April negligence brings...

My apologies to WeMoon Spirit gardening women who have been put off by this month’s squirrely open-gardening schedule. April is a busy month for me with the end of the semester and Burning Bush, and I’m afraid I have not been as present in the Spirit Gardens as I would like, Saturday mornings being particularly tough. May promises to be more stable, and I am quite sure that the beds will have plenty to complain about then and will need us to listen and respond kindly.

That being said, I did stop by late this afternoon to water and check on things. Thanks to whomever planted the mints and parslies in the spiral! What perfect plants to help fill in that lonely looking bed! I haven’t had the heart to pull up the collards or chard. They are becoming tough and increasingly inedible, but they are proving to be such under-rated ornamentals. If they can stand the late-spring heat, we may leave them a while longer. The peas have developed a strange affliction which I have yet to diagnose: they are yellowing and paling, their pods are swelling, and have brown spots around them. They may have to come up here pretty soon as they are right next to our Hillbilly Potato Leaf tomatoes.

The tomatoes are just beautiful. Many are developing their ‘Y’ shape, which means trellising will have to come shortly. We’re planning on using the “Florida weave,” and if that intrigues you, good! Stay posted and come by to take a look when it’s all done.

Dark purple irises are gorgeous and 4 feet tall in the full moon bed. Calendulas are blooming like crazy in a palette of yellows, oranges, and creams with bright to brown centers. Butterflies and bees are becoming more frequent visitors, as are women! So glad you are stopping by, and hope you’ll be enticed to spend a few hours in the dirt in the coming weeks!

A Hard Rain Fell

Well all that glorious rain did fairly little damage to the gardens. We have lost all the lettuce tops, though. They toppled over onto the tomato plants, so we had to cut them way down. A few calendula plants tipped over, too, but since they aren’t really bothering anyone, we’ll just see if they can keep blooming anyway. And it looks like a few marigold sprouts got beat back into the ground. But there are plenty more to take their places.

Today we top-dressed the tomatoes -- a big heap of compost to fill the little saucers they had been planted in. Last week’s potted up Silvery Fur Tree tomatoes looked especially good. I’m worried that one of the Brown Berries and one of the German Striped are not getting enough sun; it was about noon before they really saw any, and the trees are only going to get fuller and more shading. But maybe that will be a good variable to keep an eye on during the trials.

One of the pea vines had grown quite yellow, and the pods were swollen with brown spots on them. I don’t know what got at him, but I pulled him up. He was our first casualty to disease.

Thanks to Lori, who came by and weeded, planted a bunch of Tahiti Hot Pepper seeds and 12 plugs of mixed basil seeds. She knows a friend of a friend who is giving away acclimated Tallahassee roses (apparently this guy just has more than he can find room for), so drop me an email if you’d be interested. We’re thinking of taking as many as he’ll give and putting them up at WeMoon for anyone who wants.