I'm Ba-a-a-ack!

Jean kept an eye on the garden, and thought it needed no more water even without rain. Everything is fine except the tangerine gem marigold seedlings.

I made a quick trip to the garden store and bought new cucumber, zucchini, and pumpkin plants, some well-grown sunburst-squash to supplement the sunny-scallop squash seeds I sowed earlier, plus a few more lettuces and a healthy-looking young borage. Putting them in I found that although the soil is dry on top, it is moist (not damp, but cool-moist) under the surface, and six inches (or more) down. It will hold until I get the compost tea tomorrow.

Only a few of the tangerine gem marigold seedlings are still there; the radish seedlings are thriving; a few more spinach seedlings have sprouted; it looks like a few borage and calendula are coming up; and some of the basil are coming up! The nasturtiums I got potted are struggling along, and it looks like a couple are coming up from the seeds -- including one in the border outside the raised beds.

I don't see signs of new nibbling, but the golden sage and the peppermint haven't recovered from the nibbling they got, so when I go to get the compost tea I am also going to get some new sage and peppermint; and some nasturtiums I saw that are already in flower.

I'll take some more pictures tomorrow, when everything new is in. See you then. :)

Cayenne works!

No more new nibbling! Whatever it was, the cayenne border around the garden seems to be repelling it.

Sunny and warming.

I'm going to Yakima tomorrow morning and I won't be back until Friday evening. I've passed the word: If the weather continues hot and sunny the garden will need more water; if we have rain, that garden will need more cayenne.

One of the zucchini plants appears totally dead. The second is sprouting new leaves. Even the one chewed down to the stem seems to be sprouting new leaves!

There are a few grass-like shoots coming up where I planted the spinach. Yup, that's what spinach seedlings look like.

The rhubarb is definitely dying, and I'm not too sure about the pumpkin; it looks like it's sprouting new leaves, but it also looks like the older leaves are dying. I'm going to check the ground in that end of the garden before I leave, make sure it's retaining water.

The mesclun plants are standing up proud and practically gleam with health. We may have salad next Wednesday!

I ordered more Sacred Basil, Mesclun mixes, some purslane and some white clover, and had them shipped extra-fast, with the manic intent to sow them before I leave for Yakima. They came today, but so did a bit of my sanity. I'll hold off any more planting until I come back, when I can see more of what's coming up, and I can keep any newly sown seed evenly moist.

I'll post again next Saturday!

More nibbling

The plants I sprinkled cayenne pepper around yesterday seemed to have no new nibbles today. The sage, the peppermint, and the orange balsam thyme had been gone after! So I sprinkled cayenne around the most vulnerable plants AND all around the border of the beds.

There is almost nothing left of the cucumbers, but the pumpkin seems still strong:


The oregano looks downright photogenic:


Radish seedlings and tangerine gem marigold seedlings are definitely coming up. I planted a few more beets & radish in a blank spot between the radish seedlings and the yellow onions. Spinach seedlings have not yet come up. I planted a few more spinach anyway, with a couple of borage, and this time marked where I planted them with a few radish seeds.

Our White Chrysanthemums Are Blushing

Our previously all-white chrysanthemums are developing a mauve blush in the lower petals. Is this a characteristic of this flower, or an indicator of something in the soil?

More planting, definite nibbling

Back to City People's Garden store this morning:

• 1 Orange Balsam thyme, already in flower;
• 1 French thyme, not flowering;
• 1 Greek oregano;
• 1 pot of nasturtium seedlings;
• 1 red "Colossus" pansy (two plants; one in flower, a smaller one not);
• 3 gallons of fresh compost tea (still warm);
• 1 watering can (turns out to hold just short of 2 gallons)

Came straight home to start mixing the compost tea one watering-can full at a time and pouring it on the garden, while it's still fresh. Doused the plants as well as the soil. A little over one gallon of tea went on the two small lower beds (with a little over four gallons of water), a little under two gallons went on the large upper bed (with a little over eight gallons of water.) I measured out another two gallons of water on each of the lower beds and another four gallons on the upper bed. That's 21 gallons of water total, and seemed to be all the soil would hold.

Oh, and I put the new plants in, too! The nasturtium divided into four seedlings.

Something is definitely nibbling on some of the lettuce plants, some onion plants, the cucumber and zucchini and pumpkin plants. The cukes are eaten down almost to the stems.
Chewed zucchini:

I sprinkled cayenne pepper around the plants nibbled on, and a few others.

I'm beginning to care about the weather

I found a weather page so that I can keep close track of when it rains, and when it is going to rain. And have some warning next time it hails!

Hail!

Hail today, and rain. No freeze, though. Garden seems fine. Some smaller leaves may have been knocked loose, or we have critters nibbling.

Garden Calendar

Estimated picking, planting, and fertilizing schedule.