More weather woes

 We're swimming here.

The basement in the house flooded twice in a day and a half.  

Rain is in the forecast for the next six days.  Too bad we can't send it to California where it's wanted.

I'm still harvesting lettuce and green beans.  The soil in the garden drains well, so if I'm lucky, nothing will drown.

The raspberries are ripening, and I did get this little bunch of 'Latham Red' berries.

And the new little 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' isn't letting the rains stop her.  I love this rose.  It smells like old fashioned roses.  The scent I recognize as the smell of a rose.

As of the last three days in which the dreaded Japanese beetles showed up, 'Our Lady' hasn't been attacked yet.  But 'South Africa' is being devoured.

Before the storms:

Gladiolus 'Galaxian'

Safflower

UPDATE:

The basement flooded again a week after posting this.  The carrots rotted in the ground, and all the poppies drowned.  We wanted rain.  We needed rain.  I guess we just forgot to specify how much.

Still, the West and Northwest are on fire, so by comparison, we're better off with the flooding.

Weather woes: When June turns into August

 Lordy, has it been HOT!  The entire western half of the United States seems to be cooking itself.  It seems only fair that we get June in August since we're having August in June. And a very hot August at that.  I won't hold my breath. 

I thought I would have to water the garden this morning, but when I woke up, I found that it had rained 1.4" overnight.  Hallelujah!

I'm now able to harvest more than lettuce.  The 'Yukon Gold' potatoes were ready for digging yesterday.  As well as a few of the 'Norland' red potatoes.

I must say, the 'Norland' spuds are good, but the 'Yukon Gold' are delicious.

This is the first year I've planted green beans, and I chose 'Calima' for its long, thin shape.  I've harvested a couple good messes already, and there are more to come.  I kind of wish I'd planted another row a couple weeks after the first one, since there will obviously be plenty of time before fall frost for them to produce.

Phaseolus vulgaris 'Calima'

Onions are scallion size.

I planted three types: 'Round Tropea' (red - first time planting); 'Stuttgarter' (white); and Sweet Spanish yellow (first time planting); plus a row of 'Zebrune' shallots.  After having been pruned by deer earlier in the spring, they seem to be coming along okay.

The Charentais canteloupes are flowering and spreading out between the rows of marigolds.  I caged the tomatoes a few days ago, but it was too hot to keep working and cage the canteloupes.

It finally cooled off enough after the rain that I was able to get them caged as well.  Since the weather last year was brutal on cucurbits, I didn't get any cucumbers or melons, so my experiment of masking the smell of ripe canteloupe from raccoon temptation with marigolds didn't work out.  I'm trying again this year.

I do hope it works, because we have another nice population of raccoons this year.

These plants were salvageable, but I'm having to bring all my potted plants into the cellar at night, and it's getting old.  I quit trapping raccoons last year, because all I was doing was wasting gas hauling them off two at a time while the others kept up their destruction.  I ordered three types of predator urine (coyote, bobcat and red fox), but so far neither the bobcat or coyote has intimidated them.  I'll sprinkle more tonight after that rain and cross my fingers again.  If nothing works, I hope the neighbors have as long a fireworks display on July 4 as they did last year.  After all that noise and commotion, I didn't see any more raccoon damage.  Unfortunately, I can't afford a display like that, or I'd have an early celebration every year.

Celery,  kohlrabi and lemongrass seem happy.

'D'Elne' celery, 'Early Purple Vienna' kohlrabi, lemongrass, 'Cardinal' basil

The kohlrabi and kale I planted this year were from free seeds that Baker Creek includes with every order.  I plan to plant kale for purely ornamental reasons next year because it's so pretty.  I can't say I'm a fan of the taste.  I suspect I'm going to forego any future kohlrabi plantings.

The lettuce always looks good until it bolts.  The arugula bolts quickly, so I have to stagger plantings to have any to harvest with the lettuce for my green salads.

I was worried about the peppers since it stayed so chilly last month.  They're starting to do better, but I think they should be much larger by now.

Over on my compost heap, corn and pie pumpkins look good.  The pumpkins ('Winter Luxury') are from seed I planted there after rabbits (or perhaps deer) ate the ones I transplanted.  The corn is strictly ornamental - Striped Japonica - although it's not nearly as colorful as I was hoping for.  Just looks like regular corn.

I didn't have good luck with pumpkins I planted there last year, but I presume they were having the same problem with the weather the other cucurbits had.  Hopefully this year they'll all produce loads of fruits.

The grapes ('Golden Muscat') fruited generously this year.  Last year was the first crop.  It was a small crop, and the birds ate every single grape just as they were getting ripe.  I covered the canopy this year with plastic netting, and put a few net bags over some of the clusters not under the netting.  I hope I get to eat at least a couple grapes this year!

Time to go out and enjoy things before it gets too hot to bear again.

'Neptune'

'Our Lady of Guadalupe'

'South Africa'

Sunshine at last

It's looking more like a normal year temperature-wise now.  Hot and humid.

The tomatoes are starting to come out of their cold-reaction and unfurl their leaves.  

Sadly, the peppers still don't look good.  They appear to be starting to flower, which seems to me to be a desperate move before dying.

The green beans seem to be doing the same thing, while the basil, on the other hand, is coming back to life.  

'Calima' green beans

The lettuce never skipped a beat, but the arugula bolted and flowered early.

left: 'Mammolo' (green) and 'Purple Ruffles' basil; center: 'Calima' green beans; 

right: arugula and mixed leaf lettuce

Fortunately, the pumpkins I planted directly from seed on the compost hill are coming along nicely, after the ones I grew from seed indoors and transplanted were eaten by deer.

The weather and the critters also put the hurt on my canteloupe, so I also planted some seed directly next to each, and they're coming up now.  I imagine they'll overtake the transplants before long.  This year, like last, I planted marigolds around the canteloupe in the hopes it will mask the smell and thereby save the melons from raccoon robbery.  I didn't get a chance to find out last year, as the weather wasn't favorable to any cucurbit family member.  But the marigolds went wild.

left: shallots and onions; center: overwintered lettuce; 

right: 'Fireball' marigolds surrounding barely visible charentais melons

I haven't yet put up the cages around melons or tomatoes, as they're not big enough.  I hope they produce fruit before October's killing frosts!  

The deer-pruned onions are finally getting a chance to grow.

I harvested a few Egyptian walking onions, and with some basil, kale and asparagus, made some pretty focaccia.

It loses something in the baking!

Still tastes good, though.

Over in the flower gardens, the roses are starting to bloom, while the lupine and wallflower have come and gone, as have the iris and allium, which were beautiful while they lasted.

This is the first year I've grown 'Ambassador'.  It's big!

Finally, I'm getting around to patching up the grassy paths.  Well, what are supposed to be grassy paths, but until now have been mostly weeds and bare ground.  Weed & Feed took care of the weeds, and now newly sewn grass seeds have germinated and are growing beneath the straw mulch among the existing grass, which I'm guessing is fescue.  I'm anxious for the new rye and fescue to get large enough to walk on.  

The deer also pruned the Ozark coneflower (Echinacea paradoxa), and I would have been hopping mad if they hadn't left some to flower.  I planted them last year and had to wait until this year for them to bloom.  I enjoyed watching how the petals form: first small and angling somewhat upward like other coneflowers, and then gradually reflexing downward...

...to their final fully reflexed position:

It's been many years since I last saw Ozark coneflowers, and I didn't remember them being such an intense yellow.  I suppose it may fade, but right now, this flower is brilliant.  

I love the reflexed petals, and I have also grown from seed and planted pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida, related to Echinacea purpurea, the common purple coneflower), which also has reflexed petals. None survived from last year, so I may have to wait until next year to see the bloom on the ones I planted this year. 

That's it for now, and I leave you with a glimpse of a bird's nest hidden deep within the foliage of a forsythia bush.

Brown thrush eggs