Another rainy day

We have had a very wet spring around here.  We even had a mud slide about 10 miles north of us. And sink holes around the county.

Went to the garden this morning.  Standing water between the garden beds again.  The good thing about raised beds is the fact that it's ok to have standing water between the beds.  It doesn't bother the soil or what I have already planted.  It just impedes the gardener.

I took all my seedlings outside for the day.  It was 80 degrees and of course it rained this afternoon.  They look very happy.

I have been fighting stink bugs already, this time inside my house.  When I find them, I plop them into a can with soapy water in it.  They drown quickly.  The problem is, I find them on my plants.  I have found damage to my cantaloupe seedlings.  Where they injected their saliva  I have yellowing and destruction of the leaf.  I am hoping for the best.  I cut off the damage and fertilized the plants with fish emulsion in water.

Everything is coming up nicely.  My cover crop of crimson clover.  The sugar snap peas, lettuce, strawberries, chard, spinach.  I even cut fresh parsley!  Planted more spinach and planted my first round of green beans.  I am taking a chance with these, as our last frost date is around Mother's day. That is when everything else goes into the ground.

crimson clover

lettuce

onions and parsley

strawberries

sugar snap peas

My next project is getting my mounded bed ready for my native perennials next week.  My husband has offered to rototill the area, but it is still to wet to work the soil.  I made a decision to use glyphosate (roundup) on the weeds that have taken over this area.  I will not be planting food there and the foxtail is so entrenched,  I will take out a lot of soil if I dig up the whole plant. I have done some reading and found that glyphosate has an EIQ (environmental impact quotient) of only 15.3 (out of 100)  and breaks down very quickly.  Most of the organic pesticides have a higher EIQ.  You have to read directions carefully to use any chemical, organic or synthetic safely.

yuk

I took some pictures of my front yard today.  The Virginia Bluebells are peaking ( a native.)  These are beautiful and an ephemeral plant.  This is a plant that dies to the ground after it blooms.  It comes back the next year to do it all again.

I received some seeds from Monticello about 10 days ago.  We took a trip there last summer and saw lots of plants I have never seen before.  These are examples  of plants that Thomas Jefferson grew a couple of centuries ago.

I planted:

Africa Marigold  Tagetes erecta
Cockscomb  celosia cristata
Florence Fennel  Foeniculum vulgare azoricum
Love-lies-bleeding  Amaranthus caudatus

I will plant:

Scarlet-runner Bean   Phaseolus coccineus


You can order these online.  They have quite a selection.  Better yet, GO to Monticello.  The gardens are beautiful.  I could have cared less about the house.  The basements and gardens cannot be missed!

even the envelopes are beautiful

This is Brooklyn, my daughter Bailey's dog.  She guards the farm.  I did not lose one plant to an animal last year.  Just disease and 106 degree heat.  She also shares anything she catches :(



Well, hopefully next week will be better weather wise.  I will be working on my native garden, as the plants will arrive next week.  The Master Gardener plant sale is next Saturday the 30th. at  the Yellow Springs Lion's Club Community Hall   8829 Yellow Springs Road, Frederick, MD 21702.
From 0800 to Noon,  Rain or Shine!



I have added  Russia to my list of countries viewing my blog!

SEEDS

The best thing about starting your plants from seeds - variety.  I have started a lot of seeds in flats this week.  I am going to list them - don't be bored please - this record keeping is for my benefit.

If you double click on the photos, you can zoom in.

Shasta Daisy
Echinacea  Purple Coneflower  Purpurea
Hybrid pepper, ethnic sweet carmen F1
Tomato Heirloom tall vine Brandywine
Burpee Tomato 4th of July hybrid
Burpee Tomato  Big Boy hybrid
Black eyed Susan  Rudbeckia Hirta
Burpee Cucumber Tendergreen
Cantaloupe Halona F1 hybrid
Leaf Parsley  Titan
Creeping Thyme  Thymus serpyllum
Watermelon  sweet favorite hybrid
Cucumber, hybrid american slicing  corinto F1
Romaine lettuce Vivian Romaine
Broccoli  hybrid Windsor F1
Burpee Tomato Roma
Tomato hybrid  Mariana  F1
Zinnia  Giant Dahlia mix
Basil Genovese
Broccoli  Hybrid  Arcadia F1
Lavender  Munstead-type




The shelves are put together, the lights have been hung.  I am using a cool light fluorescent bulb and a plant/aquarium bulb together in each fixture.   The lights are a mere 4 inches away from the containers.
Each bulb has different colors of light that the plants need to germinate and thrive.

The lettuce seeds I planted 2 days ago have sprouted.  I plan to keep the lights on for 16 hours a day and off for 8.

I planted some perennials about 2 weeks ago - couldn't help myself.  They were in a southern window.  I think I got them under the better lights in time.

Shasta Daisy

Purple Coneflower

You may notice the diverse list of annuals, perennials and vegetables.   That is part of Integrated Pest Management.  I want to attract a lot of different bugs to my garden to keep some of the pesky bugs in check.  Also, I want to attract butterflies just because I like them.


My strawberries  will be here around 4/1, along with my red potatoes.  They are from Johnny's Seeds out of Maine.  Great quality and good prices.  I am buying as many disease resistant varieties that I can (F1.)  I did not get one cucumber or cantaloupe this year.  They were knocked down quickly by disease.  They were my true weaklings last summer.




I am ordering some native perennials this month to plant in the garden also.  Native plants are very important. That will be another whole page in a week or two.