fuzzi's Finally Back to Puttering Around the Demesne...in 2022!

I've decided to not only start up vegetable gardening again, but my gardening/nature thread.

Stay tuned.

We let the old vegetable garden get weedy, and then tree-y.


From 2018, see the trees in the background?

Horrors.

I had the saplings all cut down a couple months ago.

The next step is to add carpeting over the entire area to smother new growth, and eventually rot the roots below.

There's a local flooring contractor who has graciously offered to transport the better-looking carpeting scraps leftover from his jobs to my home this weekend.

And I bought myself a present...



It's a cedar raised bed, 4'x8'x14" deep.

It's a start.

What do you all think?

I love having raised beds. Mine are plastic, and a bit higher than that. For me one of the big advantages is not bending over as much. But certainly the veggies grow better than in our native clay. You may need to water more. On the other hand, drainage isn't a problem.

>2 fuzzi:
It looks great. I hope you have plenty of fun tending the garden and plenty of good food from your labours.

Good luck with the gardening and I will be keen to see your reports on this thread.

>2 fuzzi: Very nice!!

My handyman will be coming in May to fit the beds. That will give me time to scrape the topsoil and clear out the hardcore (which will get used as drainage). I've got 4 plastic beds 25 cm high, and the idea is to space them evenly along the side of the garden after installing some slabs for my composters (although the big one should be on the ground). Then he'll fit weed suppressant matting, fit the beds and add gravel chippings. I'll need more topsoil and a load of 'soil conditioner' from the dump...

Thanks for stopping by!

I remembered that in our shed I have a raised bed kit, with fake wood sides. I'll get my son to help dig it out this weekend and see about setting it up.

It looks sort of like this:

>3 MarthaJeanne: I've had raised beds before, but mainly the types without sides.

I stopped vegetable gardening more than 10 years ago as I just couldn't handle keeping up, especially once the heat arrived (North Carolina).

I'm thinking I can handle maintenance for a couple raised beds with squash and green beans.

>4 pgmcc: my mother used to say we had "peasant" in our background based upon our love of getting our hands in the soil.

There's something about getting your hands in dirt and nurturing plants that makes one feel better.

>6 Maddz: wow, nice. I have to get my dh and son to help with heavy lifting/digging, they're free labor but not always as willing as paid labor.

There are a TON of videos on the internet about making raised beds. When I set up a two-level bed I put empty water bottles in the bottom to help with drainage and reduce the cost of soil. Some of the gardeners put small branches and turf (upside down) in the bottom, and it seemed to work well.

I like this guy, he's a master gardener: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV4DjBZqTXQ

I'm thinking of putting the raised bed(s) directly on the carpet that will be laid over the old garden.

>9 fuzzi: That was my father's opinion - 'Only peasants want to grub around in the dirt'. Mind you, he came from an urban background in Cairo (my grandmother owned a market garden but employed people to cultivate it).

>11 Maddz: it's "peasants" who keep everyone else fed ;)

Busy weekend so far...

I was off from work on Friday, so I cleaned out the hulls and dropping mixture from under the bird feeders, then replanted the amaryllis I displaced. The Canna lilies were crowded, so I replanted some along a short section of fence.

Today was a beautiful day, with temps about 70F and a light breeze. I mowed the part of the yard that was getting tall with deadnettles, then the flooring installer came by and dropped off the used carpet. It's now lying on top of my old garden, to smother weed and tree growth. Late in the afternoon Fedex dropped off my raised bed kit, yippee!

I also bought some retaining wall stones and created an edge around my Japanese maple.



Tomorrow is supposed to be another lovely day, so I am planning to get the raised bed set up. I'd like to finish staining the back wall of the shed and move all my houseplants outside to the porch...but we'll see.

>13 fuzzi: Sounds like a wonderful day.

>14 2wonderY: it was...I'm sore but a GOOD sore.

>13 fuzzi: You have been very productive and are making a lovely space.

Well, the only thing I got done on Sunday afternoon was putting together my raised bed.

Here it is!



Here's how it looked when I quit for the day:



Yes, now comes the dirt...

What's with the junk inside the bed?

Look up "Hugelkultur".

Essentially it's adding wood, and other wood-like debris to the bottom where most of your plant roots don't reach. It eventually breaks down into more soil but without the heat of a compost pile. And it saves you from the cost of adding good soil to an area that won't be used much by your plants, if at all.

I got the idea from several online gardening channels.

One channel I especially appreciate is by a Master gardener, "Gardener Scott", on YouTube. His information about filling a raised bed is particularly helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV4DjBZqTXQ&t=929s

He seems to really know what he's talking about, and some of it is new to me, as a 55 year gardener!

We'd already burned most of our branches, so I used the dead leaves and stalks from last year's Canna lilies that I'd cleaned out of my gardens on Friday as my filling.

I have huge piles of grass clippings and shredded leaves that have rotted away since last autumn, am planning on using them in the bed, too.

>17 fuzzi:
I like the idea of using the old cuttings, etc... in the raised bed. My wife is doing a lot of planting and we have a lot of old cuttings from trimming trees that look like the material in your bed. I must get her to use a raised bed or two. Thank you for the video link.

I found that the first several years I had to add quite a bit of soil/compost to my beds each year to make up for how much those bottom levels decompose. We've been here long enough now (15 years, although the beds are younger) that the refill now is probably mostly what the plants have used. Good! without our youngest son, it is hard to lug all that from the car to the beds.

>18 pgmcc: you're welcome.

>19 MarthaJeanne: I have plenty of compost from all the grass clippings and leaves we accumulate every year, so top dressing the beds shouldn't be a problem.

My compost area is about 15' from this new bed, so convenient.

My community had a blitz build this weekend. They do it every year, building and filling raised beds in peoples yards. One of my neighbors had 6 installed. If I can catch them out there, it will give me a chance to go introduce myself finally.

I'm more worried about drainage and water retention for my raised beds. We're on an old flood plain which was last flooded in the 1940s. Groundwater not river water and there's been significant flood prevention works in the 1950s & 1960s. Our house dates from the late 60s/early 70s and the ground level is slightly above the road, and the house is above that (there's steps up into the house). The new paving is cambered into the lawn. So I have to make sure the beds don't get waterlogged in wet weather but retain moisture in dry weather. The natural soil has clay pockets (I assume it's from the natural rather than cat litter from the previous owners).

My plan is to scrape the topsoil off the side bed. The handyman will fit weed membrane along the side bed and the idea is to have gravel or chippings between the 4 beds. For the beds themselves, 10 mm gravel or hardcore layer, followed by a mulch layer mixed with soil 'conditioner' from the recycling centre (the buddhleia prunings went into the green bin last month) and my kitchen waste compost from the rotary bins. Then topsoil. Yes, I am expecting to add more topsoil each year; quite apart from anything, I need to clear my plant tables and the tomato pots every year (a mix of horticultural grit, vermiculite, blood/fish/bone and/or calcified seaweed, compost and topsoil).

The basic clearance will be done after Easter when we're off work. The handyman is coming in May to do the heavy work, and I hope to clear sufficient rubble from the bed to use as hardcore without importing more. We'll also have done the initial cuts on the lawn - at the moment the grass is too wet to cut, and I'll save the clippings to add to the mulch layer (normally they get green binned).

>22 Maddz: they threw the cat litter in the garden? Ew. Nasty.

Our house is up on a rise though we've never flooded. I've seen the street about 6" deep, flowing (down to the end of the road) but that was once in 16 years here.

Last night after work I spent an hour adding partially decomposed leaves and grass clippings, to about 7" from the top of the raised bed. Next will be real dirt, compost (finished), and possibly some peat moss. It's supposed to get showery the next two days so I may have to wait til the end of the week.



Since I had to put dirt under the bed to level it I added violet plants from around my yard to the perimeter. They should take root and spread around the edges to keep everything in place.

>23 fuzzi: When we looked over the house and looked outside - well, ewww was the operative word. Little logs all over the back lawn. The previous owners had several pets - I recall meeting a cat, and judging by the lawn a dog, and I think recall a rabbit.

When the sale contract was drawn up I made sure that it included a clause specifying the garden had to be de-pooped.

>24 Maddz: I hate to think what they did inside that house...

When my hubby and I were young and poor we couldn't afford much rent, and lived in some slummy rentals. One was a two family; we lived on the first floor. Before we finally moved out the upstairs tenants had a cat, and the ammonia smell from its lack of toilet manners drifted down through the stairs and into our kitchen, bleh. The boyfriend even offered to empty his cat's litter box into my little vegetable garden. Ick.

I like being a home owner, my yard is my own.

On a more pleasant note, I planted squash and radishes today in one of the little planters that I placed on the carpeted area. I think I'll put green beans in the big raised bed along with a couple tomato plants.

Here comes the rain...

Just an aside about the new raised bed...

...two of the posts were damaged upon arrival, useable but damaged. One of the boards was cracked, but useable.

I contacted the company, including photos of the damaged parts. In two days I received a package of replacements, no charge.

Good customer service at Greene's Fence Company: https://greenesfence.com/

>26 fuzzi:
It is great when the word “GOOD” can be used in the same sentence as customer service. Well done on spreading the word.

>27 pgmcc: thanks!

The milkweed is up, like gangbusters.

I did a seed inventory, and the only seeds I need to buy are watermelon, turnips, and collards. I also need to get a couple of sweet potatoes.

Every year I purchase lantana, pentas, and vinca seedlings for my flower pots, will look for those at the nursery. I usually buy water hyacinth for my ponds, but it needs to warm up more outside before they'll sell it.

Went to both Lowe's and a local nursery, got lantana, pentas, petite marigolds, New Guinea impatiens, vincas, portulaca, and a purple heliotrope that I fell for...which is strange because I've never grown heliotrope!

I picked up the seeds I needed, plus butternut squash and wax beans on impulse. Oh, and two 4 packs of collard seedlings.

The lantanas, heliotrope, and some of the marigolds have been planted into the beds. Tomorrow I plan to finish filling the raised beds so I can get the tomatoes, yams, and bush beans planted.


Heliotrope

🌻🌼🌸

ETA: I used the debris I removed from under the bird feeders as a side dressing for my Japanese maple, clematis, rose bushes, and around some irises.

My Swiss chard seeds have sprung!

Weather cool and blustery, hoping to get something done outside this afternoon.

Sunday afternoon I planted annuals in pots that I display on my front steps, and in "window" planters that I have hanging from my front porch rails.

I use mostly vinca (major) and portulaca in containers as they handle well the drought and heat that our summers bring.

I brought one of the two geraniums that survived the winter (complete surprise) up from the basement and put it out front. It’s cloudy, but temps are in the 60s.

>32 2wonderY: I love geraniums, but for some reason they don't grow well for me.

The heat is here, not horrible but mid 80s the rest of the week.

My peat moss is supposedly shipped, hoping to get it by this weekend. I want to incorporate it with my compost and dirt when I finish filling the raised bed.

The tomato plants are waiting...

A welcome visitor...

Today the local Lowe's had peat moss available, so I purchased two 3cu ft blocks to add to my new raised beds. The two bags I ordered from another company still have not arrived.

Radishes are up.

>35 fuzzi: Beautiful.

>37 pgmcc: thank you.

It's only 70F today, but the sun is hot. I drastically pruned the blueberry bushes as most of the branches appear to be dead, but had to come inside after about an hour, I was feeling the heat.

Closer to sunset I plan to finish filling the raised beds with compost and peat moss. THEN I can plant!

Raised bed garden completed and planted!



Roma and Early Girl tomatoes on the left, wax and Blue Lake bush beans on the right. In between are carrots, borage, lettuce, basil and two marigold plants.

**Applause!**

>39 fuzzi:
Well done. I look forward to following their progress.

>41 pgmcc: me too! Planting a garden doesn't guarantee success...

I purchased a potting bench two or more years ago at Aldi's, it's been sitting in its box in the shed. Sunday afternoon I assembled it and set it up on the porch.



Then I cleaned off the porch which had become a repository of stuff over the fall and winter. It looks SO much better now.

After a short sit on the porch rocker I transplanted most of my annuals, amending the containers' soil with a combination of fully-rotted compost (black and crumbly) and peat moss.

But that wasn't enough for me to tackle...I took the pruning shears to the hydrangeas (which needed it, even if it ruins the blooms for the year) and the assorted tree sprouts shooting up between the canes.

>43 fuzzi: I like that potting bench!!

Whoo-hoo! We have a Spikelet #2 back on the lawn!

Paul put a handful of munchies out so we'll see if they get eaten. If they do, we'll start putting the bowl out and hope the rat doesn't come back.

ETA It's bred already! Spikelet #3 has turned up... More food has now gone out.

>43 fuzzi: I've just ordered one from Aldi but the current model has a single lower shelf but 2 drawers which I think will be more useful.

I do have a potting tray, but the old wooden table I used to use it on went to the tip last summer (the legs were rotting and a couple of slats had broken). I'd rather not put it on my nice glass-top outdoor table. The bench will do nicely in the larger new shed (once I've shifted things round).

Now all I need is a solid plant stand - the one I got isn't really suitable for outside.

She has a larger new shed. **Envy!**

>47 2wonderY: I replaced the rotten 8' shed by the house with a 6' shed...and another 8' shed at the end of the garden! Having the smaller shed by the house means I can use the full length of the laundry line - clothes used to slap against the shed so I used to only hang the 'weekend' T-shirts beside it.

>48 Maddz: You mustn’t brag. My new shed is a couple of years away yet.

>49 2wonderY: (GRIN) Force majeure - the fence was falling to pieces so the back garden got remodelled last year as the contractor had to clear the bamboo to get at the fence. No way I could do the remodel myself even with Paul's help.

So most of the back garden was stripped back to bare earth, the patio and paths relaid, a new patio created where the bamboo was, and the lawn levelled and re-turfed. (I'd had a few falls on the old lawn stepping back into various dips...) I planted up a new bed along the new patio, the old side bed I need to dig and re-stock, and the handyman is coming next month to set up the new raised beds in my veggie plot.

>44 lesmel: me too. It was an impulse buy, so glad I didn't resist.

>45 Maddz: Spikelet? 🧐

>46 Maddz: ooh, nice. Share a picture if you like.

>51 fuzzi: Spikelet = hedgehogs. So-called because the first one we started feeding was a baby.

Let's see: Potting bench

>50 Maddz: "and the handyman is coming..."

Sweet!

>53 2wonderY: Cement I don't deal with. Neither do I deal with loads of gravel ;)

As part of the raised bed work, I need some of the recycled slabs laid behind the smaller of the new sheds for my rotary composters (don't want nasty drips on the new slabs). Also, I want guttering installed on the sheds.

If the weather holds, I'll be clearing the bed this weekend. I meant to do it last weekend, but I had an IBS attack and spent most of the time falling asleep, and yesterday I went into Cambridge. Tomorrow I'm off to my sister for a night (we have documentation to sort through). Today, I need to get old emails from a defunct account off an old computer and put them where I can retrieve them on the new machine.

>52 Maddz: thanks, I looked up spikelet on the web and just got plant definitions!

Thanks for the picture, that is nice.

My bench was easy-peasey to assemble. I did use my drill to tighten the bolts due to my arthritic hands. I liked how there wasn't a difference between the side pieces, no "right side/left side" assembly issues.

Share pictures of your improvements, we want to see.

>49 2wonderY: is there a used shed source near you?

There's a man who lives about a mile away who has used sheds displayed in his front yard (we're that rural, yep). He has a business of buying used sheds, fixing them up and reselling them. He has the equipment to transport and set up the shed on blocks. Three years ago our poor tired little blue shed was falling apart, and about the same time we noticed that there was a Graceland shed for sale in this neighbor's yard. We didn't waste time but offered to purchase it once we did an examination. It needed stain, that was all. Poor little blue shed was dismantled by my dh and I with sledgehammers (he had the big one, I had the little one) and the "new" shed was delivered within a few days. It has been worth every dollar we paid.

When we bought it:

>56 fuzzi: There is; but a pre-assembled shed won’t work in this circumstance. It’s going up towards the top of my backyard where the playhouse is being dismantled. The only access is through the carport and then up the back slope. Not a straight shot either back there. This will have to be site built. One of my grands is coming this weekend. We may make progress. They will be helping me with construction.

>56 fuzzi: Ooooo! Nice. I'd want to put some sort of geometric design in each of those octagons.

>58 MarthaJeanne: Daughter is researching quilt designs to paint on the side of their barn.

>56 fuzzi:
I love your “barn”. It looks great.

>55 fuzzi: I thought I had last year, but here goes...

Before:
This is the old 8' shed
You can see the massive bamboo clump behind the lattice behind the green wheel barrow.

Now:
New 6' shed
You can just see one of my rotary composters behind the shed (it's a set of 2). The raised beds for my veg are going along there.

Before:
Looking down the garden
The back garden is trapezoidal - it's about 10' longer on the right than on the left. On the left it ends behind that wooden thing - I think the previous owners' kids used it as a backstop when kicking balls as the back and right fences were so rotten. (The left fence belongs to our neighbour.)

Now:
New look back garden

This is looking towards the house
The lawn has shrunk because we added another side path and the new patios have taken up a bit more space. The old patio by the house was multiple phases and differing slabs with random bits of old foundation from the demolished back porch. That pale grey line about the black line above the kitchen window was, we think an old trellis or awning.

>61 Maddz: love all the work you've done there, very nice looking!

>57 2wonderY: good to hear you'll have help. We placed the shed so it didn't block access to the backyard if we need to have vehicle access.

Our driveway has a steep incline, so once we realized a branch on the sycamore was going to damage the shed's roof my dh took out his pole saw and lopped off the offending limb, all while the delivery waited.

>58 MarthaJeanne: that's a nifty idea. I just focused on staining the shed as the wood was very dry. It looks so much better now.

>60 pgmcc: thank you. It has two small lofts where seldom-used-but-don't-want-to-discard stuff goes, like beach chairs and big coolers, spare window screens, etc.

We had it wired, too, so I have a couple work lights mounted, and a small chest freezer in one corner. It does fine even during the winter (zone 8a US).

I forgot to mention yesterday, my summer squash has sprouted!

::happy dance::

We dodged a bullet, did not get frost Wednesday morning though it was close, temperature was 34F at 6am...whew. I'd covered the tomato plants and the lantanas, but just watered the rest of the tender annuals as there were too many to cover.

The potting bench is built and installed in the shed. Pics to follow tomorrow when there's a bit more light in there and my back isn't aching so badly (I drove back from my sister's this morning and long distance driving is now a chore when I don't routinely drive).

The shed has also been cleared out so I can now retrieve things from the other end (although I ought to swap the bags of compost on the wooden shelving for the bags of charcoal and various BBQ bits on the metal shelving.

>67 Maddz: I hope you will start a thread featuring your yard and gardening.

>68 2wonderY: me too! If you do, please link it here.

Got all my errands done today, and am now inside, cooling off.

1. Purchase new lawn mower blade and two five gallon buckets - check
   
2. Post Office - check
   
3. Drop off box of books at used book store - check
   
4. Buy books on credit - check
   
5. Pick up two 2.2 cu bags of peat moss - check
   
6. Pick up some sweet pepper plants, and additional annuals - check
   
7. Use my coupon at Ace Hardware to buy more seeds - check

Got home, fed the birds, watered seedlings...time to take a break!

>70 fuzzi: 4. Did you find anything exciting?

>68 2wonderY:, >69 fuzzi: Don't know about that - I'm on the last bit of my leave before I'm up to my eyeballs in statutory reporting until the end of next month. Plus our team is a member down...

I may if I get time. I'm busy catching up on my unread ER list with the great reading slump. This is currently taking up a lot of time.

>71 MarthaJeanne: a couple Tony Hillerman collections and a Lee Child that was recommended to me.

The potting bench set up in the shed:





I've got a tall stool that lives in the downstairs loo to use with it. Possibly I should have nicked a stool off my sister yesterday, but there's not all that much space in the shed for a permanent solution. I suppose I could buy a third shed solely as a potting shed, but the garden isn't that big! I'd more likely want a solar shed (part greenhouse, part shed).

I will probably 'christen' it later today - I have a tray of amaryllis seedlings that need potting on. However, I think I need some more compost - potting, houseplant and cactus (I have some cacti that need repotting).

>74 Maddz: You really should start a thread. It gets confusing when you post pictures of your place on Lori’s thread.

Nice shed!

>75 2wonderY: Yes, but there won't be anything more until June...

>74 Maddz: I like your bench, and your shed.

What are the wavy-things, leaning on the wall on the right side?

For most of our marriage I let my dh handle the lawn mowing and maintenance, but now he has a disability I'm having to do more outside stuff that I'm unfamiliar with.

I recently noticed the mower was not cutting the grass as much as pushing it. I decided it was probably the blade, which was original, and that I could change the blade myself, with YouTube's help. I found the correct replacement blade and, with some muscle help from Ron, changed the blade!

I don't think this one can be resharpened...


😳😱😎

My dh told me he wanted us to plant green peppers, but he didn't let me know until after I'd already filled up my raised beds. 🙄 I've read that peppers can be grown in 5 gallon buckets, so I bought the buckets and sweet pepper plants. I used my drill to make drainage holes in the bottom of the buckets, then filled them with a compost/peat moss mixture and watered them down.

Oops, mucky mixture, too heavy!

I dumped the mucky mixture from one bucket into my garden cart and added about 3 gallons of peat moss, blending it well enough so the soil was crumbly and light. I did the same for the second bucket and planted the peppers.

Note: if using compost straight from the barrel dilute it at least 1:3 with peat moss for container gardening.

The bush beans are pushing through the soil!

>77 fuzzi: They are no-tie stakes. Theoretically, the plant is supposed to grow vertically through the spiral. In practice, i found I needed some ties to start off with - the first 12" are straight.

In case you are wondering, the plastic things in the flower pot are anti-bird spikes. Originally, I had the short brown ones, but the pigeons still roosted on the them (although the squirrels didn't like them much), so I ended up getting the long black comb style. The pigeons still land on the fence, but they now face the other way and don't poo on the patio. They also don't roost there.

>81 Maddz: I found that I had to spiral the plants through, they didn't just grow through the hole.

>82 MarthaJeanne: Pretty much the same here. Once they got to the base of the spiral, I found it was a good idea to pop a tie there (or shift the initial tie up), and once you got them going up the spiral they tended to stay in place. I would still put the occasional tie in as a high wind could blow the plant out of the spiral, but I wasn't putting ties in every 6".

Well I have my tomatoes in pyramid things now that support branches to some extent, and just poke longer ones back into the frame or cut them off, so I don't worry about ties much. I did tie three of the spirals together at the top and grow green beans up them last year. That worked pretty well. I had 7-8 plants, so usually could find enough beans for the two of us.

>84 MarthaJeanne: I use a traditional cane wigwam for my pole beans; and my dwarf French beans usually get away with pea sticks if needed (plenty of birch trees around!)

Ideally, I should succession sow the latter, but don't really have the time or the space to do so. I'll probably plant up my wicker planter - it's a wicker basket with the verticals standing about 2' above the basket and you tie them in at the top. You pop a pot of bean plants in the basket. It's a nice idea, but the basket is a bit flimsy (the number of times it blows over) and will rot out at the bottom eventually. Instead, I might try and find a grid plant support that fits in a pot.

Jobs for today - start some courgettes to go in my plant tables (that worked really well last year), repot some house plants, start some beans.

>81 Maddz: thanks. I'd not seen no-tie stakes like that before.

I ran out of room in the containers, but still had melon plants and watermelon seeds to plant.

I've read that some people create container gardens out of cardboard boxes...so I thought...why not try it?

At the local Aldi's I found two very sturdy (double-walled) produce boxes.

I taped a large trash bag to the bottom and sides, making a couple holes for drainage. I'm hoping that the bag will keep it together til the end of the season.

Then I added some loose grass clippings/shredded leaves to the bottom, and filled it to the top with a mixture of compost and peat moss.

Watermelon seeds were planted in one box, cantaloupe plants in the other.

We'll see how it goes.

ETA: photo of my "hodgepodge garden" aka "gardening on a strict budget"!



Clockwise from bottom left:
1: summer squash, zucchini, radishes, one marigold
2: snow peas (almost done) and Swiss chard
3: snow peas " " and winter squash
4: snow peas " " and winter squash
5: blue buckets have one sweet pepper plant, each
6: cardboard boxes have watermelon seeds and cantaloupe plants
7: collards

ETA 2:

(Note: this is the same area in >2 fuzzi:, without trees...the lumpy parts of the carpet are where the stumps are not flush with the ground)

Carpet guy came by Sunday afternoon, dropped off several rolled up sheets of NEW carpet, too small to use. Yesterday after work I laid the majority of the remnants/sections on the front slope. I'm hoping to smother most of the honeysuckle and poison ivy vines without using chemicals. I have black plastic weed barrier I can use on the rest of the slope.

We'll see how it goes. ;)

I've got babies!!!



The Monarch butterfly eggs have hatched, and there are caterpillars on the milkweed.

>89 fuzzi: Excellent. I hope you are able to get pictures of them when they transform.

>90 pgmcc: I hope so, too.

Those caterpillars are about 1/4" long, teensy weensy right now.

>91 fuzzi: My wife is currently planting out lettuce in a raised bed at the side of the house. I will not show her your photograph. I do not think she would be very impressed with the thought of caterpillars while she is planting vulnerable, sweet leaved lettuce plants. :-)

>92 pgmcc: the Monarchs ONLY eat milkweed, so they're not eating my vegetables!

>93 fuzzi: Very interesting. Apparently Red Admirals only lay their eggs on nettles. The drought we had a few years ago led to a decline in nettle growth and there was a consequent reduction in the number of Red Admirals.

Fritillaries use violets as their host plants. Tiger swallowtails like birch and sycamore trees, and Black swallowtails like carrots.

I spent most of the afternoon outside doing yard work as the weather today was overcast and mild (70F). I've been contemplating what to plant in some of the previously neglected areas, getting inspiration as I walk around the yard and look.

The extra Canna lilies that I planted on the west side of the fence on the north side of the house are doing well. I added more composted leaves around the tubers. I have a bunch of irises that don't bloom, think I'll move them to the other side of that fence, on the east side...they'll get more sun in that location than where they are now. The soil needs some amending first. I still have a lot of composted leaves I can use for that purpose.

Tomatoes are growing like gangbusters, wax beans are up, too. The Blue Lake green beans never sprouted, and when I stirred the soil I couldn't find any trace of them. I've replanted and am hoping for the best.



(compare to https://www.librarything.com/topic/340858#7814468)

Collards look good, one zucchini has its second set of leaves, as do the summer squash plants. I replanted a second zucchini. Cantaloupe seedlings look healthy, too, and the watermelon seeds are sprouting. Winter squash hasn't sprouted yet, but it's only been a few days.

No lettuce or carrot seedlings have emerged. The seed was from a few years ago, maybe too old? I'll see if I have anything fresher when I replant.

I got a lot of weeding done, too, removed dozens of Virginia creeper vines that were trying to cover my propane tank and a garden bench. They'd also choked my Stella D'Oro lilies, which managed to survive. I gave the lilies a side dressing of compost and plenty of mulch.

I'm tired, but it's a good tired.

Almost forgot! I have four pots of day lilies that I bought at the farmers' market about three years ago. I've decided to plant them along the side of the big shed. To prepare the area I've blanketed it with grass clippings. The soil will loosen up and be easy to dig in a couple weeks underneath the mulch.

I can't find one Monarch caterpillar on the milkweed. I wonder what happened?

Mid 70s today, though the sun is intense.

I mowed part of the backyard where the grass grows quickly and thickly (over the septic fields).

Green beans didn't sprout, again. I bought some fresh packages and planted them in the cedar raised bed. I noticed that a sweet potato I'd placed underneath damp newspaper (trying to get it to sprout) was growing roots, so I tucked it in the cedar bed as well.

Turnips, carrots, and cucumber seeds went into one of my square beds after I removed the dying pea vines.

I did a little pruning, then sat in the shade and enjoyed the sights and sounds of nature in my yard.

>99 fuzzi: I planted some dwarf bean seeds 2 weeks ago, they're only just germinating. They're in a pot with a clear cover outside. Mind you, it was fairly old seed and it's been a bit cold at night recently. The San Marzano tomato seeds haven't germinated either; I may have to bring them inside.

>100 Maddz: when I dug down I couldn't find the bean seeds, they were gone. However, the other seeds in the bed sprouted well. I dunno?

>101 fuzzi: My mum would have said the field mice had got them. She used to start her beans in the greenhouse and put them outside to harden off once they were well established. The other trick is to soak them in cold water overnight to give them a kick start. I forgot to do that with the current batch, and they only got a couple of hours while I was eating lunch.

On the other hand, birds are another potential culprit - we used to net the beans if we germinated them outside because the blackbirds would think the shoot was a caterpillar. Pigeons are another problem; I will have to net the beds when I plant out (Paul said they got more of our kale then we did). I've planted out bean seedlings in the morning, and later that day found them hauled out or flattened (the randy birds chase each other through the bed).

>102 Maddz: I considered birds or rodents, but the soil wasn't disturbed, and the wax beans sprouted well, just inches away.

We'll see what happens...

The fresh green bean seeds DID sprout!



Wax bush beans are actually POLE beans! I set up an impromptu support using five old tomato stakes and string. Early Girl tomato plant has a 1" fruit. Third-time's-a-charm Blue Lake bush (I hope!) green beans are up and growing (right side).

I pulled up the remaining snowpea plants as they were turning yellow, probably from the heat. I planted acorn and summer squash in one of the now empty containers.

For the first time this year I harvested and ate Swiss chard.

Around the yard the evening primroses are putting forth their last blooms, as they will die back in the heat. Forecast for tomorrow is very hot, high 90s.

Crinum lilies, gardenias, and Stella D'Oro day lilies are exploding with blooms. Milkweed continue to attract bees, hopefully butterflies and hummingbirds are enjoying them, too.

And the tree frogs are singing this evening...

>104 fuzzi: Boy they sure did sprout. That’s some enthusiastic beans!

>104 fuzzi:
Everything is looking healthy and lush.

>105 2wonderY: I know. I'm thinking that the bottom 8" of the bed will encourage lush growth as it's mainly composted leaves and grass clippings from last year.

>106 pgmcc: thanks. I'm happy about it.

As I did a little pruning I saw several small tomatoes on the Early Girl plants, no surprises here.

Cantaloupes have blossoms, summer crookneck squash has female buds, not bloomed yet.

Chard hasn't bolted, yippee!

And I saw some little reddish sprouts emerging from where I planted the sweet potato...

I envy you having your beds already set up; mine are finally going in on the 3rd. We really could have done with them going in last month, but between weather, work and hayfever, I've not been in the garden much.

We cleared the worst part of the bed last weekend; we'll finish the job next weekend. There's some more ivy to rip off the buddhleia and some miscellaneous weeding to be done. I also need to tie up the berberis so it's not slumping on the ground and try and dig out some of the top soil riddling out the large stones as I go. I'm still finding bits of brick and chunks of cement.

If I am lucky, and a software change doesn't go ahead, I'll be able to take that week off (it's a 3-day week because of the Jubilee weekend). If it does, I'll be doing masses of testing (and with a bit of luck breaking the new configuration - heh, heh).

>108 Maddz: I knew I needed to get going on the beds, as the weather gets hot here in May, and heavy work has to be curtailed. Last week we had a couple days in the 90s (F).

Rain last night, forecast for today is rain all day...we need it, badly.

The frogs are happy, they were singing last night and this morning.

Update:

Have picked two zucchini, crookneck squash is almost big enough to pick.

Wax bean plants have little beans all over them, woo!

Early Girl tomato plants have lots of little green tomatoes.

Roma tomato plants have blossoms.

Bush beans are about 18"-24" tall, watching for blossoms.

A sweet potato I planted has sprouted.

Cantaloupes have been blooming.

And this little guy dropped by last night:

>110 fuzzi: He even smiled for the camera.

In Deutsch Wagram we had a turtle that just showed up in the garden. He stuck around for 2-3 years, wintering in our basement, then wandered off again. Easy come, easy go.

Update:

Squash plants stopped producing, and I saw frass at the base of the stalks, a sign of squash borers. I tried injecting BT (natural bacteria that only affects caterpillars) in the stalks and leaf stems. Almost a week later the squash plants are still alive! The zucchini is producing female blossoms, too. I've been aware of this remedy for squash vine borers for decades, just never tried it before.

Wax bean plants have been producing, and the last week I've been picking a big handful every evening, yum.

Early Girl tomato plants have lots of BIG green tomatoes. I lost one small fruit to a worm, but haven't found any more damage.



Roma tomato plants have blossoms, no tomatoes.

Bush beans are covered with blossoms.

The sweet potato vine is growing.

Cantaloupe vines still blooming, no sign of fruit yet.

Green pepper plants are struggling. I know they can be successfully grown in 5 gallon buckets, but I think I'm doing something wrong. It's a learning experience for me.

Collards are getting big, laughing at heat, inconsistent rainfall, caterpillars. I've seen them also survive snow in a winter garden, they're tough, but very good to eat.

The Swiss chard is getting big, too, need to pick it more regularly.

The annuals I have planted are in full bloom, pretty.

But we need rain. The storms that roll through keep missing us.

The tomatoes look great. We have some in the conservatory and they have flowered at this stage.

Lettuce is doing well, and we have been eating some of our own strawberries.

I am delighted your produce is coming on so well, and am impressed at your saving the squash plants.

>114 pgmcc: up north we had borers, but my mother would slice open the stalk, remove the borer, then cover the cut portion with dirt. It worked well. But here in the south not only is the growing season longer, but the numbers of insects are greater. I had basically given up on growing summer squash as I'd lose plants and not get squash. I read about BT back in the 1980s, just never tried it.

I planted lettuce under the tomatoes. It's alive, small, but surviving the heat.

>115 fuzzi:
Our lettuce is thriving, but we have slugs eating some of them. I recently heard about using a garlic spray to deter the slugs. I crushed up a few cloves of garlic, added boiling water, stirred the mix around for a while, and left to cool. When it was cool I sieved it into a sprayer and sprayed it on and around the lettuce plants. It appears to be helping.

I have just heard a loud crack of thunder and I can hear the rain pouring down. When it passes I will have to go out and give the lettuce another dose of garlic. :-)

Despite the heat I headed out to the gardens after work and picked a healthy portion of wax beans and a small zucchini. I blanched and froze the beans but ate the squash, yum.

We had some good downpours last night which meant I didn't have to water the plants today.

>116 pgmcc: I've not heard of garlic spray for slugs, we used to use beer traps.

June 19th Update:

Summer squash plants are alive, producing slowly but not succumbing to the borers. I'm injecting BT twice a week. The next planting is doing well, starting to bloom.

The butternut winter squash has been blooming, and I see a small fruit!

Cucumbers are blooming, too.

I have at least three watermelons, largest one is baseball sized. There are small cantaloupe fruits, grape sized.

Wax bean plants continue to produce, so I've been freezing a couple portions every night. Blue Lake green bean plants have little "baby" beans all over.

Early Girl tomato plants still have lots of big green tomatoes. One was starting to ripen so I picked it. It's on my kitchen counter.

Roma tomato plants have lots of green tomatoes.

The sweet potato vine continues to grow.

All my day lilies are blooming at once. Monarda (bee balm) has exploded in lavender blooms this week, and the canna lilies continue to produce orange and yellow flowers.

I've not seen a lot of butterflies but the dragonflies are swarming all over, it's he & she time.


Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly


Probably a Fowler's toad

>119 fuzzi: Lovely! (That includes the toad.) Not sure we get Fowler toads up here but I have a small common American toad living in my purple coneflowers and daisies. They provide good cover for him.

I’m posting mostly through the phone so unfortunately I’ve let a lot of threads go. I’m so busy doing extra animal chores recently that I haven’t gone looking for caterpillars to raise—though I know where one black swallowtail egg is and I’m watching it. Just saw a monarch for the first time this season flitting about the milkweed in the horse pasture.

>120 CassieBash: sorry to hear you've not been able to do more with raising butterflies this year. I've always enjoyed reading your threads about your "babies".

June 29th Update:

Summer squash plants are still producing slowly but not succumbing to the borers. I'm encouraged.

I have one small cucumber.

The melons are going like gangbusters: I have at least five watermelons, a couple 4-5" in diameter. The cantaloupe fruits are now almost as big.

Wax beans are barely producing, I'm thinking of removing them and planting something else in their place.

Green beans are doing well, but intertwined with each other so much that harvesting is not simple. I'll give them a little more space in between next time I plant.

Early Girl tomato fruits have been turning red the past week, have picked about a dozen tomatoes.

Roma tomato plants still have lots of green tomatoes.

The sweet potato vine continues to grow, but they take a looooooooong time to produce their crop.

Three or four years ago I bought day lilies at the local farmers' market. They've been sitting in pots ever since.

About a month ago I moved the pots next to the shed, and left them there. They started blooming profusely so I figured it was a good location!

Yesterday I scraped away the grass clippings mulch by the shed and dug a trench in the loosened dirt underneath. I added compost and peat moss, then separated the lily clumps which were jammed tight into the pots. I only planted three of the four varieties as I ran out of room. Two of the pots were marked with the name of the variety, which I appreciated.

As we'll be going on vacation next week I felt the lilies would do better in the ground, mulched, then relying on my house-sitter to remember to water them.

We're back!

It rained every day we were away from home, so it appears all the lilies are going to survive.

My house-sitter did not pick any vegetables, so this is what I found after being away for 6 days:



Missing are three Roma tomatoes that I gave to my father before I took the photo.

Even though the Early Girls have stopped creating fruit I'm still overrun with tomatoes. Last night after picking the rest of the tomatoes from the plants I took the ripest 5-6 and dropped them, whole, in the boiling water I'd used to blanch both wax and bush beans. After putting the tomatoes in ice water they peeled easily. I put them in a bag and into the freezer, whole.

The bush beans had stopped producing so I picked what was left and pulled up the plants. They went on the compost pile. I think I'll put some zucchini in the open space created.

Hot, hot, hot here, so no blossoms on the Roma (plum) tomatoes. Even the summer squash has stopped producing...BUT (!!!) I picked my first two cantaloupes Friday afternoon, they easily slipped off the vine. After chilling I sliced one open, found the flesh was delicious, so sweet, and everyone enjoyed it.

Our fig tree is producing, woo! Usually the raccoons get them before I can, so I'm pleased to be able to eat a few.

This morning I blanched and froze all the tomatoes I'd picked this week, leaving just a couple half green Early Girls for sandwiches later. A friend at work gave me a couple yellow squash as she was going on vacation and didn't want them to rot, so I blanched and froze them as well.

No rain in over a week, so I had to water all the gardens yesterday. I chose dusk and mosquitoes over the heat of the day, I just can't handle hot & humid like I used to.

Yesterday Deborah had her one year old visit at the vet's. She's healthy, weighs almost 10 1/2 pounds! I spent the afternoon organizing and cleaning before my sister arrives, next Friday.

Later this morning I'm going to the home improvement store to buy wood filler and a short length of PVC or similar pipe to use as a gutter extender: the awning over my side door is pouring rainwater directly on the wooden porch rail and I've noticed wood rot around a screw.

Oh, and my large aquarium appears to be leaking... :sigh:

Picked my first watermelon last night, it's the size of a softball. But there are a couple more, not quite ready to pick, that are closer to basketball-sized.

This past weekend I removed the last of the wax bean plants, saving the final pods for drying and seeds for future planting.

Planted zucchini and summer squash in their place, hoping for a better harvest than the previous crop.

Today's harvest...

Nice!!!

>129 fuzzi:
Impressive

>130 tardis: >131 pgmcc: thanks! I planted and watered, God made it grow. :)

As I picked up the cantaloupe it just slipped off the vine, and it smells SO GOOD.

It's chilling in the refrigerator, but will be served this evening. Yum.

Summer squash finally sprouted, it's been too dry here and it remained dormant despite hose waterings.

The zucchini never sprouted, replanted now that we've had a couple days of soaking rain.

Well, life got complicated since my last gardening post.

My father went into hospice Labor Day weekend, and passed away on September 13th.

I've not been reading as much or posting for that matter, as I'm trying to handle his financial and personal affairs. Whew.

More coming, soon, promise.

Update:

November 12 - harvested yams, pulled up dead tomato plants, added leaves and watermelon rinds to the raised bed

November 19 and 20th - brush pile burned

November 24 - enjoyed my first yam!

December 2 - remnants of brush pile burned

December 4 - planted turnips, chard, beets in the raised bed I'd prepared in November, covered with straw and netting (squirrels)

December 11 - pulled up dead tomato plants in second raised bed, added leaves, covered with cardboard to keep in moisture and keep out cats!

December 18 - turnips sprouted, growing!

December 25 - enjoyed more of the yams we grew!

December 26 - saw both male and female bluebirds at the feeders (suet)

The sparrows, finches, and cardinals figured out how to get water from a small open area of the pond. A titmouse perched on the pond "spitter" and drank from the stream!

I don't see anything green in the turnip/beet/chard raised bed, unseasonable cold probably killed them

Oops! Forgot to add the link to my 2023 gardening thread, here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347242#8020279