Replanting The Beans

I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer.

   Snap beans were planted in the south garden on May 22 during The Brief Summer.  The Red Swan beans came up well, almost 100% germination despite the cool weather that followed.  Five Slenderette beans came up, but three of them were missing their leaves (the cotyledons).  None of the Roma beans came up.  That was a disappointment; I had been looking forward to growing an abundant crop of them for the first time this year.

   Yesterday afternoon, I decided to dig up a few inches of the Roma row to see if any of them had germinated.  A few inches became the entire row, as all the beans had rotted.   I decided to also check the row of Slenderette beans, and with the exception of the two that had emerged with their leaves intact, discovered the same thing.

   I planted the Roma beans left in the packet, and planted Tendergreen beans (green/snap) to complete that row.  The Slenderettes were replaced with Calima beans (green/filet - I’ve grown them several times before and they always produce well) and Beurre de Rocquencourt (yellow/snap).   According to the forecast, local temperatures are supposed to jump back up to mid-twenties to thirty degrees next week.  If anything happens to this bunch of newly planted beans, it won’t be rotting in cold soil!

A Brisk Start to June

Wind.  Wind.  Chilly.  Drizzle.  Wind.  Chilly.  Rain.  Cloud Cover.  Gale.  Cloud Cover.  Sunshine!  Cloud Cover.  Drizzle.  Chilly.  Wind.  Wind.

That is a summary of the first half of June 2018.

Following The Brief Summer, what we call the few days of intense, August-like heat we experienced in May, this month has brought cool, WINDY, overcast days without much of a break.  I am back to wearing my floor-length "granny gown" at night (I am unapologetic about my affection for these nightgowns).  I have been known to peruse the garden in the morning still wearing it.  (I don't offer any apologies for that, either!)

As evidence of the gales we've had, behold the shredded pepper plant. (Click to enlarge photos)  From the original six, I am down to two.   I also lost another tomato plant - the stem snapped. 

Here is a bit of cinnamon basil, a scarlet begonia from the greenhouse, and the pea patch.

The south garden: a variety of cabbage on the right, garlic patch beside that, and to the left of the garlic, three kinds of bush snap beans (Roma II, Red Swan, and Slenderette).  So far, only the Red Swan beans have germinated well.  A few of the Slenderettes have germinated, but some have their leaves are missing and will have to be replanted.  No sign of the Romas at all.  Beans do NOT like cool weather.  In the far corner, near the crabapple tree, there is lettuce and a variety of brassicas (curly kale, Dazzling Blue kale, and collards).  They seem to do well in the shade.

Along the side of the south garden: zucchini, mint from the greenhouse, cucumbers (they haven't come up yet) and a few potted tomatoes.

I also planted some cabbage (Red Express and Cour di Bue, I believe) in a raised bed along the driveway.  You can see it was windy when I took this picture!

Raised beds along the driveway.  The closest one contains red and yellow onions and carrots.

We've trying potatoes in one of the raised beds.  They seem to like this location!  It is so much easier for them to cope with the sandy soil in the raised bed than the heavy clay soil in what we call the Potato Patch ("East Garden"?)

Furry supervisor, Bea, reporting for duty.

Purple Amish Gnuttle and Swedish Brown beans.  They will have short runners, thus the bamboo stakes.

Two North Georgia Candy Roasters are planted in this container.  It is right beside the driveway.  I am not sure this was a wise idea, as Candy Roasters sprawl.  We'll see.  I planted Morning Glory seeds around the stake.

The "East Garden".  We usually call it the Potato Patch, but there are no potatos in it this year (or are there...?)  Planted in the garden are 4 North Georgia Candy Roasters,  Damascus Steel and Malachite Box tomatoes, 2 eggplants (looking woeful and small after this stretch of weather), 1 collard plant, 1 Dazzling Blue kale, a few marigols, Early Riser snap beans (pole), and Flagg dry beans (pole), and a few zinnia, alyssum, and dahlia seeds.  For the heck of it, I popped in a bunch of large (Russian Giant?) sunflower seeds throughout the garden, as well as some Sunspot (dward) sunflower seeds.  I thought they they were both packets of old seed, so I planted lots.  To my surprise, even in the heavy, cold soil, they all seem to be coming up!

 
Furry Supervisor # 2 (Loulou), reporting for duty.

The East Garden/Potato Patch is proving to be a fun spot.  Kind of a treasure chest this year.  It seems like every day, new and unexpected things appear.  In addition to the things deliberately planted, there are volunteer sunflowers and several volunteer potatoes coming up.  We don't know how the potatoes survived the winter.

The rock wall is finished. R. did a nice job.

The cabbage in the south garden look healthy - they have liked the cool weather - but many of them are laying on their sides, having surrendered to the relentless gusts of wind.

Lou, thrilled to be out in the garden.

A friend gave me a few fingerling potatoes in the Spring.  We are trying some of them in plastic grow bags.  So far, so good.

South side of the house.  The tomatoes here are faring better than the tomatoes in the raised beds and south garden, having been sheltered from the wind.  Two dahlia are growing in the brown pots on the right.

It is likely a tad pathetic that I have taken this picture, but I was so relieved that these Prolific Straightneck Squash seeds finally germinated that I couldn't resist.  All three germinated, so I will have to move one of them to a different spot.

More potted dahlias waiting to be moved to the (sunnier) front step.

May the second half of June bring us calm, warm, sunny weather!

PlantCatching

I discovered a neat plant and garden sharing resource online this morning called, PlantCatching.  This platform facilitates the sharing of plants, seeds, garden materials (e.g., compost), produce, and other garden-related items.  The site looks easy to use and is available in English and French.  

There are buttons on the site that allow visitors to share it via social media (Facebook and Twitter).  If you click on, "Seed Your City"  under the heading, "More" in the menu at the top of the page, you will find downloadable flyers and posters to put up in your community, labels to attach to your shared items (if you wish to use them), and widgets to place on your blog or website. 

Blazing Sun and Petal Confetti: Let The Gardening Begin

   The last two weeks have brought us unusually hot, sunny weather for May.  We were able to get a head start on the initial (and increasingly, dreaded) grunt work of the gardening season.  R. tilled the in-ground plots and I spent hours on my hand and knees picking out grass roots and weeds, particularly from the north garden.  I planted the carrots, onions, beets, leeks, and transplanted the cabbage into a raised bed along the driveway and into the south garden beside the garlic patch.  We decided to try growing potatoes in one of the raised beds instead of the in-ground plot near the raspberries this year.  The soil is fairly light and sandy in the raised beds, whereas the plot near the raspberries is chunky, dry, clay.

   Monday, we put up trellises in the north garden and planted peas.  Many, many peas.  I overestimated the number we would need, and soaked three bags of them when two bags would have been sufficient.  My original plan was to have ½ - ¾ of that patch as peas and something different planted in the remaining portion.  We ended up filling the entire plot with peas.  I see much shelling in my future. Thank goodness for Netflix.

   The trees are filled with blossoms and the air smells heavenly!   Petals are falling like confetti in the breeze today.

   The last few days have been so hot that half the leeks I planted fried and had to be replanted yesterday, when we had a very welcome day of cloud-cover and showers.  I finished planting the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers yesterday, and also planted the winter squash (North Georgia Candy Roaster), basil (Fine Verde), summer savoury, dry (Amish Gnuttle, Swedish Brown, Molasses Face, Coco Jaune de Chine) and snap beans (Romano, Red Swan, and Slenderette), cucumber, summer squash (green zucchini and Early Yellow Straightneck), kale (Dazzling Blue and Curly), and collards (Tronchuda).  I still have some greens (chard and lettuce) to plant as well as the Romanesco cauliflower and pole beans (likely Early Riser snaps and Flagg dry).  I have never grown pole snap beans, so am eager to find out how they do here.  Early Riser is reportedly a prolific variety of Romano snap bean.

   In addition to preparing the garden plots and beds, Roy dismantled the two rock beds, as they’d been overtaken by weeds and quack grass.  We both like the look of rock beds, but the maintenance is tedious and unending.  He built wooden beds to replace the flower bed and what I thought of as the “cabbage bed” by the (now enormous) currant bush.  He used most of the rocks to rebuild the low wall that separates the driveway from the north garden.  Fortunately for R., he was able to hire a family friend who was visiting town to help him schlep rocks for the day. Unfortunately for the fellow, he got the second sunburn of his life doing it.  Even the darker-skinned among us were not immune from the relentless rays this week!

   The carrots, beets, carrots, and a few of the potatoes have sprouted.  Because we didn’t have the usual 2-3 week cool transition from Spring to summer – just, BOOM: HEAT - the carrots have not germinated as well as they did last year.  Several of the tomato varieties this year have wispy foliage, and I ended up losing one to the heat after it had been transplanted.  Anything that wasn’t thoroughly hardened off before transplanting this year met it’s Maker once in the ground.

Can you feel the heat?  The tomatoes can!

   Last year was not a good year for cabbage. Most of the seedlings I started were nibbled to death by some sort of tiny insect.  Those that survived grew well once in the garden, but then slugs decimated them.  This year, I was able to successfully start more cabbage seedlings than last year and will have extra to share with friends.  The Red Express cabbage (and the Dazzling Blue kale, for that matter – it also has predominant pink/purple streaks in it) was remarkably robust.  I wish my green cabbage varieties would do so well.

L-R...beets, cabbage under milk jug tops, leeks

   Every year, we seem to contend with a different pest (aphids, slugs, root maggots, catepillers, wasps, etc).  Maybe they collude to work on a rotating basis.  If the last two weeks are any indication, it looks like this will be a hornet and wasp year.  We set up two "juice" traps earlier this week, and R. bought a fake wasp nest to hang outside.

   There is still a lot to do out there:  the raspberry patch looks like a hayfield, the lawn needs to be mowed and whippersnipped, gardens need to be mulched, weeds around the property raked, etc.   We’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though.   

Knock wood.

Tomato Boot Camp and Gardening Notes

   Yesterday morning, I started hardening off the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.  For the first while, they'll be put them out early (between 5:15am - 5:30am) and brought in an hour later.  The mornings have been cool and a bit overcast, so no worries than they'll be scorched.

   I also started some lettuce seed in milk jugs yesterday:  Sherwood, Galisse, Lollo Rossa, Black Seeded Simpson, Grand Rapids, and Flashy Butter Oak.        

   This morning, I cleaned out the spent canes in the raspberry patch.  It is sunny, mild, and breezy outdoors; perfect weather for this kind of task.  I spotted two ladybugs nestled amongst the cane, which made me smile. The first bumblebee of the season was buzzing around the composters, looking cute and fuzzy (and sounding like a Cessna).  The patch is  s p r e a d i n g, and there are bare spaces in what we loosely consider to be the rows in the patch.  I’d like to dig up some of the smaller canes and move them to the interior of the patch to fill the spaces and keep the patch from taking over the lawn.  There is just so much else to do, though, that I’m not sure this will be a priority. 

   Last year, volunteer pansies were coming up in the raised beds and the north garden.  I didn’t have to plant any, I just moved them where I wanted them!  No sign of volunteer pansies this year, so  this morning I planted some in the black planter in front of the house (a mix of small yellow, purple, and white ones) and around the back corner of the bathtub (Springtime Cassis, a variety that is new to me).

   The Wooly Thyme looks fantastic - soft and green.   Just love it!  The same can’t be said for the rest of the flower bed.  Last summer, it was overtaken by weeds and quack grass, and I didn’t have the energy to deal with it.  The Creeping Thyme is also green and flourishing, but it self-seeded extensively last year and is now all through the bed, filling in the gaps between the weeds…and the grass has grown up through the original clusters.  Ahrg.  If I decide to deal with the flower bed rather than throwing a tarp over it and hoping nobody notices, my mantra will be, “It’s for the bees…it’s for the bees…”

   The trees and lilac bushes are budding like mad. Strangely enough, I have only seen 2 or 3 dandelions.

   The garlic started to come up about a week ago and is already several inches tall.  I had to rescue the bulbils by pulling off some of the mulch that their sprouts were struggling to get through.  I mulched the bulbil section heavily last Fall on the off chance we were in for a very cold winter.  It turned out not to be; we haven’t had a really cold winter for some time, now… 

   After hemming and hawing over what kind of winter squash to grow this year (the tried-and-true Galeux D’Eysines or North Georgia Candy Roaster, or the new-to-me Rouge Vif d'Étampes ("Cinderella Pumpkin") or Delicata), a decision was finally made.  Earlier this week, I started North Georgia Candy Roaster seeds in milk jugs.  The jugs will be kept inside on a heat mat and under lights, and hardened off in June before transplanting.  Hopefully, they will do as well as the first time I grew them! 

It begins!

Effective Microorganisms

    One of my experiments this season will be to brew and use effective microorganisms (EM) on the garden, raised beds, raspberry patch, and compost bins.  The brand available in Canada (it took some tracking down) is from SCD and is called,"ProBio Balance Plus".  I ordered the Mother culture (the most economical option) earlier this year to activate myself.  It is pricey, particularly when shipping costs are factored in, but curiosity won out over frugality and I splurged.  Fortunately, a little goes a long way.  Application and dilution rates vary, but generally speaking, 1L of EM covers 10,000 square feet.

    I mixed up a double batch this morning in a 2L pop bottle and will set it on a heat mat for the next few weeks.  I also ordered some short-range pH test strips from Amazon so I can test the batch before I use it.  (Ideally, EMs should be below 3.7 before using).  This might be overkill, but I have never used EMs before.  I don't want to apply a useless/ineffective brew to the garden.  Better safe than sorry.   

     EMs are supposedly good at eliminating pet smells, so I plan on dousing the front step with the brew, too.  (Our property is Grand Central Station for strays and neighbour kitties who like to drop by and snooze under the trees).

I don't know if they will 'save the earth, but this is a neat little video about effective microorganisms:

This one is a little dry, but different uses for EMs are outlined here:

   It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, the EM solution will have on the garden. Some studies say that EMs used in agriculture show an improvement in yields and a decrease in soil-borne pest problems, while others say EMs show little significant effect.  I have also found instructions for making an EM mixture from scratch.  I think I will leave that for another year!