| August 1, 2001 Baby fish is aclimating really well. Comes out and eats with the big boys with no fear, and attacks large pieces of food. Pulled up old cucumber vines. Will begin to prepare beds for collard plants that are putting out their first pair of true leaves. |
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| August 2, 2000 Two more 'Supersonic Mix' crape myrtles are blooming, and these are white! Another bloom on the yellow water lily. This makes 4 so far--only one at a time, though. Ordered more Microbe-Lift: the advanced kind and the kind for autumn/winter use. New cucumbers putting out the second set of true leaves, and the new corn averages about 6-7 inches tall. Picked about a quart of snap beans. Pulled up all of the old corn. 'Chubby Checkers' wasn't doing anything, probably because of the shade of those blasted Bradford pears next door. Spread some 5-10-10 fertilizer in the empty beds, to ready them for the fall planting. |
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| August 5, 2000 'Tropical Rose' dwarf canna really is pink!!! WooHoo!! It's gorgeous. 'Zagreb' coreopsis is a very nice medium size rounded clump. I like it. The baby fish has been christened Monica. She's getting quite used to us, and swims with the big boys and girls like she's one of them, and attacks largs flakes of fish food. Agapanthus 'Pinocchio' is doing well, though hasn't grown much for the last month. Not much chance of bloom this year. Will try to protect it enough this winter to give it a good start next spring. Who would have thought those tiny plants would be this big now. They've tolerated the pots well. Will try to prepare their bed next weekend and get them planted. English ivy 'Fan' is doing well in the topiary pot. Will overwinter it in the pot, hoping for the best. Butterfly weed has blossom buds!! I really didn't expect it to bloom this year. Buddliea 'Lockinch' is getting to be a nice size. I think I'll be able to control it just fine. Hosta 'Honeybells' is doing pretty well to be in full sun, and has sent up a bloom stalk. Ajuga 'Metallica' is really pretty now. It went through an ugly period, but is coming around. Hosta 'Krossa Regal' has a bloom stalk. Alpine strawberries bearing one or two fruit every day. Cut most of the cutting celery and dried it in the dehydrator. The herbs are growing well. The smell of dill permeates the side yard after the sun had been on it for a few hours. Winter savory is growing well. |
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| August 6, 2000 Potted 'Georgia' collards in 3 inch pots. After they get over this, I'll take them to the front porch to get used to the heat before transplanting to the garden. Picked about 20 'Anaheim' chili peppers for a co-worker. 'Roma' tomatoes are having a second spurt of growth. I thought they were goners a while back, but I fed and watered them a lot, and now they have lots of new growth and baby tomatoes. We need rain. |
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| August 8, 2000 WOW! 'Bressingham Beacon' crocosmia has blossom buds! I had no idea it would bloom this year. Foliage is very distressed, though, probably from lack of rain and I haven't watered it since everything else around it looked OK. Watered it well tonight. Dried some Italian parsley. 'Giant White' moonflower is climbing well. 'Heritage' rose is staying compact and blooming pretty much non-stop. Monarda 'Marshall's Delight' is growing well, but no sign of blooms yet. 'Clove Drops' pinks blooming well. I really like them. 'Super Cayenne' peppers are very prolific. 'Sundial Fushia' portulaca at the mailbox looks a little puny. Black-eyed Susan vine is growing like a weed. Purple hyacinth bean is all show and no go. No blossom buds in sight, but it's climbing the gutters. Morning glories are growing well, but are staying right around the fence posts instead of running on the rails. |
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| August 10, 2000 'Lucifer' crocosmia has another blossom bud, too. Cool! And, one of the blue salvias I started from seeds is blooming. 'Tropical Rose' canna is in full bloom. Breathtaking. |
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| August 11, 2000 Picked almost a gallon of 'Blue Lake' snap beans in the last two days. Removed the two old apple trees today and raised that bed another two logs. They were not earning their keep. Will have compost delivered next week to fill it, and plant the 'Arapaho' blackberries in it, finally. Really opened up that side yard. I picked about 6-7 apples off of the 'Granny Smith'. The 'Courtland' had no apples. Remember the little eggs we found in a bed earlier this summer? Now we're almost positive they were lizard eggs. We've had a grown lizard hanging around that side of the house for a couple of years, and over the last several days we've seen at least two baby lizards. They're staying pretty close to the bed where we found the eggs, right now. Started raining mid afternoon, and continued drizzling at bedtime. Not a severe storm--some thunder and lightning, and a very, very nice rain. Oh, Boy!! Didn't have to water today, and won't have to tomorrow. WooHoo!! Butterfly weed is almost in full bloom. This is a hard plant to grow from seed, so I'm really proud it's doing so well. Yellow water lily putting out another bloom. |
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| August 13, 2000 Finally some rain--a total of just over 1 1/2 inches. |
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| August 14, 2000 Planted 5 packages of 'Curled Siberian' kale in the pentagon bed. |
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| August 15, 2000 Planted a package of 'Detroit Dark Red' beet seed tape in the small side yard bed. Still picking 'Blue Lake' snap beans. So far, canned 16 pints. Picking a handful of 'Super Cayenne' peppers every day or so. Sweet peppers are turning red. New cucumbers are growing fast--already clinging to the support. Dusted with Sevin dust a couple of days ago for cucumber beetles. Another baby fish has been spotted. This one is Miguel. |
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| August 17, 2000 Kale already up. Brought two remaining (gave rest to neighbor) amaryllis up out of the weather to dry out, cut tops off, and allow to rest. Will start them up again in the fall. A couple of bell peppers turning red. 'Super Cayenne' peppers and going wild. Dried a dehydrator full. |
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| August 21, 2000 Beets germinating well. New cucumbers showing signs of some sort of disease or pest, although I don't see any insects. They're already blooming and have tiny cucumbers. I don't think the crocosmia 'Bressingham Beacon' is going to make it. Foliage is drying up. Drats. |
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| August 22, 2000 Planted 21 collard plants. I may decide to trash the cucumbers and plant the rest of the collards there. 'Blue Lake' snap beans have slowed considerably. Still blooming, though. It's been a busy canning season, so the garden has suffered a bit. Monica has started to change color--black is fading to orange. |
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| August 26, 2000 Cucumbers are more or less dead. Will pull them up, along with the second corn planting (which is not looking too good) and plant the rest of the collards. Kale is growing well. Pulled one watermelon and put in the refridgerator. One smaller melon was lying on the bed without benifit of vines--looks like the deer ate the vines and left the melon. Cut it, and while it was not quite ripe, it was tasty. Flax is blooming. Some off-white and black striped caterpillars ate all the blooms on my butterfly weed while I was out of town this weekend. Miguel is nowhere to be seen. Dug around one hill of sweetpotatoes and felt one about the size of a large hen egg. Red canna is fixing to bloom again. Only one tuberous begonia has bloomed. |
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| August 27, 2000 Did the deed--pulled up the cucumbers and corn and planted the remaining collards. |
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| August 28, 2000 Miguel has been spotted again. Good. All collards are looking good. Picked another dehydrator full of cayenne peppers--three total. More chili peppers and sweet peppers coming along. |
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| August 30, 2000 Miguel and another baby fish spotted today. This newest addition is Maude. Monica is changing daily, almost. She's over half orange now. |
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| August 31, 2000 Besides the slowdown in garden production, there are other signs of season change. The leaves of dogwood and some shrubs are beginning to turn. Evenings are cooler. Crickets are singing louder, as they do in the fall. And, of course, days are shorter. |
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