New England June 2014

Funny QB, you're growing the cherries for the birds.

From my 2 peach trees I picked up at Lowes this spring, one had blossoms and has small peaches on it now, and one never did have blossoms. They're different varieties. Maybe you could google and find out why peach trees might not blossom and produce fruit, esp. since they did before.

Many of my asparagus ferns have fallen over. I planted them in a hilled bed which was a mistake, because they are prone to toppling. I'm not going to bother with it this year, but next year I'll probably tie something around the entire group to keep them from toppling.

Lyndeeloo, green beans Arrgh!  The tendrils on mine are climbing but certainly no where close to yours.  Congratulations!

I must report the green beans were sooo good. There was only a good handful, so just enough to whet the appetite and leave you wanting more. I was completely surprised to find them, I saw flowers but didn't expect to have beans yet. A very pleasant surprise. I hope you all will be enjoying some from your gardens soon!

The black beans I seeded last week are up and I'm really looking forward to seeing how that turns out. Strawberries are almost done now. That is going to be very depressing. We've gotten used to having strawberries every day.  

lyndeeloo, you're in 5b like I am, but wow is your season different. Makes me wonder. And your strawberries are almost done? Ouch! Fortunately mine are still full force.

Green beans are so good, and they freeze. And don't sugar pea pods freeze too? So I think next year I'll devote more space to them both. I tried devoting more squares to them this year - 12 squares each, but I'm thinking that with freezing, that's not enough to last through very long.

Last night I spent time in the garden pulling the bottom leaves off the tomato plants. They were really yellowed and spotted, I don't know if it's early blight or just got too wet from watering down there. I watered for the second day in a row, and I'll check the soil to see if I need to water today too. Weds. looks like our best bet for rain here this week.

I'm noticing the non-kink hoses are very heavy. Wonder if it's worth the kinks to try a lighter weight hose, easier to drag to the different beds.

NHG those ducklings are still the cutest babies ever. How are they settling in to their new home? 
AtlantaMarie,  dinner is at six. Give me some advance notice and I will break out the fancy dishes and cloth napkins!      

Regarding the fruit trees. I am having similar problems with mine. There were very few to no blossoms. Even my crabapple tree only had a few flowers on it. I was blaming it on my pruning but quite a few people I've spoken with are experiencing similar problems. My apple tree has one lonely apple on it and my peach has half of what it had last year. From what I can gather it has something to do with the hard winter and the cold spring. I spoke with a gentleman who works at an apple orchard and he said a frost killed a lot of the buds this year. I went to pick strawberries for jam yesterday and picking was awful. The owner of the field said it was a terrible year for strawberries and some other fields had closed already due to lack of fruit.

NHG I started some green beans indoors and seeded some really early. Some came up some didn't.  I've seeded 3 times so far, the last round is only 5 or 6 inches tall. So I'm pretty surprised to have picked any.

lyndeeloo,

Yes, it was the harsh winter that kept the fruit trees from blooming.  Even two of my three rhodies had many of their buds "nipped," which produced non-existent or tiny blooms that don't even resemble rhodies.  

Also, only one of my lilacs bloomed, the others having had their buds frozen by late frosts.  

I should also mention that my flowering plum trees had only sparse blossoms this spring.

My suggestion is to find coverings for your trees, if the trees are still small enough, when you think the temps may be lower than the trees' hardiness.  At least heavily mulch the ground around the tree trunks.

What's weird is we didn't have any late frosts, at least where I am. In fact, our last frost is supposed to be mid to late May, but it was more like mid to late April this year. Maybe others in my zone had late frosts?

NHGardener.....I'm with you.  My last actual frost (32F) was April 20th compared to the normal May 15-30th but I think it must be the cold nites that were close to freezing all during that time that prevented blossoming.  Our winter was long and hard with snow on the ground seemingly forever.  Maybe the 1-2 foot snow around them kept them from blossoming.
Thank goodness my Fuji apple was spared and is forming cute little apples.  I'm going to miss my peaches this year.

The same weather made my broccoli and cauliflower plants go to seed before they got full growth.  Never saw even one tiny head on any of them.  Thank goodness the Brussels sprouts are still going strong and the cabbages might form heads in the future.  Crossing my fingers.

My lettuce under the cheese cloth is growing well so that's something good for the salads for now.  I saw red strawberries in the garden this morning when I went out to water.  We're not expecting rain for several days and the veggie beds are drying out. 

And yes, the sugar snap peas sown 4/19 are filling up more and more.  Yay. None yet on those sown 5/6 and 5/20.

donnainzone10 wrote:lyndeeloo,

Yes, it was the harsh winter that kept the fruit trees from blooming.  Even two of my three rhodies had many of their buds "nipped," which produced non-existent or tiny blooms that don't even resemble rhodies.  

Also, only one of my lilacs bloomed, the others having had their buds frozen by late frosts.  

I should also mention that my flowering plum trees had only sparse blossoms this spring.

My suggestion is to find coverings for your trees, if the trees are still small enough, when you think the temps may be lower than the trees' hardiness.  At least heavily mulch the ground around the tree trunks.

One of my rhodies completely died,the other is half dead but did blossom (will have to research whether to trim off all the dead wood) and my azalea bush didn't have any die-off but did not produce a single blossom this year.

Bad, bad winter!

lyndeeloo wrote:First green beans of the year!  Oh boy, can't wait for dinner tonight!  

How on earth did you do that???  When did you plant them?

My thyme (that I am growing in a pot) is flowering.  I just bought it and planted it about a week ago!  Does that mean it is at the end of it's life cycle and will stop growing?

CC...I planted the first ones from indoor sprouts in early May. I like to sprout the seeds for a few days before I put them in. But even the seeds I direct sowed early have some beans on the plants. I planted more every few weeks in hopes of having green beans through the summer. The garden is up near the house and gets lots of sun so they are very happy there.

I've got 12 squares of green beans planted on the left behind the tomatillos. 

Lyndeeloo, when you transplant beans, do you take care to bury them at this or that depth, or bury them deeper -- any special treatment like that?

lyndeeloo wrote:I planted the first ones from indoor sprouts in early May. I like to sprout the seeds for a few days before I put them in. But even the seeds I direct sowed early have some beans on the plants. I planted more every few weeks in hopes of having green beans through the summer.

Are these bush beans?

Yes Camprn.  Top crop, Contender and French filet. The French filet I planted last and they just have a few flowers on them. I'm really looking forward to trying those. I've heard good things!

Marc Iverson wrote:Lyndeeloo, when you transplant beans, do you take care to bury them at this or that depth, or bury them deeper -- any special treatment like that?  

Hi Marc. If I plant a sprout I point the root down and have the "seed/soon to be leaves" to a depth just a 1/2 inch below the surface and lightly cover it. If it's a seedling I plant it deeper because they tend to be leggy.

Whenever I have sprouted seeds, I then get confused as to whether the sprouted part goes up or down in the soil.   

cpl100 wrote:

One of my rhodies completely died,the other is half dead but did blossom (will have to research whether to trim off all the dead wood) and my azalea bush didn't have any die-off but did not produce a single blossom this year.

The little rhododendron bush typically does badly next door, (At the Springfield Savings & Loan bank property) I will be lucky to see a few tiny blooms then the petals falling off in a heartbeat!

lyndeeloo wrote:

Marc Iverson wrote:Lyndeeloo, when you transplant beans, do you take care to bury them at this or that depth, or bury them deeper -- any special treatment like that?  

Hi Marc. If I plant a sprout I point the root down and have the "seed/soon to be leaves" to a depth just a 1/2 inch below the surface and lightly cover it. If it's a seedling I plant it deeper because they tend to be leggy.

Thanks! I planted some of my seedlings a little deeper too (leggy) and they seem to be handling it just fine. They germinated so quickly and well in my sprouter, just like the ones I eat, so I may do it again.

I picked my first sugar snap peas this morning, a nice bowl full.  That'll go good in a salad with supper tonite.

Wow, QB, that's great. I have one pod almost ready and I see a few more forming.

Nice QB & NHG! I've picked 2x for a total of 1.5 pounds. Hoping the pea plants keep going for a while.

How many pods do you folks tend to get off a snap pea or off a snow pea?

I'm wondering how long to let mine hang on before pulling them.

Marc Iverson wrote:How many pods do you folks tend to get off a snap pea or off a snow pea?

I'm wondering how long to let mine hang on before pulling them.

As long as they keep growing they will keep producing. For me, it's usually the summer heat that does them in. The plant collapses, turns dry and pale.