Over a Month Has Passed!

Wow, that went fast!

The season's turned and we're now having some chilly mornings. Yesterday it supposedly went over 100 degrees (the town marquis said 103) but the mornings and evenings are wonderfully cool.

Tim Morgan and his boys were here mowing Saturday. We asked them to mow down most of the garden beds since the weeds were really getting out of control and we didn't want them to reseed. The yard looks sooo much better now!

I just ordered some Green Manure Cover Crop (1 lb) off of Amazon, which is a mix of different cover crops that can be used as green manure. As soon as it comes, I'm going to sow it into the mowed-down garden beds to smother the weed stumps that are there. I think this is a better approach than tilling, which only turns up more weeds.

This morning I cut down/ weeded the strawberry bed which was also going gangbusters with weeds. Then I sowed 1/4-lb of Austrian Winter Pea (S22197) from Seeds of Change and I have the sprinkler on it now. I'd like to buy some mulch and manure and such from Missouri Organic before winter.

http://www.missouriorganic.com/

The carrots are getting close to ripe, I think, and the leeks are hanging in there, but I'm not sure they'll be ready before winter actually hits us. It's been a slow season for them since it was so hot; I think that stunted them a bit.

It's time and actually past time to plant fall cool-weather crops, such as brussels sprouts, lettuce, spinach, etc. I still may before too long. Mom and Dad leave Wednesday to go to Europe for 3 weeks and hopefully I can work out in the yard, although it'll be busy for me too with Shakespeare Under the Stars and work.

Forecast - Wow!

The 9th of August

This is the time of year that mosquitoes take to heart the commandment of their Creator when He told His creatures to "Increase and multiply!" And indeed they are obedient little critters. I can't tell the number of bites I got while out weeding yesterday and this morning I wore a halo of high-pitched buzzing companions.

The yard is suffering from the only intermittent rainfalls and the drawn-out heat wave we recently passed through. We have at last been given a respite - for example, tomorrow the high is only supposed to be 77 degrees... can it be?

So I've kept watering the bushes and vegetables in the early morning but possibly not as diligently as I ought to've. The weeds are the neighboring camps that are invading from every side. What weapon to call on next? The weather is on their side; the bugs deter them not. My new idea is consistent and persistent attack - every morning before the heat comes to their defense, I shall go out armed with garden glove and de-cultivator and wage battle after battle until the fields are empty of enemy corpses. This, I believe, is the only solution.

And it is high time. August is the prime for selecting short-season Fall crops and garlic, not to mention cover crops, which I also intend to plant.

In the meantime, here are some recent pictures for you:

Arbor Day Foundation

Mom and I are looking at getting memberships with the Arbor Day Foundation. It was advertised in the St. Mary's Star, and when you join, you get ten free baby trees (of your choice). She's going to let me know tomorrow morning whether or not she wants to go ahead and do it. If we each joined, we get twenty trees, shipped to us somewhere between October and December (whenever our area's seasonally best time for transplanting is).


We really have nothing to lose, just need to think where we'd put them. Here are the choices:

• 10 Flowering Trees
• 10 Colorado Blue Spruces
• 10 Trees Mix
• 10 Wild Bird Garden
• 10 Oak Trees
• 10 White Pines
• 10 Redbuds
• 10 Autumn Classics
• 10 White Firs

Cool Days

Cool is a relative term, but the high temperature in the coming 5 days is supposed to be no more than 94 degrees! That's a good 20 degrees cooler than it got this past week... Today the high predicted is a mere 88! It's delightfully cool right now, although humid. The thermometer reads 74F.

We got a nice rainfall overnight - 1/2-inch total precipitation. The earth looks nice and wet, and it's still overcast. The forecast is a chance of thunderstorms off and on through next Wednesday, Aug. 10th. Deo Gratias!

RAIN!!

Thanks be to God for a wonderful rain this past night, and even continuing on into the morning. We've gotten 6 inches so far! I think it's been steadily coming down since about 11 pm last night. There was some serious lightning around then that Mom and I went and watched, and it was still gently raining when I went out at 6:15 this morning.

Day before yesterday was a scorcher - 106F was the high. Here's the month's calendar, which shows how many hot days we've had...

A Bout of Rain!

Monnie and Ania and I went to Grand Prairie for the weekend and as we neared home on the way back, we passed through several bouts of heavy rain. Shortly after we got home, another round of lightning and rain moved in to St. Mary's.

In the end .27 inches fell, to make the monthly total 1.19 inches. A very dry month. The average monthly rainfall to date is 3 inches for July, so we're not even halfway there and the month lacks only one week to its end.

I watered Monday through Thursday this past week, because combined with the lack of rain have been the consistent triple digit temperatures the past week or so.

Here's a calendar of the month's temperature, etc. to date:

You see how we've had 14 days hit over 100F out of the first 24 of this month (today is still in progress), and the past 10 days were consecutively that high. I'm going to keep on watering in the early morning! It's 69F out right now, so I'm going to go water before the sun comes through.

At-Long-Last Update

The last in-depth news of the yard was back on May 22nd. The yard and garden beds look way different now. To begin with, the irises bowed out to make room for the Tiger lilies, which bloomed the second week of June. That week was pretty much their season - they came and went quickly.

We harvested three bunches of spinach on June 4th.

Tomato Seeds Planted

Last Saturday (June 11th) I planted some Double-Rich tomatoes as well as some cherry tomatoes in Beta. I just planted seeds so they will be a later crop but the soils are actually pretty prime for them.

I also planted Tau with the Yellowstone wildflowers, lavender seeds, and some various others, including morning glories along the fence. Then I planted bells of Ireland on the north end of the pea bed. These are all seeds as well so we will have to be patient!

The yard is doing well, overall. The grapevines are really prospering.

Spinach Harvest

Today we harvested and ate the spinach (3 plants) for dinner. It's 49 days since I planted them. They were huge, and delicious. I could probably plant another round under the peas once those get a little taller. They are blossoming now. The leeks and carrots are 4-5" tall, and the celery is about 3/4".

To Weed

Hi Mom and Dad!

I am thinking that I won't be up yet at the point you want to start gardening, so here's a quick start guide. :)

If you want to weed, please weed:

1. around the vinca vines (northwest fenceline)
2. in Alpha (the bed with the mini spruce and lavender)
3. in Beta (but not the carrots, leeks, marigold, or celery - just the tall weeds)
4. Delta and Epsilon may be weeded as well (= the two west of the peas)
5. Iota and Lambda (the beds flanking the strawberry patch) have cover crops - Mom may be able to identity them. Lambda (the eastern one) has more weeds than Iota. The cover crop in Lambda is Spring Triticale; they have twisted tops, so if you want, you could weed whatever isn't Triticale.
6. of course, the grass in the asparagus beds

If you would still like more, I think we should put that small-grid chicken wire around the strawberries and other berries before the bunny season really hops into gear.

Thanks a lot! Not sure what time I'll be up but see you then. :)

Rose

Time to Plant Tomatoes!

The ground is wet from a heavy rain last night and the soil temperatures are warmer. Tomorrow or Saturday morning I'll be planting tomatoes! I'll be trying them from seed.

The leeks are doing fabulously, and there are a couple baby-baby celery plants coming up. What I thought was celery before was actually marigold plants springing up (five or six of them!). The carrots are also healthy. The spinach is about ready to harvest. The sweet peas and cover crops are doing well, along with the rose bush, the grape vines, and the berry bushes (although I believe those got a bit of a mowing this last time around).

Sumer Is Icumen In

Summer is a-comin’ in

Loudly sing cuckoo!

Bloweth seed and groweth mead

And springeth wood anew,

Sing cuckoo

Ewe now bleateth after lamb,
Low’th after calf the cow. 

Bullock starteth, buck now verteth,
Merry sing cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo,
Oh, loud now sing we cuckoo,
Oh, cease we never now!

Many updates to note!

We had hail twice again last night but it wasn't as long in duration as last time. It took some leaves from the trees but no big branches, so I'm hopeful it didn't damage any plants.

Guest Post - the Future of the Yard

Here is a sketch of IDEAS ("Plans") from over 1996-2011 ~

Area by the WEST GATE:
1  -  To terrace the slope. 
2  -  Eventually to put a swing on the low branch of the nearby tree and possibly a seat in the shade.
3  -  To make a sort of leveled-up, raised bed (including a Hugelkultur experiment) where the new bushes and trees have been planted. This would incorporate the Honey Locust tree in a nice, round pattern, but we would need help with the "retaining wall" and stonework.  Possibly use railroad ties?
4  -  On the front side of the fence, add yew bushes for privacy. (see "Front Yard" below)

Area by the BACK FENCE:
1  -  To let the grapes grow big and strong, and add a pergola or something to that southwest corner.
2  -  I've always pictured a grotto back there somewhere between the corner and the bend in the rock bed.
3  -  Eventually to move all of the wood pile back inside the yard - this would also allow the gate to be fully opened.

Area by the EAST GATE:
1  -  Bundle up the rest of the Austree sticks (and perhaps also some from the piles in the yard). They make fantastic, convenient kindling wood that way!
2  -  Dad is going to find a place to put the bed liner for the truck. We also need to give away the old basketball hoop.
3  -  When the patio is re-done, I want to incorporate a planter somewhere under the stairs next to it. We need to control the soil erosion there (from the drainspout) as well, which may contribute to the design of the planter. Perhaps some concrete steps also?
4  -  I am partial to keeping the area just dirt as it is.  We do need to give the A/C units air.
5  -  Perhaps eventually a hedge of roses along the grassline?  Or some tall, thin junipers that would be a privacy screen from the house next door?  Latticework is also a possibility along the west edge of the deck (leaving air for the A/C).

In GENERAL:
1  -  Use of natural stones in many places.
2  -  To get seats, benches.
3  -  A possible bird-bath
4  -  Possible walk-way with pea-gravel
5  -  Possibly, possibly, possibly ? moving the rock bed or rearranging

In the FRONT YARD:
1  -  A sidewalk or path of stepping-stones to the front door from the curb
2  -  A flowerbed (raised? Might be difficult with the brick?) under the big north window, and nearby some bushes
3  -  Possibly a trellis on the west side of the porch with climbing roses (from Lettie P.?) or vines...
4  -  Possibly a circular planting around the lamp posts with greenery like ornamental grass and flowers?  Or just a bush next to each?
5  -  Some ground cover on the east slope outside the fence, but something that won't spread into the neighbor's yard...
6  -  Vines going up the telephone pole on the corner?
7  -  Possibly Hostas planted under the trees in the shade.

A lot of the ideas in the front are pending any mudjacking that may be done, etc.

On the WEST SIDE OF THE HOUSE (under the maples)
1  -  Vines up the side of the house?
2  -  Hostas under the tree  -- see above about yews

It seems there have been no lack of IDEAS this past 15 years. I don't expect to accomplish them all, but even if we do half of them, I think it will enhance the yard a lot! God bless it!

Skinner's Nursery 04/28/11

This was the day Mom and I went in to Topeka and scoped out the evergreens at Skinner's Nursery.

Houston, We Have Hedge !

"It was the work of a moment." Well, not quite, but it came together very well in the end. In the course of the morning we got every last evergreen planted - spruce and arborvitae and juniper. Joe's Landscaping came Thursday morning and dug the holes (in about 1 hour).

Spring Cover Crops. . . Planted!

One Morning in May

And a fine morning it was! It was supposed to drop down into the mid-30's last night but I don't think it could've since it was near 50 this morning. It will apparently drop down into the 30's again this evening, but then the lows will be in the 40's and finally 50's by the end of the week. Here is the forecast from Wunderground:

Today is the observed Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker. He did a lot of manual labor too, so good St. Joseph, please ask God to bless our efforts in the garden! I am sure Our Lady did some gardening as well, and she must have had quite a green thumb. Dear Blessed Mother, please ask God to give us a good and healthy crop this year, Who fed the Israelites with manna from heaven!

The soil is still pretty chilly so it's not yet time to plant the warm-weather crops. Hopefully sometime today I will be able to sow the Spring Cover Crops. The package came a few days ago. Here are the descriptions of the types I have:

The Eve of May

Yesterday and today have been full-sun days, but also windy! The yard is showing it in the sudden sort of wilty-droopy-droughty look it has taken on. But then tomorrow night is forecast to be mid-30's (!) and thunderstorms middle to end of next week.

Here a few pictures. It looks like with the rain we got shortly after I planted, all the lettuce relocated to the celery corner, and I only see one celery shoot so far.

This is a little delicate celery sprout – with the two little leaves poking out on top. It is barely 1/8" tall.

More Improvements :-)

It is exciting to work with living creatures such as plants. The ecosystem, in a sense, is a living organism itself. It's kind of analogous to the Mystical Body of Christ. Each member contributes his part to the good of the whole. The rest can limp along with a couple members missing, but they will have to work harder in some respects. So every man belongs to the Spiritual Ecosystem by the existence of his soul but not every man does his part.

Here are some pictures that will tell a million words in my stead (I'm sure I could come up with a million words, but I'll spare you this time). . .

Lovely Tulips!

Will It Never Be Sprung?

It's pretty rainy and overcast today and it should stay like this through Wednesday. Yesterday (Easter Sunday) was cool and sunny, becoming cloudy in the evening.

I am getting sick of just-too-cool days, where I cannot yet plant the warm-weather crops. I haven't planted anything since the 16th. I believe only the radishes have germinated, however. We were expecting a few storms just after I planted so I put plexiglass over Beta and some plastic over Zeta. I hope they didn't get too dry in that time.

Here are some pictures from 04/17 --

A tiger swallowtail butterfly on the lilacs:

It's All Greek to Me!

So I have decided to name the garden beds, because it is altogether too challenging to keep them straight in any other way. The Greek alphabet so far is working terrifically! Here is the nomenclature:

Of course, this is only about the northern third of the yard. The southern section will have the Phoenician – Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, etc. Aleph, Beth, and Gimel, are the grape vines. Daleth is the back fruit tree. The Sweet Gum is He and the southern Maple is Zayin. The rest will apply as things come up.

Aside from that, I did plant a few things on Saturday – viz., lettuce (little Caesar and Val d'Orge), carrots (Nantes), leeks (bandit), celery (celebration), shell peas, radishes (Cherry Belle), spinach (Viroflay), and onions (Valencia).

The sky is pretty overcast today and there is a "60%" chance of rain tomorrow. The low temperature is predicted to be 38 tomorrow as well! I hope the seeds do alright. I think they will. The soil on Saturday (after mid-30's Friday night into Saturday) was a minimum of 43F in Rossville, and that was 4" deep, more like 46F at 2" deep. The seeds are not even 1" deep so I think it'll be fine, as long as it's not a heavy rain that washes them away.

AT LAST I HAVE THE UPDATED GARDEN PLANS FOR YOU! They are pretty different from when I started out, and will probably change again before the final analysis (that is, as I plant them!).

Last Frost Had and Done?

I think last night was our last possible chance at a frost because April 21st is the Frost Date for this region and between now and then it should only be getting warmer.

Here are some pictures from this afternoon:

Rainy Days

The miniature spruce has bright green baby growth all over it:

The robins gathered in Mr. Deckat's tree as the rain gently fell this morning:

The lovely rock garden:

Wet is wonderful for the hugelkultur!

The hail-damaged tulips are blooming nonetheless:

The Work of the Morning

I went out in search of stray rocks this morning! Down Durink Avenue, towards Oregon Trail Park, they are in abundance. I got as many as I could fit easily in the back of the Gold Van. Here they are in the back yard, waiting to be arranged.

It is very overcast, not only because of the fields being burned (we all have stuffy noses and sore throats) but also due to the imminent storm.

The Secret Garden

There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes in the complex world of nature.

The henbit is full steam ahead:

Along with the sudden burst of dandelion land.

Slumbering on the latticework!

Asparagus Season

We had a few asparagi at lunch today – the Martha Washington's (south side, 3-year-olds) – but I think maybe I harvested them too late. All were over a foot and growing new sprouts. Haven't harvested any Jersey Giants (north side, the 2-year-olds), but I may tonight. There is a storm that is supposedly developing north of here (Minnesota area) and is forecasted to head our way the rest of this week and over the weekend. There may yet be a frost left for Mr. Winter to pull as the last trick in his bag. Here is the forecast:

Friday night is supposed to be lower 30's, and that is my one fear. Planting outdoors has been postponed to Monday just as a safeguard. In view of the coming rain however (we're sure to get at least a little) I put some bagged compost (Cotton Burr Compost) and Top Soil on 5 of the garden beds today. The rain will help incorporate it into the soil that's already there. Here are pictures:

Recent Soil Temperatures

At the Rossville station. . .

le jardin au naturel

What do you see in this picture? A backyard with a toy that needs to be picked up and grass that needs to be mowed?

Look again! It's supper. :-)

au menu ce soir:

"dent de lion" soup

asparagus spears, flash-fried

henbit salad

Non, je rigole. I'd like to use the dandelions to make a soup or salad, and the asparagus is raring to go, but henbit salad is a little aboriginal.

Here are some more Springtime shots:

Plans

Here are the East Side Garden plans that I've made up since I measured the raised beds. I may add or subtract when I literally go to plant and I'll update you with what I actually put in. Here are the plans for the   eastern side, then:

It's a rainy morning and it's not supposed to really clear up till Monday (though Saturday should be warm). It'll be warmer Tuesday though, so that will probably be a great day to plant outside! That is my goal – to plant lettuce and beets and radishes and maybe carrots on Tuesday.

So Hard Not to Plant Yet!

We have beautiful Spring weather – the mornings are in the 50's and the afternoons reach the 70's, and it's so hard to resist that temptation to plant! I thought, well, maybe I can plant the earliest cool weather crops – lettuce, radishes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots (those are the CWC I'm interested in trying this year) but then I discovered this nifty site which tells you the measured soil temperatures from various areas across the state:

http://wdl.agron.ksu.edu/

And the station in Rossville (the nearest to us) certainly made me pause:

The minimum soil temperature over the last 5 days averages 42.44 degrees F, and the maximum 70.14 degrees F. The forecast is a little bleak with a storm on the horizon:

I probably could get away with it if I have some sort of cover for that garden bed, but I'm not sure how the plexiglass works. I guess you just literally place it on top of the bed and put some heavy rocks on top, to keep it from blowing off in the storm?

Hmmm... I'm starting to convince myself that it may not be such a bad idea to plant after all! It's two weeks till the frost date (April 21) in Kansas but looking at the forecast I think it's unlikely that we'll have another. The soil is a tad on the cool side, but lettuce can germinate even in 40 degree dirt so I may give it a go!

Oh Hail!

We had a hail storm yesterday evening!  It's the worst I've ever witnessed. I took Jim his supper and left around 18:15 because the sky was getting pretty dark and it was beginning to thunder.

When I got home, I went out on the eastern deck to watch the drama! It was about 88 degrees, but quite windy, and the sky continued to darken. After I'd been watching only about five minutes, large and sparse drops of rain began to fall. Dad was grilling pork chops on the Big Green Egg, and came out and got them as it began to rain a little harder. Suddenly, it came driving down, and the wind blew every which way. Monnie came out to join me, and it wasn't three minutes before the rain turned into small bits of hail, which fell harder and harder, and then grew (in the space of maybe two minutes) to the size of golfballs! They came shooting out of the sky, and hit like bullets on the deck and cement. The yard was hopping with white balls of ice, appearing, for all the world, like a golf course with a million golfers putting at once and missing the hole! The noise was incredible too – reminded me of fire crackers or guns.

A Kansas Day

Last night it started to get foggier and the temperature dropped a little. This morning the fog still clung to the horizons, but note the afternoon:

Morning:

Afternoon: 

That is with no touching up whatsoever, both taken from up here in the computer room.

Here are a couple shots of the clouds this afternoon:

Don't give up on my posting about garden plans or telling about planting progress. I've been working on it steadily, so I will update you when I have the final plan. I may not do any indoor flats; I may do all direct seeding. I'll let ya know!

Snow!

Had a brief bit of snowfall this afternoon...

Lilac Bushes

The two lilac bushes we planted last year are located on the East side of the East deck:

What to Put Near Lilacs
"Lilacs are lime-lovers, so lime well, and don't add acid-lovers to the bed. You'll still need to get close to the flowers for sniffing and pruning purposes, so add a few step stones and maybe some Lavender (which is another lime-lover), Forget-me-nots and Thymes. Mulch the areas in between, and you can add more later... such as Daffodils and other Spring bulbs."


That sounds lovely. Probably instead of forget-me-nots, I would opt for a Kansas Native that likes limey soils.

West Side Garden Beds

Here is the drafted plan for the West Garden Beds:

(You can click on it to see it enlarged.)

Here is the general idea:

The Bleeding Heart

has been growing!

Sunday 03/20 - 

And then this afternoon 03/22 - 

But keepin' it in perspective -

Far East Garden Plan

Here are the plans for the Far East Beds - that is, those along Mr. Deckat's fenceline –

So in the southern bed I plan to have a couple lavender plants with a rose bush in between them, and clematis climbing the chain-link fence behind. I read once that in the Old World it was common to grow lavender near the clothes line because it scented the clothes! I am going to try it. :-)

In the middle bed, I was planning to have a rock garden and plant the wildflower seeds from Yellowstone Nat'l Park there, but Dad didn't like the idea of using garden bed space for a rock garden. Mom and I reconsidered and are thinking now of putting a grove with the wildflowers by the back patch of Austrees (in the Southwest section of the yard). So now I'm not sure what I'll do with this bed.