A gardener friend from last year came back to the garden. Welcome back Maggie. It was so nice to see you. Maggie and I finished amending the soil in the herb garden. Next Wednesday I will plant the rest of the herbs.

Before she arrived, I transplanted eggplant and 3 watermelon seedlings. I hope they all take. The eggplant looks rather fragile.

I also planted some more radishes in the corner of the raised bed. And then watered, watered, watered.

God bless you Juna!

My dear friend Juna is such a dedicated gardener. Here she is again to help me garden. Rodney is up at his ranch and gone for the summer, so I must look to Juna as my rock.

Before she arrived, I transplanted the butter squash I had started in small pots into the hillside garden. I also transplanted two bean plants started in the peat pellets. I put mycorrhizae in the soil around the beans. It's supposed to help them be healthier plants.

Then we planted a long, long row of carrots and a row of cabbage. It's my first time planting cabbage. Let's see what happens.

Also, transplanted a fennel plant in the herb garden. Only one more section of soil to amend. I hope to plant camomile and other herbs in the last area of the herb garden.

Tuesday

I didn't have too much time to work in the garden this morning. Yoga called. However, I transplanted two banana pepper plants in garden # 1, along with a basil plant and watered where ever I had seeded. I am determined to have my seeds sprout--the celery, the carrots, the lettuce, etc.

What a beautiful morning!

Rodney emptied the big compost tumbler. We have decided to make compost in an open pile. Seems to work better for me. So many worms in the tumbler. Both Rodney and I scooped up a bunch and put them in Garden #1.

I transplanted a banana pepper plant in the area with the other peppers. Then I planted a row of celery. I decided I wanted to plant the leeks today, so I scooped out an area in a corner of the raised bed and planted 15 - 20 leek seeds. The scooped out dirt will be used to mound the leeks as they grow. (If you want white leeks, you have to cover them with soil, so the sun doesn't get to them. Otherwise, they will turn green like the tops of the plants.

Then I planted a long row of parsnips and one of turnips. Some where in the middle of the row, Alitash arrived. She helped me finish the planting of the turnips and parsnips. Then she watered everything really well.

She and I amended the soil in one area of the herb garden--pulled out rocks and stones, added compost and top soil. Then we transplanted a cilantro plant and a basil plant. And watered well of course.

This year I am using HB101 when I seed or transplant. Let's see how well it works.

Couldn't garden on Wednesday because the earth was too water-saturated. Yes, we had two days of rain in May and the ground was really soaked. However, today is Thursday, the sun is shining--time to plant some more seeds and seedlings.

Rodney helped me today. He transplanted a banana pepper, Mucho Nacho jalapeno and Pepper de Arbol chili pepper. The last one is a perennial and produces the hottest peppers of the three. That means it will hang around for next year and the year after if I take good care of it. I bought another banana pepper plant later today to plant tomorrow. Apparently they are great for roasting, better than the bell peppers, which I've got to tell you, are great!

Transplanted a row of broccoli seedlings, and t hen I planted a row of broccoli seeds, cauliflower, Royal Oak lettuce and arugula seeds. We used HB101 instead of Super Thrive today. HB101 is a growth enhancer. Let's see what it does??

I didn't have too much time to work in the garden today, but I did plant a couple of bean seedlings in peat pellets. Then I planted a row of corn in between the 15 or so bean plants growing up there on the hillside.

Tomorrow I hope to plant a lot more if it doesn't rain. I hope the rain waits until Wednesday or Thursday--that would be perfect!

Saturday

I worked alone today, but I got a lot done. First I created a brick wall around one edge of the strawberry patch and fed the strawberries and raspberries. Also added some of the same fertilizer to the azaleas. It seems that they are all acid-loving plants so you can feed them the same fertilizer.

I also broke up the soil in Garden #1 to prepare it for planting. So far I have tomatoes, bell peppers and radishes planted in that garden, but most of the garden is still vacant. Get planting girl.

I'm exhausted!

Got up at 6:45 a.m. so I could get an early start on the garden. The air is cool today, but the sun is hot. I think I overdid it. I feel like I have heat stroke or something. Anyway, first off, Rodney opened the corner compost bin and got rid of the bin. Now the compost is in the corner of the property, with rocks around one side of it--easier to turn, better aeration.

I planted a row of mustard greens in the raised bed. We put up another fence for the peas and I planted another row of Burpee peas this time. I also planted two rows of carrots in the raised bed. Rodney planted an area of Daikon radishes.

Michiko and Juna came today. They extended two rows of kale and Swiss chard. The original rows were planted with the peat pellets. The extension involved planting seeds. They also planted more bok choi. Then they filled 4 small containers and planted 4 seeds in each of cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe and butternut squash. While they did that, I resoaked some peat pellets which failed to germinate and planted them with more beans. Then I took 3 peat pellets with emerging beans and planted them up on the hillside.

Then we pruned Juna's Fiji apple tree. Finally, Juna and Michiko worked on removing the rocks and pebbles from the herb garden. Over the last few weeks my gardener has been transplanting the irises growing there to the north curbside of the house. Now I have all this space for herbs. However, the soil has to be amended first. Have to buy compost and more soil. Meanwhile, we are removing the rocks and pebbles and any errant roots.

Rush, rush, rush, plant, plant, plant!

I'm feeling that there just aren't enough hours in the morning. I got up at 6 a.m. this morning so I could have my breakfast and get some planting done. Rodney helped. He planted the peat pellets of bok choi and beans. The bok choi is in the raised bed. I helped get the bean plants planted in the hillside. Then he planted two rows of beets in the raised bed and a triangle of red radishes in garden #1.

Working in the raised bed, I planted spinach, lettuce and mache. We watered with Super Thrive and use fish emulsion on the seedlings. I am hoping to get a lot of planting done tomorrow. I have already arranged all the seed packets and am thinking about where everything should go. Hope I get a few gardeners to help tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm on my own!

The time is just getting away from me. You can only really plant in the morning, and I hate to get up so early. Anyway, I planted two long rows of corn on the hillside. It was very necessary. Especially since my beans in the peat pellets are ready to be transplanted into the soil. I'm just going to have to push a little, or a lot, and get the planting done.

I transplanted the yellow and red bell pepper seedlings I started a couple of weeks ago. I have more yellow than red. The red did not come up as well. Not to mention the purple bell peppers and the jalapenos that haven't germinated at all. What's up with that? I will have to try again.

I also started setting up the last of the soaker hoses. Up on the hill, the highest area, the soaker hoses were removed to make room for all the new soil. I have to reconnect the hoses. I am also setting up a fourth line. Where are all the hoses? I think we used the old hoses in the lower gardens. I hope I have enough to finish the hillside.

Hot, hot hot today!

Whew! It was hot today! I think close to 90 degrees. I transplanted my Beefsteak, Brandywine and Cherry tomatoes into Garden # 1. I have 7 tomato plants. Should be lots of tomatoes this year. Then I found another squash or zucchini in Garden #1. Must have been some seeds in the new compost mix I just got. I moved it over to the hillside.

When Ginger, Michiko and Juna arrived we really got to work. Michiko and Ginger planted all varieties of onions around the perimeter of the raised bed on the south side. We now have Walla Walla onions, White Lisbon green onions, red onions and yellow granex onions.

We also transplanted the Swiss Chard seedlings in the peat pellets. Then Juna and I set up the fence support for the snap peas. First we planted the peas in peat pellets, then I finished off the row with seeds. I probably should plant another row of peas.

Sunday and I'm working!

I don't often work in the garden on Sundays, but some things needed to be done. I transplanted the new zucchini and squash seedlings in the hillside garden. Some seeds were already directly put in the soil up there and some have sprouted. Therefore, I just transplanted where the seedlings hadn't taken. I also planted 3 more squash in lower gardens. Hope I get a lot of squash and zucchini this year.

I realized in looking through my seed box that there were a lot more vegetables to be started. So I planted 4 containers of eggplant (4 seeds in the 4 corners of each box) and 4 containers of broccoli with 4 seeds in each.

This week: transplant the tomato seedlings. Plant cauliflower, lettuce, mache, more peas, arugula, radishes and start thinking about more herbs. I already have chamomile and thyme seeds.

Plant, plant, plant!

It's Saturday! Rodney and I decided we better finish putting in the soaker drip system. We only had a loop around the 1st Garden. We started laying down the lines and finished Garden #1 in no time at all. Some new gardeners stopped by today--Juliana and Carl. Carl helped Rodney finish the soaker system in the raised bed while Juliana and I planted bokchoy and beans in the peat pellets I purchased.

All the little seedlings are starting to come up. I am going to be really busy the next couple of weeks, seeding, transplanting, watering, feeding etc. Still have to reconnect the soaker hose up on the hillside garden. Only the uppermost garden needs tending to. The other hillside gardens still have the soaker hoses hooked up.