Gardening in US Hardiness zone 6, New York State, early June, 2014.
We’ve been twirly-bird bombed for the last two weeks, and I swear I’ve spent more time outside picking them up than just about anything else. And, I am certain I will be picking a million little maple trees in about a month, from the twirly-birds I missed picking up the last two weeks.
We’ve also enjoyed perfect weather the last few weeks. I mean PERFECT! The blue skies and sunshine have done the plants good, and the sprinklers have watered enough without rain (and I snuck in a hose watering here and there too!) We did have a good soaking rain this past Sunday, so that helped water the plants too.
There are updates to my vegetables and herbs I am growing this year:
The earth box plants are doing very well compared to the vegetables I planted in the ground. I am seriously considering moving one, and possibly two, of those tomato plants to the ground this week. The instructions did say to plant only two, but I wanted to try something…
None of my peppers are going gangbusters yet. The ground planted plants are less than half the size of the earth box peppers though.
Moving on to “herb island”, there is good and bad happening. The cilantro, is definitely among the good!
And so are the chives!
As well as the chamomile. And it smells awesome! While picking up twirly-birds, I couldn’t help but notice how nice the herbs all smelled.
The fennel is also doing quite well. I am sincerely shocked. I expected this to die. It just looked so bad going into the ground. But, as you can see, it has come back nicely.
The parsley doesn’t look all that hot in this photograph, but it is actually doing quite well! Unfortunately, I didn’t photograph the best looking plants.
The basil looks terrible. Over half have withered and are close to dying. The ones that seem be be surviving do smell good though – like a pepperoni pizza in a garden!
The blackberry bushes are growing well. The plant food from the smaller one looks like it absorbed. Since we had a lack of rain, there wasn’t any way for it to get washed away, and instead it went into the soil after the sprinklers water.
We have a LOT of birds chirping this year. I have yet to cover the blackberry bushes since I started growing them 5 years ago, but this may be there first year. I am “this close” to pulling the trigger on two garden arches. I am hoping they provide additional support for the blackberry canes, and if we have to drape netting, they would make it easier.
And what would gardening be without a scruffy garden “helper”?
Every single time I walk outside to pull a weed or water a plant, Max considers it a sign for me to play k-the-b with him. I swear that dog has me trained!
What are you growing in your garden this year? Tell me, How Does Your Garden Grow!?
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KimH says
Everything around my house is gorgeous!! I just picked a big ol basket of rhubarb and foodsavered them & got them in the freezer on Sunday… I wound up with 23 cups. That should make a few pies.. 😉
I’ve gotten a few strawberries here & there.. not loads.. but the plants have lots on them. Hopefully the critters will leave them alone..
My fig tree got severely beat up by the winter… it knocked it back down almost to the ground… its got a couple branches about 1.5 ft on it now… Im just thankful that it survived. My thornless rose in the back yard froze almost to the ground as well… Thankfully, it is still thornless so it didnt go below the graft.. Its coming back & looking good. My other rose bush in the front yard that almost died a couple years ago looks great this year.. Im so thankful. I was fearful we were gonna lose it. My neighbor works on his boat (and everyone elses too) right next to it & I think they poured out water with oil and/or gas in it.. That rose had been really big & healthy… and, the grass that is between the rose bush & his driveway is dead too. I dont think he did it deliberately.. (maybe) but I do think thats what happened.
All my herbs are doing well… I did lose my lavender & have replaced it.. I still have lots of stuff in pots and need to get them transplanted… New to me this year is a bay tree… I plan on planting it in a 12″ pot & bring it in for the winter…
My tiny back yard sanctuary is looking really good… One of my ferns has doubled and Im tickled about that.. Everything back there looks really good..
My daughter, her friend & her man, and I planted our gardens at the community garden a week ago last Sunday… we’ve all got lots of stuff coming up right now… and they’re looking really good. I’ve got tomatillos that are already blooming and they’re just little bitty ol plants… If everything in that garden grows, it’ll be an amazing year. Im gonna have to get busy & start blogging again.. at least about garden & CSA stuff… Soon!
Ann says
YAY! Kim is blogging again soon!
I hope you are feeling better. And I am very glad to read your garden is doing so well. This late spring weather seems to be Mother Nature apologizing for this past winter! It’s been simply stellar.
Ann
Debb F says
Hello Gardening friends,
First, Ann, do not give up on that basil. It needs more water and some fertilizer but do not water the basil leaves, just the roots. If the basil leaves get too wet they die. All your herbs look great and plants too.
In shadow of the Delmarva Peninsula, the weather here has been nuts. STILL> It is like it is about 6 weeks behind. We have been having like “April Showers” all week, and last week it was very much cold one day and then scorching the next. I do not know how to dress or to have windows open on a/c on. We had frost still for so long I felt like we were way late getting our plants in. This year we did things a little different. I am still planting marigolds around my strawberries and some form of wildlife ( I think it is bunnies) is eating it. Oh well. Glad I could help! My peppers literally grew a foot this week and my tomatoes the same , due to all the rain. My flowers this year seemed so confused! My daffodils were hot one day and cold the next so much very few bloomed. My roses are beautiful and my sage plant made it through this harsh winter. It is blooming like crazy and I am about to do my first harvest already! The winter killed all but 2 of my strawberry plants, so I planted a few more, just to help my strawberry patch for next year. I planted curly parsley and it is doing great too. I had to do some reconfiguring since I have a new blind doggie and am using some plastic planters to act as bumpers for him. I have planted a lot of flowers and am enjoying them. I should be able to make and freeze some salsa and have latex free tomatoes all summer.
Ann says
Oh Debb, it was well fertilized and watered daily, although since we have sprinklers set to run 3 days a week, there is nothing I can do about not watering the leaves. If it dies, it dies, but I think half is gonna make it.
WoW! Sounds like your peppers are doing great! And sage already!? Nice for you. Sounds like, in spite of your crazy weather, your flowers, vegetables and herbs are doing very well!!
Ann
Marie says
I think Tennessee has skipped spring. We have been experiencing summer time pop-up showers and mid 80’s most of the time. I have 4 green tomatoes. It’s sad since I think I am suddenly sensitive to tomatoes. something I have picked up from my father who, if he ate tomatoes, the corners of his mouth would break out. It took me a month to heal. Parsley is getting ahead of me…they turn yellowish before I can pinch back. I keep getting rain before I can plant seeds for the lettuce and broccoli.
Ann says
Yikes Marie, looks like no more tomatoes for you.
I have to look at my parsley (all my herbs really) pretty soon. June has been a beautiful month, but as we head into July, I’d rather have pinched than allow them to bolt.
Ann