The Old Guy's Garden Record

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Thursday, May 1, 2025

Two Wandering Jew (radescantia Zebrina) plants came down from our sunroom yesterday. One replaced the fading plant in our kitchen. The old plant along with the other new one went outside.

We've had a Wandering Jew plant in one kitchen window for well over a decade. Our first plant was a gift from one of our daughters, Samantha. Since the plants only stay pretty for about a year, I take cuttings each January for replacement plants.

With the wind today, I decided to let the plants sit in their trays instead of hanging them where the wind would punish them.

Our first hummingbirds showed up at our feeder April 22. They hung around our feeder for a couple of days before presumably heading further north. We didn't see any more until yesterday when a whole bunch of very tiny hummingbirds showed up at our feeder. But they too appear to have headed off.

While I'd wanted to transplant some dill into our herb bed and geraniums at the corners of our narrow beds of garlic and early peas, the wind convinced me to hold off a day or two. Instead, I did some weeding in the three beds. The pea plants were pretty much blown over suggesting that I get their double trellis up soon. Next to the peas, several spinach plants have emerged, although you have to look closely to see them. And our garlic mostly looks healthy other than a few elephant garlic starts.

To speed up drying of the soil in our main raised bed, I sprayed it yesterday with a vinegar/Epsom Salt mixture. It's an organic weed killer that shouldn't persist in the soil for too long.

The mix will burn down top growth, but doesn't effectively kill weed roots. Since I'm aiming to till this bed, burning off the top growth is just what I need.

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Saturday, May 3, 2025

I mowed our lawn yesterday. I'm glad I did as it's rainy today. And the rains are predicted to persist through Monday.

With the rain ruling out most outside work, I turned to starting and uppotting stuff indoors. Some Honey Bunch grape tomato seed I’d ordered arrived in the mail. I’d not planned to grow grape tomatoes this year. But my lovely wife, Annie, has been on a binge eating them of late. The Honey Bunch hybrid variety produces lots of grape tomatoes. I also started some Red Pearl open pollinated grape tomatoes. They produce fewer tomatoes, but have superior flavor.

While planting the grape tomato seed, I saw that we had communal pots of vinca, parsley, and petunias that needed to be moved to larger quarters. They went into four and sixpack inserts. Some Cora Cascade vinca are eventually destined for hanging basket pots, while some Pacifica will end up along the edges of our main raised garden bed. The Celebrity petunias will also serve as row end markers in the main bed.

Last night, I prepared a dish to help use up our bounty of asparagus. A Facebook friend had posted the recipe for Cheesy Baked Asparagus. It was delicious. I had it again for lunch today.

If you check out the recipe, you should know that I made just a half portion of it. I also cooked it a bit longer than the recipe suggested, as I used mostly "fencepost" spears of asparagus.

One outdoor job I did between rain showers this morning was to finish trimming the dead vines out of our older Wandering Jew plant. It, with a newer plant, got hung from our back porch.

The butternut seed I started on Wednesday has begun to germinate. Those pots were joined over a soil heating mat set to 70°F by the grape tomato seeds I started today.

When I brought in the squash seed, I also brought in our melon seeds. It's time to get them going.

When this rain finally plays out, I need to spray our apple trees with Fruit Tree Spray.

Sunday, May 4, 2025

We had another cold, rainy day again today. I skipped picking asparagus for the second straight day due to the weather. Who knows what I'll find when I pick tomorrow. We're getting close to the time when we need to stop picking and weed and fertilize our asparagus patches.

Our extended weather forecast shows conditions drying and warming over the next week or so. Maybe I'll actually get to start tilling our garden plots.

I really didn't do any gardening today, but I did take a look at things under our plant lights. The pots of butternut squash I started on Wednesday were all up today.

Well, I did dump rain water out of the trays of plants under our cold frame today. An inch or so of rain had accumulated in the trays, risking damaging the roots of the plants.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

I transplanted a geranium into the planter on our cistern cover. Our geranium transplants this year are rather small and puny. Instead of moving them to four inch pots, I left them in three inch pots. I’m hoping I didn’t stunt them.

While I had a trowel and fertilizer water out, I transplanted three dill plants into our herb bed. I often plant dill at the ends of our rows of brassicas. I still have some dill transplants left, so they may get used that way if things ever dry out enough to work the soil and plant.

I reversed course yesterday and dropped off more asparagus bundles at our local food bank. To avoid dealing with the folks there, I dropped off the asparagus early before they had begun work.

Doing another good deed, I sent donations to our PBS and NPR providers. Donald Trump’s incredible attacks on public broadcasting motivated my donations. Instead of donating online, I enclosed checks in letters which also contained a packet of zinnia seed for each. I've done this before with Greg Petrowich (WFYI) and Fred Martino (WSIU), and they both have seemed to get a kick out of it.

Friday, May 9, 2025

I started putting up the double trellis to surround our early peas and later, our tall cucumbers yesterday. I only got one trellis up before I ran out of energy and the black flies got to me. But I did get three T-posts in without hitting myself in the head with the heavy post driver. I got the other three posts in on the other side of the peas today before running out of energy. I did, however, stretch two clothesline strands along the side to let the sun heat them up and take some of the curl out of them.

Our copy of the 2025 Seed Savers The Exchange Yearbook arrived in today's mail. It has a pretty cover, but I'm not sure how much use it will be to members at this late date. When I Googled why the catalog was so late, I got "The Seed Savers Exchange catalog was late in 2025 due to staffing issues, according to a Reddit thread discussing the matter."

Having noticed a few before, I got out this afternoon and grabbed some shots of baby apples on our trees. Sadly, there weren't many of them. I hope to spray the trees with Fruit Tree Spray tomorrow.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

I sprayed our apple trees with Fruit Tree Spray today. I started early, but found that the Do It Best sprayer I bought last spring wouldn’t hold pressure. So I made a trip to Walmart for a cheapie sprayer. While the wind picked up a bit while I was gone, it died back down, and I was able to get a good cover of insecticide, fungicide, and sticker spreader. While I wore a hat, glasses, mask, and gloves, I still found my lips numb for about an hour after spraying! Nasty stuff!

We got another nice harvest of asparagus spears today. Interestingly to me, our raised bed has slowed down on its production, but Bonnie's Asparagus Patch has come on strong.

I got the other side of our double trellis around our tall peas done. I only used top and bottom clothesline supports for the nylon string trellis netting. When the peas play out and we switch to cucumbers in the bed, I’ll add a third wire to support the greater weight of the long cucumbers.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

We had a cute visitor in our yard today. A possum wandered in. I didn't bother it, other than snapping a shot of it as possums eat lots of bugs. Last week when some deer approached Bonnie's Asparagus Patch, I fired a couple of shots over their heads with our critter gun. Deer will nip the heads off of asparagus!

I don't hunt, but I also don't report poachers killing deer out of season. We have way too many deer in our area, damaging crops and causing lots of damage to vehicles. Poachers who kill and field dress their kill are probably trying to feed their family. (We live in a rural, semi-poor area.)

Yesterday was a mowing day. I only got our lawn done, but still have the field next to us to do. And the grape tomatoes I seeded a week ago are up and came off the soil heating mat. My saved Red Pearl seed germinated far better than some new hybrid Honey Bunch seed.

New Toy/Tool

I used a new toy tool yesterday and today. Although I have an older off brand one I use in the basement, I ordered an Aimerla Foldable Garden Kneeler Seat last week. It comes with lots of extras I probably won't use. But it has a wider place where to rest your knees. With my advancing age, adaptive garden tools are quite helpful.

I used the garden kneeler last night to weed around our recently planted dill. Today, I used it when I transplanted geraniums and snapdragons around our narrow raised beds of garlic and peas. So far, I like its construction and comfort.

Way Behind

I'm running way behind our usual garden start. Frequent rain has prevented tilling and planting both our main raised bed and our large East Garden plot. We may get a break in the weather this week that will permit such efforts. Then it's just a matter of if my aging body can still do the work!

Thursday, May 15, 2025

I mowed the acre plus field next to us yesterday. Mowing always makes my arms sore the next day. Around sunset, I got a wild hair and drug out our thirty year old MTD tiller and worked up our weed covered main raised garden bed. The tiller really didn't penetrate the soil much, but it did tear up a lot of the weeds. I'd till the area again today, but mowing left my shoulders sore and the tilling made everything waist down hurt. Getting old is a bummer.

Our early peas beginning to bloom is a bright spot in our gardening. Planted in early March, the around seventy day varieties are about on schedule. Our peas are a landrace mix of the Champion of England and Maxigolt varieties. With some sixty ish degree days coming up, I'm hoping for lots of very sweet peas.

Our asparagus patches continue to produce. Our raised bed of asparagus has dropped off in production, something it does each year. Bonnie's Asparagus Patch has picked up the slack, with both patches still yielding about a pound of asparagus each day. I'll need to stop picking soon and weed and fertilize the patches.

With temperatures predicted to reach the high 80's today, I turned on our air conditioner this morning for the first time this season. It took forever for it to drop our house temperature a single degree, so I guess it's time to have our HVAC folks in to service the AC and our furnace.

Friday, May 16, 2025

Our asparagus is sending us a message. I didn't pick yesterday, and today's harvest was skimpy with lots of pencil thin shoots. If this trend continues, it will be time to stop picking and weed and fertilize the patches. But it's been a wonderful season for asparagus.

Getting Old and Forgetting Stuff

I started to till our main raised garden bed again today, but the tiller was set to go too high. So I adjusted it…the wrong way. I'd just forgotten how to do the leveling. So another adjustment was made to make the tiller’s tines dig into the soil a bit deeper.

Interestingly, the walking MTD tiller will go a maximum of eight inches deep. Our pull type John Deere tiller which mounts on our lawn tractor only goes six inches deep at most!

Even set to go deep, the MTD floated across the soil surface in some places. This bed will take at least one more pass, probably two, before it’s planting ready. But it looks a lot better today.

With the temperature shooting above eighty degrees just after noon, I limited my outdoor work after tilling, finishing at around two o’clock.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Between heavy rains, tornadoes passing overhead, and some sore muscles, we're running way behind on getting our garden in this year. I went out to our main raised bed yesterday afternoon to transplant tomatoes, but the soil was still too clumpy with wet, dead weeds to rake out. The bed will probably have to be tilled again before planting. But an inch and a quarter of rain this morning will delay that tilling and planting.

Our garlic plants were showing some brown leaf tips, so I did a foliar fertilization of them with some Miracle Gro Plant Food (24-8-16) on Sunday. By today, there'd already been some greening of the tips. Our tall early peas continue to put on blooms, although I haven't seen any bees visiting the blooms.

I had a disappointing picking of asparagus on Saturday and another today. I think it's time to let the asparagus rest.

Oh yeah, the farmers got the field next to us planted on Sunday. Since they'd cut anhydrous ammonia into the ground a week or so ago, I'm assuming they planted field corn.

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

It's not a pleasant day today for outdoor work. Everything is wet from more overnight rain and it's windy. My one gardening chore for the day was moving our butternut squash transplants outside this morning. Large squash and melon plants can quickly get large and unruly. Our wet conditions preventing tilling our East Garden plot aren’t a problem. The butternuts will go outside of the East Garden on the site of last year’s compost pile and be thoroughly mulched with grass clippings. They'll eventually outgrow their mulch, but by that point, their foliage will be so heavy that they'll be fine. At least, that's they way it usually works.

It would appear that our asparagus harvest is over for this season. While I often have gotten a pound or more from our two patches each day, yesterday’s picking produced only a dozen spears.

Friday, May 23, 2025 - We Have Pea Pods!

When mowing today along our raised bed of tall, early peas, I slowed down and spotted a pea pod! Later, I went out to take a shot of it and found the lonely pea pod had a cousin below it. On the other side of the trellises, I found a couple of full sized pods with tiny peas showing in them.

Our landrace mix of the Champion of England and Maxigolt varieties always get seeded in early March. That allows us to pick some really sweet peas before the weather gets too hot. We also grow a row of the supersweet Eclipse variety most years. They are a short pea and don't germinate well in cool ground. They still produce sweet peas in hot weather.

I tell all about how we grow our peas in our how-to, Another Garden Delicacy: Homegrown Peas.

Since I was out by our two asparagus patches mowing and had a bag in the mower's compartment, I saw and picked about fourteen good asparagus spears this afternoon.

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Saturday, May 24, 2025

I transplanted six Moira tomato plants today into our main raised garden bed. While the end of the bed was still way to wet to rototill, it raked out fairly well. And I simply couldn't wait any longer to do some real gardening.

Spacing the tomato cages in pairs down the fifteen foot length of the bed was job one. I pounded in a T-post between each pair of cages. Strong winds that sweep over Merom Bluff and the open fields west of us used to blow over and sometimes uproot tomato plants top heavy with fruit. Wiring the tomato cages to the T-posts fixed that problem.

Then I dug a hole for each transplant, partially filling it with some potting soil/peat moss mix. I added ground egg shell to provide calcium to prevent blossom end rot. A handful of 10-10-10 fertilizer went in, and it all got mixed into the native soil with the shovel.

A coffee can of transplanting solution went into each hole before I squished in a tomato plant. Our transplant solution was a combination of Quick Start, Maxicrop Soluble Seaweed Powder, and Serenade biofungicide. Since the plants had gotten tall, I pruned their lower leaves and pushed the plants well into the soil. The soil previously dug backfilled the plantings a bit and also formed a trough around each plant to retain water.

The planting is done, the first in our main raised bed this year. I'm a bit pumped, even though driving those T-posts made me sore. Next up is planting onions and carrots at the other end of the raised bed. Once I finally get the rest of the bed properly tilled, I plan to plant potatoes and lima beans and transplant broccoli and cauliflower.

If I didn't offer enough detail here, our how-to tells more: Growing Tomatoes.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

I mulched our six caged Moira tomato plants today. They got a heavy layer of dried grass clippings around them. Since grass clippings are organic and break down in time, I'll need to re-mulch the tomato plants part way through the growing season.

As I turned around from the tomato plants, I was thrilled to see our tall early pea vines filled with blooms. A few of the vines have almost grown to the top of our five foot double trellises. The photo below really doesn't do all the blooms justice. The vines are filled with blooms and a few ripening pea pods.

When I finished mulching the tomato plants, I had a nice pile of grass clippings left. So I moved and used them to mulch our garlic. I ran out of grass clippings, so there's still a bit of mulching yet to do.

Our fall planted garlic is usually ready to dig early in July.

I did something this week that I hadn't done in years. I bought a tomato at the grocery to go with our cheeseburgers for supper. The tomato cost 42¢, and that was about all it was worth. It was red and wet with almost no flavor. We have blooms on our tomato plants, so we should have some good tomatoes soon.

The cheeseburgers were a follow-up to some Garlic Rosemary Chicken I made the night before. I'd gotten our old 22" Weber grill cleaned up and grilled the chicken breasts. The garlic, rosemary, and thyme in the recipe were all from last year's garden.

And with another round of Cheesy Baked Asparagus, we're down to less than one full bundle of asparagus spears. In a couple of weeks, we'll be craving asparagus again.

Danny Glover was 41 years old when he said “I'm too old for this shit” in the first Lethal Weapon movie. Let that sink in…

I'm sharing his sentiments, as my body is rebelling at the gardening chores I love doing. Neck, shoulders, knees, and calves take turns protesting my activities.

Instead of giving up, I pretty much limit myself to one major chore a day. And even that sometimes, as was true this week, requires a day or two off the recover. But I'm blessed with a wonderful wife and family and the freedom to take time off in full retirement.

Thursday, May 29, 2025

I mowed the field next to us and also tilled our main raised bed again. Once raked out, the bed will be planting ready!!

Friday, May 30, 2026 - Aspirin, Scotch, and Aspercreme

I'd hoped to rake our our main raised garden bed today and plant onions and carrots. But our overnight rain turned out to be far more than was predicted and is continuing into the afternoon. Also, when showering this morning, I pulled a groin muscle when bending over to get a bottle of shampoo (TMI?). Obviously, that motion shouldn't have produced that result. I'm guessing that wrestling around our thirty year old rototiller yesterday prestaged the muscle pull.

So instead of gardening today, I'm back to my old aspirin, scotch, and Ben Gay Aspercreme routine to ease the pain. Aspercreme seemed to be a better idea for pain relief than Ben Gay in an area with open pores.

Even with the injury, I hobbled to the grocery today for a few things we needed. And as luck would have it, Baesslers had bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts on sale for $2.59/lb. I regularly buy this item, cut out and sometimes fillet the breast meat and freeze the breasts and tenders for future use.

The remains of the chicken breasts get boiled down and boned, producing great chicken broth and chicken pieces for chicken salad, chicken and noodles, and other things.

Tonight, the chicken breasts made Chicken Salad and Asiago Cheese & Tortellini Soup. Our dogs got the thoroughly boiled skins and bones. While that may seem like a risk, these are country dogs, constantly dragging some road kill or other into the yard and eating it, uncooked bones and all.

Saturday, May 31, 2026 - May Wrap-up

It's been a difficult month for gardening. Frequent rains and some physical challenges really slowed progress. The only new crop I got planted was our row of Moira tomato plants. But I finally got the weeds cleared from our main raised garden bed and deeply tilled it.

On a more positive note, our March planted tall early pea vines are ripening lots of pods with many new blooms on the vines. And I noticed several of our fall planted elephant garlics had scapes on them. While the scapes are edible, snapping them off may increase the bulb size.

Contact Steve Wood, the at Senior Gardening