Hello Thursday!
Check it out… Babies. We were able to snap a picture of the robin babies yesterday when the mama bird flew away to find dinner. Aren’t they cute? If you look closely at the nest you’ll see thin strips of black wool threads. 🙂 🙂 🙂 I always empty all the goodies my vacuum sucks up onto the compost section in the backyard and it made me so happy that some wool strands made it into the nest.
The garden boxes are starting to fill out. I wish the soil was darker though, as it would have made the vegetables “pop” a bit more. Oh well, as long as the veggies are healthy, that’s all the matters, right?
Spinach, beets and lettuce.
The lettuce is nearly ready to pick…. just a few more days.
The eggplants and peppers I started from seed are starting to fill out as well.
Behind the garden boxes we have blueberry bushes, onions, raspberry canes, brussels sprouts, broccoli and asparagus {which is knee high right now}.
The raspberry canes were bare when we planted them in mid April but they’re coming along.
I think I’m most excited about the brussels sprouts though. We planted 6 starts but now I’m wishing we would have planted a few more.
Along the side of the house there are peonies, bush beans and a bunch of mammoth sunflowers planted.
I was hoping for creamy white peonies like we had at the last house and it looks like I’m going to get them. There are only buds on one of the bushes so far but I’m hopeful.
And last but not least, check out those petunias growing along the sidewalk. Don’t they just make you smile? We get so many compliments from the peeps walking by. I hope I planted them close enough so that the entire space is filled out with flowers by the end of the summer.
So how is you’re garden doing these days? What have you been harvesting? Curious minds want to know.
Have an AWESOME day everyone,
~Mavis
Oh, and does anyone know what kind of tree this is? We haven’t got a clue.
Marlene Wurtzbacher says
Your raised beds and gardens are looking great Mavis. Looks like your area of Maine is ahead of central Vermont temperature wise. How is your rug hooking going of the ships? I have been completing many unfinished hooking projects.
Your energy and determination amazes me!
Maggie says
What a beautiful garden! Great job… and this tree is a chestnut for sure 🙂
Daria says
That is a horse chestnut tree. Lobely invasive from Europe, not edible.
Daria says
Lovely, rather.
Mel says
We’ve been harvesting snow peas, strawberries, and lettuce. The strawberries have one more wave, I think, but the snow peas are nearly done. We still have a lot of lettuce, but we’re getting a string of days in the 90s, so I’m expecting it to bolt soon.
I found aphids on our tomatoes, so I had to turn over every leaf on all 24 plants to remove them. We also ordered ladybugs as they seemed to really help with aphids last year. I was thinking excess nitrogen might have brought the aphids, so I adjusted the soil amendments accordingly, and we still got them, so I don’t know what the deal is.
I’m also growing pole beans for the first time (usually do bush beans), and I saw bean beetles for the first time ever on them, so I’m debating ordering some beneficial wasps to deal with that.
Other than that, we have blackberry and blueberry plants loaded with green fruit, and our herbs, peppers, and scallions look okay so far. Our fall-planted garlic will be ready to harvest in a few weeks. I do have to re-plant our cucumbers today though, as only 2 out of 20 germinated. And our tomatoes have cages, but I ordered trellises to go between them so I don’t have to crawl between the rows to pick this year, so I’m still waiting on those to arrive.
Mama Cook says
Mel, do you have a link for your trellises? We do the “weave method”, and I just don’t love it.
Mel says
Sure, I’m trying these this year: https://www.gardeners.com/buy/tall-expandable-pea-trellis/8587062.html
They are technically for peas, and I bought some for our beans and really like them. They fold flat and are made out of the same coated metal as our tomato cages, so I think they’ll hold up well.
Here’s the setup: We have 3 raised beds of of tomatoes. The beds are 4′ x 8′, and each bed has 8 tomatoes (2 rows of 4 plants). The tomatoes are in 4′ cages (also from Gardeners Supply), but the plants obviously overflow them. So, the plan is to put the expandable trellis between the rows of tomato cages in each raised bed. When the plants get to the top of the cages, I can tie them to the trellis using garden tape. This should let me use one trellis for 8 tomatoes but keep space between them at the base so there’s good air circulation. And, since the plants have 8 feet of vertical space to climb, that should make it a lot easier to pick them. (Although, my White Currant tomato plant got to be 10 feet tall last year, so we’ll see what happens with that one).
Mavis Butterfield says
Mel… Do a garden post. We all want to see your garden. 🙂
Mel says
I’ll try! I might have to let things grow out a bit (and wait for my trellises to arrive) to get enough worth photographing.
Nora says
It’s a chestnut
They have different flower colours – I remember a spot in my hometown: pinkish chestnuts with lush green foliage on a sunny blue sky day… just perfect this combination of colours.
Mary3M says
Mavis – I hate to burst your bubble but it is dangerous to have birds using fibers from our crafts in their nests. Depending on the thread – it won’t provide the insulation that you would expect from natural ingredients. I am a needlepointer and for a while everyone was putting their thread ends out for the birds. Until we heard from the ‘birders’ about how dangerous it is. I know that you would be devastated if the ‘little ones’ died because their nest did not provide the protection they need. I now throw my thread ends (in my world we call them ‘orts’) in with my trash. My baby robins left the nest last week. I miss seeing the Mama and Papa bring food to their little ones.
Terri says
https://www.audubon.org/news/what-nesting-materials-are-safe-birds
This has an excellent list of good and bad for bird nests.
KC says
If I recall correctly, wool is on the “good list” – insulative properties, does not get as cold when it’s wet. I don’t know about specific cotton, linen, and acrylic fibers, though, and there may be “length restrictions” to dodge strangulation hazards? (I mean: they use long grass that would likely *also* be a strangulation hazard for small birds, so while yarn is a lot stronger than grass, I don’t know about this.)
Tracy says
Also, never put dryer lint out for nestbuilding birds. It dissolves in the rain.
Beth says
What do you do to keep chipmunks and squirrels from eating your garden/babies in your raised beds? I went out two days out to water our garden and all our kale and collards were eaten. 🙁 They were looking so good too! Felt like I got stabbed in the heart (a little dramatic, sure, but I grew them from seed).
Mavis Butterfield says
I plant extra. There is no way on earth the squirrels are going to stay away. In the past I have sprinkled cayenne pepper on the leaves and around plants and while it worked to some degree, I have found over the years that nothing is 100%. 🙁
Beth Portuese says
Gotcha, thank you!
Annette says
What’s the white stuff on the ground behind the peonies?
Mavis Butterfield says
Crushed rock. We don’t have gutters.
Diane says
Can you please elaborate on growing and harvesting the lettuce and spinach? The seedlings are grown so close together, so evidently you’re not growing to mature size. Do you yank out a bunch of small plants (roots and all) for baby greens? Or do you cut them short and then they regrow? Thanks!
How will you keep the petunias from getting leggy? I thought you have to do a lot of pinching to keep them bushy and you have a very long strip so it seems like high maintenance. Or do you have some tips? Your garden and flowers are really looking lovely!
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Diane,
I grow the Gourmet Baby Greens Mesclun Lettuce Seeds from Botanical Interests and always pack them in tight. When they get to the size I want {in a few more days} I cut what I want down and they grow back. I LOVE baby greens. When it gets too hot to grow lettuce, I pull them out and plant something else {probably beets or basil in their place}. As for the petunias, once a week I deadhead them. It takes about 10 minutes tops. 🙂
Cindi says
Your gardens look lovely. WOW! Amazing. You’ve given me some inspiration.
Kristin says
We’re picking strawberries, lettuce, and kale. Raspberries are growing like crazy and have tiny green berries. Snap peas are blooming. Sunday bolted before I could even harvest any. Everything else is just stalled out. Tons of rain and no sun. Cukes are turning yellow and look sad, but when I asked around in our area, everyone else is having the same problem, so I’m guessing it’s the excessive amounts of rain. It doesn’t feel like my peppers or tomatoes have grown at all …. Come on sun! I also need to figure out what I can do to encourage my strawberries to be sweet. They are so tart, which I’ve read is usually due to their growing conditions
Kristin says
Sunday is supposed to say “spinach”
Kathy Jones says
The tree is a chestnut. Aren’t the flowers lovely?
Sue says
My app for plant identity says it’s a Horse chestnut. A species of Buckeye.
It’s beautiful!
Tracie@SomewhatAwry.com says
Everything is so beautiful! Love it. We have strawberries right now in Virginia, our blueberries are coming along and should be ready here in a few more weeks. Our Stella cherry tree is getting stripped by the birds as usual – insert mad face here. They do this every year; the cherries aren’t near ripe, but they strip them anyway. I had intended to drape it with netting this year, but my uncle told me I would spend the summer getting the birds out of it and it wouldn’t help. Have no idea what to do about it. Anyone have any suggestions?
Samantha Surovec says
According to fruitbat/flying fox rehabbers using net with holes too small to put your fingers in should protect wildlife and your harvest.
Check out Megabattie on YouTube.
Terena says
I grew up in Ireland and can say for sure that the tree is a Horse Chestnut. Lots of good memories of the beautiful candelabra flowers in the spring, and the prickly fruit in late summer, the cases bursting open in the autumn to release the shiny brown ‘conkers’! Then we made a hole through the middle with a big needle, threaded some chord through, and had conker tournaments.
And no, I’m not ninetybut times were simpler 40 years ago…
Diana k says
Yes! I remember it well. Harvesting the Conker’s as a child and later with our three boys. What lovely hsmless memories.
Katherine says
We were blessed with milder temps this spring so I’m still harvesting mesclun, spinach and arugula but I expect them to start bolting soon. I’ve harvested my first tomato and my first batch of French filet green beans. Sweet peppers, squash and zucchini are not far behind.
Vy says
Hi Mavis! I’ve just started harvesting the peas and strawberries. Also able to use cilantro, basil, parsley, rosemary, and mint … so happy for fresh herbs! I have tons of green onions from bottoms I saved from store bought. My baby lettuce bolted instantly, so I think I put them in a bad spot, too much sun?
Mavis Butterfield says
Jealous you have fresh basil already!
Lori says
I have a small grapevine ball, about the size of a softball and every spring I fill it with dryer lint and bright orange and red pieces of yarn. I hang it near my bird feeder. The birds pick and pull bits of yarn and lint to make their nest. When we look up into the trees or into our bushes the brightly color yarn stands out making it easier for us to see their nests. We enjoy watching the birds and seeing how many nests we can find.
Michelle Hogan says
Oh the birds I am loving them. I would be so captivated to watch every single day and see what was next. And Mavis I would be PUMPED to see my wool in their nest…I would feel as if I had contributed to the building of their home! And the garden beds…OH MY…beautiful! My daughter and I were just talking about what a brilliant idea you had to mix vegetation in with your flowers…BRILLIANT! I love that all the rows are in a straight line…LOL…and the beds are neat. Oh I am looking forward to the day that we get to do a garden again…Have a fabulous week…and thanks for sharing such wonderful topics!
Amber says
Your garden is an inspiration. I’m jealous! I’d love to have some peonies but I’ve never planted any, our house didn’t come with any, and I don’t know if we’d have a good location for any. Your petunias are looking wonderful – and one of these days, I’m going to have a set of garden markers from you.
The tree is a horse chestnut, a species of Buckeye. I use the PictureThis app (it’s $30/yr) to identify plants I don’t know (hi, all of them).
DeeCee says
Your gardens are beautiful! We’ve been harvesting greens (arugula, chard, spinach, lettuces), radishes and herbs. Barely got any spinach and my pac choi barely grew then when we had sun and heat it they both bolted. Spring has been wet an cool and grey so not the best for greens. Sugar snap peas and strawberries are beginning to come in. Tomatoes are growing well, peppers are struggling – yellow leaves and pushing out buds I keep nipping. I grew habanadas and 4 other types of peppers and something is eating the leaves of just the habanadas. WTH?