2) as for food if the plants are growing and producing flowers AND fruit, they need more food, so every other day for food at the top ofd the production period. Some folks begin feeding only when the first fruit has apperaed so that the flowering urge of the plant will not be hampered. I personally begin giving a little bit of food in the form of MgSo4, and weak nettle tea until I see the first actual fruit then I begin giving larger doses of food. You fine-tune this guideline, but one thing with water that is of paramount importance and that is to give the same amount of water per application. Trying to give it at the same time of day also helps. If you do the watering in a willy-nilly fashion the tom fruits can become deformed and un-useable to a degree. DaisyB-- Yes, those bloombuds are gorgeous, aren't they. Wait till the other beans begin to bloom with a sort of pastel pinkish bloom, it is pretty too. I shall try and take pics later on. The choice of which plants to keep a "king sucker" on is not difficult--first of all a plant must have a king sucker to be a candidate. If it has two, I choose the larger of the two. If it has none, well....then of course that plant doesn't get one. The third factor is that some plants will not have a king sucker nurtured because of "compacting". What I mean by this is that those plants can become too congested with stems and leaves, decreasing the air flow and becomming a nice climate for the development of Phytophthora or mould 2° to moisture condensation, for example. Droopy-- are you really thinking about trying beans? Runners? I'll bet that they would do quite well up there with all the rain and extended hours of sunlight that you have. Please keep us posted if this idea comes to frutition.
Your posting must have come in as I was typing my responce to the folks that had posted overnight. Sorry. Thanks for your kind words, it's always nice to hear from you.
