I know high eighties and low nineties isn’t hot for some of you, but for us Northwoods folks, it’s plenty warm. Especially when we’re rushing to finish getting the gardens all in, cultivating what’s up, and mulching the whole works. Not much shade in those gardens, either! But, the good news is that today I finished planting the last of the beans, have all of our plants in the ground like tomatoes, melons, squash, and the cole crops and we might  get some much-needed rain this weekend. We’re praying like crazy that it really does happen as it’s so very dry right now. I got eight half-pints of honeyberry jam made on Monday and it’s so good!

Last night, a deer came into the front yard and ate up most of my hostas. Will saw her, standing right in front of the solar spotlight we use for the flag at night. I think she burped hosta breath before Hondo chased her out of the yard. I’d been planning on taking out the old pallet fence, which is kind of falling down, around the yard, replacing it with 6-foot-high 2×4 welded wire and picket fence panels. But, like everything, it took too long, and the deer discovered how bad the fence really is. I’m going to spray them with Liquid Fence, but not having much confidence in that; used it before and not much luck.

This morning, our friend, Heather, came over to help in the gardens. While I was planting those last beans, she and Will mulched the rest of the tomatoes and then hauled the tomato cages out to the tomatoes and started sliding them down over the steel T posts. We sure value such friends a whole lot. I sent her home early as it was so darned hot, along with a squash and two tomato plants she needed. (Well, maybe she needed…)

The tomatoes are all mulched and the cages are ready.
Our friend, Heather, helped Will put the cages on the tomatoes.

I’m still working on the container garden off the front of the house. David hauled a big tub off the back deck so I can plant a Sweet Aperitif red cherry tomato in it, along with a stake and cage. We want lots of handy tomatoes and other salad ingredients, right out the door. (Okay, I’m lazy!)

I’m having fun mixing old pots with new plants in my little container garden. (5 acres of garden is not enough!)

More iris are blooming. This morning, a beautiful blue one opened and it smells just like grape jelly. Wow, how sweet!

Here’s our latest-opening iris and it smells like grape jelly.

— Jackie

41 COMMENTS

  1. Woo hoo – 1.25 inches of rain overnight and a very light shower this afternoon (enough to keep things moist). Almost triple the amount that was forecast. Sticks to pick up and decks to be swept but we’ll take it

    • Wow, that’s cool. We were forecasted 1 1/2″ and got less than 1/2″. Hopefully more will come this week.

  2. We recently had a 3 week vacation across several states. I took pictures of so many wild flowers. They were gorgeous. Then in my garden I noticed how remarkable my carrot blossoms are (going to seed) and so sweet, then turned to my potato blossoms, and they are even better!!! I had no idea. I’m trying a new product to scare away deer for sure, and possibly squirrels and bears. It’s called Billy’s Bone Sauce, made out of cooked-down deer bones. It smells burned and smoked at the same time. I diluted mine making a double supply of bone sauce, using tallow. It is painted on your fruit tree trunks or on tall one inch wide sticks in the ground around your flowers, orchard, or garden. One stick per corner, maybe. Heard lots of good reports! From http://www.permapasturesfarm.com Be aware, the sauce is very expensive. Although recommended to be applied in dormant season, I had to do something now, because my fruit trees have fruit on. So I’ll give you a report, when I see something to report on, one way or the other!

  3. I use fishing line in 2 strands .one about 3ft and the other at 5′. just tied to sticks from the woods. The deer dont see it at night and freak when they touch it. No bigger than 15 lb test or they see it. does break easily but cheap!

    • Unfortunately, that won’t work for us. We have a big Mastiff that’s about as big as a deer who runs all over the yard and woods. That line would wrap Sarge up like a Christmas package! Sounds like a good idea, though.

  4. Iris and peonies that dont bloom may be planted too deep. For iris make a little mound of dirt and pat it down, put the iris rhizome on top of the mound with roots hanging down, pat roots down and water. Cover roots but not rhizome with enough dirt to hold the roots in place. If the dirt is very loose the rhizome may pull out, put it back, pat roots down again and put a rock on the rhizome to hold it in place until the roots are established but do not cover the rhizome with dirt. If your iris frost heave or you live with serious long term cold mulch to protect the rhizome. Peony roots need about a half inch of dirt on them plus mulch. How you plant both depends on your soil and your climate and the sun .Study all before you plant.

  5. Hi, sorry to hear about the heat and hostas. I like looking at deer, but not in my yard eating plants. We’ve had unusual weather so far here in SE Idaho. Last night it was 33! Still have snow on mountains in spots. Plus, we’ve had more rain then normal. Just crazy ?. I wasn’t going to start any plants this year but I need to because money is super tight after the move. I’m going to plant lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and few other things. I’ve got a roll of movers plastic wrap and will make a mini greenhouse for the plants. I plan on using this plastic on gardening mostly. I hate moving and everything is absolute chaos. I hope your son and his family are better settled now. Despite all the work, I take breaks outside and look at the mountains, watch the birds while listening to them sing and watch all the leaves on the trees flutter and rustle. Oh thank God for country life!

    • I saw it forecasted that for the northwest, our cool weather would last through June, and it sure has without a doubt, here in far north California. We’re normally in the nineties from May into summer. Here it is June and we’re having 70s and 80s!! We think about moving to Idaho/Montana, but as you’re saying about your vegetable garden planting so late; here we can plant between March or April, and by May things are growing 4 to5 inches a day!! I may not want to move to a place where it is so cool weathered. My garden grows into October.
      Also, it’s said that areas of 42 degrees latitude and north need to get used to growing in high tunnels with heat, only.

      • No, Elizabeth, we live way north of 42 degrees and grow most all our crops outside, without the benefit of high tunnels. Although we do have a shorter growing season, we kind of make up for it by having much longer days than do more southern gardeners.

    • Yep, moving sucks. Be glad it’s summer though. We moved here in February with 4′ of snow on the ground, -20 degrees F and no house or buildings of any sort. Survived, obviously. We enjoyed the challenge. At times! Yep, plastic tents do help some crops grow nicely, despite cold temps or high altitude.

  6. The other day we hit 101 on the mercury…… 113 with hit index! This coming weekend 105-106. With no A/C. And yes, we work outside in those temps (pass the water, please!).

    • Yep, when we lived in New Mexico, we saw temperatures like that and had no AC. We, also worked outside nearly all day, taking the heat of the afternoon off. You adapt to where you are.

  7. We have a big problem with deer in our garden. As long as my husband sprays liquid fence once a week, or after rain, they pretty much stay out if it. They can wipe out a small garden in one night.

    • Yep. Or hostas! I’ve invested in a bottle of Liquid Fence and the deer hasn’t been back that I know of.

  8. I live in a very rural area with about 200 plus acres of soybean, corn, & barley around us from a huge neighboring farm. You cannot see the ends of these fields. So, I don’t have any hostas for deer to eat, but for some strange reason the Canadian geese come from the nearby small lake and use our concrete driveway as their personal bathroom? Why, when they have endless fields to poop in??!! They come every evening. Anybody got an answer or a fix? LOL

    • A dog will do it. Our dog, Hondo, won’t let a big bird even fly over our yard and the surrounding area. He doesn’t chase our birds; ducks and chickens. But, he knows raptors can cause harm and isn’t taking a chance.

  9. I am amazed at your iris. Beautiful. Ours bloom here in Missouri much earlier, although it is often warm, too. Deer were nibbling on the sweet potatoes, but we put up a barrier. They don’t seem to care for much else. We are so tired of watering!!!! Like most of the others, praying for rain.

  10. I went out to water this morning and three of my Hopi squash got frost damage. It was really cold here the last few days. There wasn’t any pattern to it either. Weird but disappointing nonetheless.

    • Hopefully, they’ll recover. They are pretty resilient. The first year we were here, my tomatoes (all five) were killed dead by a frost on June 27th!!

  11. I don’t have deer eating my hostas, my Embden geese take care of that, eat them right to the ground. I was never overly fond of hostas so I guess it’s all OK.

    The local bear has been wandering around awfully close to the house and the barn this week. Looks like a yearling and is fortunately easy to scare off with banging pots and a lot of yelling. Neighbors up the hill have seen a momma and two cubs this spring so no doubt they’ll be eating our apples this fall too. The bears, not the neighbors. ;)

    According to Weather Underground our area is looking at a week of rain starting tomorrow. I have nearly everything planted so we’ll be fine, I’m just hoping we don’t have fungus issues after all that, and the wet is an invitation to slugs too. It still hasn’t gotten really hot yet, a day or two in early June, but since then it’s been all upper 60’s and 70’s – not that I’m complaining. We don’t love the well-below-zero temperatures in winter, but we can function; heat (anything over 80º) is just exhausting.

    • Boy, I’m right with you. You can always put on more clothes, but they arrest you when you take off everything!! Those yearling bears have it tough. They haven’t quite figured out the foraging thing so are hungry much of the time and get into trouble getting into dog food, garbage and folks’ garages. We’re lucky; with our big dogs around, we haven’t had a bear anywhere near the buildings for over 15 years that we know of.

  12. OH my gosh, you lazy…no way. Ya’ll are some of the hardest working people I know. Having a small area near the house is NOT lazy…just convenient :)) . Glad everything is moving along and you are slowly feeling better and praying for a little rain for ya’ll.

    • I am constantly surprised at the various colors when they open. No, I didn’t label them when I planted them, so I don’t have a clue as to what’s going to open.

  15. Neighbor can hardly keep hostas for the deer that like to come into her yard (backs up to forest).
    The deer were having trouble with finding what they needed last year and she was lucky to keep her grass. They almost wiped out her strawberries (raised bed with arched fencing over the top) when she left the fencing off one night.
    Jackie, I love the blue iris. I only had two plants bloom this year. One a large iris purple with yellow and white centers. One I have been told is Japanese iris (small) that is purple.
    Won’t mention how many irises in the same bed didn’t bloom. Don’t know why.
    kathy in MS

    • Yep, that’s why we have fenced everything with 6′ fence. We do live in the middle of the big woods! I’m going to try to patch that worst section of the yucky fence this afternoon and hope that keeps them out.
      I’m betting your small iris is a Siberian Iris as Japanese iris are very large flowering. Does your bed have full sun? They often don’t bloom in shade or even part-shade.

      • These are in full sun after about 11 am. Too many trees on the east side of the yard. If they can’t handle part shade, I have a problem. They are in one place that gets more sun that most of the yard..
        My neighbor took some of my regular iris bulbs and planted them where they get full sun all day. None of them have bloomed since she planted them 3 years ago.
        kathy in MS

  16. Though I haven’t had the deer eat my hostas, they chomped my asparagus and thornless blackberries this year. I tried spraying I Must Garden on them, and it’s worked for several weeks now.

    • Wow, that’s good news; not them eating your crops but the I Must Garden keeping them off.

  17. Have you tried pieces of Irish Spring bar soap around your hostas? Neighbor says she thinks it is working.

  18. I’ve never had deer eat my hostas (spell check hostas is spelled properly lower case or upper case H)- even during the drought of 2012.
    Turkeys found a bare spot large enough to dust (a few garlic bulbs did not return) so the two they’ve “smashed” will be dug this weekend. And I’ll put down straw which mostly deters them.
    There might be a few, as in less than a dozen, strawberries I see. Plenty of runners however so we’ll keep watering. I’ll have to remove a few ever-bearing plants. Note ALWAYS check every pot in a flat to ensure you are getting what you want. Some folks have no qualms about re-shelving in the wrong flat. And I’ll need to thin out some plants but will give them to my neighbor. She’s building her patch and a couple of years ago she cut and planted all the plants that had “escaped” their designated area. But will be a couple of months before I thin out/transplant/re-home.
    We are due for heat too- 87/89/92/87 then down to 78. There *was* rain predicted on Sunday but no longer see it on the forecast – drat. At least we can easily water.
    Still no scapes – next year I’ll fertilize in the spring which may or may not affect scapes.

    • Wow, hostas are usually prime deer gourmet food! You’re so lucky. We’re forecast a good rain this weekend, so we’re frantically finishing up in the gardens to get ready for it. Please God, let it really rain!!!

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