Dawn's Garden 2022

[GoDawgs]

I think I might just be done planting .

At least for now! We all know how that goes... "Oh, look! I think I have room for one or two more (fill in the blank)." A gardener's work is never done.

I do have extra tomato plants I can stick in corners

I knew it.

[Dawn]

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This tiny leaf makes me very happy. When I bought the dwarf everbearing mulberry trees, they were just little seedlings with leaves. For some reason, I forgot about hardening them off or babying them at all. I guess I'm used to bare root trees that you just plant as soon as you get them. Within days, the leaves had turned white, dried up, and fell off. I watered these little sticks in the ground and waited to see if the little green buds would dry up and fall off or leaf out. They are finally showing signs of life. My boring little yard devoid void of plant life is coming along. You just can't tell yet, because all the plants are still tiny

[Dawn]

No pictures, but I did a walk thru this morning and everything is coming up. My flower meadow front yard is growing grass , a few calendula, lots of borage, but most of the plants coming up are crimson clover, they're everywhere!

My cantaloupe and canary melons are emerging, all types of beans (I have purple beans, green beans and Anasazi beans), peas, summer squash. I was afraid the seeds wouldn't grow or birds would eat them, so I overseeded the summer squash, now it's all coming up, so I'll be thinning some of those. Tomatoes are finally getting some size to them. It's been a very cool spring. Everything is about a month late, but it'll catch up.

Farmers market starts June 4th. I'll probably bring my extra tomato plants, I don't need more in my garden. Also hoping to bring summer squash. Berry baskets with small zucchini and scallop squash usually sell very well, and of course, tomatoes. I haven't sold produce at this market, last year, I had no extra, very few people did. But this market is much bigger than my last, so I see myself selling most of the stuff I can bring. My main focus is my handmade soap, so the garden stuff is just extra.

[Dawn]

Sorry, this isn't garden related

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180something bars of soap getting ready for the farmers market. I've been making it for 8 years. I just love the look of all the soaps curing together. This shelf is a shoe rack, it's new, it zips shut to keep dust out, but still breathes.

[Dawn]

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I found this in the flower meadow, I put a lot of different seeds out there, then a couple mixes, bee mix, wildflower mix. Not sure what this is, but if it flowers, it can stay. I also found some cosmos and what I think are daisies.

The nursery that sold me the gooseberry plant was having a memorial day sale. I picked up a Juliet tomato plant I don't know what's wrong with me, but last year, I was wishing I had planted something like a Juliet (prolific, unkillable, laughs at drought). I do have Anna's Multiflora and Blush, which are both as productive as Juliet.

I also got a fall gold raspberry. I have 3 kinds of red raspberry (Nantahala, Boyne, and a unknown). I almost picked up a thornless blackberry, but decided to wait and see if my plants that got trampled by the dogs would come back (I've fenced them in, no more dogs). Sure enough, I got home and checked them and they are coming up again. Triple crown is coming up, Navaho is back there too, but I can't remember exactly where I had it, and haven't seen any signs yet. If it doesn't come back, it's ok, raspberries are more my thing, I love raspberries. The blackberry backs up to the rabbit pen, so I'm hoping it fills in and grows over and into the pen, my rabbit would love that.

I also hit up another garden club plant sale, but I think I got there late, they had a small selection. I came home with a mint, I think it's spearmint. Hoping to get it to grow in the back where the raspberries, blackberries and donut peach tree live. It's nearly impossible to mow that area, so I basically let it go wild, mint is better than grass to me. It should take a couple/few years to reach the raspberries, so they should have some size to them before the mint starts trying to take over.

I've planted some of the extra tomato plants back there, since the water line already runs though there from last year. Those plants will be left to sprawl. The Juliet is back there, too.

[Dawn]

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Back to tomatoes. KBX, looking beautiful as always. Plants are finally getting some size, but they're usually much bigger by now. Still only a day or 2 up to 80 in the forecast, 70s for the rest. I'm loving it. Last year it was 100 by June, and stayed up there for 2 months, one day was 118. I'd trade this weather for no tomatoes, sorry tomatoes.

My biggest tomato plant is one that came in a pack of KARMA Peach that was my free seed from renaissance farms. I planted 2, and got a potato leaf (correct), and a regular leaf. I'm growing it because the KARMAs are fantastic, and hoping that it's a cross and not a mixed up seed.

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My Hansen's Bush cherry is already flowering. It was just planted, just got it's first leaves, and now has tiny flowers. From what I understand, the fruit isn't great, but I bet the birds will like it. The wild plum is very leafy. The serviceberries aren't doing anything, they're still green, but buds aren't doing anything. I cut a bud from one plant to see if I could force it to make a new branch or whatever they do .

[Dawn]

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My walking onions are in their 3rd year. They're doing great, tons of top sets this year. I planted a couple top sets last year in different places and they're all growing and thriving.

The picture with the main bunch has Jerusalem artichokes, I'll move some into the back yard, I think, I have an area that would be good to be overrun with something like this.

My raspberries are doing great! This one is Boyne. The second picture is my triple crown blackberry that got trampled by dogs last year. I blocked them from the area and the blackberries are coming back.

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My tomatoes are getting some really good size to them. All are flowering. Nearly all of them have had a fused blossom. I've been pulling them off, I don't need any weird frankenmaters.

Highs are still low. 15 day forecast still has low to high 70s for highs. It's been really nice!

[Dawn]

I decided that I wanted another variety of thornless blackberries, so I went searching, ended up at Stark Brothers. They were having free shipping and 10% off. I decided on the Ouachita variety, and looked at prices. 1 plant 12.99, 3 plants $29.99, or 6 plants for 26.99 . So, of course, I bought the 6 pack. A couple hours later, I realized that I didn't get an order confirmation email (and I couldn't access my spam folder because my phone was being dumb). So I checked PayPal, and nothing there either. So I figured I must have stopped before fully submitting my order. Nope, I didn't. It was in the spam folder. But I didn't know, and ordered again

[Amateurinawe]

@Dawn oh, double bargain then !

[Dawn]

I'm not mad about it

At first I was figuring I could sell the extras for what I paid, but then I thought, I could have 12 blackberry plants . I have a space for them, just have to clean up a corner and re-run the soaker hose. Berries always sell at the farmers market, and they sell out fast. Or I might need to invest in another freezer

[GoDawgs]

The farmer's market! A berry, berry good idea.

And pie and jam and cobbler and wine.....

[Dawn]

The farmer's market! A berry, berry good idea.

And pie and jam and cobbler and wine.....

I can get on board with most of that. I'm not really into wine, but I'll funnel the wine blackberries into some more pie

[Dawn]

The blackberries come today! They were supposed to be here Wednesday, then Tuesday, now they're on the truck for delivery. I still need to get their space fixed up. I need to get weeds knocked down back there. I bought a new weed eater, it gets here Tuesday. (I have one, but it's rechargeable and isn't wanting to charge this year ). New one plugs on. I don't know if I can get my lawnmower in there, might try today to knock down the bulk of the weeds. Problem is, the "gate" to that area is very narrow.

Plan is to plant the blackberries in a container, and get them accustomed to the weather here before planting in the ground. I have 2 small apricot seedlings that I found in one of my raised beds. Those will go back there, too.

[Dawn]

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Well, those are some beautiful plants. I have seen pictures of how they arrive, and I thought they were in tiny pony packs. That's why I'd planned to repot. But they're much bigger than that, so I'll skip that step. I'll harden them off gradually while getting their space ready.

[Dawn]

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I found St John's Wort on my bike ride home from work. Wild area, no nearby houses. Thought it was pretty . I'll probably steal some seeds later on.

Weed eater is here. I debated about getting a battery operated or corded one. Decided on the corded. My lawnmower is corded, so I already have the big heavy duty cord, and thought I might get more power . Works very well. Some of those weeds were 3 - 4 feet tall. I still have more to do, but it'll get done. We're finally getting summer temps, so I can't do as much in the sun. Shorts were a bad idea, I found out.

[Dawn]

Phew, 12 blackberry plants, and 2 tiny apricot trees planted!

I got the hose done first. I decided to get a whole new one instead of trying to make last year's work. My soaker hose system is just a big cheap hose ($26) with holes poked in it, and an end cap. I've tried real soaker/sprinkler hoses, but I like this better, targeted watering. What I learned from last year is that after you get the holes poked in it and turn the water on, the holes move . So I poked the holes, let it run a while, then planted where the water ran. The 100 ft hose encircles the area perfectly. It's a long narrow space, 16 feet wide, I don't know how long, just the length of my back yard. It's a nice buffer between the dogs and the neighbors. They're nice quiet neighbors, and they like having barbecues, and my sister's dogs are very barky.

The blackberries are in the area closest to the back fence. I planted them about 3 feet apart. In the middle of the area are the donut peach tree (planted last year) and the 2 new apricot seedlings. Opposite from the new blackberries is the lone triple crown blackberry that came back when the yard was re-fenced (dogs trampled). I'll probably try and tip root a couple of the primocanes when they come up more, to get a couple more of those. Near by are a few extra tomato plants. It's shady there, but I found out last year that tomatoes like that spot. Then next to the neighbors fence are my Boyne and Fall Gold raspberries. I hope to encourage those to spread the length of the fence.

One of my worries about planting the blackberries was that we have earwigs and pill bugs that will sometimes eat a small plant down to nothing. I don't generally like using insecticides, but decided to use them in this situation. Did some research and ended up with sluggo plus. Seemed to be the least worrisome to the bees, and the best solution for earwigs.

So, now I'm tired. It's going to be hot in the next few days, so this all had to happen today. The blackberries have been outside since I got them, sometimes in full sun, with no sign of sun or heat sensitivity, so I think they'll be just fine.

[Amateurinawe]

@Dawn Well done, and now having done your bit, they can do theirs and grow, grow grow.

[Dawn]

@Dawn Well done, and now having done your bit, they can do theirs and grow, grow grow.

Thank you. I've had some failures with this area, the whole back yard, really. Almost entirely having to do with watering. There's no faucet back there, so I have to run water from the front yard. I finally got the water figured out, so it should be good now.

Plants are all alive this morning and looking nice. Weather is going to warm up a lot this next week, into the high 90s, so I'll keep an eye on them. For now, they look strong.

[Dawn]

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Happy little blackberries

[Amateurinawe]

@Dawn Blackberries are jamming. It's down to them now, but they look healthy enough. I did have a spineless BlackBerry a couple of years back. It reverted to spines so hope yours don't do that.