Between Rain Showers

I just dashed out between the rain showers to snap a few photos and cut some lilacs to bring in before they got all smashed and ruined in the rain.  I can't believe that it is already the 6th of May and 3 weeks since my last post.  Apologies faithful readers, it's been a busy patch.  This Gold Flame lonicera (honeysuckle) has been spectacular over the past week and continues to delight, especially nice that it can be seen from the kitchen window.  Last season it bloomed 4 times over the course of the season, a real winner.

What have I been up to since last I wrote?  Learning more about bird banding over at Prairie Ridge and taking a few bird walks around here in search of spring migrants, they seem a bit late due to the cool weather.  I've organized work days and planting at the community garden. I went to a two-day writing workshop on "Those who shape us - character portraits"  with my long time teacher Carol which was really good, now I need to put the learning into practice as I continue to work on a long piece about "my life in food" and my early days in Austin, Texas.

We've had two more meetings of the garden club mob, one at a new garden and one at Spanish for Fun Academy child care center.  This was our "community service" effort of the group as one of our members works at SFF and has no garden space at home.  I have been working with them for 2 years on their naturalized play space, adding more bit by bit. Click here for photos of the play space over time, I was just looking at them and its kind of amazing how it has changed, going from having nothing growing there to adding 16 trees, many shrubs, blueberries, apples, strawberries and a fig tree, veggie and flower beds- remarkable! 

Yesterday I  worked like a maniac all day trying to get the rest of our summer veggies planted before the next long rainy period which started just about the time I could no longer stand up straight last evening and is to continue through Wednesday!  I was a success, planted 16 assorted pepper plants that I started from seed back in March; red, yellow and orange bells, Carmen Italian stuffing, Hungarian round pimentos, one Serrano, one new Mex Joe Parker and one Marconi Gold yellow Italian.  I also prepped beds and sowed 3 kinds of cukes; Tasty Jade, Diva and Suyo Long, 3 kinds of squash; sunburst patty pan, romanesco costato zucchini, and yellow crook neck- the seed viability test of the year with seeds from 2000!  I sowed 3 kinds of beans, are we picking up a theme here?  Roc d'or yellow wax, Tavera haricot verts and Pension Italian flat. I also set out some basil and parsley plants.

I had managed to get most of the tomatoes in back around April 15th, but yesterday I added 4 cherry tomato plants to round out the tomato planting to a total of 28 plants.  This years goal was to have more plum tomatoes for sauce and canning and fewer slicers, but because we like so many kinds and want a variety, I still planted more than we probably need.  Seven Mariana hybrid romas and 7 Red Agate romas, and a couple of each; Cherokee purple, Georgia streak, Celebrity, Bolseno, Mosckvich and beef steak, and the four cherries; Sungold, Sundrop, Bi-color and Sweetie.  I think we won't see a shortage of mates this season!

I will leave you with a couple of photos of clematis that have started to bloom in the past couple of weeks, they're very happy with all the rain.  Here is Niobe, transplanted last year to this sunnier spot, it grew and grew but never flowered, this year it is covered with buds.

 This is Nelly Moser below, very happy on the fence between the veggie garden and the lawn.

and up close

I'm glad for all the rain, but am looking forward to warmer weather, it is May after all, seems weird to have the heater running.  I'll try to write more this month, there is certainly plenty to write about!

Another month of garden madness

 Peony Festiva Maxima with Siberian Iris Gay Butterflies 

This past month- yes it's been an entire month since my last post- has been a month full of gardening. I know that comes as no surprise to you my faithful readers.  The roses and peonies have been the highlight of our garden over these past weeks.  First this vigorous apricot climber, named Crepuscule- horrible sounding- though it means twilight in French, was in it's glory for about 2 weeks.  It stretches across 30 feet of the fence, 15 feet in both directions from its base.  The only thing that would make it more glorious would be if it were more fragrant, but I'm not complaining.

 This rose starts out pink and mellows to apricot

As the crepuscule rose (reminds me of corpuscle!) was fading, the pale pink New Dawn rose on the west side of the house came into its prime, with the jackmanii clematis blooming in unison, an idea I got from the Wayside gardens catalog.  This combo is a treat and it drapes in front of the kitchen window making dish washing much more pleasant.

Another climber that we got from Niche Gardens is the Lonicera (honeysuckle) Goldflame.  It's mop top of multicolored fragrant blooms crowned the top of the entrance gate for many weeks and is just now shedding onto the walkway below.

In the vegetable garden we were blessed with weeks of asparagus and now we move into the full flush of spring goodness with peas, beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, chois, kale and onions threatening to produce more than we can possibly consume.  This is one of the thickest and tallest stands of peas we have ever grown.  When picking them yesterday they were so tall and so many that my arms actually started to get tired!  And wow are they sweet.

In the past two weeks I've also been working at getting the summer garden planted, tomatoes are in and staked, 2 dozen plants this year.  The slicers are: Bolseno, Cherokee Purple, Big Beef, Celebrity, Mrs. Benson and Georgia Streak.  Two kinds of plum tomatoes; Red Agate and Marianna and two cherries, Sungold and Sugar Cherry.  We are in a never ending search for a red cherry tomato that we like, sweet and not too tough a skin and every year we try a new variety, every year we are a little disappointed.  I think its hard to beat the sweetness of the Sungold.  If you know of a great red cherry- leave me a comment about it.

I also planted cucumbers, squash, beans, basil and sweet potatoes.  Still need to set out the peppers and eggplants and then we will be pretty well set for summer.  I just love having a garden that I can walk out into and ponder dinner or run to for a green onion, bunch of cilantro or handful of spinach for the morning omelet or dinner tacos.  It's work to keep it all going and there are days when I question our sanity in growing such a big garden, but most of the time, I'm grateful to be able to have this spot of earth where I can enjoy the green of plants, the blue of the sky and feel the sun that nourishes my body and the plants that feed us.

Goldflame Honeysuckle

Ever since we built this entryway to our garden a couple of years ago, I've been looking for the right vine to grow on it. I didn't want something that would completely take over and cover up the lovely design, like a jasmine for instance.

I finally settled on this Goldflame Honeysuckle, Lonicera x heckrottii that I found at Niche Gardens up the road from us. It's non-invasive and though it's not truly a climber, with help, the vines will eventually make it to the top. In bud it is pinky purple.

And once the flowers open, they are quite showy, almost like a fuscia which cannot be grown around here- it's too hot.

I planted one on each side of the arbor, I can' wait to see the vines cover the top, these gorgeous flowers hanging down. Unfortunately, they are not fragrant like their Japanese cousin.