its been almost a month? really?

I spend all my winters in anticipation of summer and it disappears before my eyes.

Lets get this out of our system ahead of time. This will not be a spectacular year, it will be another year of lessons.

There is too much of a good thing. that being rain 5 of the last 7 days in july and 17 of 30 days in june. And even when it was only a few drops it has been overcast. Things are moving sllllloooowly. I should really consider adding another row of boards to the raised beds which only sit about 4-6 inches above ground height.

I am willing to try starting peas on st patrick's day again, but only if they are pre-sprouted. It took forever for them to germinate.

I should start my curcurbits in pots first. The soil just does not get warm enough early enough to get them going, I am going to end up with a lot of things just getting in under the wire if at all.

Slugs are a serious issue now. A duck is unfortunately out of the question.

Garlic spray is a great japanese beetle deterrant, I haven't seen them since.

I should have planted trees years ago.

fried beet chips are a reason to get out of bed in the morning!

My frontyard bed definitely needs more organic matter.

I need more grape vines.

The black tips on the kiwi is likely a water issue, too little I think, and with the rain I have not seen any since.

Playing Catch up

Wow...were to start, things went well at work.

On the stead, 100% of the potatoes have pushed through, I found the bed much easier to work this year, though not as nice as the one thats 4 years old. I can reach into that with my bare hand and get to my wrist with little effort, and come up with a fistfull of worms and chunks of various bits of stuff alive and dead.

I made my first "50 foot" salad last weekend. Arugula, butterhead, and oakleaf lettuce. Very good, nice and tender. On memorial day I grabbed some more arugula, picked up a couple pears and a block of parmisan cheese and made this.


On Monday I transplanted some cukes, nasturtiums, and melons into empty spots in the lettuce patch. Looks like the arugula is done for the season. And something has chewed on 5 of the six broccoli almost to the point of defoliation, but thankfully I found good leaves growing back, so I think they'll be ok. But I found that some of these were ready which made my day. Have you ever seen such gorgeous radishes?


I started corn, black eyed peas and shelling beans.

I noticed something a little disconcerting with the female kiwi vine. Black on the edges of some of the new growth, as shown here.

A search has not turned up any plausible results. I had several shoots coming off last years's growth, so I trimmed this one, and have not seen any others succumb to its fate, but I would like to know what is happening, because it killed a male vine last year. (the replacement however is doing just fine.)

I just realized the other pictures are on other cameras, so I'll save for other posts, but I will leave you with this parting shot, the first and likely last real picture of yours truly that will show up here.



Oh did I mention we had 5 yards of stone delivered for the walkway, and 6 yards of much for the ...um mulching? I did a lot of shoveling. And no my hand is not missing, It was a chilly evening.

More props

At the risk of becoming some kind of advertisement I feel it necessary to pat another company on the back. Miller Nurseries, find their site here. The person who answered the phone was not some untrained receptionist but was actually quite familiar with the problem I have been having with my male kiwi vine, and even though I did not have any sales receipt or my customer number on hand, she was able to find my information and verify that the vine was in fact purchased this spring so its still guaranteed, no further questions asked, their shipping another dormant vine next spring.

The pawpaw trees I got from them and the female vine are doing well by the way, so I have no problems whatsoever feeling confident that when its time to start the fruit orchard next spring, I will be calling them.

Scratch that!

this weekend I was going to dig out the rest of the potatoes this weekend but it rained, hard, again.

the cherry tomato plant in the hanging basket has some yellowing leaves, too much water probably. I started some beets, turnips beans and leeks for the fall. They along with some others will be occupying the bed the potatoes vacate. The healthier better tilth soil of the two beds. No signs of ripening yet from either the cherry tomatoes or the brandywines. Anticipation is killer isn't it.

In other news, the grape vine (lakemont) which was growing strong appears to have weakened growth at the tip and there looks to be some very light brown streaking at the last inch of it. I topped it off right above a node, if its a disease, hopefully I got the infected part of it and it can continue to grow from the node. The Male Kiwi is being ridiculously sluggish. I know its position is not the greatest but it will have to do, I may give it some worm tea and see how it reacts. Hopefully I can give it another couple inches before fall and let it get established.

I've seen more than a few japanese beetles out and about, and managed to "get" all of them, I hope they aren't somehow involved in all this.

pooly lit and out of focus

I thought you'd never ask

An heirloom cherry tomato plant which seems to be doing rather well. (and my first attempt at container gardening btw.)


As you can see the little bitty buds have turned into some serious pawpaw leaves.


..
The coneflower (echinacea) getting ready to flower




The valerian you may remember from my office pictures in its permanent home, after some initial dieback it is doing rather well near the weeping cherry.



It appears I will have a bumper crop of swiss chard seed, anyone want to trade?

This is the caribe potatoes flowering. Soon my pretties, soon you will make creamy delicious tubers, and then...then we feast! muahahahahah



the kiwi vine after I headed back all but the strongest shoot. Now the plant will be putting all of its energy into making this one climb. And if the current rate of growth is any indication, It ought to reach the top before fall. This one is the female vine, the male vine is being lazy right now, only about 3 inches of growth.



My wife loves petunias, practically to the exclusion of all other plant life...kidding. Anywho I cant take credit for this one, its her work. There are petunias in there, a vinca I think, and some kind of ornamental grass. Bottom line, I can't eat it...Looks nice though doesn't it?



STAY AWAY FROM MY SQUASH! This here is the ultimate in IPM, although with a massive carbon footprint...actually a massive footprint period.

Absinthe anyone? In a matter of about a week this little wormwood plant went from being barely able to fill a one gallon pot to tripling in size. Looks great, the foliage filled in nicely.



And lastly, my attempt to suppress weeds with a rapidly growing, tight planting appears to be moderately successful. That is flax, and you can see where the grass stops right at its edge. A few strays have crept in, but the spot (which is larger than this little corner) has stayed pretty clear. And yes I need to do something about where the cedar chip path meets the edge, we just havent decided what to do with it.

vigorous indeed

hot and wet are the only two words I would use to describe the weather right now. When the temps hit 95 and it rains daily over the weekend you tend to stay inside. But my morning trip yielded a peek at the hidden world of cucumber beetle copulation. Sorry to be a coitus interruptus but "Not in my backyard." I shoulda got a picture before I eradicated, but I didn't want to miss a chance to kill.

The weather really helped growth, the bolting chard is taller than me (6') now GO TO SEED ALREADY!

Chamomile is rockin like a hurricane.

Anybody got any good tea recipes?

Foreground:potatoes, midground: peas, background: raspberry primocanes


And now for the reason for the title Back on the 27th of my I planted the kiwi vines as of this morning, new growth is over 8 inches.



The pawpaw which budded not long ago is doing well too.



obviously the purple coneflower growing around it is doing well too (of course that is almost unkillable)

now we're rolling!

The first pea flower has arrived!

of course it appears that something has been munching on various things in the garden, mainly pea tendrils and broccoli leaves. And I'm not talking on a bug scale, I think its either a cat or rabbit. And unfortunately, being next to the dog run is not a deterrent.

Hmmmm. Apparently I need to look at further deterrence. And if that was not forboding enough, I think our front lawn has been infested with grubs (japanese beetle larvae). Normally I wouldn't care about the lawn, but japanese beetles are supposed to be a minor pest to kiwi, which by the way...


The Kiwi which has been in the ground for little more than a week is already sprouting!



All in all very exciting, lets just hope the squash and tomato transplants will take hold.

in between raindrops

I managed to get a few more low quality pictures. It would seem that the chinese cabbage are a magnet for whatever bug appears to be preying upon its leaves. I tried to save the garden ones by planting a few extras from the original flat and discovered within two days the weaker new transplants hand been..true to form...decimated. Its no far flung theory, bugs really do prey upon the weaker plants. Hopefully that will give the garden cabbage enough of a reprieve to make a comeback. It has been unusually cold and rainy, and things are just kind of in a holding pattern with the exception of:

Fennel (which I have never grown or tasted before, but I can say with certainty that I am pleased with the results of both)

leaf lettuce (green arrow variety) Its really taking off, and despite being started at the same time under the same conditions, appears to be fairing much better than the heads of tom thumb above it. Which is a shame because I could live on tom thumb lettuce.

and in even worse pictures are evidence of radishes starting to form little baby bulbs, And broccoli making some nice big leaves (which seem to be left relatively untouched by the phantom bug)

In other news, the tomato seedlings are doing nicely although the peppers are off to a very slow start. I think I will start them earlier next year. The cuccumbers do not appear to be liking the weather and are no bigger than when they were first planted. We are supposed to have warmer weather this weekend which should help that though.

And despite the verrrry stressful day yesterday there was a bright spot. The kiwi vines arrived from Miller Nurseries. Being in CNY these are of course the original grape sized hardy variety rather than the fuzzy plum sized commonly sold in supermarkets. Kiwi is our soon to be adopted daughter's favorite fruit, and a big hit with the rest of us so I figured, why not? I purchased a male and female vine and started digging. Normally I find the act very therapeudic and the first hole was, but with all the gravel and clay in the spot where the male vine is going I had to quit after about 15 minutes. It was not a day to turn a delight into a hassle. On a positive note though pruned the vine down a bit before planting with my new bahco pruners. Very nice product, I'm not one for endorsements but these are a good high quality garden tool. Check out Earthtools.com a lot more friendly and knowledgable than the Home Despot.