posted to another thread but realized these should probably go in here for my own memory/posterity of the thread. inaccuracy and mislabeling abound too
maps
lists
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Love the map. I did something similar for the “first draft” version of our yard, though yours has over 10x as much stuff and in a smaller area too.
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it only looks big lol. 1/8 acre corner lot
yesterday, may 20
pruned back water sprouts and cross branches on all the trees from before this spring. tossed 10-10-10 on all and sundry. planted the 2 Chicago hardy by the side line where the black locusts were removed. spread out and pruned the mock orange. cleaned up bridal veil and dead headed all the bulb flowers. thinned pomes only, to king & queen fruitlets. propped and staked trailman that is leaning crazy.
sowed a ton of random seeds in a frenzy in back; then it rained.
40F tonight then above 45F at nights after this. sweet potatoes planted under agribon in black pots, everything else is in the ground already.
last week of May:
gooseberries big and small
pepperweed taken over the front west corner for the moment. pretty
tobacco is in, hostas all visible, 3 ostrich ferns up. they’d better be the edible fiddlehead, I paid for that last year! I didn’t see a single one that looked like food this spring though
sapodillas and satsumas in the sun.
strawberries finally in flower. the greens patch on the long bed needs weeded. the started okra struggling, cool nights, it’s unhappy. seeds for it are in but not up yet
winecap/pawpaw patch. last pawpaw to break leaves is in the most shade, it’s the Osteen one.
made a little stick fence out of all the old sunflower stalks and the cut black locust branches.
the Chicago hardy figs might be visible in the pictures here where the old locust trees got clipped away. also the mock orange will get some light now
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continued:
also, two figs in.
front/side update views. cleaned up the front walk, pulled “milkies” (skeleton rushweed)
nice views and a couple mystery weeds.
trees: jujube alive, Chestnut crab with apples, will need to thin peaches possibly, front yard mulberry with berries
side looks better without the locusts but the little trees better hurry up and grow, we are gone fry this summer without some shade
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I put things in ground starting two weeks ago. weather is finally ready though. will watch to see what veg gets stunted or held back.
sweet potatoes in yesterday.
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I put my sweets in in a big tray with dirt and into the greenhouse yesterday to make slips! (Already had some going in my fish tank indoors and ate a couple harvest of greens!)
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I got slips ordered in! I forgot to start any this year
but they are now in big 10 gallon black pots along the walkway where it gets hot hot and reflected light. I love the greens so much, I always hope for tubers but, rarely get many. I will eat the greens all summer though
I just moved my sapodilla to part shade when I put the sweets there- I think they were getting too much sun and might need bigger pots with better drainage. I have off on Friday so that may be their day. they were VERY unhappy so I moved them just now in a panic. I didn’t realize they wanted less than total full sun (making tropical plant assumptions!)
it took
me forever to find and afford 3 of them so I’m hoping they recover as I won’t be able to get more until next year possibly. the smallest one is still ok but he’s with these ones now just in case.
I followed I think @Melon 's advice in the strawberry thread and my strawberries are FINALLY making flowers and not runners! what a saga I’ve had with those. they are being moved bit by bit to the asparagus patch now in more sunny space with straw, away from the shade of the lilacs. I planted that garlic in with my asparagus without realizing asp doesn’t like its roots disturbed. so as those come out over summer I’ll replace with strawberries from the containers.
waiting for June drop to thin the peaches is really hard. I want to pick the babies off!
someone sent me 5 seeds from their marijuana grow as a joke, it’s legal so I planted them. they are near the tobacco patch. both things planted as a whim- I smoke only cigarettes, so I guess if they survive a friend will get a gift of whatever they produce.
my tomatoes are a bit stunted and several cukes died back in that cool night, so I direct sowed more cucumbers, my runner beans are coming up and a bit of corn and sorghum, cilantro is showing up but no basil from seed yet - just the started plants. I think I’ll just start big batches of both of those to plant out every year, the starts are already in production for cooking.
I’m really REALLY tired of eating salads and greens right now, but it’s not long until there’s something else. a few tiny summer squash are already on the vine.
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I know you’re tired of greens, but they’re beautiful- good job!
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On the tropicals, are you watering with city water? I tend to keep mine shaded from afternoon sun the first year then they get full sun henceforth. But they (tropicals) are pretty sensitive to salts found in city water. If they are more than a year old I don’t think that’s sun damage (unless they were inside inside rather than a greenhouse) then it could be. But if it’s city water I’d use rainwater or ground water on them if those are options. My sapodilla takes full sun since I got it (grafted) but seedlings are quite tender. Good luck hopefully they will recover. If not, mine has fruit which I assume should be ripe soon I could send some seeds.
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if they don’t make it I’ll take the seeds! I use city water but our water quality is pretty good here- rain water I’ll use too, especially for these container plants. they seemed to be doing really well until I moved them from the more shady spot to the full sun. they were getting about half day and that’s where I put them back to
Ooh, what sorgum are you growing? I’ve got coral sorghum going!
Last year I didn’t eat any of the grain but wanted to save a bunch. I should measure how much I got from my sad stunted plants!
I did however, juice the stalks and they were nice and sweet.
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sugar drip, from sandhill! and a few of the red grain mixed in
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failed graft; white gold onto sand cherry.
it looked like it was taking. I’ll have to link to the thread I posted in or update this there. all the grafts on the sand cherries have failed so they will be banished to the front hedge of failures this fall.
(bayberry, native plum, and now these)
other things are doing well.
early June. back areas
going to use the night sprinklers this year like my stepson did last year; it seemed to kick start everything to do it. it’ll be more water than usual for me but I’m feeling like it’s already pretty hot. in the 90s next few days then back into the 70s
wood from pallets; sliced, measured, linseed on them and ready to build - either a few raised beds edges for the mounds that now just have a board around em, or some kind of little fence for along the side. haven’t decided yet
gooseberries, potatoes, tobacco patch coming well. I should chit potatoes ahead next year, they were slow to start. I don’t think any are indeterminate so not going to hill them up much.
my partner’s “babies” growing. he also has plums but they dried out.
sweet potatoes racing, a helper, the plum tree tied for the season. will be top trimming those two high branches, I want to reach. not as many plums as last year. very green all of them. toka dropped EVERY fruitlet. maybe next year.
Meyer lemon? finally maybe. comice holding onto a few. good advice from @Melon about strawberries!
favorites popping up. sapodillas struggling. can’t figure them out. velour beans in prison for their unspeakable crimes. a sunflower that volunteered to bring them books has been locked in with em
all larger pawpaws awake and leafed, one loss on a bare root from the fall last year. not bad.
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mid June
back yard again. comparison shots with may:
already greening up
cucurbits. melons packed tight like I always say I won’t do
apples. some grafts some fruit. gravenstein the biggest now, two inches across and blushing slightly. claygate on ark black has caught up.
stone fruit. just a waiting game. schoolhouse plum has one fruit on the tree.
FIGS. about half the potted trees are loaded. will have to get photos of out front and side trees later.
grape, berries, olives, Meyer lemon, and brugmansia in bloom
oddities: bitter melon. rhubarb taking off. oyster mushrooms in the junk pile. fennel. cactus getting wrinkles, not sure why.
my pawpaw seedling was attacked I believe.
comparing to last year right now. it’s a late start this year. I wasn’t imagining it .
my partner’s “babies” are getting bigger. “grape” and “good red apple”
bonus photos.
corn and sorghum patches. some few corn are trying to tassel. they are 10 inches tall. it’s gotta stop
snowbank berries, clearing a space for them on Weds to go in along a chain link fence. part of the project with the neighbor.
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Wow your fennel is beautiful!
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thank you! I love roasted fennel, so I’m glad it bulbed up this year
today I did the big summer topping on the Italian plum. last year we got pounds of fruit off it, but I didn’t summer prune it. this year there’s only a few dozen plums on the whole thing so I gave it a good cutting back. I still have not cut out the big forks; I know I should. that’s dormant season chopping and I don’t like the cold though.
a before and after (before is from two or three weeks ago). tried to avoid fruiting wood/spurs and any plums, just cutting all the sprouts and shoots that were tall enough that I couldn’t clamber to them from the ground.
also got the first mulberries, some early garlic and onion, the perennial onions. a few shallots. some of the garlic has scapes and some already finished those and is nearly dried out and ready to pull. my onions are again small and already lodging. might give up on growing all but the walking onion and potato onion.
mushrooms aren’t great this year but it’s supposed to rain the next 2 days a bit so that cool weather and rain might bring more out.
tomatoes in flower- last year there was already green fruit on them by now. okra is peeking, don’t know how it’ll go.
gooseberries still hard, some have fallen off unripe. ugh.
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updating, June 24
new growth on mulberries and sumac, need to top chop the mulberry come winter so it doesn’t go out of reach again
gravenstein, comice, Italian plum, Arctic jay holding fruit
tomatos appearing, peppers in flower, a few small squashes showing up (no summer squash yet), sunflowers about to open. the corn is about two feet tall and acting like it’s full grown. this is the direct-sowed corn doing this. the early started and planted out corn is still getting height on it.
grapes have gone wild this year. hope they hold until they ripen. pruning was the right idea
figs are loaded, this one has a few nearly-ripe breba
Meyer lemon flowering with fruit on it. key lime holding a lime. satsumas doing ok but nothing notable
one of the sapodilla, the big one, is starting to get little bit of new growth so I assume it’ll live which is good news
a small harvest. black caps, the first ripe ones.
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