Going, Going…Gone? October 13, 2009

 

The last few days of the 2009 growing season are really eeking away. The weather has been chilly and generally damp since September and I was certain we’d get an early frost.  Our expected frost date in this area is October 15th.  We’re just about there, and truth be told, I’m ready for it.  My garden was just plain disappointing this season.  I’m not beating myself up about it.  I’m just ready to put it to bed and forget all the heartbreak.   Usually I scurry around putting blankets on things I want to protect from the first frost and squeeze out a week or two more of growing, but this year I’m unexpectedly anxious to get to ripping out the annuals and cutting back the perennials so I can focus on planning for next year. 

Click “more” to see a series of photos that show the progression of my garden’s growth this season. 

 

Autumn Veggies September 17, 2009

 

The vegetable garden is certainly winding down, but it’s not to be dismissed just yet as several fall crops are making good progress towards delicious autumn harvests.   Actually, fall produce is among my favorite.  Beets, butternut squash and rutabaga really revv up my internal engine when it’s getting chilly outside.  Soups, warm salads, and roasted everything…. I don’t know if I have the patience to wait for all these crops to mature! 

 

 

At the moment, I have young cauliflower seedlings struggling to get going.  I’ve never had any real success with growing cauliflower and I’ve read and heard from others that it’s a tough crop, but I thought I’d give it a go since I had so much empty space in  my plot this year.  Nearby are the very large and very ugly stems of the rutabaga that have been in the ground for almost two months now.  They seem to always be stressed but the plants have made it much farther along this year than they did last so I have some small hope of getting those delicious swollen orange roots to eat.    Also coming along is a mixed planting of several carrot varieties.  Fall carrots are perfection for me – a sweet and healthy treat!   The butternut squash vines were taking a big hit from cucumber beetles and squash bugs but with a little layering early on, they seemed to have outgrown the damage and are bearing nearly 15 squash between the two plants.   Hopefully they’ll all make it to maturity without mishap.  The radishes are nearly ready while the beets are just beginning to make their stand in the four short rows I sowed two weeks ago. 

 

 

August Anguish, But… August 17, 2009

 

It’s not news here on this blog that this summer has been a tough one for my garden.  August continues to hold its moments of anguish, particularly as I watch giant holes emerge in my ornamental beds where plants had to be removed because they fell over or browned out.    Yep, rough season. 

 

 

But, all that aside, there are also moments of beauty as the blooms continue to march along in their summertime progression in the ornamental beds.   The dahlias are putting on a lovely display in the back corner finally.  The balloon flower is unquenchable in its zest for producing new blue bursts.  The zinnas, while still sluggish, are delicious shades of pinks and purples.  The Red Dawn trees in the back are rocketing for the sky, well over seven feet tall now.  The sedums along the hill are blooming, as are a few of the succulents in my little desert container.   The jewels of opar remind me of sparklers on the Fourth of July.   The jupiter’s beard has the wildest seedheads  that add bold texture to the garden.   The iresine has finally developed its mature bright pink veins. 

 

 

French ‘Savor’ Melon August 16, 2009

 

I have a special love for growing and eating melons, thanks to my father, who is nearly obsessed with them.   However, I seem to always be growing in small spaces that don’t really allow for the vigorous vines of the melon family.   When I saw Johnny’s Select Seeds was offering the seeds for the French Charentais melon ‘Savor‘ this year, I immediately ordered a packet.  I had read much about these small single-serving melons with luscious flesh scented with floral notes.    They produce on relatively small vines that can be trained up a trellis and still support the small melons hanging precariously in the air.   

 

 

I planted three vines in my garden and three vines in containers on my hot sunny deck.    Sadly, the three vines in my garden quickly succumbed to disease after a swift and unavoidable attack by squash bugs even though the vines were covered with protective fleece.    My hopes were flagging for the vines on my deck as they really were very scrawny by all accounts – small leaves, short vines, thin stems.  No way could these plants produce a good melon, I thought.   As it turns out, they produce an amazing melon.   The softball sized fruit is intensely fragrant and similar in color and texture to a cantaloupe.  However, the flavor is very different than a cantaloupe and rather difficult to describe beyond “delicious”!    Only one of my vines is actually producing (three fruits thus far), but I attribute this to a lack of pollinators and my inconsistent watering of the pots.   Next year I’ll grow these again in containers with an irrigation system and will make more of an effort to pollinate with a paint brush if the bees don’t wise up to the bounty of blossoms available on my deck in this urban jungle.

 

What to Plant When… August 3, 2009

my garden right now

 

…your garden’s gone to hell in a soggy hand basket?  Good question.   Around here things have been a tad stormy – winds howling at near 40 mph and an inch of rain getting dumped in a matter of minutes – in recent weeks.  Needless to say, this does not make gardening very fun, particularly when it is coupled with the uncanny start to our season when it was rainy and cool clear through to early July and then a powerful punch of heat and humidity rolled through just before these most recent summer storms.   In the beginning, my plants were weak and spindly from lack of sunlight and too much moisture.  Now, with the winds and downpours, my plants are splayed out on the garden floor or have succumbed to powdery mildew and late blight.   Seriously, folks, this is not a pretty picture.  Faced with this reality, I needed to come up with “Plan B” or, at the very least, a respectable exit strategy. 

 

my garden last year in mid-August (just two weeks later in the season than the picture above)

 

In the ornamental beds, I decided just to clean up the mess as best I could, letting the nasty holes emerge as they would and hopefully later fill in naturally with whatever makes it in one piece through the summer (at this point, the only real troopers are my Metasequoia trees).   I ripped out the Monarda at last, along with much of the Calendula, a big chunk of Achillea, and one of the two Agastache I had at the back of the bed.  I don’t plan on putting in any new plant material as the season is disheartening and too far along to merit any more investment this year.  I spent a great deal of time tying up the Scabiosa, Zinnia, Echinacea, and remaining Achillea.  Also, I’m trying to come up with a quick and effective means of “fencing in” my boarder of bunny tail grass, which keeps flopping all over the path for several days after each storm.

 

 

June Wrap Up July 4, 2009

 

The garden is growing gold these days, trucking along at full speed.  I’m very nervous to be leaving it for the next two weeks as I tour English gardens and visit with some impressive horticulturists and designers in the U.K.    Seeing as how my packing is yet to be done, I’ll jump right into the details of what was blooming and producing in the garden this past week.    Notice above how the zinnias are starting to pop up at the front and the Metasequoias on the far right are getting very bushy.  I’m thinking about pruning them, though I love their texture and fresh green growth so much that I’m not sure I can bring myself to do it.

 

 

The succulent container is absolutely stunning as all the plants have become very well established and are taking on their more intense color now that they are in the sun and the weather is quite hot.  The reds and blues make me smile every time I walk by, as do the tiny off-sets the thimble cacti have started to produce.    I’m relieved the 21 days (!) of rain we had in June didn’t swamp the entire container and leave me with a bunch of rotted out plants.

 

 

Speaking of beautiful containers, my main focal container is continuing to look spectacular.  The hydrangeas are holding up like real champs, despite being in full sun and crammed in with loads of other plants.   The coleus is shooting up through the middle and adding yet another layer of texture and some yellow-green highlights to match those of the creeping jenny below.  I have been fertilizing my container with a cocktail of compost tea and fish emulsion once a week.    Same goes for the varigated lime sitting below the big container.  It has been growing like a weed and adding a nice accent to my container collection.

 

 

New to bloom in my ornamental beds this past week were the punchy Allium ‘Drumstick’ and clear blue Platycodon grandiflorus (ballon flower).  Last year the ballon flowers were very short so I was unable to use any in cut flower arrangements.  Now that these perennials have gotten established, they’ve stretched to a lovely height of three feet with straight strong stems.  I promptly cut the two you see above and am currently testing their vase life – three days and counting. 

 

 

Another new bloom in the garden is the patch of nigella.  This is a pleasant surprise.  I had direct seeded nearly six feet of a row in the very early spring only to have very slow germination and spotty with what did sprout.  The seedlings failed to put on any growth for nearly 3 months.    Since these are a spring cut, I pretty much gave up on them and was just thinking the other week that I should rip them out and put in more zinnias and cosmos.  Well, ta-da!  They’ve burst into bloom and are the most stunning cut I’ve grown to date, adding to the bunches of sweet williams, snap dragons, and dill flowers I’ve been harvesting by the armfuls.   What I love best about the nigella is that I can harvest a stem that has a bloom or two open on it but several others that aren’t and the stem will continue to bloom in the vase, adding an element of surprise as it fills out the arrangment with additional fresh flowers. 

 

 

Just look at that bucket of flowers!  I’m still in awe every time I harvest a big bunch… it’s really that easy to grow amazing flowers like this to have tucked into vases around the house!  My clients are really loving them too.   I made a delivery the other day and couldn’t help getting a big smile across myself as I saw how much delight they invoked.   Another gratifying harvest as of late has been the tea herbs; lots of yarrow, anise hyssop, chamomile and lavender still being pumped out of my tea garden bed. 

 

Good Fellas June 30, 2009

 

When summer hits its stride, so do the garden pests.   I’ve had a few grand battles with some particularly pesky pests in the past.  However, I wasn’t always the most proactive player in the pest management game.  I really only took notice after these “rat bastards” – as I so kindly refer to them  – did some serious damage to one plant or another.    I recently had a chance to work with the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) division at Longwood and quickly became hyper-aware of all insect activity thanks to daily scouting trips around the gardens and routine research on the topic.  

 

 
Lo and behold, once my eyes were opened, my garden quickly reveled myriad insects, many of which are good guys!  I never knew I had so many beneficial insects fighting my war against pests for me.    As I noted earlier, the lady bugs were feasting on black aphids in my flower beds in late May and early June.   And the bees of course have been doing their very important business of pollinating since the first colorful flower emerged in spring. 

 

 
I couldn’t really capture the  itty bitty parasitic wasps laying their eggs inside the eggs of an asparagus beetle’s, but trust me, that was super cool!   I actually saved the leaf the eggs were on in a small vile and hatched them out in safety.  I released the new generation on my stand of mustards and beans as these little wasps reportedly do big time damage to Mexican bean beetle, my arch nemesis. 

 

 
But the real hero in my garden this year is without a doubt the army of assassin bugs (a.k.a. wheel bugs).  Early this spring I noticed a clutch of eggs on one of my wooden poles that I was tempted to squash since I didn’t know what they were.  Boy, am I glad I didn’t!  Out hatched hundreds of bright red and black assassin bugs, all of which quickly disappeared.  I was forlorn as I knew they are a great predatory insect.  Well, thankfully they just were hiding for a bit while they went through a couple nymphal stages (I’ve found lots of empty skins they shed on the underside of many of my ornamental plants). 

 

 

About two weeks ago, they all suddenly re-emerged on my Echniops, at least triple the size they had been when they hatched.  I immediately offered them a re-location package they couldn’t refused and carefully (they do bite!) dumped at least 20 on my ground cherries, eggplants, and tomatillos in the vegetable garden.  These plants were plagued with flea beetle and Colorado potato beetle.  I had my doubts that they’d do much good… assassin bugs are general predators so it wasn’t clear from my research if they’d be all that committed to cleaning up one pest in particular.  Well, folks, the proof is in the photo!    The Colorado potato beetle grubs were a hot ticket item on the menu and I am now grub free!  I also saw them piercing the flea beetle with their tenacious mouthparts, but when they weren’t encumbered by the weight of a big ol’ grub, the assassin bugs moved too quickly to take a clear photo of the feasting.   The flea beetle population has plummeted.   I can’t believe I’m saying this…but, I hope the Mexican bean beetle and harlequin bugs get here soon so my brigade of good fellas has something new to eat!

 

High Season June 15, 2009

 

The garden is really hitting its stride here as we round the corner of mid-June.  Many flowers have come into bloom, including the ox eye daisies, the coneflowers, and the lavender.  The yarrow is just about to break bud.  The large container I designed has taken on even richer coloring as the hydrangea has turned a deep shade of maroon in the sun.   I moved my large Aeonium ‘Black Rose’ out to sit beside my container planting as I think the near-black purple of its leaves are the perfect compliment to the overall design. 

 

 

 Sedum Hill is growing wild to the point of frustration – I spend far more time “weeding” it than I do on anything else in my ornamental beds.  Still, it’s a repeated favorite of anyone who strolls into my garden so it’s worth the effort.   Speaking of weeds, I’m surprised by how few I have this year.  I am guessing they have gotten choked out by the lush growth of my perennials.  I also make it a point to pull the weeds in the spring as soon as I see them, which no doubt stops them from multiplying and seeding in more.     I spotted a few great beneficial bugs too in my garden and beside it too this week.  Black aphids were densely populating on a few stems here and there and a herd of hungry lady bugs soon followed and knocked down the aphid population very quickly.   I love it when the good guys beat the bad guys!   And nearby was spotted the caterpillar of a monarch butterfly.  This is one beautiful baby!

 

 

Bugs aside, I planted out my zinnia transplants to get my “fence” in the front started again.   Another task that’s taken me quite awhile to complete was putting in three more posts around the perimeter of my ornamental beds so that my various vines can grow up them this summer.  Now I just have to find plenty of willow branches to weave another garland like I have hanging in the front and also to build some “cages” again like I had last year around my unruly salvia plants. 

 

 

Jumping into June June 3, 2009

 

Plenty of growth and blooming in the ornamental beds now that the warm sunny weather is here.  The mornings are still very cool with heavy dew though, which saves me having to water to terribly much.  The Rosa ‘City of York’ is blooming at the garden’s entrance, its old-fashioned heady fragrance providing a warm welcome to visitors.  The Salvia nemorosa ‘Rosenwein’ is putting on a violet-pink show of flower spikes.

 

 

On Thursday evening before running off to an evening class, I plugged in two Iresine lindenii and two Artemisia in the back corner.  I love how the deep amethyst color and hard lines of the Iresine contrast with the soft silver and frilly edges of the Artemisia.  Both of these plants I plan on using as fillers for floral designs as well.

 

 

In the vegetable plot, the lettuce has just about hit its peak and I am harvesting a head a day and chowing down on the delicious tender leaves.  The kohlrabi are coming along too, and I harvested my first one just yesterday.  The peas have been producing nicely for the past week, though I seem to never bring any out of the garden since I somehow manage to eat them all while still working out there.   That’s just dandy as fresh raw peas are far better than any cooked version I know!  The pests seem to be currently kept at bay by the row covers, though they are out and about at this point.    I took out the last of my radishes this week though as the flea bettle had put the foliage past any photosynthetic use.

Just Picked 5/21 May 21, 2009

 

Finally starting to get some vegetables out of the garden!  I am delighted in my ‘Jericho’ lettuce heads, so full and tender and uniform.  The radish mix is beginning to mature with roots in hues of deep purple, bright pink, and creamy white.  Also harvesting several cuttings of my California spicy mesclun mix, though it is really spicy and the flea beetles have taken several bites out of it already.   Chive blossoms make me happy when sprinkled on salads.  The mint, oregano, sage, thyme and rosemary are all ready for snipping as needed.