When we moved here we began a ten-year garden journal which we bought from (Lee Valley ). It is a great way to keep a record of the comings and goings of the wildlife and keep track of the garden plantings. We also use it to record propane tank switching, water tank chlorinating, battery maintenance and the like.. It’s a handy book for reference indeed.
I admit that during a month when I would have had the most ever to record, I forgot all about it.. There was just too much going on. Tomorrow, I am going to have to go through the blog and try to recreate the journal entries.. What day did we see the whales? When did the eagle start hanging around the front of the house? Shouldn’t be too difficult. I can probably just write sea-lion and then ditto… ditto… ditto for most of the month.
The weather has been awesome this week. I have been able to spend two full days in the garden. Yesterday I planted beets, leeks, parsnips, lettuce, and cucumbers. I added a white tree peony and two penstemons. T
he peony because I can never have enough of them and the penstemon because their long-lasting flowers were a big hit in my bouquets last summer. The potatoes are up and the garlic is looking very healthy indeed.
Today, I “potted up” my tomatoes, by moving the seedlings into gradually larger containers until they are ready to go into the garden. I received seedlings from AW and LCD. I also bought a few of my favorites while killing time in town last Friday. I have a grand total of 29 plants potted. That is a lot of tomatoes and to quote AW, I know what I will be doing in September… (canning) I will take some down to the south house, and take one tumbler up to the W’s so they can have one to hang off their deck (if they want it). That will leave me with about 21. We will be having a lot of pasta next winter. Most of the tomatoes and all of my bedding plants still in the cold frame. It is exploding…
Last year we didn’t have very many apples off of our three apple trees. We suspect the problem was a lack of pollinators. But today there were lots of flowers and lots of bees. We are thinking it is going to be a much better year for apples.
The gold finch arrived yesterday to my feeder in the garden, and today a purple finch. I checked the garden journal and they arrived exactly a year ago… Apparently the finches like to celebrate Cinco de Mayo
on the island
Off the Grid Islander 