How Does Your Garden Grow? {May 29, 2012} ...finally!

I have to start with this carrot. You see, we haven't had much luck with carrots over the years and when we saw these greens bursting forth from our garden, we really thought we were on to something great. The pride was incredible...and then we pulled it. Gardening sure can be humbling.

 These are some of my Hidatsa Reds. I threw seeds in every conceivable spot in our yard this year. This planter usually houses rosemary and tulips. This year I added in beans, sunflowers and potatoes. Yes, I had a couple extra...why not?

 Do you think I should thin out my cucumbers? I haven't had much luck with these over the years either. I planted some seed in some containers which I WILL thin, however, I am not sure what will be best for them after I do that. Tomato cage? Put next to a wall with a trellis? I am completely open to suggestions.

A special welcome to Flash, our newest source of fertilizer joy! He is incredibly sweet and the kids adore him. We haven't had a pet since our pup passed away two years ago. There is a pretty good chance that I just broke the dam. You see, at one point I had a 250 gallon salt water tank, 10 goldfish, 2 geckos. 5 toads, 2 hamsters and a dog. Then came the Lil Man and only the dog and goldfish stayed. I like pets...stay tuned.

 The peas are doing their pea thing. A friend, who is incredibly talented in the kitchen, suggested sautéing the tendrils and that they are one of her absolute favorite things. We are trying them tonight.

 Hmmm...pests. I am guessing that these are of the hoofed variety. The netting must go back down. Sad. The Good Apple will tell you that he doesn't mind if the deer eat his share of the chard, little does he know that it has been in all of his salads lately. Ya, take that. 

 The Lemon Balm is a constant battle these days, so buyer beware. Apparently, deer don't like to eat it...

...so they HAD to move right on to the chard!! It is encroaching on everything and I am pulling it out of my beds almost daily. Wahhhh. I know. Does my chard need a little thinning? Yes, and THAT is what I have been putting in our salads...the bits that I am thinning out! A friend gave me that great idea and we have been enjoying the "thinnings" from our spinach, chard and kale in most of our salads.


Our sunflower seed starts were over a foot tall and a wee bit pathetic, so I planted all 50+ of them today in various parts of the yard. Fingers crossed, these are another plant I have not had as much success as I would like. I had set out to plant them with the Lil Man since he started them, however, his new KungFu Panda toys won and I was left to plant on my own...or so I thought. Lil Miss (who had just ripped off her diaper and threw it in the grass) handed me each and every sunflower start. My mama heart was l e a p i n g. Honestly, it made my day to have her want to help out. Back and forth to the tray, she brought them to me, one by one. Love.

I am still doing my photo a day challenge and I just had to share this little beauty that I captured yesterday. I love poppies even though they never last long. Look at that red. Divine.

So...tell me...how is your garden doing?

All photos are taken by Val Curtis and can be used with permission only.

How Does Your Garden Grow? {April 17, 2012}

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This was one of those weeks where I thought we wouldn't complete anything in the garden and we ended up getting quite a bit done. 

For starters, a friend offered us her artichoke plant so the Good Apple created a new spot for it in the yard. We (that is the Royal "we") just removed a California Lilac from this part of the yard and the new addition fit perfectly. Now keep your fingers crossed that it lives. It is off to a rocky start, but we are hoping for the best so we can gift her some artichokes. There is so much pressure with gifted plants!

Mystery Squash

On that same note, another gardening buddy brought over some beautiful squash starts that are HUGE! I had not planned space for them, but I also haven't really planted much yet. Well, I ended up finding a nice spot and planted all 6. They weren't labelled, so it will be squash surprises!

Asparagus - we actually get to harvest
it this year!

We also transplanted the Lil Man's starts that he planted in preschool. I was having one of those moments where I wanted to make sure everything was done just so, yet he was so excited and going 100 million miles an hour. He kept grabbing the tiny little things by their tops and I am afraid they will all die. Perhaps I will go plant some seeds next to his plantings so something does come up. He and I were also having watering issues and we were working really hard to not drown the little seedlings, but, well, there was a 4 year old in charge of the hose. What can I say? These little seedlings were not in the original plan either, but I do want the Lil Man to love the garden and giving him front row, center stage helps.
The feeling of Spring is really starting to grab hold in our little garden (beyond the infinite growth of weeds). The spirea is showing off it's beautiful shower of white flowers. The asparagus is sending it's lovely stalks upward at an incredible rate. The peas are starting to show signs of those delicate, little tendrils that grab everything in sight. The strawberries...oh, the strawberries. They were looking so good and when I checked on them on Sunday, they were eaten eaten eaten. Nip nip nip.

Design #1

Design #2 (Ignore those dandelions!)

These are the times that I really feel for the Good Apple. I get irate and something (very specific) must be done (by him usually) immediately. In this case, we had to design something to protect the strawberries. We came up with two designs based on materials we had on hand. The first was to wrap chicken wire around the barrels with bamboo sticks in place for rigidity. Over the top, we covered it with bird netting.
The second design was to use some garden edging around the edges of the barrel and netting over the top that was stretched down and hooked under the edging. We will see. After looking at our handy work, we came to the conclusion that we will have to uncover them during the day if we ever want them to be pollinated.

Spinach

I also had a chance to put some of my Kentucky Pole Beans in and some of my Hidatsa Red Beans. The KPB's are in one of the wine barrels and the HRB's are in a front planter where we can create some string trellises. It is all an experiment, isn't it? In addition to the beans, I added some more spinach to another bed for some friends who are in search of fresh spinach. No problem.
As I am writing this, I am starting to feel a glimpse of pride because I also started 8 mason jars full of herb seeds for my kitchen window. The GA pointed out that they will probably mold on the bottom. Awesome. Again. Experimenting. In hind site, I realize that, at a bare minimum, I should have made the bottom 1/3 sand. Oh well. They are already starting to germinate and I just planted them on Friday, so not bad. Basil, Camomile, Cilantro, Chives, Oregano, Dill, Rosemary and Parsley. We will see what happens. I am just going to spray the soil with water at this point to attempt to avoid the mold issue. Meh.
AND in honor of Earth Day, Sunday April 22 (which Lil Man says, "Mom, every day is Earth Day!" Yes indeed.) Kristina from Icing and Crumbs (on of my FAVORITE blogs) and I planted terrariums. As a result there will be an extra post this week, on Wednesday, sharing our experiences and oh so lovely creations. I know you are waiting with baited breath. Cool.

Our main garden beds

Well, I am off. Time to go wrestle the weeds. I know I promised to do a "Name this Weed" this week, but there was just too much gardening to be done and the weeds were too overwhelming. I did take a few weedy photos, but I am in an optimistic-celebrate-the-growth kind of mood and that is where I hope to leave you.
How is YOUR garden growing?