HAIL NO!!!

So far in July, we've had nearly 4 inches of rain!! Of course, with this rain has come the threat of more severe weather and the gardeners' nightmare, HAIL! I guess I can feel fortunate that we've only had pea & marble sized hail. The storm that left this loveliness was apparently throwing golf balls around in other areas.

After a few storms, the hail damage is starting to show up in the garden as well. The zucchini doesn't look so bad, just a few holes in the leaves. The one on the right has a couple female blossoms coming, maybe I'll have zucchini soon!

The corn looks a little shredded after yesterday's storm.

This poor little borage didn't enjoy the pommeling so much.

After the first hail, I decided to build some protection for the tomatoes, just in case the golf balls come hurtling through the sky, they might stand a chance. I have two layers of chicken wire (offset so the holes are smaller) attached to a couple pieces of wood at each end. I laid it over the top of the trellis and tied it to the top supports. When the growing season is over, I can untie the wire and use it over the bed to hold down the fall mulch. Of course, this doesn't offer full protection as the sides are still open, but I'm hoping it helps (well, really, I'm hoping it's unnecessary). I also added ropes for the tomatoes to grow up. I still need to add the lines for the beans. The beans aren't growing so fast yet, so I still have a little time on that one.

The spaghetti squash & pumpkins are creeping up the ladder more and more each day. The Small Wonder squash is looking like it will be quite prolific. I may have spaghetti squash coming out my ears come fall!! Of course, the squash will probably all have little hail scars on them... The nasturtiums look the worst of everything in this bed. Those big round leaves took a severe beating.

This is the new addition this week. I finally got the trellis for the cukes & watermelon added. I had a few 2x2's left still so I used 'em along with the spindles that came from the stairs we cut down to fit the garden area (so I wouldn't have to jump off the retaining wall anymore). I had a set of hinges in the basement from an old project that was taken apart and a pair of brackets to keep the thing square (that I have no idea where they came from).

Too bad it doesn't sit at quite the same angle as the ladder. Oh well...

I covered all the bush beans after the first (or second?) storm. I figured they seemed to be having a tough enough time this year with out being beaten to death by flying ice.

They're still yellow, but they're looking a little better than they were. They are putting on growth now and they look like blooms may be on the way soon. I was going to try some fish emulsion, but the only time I remembered to look for some while I've been at the store, they didn't have any. We don't have any nurseries out here and I haven't been nearby any recently. I did apply some coffee grounds around the worst of them, just to see if that would do anything. I still wonder if it's because they're pretty wet. This week is supposed to be hot and I think dry, so maybe they'll perk up a little more. I've never had beans look this bad and the germination rates have been pretty dismal as well. I'm hoping the heat helps these guys get back to normal.

To top it all off, look what I found hatching (or emerging, or whatever these guys do)...

I wasn't sure at first what was wrong with it, it was laying so strangely on the mulch, then I realized it's legs weren't free yet. I wasn't so thrilled to find this guy for sure.

Well, there's my update for this week, a little early. I'm off my usual routine anyway as I didn't do my end-of-week pictures last week and Mom flies in tomorrow so I'm may not have a chance to update for about a week (we be out doing tourist-y things not garden-y things I think!). I'll be back before long though!

RAIN!!!

We had a wet spring and summer is starting out that way as well. From yesterday's rain, I had 1.6" of rain in the rain gauge which for a dry place like Colorado, is a lot of rain (my neighbor's tops out at 1.5" and was above that, so who knows which is right). We also had .6" on July 2 and June 27 with .3 in between. When Mom comes to visit later this week, she will get to see an unusually green Colorado! I haven't lived here long enough to know what is actually "usual" but I'm told by my friend who grew up here and moved back here 4 years ago, that this is not "usual" .

Our house has a deep sump pit, but doesn't have a permanent pump set up. The pump is in the pit but plugged in with an extension cord (to our one outlet in the unfinished basement) and attached to a garden hose that we run out the window. A few weeks ago, I bought two barrels, figuring I'd try to fill them from the sump (rather than a rain barrel). I won't get as much water but I'll have a lot more control. Plus, I've been working on a drainage "system" to utilize the water from the downspouts for some of the trees and flower garden spots. I wasn't sure if I'd manage to fill the barrels over the summer based on last year's rainfall, or lack thereof. They're both full now and I'm kicking myself a bit for only buying two!! (though I may soon wish I had gotten the spigots installed on them before I filled them). I still have almost 2' of water in the sump pit and as I was running the hose to the front lawn (figured I'd make sure the grass got a DEEP watering) it started to rain again. I worked outside for a few minutes until I was chased into the house by one wicked thunder clap. Then the rain REALLY started again.

I took that photo 45 minutes ago. The rain has nearly stopped (for now at least) and the rain gauge has .7" of rain in it now. I won't be watering the garden any time soon! I planted a small test patch of grass in the backyard Friday. I hope the seed hasn't all washed away.

While I'm on the subject of weather, here are a few more weather-related photos I've taken in the past week.

Slow Progress

I haven't posted for a while because I was hoping to have a bit more to show for the week. I think we've had more snow since the official beginning of Spring than we had all winter. We very much need the moisture here, so I won't complain too much. We seem to have a couple of fairly nice days and then a little return to winter. It's coming again this weekend.

The asparagus and rhubarb arrived last week. After a couple days in the garage (because of snow) I got them planted. I worked on the raspberry patch last week to change it from a giant lasagna bed to the U-shaped patch it was intended to be. I used some of the "lasagna" to top off a couple of the newer beds that have settled down a few inches, to create rings #3 & 4, and soon will take some more to prep for the blackberries. I need to make some progress with the blackberry spot because they should be arriving in the next week or so. The strawberries should be arriving any time now. I hope they come tomorrow so I can get them planted before the weekend.

I did have a surprise this morning though. Last week, while I was out planting potatoes -and let me tell you, I had A LOT of potatoes - I even had to dig a couple small beds because I ran out of planned space and still had some more to plant! Anyway, I was out planting potatoes, and I saw the power company cutting some shrubs at a house down the street. I wandered over (after much debate with myself whether or not to do it) and asked if they had any wood chips to dump. They didn't have much in the truck then, but took my name and address. This morning, I had a load of pine mulch delivered (Free! Yay!) . Of course, it's A LOT of pine mulch... it looks a little funny because the pine needles are still green, but I don't think it matters, they'll brown and blend in before too long. I wish I had known when he was coming, I could have had a better spot for him to dump it, but I'm not going to complain. I don't have to hook up the trailer and go get it, so it works for me. I wonder if the pile will heat up since it has the chipped wood and green needles (and is about 4' tall and 6-8' around).

I've collected a couple buckets of snow from these storms. I'm making a bucket of compost tea (though I'm not sure it's doing anything, maybe I'm just making dirty water??). I also want to try making lacto bacillus (sp?) or something... I need to do some more reading so see just what I am going to make. I collected the snow now, because it might be a long time before I can collect a bucket of rainwater. I also collected a little bit of fresh, clean snow for something else I haven't had in years, Sugar on Snow. For those who don't come from the land of maple syrup, the syrup is boiled down a little more and drizzled onto the bowl of snow. It is supposed to be sort of chewy and candy-like. I must have boiled a little too long. I made some really hard-to-eat maple candy that seemed to completely encase a couple of my molars for several minutes before I could finally pry it off (pretty huh?). What was left in the pan turned to a much easier-to-eat bit of maple sugar. I have one more bowl of snow in the freezer, so I may attempt it again one of these days.

I've had a few more seeds sprout (indoors), moved the wintersown containers to the front porch (where they should be warmer), took some cuttings of the creeping phlox we have out front to see if they will root, moved another small tree (I needed to fill about a foot of dirt around the corner of the patio, so the tree had to move), and moved the 2 clematis from the front to the back.

The poor clematis, I'm surprised they were doing so well. I moved them because I'm going to plant Jostaberry bushes in front of the front porch (where the clematis were). When I dug them up, I discovered they were planted in bottomless coffee cans. One of the cans was mostly rusted away, the other I had to cut off. They were very rootbound. I'm amazed they got enough water to survive (and bloom quite nicely) last year, as I rarely watered directly where they were. I assumed they had roots out around the plants. I can understand if they were mint or something, but I have never heard of planting clematis that way (of course, I've never had clematis before). I think if they can survive that, they just might make it growing up the posts to the back deck.

***update*** Steve over at Valley Gardens (see my blog list) tells me that rootbound clematis are supposed to bloom better which is probably why they were in the coffee cans. Thanks for the info!!

I've been working on quite a few things, I just haven't gotten so many things finished. I don't even have any new pictures (can you believe it? I'll take more soon though). I actually feel a little more productive now that I have written down what I have worked on. It didn't feel like I had done much, even though I have been busy. If the weather is decent tomorrow, I need to take the poor puppies out for a walk. We've played ball a bit, here and there, but they need some good exercise and attention.