2012 June Check-In

I love the garden in June. Everything is planted and thriving. And some things are done. The lettuces have been pulled up, revealing a bunny nest. We've had broccoli, cauliflower, onions, chard, kale, two cukes, tiny zucchini's. 

This season is so wacky. The peaches have all been consumed and it was a very good year. I’d say our second-year tree yielded about 100 peaches, most all of them good, although there were some worms and bad spots from insects. Plus, they were absolutely delicious, full of scent, juice, and flavor. The garlic, too, has been harvested--a good two weeks early--and the bed is already replanted with beet seeds, thanks to Marni.

More chard and carrots to plant along with more lettuces as the summer heat diminishes.

Catching Up

On 30th Street we are better gardeners than bloggers. So this is a catching up post to show some of the hard, hard work that went on this spring of 2011.

We planted an "orchard" in the fall of 2010 and added more plants in spring 2011:
peaches, cherries, pears, raspberries, rhubarb, pawpaws, chokeberries, and blueberries. And one elderberry awaiting its home.

 All the fall trees survived and bloomed. Pears and peaches formed but the peaches have all mysteriously vanished mid-season. Four pears are still hanging in. We didn't expect fruit the first year anyway. Now we have to learn to prune.

Then came the asparagus. Asparagus indicates that a gardener has some kind of serious as it is at least a three-year commitment before harvest.
To be continued.

I was honored to host this family during March and April. They were quiet and, for the most part, cleaned up after themselves. They have fluttered from the nest, but seem to have decided 30th Street will be their home.

Spring Again or Spring At Last

It is early April and we do have spring. Here are some lovely scenes on the street and in the garden.

Garlic from the fall planting is flourishing.

Potatoes and onions have been planted thanks to Marni and Melissa. The rhubarb plants made it through the winter.

The forsythia at the Hargesheimers illuminates the entire street.

 There are daffodils

  and tulips

and magnolias kissing the sky.

Don't just stand there bust a move......

Don’t you Plant Fruit Trees in Spring?


There’s a serious culture of people who plant fruit trees in the spring. That’s OK, but it creates challenges for the owners of a community garden. When you start in the spring, you introduce young, tender plants that are emerging from sleep. These plants are going to need a lot of water to get established, and in only two or three months, water could be scarce. Equally challenging: summer heat puts extra stress on plants. You might soon be pumping even more water to keep the tree perky. This is no good!

Planting in the fall provides several advantages:

Even as the air temperature plummets, soil cools down more slowly; roots will continue to grow into November or even December.
With autumn comes the rain. It’s not a rule, but even if rainfall doesn’t increase in autumn, your new plantings are going dormant so they simply don’t need as much water.
Perennials don’t need so much fertilizer when they’re going dormant. If you plant in the fall, you can leave off the fertilizer until the ground starts to thaw in March.
A perennial that you plant in the fall will most likely be much happier in the spring than one that you plant in the spring. By planting in the fall, you leave more time in the spring that you can use to plant spring vegetables. Honestly, what else is there to do this time of year in the garden.

What Remains

It is November and unusually warm and beautiful, a compensation for the weather miseries of October 09.

The garlic for next year is planted and the mostly empty beds are covered with leafy, grassy, mulchy blankets.

There is still glorious kale, chard, leeks, and kohlrabi to eat, also herbs including fennel fronds and the loveliest tiny new dill and sorrel.

Thanks so much to Marni and Melissa and Dick for planting the garlic and putting the garden to bed for winter.                                                         

             

Summer and Summer's End

What a lovely summer it has been: unusually cool, with just enough rain, no tomato blight and no need for much air conditioning. Here is the gorgeous, traffic-stopping trellis/sculpture created by David upon which the David Austin roses will peg.

I'll indulge in a little further vanity and show two flowering triumphs: The night blooming cereus photographed on August 1 at 9:26 p.m. This broad-leaved epiphyllum is a particularly well-known species of a Central American cacti. It bears large, strongly fragrant flowers that bloom for a single night only. That dramatic flowering makes up for the otherwise floppy, sloppy habit of the plant during the rest of the year. I've had mine now for about 15 years and for the first ten years it did not bloom. Now it blooms each summer on my porch anywhere from July to September depending on when I drag it out of the house. This propagates easily but I've found few takers in my time.

And, finally, the autumn flowering clematis which has perfumed my porch and sometimes the entire front yard for the past two weeks. Quite an invasive fellow unless one prunes hard the attractive seed heads which follow the flowers. I have not been an assiduous pruner.
























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