Whee

Assorted lettuces. Getting plenty of greens now. April was so cool that all the lettuces, spinach, etc did really well. Back in the 80's today though, and seems like it will be staying that way for a while.

The cinder block bed on the side is doing well. Lots of assorted greens and radishes.

Cabbages

Beets and lettuce

 



Inside the cinder blocks the big things are radishes, the ones that look empty have carrots. The cinder block walls are working out very well. Horseradish, catnip, raspberries and lovage inside that bed. You can only see the horseradish here though.

Spinach,radishes and kohlrabi in the back

More radishes. I have a ton of different radish types.














Iris' are pretty. Garlic growing in front of them.

Grew some mushrooms too :)

Lastly moved some tomatoes and basil out. It's a bit too early, but I will just have to baby them. Started them inside too early and they got too big.

So much for frequent updates

Well spring has been busy. Shocking I know. I expanded the space of the garden this year, it's about 20'x30' now and takes a large portion of the backyard. I don't get optimal sun thanks to the giant oak trees that shit leaves all over my yard every fall, but I don't have the money to have the trees removed and the shade is nice. For me, not so much for the plants. By expanding it more towards the house I will get more sun.

I started a lot of seedling indoors for the first time this year. It has been going pretty well. These are broccoli raab, cabbages, leeks, kohlrabis, head lettuce, collard greens, and probably some other stuff I forgot. This is when I was hardening them off, early March probably. Put them all out in the garden and the weather promptly decided it was summer and we had a string of 80 degree days. In March. I currently have tomatoes, basil and some hot peppers waiting to be transplanted out.

Broccoli raab when I first transplanted it above, and basically mature to the right. Two of these 3 plants are in my belly now. I had never had broccoli raab before, I have to say I really like it. And I don't particularly care for normal broccoli.

 Cabbages mostly, some onions as well.

 Mustard greens are the small close together plants. The yellow flowers are a broccoli raab that bolted, but bees seem to enjoy the flowers so I am leaving it be.

 Arugula!

 Beets. Another new thing this year. These are chioggia or candy cane beets. In theory they will be pretty to look at. I don't think I have ever eaten a beet.

 Regular broccoli. Growing slow in the shade, but at least it's not bolting.

 Carrots I think, and more broccoli raab.

 Mesclun, baby lettuces.

Some of the beds are starting to fill in. Still nothing on the trellis's except one which has peas. Eventually there will be pole beans and vining squash on the trellis'.

This is the cinder block bed I built on the side of the house. Have lots growing in it, chard, radishes, spinach, lettuce. Getting rid of the grass (I hate grass!) Im putting newspaper and cardboard underneath a layer of mulch. All the grass in the front is gone, most of the rear is the garden and now the side is almost done. Once I get the grass out of the other side I'll be done.





So that's whats happening. In the ground, radishes (black round spanish, regular red globes, icicle, watermelon), lettuces (red sails, salad bowl, pablo, black seeded simpson, mesclun), spinach(bloomsdale longstanding), kohlrabi, broccoli, broccoli raab, cabbage, collard greens, mustard greens, arugula, onions, leeks, peas, raddichio, horseradish, catnip, lovage and garlic I overwinted.. Small quantities of everything. Still have large beds empty, one for tomatoes basil and borage, one for squash.

New year new garden

So I sort of slacked off at the end of the year last year. Because of the crazy warm weather I still had some crops until early January. Greens and radishes mostly. Christmas came and went.

Cats were dressed like Santa and I got a tiller and money to buy equipment. I purchased a grow light, will be starting some seeds indoor this year. Also got some more obscure seeds, want to experiment with new things this year.

Not a whole lot to take pictures of yet. I finally expanded the plot into an actual rectangle instead of the weird L shape I was working with. 600 total feet, I drew up an actual plan with paths and other neat stuff instead of just throwing plants in a totally random fashion. About 400 square foot of growing space. I am also building a raised bed on the side of the house, about 40 square feet, that will be for experimenting with square foot gardening techniques. Haven't built it yet though, so no pictures.

Things I will grow for sure this year; Beets (red and chioggia), cabbage, lettuces, spinach (bloomsdale and new zealand), rainbow chard, onions, shallots, potatoes, tomatoes, squash (red kuri, ronde de nice, pattypan, and the regulars), pole beans, sugar peas, broccoli raab, garlic, cucumbers, horseradish, radishes (round red, black spanish, sparkler), arugula, and I will have to find room for some watermelon for my grandmother.


Will update with seedlings soon hopefully!

Slacker

I have been slacking on the updates.  Oops :)

I have a new pal. She made a nest next to my house and likes to pick bugs right after I water. I also have a toad in the garden, eating all my slugs. He is a good toad.

These are the pole beans in June. They are extremely prolific producers. I hace more beans then I know what to do with. Been freezing some.

Swiss chard in June.

And last night

Cayenne peppers

Red Cabbages

Collard greens. Also a prolific producer. Can basically take as many leaves as wanted and it keeps growing.

Golden Peach tomato

That is basically how it looks right now. Plant health has been pretty good. One heirloom tomato(ol mr stripey) and a zuchinni plant have died. The zuchinni was producing a lot then ended up with some sort of apparent rot.  I thought it was a borer worm at first but it wasn't. Watermelons and cucumbers have small fruits on them.  Tomatos are starting to ripen. Eggplant has flowered but no fruit yet.  Cabbages need to be picked and I need to start clearing out the old broccoli plants to make room for fall crops. I will be planting more carrots, radishes, bok choy, mustard greens, kale, daikon radish spinach and lettuce.  I need a bigger garden.

Herb Garden

In my quest to get rid of all grass(which I have a rational hatred for) I have decided to expand this thing and make it into a full herb garden.  When i first bought the house there was grass and a dead tree there. Little did I know I was going to get really into gardening, so I just built this shoddy bed and threw plants in randomly.

I expanded it out the back, dug up the holly in the middle and put in under a window on the side of the house, moved whatever the other two bushes are back(some kind of elderbush) and added herbs in the middle. Rasberries and blueberries on both sides, and I am digging up the grass all around the outside and planting blue liriope.

Now it is basically done, just need to finish mulching and graveling. And possibly plant one more raspberry in the back left corner.

Too hot

Well the weather has been atrocious. Things are growing a little bit slower, but still going well overall.

Squash peppers and tomatoes are starting to produce. I am still managing to get a little bit of broccoli, as long as I pick the florets when they are very small before they flower.  In the process of eating the cabbages as well.  The cooler weather crops are holding up to the heat surprisingly well.

Green zebra tomatoes.  All the tomatoes are doing well, except for poor Mr. Stripey who contracted some sort of wilt.  RIP Mr Stripey!

Cabbages.  Before they were eaten.  Left the bases and stems to try and grow some cabbage sprouts, may be too hot for that though.

My favorite squash, Crookneck squash.  

Baby peppers forming.  I don't remember which one this is, Mexibell I think.

Snap peas in the foreground, the trellis's in the background are for winter squash to grow up on. Hopefully.

Pole beans! They have been loving the heat.

Watermelon and some bizarre failed attempt at a trellis for it. The trellis is just too small.

Baby swiss chard. Growing slow in the heat, but not bolting :)

Snap peas are delicious. One of my favorite things in the garden.

Speaking of the winter squash, here are some of the seedlings. Late to the party but finally sprouting. I have about 7 hills of winter squash seedlings going.

Last, but certainly not least the beginnings of some royal beans. Yay for purple beans.











All in all it is going fairly well. The cauliflower never produced a head, they're gone. Kohlrabis have all been eaten, radishes are almost all eaten and cabbages will be gone soon as well. May start a little bit of corn but that is about it for planting between now and the end of July. I may start another row of beans or swiss chard before then. I built an herb garden in my front yard, will update that next.