Maggie's Farm: SUNDAY IN THE GARDEN

Garden overview

What a lovely Sunday. We went for a walk up canyon and then into town for breakfast and errands. I haven't been to Chalfant Big Trees in quite a while and it was nice to browse their stock. We bought two purple pony flowering plums.

Purple Ponies (flowering plums) coming home

Purple Ponies ready for planting

These are to replace the two "purple" plums we have been nurturing from sticks harvested by a neighbor from the gorgeous tree down the street. For three years I've been wondering when these little trees will turn purple. After more inquiry I've learned that these probably grew from either (a) seeds fallen from the fruit of this tree (in which case they have reverted to a more wild state), or (b) shoots from below the graft (in which case they are a different species). Either way, they will likely never turn purple. The look like they will become quite pretty trees but I am going to move them because I've been planing for/wanting something purple where these two were planted.

Nancy (nectarine), Paula (plum) and Reliant (yellow peach) all with bare branches

This year, several of the fruit trees are leafing out in stages. They have anywhere from a quarter to two thirds of their branches dead looking while the others are leafing out beautifully. Upon closer inspection (over the past few weeks) it is clear that these branches are not dead, rather they are leafing out more slowly/later than their neighbors. We have no recollection of seeing this happen in previous years. I am optimistic that these will all fill out normally but it looks a bit worrisome. Coral (one of the Japanese Maples is showing the same symptoms.

Jim setting up irrigation for bed #12

Jim, the irrigation master, got back to work today getting the potato bed irrigation plumbed so we can plant and irrigate our seed potatoes. While he did this, I got to plant beds 10 and 11. We finally got our squash (acorn, marrow, zucchini, spaghetti, butternut and pumpkin) and corn in the ground.

Beds 10 & 11 planted

Watering newly planted squash and corn beds

Next it was time to prep the new bed, number 12, for planting potatoes. We had to add still more dirt and compost and mix it will. Then make troughs/furrows for planting the seed potatoes. I was reminded that this sculpting works much better with wet soil than dry as the dry soil just keeps falling back in place after you move it. Seems obvious, but I was a bit tired and slow to learn this! The final bed looks good and ripe for planting.

Bed 12 prepped

Seed potatoes ready for planting

These seed potatoes have been begging to be planted for weeks now. It is good to finally have time to finish building and prepping this bed so we can get them in the ground. We now have Yukon Gold, Norland Red, and All Blue potatoes planted.

Planting Yukon Golds

And more seed potatoes finally going into the ground

Extreme gardening... don't try this at home! (Jim's words)

After we got the potatoes planted, it was time to set the big tomato cages into place. This is a commitment to our belief (hope) that we will not get another frost. Before these are in place we had an easy option to cover this bed with hoops and plastic to protect the plants. Worst case scenario, we can wrap these pillars with tarps. It wouldn't be the first time we've done this. The tomatoes are growing so tall and bushy that I feared if we waited, they would incur too much damage when placing the new cages. While doing this, we trimmed all the low branches which were touching the ground. The plants look much happier and healthier. During this process, I was thrilled to discover that early girl has set her first fruit!