Greetings!

I started the week doing a bit more planting. Lillies this time, down by my mailbox. I still keep popping seeds in the ground too. I finally got around to my neglected bed on the side of my house, where lack of mulch and bugs of some sort were causing my hostas serious trouble. Used my half-finished compost as mulch and it looks 100% better. Spread diatomaceous earth here and there trying to keep my hosta from being eaten as a number of them are looking pretty ragged, but some looks more like big animal damage instead of small.

The veggies are coming along. I have flowers on all my tomatoes now and babies on my bush champion as well as the hanging cherry tomato. I keep kicking myself over the cukes though. I still haven't gotten the planter made for them - maybe tonight? It's getting too late for them!

Someone asked about the trellis in my little veggie bed. Hidden behind the tomatoes are pole beans and cantaloupe. They look good, but I know next year I'll leave more room between the two. Even caged, the tomatoes are trying to shade them out. This year's garden was an experiment anyway. I think next spring I'll try to dig the compost aside and line the sides of the bed with landscape fabric, which I didn't do and am regretting this year. I think it's going to take a LOT of water later on this summer. I'm wondering if I could get away with watering it every other day now that everything is established? The pots will take every day, but maybe the bed will be okay, at least until we hit the height of summer.

Hope you all are having a happy gardening week!

Tuesday morning-and its raining!! just perfect, finished the last of my planting (except for the dahlias screaming at me).
I harvested 12 quarts of spinach, and planted 2 rows of lima beans. The pole ones failed last year, I'll see if bush do better.Have 4 rows green beans, 2 of cucumbers-some cabbage/broccoli/cauliflower survived the "big freeze" but not much, so, I'm starting seeds for fall plantings.
Planted what tomato plants that didnt sell, so I now have more planted than I need (85--90?) but --I sold enough plants that my seeds for the next 3 years are accounted for, if I remember to put them in the freezer.
Have nice Herbs started, about 20 different kinds, I think.
Found a dozen pint jars at a sale yesterday, I never have enough pints.
And, for all those who've asked(and who didnt) my hand is healing nicely, he will have to do more surgery on same hand for some he missed,but I think the other hand (oh, no--my right!)will have surgery about August. Worse thing, and perhaps its my age, but it seems new skin is sooo sensitive, only part of one finger is still numb.
Everone enjoy the rain, and may you get just the right amount.

ceresone- glad your hand is doing better and it sounds like you accomplished quite a bit onehanded.

i have just finished building my last raised bed for vegetables. the beds are holding 1600 lbs of humus, topsoil and aged manure. i am tired. i have built 10 beds so far and 5 went to DW for flowers.

i also built 5 planter boxes for butterfly bushes. 2 black knight , 2 whites and 1 red. the boxes were 18 inches square and a foot deep. tired again.

tomatoes have been planted , runner beans, radishes and 50 sweetpeas. i am running far behind. looks like the beds aren't draining well for everything is yellowish looking.

raing here a little too. maybe time for a break.

william

I finally finished my automatic irrigation system. All my gardens and potted plants will be watered on schedule. This project took up so much of my time the last month that I am far behind in planting. I did plant a cherry tomato and runner beans this week. The cantaloupe, squash, cukes, okra and eggplant are all growing nicely. James

Ceresone - I think you're getting more done than me and I'm working with two hands. Glad you're healing but be careful.

We didn't get any rain yet this week and really needed it for my seedlings that I've planted. I planted some tomatoes today and watered everything.

I make this dressing up and put it in the frig to put over fresh spinach. It seems to keep a long time.

Spinach Salad
1/3 cup vinegar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup canola oil or other vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/2 teaspoon onion powder (Actually I can't remember how much onion powder I put in mine)

Pour over fresh spinach right before serving. Can also add some shredded carrots to make it more colorful.

It doesn't taste good over lettuce for some reason.

Just mowed the yard yesterday. I decided to wait about a week to do the second planting of corn. I don't want to work up that much corn just a few days apart.

We are looking very dry here. My last set plants are really looking sorry. We certainly need that rain they are predicting. Just wish the darned hay man could get my hay baled first!

I saw a Blue Bunting late yesterday evening and we have one or two Orioles now and then.

christie, sure looks like that dressing would be good over anything. I have it in my file. Thanks for posting.

I checked my potatoes and think I could get a mess of small, new ones now. May try when the kids are all home this weekend. I have snap peas just setting on....looking forward to those.

I did mulch on top of my old much where some weeds were showing through.

I am letting a few strawberries set on the new plants....even though the experts tell you not to. If the plant looks puny, I will pinch them off. I found a small treasure of frozen berries in the freezer from year before last......maybe 10 quarts.

ceresone, sounds like you are doing great. That is about how much spinach I froze. I should pick some wild greens but so far, haven't done it. You sure haven't let surgery slow you down.

Enough rambling.....I slept in this morning.....can't quite believe it!

I've been kinda down the last few days but learned yesterday that i did'nt need the cataract surgery i was dreading. My nearsightedness decided to get worse so all i needed was a new pair of glasses. yeah!!!!!

I filled two of my big pots and transplanted 2 daylilies in them plus a double begonia in each.
pulled a bunch of weeds and planted a minature rose in a bed. Raked some more leaves, of course.

I've got some baby phoebes. I,ve only seen a head sticking up ,but the parents are really working to feed them. The phoebes are at the front porch and today i discovered i've got a nest of house wrens at the back porch. They don't seem to mind me and dogs going in and out.

James, Glad you finished the irrigation system. Your plants will probably catch up with all the other plants as it gets warmer. Just reading about all your goodies. I'll have to plant at least one tomato plant so i can say "i've got a veggie garden too". LOL

william, Your wife will love you everytime she enjoys her flowerbeds. My DH helped me with a couple of mine, and i know how i feel about them.

ceresone, i've been wondering about you and glad your hand is better. I second christie about doing more than me and my two hands.
Christie, your dressing sounds good, kinda spicy but not too spicy.
gld, Are you talking about polk salet, I've not seen any but have'nt really looked.
I'm really going to have the wild blackberries this year. They did,nt bloom till after the cold weather.

alys,I know your mailbox will be pretty. I've always wanted to plant around a mailbox but we've got a large row of them since mailman does'nt come down our road,and it would take a pretty big flowerbed to take them all in.
I've got a lot of buds on some of my daylilies and on my asiatic lilies. I have a pink peony in bloom. and quite a few buds on one of the antique rose, as well as on some others. I can't wait for the blooms.
I'm still putting out fertilizer. I need to get it finished before the rains quit.
Don't forget to stop and smell the roses for a minute everyone.LOL
vickie

vickie, glad you only needed glasses; my sis in Iowa just had one eye done for cataracts and the other is due in June. I don't think I have ever had mine checked.

The greens mostly would be poke and lambs quarter. I could get a mess just from around the house and barns.

We got a very nice rain yesterday afternoon. I had just hoed out the onions and tilled out the corn, glad I beat the rain. We were looking pretty dry here.

James, congrats on finishing the watering system. You will be so happy when our normal summer drought hits all of us.

I envy you the rain, Glenda, it's missed us entirely.
Vikki, I think the freeze got our tame AND wild blackberries, wild ones bloomed, then all the blooms fell off. Course, there isnt going to be any other berry, vine or orchard crop either.
And the cataract surgery is a snap!! had to have both of mine done about 2 years ago--first time in my life, I can see without glasses. Driving and all, no more glasses sliding off when I'm trying to work in the garden!!
Beans and Cucumbers are up, the lima beans were a day or so later, but not up yet.
James, that really sounds good on the watering system. I think my garden lends itself well to a water system, in that my raised beds all(at this time)run east to west, with a fence at the top edge that I could fasten a header hose to-then the beds slant slightly away from it to facilitate in draining system.And, the links you gave have a system to "blow out" any particles that would stop it up--which is always a problem with well water. But--at this time I only have blocks on 3 of my 16 beds, and was going to try to finish sides first. (may not, now.)
William, Your beds really sound nice.
And, for the first time EVER, I'm hoping the orioles move on--two females are draining 3 humming bird feeders every day!
Let's hope we all get the rains we need, and can survive the gas prices.

I've only seen my orioles going to my oriole feeder. They ignore my hummingbird feeder. I've seen a couple people post on other forums that squirrels and raccoons will tip and guzzle from hummingbird feeders so if yours are getting drained TOO quickly you might want to see if it's disappearing all at once, especially at night. Do you have black bears around your area?

Vickie - Glad to hear your eyes are ok. Gld - shame shame - you need to get your checked. lol I get behind on things like that too. I'm due for a check up.

I found a couple kinds of cucumber seeds I forgot I had. Hope it's not to late to start them. I have Straight Eights and a burpless hybrid.

We got rain here too. I was already having trouble keeping up with the weeds. They will surely take over now. I bought generic round-up this time and it didn't seem to work nearly as well as the name brand that I usually get. It had the same ingredient so I don't know why. I'm going to try mixing it a little stronger. That stuff's expensive but I will go back and get name brand if I need to.