New England June 2014

Hey guys, its June!  Can you believe it?  And we're having a wonderful day in the mid 70sF today but mid 40s tonight.  Those peppers will never get out there.

Yesterday I was able to harvest some great Cherry Belle radishes and more asparagus.  I even got some Buttercrunch lettuce for my chicken sandwich.  I'm getting to like asparagus.  Its something I would never eat a year ago.  The spinach is growing just fine but not big enuf to harvest yet.

Today means more transplanting; tomatoes, pansies and marigolds have to go in.  I also want to sow the zukes, cukes, squash and watermelon seeds and put cut-out clear juice bottles or milk jugs over the 'hills' to increase the heat to the plots.  Maybe I can also put in some peppers under jugs as well.  They are just about the right size to go under a jug.

I have some Sugar Pot seeds for Watermelon.  You can grow them in pots.  An 18" spread for an 8 lb melon.  We shall see.  I'll keep you posted on this one.

I hope others are having a fine day for planting today.  Here its to be 74F but tonite back down to mid 40s.  Ugh.

My forecast for the next ten days finally states it will be above 50 every night (if one believes it!) but there are days when it will not get to 70.

Wondering if I should still be holding off putting out the basil plants?

Yesterday I did buy rosemary to put out in pots today.  I'm thinking rosemary can go out earlier than basil.  Wanted to get parsley but there were no good looking plants at Home Depot when I was there yesterday.  And I do want to get in a pot of thyme this week as well.

Got an early girl tomato start and plan to put that in a pot as well today.

So far absolutely nothing has come up on the purple haricot vert bean seeds I put in the SFG more than a week ago.  Wonder if I should have sprouted them inside first.  I did some research before planting which said to just soak for a half hour prior to planting, which I did.  Hmmmmm  Also nothing from the lettuce planted last week.

I'm betting you all are doing better than I am!

cpl100....Had you kept the seed bed moist after you planted the seeds?  You don't want them to dry out.  The moisture gets the seeds started.

Cindy, I'm in the same boat as you with the weather. I think I'll hold off on planting out my basil, peppers, ground cherries and  zinnias until next weekend.

QB, I haven't been able to grow a watermelon larger than a golf ball yet. I don't have enough Sun. But your potted watermelon gives me an idea. I think I'll plant some sugar baby seeds in a pot and see how they do in the sun on the other side of the house. Yea, a new experiment!
  
Pole beans and zucchini are up, maters are flowering profusely. I also found loads of bees. They're all over the full blooming leaf viburnum right next to the SFG.

Look what I just scored from the construction guy across the street!
He cut them to order -6 foot, 4 foot, & 3 foot. I think there might be enough wood to replace all the kitchen cupboards as well as build two new four by four boxes. Got my work cut out for me this summer!

CC

Aliens trying to escape








Hopefully the new neighbor's cat will get the hint to stay out of the potato bed for a while, now that it is planted.



Still more work to do to convert the beds.


Otherwise things are looking pretty good for the first of June.

NICE, CC!  Great score!

I may have fallen down on the job of keeping the seeds continually moist.      It was sort of raining most days and I thought that would be enough.  If it went two days without raining (rare) I watered on the third.  Guess that wasn't good enough!

CC, what a score!  Am envious as I was just thinking I would like to build a long-ish  but not wide box to put in a few strawberry plants, 3 - 4 ft. by 1 ft.  Since I have no means to cut wood nor much ability in building with wood, that's probably a pipe dream though!

Just looked back out at the SFG to see if anything popped since we finally had warmth and sun today.  It does look like I might have a few lettuce sprouts poking through.

As I was looking, it also occurred to me that I could plant one of 'something' in one box where not all the garlic came up.  I had planted five to a box, but one 'corner' of one of the squares did not grow.  Thinking, now about what 'one' of something I could put in there.  It is the very corner spot of the entire 4 x 4 SFG.

Hi, all!

Busy day outside, today!  I got 2 out of three varieties of potatoes in the ground, with a third to go, hopefully tomorrow.  It's got alien tentacles like yours, Camp.  I'm hoping I can gently get them in without breaking many off. 

I also noticed a couple of blooms on the strawberries!  YAY!!!

And, I got most of my herbs in.  I bought starts from my local organic nursery of Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley, Cilantro, Basil & Lemon Balm.  I had previously gotten some Bergamot and Garlic Chives from a friend, so I had to move some things around in order to make room for the newcomers, but in all, the front "herb" garden is looking good.  I've got some seeds of sunflower and borage to direct-sow tomorrow.  OH, and I forgot: I got some pretty little snapdragons for the back of the bed!  (This isn't an SFG but a foundation planting that hugs the front wall of my house.)

Technically, I've still got a week before LFD, but the forecast isn't bad (for us), so I'm going to start direct-sowing more this week.

Hooray for playing in the dirt!

CC - beautiful wood!

Camp, Converting your beds? Elevating them or what?

Yes, elevating them because of tree root infiltration.

CC and Camprn, I hope you are feeling better from your injuries! Easy does it you two! CC nice score indeed! Wow.

It's a beautiful New England morning and I thought I'd take some pictures of the garden and share them. 

Herbs are taking off

Potatoes, chives and cherry tomatoes. Hopefully the potatoes will do well enough to end up baked and topped with sour cream and those chives.

strawberries in tower

Looking like a garden now

Heirloom tomatoes in frosting buckets in front of the grape vines


strawberries, corn, cucumbers and green beans

lyndeelou....Lookin' good.  A nice little garden.  Everything looks healthy.

Its a warm day, will be hitting the low 80s today.  I got the big floor fan out for the living room.  My son will put in the air conditioners this weekend probably.  I have one but rarely use it.  Not at all last year.  My apt is partially underground and it keeps cooler in summer and warmer in winter that the main house.  I usually just use a fan on hot days.

I took down my seed starting table and lights.  Everything that made it is out hardening off. 

Remind me NEVER to buy cheap seed starting mix in future (from Walmart this year instead of Johnny's Seeds in the past).  Most of the seedlings had stunted growth and I had to toss them out.   The few that made it were way behind in size.  I never got to use my air-pruning 2- and 3-liter soda bottles because nothing got big enough.  What a disappointing spring. 

Nonetheless some of the tomatoes and peppers seemed to make an extra effort so I kept them and have them transplanted outdoors now.  They are behind but they are still alive and looking better for being in the ground.

My peas are doing well.  I just put up my third trellis netting for the latest sowings.  Lettuce is good so far and the spinach is coming along.  I don't know what this heat will do to it.  I think I'll get out and put cheesecloth over them.

Have a good garden day everyone.

SaWEET, Lyndeeloo!  Look at your chive blooming away there.  So pretty! How do you water that long covered box?

Camp, LOVE the box of aliens!  Creeeeeepy!

CC

Awesome Gardens everyone!

Here is my garden as of this morning - nice to see some sun for a couple of days in a row - I was a bit late in getting everything going this year, but everything is growing well.



Had good results with potatoes last year - so am trying my hand at a potato tower to see how it goes and if I can increase the overall yield

I am so jealous of all you gardners with great sun and many box options!

Lyndeeloo and Kensadam, great looking gardens   

I have garlic chives I planted a couple years ago in my veggie bed.  Each year I have to thin it out.  It keeps on coming back healthier than ever.   In fact, it started a new plant outside the same bed about 5 feet away.  Its got lots of purple blossoms right now. 

Today we had a lovely sunny day and it reached 79F.  In the morning I got another trellis netting up for the 3rd row of sugar snaps and transplanted 5 yellow marigold plants in the veggie beds.  Then in the afternoon when the heat passed, I transplanted 4 sweet peppers and 3 hot peppers in the veggie beds.  My beds are getting pretty well filled now.

I have to run errands tomorrow, but if I have time, I want to get the rest of the potted plants in and my Sugar Pot Watermelon seeds sown, some in a pot and some beside the asparagus bed.  Then I can take a deep breath and save most of my energy for weeding here and there.

Oh Camprn, wanted you to know that the 15 shallots I planted early this year are growing just fine.  They were from the harvest of last fall's shallots.

Thanks all for the kind words. 

CC the net is held in place with pony clamps. I just undo a clamp and lift the net. I like the way it keeps the riff raff out so much that I built a larger one over the cement block garden today. 


Camprn, how cool is that! I'd love a box of those type of aliens.

Kensadams what a nice garden you have there! Love how neat and organized it is. If I had more space in the yard l'd love to set it up like that!

Well its June and they're here. Yup, June Bugs.   Ugh! Just Hate them. They love my grape vines and raspberry bushes. The dogs alerted me to their presence in the raspberries tonight. The dogs are absolutely fascinated with the darn things and like to catch them and chew on them. Freaks me out.

Let the games begin!   Armed with a new LED flashlight and a jar of water and oil I'm ready for the hunt. Hmmm... I got one of those fancy headlamp things for a Christmas gift, I'll have to try that gadget out tomorrow night.

lyndeeloo wrote: I'm ready for the hunt. Hmmm... I got one of those fancy headlamp things for a Christmas gift, I'll have to try that gadget out tomorrow night.

Photo? Brand?

I'm loving all these sprawling SFG setups! I only have 24 squares right now spread across a 2x8 bed and two 2x2 beds. Sigh...someday!

sanderson wrote:

lyndeeloo wrote: I'm ready for the hunt. Hmmm... I got one of those fancy headlamp things for a Christmas gift, I'll have to try that gadget out tomorrow night.

Photo? Brand?

Sanderson its a Princeton Tec -Remix headlamp. I searched it online and it turns out it is a rather extravagant gift. Must say thank you to giver again, I had no idea. Very highly rated by hikers and military types. I've used it for plumbing under the sink and other such repair projects where holding a flashlight is a pain. Works great! It just dawned on me last night I could use it for nocturnal gardening expeditions. After reading the reviews I'm a bit embarrassed of what I use it for and feel like I should be night hiking or spelunking or something. Not a chance!

ddemeo wrote:I'm loving all these sprawling SFG setups! I only have 24 squares right now spread across a 2x8 bed and two 2x2 beds. Sigh...someday!

slowly grasshopper, slowly.

Kay

lyndeeloo wrote:

sanderson wrote:

lyndeeloo wrote: I'm ready for the hunt. Hmmm... I got one of those fancy headlamp things for a Christmas gift, I'll have to try that gadget out tomorrow night.

Photo? Brand?

Sanderson its a Princeton Tec -Remix headlamp. I searched it online and it turns out it is a rather extravagant gift. Must say thank you to giver again, I had no idea. Very highly rated by hikers and military types. I've used it for plumbing under the sink and other such repair projects where holding a flashlight is a pain. Works great! It just dawned on me last night I could use it for nocturnal gardening expeditions. After reading the reviews I'm a bit embarrassed of what I use it for and feel like I should be night hiking or spelunking or something. Not a chance!

My son was working strange hours last year 3-the job was done.  Sometime 3, 4 or 5 in the morning.  He used his for his gardening in the wee small hours of the morning.

Kay

Must. Have.