June 2nd and the garden is finally planted!

I think this is the latest I have ever planted my garden.  I did plant a couple of things 2 weeks ago but the bulk of the planting was done yesterday and today.  As it is, my tomatoes and peppers aren't liking the cool weather and really wish they were back inside.  I hope it warms up soon and they make it.  

 My main garden.  I have Egyptian walking onions, pole beans, fennel, snow peas, beauty heart radishes, carrots, lettuce, beets and mini bell peppers. 

 I have potatoes in my earth boxes on my patio.

 Yummy brussells sprouts! 

 Herbs - basil, parsley, sage, rosemary, marjoram, oregano

 Bell peppers in the lower part of my new raised bed garden - 6 are mixed colors regular bells and 3 are mini bells - we love peppers, can you tell?

 Tomatoes (roma) in the upper part of my new raised bed garden.  They are not happy to be outside in the cold - I hope they perk up and make it.

And back behind the fence is Andy's garden and as usual he has planted cucumbers and watermelon.  We added an A frame this year for the plants to grow up instead of having them all on the ground. 

How about you?  When did you plant your garden this year?  If you are in Minnesota, haven't you just loved this weather?

Slowly but surely

In spite of a stormy weekend, I did squeeze some gardening in - the ground was really wet but you gotta squeeze gardening time in when you can.

The peas are growing nicely. I can't wait for fresh peas!

The potatoes are coming up already.

I planted cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli this weekend.

Golden Rave Tomatoes are hanging out on the patio getting used to the weather and waiting their turn to be planted.

I still have Roma Tomatoes, Watermelon, Bell and Hot Peppers in the basement under the lights.

It is starting to actually feel like spring.

Time to Plant Potatoes

These potatoes are sprouting and saying they are ready to be planted. I am planting them whole this year like my dad used to do. I usually cut them into pieces - but you have to make sure you cure them before planting when you do that or they will rot instead of grow. I always lose a few to rotting because I am just impatient and plant too soon. So this year I am experimenting. I'm not sure why we cut them up - I guess I will see if I get less yield this year.

The trees have finally started leafing out and I am starting to feel like we will actually have a spring and that summer will be here. I actually heard a rumor that it will be 80 tomorrow - after all of the cold, that will seem really warm. But I'll believe it when I feel it on my bare arms.

Happy Gardening!

Look what I had for dinner!

It just doesn't get any fresher than this. I dug them, washed them, cooked them and ate them all in the span of a half hour. There is nothing like tender new potatoes. They sure were good.

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.

Spring is finally here!

Today it really felt like spring and it was good to get out in the garden. I am going to be sore tomorrow though - I am very out of shape after the long winter. I planted red onion plants today that came in yesterday's mail. I also planted potatoes - Red Norland and Gold Rush.

I feel like I am getting such a late start - but what can you do when it decides to snow in April? I have a busy week working this week, but I hope I can get out in the garden some every day. I will take some pics and post them soon.

Washing potatoes

Andy was having a blast washing the dirt off the potatoes that I dug up yesterday. He also got a science lesson out of it when he discovered that he created a rainbow.

In My Garden Saturday 7/14/07

I thinned out some carrots and dug some new potatoes. I roasted them for dinner with a few onions from the garden - they were yummy. I just tossed a little olive oil on them and a little salt and pepper and roasted them in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour. YUM!


The two remaining hot pepper plants are getting lots of peppers on them.


The cauliflower is starting to form heads.


Andy's sunflowers are starting to form heads also - Andy can't wait for his flowers to bloom!

In my garden today 5/29/07

The apple tree is loaded with little apples

I transplanted the pepper plants today - now everything is in the ground

Strawberries are ripening

The black raspberries I transplanted in the spring are flowering so maybe I'll get some fruit from them this year - I thought I might lose a year with a transplant.

The pole beans are all up. The green beans on the right came up before the yellow beans on the left even though they were planted at the same time.

I don't know how well you can see with my cheap camera (my nice one died), but the carrots are all up in nice little rows.

The potatoes are looking good

The currant bushes are loaded.

The sunflower fort has been planted, but this year we put mulch in the middle so prickly weeds don't grow - the boys didn't like playing in there much last year because of the weeds!

7 quarts of rhubarb ready for the freezer. Rhubarb is real easy to freeze - just cut up and put in bags and stick in the freezer - nothing to it!

I have some flowers blooming as well. I don't pay attention to the names of the flowers as I do to the veggies - so I can't even think of what kind of flowers they are right now.

The Minnesota peaches are growing bigger. I just hope I can keep the boys from picking them green. Andy and Vinny (the neighbor) picked quite a few green apples over the weekend - I have told them not to touch the peaches, but they don't always listen.

The tomatoes are bouncing back from transplant shock.

The cabbage and brussels sprouts are loving this cool weather.

In my garden this morning

Lots to see in my garden this morning.

The tomatoes are starting to bounce back from transplant shock. I do think I lost one or two - but most look like this one. Next week they will be looking good.

The Red Cabbage is loving the cool weather and doing good.

The Brussels Sprouts are also doing good.

The cauliflower was planted out this past weekend the same as the tomatoes and they haven't fully recovered from transplant shock yet either - but give them a week and they'll be looking fine!

The onions are looking great. I could start pulling some for green onions now if I needed to.

The last lettuce that I planted out is recovering mostly from transplant shock (this was the third planting) - but I think I may have lost the red one on the right.

The first lettuce I planted out is looking good. I will start picking the outer leaves for my evening salad in the next few days. I can't wait - nothing tastes better than lettuce you grow yourself!

The lettuce I direct seeded in the garden is also up and doing good. To the right you can see the radishes are also up.

The carrots are up - well, not the Nelson hybrid, but all of the other varieties I planted are up.

You can see baby beets here.

And the potatoes are starting to peek through the ground as well.

So far I am pretty pleased with how the garden is shaping up this year.