First Zucchini Harvest

As I was looking through the huge tomato and zucchini leaves in the garden bed, I was totally surprised to see 2 huge zucchinis just waiting to be harvested. Here they are after I cut them from the bush:

All along I've been looking at the bush farther away that has been producing small yellow squash. Then all of a sudden these 2 that were all hidden underneath the green foliage and stems appear. 

The raspberry plant has been producing plenty of fruit. Nothing like fresh raspberries! Also kale and lettuce has been picked. Still waiting on the first ripe tomatoes and cucumbers/pickles to appear.

More Growth Progess

Another extended period of cool, unseasonable weather here. As I write this during the noon hour it is only 63° in my backyard! So here are more photos of growing progress:

First up is kale. I love kale and it is very healthful to eat.

Next is some beautiful lettuce. Look at that wonderful green & red color scheme! And the taste beats anything coming from the store.

Those are pickle plants. I prefer pickles over cucumbers. Usually you can eat a fresh pickle or two and you are satisfied. Cucumbers tend to grow large and difficult to consume in one sitting if you're eating by yourself.

Finally, some string bean plants. Had to apply the Ortho snail & slug killer as the many of the seedlings in this bed have getting attacked as is usually the case each year.

One more item of note--the Big Max pumpkin seed I planted has already sprouted! For such a young seedling it has such huge leaves already. Photo in next post.

Growing Season Progress

Here are some photos of the growing progress of the garden:

The Georgia Blue Speedwell plant has sprawled out nicely.

There are some tomato seedlings in a hanging basket. They may be heirlooms. I just don't know for sure.

The Dusty Miller plants are growing and have created a nice, white border.

Those are yellow crook-neck squash plants. I may have chosen too small a container for them.

Finally, the Sarah Bernhardt Peony has sprouted from it's root. Hopefully in no time they will look like this:

Container Corn!

My corn hybrid for container planting packet came in today! So I immediately filled up the last empty, huge container I had with peat moss and planted per instruction 3 rows by 3 rows. Many folks who bought this corn-type left feedback on Burpee's website that the plants produced no fruit. Burpee responded to one of the comments by stating that the kernels must be planted in a 3x3 fashion in order to promote cross-pollination. So I'm quite excited to see what will happen. The container is sitting on the deck. Either way whether I get ears of corn or not the plants will serve as great decor for summer's end and autumn's harvest and holidays. In fact, I still have 2 cornstalks standing from last summer's plants! I just enjoy how they look so I kept them up.

Also today I planted some old Black-Eyed Susan seeds I had. For a couple of years I had them in hanging baskets or containers and they were great. For some reason they did not make the garden list the last few years. Though these seeds are quite old, I do hope they will still be effective.

With my corn packet came a pack of various heirloom tomato seeds so I planted a few in another container which has not yet produced any seedlings.

Looking through my seed packets I came across several sealed ones of sunflowers. Still have not gotten around to planting them. Have to find some good areas for them. They season is young yet so there is time.

By the way, today was a very nice summery day. Very warm during the day time and then just slightly cooler in the late afternoon / evening. But once again, this will change. Tomorrow is expected to be about 15° cooler than today and then similarly the first few days beyond it. Not good. Yes, it's nice weather for sitting outside in. When it's really hot and humid you don't really want to do anything. But the plants thrive on heat and humidity. I know it's not officially summer yet. Not astronomical summer anyway. The weather forecasters will tell you that it's meteorological summer already. But it's sure not feeling like summer consistently yet.

More Seeds & a Garden Fresh Salad

Well, the heat and humidity just refuses to arrive and stay. We get a day or two here and there which then make way for dryer, cooler days and downright chilly evenings. In addition to that, the mosquitoes are out early this year and I have plenty of proof already.

Today I replanted peas in the garden as the original plantings only produced 3 plants with one devoured by possibly slugs. I also took advantage of a an emptier side of the same garden bed to plant black beans. And replanted some zucchini seeds where the cats trampled the one that was sprouting up.

I came across my pepperoncini seeds today. Not the ones that produced elongated fruit. I knew I had seed packs for the short ones that you can purchase pickled in jars. Well, today they came out of hiding and I filled a container with their seeds and covered it up with some metal mesh to prevent the squirrels from digging up.

I have several additional containers to plant. Just have to decide what to put in them. Leaning towards spinach. And waiting for the hot and humid days.

And today enjoyed a beautiful salad made with lettuce from the garden. This year we shall have a great harvest of several types of lettuce which not only tastes superb but also is economical considering the high price of lettuce nowadays. I prefer my salads just with lettuce. Tomatoes tend to make the salad too watery. But I like tomatoes on their own. I feel the same way about cucumbers. However I don't mind radishes in the salad.

More Plantings & Corn For Containers

Yesterday, I planted a Big Max pumpkin seed. Just one because there's not a lot of room left for such sprawling plants as squash. Hopefully one seed will be all the garden needs.

The zucchini I planted has sprouted out and looks very strong and healthy. Just have to keep the cats from entering the beds. The tomato seeds and the pepperoncini seeds I planted in separate vases are all sprouting nicely.

Yesterday I finished planting lettuce into some vases. Also filled a large urn with Zinnia seeds. Added additional string bean seeds into the ground as the original ones mostly did not sprout. Added additional corn kernels as well since only a few developed into plants.

Today I added some cilantro seeds into some empty spots in a window box full of sprouting herbs. I'm waiting on an order I placed for a corn variety that is meant for containers. That sounds really exciting so I'm looking forward to filling a container with corn kernels and placing it on the deck. Not only will it produce lovely plants and actual ears of corn but it will also serve as a great decoration for autumn and its associated holidays and festivals.

Picture updates to come soon!

More Severe Weather and More Planting

Warmer weather is back a upon us and it feels wonderful! Today the area was outlooked for severe weather again but nothing particularly extraordinary happened here. A bit humid today and the cold front scheduled to go through will diminish the humidity but the temps will remain in the 80's.

Been a few days since I posted here. Planted a few things since the last entry. Today made another trip to Lowe's and purchased many pots of various sizes along with a few more hooks for the wall near the deck and bags of red cedar mulch and compost/manure. On a previous trip to Lowe's they had 40 lb. bags of cow manure for only slightly more than $2 but today there was no such product. I guess they sold out.

So a few things we got done the last several days:

There in the middle you can see the bridal veil hanging basket and on either side the new hooks that were installed on Sunday.

In this vase was planted crook neck squash. The seed packaging states the plant is ideal for containers so let's see. Have to cover it and most anything else that gets freshly planted due to squirrels who enjoy digging up anything and everything.

Transplanted a small pot of Georgia Blue Speedwell into this pink container. Added mulch as directed.

Also filled up a second urn with Gladiolus tubers. Planted a couple varieties of pepperoncini in another container. I really want to fill up every last space in the yard with edible plants and shade-loving plants. 

There is plenty of yard work to do tomorrow. Will update accordingly.

More Chilliness

Another few days of chilly weather--with yesterday being downright inappropriate for mid-May. The best we could get yesterday was mid-40s! Absolutely not acceptable!! But it promises to get back up into the 70's, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

I didn't mention that on Thursday I picked up my 2nd of two annual hanging baskets--the Bridal Veil. Found some pretty large, full specimens and the price was respectable. Has given the yard a very nice look. (No photos yet). Due to the unseasonably cool temperatures yesterday, had to take both it and the Chennile into the garage overnight.

In other news, something is going on with my newly sprouting pickle plants. They were emerging nicely from the seeds and all of a sudden one is missing both leaves, another is missing one leaf, etc. I had to spread some slug & snail killer around the seedlings. Past history dictates that we have a problem with these creatures in our soil and if left untreated they do destroy many fruit-bearing seedling plants.

Bought a pack of Early Summer Crookneck Squash seeds today. Package says they are ideal for containers so I'm going to grow them in that way. I want to do plenty of container growing this year. Ground space is limited, especially after some plants reach full growth and hog all the sunlight. So the only option is to fill surrounding spaces with vases, urns and such. Must keep plenty of potting soil at hand!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better weather-wise and will allow for the planting of more seeds. I think a nice goal for this season would be to not have to buy any tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers/pickles, parsley, kale/collards, zucchini and more from the store. Garden fresh--it just smells and tastes so much better!

Chilly Spring Weather

Back to chilly weather. Tomorrow looks like more of the same. Didn't get anything done gardening-wise. Did notice the pickle plants emerging from the seeds I planted last week.

Yesterday I received a couple of catalogs from Breck's and Spring Hill Nursery. They have some pretty amazing plants! Expecting additional catalogs from various other similar companies.

Another Severe Weather Day

Another warm (84°) and severe weather day. Still have not planted my zucchini seeds. Have plenty more planting to do but the rest of the week will only be in the 50's and 60's. Not good mid-May weather. The good news is that the severe weather did not do any damage to our plants and trees.

Mother's Day Severe Weather

Today was Mother's Day. Didn't do any gardening as a result. Plus some severe weather came through around the time I like to do things in the yard. Looks like more of the same tomorrow.

Apple tree starting to flower:

And a basketful of blue Pansies:

Quiet Saturday

Another warm day here today. High temp somewhere in the mid to upper 70s. Tomorrow promises to be warmer--lower 80s to be precise. There is also a threat of severe weather. At the moment, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma has the following outlook graphic for Sunday:

This would be the first severe weather event for this particular area thus far this year. According to forecasters, Monday appears to be a more significant threat. Large hail the primary concern. We'll see how it pans out.

I did not do any gardening today. So I'll leave you with a few photos from past days:

Overnight Outflow Winds

Not as warm today. Official high temp in the upper 70s with early evening cooling that required a long-sleeved shirt. Well, as promised, here are some photos of the urn-type vase I planted Gladiolus bulbs in:

Overnight there was outflow from strong to severe thunderstorms west of here. Received a warning from the weather service that 40 mph winds were on their way. Woke up to this:

The Forsythia flowers just blew off the bush. It's too bad because the flowers only last in spring and came rather late this year.

Planted additional kernels of corn and string beans today in addition to okra and peas. Okra has never done well in this garden, neither through seed nor through transplanting sprouted plants from the nurseries. Tomorrow I shall plant some zucchini and perhaps some decorative gourds/squash seeds. Always have had success with zucchini and sometimes with pie pumpkins and decorative fall squash varieties.

Finally, a few varieties of store-bought lettuce are growing nicely:

Coleus & Chenille

Today was a super warm day--nearly 90°F! Felt so good sitting and being outside after such a nasty winter. Warmer air has finally arrived and is here to stay at least for the short term.

Today I finished planting my Coleus plants and here they are:

I'm hoping they fill up that small, shady patch of the garden. 

Each year I make it a point to find 2 hanging baskets in particular: the Chenille and the Bridal Veil. Today I came across the Chenille. There was a plethora of Chenille hanging baskets, many with plump and long red fuzzy flowers:

I also planted some sprouting Gladiolus bulbs into a big black urn. No photos of that today but I'll try to get one tomorrow. Also repaired my large wind chime that had been ringing about with only 4 out of 5 chimes after a broken string caused one of the tubes to drop. That happened during winter. What a brutal winter it was indeed. Bah!

In My Garden - First Post

This blog will be about the adventures of my gardening during this growing season. I intend to post everyday whether I have much to write or not. I'm not sure I will remain faithful to my intention. But doing so will serve as a day-to-day journal of the spring, summer and fall seasons during 2014.

I'm starting this blog a little late, but it's been pretty chilly here for quite some time as this past brutal winter continues to try to seize spring's allotted tenure. Today though was 78° though the temperature seemed to drop quickly during late afternoon. A few light sprinkles but nothing to force anyone indoors.

Today I planted string bean seeds and kernels of corn. Was at Lowe's earlier in the day and picked up a few items on clearance as well as a few other not-too-expensive annuals. I've been wanting to fill the south side of the yard which is a very shady area with some plants or flowers that can thrive without much sunlight. I've got an apple tree and a miniature magnolia tree which when fully basked with leaves completely shades the ground underneath. So I found some containers of Coleus on clearance and I bought several. Planted several of the packs and left the rest for tomorrow which is forecast to be a warmer day.

I have no pictures of the Coleus I planted today but I will leave you with some photos of the Dusty Miller I planted a few days ago.