Well, we didn't get the rain that was predicted on Friday so on Saturday I hauled water to the cornfield to water. The little green wagon that pulls behind the lawn mower holds 8 cat litter boxes and I think that I made six trips. I got all of the south half and the melon patch done and half of the Johnny's sweet corn. I am still considering laying a hose through the grove to allow for easier watering. I may have to get some measurements to see what I have for hose and how wide the grove is. I am not sure how easy it will be to drag that much hose to the end of the cornfield.
The weed situation is pretty grim. With all the moisture that we have had the lawn and the weeds are flourishing. I did weed the orchard, rhubarb, blueberries, asparagus and black raspberries. There were two holes in the row of asparagus and the two new transplants that were grown for those spots are now planted and everything got a drink of water. There were a few blossoms on one variety of blueberry and lots of blossoms on the raspberries.
I am noticing that there are blossoms on the older growth of raspberries (what we planted last year). There is also lots of new growth coming which is not flowering yet. Perhaps it will not flower until next year. I will have to note where the fruit comes and then make note what to prune. These plants are transplants from those that have grown wild on the edges of the grove so we do not know what variety they were.
The grape plants got weeded and watered but I still have to weed the patio stones under the arbor. All four of the grape vines are getting lots of little baby grapes.
I have lots of weeding left to do in the flower beds so that will be on the agenda for this week as well as planting the rest of the sweet corn. It will be interesting to see if there is a benefit come harvest to staggering the plantings of the corn.
Took Sunday off to go to the lake for Father's Day. The mosquitoes were thick by the time we got back to the farm so there was no chance for evening weeding. I did harvest a few radishes and made some kale chips to take along to the lake.
Happy Father's Day, Dad!
Showing posts with label rhubarb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rhubarb. Show all posts
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
gone three days and look what happens
Last night i returned after three wonderful days in Kansas. Well, to be honest it was two days in the car, one fun evening, one lovely day and one fun breakfast in Kansas. The reason for the Kansas trip was to attend the graduation of my youngest, Caitlin, who received her Master's Degree in Interior Architecture and Product Design from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. I couldn't be prouder and that event deserves its own post and I will do that soon.
A lot happened while I was gone.
We had a shot of rain on Friday night or Saturday, more rain during the day on Sunday and still more rain during the night on Sunday night. I hear predictions of more rain Monday afternoon or evening and maybe more still the next couple of days.
The lawn grew. It desperately needs to be mowed but of course it cannot be mowed while it is this wet. One good thing is that by the time I am able to mow it i should have enough grass clippings to pick up and spread between the rows in my new growing space. Not only is it long but there are wide swaths of yellow dandelions.
The orchard--the apple trees and plum trees are blooming. We have flowers opening on both apple trees and both plum trees. Both of the pears, last year's and the replacement planted a few weeks ago, are getting leaves and I am hoping that flowers won't be far behind. The flowering cherry, an ornamental tree is also blooming. I am hoping that will bring the mason bees to the yard and they will find the house I set out for them.
The asparagus went from being a bunch of spears to being fern-like over the weekend. I knows that there is probably a word for that but it eludes me now.
The rhubarb is getting bigger and still needs desperately to be weeded.
More of the raspberry canes are leafing out.
The blueberries do not look any worse. The one variety still has no leaves but the other two varieties are looking okay. I am glad for the rain because I think the rain water might be better than the well water. Last year I pH tested my well water and it was alkaline so it is not helping to acidify my soil. I think that I will make an attempt to capture rainwater over the next few days and use that for watering.
The peas are up. The transplanted kale are surviving. The potatoes are just starting to come in a couple spots. Maybe some varieties are earlier than others. Nothing coming yet from the strawberries, a couple of the grapevines are just starting to get leaves the others are not yet. Nothing much from the garlic.
A lot happened while I was gone.
We had a shot of rain on Friday night or Saturday, more rain during the day on Sunday and still more rain during the night on Sunday night. I hear predictions of more rain Monday afternoon or evening and maybe more still the next couple of days.
The lawn grew. It desperately needs to be mowed but of course it cannot be mowed while it is this wet. One good thing is that by the time I am able to mow it i should have enough grass clippings to pick up and spread between the rows in my new growing space. Not only is it long but there are wide swaths of yellow dandelions.
The orchard--the apple trees and plum trees are blooming. We have flowers opening on both apple trees and both plum trees. Both of the pears, last year's and the replacement planted a few weeks ago, are getting leaves and I am hoping that flowers won't be far behind. The flowering cherry, an ornamental tree is also blooming. I am hoping that will bring the mason bees to the yard and they will find the house I set out for them.
The asparagus went from being a bunch of spears to being fern-like over the weekend. I knows that there is probably a word for that but it eludes me now.
The rhubarb is getting bigger and still needs desperately to be weeded.
More of the raspberry canes are leafing out.
The blueberries do not look any worse. The one variety still has no leaves but the other two varieties are looking okay. I am glad for the rain because I think the rain water might be better than the well water. Last year I pH tested my well water and it was alkaline so it is not helping to acidify my soil. I think that I will make an attempt to capture rainwater over the next few days and use that for watering.
The peas are up. The transplanted kale are surviving. The potatoes are just starting to come in a couple spots. Maybe some varieties are earlier than others. Nothing coming yet from the strawberries, a couple of the grapevines are just starting to get leaves the others are not yet. Nothing much from the garlic.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
the berries and asparagus get a little attention
The past couple days I have been working on weeding, fertilizing and mulching the raspberry canes, blueberry bushes and the asparagus. The raspberry canes were transplants that were moved from the edge of the grove to a new spot where hopefully they can be managed to grow bigger berries. Our are black raspberry canes that start out red and turn black when ripe. Quite a few of the transplanted canes are getting leaves on them so I am hoping that most of them made it thru the winter.
The asparagus is some that we started from seed last winter and planted outside when the ground warmed up. We dug a trench and planted the plants in the bottom of it and gradually added soil to the trench as the plants got taller. This spring there are one or more spears popping up by nearly every plant. There were a couple of plants that didn't make it through the summer so we had a couple gaps in the spacing. I was hoping that they might come back this spring so we will watch for them and if they don't come perhaps replace them with new plants. I did start more seeds this winter again in case there was a failure over winter. Now the decision will be whether to share the new plants or start another row.
The blueberries have been a struggle. We planted them in 2011. Six plants, two each of three varieties. We did not plan ahead for them and prepare a spot with acidic soil and so I have been trying to amend the soil around them. Last year they did not grow and looked sickly, kind of yellow. We did several things hoping to have both quick and long term changes in the pH. I was kind of afraid that they might not come up this year. This year I purchased a pH meter and so far my readings suggest that my blueberry soil is still too alkaline. All of the plants seem to have come up. Two of the varieties are doing better than the third. They are yellow in color but getting little leaves on them so I am going to do a little more research and see if I can find out if that is normal.
I did not get the rhubarb weeded but that is on my list for next week. This weekend I will be gone watching my youngest receive her Master's Degree in Interior Architecture and Product Design at Kansas State.
As an update the greenhouse is way too warm so once I get back the plants in there are going in the ground. There is the possibility of rain so I am hoping that if it is cloudy it will stay cooler in there. I am currently trying to get an inventory of the transplants that I have so that I can work on my garden plan while riding in the car.
All of the orchard trees are getting bigger buds and little leaves. One of the plums has tiny white flowers coming. The other plum has two different types of wood so I am not sure if that is the way that it is supposed to grow or if there are suckers coming from below the graft. More research needed...
The asparagus is some that we started from seed last winter and planted outside when the ground warmed up. We dug a trench and planted the plants in the bottom of it and gradually added soil to the trench as the plants got taller. This spring there are one or more spears popping up by nearly every plant. There were a couple of plants that didn't make it through the summer so we had a couple gaps in the spacing. I was hoping that they might come back this spring so we will watch for them and if they don't come perhaps replace them with new plants. I did start more seeds this winter again in case there was a failure over winter. Now the decision will be whether to share the new plants or start another row.
The blueberries have been a struggle. We planted them in 2011. Six plants, two each of three varieties. We did not plan ahead for them and prepare a spot with acidic soil and so I have been trying to amend the soil around them. Last year they did not grow and looked sickly, kind of yellow. We did several things hoping to have both quick and long term changes in the pH. I was kind of afraid that they might not come up this year. This year I purchased a pH meter and so far my readings suggest that my blueberry soil is still too alkaline. All of the plants seem to have come up. Two of the varieties are doing better than the third. They are yellow in color but getting little leaves on them so I am going to do a little more research and see if I can find out if that is normal.
I did not get the rhubarb weeded but that is on my list for next week. This weekend I will be gone watching my youngest receive her Master's Degree in Interior Architecture and Product Design at Kansas State.
As an update the greenhouse is way too warm so once I get back the plants in there are going in the ground. There is the possibility of rain so I am hoping that if it is cloudy it will stay cooler in there. I am currently trying to get an inventory of the transplants that I have so that I can work on my garden plan while riding in the car.
All of the orchard trees are getting bigger buds and little leaves. One of the plums has tiny white flowers coming. The other plum has two different types of wood so I am not sure if that is the way that it is supposed to grow or if there are suckers coming from below the graft. More research needed...
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