Harvest Time - June 5, 2014

We picked some strawberries today.  The Peanut ate all the big ones, but was nice enough to share the small ones.  Apparently, she felt entitled to the bigger ones because it's her strawberry patch.  You know, the one I planted, I weed, I water and I maintain.  Yeesh.

 

 

We have a lot more strawberries waiting to fully ripen and be picked. 

There are definitely more strawberries growing this season than ever before.

 

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We should've picked peas, but that can wait for the weekend.

 

 

This spinach started to bolt, so we had some at dinner.

 

The other ones haven't bolted yet, but I'll have to keep an eye on them.

 

I am a little concerned with what's going on with the weather.

Last year, June 16, 2013 the garden was doing a lot more.

Same with the garden on June 16, 2012.

June 28, 2011 wasn't that impressive, but slightly better than this year.

 

I think it's this weather.  It's been colder longer than usual.

Fingers crossed that this gardening season improves.



Garden Tour - May 29, 2014

Something...my guess is the groundhog or the bunnies...ate a lot of the peas.  Despite the attack,

I have peas!  Not full pods, obviously, but they're getting there.

The tomatoes are getting taller everyday.

What's that growing next to the "Cantaloupe" marker?  Not a cantaloupe.

I'm pretty sure it's a tomato randomly growing.

Oh!  There's the cantaloupe hiding behind the marker.

That's Leroy.  From what I'm told, he used to be an hors d'oeuvres holder...toothpicks

in the holes and all that.  Now he guards the cucumbers and cantaloupe.

Sixteen in all, it's a lot of work, but he said that after years of being stuck in a cabinet,

never seeing sunlight, he's happy to be outdoors.

We are growing a variety of cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.

I'm pretty sure this is a Purple of Scicily.

That's tar paper around it.  That's supposed to ward of cabbage worms or something.

Knock on wood...so far so good.

This is the second mushroom that grew.  I don't know if it's edible. 

We grew a whole quart mason jar of strawberry popcorn last year.

This year, we decided to try regular sweet corn one last time.

Two years ago, I grew one gigantic flowering sweet pepper bush, that produced not one single pepper.

Last year, I grew some small ones that actually produced peppers.  

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good crop this year...knock on wood.

The sugar snap peas are growing like weeds.  The Hubby came up with the great idea

of using the two small tomato cages wire tied together as support.

First round of spinach.  More seeds are starting as we speak.

I don't know what's up the zucchini.  This is the only healthy looking one.

The other two are iffy at best.

Did the same thing with the kale as I did with the spinach.  I started some new ones yesterday.

One garbage can of potatoes are starting to flower.

We have more strawberries this year than ever before.

This is Bruce Lee.  Just like Leroy, he was rescued from an estate sale.

He likes to hang out near the eggplants to Kung Fu fight the insects away.

I also picked up this beautiful old tool box at an estate sale. 

Inside are all my, now finally organized, seeds.

Henrietta Hen has been around for a long time.  She keeps the seedlings safe.

A cut worm (I think) decapitated a sweet pepper so she's standing guard over there now.

Mint. Mint.  More mint.  I've been giving away mint plants.

Soon, I'll bring some to work to hand out.

The weather is still wonky.  I'm hoping it starts staying warmer soon.

Garden Tour - May 4, 2014

Something happened to a bunch of my seedlings.  I started mostly over, let's see how it goes.

In the meantime, I have plenty of peas growing.

 

As usual, I have 5 millions pounds of mint growing. 

 

See that plant growing amidst the mint?  The one with the little white flowers?

Apparently, it's garlic mustard.  It is edible, although it does contain some cyanide.

It is also incredibly invasive.  My Bestie the Hot Horticulturalist
(apparently, I can't use her name, but I can say that, yeesh) says to pull it all out, so I will.

I may still try a garlic mustard pesto recipe...we'll see.

 

 

It's hard to see, but the strawberry patch has flowers.

 

I'm trying to grow potatoes one last time.  The first time, they mostly rotted.

The second time, it took a lot of space, and I grew like ten potatoes.

This time, I'm trying out the infamous growing potatoes in a garbage trick I saw

on the Hope Gardens site.  We're trying Adirondack Blue, Russet and Yukon Gold.

Hopefully, they will later become the best pierogies ever.



The spinach took it's time, but it's finally growing.

 



 

As are the kale.

 



Honestly, I forgot what this is a picture of...Savoy Cabbage?  Green Macerata?  Purple of Sicily?

They all look the same to me, so I'm never sure...

 



 

Sugar snap peas.  I use two small tomato cages stacked on top of each other

to keep them from falling over.  Hopefully, we'll be better about picking them this year.



 This mint is different from what I grow.  I have no idea how it decided to

move into the garden.  I'll have to pull and relocate them.

 

The garlic I used from store bought stuff that sprouted.  Almost all of it died over the winter.

I have three that made it.  Let's see if they turn into a full head or just stay a little clove.

 



Not only have the asparagus started growing, we've actually had some for dinner already.

 



It's been a mix of super skinny to insanely thick.  I have more roots someone gave me.

I'm debating on planting them in front lawn....

 



 

It's still on and off chilly.  So much so that I forgot to start leaving my seedlings out to harden off.

They'll move into the grow station tomorrow.  If I remember....

Asparagus!

One finally popped up.

Finally.  I was going crazy waiting.

 

 

Everything seems to blooming around here.

I'm so happy it's finally warming up.

Garden Tour - April 12, 2014

I've been letting my seedlings get some sun and fresh air.

I forgot to take a pic, but the spinach is growing in the garden.

 

 

The peas sprouted around the same time I discovered that peas and garlic

do not like living together.  Apparently, anyone in the Allium family will stunt

the growth of beans near it.  Some people argue it's not true.

I figured I'd rather not chance it, so I moved the garlic.

 

Which turned out not to be a big deal since half of them had turned to mush.

I guess the soil in that planter doesn't drain as well as I thought....

No big deal, I put them in a pot all by themselves.

 

The strawberry plants are coming back in full force.

I didn't bother cleaning out that box.  I figured the dead leaves will act like mulch.

Plus, I'm too lazy for all of that.

 

 

Do you remember when I decided to do a the homemade garbage can compost bin...

It worked, kinda sorta.  Never great, just sort of okay.

They now, according to Hope Gardens, a garbage can full of holes is a great place for potatoes.

So I picked up some Adirondack Blues and Yukon Golds.

This is my last attempt at growing potatoes, hopefully I'll get more than a handful this year.

I mixed a batch of 1/2 cup molasses and 2 1/2 gallons of water to water them with.

This is supposed to help grow amazing and healthy potatoes.  I'll let you know.

 

What am I doing about a compost bin?

Lucky me, I picked up a Mantis Composter on Freecycle!

Talk about super exciting.  It's about a million times easier to use

than rolling those garbage cans on the ground.

 

In the front yard, the thyme came back....actually, it never left.

The herb patch looked very sad and brown, and oddly enough, a little purplish.

I lifted up a section, and ta da!  Bright, green thyme!

 

I actually have the windows open today!

This warm day is making me antsy for the gardening season get moving...



Seedlings!

Screw this snow crap.  I started seeds.  The trays have sprouted.

The spinach, peas and kale outside, not so much, but it's early.

The asparagus is still sleeping underground.

 

 

I'm pretty sure the artichokes did not survive the winter.

Honestly, they look like deformed penises sticking up from the ground.

I am not going to post a pic of it, but I choose to remain hopeful

that they will make a comeback.