No two gardens are the same and I am once again learning how plants respond in a new environment. Here are two of the Heirloom own-root roses I planted last week. They are little more than twigs and already putting on a show. I am delighted with them.
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| Bonica |
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| Darlow's Enigma |
I was looking forward to gardening in Sequim's famous climate, but alas, I am not actually in Sequim. McDonnell Creek Ranch is a whole ten degrees cooler. The advice I've been getting at Sequim nurseries as far as timing my plantings and what grows here really doesn't apply. I have the salt air, ocean breezes, fog and cooler temperatures and it makes a world of difference.
Tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing well but the peppers have literally stopped growing. They need a soil temperature of seventy degrees and that's no joke. I'm also getting insect damage, mostly on the basil, so I've laid traps to collect the pincher type bugs. The traps are just rolled newspaper left on the ground. The insects hide in them after a night of raiding and I shake them into a canister of water. Some of the insects anyway. There is no way to eliminate them without poisons so I'm trying to live with them even if I have to plant a lot of basil to keep them off the other stuff.
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| A sacrificial basil |
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| Tomatoes, etc with paper trap |
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| Unwelcome dinner guests |
Beans have been challenging. I put them outside, Sequim time, which is much too early for this area as I've learned. They pretty much stopped growing and the leaves began turning yellow, a sign of nitrogen deficiency. I found some discussions of the issue online, the suggestion being made was beans go through a period when the food stores within the seed are used up and the transition to producing food through photosynthesis is slow so the leaves begin to lose their color. Advice was to just wait it out and they would pull through. I think this is what is going on with mine, the cool weather extending that period a bit much. Most of my beans appear to be recovering now, but next year I'll wait a little longer before putting them out.
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| Beans with yellow and green leaves |
The berries are doing well. Can't wait to start collecting!
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| Blueberries |
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| Raspberries |
Clematis are a pleasant surprise. Grown in protected sunny locations they're doing well, and so pretty.
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| A gorgeous Polish clematis |
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| Unknown clematis |
The Japanese maple we planted last fall is doing OK. I hope it survives the windy location. New leaves are lime green with red seedpods. Very pretty.
