Thursday, October 19, 2023

6/2-30/23 west garden

  • Lots of volunteers, mustard, arugula, lettuce, dill, cilantro, poppy, alyssum.
  • Last years carrots blossomed.
  • Wild sylvetta arugula grew very well and blossomed. Still tasted good and grew well all summer. Bees really loved the arugula flowers.
  • Sorrel and cress went to seed.
  • Sunflowers started to come up
  • Escaped raspberries came up. Must have missed transplanting some into east garden.
  • Rhubarb grew well in June but looked unhappy in late summer. The birds like to bath under the rhubarb when the soaker hose is on. Laid soaker hose out earlier this year because we went a very long time without rain.
  • Black raspberries grew well and tasted good but birds ate most of them.
  • Cherry tree gave a lot of cherries this year.











Wednesday, October 18, 2023

6/2-30/23 backyard garden

  • I really enjoyed watching the birds. They were fun to watch as they hunted insects and played in the water bath.
  • Greenhouse didn't work well this year. It got hot too early. I tried moving it to different parts of the yard but most everything fried up.
  • Magnolia pea blossoms are so pretty.
  • Chives, onion, and oregano grew very well this year. Pineapple weed does smell like pineapple.
  • Lot of volunteer kale and mustard. Parsley grew well. Arugula blossomed. Regular arugula has white blossoms while sylvetta wild arugula has yellow blossoms. Makes sense because they are different families. Mustard has yellow blossoms too. Winter spinach went to seed very fast. Romaine lettuce did well.
  • Nasturiums finally sprouted. Chamomile grew ok but missed most of the flower harvest. Oh well. I like it because it's easy to dry. Just braid it up and hang it in the house till the humidity goes down in Fall.
  • Sedums did well in one of the neglected pots, Killed on rose bush but the other survived. Weeds, chives, sedums, and mint grew quite well in the pots. However I had to get more chocolate mint from my sister because last winter killed it in the bench pot. So I planted some in the grass/weeds off the patio and it is growing.
  • Mardi gras bush beans came up but the rabbits liked them too much. So next year I will alternate nasturium and bean seeds in each row. The rabbits didn't seem to like the nasturiums. I think they also like the clover in the lawn.
  • Some volunteer tomatoes came up. Last year we had sweetie cherry tomatoes and roma.










Tuesday, October 17, 2023

6/2-3/23 front, east garden

  • Sedums are doing well especially along the east side of the driveway. Working at stoney area on northwest side of house with sedums. It's a tough area to grow plants because it is very dry.
  • Rose bush is doing well. I keep it trimmed and don't let it sucker. It wants to turn into a thicket.
  • Raspberries are thriving along east side. 
  • Strawberries spreading over sedums along east side. Had large green strawberries along west fence but I went on vacation and I assume the birds got them.
  • Surprise volunteer red orache came up at northwest corner of house. It grew quite well and some plants exceeded 5 feet.
  • Hostas are thriving at front of house. I am encouraging sedums to spread between them. I planted some sunflowers from seeds collected last year.
  • Planted field peas along east end in front. They did well and were fairly tastey.
  • Parsley came back in circle garden and grew very large. I cut it back and used the cuttings for mulch. Magnolia and other peas did ok but not produce very much. Sunflower came up. New Zealand spinach grew well.



















Monday, October 16, 2023

June Harvest 6/2-30/23

We generally just pick enough for supper. Although we do freeze a few things.

  • Lot of greens! Mustard, arugula, romaine, chard, cress, beetgreens, red orache, bok choi, alyssum.
  • Some peas, radishes, and beets. 
  • Picked and pitted one bucket of cherries. 
  • Rhubarb, wild strawberries, 
  • Cilantro, dill, walking onions, chives, chamomile flowers, lemon balm, parsley, mint





















Sunday, October 15, 2023

June Garden Weather 6/2 - 6/30/23

Weather; We went quite a long time without rain but finally got some. Very poor air quality due to Canadian wildfires. Overall decent night time temps but quite warm during the day.