June 30 Update

TOMATOES

Cherokee Purple getting some support

Tied up the Tomato Cherokee Purple in bed V1. The poor thing didn’t even know it had a huge cage to climb up in. To give it some direction, namely ‘UP’, I used jute twine tied off at one leg and then tied to the opposite leg diagonally.

Cherokee Purple tied with jute for support

 Then came back on the other side of the plant. Then repeated it using the other two legs. It looks like the plant is confused but I’m hoping the sun will help ‘straighten it out’. I’ll repeat this tying up about every 15-18” as it grows.

 

Juliet grape tomato 1st of the year

 First tomato of the year. Juliet grape is a very prolific producer. The plant will get very large and bushy If left unchecked as I usually do. This year I plan, as I do at the start of every year, to keep its size in check. It usually gets its own 4’x4’ bed, this year it is sharing an 8’x4’ with the Cherokee so it simply MUST behave.

 

GARDEN BED NAMES

I think I’m finally getting to the point, after six years here, where I can begin to better identify my garden beds. When we first moved in to this house in 2004 I was so excited to finally have a place where we could settle for more than just a few years that I went a little ‘random’ as to where I planted things. My main plan was to just get them in the ground and find out what makes it here. Some have survived, others have not.

Now that we are setting down roots as deep as the plants we are growing, I’m beginning to get the urge to move away from my previous random plantings and create beds like ‘Butterfly Garden’ and ‘Hummingbird Garden’ and ‘Cut Flower Garden’, etc.

In the backyard, I have eight clearly defined beds, not counting the raised beds for edibles. In the past I have very originally referred to them as B1, B2, B3, and so on because they are in the backyard. Yes, before you ask the beds in the front yard are labeled F1, F2, F3, and so on. Not very insightful labels by anyone’s measure but in my head each bed had a specific ‘calling’, even if I couldn’t put into words what it was. Now, I’m beginning to see the plan more clearly and have decided on the following ‘themes’:

• B1 will now be known as ‘Deck Side Garden’. How’s that for a descriptive name? Bet you can guess where its located.
• B2 is now the Hummingbird Garden;
• B3 the Bird Garden;
• B4 is simply the Garage Shed;
• B5 the Herb Garden
• B6 has yet to be built much less named
• B7 Butterfly Garden
• B8 another as yet built garden
• B9 the Vine Garden because it runs along a fence, very handy for vines and such
• B10 will be the Cut Flower or Fragrance Garden

I have been building lists of what plants are suitable for each garden, such as what attracts butterflies, and I have also been able to track what plants can survive in our climate. Keeping track of the performance of my plantings has been time consuming but rewarding. I have found that gardening affords as much pleasure in the journey as it does in the destination. Hopefully, all of this hard work will soon pay off and my landscape won’t look so random.

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My ‘to do’ list is burying me

Over this spring and summer I have been making a list of all the cool ideas I have seen in magazines, books, blogs, websites, etc that I would like to put into my yard and garden.

Last week, I took a look at that list. Then, after stepping back, taking a deep breath, and developing a very skeptical frown, said to myself "There is no way you are going to get all of that done!" I may have created a monster. One that will most assuredly demand every free minute of my time. I know me well enough to know that I won’t do all of this. Hmmm, maybe if I break it down into smaller pieces so it doesn’t look so overwhelming, I can get it done. I am a hopeless optimist. Time management will definitely play a huge roll if this list is going to be completed.

Projects:
1-Replace grass under the fruit trees with groundcover so I don’t have to mow under them.
2-fill low areas in lawn with top soil
3-replace west gate with new gate, trellis and plant bed
4-replace grassy area at east gate, next to garage/shed with brick pavers in a lattice design (with thyme growing in the open areas)
5-build a cover over the deck, to block out sun, and to hang plants from
6-build trellis over B3 perennial bed to provide some relief from the intense sun
7-build a ladder trellis for containers to set on back deck
8-build shelves in back shed to store pots, plant trays, etc
9-lay a flagstone walkway to back shed
10-install walkway lights along driveway and front/back walkways
11-design an herbal bed and make herbal vinegars, potpourris, teas, etc
12-design and build a row cover system to extend growing season
13-design and build a cold frame
14-paint bird bath and shed doors deep blue?
15-make edging more permanent with bricks or stone
16-make hose guides for garden hoses until irrigation system is installed
17-build another tower for runner beans
18-build a better trellis for tomatoes, those wire jobs are just not strong enough
19-install irrigation system, tired of dragging garden hose around, timer would be a life saver
20-design a trellis for front of house to grow clematis and or honeysuckle

I am sure the list will get longer before it gets shorter. I find so many great ideas from reading garden blogs, etc that I can't help but want to try them myself. Maybe I should just learn to restrict myself a little. Oh, where's the fun in that?

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A good time for projects

Haven’t done much in the garden itself the last couple of days because it is raining and cold. The rain is always welcome, the cold, not so much. I have taken this opportunity to work on some projects I have been trying to find time for. Such as reshaping chunks and strips of lumber into masterpieces I will call a tower trellis, a planter ladder, a mirror for the shed, water tower, and planter platforms. The 'masterpiece' claim might be pushing it a little but I am determined to turn it all into something useful.
This particular tower trellis is an idea I saw in Birds and Bloom magazine a few years ago. It looks simple enough, I found a note to myself telling me that I could do it so I must have had confidence in me at one point. I’m no master carpenter so I suspect the ‘short-cuts’ I will undoubtedly be forced to take to match my skill level will give the finished product some ‘character of uniqueness’ that I doubt will be found anywhere else. So, I am looking forward to seeing how the finished product will look. It will stand seven foot tall, according to the plans, and I think this should be tall enough for even the most aggressive cherry tomato vine. I’m growing ‘Super Sweet 100 hybrid’ again. Last year I grew it in one of those wire cage contraptions that you just push into the ground. It was no match for that vine. The cage repeatedly fell over and I would have to bend its legs into some indescribable geometric shape in hopes it would stand up strong enough to last to the end of the season. It didn’t really. I had to trim some of the top few feet of the vine off dooming countless future fruit to their deaths on the compost pile. But this year I’m banking on my great foresight and planning ability to get every last one of those deliciously sweet little tomatoes to either my table, the neighbors tables or my grandkids hungry mouths before they can get to the kitchen.

The planter ladder idea is one that I have seen in many places. I will use my five foot metal ladder as a template for the angles and make some legs for it, paint it and set it up on the back deck in full sun.

I will be able to use up some lumber than has been laying around in the wood shed and then I can paint it some bright color and set some of the containers I want to try growing this year.

I will need to make it a little wide than this standard sized ladder because the planters are 12"-14" long and maybe not quite so tall. It should look nice up on the deck in front the blank wall.

Mirror for the shed, an idea that has also offered itself from many different places. It just looks too easy to make to pay retail prices for it. I recently saw a blog from Melissa at Empress of Dirt use several mirrors throughout her garden, looks very nice, Melissa! I want to create a "window" on the side of one of my sheds complete with shutters that will have four panes of 12”x12” mirror squares that can be found at any home improvement center and a few strips of wood. The shutters will actually be the most time consuming part of building the thing. What could go wrong? I sound pretty confident, don’t I? Seriously, it’s got to be easier to make than that tower trellis. I can't seem to find a photo of one online but I saw it in Backyard Living magazine, Mar/Apr 2007 issue. The article covers a backyard makeover that took place in Seattle, Washington.

The water tower is just three tree branches tied together to form a teepee structure with a pvc pipe sticking up through the middle and a garden hose attached at the bottom and a sprinkler head attached at the top. Piece of cake, right?<\p>

The planter platforms will be made of 1”x1” strips of wood glued together in such a way as to form a ‘grid’ of four or five strips laid across two smaller pieces that will be the feet.

I’m feeling more and more confident all the time.
Maybe I should make the simple items first, sort of like confidence builders.

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Roto tiller blues

Yesterday, I borrowed my neighbors roto-tiller. Some people might think how lucky that he can borrow one. Or, how lucky that he got to roto-till instead of using a pitch fork. I'm here to tell you that I do not consider myself lucky at being able to use this particular roto-tiller.

This thing is a beast! It is big and clunky, there is no reverse, it literally beat me up trying to turn it around. The controls to put the tines into the ground actually fight back! My body is more beat up than the ground I was trying to till.

If all roto-tillers behave as this thing does I will never do it again!

What little bit of soil I was able to till (in a straight line) turned out to more closely match my dream soil than anything I could ever do with just a pitch fork. Two sides of the one bed I used this thing on is bordered by chain link fence. I got caught up against that fence more than once.

Please, somebody reassure me that not everyone goes through this kind of disgrace in trying to till their garden.

I guess I pictured something that would 'turn on a dime' for tight corners. And, something that would back up so I could erase the foot prints and holes I dug into the soil with my feet as I tried to maneuver this monster around.

I know I probably sound ungrateful, after all he did let me borrow it, but OMG I am a physical wreck right now. I need to take a day off to recuperate!

I sure hope my plants appreciate this torture I just went through.

Okay, now that I have gotten my whine out of the way, I found plans for a water tower to put in one of the perennial beds. I think I will make one and if it works well I'll build one for each of the other beds. Also, I found a plan for a Tower Trellis in an old issue of Birds & Bloom that looks pretty nice so I will make one of those as well for my cherry tomatoes.

I dumped some composted steer manure and top soil along north fence where the sunflowers will go.

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