Without Even a Salad, the Spinach is Bolting, Oh My!

Variety: Tyee F1 Spinach (O)
Sown (Direct): 8 MAY 2013
Germinated 17 MAY 2013

This is mid-June in the Pacific Northwest.  No salad! No freezer stock.  Had I gotten this garden started just a bit earlier, this could have been avoided, no doubt. All but 2 plants have bolted and most literally overnight. The seedlings that were sown indoors a month prior never produced more than a single set of true leaves and bolted, as well. This is supposed to be a bolt-resistant variety and the temperatures have certainly not warranted this premature bolting, but I hear our long days can definitely contribute.  Since it obviously isn't the weather, I'm hard pressed to buy that it's anything other than the long days.

I'm in no hurry for fall, but can't wait to seed some more spinach for fall harvest.  Any recommendations?

Phaseolus coccineus (Scarlet Runner Pole Bean )

This beautiful edible and most ornamental pole bean is a sight to behold. My 3 pots worth have weathered several storms, been near frozen, windwhipped, and brutalized by mother nature. I had actually reseeded the pots assuming certain doom was upon them. While barren of leaves in a few spots, they are thriving despite their abusive welcome to the world as they emerged from the soil. It is my wish that the later planted seedlings beneath their beat up brethren will fill in the "holes" and give us a grand display of both colour and foliage.

I have to admit, gardening in a pot is not necessarily difficult, but terse in moments.

Out Came the Sun and Dried up all the Rain...

 

And the (not so) itsy bitsy slugs went up the water spout...

Our pots have been inundated with the rain for nearly a month. The first two weeks, there were at least several hours of dry time between the heavy showers and the plants were at least content with the refreshing drink during early growth.

The past couple of weeks those same plants have endured an almost constant barrage of rain.  Just this week, we saw leaves begin to yellow and the early signs of drowning ready to consume my hard won seedlings, which were becoming large enough to call plants.

A sad pot of snap peas that had endured not only the past month of rains, but two previous wind/rain storms will likely not make it.  I reseeded under the dying growth in the hopes they will spur to life before it gets really warm (we have partial sun/shade spots, so hoping they have a chance).

I did not fret too much as anything that may have drowned was reseeded, will be reseeded, or appeared to be just fine.  But when the yellow leaves began to show on everything, I worried--just a little.

With the rain, the pots are still staged on the patio.  We hope to finish weeding the side beds this weekend and get those pots where they belong (which, with another month of rain, has all kinds of great growth and new things to remove).  The Scarlet Runners shy of their tall teepee and clinging to one another on the overgrown temporaries that will have to be left in place under the large teepee.  They are quite happy, save for the couple of skinny feet at the top with nowhere to go.

 Black Turtle Beans

 Green Onions

 The patio pot staging zone (the DMZ). All set for sidebeds this weekend, hopefully! Good weather on the horizon!

Nasturtium (Empress of India)

 

  Nasturtium (Milkmaid and Alaska Mix (Variegated)

Connecticut Field Pumpkin

Dark Star Zucchini with slug hole.



Nasturtium (Milkmaid) under Scarlet Runners



Nasturtium (Milkmaid)

Black Turtle Beans



Green Onions



 Sugar Daddy Snap Peas



Sugar Daddy Snap Peas



Sequoia Strawberries

 

 

Jersey Blueberry 

 

 

 

The photos are from today as the sun unleashed itself through the dense cloud barrier that has been so dominant these past weeks.  A bit yellow, but looks like everything will survive (at least that how it appears right now). 

As We Make Our Way Out to the Sun

EWWW! Even the baby snails ran for high ground during all those weeks of rain. This is the top of the sliding glass door-disgusting.   I was really just fighting my way out of the door to clean all the glass.  It gets a little mottled after such a lengthy deluge of rain. 

They are smashed properly disposed of now. While the slugs were mowing the carrots, we wondered what tiny thing gnoshed tiny holes in the center of the nasturtiums.  Now we know!

These guys are not nearly as gross (or intriguing) as the giant African snails in Hawaii--just saying!

Break over--I just wanted to share the gross out of my current heebie jeebies! This is definitely not what one wants to find when cleaning all dirty rain spots off the glass!

Off to assess the rain damage to our little green friends. . .

Weather Woes

5/21/2013 19:30:00PM
The more days of rain, the more effects I see on my large, fledging pot garden.  The pots are still grouped on the patio for ease of care and monitoring.  I am starting to see yellow leaves.  There are far too many to bring in.  Hoping for longer dry periods to remove the excess moisture that was good in recent days, but beginning to show the potential toll on the seedlings, some of which are growing into full on plant phase.

The winds today changed direction over and over.  The paper birch tree was doing a hula swaying one way and then the other throughout the day.  What we thought was a fine pruning, the winds have totally shown us to be false. 

5/20/2013 10:52:00 AM
Gray, rainy, windy. Wash, rinse, repeat. For the past two weeks.

Really.

Little sun, but quite lovely when it pokes out between the fog and the long overcast mornings. Spotty at best and insufficient time out to keep the hardening process up outdoors.

They promised 70 degrees and sun this afternoon. Welcome to the PNW!

Tomorrow is a new day.  I shall continue working on the previous blog posts that have yet to be published.