18 posts tagged “garden”
our radishes are up!
um this weekend was p-nutty busy! I had two session this weekend and while I haven't even gotten to the pictures yet I do plan on finishing up the couples session tonight - so I promise something on that tomorrow.
When I got home Saturday nightI actually went out to work in the garden. This is one of those areas where not having cable/TV comes in handy. If there had been a TV in my house on Saturday then I would have come home dog tired from the session and plopped down in front of the couch for a few minutes of mindlessness. But since one wasn't there I went home, put on my overalls and Matt and I went outside to work. I planted 2 rows of peas, a row of beets, a row of radishes and two rows of lettuce. I told Matty that by May 24th we can have a lettuce and radish salad. He told me that the dates where usually general so it would be around then but I held fast to the timelines listed on the back of the salad package.
I felt good after doing that work, Matt cooked us up some yummy veggies and then we had Martel's ice cream. It was a seriously perfect day all the way around.
Sunday was dinner at his grandparents where I also learned out to play 83 - its a card game. And here is what I learned. Matt has the same demeanor/face at work that he has in competative games - I am not going to say its my favorite face - he gets all serious and rolls his eyes alot and is not tolerant of mistakes. Geez, I was just learning how to play the game but when I played a card that he wasn't happy with his face told me so!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know - playing games with him isn't as much fun as I thought. I am going to bust out Clue the next time he is over and see how that goes:)
its been a few weeks since i posted and I thought it high time. Mainly the reason I haven't posted is because my garden is just in growth mode. It looks the same day after day with the vegetables getting bigger and almost ready to eat but nothing that exciting YET!
I do have some tomatoes... i am at least a month behind I figure, like the rest of the folks in the state of Maine. There is only one big one I see and its green and not even a hint of red... but at least I see them.
I let my broccoli go to long and it went to flower. It never looked right for eating.. it never looking like broccoli I see in stores and then the next thing I knew it flowered. I planted some more in my winter garden so lets see where that goes.
I ate my first bowl of peas the other night. It was absolutely delicious and fantastic and an absolute chore! You have to pick them, then shuck the, them clean them. I think that you have to grow a TON! and I mean rows and rows and rows in order to get anything real that you could can????
I also had some radishes and lettuce last night. 2 summer squashes were picked and will be eaten this evening!
My watermelon and pumpkin seem to be doing ok... i have itty itty baby ones so that is fine - but the pumpkin won't be ready til December at this rate!
In other exciting news the subject of this blog will be changing or augmented come this fall. I will be renovating my kitchen so stay tuned for some before, during and after shots as well as lots and lots of commentary. For now you can take a look at this picture of the cabinets I have selected.
I have also selected a Corian countertop in the color of beach glass with a Corian sink!
YAY ME! I can't wait for my new kitchen!
I found some blackberries on my property today.... i wonder what I am going to do with them?
I also have some beautiful tiger lily's
and another of the tiger lily's
I cultivated some of the bare spots in the garden today (where the cucumbers didn't come up, where the lettuce has been picked) and started planting some of my fall vegetables:
swiss chard
cabbage
broccoli
cauliflower
I made my first foray into canning last weekend. I started by going to a pick your own strawberry place and picking 30lbs of strawberries. It only took about 2 hours and for the second flat I went to the back corner and it was easier.
On Sunday I took 15lbs and made 25 8oz containers of strawberry jam. Then I hulled and bagged 15 - 1 lb bags for the winter.
I did do freezer jam, which was easier and seems more effective. For now I am satisfied but there are a couple more weeks to the season if I want to go get more for regular jam.
my garden received some much needed rain this week and today is a glorious day so I an expecting great things.
6 weeks into this project I want to take a minute and reflect on what I have learned:
Seed Starting:
Next year buy plants! I do not have alot of inside space and my house isn't very warm. None of what I grew inside was big enough to transplant and even if I did transplant it it did not make it. Peppers never grew once they were in the ground, tomatoes never made it and sunflowers grew sideways. The summer squash made it but honestly that could be started by seed. I either need to get a greenhouse of sorts or I just need to buy plants.
Garden Size:
For my first year I have a pretty big garden (900sq ft) but I could go bigger. I don't feel overwhelmed by the size and I am enjoying it. Next year I would like to double the size and I should have fewer weeds next year since I will be in my 2nd year. I will definatly double the cantelope/pumpkin/watermelon patch and square off the garden. I would also like to put out strawberries so i could do my own jam.
Vegetables
Peas - start sooner so I have them by june. They seem to be doing alright with the radishes
Tomatoes - getting these from plants are the best way for me to go. I bought cherry tomatoe plants but do I really like them?
Beets: I need more seeds for beet greens and I need to start earlier if possible. Maybe the ground wasn't warm enough so next year I will cover the ground with that black cloth cover. I was careful to sprea the seeds out but I think that I can scatter them and then thin them when beet green time comes.
Carrots: These were seeded too closely together but so far they are ok
Broccoli: Thirving as plant sbut the bugs are eating the leaves. I put down some Garden Dust
Cucumbers: One entire row of pickling cucumbers never came up. WHY??? They are gorwing but I haven't seen a signle fruit yet so I have more to learn.
Lettuce: Worked great - but I only really need 3-4 heads of it.
Summer Squash - I was nervous at first b/c the plants didn't seem to be taking, but it appears that everything I read is true - summer squash is super easy to grow!
Sunflowers - damn deer got them all
Watermelon/Pumpkins - Due to the problem with not having my lawn mowed and not being able to get to the patch the watermelon were slow to start, but they look ok now, we will see what I finally get for fruit.
Pumpkins - these are going like gangbusters!
Tools
I need to purchase some better tools... list included
Small Seeded
Hoe
Salad Spinner - i have alot of lettuce and it gets wet and takes forever!
General:
I love it! I am really enjoying the garden process overall and can't wait to can some of what I grow so that I have it all winter. I want to expand for next year, I want a winter garden which I can still do, less lettuce next year and a bigger area for things that can be constantly sown like radish, lettuce and a bigger watermelon patch!
my garden really took shape this weekend... i got a picnic table:
and a new pea trellis:
my watermelon and pumpkin patch as gotten the attention it deserved! here are the flowers that are coming up on the pumpkins and a shot of my watermelons - I weeded them on Saturday and on the overnight they got at least 20% bigger! Its amazing what some water and weeding can do:
there are also some wild daisy's up by the pumpkin patch
this is one of the flowers coming up on the pumpkins:
NOW! ONTO THE GARDEN!
i have baby baby peas , miniature broccoli and tiny summersquash
i also have flowers on that summer squash plant and on my tomatoes
here is my whole beautiful garden!
because of the state of my lawn as you can see in this picture
The deer are still at it and no amount of fox urine is going to help me.. here are some closeups of the damage!
I also installed all the tomato cages the way I think they should be but honestly I have no idea - this entire year is trial and error and alot of praying and waiting... here are my tomatoes in the cages:
My small flower garden is doing well also, I am glad I didn't do much more than this because I really need to focus on the vegetables
Thats all for now, I have my weekend devoted to garden and photo prep so more pics and updates this weekend.
I love weekend now that I have my garden and when one of the days each weekend is raining it leaves only one day for gardening - so I had alot to cram in today.
The first order of business was to get my trellis' and tomato cages in. My father built me these cucumber trellises
one of my tomato plants - that I had bought as a plant - already needs a cage - because it has a flower!
i am not sure if they need more water or less or what I am doing wrong but I can not keep them alive i am going to have to do some research on it this week....
so the garden is looking very good! I had my first big harvest of radishes
