I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Did you notice the new gate in our arbor.... my husband made it for my birthday.I love how it gives more enclosure to our Chelsea Garden.
Roses are blooming in the
garden now.
Still some peony blooms.
The Golden Elder is blooming on the upper left.
Not sure what these roses are called.
Golden Celebration.
Some of my hydrangeas are starting to bloom.
The climbing rose on the left with small white flowers is a wild rose that works good in this spot by the bay window.
I love tall stately delphiniums.
Stella D 'Ora & Golden Celebration.
And before you go a small bouquet of peonies for you.
The handmade lace doily came from a returning Japanese visitor whose mother made this for me ~ a thoughtful and special gift!
Come mid July from heat, bugs, diseases or all three... your cucumbers can get beat up. A lot of time, here in Maryland Zone 7, I get great production from my cucumbers from late June until the end of July. But then the plants just get beat down. That leads me to my first and most under utilized tip.
TIP ONE: Start some new cucumber transplants mid July. Select a fast maturing variety and start the seeds outdoors in 8 ounce cups. Replace your old beat up plants with 2 week old transplants come the end of July. They should be up producing by the end of August.
Your cucumbers might be a bit weathered and worn. You can use Epsom Salt as a way to green them up and it is probably a good idea to give the a nice large liquid feeding with a balanced liquid fertilizer that covers N-P-K and micro-nutrients. This is true for both container and ground planted cucumbers. If you are growing cucumbers in containers, you should be feeding them at least 2x's a month when they are producing.
TIP TWO: Give them some Epsom Salt and a liquid fertilizer that is well balanced.
Sometimes you get lots of flowers and little cucumbers that seem to turn brown and die after growing. That is because the female flower with the tiny cucumber wasn't fertilized. You can actually hand pollinate cucumbers to increase production.
TIP THREE: Learn the difference between male and female cucumber flowers and try your hand at hand pollination. This will help you get more mature cucumbers.
Cucumbers can take up a lot of space in the garden. Trellising cucumbers is a great way to save space and better manage pests and disease. It is a lot easy to spray cucumbers that are growing vertically. You are able to get both sides of the leaves much more easily.
TIP FOUR: Grow your cucumbers vertically. It makes care much easier!
Cucumbers are often attacked by cucumber beetles and other insects for that I use Neem Oil and soap to make a spray. They also can get powdery mildew. For that I use a baking soda spray. Spraying before problems arise is key. Know when problems show up in your garden. Write down the dates and start spraying 2 weeks before they arrive. AND.... ALWAYS test spray anytime you make a spray, it is important to test a few leaves with the spray and wait 48 hours to see if any damage occurs.
TIP FIVE: Start spraying 2 weeks before problems arise in your garden. I use Neem Oil for insects and baking soda at times as an anti-fungal.
Good Luck with Your Garden, Gary (The Rusted Garden)
It is another beautiful summer day here so maybe you would enjoy a lazy afternoon picnic with a good book.
Sarah Bernhardt peonies & a pretty tea pot.
We will have to imagine this big picnic basket is loaded with lots of summer treats.......scope for the imagination as Anne would say. The beautiful basket is handmade here on P.E.I.
Anne of Avonlea is a good
summer read....or anytime
for that matter!
The tea is ready!
There are stiill peonies blooming in the garden but many are being dead headed every day.so the season will soon be over.
Some peonies blooming in our garden.
Love these Sarah Bernhardt
peonies..
I think these are called Primavera
peonies ~ they have a yellow
center.
Beautiful white peony.
A sweet bouquet in the guest room.
Well, I sure have enjoyed my peonies and I hope you have too.
Follow My Garden's Growth at My New Community Plot: See Everything I Do Over the Year - From Weeding, To Soil Preparation, Planting, Tending, Harvesting and A Lot More!
This year I finally got my community garden plot. I inherited and over-grown plot covered in weeds and wire grass. The fence needed to be replaced and it was in need of lot care and repair.
But it is mine! The first 6 episodes show you how I took it from its neglected over-grown 20-25 foot plot turned into something I am really proud of. If you don't have room or land... you might want to look for community garden plots in your area. Check out the videos for more information and watch me build and grow my community garden.
I finally got my 20 x 25 foot community garden plot after a long wait. I will be doing a season long series on how I manage the plot, plant, tend and deal with pests. Some of the space will be used by kids for their first garden and I will show off some of other garden plots in the community. This episode covers quick fencing, vinegar weed & brush killing and putting down weed block. The grunt work.
My Community Garden Plot Episode 2:
Filling the Beds Cheaply, Planting and a New Gardener!
I finally got my 20 x 25 foot community garden plot after a long wait. In episode 2, I show you how to cheaply fill your beds and some of the problems I am encountering. My goal is not to have to spend a lot of money to fill the beds this year. The plot has cost about $225 so far to get it in shape. And Leena, a new gardener, starts getting her plot in shape too. She is three!
My Community Garden Plot Episode 3:
8 Kinds of Raised Beds, A Watering System & Progress
This is Episode 3 for my community garden plot. I will be doing a season long series on how I manage the plot, plant, tend and deal with pests. The 12 beds are just about prepared. I show you how to use containers to make raised beds. There are 100's of ways to get a garden ready for vegetables. I have covered about 8 ways to prepare the beds in the last 2 episodes. I also show you the beginning design of my container water system that uses a drip hose and eventually a rain barrel.
My Community Garden Plot Episode 4:
Planted Tomatoes & Peppers, Grow Bags, A Drips System & More
This is Episode 4 for my community garden plot. I will be doing a season long series on how I manage the plot, plant, tend and deal with pests. The containers were planted with peppers and tomatoes. I started some 7 gallon grow bags with a shredded leaf mix for the containers soil. I am experimenting with a drip systems and Leena waters her garden and enjoys a wheelbarrow ride.
My Community Garden Plot Episode 5:
Fencing, Trellising, Determinate Tomatoes & A Hose Tip
This is Episode 5 on my community garden plot. I will be doing a season long series on how I manage the plot, plant, tend and deal with pests. Some quick tips on making it easier moving a hose through garden, staking determinate tomatoes, trellis types, and I raise my fence by two feet. The member told me deer can jump 4 foot fences. And a general updated on the growth.
This is Episode 6 on my community garden plot. I will be doing a season long series on how I manage the plot, plant, tend and deal with pests. I show you nutrient lacking tomatoes, talk about nutrients, how to use Epsom Salt, flea beetles on eggplants and the progress of my plot. I also show you white patches on zucchini leaves... it is perfectly normal.
Episode 7 will be put out this week. That episode and future episodes can be found on my YouTube Channel!
Good Luck with Your Garden, Gary (The Rusted Garden)
And before you go a small
