I can’t believe it’s Memorial Day weekend already - time has flown by. Thanks for the thread & poppy info. We’ve had a few in some wildflower mixes and they are pretty.
This morning, we have an inch of rain in our new rain gauge – along with the 1.5 inches we got 2 days ago, that’s a total of 2.5 in 3 days. Everything is sopping wet this morning – every time the wind blows, the rain drops blowing off the trees are like another min-storm.
Last evening was a bit tense. We had a tornado watch for most of the day & that turned into a tornado warning between 7 and 8 pm. The TV and my phone were going off with emergency warnings. When you see your street name on the map in the “red cone”, that is scary. The main storm looked like it was going to go west of us, but then shifted and came directly over. Fortunately, by the time it got to us, the wind shear had reduced, the small debris field spotted on radar was still west, and we got rain that was coming down so hard, it looked like white fog. We did not get any damaging winds. There was another line of storms that came through later, after dark and again, just heavy rains. The weather mets had been concerned about straight-line winds with those storms.
So this morning is gorgeous – blue sky which should last all day, lower humidity and a high temp forecast for around 80. The garden needs work badly & the grass needs cutting, but is way too wet. It looks like the garden is going to get attention while the grass dries out.
I planted peat pots Monday before last with mixed success. All the cukes came up so I have 2 Divas & 2 Dragon eggs – still 2 leaf stage so not ready to put them in the garden yet. I have 2 (of 4) bush bean plants – I’ll replace the 2 that didn’t germinate. Of 4 jalapenos, I spotted 1 coming up just yesterday – I’d given up on them. I really want this variety so I’ll replant the 3 that didn’t come up & try again. No bell peppers or thithonia – the bell seeds are older, so I’ll try again with them & use different seeds for the tithonia. I used some older commercial seeds for the tiths – will try with some seeds I managed to save from the finches last year.
If I get nothing else done in the garden today, I must get the fences up. So far the tomatoes are ok, but I know that the beans & maybe the cukes will get eaten if I don’t have the fencing. The herbs & zinnias are covered with fence panels (pvc & netting) so they’re protected for now, but I’ll need those panels for the perimeter fence. I have had no problems with the zinnias, grown outside the fence, getting eaten in years past and I hope that holds true for this year. The herbs …. we’ll find out if they are tasty. Deer do not like fragrant plants or plants with ‘texture’, especially anything ‘fuzzy’. I’m hoping they’ll leave the herbs alone. I am considering making panels specifically for plant protection of small plants just being started in the raised beds – the size would be somewhat different & fit more exactly than the fence panels. That’s going to be a project for another day … probably another month if I can ever get the garden under control.
I’m planting a bunch of herbs in the hopes it will discourage browsers, but also for the benefit of having my own organic herbs to dry.
If the tops of my garlic plants are any indicator of the size of the bulbs, I will be having a terrific crop.
Lost my garden here in central Arkansas. Thought I had bad seeds, but the local co-op told me all are having this problem. Seems we’ve had a wet spring with unusual highs and lows that have caused the seeds to rot before germination. Am turning the rows again today and replanting.
Best of luck on your efforts, Victory gardens will be needed especially this fall. WWG1WGA!
All of my non-germinating peat pots have been replanted this morning. For the ‘older’ seeds, I put two Bell seeds & 2 tithonia per pot, hoping at least one would germinate. If I get 2, I could separate (Bells) or not (Tiths don’t like roots disturbed). Jalapenos were ‘fresh’ seeds so I only put one seed/pot.
No idea if this will help or not, but I soaked the seeds in warm water first - maybe 10 minutes. I always water with warm water when I first plant in peat pots, so I continued that practice. Fingers crossed I’ll get more plants.