I have a lot of things to keep watered this year. So far, it's all still looking good. Except for whatever is eating the tops off the rose buds. And I've noticed the first Japanese beetles on my roses. Grrrrrrr! Last year we had such a devastating invasion that I broke down and went for the toxic chemical carbaryl (Sevin by brand name) to fight them. I don't think I'm even going to wait for that problem this year, since I have my new rose garden. I'm going to tackle them right away. Sorry bees. Please do not feed from my roses. There are lots and lots of other things.
This is not a very uplifting post, so I'll share some more pictures, since it's too hot to do anything else.
I said everything is looking good, but the cabbages don't seem to want to make nice heads. I'm guessing it's just too darned hot. These two are still pretty, but they're the exception.
The lima beans I planted three days ago shot up overnight.
The cat is checking them out because that's what I'm doing. She's not sure why they should garner more attention than herself.
All the tomato plants are at least three feet tall and bushy and flowering. Two of them have little tomatoes in various sizes up to about a diameter of 1-1/2". I have five tomatoes in cages, but I put this one on a trellis, just for fun. This morning I put a side dressing of composted manure at the base of each tomato plant and amongst the peppers, as it was looking like it was going to rain. It didn't, and I had to go back and water it all in.
This plant is not nearly as bushy as the caged ones. It's 'Black Beauty' - a purple variety I haven't grown before - and it's leaves are finer than the other varieties, which is part of the reason. There may be other reasons as well: perhaps the plant itself was punier; maybe the soil is different in this spot; it does get a little shade in the morning. And maybe growing it on a trellis makes a difference. The first two years I tried to grow my tomatoes on stakes, but it is just too windy here. They also had to be pruned a good deal, and tied up. I thought the trellis might be a compromise between staking and caging, so I'll see how it compares to the other methods. It will have to be tied up, but not pruned - at least not so much as the staked ones.
The zucchini in a tomato cage is not (yet, at least) trying to escape as I thought it might. I've been harvesting small, tender fruits. (No quarrels please about "fruits" vs. "vegetables".) And the cucumbers have really taken off. They have flowers, but no fruits yet on them.
The harvest I get from my ornamental vegetable garden is a bonus.
'Rocky Top Mix' leaf lettuce, Golden zucchini and Nasturtium flowers
Steamed 'Shiraz Tall Top' beet greens with pink Himalayan salt
Rhubarb 'Victoria'
Some for freezing...
And some for eating...
Best practice for rhubarb grown from seed is to put off harvesting the first year, and harvest very sparingly the second year. The 'Holstein' and 'Cherry Red' plants I grew from seed this year, however, have grown so large already, that I actually took a stem from a 'Holstein' today. (Those pink pieces in the picture above for freezing are 'Holstein'.) It was comparable in size to the 'Victoria' rhubarb I harvested for pies. Those stems are up to 15" long.
With the late freeze we had in March, one of the 'Victoria' plants that were damaged grew back with a greater abundance of stems that were a good deal thinner with smaller leaves. It's still a big plant, but about 2/3 the height I would expect it to be had it not been damaged. You can see from the following picture that this year's 'Holstein' (on the left) is about the same height as the four-year-old 'Victoria' on the right. In fact, it's leaves are larger and stems are thicker.
This morning I found a surprise albino poppy in the wildflower field - a mutation from one of the purple varieties planted there. Since all the purple ones have already bloomed and won't be able to cross pollinate it, I marked it and will collect its seed to see what it produces next year - assuming it sets viable seed.
The rose and herb garden is filling in.
Unless I mixed up the two David Austin roses I bought this spring, I think they mislabeled 'Charles Darwin'. I'll have to wait until the other one blooms to know for certain. 'Charles Darwin' is supposed to be yellow. This is what's blooming now:
It's lovely, whoever it is. At least it was until the Japanese beetles attacked.
And Shazam! is still one of my favorites. The buds start out with yellow on the underside of the petals and open to deep pink, then fade to a frosty light pink.
The large English lavendar is now beginning to bloom.
And look at this sweetheart. It's 'Boysenberry Ruffles' French lavender.
I'd never heard of Nemesia before. It's just been perking right along, blooming profusely and continuously, since I planted it in April.
The dahlias are blooming. Here's a pretty one.
That's it for now. Stay cool. Till next time.
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