osprey94's Blog

I cannot commit...
Jun 8, 2007 | 8:37 PM PST
Tags: pumpkins , sunflowers , tomatoes , corn

Never in my life have I EVER committed to writing daily for longer than, oh...3 days. This blog hasn't been any different. So, let me see if I can summarize the last week or so here to fill in the gaps. I planted 2 rows of corn and all of a sudden (it seemed like they popped up overnight)  we have little corn plants. Side story: a handwritten sign at a road-side veggie stand near us says "cron" instead of "corn" each summer, so my husband and I jokingly call corn cron now all the time. It's gotten to where I almost automatically typed cron just now.

Anyhoodle, the corn plants are doing nicely. My topsy turvy tomatoes are flourishing. All our strawberries are being eaten, the bean plants have SHOT up so fast. The peas look okay, but they are a little pale and the veins are a light green color, giving them a variagated appearance. Don't know if that' s a sign that something's off, or what. Everything looks okay. Our rhodies are so amazing right now. Purple, red and hot pink are all blooming at once, as are our california lilacs and some lillies that are BRIGHT orange. It's a riot of color. I was thinking about gardening books I've seen that describe choosing flower colors that are complementary. I didn't put ANY thought into color combinations. I was too busy thinking of light and water needs. And the colors look incredible together.

My cilantro, basil and oregano have already started to bolt, darnit. I would love to find a way to grow cilantro and basil all summer without it bolting.

This weekend it's more chipping for me! We need many more cart-loads to cover the veggie garden area.

We're still waiting for the pumpkins and sunflowers to pop up. We're so behind with them.

There, I wrote. Let's see how long I procrastinate next time.

It's June!
Jun 4, 2007 | 5:54 PM PST
Tags: strawberries , pumpkins , sunflowers

I have EIGHT DAYS LEFT until summer break! One of my students today said "I can't wait for school to be over for summer," and I had to restrain myself from shouting "I KNOW! Me EITHER!" with a crazed look in my eyes.

D and I planted pumpkins and sunflowers in the front garden plot. We can't decide what to do with that plot so we just keep planting crops of things that will cover the area up and keep the weeds down until we do figure out WHAT to do.

The soil in this plot has been walked all over and hasn't been amended much, so it's hard packed clay. Instead of tilling (this is a BIG area, here and we're getting a seriously late start), we brought huge cartfulls of a soil/compost mix and formed mounds on top of the existing soil in which to plant pumpkins. I made the piles pretty large b/c I know that pumpkins are heavy feeders. D wanted to plant sunflowers in the mounds, too, even though I told him I didn't want them competing w/ the pumpkins, but he was emphatic. He had to have his sunflowers. They ARE beautiful and the birds go nuts for them, so I'm excited to have them again this summer/fall. We planted Lumina, Cinderella and one other variety of pumpkin whose name I have forgotten. I love the cinderella ones. They are so pretty and the brightest orange color. What am I going to do with all these pumpkins? I think we'll be putting up a "pumpkins for sale" sign in October!

Our strawberries are still being eaten before they get completely ripe. I don't know what's doing it. I'd love to get one of those motion-triggered cameras set up out there and find out what's responsible for this destruction. Can't we have just a FEW strawberries? No?

I lost two cucumber transplants but had two extras on the sidelines, waiting for their turn, and they're doing fine, I think. The two tomato plants I put in the "Topsy Turvies" are flourishing, while the ones I planted in the ground aren't growing much yet. The topsy turvy plants had a good head start, though.

My clematis are doing okay. Okay as in they're not dead or dying. I can't really see any obvious growth on them. No flowers, either, but I didn't expect any yet. I haven't had to water them once since I planted them with the nice layer of mulch I gave each container. I LOVE love love mulch. I'd mulch everything if I could.

I've yet to start the bed by the hammock yet. I think I'll get to it once school lets out. Which, did I mention?...is in EIGHT DAYS!