Hot and wet – those words describe our weather perfectly the last few weeks. We actually had a stretch of a few days without rain where the humidity was sky-high and the temperatures rose to 90°. And for us, 90° is very unusual. The plants seem to love it though as they are overgrowing the yard, and it is still only June! By September I expect to be living in a jungle.
In the picture above you can see where the plants are taking over the dirt-island, and the insert picture shows that our ground-cover is actually growing!
The blackberry bush is growing wild, spreading over to the spot where the thorned blackberry bush used to be, and starting to grow higher than the roof! I may need to trim that back a bit before it takes over that entire section of the yard.
We finally replaced the dead bush in the back. I just have to remember to either water it, or turn the sprinkle system on. I think the sprinklers might be a better choice. The new bush looks funny compared to the older two that are seven years old and fully mature. Guess the little guy has some growing to do!
In the front yard a lot of things have stopped blooming, and now it is mostly various shades of green up front – with a few exceptions.
We don’t have overhead power wires. Everything is underground, and then there are these big, ugly junction boxes every to every other house. These boxes house cable and electric. They are green metal, and not rusty, but nevertheless less than pleasing to look upon. When we had the house landscaped seven years ago, they put a few bushes and some lilies around that junction box. The service workers can still get to the box without chopping anything down/apart, but the flora hides a lot. Nearly everyone with a junction box on their front-side lawn does the same thing.
One of the bushes is this woody thing that flowers in late spring. This year, it produced some sort of berry. The berries I have never seen before, and this plant is seven years old. I have no idea if they are decorative or edible for animals or humans – and I don’t intend to find out either!
The lilies that were budding two weeks ago are now in full bloom. On our way back from Ohio we stopped in Pennsylvania where these were growing everywhere, so I had hoped that an hour north they had bloomed too, and was pleased to see that they did.
I think Hubby and I will be trying a ride for produce the beginning of July. We’ll be able to assess just how much the rains have damaged the NYS summer crops. I know it is bad in much of the country, and I look for rising produce prices in the fall.
So, how does your garden grow? Are you planting one this year? Sticking with a CSA? A flower or herb garden perhaps? What’s happening in your green-world?
Candie says
As I have mentioned previously, I have a black thumb. If I could get my yard to look like yours I would be so excited. I actually had the hedges that were in front of one of my two front windows ripped out. They were growing out of control. I have a lawn service but he complained that he was cutting them back every two weeks and they were growing wild, so out they came. I have this tree that was planted when I had the house built, it is now over 15 feet tall and I wish I could rip it out too but it provides shade to the front windows. The only thing that I grow is terrariums. I go to the thrift store and look for any kind of container, glass bowls, vases, fish bowls, etc. and make them with succulents. Let me tell you everyone loves them and now they are given as gifts. I start them growing and wait about two months to make sure they are doing okay and off they go to a new home. Maybe the cactus haven’t heard about my black thumb, I haven’t lost one yet.
Ann says
That is cool, Candie!
Ann
Barbee says
That’s beautiful-you have every reason to show it off!
….& I just love looking at it. 🙂
Ann says
Thanks Barbee!
Ann
KimH says
Everything looks GREAT!! I’ve got a wild blackberry bush I let go this year but most of the time I cut the canes back.. Its loaded with fruit.. and it sent out a whole new batch of canes to produce upon next year.. Im not sure they’ll survive the summer..
My fig tree finally started putting on more baby figs in the junctures of branches.. Im soo excited.. I’ll get 2 figs (one disappeared) for my first crop and a whole lot more for a fall crop.. I hope! its got quite a few so I will remain extremely hopeful!!
I let my Great Mullien go to seed so I’ve got 5 of these gorgeous plants blooming in my front yard where M’honey & my neighbors think it shouldnt be.. haha.. Tough.. Its MY YARD! They think Im goofy cuz I love this plant and perhaps I am.. but its a medicinal herb & I think its important we know & can source these things..
Strawberries did ok.. not great.. but I have to say, they did better than they’ve done in years past.. Im not a good strawberry grower.. Its about the only fruit/veggie/plant that Im not good at growing.. Its weird. One of these days..
Blueberries are ripening away.. one is covered, one is so so, & one only has a few on them.. Of course, they’re all different varieties.. and I just transplanted them last year.. so I’ll give em a couple years to shape up or they’ll be shipped out.
Rhubarb is growing like the weed its been known to be.. This is good! Just transplanted them last fall too so Im really happy with their progress..
The Lemon Balm has taken over the side herb bed & part of my backyard sanctuary.. I pulled a lot of it out of my back yard yesterday afternoon & have it hanging for making tea.. Its a very calming to the nervous system & a carminitive herb (stomach/digestion/gas soothing). I’ll be pulling a whole lot more of it and drying it before the summer ends. Its virtually a weed at this point.. but a much loved one.
I have a small rocked in garden area in my front yard where Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes have moved in. Every year now for at least 4 years, I get hundreds of tomato plants come up volunteer.. Right now after hoeing many of them down, I still have at a minimum of 37 – 1.5-2ft cherry tomato plants in a small area of about 6x 12ish.. I need to dig up all but about 3 or 4… These things will take over and grow about 10-12 feet each and have hundreds of cherry tomatoes on them.. lol.. If you EVER wanted a variety that takes over a corner of your garden.. this is THE ONE!! Its a Gardeners Delight.. All you have to do is thin out seedlings & pick tomatoes all day long. LOL You can either buy seeds or send me a SASE & I’ll send you some.. haha..
My chard I let go to seed in that same garden area is doing really great.. It self seeded too.. I let a huge plant go to seed there last year.. so I knew I was gonna be deep in chard this year.. ♥ My garlic that is growing in that bed is finally trying to mature.. but I lost a lot of it due to all the wetness we had in April & May. 🙁 I’ll get some.. Thank God I have loads in my freezer still.. This was not a good year for my beloved Polish Hardneck garlic.. 🙁
My garden at my community garden is in pitiful shape.. My daughter & I went over there one day last week & got the second one under control.. It had been so wet it almost got ate up with grass/weeds.. The mayor who gardens next to me told me that he was told that it hailed pretty badly at our garden a couple weeks ago so that explains why my brassicas look so rough.. They had been looking BEAUTIFUL!! Im sure they’ll recover.. they’re just tattered looking.
I need to get over there & finish planting.. I dont think I’ve ever waited this late to plant most of my garden.. but thats the way it goes.. Between rain & pain I can only do what I can only do.. Its been a rough year with both.. sigh.. I do expect it to get much better soon! 😉
KimH says
Sorry for writing a book.. haha.. 😀
Ann says
Kim how far north can figs be grown? Is that extra 100 miles north gonna hurt if I give it a try? And how big are the blueberry bushes? As a kid I remember sitting under them and picking blueberries, but since I am a tad older and larger, I doubt my memory is accurate.
Ann
KimH says
Normally, figs dont grow this far north…. however I planted the variety Chicago Hardy Fig that originally came from the mountains in Italy and withstand very cold temperatures.. It may or may not die down to the roots this far north (mine didnt this past winter) but it will come back every year to give you figs. I just got mine last year so I only have my 1 year experience and that I’ve read of other peoples. I covered my fig with hay and then a grill cover (wish I haddnt the cover) and at least 2/3s of my tree was still standing this spring when I took it off. I’ve read other people say they dont do anything to it other than put some form of mulch on the roots.. I did that & will continue to. I dont think I’ll try covering it again.. Im terribly excited since I grew up with fresh figs and its almost impossible to get good fresh figs here.. I buy a flat or two every year (expensive) and most are ok at best.. Anyways.. if you get one, plant it in a south west location and is protected from the worst cold wind directional in your yard.. This is where I got mine & a few other plants & they are the BEST quality plants I’ve ever gotten online or thru a catalog, and that is quite a few. in my 30+ years of gardening.
There are lots of different sized blueberry bushes and if you were in PA or NY you were probably sitting under high-bush blueberry bushes. Mine are only about 2-2.5 feet. I’ve had friends from NY & Pa tell me that they grew up with them up to 6-10 ft tall.. I’ve never seen any that big but I’d love to.. I have seen them advertised as such but I dont have the space for them so I didnt look too long. 😉
KimH says
Heres a review from NJ..
Cannot harvest my figs fast enough I have had my Chicago Hardy fig tree for about 3 years now in Trenton, NJ. It has grown to over 10 high and this year’s crop of figs has topped all. Last year I reaped about a gallons worth. This year it seems I cannot pick them fast enough. Either fresh picked from the tree or my favorite baked stuffed with bleu cheese and a little bit of balsamic vinegar, wrapped in prosciutto and then drizzled with honey its nature at its finest. While our winters have been rough, it has not died back to the ground and I havent even followed my barbers instruction on how to wrap and cap it. Highly recommended!!! – Brian Murphy, NJ –
Ann says
Ok so maybe I am not crazy about sitting under a blueberry bush. I’d plant them on Hubby’s land, but I worry it would be a deer smorgasbord.
Southwest? Not southeast?
Ann
KimH says
Southwest? Not southeast?
LOL Probably southeast.. It all really depends on the lay of the land and the lay of any buildings or anything else around.. Mine is actually on the southwest side of my yard.. and the winds that come from the North & West (think cold crappy weather from Chicago & Canada) are buffered by a garage..
Marie says
Where to start? The mysterious stick gave up and the leaves fell off. We’ve been HOT and muggy here and lots of thunderstorms with 3 yesterday. I kept one of the cabbages I left out over winter and it’s about a foot and a half tall and has a small head of cabbage forming so I expect it to fall over soon. The bugs are loving the garden eating the marigolds and tasting the onion tops which I thought were supposed to deter bugs from the garden. Oh well. I decided to go ahead and try the lettuce and sowed some seeds this week. The pepper plants that the bugs didn’t eat are happy happy happy in this heat but I’ve only had one flower so far. The lemon balm is flowering. I planted tomatoes kind of late but so far I have 11 tomatoes no bigger that jawbreakers. The grass is way out of control and my husband who likes to keep it short mows about 2 times a week.
I always wanted blueberry bushes but I’ve seen what the birds have done to my neighbor’s cherry tree so I’m over that. Her peach trees are loaded and I will be given bunches. I found out they don’t freeze well when very ripe, so lots of peach pies and cobblers later on.
Ann says
Mmmmm peach cobblers and pies. If you have any recipes (and a picture) you’d like to share, I am sure we’d all love to read and see!
Ann
KimH says
Not long after writing this, I decided to go to my veggie garden.. Im not sure if I whooped it or it whooped me.. I think the latter.. It was still wet as could be but I tilled both plots with my little Garden Way 2 cycle tiller.. noisy, annoying, but it works.. The grass is growing faster than weeds.. man, its insane.. I spent 3 hours in there reclaiming my garden.. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep on top of it and it’ll dry out a little bit so I can get more stuff planted.. I did plant 4 tomatillos and I’ve got a whole slew of cucumbers up.. A few green beans too.. I recovered one row from the weeds, but not another.. sigh.. another day..
While I was talking to one of my neighbors in the garden, a fawn came walking across the back are near my garden.. sigh.. I have deer fencing but they’ll probably just walk right thru it..