Quick Peek in the Garden

All the little plants are finally ready to be transplanted into the garden beds, so a few days ago I did that with my 13 year old son's help. The little terra-cotta pots that I like to start the peppers and tomatoes in sometimes need a little help with a couple of taps of a rubber mallet on the bottom to get the plant to come loose, but Rylan caught on pretty quick and in no time, we had all the peppers and tomatoes transplanted! The picture above is of the pepper bed. The plants all seem to be doing just fine, even though we have had some cooler weather that they usually like. Last year, I had some trouble with the leaves turning yellow shortly after transplanting, and I was reading that that is usually caused by not enough calcium in the soil. However, these haven't had that problem, thankfully, and they are in a different spot, so hopefully that's why.

This lovely little artichoke plant (shown above), which isn't so little, was actually planted last spring, and I thought that it died. Apparently, it was waiting for the season to come around again, and decided to start growing! I learned that hard way that artichokes do need a LOT of space as they get really big, sometimes needing about 4 feet across to spread themselves.

The lavender is looking very lovely, and the hummingbirds that live in our yard are really loving it. Every night at around 5pm, some hummingbirds come for a taste and a sip of the fountain. 

The peach tree blossoms are my favorite this year!

The calendula is loving the weather, and really putting out a lot of blossoms. I am experimenting with a calendula salve for the shop, so as I get that going I will put the tutorial on. Above are shown some calendula blossoms which were snipped right off the plant just under the blossom itself, first thing in the morning, to allow for all the medicinal properties to be at their best. Without rinsing the blossoms, they are put into a dehydrator to dry. It only takes a few hours, half a day at most, and they are dry enough to remove the petals from the head, and put into a jar. I usually get about 1/2 cup of dried petals from 1 tray of blossoms. Then if you pour about 1 cup of grapeseed oil, which contains vitamin E, which is really good for the skin, over the dried petals, cap it, and store on a darkened shelf for about 2 weeks, it will be ready for straining off to get some quality calendula infused grapeseed oil, ready for a wonderful salve. Really easy to do. The calendulas (or pot marigolds) that I currently have, I planted from seed last spring and they continue to thrive in the garden. 

I am having a terrible time with the birds right now. They must be starving because every little seed I stick out in the garden gets gobbled up as soon as it pokes it's little head from the ground. So I began covering the area with chicken wire in hopes that that will deter most of the birds. So far, it does seem to be working, and I do currently have cucumbers that have just germinated.

The asparagus is just starting to poke through the garden beds. Yay! Asparagus fest has officially begun. In this bottom picture you can actually see the asparagus roots that have extended themselves out from the beds and are growing atop the ground. I plan on covering them with soil later today, but I thought it an interesting picture of how long the roots actually grow, and they really don't extend down as much as out. Those roots only are a couple inches below the surface of the bed.

Well, happy gardening!

Spring Garden Happenings

The days have been so incredibly full, that there simply hasn't been time enough to blog about how full the day is! 

I love this time of year...everything about it is my favorite! The citrus blossoms are just beginning to fade, but walking outside is amazing (as long as you don't have allergies, which I thankfully don't). The asparagus seems to grow 6 in. a day, and the bunch you see just above were picked in 2 days. Sometimes, I go out in the am and pick some, and then in the evening end up picking more. Asparagus never gets tiresome for anyone in my family. We always enjoy the weeks filled with asparagus for dinner. 

The other day, I was working in the herb bed and I looked over and went to pull a weed, but then thought, "That looks like asparagus!" And sure enough, it must have been a seedling, flown over on the wind from the asparagus bed. I called my boys over and asked them what they thought it looked like, and both of them said, "Asparagus." And those are my boys! They know their veggies! 

We have peas galore coming off the vines. I do really like them, steamed fresh with butter, but I am getting a tad tired of them, I have to admit. Derek tells me he likes them just fine, and then I catch him texting the neighbor that they are not his favorite and does the neighbor need any. Nice, Derek.

Can you see it! I just cannot believe what I found today on the banana tree. SLUGS! Not good! And I have to admit, I find them incredibly disgusting. I am going to have to get on this problem!

This is a pic of the snapdragons. I love them so much. They remind me of my grandma. Today I picked some to bring in the house, and my nephew disappeared. I went back out to find him and caught him picking all the flowers off the stalks and throwing them at the chickens. Lovely. And then, in his grubby little hands, he carried some of the blossoms around and sniffed them and sniffed them. Silly boy! He knows what he likes!

So, I am trying this new type of trellis to stake the tomatoes. Not sure it will work for them, but it's worth a shot! Number one son, Casey, put these together for me in a couple of minutes, and then they simply were pushed into the garden bed in between a couple rows of tomatoes. The tomatoes are just beginning to set blossoms on and I can hardly wait for those little babies to be ready.

This picture right here exhibits why you should never ever buy a single zucchini plant from the store. I planted this little guy from seed 2 1/2 weeks ago. They really are the size of a plant I would buy at the garden center. And so much cheaper. 

Happy Gardening!

Planting Season

As usual per this time of year, I have been outside planting and doing general cleanup activities. Unfortunately, I am not completely finished. Mostly, because I can't decide if my broccoli is finished producing this season and whether to pull it out or not and I still have plenty of carrots left and am not ready to pull them up yet as I still have a bunch in the fridge. My husband is rooting for the snow peas to go, as he is very tired of them in everything we have been cooking.

We have had so many rainy days along with a little colder weather than we are used to, that the asparagus have been slow to come up this year and are just now coming into their full season. I am planning to try a new recipe for an asparagus frittata that I found in the newest issue of "Hobby Farm Home". The strawberries are tasting rather delicious. I haven't ever planted them and had them do well, so I have been so pleasantly surprised to see that happening. I am really loving this SFG thing! Out here we have such clay soil that with the SFG you don't have to worry about that and it is amazing what you can grow.

Speaking of that, a few posts ago I mentioned that I was trying an experiment in growing celery. Well, unbelievably, the celery is almost ready. So funny that it actually worked. It is still rather small compared to full grown celery, but I am impressed. It looks like if you plant it from seed in October, it will actually grow all winter and do well.

I have plans to spend the afternoon out finishing up some cleanup projects outside and putting up a frame for a support for the Bayberry and Blackberry plants that I finally got planted on the north side of my house.

Happy planting!

It's HOT!

[caption id="attachment_145" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Just picked today."][/caption]

It is so HOT outside these days that in order to check out the garden, I seriously have to get up at 6am to beat the heat. We are hitting 108 degrees today, which feels more like 118 degrees to me. I simply can hardly hack it! And of course, most of the garden needs to be shaded from the brutal afternoon sun.

[caption id="attachment_148" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Armeninan cucumbers growing up two 4 ft. tall topiary forms."][/caption]

The cucumbers seem to be doing ok, though. You can just see the tip of the topiary forms.  They are producing more armenian cucumbers than we can possibly eat, and I keep giving them away to relatives and neighbors. We usually just slice them up to munch on, although my daughter likes to dip hers in the ever present ranch dressing.

[caption id="attachment_150" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="A small caterpillar on the pickling cucumbers."][/caption]

I found a little friend on my pickling cucumbers today, and it has found itself a new home in heaven. I did see a preying mantis that was quite large on the tomatoes today also, and that one I happily left alone. I cannot get rid of my infestation of squash bugs. They have moved onto my watermelon plants and as I now have some new starts of zucchini out there, I really want them GONE! I have tried insecticidal soap and picking them off as I see them and smashing them. I also have tried to look under all the leaves to get the little brown eggs and smash those. None of this has been working well at all. I have plans for the morning, to take a jar out there and pick off all that I can find and put them in the jar and then throw it away. I can hardly stand to touch the things. I think I will wear gardening gloves for this particular chore.

[caption id="attachment_151" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Asparagus ferns."][/caption]

The asparagus has gone really crazy lately, making new shoots, going to seed and ferning. They seem to be doing just fine, also, without any extra shading.

[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Overall view of entrance to garden area."][/caption]

I love the way those new pavers look at the entrance to the garden. Landcraft did such an amazing job on them. It has made the area feel like a little secret garden. To the left of the chicken coop, although you cannot see it, is a small garden shed. We put it in a few months ago, and it has been so handy to put all the supplies in there and not have them spilling about the garden like last year. One handy thing that I read about somewhere, is to hang an inexpensive shoe organizer on the back of the door. I keep all my garden tools in it as well as drip irrigation pieces and twine, zip ties, etc. It has worked out well.

Not much is coming out of the garden right now. It is just simply too hot. I am still getting some tomatoes and that is pretty nice. It should pick up again at the end of August.

[caption id="attachment_154" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Zucchini starts under the shade fabric."][/caption]

The above picture shows the pvc hoops that the shade cloth is zip tied to. I went to my local hardware store and bought some 12 inch pieces of rebar and poked them into the ground on either side of the bed and then put the pvc pipes into them onto either side to create the hoops. Cheap and easy. In the winter, I use them also, but instead of the shade cloth, I put 4 mil plastic over them and make a kind of green house. I got the idea from Dave the Garden Guy, and it really works well.

[caption id="attachment_155" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="New planter box on back patio."][/caption]

Well, I believe that's all for now. Keep cool!

[caption id="attachment_39" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="A new anna apple to replace the one that decided it was too hot for words last august. I plan to shade this one for a while to get it through this first summer."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_40" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="After a whole year of waiting, we finally get to enjoy some asparagus!"][/caption]

Back in the Garden Again

So, this weekend I finally had some energy and desire to go out and work in the garden. Guess what I found? Some of my broccoli had gone to seed and was covered in bees (which is a good thing) and there were the first little shoots of asparagus coming up. All that work of putting in that bed of asparagus last year is finally going to pay off. I was so excited. I also had lettuce, a cabbage, and some spinach ready to pick. It took me all afternoon, but I did make a big dent in getting the rest of the beds ready for planting and even managed to plant 26 tomato plants and some zucchini seeds as well as cukes (armenian and pickling). I hope to make lots of my sister's MIL's pickles this year. Last year I made them and I only have 2 jars left. It's a good thing I hid them from Alyssa because she would be sure to eat them if she knew. Tomorrow I am going to haul off all the bags and fold up the shades that I had just piled to the side, making a big mess. The chickens are doing great, laying 1-2 eggs a day, which is wonderful. I am on the hunt for a couple more bantams, though. Rylan and I went all over looking for some yesterday, but all we could find were leghorns. Bummer.