Vanquishing the blackberry

We cut down the blackberry canes on Friday. Even those with flowers.

My friend who helped me grieved over the lost potential of berries. I fear I diminished myself in his eyes by viewing this food source as a marauding Visigoth. Nonetheless, he energetically attacked with loppers and pruners, dismembering and purging massive tangles, some 15 feet or more long. We extricated twisted canes from fragrant mock orange, Western hazelnut, viburnum, rhododendron and lilac. Resisting, thin branch ends whipped around, grabbing us in thorny holds.

When the yard waste can was stuffed to capacity, we piled the brambles on the lawn. The curving canes that once held captive the western border of the garden are today a spiny shipwreck, sharp brambles still guarding a non-existent cargo.

Caution: active thorns!

Peas' Progress II

Update on how the peas are progressing in the two different soil mixes:

In the commercial mix amended with extra compost, perlite and organic fertilizer, where all eight seeds germinated, the vines are about 45 inches tall with many flowers.

In the coir, compost, perlite, pumice mix (also with organic fertilizer), where only 4 of 8 seeds ever germinated, they are closer to 38 or 39 inches with fewer flowers. The leaves are darker green on the vines in the coir mix, but they are being eaten by something that is chomping off huge chunks, working from the outer edge toward the stem. This is not the work of a slow nibbler! I haven’t seen the culprit yet. Anyone have any ideas?

Pots L to R: Cukes, Peas in coir mix, Peas in amended commercial mix

 

The cucumbers are flowering and beginning to set fruit. The slim Asian type, 'Satsuki Midori', is looking very good – perfect baby cucumber shape and rich green, or as my friend Joel said, it’s at the “cutecumber” stage. The lemon cucumber has two tiny fruits but they are brown at the flower end – not a promising site. Hopefully the flowers that have not yet set fruit will be healthier looking.

 

 

"cute-cumber"

          

 

baby lemon cukes

First Day of Summer

Looking out my bedroom window, I see plenty of blue sky and a clear view of the white-capped Olympic Mountains. The first day of summer looks like one. The peas are finally beginning to bloom in the pots on my deck. It took over two months from planting to flowering. I heard on the radio that this was the coldest spring we’ve had in Seattle since 1950. Now I hope the peas manage to produce pods before the weather turns too hot for them.

The morning sun just flowed through the Rapunzel window where I sit typing, spilling a warm pool over my left foot. Yes, it looks like a good day. I’m very grateful that I get off work at 3:00 today instead of 5:30.

I woke about ten minutes before 4:00 am to find that I’d fallen asleep with the bedside lamp on. I turned it off, but the birds were already singing and I never managed to get back to sleep. I tried to quiet my anxiety about my father’s cancer diagnosis and impending radiation and chemo by listening to the quiet morning and bird song and feeling grateful for these. One bird call sounded like “Judy”. “Ju-dee”, with emphasis and slightly higher pitch on “dee”. Over and over the bird called to his absent “Ju-dee”.

Naturally occurring bi-color mutation!

The last time I got excited about a buttercup, I was maybe 7 or 8 years old and held a blossom under a friend’s chin to see the reflected glow that supposedly revealed a fondness for butter.

As an adult I view buttercups, although cheerfully bright, as nuisance weeds with tenacious roots. But the other day, by Meadowbrook Pond, I spotted a patch with splashes of white on the petals! Bi-color buttercups! A naturally occurring mutation. Perhaps not quite on the order of a Dan Hinkley Himalayan trekking discovery, and certainly not commercially appealing, with their tendency to spread, sprawl and subjugate, but a discovery of a rarity nonetheless!

Waiting for warmth!

May is nearly over. What a busy month. I spent the second week in California, saw most of my family and attended my son Galen’s college graduation. My first to graduate! I put together a PowerPoint presentation about fabulous containers, which I gave last night to a group of gardeners and will deliver to another group tonight.

It still feels more like early April. Chilly, rainy and too cold to put the tomatoes outside. Yet the garden is full and lush, running on its own timetable. A few days ago, the sun made an all-day appearance and the Helianthemum ‘Henfield Brilliant’ exploded into bloom worthy of its name. It brought me to my knees – literally – to get in position to photograph it with the small pale apricot tulips, gold Euonymus and purple Heuchera in the background.

My little Japanese maple that I planted last spring in a pot on the part-shade side of the deck, along with the Ligularia and Hosta, came back robustly. I had been a little worried about the maple, called ‘Brocade’, last fall when only one branch of leaves turned color and the rest shriveled brown. I’m so relieved that I worried needlessly. I love its delicately divided leaf and subtle red and green color variations, very like a brocade. 

And the peas in both soil mixtures continue to grow at the same rate! They’ve reached 15 inches tall, but no flowers yet. I’ve enjoyed quite a few tender, tasty salads of bib lettuce, arugula, Mizuna and red mustard greens from my pots. The little pak choi cooks so much faster in a stir fry than store-bought – one stir in the pan and it’s done. It’s begun to flower, and very soon I’ll harvest the rest and plant the tomato in that pot. Soon, very soon!

This Weekend is the Best Edible Plant Sale!

Don't miss Seattle Tilth's annual food growers extravaganza for the largest selection of summer garden plants in the region! Free plant talks also.

May 7 and 8, Saturday and Sunday

9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Meridian Park, Seattle

Hooray, it's May!

Ran out of time on Sunday, but here’s my May Day post now:

Columnar flowering cherry in backyard

 

Yes, it’s May Day. A day for dancing around May poles and celebrating spring, fertility, youthful zest, renewal, life etc., etc.

And the sun is shining through my Rapunzel window. (My friend Joel named the window. It’s tall and narrow, with leaded glass and an arched top, the only window in the peaked second story front of the house, and it does suggest a tower window.) The sky is superbly blue at 7:30 am. It’s a perfect May Day. Except that I have to work all day on this exquisite Sunday. I’m aching to work in my garden.

My own flowering cherry trees grace my yard now. The columnar Amanogawa cherries in the backyard are so tall, they dominate the skylight view in my second-floor bathroom.

Prunus serrulata 'Amanogawa' seen through skylight

 

Out front by the street, fat, bunchy, rich pink blooms cluster thickly on the Kwanzan flowering cherries. 

Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan'

 

I am feeling a bit like Rapunzel this morning, limited to viewing spring through windows because of my retail work schedule. Mantra today: my real work is supporting people in learning to grow their own food, build community, revel in the beauty in nature and live in harmony with the Earth. Repeat!