Tomatoes lower left and upper right, basil, eggplant & beans lower right, squash and beans upper left. Leek flowers in background and nasturtiums here and there.
After a long, cool, wintry spring, we may be about to jump headfirst into summer. The forecast says the temp will finally reach 90 today, weeks later than our normal first 90 of the year.
Except for some powdery mildew on my roses and crepe myrtle, the cool, wet spring doesn’t really seem to have done any harm. In fact, I think my tomatoes are better for having a chance to get settled in and growing well before that first blast of summer heat. They couldn’t look healthier, and the two cherry varieties (sungold and sugar smack) have reached the seventh rung on the tomato cages, about 36 inches. They were about 12 inches high when I did the last blog update, 17 days ago!
Every tomato plant has set little tomatoes, and the sungold has several of those long clusters that make me so happy. Normally, I would have found one or two ripe sungolds by this time, but it looks like that’s still a few weeks away.
Everything else is growing just as well. I pulled out the peas and planted an assortment of other pole beans on that long trellis. The other trellis is all Blue Lake pole beans, so on the new one, I planted 1/4 each Spanish Musica, rattlesnake, purple pole and French gold. If nothing else, it should be colorful!
Elsewhere in the garden, things are looking good. The raised planter on the side of the house (pictured in my header) is overflowing with color, dominated by the snapdragons I planted for winter color last fall. They just sat there looking uncomfortable until about a month ago, and now they’re blooming their heads off. It will interesting to see how long they last in the summer heat. My back fence is completely covered with white star jasmine blossoms that perfume the whole garden, house, and probably the neighbors’ as well now that it’s finally warmed up. That’s only fair, considering the cold suppressed the citrus blossom smell almost entirely this spring.
About a year ago, I joined a yahoo group of mostly women gardeners here in East Sac. Tomorrow we’re having a private tour of one anothers’ gardens. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of them and showing off my own.
Jasmine keeps growing over this sun and a matching moon plaque. Occasionally I remember them and prune away enough to expose them again.
Gorgeous, Chris. I’m glad you’re letting at least a selected few see all your hard work and wonderful results.
I’m fascinated by the differences in gardening between our climates. My poor jasmine has to be squeezed into a large piot and dragged indoors come October, and it sits and sulks by the french doors until it can go outside again in late May. And it only blooms for 2-3 weeks, but oh so worth it.
Our night temps have been hovering around 50, with a few dips all the way down into the upper 30s over the past 3 or 4 weeks, Marta. Now we’re closer to the normal 60ish.
I’ve always heard that night temps need to be above 50, but it didn’t seem to stop fruit setting for me this year. It’s also possible that my backyard is a litle warmer than the official recording stations.
I just got back from the garden tour and I LOVED it! Five completely different gardens, every one full of interesting ideas.
It looks like the cool temperatures have actually been good for your garden. It has been coming along fine. What are your night temperatures. The night temps are what keeps ours behind. It has been getting below 50 degrees so our tomatoes have not set. Next week prediction is for gray but above 50 at night.
I want to hear more about the beans you planted later in the year. I’m always interested in beans. I like Musicas. Our Italian gold romanos are not doing real well yet. We need to put some more sluggo out because they got into that bed.
I hope you have a nice garden tour. It is always a joy to share and see others.
Everything looks great! You are way ahead of us, of course – most of our plants are tiny. I worry about how they will do the week we are gone, without Bill to keep track of them. No matter who you hire to look after things, it’s never as thorough as you would do yourself.
Our jasmine is in full bloom now too. Oh, what a wonderful scent!
Was this the longest, wettest, coldest Spring EVER?? Then this week we jumped straight into the middle of summer. I’m glad the cool weather helped with your garden. It looks lovely!