I won’t say that I’ve been busy in the garden. I haven’t. I’ve mainly ignored it.
Yes, I’m serious. Have you forgotten that I’m a lazy gardener?
Lazy might not be the best word for it – but let’s just say I’ve been plenty busy with other projects. As a result, one 4×8 bed still remains unplanted, and another 4×8 bed still needs to be relocated and filled with dirt. As for the rest, however, things are bursting into bloom…
Oops, those are PEAS
Peas…edamame…big difference in plant, but the seeds look a lot alike. I’m going to have to get a little creative with this raised bed and some chicken wire. I had meant to plant edamame (salted soybeans that the Japanese eat with their beer – kind of like we do with peanuts) and picked up an unlabeled bag of seeds that looked like edamame, but quite obviously was not.
Oh well. Who’s up for more peas?!
Salad, Anyone?
Our red leaf lettuce that I planted at the same time as the okra is doing quite well. The okra isn’t in sight. Hmmm…
And we have numerous tomato plants popping up all over the yard. I guess some seeds germinated in the compost…
They are doing better than the tomato plants we grew from seed or purchased from down the street!
Plenty of Beans…and Another Experiment
I decided to fill in the gaps in the front yard (between the strawberries and thyme plants) with a black pole bean. I didn’t coddle those seeds at all, just stuck them down in the mulch and waited to see what sprouted.
I have at least thirty sprouts at present. And most of those have a handful of coffee added to the top, right before those epic rains hit last week. Perfect timing, right?
I’ve noticed that others have popped up since, but I haven’t added any coffee grounds. I want to see how they perform compared to the ones with coffee grounds. Will the coffee grounds make a difference? Or not? If I don’t remember to post results, ask me later on in the season.
Yellow Squash…Already!
I was surprised to find some baby squash growing. At this rate I’ll have my first dish of squash and onions sauteed and ready to enjoy by early next week!
The white powder is food-grade diatomaceous earth. I use it in several ways in and around the house. This is the first time I’ve tried it on plants. I just can’t stand the idea of using Sevin on my squash plants. So I’m going to try…once more…to get these puppies to grow without resorting to chemical methods of controlling the pests.
The Great Strawberry Harvest of 2012
It looks as if we managed to pull at least 30, possibly 40 pounds of strawberries out this year. On Wednesday we had a homeschooling family visit. I enlisted the help of the four children to pick what I hope are the last of the strawberries. They filled a gallon baggie at least 3/4 of the way full of ripe strawberries.
Last year I picked up some strawberries in late June or so – an end of the season sale at some nursery. I planted them in the front and most of them survived. After the homeschool family left I picked one and was blown away by its taste. Absolutely sweet and flavorful – miles better than the already quite tasty strawberries that are in the backyard. I tracked down the packaging…
Everbearing…huh…well, they are amazing. I’m going to keep a special eye on them and see if I can’t propogate plenty more. As soon as they are finished producing fruits they will begin to send out runners. Since they are out front it will make it easy to put little pots full of dirt out and sprouting the runners into new plants that I can then transfer to other parts of the yard. By next year I’ll have four times the number of those sweet, amazing yummies growing!
As For the Rest…
We have plenty of kale growing around and about. Great to add to salads, or saute as a green…
Dave’s “gotta have” beets…and some weeds…and another tomato volunteer…
Some lovely native plants we found on a walk last year. We transplanted them to our backyard and they have been doing fantastic.
Here are some more that grace the front of the chicken house…
Plenty of young onion plants coming up. Thank you to Dave for planting these…
Our pineapple mint has really taken off this year. This is year #3 for the plant, it looks like I will finally be able to harvest some of it this year. Hmmm…what will I make?
Massive honey production underway. We now have a full sized box and two supers over the main hive. Dave just added the top super on Wednesday night, but the rest is FULL of honey. Mmmm…fresh, local honey…
This is yellow clover. When the yellow clover blooms, it is prime honey season. We are adding a super every week. At 2 1/2 gallons of yield per super…well, I doubt we will have to buy honey anytime soon!
Our black currant bushes are looking very healthy and happy. We haven’t lost a single one! Buying plants on eBay might not seem to work, but I’ve had great luck overall.
And this tomato plant, all of maybe a foot tall, is determined to show us what it can do. It already has fruits on it!
The front yard is where you will find more decorative elements. Such as this lamb’s ear and lovely yellow coreopsis…
Backed by our nectarine tree, this red rosebush was actually a volunteer. I swear to you I did not plant it, and when I first moved here this area was all grass. Apparently it likes where it is at…
This is a pawpaw tree. It has been here for going on three years now and I think it is actually decided to stay and grow! Bare sticks when we got them, we have one on each side of the front yard. It was touch and go for a while, but this is the most leaves I have seen on them ever!
Danielle’s painted rosebush is doing as fabulous as ever. In my typical fashion I planted garlic around it and have ignored it ever since. Emily takes great joy in picking the flowers for me though, so they are finally making them inside the house!
A handsome furry man cat came slinking up to me for some petting. Hello Mister E., how are you?
The spearmint continues to grow. We keep it in check with the lawnmower. I only hope the meter reader likes the smell of mint!
I also finally have enough lemon balm to make lemon balm jelly. O…M…G…it is to die for!
The nectarines…
the peaches…
and apples are all looking absolutely fabulous…
It is beautiful out. The birds are chirping, our garden is green and beautiful, and life is good. What a beautiful spring day!
