Here we go - 2019. It's finally Spring here in New England. March 30th started peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and zinnias. Happy Dance.
Love getting my hands back in the soil -- Therapy for the soul. Here's a pic of our greenhouse bench with heated mats. I learned long ago
peppers LOVE warm soil; the heated mats make a huge difference in germination.
The weather this past weekend (4/6th) was absolutely fantastic - 60's. I raked out the flower beds; first time EVER I've been able to rake this early in the season.
I even got a chance to transplant some bearded iris. I know, spring is not the time to divide iris, but this patch is major overdue for dividing.
I have about a dozen eggs in the incubator. White Leghorn, Black Copper Marans, Rose-Comb Rhode Island White and a couple Golden Comets.
Should hatch April 14th.
It's raining and cold today; actually had some snow -- thank goodness it melted soon after hitting the ground.
Heading to Daylily society meeting this weekend. Oh Happy Day. Heidi and Charles from Brown's Ferry daylily gardens will be speaking. Love their flowers.
Well, that's it for today. Just a quick blog to get started for 2019.
Cheers All
It's that time of year when I feel a twinge of sadness. 
Daylilies (my passion) are almost done for the season.
We have rain in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon - pinch me; I must be dreaming. 
Yesterday, I received 'Late To The Party' from 'Floota' LilyAuction -- can't wait for this one to blossom next year. Love the late ones.
And, she generously included a bonus plant: Alchemist wow !! Love it. Thank you 'Floota'.
I've been toying with videos and YouTube... I started a new channel. I'm a YouTube newbie bear with my learning curve.
Here's a quick video of my Royal Standard hosta super fragrant ; the bees / hummingbirds love this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Happy Gardening
Hi all,
Hope everyone is having a great summer. Here in southern NH we're still in drought conditions. Water bans are in place across counties in NH and MA. I suspect next spring's flowering shrubs and trees will show the stress from this year as most plants are making next years blossoms now including dogwood, azaleas, magnolia, roses, rhododendrons...etc.
We've been harvesting lots of tomatoes; finally. Seemed to take forever to get tomatoes and peppers this year.
On the daylily front, I received 'Not Just A Pretty Face' from Dreamscape Daylily Gardens in NC I highly recommend this LA seller. Here's a quick youtube video opening the package.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Also added a couple new plants to the bee garden -
Queen of the Prairie (Filipendula rubra 'Venusta')
Cutleaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata)
Quilled Brown Eye Susan (Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers')
Some pics from around the garden
Barred Rock Rooster
Hardy Hibiscus
Well, the heat is on that's for sure. We've been hazy, hot and humid high 80's. We finally had a good amount of rain on the 10th, however we're still at quite a deficit. As a matter of fact, Governor Hassan has requested
" Secretarial Drought Disaster Designation for farmers in Grafton, Rockingham and Strafford counties. The request follows a vote by the USDA Farm Service Agency’s State Emergency Board to seek a disaster declaration."
May and early June were unseasonably cool which caused my tomatoes, peppers and other heat lovers to sulk. The lack of rain has been quite devastating to a number of local farmers.
In addition to the weather issues, we're also seeing heavy damage from squash vine borer this year; especially in our zucchini and summer squash. It's not been a good harvest this year.
We have quite a few green tomatoes; just taking their time ripening. Green beans are finally coming in at a pretty consistent clip.
Harvested the onions; not as big as we had hoped, but not too shabby. We've picked 6 cucumbers in the last few days. Last year we had a bumper crop of cukes, this year hardly any. I'm trying Sweet Scarlet Dwarf tomato this year (Craig LeHouillier aka NC Tomatoman).
Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project check out Craig here:
http://www.craiglehoullier.com...
Well, that's all for now. Stay cool out there.
Onions
The Cooperage dam Townsend, MA
Late blooming NOID
Woke up to light rain this morning; doing my happy dance. We haven't had any significant rain in weeks. Today brings a light, steady rain - just what the gardens (and lawn) need. Speaking of lawn, mine is brown and 'dormant' waiting for the fall rains. I'll have to do some reseeding this fall. I've replaced quite a bit of lawn in the backyard this season with more perennial flower beds. Maybe one day I won't have need for a lawn mower. hehehe This past week has been hot (90's) and humid. I fed the gardens with Neptune Harvest Fish and Seaweed using my garden hose sprayer. I've heard this feed can help deter diseases and other 'baddies'. Either way, this coming week, I'll be spraying with Serenade fungicide (organic). The rains often bring in diseases including the dreaded blight.
We've been harvesting loads of zucchini and summer squash (Saffron my favorite variety). And, yesterday we picked pole beans --- roasted them with garlic, black pepper and olive oil for dinner... yummy. Harvested the garlic and did a succession planting of Provider bush beans and carrots for a fall harvest. This week we'll be harvesting onions.
That's all for today folks..... below are some pictures from the daylily and hosta gardens
Papeete
Simply Pretty
Womans Work
Cherry Chapeau
Taos
Hosta Bed
