What have you done today in the Garden?

Thank you Sjoerd.

 

Today I planted two more clumps of bush beans, that had germinated later than the others. Also the "replacement" snow peas. Then I installed irrigation tape for the rows of beans, peas, and garlic.



In 2022, that area was squash. I had not removed the black plastic mulch until two weeks ago. The soil under the plastic was quite dry but easy to work and, almost, weed-free.

Here are the squashes this year, in a different area. Same plastic mulch.



The slicing / fresh eating, mostly open pollinated, dwarf, tomato plants are looking nice. The cardboard mulch helps tremendously. The drip emitters and tubing are under the cardboard.


The cooking tomatoes also look pretty good.



The "extra" tomato plants look OK but not as good. Maybe I didn't fertilize them. I'll fix that tonight. On the right, three rows of Echinacea plants.



The garlic is tall and sturdy.



The onions don't look so great. But it's only 3 June. Maybe the'll rally. I just completed their drip lines, after this photo.



I think the peppers look OK so far. As with the onions, they have an entire summer ahead of them.



The other peppers were planted a bit earlier, and look better. On the right are onions, overwintered to produce seeds. behind y
that planter, are raspberries in bloom. Lots of bees, thank goodness!



Now that drip lines are in place, 90 minutes of watering each evening is down to 10 minutes. That helps a lot.

 

Hi Daniel— it is interesting reading about your drip irrigation, and paper mulching. My Bride wants to know how come you did not also put something on op of the cardboard...like compost or some such.

Those professional containers really are working out well, aren’t they. Most of what you have planted are looking good. You must be one chuffed boy.

Those scrawny tom extra’s are a puzzle. It will be interesting to see how they respond to the feeding. Poor things.

 

@Sjoerd, I don't think there is a need to cover the cardboard, except to hide it. By itself, it prevents weeds, cools the soil a bit, keeps the water in the drip lines from heating up in the sun, and prevents splashing of fungal disease spores onto the tomato leaves. Last year I tried butcher paper, which looks a bit nicer. It degraded too quickly. The cardboard lasts a season, then is composted. The dollar cost is zero.

Im still a beginner when it comes to drip irrigation. It really saves me a lot of hard work during the summer. It doesn't rain here from about mid May until late September (guessing). I think the drip systems are frugal with water, too. Especially with a sheet mulch such as cardboard or plastic. It beats hauling around a watering bucket or heavy hoses.

Now I have a timer on the system. I turn it on, set it for an hour, and walk away. However, those little red sprinklers only need ten or fifteen minutes.

The downsides are learning curve, cost, and all that plastic. And the effort of installing. The main lines have lasted three years. I hope the new emitters, I installed over the past weeks, last a few years too. One consideration is, some crops have individual emitters - like tomatoes, peppers, and bush or tree crops. Others use row emitters, like onions, beans, anything grown close together in rows.

I should start a topic about drip irrigation...

 

Pruned this viburnum in the front garden. I don't like it getting too tall or "bullying" the acers and rhodos. It would if I allowed it and it would prevent their growth.



Dead-headed another rhodo.



Gave this acer a haircut. Took about four or five inches off it all the way round with garden shears. It'd be huge by now if I didn't do it at least twice a year.



Gave all three acers a mist spray at 3.00pm. They need it when it's hot, otherwise some of the leaves can go a bit "crispy."
Everything will get another water tonight.

Vacced up more wisteria blossom.

Given my other hobbies,now I'm wondering how I coped with looking after a koi pool as well as all his.

 

Did a lot of watering.

 

Finished leveling and placing pavers by the front gate. Think it is finally finished and it has better accessibility to the mailbox. Got a bin and several grocery bags of mini Iris cleaned and planted as well as assorted perennials from the area my son wants to turn into lawn. Should go and get another haul but sitting and thinking about it for the moment. Need to determine which areas to plant and with what.

 

Finished up the perennial seed starts finally.

 

Good posting, Daniel. I do not expect to use drip lines on the lottie because they are prohibited in the club and serious dryness has not yet become a problem here, but I do find them interesting. I always enjoy reading your comments concerning their use.

 

Weed whacked one batteries worth. Watered and then went for a walk.

 

Planted more cuke seeds.

 

Started planting up 3 tubs with 3 standard fuchsias, snapdragons because i have a lot of them and mexican fleabane. I'll do some pics when I've finished them all.

I used to have soaker hose around the garden but wasn't sure how well they worked so eventually i pulled them up.

 

Just a bit of dead-heading of the roses today.
They've put on a reasonable show but I think that very cold spell in February put them back a bit. Three older ones look very sorry for themselves, one on this patio and two I've put behind the shed a bit out of sight.

They all have huge root clumps.

They may be replaced if they don't recover, I'll get some bare root ones from David Austin at the end of the year













I've opened a file and taken photos of those in each pot, so I can decide if any need moving about or "relegating" to the side of the drive at the end of the year. Easier that way than writing down the names on the labels, those that still have them.

 

The yellow cherry tomatoes are finally producing! I picked some to have with our lunch quiche. Also tied up more of the Roma tomatoes. Gosh, we are going to have a LOT of Romas!
Checked the cucumber vines. By the looks of the flowers, the cucumbers are in competition with the Romas for being prolific.
I harvested parsley, lemon thyme and regular thyme and hung them to dry.

 

Did a lot of weeding, there's a lot of Cleavers that grow up and over other plants, also a lot of docks that are going to seed which isn't good.