The rest of reliable garden correspondent Marvel‘s latest report from the Willamette Valley…
At top: Blueberries. there’ll be a scant harvest this year, but we’ll do better next.
Cabbage unfurling. It’s a green, slo-mo ballet every time.
Area 51. In this fairly compressed snapshot: sunflowers, dill, parsley, tomatoes, popcorn & artichokes. It’s taken several years, but the soil out there is finally in pretty good shape.
Jonagold Apples — growing up cozy and doing their best to repel codling moths. I hope they’re victorious.
Lavender — graceful and sweet-scented.
***********
Here north of Boston, my neglected flower beds are beginning to burst with bright daylilies and sweet-scented Zepherine Drouhan roses — amid the flourishing weeds. With any luck, I’ll be able to pick up a few six-paks of heat-hardy annuals when we go out for ice cream this afternoon, but with the Spousal Unit on vacation this week I’m not sure how much I’ll actually be able to accomplish during the daylight hours…
What’s going on in your gardens this week?
Mary G
Marvel, your garden is a marvel. You could put your photos in a book.
AL, Volante Farms looks like a place I could do a lot of damage to my credit card.
raven
Very nice. The princess made a blueberry slaw to go on the chicken dawgs yesterday!
We got lots of rain this week so the plants should do well without watering for a bit. I built a simple trellis for one of the rose bushes last week and we moved the plant yesterday.
satby
Good morning and happy Sunday everyone! I’m mostly growing weeds this year too, but got quite a few blueberries off my bushes. Added in some strawberries I bought and made mixed berry low sugar jam yesterday. If I can put up some jars of something that I grew, I consider the year a success.
OzarkHillbilly
Watering my garden every evening last week has finally paid off. Our month long dryspell has broken. Rained all day yesterday, supposed to do the same today. Flash flood watches everywhere. Damned if I know why. All the rain we got yesterday went straight into the ground without any runoff at all. Indian Creek didn’t come up an inch yesterday.
No new disasters to report from the garden this week. Everything looks like it’s supposed to. In other words, the end is near.
JPL
@raven: Rain, what’s rain. It totally missed me. My tomatoes have stopped growing. The snow peas have bit the dust. So far I’ve had two servings of beans, and a few cherry tomatoes.
Since the temperature is suppose to be in the mid to high nineties for the unforeseeable future, I think I’ll try to salvage what I can, and replant in August.
Raven
Michael Cimino died.
Raven
@JPL: It pounded here twice this week.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m in Tuscaloosa where summer is overachieving as usual. Back home in Detroit it’s still dry. Lady Thunder waters just to keep things alive. The day lilies seem unaffected but I’d bet on those to thrive on Mars.
Raven
One of the biggest jokes in history:
MattF
Not a gardener (not even a possibility in my apartment) so I get blueberries from the farmer’s market. But they are good and they go with the raspberries and the yogurt and the granola. And now I’m getting hungry.
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: Just a wee bit over the top.
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
Cat48
I’ve planted flowers and a hydrangea bush this year and I’m thinking of planting seeds my daughter sent me for container gardening. It seems that Burpee has developed a container corn plant. That’s going to be fun to try and container tomatoes.
Cat48
@rikyrah:
Good morning, Rikyrah. How’s,the World treating you this a.m.? I’m very sad to see Elie Wiesel has passed away. He’ll b missed.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Hey Anne Laurie – I live less than a quarter mile away from Volante’s and end up there almost daily for something or other. I have an around and about in and out schedule today, but if you know when you’ll be there, I’ll meet you for an ice cream too!!
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Raven:
My best friend’s brother was an actor – had a bit role in the Deer Hunter and Heaven’s Gate. He was the marine back from Viet Nam at the bar during the Deer Hunter wedding scene. His one line – “fuck it”. His parents were so proud!
Cat48
@MattF:
That’s really more my style, the Farmers Market. No major disappointments when the crops fail in harsh weather & bug invasions. We used to have good gardens in IL with lots of strawberries. It would take too much energy here, where the sun index is 11 & humidity near 100% in summer. Not complaining, I’m just not tough enough.
Eric S.
Lovely plants, Marvel.
My deck garden is getting into full swing. Two 5 gallon buckets each with a tomato plant. Salt one has B.E.R. A couple of hot pepper and sweet pepper plants in other pots plus a few herbs. I’ll be harvesting my first purple sweet pepper soon.
The Deer Hunter is one of my many cultural holes. I can remember my parents watching it when I was young. I don’t know if I shooed out of the room or left on my own.
The Lady and I did go see Free State of Jones Friday. We both enjoyed it. It was pretty intense for her but that was compensated by her getting to watch Matthew for 2 hours.
Immanentize
The rain around Boston has my garden growing well. My blueberries did nothing (winter moth inch worms) but all the peppers, green beans and tomatoes are flourishing.
But I’m in Texas this week and it is high 90’s every day. They had all that rain (they live near the Brazos) so everything is green here for a while longer. So many doe with fauns. I trimmed up a Vitex for my father-in-law and was rewarded with a noisy Hoot Owl last night in the tree. Woke me up but made me smile!
Immanentize
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: About a third of Deer Hunter is the wedding. I grew up in upstate NY on the Pennsy border and that (type of) wedding was a big part of my young life. I probably went to three or four weddings exactly like that one at St. Ann’s or Saint Josef’s or at the Polish Club. Polka band, halupki, roast beef or turkey, all the desserts home made. The women chatting at the tables hardly keeping an eye on us kids, the men at the bar doing shots, my cousin in his new marine uniform telling stories, my great uncle who was captured in WWII just drinking….
raven
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Hell yes!
Keith P.
Staph infection in my legs (caught in in the ER a couple of weeks ago after a hip sprain) is finally on the wane. 2nd antibiotic finally started making a difference. I’ve never had anything like this before…full rashes with painful bumps and tons of swelling from the knees down, with constant pain and/or itching for 3 weeks now, including the sprain. Still looks bad enough to where I won’t be going out in shorts any time soon, but at least it doesn’t hurt to walk any more.
OzarkHillbilly
@Keith P.: Mending is good.
TaMara (HFG)
Marvel, excellent garden as always!
Question! Question! Anyone around grow blueberries in high desert, 5280 elevation? I have a lone blueberry plant at the new house and I’m determined to add a couple more and have them grow. I hear it’s possible with some work and the right soil mix. Any suggestions would be great.
Also…looks like I’m going to have a bumper concord grape harvest. I don’t do jams and jellies, but any other suggestions for what I should do with all of them?
Schlemazel Khan
@Keith P.:
YIKES! That sounds scary bad.
As often as I have been in the hospital combined with my luck I’m stunned I have not had this experience myself – THANK PASTA!
Glad to hear you are on the mend.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@raven:
My friend’s brother was also Dr. Hook in Slapshot. He got the role because he played hockey with my brother in high school. He told Mike Cimino (a fellow Italian) he could ride a horse, and he couldn’t, so he got the role in Heaven’s Gate and spent months filming in Kalispell learning to ride a horse enough to wing it. They had an amazing time, but that movie ended Cimino’s career, and alas, Paul’s career too, except for the occasional cameo in various Law and Orders, which every actor in New York eventually ends up in.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Fabulous garden as always, Marvel. Thanks for sharing this with us every week, AL.
@Keith P.: Ouch! I’m glad you’re on the mend. Too many people get serious infections in hospitals. I’m very sorry that you’re one of them. :-( On the plus side, you might have lower risk of some cancers now – William Coley.
I mentioned a while ago that my father’s ocular melanoma came back and is in his liver now. He met with his oncologist and the doc said that they’re working on a plan and that renewing his magazine subscriptions wouldn’t be a waste, so things don’t look quite so dire. There are some promising new results, also too. (Fighting melanoma with bacterial infections hasn’t done much so far, though it does seem to work with some other types of cancers.)
Have a good Sunday and a safe and happy 4th, everyone. The 4th is predicted to be very wet around here (NoVA).
Cheers,
Scott.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@TaMara (HFG): I’m no expert, but the blueberries I’ve seen growing in the wild in West Virginia were in damp areas with lots of morning humidity (boggy areas in forests, etc.). I assume that like most plants, they don’t like “wet feet”, but they may appreciate being misted every morning, especially in the desert. I don’t think they care much about the altitude if you can keep them in moist-enough air.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Keith P.:
I’ve heard so many bad stories about staph caught in hospitals – scary! It’s like hospitals are the most dangerous places to be now.
JPL
@TaMara (HFG): You have to be careful with the dog and grapes, but you probably know that.
MattF
…and… just by the way, that pic of Hilz with a six-pointed star nearby was ‘borrowed’ from a neo-Nazi site. Ooopsie.
debbie
@MattF:
I checked out althouse because I was feeling more masochistic than usual. While Ann condemns that Tweet, most of her commenters are defending it. I especially love the comment that stated because it wasn’t yellow, it’s not the Jewish star. As if there were no Jewish stars prior to the Holocaust.
Schlemazel Khan
I think Cole is going to have to fire the person responsible for PR on Balloon Juice!! I just learned that as part of the bankruptcy proceedings Sports Authority had to auction off the naming rights they hold to the football stadium in Denver. Bidding close Friday with no bids offered. This is a huge missed opportunity to really get the name out there. We could have heard “Live from, Mile High BJ Stadium in Denver!” a dozen Sundays every fall for $100!
Who dropped the ball on this? Heads should roll!
MattF
@debbie: Hmmph. “David? David who?”
Schlemazel Khan
@debbie:
I can’t imagine anyone stupid enough to think “I know, lets tie her to JEWS!” I have to assume they are just too dense to recognize the symbolism of what they thought was a clever ad.
The evil of banality. “White privilege” that allows dense people to not have to pay any attention to what they are doing or how it might be received. That is not an excuse to forgive them, it points out how very unprepared Drumpf’s people are to lead out nation.
TaMara (HFG)
@JPL: It will be a challenge. My friends have grapes and last summer he went straight for the ones on the ground. He’s big enough that we didn’t worry too much – it seems to be like chocolate, it’s a dosage vs. weight thing.
But in our own backyard….it will be a challenge.
JPL
@Schlemazel Khan: Trump has retweeted racist posts, so it’s likely he knew what he was doing. Peter Singer found the symbol on another site, I didn’t follow the trail though. link
Glidwrith
@TaMara (HFG): Wait, dogs have problems with grapes?
MattF
@JPL: So, Der Trump is poking around in neo-Nazi, alt-right sites. I’m getting uneasy about calling him ‘Der Trump’. It’s snark, y’know– a joke.
JPL
@MattF: He has before and it appears that trying to convince him not to tweet, doesn’t work.
Schlemazel Khan
@JPL:
If what that link says is true (it appears to be but I have gotten very cynical recently after several lefty sites have decided to play the Fox bullshit news game so I an skeptical of everyone) Then Drump’s people are even dumber than I could imagine. Ignorance on an issue like this is not excuse because there is no excuse to be THAT ignorant. But if they did it intentionally then they really do need to be removed from polite society. My level of contempt for Drumps and his team and supporters has risen to a level I didn’t know was possible.
schrodinger's cat
@JPL: I agree, this is no mistake. Trump has been bringing stuff from the right wing fever swamps into the mainstream. While they feed on racism and xenophobia, anti-Semitism is like mother’s milk to them.
TaMara (HFG)
@Glidwrith: Foods dogs shouldn’t eat. The coconut oil one is tough, too, because Bixby is constantly trying to lick it off my legs after I shower. The dairy one confounds, because he loves yogurt pops in the summer (yogurt, banana, peanut butter blended and frozen) and he does fine with it.
O. Felix Culpa
Hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies are beginning to find their way to my garden. It rained last night too, so less watering to be done. We’re eating lettuce from our container garden, but it will be a while before the tomatoes and peppers are ready. Although the rabbit still lurks on the perimeter, no recent evidence of damage, which makes Ms. O and me happy.
Tomorrow we head to the Santa Fe plaza to help with voter registration during the Fourth of July festivities. A nice way to celebrate.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@O. Felix Culpa:
Santa Fe plaza is one of my favorite places on earth, as is Santa Fe.
O. Felix Culpa
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: After a year here, I still can’t believe I live in this wonderful, extraordinarily beautiful place.
Miss Bianca
@TaMara (HFG): let me know if you succeed – I was thinking I’d have to resort to greenhousing if I wanted to grow blueberries! (of course, presently I am at 8500 + feet elevation).
Currant bushes and a form of native raspberry growing wild round the house here – berries should be ripe in a few more weeks!
debbie
@Schlemazel Khan:
Okay, if I have to give them the benefit of the doubt, I’d bet they picked the Jewish star over a regular 5-point star because the surface area of the Jewish star is larger and so would more easily hold more type. But still.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@O. Felix Culpa:
JEALOUS