What have you done today in the Garden?

Mel.. your veggie garden will be wonderful. Your planting all my favs and especially like dill… it smells wonderful…

marlin.. your planting will help fill the the food bank. They are always short on fresh veggies here.

Jewel.. I just picked up some of the cardboard I put down over paths in winter. Lot’s of worms underneath.

 

We picked our first leaf lettuce. Anyone want to guess what the dinner's salad will be tonight?

 

@Melody Mc. you will be busy until the snow falls with such a bounty of produce in the ground. The grocery stores pale in comparison

@Pacnorwest be careful walking on that cardboard. It can be slippery. I love this method though and am a huge fan. Laid more today and dig so much less now.

 

Planted 3 variety of beets. Got the planter ready for the planting of the strawberries tomorrow.

 

The tomatoes are planted!







Heirlooms:

Reusentraube, a big heirloom German cherry or saladette type. Bushy growth.

BrandyFred. Brandywine flavor in a dwarf. Very dark, very big tomatoes.
Muliagul moon. Pale yellow dwarf. (new to me)
Chocolate Champion. very dark dwarf. (New to me)
New Big Dwarf. heirloom, big pink beefsteaks like Ponderosa but dwarf habit.
Livingston Dwarf Stone. I think, red medium size tomatoes. heirloom.
Livingston Improved Dwarf Champion. Pink- ish, medium size tomatoes. heirloom.
Extreme Dwarf. Very early, very small plant, a German heirloom.
Puck. Should be a small plant, saladette type red fruits. New to me.
Dwarf Eagle Smiley. Should be dwarf red cherry tomatoes. Already blooming. New to me.
Ukraine Purple. No dwarf. Roma shaped very dark tomatoes, heirloom. Very tasty.
Dwarf Golden Champion - medium size fruit, golden, heirloom.

Roma VF. Heirloom sauce tomatoes.

Plus two hybrids -
Supremo, also paste type, for comparison.
Early Girl Bush - multiple disease resistant, red, medium size, determinate. One year this was really great, another year not so good.

The cardboard mulch is for weed prevention, keeping soil moist, and preventing wilt fungus spores from splashing on leaves.

I still need to re-install the drip irrigation. It will be 1 gal/hour drippers.

I think I'll construct a horizontal above ground trellis for the plants to grow through. I need to think that out.

Also planted a row of late potatoes.

 

Thanks Jewell. We rely heavily on our veggie garden to supply us for the year. And at times like this when access to town is not a great option.

Can I ask about the cardboard? I first heard of this on the Stew from a post by Logan. I usually put lawn clippings ( major amounts) in my walking pathways between rows of veg to stave off weeds, and then til it into the garden in the fall. This isn't great for the rows around the beets, any greens such as lettuce, and chard. The clippings get everywhere.

I was going to use cardboard around the greens this year, but I'm wondering a few things. I wonder if you and maybe @Pacnorwest can share your experience with it.

I won't be putting anything over top of it ( no bark or mulch), so how to keep it anchored? Or does it do that itself once it is wet? ...and do slugs love having it there to hide under? ( they sure love my lawn clippings). And lastly what to do with it in the fall ( my season is so short)...I was wondering if I could pull it apart and put it in the compost but I'm not sure how long it would take to break down?

 

What a great tomato garden Daniel. Those raised beds and the dwarf tomatoes will be wonderful for you. As per my previous post....how do you find the cardboard stays in place?

 

@Melody Mc. I have been using cardboard for probably decades now (ouch, that was hard to say). Cardboard will blow away if your area is windy. My areas of plantings are sheltered and naturally wet. I usually start layering cardboard in the fall for paths. Since it is wet it stays in place, but can be very slippery to walk on. I use red cedar mulch on top of it in the spring so it looks better. I have found the cedar mulch keeps the slugs at bay. I think it cuts their bodies until the bark starts to break down. Any where there is a slug/snail problem red cedar mulch seems to be the remedy. The cardboard and turf breaks down and disappears in less than a year, smothering most weeds (in my area with lots of moisture). Bindweed will travel under it so I don’t use cardboard where it is present. Dandelions are usually super easy to pull if they come up through the cardboard and mulch. All of my new beds are always created with lays of turf, cardboard and things others might compost. I don’t have compost beds, I just use my garden areas layered with yard waste, cardboard and mulch. I don’t know how it will work in your climate, but you can experiment to see.

https://www.gardenstew.com/threads/some-significant-changes-in-the-woodland-garden.41098/ Old paths created with cardboard and later mulched.

You might find “no till gardening” interesting for your needs.

 

This week I am using cardboard to create flower beds in rocky weedy area. No dig just cardboard with mulch on top. It’s in the front of the house so I felt obligated to add mulch. I will plant nasturtiums in the mulch and scarlet runner beans in the bare soil along the fence line. Will see how successful it is later.

 

Just had a wander around today.

Yesterday, I scarified the front lawn (what there is of it) and applied some more iron sulphate, just to make sure the last of the moss has died. It'll start to green up now.
The azaleas are beginning to come out and the "lollypop" acer is thriving despite losing about a foot all round as it does each year.




Some of the plants suffered from that really cold spell in February, like this mayleen clematis over the front door.
Not much of a "cascade" this year, it's doing its best but the new growth is taking its time. Some of last year's died off.




The "unloved" roses in the "alley of shame" where they get little sun are doing well. No sign of blackspot...yet.
The two mayleen clematis are in flower, but there's not many.





This wisteria has been a disappointment. After producing dozens of flower buds this year, most have died off.
It can't have been short of available water, but maybe it was too much effort to draw up enough, given the length.

I may reduce it back to just past the kitchen side window. I'll have a think about that.




This is our Amber clematis. It was expensive when we bought it three years ago but worth it.





The blue azaleas on the two pergolas are in flower, but not as prolific as in other years. Again I think affected by the freeze. The ones that cascade on the garage pergola are a bit disappointing. The roses on the patios are doing well.




The azalea "forest" next to the French widows are approaching the top of the fence.






The phlox and unwanted grass on the rockery are doing well.






In contrast, the white wisteria will be the best it has ever been. It will eventually reach both ends of the pergola.






The lawn is recovering. The dark patches to the left is where I've applied more iron sulphate.





This is our oldest azalea, it must be eight feet tall.





This wisteria is a bit of a disappointment, I guess the freeze got to that a bit too.
The one on the side fence is not yet out.






This rhodo is always the first to flower. They were unaffected by the freeze, I've not noticed any buds with frost damage.






I've been waiting ten years for these azaleas to hide the sambucus' pot! They aren't making much of an effort.

 

Hi Mel! We've both been very busy. I hope we both see lots of tasty fruits of our labors.

The high raised beds are pretty much necessary for me now if I'm going to continue gardening. They make it so much easier. They can be a lot of work to build or repair, but I'm learning. The height helps me very much.

As for cardboard, I hold it down with rocks or metal fenceposts. I know they are not beautiful. I should run the drip irrigation lines before the cardboard, but they are on order so the cardboard went in first. I'll run the drip lines and emitters under the cardboard in a week or two.

The cardboard starts deteriorating by fall. Especially under the rocks. I just collect the cardboard sheets and put them in the compost. I don't tear them up, just cover with weeds and grass clippings etc. They compost as fast as leaves do.

I have slugs with or without cardboard so
I use lots of sluggo.

Today - I might start squash and zucchini and snow pea seeds. Maybe four o'clocks and marigolds, too.

 

Encouraged the feral bunny to move back across the street. This is one of 4 resident feral bunnies that live on our corner. There is also one roaming bunny we assume is a male. It was pruning my phlox and black eyed Susan’s planted by the front gate. No great loss.

The kind hearted neighbor across the street feeds them, but their life expectancy is short. None of last summers resident bunnies survived, except the roaming male bunny. Their lack of car smarts appears to be their demise. I used to let them be in my yard until I read how they can over populate quickly. Since then I have bunny proofed much of the yard and the raised veggie beds.

 

Nothing today it's raining and i went to see my friend Marion.

 

Good afternoon to all Gardenstew friends…after catching up on all the posts …Holly Moley lookin at all your beautiful blooms, veggie gardens and so many master gardeners sharing beautiful gardens and all the mighty green thumbs among your all…so happy to see all your contributions.
Made my day,,,,YEAP…

Not a whole lot bloomin here yet. The wisteria have a few buds as the rhody’s and azaleas… will see some sunshine and warmth coming next week , should have some blooms to share.

The faithful rosemary is blooming..lost half the plant this year due to unusual ice/snow storms .



For.. DoghouseRiley This Sambuxus is very old a large tree in fact. I have pruned away half the canopy the past couple of years because it was adding to much shade in areas that needed sun. So the canopy looks a bit skinny . It’s a very tough plant . Its trunk is 34”in diameter and 25’ -30’ high. Lots of blooms and berries yearly for the birds.


Riley …I adore all your acer palmatums they are all well taken care of and you have given them lot’s of TLC over the years.
The pic below is the tiniest tri-color dwarf thread leaf acer palmatum and is leafing out.. it’s over 25 years old and only 4’tall.
I think it had to much coffee and somehow stunted it’s growth.. ole wives tale.. I;ve never seen another this old and small.




Just cherry tree’s blooming. The wind blows off the flower petals and now I have a pink driveway…
Looking up thru the tree ..blue skies today.


And another acer palmatum laceleaf.


Another understory Japanese maple just leafing out.


Hope everyone enjoyed the Maple trees. As much as I enjoyed all your gardens and plants.
And the band plays on….

 

Daniel—Such a good variety of toms you have going there. Congrats on getting them in. You are going to have an enormous amount of toms to process and eat. Your raised beds look smart. Very tidy and orderly.

Such beautiful pics, Pac. Everything just looks so good there.