Great Day

Church was good yesterday...enjoyed it. I almost raised my hand when Marty was preaching and said "I know there are people here that didn't want to be here today". Yep....I'll be the first to confess. I had a rough morning. Fought with my daughter, tried to make pies and my mixer was blown up, went to get saran wrap to cover my ensalada and had none......and on and on. So, needless to say, my mind wasn't right when I arrived at church, but at least I went. We had Ruben/Manthy & family and Gid/Brandi & Nevelyn over for dinner. I will post pic's later. We enjoyed everyone....ate lots of food....played with Nevelyn (what a cutie)....visited and laughed...very nice day. Jord's unibomber scarecrow is pretty creepy but at least he has a sense of humor. Marty did a double take in his yard, he couldn't figure out why Jord was working outside in the rain with his arms straight out! Can't wait to see everyone this weekend....hopefully we have good weather, its pretty dreary and cool today.

May Garden Notes & the Unabomber

Not a whole lot accomplished this week. Blistering hot midweek, and the camp-out cool set in on Saturday. Lovely weather for transplanting. Volunteer tomatoes and marigolds are up, so I guess it is time. Mom said 1/2 the Hawthorn was blooming, and Dad said it was time to plant the bottom half of his tomatoes. A. Roni and Sis. Betty came out this week and picked up some cabbage. I've still got some left, it will co in the compost heap later this week.

I did plant cukes and beans yesterday. I also got my cutting garden weeded and ready for plants. Maybe I'll get some of that done this morning. Marty dumped a pile of goat compost over the fence when he moved. (He was so worried about cleaning the place up, took the most valueable stuff on the place.) So I asked if they were going to use it. "have at it." So I did get that moved and put on the beds. I'm being a little bit lazy with my mound building. I say lazy, but that is not quite accurate, what I mean is "poor people have poor ways." Lazy would be to order 60 yards of topsoil, and move it around with a tractor.

My mounds are built of dirt I dugout to build my garden paths. They are also built of sod, which will rot, and heavy clods, which will soften with water and organic material. I expect them to settle some. They are very difficult to fine grade, because I don't have good clean top soil. So I have done my best, and then added compost to the surface to smooth them out. I think it will work fine, but I do have a couple of vicious weeds that are cropping up, dandelions, which are mostly just annoying, and Quack grass. Dandelions are a biennial or short lived perennial, but each root that is broken will develop leaves and grow. I think this happens in my heavier soil which keeps the developing roots moist, more than in sandy soils. The Quack grass is a sleeper, that I've been hitting with spray. It doesn't come up until it gets warm, so it is just now appearing. The stolons of quack grass can be 12" in the ground, and will find their way to the surface. Unlike common lawn grass, which can be lifted and turned over and will die.

I planted my summer squash in the central mound of my main garden, Mount Summer Squash". I wanted to put a little height in the center of the mound, and though what a great place for a scarecrow. Well, I might have to change the guys get-up, because he completely freaks me out. Every time I turn around the Unabomber is standing in my garden. "You mess wit my cabbages, I will blow you up!" Too creepy! I might have to find a western shirt and an old hat.

Got company coming for lunch, so I better get out to the greenhouse.

My scary scarecrow

landscape beds starting to take form


the peppers loved the heat this last week

tomatoes gone wild
Potatoes ready for mulch

carrots pushing second leaves

oooo....eggplant. love the plant, not so fond of the egg



first dividends of cole week. Kerri used some kale in her potatoe sausage soup.
Mnt. Summer Squash, and new cuke fencing

cottage garden tuned up
slow progress, basically everything outside the frame is untouched.
still more work to do with the potatoes this morning

Jazz Concert

I don't know about the rest of you, but I thought last night's concert was FANTASTIC!!! Jord kept elbowing me because I wanted to wiggle to the music or sing to the Jungle Book's "I Wanna Be Like You". Jungle Book is my favorite Disney Movie ever!! Anyway, I enjoyed myself. It was nice to listen to the kids and they are so good. Great job Kat, Creston, Rhi, Irish, Lance, Dakota and Mackensie (hope I didn't forget anyone). Grandpa Wilson seemed to enjoy himself too.....I think I heard him whoop a few times. We will be gone the next two days for softball/baseball. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thanks Jan!

Thank you Jan for the pictures! I'm groaning at this week.....its packed full. Creston started Babe Ruth and Kat is full swing in softball. We have the Jazz Concert tomorrow at the Highschool....I'm excited. I'm sure Grandpa will be too, I think everyone has wanted a Jazz concert. I need to sort through clothes for the church yard sale, but I kind of need to be home to do that! The picture of me???? Yes....I feel like this most of the time....a little torked.

Planting Notes

Cole week was brutal. Worked hard on the job most every day and came home to pulling the sod chunks out of my beds. Broke a tine on my (Commandeered from Gideon) pitch fork. The goal was to get it turned, de-chunked, graded, 2" of compost added, and watered in. I wanted to saturate it so that if I had any sink holes, like what appeared in my potato patch, I could fix them. So on Thursday night I finished with the last of the compost and set the water. Friday morning it was a soupy mess, but no loss of real estate. Friday evening I forced the children, under duress of physical harm, to come out and help me plant my cabbage and broccoli. We had some very special bonding time. Kerri, summoned a folding chair, and oversaw the progress. Sometimes I don't think we have enough of good-ol' gritty family interactions. As the light completely faded, the kids finished planting the last of the coles, and I watered them in. Cole week was accomplished. The rains came and the cabbages are happy.

It can be a little difficult knowing when to plant what when. I'm using advice from an array of sources. Mom planted by bloom time of certain plants, which is directly related to soil and air temp. Most of us remember in Ag class, or listening to KOZI, hearing about degree-days. The jist of the concept is that you take the low and high temp, average them out and find out how many degrees have warmed or cooled above a threshold temp (like 50°) and calculate that into days. Basically it tells you where you are at in the season. So on a cool year, like this year, there would be less degree-days (shrubs and trees bloom later). Wouldn't it be cool if there was a planting chart directly related to apple degree days. That would be handy. Let the local ag station do the all the calculating. Maybe I'll start working on that.

• Cool season vegetables like potatoes, lettuce, peas, and root crops, need at least 45°
• Tomatoes, beans, and marigolds like at least 55°, preferably 60°
• Peppers, eggplant, okra need at least 68-70°

I love volunteers. They give an indication of what you can plant when. All the cool season volunteers have been up for a while, dill and borage. Rudbeckias germinated a few weeks later and second and third leaf are starting to appear. I have kept my soil on the dry side to help increase the soil temp. We had a couple of days this past week that were in the high 70s and maybe the low 80s. Volunteer cosmos have germinated. The first volunteer scarlet runner bean has germinated. I would get ready to plant beans. Volunteer marigolds have not germinated. Can't plant tomatoes yet. The ten-day forcast looks great. We may have had our last frost.

Last Monday I took a trip to the coast and picked up plants for a job. I also picked up a few plants for me. One flat and a handful of seed packets was $78. So when I got home I chopped them little plants up into 144 pieces (gross huh!), stuck them in roottone, wrapped them in plastic, and placed them on the heat mats. Yesterday, I pulled off the plastic from two flats I had propagated from some of Vern's plants. I had pretty good success, for not having used roottone. Probably better than 80% rooted. So I have two flats of bacopa, bidens, and wave petunias that cost me less than $10.

The Basil Dilemma and A.L. Syndrome

It poured on and off all day yesterday, and is still raining this morning. It was a good day to work in the greenhouse. I ran out of space, so all of the hardy stuff moved outside to get hardened off, and wait for planting. Every now and then I find myself with "A.L. Syndrome"(Aunt Lahna Syndrome), and yesterday was one of those days. It started while transplanting Dark Opal Purple Basil. I calculated that I need maybe 40 plants to edge my cabbage beds. That is 2/3rds of one flat. Then I need a flat for extras and to give away. Basil should be an easy plant to give away, no one can say no to purple basil. (Here is where the frazzled justification for taking up valuable greenhouse resources kicks in.) "But the rest in the seed tray are so cute." "I didn't expect them to grow so fast. I was hoping to transplant straight from the seed flat into the garden." "Someone will need basil, it would be a waste" So I planted them up. All seven flats. Then I started on the Green Leaf Holy Basil, the Italian Basil, and the Thai Magic Basil. Seventeen flats of basil, and look at all of those little seedlings still left in the flat. The voices in my head continue: "They can't go to waste. I can't just throw them in the compost." "Not cute little basil." Before I'm even aware of it, a severe case of A.L. Syndrome with its twisted voices has set in, and the greenhouse is completely filled with basil. "Maybe if I leave them on the heat mat until later it will be easier to throw them out." "What would Aunt Lahna do?" "I need more room." "I definetely am going to have to expand this dinky little greenhouse." "BASIL! BASIL! BASIL!" (It can get quite claustrophobic at times in the greenhouse. Way too many people in there at once. Whispering at me. Yelling at me. Yet I struggle through it. I suspect Kerri thinks I'm lonely at times. She is so wrong.) So I push the cleome out of the greenhouse. Live or die it is your time. Like Jerry Clower said about the coon. "Don't shoot a coon, you give it a fightin' chance." "Run it out of the tree into the pack of dogs, and it at least has the choice to whip all 20 dogs." You too pansies and sweet william - out. "Tough it up" I need more room for these valuable little basil. Actually if I didn't have such a case of A.L. when I transplanted the pansies, I wouldn't be in this dilemma.

You know I love you Aunt Lahna and I might have a few extra basil for your garden this year, but you'll have to come visit me in my greenhouse. I think there is room for one more.

The rain has eased, I better go fertilize, and continue thinning dill.

Tuesday

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. Mine was good. Went to church, ran home to eat chili dogs and then we all jumped into the car and went to Wenatchee to get Kat's 8th grade promotion dress. It was a lot of fun watching Kat trying on dresses....Creston and Jord went plant shopping. Anyway, she found something she really loved and I was happy. We then were all starving so off to Abby's for Pizza. Yummy! We haven't had any Saturdays free, so you make do with a jet trip to the big town in hopes to find something. I'm supposed to remind Aunt Jan that Kat is going to play Brewster in Pateros this Thursday at 5:30. Hopefully, it doesn't get re scheduled again....I will let you know. I'm loving the sunshine this week, I just wish I was outside!!

Planting Notes on Cole Week

Sunday (my once a week chores) morning tasks:

1. Drink a cup of coffee and enjoy my garden. Inspect the weeks progress. Carrots, beets, and potatoes are up this week. The peas are coming along nicely, finally. I'm satisfied with the shape and curves of the lawn. Happy Mother's Day Kerri. Mom got her cole crop picked up. Happy Mothers Day Mom. I built a pepper bench to get the peppers up off the floor. They were not enjoying the cool daytime temps at floor level.
   
2. Spray herbicides (can't miss a week this year)
3. Spray pesticides (as little as possible)
4. Fertilize-Miracle Grow all the seed flats and baskets. Check the rest of the garden for weak spots. I may have over fertilized the onions-Drats!
   
5. Check for last-week-to-plant seeds. I think I'm up to date. Basil and lettuce are coming up strong in the greenhouse.
   
6. Set goals what has to be planted this week. It is Cole Week. All the broccoli, cabbage...must get in the ground by Friday. I've got some work ahead of me this week. I've got to go to Wenatchee with Kerri tonight and to the coast with Dad tomorrow. Kat no doubt has games this week. Creston is done. So Cole week will probably get piled into a couple of evenings. I better get back 0utside.