June!!! Wedding season is here and the flowers are really starting to bloom...

Diary 5/31/12

Took our helper to the redwoods and coast yesterday.  Of course it involved going to California, a new state for her.  The trees were their usual impressive selves.  We stopped at a botanical wayside on the way and saw some Darlingtonias, bug eating, cobra-looking, water plants.  The rhodies were blooming.  The temperature was perfect.  Then we went to the coast.  A favorite spot I have found just above Smith River has the nicest wafer rocks, polished and super smooth.  A heavenly day.

Diary 5/28/12

taking a break from lizard hunting

sharing quiet moment with helper

Felicity feels left out from blogging. She says Gopher Getter gets all the press and it is she who is catching most of the mice and rodents!

Diary 5/26/12

It has been a really pleasant day here.  There is wind, but the temperature is almost perfect.  Weeded the strawberries, one latch to go.  Cleaned up the garlic.  Planted lettuce, spinach ans some later zucchinis.  Finished mulching the top bed in the top greenhouse.  Garden Girl helped with her shovel, too.  Then Tractor Guy tilled it and now we have 110 feet by 3 feet to plant, oh boy! Lined up all the drip lines for the Delicata squash, pumpkins, and pickling cucs.  Not trusting the weather, I will wait a couple days before planting plants.  Also put drip tape out for a row of flowers.  Fun Fun!

Diary 5/25/12

Despite the heavy rain yesterday, Allen and Steve worked on the fence.  You can really see it now and I haven't seen deer in a couple days.  Hopefully it is as intimidating as it is unattractive.  Alas, we had to do it and will work on beautification somehow in the future.  Garden Girl is learning to stay on the trails and out of the beds where the baby plants live.  Even trails can be fun to dash through.

Diary 5/24/12

I can't tell you how many birds were in this tree when I took this picture, but you can't see any of them.  There were Western Tanagers with their red heads and yellow bodies, Lazuli Buntings with bright, teal-blue heads and rusty collars, a whole variety of female birds in buff and beige, and a house wren with some young ones.  They were all there to get what I call the silk worms, the little inch worms that come out of the bark and eventually swing down on threads they emit until they touch the ground.  I don't know the rest of their cycle and I should look them up to see if they are some way related to the rain beetles that appear after the first rains in fall at the bottoms of these same White Oak trees.

Diary 5/22/12

The power wire is the official dating and mating site for these tree swallows.  Now, this guy waits while his wife lays an egg, I think. Lots of twittering. Garden Girl arrives later today.  Should be interesting in that there is really a garden now compared to the last time she saw it.  No strawberry will be safe. There are lots of flowers and snow peas hang in abundance.  I hope she will be helpful and maybe even learn to pull weeds.  At any rate, it will add a new dimension to life here for the next two weeks until her father goes to work and she returns to her mother. I am excited with a slight feeling of dread.  Here's hoping...

700 posts!

Well, that was my seven hundredth post!  So let's have a party. Comments would be great, but if not, let's have a toast.  Ready?  Here's to 700 more! Cheers...

Diary 5/21/12

Made quite a bit of progress in the top greenhouse today.  We planted the next round of SuperTasty tomatoes, just a few, and then some Beefsteaks and Brandywines.  Then we shaped the last bed in that row for Venture bush beans and planted them.  So, that row is finished and now we will amend the next row and till it and start planting the next succession there.  Also staked all the tomatoes and Katie tied them once or twice to their stakes.  It is all coming together. Outside, we planted another bed of Walla Walla onions, so there are only a few left to transplant.  I hope to get some flowers in the ground in the yard tomorrow.  Though the yard is looking great for now, it will take a break before the summer flowers bloom.

Diary 5/19/12

On a whim, I went to the new Saturday Grower's Market in Medford. with our current wwoofer, Katie.  It was fun and just like riding a bicycle, it came very naturally, even though I had not done market for four years.  We sold enough to make it worth while.  Our wwoofer saw the value of doing a CSA membership market scheme rather than the grower's market, and I was able to see some friends, old and new. Plant exchange with my girlfriends tomorrow will help finish off my nursery stock so I can concentrate on planting the rest of the greenhouses and start on planting in the fields. A fence to keep out deer and cows and I am set.  Posts went in their holes today.  Now to tamp and set, then stretch wire and voila, la fence!

Diary 5/17/12

My dentist appointment for a sore tooth turned into a root canal an hour later.  Phew, what an afternoon.  Mammogram last Monday.  This is turning into quite the medical week.  Our neighbor, David, came with his tractor and auger to drill the holes for the new fence.  He was done so quickly. We also had him drill holes for two gates at each end of our property.  Exciting progress on that front!

Diary 5/16/12

Big decline in temperature tomorrow which will facilitate getting more done.  Hoping to plant those walla walla onions, transplant all sorts of things and rid myself of babysitting plants in planters soon. Meanwhile, I have developed a sore tooth, so off to dentist tomorrow PM :(.

Critters

I found this dead alligator lizard on the path to the garden.  No sign of his demise, and I had walked that way earlier and not seen him.  The cat is not talking, but really there were no scales out of place.  Then we noticed this scorpion on my husband's jacket hanging by the front door. He had been working on firewood, so I guess he got his new pet there. Needless to say, both have been returned(flung) back into the woods for whatever is next in the scheme of things.

Diary 5/15/12

Another hot day, but one of the last.  New WWOOFer from NH is alot of help.  Just in the nick of time! Harvested for tomorrow's 12 bags.  Also worked on top greenhouse getting over-wintered produce out so we could till another row.  Worked at the creek clearing debris brought in by winter flow.  Lots of new sand, so making little beach areas to sit, spread a towel, or have children play with trucks, etc.  Nice break from gardening. 

Diary 5/14/12

Planting corn

Town day for me, but with some direction before I left, the drip lines were set on all three areas of corn and a bed of walla walla sweet onions were planted.  Hope to achieve much more tomorrow as I will be around all day.  I still have flowers to plant in the yard and so many little bits of projects here and there on top of garden chores.  Still going to be hot, so won't press myself too hard knowing that in two more days the temperature is going to be 17 degrees cooler, thank goodness.

Diary 5/13/12

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Diary 5/12/12

The Supervisor

Worked on setting drip lines on beds as irrigation became a priority.  More hot weather over the next two days.  Tilling done, time to plant corn. The old adage of waiting until the oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear marks the soil temperature as ready.  Will make a new bed for melons in the top greenhouse and probably get the first of those planted tomorrow.  Have so much weeding to do in the old strawberries.  Put water on them so that I can get started on that soon.  New helper is smart and capable, so I see progress ahead. 

Diary 5/11/12

Tilled the area for the first corn and the soil was barely dry enough.  Might till one more time in the morning and then plant the first succession.  The variety is new and is reputed to start in cold soil which after the next few days is not going to be our problem.  It is called "Strong Start", a bi-colored corn, which I hope lives up to its name.  It is still early here and would give us the earliest corn we have had in the last three years as the springs have not cooperated with early tilling and planting of many of the summer crops.  This spring is different and may foretell of a change in the general weather pattern.  Who knows? The hot weather is going to be hard on the greenhouse and tender things in there.  I will open up the sides and run sprinklers to get everything wet, but I am not ready to put the shade cloth on quite yet. Fingers are crossed that everything can adjust to the high eighties-low nineties temperatures we are about to receive.

Diary 5/10/12

chard seed anyone?

My first helper comes tomorrow and not a moment too soon.  Hoping to get the corn area tilled and planted.  Really hot weather due on Saturday and Sunday, so have watering to do and drip lines to set.  It frosted last night, and the tomato plants still in planters that I covered became exposed when the wind blew the row cover off. Whoops!  So lost quite a few tomatoes, but I have to say it was somewhat freeing. I didn't lose anything that was super important, just plants left over from the Wildflower Show that I didn't sell.  Good thing I got rid of 8 trays yesterday, so the best plants received new homes before the frost event.  I still have quite a few if I need to sell anymore or if my friends want some at the plant exchange we are having on the 20th.  Need to get to the Grower's Market and buy a few peppers and watermelon plants, but no hurry until this weather figures out if it is going to be 32 or 93 degrees!

This good weather is wearing me out!  Trying to get so much done in a day.  Allen helped give the raspberries another attack.  One more and they are finished.  Now the strawberries...Today, I retreated indoors for the afternoon as it was getting pretty warm, well not by summer standards, but for our first week of good weather.  The fruit trees have all bloomed, so hopefully we get some good cherries, plums, and apples this year.  The blueberry bushes we put in last year are really going for it this year and looks like we will have a good crop of berries there, too.  Tilling for corn area tomorrow.  Then on to fencing before the deer eat something we love.

One of the three tables of wildflowers

A plant sale full of donations

The Wildflower Show went well even if the crowd was reduced to an almost empty building each afternoon.  It was a nice weekend weather wise and lots of events going on around.  Still, all in all, we made some money for the Fire Department and had a great showing of wildflowers, so it was all good.  Spent the time with some favorite friends and met some new folks, also, so that is always a great part of these happenings. Ready to attack the garden tomorrow and the next day, then bags on Wed. and housecleaning on Thursday as our first WWOOFer is due in on Friday from New Hampshire.  Here we go...

Diary 5/5/12

Happy honor Mexican culture day! The 5th of May was the date the Mexicans beat the French in some obscure battle that they won, though only one of a few that they didn't lose.  They did not gain their independence from France until 1863.  We have turned it into something quite different and fun.  So, have some salsa! Off to the Wildflower Show and an impressive display of plants for sale.  The FFA via the high school have given a wide selection of flowers and veggies to sell.  With the plants I started and lots of perennials from yards around the area, it is looking rich and full at the plant sale this year.  The boutique is also looking good.  We got rid of all the left-over nic-nacs from the last years and started afresh.  Meanwhile, the garden will grow as the weather straightens out for the first extended period this year.

Diary 5/3/12

Worked on the top greenhouse.  Cleaned the beds of weeds, harvested the few beets, carrots and cilantro left to get, and then Allen put a good layer of mulch/compost mix to give the soil some organic material.  Now to till and then shape the beds for more tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and ? Good weather coming starting this weekend, so Monday I will work on the raspberries that still need thinning, weeding around the strawberries, and pruning the grapes now that I can tell which buds are viable.  Much to do.  Help coming in a week.  Busy weekend ahead with Wildflower Show.

Diary 5/2/12

Upper greenhouse tomatoes, onions and peas

Lower greenhouse cucumbers and artichoke

Transplanting more tomatoes.  Cherries and heirlooms, both indeterminate climbers. The upper and lower greenhouses are filling in. Will work on the top greenhouse tomorrow and get one row ready for tilling.  Spreading mulch compost mix on the otherwise loose, but maybe nutrient lacking, soil.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow which for once sounds OK in that it didn't rain the other day when it was supposed to and the top of the soil where I have some seeds planted is drying out and may need to be watered and/or put its drip system back in place.

Diary 5/1/12

Happy May Day!  I accomplished quite a bit in the greenhouses today, but took not one picture of any of it, lol.  I am ready for a hot bath and bed.  8 bags going out tomorrow.  Big plans for the afternoon when I return from the last Wildflower group meeting before the big event this weekend.  I will take more pictures, I promise.