Atlantic Gardener: June 2016

Monday, June 6

Viola (Pansy) that self-seeded from a pot of them we had last year.

The Day of Sadness. Last day of vacation. We woke up today, totally expecting to be stuck inside because it was supposed to rain all day. Indeed it did look quite gray and ominous, but the rain held off pretty much all day. A couple sprinkles here and there, but that was it. I took advantage and planted two elderberry trees, as well as laying red plastic mulch for the first tomato patch and planting four tomato plants. I bought the red, plastic mulch last year to see if it would help reduce our chances of late blight. We have had late blight (fungal disease) for the last 3 years and it did seem to help last year. The plants still got it, but later and it didn't progress as quickly, so we were able to harvest all the green fruit and ripen them in cardboard boxes. I had just about enough left over to do this year's tomato patches, so figured it was worth using again. The red is supposed to increase the fruiting/harvest of tomato and strawberry plants, though I can't verify if it really works that way or not. I also gave the tomato plants a LOT more space this year, only one plant every other foot, so we'll see how that works out for them. Should give them better ventilation at the very least.

Tuesday, June 7
Well, true to fashion here it seems, it was a beautiful day right up until it was time for me to get off work and then the gray clouds rolled in. I finished planting the tomato patch I started yesterday. Twelve plants in total of six different varieties: Mary Unger, Solar Flare, Pineapple, Polish Linguisa, Valencia and Wapsipinicon Peach. Black flies ate me alive, but sometimes you gotta power through and depend on that generic tube of benedryl. :D

Wednesday, June 8
No gardening today as it poured all day. Erin found out the weed we have that's so invasive is Horsetail or Marestail. I spent the evening researching it. Nasty and it's going to be a real pain in the ass to get rid of, but at least we know how to get rid of it now. It's going to take awhile. I did take a walk up to see how the fruit trees looked. The 2nd heartnut I planted finally has some tiny buds on it. PHEW! When you spend $500+ on trees, it suddenly becomes super important that they don't die. The 1st heartnut tree is beautiful, with a couple of small branches and gorgeous leaves coming off of it. I'll get a picture of it on a nicer day. I suspect it's going to be an incredibly beautiful tree.

Thursday, June 9
Yet. More. Rain. Welcome to June in Northern New Brunswick. I did go out and take a walk-around the garden. Garlic is just about 2' tall now. I'm hoping for a very good year for the garlic, especially since I plan on saving half of it for seed to replant in the fall. This was the reason I planted two beds of it this year. This way I won't have to buy as much seed. I do need to plant two more beds of it though, for sale next summer, so I'll order a couple new varieties and keep them one in each bed. I got sloppy with labeling last year and lost track of the varieties I planted, had no idea which ones I was using, though you could guess based on the description in the seed catalog.

Horseradish has doubled in size, as have most things. The snow peas I planted last week are poking up through the soil. We'll be eating those soon. I love how fast peas grow. Last year, I was quite sure one day that they grew a foot while I was at work. I also heeled in the two cherry shrubs and two chum (cherry/plum cross) shrubs atop the soil pile. I'll plant them in the next week or so once I get all the in-ground beds completed.

Friday, June 10
I pulled a few weeds and filled, shaped and prepped another in-ground bed. Managed to plant a half dozen cherry tomato plants before the rain started again.

Saturday, June 11
The only nice day we're supposed to get for a week, so I'm trying to make the best of it. Got up and had coffee, out in the garden to finish planting the bed with the cherry tomatoes. I finished off that bed with Golden watermelon, Carmel spinach, Chocolate Beauty peppers, and celery. I also hiked back to check on the trees and the mulberry and cherry trees have taken and have leaf buds. The mulberry even appears to have tiny mulberries on it! The blueberry bushes appear to have taken as well. Very impressed thus far with my purchases at Green Barn Nursery.

Next I prepped another in-ground bed. Two bags of sheep manure forked in and then a couple wheelbarrows full of soil on top of that, all raked in and ready for planting. The last dozen tomato plants will go in this bed, along with more Burgess buttercup squash. I managed to get the red mulch on and the last dozen tomato plants in and caged before it started to rain yet once again.

Sunday, June 12
It's a rain-in' again. Whoa-ohohohoh, it's a rain-in' again.... Well, you get the picture. This happens most years, but really driving me insane this year as I was behind planting to begin with. I still need to get the following done in the next week or two, max:

20' in-ground bed and 40' in-ground beds (groom, fertilize and plant)
Weed mat under 3 more raised beds.
Fill, plant 4 more raised beds (two 4', two 8')
Build, fill and plant sweet potato bed (20" deep)
Plant last 4 shrubs
Weed mat and mulch around trees/shrubs
Weed mat and mulch paths around perimeter of in-ground garden

This might be doable if we got more than one day at a time where it didn't pour. I guess we'll see! Next weekend looks promising if the forecast doesn't change.

I was hoping to add some photos of what's going on out there currently, but the rain didn't stop long enough today to get any, so instead just a few. I'll be sure to get more on my post next week.

Asparaberries

Asparagus seeding

Snow peas coming up.

Jerusalem artichokes

JUNE

Wednesday, June 1
We got up fairly early today and I ran out for coffees, didn't get into the garden until almost noon though. It was cold and windy, as it has been most of this vacation.

In-ground beds

Erin nearly finished the in-ground beds, just a little more to do. I planted the peas and corn, which finished the first in-ground bed. One down, seven more to go. Got to work on the second bed right away. Emptied two bags of sheep manure into it and then took the rake to work it in. After that I put two wheelbarrow's worth of soil on top, raked it smooth and shaped the bed. Delicata squash and basil were planted in half of it, the other half to be filled with tomatoes once they finish hardening off. After that was done, I took a bit of a break from the hard labor and built/installed a fruit tree cage for the cherry tree I planted earlier in the week. Moving on to the third in-ground bed, I repeated the sheep manure/soil process to shape this bed as well. I wanted to keep going and plant it out, but opted to water everything in before the sun completely disappeared.

Thursday, June 2

Bleeding Hearts

Got up early today and went back for more lumber. I was home by 10am, but didn't get into the garden until noon. I planted 30 square feet of beans: yellow wax, burgundy, and green filet. In that same bed I planted 6 buttercup squash. Almost all the plants are hardened off now, just tomatoes and a few peppers left, but they were out all day today and were fine. Some of the leggier tomato plants bent in the strong wind, but they didn't break, so I'm pretty sure I can plant them, burying the bent part and they'll be fine. I planted another pot of petunias from the seed I harvested last year. Erin finished weeding the last in-ground bed this afternoon, so they're all ready to go and 3 have been prepped and mostly planted. I made 3 more raised beds this afternoon as well (two 4'x8' and one 4'x4'). While I did that, Erin covered the area where the raised beds are going with weed mat. We hadn't done this previously, but we have a particularly nasty weed that is taking over some beds so we decided to err on the side of caution.

Sunday, June 5
We've been so busy working in the garden that I forgot to note what I did on what day on Friday and Saturday. I finished making the raised beds on Friday. Well, all except the sweet potato bed, but it isn't warm enough to plant those yet so I'm not worried about it. I'll get that completed some time this week. We have 3/8 in-ground beds completed. I've decided having the raised in-ground beds is a pain in the ass, so going to get some 2' rebar and lumber to box them in so we don't have to add more soil every year. Easier and less waste. I planted a cherry tree yesterday and also filled the blueberry bed and planted two Chippewa plants in it. I planted two elderberry trees today as well. I still have two chum (cherry/plum cross) shrubs and two cherry shrubs to go in sometime this week. I filled and planted the pepper bed today and laid red mulch on one of the tomato beds, planting and staking 4 tomatoes before the cold got to me finally. Some pictures below show what we've gotten done this week and how things are progressing.