GERMINATION AND SPRING FLOWERS

 

bush beans and zucchini popping up!!

I love to see the new seedlings emerge!  I cannot tell you how often I run out to check to see if newly planted seeds have germinated and the sprouts are emerging above the soil surface.  This weekend the zucchini and bush bean bed finally began showing signs of life.  I am glad we opted to keep this bed covered as in the past, a good percentage of our bean seedlings have been eaten as soon as they sprout.  Once they are a few inches tall, we will thin them as needed and should be able to uncover the bed  with less risk of predation.

Speaking of covered beds, our chili pepper plants are doing really well under cover.  

 

garden salsa and purple jalapeno

We did encounter a surprise flood in one of our pepper beds.  An irrigation tube blew and the bed was hit by a gush of water which knocked over two "holy mole" pepper plants.  Fortunately, we are still doing shorter irrigation periods while the transplants establish roots so not there was not too much water was lost or damage done.  The plants maintained root contact and we were able to fix the leak and replant the toppled peppers the same day. Hopefully they will survive relatively unscathed.  This is one of the many reasons it is so important to walk through the garden every single day!

Eggplant nestled amongst the mesclun mix surrounded by sugar snap peas

The sun is pretty intense here starting mid to late spring so we have decided to experiment with some shade structures for more sensitive plantings.  We are learning that when plants are described as needing "full sun" they do not mean 5,000 foot elevation full sun in our climate.  The beds with low crops are easily covered with our hoop structures but taller items like the trellised sugar snap peas and eggplant need something more creative.

 

adding shade cloth to our experimental structure with the help of my brother David (background) who is visiting for the weekend

It looks like this structure will work although we have a couple of issues.  We are a bit shy of shade cloth so have prioritized the west and south sides of the bed as these get the most intense suns.  We also anticipate the sugar snap peas will grab onto the shade cloth instead of the trellis as they seem to be slow learners (just a bit of anthropomorphism). Also, if we do extend the shade cloth down the north side of the bed, the blackberries will also become entangled in it so.... maybe it will remain as is for this year.  

Speaking of the blackberries... 

  

blackberries getting out of control

I am overdue on tying up the blackberries.  The are growing so quickly and, much to our excitement, beginning to set a lot of fruit.  I need to tie them up this week.  It is definitely a two person job.  One person gets to wear heavy leather gloves and hold the cane in place against the trellis while the other victim (typically me) goes in barehanded to tie the cane in place.  I usually wind up looking like I've been attacked by a pack of feral cats by the time I am done with this project.  I continue looking for a better system.  We have considered creating a V-shaped structure to confine the vines but realized this would mean we would be reaching in amongst the thorns every time we wanted to harvest berries.  Any suggestions would be welcome here.

remaining tomato bed "with strings attached"

I finally found time to string up the remaining tomato bed.  At my brother's suggestion, I am trying this technique on only one of my "Kellogg's breakfast tomato plants" and leaving the other unstrung and untrimmed as a control..... we'll see if one produces more fruit than the other.   Of course there are other variables, including the fact that one is planted on the sout hside of the bed (and is slightly larger), the other is on the north side.  But it will be interesting nonetheless.

There is another thorny project waiting to be tackled.... 

rose arbor

OUCH!!!

The rose arbor between the chicken run and the garden is also getting out of hand.  These are firecracker roses which are beautiful, abundant bloomers.  Unfortunately, the blooms are not the only thing they produce in abundance..... the thorns are numerous, large and frequently draw blood.

On a recent dog walk down canyon, I was thrilled to see the tiger lilies are beginning to bloom.  These are one of my favorite wildflowers (along with the mariposa lilies).  

 

tiger lily on Lower Rock Creek w/ Mt. Tom