May 2025 Musings
May greetings fellow gardeners and nature enthusiasts,
Little onions in their rows—kept weed free (almost!).
It’s depressingly gray outside; it seems like it’s been raining forever. If the sun ever comes out, the grass will be as high as an elephant’s eye. I’m not at all motivated to clean up my gardening mess in the cellar, so I guess I’ll write.
If you got your onion plants in the ground early April, they should be in good shape. Cool temperatures and abundant rain is just what they love. In fact, that snow several weeks ago found my double row of newbies with just their tippity tops showing above the blanket of white. They thought this was the best gift possible! But enough is enough, I say! Don’t worry if your plants don’t shoot up right away. What they are doing is establishing a solid root system before putting on that top growth. I managed to catch a nice day last week and fertilized with an all-natural nitrogen formula, using liquid Neptune’s Harvest Hydrolyzed Fish as the best option I could find. A lot of good this did, as I’m sure it leached away in the deluges. I will have to repeat this as soon as possible and then will re-apply another two times another before the solstice, June 21st. Hopefully plants respond with large, wide leaves which translate into large rings within the bulb. After the solstice, all energy goes into bulb production, and I don’t fertilize again. Do, though, keep plants weed free and sufficiently moist (we will have dry spells, believe it or not!) until harvest approaches come August.
Minnow Daffodils after all the rain. A sweet, delicate bloom.
Daffodil season here on the knoll has pretty much gone by, but it was the best showing I’ve had in years. Some that hadn’t bloomed in several years came out in force. I have many varieties, so it was so very cheerful early in the season. Now I’m busy deadheading and will soon give them an application of Espoma Organic Flower-tone, along with other perennials.
It’s certainly been eye-opening, however, to witness how many deciduous shrubs have struggled. I virtually have no lilac bloom this year, the butterfly bush died back to ground level. Purple beauty berry shows a little life in a couple of twigs. Large-leafed rhododendron buds are not too firm and appear a bit brown. And remember the two rosemary plants I was comparing in an earlier blog? One I knew for sure at the time was already toast and the other was showing green low down? Well, that one, too, now deader than a doornail! So every year and season has its challenges.
Other than that, I’m sowing seeds inside for few more of my warm weather crops- summer and winter squash, cucumbers. My tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers look fine and are waiting for warmer days and warmer soil. They’ll go out late May. Peas had caught on well outside, but they’ve probably been bowled over in the wind and driving rain. I’ll prop them back up onto the trellis later. One row of potatoes (a risk) will be planted as soon as the sun reappears. Then up goes the fencing before the next critter invasion. Why is that thought now crossing my mind?
I had been feeling a false sense of reprieve, because the coyotes, fox, and owls had been keeping the rabbit and deer population at bay during late winter and early spring. But now things are achangin’…
I have been having quite the time with turkeys these days. They insist on setting up housekeeping and raising their young here on the knoll. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! My presence keeps them on the leery side, but only somewhat. Many toms have been parading the perimeters fanning their gear in valiant attempts to lure mates. Each time I yell “get outta here”, they immediately respond (in perfect cadence, I might add) with a unified chorus of gobbles. After the fifth or sixth repetition, I recognize they are mocking me! Taking their own sweet time, of course, they mosey on up the far knollside. Red-faced, and still yelling, I infuriatingly burst into laughter. As does Gene. Why do I think there are going to be a gazillion poults around here very soon? Ah, jeez…
Time to pop open a beer and chow down some chips and salsa. After all, Cinco de Mayo only comes once a year!
That’s it for now.
Judy