Blue Ridge Gardener

It is the last day of May and the end of the month has come in all of its glory.

The sun is shining bright, skies are blue, humidity is only about 40%, the loiw tonight will be around 50 degrees, it is a day you might expect here in WNC for the end of May.

I have tried to take a break from the garden this afternoon.  We picked a variety of lettuce and kale after church and watered.  The SFG boxes get a little dry when the sun is out and the breezes blow.  It doesn’t take much to get them wet again–wish that the rest of the garden would do the same.  (It is nearly ready to do some weeding–but who wants to do that on a Sunday?)

The beans I planted on the 26th are almost fully sprouted (as is the Swiss Chard).  The cycle of life in the SFG continues.

This week i am planning to take some cuttings off of the basil and get some more starter plants.  Rose will be making pesto this summer.

So,  June begins tomorrow–a new month in the garden.  Hope you have had a great Sunday!

It was a beautiful spring day in WNC.  Carolina Blue skies, sun shining (but not too hot), and a light breeze.

Trellis and squares on 5/30

I can’t say that I got lots done today, but I got enough done.

• Got my grids cut for the the SFG–I did not like the 1.5 inch lath that I bought straight from the store, so a friend and I cut it in half (which gave me more grids for the same money)–I have some very nice looking 3/4 inch grids in all my boxes and my SFG boxes look better.
• Put up the netting on my trellis–not so difficult.  Easier with two people, but it is up and sturdy.
• Planted a square of beans where my second batch of radishes were.
• Weeded and tidy-ed  up the yard a bit.
• Watered container plants.
• Took the dog for a couple of walks.
• Kicked my feet up a bit and enjoyed the day

(This was first posted on another blog that I write for Ray’s Weather Center-The Garden Slug)

It has been an amazing Spring in the mountains.

March and April were true to form. Warm days mixed in with ice and snow, followed by some seasonal weather and then some near summer days at the beginning of May. The came the rain.

It rained over 20 days so far, and there are still a few days left in the month. The rain totals were nearly 4 inches above normal for my community. The good news, the drought is officially over. The bad news, many of the creeks and streams are at flood stage and could be sent over the edge with a little more precipitation.

Along with the rains, we had a couple of nights after May 15th where we had frost warnings. The farmers say it happens frequently, but the weather almanacs and historical archives say it’s rare. After seeing temperatures in the high 80′s earlier in May, it is a little disconcerting to know that long after the “average last frost” date we could be facing another frost.

Bless those folks who make a living sowing seed and responding to the elements. I have met some folks who left a good job in the city to simplify their life and live out their dream of farming. One of my acquaintances that did this explained, “You trade one kind of stress for another. I used to stay up at night worrying about the next day at the office. Now I stay up at night watching the Weather Channel and checking on my vegetables.”

Here are a few things I have learned this month:

• A good soil can make a big difference in a month of rain.
• Being prepared for the elements is a necessity. I can find my row covers and poly in the dark if I have to
• Plants are more resilient than we think they are
• Rainy days are not without their usefulness. I got lots of reading done, and my garden is still there.

Mesculun mix has been prolific this spring

Yesterday the sun finally arrived in Haywood County.  It was about time, after about 5 days straight of cloudy days (and only 5 days in the month without rain).

The rain tally for the month of May is 7.98 inches in downton Waynesville–about double the average for the month.  There have been all kinds of problems associated with all the rain here in WNC, among them: roads and culverts washing out, flash flooding around some streams and creeks, development of sink holes and sinking yards, and of course the farmers are now behind in planting numerous crops because the fields are wet (not to mention those dealing with waterlogged plants that were planted around May 15th before the last bout of rain.

I got out in the garden some yesterday and got a few things done–I weeded around some of last Saturday’s transplants and tidied up around the edges.  It was still too wet to work in much of the garden so I walked lightly in the dryer places and only on garden paths.

I put up the trellis frame on the north side of my Square Foot boxes, and plan to get the netting up this weekend.  I will need to start training tomatoes soon, but the cucumbers and cantaloupe are a couple of weekes away from climbing a net.

Last night, Rose made one of the best grilled chicken salads I have ever eaten.  It was full of our Romaine and Green Ice Lettuce, as well as our radishes, and a few things that she picked up at the store.  She had some homemade croutons and topped it off with a Vidalia onion dressing.

Today, I will be getting off a few hours early to finish up vacation hours for my grant period.  Looks like the lawn is getting mowed.  The weekend includes a number of garden chores.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!