July 8, 2020
Liz Writes Life
Oh boy, did I relish the cooler temperatures last week,
especially at night when it got down to the upper-40s. It really cooled-off the
house with all the windows open and ceiling fans going.
The red roses are finally blooming, but I have only been able
to enjoy the gorgeous fragrance from three. Why, you ask? Well, it is cuz I
have not pruned either of the rose bushes for at least three years. Both are
getting very tall and that is where the red one is putting its blooms -- at six
to eight feet high. I can’t smell them up there even when I am on my
tippy-toes! Hum, nobody’s fault, but mine. Guess I need to prune them back
after they are done with this batch of roses. Yeah, right.
The tall perennial yarrow is just now turning bright yellow.
It looks so good near the large Shasta daisies and volunteer magenta lambs’
ears. The positioning of my perennials was not very well planned, but I think I
like it that way. It is a “wild” garden for sure. Can’t believe one large
volunteer columbine still has its lavender and purple blooms. I really want to
transplant several of the younger volunteer columbines into a grouping in this
spot under the pine tree. Maybe it will get done right after I prune the rose
bushes! Yep, right, sure, hopefully.
After the end-of-June-week of heat, it looked like June 29
and 30th would be much cooler and perfect for transplanting. Nothing like 70 degree temps compared to 102!
Still, it took some talking to myself, (you know getting up the gumption,) but
I transplanted over 30 of the onions that had been started from seed. They were
about seven inches tall and it was the perfect time. They look great! Some
didn’t get transplanted; cuz I was tired and decided they would make nice green
onions in a week or two. Smiley face!
I also transplanted chocolate mint to the vegetable garden in
a somewhat shady spot between hollyhocks and a six-foot-wide bush that turns
red in the fall. Darn, can’t remember its name. Oops. Anyway, the mint
transplanted well. This mint has been fighting for its space in the wild
perennial flower garden and it is not as prolific as the regular mint. So I
wanted to try giving it a bigger space. Enough might grow that I can harvest
the leaves for tea.
Oh, the story on the green beans! Only one plant came up from
the first planting, so I took red solo cups and cut-out the bottom-inch, buried
them in the soil and planted two beans apiece. To get them started, I soaked them
overnight. That was back at the end of May. Several weeks ago, I lost patience
and decided to check out why this batch were not growing and started carefully
pulling up the red solo cups. Nope, no sign of the beans. Finally, found a
mushy bean. Hum? Then, I noticed a mole tunnel running parallel with the bean
row. But, I thought they were protected by the red solo cups?
So, I checked the internet and it claimed that moles eat
insects and bugs not seeds or beans. One site said that mice go down the mole
tunnels and eat the seeds. Hum, these mole tunnels are a problem this year as I
lost a second cucumber seedling to a tunnel. I must admit that the tunnels are
harder to see with several inches of lawn clippings on the soil. One video
suggested using hot pepper spices to put down the holes to warn them off. I
really thought the red solo cups would protect the beans from cutworms and the
mole tunnels, so now I need to re-think my planting style for beans.
Gotta tell ya’ all that gardens seem to be a challenge this
year. Nearly everyone I have talked to has had to replant seeds two and three
times. I am not the only one complaining about mole tunnels; and gophers seem
to be abundant as well, especially in lawns. (I don’t have a lawn.)
I can’t believe how much the zucchini plants have grown and
it looks like the smaller plant has a two-inch zucchini on it! So, I try not to
tout the wonderful growth of the zucchini to the slower-growing cucumbers and
cantaloupe. Five tomato plants are growing well, but one Roma is extra small although
it looks OK and has blossoms.
I fertilized most of the vegetable plants, including tomatoes,
and also flowers like the glads, cosmos, four o’clocks, dahlia and amaranths.
Hopefully, it will do the trick and give the cucs and cantaloupe a kick!
Happy gardening and enjoy these few days of milder temps!
Liz
Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She
is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past
year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.
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