Harvest Festival

tomato pie

cukes lead to pickles

hexagonal tomatoes

humongus watermelon

sunflowers and daisies

homemade Veggie juice

pumpkins came early

lavendar - foraged from neighbor

edamame

baba ganoush (eggplant dip)

raspberries are coming!

raspberries!!!!

tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

Tomatoes were planted yesterday after the last frost (hopefully)! The trays have been outside enjoying sunshine and spending nights on the south window in the garage. We put up shelves to hold our plants over winter, but they have a use in spring as well during frosty nights.

There are over 100 extra plants - the germination rates are in excess of 90%.

Alexa's venture (Tulip Tree Innovations)is set to kick-off at the neighborhood garage sale on May 18. She has a bazillion different herb arrangements in unique, up-cycled and re-purposed containers. They're pretty neat.

We have days with temperatures in low 80's and nights with low 60's for the next few weeks. A true spring but about a month late. Last year (2012) we didn't have a spring - just jumped into 80's and 90's. It was hot!  No idea what the weather pattern will be this year.

strawberries relocated....

Strawberries were thinned from the bed and planted in smaller pots to re-root. We also have strawberry pots to give away to neighbors. The plants are 3 years old and should bear this year even after being disturbed.

a variety of tomatoes

Our tomato varieties:
Cherokee Purple (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Abe Lincoln (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Black Krim (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Big Rainbow (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Yellow Pear (Burpee Heirloom)
Roma (Burpee)
Sweet 100 hybrid (Burpee)
John Baur (Seed Savers - Bonny Best 1914)
Green Zebra (Seed Savers - Tater Mater 1983)
Tasty Evergreen (Seed Savers - Seedmen 1956)

Alexa really grew strong seedlings this year. This one was sown in February, transplanted after 6 weeks growth and is about 12 weeks old now and ready to go into the garden.

peppermint divided

It's very hard to grow mints from seeds but easy from cuttings from the mother plant. I divided it and soaked the roots and then popped them into our potting mix. Voila! 6 plants from 1 main plant.

transplanted tomatoes and peppers into bigger pots

Transplanted tomatoes and pepperss.

seedlings in March

heirloom seed gifts

Seeds acquired through family gifts:

slo-bolt cilantro from Todd's Seeds (Michigan) http://toddsseeds.com/

tomatoes: cherokee purple, abe lincoln (a nice USDA cultivar), black krim. and big rainbow (Ferry-Morse)

flowers (from Timo and his wife, katia of peru)

Marvel of Peru (mirablis jalapis) - 4 o'clocks (containers, as they won't winter well here)
Forget-me-nots - victoria blue (of course!)


Already preparing for winter seeding in home-made plastic houses and the greenhouse.

new deck out front

New deck out front. Had Geno, the rent-a-husband, tear down the old weathered neglected on and design and build this one. It's about 45 ft across and 8 ft deep. We stained it a natural cedartone which turned out dark orange. weathering should help it.

 Here, we are protecting the evergreens not just making them fashionable.

Gardening is not a rational act - things that did not go well in 2012

Wild weather

• Drought: there was not much rain and certainly high temperatures. The water bill was high even with a drip system.
• Drip system installed. Had pressure issues and plugged hoses. Drip system saved the containers, though, while we were away for 3 weeks in June.
• Broccoli did not head. Cauliflower headed in late October. 
• Strawberries flowered and fruited three times! They were confused.
• Raspberries also confused.

Rodents of unusual cuteness

• Chipmunks ate young brassicas and undercut one of the tomato beds leading to premature demise. Too bad, our resident Cooper's hawk (picture) wasn't hunting them.  In further insult, our friends who were gifted with extra tomato plants had bumper harvests. Rats!

Japanese beetles: I won the war this time by going out morning and night and capturing and killing all that I could find on my cherry trees. Last year, they defoliated them. This year, I claim victory!

Beauty acquired: I scored white tulips at a clearance bin!

Peppers galore! Freezer full of hot and not-so-hot peppers.

Potatoes: Two years of unsuccessful harvest. The container method is not working. Where are the 100's of pounds of potatoes from a bin? We barely get seeds back out.

Sunflowers rocked!

time and tide waits for no....

frost killed yellow squash

tiny cauliflower - started heading in late October

big beefy yellow tomatoes (heirloom)

cauliflower harvest

Some late harvest goodies from the garden.

The cold frame is doing well even with outside temperatures going sub-freezing overnight. Lettuce, arugala, and spinach gets harvested twice a week.

Garlic was planted just before thanksgiving. Twice as much as last year.

sunflowers

Alexa is 5'4"...the sunflower is almost 7' tall.

This one is from seeds Kervin gave me...we're been calling the giant russian sunflowers, but that's just a guess.

Also, a happy bee.

heat and more heat

Heirlooms are not doing well in the heat despite plenty of water. 

The strawberries think it is August. 

tiny fruits....

Tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, and cucumbers have all fruited. 

japanese beetles are back

Japanese beetles, also known as popillia japonia, are invaders that we truly need to prevent and control. They love to feed off of the yard's life, defoliating leaves and fruit. I was going to town with a spray bottle full of soapy water and olive oil. Last year, the beetle defoliated both cherry trees. I hope to stop them this year before complete destruction occurs.

beautiful iris

Beautiful iris from the Amish lady at the Farmer's Market. It has three blooms that alternate with opening and closing: left, right, middle, repeat. Weirdest thing I have seen in the garden.

Iris, most beautiful flower,
Symbol of life, love, and light;
Found by the brook, and the meadow,
Or lofty, on arable height.
You come in such glorious colors...

Edith Buckner Edwards, 1961

potato harvest...not good so far

red potatoes still growing strong

  The reds look good so far.

The gold potato plants were dead when we got home from vacation. we had a drip system set up to give them water. So we pulled the pile. 


















At least 6 bigger potatoes had started rotting in the wet earth. I dug through 100 pounds of composted soil and straw to the bottom to find a few potatoes.

We did get bigger potatoes but not very many and they were only at the bottom of the barrel. I don't see how people gets "hundreds" of pounds of potatoes from a vertical system.

I followed directions. Oh well. We'll have to maybe throw the potatoes into one of the boxes and try rows next year. 

Homegrown new potatoes taste wonderful!