Lots of Green Tomatoes in my July Garden

Cherry Tomatoes on Patio Plant

 Vegetable Garden

Since I planted tomatoes and peppers late this year, July presents itself with lots of green tomatoes. I have bunches of cherry tomatoes growing in containers on the deck. Massive caged tomato plants are along the back of the house. Small eggplants have started in this area also. I hope to get good eggplant produce, but recent years have been plagued with the opposite. In the past, aphids have overrun the eggplant so I aggressively treated these with a soap solution this year.

Cherry Tomato Plants Thrive on Deck

Tomato Plants off the Deck

Across the yard in the traditional vegetable garden, the yellow and zucchini squash are battling with the insects. Jalapeno peppers are producing great, but the green pepper plants are off to a slow start. Several of these plants died after bugs ate most of the leaves..

It is interesting that my zucchini, which has always been a stalwart of the garden, has not produced a single fruit. I photographed the beginnings of one, but haven't seen anything since. The squash bugs have been around for a couple months and I haven't had the heart to use a pesticide. The store-bought yellow squash plants are producing in small numbers.

We're making plans to rest this garden area next year. Because of back problems, I'm to avoid bending, and weeds and grasses have taken over.

Japanese Beetles on Eggplant Leaves

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly on Butterfly Bush Flower

Flowers in Bloom

The Butterfly Bushes are smelling great and attracting many skippers and swallowtail butterflies. The Hibiscus is blooming and attracting bumble bees. Stargazer lilies continue to bloom.

Hibiscus in Bloom

Pests

Japanese Beetles are numerous this year. In the past, they have destroyed Hibiscus blooms and Azalea leaves with their relentless appetites. This year, my gardener neighbors and I have noticed the diversity of plants being attacked by this pest. Butterfly Bush blooms, Crape Myrtle leaves, Strawberry leaves, Cleome blooms, and Asparagus ferns are now on the menu. I collect the clumsy beetles in jars of soap water. It's a chore that can go on all day. It seems I will have to treat the yard in the spring to curb the beetle infestation.

Sedum Showing Leaf Damage

The mystery pest of the month has attacked the sedum growing in the front yard. The leaves have been partially removed down the stem in "corn cob" fashion. Is it insect or is it animal?

Thanks for reading my blog post! I hope your gardening is going well. All the best, Pam

June is Flower Time!

Stargazer Lillies

Flowers in Bloom

Early June brings daily blooms of all varieties. Perennials flourish from a 20 year history in this patch of cultivation. The succulent garden has spectacular yellow prickly pear blooms and orange daylilies - these are the same daylilies that grow on the roadsides in North Carolina.

Prickly Pear Cactus Blooms

Succulent Garden

Stargazer Lily Flower

What we call the "Mother's Day" lilies are some exotics like the Stargazer Lily gifted to me over the years. Sometimes they make a May appearance, but this year they started in early June.

Gardenia Flower

The gardenia bush with a lovely sweet fragrance has more flowers every year. It starts slow with 2 blooms and then, like popcorn, busts out in white blossoms. I can see 20 blossoms from my kitchen window. This bush is a testimony to patience and rooting your own plants. A girlfriend and I were walking through downtown Wake Forest when we admired a blooming gardenia. She picked a flower, and I put it in a water glass where it grew roots. Now it's a bush with a 3 foot diameter! ( 15 years or so have passed)

Cleome Flower Blooming

Cleomes are the only annuals I grow every year. They drop enough seeds to insure plants sprout the next season.

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly on Butterfly Bush Bloom

My blooming flower report would not be complete without mention of the butterfly bushes. The one by the mailbox has started to bloom (purple). It gets the most direct sun. This year seedlings are sprouting everywhere seeds were dropped. Cracks along the brick steps, pots on the deck started with lemon balm, and the vegetable garden. Starting out small, these plants turn into mighty purple butterfly-attracting bushes!

Zucchini Squash is Blooming

Last Year's Overgrown Zucchini Squash

Vegetable Garden

The right combination of weather factors caused all the zucchini squash to bloom together seemingly overnight. Even the purchased yellow squash flowered.

Zucchini is tricky to raise because the green fruit blends in and under the large leaves. They are often discovered as gigantic fruits- 12 inches plus!

The bush bean plants are blooming, but my yield will be small. A whole row was lost to squirrel predation of the seeds. A couple of the "bush beans' are actually vines - not sure where they will go.

Cherry Tomato Plants on Deck

Mulched Tomato Plants

Late in May we purchased eggplant and tomato plants. Because of last year's fungus, we have started these plants in new gardens around the house. Cherry tomato plants are in pots on the deck. I had fun mulching these new vegetable gardens with decayed leaves. Hopefully this will hold back the Bermuda grass that is so persistent in these areas.

My enthusiasm over the strawberry plants has waned as the squirrels help themselves and leave half eaten fruit to clean up.

Moss Disturbed by Raccoons

Pests and Problems

There are lots of mossy areas on the property and raccoons have "rolled up" the moss in their nocturnal searches for food.The disturbed ground looks terrible, but I'm unaware of any solutions.

Every year as my hibiscus leafs out, small caterpillars skeletonize the leaves. I've played it both ways. One year I let the leaf massacre proceed, the plant bloomed as usual. Last year, I dusted lightly to stop the carnage. Because the plants are at the entranceway to the house, I'm leaning towards treating the leaves.

If you have made it to the end of this article, you realize there's a lot going on with the June gardens in North Carolina. I'm sure with warmer weather your garden activities have picked up as well. I would love to hear about it. Please leave your comments below. Have fun in your garden and all the best!

4 Tips for My Younger Gardener Self

Me giving advice to my younger self

If I could go back in time and offer my younger gardener-self advice, it would be as follows:

1- Plant flowering perennials. They return year-after-year. My favorites are Butterfly Bushes, Azaleas, Peonies, Rhododendrons, Daylilies, and Irises.

A Tiger Swallowtail enjoying Butterfly Bush

2- Trim flowering bushes yearly after blooming. Left alone many will increase in size and swallow up other landscape plants. Every year I struggle with the massive size of Forsythias and Camellias planted two decades ago.

"City Block" sized Forsythia bush

3- Handle invasives with care. In 20 years (or even 5) they will take over significant landscape space. My personal challenges with invasives are: Liriope (also called Monkey Grass), English Ivy, and Periwinkle. My article on the subject can be found at this link.

English Ivy climbing tree trunk

4- Only plant vegetable gardens in the sun. A successful vegetable garden requires lots of sunlight and you're wasting time otherwise.

Full sun on the vegetable garden

What about you? What gardening lessons have you learned over the years? What would you have done differently in your gardens and landscape? Please leave your comments below.

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Winter Comes Roaring Back in March

Beautiful Daffodils in February 2017

In central North Carolina, we enjoyed extremely mild February weather, and the most beautiful daffodil crop in recent memory. People were wearing shorts, and even I wore sandals on February 12 when temperatures hit 83F. The mean temperature for February was 53.3F which was higher than the record set in 1887. 1887!

It was a glorious month! We were planning our vegetable garden. Fortunately,  local meteorologists cautioned that April 15th is the average last frost so most gardeners resisted the urge to rush spring planting.

Dark-eyed Juncos Hung Around for Winter's Return

Winter came back in March. I'm writing this on the 19th, and temperatures have dipped below freezing on 7 days. I have never seen vegetative damage from a hard freeze this severe. Because February teased the plants into an early spring, more blooms and tender leaves took a beating when temperatures dipped below freezing.

Frost Damage on Leaves of Butterfly Bush

Cold Temperatures Drop Irises

 

Sedum was Unaffected by Cold

Young Peony Survived Frost without Damage

 Have you had unseasonable weather in your area? How has it affected your plants? Please share in the comments below. All the best everyone! Nice spring weather is just around the corner.

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