Lady Bugs, Damselflies, and Volunteer Tomatoes

     A short update while I wait for my ancient little camera to charge and the rain to stop so I can take more pictures around the garden.

   Early in the season, hundreds of sunflowers popped up from the seeds of last year's plants.  In the main garden plots, in raised beds, in pots...there's even one coming up in the middle of the lawn.  We had to pull the majority to ensure enough light would reach the things we actually intended to grow.  A few were transplanted to new locations.  

   In recent weeks, volunteer tomatoes have taken over where the volunteer sunflowers left off!  They are coming up everywhere and look healthy and robust.  I wish the tomato seedlings started indoors looked so good.  Like the sunflowers, most volunteer tomatoes have had to been pulled.  A few have been left in the garden to grow (one in the East garden has grown faster than the watermelon, kale, and zucchini there).  We might even get a tomato or two from them by the end of the season.

 

  

   The weather this summer has been reminiscent of the summers we used to have here: warm days (rather than scorching hot),  mild nights, and regular periods of rain or drizzle.  Though I'm sure the peppers would prefer more heat, everything else looks lush, green, and healthy.  The peas, cabbage, potatoes, and herbs, in particular, are thriving.  The poppies, which started blooming several days ago, are lasting longer in this cool, drizzly weather than they do on bright, hot days.  The tomato flowers are setting well after several years of reduced flower-set caused by heat and periods of drought.

   The garden has been blessed by the presence of an abundance of little ladybugs and damselflies this summer.  They are almost magical to see, especially early in the morning when it's quiet and dew still covers everything.  A few tiny grasshoppers and fuzzy bees visit throughout the day as well.  The bees especially seem to love the asparagus fronds and Bachelor Buttons.  I would like to see more bees.  It seems like we used to have many more bees in the garden, years ago.  Mercifully, there have been no hornets or wasps and neither root maggots nor slugs have made an appearance.  *knock wood* 

   The spinach and some of the beets have already bolted.  Layers of carrot seedlings, in various stages, are now coming up.  I reseeded the carrots 3 times early in the season because germination was so low.  With this extended stretch of cloudy, wet days, it seems like every single carrot seed is now coming up.  Yesterday, they were thinned with gusto!

   A quick stroll around the yard this morning revealed that deer were through overnight.  A kale plant and chard plant have been eaten.  We left a few kale and chard plants, sprayed with bitter deer deterrent, in pots near the front of the property.  The hope was that a few bites of those plants would encourage them to continue on up the street, but instead they came deeper onto the property to see what else was on offer. Thank goodness we covered the cabbage with floating row cover and caged the peas and strawberries with netting... 

   A start-of-July roundup of garden pictures is coming soon.  In the meantime, here is the first poppy of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

Pea Blossoms

Gold Harvest soup peas.  What pretty blossoms they have!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volunteer Squash and Effective Microorganisms

Though it’s a beautiful, sunny, mild morning, June, overall, has been cool and drizzly.  The cabbage, beets, peas, onions, leeks, and carrots have loved it.  The tomatillos, squash, and peppers, not so much.  The tomatoes are keeping a stiff upper lip but are hoping for consistently warmer and sunnier weather soon.

On the upside, we haven’t had to do much watering in recent weeks.

Our kitties enjoy sunbathing in the garlic patch, where they think nobody can see them.  Here is Little Lou at the edge of the garlic patch (North garden).  Cabbage is under floating row cover, more to protect it from deer than cabbage moths.

 

 

 'Green Beauty' snow peas at the edge of the South garden.

 

An Anaheim pepper, trying its best!

 

 

 Kale seedlings (I believe this is 'Frilly' kale, probably from Annapolis Seeds).

 

Batch of EM-1's ('Effective Microorganisms') mixed in April and allowed to ferment.  The garden will be watered with a diluted version of it in the next week or so.  

 

The recipe I used for the EM-1 mixture (written version at the end of this blog post) is from this video:

 

 

 

Early this week, R. discovered one of the tomato plants ('Kim’s Civil War Oxheart') in the East garden – the garden closest to the street – had the top bitten off.  That is a new one for us.  It must have been one of the young deer passing through with its mother.  It was one of three varieties I’d agreed to grow out for a tomato seed bank, so I will do what I can to nurture those plants through the summer.  We covered those tomatoes with floating row cover and trellised the other tomatoes in that garden (a shorter, determinate variety) with enough twine to hopefully discourage any further midnight snacking.

 

 

The winter squash transplants ('North Georgia Candy Roaster' and 'Burpee’s Butterbush') have been planted in raised beds.  Watermelon ('Blacktail Mountain') were planted in the middle of the East garden.  We’ll see how the watermelon fares; it will need more heat than we’ve been getting, and the transplants have remained quite small.

North Georgia Candy Roaster, with a few sunflowers coming up along the edge: 

 

Bachelor Buttons have begun to bloom, as have the few purple irises in the bathtub flowerbed.  

 

 

Bachelor Button

 

Two of the green zucchini ('Fordhook') have FINALLY germinated and shown themselves.  Still waiting on three others.  Older seed + cool temperatures = zucchini seeds giving me the plant kingdom’s version of the middle finger. The yellow zucchini ('Saffron', from Le Potager Ornementale de Catherine) germinated within days of being sown and the plants are going strong.

Most of the dry bush beans, the romano pole beans ('Early Riser' – also called, 'Nor’Easter' or 'Northeaster'), and snap beans have begun to sprout.  On a whim, I decided to plant a variety of bush bean I’d never grown before called 'Woods Mountain Crazy'.  It was older seed I’d received in a trade in 2016 or 2017.  I planted the beans in a window box.  I wasn't sure they would germinate but knew it would allow me to grow out the variety if even one plant matured.  To my surprise, all of them germinated.  A nice surprise.

The dry pole bean variety I planted ('Good Mother Stallard') was also older seed.  Unfortunately, none of that germinated, so I replanted with 'Dolloff', an heirloom variety descending from the classic Horticultural Lima bean.  I last grew it in 2019 and hope it is still viable enough to grow out this summer.  Originally purchased through Heritage Harvest Seed.

I planted beets on a whim and sowed them thickly, thinking the seed was too old to germinate.  Wrong!  The beets, kale, and other greens have had to be covered with netting to keep the sparrows from picking the leaves to pieces.  I don’t know if they actually eat the bits of leaves and petals they clip off, or if they’re just doing this for their own amusement.

 

 

The skirret is coming along nicely.  I am surprised the deer and sparrows have left it alone (*touch wood*…).

 

The potatoes are all up and looking good.

 

 

Three volunteer squash plants are going strong in one of the compost bins.  We are just going to let them grow.  Frankly, they look healthier and stronger than the ones I started from seed and planted in a raised bed.   Chances are, they are either Lower Salmon River or Galeux D’Eysines.

 

 

Several of the tomato plants have already started to grow little tomatoes:  Scotia, Amber, Favourie de Bretagne, Japanese Black Trifele, Javelin, and Katja.

 

Favorie de Bretagne

 

Katja

 

Japanese Black Trifele

 

Javelin

 

The summer savoury germinated really well this year (woohoo!) and bits have been transplanted into several raised beds.  I love the scent of it, and love the clouds of tiny pink flowers it produces towards the end of the season.   The marjoram did not germinate well this year, so I only have a few sprigs growing in a yogurt container for now.  It’s a fragile herb, so I’ve never put much effort into preserving it.  I do love the scent, though, and pinching off bits to add to salads.

 

Summer Savoury

 

Chives

 

Pineapple Sage

 

Sage in the corner, Jacob's Cattle beans coming up to the right.

Marjoram

Helpers

 

 

 

 

North garden (garlic patch, Katja tomatoes, Copenhagen cabbage, Fordhook zucchini, Queen of Malinalco tomatillos). 

 

 

 

Bags and pots: EM-Champion tomatoes, Scotia tomato, feverfew, carrots, potatoes. 

 

 

 

More pots, window boxes, and containers: dry bush beans (assorted varieties), romano pole bean ('Early Riser'), potatoes, and tomatoes ('Amber').

 

 

 

Pots along the north fence - tomatoes, Faux tomatoes, a few Anaheim peppers, Swedish Red cooking peas, and a zinnia or two.

 

 

 

 

EM-1 (Effective Microorganisms) Recipe

 

INGREDIENTS

 

A

 

·       1 L unsulphured/blackstrap molasses

·       1 L purified water (no chlorine – can be bottled water, rain water, etc.)

·       1 L Greek yogurt (live cultures, no additives)

·       3 egg whites

·       2 Tbsp dry yeast (mixed in some warm water to dissolve/activate)

 

B

 

·       1 gallon (4 L) purified water

·       2 cups fertile soil from your area/garden

 

EQUIPMENT

 

·       2 large glass or heavy plastic bottles/jars with lids (e.g., ~ 3L capacity each)

·       Fine sieve

·       Round coffee filters

·       Large, clean plastic bucket

·       Several plastic water jugs (4L capacity) and/or pop bottles (2L capacity)

·       2 or 3 large brown paper bags

 

PROCEDURE

 

1.     Combine base inoculant ingredients “A”.

2.     In a separate container, combine ingredients “B”.  Mix thoroughly and let settle for 2-3 hours.  Strain liquid and then add this liquid to the containers that are already holding the “A” mixture.

3.     Let combined mixture sit in a dark place for 1 month.  (Can cover jars with heavy grade brown paper bags to help keep out light.)

4.     Burp containers daily to prevent gas build-up.

5.     At the 1 month mark, mixture should smell sweet/sour.

6.     Pour mixture into several plastic water jugs or pop bottles, filling to ~1-2 inches from the top.  Store in a cool, dark place.  Burp every day or two to prevent gas build-up.

 

This mixture can be diluted and applied to the garden or houseplants.  (Different dilution rates for different purposes.  Check online for recommendations.