First Little Tomatoes.

On Sunday I discovered my first baby tomatoes on the Taxi Yellow. The Kerlick Red also has a tiny tomato.




That was the good news. But when I walked outside today, I got the really bad news. Half of our loaded Red Delicious Apple Tree was on the ground. It had split right down the middle. Here are the sad pictures.   These are three different views of the tragedy. 

For contrast, the bottom picture shows the same tree, happily in full bloom in April. I don't know if we will be able to save the tree or not. We will try to call a specialist tomorrow. I hope we can at least save the half that didn't fall. 

Still Have Tomato Problems

There is still no significant growth in my tomatoes in the tallest raised bed, and their coloring still leaves a lot to be desired.  

The Hillbilly is only about 5.5 inches high after a month.

The Oxheart is only about 5 inches. The Brandywine has grown to about 10 inches and the Japanese Truffle to about 11 inches. The other two are somewhere in between.

Tomatoes in the other beds or containers are about a foot at least and most are about 18 inches. These were planted at the same time or later. See right and compare to bed pictured at top. The mesh is to keep birds from eating a tiny seedling. The upside down strawberry basket is protecting a borage from birds until it's big enough to fend for itself.



 
 
 
 
  
  
I'm not sure what to do at this point except keep watching, watering, and hoping. I'll probably try mulching next.

The Bees are a Buzzin' in My Herb Garden

The bees especially like these plants now. You can hear the lamb's ear plant (front, next to what's left of the irises) as you walk  by it. And the bees are also all over the tall butterfly bush in the back and the sage plants on either side of it.

The plant on the left side of the tall butterfly bush is California Black Sage. You can see a close-up of the black sage flowers and leaves below. 

Bee on Black Sage Flower in Early April

You can see that the flowers are grouped in little balls the length of the stem.  What amazes me is how much it has grown in two or three years from the four-inch pot transplant that went into the ground here. It's at least six feet in diameter, and that's after a brutal pruning last fall. It's almost completely covering the new white butterfly bush I put in last fall.

Heat Wave, Planting, Maintenance and Attack

This past week has seen temperatures rise  into the triple digits on more than one day, and high nineties on most of the rest. I have watered faithfully each morning. Sunday morning, against all moon planting advice, I planted one of my green pepper seedlings. Monday morning I planted the other two.


On Sunday my first group of radishes in the ground by the Patty Pan Squash was overtaking the radishes in the raised beds in size.  When I went out to water this morning, they had all disappeared and were replaced by a large gopher mound. The good news is that the other Patty Pan seeds had sprouted. It appears that a cople of nasturtiums are in the process of sprouting, as well. We'll see when morning comes.

Vegetables planted in the two oldest raised beds are still struggling and not growing much. I gave them some more fish emulsion to encourage them. The two weakest zucchini plants are on the right on either side of the wire cage in the middle. The two strongest in this bed are in the corners on the left. You can see the difference in size, though all were planted at the same time. The eggplant sits squarely in the middle of this picture, and it appears no bigger than when I first planted it.


The gophers have rejected my bubble gum and throw it out of the holes. I have put it back and plugged the holes from my end.

This Week's Notes on Growth and Problems in the Garden

Events inside and outside the garden have kept me too busy to keep up with this blog since the last post, but that doesn't mean nothing has happened. The temperatures are rising and have been approaching or in the nineties for the past three days after cooler temperatures at the beginning of the week and a light rain on May 27.


 That was the day I planted another batch of radishes close to the ones that had sprouted both in the ground and in raised beds. I also planted lots of seeds that evening, including nasturtiums in various pots and beds. I broadcast assorted flower seeds on the ground, as well, just to see if they would grow and to provide habitat for beneficial insects and added beauty. They may or may not grow, since it's hard to keep them moist all the time in this weather. I might have planted more, but the rain intervened and sent me inside. 


I do't know if I noted it here before, but one of the four Patty Pan squash seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago has sprouted. It appears it will be the only one of the four that will. 


I have been concerned that many of the plants in the  two older raised beds are not thriving as are the plants in the new bed. Here are three of the sickest plants in the middle and most shallow raised bed. the first is a Simpson lettuce, and the last two are Yellow Summer Squash.

The next plants are from the deepest and oldest bed. The ailing plants are mostly tomatoes. I have always grown tomatoes in this bed, and that might be part of the problem. The first picture is the Cherokee Purple. The second is the Brandywine, which appears to be getting worse.

After doing some reading, I decided not enough nitrogen might be the problem, so I poured a fish emulsion solution over the ailing plants (except for the lettuce, which I just poured around them), letting a good amount go into the soil. Then I watered everything in. We'll see if there is any improvement. Almost all of the tomatoes in this bed, including the Amana Orange, Oxheart and the Hillbilly, are having problems. The only one thriving at the moment is the Japanese Black Truffle

I'm not sure what's wrong with the squashes, since they look wilted. Maybe tonight I'll check for insect problems, but I also gave them some fish emulsion. 

A Video Tour of the Food Garden as of Today

This morning I watered everything that needed it and planted some more seeds as companions for the vegetables. These included some nasturtiums, dill, basil, and Pastel Carpet Alyssum.  These are not only supposed to help the vegetables by attracting beneficial insects and repelling  or attracting the pests away, but they also make the garden look beautiful. The dill seed is eight years old, so we'll just have to see what happens. 


I suppose gardeners are always seeing in their mind's eye how the garden will look, not just how it looks at the moment. That vision of tomato vines loaded with plump red and orange tomatoes,  squash and cucumbers and sweet peppers growing large enough to eat, all surrounded by colorful flowers -- that what keeps us watering, weeding, and and hovering over our gardens as often as possible. 


This afternoon I took a tour of my vegetable garden, as well as the orchard and the flower and herb gardens, video camera in hand. Over the next few days I'll be sharing some of the videos with you. Today we will look at the raised beds and the container gardens, with special attention to new growth. Let's start with the container garden and the vines. I would like to correct one error in the video. I accidentally called a coreopsis flower a calendula in that first group of three container herbs.




The raised bed tour is much shorter, since there are only three of them and you've already seen them in still pictures earlier.



Hope you've enjoyed my tour for today. 

Mostly Maintenance

Yesterday and today I mostly watered, checked my vegetables  to make sure there were no problems, and pulled a few weeds in the herb garden. (part of which is pictured here. )


Today I planted my remaining seedlings in pots -- catnip and  Greek basil. My borage in the tall raised bed has sprouted, and a few more radishes in the ground have raised their heads through the dirt. Haven't found any dead gophers yet from the bubble gum, but I did put a few more pieces down some holes in the herb garden.