Comments

I finally figured out how to change the settings of this blog so that anyone can leave comments, not just members of blogspot. So comment away. :)

So much to do!

Peonies have bloomed! They are probably my favorite flower. I love their fragrance!

Chives are flowering, too.

Seven garden beds finished. Still a long ways to go, hope to have it done by September, lol.

My tomato transplants from Seed Saver's Exchange arrived, and I planted them inside cages. Looks like I ordered them just in time, too, because they're sold out now. I've also planted a few of the tomato seedlings that I started. They're so tiny, I hope we'll have tomatoes by October?

Tomato, basil, and lettuce seedlings. I have since transplanted the lettuce into a pot.

Strawberries just started producing fruit, and they are delicious!

My bed of sunflowers sprouted on the 24th! They've grown a lot since then, too. Unfortunately, they were being nibbled on by tiny little mites, which destroyed one of them, and took chunks out of a few others. However, their rapid growth seems to be outstripping the pace of the damage. I re-seeded in a few spots to replace the ones that didn't sprout or got eaten.

Kentucky Wonder pole beans have sprouted!

Swiss chard and broccoli do NOT like the hot sun! They wilt during the day, and perk up again at night, even though I keep them well watered. The broccoli is still forming buds, though!

Last frost date!!!

 My last frost date was yesterday, so planting season is now in full swing. Unfortunately I still only have 5 beds finished!! So I have lots of things to plant, but nowhere to plant them.

The first strawberry!!!! This is in the old strawberry patch, which is already in need of major weeding.

Beautiful bleeding heart flowers growing on the side of the lawn.

Rhododendrons are coming out!

The plants in this bed get bigger every week. The carrot seedlings are popping up, and I planted beets in here yesterday.

This bed will house sweet potatoes and lima beans. The black sheet helps to warm up the soil, which sweet potatoes like a lot.

Here's how everything looks so far...

My lettuce patch.

Big happy rhubarb plant, growing next to the compost pile. This plant has been here for as long as I can remember, even after it got rototilled once by accident.

Pretty chives, coming into bloom.

A little nasturtium volunteer, sprouting where last years nasturtiums were.

Tomatoes

I failed to mention recently that some of my tomato seeds have sprouted!! So apparently the fish tank/greenhouse idea was not a total failure. I also planted some basil seeds, and a few of those sprouted too. However, I did order this from Seed Savers Exchange, mostly to ensure that we will have tomatoes this summer (provided they don't die, of course). There are little tomato volunteers popping up in the beds, further confirming my idea that you don't have to make any effort to save tomato seeds, just let a few fruits sit outside over winter. They'll come back up when the time is right.

Photo update

I took a few new photos today to document the growth. Unfortunately work has been pretty draining this week, so I haven't been able to get in the garden much.  My last frost date, May 15th, is coming up fast though, and there's a lot of stuff I'm going to plant then, so I need to get a few more beds finished soon!
















Broccoli, swiss chard, and onion sets. There are carrots sprouting next to the onions, but you can't see them in photos yet.

More onion sets, and the two tall ones on the left are garlic that had started growing in the compost pile, so I just stuck them in the bed.

Chamomile!

My exciting strawberry plants! Many of them have flowers, so perhaps I'll get a nice little strawberry crop from them this year, even though I'm not expecting them till next year.

Spiders, eeeek!!

I was planting some more lettuce today, when I noticed a nice round little hole right where I was about to dig. I experimentally poked a stick down the hole, and up came a big (maybe around 1 1/2" diameter) brown spider! It popped out for a second and then scurried back down the hole. Well I couldn't plant lettuce with a huge spider there, so I had to chase it out of it's hole with the stick. I kept prodding it until it went further away, but it wanted to turn around and go back, so unfortunately I killed it. :( According to what I've read on the web, spiders are great pest controllers in the garden, since they eat large amounts of insects, and won't touch your plants. This isn't the first big spider I've seen in the garden, I saw one or two of them the other day when I was finishing a bed. Nice to know I have my pest control system in place!

I think it's interesting that most creepy crawly things normally associated with horror movies, like snakes, spiders, and bats, are actually beneficial to the growing of our food. Whereas cute wildlife, like deer and bunnies, can destroy your whole crop. One thing's for sure, I won't be killing any more spiders!

Things are growing!

For starters, here are some lovely tulips that were growing in the patio:

Here is the bed I was working on when I made my last update. I've planted carrot seeds, onion sets, swiss chard, and broccoli in it.

Here was my solution (?) for sprouting tomato seeds without a greenhouse. I used an old fish tank that we had sitting in the basement, with some plexiglass sitting on the top and weighed down to keep from blowing off. Unfortunately, we had a chilly, rainy spell shortly after I set them outside, and they haven't sprouted yet even though they've been there for about a week now. I'm not sure if they've been killed or if they'll come up eventually.

Today I finished creating the fourth bed. This will be planted with tomatoes and herbs. I also planted a second crop of carrots. The first crop was planted a week ago, and still no sign of emerging. :(  Carrots can take awhile to come up, though. The new strawberries are doing very well, and a few of them even have flower buds.