The munchies.

After a heavy shower the weather turned hot and steamy here in Oklahomegrownvegland.

Nevertheless, the Happy Gardener had a task to do.

After reading about all these horrible bugs over at my friends wonderful blog called http://www.theinformalgardener.blogspot.com/ I discovered these buggers................

....Bagworms. And my Conifers and absolutely riddled with them.

They have probably been attacking these trees for ages but I didn't see them. They disguise themselves so well they look like part of the tree. That bag contains a caterpillar with a huge appetite and they are eating the trees at an amazing rate.

I broke out the sprayer and gave them a good coating of BTK but it may be too late for this year.

I can but try.

Here's the second of my munching problems............

....another type of Bagworm methinks. They live inside a huge web which is spun around the tree leaves and then go to work. These too got a spraying with the BTK.

Munchers number three are the birds and they have decided to eat....................

...or should I say "ruin" almost every apple on the Fuji tree. This I'm not too worried about but I'm hoping they leave me at least a couple so I can sample my efforts.

On the way back from the Fuji I call in at the wild Garlic......

....which is now setting bulbits.

I'll be gathering some of these later and spreading them around the garden.

The untended part of the garden which I purposely let grow wild............

....is in full greenery...

as can be seen in .....

....these shots. I like to leave this bit in the hands of Mother Nature and see what happens.

I think she's doing a pretty good job up to now. I'll take more pics another time.

On the Tomato front, I pulled a few from the Determinate plant..............

....as can be seen here. But I've been a little disappointed with this to be honest. The fruit seems too big for the size of the plant causing limbs to break in places. Also, the leaf coverage is inadequate causing some of the fruit to get sun scald.

The Cherry Tomatoes are everywhere.................

In the plot and......

....the containers.

The basil bush..................

...is romping on, as is................................

.....the Dill tree.

The Yolo Bell Peppers.......................

....are appearing at last though the plants aren't a patch on last years.

Still, there's time yet.

The Garlic crop has been pulled and I got around 17 heads, all of a pretty good size.

It's now curing in the sun. Well, it was until the rain started then I moved it into the garage.

The curing could take a couple of weeks.

Alvin sleeps on the patio, unaware of tomorrows early morning visit to the vet.

Poor "Little Al" has had some medical problems these last few weeks, pulling his hair out, loss of appetite and generally looking a bit out of sorts. He's had shots for allergies, treatment for worms, ear mites, tics, fleas, lice. You name it, Al's had it stuck in or on him and he's not too happy about all the attention. Tomorrow he's going for some blood work but don't tell him, eh?

In the meantime..........

.....Wilson and......


....Tommy offer moral support, all be it subliminally.

Enough!
Everyone's eating but me?

Tonight's dinner is.............

Roast Peppered Pork..............

....Garden Fresh Red Potatoes with Rosemary.......

.....and a little Kohlrabi Coleslaw on the side.

Enjoy!

Getting things tidy again.

Rising at 7-15am to the sound of Alvin calling from the bedroom windowsill.
An early start is required today if I'm going to get any outdoor work done and, boy do I need to get things straightened out!
Temperatures are due to hit 96F(36C) today which on the heat scale is actually 103F(40C) when you perm in the humidity. Not pleasant working conditions for the Happy Gardener.
Thunderstorms and the hot humid weather have resulted in the grass getting in a terrible state so the mowing begins around the house....





Done! Before I can get the grass cut down to the creek I have to haul the fallen Persimmon tree out of the way...........

.....using the trusty Saturn as a work horse as I thought it may have been a little too much....
......... for Herbie to handle.
Now the way is clear to finish the job..........................



The Flowering Pear trees seem to have shot up this year.
Beside them are the new little Conifers.

All done, it's mid day and.............................

.....things are warming up as predicted.
I was going to go round with the Weedeater and straighten up the edges of the garden but..................

...shortly after starting it ran out of wire. I said a silent prayer of thanks.
At the front of the house we have added...............................

...a couple of new hanging baskets and.......

......purchased new patio chairs to replace the scruffy canvas ones and a matching table instead of the plastic tool box we've been using since we bought the place.
The cats got new canvas chairs too....................


Here's Wilson checking one out for comfyness.
In the front garden everything is lush and green.......





Around the back.................

...the veggies are baking but I'll wait until the sun is off them before giving them a drink.

I pull my third Kohlrabi.........

....but haven't decided what to do with it yet.

This is around the size that I find most flavoursome, bigger not necessarily meaning better in their case.
Work is over for the day, BBQing awaits my attention.

Prawn Kebabs, Basmati Rice, Salad, French bread and a glass of Chablis.

Another loss.

More bad news about the Persimmon Trees.
As I mentioned earlier I discovered that one seems to have been killed by a lightning strike. Well, during the inspection of the strickened tree I noticed this........................

....at the bottom of one of the two remaining trees. Some kind of rot, similar to that which has affected two of the Redbud trees in other parts of the garden. I don't know whether it's caused by termites, the fact that the land is particularly wet, lawnmower damage from past years allowing disease to penetrate or a combination of all three. All I know is , at that point I had a feeling that this tree too would soon be lost.

But, I didn't know just how soon that awful moment would come.


Last Wednesday evening around 5-30pm we had a particularly bad thunderstorm, preceded by about 10 minutes of "Straight Line Winds" blasting from the South. I stood in the doorway and watched as every tree in the area took a terrible thrashing from this frightening blast and sadly after around 5 minutes the Persimmon could no longer stand the force and fell.

It was heartbreaking to see all those years of growth swept down before my eyes. These trees with their majestic canopy were a delight for us to view from our dining table and gave shelter and a regular supply of food to the birds during the harsh winter months.

Perhaps the strain from the ice storm of December 2007 shown here................

......was a contributing factor. We will never know.

We ended the year 2008 with 3 of these delightful additions to the garden and now we are down to one.

Lets move on.......................................................

Plot 6 is slowly coming to life.

The Yolo Bell Pepper plants are quite away behind this year and have suffered a lot of leaf loss in the thunderstorms and high wind. But they seem to be finding their feet now. I mulched them in an effort to keep the soils temperature more even and to retain moisture in the coming hot months. From left to right at the front the Dill, Basil and Curly Parsley plants look great.

In Plot 1 my "Cup runneth over" with Egyptian Onions.................

....so I gathered a jug full of the bulbits and made some...............

Pickled Onions.

I also got a roasting from my wife for forgetting to turn on the extractor fan and stinking the whole house out with the strong aroma of boiled Rice Vinegar. Eeeeek!

But I must have been forgiven because she made us a super Potato Salad using some of the Red Potatoes from Plot 5, Onions from Plot 1 and fresh eggs from our neighbours hens.

What a colourful and tasty feast!!
Enough.

Some losses

It's been a hot day here in Oklahomegrownvegland. A constant 90F (32C)
Not a good day to be working on repairing the shed floor...........................

But it's done! Another job crossed off from the "to do" list.
Yesterday was a little cooler so I managed to get some gardening done.
My wife got the flower beds knocked into shape.......................

Front flower beds..................

....now have colour added......................

.....and are mulched.

The Mosquito plant is another new arrival, an impulse buy on my part from our local Garden Center.
I've been in tree planting mode and added another 3 yesterday......

.....including this Washington Hawthorn.......

......and Sargent Crab apple.
That's a total of 16 so far this year. Up with trees!
Sadly there's bad news about one of the three Persimmon trees, it appears to have been struck by lightning.

Where last year there was ample growth this year the whole tree is dead.
Examination of the lower truck reveals...................

....huge cracks...............

.....in various places. This is a sad loss indeed as the 3 trees all make one nicely shaped canopy and give the appearance of one large tree. This is one of the reasons that the problem went unseen for so long because, when viewed from the house you only notice a couple of dead branches. It was only when I approached the trees from the creek that I saw the extent of the devastation.
On a more positive note..............

..the Fuji Apples bountiful harvest. .

Well, if I can get to them before the birds that is.
Moving around the back of the house the Tomato plants in the containers..............

.....have doubled in height and are flowering. I'm tending to give these a little extra Fish Emulsion as they have limited growing medium and dry out quickly. Constant watering will probably flush out most of the nutrients from the soil.
Plot 2

Tomato plants look good and are in flower. The parsnip seed aren't doing a thing. I'll check again when I water tonight.
Plot 3

So far so good with the potatoes. These plants have flowered heavily and I've kept up the watering as this is the time of tuber development.
Plot 4

I've harvested one Kohlrabi which came in at around 3 inch diameter, and two small batches of radish. These went in with the Mesclun which is STILL providing and could turn out to be the best new discovery of the season.
Plot 5
Now here's more bad news.................
In two weeks the batch of red potatoes has gone.........................

...........from this...........................

.....to this.
It look suspiciously like Verticillium Wilt to me...................

I dig up one row, which is half the plot, and get 5lb of potatoes. So my hopes for a good harvest of Reds are shattered for this year. Funnily enough, my spell checker wanted to change the word "Verticillium" to "Voodooism". Now there's a thought, maybe I have a Potato Curse?
Plot 6

Sparkler Radishes look good, Yolo Bell peppers are struggling to get off the ground this year in direct contrast to the rapid growth last year. Of the Parsnip seeds I planted there looks to be about 6 or 8 showing through. Oh well, maybe Wal Mart will do better.
The determinate Tomato plants, which is situated in one of the ends of the path...............

....set it's first fruit last weekend and now has quite a few showing. This is the only tomato plant with fruit on to date.
At the opposite end of the path the Cherry tomato plant I grew from organic seed.......

....has taken off after a slow start.
Many things in the garden seem to have been affected by the swings in temperature combined with floods and steaming hot days. But hey, when has it ever been easy?
On a lighter note, I've been combing the Internet these last 2 weeks and asking people in the area where I could get a "Food Grade" 55 gallon plastic drum for an up coming project. My fruitless search comes up in a conversation with our local veterinarian while Alvin is having his shots.
Turns out that Oklahomegrownland, population 1200, has it's very own "Food grade" plastic drum emporium right next to the Garden Centre. I call in and see Gene, the proprietor and............

.....snap one up for $11.00. A bargain.
Ok, enough. It's beer thirty!!

Catching up.

With this being Memorial Day weekend I get Monday off from work. A great chance to attempt to catch up on all those jobs I've been unable to do due to the constant rain.

It seems the waters have abated for the time being so.....................


I mow.

Around the back......................


............................

.....and I mow around the side................

..........................

....and I mow around the front until everything is neat and tidy again.
Well, around the house at least. The rest can wait for now as I have trees to plant.

Sargent Crabapple

Crape Myrtle


Washington Hawthorn

I also put in some more Conifers down by the creek and my extra Tomato plants have been scattered around here and there but more about those another time.
The Tomato plants in Plot 2................

.....have been treated to new cages this year. I'm using a lot of my old ones to protect some of the small trees that I've set out. No, the white you see isn't frost, it's Diatomaceous Earth. I sprinkled a little around as there seemed to be quite a few ants emerging from somewhere.
Plot 3

And the potatoes are all in bloom.
Plot 4

The carrots have finally made an appearance in amongst the Radishes
.....and the Kohlrabi

....are starting to develop their bulbs.

Plot 6

No sign of the Parsnip seeds yet but the Sparkler Radishes are up.

The Mesclun is looking great.................

...especially on the dinner table.
Around the front of the house we have a great development.

The Fuji Apple Tree.....................

....has got it's first tiny apples.

The toads are back too.

It's great to see these bug eating friends back again.

Indoors I've put the first batch of dried Catnip..................

.....into a storage jar. Tommy got the left over sticks to play with........

....and had a great time rubbing chewing and rolling all over them.

I cut back the plants for the second time................

.....and hung them in the kitchen to dry out.
Tomorrow I hope to get my second Sargent Crabapple tree out and perhaps get to the Garden Centre to pick up some bedding plants as the flower beds at the front need some colour.

But Enough for today!

At last the rain has stopped.

No rain expected for a few days so everyone can get out and enjoy a little sunshine.

Tommyticklemouse is happy to bask in the sun and watch dad do all the work.
Even though the rain has stopped there are still lots of wet areas around the garden.

This puddle is teeming with tadpoles.

Things are blooming. The Determinate tomato plant.............

.....and............

..........some of the potatoes too.
I have finally got the Yolo Bell pepper plants into plot 6

I planted them out Thursday evening. I staked then as we were having some quite stiff winds blowing at the time
Plot 5 is abundant with green

We enjoyed some of our Swiss Chard the other night.
The tomatoes in Plot 2 have taken a severe beating with the torrential rain but I think.....

....that now things have settled down they will buck up and start to look a little happier.
I've finally got some Parsnip seeds to sprout.

I've found the ideal location in a small cupboard above the range which seems to be working well. I set out a row on Friday evening and I have enough sprouted seeds to start another row next week.
Here's something else that's looking a lot cheerier now that the deluge has ceased.

We may be trying a little Mesclun Salad soon with a little luck.
Of course, there's always the mowing to do so Herbie was called into action.

Now everything looks.................

.....far neater.
I even got the front flower bed weeded and a few bedding plants in.

They'll be more to come but my back has had enough for this weekend.

I have a long weekend coming up so hopefully will be able to get a few more jobs ticked off of my "to do" list.

Enough!!

Wet, wet, wet.

The rain simply doesn't want to stop, here in Oklahomegrownvegland.
Everything is very green..............

....very soggy and VERY LONG. The ground is far too wet to get Herbie out so things are just going to have to get a whole lot longer.
The Happy Gardener will now pull on his Wellington Boots before taking a stroll around.

Plot 1

Everything looks fine. I may start and pull a few of the Winter Onions and get them dried out indoors. Some of the others will steadily get spread around the various plots as I slowly re-open this area of the garden to other duties. My plan is to have a few of these in each plot if possible so I have a continuous but controlled supply. They aren't the prettiest looking plants but are good at keeping out some of the bugs so they pay their way.
Plot 2
The Tomato plants have survived the downpours, but only because I sheltered them with one of my floating row covers.

I've managed to get one African Blue Basil plant so far and that is now in place. I'm on the look out for at least one more, possibly two. A few Winter Onions are now established at the far end. Once things dry out a little I'm considering putting in some All American Parsnip seeds along the front part. If they germinate (and Parsnip seeds are famous for not doing so) I'll leave them in all this season and harvest late Fall/early Winter as and when required. I'm soaking the seeds indoors at the moment in an attempt to stimulate germination before planting.
Plot 3
Potatoes are good so far but I'm watching them like a hawk.

I'm applying Iron Phosphate on a weekly basis just in case. I've already "hilled" these twice, as I have with the ones in Plot 5, so now they are on their own. To the left are two small additions to this plot. A little bunch of Dill and a small Winter Onion which needed a home.
Plot 4
Adding the manure to this plot the other week seems to have giving the Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi plants the kick-start that they needed.

They still needs to get a bit of move on though if they are going to be "early".
The Red Onions are doing good but I'm worried about all this excess moisture rotting them, a problem I had with some of these last year.
Down the left hand side, the Cherry Belle Radish seeds are through. I mixed these with Nantes Scarlet Carrot seeds, the idea being that the radish come through first and break the ground up for the carrots. Well, it all sounds good on paper............
Plot 5
The Potatoes in here are doing good and the same applies to these as I said about the ones over in Plot 3. At this near end the rainbow Swiss Chard from last year has started to get some decent sized leaves on it and is now ready to be used as required.
These two amazingly hardy plants survived throughout the winter in this plot, simply covered with a layer of straw. There's a small empty patch at this end. I'll have to think about putting it to good use. Marigolds?
Plot 6
Will I ever get anything planted in here, I wonder?

Way back when we were having temperatures in the 70's and low 80's it seemed a good idea to remove the mulch, dig it over and prepare it for use. Now it's a mud bath and will need at least a week of dry weather to get to a state where it can be worked. I now wish I'd left it covered but we are all much smarter with hindsight, eh?

The Mesclun Box is showing progress......

...but like a lot of other things here it needs a little less rain and a little more sunshine.

Due to the downpours the potted herbs at the front of the house have had to be moved to a more sheltered position.

I was up around 5-30am the other morning dragging them under cover as the heavens opened above me.
The Determinate Tomato plant has survived the elements uncovered but it was a pretty

well established plant when it went in.

I've given it a small Curled Parsley plant as a companion
Indoors, the Spicy Globe Basil seeds have produced a fine set of plants.

Here's an example. Germination rates on most herb seeds are low so I sowed plenty and got some. I'm starting to nip the tops off to encourage bushy growth, similar to what I've been doing with the Catnip.
Speaking of which........................

The plants living on my office windowsill have been cut back and are now starting to grow their second batch. The harvest from this heavy pruning now hangs in the kitchen, drying out.

I have more seedlings coming along in the growing room

OK, it's stopped raining so I'm off to the Garden Centre.................