GARDEN CELEBRITIES

SIBERIAN IRIS, DIANTHUS, WOOLY THYME

BEARDED IRIS

MORE DIANTHUS

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

This has to be one of my favorite times of the year for the garden.

The Irises are all bloomin  along with lupins,, early day lilies,, chives,  forget-me nots, poppies, spiderwort.  Daises and pinks will be out in a week along with the 20 Weigela bushes that I can proagated from the two that were on the property when I arrived

what is this...

Can anybody outthere identify this flower

May 20th
Things are happening  :)
Strawberrries going crazy,, garlic, spinach, peas all up-- Rhubarb is fab,, Currants and gooseberries  doing well and the perennials--   rockin  :)

waiting for mother nature

Just before everything pops out of the ground-- April 15

NEW CONSTRUCTS IN THE GARDEN

Converted a old shed into a greenhouse using old windows that I recycled from the house...  should be a paradise for tomatoes  :)

WHATS ON THE 2012 GARDEN MENU....

STRAWBERRIES

HIGH BUSH BLUEBERRIES

GOOSEBERRIES

RED LAKE CURRANTS

RED POTATOES

GARLIC

ZUCCHINI

SWISS CHARD

 EARLY FROST PEAS

BOSTON CRUNCH LETTUCE

RHUBARB

PLUS MORE... TO COME

CURRANT EVENTS

Red lake Currants (Ribes rubrum)
Red Lake Currants are considered to be the best red cultivar.   The later ripening, large bright red fruist are borne in long stemmed clusters, which make for easy harvesting.   Plants are vigorous, stron and usuaully more productive than other cultivars.

Fertilizing

Stable manure is the best fertilizer for currants

Young plantings do not need much manure.  After the plants start bearing fruits, apply ½ bushel of manure per bush annually.

If stable manure is not available, use green manure or mulch to maintain humus supply.  Commericial fetilizers can be substituted for manure to supply nutrients.  Apply approx  100 to 150 grams  of 10-10-10, or 12-12-12 per bush annually.  Apply late in fall or early in spring before growth starts.

Pruning

Prune when the plants are dormant in the late winter or very early in the spring before growth begins. The plants are bush-like, varying in height from 2-5 feet. They bear some fruit near the base of 1-year-old wood and produce the most and best fruit on spurs of 2- and 3-year-old canes.  At the end of the first season, remove all but 6 or 8 of the most vigorous shoots. At the end of the second season, leave 4 or 5 1-year shoots and 3 or 4 2-year canes. At the end of the third year, keep 3 or 4 canes each of 1-, 2-, and 3-year old wood. This will make a total of 9-12 canes on each plant.

Canes 4 years and older produce very little fruit. Pruning mature plants, therefore, should consist of thinning out the old “fruited-out” canes and he weakest of the young canes.  Cut them off at ground level. Remove canes over 3 years old, and by thinning, select the proper kind and number of younger canes to maintain a productive bush. If properly pruned, a dormant bush will have 6-10 bearing canes plus 3 or 4 new ones coming along to replace the oldest each year.

Seaweed

Seaweed is a wonderful vegetable garden fertilizer, a great soil builder and an excellent compost activator. Seaweed contains complex carbohydrates and these really get the soil humming with life. This has two really important functions for the garden, firstly it stimulates the microbial fungi in the soil and these assist plants in their uptake of nutrients, they also assist in defending plants from soil born diseases. So adding a seaweed fertilizer helps crop protection, and plant nutrition.

It can be either applied to the soil as a mulch (although it will tend to break down very quickly) or can be added to the compost heap, where it is an excellent activator.^[2] In terms of soil structure it does not add a great deal of bulk, but its jelly like alginate content helps to bind soil crumbs together, and it contains all soil nutrients (0.3% N, 0.1% P, 1.0% K, plus a full range of trace elements) and amino acids.

THE DIRT ABOUT THE DIRT

Specific Plant Nutritional Requirements

Rhubarb - soil ph range 6 to 6.8
                  high nitrogen requirement
                  5-10-10 fertilizer in the spring

 

Grapes - soil ph  range 5. to 6.
              Well Drained Soil
             10-10-10 fertilizer in spring

High Bush Blueberries - soil ph  range 4.2 to 5
                                        Well drained soil..  lots of organic matter
                                        nitrogen, Potassium and phosphorus