Good Morning! :-)
A tale of 2 monarda .....
#1 - bought at Lowe's, can't find the tag, but it is blooming nicely. I will transplant in the fall to the new house, probably a large pot on the patio. Butterflies just love it.
#2 - bought from a nursery, "native" plant supposed to bloom light purple. No blooms yet & it's VERY tall (3-4 ft)! Will probably transplant in the fall to an herb bed at new house.
Apricot Bellini
Uses garden fresh apricots in a summery version of the classic Italian cocktail.
Ingredients 4 ripe apricots, pitted a dash vanilla extract chilled prosecco
STEPS Blender rough-chopped apricots to smooth purée. Stir in vanilla. (More than needed but keeps in fridge a few days.) Spoon 1-2 tbsp purée into chilled flute. Top w/ prosecco, stir/pour.
Spectacular Lilies:
Irises:
Geraniums and Hibiscus :
Roses: Cinco de Mayo and Our Lady of Guadalupe:
And plenty of volunteer nasturtiums
Also lots of figs, grapes, pomegranates and berries setting on. Should be a bountiful summer and fall (unlike last year).
Happy Gardening!
Thanks for the Ping and the new thread!
Every one of my Scarlet runner beans that I collected Last Summer have sprouted. They’re about 5 in tall now. Only two of the blue lake beans that I bought have sprouted. I don’t know if they are more susceptible to lower temperatures.
I’m not going to buy anymore, I just put some Romano seeds in their place. I harvested them last year also. I really don’t like the Romano green beans any way but canned, so I thought I would try something different. Maybe it’ll work out next year lol
I didn’t work for a few years when we bought this hunk of woods and I was busy carving us out a spot, building things etc. I had no idea what day of the week/month it was. It’s kinda nice and something I look forward to when I retire.
Rain on and off today. Gonna head to Ace and get some more seed starting mix here shortly. Going to start a tray of bok choy, these new seeds, plus some to succeed what I have going. That and some more Tatsoi. Just a few of each out of 200 per packet which I love. Talk about cost effective food. All an experiment to see what can deal with the warmer weather. Also going to plant the rest of the Salanova lettuce seeds in hopes of having ripe tomatoes and lettuce at the same time.
I’m bound and determined to have a salad with half a dozen ingredients, including tomatoes, picked fresh that morning, from the outdoors. Collard and mustard will be in it. Probably some peppers too. (mushrooms and onions next year)
Meanwhile, I do have some bok choy to harvest from the outside stalks and finally, some Tatsoi to do the same. One of them was especially good picked and eaten while in the garden mid day. Ought to be really good picked in the am and even better grown this fall/winter. Chijimisai is a keeper. Flee beetles seem to be gone or eased up which is nice.
Decided I’m going to grab another one of those actuators and install one on that window.
My son’s good about opening it but he does visit momma sometimes while I’m at work. That and with the recorded data, I have seen days when he opened it up a bit late by seeing the temp had gone up to the mid 80s, and then dropped when he opened the window. Seemed weird having that data on my son. Not sure how some people get off on that whole personal data collection thing.
I’ll just disconnect the crank and attach the actuator to the arm that the crank attaches to.
If it hits 75, open half way. If it hits 75 again or is still 75+ an hour later, open full.
If it’s raining and the wind is 35+ mph from the South, close half way so the rain doesn’t blow in.
When it drops below 63, close half way. Still below 63 an hour later or drops below 63 again, close it all the way.
Translating observations that are instinctual to us into computer logic is a brain itching exercise, many “ifs ands or buts” about it. Don’t want things adjusting constantly but don’t want it to be too sluggish. Will be good to get a start up here and have some kind of idea what to start out with when installed in the tunnel.
This has been an awesome spring here.
No late frosts to kill off flower buds on the fruit trees.
There should be a good fruit crop.
The woodchuck has not been seen in over a week. Still watching for him though. The garden is unmolested.
The asparagus is growing nicely and the new one I put in are going gangbusters. It seems that the asparagus beetles are under control. No new eggs on the spears.
I’m harvesting lots of romaine and the tomatoes are growing like I’ve rarely seen. I’ll need to water them but it will be soaking the roots. The bigger they get and more they produce before blight gets them, the better.
It’s going to be very warm and dry until Wed when we are forecast to see about 4-5 days of a decent amount of rain.
Greetings from southern New Hampshire!
We are in the midst of the gardening kick-off and I am busting hump supporting the boss. I cleared the hardware from Murderers’ Row and need to clear the pathways and weed.
I finally got my string trimmer repaired and operational. Now, I need to get the walk-behind lawn mower running so I can clear the paths between the raised beds.
The asparagus bed I planted last year is pushing up bounty, which of course will be allowed to grow.
Our first duckling debuted two days ago. We have five hens setting and hopefully, we will have a nice addition to our flock this summer.
I am working on the two posts I am adding to our back deck next to our new sunroom. They are ready to attach to the side of the deck, and then add railings and panels. It will give us an easy and straight-forward access to the deck. This sunroom sure adds to our house. Makes it seem so much more spacious and bright.
I need to change the watering system in the greenhouse. Barb ordered an Alexa enabled smart two zone unit and I am going to attach it to the extra hose bib that I added when I repaired the water system in April. It will allow for irrigation of the new half-barrel raised planters in two groups of four planters each. If it works, we will add them to the other side of the greenhouse and eventually to the area where we have the bog filter planter beds.
Well, I better finish hydrating and get my butt in gear.
What’s the best kind of fertilizer nutrient ratio for asparagus and garlic?