Wednesday, June 20, 2012

June 20

Hot today.  Sprayed copper on tomatoes.  Have been pruning most days.

Count on chipmunks is hazy, maybe 13 so far?

Harvested one marrow, plant might be gone. Got one summer squash previously.  Got 3 glads from bulbs which were missed.

Friday, June 15, 2012

June 15

Now have trapped 8 chipmunks, and still see some in the paths.

Hauled dirt down from the bins around leeks (3), okra (2), brocooli and peppers.

Early wilt showing--pruned 2-3 times this week.

I think about all the glads I planted are now up.  One glad that overwintered has buds.

The red astilbe look very good.  The caladium bulbs are starting to show--one plant may have had its leaves nibbled.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Early Wilt--June 9

Sprayed the tomatoes this morning but several of the plants are showing signs (pruned maybe a week ago).  According to the direcitons I should have sprayed back shortly after transplanting.

Now have killed 3 chipmunks.  Anne-Marie had some beets eaten  last night.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Round the House, May 24

5 caladiums Lisa liked were in the second tier in front, no sign of them and I thought I planted them wrong.  Found 3, 2 of which definitely sprouting, so there's still hope.

Put out about $50 worth of impatiens along the sidewalk, on the third tier, and under dining room window, 3 caladiums, 2 coleus to fill holes in front, crossing my fingers on the  caladiums.

Was able to dodge bulbs and bluebell roots mostly.

June 3 Status

Things are mostly good.
Bed 1 Peas were disappointing, particularly the English ones. Tomatoes are topping the cages, and showing signs of the early wilt.  Need to apply copper.

Bed 2 The lettuce has gone to town. Peas in the center of the bed did well, the rest not (fertilitiy problem?) The new iris is going dormant, I think, hopefully will revive in late summer. Onions were good.

Bed 3 Trapped one chipmunk, then had senior moment and broke trap. The leeks and chard are starting to thrive, beets under screen and net looking pretty good, eggplant under row cover,  butternut squash showing buds.

Bed 4 Glads are finally showing, at least the first batch planted are.  The new glads are up to 18"  or so.  The broccoli disappointed Lisa, but we got some harvest.  The lettuce is doing better.  A couple cabbages are developing.

N QPlot.  All the dahlias are showing, finally.

S QPlot  2 of the new dahlias doing well, the third okay.  Peppers looking good.  A summer squash has small one.s


Thursday, May 17, 2012

May 17 Update

Put netting over 3 rows of beets.  Next time need to coordinate in advance so the hardware screen can go in before the seeds and get deeper in the ground. 

Lisa harvested the first peas today.  The broccoli are showing heads about quarter size.

The old glads are starting to show some.  The new dahlias are doing well, the old aren't showing much.

Around the house, the roses/clematis are in full bloom, a few picture.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

May 13 status

Put in dahlias a couple days ago, and peppers, eggplant and tomatoes about a week ago.

Bed 1: tomatoes and peas.  Not sure how well the peas are doing.  I put down the last iron sulfate  (beds 1,2, and quarterplot) a couple weeks ago, plus blood meal (all plots) about 3 weeks ago. Have the frame for the netting up.  Need to spray copper.

Bed 2  the peas in the center of the pea and the onions in the center are doing very well, as is the radishes and spinach in that area .  The vegetables on either end aren't doing as well.  Lisa's lost lettuce from the far end--I'm not sure of the cause. Some lettuce is doing okay, but not great.  The new iris isn't doing well but the parsley is.

Bed 3 Lisa has leeks, chard, betts and something I forget from path end to center.  The eggplant is at the far end, the plants are healthy and under the row cover.

Bed 4  The new glads are doing very well, up about 8", while the old ones aren't.  Don't know if they got dehydrated,  don't think there was much difference in the depth.  The broccoli and a cabbage are starting to take off, but the other cabbages are slow.  Picked a few cabbage worms.

North Quarter: the dahlias, 11 old ones plus a duplicate, most of which had pale sprouts. A few cases there's multiple tubers in one hill.

South Quarter:  the peppers at one end, 3 new dahlias at the other.  Put the peppers here to try to get ahead of the nematodes(?) or whatever it was that hit them last year, due I think to their following the tomatoes.

Lisa has several squash plants started.  I'm thinking squash in South Quarter and bed 3, beans in beds 2 and 4, we'll see.

Weather has been dry--down about 5 inches at Dulles, though we had a good rain in late April and the soil still seems moist when turned.