Outside

My Problem Child

I have a perennial bed that has me completely flummoxed. This scraggly mess is located in prime real estate - right next to the deck and the screened porch. But yet, it looks so bad I've only included it in one picture of the lower garden over the past two years.

This was the first flower bed I planted when the garden was new, and I had such high hopes. The bed faces directly west, but because of the overhanging arborvitae, the front of the bed doesn't get sun until about 2:00 or 3:00 pm, and then the surrounding trees provide dappled shade in the mid-evening (as seen above). The very back of the bed doesn't get any direct sun, although it is very close, so it's bright.

Given this information, I decided to plant partial shade plants in the front, and shade plants in the back. The first summer it looked great. However, the second summer about half the plants didn't come back. Last year there were even fewer. This year all that grows here are some flowerless Siberian irises, a few daylilies, three stunted veronicas (speedwell - I don't remember the exact name), one very unhappy Ligularia "The Rocket," a few wandering Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'  (golden creeping Jenny), and one inexplicably happy peony that was there when we moved into the house (not seen in the photo, but on the far right).

At this point, I am completely ignoring this bed, as I'm not quite sure what to do with it. Since even daylillies - daylillies! - aren't thriving here, what will? I've added compost over the years, and there are worms, so the soil would seem to be okay. The front part of the bed is in shade until 2:30, direct sun from about 2:30 pm until 6:30 pm, then dappled shade thereafter. The very back of the bed gets no sun, but it's very bright.

So, does anyone have any wonderful ideas for how to make my problem child shine?

Mid-Summer Disappointment

Here it is, the end of July, and I should be reveling in the summer produce that should be bursting out of the garden. Well, that just ain't so. Since harvesting my garlic last week, I've been seriously disappointed - if not downright p.o.'ed - with my garden.

Last year I was pretty smug about my homemade rabbit fences. I used window screening and wooden posts, and didn't have rabbit problems at all in 2006. Well, this year is another story. Below are my bush beans, almost completely denuded of leaves. Since this photo was taken (on the 15th), the rabbits have finished off any remaining leaves and there are no longer any flowers. I didn't even take a picture of the pole beans on my trellis - the rabbits have nipped almost every vine - I believe I have about 5 (maybe) on the 5' trellis.

As I mentioned, there is also no produce coming from the garden. Last year, I had a lovely first harvest of tomatoes, beans and potatoes on the 18th of July. Well, here it is a day later, and I can definitely say there are zero beans and only green tomatoes.

But, I'm a gardener, so I need to find some postives here. Last night I noticed the first small zucchini, which should be ready to pick in a few days. Considering that last year I harvested exactly one squash - in October - I should be happy about that. Although the Diva cucumber vines are looking anemic, the lemon cucumber vines are flowering profusely and threatening to take over their bed. I have basil seedlings coming up, and my herbs are doing extremely well. And, even though all the tomatoes are green, the plants are lush and healthy, with lots of fruits and flowers.

I think this weekend I'll get out there and plant some fall crops. It might be a little hot, but if I wait too much longer they won't have time to mature. Plus, while I'm doing that I can plan for the new - and permanent - rabbit fencing for the upper garden. Spouse doesn't know it yet, but this fall he'll be helping me dig trenches and nail up fencing in the space between the ground and the wooden fence.

If nothing else, spending some time planting for the future will help turn my garden attitude around.

This is NOT what I ordered

These were supposed to be Straight Eight cucumbers, a variety I've grown for several years now. They are most decidedly NOT Straight Eight cucumbers - I'm pretty sure they're a pickling variety. You can eat them, although they're very seedy, but I don't think they're nearly as good as Straight Eight. I ordered them from Veseys, which must have had a mix-up at the sorting plant.

I guess it's time to make some pickles.

Disaster Strikes!

While I was in Toronto for business last week, an unimaginable disaster happened - it rained.

Before I left, I watered all my beds and containers very thoroughly because rain was not expected, and the temperatures were still hovering around 100F. I went merrily on my way on Monday, and on Tuesday night there were torrential thunderstorms with about 3.5-4 inches of rain. I was happily soaking up Canadian culture (i.e., Molson) and didn't think anything about it.

Then, when I got home on Thursday night, I took a quick walk around the garden and found this:

I guess this is what happens when tomatoes sit in standing water for 48 hours. When I heard from Spouse that it was raining on Tuesday night, I didn't think anything about it. But, when I got home Thursday night, the containers had more than an inch of standing water. I immediately dumped them out, but the damage was done. If I had known this would happen, I would've had Spouse out dodging lightning bolts to while tipping tomatoes.

The photo on the left shows Green Zebra, from which I've gotten nothing so far, and the cherry Sweet Baby Girl, which has been incredibly prolific. The photo on the right shows two Principe Borghese plants, with lots more fruit ready to be dried.

One interesting thing - not all the plants were affected this way. If you look at the next container in the right-hand photo, you'll see Brandy Boy looking almost perfect (Luckily it's at the back of the photo, otherwise you'd see that half of the Brandy Boy fruits have blossem end rot - the only plant out of fourteen with that particular problem - knock on wood.)

I'll leave them be for now. You never know, they may rebound - I have tremendous faith in the resiliency of plants. Besides, the Green Zebras were just an experiment, and now that the Yellow Pears are coming in, we'll miss the Sweet Baby Girls just a little bit less.

And in the meantime, we had a killer harvest of cherry tomatoes last night.

Rice Creek Gardens to Close

Rice Creek Gardens is closing, a true loss for the Twin Cities gardening community. According to the article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, one of the primary reasons because of a $200,000 assessment in the widening of Highway 65.

This is a real downer, as the gardens at Rice Creek are absolutely beautiful.

I suppose that time marches on and all things must change, especially when the nursery owner is 70, her partner is moving to Spring Grove (southeastern MN), and 16 acres will sell for about $5 million. However, as owner Betty Ann Addison says, "My customers say this is the only interesting thing in Blaine." How very, very true.