Beginning harvest

We're getting beyond just the leafy greens and rhubarb now, which means we're heading toward the really good stuff.  The rabbits ate the peas down to about half what I might have harvested, but I managed to gather enough for about four servings, and they were delicious.  There appears to be at least that amount still coming on, so it wasn't a total bust.

This variety - 'Improved Maestro' - is so perfect I haven't tried any others since I found it in 2017.  Before it, I tried 'Wando', 'Sugar Flash', 'Sugar Snap', and 'Green Arrow', none of which was terribly impressive.  'Improved Maestro' doesn't need a trellis, it produces pods with an average of 6-8 peas each, and they are so sweet and juicy that even when they've gotten to be maximum size, which, in my estimation, is normally a pea that's good for nothing but saving for seed, they're still decent.  Anything before that stage is candy.

The onions I sowed as seed are about eight inches tall now, and I thinned them out to at least a couple inches apart, giving me two large bunches of green onions.

I harvested a couple stalks of 'Spring Tower' celtuce, and found that the outer ring is full of latex. I didn't figure that would be good eating.

I peeled the stalks and cut them into rounds - well, they would be round if I were a better peeler; they're rather limber, and the leaf nodes prevent a smooth stripping like you would get with a carrot.  At least, that's my excuse.

I thought they were pretty good and would make nice additions to a green salad.  They're less dense than a water chestnut, but they have a similar crunch.  There's a lot of water in them, and I didn't notice any difference in the taste of the younger stalk and the older one, the narrower top end or the larger lower end.  I asked three other people their opinions, and they all kind of turned up their noses.  "Strong" was the most used description.  To me, it tasted just like lettuce.

Speaking of lettuce, it's still looking very pretty, and I'm still not eating it.  It would be a waste, but I like it for its ornamental value as much as anything.  And it's cheap to grow.  I saved seed from a green arrow-leafed variety whose name I don't know, and ordered a mix of varieties with red coloring from Baker Creek called Red Wing mix.  So, now that I have the types I want, I'll try just saving seed for next year.  Even if they cross, I expect to have a pretty mix.

  

The 'Missouri Pink Love Apple' tomatoes are flowering now.  I decided this year to prune them a little to get less foliage to tomato ratio, and see if that improves the size or abundance of tomatoes.  If you're interested in how that works, check out this site.

The two 'Mrs. Maxwell's Big Italian' tomato plants I set out later in two different plots are now very different in size.  Apparently tomatoes aren't happy in composted tree bark.  And the canteloupe I planted in that plot aren't as vigorous as those in unmulched plots.  Last year, the onions loved it.

'Mrs. Maxwell' without tree bark mulch'

'Mrs. Maxwell' - and the cat - in tree bark mulch

'Glencoe' raspberry is ripening, oh boy.  And yes, I did eat this first one.  Not very big, but it was fabulous.  Why didn't I plant these four years ago?

The 'Navaho' blackberry plants that the deer ate off are putting out a few flowers now, and there's one berry.  I'm watching it like a hawk.

Some interesting coloration in leaves has shown up in two plants.  I don't know whether it's due to a virus - which would be odd since they're two very different genera: Tithonia (Mexican sunflower) and Trifolium (clover) - or just a misstep in the genetics.  This is the first year the absence of chlorophyll has showed up in my garden, and it's there twice.  Too bad I can't clone them and see what I get.

Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican sunflower)

Volunteer clover

And now that I've brought up coloration, let's just keep going.

I always heard that there's no true blue color in flowers, but if these belladonna type delphiniuims are not true blue, then I can't tell color.  My camera doesn't always capture exactly the color I see, but in this case, it's spot on.  Unfortunately, different computer and TV screens render colors differently, but if you know the color cobalt blue, then...

There's this rich cobalt,

and this sky blue with purple highlights.

But, I'm really getting into orange this year, and among other orange flowers, this zinnia is new to me, and I think a new addition to the Queen Lime line.  This is 'Queen Lime Orange':

It will definitely be an annual choice.  Seeds are available at Johnny's Seeds.

And how nicely this 'Forever Susan' paired with the Asiatic lily whose name I don't know, as it was on the property when I got here.  I think technically a Tiger Lily is downward facing with recumbent petals, but whoever this is, it's the same coloration as a Tiger Lily.

Last year I tried something I hadn't seen before: globe amaranth (Gomphrena).  I think it might be something that was in older gardens but fell out of favor.  I don't know why.  They're wonderful, and they make great fillers for bouquets.  I had orange ones last year, and so this year I tried all colors I could find seed for.  I got them from Johnny's Seeds, but this year, they're not carrying so many.  I found another source at Floret (whom I haven't ordered from before), but it seems globe amaranth might not be reliably available when you want it.  I saved a few seeds last year, but I better save more this time.

'Carmine' and 'Strawberry Fields'

Purple and 'Audray White'

I happened upon a new critter at the edge of the garden.  And then there was a pair of them.  This one looks pregnant.

I left the picture smaller in case you have a slinky critter aversion.  I had a hard time trying to find out who it is (which I believe is a five-striped skink), because I tense up when I'm clicking on links to slinky critters in case a picture of one eating something pops up.  

Let's talk about something else.

I'm trying to air-layer a couple of roses to start new bushes.  I haven't had any luck rooting cuttings.  I've written about it in the previous post.  On this second bush, I dropped the plastic bottle idea and went with a plastic bag with both ends cut out.  It was so much easier.

After girdling the stem and trimming back the terminal end, I slipped the bag over it, positioning the girdled part midway inside the bag.

Then I tied the bottom end of the bag shut and scooped my rooting medium in through the top opening.  

I  watered it from the top, sealed that end, then wrapped it in tin foil.

So far, both bushes look good - the tops of the air-layered canes haven't wilted.  Either they're forming roots, or they're reforming bark if I didn't do it properly.  I can't peek yet.  The literature I've read says roots should form in about three weeks.

In the meantime, the rose garden is abloom, and only the new white one, 'Domina', is showing some blackspot disease on the leaves.  I've cleaned out the worst and sprayed the rest with neem oil.  It's getting established enough that I'll go ahead and treat it with a systemic fungicide.  If 'Domina' is going to be a blackspot magnet, she's going to find herself removed and replaced.  I already have some choices in mind.

The cut flower garden is in high gear, too.

I love the orange butterfly weed with the purple yarrow and blue belladonna-type delphiniums.

 

 We're heading into some cool weather for this time of year, or so they say.  Is that an "Indian spring"?  Whatever it is, enjoy it.  It'll no doubt be hades again after.

A little rain to soothe us

And some morning fog to start the day after too many days of unseasonable heat.

I got sick of handling the little six-packs of peppers and basils and decided to go ahead and plant them in the garden a little over a week ago.  I didn't have any grass clippings for mulch, but I did still have some bags of maple leaves I'd collected last fall, so I ran over them several times with the lawn mower until I had a wheelbarrow full of nice-sized pieces to perfectly mulch the newly planted beds.

After a lot of tedious work, I had planted and soaked down two beautifully and thickly mulched beds so that on these hot days the ground wouldn't dry out quickly, and any little weed seeds that sprouted would be smothered.  

Well done!

Until the following  day, that is, when a scirocco from the Sahara blew all day long.  This is what it left:

Better than nothing, I guess.

These beds had okra in them last year, and when I added a couple inches of compost to them, I left the old okra stubs and roots in the ground.  My idea was that I could easily plant peppers and basil in the spaces between the roots, and the roots would rot away, amending the soil.  It turns out to have the added benefit that it's something of a deterrence to moles going through under the surface.  This is a huge plus.  The little pests almost wrecked the lettuce patch this year.  It looked like they were having a party under there, and the plant roots were getting pushed up and losing contact with the soil, and then wilting.  I had to keep going out and tromping on them to get them back down.  Of course, tender little lettuce plants don't like to be trod upon.  

Finally, I have a red-stemmed rhubarb plant!  After only thirteen tries.  Here's the story:  I found it at Springwater nursery.  I had to pay $10 for it, too.  It better live.  The variety is 'Canada Red'.  

The potatoes I tossed into the compost pile are coming along.

The second round of lettuces is coming up between the first rows, and I've got more lettuce than I can handle, despite the moles.  I'll be giving away bags full. 

That freezing weather we had the first two weeks in April did a number on the pea germination, reducing it to about 20% of what I planted.  They're producing pods now, but I don't think there'll be enough for a harvest.  They will just have to be one of those things that I eat raw while I'm working in the garden.

I planted the lima beans on the 12th, figuring they'd be perfectly happy in this early heat, and they emerged four days later.  Normally, I would be planting limas after the peas had produced all they were going to and I pulled out the old plants, which last year was the first of June.  This year, they'll be in there together for a while.  That pathetic stand of peas certainly won't crowd the beans.

Left side of arc: 'Improved Maestro' bush peas; right side: Henderson's Bush lima beans

Speaking of beans, the runner beans I planted next to the cucumbers on the trellis are being attacked by something.  I sprayed them with neem oil, which is a natural, all-purpose insecticide, miticde and fungicide.  Since I've not seen what's eating on them, I'm hoping this will mitigate the damage.  It's not nearly enough to interfere with the plant growth (yet), but the reason I planted them there was to grow over the trellis and look pretty.  They're beginning to confirm my suspicion that this might just be a jumbled mess instead.  

Whoever is eating on the beans doesn't seem to be interested in the cucumbers.

This arrangement is definitely going to take some serious management and vine training.

I haven't had any luck with the melons I've tried before, but this French Charentais variety ('Savor') looked so good in the description that I had to try it. 

I've put three plants on the compost pile with no support, and three in the garden proper, which I caged beside the yellow zucchini.  (I had to buy the zucchini, as the year-old seeds I planted failed to germinate.)

I hate putting up the cages, because they detract from the beauty of the garden, but once the zucchini plants grow up into them, they get covered with foliage, and picking the fruits is easier than if they're on the ground.  Also, they don't seem to get so many squash bugs.  Here's hoping the melons will benefit from the cage as well.  It's going to be a little tricky to remove the fruits, though, since they're not going to fit through the cage wires (hopefully!).

 

The cabbage row is growing large, and somebody is already eating it.  I don't know for certain who it is, but since a likely culprit is cabbage worm, I'll need to start applying Dipel, which spoils the beauty when you use it in powder form, but that's all I have.  And the melon/zucchini cages have already spoiled the illusion that this isn't a vegetable garden.

The purple Zi Su (Perilla aka shiso) is a disappointment.  The description of the taste said it's a cross between mint and basil.  I guess that's a fair description.  But the leaves are kind of hairy, and I don't like that.  Maybe it doesn't like this terrible heat, because it always looks kind of droopy.  I won't be planting it again, but the Baker Creek description mentions using it for color to make pink rice.  I might try that.  In fact, the strange flavor might just be a good one for rice.

(That reminds me - sidetrack:  I put some peeled hard-boiled eggs (brown eggs) in the liquid from my pickled beets, and within a couple of days they were a beautiful dark magenta all the way through the white and a little way into the dark yellow yolk.  I should have taken a picture of the slice.  Very pretty.  Fairly tasty.  But then I put some in the liquid from a jar of Kalamata olives.  After three days they were a not particularly attractive color, but boy, did they taste delicious.)

OK.  Out of the vegetables and into the  cut flower and rose gardens.

This is not what I was expecting from the Gaura (also purchased from Springwater):

The foliage is gorgeous, and that flower color is amazing (until it fades to a pale pink), but I was expecting the flower to be borne on a tall stalk, swaying in the breeze.  Maybe this is just an artifact of the bizarre weather we're having and the first flower production of the season.  I'll find out with time.

You just can't beat this 'Sparkling Sapphire' baptisia (purchased last year from Helmi's) for show:

But you can match it with this pink lupine (grown from seed purchased from Baker Creek, overwintered from last year):

A watched pot never boils, nor does a watched flower ever blossom.  I've been tracking this giant allium for days.  It's pretty cool the way it's unfolding, though.

Check this out:  I collected marigold seed last fall from my plants that had done so well.  Since I had three or four different varieties, I tried to keep the seeds separate.  I figured it was a long shot they'd come true to the parent plants since they were all close together and expected at least some crossing.  What I didn't expect was that the cross would produce a plant that had two different varieties on the same stalk!

When I saw this, I thought I'd simply gotten two seedlings growing together that appeared as one, but those two flowers are branched off the same stem.  

I've seen trees and shrubs that have been grafted to have more than one variety of fruit or flower, but I've never heard of a plant doing this on its own.  In theory, at least as far as my education goes, those flowers should be similar to each other, if not to the parent plants, but for one to be completely like one parent and the other completely like another parent is something I've not heard of.  I'm eager to see what the continuing blooms look like.

Always something surprising when you're growing your own plants.  

Fingers crossed for more rain. And a little cooler days would also be nice.  This isn't July.

'Karl Rosenfeld' peony and dark purple bearded (German) Iris