| Saturday, July 1, 2000 Nice day. Temperatures in the 80s. Lined the old bed with hardware cloth and refilled it. It's ready for planting, probably for fall vegetables. Moved pinks, Cupid's Dart, moonflower, hollyhock, and 'White Swan' Echinecea seedlings into larger pots. 'Kentucky Blue' snap beans seem to be fizzling out. I see very few new blooms. It's like they gave everything at once, instead of throughout the entire summer, as I am used to with 'Blue Lake' snap beans. If this is it for them, I'll not plant them again, and will go back to 'Blue Lake' beans. Working on the last of the new raised beds. Almost finished. One by one, we'll get the old beds lined with hardware cloth this fall. Still getting 4-6 cucumbers daily, mostly from the 'Dasher II' plants. They are running wild, and show no signs of letting up like the 'Bush Pickle' plants are doing. Lilac growth seemed a little wilted today. Picked a couple of handfulls of blackberries. English lavender died--didn't have enough roots. Both dahlias fully open and they're beautiful! Several more buds on each to open yet. |
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| Sunday, July 2, 2000 Hot again; makes me lazy. Fed newly transplanted plants and threw a little on the snap beans. Can't hurt--might help. Bought a 'Stacey's White' verbena that I'd been looking for. |
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| Monday, July 3, 2000 Hot and humid. Finished up the last new bed, and mulched the paths in between after laying down and wetting layers of newpaper. Looks pretty good if we do say so ourselves. Pulled up the 'Black Seeded Simpson' lettuce. Planted third planting of corn, some bush 'Blue Lake' snap beans, and the 'Salad Bush' cucumbers. 'Sieva' baby limas have full sized pods, but have lots of filling out to do. Mulched second planting of corn. |
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| Tuesday, July 4, 2000 Overcast all day and spitting a little rain every now and then. Of course--it's the 4th of July; it must rain. Not enough to do any good, though, so I had to water the garden. 'Sugar Baby' watermelon is blooming. Picked cucumbers and snap beans. Made a batch of sweet pickles. So far from my cucumbers I've made: 16 half-pints of bread and butter pickles, 14 half-pints and 2 pints of crisp lime pickles, and 22 half-pints and 5 pints of sweet pickles. Planning to make more crisp lime and bread and butter pickles. Will make chow-chow this week, too, as well as can snap beans. Couple of tomatoes just about ripe. |
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| Wednesday, July 5, 2000 First 'William Baffin' rose completely open. What a sweet blossom it has. First Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' open, too. Light rain off and on most of the day. Canned 9 pints of snap beans. "Something" had scratched around a bit in my newly planted 'Blue Lake' bush snap beans, but it didn't appear that any seeds had been taken. |
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| Thursday, July 6, 2000 Bought 2 Lavendar 'Munstead' today. They smell so good! Canned 15 half pints of chow-chow. Picked first ripe tomatoes, all very small: one 'Park's Whopper,' one 'German Johnson,' and two 'Better Boy.' |
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| Friday, July 7, 2000 Bought some stones to outline a bed we're going to make tomorrow. Saw yellow jackets going into a hole in the creeping phlox, much like last summer. Will deal with them just before dark with insecticide. That does it. Any doubts I had about whether or not to get rid of that phlox just disappeared. It harbors yellow jacket nests each summer. 'Blue Lake' bush beans cracking the soil, as is the 3rd planting of corn. |
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| Saturday, July 8, 2000 Went to Tressie's and bought 4 Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm,' 4 Echinecea 'Magnus,' and 4 Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise' for planting this fall. 'Jack O'Lantern' Pumpkin has an open bloom, and there are 4 or 5 tiny little 'Sugar Baby' watermelons. Made the little bed on the right side of the yard that includes the 'William Baffin' rose and the old-fashioned lilac. This will be a tiny herb garden. Planning to add a pergola to this end of the porch, and plant a grape vine to train up and over the pergola. Attached a fence-wire trellis to the deck railing, and will tie the 'William Baffin' to it for support. Planted 'Stacy's White' verbena in the quarter-round bed. 'Kentucky Blue' snap beans look just a little better, maybe--there are a few new blossom buds. Fed everything except tomatoes and sweetpotatoes. Got some copper fungicide to spray on the tomatoes for blight. Will do this tomorrow, when the neighbor's not watering them, along with his grass. 'Blue Lake' bush beans coming up well. Two hills of 3rd planting of corn gone--looks like they were pulled up by birds. Had first tomato sandwich of the season. Yum yum!! |
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| Sunday, July 9, 2000 Very humid. Three more hills of third planting gone. It looks like a bird(s) is pulling the seedling up and eating the seed corn, leaving the little plant. Finished 11 half pints and 5 pints of sweet lime pickles. |
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| Monday, July 10, 2000 Hot and dry. Watered everything. Picked a couple of small tomatoes--'Parks Whopper' and 'Better Boy.' Picked 7 or 8 cucumbers today. 'Kentucky Blue' beans are looking rather ragged--don't think they're going to be around much longer. Sprayed tomatoes with copper fungicide. Hope it helps. I'll probably go out in the morning and find them all totally dead. Replanted the "third" planting of corn with 'Early Sunglow' since I was out of the 'Early and Often.' To thwart the birds, I placed a section of hardware cloth on top of the planted seeds. Tied 'William Baffin' rose to the trellis. Got my first installment of horse manure today! |
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| Wednesday, July 12, 2000 Had rain shower yesterday afternoon, a thunderstorm last night, and more showers this morning for a total of about 2 inches of rain. Made third and last batch of bread and butter pickles: 10 half pints. Picked 6 or 7 decent sized tomatoes. Started cleaning up my seed starting trays for some fall planting. |
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| Thursday, July 13, 2000 More light rain today. Planted 'Giant White' moonflower at back of front porch bed; it's kinda late, I doubt it does anything. Spread about half the horsemanure on the empty bed and forked it in. |
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| Sunday, July 16, 2000 I was gone for the weekend, and it's amazing the difference two days makes in the garden--everything GREW. Finally see a baby 'Sweet and Early' cantaloupe. Baby lima beans are filling out and tomatoes are ripening--except the 'Supersteak' but they are getting LARGE. The 'Early Sunglow' corn sprouted while we were gone, and began to grow up through the hardware cloth cover, but were protected just as I had hoped. It appears a couple of sprouts were "pruned" but not pulled up. John built a little frame for me which will raise the hardware cloth up off the soil. Pulled 9 cucumbers. 'Kentucky Blue' snap beans appear to be fading again, but there are definitely new blossom buds coming along. If nothing comes of them in a few days, I'll consider taking them out and emptying that bed so it can be lined and readied for fall vegetables. 'Jack O'Lantern' pumpkin is growing by leaps and bounds but i see no babies yet. |
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| Monday, July 17, 2000 Had to do serious watering today. 'Sieva' baby butterbeans are filling out well--will have to pick tomorrow night. 'Kentucky Blue' snap beans have until this weekend to show me they have something to offer, or up they come. Picked 5 cucumbers. 'Salad Bush' are beginning to have first blossoms. One 'Sugar Baby' watermelon is 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Built another raised, hardware-cloth-lined bed at the bottom of the steps on the left. Don't know what I'll put there. Will have to see how much sun it gets before deciding. Picked 8 tomatoes--all except 'Supersteaks' are getting ripe. Planted 12 cells of 'Georgia' collards in seed starting tray under lights. I'm hoping this will be easier than trying to keep them from getting too dry outside in the hot sun. |
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| Tuesday, July 18, 2000 Picked about 1/2 gallon (unshelled) baby lima beans. More cucumbers and tomatoes, too. Started 36 cells of Viola 'Helen Mount' (Johnny Jump Up) in seed starting tray. Covered the tray, since these seeds prefer darkness to germinate. |
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| Wednesday, July 19, 2000 Picked another 1/2 gallon baby lima beans, more cucumbers, and more tomatoes. Started 36 cells of Viola 'Princess Mixed' in seed starting tray. Covered this tray too, since these seeds also prefer darkness to germinate. Blanched and put almost 5 cups of shelled baby lima beans in the freezer. Watered--we need rain. |
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| Thursday, July 20, 2000 Overcast in AM and humid, then sunny in the afternoon. Slight breeze kicked up and temperatures dropped to mid 70s and humidity dropped as well. Very nice afternoon and evening. Moved compost bins--again--to their permanent place. They won't receive quite as much sun and rain as before, since they're under the branches of a tree, but i think that will be good. Collard seeds have almost all sprouted. New bed at end of back deck is filled and ready for whatever I decide to plant. 'Early Sunglow' corn has now been attacked from below. |
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| Friday, July 21, 2000 Warmer and more humid today. Picked and froze 2 more cups of butter beans. Mulched the watermelon and cantaloupe. Pulled up the 'Kentucky Blue' snap bean vines. If you're not productive, you don't stay around here, LOL. Will empty those two beds tomorrow, line with hardware cloth, refill, and add the manure I got today. These two beds will then be ready for the collard plants in a few weeks. Watered, of course. |
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| Sunday, July 23, 2000 Although it threatened rain all day, yesterday we emptied the two beds, lined them with hardware cloth, and refilled them, adding horse manure. Today is overcast again and humid, with temperatures in mid 70s. Picked butter beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Watered and fed almost everything. Dug up and potted two hostas from right side of house that were about to become the next casualties of the underground terrorists. In addition to a solid green one, the only varigated one I have is now divided into 3 pots. 'Salad Bush' cucumbers have a baby. |
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| Tuesday, July 25, 2000 Started misting rain Sunday evening and it's still overcast. Very little accumulation, but too damp to do anything much. Much cooler for the last couple of days--in the upper 60s to low 70s. We even opened windows and turned the AC off today. Another dahlia branch is broken. I can only assume the weight of the buds is doing this. Next year I'll have to support those lateral branches, even though they are very stout appearing. 'Dasher II' cucumbers are beginning to fade significantly, now. Can't complain--they've been excellent producers. Got a pot full of catnip from a co-worker today. Too wet to plant now, but will get it in the ground as soon as possible. |
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| Thursday, July 27, 2000 Rain shower this afternoon brought cooler air. Got a bag of iris rhizomes from another co-worker today. Have no idea what colors they are. I'll just be surprized when they bloom. Picked a huge 'Supersteak' tomato. Still getting a couple of 'Dasher II' cucumbers every day. 'Porto Rico' sweetpotatoes seem to be developing some yellow leaves in the center of plants. I think that's pretty normal, but I'll check on it. It looks like one of the lilac stems is putting out some new growth. 'German Johnson' tomatoes develop cracks very easily, and then start to spoil. Not terribly happy with these tomatoes, but I had to know. Most Johnny Jump-up seeds have sprouted. Dumped the spent 'Bush Pickle' cucumbers and cleaned the pots. |
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| Sunday, July 30, 2000 So HUMID. Temperature is only in the low to mid 80s, but the humidity is oppressive. Had a decent rain on Friday evening. Picked butterbeans again today, along with 4 of what are probably among the last 'Dasher II' cucumbers. 'Baby Fordhook' beans are beginning to ripen. Yesterday morning, a doe came right up to the back deck (in the woods) and proceeded to eat the English ivy under the birdfeeder. Brazen hussy! 'Munstead' lavendar has blossom buds. And...so does the gardenia!!! I'm SO excited about this. I do hope nothing happens to them. Collard seedlings are growing well. Took them out to the front porch for a little sunshine to begin to toughen them up for planting in the garden in a week or two. I think I'll put them into 3-inch pots tomorrow to await planting in the garden. 'Sweet and Early' cantaloupes have a couple of melons about the size of a small tangerine. One "Jack O'Lantern' pumpkin is about an inch in diameter. Tomatoes doing well considering how the blight has affected them. Mulched the 'Salad Bush' cucumbers and 'Early Sunglow' corn. |
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| Monday, July 31, 2000 Humid again today. Took this week off to work in the garden/yard. This morning we dug up all the daylilies and iris in the street bed. Had no idea how much work that was going to be until we got started. Quite a few iris had borer damage, but I was able to save more than enough rhizomes for my needs. Saved a few daylilies for myself and bags and bags for folks at work. This bed is about 4 feet wide by 20 feet long, so I'll have fun planning and planting new stuff for it. Many of the lower row of timbers are partially rotten, so we decided to replace them all while the bed is dug up now. Saw a creeping crape myrtle bush at Lowe's (where we went to check on landscape timbers and to buy another squirrel-proof bird feeder), as well as what looked like rugosa roses as we were driving off today. Will go back to check these out later. Found about 20 daffodil bulbs in our digging. Two of my three 'Sugar Baby' watermelons, as well as some of the vines, were appartently eaten by a deer. Hoof tracks up in the bed, too. Grrrrrr. Potted the collard seedlings in 3-inch pots with a total of 15 plants. Will only need about 10, but it never hurts to have extra. Midday brought rain. Several good showers off and on between then and sunset curtailed our bed renovation for today. Total rainfall was almost an inch. Rudbeckia had gotten pretty tall (about 3 feet) and fell over with the heavy rain today. Put a peony ring around it for support. Will try to remember to do this earlier next year. |
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