Garden Journal ~ 11 May 2019

Each year, my husband and I try not to start seeds in the house too early, and this year, we finally resisted doing so. Last year’s tomatoes taught us everything we needed to know. They were leggy beyond belief and I had to prune them again and again before I could even plant them in the garden. But this time, they’re beautiful.

We’re revamping one raised bed and then we’re going to create another on the other side of the new greenhouse that we’ll ultimately enclose with greenhouse plastic. It’s my intention here to grow gourds and other sensitive climbing plants without worrying about frost which at 3,000 feet above sea level, it can happen any time during the summer growing season.

I also decided to move my milky oats out of the medicinal herb garden and over to the new greenhouse area and I ordered some fabric raised bed pots which are going to be great for that purpose. Too much other stuff grew in my oat bed and it was difficult to differentiate grasses from the oats, so I decided this year to stop struggling and move the bed. I use fabric pots for my blueberry shrubs and I just love them. They allow plants to breathe and they’re sturdy as well and they don’t break apart the way plastic pots eventually do.

My husband, Jerry, was thrilled when I found some huckleberry shrubs at a local farm and ranch store. We planted four in a garden space we put in last year and we can already see huckleberries forming. He used to go huckleberry picking when he was a child and since moving to Central Oregon in 1981, he’s not had any, so stumbling upon them was a real find!

I found large hops plants in one-gallon containers at the same store that had the huckleberry plants. Normally, I buy small starts and to find huge plants was amazing! It will add to my existing plants but instead of adding them to the fence line in the medicinal herb garden, we planted them along another fence line that separates the larger pasture from the compound. We also are in the process of digging up errant hops shoots in the medicinal garden and adding them to the new hops line. Aside from the beer making potential, hops are both a nervine and digestive and I use them in teas for pain and their bitter flavor dissipates indigestion. Hops are also easily tinctured or can be purchased from various sources. Herb Pharm is a favorite, but there are others as well.

The newly-installed bees are doing well. Hive activity is up, so it appears that both queens made it back and should be laying brood. One package went into the Warre hive and because of its delicate top-bar structure, we don’t pull up frames to check them the way we do in a Langstroth hive. So we really won’t know if she made it back for a while yet. We’ll go into the Langstroth hive in a few days and if that queen made it back to the hive, we should see some brood there. But our fruit trees are in full bloom and they’re positively buzzing! So, we’re hopeful that all is right in the apiary.

The garden is alive with growth! Some vegetables began last fall (spinach, kale, broccoli) and are either coming to an end or are beginning their final push toward harvest. Both varieties of garlic I have planted (Elephant and Deerfield Purple) will be ready in another six weeks or so and they will be followed by carrots which I’ll harvest after the frost touches them in the fall.

I’ll hold off planting the more tender crops until after the Full Moon on the 18th. We fight frost here on the High Desert and it’s just not worth having to re-order my pole beans if I plant them before the first Saturday in June so they’re the last to go in. I’ve been planting Fortex beans for the last few years and they’re wonderful! They can get as big as they want and they’re never stringy or fibrous. Fortex is the only pole bean I’ve found that equals the taste and texture of a filet bush bean and it’s the only green bean that I grow now, it’s that good. And, it both freezes and cans well.

I’ve included some clickable links above if you’re interested as well as one of those banner ads below. I’m still not sure if I like that sort of thing, but with garden season here, I appreciate any referrals I can get to make my life in the garden easier.

I’ll be updating my garden journal throughout the season, so check back to see our progress!

Garden Blessings!