However many things make a post

[ksmith]

Back in May, I planted three tomato plants, then pretty much forgot about them because Life. Well, I checked them the other day and HOLY CHUTES AND LADDERS BATMAN, there are little greenies on two of the plants–both the Black Crim and Juliet have baby tomatoes. The Kelloggs Breakfast, OTOH, has many flowers but no greenies. It is also shorter and less full than the other two, and had developed spots and yellowing on lower foliage that reminded me of blight, but could also be attributed to all the rain and cool weather we’ve had. I removed the suspect ?branches?, and will keep an eye on the plant–if it looks as though it’s succumbing to something, it’s out. The Black Crim and Juliet, by contrast, appear fine, and I want them to stay that way.

The mesclun, meanwhile, is still producing–it’s nice to go out and harvest salad greens, then eat them minutes later. I also have some sprigs of volunteer dill, flavorful stuff that works well with tuna salad and grilled salmon. The raised bed basil perked up as the weather warmed, and are now a lovely dark green. The container basil, however, were yellow and spotted from the wet, so I cleared a place for them in the raised bed, and stuck them in.

Thanks to lack of time and days of rain, the yard is borderline out of control. Many are the things that need trimming, and the weeds have established bases in various parts of the lawn and are busy sending out little wagon trains of seedlings across the land. I’ll be breaking out the sprayer this weekend in hopes of halting expansion. That said, the flowers look good, the hosta are HUGE, and the lilies are forming buds. Astilbes are flowering. Unfortunately, I lost the lovely little Rose of Sharon tree that had bloomed so nicely over the bast 7-8 years. It was in a low spot in the yard that gets absolutely sodden after heavy rains, and this past winter’s rains just destroyed the root system. It didn’t bud at all this spring, and was dead by the time I dug it up. I’m bummed–it attracted bees and hummingbirds, and from July on would be awash with pale pink flowers.

Much to do this weekend, assuming the rains hold off. Branch trimming and weeding and moving around some ferns that I planted too close to other shrubs. May do some minor surgery on the pine in the front yard if I have time to break out Bucky the Chainsaw.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Comments

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

I lost my sage to all the rain we've been having, the soil was just too wet for the poor thing to cope with. Everything else is leafy and green and doing just fine.

I am also deeply envious of your ability to grow tomatoes. Someday, I will succeed in not killing any tomato plant I touch. Someday....

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I had a struggle with tomatoes this year. This is the first year that I don't have any plants started from seeds. The seeds sprouted, but for some reason they never thrived--the sprouts remained tiny, then withered. Since the basil as well as the tomatoes were affected, I can only think that the dining room, where I stashed the grow tray, was too cold. I may need to invest in a proper heating pad or lamp.

The cool, wet weather we had almost did in my basil. It's finally coming around--larger leaves and a rich green instead of yellow-green with brown spots.