A Busy Spring in the Garden! May-June 2017

 

 

 

        Happy 4th of July! 

 

 

 

 

Snickers & Tate, my garden helpers.

May and June were very busy for me.  I have been working my day job (nurse), went on a family vacation, adopted a 2nd puppy (Tate), and gardening like a mad woman. This is my excuse for missing a month of blogging this year.  Please forgive me.

Here are my gardening updates:

The Vegetable Garden:

The vegetable garden is growing in nicely.  I have already harvested several types of greens including: kale, chard, Chinese cabbage, nasturtium blooms, chives and basil.  I have been munching on snap peas steadily. These are "cut and come again" types of vegetable, so I will continue to harvest them throughout the summer.

The tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries and zucchini are starting to form fruit, but these are still small and green. I hope to have ripe fruit by the end of the month.    

The root vegetables, autumn squash, eggplant, and watermelon are growing well... but I don't expect much production from them until autumn.

I was able to collect seed from a seven top turnip and Chinese cabbage that were left in the ground since last autumn.  They made wonderfully tall and bright sulfur-yellow flowers, and then seed pods.  The seed pods dried out nicely in the breeze.  It was simple to shake these into a bucket, and crush them with my hands so that the seeds fell out. I then tossed out the chaff and kept the seed for next year.  I even had enough to share with friends!

Something New:

I ordered and assembled an elevated garden bed for my deck. I painted it white to match my home.  It is filled with potting mix so that it will drain well, hold nutrients and remain relatively light weight (compared to topsoil.)  This summer, I am planting it with quick-growing lettuce, arugula, 'short 'n' sweet' carrots, and bok choy.

Next year, I plan to use it as an extension of my vegetable garden.  I will plant it with vegetables that do well in containers.  This will help to free up space in the regular garden bed so that I have room for vegetables that take up more space, such as tomatoes and squash. 

Garden Marker Test:

If you recall from my previous post, I am comparing the marking longevity of the markers shown in

the photograph below.  I marked wooden, plastic and metal plant labels with each type of ink, as well as pencil.  These have been sitting out in the sun and weather for about 5 months now.

So far, the regular sharpie ink has faded the most, especially on the plastic and metal labels.  The Inkzall ink is also fading away.  Meanwhile, the Artline Garden Marker ink, Sharpie Pro ink and

pencil appear to be legible on all types of plant labels.  The Artline Garden Marker ink appears to be the darkest, clearest and sharpest so far.

Note the fading ink of the Sharpie (S) and Inkzall (I) ink.

I will continue the comparison test through a full calendar year to see if any of the types of ink can hold up to the weather that long, so please look for an update in future posts.

Strawberries:

Last autumn, I built 3 raised beds of size about 4ft x 4ft.  I lined the bottoms with chicken wire so that the chipmunks couldn't dig under them.  This spring, I protected them from above with some chicken wire covers that I pegged into place with garden staples. So FINALLY, after 2 years of trying, I got a crop of strawberries!  I just had to erect a fortress to protect them from vermin and voila! Enough berries for pies and crumble!  And let me tell you... there is NOTHING better than a strawberry-rhubarb crumble made with berries straight from the garden. I recommend James Beard's recipe if you
are in need of one.

Shade garden in April - Early May 2017

 The Dry Shade Garden:

Shade Garden late May - June 2017

I planted a dry shade garden this last April as described in my previous blog post.  At the time I planted it, there was not much color to it.  Perhaps just more green than there had been, with some light yellows, pinks and peach colors.

Through May and June the flowers began to bloom.  The color scheme warmed up to include brighter yellows, pinks and hotter oranges with a background of green and blue.

Now,  with the full heat of summer, the colors are at a lower simmer of darker mauve, pink,

Shade Garden late June - early July 2017

purple/blues... and as a bonus: the gooseberries and blueberries are starting to ripen!

I love how the color scheme remains generally warm, but changes with the weather. I anticipate that it will cool down in autumn with the weather to cooler pinks, whites and blues. 












  Species Spotted: 
 
Now for my favorite report for you all:  The continuation of the list of species that I have seen in our small garden/yard (continued from my previous blog post).  This includes species seen flying above the yard and swimming within 10 feet of the lake shore.  It is amazing how many species can be found in so small of an area! 

Insects & Spiders:

Orchard Orbweaver

Continued from previous post....
48. Pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philinor)
49. Climber dragonfly (Tetragoneuria spp.)
50. Black carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus)
51. Little black ant (Monomorium minimum)
52. Termite (Rhinotermitidae flavipes)
53. Stilt bugs (Jalysus spp.)
54. Mosquitoes (Culcidae)
55. Mayflies (order Ephemeroptera)
56. Crane flies (Tipula spp.)
57. Deer fly (chrysops spp.)
58. Jumping spider (Family Salticidae)

Four-lined plant bug

59. Orchard orbweaver (leucauge venusta)
60. Four lined plant bug (peocilocapsus lineatus)
61. Red admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta)
62. Black swallowtail (Paplio polyxenes)
63. Green bottle fly (Phaenicia)
64. Hoverfly (Toxomerus)
65. Eastern forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis)
66. Flesh fly (exact type unknown)
67.  Bluets (Enallagma)
68. Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glucus) 
69. Monarch butterfly (Denaus plexippus)
70. Daddy longlegs (Opilones) 
71. Margined calligrapher (Toxomerus marginatus)
72. Japanese beetle (Papilla japonica) 
73. European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) 
74. Fourteen-spotted ladybug (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata) 
75. Narrow-winged damselfly (coenagrionidae)
76. Hover fly (Periphyllus)
77. Sweat bee (Halictus ligatus)

Left: Japanese Beetle.  Right: Bumble Bee

78. Great black wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus) 

Birds:
79. Ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilocus colubris)
80. Cooper's hawk (Accipeter cooperii)
81. Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura)

Mammals:
82. Raccoon (Procyon lotor)
83. Bats (species type unknown - only seen flying at a distance)

Ruby-Throated Humming Bird (female)

Fish (within 10 feet of shore in Clifford Lake) :
84. Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
85. Smallmouth bass (Micropteris dolomieui)

 Please forgive me for any incorrect and/or incomplete creature identifications; especially with regard to the insects.  I am neither an entomologist nor a trained natural scientist. I have identified these animals with the help of National Audobon Society field guides and internet google searches.   My list may not be perfect, but I have learned a lot from searching out and reading up on these creatures.  If you scroll to the very bottom of this blog page, there is a link to inaturalist.org.  I keep an ongoing list of the creatures that I am able to photograph there.  If someone is able to correct an identification that I have made, you will be able to see it there.

I hope to write another blog post near the end of this month.  Happy Independence Day and happy gardening everyone! 

Ruby-Throated Humming Bird (male)

European Paper Wasp

Fourteen-Spotted Lady Bug