Where has June gone?

Seriously, can you believe it is almost July? I cannot believe how time keeps slipping away from me.

It has been a strange year for gardening - but don't we say that every year? It is just that the strangeness is different every year. There is never a "perfect" year for gardening - something is always out of whack - that's the way it is with nature. Every year something does great and something doesn't. I don't think I have ever had a garden where everything grew perfectly.

This year the weather has been so variable. We had below average temperatures for much of the spring and early summer and now it is hot - too hot - the garden didn't have time to adjust. We also had very little rain so I haven't been complaining one bit about the last few rainy days.

So, how has my garden been growing since I haven't been updating? Here are a few pics:

The lettuce has been doing great. It loves the cooler weather we were having. It will probably be done pretty soon now that the weather has turned hot.

The potatoes are also doing great. They have started flowering which means there will be new potatoes to dig very soon.

The peppers have just not done well so far this year. They are small and just not growing much. They are heat lovers, so maybe now that it has turned hot, they will start thriving instead of just surviving.

The cauliflower was looking great but the heads have started looking really funky the last couple of days. I suspect it is the sudden heat.

The brocolli is looking really good. It hasn't seemed to mind the heat.

The brussels sprouts are also doing well.

I lost most of my cabbage this spring to the rabbits. The ones that survived (I put a fence around them a little too late) are doing great.

My tomatoes are struggling. They are starting to bounce back. None of my tomatoes look as good as my neighbor's but I'm not too concerned - at least not yet.

The new peach tree is thriving. My son keeps asking when we will have peaches again. Poor impatient child, he just does not understand that this young tree will not produce fruit for some time.

The currant bushes are loaded with berries that are just starting to ripen.

And lastly, Andy's garden. He planted cucumbers, canteloupe and watermelons. The cucumbers and canteloupes are beginning to look really good. His seedless watermelon never came up and the seeded ones just don't seem to be doing much. They are barely growing - I'm not sure if we will see any fruit from them this year. Andy, being the ever hopeful child still thinks the seedless ones might come up yet.

Garden Update 4/25/09

April has been a very dry month. April is supposed to be rainy. It is supposed to rain today but so far it is just overcast. The plants need the rain - I think I will get Andy out to do a rain dance later. I think I will even join him. What a crazy sight that will be!

I planted onions yesterday. I ordered extra onion plants this year. I never realized just how many onions we go through. Onions (and carrots) was one of the few vegetables that even though I grow them and get some from my CSA, I still found myself buying more almost every trip to the grocery store. I tried to pay attention to things like that when planning my garden this year. I really want to grow the things that we consume and knock that grocery bill even further down.

So here is a picture of my 6 rows of onions. I watered them really good after planting and they still look good this morning. Hopefully the rain will come.

On Earth Day, we added a grave beside the currant bushes. Just 3 months after we lost our cocker spaniel Molly, we lost our kitty Cricket. She was 16 years old. I wish we could have buried Molly under the currants but the ground was frozen hard in January and we just couldn't afford to pay the extra money to get her ashes back to bury later. This is the end of the animals that I had before I met Dan - I brought both Molly and Cricket with me when I moved here from Arizona in 1994. They lived good lives.

The rhubarb is looking really good this morning. It won't be long until it is tall enough to cut. Yum, yum. I always look forward to rhubarb crisp in the spring. And of course strawberry rhubarb pie and strawberry rhubarb jam and just rhubarb cooked up (my mom always called it pie plant instead of rhubarb).

The lilacs will be blooming soon and sending their wonderful fragrance through the air. I just love the smell of lilacs in the spring - has to be one of my most favorite things of all.

And a couple of brave strawberries have put out some early blossoms. That means there will be strawberries to go with the rhubarb!

It's looking like it may be a good gardening year after all!

We had a late start and now it is just hot but the garden seems to be weathering it all. And after all, isn't there always something about the weather to complain about? Every year it is too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry or too something.

Mostly my garden is doing great. I had spotty germination on the parsnips and some of my carrots and Andy's sunflower fort has seen better years - but overall it is doing well. We have been eating lettuce and radishes from the garden for some time.

The strawberries were great this year. The currants and raspberries are loaded. The apple tree doesn't have any fruit this year and it looks like I have lost the peach tree - the green that was there has shriveled up and died. But I keep watering the tree hoping beyond hope that there is some life left in there somewhere! LOL! My plum tree has plums for the first time - I can only find 3 - so not a huge harvest but I'll take what I can get and it is still a very young tree.

I snapped a few pics of the garden this morning -



2 views of my raised bed from opposite angles.


Wayahead Tomato


The dead peach tree.

My garden is thriving!

In spite of the weather and in spite of the fact that I have been depressed and pushing myself to garden - the garden is still doing well.

I just finished planting it this weekend, but lots of stuff is up and doing well.


Just an overall shot of the garden.


And another shot from the opposite corner.


The cabbage plants are really looking nice. They are probably the nicest looking plants in the garden.


The tomatoes are doing well also - they have some transplant shock but are bouncing back and will be growing tall soon.


Two weeks ago I was ready to write the peach tree off as dead - but look it is starting to come to life. Maybe there is hope for it yet.

Reluctant Gardening continues.....

This is just so unnatural for me - to have to push myself to garden. But keep pushing myself I do hoping I will start enjoying it and because it has to get done.

I have never understood people who don't like to garden - but if it feels like this to them, I do get why they don't do it.

Gardening should be enjoyable. Something you can't wait to do and love to lose yourself in.

I just haven't been myself lately. I blame it all on menopause and hope that I get through it quickly.

But I did have a productive morning regardless.


I staked up my tomatoes that are waiting to be transplanted. I have never had to stake them before transplanting them before - but they were such a tangled mess I was afraid they would all die and I would be left with nothing.


I put up my bean towers - I haven't planted the beans yet - but at least the space is reserved for them now and the string is all strung.


I dug up the raspberries that were trying to invade the tomato area, put down black paper and put up 11 tomato cages and 3 tomato towers. So that area is all ready now for the tomatoes. They still need to be hardened off for a couple more days before transplanting - but at least the area is ready.


Here is a picture of the tomato tower. I have always used cages in the past, but by fall they all end up together as a tangled mess as they grow out of the top of the cages. I thought I would try the tower and pruning method - for three of my plants any way. If I like the way they turn out maybe I will buy more towers next year. If I had somewhere to hang them from I would try the growing them upside down.....

Pushing myself to Garden

What is wrong with me? I love to garden but this year I am just not doing it. I pushed myself to get out today for a little while. I don't know if it is just that I have so much else going on or if it is the weather.

But I did have a good gardening day today.

I planted:
Carrots - Scarlet Nantes, Tendersweet, Nelson Hybrid, & Atomic Red
Radishes - Easter Egg Mix
Leaf Lettuce - Lettuce Blend
Parsnips - Hollow Crown
Beets - Red Ace Hybrid

I also set my tomatoes out for a few hours today to get them used to the weather and wind so I can plant them out soon. They have grown so tall that they are touching the lights - the weather needs to cooperate so I can get them out in the ground!

I also took a couple of pictures -


The plum tree is blooming. I am hoping for plums this year - it would be the first year - last year we had a couple of blooms, but no plums.


And strawberry blossoms.

We got our first weekly box from our CSA

With the crazy weather there hasn't been much gardening to do yet. The plants in the basement are growing very tall and would like to go outside - if only the weather would cooperate!

The plants that are outside are doing well. The lettuce is bouncing back - slowly, but it is bouncing back. The cabbage, brocolli and brussells sprouts are all thriving. The onions and garlic are growing nicely. The strawberries are blooming. The plum tree is about to break out in bloom soon. The apple tree is leafing out but no flowers. The peach is looking healthy and the lilacs will be blooming soon. Hopefully the weather will improve soon and I will be able to get out and get my hands dirty.

In the meantime I have my veggies from my CSA. I couldn't be happier with my new CSA - it is like night and day difference from the one we belonged to last year. We eat a ton of veggies around here so I really hope that between the garden and the CSA I will not have to buy veggies this summer - that would so totally help the grocery bill.

Here is a pic of what was in the box this week. Pussy Willows, rhubarb, parsnips, horseradish, ramps, sunchokes, chives and spinach. I have never had sunchokes or ramps before so I am excited about that. We have already eaten the sunchokes and parsnips - made oven roasted root veggies for dinner last night - yum! And I used the chives in a sour cream/chives dip - again yum!

For those of you local here in the Twin Cities, the CSA I joined this year is Harmony Valley and they still have openings - they are in Wisconsin and make deliveries in Madison and probably other towns as well - so my Wisconsin friends and relatives can check them out also.

Pictures of my garden Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The tomato plants are looking very healthy in the basement.


The pepper plants are not looking so good. Most of them are not up.


The cabbage and brocolli look great - the cauliflower and brussells sprouts not so good.


I have this pile of grape vines on the patio table from the fall. What was I thinking? Did I really think I could use them to weave a basket or something? I think they need to go in the compost....


The snow shovels are still by the back door - I think we can safely put them away now.......at least I hope so.


Lilac buds will soon be fragrant flowers! I can't wait - I love lilacs in the spring.


Lillies will soon be up.


The rhubarb is awakening also.


The onions I planted on Sunday.


Andy's garlic project.


Kind of blurry - but some of Andy's garlic A (the old stuff) is actually coming up.


My next big project - I have started digging these shrubs out. I don't like the bushes in the front of the house and the rocks. I want a nice flower bed with mulch.

In my garden - Saturday October 13, 2007

The cabbage continues to do well


I am very disappointed in the brussels sprouts - I tried a new variety this year and I'm just not happy - no sprouts big enough to pick - the plants are healthy and tall - but I want sprouts!


The bell peppers don't seem to know that it is fall and just continue to flower and are still loaded with peppers!


I have a couple of nice looking heads of cauliflower!


I think the green beans are finally done for the season. I'm going to cut them down in the next few days.