Rural Garden, Suburban Garden

Rural Garden Report:

Our dill isn't coming up, even though we planted it about three weeks ago. There are a lot of little plants there, but I think they are weeds. The cold and wet period between the time we planted it and now is a reminder that Pacific Northwest weather has its own challenges. Although we don't have freezing past the middle of April, the rain, rain, rain hampers seedling growth. It's warming up and drying out, so we will try again. It shows us that no matter what a seed packet says ("plant 1 week after last frost"), we have to pay attention to local conditions. We will buy another packet of dill seeds and try again.

I (Serena) have been hardening off the tomato and pepper seedlings that have fully developed true leaves. I put them out on the deck in an area that gets a couple of hours of sun a day, and then the rest of the day it is partial sun. I think I can more them to a sunnier spot now that they have had time outdoors with some direct sun. The soil in the garden is not yet warm enough for us to plant them, however, by my reckoning. I don't have a thermometer yet.

Since some of our seedlings didn't develop, I decided to plant a few more. There were two pepper types that didn't germinate well, so I thought with longer and warmer days, they might do better now. Well, we did get some more, but I have learned that Ancho peppers do have to have a lot of warmth. I ended up putting the little pots into a plastic bag in my sunny south kitchen window. They liked that, and most of them germinated. I did even better with the Tolli's Italian Red Pepper. Meanwhile, the seedlings that we planted a while back in the garden like the cabbage pictured above are doing very well!

I also started some flower seedlings: bloodflower, spider flower, columbines, and blanket flower, and snapdragons. They are all coming up, even the native columbine seeds I got from Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Since they are native to this area and came to Jefferson from Lewis and Clark, I am excited about this, as I hope to reintroduce them to our woodlands.

We want to move the young chickens outdoors this weekend, and also would like to fence the area next to the garden and orchard so that the older chickens can work on that spot. Those chickens spend a lot of time over by the garden where they used to dig worms, and are looking at it rather wistfully. I think they miss both the worms and the greens. It will be good to get them into a larger area that isn't so picked over.

We got the rest of our new trees fenced, so they are protected from deer now. The deer managed to get at one more tree before we finished the project, but fortunately the tree still has plenty of leaves.

Trista and Adam came today, and it is beautiful! The sky is blue, and the temperature is in the 70s. Trista brought along some organic potatoes she had bought at the supermarket, but since they are sprouting we have decided to plant them. We should have plenty of potatoes now!

Adam discovered rhubarb today! He brought the first stalk to his mother, and when she ate it, he decided he ought to get another for her. After picking that, he brought it to her, but not without tasting it first. He is pretty adventurous, and likes most everything, so we are not surprised.

Suburban Garden Report:


In my (Trista's) backyard the plants in our new raised beds made out of concrete cinder blocks are doing very well for the most part. Most of the plants I have planted in these are ones that I had elsewhere but they weren't getting enough sun where they were. In the bed where I have 2 rhubarb plants and some strawberry plants one of the rhubarb plants is really starting to thrive while the other is rather lackluster. It is probably still shocked from the move earlier this spring.


On the other side of the planter my everbearing strawberry plants are thriving! This is their third year and they have many strawberries forming on them as well as many more blooms. Before they were in large pots but I think having more soil and sunlight has done wonders for them.


In another area my six blueberry plants are slowly getting healthier. One of the plants is considerably larger than the rest and actually has a few berries starting to form on it. The other plants are just getting up to speed so they won't produce any berries this year.

The third planter just contains our one "sharecropper" pumpkin plant and some soil covered in black plastic awaiting the peanuts and sweet potatoes that I plant to plant there later on in the summer when the soil has warmed up considerably.

I have also tried to plant some flower seeds in outdoor pots. I have had varied success with this due to the cold and wet weather that was mentioned above, as well as the squirrels who dig up the ground for their hidden nuts or places to put them! After almost giving up I noticed last weekend that many of my nasturtiums have finally come up. Some pots have many seedlings while others have none or one! I will fill in with other seeds or small starts later on. I also planted my front yard planter with blanketflower and marigold seeds so hopefully those will come up soon with the warmer weather.

See you again next week!