Garden Journal :: June 2005

Wednesday :: June 1st

Water tomatoes & recently sown seeds.

Spanish beans pop out of the ground in earnest.

Left: Snowball bushes, rhododendrons and azaleas drop petals, siberian iris peaks and pink peonies begin to pop.

Thursday :: June 2nd :: windy, dry and cool

Buy a dwarf alberto spruce and some spreading blue rug juniper and a real Russian sage. Too windy to plant out.

Prune snowball bush branches away from peonies. Prune out wild rose branches from Grahm Thomas "Heritage" rose.

Everywhere I watered yesterday is bone dry, thanks to the wind.

A friend noticed an Ash tree is dropping leaves. It has anthracnose and will recover without chemicals, says the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture.

Saturday :: June 4th :: 8o's ... still no rain

Water, round up weeds and acid feed rhododendron and azaleas.

Plant out magenta coreopsis in viburnum bed and in front of "the mound."

Watering the tomatoes is not working. I know the water is not getting deep enough. Once again, I decide to make "dripulators" which enable me fill and walk away.

Patrick cuts the grass, and runs over the dame's rocket I had painted. RIP.

Harvest first lettuce!

Monday :: June 6th :: 15-30 minutes of rain this morning

Rake the mound (unburying coreopsis and sedum... thanks Patrick) and sow watermelon "Moon and Stars" and a wildflower mix. Sow cat mint in front.

:: Miss Carolyn's Egyptian onions are dancing with the lupine.

Tues :: June 7th :: 9o's and really dry again

Continue dripulating tomatoes & watering sown seeds.

Thursday :: June 9th :: 9o's and really dry again

Move the crowded Topaz hosta to in front of Sum and Substance.

Continue dripulating tomatoes & watering sown seeds.

What is it? Another mystery volunteer. A mullian, perhaps?

Pink and White peonies peak for a day. Peonies and all iris fall apart in the heat.

We have cherries! ... and brown rot.

Watermelon and catmint germinate.

Roses bloom in earnest. Thrips on the Grahm Thomas "Heritage."

Sunday :: June 12th :: upper 8o's and still no real rain

Patrick sprays fruit trees and raspberries.

Dripulate watermelon & water potted plants and catmint.

California poppies peak.

Coreopsis and sundrops start up.

Monday :: June 13th :: upper 8o's and still no rain

Harvest most of the cherries & remove infected fruit.

Continue dripulating tomatoes, watermelon & watering potted plants and catmint.

The herb garden ::

1. urn with cactus

2. globe flowers

3. Bergamot

4. Pyrethrum daisies

5. Sundrops

6. thyme bed

7. lavender bed

8. Bouncing Bet

9. Rose Campion

10. Egyptian onions

11. pot of rosemary

Tuesday :: June 14th :: afternoon thunderstorm and rain!

Bake a late night cherry pie & enjoy cool breezes.

Thursday :: June 16th :: 6o's and rainy

Harvest lettuce. No watering today! Weed while it's easy.

Primroses glow in the rain.

Friday :: June 17th

Plant dwarf alberto spruce. Turn SW section of kitchen garden and sow soybean cover crop.

Saturday :: June 18th :: cool and dry

Host MAPS airshow deck party & enjoy gardens with friends.

Pick 5 remaining cherries & remove infected fruit.

Sunday :: June 19th :: Father's Day :: breezy and dry

Host MAPS airshow deck party for family

Left: "What is that?" was the question of the weekend, so I researched what I couldn't answer and made the chart to the left.

Left: Bouncing Bet and Rose Campion. One came from a wildflower seed pack, and the other from Maria. Both self seed. These planted themselves in front of some varigated bishops weed, which also planted itself here a few years back ... just when I wanted some. Aho.

Tuesday :: June 21st :: Summer Solstice & near full moon

Turn remaining SE section of kitchen garden and plant out the nine peppers we had bought a week ago, which almost died forgotten in their packs over the weekend.

Sow basil.

Resume dripulating tomatoes.

:: Globe flowers brighten up the shade alongside varigated bishop's weed.

Thursday :: June 23rd :: 8o's and dry

Sow Blue Lake green beans in the mound. Weed purslane from catmint seedlings in front. Trim spent flowers in kitchen garden. Harvest lettuce.

Saturday :: June 25th :: 9o's

Harvest lettuce for lunch and Wooster garden tour with Kristina. Purchase $25 European larch tree at Quail Crest Farm, and plant in the mound in the evening.

:: I would like to find a banana magnolia like this one in Wooster!

Monday :: June 27th :: 9o's

Have been watering every morning for a week. No rain.

Tuesday :: June 28th :: 9o's :: an afternoon storm brings a light rain.

Remove daffodil leaves.

Wednesday :: June 29th :: 9o's and no rain

A squash seeding emerges and I dripulate the three mounds.

Resume drip-watering tomatoes and watermelons.

:: begamot and holly hocks frame the vegetable garden.

Thursday :: June 30th :: 9o's :: another afternoon storm teases.

Basil and Blue Lake beans emerge.