May 31, Sunday

The top inch or so of the bed was dry, but not bone dry. The soil 2-3 inches down was moist, or moistish. I didn't water. A few of the greens have wilted and collapsed, which I fear may be due to overwatering. As I am a rank amateur, I don't know for sure. But I decided to try a deeper soaking every couple of days and see how that goes. Pulled a few weeds and otherwise left it alone. It's very near time to stake the tomatoes.

Gorgeous day again. The front lawn needs mowing, but I went with napping instead. Mañana. Or maybe not mañana. I see we have thunderstorms predicted tonight, scattered storms tomorrow, showers tomorrow night. A man can't mow in that kind of weather!

May 30, Saturday

Gorgeous day! Possible rain did not come so I gave the bed a good soak. Did a little weeding. The few beet sprouts in the mesclun aren't doing well. May be getting crowded out by the vigorous mustard. I thinned the mustard around the beets in hopes this improves the environment for the little red ones.

Saw rabbits this evening so I tried a little urine therapy on the outside of the frame.

Finished mowing the back yard. I'm thinking the mower does an all around better job when I collect the clippings. Don't know why.

May 29, Friday

My gauge says we got another 1/8 inch of rain overnight, so I did not water. Pulled a few weeds, and picked some larger leaves for my salad. The little rabbit I saw hopping thru my front yard yesterday doesn't seem to have found my lettuce patch yet. I need to get my netting up and maybe implement some other anti-rabbit measures. I've read that dried cattle blood or urine from a male meat-eater will work. I may try some of my own urine (around the bed, not in it!), altho my diet is a little skimpy on the meat products.

Mowed half the back yard, which was very tall and going to seed after several rainy days. Collected the clippings instead of mulching. My Black and Decker battery mower did a very nice job on the long turf. Retired to hammock anon. Afternoon weather was around 72 and gorgeous.

May 28, Thursday

My gauge tells me we've had 1-1/2 inches of rain over the past 2 days. I wouldn't be surprised if the real figure were higher. Pulled a few weeds and called it quits.

May 27, Wednesday

Got a lot of rain overnight in two or more heavy storms. Garden looks fine. The little lettuces survive the storms better than my watering. Picked a little mesclun and green leaf lettuce for my salad as my store-bought supply was short. Had to wash off a lot of mud.

Couldn't play outside, so I played with Photoshop instead. Here is a shot of Mom's purple iris I took yesterday:

And here are her pink peonies:

Isn't Spring nice? [Click the pics for bigger copies.]

May 26, Tuesday

My rain gauge registered zip overnight, so I gave the bed a good soak. Rain is possible today and tomorrow, but iffy.

Before watering and weeding, I took a 4-week birthday photo:

[Click photo for larger view]

The herbs and the leeks (wispy sprouts, barely visible) are a bit slow, but in general I'm very pleased.

Finally read the packet from my mesclun seeds, only to see that it includes 3 items I've planted separately: green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, and spinach. I've pulled all the lettuce from the mesclun patch (and eaten it), but I may leave the spinach as I did  not plant enough of that. The tomatoes, which are barely visible against the lawn, appear to be healthy and happy. It'll be time to stake them soon. The one on the right has some blossoms.

You see all the maple samaras, along with some weeds. I get grass, clover, and vast amounts of something that must have been in my organic soil mix. Most of the latter do seem to be gone. Even got a maple sprout, which are endemic on my lot. My insect barrier cloth should do a good job of excluding any future weed seeds.

May 25, Monday

Rain predicted, so I didn't water. Lettuce is getting big. I'm so proud!

Started building a frame to hold my Super-Light Insect Barrier cloth. Nearly done, but I cut one of my $0.89 pieces of framing wrong so I have to go get another. Wimped out on mowing for the 2nd day in a row. Can I make it 3?

May 24, Sunday

Decided my red leaf lettuce plantings look strong enough, so I thinned all the same from my mesclun patch. Plus, I wanted them for my lunch.

Mystery Tree

I'm trying to identify a tree in the back corner of my lot. Here are the leaves and the flowers, which are currently in bloom:

[Click for larger view]

Here's the bark:

[Click for larger view]

And here's the entire tree, along with my neighbor's junk:

[Click photo for larger view]

The tree ID routines on the web suggest maybe a flowering cherry or other fruit tree, but I don't recall any fruit in the 2 years I've been here. It was partly overshadowed by a maple until I cut the maple back last summer. Maybe it's just been unhealthy? It gets plenty of sun now.

Any ideas?

May 23, Saturday

Did a lot of thinning. Thinned Sweet Treat carrots and leeks to about 2 inches apart. Was wondering how to thin my very crowded mesclun when I realized that much of it is simple green leaf lettuce, of which I have a bumper crop (I've been calling it butter lettuce wrongly). So I pulled all the green leaf lettuce from my mesclun plantings and had it for lunch. Also thinned my green leaf lettuce rows to what looked like a decent spacing for heads of lettuce. That too became lunch.

The red leaf lettuce sprouted much more slowly and sparsely; there are even bald spots in the rows. I won't thin it until the plants are a bit larger. I did carefully transplant a couple of inopportunely sited plants into bald spots, then gave the bed a good soak. The 2 transplants basically lay down and died for a couple of hours, but by evening were standing up and soaking in the water like the others. When I'm sure of this crop I may pull the red leaf sprouts out of my mesclun plantings too.

Last summer I grew mesclun in very crowded pots on my front step. I know it will produce baby greens when crowded, which is how I ate it then. But I'm shooting for bigger leaves this year from at least some of my plants. It would be hard, if not impossible, to harvest enough baby greens for a salad each day from my little garden, whereas 2 or 3 big lettuce leaves are plenty.

                         [Click for larger view]

Mowed the front lawn. Raked samaras (maple seeds) from my front-yard planting beds, then swept them from the drive and sidewalks. They've nearly all fallen from the silver maples. The crimson Norways won't fruit until later. The lawn is crowded with samaras pointed nose down toward the soil, tails held aloft by the grass. They can't be raked out efficiently, so I'm leaving them. You'd think a lawn full of maple saplings would be a huge problem, and hundreds of them do sprout. But the mower hacks them down as soon as they're tall enough and that's that. Pulling them all from planting beds, out of the gutters, etc is a different matter.

Hung my finch feeder next to the bird mix and suet feeders. Then took some much deserved rest on the hammock while the cat amused himself with the rope I pull to keep the hammock a-rockin'.

May 22, Friday

Watered with new "rain shower" nozzle. Much easier to create a fairly gentle spray, yet floods bed quickly (which is fine with me). Did extensive weeding. Googled parsley and basil sprouts and now know what's a weed and what's not in the herb section.

May 21, Harvest!

The unknown green leaves above went straight from my garden to my evening salad ! Much earlier than I had expected to be harvesting edibles. Fact is, I had to take these out. They're part of my mesclun crop, and they're growing much more quickly than the other mesclun greens and hogging all the sunlight and nutrients. So I pinched off all the big leaves and tried to cut these plants down to the size of the others. I left at least one healthy leaf on each plant. No idea what particular species these are. They taste "green". Big help.

Very hot today but not humid. Gave the bed a moderate soaking. Then went to the front of the house and tied back my vigorous irises which were sprawling onto my driveway. Cut several stems that had been bent by the wind and put them in vases. One I brought in last night is continuing to bloom, so I hope to have them around for some time.

May 20, Wednesday

Very warm and sunny today but not humid. Gave the bed a light soak. Walked the lawn and saw no new dandelions. Their big bloom-and-seed cycle seems to be over for now. It's amazing that they all go to seed the same day.

May 19, Tuesday

It's a gorgeous warm day here after some cold mid-May temps. Sunny, clear, upper 70s. Gave the bed a decent soak, and that's all there is to do. I'll have to break the bike out for some exercise.

My irises (planted by former owners) are in bloom:

[Click for larger view] 

May 18, Monday

Gave the bed a light soaking. All looks well.

Mowed remainder of back yard. Saw no new dandelions. Ended with some hammock time, listening to jazz and playing with the cat.

May 17, Sunday

My plantings appear to have survived the cold night in fine fettle. I suppose seeing how they look tomorrow would be a better test. Soaked the bed moderately.

Mowed half the back yard. Sprayed just a few dandelions in the no-man's-land way at the back where 3 properties meet. Saw a second dandelion gone to seed. This has got to stop! Reinstalled a bird feeder whose hanging cord had been chewed thru by unknown assailants (i.e., squirrels). I used steel-reinforced clothesline.

Then swayed in my hammock for about 45 minutes, gazing at the brilliant blue sky thru the leaves of my silver maple. At first I heard bird calls all around me, but after maybe 30 minutes they began to come from the maple branches directly overhead. I saw a pair of robins in the highest canopy, and smaller birds lower down. A bunny rabbit hopped across my lawn to get at the dandelion seeds waving boldly in my neighbor's yard. It was a busy afternoon.

May 16, Saturday

Some rain overnight, maybe 1/10 inch. The bed is moist enough. Tonight's low predicted at 36 degrees F. I could cover the bed with a tarp, but I'm going to risk it and see what happens. I think only the tomatoes are in any danger at all.

Mowed the front yard. Sprayed fewer than a dozen dandelions. To my knowledge, precisely one dandelion has gone to seed in my yard. Aside from being one too many, that's not bad.

May 15, Friday

More rain overnight, about 1/4 inch. Still damp with rain possible, and heavy thunderstorms due tonight. Not much for me to do today.

May 14, Thursday

Nearly another inch of rain overnight. The farmers can't get their corn planted, but my garden, lawn, and I love it.

The mysterious shoots where I knew I planted spinach finally have the makings of some crinkly-looking spinach leaves:

And my mesclun is invitingly juicy:

But both are still very small.

I awoke this morning to this gorgeous display in my front yard (click for a larger view):

That's a silver maple in the upper left and another two in the background, across the street. The two red ones are Crimson King Norway maples, or so I believe. My city lot has a total of 6 mature silver maples and the 2 Norways, along with 2 huge Colorado blue spruce and what appears to be a fruit-type tree that never fruits. I'm still trying to identify that one. I cut down a dead apple tree 2 years ago. All said, very little direct sunlight gets thru to my lawn, and my garden is in one of the few places it could possibly be, which happens to be right outside my back door.

The silvers are all about 50 feet high and may be indigenous. The red Norways were planted by the city when the street was developed in the late 60s. The spruce may have been planted by the developers. They don't belong in northern Illinois (the winters are too harsh) and they all have a disfuguring fungal disease called Rhizosphaera needle cast which causes the branches to brown and die off, starting at the bottom and working its way relentlessly toward the top. Trimming the dead branches at the bottom leaves you with a strange top-heavy topiary, not at all attractive.

My brother the realtor keeps telling me that silver maples are considered junk trees by my fellow homeowners because they rain a neverending plague of junk onto the lawn. There's no doubt about the deluge of sticks and branches, helicopters, and leaves. But I love my big gorgeous old trees. They're beautiful in all seasons, and their tiny buds are my first sign that the soul-crushing northern winter is finally coming to an end. My hammock is under one of them, and rocking quietly under it's huge canopy of green is one of life's most sublime pleasures. So I'll continue to rake up the fallen wood, mulch the leaves, and muck out the seedlings that take root in my gutters. I need the exercise. And I can always rest under my maples when I'm done.

May 13, Wednesday

Raining today, not much to do. Got 2/3 inch by late afternoon. Pulled some tiny weeds.

May 12, Tuesday

Watered and weeded the bed. Also pruned my tomato plants, which I just now learned to do from this excellent gardening site. The gardening guides make this out to be an onerous weekly chore, but in my little garden it's nice to have something useful to do. Seeking out the little suckers and pinching them off is nearly as fun as roasting fruit flies.

Also pruned some silver maple branches that shade parts of the bed in the morning. This included climbing onto the roof of my house. Got most of them for now, but this may change as the sun gets higher in June. The branches I couldn't reach are some of the highest on the 40-50 foot tree. They may have to stay, or I might be able to throw a rope over them from atop the roof and pull them within reach. Not sure that's worth the obvious risk to life and limb. Seems to me that everything I plant here grows pretty well, a little morning shade notwithstanding.

Noticed that this maple has maple bladder galls all over some of it's leaves. A little googling tells me a microscopic mite lays its eggs inside the galls. Apparently they don't hurt the tree at all, and pesticides are not terribly effective in any case. They're actually kind of pretty. A vibrant red, sort of a cranberry or fuchsia.

My mesclun is starting to look scrumptious, tho still tiny. It's going to need a lot of thinning, so fresh-cut baby greens will be on my salad plate someday soon.

Sprayed a half dozen dandelions, all in the back, and finished mowing the back yard. Rain due overnight.

May 11, Monday

Nearly 2 weeks after my final planting, here's what we have:

[Click photo for better view.]

My labels are hard to read in either view. Clockwise from top left they read:

• Butter lettuce
• Spinach
• Mesclun
• Nasturtium
• Red leaf lettuce
• Italian parsley and basil
• Sweet Treat carrots
• Marigolds

Crops that aren't very impressive yet include the red leaf lettuce, herbs, and Petite 'n Sweet carrots (to the left of the Sweet Treats). And then there are the sprouts where I don't believe I planted any.

Here my carrots (the spikey ones) and lettuce meet at a crossroad:

After shooting the above, I removed the grid. I can tell what's where now that everything is sprouting. Even did some weeding of sprouts in areas where I know I didn't plant anything, or where something I did plant is in something else's territory. The bed is crowded enough as it is, and I'm going to be doing a lot of thinning. Watered moderately from the hose.

Sprayed quite a number of dandelions. Across the street they've all gone to seed, but not on my side of the street. My yard will be producing few seeds if any. Mowed half the back. 

Taking a break from dethatching and seeding the front. I want to see what grows in. I'm afraid I'm not seeding heavily enough, and might want to go over what I've done.

Yesterday a certain cat, whose identity is known to me, decided that the peat pods in which I'm starting bell peppers and eggplants were playthings. I woke to find them scattered about the floor of my screened porch. Two of the pods were completely demolished, but I scouted around and managed to find most of the seeds and the one or two sprouts, with associated peat. I've set them outdoors to limit feline access. Don't have a good sunny warm spot to start them indoors, but I won't be transplanting them until I've made space by eating some lettuce, which is weeks away. We'll see if I've saved them.

May 10, Sunday

Watered bed with hose. After all the rain, nearly everything appears to have sprouted. Neat rows of Sweet Treat carrots and leeks. Not much red leaf lettuce, and few Petite 'n Sweet carrots. Not sure I see any nasturtiums either. But I'll have plenty of carrots and leeks to thin.

Mowed front lawn. Dethatched 2 more rows. Seeded and watered dethatched area plus bare curbside spots under maple near driveway.

May 9, Saturday

Bed soaked by rain. No yard work today.

May 8, Friday

Watered the bed deeply with garden hose. Managed to get a gentle enough spray from the nozzle. Much easier than my watering can. That's it for lawn and garden work today. No sign of pests on tomatoes, lots of promising little lettuce sprouts.

Thunderstorm right now (10 pm).

Just sent for a super-lightweight row cover fabric to keep bugs and birds out. May discourage rabbits and housepets as well. Designed to transmit rain and 95% of sunlight with minimal heat buildup. $8.95, plus a painful $7.95 shipping: $16.90 total from gardensalive.com. Searched hard for one this light. More fragile, but I want maximum light penetration. Need to get a couple of PVC or metal hoops to hold it up.

May 7, Thursday

'Nuther 1/4 inch of rain overnight. Bed looks fine. Checked the tomato leaves for pests or damage, found none. The bottom leaves of the Goliath Hybrid are browning; don't know why. I'll check gain tomorrow. No water today.

Sprayed some dandelions, but that's it for yard work. Mom had her knee replaced this morning. She looks great so far. The front lawn, which I mowed Saturday, and even the part of the back yard I mowed Sunday could stand to be mowed again. Really shoots up in the Spring. Guess I'll start again tomorrow.

May 6, Wednesday

Huge thunderstorm this afternoon. Rained about 3/4 inch by evening. More rain later.

Bed looks fine. No gardening.

May 5, Tuesday

Bed got 2 gallons. Lots of lettuce sprouts. Maybe the marigolds? Still looking for carrots and leeks. Not much spinach or red leaf lettuce yet either.

Raked and mowed remainder of back yard. Sprayed maybe a dozen dandelions. Dethatched and seeded another 2 rows in the front yard. Watered the whole seeded area as always. Thunderstorms due tomorrow PM, maybe Thursday.

May 4, Monday

Very busy today. Just time to give the bed 3 gallons and a quick once-over. No rain due until Wednesday. Hope to have time to finish mowing tomorrow, and to water my grass seeds.

May 3, Sunday

Gave the bed about 2.5 gallons. Lots of teeny little lettuce sprouts. Mostly the butter and mesclun. Maybe a couple of carrots.

Raked and mowed half the back yard. Sprayed 6 or 8 dandelions in the back. Dethatched, seeded, and watered another couple of rows in the front yard. I hate using so much water, even though I do use vastly less than the average American, but the grass seed needs it. Otherwise I never water my lawn. I'm hoping for rain soon; forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Moved hooks for my bird feeders from the overhang above my kitchen window to a branch on my nearest silver maple. I'm hoping they'll get used more with my giant orange cat not quite so near on the screened porch. Threw the feeders in the dishwasher last night so they're nice and sanitary. Birds had been eating months'-old leftovers from the filthy feeders. Should still get a nice view from my window, and now I won't scare the birds away as I make my morning coffee. Hope to get some decent photos, but I'll have to clean the window first.

All told that's something more than 2-1/2 hours of continuous, voluntary labor this afternoon. For one of the world's laziest people, not under threat of a deadline, that's a lot. Probably haven't stood upright for 2-1/2 hours in several years. Settled down to some well-deserved hammock time with the New Yorker.

May 2, Saturday

Gave the bed 2 gallons. It was dry.

Mowed the front lawn. Dethached another couple of rows. Less than 250 sq ft so far. Used my drop spreader to overlay the dethatched area with seed. Set very low (9 of 10) but still seems to drop plenty of seed. Watered it in a bit.

Turns out a cat, whose identity is known to me, had torn and punched many holes into my bag of lawn seed, which I purchased last year.  Losses were low.

Now I must wash up for Saturday night dinner with Ma and Pa at Applebee's. "Applebee's," you ask, "How can you afford such luxury?" It is extravagant, I admit, but simple frugality throughout the week is what makes it possible. Also, they often pay.

May 1, Friday

The rain gauge tells me we got just under an inch Wednesday night and Thursday, so I'm not watering today. Possibly a mistake with seeds sprouting. We'll see. Maybe a dozen sprouts coming up, mostly in places where my map says I seeded. And mostly around the salad greens, which went in Monday. Some may be weeds of course. No way to no until they grow a bit. And in the mesclun area, probably no way to know at all. If I end up with weeds in my salad, let's hope they're clover.

Sprayed a few dandelions that were dumb enough to stick their yellow heads up in my back yard. Some looked kind of sickly, so I had probably sprayed them Wednesday. Not one in the front yard. Meant to spread corn gluten to stop new weeds from germinating this Spring, but I never managed to buy it and I wasn't sure quite when to do it. Supposed to be when the forsythias bloom. As I don't have a clue what a forsythia is, that's not very helpful. Memo to self: plant some forsythias for next Spring. Last night the very hearty-looking lady on Wisconsin Gardener said the 2-week window for spreading corn gluten passed in April. And if it's too late in Wisconsin, it's certainly too late here.

Raked a fair pile of tree branches out of the front yard. In addition to masses of helicopters and masses upon masses of leaves, my lovely maples also shed a great deal of wood when the wind blows. Also tried my new thatch rake on maybe a 5-foot strip of the front yard. Not super hard work, but makes my back howl enough that I'll probably do it in little bits. Seems worth doing. My lawn has heavy thatch. An awful lot comes up (tho not nearly all of it), and I can definitely see more soil thru the grass. Need to figure out why my thatch rake has two sides with slightly different teeth. And I guess I should spread some grass seed where I've raked.

Then decided to finally cut back prior years' growth on some perennials in the bed in front of my house. Last owners put them in. Aside from some ornamental grass and spring bulbs, I have no idea what these plants are. And I didn't pay enough attention last Spring to see which ones need to be cut back and which definitely should not be. This year it's more clear. Some of them are quite pretty. I could take better care of them if I knew what they were. Altho they survived a year with the house sitting vacant and another two years of me pretty well ignoring them, so I guess they don't need much from me.

Finally, soaked some peat pellets and started my pepper and eggplant seeds. Plan to plant 2 of each, so I started 3 peats with 2 seeds each for both vegetables. Hope I'll have plenty of healthy seedlings to select from. I've got them in the oven with the door ajar and the light on for warmth to spur them on. Also remembered to label my containers so I'll know just what those little seedlings are.