Gardening Journal

The entries are presented from newest to oldest. If you wish to read them chronologically, then simply start at the bottom and move up.

July 20, 2007

This has been a really weird year for gardening at our house. Not a single seed we have planted this year has germinated. Not old seed, not new seed. We can't figure out if something is wrong with the soil we bought or something else is happening. The things we got at the nurseries are doing OK but not seeds. We took some old fencing that neighbors have torn down to put up new fences and made raised beds out of it. We got some free top soil through Freecycle online and some good compost from our daughter that they weren't going to use plus potting mix and our own lovely compost to fill them. So far we have two but we are going to do more as we have tons of the wood. We used old 4 x 4 post for the corners. It works really well. We had gotten two zucchini which we haven't ever tried here in the container garden and 4 Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, a Roma and a larger one but can't remember the name. Then in the other one we have 4 cucumber plants. We usually use seed for cucumbers but this time we decided to use starts. We planted some spinach the other day but don't know yet is this seed will work. It isn't new as I thought I still had a packet of the Ed Hume spinach I but couldn't find it. His stuff is really good here since he is from Seattle making them right for this climate. We also planted some cilantro but Dean used the wrong seed, it's older and I had gotten some new this season. I love Park Seeds stuff. it grows so well so it'll be interesting to see if any of it comes up. Last week, we had record breaking heat and this week it has rained for 5 days. The garden likes the warm and the sun but prefers the water. It didn't get enough water during the heat spell. Dean nearly killed his Gerbera Daises not giving them water often enough. He had to make a couple wooden slats to make a tent of the orange one. It nearly cooked but this week it's uncovered and doing well. I got lots of Calibracoa this year or as you might know them, Million Bells or Mini Petunias. I love them but they aren't growing as well this year as last. I wanted to get some Blue Eyed Grass but never got into a nursery to get any. The Big Box stores and Walmart didn't have any. I love true blue in my garden and it is becoming more and more available but not so much in the discount places. I am to try to plant my own stuff this coming spring in doors so I don't have to pay those prices at the good nurseries. Ouch! The flower bed by the front door is supposed to be red, white and "blue" so no purple flowers next year. I am going to some day get around to planting a summer blooming Clematis or two in my huge Rhoddy by the door. They are bare all year after a short bloom time so I think a Clematis gives it color for the rest of the summer. The Rhoddy blooms around May 21 and is over by June first so it should work just fine.
 

Summer 2006

When we first moved into this house 13 years ago, there was no garden, just a huge rhododendron and a sick azalea and they were both in the front yard.. In the backyard, someone had tried once as there were two raised beds, but they were a total mess. Some kids had broken a bunch of bottles in them making an awful mess. We cleaned the soil up as much as possible and tore it all up making just lawn as it wasn't salvageable. We have made moveable planter boxes to grown veggies and strawberries in and it's working quite well. I want to stake out a space that I would put a bed then remove the grass, put down weed blocker to cover the soil then fill with a mulch. Then we could move our planter boxes onto it and have an easier time mowing and with weeds.

The first crops we actually grew in the boxes was only 3 years ago but we had good luck for the most part. The main reason we don't try to plant indoors is first and foremost, we rent and if need be our garden could go with us and secondly but probably the most important reason, we have no soil. Our are is a moraine from Mount Rainier and in most of the yard we have 2 inches of soil at best. It's mostly roadbed sized rock with little soil. To dig a hole, my husband has to sift the rock out to have decent enough soil for the plants to grow in. He has to supplement what's left with compost or compost and top soil which is my favorite but the most expensive route. We started composting some years back and have gotten some really good results.  For the fertilizer part of composting we add the contents of our bunny's boxes. We use shredded newspaper and it makes a great fertilizer so his boxes get dumped right in there. We have a great worm farm in there too. That's the main reason why it has taken us so long to get a nice yard and garden going. Growing lawn in those conditions it tough too. The main problem is my gardener, he's too sick most of the time in spring and early summer. He has allergy driven asthma and this area of the country really sidelines him.

About 5 years ago, we started trying to make our yard more bird friendly and last year started working on attracting butterflies. We had about 4 or 5 different birds come and 2 hummingbirds originally and this year, including hummers, we've counted 18 different species of birds. We have a butterfly flit through here on his way to a tastier yard. When the lilacs were in bloom in stopped by for a few minutes but as soon as the Buddleia (butterfly Bush) bloom we should have a bunch more lingering visits. They are in bud now so it shouldn't be long. They are really quite funny. We got the two (1 white & 1 purple) last year at Home Depot but my husband only got one hole dug and enriched so the other sat on the patio all winter in it's nursery pot yet. I was afraid it wasn't going to make this spring but he finally was able to get it planted in early June I think. The size of the other one was nearly 3 times bigger when he put the poor white one in the ground but it is growing by leaps and bounds and is also in bud.
July 8, 2006