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gardengal48

Weather and other musings.........

Have recently been thinking about what a great growing season we have had here in the Puget Sound area. All that early spring rain combined with a long, warm and dry summer really made plants take off! Best summer for containerized tomatoes I can remember -- my two plants produced more cherry tomatoes than I could handle and I shared lots with family and friends.

Although still early, this fall is shaping up nicely weather-wise. Yesterday was a stunning day and even this morning's fog is welcome. I prefer to garden when sun is not so intense :-) And trees are coloring up nicely.

Just have to remark on my melianthus - honeybush. It died to the ground over the winter but came back bigger and better than ever! I am hoping for the mild El Nino winter they are projecting so I can enjoy its flowers next spring. The hummers will appreciate that as well.

It's a little disappointing to see this forum so quiet. Other regional forums seem to be heavily populated and very active but this one just creeps along. One would think that with the plethora of serious gardeners in this area we would generate more activity here........certainly get enough traffic through the nursery asking questions, including a lot folks new to the area and exploring our seriously wide plant palette.

Anyone have anything they'd like to contribute?

Comments (22)

  • gottagrowthings
    9 years ago

    first time poster, yes this forum has become quiet. maybe we have all been out in our gardens and will return once the rains come back.
    I agree with you on the tomatoes - best year ever for my containers!

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago

    It's been a wonderful year for weather. A little on the dry side, but I'm not complaining. Timely rain when we needed it a few weeks ago.
    My Zebra Grass bloomed better this year than any before. I'm not sure it's Miscanthus sinensis, 'Strictus' or 'Zebrinus'.
    Mike

  • Bradybb WA-Zone8
    9 years ago

    Two fruits even ripened on my young Flavor Grenade Pluot tree. Brady

  • mudhoney
    9 years ago

    Love this time of year, fall has been fantastic so far. I feel so lucky to live in this area.

    Oooh, but you know that we will be paying for it any day now! (I'm such a Debbie Downer!). DId anyone see the Cliff Mass blogsite article on atmospheric rivers, and large precipitation events becoming more common and severe? Not that we haven't noticed that already...

  • Lily777
    9 years ago

    Darn, my container tomatoes didn't do as well. I'm still new to gardening, and the deer got to them and caused some damage. My conifer garden is thriving, for the most part. And everyone loved the alpine poppies that I grew from seed.

    So gardengal, what's the secret to great tomatoes? I tried red pear tomatoes, Early Girl, and First Lady. I got an "okay" crop, but not great. And we had a hot summer!

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    What's the secret to great tomatoes?? Luck? LOL!

    Seriously, I think it is selecting varieties that do best in our less-than-ideal tomato growing climate. I focus on cherries cuz they ripen early and are prolific. And they are so sweet - tomato candy! Sungold is my tried and true choice and I did Super Sweet 100's also. The Sungolds really outperformed the Super Sweets, which were neither super nor particularly sweet.......will skip those next year. I am leaning towards Stupice for next year. Very early to ripen, which is not standard for an heirloom variety, and always gets raves at tasting events. And a tomato I could slice would be nice - hard to make a decent sandwich with cherry tomatoes!

    Do you grow in containers Lily? I find that makes a huge difference for me, as well as a pretty rich potting medium.

  • Lily777
    9 years ago

    HI Gardengal. I used the growboxes with Cedar Grove potting soil and Alaska brand vegetable and tomato fertilizer. See link for growboxes. I am having a hard time allocating space for a veggie patch because I want to plant more ornamentals! Probably by next spring I'll have visions of cherry tomatoes dancing in my head and I'll give it another go. I am about to move my blueberries and herb garden to a side garden. I might be able to squeeze in a tomato or two next year.
    Why do you recommend containers vice planting in the ground? I'm so new at this, I need all the help that I can get. I thought containers required more water? But less pests is a plus, yea!
    I sheet mulched one corner two years ago and that has rich soil now, but it's afternoon shade. Any suggestions? DH wants a flower garden.
    The other corner (south) just got sheet mulched this year and needs a couple of years before planting. It's full sun.

    Here is a link that might be useful: garden patch grow box

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Lily, I like tomatoes in containers because:
    - they can be moved at will to maximize sun exposure and reflected heat.
    - since I use big black plastic nursery pots, the soil heats up fast - much faster than even in a raised bed or grow box. And warm soils mean faster/better growth for tomatoes in our area.
    - since I replace the potting soil each season, there is no concern about rotation to avoid disease issues.
    - I have very little inground gardening space due to topography so I grow most everything in containers. But even when I did have a 'real' garden, I still grew 'maters in containers. And since any indeterminate variety of tomato needs a BIG container, I don't find I need to water them any more frequently than I water any of my other container plants.

    btw, a morning sun-afternoon shade area is a great setting for a lot of flowering plants. Many spring bulbs, lilies, lots of flowering perennials and shrubs like hydrangeas are perfectly happy under those conditions.

  • Lily777
    9 years ago

    Thank you for your response. I have some 10 and 20 gallon size black nursery containers, but I was afraid that they might get too hot. I will try them next year for cherry tomatoes. My yard has about three inches of wood chip mulch on it, so it takes longer to heat up in the spring, anyways.

  • gottagrowthings
    9 years ago

    this was my first ear for Stupice, and I will grow them again. Sungold is a very prolific bite of great tasting orange cherry tomato. I tried fabric pots for the first time this year, but am not sure if they made a difference since it was such a great summer

  • cedar_wa
    9 years ago

    This year because I was not going to be around to keep containers watered, I planted tomatoes in the ground mid-May and had doubts about survival. In June when I returned they had small tomatoes already. Just picked all in preparation for the blight with rain. A favorite large tomato that does well for me is Country Taste.
    The grapes this year were also the best ever!!!

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago

    I saw no yellow jackets or bald faced hornets! That's a first for me. I usually stumble into a nest or two while hacking about. Anyone else enjoy the summer without them?
    About the only Butterfly I saw were a few white Cabbage Butterfly around the veggie garden.
    Things have sure grown this year, more than I expected.
    Mike

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I had wasps or yellow jackets or whatever. Quite a few buzzing the hummingbird feeder and the starts of a few nests discovered.....paper wasps? This is the second year they have attempted to set up housekeeping under the lid of my BBQ. I just close it back up and turn it on :-)

    And lots of butterflies of various sorts....even a few Monarchs around.

    MIke, you just need to plant some things they like!

  • Lily777
    9 years ago

    Syrphid flies nested under a concave/convex (?) rock next to my front door. Starting to notice more wildlife creep into the yard now that we ripped out the lawn and sheet mulched the whole thing. A toad moved in under a boulder and some butterflies were checking out the pines. I was wondering if I should plant milkweed.

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago

    You're right, GardenGal, I should grow more plants Butterflys like.
    I do have some Fennel, but even it's been left alone as far as aphids, ladybug larvae, and Swallowtail caterpillars are concerned. I am isolated, but not that much that they couldn't find me.
    When I was designing and installing landscapes, everybody wanted low maintenance, so if a bug ate it, I didn't install it. I guess some of it rubbed off on me.
    I need to diversify. There's more to a garden than conifers and Japanese maples. ;-)
    Mike

  • larry_gene
    9 years ago

    Come to think of it, I did see a Monarch butterfly in SE Portland last summer. A very rare event here.

  • 19juju54
    9 years ago

    I had GREAT luck with Lizzano tomatoes in hanging baskets. Territorial has starts.They produced like crazy and were delicious. I also used olla's in my large containers...stupice and wonderful sungold.. this year and I found them helpful in maintaining the soil moisture. I made them from terracota pots. Just remember to pull them out at the end of the season so they don't freeze and crack.

  • Embothrium
    9 years ago

    Flies don't nest, it must have been something else. Or they weren't nesting per se.

  • oliveoyl3
    9 years ago

    Mike, we will help you diversify your gardens to attract the butterflies. Come to the fall Green Elephant or come over to our place. Plus you can take a look at those trees.
    Corrine (& James)

  • Lily777
    9 years ago

    Maybe something else was nesting under the rock? we saw the nest...and they looked like syrphid flies??? I don't know. Looks like a wasp or yellow jacket, but not really? Or not like the ones I grew up around...

  • Wendy Johnston
    9 years ago

    Summer 2014 was really great for a lot in my garden, with the caveat that it was a fantastic year for tent caterpillars also. :( My daughter is very good about handpicking them for me.

    Tomatoes: I get good results with Early Girl, but I am focusing on heirlooms these days. The old standby Beefsteak did amazingly well, and I will grow it next year. I tried Black Krim for the second season, I won't bother with it again. I am thinking about trying Purple Cherokee next season, it has great reviews. I have stayed with Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, as they just pump out the fruit, but I may get adventurous and try something different next season with them as well. My grandmother (the most amazing gardener I have ever known!) always tapped the flowers with her finger, told me it helped with pollinization, so I do that. Even if it doesn't help I am out there getting to know the plants and watching for signs of disease or insect trouble, ;)

    As it is now mid October my daughter and I tackled a very overgrown bed next to the front door yesterday. Pruned the lavender back, hacked down the rose again (which was here when I bought the house in 2010 and had reverted back to Dr. Huey), added 6 bags of topsoil and 3 of compost, and planted 135 bulbs. There is so much more to do out there . . . the garden, like the laundry, is a never ending project!

  • Embothrium
    9 years ago

    Nesting in/near the ground, (presumably) yellow striped with black would be yellow-jackets. These look and move like other wasps, whereas syrphids, being flies have the small antennae and eyes nearly covering the head etc. typical of flies. And are solitary, not social. Eggs are laid where the solitary larvae can feed on prey species, with the adults hovering around flowers later.