Visitors & Harvest

Two days ago I discovered a visitor and it brought some friends! 😄👍 It has been hanging out for 48 hrs already! 

Pineapple tomato ready!

Black Krim ripening up!

Manyel, the tomato I accidentaly bought, is a great producer! 

Ghosts ready!

More Ghosts

And more Ghosts...

Moruga Scorpions

Grapes!

Beauty, Anticipation, & Disappointment

The cabbage worms were wrecking havoc on my cabbage this year. It's my first time growing it. I've been spraying it every other day to every few days with neem oil and all of the new growth so far has been intact!

I was also spraying my grapes with neem until we had two weeks straight of rain and I did not spray during the rain. Soon as it quit, these spots showed up 😕

These Yucca flowers are unique.

Garlic is ready to harvest!

I've been seeing these for the last couple of weeks at the local grocery store. They have no name, but boy are they pretty! I finally caved and bought one!

This little cutie has been teasing me for awhile! Still waiting!!!

May Market Finds

What happened to spring?! This year was the first in 10 years that I have been a master gardener that I did not volunteer at Phipps May Market. It wasn't unintentional...I did sign up, but a coworker took the day off to get a head start on her vacation and I did not realize the change so I had to work instead. Normally that wouldn't be an issue except that we are under staffed. Luckily it went on til 7pm and I managed to get out on time on a Friday! It was SO hot though! It is usually cold or rainy for this event! It certainly didn't help wearing my polyester uniform with wool socks and compression sleeves! 

These are a MUST when you visit May Market! Fondant strawberries!

Picked up Brugmansia Manifique, a new Tillandsia xerographica since mine rotted, and a cute little pig! 

Here's a close up of the cute little pig!

Got some must have basil and a Anise Hissop!

Got two new tomatoes to try, but then realized I picked up the wrong one, Manyel! Ugh! Snow White is a cherry that I picked, but the other is so not what I wanted! 😒 Maybe I will go back tomorrow and pick up the one I really wanted.

I also got this FANTASTIC metal topiary/frame! It's about 4' tall and it was only $29!!! Unfortunately the woman did not have any business cards or a website even. They only do shows! She did say they had bigger ones, but had sold out! Just my luck! :(

Phipps had more Hakone grass. I meant to ask Margie to order me some, but I forgot. I should've asked if she was ordering and if so to save me some, but again, I got busy and forgot! They had 9 left and I bought all 9! I just need ONE more! UGH! Oh well!

My grape vine has what looks to be eggs all over it. What I am not sure!

This popped up in the yard...not sure what it is though! It doesn't taste or smell like anything!

Close up of the leaves...

My Sugar Ann sugar snap peas are growing, but if this heat continues they aren't going to stay very long!

My Cyprepedium bloomed yesterday. Today's heat obviously stressed it out a bit as the tips of the petals are a bit crispy :(

Look how incredibly flat the dorsal is!

The mosquitos are out in full force already. I went to plant those Hakone grasses and got three giant bites already! Lovely! One of the two things I really hate about summer weather!

Master Gardener Fruit Tree Pruning with Eric Oesterling

Eric demonstrating how to prune grape vines. 

Eric pruning a blueberry bush.

An unpruned blueberry bush.

Eric demonstrating how the branches of an apple tree should be trained.


Pruned apple trees on Eric's property.

Eric demonstrating on how to prune an apple tree. The left side of the tree is pruned and the right is unpruned.

Eric talking about peach trees.

Pear tree

Apple tree with rootstock suckers.

NOTES: 

Grapes fruit on 1 year old wood. Keep moderate sized branches and cut big ones. Shredded bark branches are 2+ yo. Leave 5 nodes on smaller branches. 6-12 nodes on main branches. Keep pencil thin branches.

Apple fruits on 2-3 year old branches. Wider at bottom than top. More horizontal branches = more fruit. Cut all vertical growth or downwards growth and root suckers. 

Blueberries: prune off old less productive branches at base. Likes consistent moisture, does not tolerate fluctuations. New plantings, cut weak shoots & strip flowers for first 5 years

Peaches fruit on year old branches. -12 degrees kills fruit buds. 

Pears fruit on 2-3 yo wood. Grows like apple, but with more branches. 

Falling Into Winter

Last Sunday I was finally able to see the forsythia mess up by the street. It turns out there are really only three bushes, but the one closest to the house has been left unchecked to grow wild. There were branches all the way to the sidewalk! Even though you are not supposed to prune more than 1/3 off, I figured this thing has grown enough over the years to have enough energy stored so I hacked away! I even got the chainsaw out! Inside that mess was a wild grape vine that was as big as my wrist! Anyhow, it has not been cleaned up well, but it is tamed at least! 

All the plants I couldn't figure out where to put since I didn't really have time to figure out the garden were dug in for the winter until hubby decided he HAD to do certain projects outside and had to move them. If I can't find any of my plants next spring, we'll know why! Now some of them are uncovered and winter is arriving this weekend! I need to get a new bag of mulch. This was the last thing I wanted to do when winter hit! *sigh* 

As for winter, my first seed catalog came in the mail today! Time to dream! What shall I plant next year????