Dear determined gardening friends, Indy and Dee in particular,

If anyone saw my garden this very minute they would be shocked and dismayed. SHOCKED! I tell you.

The new sandstone retaining wall is about half finished. Some of the rudbeckia have escaped the perennial borders and are growing in the middle of the lawn. Yet, in those same perennial borders, you can find big gaping empty places where I finally got fed up with poor performers and ripped them out by their heads. Fair warning to the tomatoes: if they don’t get their act together and start producing, they, too, will meet an untimely death at the hands of the head gardener.

What really got my knickers in a twist today was the chomp, chomp, chomp and clickety click of the G.D. grasshoppers. Some of these nasties are 2 and a half inches long. They are eating huge holes in my plants and shredding the garden. There are over 1000 varieties of grasshoppers in North America. Oh joy. Plus,the voracious black vine weevils have stripped my Otto laurels and left nothing but the midribs of some leaves…and their telltale pinking-shear bite marks around the edge of the other leaves. Seems to be an especially bad year for these bugs. I checked with my other gardening pros, and they are all fighting the fight against these two evil doers.

I live 30 feet from the Boise National Forest and the Foothills with a capital F. Eradicating the pests is akin to putting out a fire with a teaspoon of water. The hoppers are sitting across the street, thinking, whoaaaaaa, look at that oasis of tastiness a few hops away! And the hordes descend. Part of this is my fault and I know it. I have a good layer of mulch on all my perennial beds in an effort to retain moisture and this in turn, makes a perfect hiding/breeding place for the weevils and nice green plants (even though they are quite drought tolerant) look like a smorgasboard to the hoppers.

I have a couple of plans in place: the first one includes a serious dusting of the patio containers with diatomaceous earth. I will follow that application with a spray of Safer brand Insect Soap & Pyrethrin. Both of these controls are considered organic. If these tricks fail, I’ll know in a day or two and will pull out the big guns. Next up, Neem oil w/the insecticidal soap. My only other options are unacceptable: remove the mulch (not gonna do it, mulch is there to aid in moisture retention and I spent hours and $$ putting down the mulch); and/or soil drench with stuff that is so dang toxic, well, even I won’t use it.

Even the dog has done his part to help with the plague of hoppers. He stalks them for hours, catches them in his mouth, carries them over to the lawn where he spits them out (Good Boy!) and rolls on them. Slow but charming.

Not much else is going on this week in my garden. The Sun Gold cherry tomatoes are prolific. I picked an BIG tomato yesterday, I think it was Black Brandywine (tag is lost, of course). It made a fine contribution to a delicious BLT. So much so, I declared this week the Official Week of BLT sandwiches. Oh, and I have some long thin eggplants trying to ripen.

We had one of the coolest days on record for Boise in August. It was all of 60 degrees on Friday with a lot of much loved rain. Here we are, in the desert, and after two days of coolth and a nice rain, people were bitching for summer to return.

And that, friends and gardeners, is life in the Wild West, Week 23, of the 2009 garden at Ranch du Bois. Cowboy up!

Your pal,
Ida

Having whined my way back from vacay, time now to step up to the dinner plate and get my act back together. How can I possibly call myself a gardener and still sit here whining about the ripe Sun Gold tomatoes and the sweet, tasty little alpine strawberries? For shame. But don’t be surprised if I do it again. I am not fond of 95 degree days.

I know some folk’s gardens are doing just fine, they’ve had tomatoes since the 4th of July. They probably have tons of ripe ones, just clinging to the vine, waiting to be eaten, warm and juicey fresh from the garden, napped with a bit of balsamic and a fresh grind of pepper and a smidge of sea salt. They planted their tomatoes the first week of May, weathered the freaky late frosts, and are ahead of the game. Good for them.

For the rest of us, here’s a plan: get thee to Reggie’s Veggies, on Milwaukee by Capitol High, or to the fruit stand at the south end of Broadway, or the one on State Street near Collister. Get yourself to any fruit stand that has a sign out front saying “Local Bing Cherries $1.99 per pound.” Or this: Local Bodacious Sweet Corn!! I asked and the corn is from Star, just down the road a bit.

The stand on State has gorgeous big slicing tomatoes from our own Eagle, ID. I didn’t slice mine yet, because I have those bodacious SunGold cherry tomatoes, but I will have one for lunch tomorrow with a slice of mozz.

Walla Walla onions are local enough, and there is no substitute. Get them while you can because they don’t last long. What makes them special? The WW onion has a high water content (this makes them poor keepers) and low sulfur content making it exceptionally sweet. WW’s are certified as such and have to have the label to be authentic. Some are even rated for their level of sweetness but I have never seen that on a label.

The big Hermiston watermelons can be found all over town, at the fruit stands and in most supermarkets. Hermiston, Oregon, has been famous for the watermelons for decades. I don’t believe I have EVER had a bad one.

OMG! I almost forgot! Local apricots are in right now and sweet enough to make you swoon with just a single sniff of their ambrosia perfume. Other than canning, I need a good way to put some of these by. If you have a plan/recipe/idea, let me know. Years ago, I made peach and apricot leathers. I have progressed to rhubarbtinis, so something in the mixology department would be appreciated. I’ll whip up a few jars of apricot jam to “we can save some for coaxing sun out of the winter months..” Just love that quote, from Mary Pyper, my Seattle galpal.

OK, so we have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables at hand. Onward. WallaWallaWallaBing!

Dear Dee and Carol,

This is a good picture, a HAPPY picture, not to be confused with the dismal picture that is the garden at Ranch du Bois, week 21.

I essentially left my garden to fend for itself for the last 9 days. We arrived home in the dark last night, and from what I can see from inside the house, it is NOT pretty out there. To misquote Jesse Ventura when he was governor of Minnesota, the state of the state ain’t so great. So, this is a different kind of post: things I hate about my garden:

*my beloved raspberries, are drying up on the canes. Yes, they’ll come back in the fall.
*grasshoppers the size of housewrens. Yes, I am exaggerating but if you could see their chomp marks on everything you would hate them, too.
*I think something is wrong with the sprinkler system. Things are dead and struggling that shouldn’t be, even in this heat.
*several of the apples on my espaliered trees are sun burnt.
*damned spotted spurge everywhere. I lay partial blame on my neighbors who, for some goofy reason, have let their lawn dry up and go to hell, making the perfect breeding ground for weeds.

Yes, gentle friends, this happens every year, I am overcome with a crushing sense of gardening ennui. The sense of boredom, weariness and dissatisfaction with the garden has settled in for the dog days of summer. In case you were wondering, here’s the definition of dog days : the sultry part of the summer, supposed to occur during the period that Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun: now often reckoned from July 3 to August 11; and a period marked by lethargy, inactivity, or indolence.

BINGO.

The good news is this: I bought that CSA subscription so I can go pick up my Yukon gold potatos, zukes, cukes, and green beans this afternoon.

But other than that, you can find me pouting in the Lily Pond with an ice cold rhubarbtini.

Not to be left out of the big doin’s, here’s my little upload for Bloom Day, July 2009-a small selection of what is blooming in the garden at Ranch du Bois. It is blazing hot and hard to photograph all the lovelies right now. Heck, its hard to even LIKE the lovelies when it is 100 degrees in the shade.

Here and there you will also find: Veronica ‘Royal Candles’, persicaria ‘Firetail’, miscellaneous salvia greggiis, a brown turkey fig, delosperma ‘Table Mountain’, hesperaloe, eryngium, penstemons, agastaches, and tomatoes.

Dear Carol and Dee,

Once again, I am amazed: WEEK 18??? What the heck? July 5th? Where do the days go? Days, where do the weeks go?

Not a great deal to report from Ranch du Bois. Rasberries still producing in spite of high 80’s/90/s heat.

I cannot WAIT till the day I can write to you two and tell you I am in knee deep in tomatoes and getting sick of them. I find myself staring at the tomatoes, saying to them under my breath, “Grow, dammit!” I am one of those people would not be caught dead buying tomatoes from a grocery store. If I buy them, ever, they are locally grown and from a farm stand. We just don’t use sliced tomatoes out of season. So, it is with bated breath I wait for the warm ripe tomatoes from the garden. All I can think of is how good some Insalata Caprese would be right now. That’s the simple salad of sliced tomatoes, torn basil, and sliced fresh mozzerella. I have the fresh basil and some mozzerella on hand. Come ON tomatoes!

I pruned the apple espaliers yesterday. I filled up an entire garbage can with the branches. There aren’t a lot of apples, in fact, I was pretty darn disappointed. There might be a couple of dozen apples, and that’s the extent of it. I do know the dog has made off with the Granny Smiths from the bottom branches. I noticed some of the cottony mildew in the congested, areas – those places really needed to be cleaned up and opened up to the air and sunlight. I sent a boatload of earwigs scurrying. I hate those critters.

The dog has also helped himself to the low hanging fruit on my new fig tree. I’ve raised it up on a double stacked pot until I can figure out a stable, out of reach place for it. Bad dog.

True confessions: I counted yesterday, before I hid them from the prying eyes of my gardening friends, 21 small pots (4 inchers) of plants that need to go in the ground pronto. Let me put it this way, if they don’t get planted this week, I might as well kiss them goodbye. I am not going to do the math on this, but suffice it to say, if I blow it, I might as well light a match to a C note. Will I ever learn not to buy a plant if I don’t have a place for it?. Arrrrrgggggh. Its definitely akin to my fabric habit. I hoard fabric. There. Out in the open. Is there a 12 step program for plantaholics?

I am planning to spend the next few mornings in the garden taking advantage of the cooler temps. The afternoons will be for catching up on my writing about Idaho Gardens. Next weekend, a big treat for me: the Sawtooth Botanical Garden tour in central Idaho. My chance to be a tourist in OPGs. Other Peoples’ Gardens. I am so looking forward to it. I’ve also been on the prowl for gardens for the 2010 garden tour in Boise. Man, you get some strange looks when you start cruising the alleys, the same ones, again and again and again, trying to get a look inside the back fence.

Until next week, be cool.

Your pal,
MA

ps, I forgot to tell you, my Cueball squash bit the dust. Actually, the little darling was yanked out of the bed by its head and left to wither and die in the heat. We are not even gonna talk about who committed such an offense, just know it wasn’t me.

To all my fellow Idaho gardeners/garden bloggers, I hope you are doing the Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Its not too late to run out side, snap some picks and link over to May Dreams Gardens. Come on!

Here’s my offering for June:

[caption id="attachment_8526" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Good ol\' fashioned tiger lilies"][/caption][caption id="attachment_8527" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="callicarpa \'Profusion\' aka Beautyberry"][/caption]

Yes, there’s more: penstemon barbatus, penstemon psueudospectabilis, veronica Royal Candles, rosa chinensis mutabilis, calendula, and verbena bonariensis.

And it’s stopped raining for a few minutes~!

Dear Carol and Dee, my gardening friends,

Good Grief! Egads! For crying out loud! What is WITH this rain? This is going to go down as one of the wettest Junes on record for Boise, Idaho. It has rained every day, and not just a little spritz here and there. Nosireebob! It’s been a down pour every day. One evening I checked the rain guage and found it held two inches. Impossible I am thinking?? We never get rain like that. The weather man said we had about .14 inches of rain (in the newscast). Just so happened I ended up hanging with said weatherman and asked him, oh great wise one, how can it be??

Of course he attempted to give me the old razzle dazzle fo’ shizzle about orographic effects and yes, I DO live in the Foothills with a capital “F” and I understand we sometimes get more rain here than at the airport, HOWEVER, 1.86 inches of precip in a desert is a huge discrepancy. Let me just say, he didn’t answer my questions to my satisfaction.

So, under the guise of Father’s Day, I came up with a plan. I bought Flyboy a nice weather station as a gift. The dog is taking credit for the gifting. Indy (that would be Carol) gave me some great pointers on buying a weather station – hers has been up and running for a couple of months. Anyway, imagine his surprise when he got his present early! Now, if he’d just get it set up so I can use it. Sheeeeesh.

I have saved enough money on my water bill this month to pay for the weather station and a few new plants. Normally, July-September we have to water every third of fourth day, just to keep the plants and lawn alive. I turned the sprinkler system off a couple of weeks ago. This is an excellent development if you ask me. Everything is so lush and green (providing ample feasts for the damn aphids, but lush and green). I am planning to get out there and weed, weed, weed on Monday. The soil is so soft and nice, the weeds are growing like crazy but also pull out very easily.

Of course, the raspberries are still coming along, none for feasting yet. And the tomatoes are setting a couple of little fruits. The Chinese red noodle beans aren’t up yet, but anyday.

Ah! And I am thrilled to report I have two new espaliered pear trees in my possession. Each tree, about 4 feet high, has 6 nice branches and each branch has a different pear variety: Comice, Red Bartlett, Bartlett, Bosc, Flemish, and Anjou. I have visions of spinach and pear salads dancing in my head. Pear brandy. Pear butter. Pear compote. Spiced pears. A pear and a spare. I’ll stop now.

Today is the 23rd Annual Garden Tour in Bozville (slang for Boise), so I am out the door and headed for duty at one of the gardens as a coordinator. Please please please make the rain stay away until 5 pm.

From a deliciously rain-soaked Ranch du Bois,
Your Dirt Diva, Ida-Hoe

Ps, By this time next week I promise you I will have all my plants in the ground -including the newest acquisition, a ‘Grace’ cotinus (purple smoke bush), which is now resting quietly in the truck.

ppss, White Flower Farms will replace those Mara des Bois strawberries next season. I’m happy.

Reader, let me be the first to apologize for leaving you turning in the wind, without ballast, these last few weeks. I know, I KNOW! It’s prime gardening season and I have been MIA. Sorry. So sorry. We all get busy busy this time of the year. Seems we always go from a frosty standstill to 100 miles an hour overnight. Just a month ago, it was 27 on a Tuesday night and the next Monday registered 94 degrees. This is why it’s called the Wild Wild West.

Top it off with a pollen count of 360 a couple weeks ago and yours truly couldn’t take it another minute. Long story short, I’ve been under the weather, and mostly under the radar. But I have some garden snaps to share with you.

First up, I crawled onto an airplane on May 28th for the trip to Chicago. I was lucky enough to attend the first annual Garden Bloggers’ Spring Fling in Austin last April. It was decided then, to meet up in Chicago in 2009. Meet up we did, all 51 of us. (Blotanical shows 600+ gardeners, I don’t know how many in the US).

We were squired around and hosted by the Chicago Botanic Gardens, saw Rick Bayless’s garden, the Lurie at Millenium Park, conservatories, and private gardens. Here are some photos and comments on Rick Bayless’s garden.

[caption id="attachment_8501" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lush ornamental plantings for relaxing in the garden"][/caption]

Next: the incredible Lurie Garden at Millenium Park.

Hooray Hooray, it’s FINALLY MAY!

Dear gardening friends,

Week 9 and I am giddy with anticipation and happiness in the garden. The promise of the new season, which is finally here, so much potential and so many possibilities and I KNOW it will warm up soon whether I like it or not.

I spent the morning walking through a friend’s garden. I went to buy tomatoes, but snagged an impromptu tour for my tagalong pals. Betty’s garden is part old and part new, taking up several lots in the oldest part of Boise, fed by geothermal waters, offering up a truck-patch-size vegetable garden and fields of lavender. I walked through the shade garden, the secret garden, and the fairy garden. I started to open the door to the fairy house at the base of an old maple when Betty admonished me it would be akin to opening Pandora’s box. Yikes!

Instead, I admired the unfurling red fronds of cinnamon ferns, the velvety new leaves of the purple beech, the funky skunky smell of amazingly beautiful Imperial fritallarias, and a few minutes later the soft fragrance of the ancient crab apple tree. The colors of spring are so different from the colors of late summer: a lot of pastels, bright lime green of fresh tender new growth, the hot pinks of ornamental strawberries and Bechtel crab apples. Oh, I adore Bechtel crab apples! The blossoms are fat and round and remind me of pink gumballs.

But I digress, my fellow vegetable gardening friends. I went to Betty’s with a plan: she grows 100 varieties of tomatoes, heirloom and hybrids, all started from seed, maybe 5 or 6 of each variety. She sells them on her front porch for a couple of days, or until they are all gone. Get this: she keeps over one hundred plants for her own garden. I hear tell they have a tomato and wine tasting party the end of August. I was not so subtle in my hinting for an invite. Anyhow, the tomatoes are in 4 inch pots, 7 for $20, and each variety is nicely labeled. She even hands out an Excel spreadsheet listing all the plants detailing their predicted day to fruition, seed source, special characteristics, etc. A tomato lover’s dream come true.

Since I am still failing miserably at starting my tomatoes from seed (2 Sungolds about 1 inch high, second set of leaves), I jumped at the opportunity to get some nice starts from her. Here’s what I brought home: (1) Box Car Willy, 10-16 oz good for canning and freezing; (1) Chianti Rose, an heirloom rosy red Italian beefsteak type, thin skinned, yet crack resistant; (2) Great White Beefsteak which Betty told me is an odd looker but superb eating (I took her at her word); (1) Heart-shaped Brandywine, a highly recommended heirloom fave; (1) Sungella, a new cross between an heirloom cherry and the fabulous Sungold; and finally (1) Hillbilly, an heirloom w/ 1-2 pound beefsteak type tomatoes, orange and yellow streaked from West-by-God-Virginia. I can get away with saying that because a good chunk of my family came from WV.

Of course, upon arriving home with my new tomato booty, I was greeted by a yet another down pour. This is always a good thing when you live in the desert and are lucky to measure 10-12 inches of precip a year. So, it’s entirely too wet and muddy to plant the little beauties right now. And since I have no earthly idea where I might find my Walls-o-water in my garage, I best be keeping the tomatoes under cover for a little while longer. Our last frost date is May 10th, give or take a couple of weeks. Our local rule of thumb: plant your tomatoes if and only if, the snow is gone from Shafer Butte (7282 feet in elevation).

My garlic is growing great guns. I hope it sends out “scapes” soon. My peas, Russian something or others, aren’t up yet, but then, they’ve only been in for a week. The alpine strawberry is still blooming its heart out, ditto the apples, and I have maybe 4 of the stoopid Mara des Bois strawberry crowns still showing signs of life.

And that, my friends, is the weekly growing report from Ranch du Bois, nestled in the foothills of Boise, Idaho, where silver and gold in the sunlight blaze, and romance lies in her name, singing of I-da-ho!

MA
Ps, check out the view from my desk:

In honor of Earth Day, the true Mother’s Day (Mother Nature, silly!), I recommend taking in as many plant sales as possible. Here’s the short list:

Friday and Saturday, April 24th & 25th, Annual Plant Sale at the Idaho Botanical Garden. Friday night is member’s only, you get first dibbs on all the good stuff. Gates open at 4 pm. and you will want to be there early. Wine, cheese, and crackers are served free of charge. The Friday MEMBERS ONLY sale has become a harbinger of Spring for Boise gardeners. Get caught up with your fellow Felco-wielding pals, load up your cart, and get ready to garden.

Psst: A little bird told me there is a shipment of really nice stuff coming in from Mountain States Wholesale + look for heirloom tomatoes from the Boise State University horticulture program.

Idaho Native Plant Society sale, held at the MK Nature Center, 10-2 on Saturday, April 25th. 600 South Walnut Street, adjacent to Municipal Park, just off Warm Springs Avenue.

Idaho Earth Institute plant sale at Lucy’s Coffee and Espresso, 1079 Broadway Avenue, click here for a map.
The sale is from 10-2.

I’ll be working Friday night at the Member’s Only sale at the Garden. Stop by and say hi.

You can hear my latest podcast/visit to the 94.9, The River, by clicking here: River Interactive, Morning Features.