Garden Journal April 19 - May 15

May 15
Notes

  • Nice and sunny, 18 c
  • A few robins and starlings out enjoying the garden
  • Lettuce and Kale have sprouted

Tasks

  • Move rocks to new location to keep grass underneath from dying 
  • Weed garlic mustard, Alliara petiolata, from around the garden
  • Water garden with specific attention to seedlings and newly planted seeds

Garlic mustard removed from the garden


May 14
Planted From Seed

  • Burpee's Picklebush cucumber
  • Cubit's Marketmore cucumber
  • Hubbard squash from the seed library
  • Burpee's fordhook zucchini
  • Burpee's brittle wax beans
  • Burpee's Stringless green pod bean
  • Burpee's organic rothild carrots
  • Cubit's Citrullus lanatus sugar baby watermelon
  • Yellow cantaloupe from the seed library (2014)
  • Mckenzie organic early wander top beet
  • Dark red Detroit beet from the seed library (2015)

Tasks

  • Lay down crushed rock and sand to improve path
  • Start cleaning and priming rain barrels to protect from UV rays which promote algae growth
  • Pinch aphids on currant bushes

Notes

  • Are red spots on fruit trees a kind of scale?


May 12
Tasks

  • Look for aphids on currant bushes
  • Water pots and raised beds 
  • Weed around the edge of the garden
  • Add scraps to the compost
  • Move rocks 

Notes

  • No aphids found on currants 
  • Looked like rain was on the way
  • Mint is showing up in raspberry beds, should it be moved?


May 10
Tasks

  • Mulch mound near vermiculture bins and currant bed
  • Edge currant bed with stone
  • Move gravel and stone to better location
Notes

  • Aphids have moved on to third currant bush, mostly on the very young leaves
  • Small, striped, oblong critters also spotted on currants, hopefully ladybug nymphs 
  • Weather has been very cold and wet for all of May, today is sunny but still cold, 10 c
  • Asparagus is starting to sprout and feather
  • Lettuce under row cover has filled gaps from last week's thinning
  • Transplanted lettuce was accidentally buried with thick mulch, has now been saved and is still alive 


May 7
Tasks

  • Move mulch


April 28
Tasks

  • Water all seeds 
  • Check currants for aphids

Notes

  • Parsley doing well
  • More asparagus is coming up 
  • No signs of aphids on currants but leaves look worse than last week


April 26
Planted

  • Red amaranth
  • Green mustard
  • Parsley 
Tasks
  • Water seeds
  • Weed grass from garden beds
  • Plant rosemary transplant
  • Make tile markers for new seeds
Notes
  • Mint is spreading in the herb bed so it has been transplanted to spot against the building where grass doesn't grow
  • Asparagus is thick and tall, lovely to pick except it won't be ready until next year
  • Columbines very bushy and in bud
  • Beebalm is spreading 
  • Spurge is blooming
  • Baby trees are popping up everywhere
  • One of the pear trees has leaves
  • Currants have leaves
  • Two of the currants have brown spots on leaves, internet says it's aphids but very few aphids have been found for such large spots 
  • Currants have been given worm castings and leaf mulch to boost their immune systems 
  • Two Currants have buds and flowers being pollinated by ants 
  • Snow peas and sweet peas are sprouting


April 21
Tasks

  • Bury tube to bring water from eavestroughs to garden
  • Water seeds
  • Clean out rainspout diverters


April 19
Tasks

  • Hook up hose
  • Clean dirt from wooden structures to extend lifespan
  • Prune raspberries
  • Redistribute some mulch
  • Water seeds
  • Pick up litter

Notes

  • Weather partly cloudy, rained earlier in the day 17 c
  • Burpee's Simpson Elite lettuce and Silvia lettuce planted on April 9th both sprouting
  • Burpee's Forchuk Giant swiss chard and spinach not yet visible 
  • Cultivated strawberries are vigorous and have spread somewhat
  • Wild strawberries are vigorous and have spread thickly
  • Parsley came back
  • One asparagus plant has three thick spears
  • One kale plant came back 
  • Rhubarb and chives are thicker than last year
  • Four clumps of sorrel have sprouted up thickly
  • Insects are already eating green chard
  • Grass growing onto south edge of mound near vermiculture bin
  • Snow peas planted in old recycling bin not yet up
  • Garlic growing tall
  • Blueberry buds coming along well
  • Currants in leaf
  • Pears and apples are starting to bud

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