Waiting Patiently

Curioso says it all. In a rare moment of compassion, I let one of my cats follow me into the garden while I worked. He was very content napping and keeping me company.

Elsewhere in the garden progress is happening despite my very late and unenthusiastic start.
All the plants are in and actually looking good and healthy.

Pattypan squash. I love these squash but never want to dedicate so much space to the plant since the garden is not that big. This plant is in the garden but I cleared out a section behind the garden and planted two others. We will see how well they do.

Eggplant is flowering and this is one of the 10 plants that I did not start from seed. I get them from the Master Gardener sale and they look so healthy when I buy them.

Stripped squash, seeds compliments of Robin and I know it is hard to tell but a female and male squash opening up on the same day means a baby squash.

The only purchased tomato plant. This is a Juliet. I love these for fresh salsa and sun drying.

The peony lasted for such a short time. The Iris is the ones I brought from Mexico and I like them because they bloom much later than the other ones I have. 

SUN SUN SUN

Working in the garden. Replacing some tomatoes that got ruined from the rain, planting new lettuce - AGAIN, putting the eggplants in.

Lots of Rain

The difference between where the garden is today and where it was last time this year is amazing. You can see last years post here. This is a general update of what has happened in the last month.

A slow start to planting seeds for lettuce has yielded practically no lettuce at all. Every time I plant, they seem to get washed away by the next torrential down pour. I am considering creating a cover for the lettuce bed to protect it from the pelting rain. Very scrawny looking.

 

Greens were planted in a slightly shady area and without the sun for the last week, they have not been producing. I will try in a slightly different area this week.

Peas are beginning to gain some height. I planted sweet peas a good two weeks before I planted the sugar snap peas which are just beginning to surface. Okra, planted very close to the peas, have germinated. They will have more room after the peas are removed but will act as a nice structure for the peas to keep them up against the fence. You can see the cat behind the fence, yearning to get into the garden.

 


The row of beans that I mulched with grass clippings managed to survive. The other row is having major difficulty. The pole beans are not surfacing at all and I am not sure what to do about it right now. Carrots and radishes are doing OK. I do not think that the radishes will get much bigger than a big blueberry. One set of carrots had a 205 germination rate while the other set is almost 100%.

 


Tomatoes are having a hard time. The slugs and pill bugs are doing a good job eating the green leaves on everything from turnips to tomatoes.

Cucumbers are looking good. I am glad that they did not sustain any damage.

 

Garden Time Again

I have obviously been checked out for a while.
Time to switch my gears from inside stuff to outside stuff.

Should start posting next week

More *¿#*? Snow

This is what it looks like outside!

Now, in the photo below, notice the two humps behind the play equipment. Those are our compost bins. Now I understand why they recommend placing your bins by the back door near the house. I thought I was being smart placing them by the garden. Oh well. I guess we won't be going out there too soon.

MORE SNOW

 ------- 8" -------

Snow and More Snow

There is no garden to write about and I have obviously been holding on to the last post which proved that I did have a garden but I miss posting. Noticed that the Villager had a snow post and decided to add my own.

The monday after Christmas, with the big snow storm that hit, I had to drive my daughter to winter camp. She was so excited to go but with 2 feet of snow - I had my work set out for me. Got bundled up but couldn't quiet get out the door even thought we are  good 2 and a half feet above ground. Got the steps cleared and decided to make my way to the driveway to start digging out the car.

I thought I would get lost only 3 feet from my door. Out on the street safely, I started to dig.

When we finally got up to the camp, the lake was beautiful and they had much less snow than we did. Enough to have some fun.

Today we have more snow.
Daughter is in school but this is what the car looks like and it is going to stay that way until I absolutely have to go some place.

Counting the days till the early spring thaw and bulbs poking out of the ground.

Green Green Harvest

People are still posting on Daphne's harvest Monday and it is a range of harvest depending on location. I have spent the last couple of weeks tearing down the tomato plants, harvesting about 8lbs of green cherry tomatoes that have been slowly ripening. They have lost most flavor but at least I know that I grew them which makes it a few steps above store bought.

I harvested all the carrots but forgot to take a picture.
Planted the garlic and am very excited to have a new crop. The ones  planted earlier have poked out of the ground so I hope that is OK.

I harvested a very large bowl of greens that are beautiful in color and I will most likely get another harvest before the temperature drops too far. Red mustard, kale, pac choi and ruby red swiss chard.

We have been collecting leaves for composting and are trying something a little different this year. Hubby is making a pass with the lawn mower on top of the leaves. Some will be saved to add to the compost bin throughout the year and some will be applied directly to the garden around the greens and garlic.

Apple and Pizza Pie

The pictures are not great but we enjoyed this apple tart and fresh tomato and riccota pizza pie sometime this past week.

The apples are not from the garden but we did pick them at one of our favorite orchards two weeks ago.
Tomatoes, sage, onions, roasted red pepper and olives on ricotta on a crust for the pizza.

Last and Harvest

A few months back, which seems like yesterday, I posted about firsts. The first harvest is always so exciting. I have come to one of my last harvests. I pulled out most of the garden this past weekend and will, for the first time, plant garlic. This is always a little sad but a new crop and the frozen vegetables will keep us happy for part of the winter. I still have a few turnips, tomatoes and carrots left in the garden.
Here is what I pulled this week.