Saturday, 22-June-2013

Yard

• Rain keeps raining; grass keeps growing. Not much else of note. The Mock Orange on the fenceline is blooming beautifully, making me really want to be rid of the thuja that crowds it on the left. 
• The raspberry is producing. Picked a small bowlful today. If we went daily there'd probably be about the same each time.
• The blueberries are coming along.

South Forty

• The three thujas at the bottom of the South Forty are gone, hooray. Looks a bit odd coming up the road below, something missing, but looks much better.
• Looks like we'll have a few pears and plums this year. Not much action on the apples.

Potager

• The store-bought eggplants are doing well.
• The zucchini seedling that I planted is doing well. Planted the remains of a snail-eaten plant with it.
• One winter squash seed up. 
• There are haricots verts (Cordon Bleu) and fêves seeds planted directly in ground are growing. 
• Planted the remains of the slug- and snail-eaten tomatoes, six San Marzanos and five Tomate des Andes. (The weakest of each share a pole.)
• The paths need a mowing should it ever stop raining, (Actually everything needs a mowing.)

Entry

• The hydrangea is starting to bloom; the little clematis has finished. 
• The passion flower is blooming. It has never really recovered from the hard freeze winter before last. We're thinking this would be a good place for a honeysuckle; could put lath up the conservatory "walls" (that will probably never be closed in again). The passion flower could coexist with that whenever it's in the mood.

Soap spray for bugs

Found this in the June/July 2013 issue of Organic Gardening, unfortunately in a letter to the editor, so it's not available for pinning.

For a spray that works on all kinds of bugs (ants, potato bugs, white flies, etc.), mix:

• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons witch hazel
• 2 drops of dishwashing liquid

Spray on whatever needs it, both in the garden and around the house.

Monday, 3-June-2013

Since last post we've had lots of rain, with bits of sunshine. The grass has grown like mad.

Yard

• Bad news in the pipe from the fosse to the ventilation pipe has broken. The grass grew exceedingly well over that spot through the winter, but now it's a swamp. Someone's supposed to come replace that length of pipe soon. 
• Ed cleaned out the bed from the rose by the bedroom back to the tulip tree. Lots of elder and baby trees in there. Also cleaned some dead bits out of shrubs along the fence, 
• There was one ripe raspberry from the raspberries in the yard. I ate it.
• I marked the holes in the narcissus path with string hidden in the grass. In the fall I'll order a bunch of mixed bulbs and plant them along those lines. Only did the biggest gaps on one side. This will get mowed down next time since it's pretty will done now.
• The climbing rose (Kathleen, I think it is) is looking like it might actually climb up the albizia (pink mimosa) finally. Has lots of buds, but no open flowers yet. Odd since the one we had in NL was usually blooming about now. The albizia is just starting to think about leafing out. It's always the last tree to come.

Pots

• The baby lemon has new growth; seems to be happy. 
• Trimmed the dead stuff off the fuchsia and it's looking jolly.
• The little olive seems to be flowering. Little olives in the future? I didn't think it would flower while it was so small.
• The bougainvillea bit the dust I fear. We really need to improvise some kind of winter shelter for potted plants given that these cold winters will likely continue.
• Last fall's pansies have been doing well, but are starting to peek.
• Bought a hanging basket of petunias for color. Two of last years hanging baskets have remnants that are blooming. I combined these.
• The astilbe came back and is looking better than ever.
• Lavender getting ready to bloom.

Salad garden

• Nothing happening here. It's overgrown with weeks. Ed nowed a path through to read the fosse pipe. The yellow flowers, whatever they are, are blooming like mad. There's a mass of wild geranimums that are really weeds, but Ed and I both like the cloud of reddish foliage and pink flowers. 

South Forty

• Fruit trees doing fine, although something is eating the leaves on one of the apples.
• Parental trees doing fine.
• The burn orchids in the grass are about done and will get mowed next time round. 

Potager

• Most of the seedlings that I planted have been snail or slug eaten. Today I planted out the two eggplant plants that I bought at an organic market recently. One is Aubergine Black Beauty, which is kind of the standard eggplant around here. The other Aubergine Rotonda Bianca, rounder, with purple on one end and white on the other. We'll see how they go.
• Put out the two haricots verts Cordon Bleu that sprouted and survived, on either end of a bamboo hoop. Planted a few more seeds, just in case.
• Put on the one zucchini plant that survived, along with some seeds, hoping to get at least two plants in that "hill".
• Planted some winter squash seeds (Patidou) directly in the ground,
• Planted a short row of fêves (De Seville). These are about two months late, so I doubt much will come of them.

Entry

• The hydrangea is growing well. 
• The clematis is blooming but doesn't seem to want to climb up the pergola.