Garden Update. 6.21.2020

This update is kind of general, lots of areas of my garden. Being June, things are growing fast and there are fresh  fruits and vegetables now.  There has been a lot of rain, so not much chance to weed and cultivate, so there is some catch up to do.  I over-planted, so some areas are too crowded.

This year I've been feeding the hummingbirds a lot more.  They are coming back and emptying the feeder every day.

Most of the vegetables are growing very well.  If something doesn't grow, I replace it. 

Bush beans didn't grow or something was eating the seeds from underground, despite protecting them above ground.  However the later planted rows are ok and growing true leaves now.  Sweetcorn also germinated unevenly and I replanted one bloc.  The first bloc is uneven.  I suppose the slower ones will catch up. 

I planted too many snowpeas.  The seeds were about 6 years old, and I didn't know if they would grow.  The Taiwan Sugar variety is hard to find, and those were seeds I had saved myself.  As it turned out, most did grow, about half of the Taiwan Sugar and most of the Oregon Spring.  The Taiwan Sugar is a bit less vigorous, but much earlier. None yet from Oregon Spring, but they are blooming now, very pretty.

I also planted the squashes where they don't have room to ramble as much as they will.  I had planted potatoes in the fenced garden because the nonfenced area was not ready, which resulted in some room limitation.  I will plan next year better. Still, the potatoes will be done in July, a month from now.

It was not a problem moving raspberry floricane plants this Spring.  They are bearing nicely and sent up a bunch of sturdy primocanes for next year.  The berries are tasty.

I thought I might have planted the pickle cucumbers too early, but they are growing very nice now.  So are the other cucumbers.  Dill isn't growing well.  Maybe it will take off soon.  Cilantro is growing nice.  On the other hand, I got the Jalapenos in too late.  They seem to be growing faster now so might still get a crop later.

I really enjoy those sedum / sempervivum planters, and they should never or almost never need watering.  They are very nice to look at.

Brunswick fig is looking pretty good this year.  Some are within deer reach, so I should do something about that.

Hummingbirds are emptying their feeder every day. 6.20.2020

Sedum planters filled in so nice.  Some are about to bloom. 6.20.2020

I think I know what to plant outside the fence.  Deer don't touch most herbs.  6.20.2020

I think a lot of the bush beans didn't grow because I planted them too early.  The last batch is growing nicely.  6.20.2020

More bush beans.  6.20.2020

The thornless raspberries that I moved in May did very well.  There have been berries to taste and primocanes are growing larger than the floricanes.  6.21.2020

The bush cucumbers (I think "Bushmaster" maybe?) are filling in.  I thought I planted them too early but they are doing well.  The dill is not growing so fast.  Cilantro looks good.  The mini apple tree grafts are behind the raised bed to shade the containers.  They look very good.  6.20.2020

More herbs, on the other side of the fenced garden.  6.20.2020

The sweetcorn is quite variable.  I wonder how much we will get.  There is still plenty of time for it to fill in.  6.20.2020

More sweetcorn, planted later.  Something ate a lot of the first plants.  6.20.2020

Sarracenia.  So lovely.  6.20.2020

Brunswick fig.  Maybe it will bear this year.  Some figs are too low, within deer reach.  6.20.2020

Kitchen Garden Update. 6.11.2020

There has been a lot of rain, so not easy to get into the garden for hoeing and weeding.  It's warm, so stuff is growing fast.

Outside the deer fence, I've been planting things that the herbivores usually don't bother.  So far so good.  Most are moved from other locations in my garden and yard.  Mostly herbs and some flowers.  So far, chives, garlic chives, oregano, artichoke, cilantro, swiss chard, mesclun, a couple of smaller irises, marigolds, horse radish, poppies.  I recently planted some zinnia seeds and moved some volunteer Four Oclocks and cosmos to this area.

The first crop of sweetcorn.  Small, but I think that every year about this time.

Fence on other side of garden.  Similar idea.

Looking west from the east gate.  We've been eating lots of greens.  Squashes have female but no male flowers.

Also looking west from the east gate.  Those tomatoes were kind of a response to concerns for food shortage.  There will be a lot of potatoes this year.

Snowpeas in bloom.  These are Oregon Spring.  The Taiwan Sugar variety has white flowers.

Bush beans.  That row was mesclun and radishes.  As soon as they were gone, I planted beans.

Jalapenos are a bit small but growing.  I started them too late.

This bed was a mess.  More Chinese chives, and irises, and a lot of weeds.  Now it's those jalapenos and Chinese Pink Celery, little seedlings.  On the north edge, some slicing cucumbers that will get a trellis.

I have the posts in place for slicing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.  Down the center row, radishes are almost ready.

Cages are in place for sauce tomatoes.  I will try to keep them upright better this year.  Starting to put out flowers.

Yesterdays root crops and salad greens.  Red radishes, Japanese Wasabi radishes, Japanese white turnips, swiss chard, some pea shoots, mesclun, mustard greens, chives and lettuce.

Old raised bed, was strawberries and garlic chives, neither doing well.  I removed those, transplanting them into fresh soil.  Added some lime, and compost.  Now it's compact pickle cucumbers, some dill and cilantro.

Two "Learning Quilts". 6.11.2020

Last winter I decided I wanted to learn to make quilts.  I'm not as able as I used to be for major outdoor projects and remodeling.  Also, I can't do so much heavy digging.  Something is needed for creative urges and to keep me out of trouble, so I got out the sewing machine.

Never having made a quilt, I did some reading.  I wanted to start small, not spend too much money, and learn by doing.  All of my sewing is self-taught and I make a lot of mistakes.

First Quilt.

I bought a roll of fall themed fabric at the fabric store (Jelly Roll).  After playing around a little and looking at quilts on line, I decided on this pattern.  This is about 3 feet by 3 feet.  It's a little bit of a joke, because one off the fabrics has deer peeking over the fence, and deer are my nemesis (when in the garden or eating the fruit trees) and friends (w hen not doing those things), and they are everywhere.

I just finished the quilting and binding, after having the top assembled for a few months.   I feel intimidated at each step, since each is my first time, but once I get into it and make a few mistakes, I start to learn.   This quilt is too small to be useful, so I hung it on the wall.  After taking this photo and looking at it, I think the darker stripes look too much like the letter "I", so I took it down, took off the loops,  turned it and resewed the loops so the blocs look more like sections of fence.

Second quilt.  Same method, also started the patchwork during the late winter.  I started by basing it on a Pride flag I saw at Cascade AIDS Project, where I was volunteering until the COVID epidemic.  However, I thought the plain colors were not lively enough but seem kind of harsh at the same time.  I used patterns taken from natural ideas instead.  Even then I thought the long stripes were kind of too much, and seemed to have a dominant theme, so I cut into the same type of squares a the other quilt, and scrambled a little while still having a pattern.  Looking now, it's kind of a Bargello-inspired idea, where each stripe can be moved either one down or one across, and they match.   This pattern required multiples of three, which meant adding one color.  I added silver (grey) to represent seniors.

Still a lot of mistakes, but I like the colorful result and it has a kind of meaning.

Now I have some Indonesian Batik fabric to play with.  I'm not sure what I will do.  I thought about a Bargello pattern, but that kind of subsumes the fabric pattern into just shades, without much of the pattern standing out.  I could do one of these again, as another learning exercise before branching out.  Not sure.  I think it might be a mistake to buy Jelly Rolls, which tend to lock a person into a certain type of pattern, whereas larger shapes, like by the yard or fat quarters, seem to give more freedom. 

A Raincoat for Rufus

Sometimes I make things, sew or refinish furniture.  Rufus is so dark and wooly, I worry about walking him especially in evening and during rain.  Plus he doesn't like getting his fur wet.  Dog raincoats at Petco were very expensive.  Plus, none of their doggie raincoats seemed to fit his body.  A human raincoat at Bimart only cost about 1/10 as much last fall, so I bought one to use the fabric.  Never got around to it, but during quarantine, there is more spare time.  Here is the result.  He doesn't mind it.

More Vegetable Seeds. 6.2.2020

I planted some more vegetable seeds.  Something seems to be eating a lot of my planted bean seeds.  Several rows vanished completely.  Something also eats some of the plants after they germinate.  I'll try again, Landreth and Roma varieties.  I also planted some more dill and cilantro, which seem to be slow germinating, and the third batch of sweetcorn, this time Ambrosia hybrid.

The garden is very lush.  As usual, I was over-enthusiastic and planted too much.  Photos may follow in a day or two.