Tag: peppers

The last of the planting… For now… Maybe.

I got an early (for me) start and picked up more starts at Squak this morning. The weather is just cool enough to make working in the yard pleasant. (:

Added a Sun Gold plant to west D. I removed the ailing Nova and the red robin from the bed (since it will never get big), and also planted a thriving Nova in West C.

The beets next to it over wintered and are bolting now. I’m going to leave them to it (:

I messed around with the ailing Nova so much that I felt bad, so I’m giving it one last chance to grow in the upper area. (I do this every year- go tomato crazy. Fortunately P doesn’t read this or he would know that my 5 planned tomato plants have turned into 8…)

The red robin I pulled out of the bed went in my last empty pot.

Planted a lipstick pepper and a hot pepper in upper B with 2 of my Perfects.

Planted a delicata next to the concrete pad in the upper area.

A couple of butter baby in the angelene next to the dead Apple tree.

More okra seeds with the starts in south d

more green bean seeds with the sprouts in South D (slug was tossed.) and more peas in West E.

Borage seeds went in a couple of bare spaces on the slope, and under the purple rhody

Found a mystery squash starting on the slope- likely from a last year’s seed.

Things are looking pretty good- and the bees have finally arrived ( I was worried!)

The hummers are making a racket, and yesterday P rescued a fledgling Robin from the driveway. (it’s parents were not impressed.)

I have been doing soooo much weeding, but it never seems to make an impact. We just lost our maintenance crew, so I’ll have to find another that understands what weeds are ok, or pick up the pace myself (but… Kittens! Letterpress! Art! Studio Time! Sleep!)

cut back the artichoke to give space to lavender and blueberries beside it.

I can’t wait to eat everything!

Sunny Saturday

P and I worked in the garden this afternoon. He mowed and got the irrigation mostly set up. I planted planted planted.

4 okra plants went into south d.

I replaced the non-starting direct sown squash seeds with starts.

Planted the remaining “healthy” peppers in upper c. Five total between the two beds.

Starting some more leafy greens to plant in the upper beds.

As I do every year I planted “just one more” tomato (red Robin) in a container.

Here’s some progress shots.

Planting

Feeling better today- so I decided to embrace the sun and get some stuff in the ground!

Also notable- although I feel like we’ve had some rain, the soil was DRY dry, and I had to hand water everything. It’s about time to set up the drip line I guess.

2 Nova sauce and one red Robin cherry tomato start (my starts) went into west C and west d. They went into cages… Which always feel a little optimistic in size this time of year. (;

Two peppers went into upper B… Which was supposed to be full of kale, chard, and romaine…. HA! Next year I won’t even bother direct seeding those.

I put out one little okra to test soil conditions in West D. If it’s still alive in a couple of days I’ll move the rest out. Okra would probably be a good use for water walls in the future.

I moved a couple of the squash starts out to the greenhouse, and planted a bit more romaine and kale in there.

I also added red fertilizer to the tomatoes in the ground, and blue to the blueberries and camelia.

PROGRESS

Green bean sprout

Chardonnay or Gewurztraminer grape. Not sure which. /:

Garlic

we also have a small army of mushrooms around the planters.

Eager

I’m very eager to get the tomatoes in the ground- but nights are still getting below 55, and a bad EDS flare up means I’m not walking very well.

So they are mostly in big pots, and all in the greenhouse now, along with the okra and peppers. I gave a couple of cherry tomatoes away- then realized that they will still need supports- so once I can get down to the shed I’ll put a support on my little container tomato.

Planted some more cilantro in the wide pot. I’ve found that I have better luck overseeding, eating them young, then letting the rest go to seed. I have no luck cultivating an adult plant without bolting. The cilantro actually did very well throughout the winter, so I will continue successive plantings for yummy tacos.

Hippity hops.

I’m going to try to start some romaine inside now now that I have space. Maybe I’ll have better luck planting starts.

(not pictured)

Green beans are showing their little heads in south d. A bird pulled at least one out to investigate- adorable monsters. I love green beans- especially the flavor and abundance- but I hate how long they tease you before they have vegetable.

I think that’s it for today- gotta go ice my ankles and “rest”.

May Showers

I’m getting some ready to debut the studio, but there’s also garden stuff to do.

Today I planted delicata seeds (lower c), butter baby (lower d), yellow squash (lower g) and zucchini (lower g).

I did a bunch of weeding in the lower bed and on the slope. There are a lot of volunteers I don’t recognize- so more weed identifications are coming.

Cooper helped me in the garden, Stevie decided she did NOT want to be outside. Then it started raining.

Progress photos…

Transplantin

Today I moved 2 each of my starts up into bigger pots (free from buy nothing- yay! But had to be cleaned and bleached, boo!) and put them out in the green house. It’s chilly this morning, so hopefully they will do ok.

They had very complete roots, so if we get don’t warmer weather I sound probably transplant some more.

I also planted 2 each of the squash, to give it a head start, and to have backup in case I have another terrible squash year. Those are starting from seed inside (but I’m not going to use the warming pad.)

I also pulled one of the offending Rhodies, and trimmed the other and wrapped the stem in duct tape. P has been so busy I don’t want to add “dig up the plants” to his list. /: I did notice some chewing on Jessica’s (neighbor) tree, so maybe they are already here and I don’t have to feel so guilty.

They, by the way, are root weevils, which I suspect were infesting the fun free rhododendron volunteers I picked up. (sigh). Let’s pray they don’t move on to my other plants.

Dear Past Alison

Time and (limited) experience in the garden has taught me that the only way to learn anything out here is to do it wrong at least once. I’ve run this theory by several experienced gardeners, and they always nod then tell me stories.

So, here are some things I’d like to tell past Alison.

– Plant perennials that need time to mature the second that you decide you’re interested in gardening. Do not wait several years so that you can wait another couple of years to eat your raspberries and asparagus

-DO NOT PLANT OREGANO IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, you idiot. It is monstrous!

-Do not leave the greenhouse closed on a 86Degree spring day. Everything will die. It will roast and die, and you will cry.

-Don’t skip soil amendment just because it’s far away and heavy.

-Don’t plant strawberries or raspberries without some heavy defenses. They will conquer the garden.

-Don’t take free plants with holes chewed in them. You. Are. Dumb.

****

Okay! Enough berating. One thing I did so right was to use the leaves as mulch on some of the beds and between our neighbors very weedy yard and our moderately weedy lawn.

The patch of green in the middle is a transplanted perennial sunflower. g.

I spent the morning weeding (if there isn’t an old saying about the difficulty of pulling grass from the onion bed there should be.) and placing a second bed for peas (west e). The poor peas that I planted in the lower bed have not been able to win the war against whatever is eating them (I have all kinds of theories, but no luck… Something is digging there. /: ) so if they come up in the west bed, I’ll have to reorganize a bit more. (Squash, peppers, and okra need homes.)

Things that weren’t roasted in the greenhouse LOVED the warm sunny weather. I think some greens are starting (kale, chard, romaine), radishes are getting bigger, grapes… many things.

Here’s our false spring!

The weather is gorgeous, for a few days. I did a little wander through the garden- things are still happening slowly. I put a balanced fertilizer on the leafy veggies with the hope that it will inspire them to pick up.

The starts are looking amazing since I repotted them. That probably means it’s time to repot again (;

I traded out a few of the smaller ones from the greenhouse to see if they do better inside.

I also moved the greenhouse so it will get more fun. Sometimes I have to sacrifice aesthetics.

The little container tomato is hanging in there.

Remaining apple is starting to get leaves.

Strawberry and parsley baskets showing some growth.

Well, the weeds are happy.

We’ve only had a few days of sun. Enough that the grass has grown taller than the raised beds, but not enough for p to mow it.

The peas are still getting chewed and pulled up by something. I replanted them today- maybe they will be so excited by the weather that they will overcome all obstacles.

I also planted more chard and kale (this time in upper c) Willy nilly I tossed the seeds in the soil. I really want some greens.

I cleared a portion of the back rocks and spread allysum seeds. I just can’t seem to have luck with this plant that is supposed to reseed itself and be happy here!

The tomato, pepper, and okra starts seem to be tolerating the greenhouse, only doing a little worse than the ones inside. The one tomato plant I already have in a container is still alive.

Parsley basket might be getting started, and the strawberry basket is happy. Once it gets a little warmer I’ll hang them on the porch.

Fingers crossed on all of it.

Back from the suncation

We had a nice trip- but it’s back to reality.

I guess there was a little sun here while we were gone. The garlic is looking happy, the onions are hanging in there, the radishes are getting bigger and the beets are starting to show sprouts.

The peas continue to be eaten by a mystery predator. I might just go out at night to see if I can catch them in the act. I’ve always hesitated to put out slug traps- but this might be my turning point.

The inside basil experiment is going well. I’ve had it under the hydroponic light. It’s happy. The others are basically dead outside. The greenhouse one might make it.

While I was gone the sprouts (tomato, okra, pepper) got a little drowned I think, and weren’t looking good. I transplanted then all to larger pots, and put the extra ones in a tray in the greenhouse.

When I was transplanting I noticed that they all seemed to want some deeper roots- especially the okra and peppers that maneuvered out of the bottom of their paper pots. Next year I need to remember that, and plant them in something taller.