Clematis Climbing All Over

Every year this plant gets bigger. I forgot to cut it back last fall, so I ended up doing it this spring and even cut off some of the new growth. Didn't matter--it would still grow right up the side of the house if it could. I kinda want to make a bigger trellis that goes up to the roof. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Lily Land

Even with the lily beetles going to town, the Asiatic lilies have been blooming for the past few days. I am pretty sure I'll spray with something stronger next year. Last year I used Neem oil, but this year it's been raining too much to keep up with it. I pick the beetles off, and remove the eggs and any of the grubs I see, but I can't seem to get rid of all of them before they damage the plants. And it's hard to take pictures of moth-eaten plants.

Potatoes! Potatoes! Boil 'em, Mash 'em...

This is the first time I've ever tried to grow potatoes, and they are going nuts. My personal theory is that they don't have any pests yet because they're "new". I'll never be able to grow them again because next year the bugs will find them. So let's hope for a good potato year.

I started them in the raised beds, which wasn't very smart...it makes them hard to hill up. I'll have to add a lot more soil to the beds. I have 8 plants in two of the raised beds, and a short row with about 5 more plants. Then I put in a few more next to the raspberries. We'll see what happens!

Late Blight in Tomatoes

Boy am I glad I only planted tomato seedlings from Mom. Seeing a lot of late blight in tomatoes on the East Coast this year, and they're asking people to destroy plants if they see it in their gardens. I haven't noticed any...but of course, haven't spent much time out there in the rain in recent weeks.

Wordless Wednesday is Clematis

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

For weeks, it has done nothing but rain. Just about the only thing that seems to like this is the greens...lettuces are doing well, though the spinach has bolted and I've had to pull some of the mesclun because it, too, had gone to seed. The Swiss chard is also doing pretty well, though I'm hoping with a little sun it may get bigger. Too small to pick at the moment.

This is the sad state of the garden. Finally weeded today, even though it was still drizzly. Beans are tiny, flowers aren't doing much (except for the marigolds and calendula, which are fine but tiny). When I hear about folks in Virginia picking tomatoes and zucchini in their gardens, I could cry. It will be at least a month before there is anything besides greens to eat.


And the raspberries...well, I know I started picking them around July 14th last year. A lot will have to happen in this next two weeks for a bumper crop of raspberries. There are berries, but I am a little afraid that they will rot instead of ripening. Hoping for weeks of sunshine to come. This is getting old and moldy.

Weeds

After what feels like weeks of rain (and is, indeed, intermittent weeks of rain), I finally got a chance to weed today. For a whole 30 minutes before it started to rain. Again. So not much to report, except that the new beans are coming up and as soon as the leaves come out they are being eaten. I think the milky spore that we used in the fall will not soon control all of the beetles we have. It is a major problem. They are not only the Japanese beetles, either, but I think Asian beetles (that look like coffee beans). I've read that these are not susceptible to the milky spore, so I'll have to do something different if I want to eat a single green bean this summer.

Planted a few more marigolds around to help with pests, and added more zinnias to the garden. We need the sun! Please!