In between storms this weekend, I did manage to spend some time gardening. And I'm pleased to say -- AGAIN -- that my Planting Season 2008 is finally over. Yes, I know I've said it before, but this time... I MEAN IT!

After a particularly big blow-out of weather yesterday afternoon, I got out there, moved a couple of hostas and planted the rest of the "clearance" items I bought at Lowe's last week. It's done. It's over. I feel a little like Frodo after he threw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom ...

Now, on to more pressing matters ... the vegetable garden. So far, this season is holding a lot of promise, but that's about it. I mean, I have lots and lots of green tomatoes on the vine, but I've only harvested 3 red ones. My cherry tomatoes are finally turning and I'm up to about a dozen picked so far.

You might remember back in June (June 4, to be exact) I planted two tomato and four pepper plants in Earthboxes, shown here.

According to www.earthbox.com: "The patented EarthBox was developed by commercial farmers and proven in the lab and on the farm. Our maintenance-free, award-winning, high-tech growing system controls soil conditions, eliminates guesswork and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden-with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort."
The EarthBox is a resin planter box. Inside is a plastic screen and a small bag of accessories. Remove the fill tube from the accessory bag and press it thru the support. After packing the two rear corner cutouts in the screen with moist potting mix, you must pour water thru the fill tube until it runs out the overflow hole. This is the way you'll water your plants after planting.

The EarthBox promises that if you follow their instructions, you'll have the best yield ever! Well, here's how my plants look now.

They certainly are growing, but so far, the yield hasn't been the best ever. But like I said above, both tomato plants are bursting with green veggies. I'm sure that they'll all turn red at the same time -- like they seem to do every year. If you grow tomatoes at home, you know what I mean. It's like we wait and wait and wait for those fresh tomatoes, only to be overcome with them all at once!

Yes, despite my best efforts, I still end up throwing away spoiled tomatoes. And don't even get me started on the cherry tomatoes. I know one year we stopped counting at 200 because it was getting ridiculous!

Anyway, soon we'll be making fresh bruschetta, and nothing beats a fresh Lebanon, tomato and mayo sandwich on sourdough toast. In the meantime, we can take solace in the abundance of cucumbers! We did so well with this vegetable last year that we planted six vines this year.

I chose a new spot for the cucumber vines -- the new "cutting" garden that I constructed this past spring. I thought the vines would look nice creeping up the side of the shed behind the various wildflowers and "cutting" flowers that I was hoping would come up from the seeds I scattered. Anyway, check it out -- before and after -- not too shabby, huh? More on the cutting garden on another day ...

Back to the veggies -- anyone having any luck with green peppers yet? Here's our peppers when they were planted in the EarthBox on June 4. A nice neat little row of green seedlings.

They sure have grown well (the peppers are the box on the right in the above photo with the tomato plants), but, like the tomatoes, while they have a lot of little peppers on them (one plant has a dozen), nothing is getting real big. I took one off over the weekend just to see if it was ready, and it was OK, but I would like to see them get bigger. Especially the orange-gold ones that I haven't tried before.

So, the jury's still out on the effectiveness of the EarthBoxes. The plants are doing very well, but I'm still waiting for the "best yield ever!"

Coming up tomorrow, the wonderful zucchini. We're having a great season with these. But what happens when you're sick of making bread -- I'll share some recipes that my family's enjoying this year.

OK, I'm back from vacation, and I'm always amazed at how much my garden seems to grow while I'm away.
I spend time every day tending to various aspects of my garden. I'm happy to do it. It's very therapeutic and I enjoy seeing the plants grow and bloom or produce veggies. But sometimes it's like watching paint dry ...
Before I go on vacation, I always trim things up, make sure the last plants are planted, finally finish mulching and water and fertilize everything again.
Although every vacation is a great getaway, there's no place like home, and I look forward to seeing what's been happening in the garden. And I'm never disappointed. Everything seems to have grown a lot this time ... the pond's overcome with water hyacinths and lillypads. (I'm happy to report that the waterfall's just fine.)
My dad's on "pond watch" while I'm away, feeding the fish, and making sure things runs smoothly. So he couldn't help himself and already cleaned the new waterfall filter twice. "You can't believe how much easier it is than the old filter," he told me over the phone. "Dad, the new filter's not supposed to need cleaning for a couple of weeks," I said.
"Yeah, but I just wanted to see how difficult it was and it's not at all!" he gleamed.
The ornamental grass has gotten taller. New spikes are coming out of the top of the ravena grasses. The butterfly bushes are starting to bloom. The hydrangeas are blooming. The annual salvias have returned among the stones in the path. I haven't planted annual salvias in at least three years, but they must re-seed themselves and keep coming back each year. I even have petunias coming up through the bricks in the patio. They must have re-seeded out of the planter pots I had there last year. That's the "cool" thing about a mild winter ... sometimes annuals come back.
And it's time to prune my wave petunias, a chore that I don't look forward too. Everything I read says that it's perfectly fine to cut them back. It promotes more blooms. But that hasn't exactly been my luck over the years. They are definitely getting too leggy now, but I know once I cut them back it'll be weeks before they bloom again. I just can't win with them!
On a brighter note, the first veggies have been harvested out of the garden ... we have a few cherry tomatoes, the first Early Girl tomato, four zucchini and six cucumbers! Yes, I love to have fresh vegetables in the summer. Soon we'll be making our own bruschetta and cucumber salad. I already made some zucchini bread, and we recently dined on zucchini "crab" cakes.
Before leaving on vacation, I declared that my 2008 Planting Season was officially over ... I spoke too soon. I bought a few new plants on vacation, and yesterday I had to stop at Lowe's to get gravel for a new pond plant I bought ... and there by the check out stood racks of plants marked "Clearance." Well, you know, I couldn't pass that by without a look. So I got some elephant ears ($1.99), a lonely lime green hosta ($1.49), lantana ($2.49) and a few more geraniums (all under $1), because, you know, I can't pass up a bargain.
Remember, there's still a lot of good stock out there, just be sure to check the roots before buying. And when planting these late buys, definitely break up the root ball so the roots don't continue growing in the shape of the pot they've been kept in.
So now that I'm back, there's lots to share ... I tell you about the new plants I got at Rehoboth Beach, plus the unexpected visitor on one of them, my lillies, salvias, ferns, hostas, the parrot boat and, best of all, the triumphant return of Flamingos to my nighttime landscape!

An interesting press release came across my desk yesterday and I thought I would share it with you.

The Penn State Master Gardeners of Berks County will teach a series of three gardening classes at GoggleWorks, 201 Washington St., Reading.

"Backyard Composting" ($12) will be held April 28, followed by "Vegetable Gardening" ($5) on May 5 and "Container Gardening" ($5) on May 12. All classes are from 6 to 8 p.m. Pre-registration with payment of class fees are required by April 25.

You can also attend all three classes for one fee of $20. Class size is limited to 20 students per class. For information call the Penn State Cooperative Extension at 610-378-1327.

I wish I could take credit for the container garden pictured above, but that one was purchased last year at Glick's Greenhouses on Fisher Mill Road in Oley.