August Status Report

The blueberries are finished (much earlier than usual) and the strawberries have started producing again. We've been getting a few raspberries from the new plants. We had a few nice pears from the Ubileen and lots of small ones from the Orcas.

The tomatoes and peppers are still not looking great, except for the Cherokee Purple, which is finally ripening lots of tomatoes. I've picked one aubergine so far, with a few more coming.

The cucumbers are producing nicely, as is the zucchini. I pruned lots of leaves out of the zucchini, and so far there hasn't been any mildew. I also thinned out the melon leaves and cut off the growing tips. They had started to develop some mildew.

I've taken out the first row of bush beans. The second planting are ready to pick. I've sowed more lettuce, as well as kohlrabi, bok choi, and something called golden celery, with seeds from Grow Journey.

The big project now is removing most of the roses, one side of the lilies, and most of the herbs and lavender from the rose bed. I've decided I want more vegetable space and not so many flowers. Next year I'll plant a few new herbs and use the current herb bed for something else.

Status Report - July 23, 2018

Things have really been happening in the garden.  I've harvested the garlic and two of the potato plants.  We're now getting Stupice and Lizzano cherry tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, aubergines, carrots, chard, and kale.  The lettuce was very good (starts from Minto Island Growers) but have now bolted.  I've just planted the third sowing of green beans

and the last two rows of carrots.

 I also planted some cranberry beans.

 The leeks are ready but I haven't pulled any yet.

I started two Kale-ette plants from seed.  I moved them to the potato bed and put them under a shade cover because it's been in the 90s.

The herb bed has been a great success.  I'll do it again next year.

The rhubarb and squash bed is doing well.

The trough planter is really filling in.

 The new bed is filling in gradually.

 And the rose bed has been spectacular.

And last but not least we just picked all the pears on the Ubileen.  It was a bumper crop!

Roses

I'm really not much of a rose person, but I have two that I really love. And they're both blooming now.

The first one is Lillian Austin.  David gave me this rose when we got married, and it's moved with us several times.  It has also 'died' twice, but both times I had started a new one, so I've never lost it.

My other rose is The Oregonian.  There were lots of roses here when we bought the house and this is the only one I allowed to stay.

Both of these roses are tough and totally disease free.  And they both smell divine.

The Oregonian

This is the only rose I kept from Naomi Horn's rose garden.  It is vigorous, disease-free, and fragrant.

Lost of Firsts

Today the first rose, Lillian Austin, opened.

 Also first blossoms on the peas.

 The lemon daylily opened today.

And all the cistus in the front yard are in bloom.

 The salad greens that I planted on May 7 are all up, as are the beans.

Today I added compost, all-purpose fertilizer and 5 cups of fish bone meal to the sweet potato bed.  I then dug a trench down the center and put IRT plastic over the top.  I received the plants yesterday, but they are a bit bedraggled, so I put them in a glass of water to recover.

The tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are all in pots in the cold frame.  They're ready to go in but we're due for a couple of cool days with rain, so I think I'll keep them under cover for now.  I planted the squash in two large pots on the deck, also four cucumber plants with a cage around them.  The melon starts are just about setting-out size. 

Oh, and the parsnips have finally come up.  But alas, no asparagus yet.

The older lemon cypress has died suddenly, maybe from drying out when it was hot.  We've decided to find a home somewhere else for the newer one.  Too fussy. 

The pots on the deck are starting to look really nice.