In The Garden: July 29, 2014

 Asparagus Bed

The garden bed I'm currently re-mulching.  We should keep a layer of mulch on the bed year round, but it's getting very thin and the red sorrel is invading the bed.

Tomatoes

Our tomato plants were looking really good earlier in the season.  Now, the leaves toward the bottoms of the plants are dying.  Also, some critter(s) is eating more than it's share of tomatoes before they ripen.  Most of that damage occurs relatively low on the plant, so we assume it's rabbits.

Surprise Lilies

Blooming for a week or so at various places in our yard.  Planted by previous owners, but now some clusters expanded and relocated by Jo

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In The Garden: July 29, 2014

Random Locations

Surprise Lilies photo taken on 2/29/08.

Bits of broken glass and pottery shards.
Multitudes of nails, a few horseshoes and numerous other rusty metal fragments.
Bulbs planted in random locations around the yard.

People have lived on our little plot of land for a long time.

We find tiny traces of their lives almost every time we dig
-- and, sometimes, after a hard rain.

It's impossible to know very much about the folks who lived here before us from the rusted and broken bits they left behind,
except we know that someone among the previous inhabitants liked flowers
and planted bulbs.

The location of the plants probably once fit into the overall layout of cabin, fences and outbuildings, but all those structures are long gone.

We still enjoy the flowers, though.

Random Locations

Surprise Lily Bulbs Planted

Tuesday Jo planted surprise lilies out by the fire hydrant. We had two containers of surprise lily bulbs that Jo dug up when our water line was dug. Some were in a large terra cotta pot. Others were in a short plastic tote. Both groups were beginning to grow despite their ill treatment since being dug up. Neither have received any water since – when was it that our water line was laid – last August?

The group in the plastic tote have been stuck in the unfinished side of the basement where they were protected from freezing, but received absolutely no sunlight. Those in the terra cotta pot sat outside for several months and then were brought inside the studio during the worst of the winter. However, the studio is only heated when Jo is working over there, and she doesn't work during periods of extreme cold, which means they were exposed to several days of sub-freezing temperatures. (I know the bulbs are exposed to sub-freezing temperatures outside, but they receive a lot of warmth and protection from being buried in the ground.)

I also wonder what mechanism the bulbs use to know when to start growing? It cannot be day length because the group in the root cellar weren't exposed to sunlight. I reckon temperature can play a role, but the two groups experienced some considerably different temperatures. Yet, both groups began sending up shoots about the same time as those that have been outside in the ground all winter. Amazing!

Anyway...... Jo got the surprise lilies planted outside where they can continue growing, die back completely, then bloom in late July.

My previous comments on surprise lilies.

Surprise Lily Bulbs Planted