As the Garden Grows

What's blooming today?


Prolific garden

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How’s your garden doing?

My garden is quite prolific at the moment. I have 4 cherry tomato plants producing little red gems daily, and then there’s the cucumbers, I must have 4 that are just about ready to pick. My green beans are doing well too. Yummy fresh picked beans.

My tomato plants have still not produced any tomatoes, not even green ones. I started them late and I will never do that again. I’m pretty sure that I won’t get any tomatoes from them this year because they probably be green and just old enough to start ripening when it begins to get too cool for them.

The strawberries have continuously been pushing out crop after crop of berries, and the raspberries are producing their second round. I think I might make some pies and jams.

Almost all of the flowers are blooming. It would probably be easier to tell you what’s not blooming rather than what is. My four o clocks are finally blooming. They were slow to start up this year. I’ll have to make sure I collect some seeds from them this year so that I have fresh seeds for next year. I think the seeds I used this year were too old. I really love my white four o’clocks because they put out a scent very similar to jasmine. The garden is intoxicating when they are blooming in the evening. I’ve missed that most of this summer.

We did finally get some rain but there hasn’t been much so far. I’m hoping that we’ll get a few good showers soon.

Now tell me about your garden? What’s doing well and what’s doing poorly?






Growing native Bee Balm

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bee-balm_lg

Bee Balm Monarda Didyma

Description:

Striking red flowers that look like Jesters’ hats and last for weeks give this plant a slightly comical air. Its stem is square (characteristic of plants in the mint family) and its leaves are dark green, sometimes flushed with dark red. Quickly growing into a large, tall clump, bee balm is altogether a sturdy, colorful addition to the garden.

Maintenance and requirements:

Although bee balm prefers moist places in the wild, it can be grown in average moisture conditions in the garden.

Versatile in its light requirements, from partial shade to full sun, and also in its PH tolerance, from slightly acidic to neutral (pH 5.5 to 6.5), bee balm is very easy to grow. The only problem you might encounter is mold, which often covers the leaves in a whitish film, signaling that the plant is crowded and not getting enough air movement; divide plants every few years, and don’t spray eaves when watering. Deadhead to extend blooming.

Height: 2-5 feet (60 to 150 cm)

Blooming period: Early to mid-summer

Exposure: Partial shade to full sun

Moisture: Moist to average

Habitat: Moist woods, moist meadows

Range: North East – North America

Propogation:

Bee Balm is easy to start from seeds. Simply sprinkle seeds in pots or a bed in late fall or early spring (seeds do not need cold stratification). Or divide the plant in early spring, which is not only useful for propagation, but also helps keep the plant from getting too crowded in the center.

Good Companions:

At the woodland edge, plant bee balm with black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus).

Related Species:

Wild Bergamot (M. Fistulosa)

Wildlife:

Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds swarm this plant for nectar.

Misc.:

Also known as Oswego tea, because the plants were used by the Oswego Indians for a hot drink. Bruise its aromatic leaves for the scent of Earl Grey Tea.

I grow two of the hybrid species of Bee balm and I love them. Their care is exactly the same as that of the native species that I’ve described above. Enjoy!

Watering the Garden

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I’m sitting here writing and trying to water my raised flower beds at the same time. It’s not easy doing both at once.

I’ve purchased several sprinklers over the last few years and I haven’t been happy with any of them. Not a one. They either throw the water out too far for my tiny yard, or barely water two or three feet of garden space.

When my parents passed away a couple of years ago, I decided that I wanted some of their sprinklers. So, right now I’m trying out the two I brought back from my parents house.

One is a little round head. It shoots the water upward like a fountain. It only covers at the most about three feet of space. At least with my poor water pressure any way. I used it to water the raspberries. I put it under a few of them and let the water shoot up between the raspberry plants. It seemed to work well enough, but to do all of my raised beds that way will take forever.

So I decided to try out the other sprinkler that I inherited. It has a curved bar that is horizontal. Their are water holes on either end and a couple of water holes in the middle of the bar. The water pressure is supposed to make this thing spin around. Unfortunately when I hooked it up to my hose it spluttered and gurgled and didn’t spin. So I got closer and moved it around myself and then ran away as the water started to pour out the ends.

Spin, spin, splutter, gurgle, spin, spin. Well, that ones covering about three feet of space too, but it’s flooding the flower bed.

I think that if I’m going to continue trying to write and water at the same time it’s going to take all night. Why is it so much faster to water by hand with the hose? Weren’t sprinklers invented so that we could water and do other activities at the same time? Why can’t I find a decent sprinkler?

Do anyone else have trouble with sprinklers?

Have you found one that works for you that you’d care to tell me about?

Ok, well, I’d better go out and move that darn thing over three feet or so.

Update 11:45 p.m. : I gave up with the sprinklers after trying a third one shaped something like the last one … it didn’t spin, it just shot water out the sides. So I ended up hand watering after all that wasted time. Really folks if you know of a good sprinkler that can be used in a small garden let me know!

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