Onions, kohlrabi, and beets
We finally got a good soaking rain and boy did it do the garden some good. I swear it seemed like everything grew by a good two inches after the plants drank up the moisture falling from the sky.
Hoping the rain was coming we planted a few more things here and there including a handful of corn seeds. We really don’t have a good place for corn and the seed we planted is from a variety that we’ve never even grown before but since I had the seed we decided to give it a go. I miss the days of have long rows of silver queen in Pap’s big garden.
The peppers really benefitted from the heat we had leading up to the rain. They were still hanging out in the greenhouse and they seemed to love the 100+ temps. I can’t hardly believe how much they grew over the last two weeks. We typically plant them the same time we plant the tomatoes from the greenhouse but I think holding off a while really helped them gain some ground.
Here’s my favorite planting by the sign days for June.
- Taurus: good for all root crops and above ground crops 6, 7
- Cancer: best for planting above ground and root crops 11, 12
- Scorpio: best for flowers and above ground crops 20, 21
- Pisces: Good for planting and transplanting above ground crops, trees and shrubbery 1, 2, 28, 29
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My Aunt Lucy Broome always planted by the signs. My mother did not plant a gaden but before she would do anything important she would always look to see where the signs were. She would not go to the dentist if the signs were in the head. The signs were very important to them.
Dennis Morgan
I think I started to post but got distracted writing down the dates and forgot to “submit”. If I did & you see two, you pick.
So, trying again. I’m glad you posted this today as I’m pondering doing some more planting to finish off summer things. I have some room because I cut back on green beans and field peas this year. Looks like my choices are corn, beans and tomatoes. We don’t really need more of any of those three but I sure dislike leaving space going begging….
By the way, I’ll give you an update on my celery. It changed into a large and ‘bushy’ plant that looks totally different from store celery. The flavor is still good but it is very fibrous. I think it could make a really good ingredient in a soup stock just for the flavor and toss the stems.
I did transplant some blackberries today. I had forgotten your dates for transplanting until after I had moved them. Then I thought, “Hey, I got the right day!” I need every advantage I can get because suddenly one day it will turn blazing hot.
I am gonna tell you a tale that is the truth! A couple moved to an old mountain farm near my parents in Wise co. Va. They
heard that my dad could grow lots of things on our rocky soil so they came to see him. Daddy told them there was a garden spot well established on that farm, that all they needed to do was get an farmer’s almanac at the store, read it , then just plant by the signs . They thanked Daddy ….but in a week , they came back to see my parents to say they’d bought the almanac , then went out to the garden . They told Dad that the previous owner must have pulled up the signs and taken them with them, they had looked all over the garden and could not find the signs anywhere.
This must be the same couple that Mommy heard about…the young woman was walking up and down the baking ingredients aisle at the Piggly Wiggly until the stock boy asked if he could help her with something. She said it was her husband’s birthday and that he had asked her to bake him a birthday cake like his momma used to make….and she was looking for something called SCRATCH.
I’da sent her to the feed store. They sell scratch. They sell mash too in case she wants to make mash potatoes.
I love these funny stories!
No amountof watering can take the place of a good rain on a garden. I make my life more dificult by saving coffee grounds and egg shell which I pulverize and scatter. It seemed to have really helped last year. I had to give up on corn. The crows qould taunt me from the trees. and something came and destroyed the corn on the ears right before I was ready to harvest, This is first uear in many moons I won’t have a garden. I suppose teen sittin” is more important, and it can be fun. It also has its share of surprises.
I planted okra last Wednesday. You know how okra don’t like to germinate, 14-28 days, so I planted it close. I watered my tomatoes and peppers right afterward. The overspray wet the row of okra and two row of beans. Friday I had beans up and a nice pretty row of okra about an inch apart. I wasn’t really surprised at the beans but the okra was a shock. I ain’t never seen the beat in all my born days!
Tipper, I just love wandering through your garden any time but especially this early time of year. It seems like the green things are greener and brighter. After the cold dead winter the spring green of the garden is startling and I love to see it. There is another reason I love to wander in your garden, it’s the variety. There is the variety of plants that is always exciting but now you have all these different varities of ways to plant things. Some things (and I am particularly fond of your Malabar Spinach) that grow on the trellises, some things in the raised beds, and now some in fabric plant containers, and more in stacked plant containers! It’s just a wonder of green everywhere!
It is all so exciting!