May Garden - 2nd Half - 2021

I'm not feeling inspired, so here are the pics.  When the mood strikes, I'll rearrange them and add commentary.  

 

Garden at the End Of May

This is the view from the computer room window.  It makes me smile.

The tulips are lovely and the daffodils are mostly finished.

The late daffodils are often multiples.

We have put up the screen house, but so far, the bugs have not sent us sheltering.  The rhododendron on the right of the picture has not bloomed yet.  On the left are bits of scaffolding waiting for Todd to do the roof.

Isn't this the sweetest violet!  It is tiny - the fabric it is sitting on is a sweatshirt, so perhaps you can get an idea of scale.

This is the tulip that led to fencing the tulip garden.  Some critter (rabbit?) ate much of this clump of tulips - you can see the stem eaten down in the center.  They got some, but not all of these pink tulips when they were just emerging.  D put fences around the tulips and no further damage was seen.

One of the flowers that just appears is speedwell.

These are tiny, tiny flowers, about the size of a pencil eraser (for those of you who are of the age of using pencils!

Just as cute as can be, and lots of fun to find.

We have been seeing more bees this year than in ages.  Some look like honey bees.  If you are interested in knowing more about bees, here is an article about bees by the Honey Bee Conservancy.  It's a quick read.  There are about 400 different bees in New York.

This strawberry plant promises lots of berries!

Because of slug nibbling, it was decided to remove the mulch, to reduce the damp environment slugs love.   Check back to see how that worked.

If you were wondering how we got the plants started, D set up a garden area in the basement.  There are around 30 LED lightbulbs, 60-100 watt.  They are at variable heights, so that he can keep them as close to the plants as possible, and since they are LED, they don't get hot.  The plants in this picture are mostly brugmansia and tomatoes.

The zinnias, marigolds, basil, parsley are hiding somewhere.

The new plant to experiment with this year is Brugmansia.  It's also called Angel Trumpet.  It is not expected to bloom this year.

Here is a Brugmansia ready to plant out.  

Notice the root ball - there is almost nothing but roots.

It's a little hard to see through the gazing ball, but that kneeler has been wonderful. It is the standard foam pad, but it sits a couple of inches off the ground, and there are handles on the sides that make it easier when you need to get up and down and to pick it up to move it.  

Then, the entire thing can be flipped, and it becomes a seat.

This is the beginnings of a new garden.

This is the east side of the house.  You see windows for the master bedroom (with air conditioner), bathroom in the middle, and D's room on the right.  The house is well insulated, and that little air conditioner will keep it comfortable all summer.  My guess is that I was sitting on the new bench when this picture was taken.

Strawberries - 2019 Edition

We loved having fresh good strawberries, and now that we have our little house, we decided we missed them enough that D made a bed beside the driveway and ordered 50 plants of Mara Des Bois.  We planted 35 and gave 15 to the neighbor across the street who loves to garden.

Even though we live in the "city," we have deer, woodchucks, skunk, squirrels, chipmunks, and lots of birds.  And these guys all love strawberries (well, maybe not the deer - they love apple trees).  To protect the plants from predators,  an arch of fencing was put over them, and when the berries began to appear, plastic mesh was put over the arch.

We were able to protect the bed from the mammals and all but one bird.

Alas, it looks like slugs like strawberries.

Time for "Sluggo".

So far, we have picked 17 strawberries.

oh, boy, we can eat our fill!

I have had a dish of strawberries each day this week,
but today I picked seriously.
I picked 9 cups of berries, which cleaned to 7 cups.
Pig out time!

There is quite a variety of size and shape.

We're a little disappointed.
Although these are far superior to supermarket strawberries, this year we have had a huge amount of rain (2.5" in the first seven days of this month, with rain every single day!).  I wonder if this is why the flavor seems less intense than we remembered.

Still good, just not amazing.

On June 8, I picked 10 cups.  I froze some.

On June 10, a friend picked 6 cups and I picked 5.
June 11 - 4 quarts of sliced berries ready for freezer.  I didn't measure as I picked, but probably 7 quarts.
June 13 - two quarts ready for the freezer.  Gave the chickens lots of moldy berries.  Scared a snake in the garden!
June 18 - picked 5 quarts - froze 3.
June 22 - picked 4 quarts - froze 2 1/2

Mara des Bois Strawberries

Our first 11 strawberries.

Oh, my, are they ever good.

They definitely live up to their reputation.

The first flavor is strawberry sweet.

Then you notice a tang.

Marvelous!

They are ever-bearing, so we should have small quantities off and on all summer.

Mmmmmm.

June with Berries, Chicks, Garden & Dog

One of the broody hens has been sitting on eggs for over a month.

Another one had one chick.

A different one had two chicks.

But the third just sat and sat and sat.

We decided that her eggs were not viable,

so we went to Frog Pond and bought five pullets.

(Pullet is a girl baby.)

The fifth chick is probably under her keeping warm.

We were worried that she would not take to them - or them to her - but everyone seems quite content.

The dog enjoys the chickens, especially now that he has figured out that he can steal eggs if they lay them in the bushes. That's a disadvantage of keeping free-ranging chickens and dogs.

We tried never giving him raw egg so he wouldn't discover it,

but he's not as stupid as he looks.

~

The strawberry beds are caged in case the chickens get through the fence.

There are two hills of berries and one fallow area for next year.

They are just starting to turn.

The berries are a French berry, Mara des Bois, prized for its flavor.

They do not keep and they do not ship well.

Restaurants pay a premium because of the flavor.

There are none ready yet - sigh.

There is a great article in Smithsonian Magazine about them.

~

The raspberries are not ready yet, either.

Sigh, again.

But I could be picking Swiss chard.

Not quite the same. . .

June 18 - one of the gardens.

Happy Gardening!