Fenton Friday: Summer Begins

This week we managed to plant eight tomatoes ('Firefly', 'Torch', "White', 'Celebrity', 'White Currant', 'Rutgers', 'Sungold', and 'SunSugar.') and five kinds of Basil, including Holy Basil (forgot to jot down the rest of their names). We also planted three Calendulas and a few trial Marigolds.

I soaked some 'Red Burgundy' Okra seeds and planted three seeds in each of three different holes. We'll see if they all come up.

I still have a cover cloth over the lettuces, though most have bolted by names, and the brassicas. Shockingly, I can see a cauliflower head forming - I might have something decent from those yet.

The peas are done and just a few strawberries are left. I let the asparagus go a few weeks back and it is already several feet tall.

I want to get some beans and melons in next week. We'll see if that happens.

What is growing in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the FentonStreet Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Intern Intro: Meet Sasha

This summer, we have just one editorial intern. As a first assignment, I asked her to write a short introduction to our readers...

Hello, everyone! My name is Alexandra Marquez, although most people call me Sasha. I am a rising junior journalism and anthropology major at the University of Maryland and I’ll be working as an intern for Washington Gardener Magazine through August. I am a Silver Spring, MD, local and my mother is a gardening enthusiast, so I grew up with a beautiful backyard filled with colorful flowers and delicious fresh herbs and vegetables. I already have an appreciation for local gardening, but I’m excited to learn even more! I previously covered science and technology for The Diamondback at the University of Maryland, so I’m incredibly excited to expand my writing skills by covering all things gardening! My high school newspaper, Silver Chips, also served the local Silver Spring and Takoma Park communities, so I’m excited to connect with people from my hometown again as well. All in all, I’m hoping to have a great summer growing tomatoes, learning about gardening and writing to serve the great Washington Gardener community. I’m looking forward to meeting you all at different events and gatherings throughout the summer and I hope you’ll come introduce yourself if you happen to see me!

DIY: Painted Garden Gloves

I go through garden gloves like toilet tissue. I have tried every kind of glove, from dollar-store cheap to ridiculously expensive. Some last longer than others, but I have learned that I bust through the right-hand thumb and index finger first and the rest of the glove starts to go soon after. So, I buy several pairs of cheaper ones to have in rotation depending on the gardening task of the day.  

For fun, I get out my box of fabric paints and decorate them. This can be as simple as painting on your initials to as complex as a watercolor landscape. 

This is a suitable project for doing with children or with your garden club. 

Materials:

-

- Plain Cotton Canvas Garden Gloves

- Acrylic Paints or Fabric Paints

- Brushes (optional)

- Glitter and Other Accessories, as desired

Instructions:

Step 1-  Wash the gloves and thoroughly dry them. Lay out newspapers on your work surface. Get out your paints and supplies and decide on a design.

Step 2 - Start painting. You can use either fabric paint or craft acrylics. Use a foam brush for base coats, then moving to finer brushes for painting finer details. (Note that with fabric paint, you will not be able to clean and re-use the brushes.) One trick I learned is to draw your design with a pencil then outline it in black, then fill in.

Step 3 - Add glitter, buttons, sequins, scrap fabrics--whatever you like!

Step 4 - Hang them to dry for 24 hours to make sure the paint cures completely. 

Step 5 - Wear them!

TIPS:

• You can use stencils to decorate them, if free-hand painting is not your strong suit.
• This craft can be as complex or simple as you desire. Stop when you are happy with it or keep going and adding to it as you like.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a few pennies from Amazon.

This is a monthly blog series on DIY projects for the beginning home gardener. Look for the other installments in this DIY blog series by putting "DIY" in the search box here at washingtongardener.blogspot.com. 

Fenton Friday: Almost Planted

We ALMOST got the tomato plants in this week. Sasha, the new summer intern*, and I had just selected the plants we wanted to trial, cleared the area of weeds, and collected the support stakes for them, when another big storm rolled in and we made it inside before getting soaked.

We will go back and actually plant them early next week. I also have several herbs to put in the ground, along with some peppers and squash seedlings--then a few things I want to start from seed (okra, cotton, zinnias).

It is a late start this year for the summer growing season because of the rainstorms. I love the rain! However, these recent storms are gully-washers and we are getting them pretty much every other day. The ground is soaking and it is really not good to be digging and working in it, though I think we'll go ahead and take our chances and work in the wet soils as we really don't have much time left. Seasons like these are what make me really feel for professional farmers and plant nurseries.

*She will introduce herself in a few days on this blog.

What is growing in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the FentonStreet Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 7th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: Strawberry Season

The strawberry season has arrived. I have far fewer plants than in previous years, so my harvest is vastly smaller, but still those berries eaten right in the garden plot are a billion times more flavorful than any others I've had.

Also in the plot, the hardneck garlic has formed scapes and I am cutting them now to send energy to form a bigger bulb, rather than flowering and setting seed. I will share the scapes with others and use them in a green garlic pesto.

Elsewhere in the plot the peas and lettuce are still going. The summer-like weather has come in though, so I think this week or next will be the last of them.

Next week I am aiming to get all my summer edibles in - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, okra, etc, It will be a busy week in the garden plot!

What is growing in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the FentonStreet Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 7th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Win a New Abelia from the Gardener’s Confidence® Collection in our May 2019 Washington Gardener Reader Contest

For our May 2019 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away two new abelias coming out this year—'Vintage Charm™' and 'Rosy Charm™' from the Gardener’s Confidence® Collection.
   Abelia x ‘Cloud 99-6-7,’ PPAF Rosy Charm isn’t bashful when it comes to blooming—this abelia is covered in red-purple blooms starting in May and lasting until frost. With all the reliable performance qualities that make abelias a popular landscape plant—drought-tolerance, deer-resistance, and the ability to handle heat (plus, one of the more cold-tolerant abelias on the market)—you’ll soon succumb to this one’s charms as well!
   Fill the summer garden with clouds of highly scented white flowers. 'Vintage Charm™' Abelia x ‘Cloud 99’ PPAF reinvents a classic favorite into a more compact form with an unbelievable flowering display. With more flowers clusters per branch, this fragrant abelia turns into a billowing mass of white blooms in early summer. They last and last, aging to pink, and finally a light parchment-tan. This plant holds its leaves well in late summer heat, is mostly deciduous in winter and has all the hardiness and low-maintenance qualities you’d expect from abelia. Its medium-sized growth habit, approximately 4 ft tall by 6 ft wide, eliminates pruning chores, too.
    To enter to win one of the two abelias, send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5:00pm on May 31 with “New Abelias” in the subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us what your favorite article was in the May 2019 issue and why. Include your full name and mailing address. Winners will be announced by June 1.

UPDATE:

Congratulations to our two contest winners - John Rebstock of Cheverly, MD and Madeline Caliendo of Washington, DC!

Mixed-Border Designs, Zinnias, Native Plant Containers, and more in the May 2019 issue of Washington Gardener Magazine

The May 2019 issue of Washington Gardener Magazine is now out.

Inside this issue:

• Practical Tips for Mixed-Border Design with English Roses
• Zinnia-Growing Secrets
• Insects that Suck! Japanese Maple Scale
• Pointers for Potting Up Pretty Native Plant Containers
• Renovating a Monastery Greenhouse
• Minimizing Soil Contaminants
• DC-MD-VA Gardening Events Calendar

and much more…

Note that any submissions, event listings, and advertisements for the June 2019 issue are due by June 5.

PS  Subscribe to Washington Gardener Magazine today to have the monthly publication sent to your inbox as a PDF several days before it is available online. You can use the PayPal (credit card) online order form here: http://www.washingtongardener.com/index_files/subscribe.htm

Fenton Friday: Peas Lessons Learned

by Johnny Moseman

During my time as an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine this spring, one of the things I was tasked with was growing various types of peas to compare how they would grow. After planting the peas in the third week of March, we would check on the progress of my peas each week to see how they were doing.

The three types of peas I chose to plant were ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’, ‘Little Marvel’, and ‘Progress #9’ peas. Coming into my semester at Washington Gardener, I had no gardening experience or any experience growing crops, so this was a first for me. With the guidance of our editor, Kathy Jentz, we planted the seeds about an inch deep and three inches apart from each other. Before planting the seeds in the ground I soaked all of them for about 24 hours before to let them germinate a bit so they would be a little ahead of schedule when we actually planted them. We also put wiring around the plots where the peas were to prevent animals from getting in and eating the plant while the peas were growing.

It took a little more than two weeks for us to finally see something sprout, but once we did, the emergence was quick and the first shoots were visible above the soil and straw we put on top to control weed growth.

Since it did not start to get warm up until the end of April, it took until then for me to see actual growth of the vines when they started to go vertical and starting growing up the supports I put them in front of. My first peas did not start to flower until the second week of May and soon after that the first edible pea pods formed by May 16.

The ‘Progress #9’ and ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ were the peas that grew the larger vines, while the ‘Little Marvel’ barely grew above ground and it was definitely noticeable that this type of pea did not grow huge vines like the other two. ‘Progress #9’ was the first vine to flower in early May while ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ was looking like it would flower any day after that.

About the author:

Johnny Moseman is a senior multi-platform journalism major at the University of Maryland from Columbia, MD. He is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener this spring.

Bloom Day Fleur de Lys

It is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day again! On the 15th of each month, we gardeners with blogs share a few bloom photos from our gardens. 

Here in the Mid-Atlantic USA (USDA zone 7) on the DC-MD border, we had a soggy and cool spring, so my garden is happy--though I've had little chance to get out there and maintain or enjoy it!

In my garden, I have a multitude of blooms, but I thought I'd focus on just the Irises this time. Most are bearded types. None have names as they were all pass-along plants that I got from other gardeners -- either at plant swaps or in direct trades. Likewise, the one patch of Siberian Iris I have is from a garden club friend.

One Iris that I forgot to take a photo of was the Yellow Flag Iris in my pond, also a pass-along plant. It is considered invasive, but on my urban corner location it isn't going anywhere (plus I snip the seedheads off before they can ripen).

So what is blooming today in YOUR garden?

Fenton Friday: Girl Scouts Visit

This week a local Girl Scout troop came to visit our community garden. I took them around to all the highlights: the wood chip pile, the shared tool bin, the compost pile, and the cistern. They had a great time filling up watering cans and were very knowledgeable already about how composting works.

We visited various plots and interviewed the gardeners who were present about what they like to grow. We then sampled some stuff from my plot including asparagus and lettuce, both of which were eaten quickly with requests for seconds and thirds. We smelled and examined herbs, of which chamomile was a particular favorite. Several went home with stems to dry and make their own herbal teas.

Finally, we potted up seeds for pollinator-friendly plants like Zinnias and Dill. All-in-all, it was a very productive hour with a great group of intelligent scouts.

After they left, I planted my new strawberry plants and the cauliflower and broccoli seedlings.

What is growing in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the FentonStreet Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 7th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Discuss "Onward and Upward in the Garden" with the Washington Gardener Magazine Garden Book Club

For our next Garden Book Club selection, we will be reading: Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katherine S. White.

Our Summer 2019 club meeting will be on Wednesday, July 24 from 6:30-8pm at Soupergirl, located right next to the Takoma metro stop. Soupergirl offers soups for sale that are incredibly healthy. They are 100% plant-based, low salt, low fat, and most importantly, absolutely delicious, so plan to come a bit early to purchase and eat your dinner with the garden book club.

You can order it at https://amzn.to/2Wr7D4x and we earn a few pennies if you do so via that link. The book is described as a "sharp-eyed appreciation of the green world of growing things, of the aesthetic pleasures of gardens and garden writing, and of the dreams that gardens inspire."

Please RSVP to washingtongardener@rcn.com or on the Facebook event page, so we know how many chairs to reserve for our group.

The Washington Gardener Magazine's Garden Book Club is free and open to all. We meet quarterly on a weekday evening near a metro-accessible location in the DC-area. We will announce the details of each upcoming meeting about two months in advance. Please check back on this blog for schedule updates and announcements.

Want to read ahead? The next book club selections are:

Fall 2019 - The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food by Janisse Ray

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