time to plant, a time to weed

okay, Maria is right, more time to garden, less time to blog.

Yesterday I was at the yard waste site at 8 a.m. with a trailerload of brush from the neighbor's house.  She is recently widowed, and after having to care for an elderly husband with cancer, she has not had time to put into her yard, so the neighborhood chipped in a couple of days while she wasn't around(she can be , picky, (difficult) about weeding, and clearing.   I stopped and weeded at church for a bit, and then ran home for a shower to clean off any poison ivy that may have been in the pile, I never trust what other people have gathered.  then ALL morning pulling weeds, and finding the sweet potato vines under all the greenness around them.  Just in time to satisfy the stupid groundhog's urge to come at dinnertime and start munching on them.  Stinker.  Then second shower of the day.
Tied up and trimmed bottom leaves from  tomatoes, they are reaching for the sky.   Ate my first one last week, not quite ready, but I thought third week of June was a good time to start in on them.  I did keep hold of two or three big bags of raked leaves from the neighbor's, they are now mulching my new strawberry bed. 

I have started some nice big flower pots, now if we would just stop having nice, big thundershowers, they wouldn't fill up with water so fast.   I'm going to have to put them up on bricks so they'll drain better.

I'm sad that the strawberries have finished for the year.  Not a great year, didn't reap large, heaping pots of berries. Talked to another gardener at Lowe's,  she said the same thing, that this was not a good year.  We've had some way ups and downs with temps, that may have been the problem.  Maria,  I have a patch of berries under my flagpole, since they are being shaded out by lilies now, how about you come and transplant them to your yard in the fall???  Right along your driveway, lots of sun.  Strawberries need cool, shorter days to grow, so spring and fall are time to transplant.  This would be the time to get a bed started, weeds pulled, composted, line up some mulch.  Also, you have until about September, so not a backbreaker. 

Now, if you want something fantastic for your garden that takes little effort on your part,  next spring find some Asiatic lilies in those bags of 6 for $5 at WallyWorld, or Lowe's, wherever.   Dig a little hole, plop them in, and   tahdah!!!   Right now my yard is full of beautiful blooms, they last a long time, and are great cut flowers.  They can stay on the ground, and will multiply nicely.   Next year I am investing in several more bags, to keep church supplied.
The broccoli is starting to bolt,  if you keep  harvesting before the flowers appear, then you can keep the plant going longer.  Once it has flowered, it has done its job for the year, and will die off. 

I have a big double row of brocs, so when they are done, I'm pulling them and putting in some vining stuff that takes up space, and maybe by planting mid-summer, I'll avoid some of the pest issues.   Yes, it's fine to plant stuff now, like lettuce (may need some afternoon shade),  brocs, brussel sprouts,  cabbage,  melons, zukes,  cukes.   If you have some space, or you have given up already, don't, just push some seeds in the ground,  mark with a stick , so you remember where stuff is, and mulch with cut grass once seedlings are up.   Bribe a kid with extra movie time or a treat to rake the yard when you mow.   Dandelions aren't blooming now, so grass  should be okay to use on garden.

I'd post some pictures, but people keep running off with the laptop, that stores the pictures. I'll get some later. 

P.S.  if you are in the Chicagoland area, I highly recommend going to Cantigny Park in Wheaton,  fabbbulous perennial beds, lovely gardens, just fabulous.  Wonderful rose garden,   test veggie garden, children's garden.  Lots of perennials, in full growth, so you can see how they will look once out of the scrawny pot at the nursery. 


Dianne,   living where the pollen is cheap and plentiful

"A Few Less Words Here"

To quote Emily and Amy from "Tether" out of context, I've called this "A Few Less Words Here." I've noticed all my blogging friends have slowed down. It's spring and early summer here. The temps have topped 90 at record levels and the spring has had what I think of as a hot summer Langston Hughes like "Lazy Sway."  This doesn't usually grip us until July and August.

I got slow to post with all the end of the school year grade work, the graduation parties, the evenings of meals on the back patio. Already, I have mowed my way through the first round of Arugula, and replanted. The lettuce is done. The Kohlrabi is filling out like a teenage girl. The melons, cukes and squash are curling out excitedly. I'm training them up the freebie pallets. The chicks have the ribs on their beaks and real feathers. They eat alot and jump around in the chicken tractor. Before long they will need their space.They are out there now, scratching around, up like my daughter at wee hours- only she's secreted herself in the bathroom with a Glamour, trying new makeup techniques. They exert their independence by no longer cuddling together, unless we come wanting to show one off to a preschooler.

I had a fit of jealousy with all those Graduation parties. I was showered with the tenderest of broccoli and sweetest of true tasting strawberries. Real fruit and grocery-coddled fruit are two different flavors. Real fruit is bursting with the tangy subtleties that made me crave stealing it as a child. Oh, yes, I snuck into my grandmother's tire strawberry patches and secreted away a few berries. I niggled a few apricots from my grandfathers tree. And, last Sunday, my son and I gloried in the few mulberries that were plump enough to have flavor. Those are not the best of fruits. 

Now, I'm wishing I had a shirt that reads: Will Run for Berries. I've re-arranged my morning 15K to find the wild raspberries which threaten to turn black right after I pass them. Ah, I love this time of year. So far the beds are weeded, the rain holds and I'm still energized enough to throw out a few more plant starts. If my backyard is not a mess of melons- canary, cantelope and watermelon by August, then I've done something wrong. I'm not kidding. I'm already relishing the early US melons and I've planted over 15 in my yard. That's just ape-ish, isn't it?

This brick walk was lovingly uncovered by my husband last week! I plan to throw creeping thyme seeds and sweet woodruff over the path, after I give the melons a chance to trail out over it a bit. Closer within the garden there, my daughter planted the discount lily, blazing star, dahlias and a few other flowers. Can't wait to see what grows.

Dianne and her mother do the bulk of the planting, weeding and watering on the lovely cutting garden outside our parish building, just blocks from my house! At this time of year, it is best for the rest of us to do "speed-weeding" on our free moments before and after weeknight services.

As Amy and Emily say, and to take "Tether" out of context again,"Sow what you want/cause one day it's gone rise up.. / So plant what you need/ to make a better stand."

No, The Garden isn't Dead

No the garden isn't dead.

I've been traveling for work. So the family is bearing the load. My priest-husband is becoming a gentleman farmer. He fixed up the chicken tractor and retrieved the eight Rhode Island Reds, which we just enjoyed cuddling.  Oops. I'm typing on my computer without having washed my hands afterwards. I also popped an olive in my mouth with my fingers. I'll leave you to ruminate on that... Going to wash those digits.

So, while my video of us handling the chicks is uploading, let me say that my hubby hung CD's around the front beds and all the storms have twisted them off to the sides. The plants are still standing. The tiny nubs of basil, carrot, summer squash, flowering spinach, cilantro, brussel sprouts, and more are shining through the dirt.

My son has smashed the melon rinds from whose bowl I snarf up tons of middle eastern watermelon salad. In the compost pile, the seeds have sprouted too many watermelon plants which will never bear fruit. Hybrids, the lot. It is a sign, though, that my composting is souping up. I lay awake worrying about my lack of mulch and compost. I came home from listening to the May 21st "You Bet Your Garden" and started Craigslisted shredder/mulchers. Apparently Forsythia soups up fast when shredded because it has a high sugar content. Our entire back fence is Forsythia.  It's gargantuan.

Our sad compost pile

Dianne's potted broccoli

So, now, for now I'm itchy and enviously admiring Dianne's early harvests of tender broccoli and strawberries. I made delicious tapas with her flowerettes, the Belteros Ranch herbed chevre, and Soy-Flax chips. We ate this with my Lupini-Green Bean Salad and a side of Pomegranate Salsa and Chevre rounds for supper. It was 95 degrees today in C-ville and this went nicely with virgin Mango Margaritas.

Layla just finished her garden. Dinner plate Dahlia bulbs, Blazing Stars, Giant McKenna's, Asian Lilies, Spotted Mint and Brussels Sprouts all from our clearance and leftover starts. I started the last of melons- Canaries today. That's it. Now for the second round of Arugula before I give up until the cooler weather. Ah, life is good. Urban Farming. How Hip.