Stoneview » Gardening

As the soil turns

Julie — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:50:34 +0000

Over the weekend I decided it was time to clean up the back garden in preparation for planing garlic and other fall goodies. The garlic won’t go in until October but I have some other stuff that I can get going now. Jason and I fought the maple tree roots and cleared out as many as we could then we added in several bags of compost.

Since I was already sweaty and filthy I decided to trim back the lavender that keeps trying to take over the world and I curtailed the Rudbeckia as well. There’s still quite a bit of garden cleanup to do before winter but I know my back and shoulder will prefer it if I spread that out over a few months.

I will survive

Julie — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:46:14 +0000

I didn’t pull every single last squash when I found the vine borers. I did leave one or two that I was unsure about. The leaves do seem to be dying back on this fella but he’s also making a wee zucchini so he gets to stay awhile. Meanwhile the new ones have sprouted nicely and I did buy a straightneck at Home Depot a few days ago.

The tomato deluge has begun. I’ve picked 3 large fellas already and there are three more nearly ripe ones. The zinnias have begun to bloom. I thought maybe it was a mistake to put them in the center of a ring of tomato plants but they’ve over-topped those tomatoes, no problem!

A side benefit to fighting the sawfly for the entire month of July is that I remembered to spray the hibiscus so I actually have lovely flowers.

Squashed

Julie — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:47:56 +0000

My poor squash has been attacked by vine borers. I think this is the first time I’ve ever had this pest in my garden so I didn’t recognize it until they were too far gone. I’ve pulled the plants out and will plant something else in their place.

Blooms in the night

Julie — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:44:17 +0000

This week we harvested the first bag of potatoes. The directions said wait 2-3 weeks after the blooms drop but I think maybe 4 might be better. We do have several nice sized potatoes but there were loads of tiny wee ones that needed more time to grow. I still have 4 bags coming along. The green beans are going bananas as is there wont and we’ve had our first delicious harvest. The night blooming cereus also opened up.

Gulf shrimp is still available at the farmer’s market and I tried this rather complicated fussy recipe with farro from Fine Cooking (it actually called for a different grain but I wanted to see what farro is like). The farro cooked up easily, just like brown rice. I plan to look for a more economical source, our little bag was $10 for enough to make two meals.

Allium sativum

Julie — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:44:01 +0000

Thanks to Norma’s perfectly timed post I realized it might be time to harvest my garlic. I was watching for the leaves to be 1/3 dead but she recommended harvesting about a month after cutting the scapes. She also gave me more great advice when I left a comment on her post. Now that I know these do well in the back garden I plan to expand from 1 row this year to 3 rows next year. I’ll have the three largest bulbs for that. She recommends leaving the leaves on for two weeks while the bulbs dry in a well ventilated place. It’s rainy this week so they’ll be indoors most of the time.

Dinner was a very simple dish of chickpeas coated with cornstarch and lightly fried, sauteed zucchini and onions seasoned with curry powder and the whole dish topped with some diced fresh mozzarella. Delish!

Garden update

Julie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:25:46 +0000

I’m so excited that my night blooming cirrus is going to bloom this summer. Back in Louisiana it would be loaded every year in the green house but it has not bloomed since I moved north in 1996. The hostas on the west side of the yard are loaded up with buds as well but those on the east side of the yard are really suffering from overexposure. At first I thought we might have a case of crown rot but a close look doesn’t show any sign of problems at the base of the leaves so I’m pretty sure they are just burned.

We’ll be eating out first green beans within the week. Tomatoes and peppers are not far behind. I think it’ll soon be time to harvest the garlic and the first bag of potatoes should be ready this week. The new garden out front is doing so much better than the one in the back yard. A few more hours of sunlight has made all the difference.

I don’t see signs of squash or zucchini yet but the bees are definitely doing their part!

and pretty maids all in a row

Julie — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:08:23 +0000

Down the garden path

Julie — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:00:10 +0000

Lathyrus odoratus

Julie — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:40:09 +0000

Here are sweat peas, on tip-toe for flight
With wings of gentle flusho’er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things
To bind them all about with tiny rings.

John Keats

My, what a big goldfish bowl that is

Julie — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:07:53 +0000

A few weeks ago Jason won an award at work and received an Amazon gift certificate. We’ve had a rain barrel on our wishlist for awhile and he suggested using the gift certificate for that. We chose one that has the ability to be linked in tandem with more of them. I think we could fit three across the patio between the downspout and the step. Not long after it arrived, it occurred to me that it will create a mighty fine mosquito breeding ground. Googlefoo says that a goldfish or two in the barrel will quickly chomp up any mosquito larvae. Now I just have to convince Jason that this is a good idea. The mouse patrol is quite happy with the catnip I’ve planted and enjoys napping under the fire pit. The hummingbirds are going to be well pleased with the sweet peas just coming into bloom. I know these aren’t supposed to be their preferred flower type but they really have a complete disregard for the “rules”.

(ps I know the blog looks a little wonky. I’ve updated the theme but need to find time to reinstate the header and background images)