Some losses

It's been a hot day here in Oklahomegrownvegland. A constant 90F (32C)
Not a good day to be working on repairing the shed floor...........................

But it's done! Another job crossed off from the "to do" list.
Yesterday was a little cooler so I managed to get some gardening done.
My wife got the flower beds knocked into shape.......................

Front flower beds..................

....now have colour added......................

.....and are mulched.

The Mosquito plant is another new arrival, an impulse buy on my part from our local Garden Center.
I've been in tree planting mode and added another 3 yesterday......

.....including this Washington Hawthorn.......

......and Sargent Crab apple.
That's a total of 16 so far this year. Up with trees!
Sadly there's bad news about one of the three Persimmon trees, it appears to have been struck by lightning.

Where last year there was ample growth this year the whole tree is dead.
Examination of the lower truck reveals...................

....huge cracks...............

.....in various places. This is a sad loss indeed as the 3 trees all make one nicely shaped canopy and give the appearance of one large tree. This is one of the reasons that the problem went unseen for so long because, when viewed from the house you only notice a couple of dead branches. It was only when I approached the trees from the creek that I saw the extent of the devastation.
On a more positive note..............

..the Fuji Apples bountiful harvest. .

Well, if I can get to them before the birds that is.
Moving around the back of the house the Tomato plants in the containers..............

.....have doubled in height and are flowering. I'm tending to give these a little extra Fish Emulsion as they have limited growing medium and dry out quickly. Constant watering will probably flush out most of the nutrients from the soil.
Plot 2

Tomato plants look good and are in flower. The parsnip seed aren't doing a thing. I'll check again when I water tonight.
Plot 3

So far so good with the potatoes. These plants have flowered heavily and I've kept up the watering as this is the time of tuber development.
Plot 4

I've harvested one Kohlrabi which came in at around 3 inch diameter, and two small batches of radish. These went in with the Mesclun which is STILL providing and could turn out to be the best new discovery of the season.
Plot 5
Now here's more bad news.................
In two weeks the batch of red potatoes has gone.........................

...........from this...........................

.....to this.
It look suspiciously like Verticillium Wilt to me...................

I dig up one row, which is half the plot, and get 5lb of potatoes. So my hopes for a good harvest of Reds are shattered for this year. Funnily enough, my spell checker wanted to change the word "Verticillium" to "Voodooism". Now there's a thought, maybe I have a Potato Curse?
Plot 6

Sparkler Radishes look good, Yolo Bell peppers are struggling to get off the ground this year in direct contrast to the rapid growth last year. Of the Parsnip seeds I planted there looks to be about 6 or 8 showing through. Oh well, maybe Wal Mart will do better.
The determinate Tomato plants, which is situated in one of the ends of the path...............

....set it's first fruit last weekend and now has quite a few showing. This is the only tomato plant with fruit on to date.
At the opposite end of the path the Cherry tomato plant I grew from organic seed.......

....has taken off after a slow start.
Many things in the garden seem to have been affected by the swings in temperature combined with floods and steaming hot days. But hey, when has it ever been easy?
On a lighter note, I've been combing the Internet these last 2 weeks and asking people in the area where I could get a "Food Grade" 55 gallon plastic drum for an up coming project. My fruitless search comes up in a conversation with our local veterinarian while Alvin is having his shots.
Turns out that Oklahomegrownland, population 1200, has it's very own "Food grade" plastic drum emporium right next to the Garden Centre. I call in and see Gene, the proprietor and............

.....snap one up for $11.00. A bargain.
Ok, enough. It's beer thirty!!

Catching up.

With this being Memorial Day weekend I get Monday off from work. A great chance to attempt to catch up on all those jobs I've been unable to do due to the constant rain.

It seems the waters have abated for the time being so.....................


I mow.

Around the back......................


............................

.....and I mow around the side................

..........................

....and I mow around the front until everything is neat and tidy again.
Well, around the house at least. The rest can wait for now as I have trees to plant.

Sargent Crabapple

Crape Myrtle


Washington Hawthorn

I also put in some more Conifers down by the creek and my extra Tomato plants have been scattered around here and there but more about those another time.
The Tomato plants in Plot 2................

.....have been treated to new cages this year. I'm using a lot of my old ones to protect some of the small trees that I've set out. No, the white you see isn't frost, it's Diatomaceous Earth. I sprinkled a little around as there seemed to be quite a few ants emerging from somewhere.
Plot 3

And the potatoes are all in bloom.
Plot 4

The carrots have finally made an appearance in amongst the Radishes
.....and the Kohlrabi

....are starting to develop their bulbs.

Plot 6

No sign of the Parsnip seeds yet but the Sparkler Radishes are up.

The Mesclun is looking great.................

...especially on the dinner table.
Around the front of the house we have a great development.

The Fuji Apple Tree.....................

....has got it's first tiny apples.

The toads are back too.

It's great to see these bug eating friends back again.

Indoors I've put the first batch of dried Catnip..................

.....into a storage jar. Tommy got the left over sticks to play with........

....and had a great time rubbing chewing and rolling all over them.

I cut back the plants for the second time................

.....and hung them in the kitchen to dry out.
Tomorrow I hope to get my second Sargent Crabapple tree out and perhaps get to the Garden Centre to pick up some bedding plants as the flower beds at the front need some colour.

But Enough for today!

At last the rain has stopped.

No rain expected for a few days so everyone can get out and enjoy a little sunshine.

Tommyticklemouse is happy to bask in the sun and watch dad do all the work.
Even though the rain has stopped there are still lots of wet areas around the garden.

This puddle is teeming with tadpoles.

Things are blooming. The Determinate tomato plant.............

.....and............

..........some of the potatoes too.
I have finally got the Yolo Bell pepper plants into plot 6

I planted them out Thursday evening. I staked then as we were having some quite stiff winds blowing at the time
Plot 5 is abundant with green

We enjoyed some of our Swiss Chard the other night.
The tomatoes in Plot 2 have taken a severe beating with the torrential rain but I think.....

....that now things have settled down they will buck up and start to look a little happier.
I've finally got some Parsnip seeds to sprout.

I've found the ideal location in a small cupboard above the range which seems to be working well. I set out a row on Friday evening and I have enough sprouted seeds to start another row next week.
Here's something else that's looking a lot cheerier now that the deluge has ceased.

We may be trying a little Mesclun Salad soon with a little luck.
Of course, there's always the mowing to do so Herbie was called into action.

Now everything looks.................

.....far neater.
I even got the front flower bed weeded and a few bedding plants in.

They'll be more to come but my back has had enough for this weekend.

I have a long weekend coming up so hopefully will be able to get a few more jobs ticked off of my "to do" list.

Enough!!

Wet, wet, wet.

The rain simply doesn't want to stop, here in Oklahomegrownvegland.
Everything is very green..............

....very soggy and VERY LONG. The ground is far too wet to get Herbie out so things are just going to have to get a whole lot longer.
The Happy Gardener will now pull on his Wellington Boots before taking a stroll around.

Plot 1

Everything looks fine. I may start and pull a few of the Winter Onions and get them dried out indoors. Some of the others will steadily get spread around the various plots as I slowly re-open this area of the garden to other duties. My plan is to have a few of these in each plot if possible so I have a continuous but controlled supply. They aren't the prettiest looking plants but are good at keeping out some of the bugs so they pay their way.
Plot 2
The Tomato plants have survived the downpours, but only because I sheltered them with one of my floating row covers.

I've managed to get one African Blue Basil plant so far and that is now in place. I'm on the look out for at least one more, possibly two. A few Winter Onions are now established at the far end. Once things dry out a little I'm considering putting in some All American Parsnip seeds along the front part. If they germinate (and Parsnip seeds are famous for not doing so) I'll leave them in all this season and harvest late Fall/early Winter as and when required. I'm soaking the seeds indoors at the moment in an attempt to stimulate germination before planting.
Plot 3
Potatoes are good so far but I'm watching them like a hawk.

I'm applying Iron Phosphate on a weekly basis just in case. I've already "hilled" these twice, as I have with the ones in Plot 5, so now they are on their own. To the left are two small additions to this plot. A little bunch of Dill and a small Winter Onion which needed a home.
Plot 4
Adding the manure to this plot the other week seems to have giving the Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi plants the kick-start that they needed.

They still needs to get a bit of move on though if they are going to be "early".
The Red Onions are doing good but I'm worried about all this excess moisture rotting them, a problem I had with some of these last year.
Down the left hand side, the Cherry Belle Radish seeds are through. I mixed these with Nantes Scarlet Carrot seeds, the idea being that the radish come through first and break the ground up for the carrots. Well, it all sounds good on paper............
Plot 5
The Potatoes in here are doing good and the same applies to these as I said about the ones over in Plot 3. At this near end the rainbow Swiss Chard from last year has started to get some decent sized leaves on it and is now ready to be used as required.
These two amazingly hardy plants survived throughout the winter in this plot, simply covered with a layer of straw. There's a small empty patch at this end. I'll have to think about putting it to good use. Marigolds?
Plot 6
Will I ever get anything planted in here, I wonder?

Way back when we were having temperatures in the 70's and low 80's it seemed a good idea to remove the mulch, dig it over and prepare it for use. Now it's a mud bath and will need at least a week of dry weather to get to a state where it can be worked. I now wish I'd left it covered but we are all much smarter with hindsight, eh?

The Mesclun Box is showing progress......

...but like a lot of other things here it needs a little less rain and a little more sunshine.

Due to the downpours the potted herbs at the front of the house have had to be moved to a more sheltered position.

I was up around 5-30am the other morning dragging them under cover as the heavens opened above me.
The Determinate Tomato plant has survived the elements uncovered but it was a pretty

well established plant when it went in.

I've given it a small Curled Parsley plant as a companion
Indoors, the Spicy Globe Basil seeds have produced a fine set of plants.

Here's an example. Germination rates on most herb seeds are low so I sowed plenty and got some. I'm starting to nip the tops off to encourage bushy growth, similar to what I've been doing with the Catnip.
Speaking of which........................

The plants living on my office windowsill have been cut back and are now starting to grow their second batch. The harvest from this heavy pruning now hangs in the kitchen, drying out.

I have more seedlings coming along in the growing room

OK, it's stopped raining so I'm off to the Garden Centre.................