tagryn | Gardening update

I put in our raised bed gardens late in May. It doesn't look like much, but it should grow in well. I put in seven tomato plants and a mix of jalapeno and green peppers, all bought at good prices from local nurseries. The cages will eventually be full of tomatoes by August, if last year was any indication. I also have small plots of squash and cucumbers growing, as well.

Unfortunately I lost all of my tomato seedlings this year (again). On a nice weekend day I decided to put them outside to get some weatherization, then promptly forgot about them. When I remembered them a couple days later, they were all withered and crisped. This, on top of putting my batch of seedlings in too early (early May) last year and losing them all that way. Sigh.

We also put in a hedge of "Emerald Green" arborvitae shrubs in the front. It will probably take at least a couple of years for them to grow in to any kind of barrier, but after the problems we were having with the (now former) neighbors letting their dogs run loose into our yard, among other things, and not wanting to fence in the front, we decided to go forward with this. They're connected to the same soaker hose system that the raised beds are, so every morning the beds and the shrubs get watered automatically. Plus, we saved a significant amount of money by buying the plants ourselves and having a local landscaper plant them, so that was a nice win.

I've also bagged around 20-30 apples on the three apple trees we have. Unfortunately we do get codling moth damage on most of our apples, and bagging has proven the only way to get edible apples off the trees.

The grapevines we put in last year below the clothesline have taken off this year, and it actually looks like we might get grapes off of them this season.