The sun is out...

...And I'm flying to Kansas today (where it is plenty warm).
Garden news - tomatoes are out of their cloches and into cages. Beans sprouts look promising. Picked 3 peas this week. Lots & lots of beets but no carrots, so I stuck the final tomato seedling in that space.

And, there is hopes for a small pumpkin patch. I think I have 2 pumpkin sprouts, 3 pattypan squash sprouts, a zucchini and 1 or 2 cucumbers. I'm leaving them in the care of dear husband for 11 days. That's a lot of pressure but I'm sure he'll do fine (or he'll be sure to shop for replacement seedlings before I return!)

Cold June Garden

Photo from today, my garden tour in coat & hood. Herbs and flowers growing, but so are the weeds and the grass. A break in the rain leads to a quick grass cutting and no time to keep neat. Compare to the May photo several posts ago.

The sad pumpkin patch waiting for its day in the sun. Still no sprouts from the pumpkins. I think I'll move them to the "oven," the warm, but dark space under the sink.The tomatoes are looking good under their window cloches. I couldn't believe the one in the bell cloche, above! Just hope I remember to remove it if the sun peeps out at all or I'll have a wilted tomato.

Tomatoes

Here are the tomatoes planted about the 3rd weekend in May, on their "plant out" day. We are running a full 10 degrees below normal highs, so they are still tucked in their window frame cloches even now. I don't have a photo from today, but they have grown and one has a blossom. It is supposed to be warmer next weekend, although I doubt we'll see much sun until after July 4th.
Pumpkin seeds I planted in the garage haven't sprouted yet. I do so enjoy the pumpkin patch, but it isn't looking promising! Some of the beans planted last weekend have sprouted. I need to go anti-slug them tonight as they look very tender and tasty.

Now I'm running out of photos from the days prior to the computer's self-inflicted permanent retirement, plus I left my camera's battery charger in Arizona. Haven't had time to solve either of those issues. I think a little sunshine would motivate me to action on both parts. Until then, it is just gray sky, and green everything else (from all the rain).

Slug Training, Part II

Did slug training work? Maybe. That is definitely not fennel he is munching on. Also, notice his nice "coffee" coloring? I wonder if is is evidence he had absorbed a little of the coffee grounds around the fennel (& now around the tomatoes also)??

Cloche Benefits

I'm especially celebrating any blooms this year. This calendula started blooming a few weeks ago. Those outside the cloche are still just seedlings. This 50 degree weather isn't helping. Boy, this was a good year for the cloche experiment! Here are the chives, a few weeks ago. The ones outside are finally blooming now.

On one warm day, I opened up and then ended up removing the plastic covering. The chard & lettuce plants are now bolting. I'll clear out some of this soon, plant squash and put the plastic covering back on.

Mid-May Garden Photos

For my records, here are photos from a nice day in mid-May. I remember thinking that this was some promising gardening weather. However, we've been back to the 50's (the high) for a while now, but maybe we'll make it into the 60's this week. The garden has changed since these photos, especially that green perennial flower row in the middle.

From the SW corner....
From the SE corner...
Our semi-retired computer that I still used for photos decided to put itself fully into retirement. I have a work around for now, put still not the best solution.

Beans in, photos stuck

Some travel and a stubborn computer are still holding off photos. However, Monday, I did plant bean seeds.

The tomatoes I planted out last week are looking good. I think the clue for when to plant tomatoes is when the volunteer tomato seedlings start appearing. Also, I now see regular volunteer sunflowers in addition to the red sunflower seedlings that appeared some time ago. Must be a sign that things are warming up, even if it is rather gray.

Just a note

Updates:
Tomato seedlings were planted out May 18th. Some were quite small, but I was ready to move them out of the garage. While that weekend was warm, I knew it wouldn't last so I have put my A-frame window cloches over them. Photos will be along when I return to the computer where the photos are sitting.

In the bed I posted about May 5th, the beet and lettuce seedlings are sprouting. The carrot section was disturbed by Emily & other feet, but I did find a few sprouted seedlings.

The covered wagon cloche is a jungle and has blooming calendula, borage and chives. The chard and lettuce plants are bolting, but now I'm harvesting lettuce & chard from non-cloched patches. Time to decide what I'll use that cloched spot for next. Maybe start some zucchini, cucumbers or squash and use the cloche to provide some warmth?

Slug Retraining Program

Slugs have found the fennel seedlings and quickly chewed two of them down to stubs. The others all had signs of damage like the photo below. Something had to be done. Now, I don't mind having slugs meet their end, but I don't like to put out the poison to do that. I decided to try the same training program I've use with the cats, Dear Husband, and myself, for that matter.

Simply change something enough to make the bad habit less convenient or satisfying, or offer a better option. If the cats start sleeping somewhere I don't want them to be, I put something in the spot for a few days that encourages them to find a new place. By the time the "something" is removed, they've found a new place. It's best not to give a DH example. (See, the training has worked on me too. And removing the cats or DH is not an option!) Ok, sometimes it works, at least.So what to do with slugs? I decided to try coffee. First, I used the coffee grounds from my french press. However, that didn't go too far. So, I coarsely ground up some old coffee beans I had. Now, I don't know that it is the coffee that has much effect on them, but I thought they might not like the texture. Again, the purpose is simply to make things different enough that they decide to go elsewhere. I once used some old sheep wool trimmings around broccoli seedlings with success too.
All but one of the seedlings have new growth now (photo above), even one of the stubs. The other stub might still pull through too. The new growth is not being eaten, either.

If nothing else, I'm hoping the training simply distracts them long enough for Petunia to show up and eat them.

...And a day in the farmer's market

Part II of Saturday's excursion:
My tomato seedlings are slowly coming along. The ildi seedlings are doing the best. It has just not been the spring for tomatoes. I added a nice tomato seedling from the Port Orchard farmers market. Here it is in my "basket" for the day. It was a cloudy day, but not unusual for a northwest spring.

Below, are just some of the booths. With this cool spring, there wasn't very many vegetable booths, but there were a good number of plant booths. All sorts of other things too. Notice the bakery booth on the left side of the photo. They were using a dresser drawers and top for display, and a few other interesting old furniture pieces too.
Found this watering can at a shop as we walked around town. As you saw in the first picture, it came in handy to carry things too.

Back in the home garden, I just noticed that some of the beet seeds and lettuce seeds planted last weekend have sprouted. The carrot bed, on the other hand, has been disturbed by assorted feetsies several times. Just have to wait and see where I get sprouts.