Seed Starting List

Yesterday, I planted the following seeds in little six-packs:
---Sumter Cucumbers (pickling)--18 seeds
---California Wonder Bell Peppers--6
---Marconi Red Peppers--5
---Black Hungarian Peppers--5
---Utah Celery--8
---Russian Tarragon--6
---Safflower--5
---Dill--7
---Comfrey--3
---Kudzu (for bio-mass)--6
---Fennel--6
---Amish Melon--4
Some of the seed numbers are small, because that's all of the seed that I was given by my son, Bryce, who has purchased a huge (really huge!) number of vegetable and herb seeds (all open pollinated or heirloom seeds). Many of his seed packets have less than 10 seeds in them, and I am growing-out some plants to increase his stock of seeds.

True Confessions . . .

As you likely have noticed from pictures of my garden that I have posted, I do, indeed, have weeds in my yard. Is anyone's yard totally weed free? That's not likely unless they have a personal gardener or a yard maintenance crew. Yesterday the Fresno County Master Gardeners held their annual home garden tour. They feature five homes with different types of gardens, kind of something-for-everyone. You can take pictures, ask questions (MG are posted at each garden), and take away new ideas that you might incorporate into your own garden. To make these gardens look perfect takes many long man-hours, put in by a team in each garden, over the course of several weeks. They do a lot of WEEDING, pruning and planting to bring each yard up to perfection. With my yard, I have no personal gardener or yard maintenance crew. The last eight years I have been going to college (including several summers), which has taken all of my time. I was able to get out into my garden only a couple of times, literally, over the course of each semester. I would also work in my yard during the winter breaks, but spring (Easter) breaks were used to write reports. This spring I spent two weeks in Sandpoint, Idaho, visiting my parents, so seed-starting/planting was pushed back and the weeds got a foot-hold. I have been re-doing my "sewing" room, turning it into a food storage room. Everything has been removed so I could paint, and that "everything" sits in my living room, family room and dining room (what a mess!). So, you can see, my gardening has taken a back seat for some time. And, spring has gotten ahead of me! With our heatwave early this season, the weeds burst forth with a vengeance, especially the nut sedge (it's worse than Bermuda grass). I also, with the help of my husband, Dave, am trying to get a new vegetable garden in. This has taken several weeks as Dave is working on his Master's Degree through National Schools, so he has been intensively working on that the past four weeks. When the new boxes are in place and planted, I will be able to focus more on the rest of the yard. The front yard is nearly weed-free, and looks nice for the neighbors. My husband has also bought and planted numerous flowers in the front yard, because he "wants lots of color!" Now, I will focus more on the backyard, especially the veggie boxes, and get into a working routine.

My To-Do List . . .

Cancer---this is #1 for growing all crops and transplanting into the garden; it is good for making seed beds.

Because today is a super-good day grow everything, I will start seeds for my new box gardens (which aren't in place yet, but will be soon!), and I will post a list of them tomorrow.

Yesterday we received 1/2" of rain!

Bad Bugs . . .

Back in my April 30th post, I mentioned the Hoplia Beetle attacking light-colored flowers, especially roses. I thought I would show you what they look like (see below). According to UC Davis, the hoplia beetles particularly like "white, yellow, apricot, and pink roses. Early buds and flowers of roses may be destroyed by chewing. The beetles do not feed on leaves. Hoplia beetles also feed on the flowers of calla, citrus, irises, lilies, magnolia, olive, peonies, poppies, and strawberries, and on the young leaves and fruit of grapes, peaches, and almonds. . . They develop slowly, remaining in the larval or pupal stage throughout the winter. In early spring they complete development and adult beetles emerge from the soil." Hand-picking (or knocking them off of the flowers into a container of soapy water) will reduce their numbers.


Another bug that I am trying to eradicate from my garden is the Harlequin Bug (see picture below). They were all over my Brussels sprouts. They are a sucking bug and damage mature plants, but may kill new or small plants by sucking them to death. The young bugs are more black and orange, and as they molt (five or six times during their lives), the orange color turns more red.
They lay their egg cases on the leaves, which I have found on both the tops and undersides of leaves. I couldn't find a picture of the type of egg cases I have found and I have destroyed all that I have found in my garden, so no pictures there. The egg cases I have found are laid in a bundle of long, thin tubes that are placed on top of each other like cord-wood. They have been white, and a few were yellow. Depending on the weather, they can hatch anywhere from four to twenty-nine days, and can mature and mate from four to nine weeks. They can also live year-round in our gardens because of our mild weather. "Plants commonly attacked by the harlequin bug include such crucifers as horseradish, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, mustard, Brussels sprouts, turnip, kohlrabi and radish. In the absence of these favorite hosts, tomato, potato, eggplant, okra, bean, asparagus, beet, weeds, fruit trees and field crops may be eaten" (from the University of Florida). They like a lot of different vegetables, so it is imperative to control them when you see them.

Lettuce Soup

2 c. sliced scallions
2 tbsp. butter
8 c. lettuce, sliced into 1/2" cubes
5 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. uncooked rice
fresh ground pepper

Wilt, but not brown, scallions in butter.
Add the lettuce and cook until wilted.
Add the rest and simmer until the rice is done.

This is a really tasty soup!

My To-Do List . . .

---feed citrus trees, other fruit trees (done)
---feed asparagus, lettuce, spinach (done)
---plant cyclamen (done)
---weed box garden (done)
---hula hoe (done)
---thin peaches 15 minutes (done)
---start seeds for summer planting (done)

Last Wednesday I finished up pruning my new fruit trees, so that is done! It's amazing what I am completing since I started writing out my to-do list! It started raining about 3:30 today, so I had to come in. I also set out my rain gage so I would know how much rain my yard is getting.

Lettuces

I planted some lettuce seeds a bit late in the spring (that's why they look the way they do) to see what they would be like, and to create more seeds for future use in the garden. The one to the right is Wakefield and the one below is Austrian Yellow. It really is amazing what they taste like when you do a taste-test! I didn't realize how different they would taste from each other. The Austrian Yellow lettuce tasted "green" and the Wakefield lettuce tasted "sweet." One year I did a tasted test of five different kinds of tomatoes that I was growing, thinking they all tasted the same, but I found that they didn't, and that I really didn't like the taste of the Brandywine tomatoes at all. It was really interesting! Here in the valley we can
grow lettuces all winter long. They aren't affected by the frosts, and grow big, tender leaves. I grow leaf lettuce because I have found (for me personally) that head lettuce doesn't do so well (you could experiment and let me know how it works for you--seeds are cheap!). They get full of earwigs, slugs and other crawlies, and never really produce. The leaf lettuces, on the other hand, really go all out and are mostly bug free! If you want to grow leaf lettuce now, you need to find seeds that are specifically for summer planting, otherwise they will go to seed right away and you will get nothing to eat from them. I have purchased seeds of beautiful mixed summer lettuces from http://www.cooksgarden.com/ although there are many places to buy the seeds. The lettuces above are winter or early spring lettuces and I have them under a trellis to temper the sun's heat. Summer lettuces will need to be covered in some manner to reduce the heat and keep them happy. There are shade cloths to cover vegetables, lettuce can be grown in pots under trees, in the shade of taller garden plants, or they can be grown under a patio cover if there is bright light. Lettuce needs a bit of sun, just not too much. Deep mulch will also help to keep the lettuce cool.

Today is the first quarter of the moon.

Today and tomorrow we are in Cancer---this is #1 for growing all crops and transplanting into the garden; it is good for making seed beds.