Honey Plants of the Triangle Checklist

Trees:
Red Maple
Prunus family ( apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherry, etc.)
Crabapple
Redbud
Holly
Tulip poplar
Locust
Sourwood
Chaste tree

Shrubs:
Oregon grape
Flowering Quince
Trifoliate orange
Blueberry
Winter Honeysuckle
Abelia
Hydrangea
Butterfly bush
Caryopteris
Sumac

Perenniels:
Winter aconite
:amium family (henbit, red)
Dead nettle
Blackberry 
Raspberry
Joe Pye weed
Echinacea
Salvias
Asters
Goldenrod

Herbs:
Lavender
Rosemary
Chives, allium
Borage
Horehound
Oregano
Mints
Heal-All

Annuals:
Soybean
Cotton
Smartweed
Poppies
Cosmos
Cleome
Clovers
Buckwheat
Sunflowers

We have the purple ones.

Extended Season

The grand experiment with raised bed gardening continues. It's been a while since I posted. The summer veggies were a mixed bag. We had plentiful tomatoes, okra and cantaloupe, but the rest was slim. Put in Fall crop, arugula, three kinds of kale, spinach, red romaine, broccoli, cabbage and others. As usual for us they have been slow to mature, so I built cold frames for all the beds to see how long we can grow over the winter.

This is the lettuce and kale bed and it is doing well.

This is the broccoli bed and shows what it looks like when covered. It's hinged in the middle, which makes it easier to open and water and harvest. I had to brace the corners of the frames today. We had a bad windstorm Wednesday of last week and they had some damage. Still working on a system to anchor them better in higher winds.

Romaine and arugula in the salad tonight!

Also, we have an orchard.

In addition to the four raised beds and one in-the-ground bed that we have for vegetables, we have an orchard. Of course, ours isn't a collection of trees in straight rows, but it is an orchard nonetheless. All it takes to be an orchard is 5 fruit trees.

A couple of years ago, I was driving past Southern States and their sign said "Fruit trees in stock now.". It seemed like my car turned in of its own volition. Everything I got said it was self pollinating, but when I got home the plum had an additional tag that indicated that it needed a coconspirator. I was going to take it back to exchange it, but my son asked how 2 plum trees was a bad thing and since he was right, I just got another variety.

So, we have a Keiffer pear, A White Princess peach, a Santa Rosa plum, an Elephant Heart plum, an apricot, a sour cherry, a pomegranate bush and a Honeycrisp apple tree.

I got a crabapple to cross-pollinate the Honeycrisp, which I ordered in line, but they don't bloom at the same time, so I'm rethinking that. I'm going to give the bees a year or 2 before putting in another apple. Honeycrisp may not like our weather, but it's the only one we really care to eat. If I do add another apple, it'll be a pie apple tree.

We were given a money gift for a wedding present and we used it to buy a little pecan tree. I have no clue how long it will take before that produces.

We have tried planting a fig bush 3 times. The first 2 died. We have planted the most recent iteration in the flower bed by the house hoping that it will have adequate protection from the winter weather there to finally thrive.

This past weekend, I went to Southern States to get some hyacinth and daffodil bulbs and wandered past the fruit trees. Which were marked down 25%. And there was a damson plum, which happens to be Chuck's favorite jam.

If you were in the area and saw a red New Beetle going down the road with a tree sticking out of the sunroof, that was me.

Affectionate carrots

production is happening

We will have tomatoes if we have nothing else. The plant to the left, and yes it is a single plant, is the volunteer sweet 100 from last summer. It is one of our favorites. It has needed a cage and two stakes to hold it up. We have more of that variety in the bed below along with romas, which have been abundant, and some slicers that have been slow to mature, but are starting to produce in decent numbers now.

Thinking about starting a second crop. I have two different varieties of seeds that came in form the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange , along with some fall seeds for other crops. We discovered this seed source last summer at a festival in Charlottesville, Va.

We also have cantaloupe maturing, three melons so far.

Of all the lettuce and greens we planted, the red russian kale has been the best producer. It took it some time, but it is thriving even in this heat.

The purple okra has been spotty. This one has produced it's first pod which we picked last evening.

This is the bed where I planted cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts. They did nothing all spring so about three weeks ago I cut them all off. Some of them are coming back. Perhaps a late crop for early fall?

And finally some basil. The plants we put out in spring got caught in a late freeze and didn't make it. We planted seeds and now it is in it's full glory.

Strawberries

It's curious to me that strawberries are no longer "in season" in NC, but they are still going gangbusters in our beds.  There are buds, blossoms and ripening fruits all over the place.

rare sighting

I can't remember the last time I saw a praying mantis. This dude just showed up on my office window screen the other morning. Great natural pest control. Go forth and multiply!

Beeeeeeeeeeees!

We are planning to start a bee hive next year.

Tonight, we go to our first meeting of the Orange County Beekeepers at 306 Revere Road in Hillsborough.

They meet the second Thursday of each month.  Except next month. They are skipping July because they/we will all be at the state beekeepers meeting which, very conveniently, will be in Elon this year.

I'm pretty stoked.

When I was a kid, my grandmother had bees.  She just took the comb out of the hive and stuck it in jars, no centrifuge or other processing.  So, we always had honey.  I was shocked when I went to the store for the first time as an adult and found out how expensive it is to buy.

I'm really looking forward to having honey.  I'm also looking forward to helping the little pollinators into my garden.

June 1st status

I said this was going to be a learning season, but there is still a slight twinge of disappointment with some of the plants so far. The lettuce & greens never did much and the Spring veggies, broc, cabbage & brussel sprouts, the same. I think a couple of things were involved with that. Don't think we got the early stuff in the ground as soon as we should have and I think that more watering was needed than I anticipated with the raised beds. We got a 3-4 day stretch of rain a couple of weeks ago and the plants started making more progress.

Now I am watering every other evening unless we get rain.


The good news is the tomato bed is doing quite well, as there is fruit on almost all the plants so far.


Peas and okra are coming up nicely as well.


This little guy was helping me water last evening.


Kitty nursed a curry plant inside through the winter that she found at the Indian market in Cary. She finally moved it's pot outside when it was looking sort of yellow, but it didn't make it. Fortunately it came back as volunteer purslane.

More fruit!

Thursday night, we went out to admire the beds and move the sprinkler and realized that the cherries were ripe enough to pick and that the net bag had kept the birds off the fruit so there were actually fruit available to pick.

I got the tree two years ago in my fruit tree planting frenzy and this is the first time we've really gotten to taste the produce.  They are sour cherries, which means better (in my opinion) in something rather than just good to snack on.

So, will it be cobbler or a very small batch of jam?  Decisions; decisions.

Thy-y-y-yme is on your side. Yes, it is!

 The Women's Resource Center in Burlington, NC has a fundraising Herb Festival every Spring.

I've been looking forward to the absurd abundance they provide to put a variety of thyme in the front of one of the vegetable beds.  I passed up 3 that didn't have enough scent to convince me they'd be any good for cooking.

Left to right, they are Creeping Lemon, English, Foxley (which I"d gotten at the Carrboro Farmers' Market a month ago.), Red Mother of and Transparent Yellow.

It cracks me up that the tall one is Creeping Thyme and that one is really, truly named Red Mother of (thyme).  It doesn't look particularly red right now.  I'm hoping the sun will inspire it.  I had English thyme in the kitchen garden by the house until the lavender overwhelmed it, so it it the one I'm most familiar with.  I'm looking forward to using these because I really do love the flavor.

Critter Netting

Installed critter netting today using standard 1" PVC pipe and netting found online specifically designed for farming purposes. The pipe will allow us to use clear plastic in the winter for greenhouse/cold frame growing. I need to get some tent stakes to help anchor it. The wind today is blowing it around a bit.

Beds are full

From the house this is the back left bed.  Full of tomatoes.  Romas, Sweet 100s and some "heirloom slicing tomatoes" that Liane gave us when they had as many as they could use for Vimala's Curryblossom Café.  I planted "French Double Dwarf Mixed Colors" marigold seeds in the holes on the outside edge.

This is the back right bed.  Chuck started "Little Marvel" peas, "Red Burgundy" okra and eggplants in the bed from seeds.  He also started "Ruby Red" Swiss chard and (mixed, orange yellow and white) carrots in pots and they have been transplanted, today.   Carrots in the left side holes (from this angle) and chard in the bed and in most of the other holes.

I, also, put marigold seeds in between the strawberries in the bed in front of this one.

Also, please note the outside of the blocks have been stained "Tuscan Sunset."

Sprouting

Peas sprouted yesterday, okra today.

We will NOT be mowing between the beds.

Also, rabbits found the strawberries Saturday night.  Chuck is working on netting to keep the rabbits out and still let sun and rain in.  They haven't gotten to the other stuff, yet.

We intend to stain the blocks to make them a little more attractive, too, if it will stop raining for a few days so they can get dry enough to to that little chore. It's hard to let myself wish for a little dry spell, though.  I have a fear that it will become another drought.  The stain can wait if it suits the weather.

Chuck added seeds to the back right bed.  Peas are starting to appear.  Nothing from the okra or eggplants yet.

Three nasturtiums have shown up in the holes on the outside edge of the left front bed.  Cilantro seeds in the back holes of the front right bed and basil seeds in the back holes of the front left bed.  Still waiting for sprouts.

We found more volunteer leaf lettuce in the old salad bed that is incubating cantaloupe seeds.  They have been moved to the holes in the front of the left front bed, where the other salad stuff is growing.  The arugula/rocket seeds are sprouting in between the other lettuces, too.

First fruit

Planting seeds

Today I planted peas, okra, eggplant, basil and cilantro in the raised beds. I also planted cantaloupe seeds in a separate spot for my sweetie who loves the lope.

Older adult gardeners report enhanced optimism, more physical activity, higher energy levels than nongardeners

Want more zest for life? Consider gardening!

COLLEGE STATION, TX—Does gardening contribute to quality of life and increased wellness for older adults? Researchers from the Texas A&M and Texas State Universities asked these questions in a survey of people aged 50 and older. The survey revealed some compelling reasons for older adults to get themselves out in the garden.

Aime Sommerfeld, Jayne Zajicek, and Tina Waliczek designed a questionnaire to investigate older adult gardeners' and nongardeners' perceptions of personal life satisfaction and levels of physical activity. According to Sommerfeld, lead author of the study published in HortTechnology: "The primary focus of the study was to determine if gardening had a positive impact on perceptions of quality of life and levels of physical activity of older adults when compared with nongardeners".

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/asfh-wmz031711.php

The first 2 beds, planted with farmers' market starts

Leaf lettuce and one lonely romaine transplanted from last year's salad garden, Mottistone (red-and-green mottled) lettuce, Panisse (Boston-ish) lettuce, Akarenso spinach, Italian spinach, Winterbore (green) kale, Red Russian  kale, Savoyed Leaf "Tyee F1" spinach, sweet basil in the back edge, chives in the corners, parsley in the middle on each side

Early Jersey Wakefield (green) cabbage, Ruby Perfection (red) cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts,
Foxley (varigated) thyme, cilantro in the corners, Tristan strawberries in the outside edge, Loran strawberries in the inside edge. 

Next step

Easy newspaper seedling pots

compost pile

...now mostly in the beds

Next step

Blocks all stacked, cardboard layer on the bottom, home grown compost scattered around, pine mulch layer spread and watered.

Let the Wild Rumpus begin!!