Garden Update

Things have been coming along in the garden. After a very dry May, June has been very wet. I think this is because we installed an irrigation system near the end of May. We haven't had to water much at all this month.

We harvested the garlic already. This should be enough to keep up until next summer. I separated the best bulbs to plant in October.

Large Flat Dutch Cabbage. Here's to sauerkraut in the fall.

Raspberries are coming in strong this year. We've been getting lots of them every night for the last week or so. We probably have another week of them and then we'll get more in August.

 Speaking of raspberries, we have these tiny little gray bugs on a few of the canes. My google skills are failing me. They appear to be insects (as opposed to arthropods). They are probably 2-3 mm long and they leave a white web-like substance behind on the canes. If anyone has any ideas, I would be interested to hear them. If they are harmless, we are happy to coexist with them, but if they will damage the canes, then I'll start plucking them off.

Green tomatoes! I have three tomato beds this year. These are Brandywines.

A small sunflower.

A Mammoth Sunflower. I got both sunflower starts at the co-op. They were supposed to be the same variety, but they are clearly not. You can see the smaller one in the lower left corner of the photo. Either way, I love seeing them in the garden.

 Nasturtiums in one of the flower beds.

Tiny eggplants.

Black-eyed Susans.

Blue-eyed grass. We found a fair amount of blue-eyed grass growing in the yard, so I transplanted some of it to one of the flower beds and it has taken off. The flowers are about the size of a dime and they are related to irises.

Daylilies.

Cosmos growing near the garage.

Another volunteer in the yard: Rose Campion. So pretty.

Garden Update: Spring!

Things are starting to get moving in the garden now. The ground is still pretty cold, but we've had some rain and plants are starting to come up everywhere. I even saw some cherry blossoms blooming this week on my bike commute.

 Our daffodils finally started blooming.

I planted this hellebore last spring. This is the first year that it has bloomed.

As an indication of how quickly things are growing now. This was what the Trillium erectum looked like on Sunday.

This is what they looked like on Tuesday. I planted these just last spring, so I don't know if they are going to bloom this year.

The carrots that I planted a few weeks ago are finally starting to come up. Like I said earlier, the ground is still pretty cold.

Our garlic has doubled in size in the last week.

One of the most exciting things happening is our asparagus is coming up. We get to pick it for four weeks this year!

A tiny bud on our Asimina triloba (Paw Paw) trees. They got planted on the late side last summer and I wasn't sure if they would make it through the winter, but they did.

Garden 2015: Seeing What Lived Through the Winter

This winter, like last year's, has been cold and long. Right now, with flurries forecast for tonight, it isn't showing any sign of ceding ground to spring. I had a few vegetables that I tried to overwinter. Only the spinach, which was planted in a cold frame, made it. Given that one night it made it down to 2 degrees, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is still green.

We've had a couple of days where we were able to get out and do some work in the garden. Michael dug the beds that needed turned over for spring vegetables. I have managed to get a few things planted. Now it just needs to warm up a little.

 The beds that Michael dug last week. I have planted carrots, onions, and peas. Now the ground just needs to warm up a little.

The spinach that made it through the winter.

One of the tiny little azalea starts I was given last year. This little guy is about two inches across.

Garlic peeking up through the straw.

Tomato starts.

Lenten roses starting to bloom.

 Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) sprouting up through the leaf litter.

A white crocus in the front yard.

Garden Update: Beans

The garden has been a bit of a mixed bag. I feel like we are losing a pitched battle for the tomatoes with the squirrels. Just as the tomatoes are ripe, the squirrels come in and rip them off of the vine, take a single bite out of them, and scatter them around the yard. Most everything else is doing well, though. We have several kinds of beans planted and all of them are producing like crazy.

These are Christmas Lima Beans. We planted them from seed we saved last year. They are just starting to come in. These beans are about the size of a quarter. Unlike many other colored beans, these actually keep their color when they are cooked.

Bird Egg Beans or Cranberry Beans. These are one of our favorites. They have a wonderful creamy texture when cooked. We picked the last of them this week.

Fresh soybeans. I planted three waves of these because they all get ripe at the same time. I picked a gallon of them on Thursday night.

The brussels sprouts are getting bigger. They probably have another month or so before they are ready. They are probably the slowest growing plant in the garden aside from garlic.

Our last head of savoy cabbage.

One of our Dutch Crookneck Squash, a large winter squash.

Kale and spinach for fall. I planted a bunch of kale, cauliflower and brussels sprouts this week.

Dill flowers.

A hot Serrano Pepper. My peppers have done terribly this year. They really like heat and it just hasn't been that hot this summer. All of the plants are still small and not producing much.

Garden Update: Summer is Really Here

The garden is starting to produce and we've had enough rain that we've only had to water two or three times in the past few weeks. I'll take it. One of these days we'll have an irrigation system, but for now, watering involves hauling watering cans from the rain barrels.

Most things are doing well, but my cauliflower and romanesco broccoli are not setting heads. In doing some research, it seems that if it gets too hot, they won't produce. I also learned that cauliflower does much better in fall plantings, so I'll get to try again this year. It is definitely all an experiment and some things don't turn out. On to the pictures of things that are doing well:

Our first large tomatoes are ripe. This is a Henderson Ponderosa Pink Tomato. I picked the seeds up at the Missouri State Fair last year. They are a big, beefsteak style tomato that was developed in the late 1800s.

The sun gold cherry tomatoes have been producing all week. These are definitely my favorite cherry tomato.

I was at the nursery and their remaining vegetable plants were half off. I picked up this little pepper. It will change color as it grows, eventually ending up red.

Our watermelons are about softball-size now.

I saved seed from our lima beans last year and planted them this spring. They are growing well so far and are starting to set pods. These won't be ready until late September or October.

Pretty blossoms from some shell beans we are growing.

The enormous blossoms on our winter squash. This flower is about the same size as a dessert plate.

I am growing two different kinds of pickling cucumbers. I've already picked enough to start a crock of fermented pickles. I'll post a picture of that next time.

Brussels sprouts. These seem to be doing well in spite of the heat.

Red and blue potatoes. We still have two bags that we need to harvest, but otherwise, our spring potatoes are done. We have another bucket full, in addition to this one.

A woolly worm sneaking through the asparagus bed.