What Did You Do In The Garden?

[flowerbug]

Finished putting up the remaining trellises today, for the bitter melon & yardlong beans. The eggplant that we put in pots this year ("Gretel") has virtually exploded with growth, and has begun blooming. I've never seen so many blossoms on an eggplant at the same time. The variety bears a strong resemblance to "Casper" in fruit color, fruit shape, and thorns , the flowers are much larger, and in clusters. Casper, as much as I liked it, was always temperamental at best, and the yield was often disappointing. It seems that Gretel will be a more reliable replacement, provided that it passes the taste test.

Had a superhot pepper (Carolina Reaper) in one pot, the first time I've ever tried growing one of those peppers. The plant was very vigorous, and already had buds when I put it in. But I looked at it yesterday, and it was dying! The drainage on that pot had apparently become plugged, and after our recent rains, it was waterlogged. I tried to pour off the water, but the entire top layer of soil sloshed out when I tipped the pot - plant & all. I fixed the drainage, but the plant shows no sign of recovering... a blessing in disguise?

Also started to weed the new garden extension, where the zucchini will be. I broke ground on that area last year, and ground cherries (which I had grown on that end the year before) promptly and COMPLETELY colonized it. There were about 20-30 plants there, our kids & grandkids loved them, and we picked a ton. Of course, a lot still fell to the ground; so this year there is a carpet of ground cherry seedlings there! They are so thick that they are smothering weeds, actually a pretty effective cover crop. Easy to kill with a hoe, so I'll leave them there until the squash seedlings are ready.

Be warned, once you grow ground cherries, you will have them forever! Which can be good or bad, depending upon how you look at it.

ground parrots like them?

 

[flowerbug]

picked some dill for making pickles later... of course had to eat some dill while i was there. crunchy, fresh dill, yum.

 

[digitS']

There is no radish in my garden for the first time in recent memory. I used to think that I couldn't eat a radish without having indigestion. Then, I learned that it was just a matter of choosing them at the right moment. However, they aren't my favorite vegetable and DW doesn't seem to notice their absence. (I wonder how many bites of @flowerbug 's dill I could eat without it upsetting my stomach? Maybe, it wouldn't!)

I was trying to remember the name of the little white eggplant I had one year. It was probably @Zeedman 's Casper and not his Gretel. Produced very well ... in my eggplant-challenged garden. Still, I want wide slices for frying and as eggplant parmesan. AppleGreen is back in my garden this year. It was so much of an after thought in 2017 that I was barely able to get one fruit mature for seeds. I shouldn't make that mistake again.

Today, I built trellis for dahlias. Should continue with that, tomorrow. The Duet's have 3 blooms ... I know, they should only have 2 . This is very early for any dahlia to bloom. They are certainly in the warmest location in the little dahlia garden. They are also very short ... they should really be where they have some afternoon shade since those white tips often burn.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Great season for my Montmorency Cherry trees, BUT many storms which stripped cherries and many time/work/family interruptions have hurt my harvest. I might gt 3 pies worth. My first tree is really tall. Whatcha think about my pruning it shorter next March? I need opinions, please.

 

[ninnymary]

Great season for my Montmorency Cherry trees, BUT many storms which stripped cherries and many time/work/family interruptions have hurt my harvest. I might gt 3 pies worth. My first tree is really tall. Whatcha think about my pruning it shorter next March? I need opinions, please.

You are supposed to trim your trees close to the summer solstice or in June to control height. I usually cut it down to about 1/3 of it's growth. In winter you're supposed trim for shape, open it up, and any dead wood. This is what I do. I like to keep my trees short around 8-10ft. tall.

Mary

 

[flowerbug]

omg i love dried M cherries! no idea how to care for them, haven't ever
had them growing here.

There is no radish in my garden for the first time in recent memory. I used to think that I couldn't eat a radish without having indigestion. Then, I learned that it was just a matter of choosing them at the right moment. However, they aren't my favorite vegetable and DW doesn't seem to notice their absence. (I wonder how many bites of @flowerbug 's dill I could eat without it upsetting my stomach? Maybe, it wouldn't!)
...
Steve

how do you do with parsley, and you do ok with cilantro? i'm not a huge fan of radishes either. will eat a few here or there. mostly grow them for the young sprout leaves or the flowers/seeds and then i leaves 'em alone and they eventually get turned under as worm food or the deer eat them. the diakon radishes drill through the clay really well. a lot of the ground cover/deer feed/pasture seed mixes include them, but i rarely see them growing. they've been able to naturalize themselves in the north garden along with some turnips...

 

[digitS']

how do you do with parsley, and you do ok with cilantro?

Parsley grows fine. I haven't bothered to allow it to go to seed but years ago, I did. Never quite figured out how I seemed to have a perennial clump of parsley when it is a biennial. There was always fresh, tender parsley. Somehow the "clump" must have evolved to having first year and second year plants growing together. As for what I did with parsley: can you believe that I did not know that people used it pasta sauce until a couple of years ago? No, parsley was just for snacking . It's been decades ago that I discovered basil .

Cilantro is a little bit of a problem. A few plants will survive the winter and give us a quick crop. Then, we will have plenty at this time of year. Soon, we will get some cilantro in the rows of sweet corn. The shade protects it from the mid-summer sun. Only done this companionship with corn twice. First time, it worked well. Second time, growth was more limited. At least, we had some cilantro during the ripe tomato season.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

@digitS' can you eat them? if so dill is likely ok too. i think parsley and dill taste a lot alike, same with celery.

 

[digitS']

Sure.

Dill volunteers in my garden, I have a difficult time being willing to pull it - like to have it around. When it shows up in the onions, it fits in well and is usually left. Some, is deliberately planted.

Use: it might be chopped and put in a salad but most commonly dill will go on baked fish or a beef roast. Other than not often turning on the oven during the summer, dill has some competition. Lemon basil is good on fish, basil and rosemary on beef, and cilantro on either. I don't mix them, however.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

picked cucumbers this morning, almost nekkid gardening out there with no air moving, high humidity and full sun, wind has picked up this afternoon, but i'm glad i don't have to do anything else for the moment out there until later when i get some dill.

i was going to wait until later to do the pickles, but i think i'll get started on them now as they all need scrubbing.

tomorrow a likely armchair day all day other than morning routine check.