Planting Time~ tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and seeds as well as hot weather

Tonight we had a great time in the garden.  The other day we spread a cubic yard of compost amongst some of the beds, with a really thick layer in the cold bed which is usually planted before we get the compost.  We are behind this year on peas, radishes and such, but some were planted today.  We did the White Hailstone radishes again this year, I think they are my favorite.  Carrots also went in the soil, I am not positive of the variety.  Iceberg lettuce and Ching Chang bok choy seed also went in.  As well as plants from the local cheap greenhouse, those were a four pack of Early Girls, I think eight Jalepenos, and twelve Cal Wonder bells.  We never seem to have too many peppers, so I am going to plant a lot this year.  I also did a four pack of Diva cucumbers and a four pack burpless variety as well.  I sprinkled the last of my multi-colored beets and hope the best, the seed is pretty old.

Many sunflowers are coming up from last year, I am going to transplant some of them to other beds.  We enjoyed looking at the huge plants and flowers and the bees and other pollinators really enjoyed them as well.  The front flower beds are such a cheery sight.  The Hyacinthia and many other bulbs were such a welcome to spring.  I am going to continue to plant a few more things in the beds so there are new flowers pretty regularly.  There are a few iris blooms that should be next and the lilies leaves are up and going as well. 

Unseasonably hot is the theme of the week.  Today was like 93 degrees, but it is supposed to go back down into the 70s this week with some rain thankfully.  I am not ready for that heat and I always enjoy the spring rain for the garden.

Cucumbers and lots of ladybugs

The first cucumbers of the season today :)  I think they are the marketmores from Azure, the one we ate was yummy.  We also picked strawberries, blueberries, yellow squash, zucchini we are growing for a friend, and basil.  The tomatillios are just going crazy still, just amazing how covered they are.

The asparagus has had asparagus beetles and we have done some picking of them off, but there have been bunches and bunches anyway.  Well today the asparagus is also full, even more so, of ladybugs.  The natural way seems to be working out well.  There were lots of ladybug larvae and mature bugs.  I moved probably a dozen or more larvae to other areas of the garden.  I am hoping with the squash bug picked and egg squashing and now the ladybugs we will win the battle with them this year.  I found some eggs on the crookneck leaves and did some squashing ;)

First Early Girl Tomatoes

Today we had the first two early girl tomatoes.  They were small and so very good, eating them was such a good reminder of what a tomato is supposed to taste like!  We many other green tomatoes scattered on all the other varieties of tomatoes we are growing, how exciting it will be when we are harvesting more than a couple at a time.

Ripe Cherry Tomato :)

Woo hoo, we had our first ripe cherry tomato and there is an early girl that is starting to turn.  The zucchinis and yellow squash are starting to get with the program.  Our one yellow squash has a whole bunch of little squash on it, probably at least a dozen.  I think I saw a tiny crookneck while I was weed-eating the path beside it's box.  I need to check that out tomorrow because they are best pretty small usually and grow quick.  Still getting chard and the kale is huge and not seeming threatened by the hot weather at all.  More blueberries are ripening and things are looking good in the garden ;)

Blue Berries

Woo hoo the first ripe blueberries today!  They are huge and taste amazing.  I should have taken some pictures before they were swallowed up, the size of grapes they were.  There are still more ripening, I will have to get some photos.

I can't think of blueberries without thinking of The Bigsby Show Muffin Man song.

Weeding, pruning, picking

I spent a good bit of time tonight weeding beds (manure was full of weed seed apparently), pruning suckers off some tomatoes, and picking a few things.  We picked all of the peas off of most of the pea plants, all the purples.  I also plucked a good amount of basil, maybe a little bit of fresh pesto tomorrow will be in the plans.  There are several small summer squash growing well, lots of strawberry blossoms again, more beets ready, some loaded blueberry plants, good sized green early girls and cherry tomatoes, huge nasturtiums, and many other beautiful things happening out there :)

Pretty beets and a bit more harvested

We got to harvest another great veggie from the garden yesterday, beets.  Mainly they were the fun bulls eye target looking Chioggia.  God is so creative!  Some things I grow just amaze me at the fun design or color.  We also harvested more chard, some lettuce, and lots more peas.  I weeded the small bed that had gotten out of control a bit with weeds and planted carrots, lots of carrots, little seeds and little boys don't always go so well together.  I cooked up the beets as well as the yummy greens and threw in a green onion I harvested as well.

Unit Studies in the Great Outdoors

Some great specials on Unit Studies this week!  

Twisting Tornado $4

Volatile Volcanoes $4

Magnificent Moon $4

Tremendous Trees $4

 &

Gardens $5 for a 4 week study!

 Wonderful deals now through June 23rd.
The buy 5, save $5 is still going as well!

And the June and July specials of buy 10 get one free and buy 15 get two free!
Head on over to Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett to get in on this great sale :)

Garden, always a work in progress

We did some weeding and checking on things in the garden.  We planted some bush bean seeds and some crookneck squash plants, I need to stay out of the local greenhouse ;)  They had plants 20% off, so I bought the crooknecks, another 4-pack of Lunacy Orange marigolds, an Iceland poppy, and a Purple d'Oro daylily. 

I divided the daylily and put it in the flower section of the garden, I know they spread well and am looking forward to that.  I also put the poppy there, with the way they self-seed there will be many of them the future I hope.  I like to grow things that are low maintenance and reseed themselves, particularly when it comes to flowers.  I hope the bees are attracted to the poppies.  We also broadcast some echinacea, Mother of Pearl Poppy, and Pacific Beauty Mix Calendula in that bed.

I also scattered seed in what is becoming the herb bed.  It used to be herbs just on the end of the bed.  Where the marjoram, sage, chives, and thyme lived.  It is slowly becoming an herb bed where the perennials live as well as were the annuals can self-seed at will.  We tossed around some Summer Savory, echinacea, flat parsley, and maybe some other things.

Behind the back fence there is a large field and an old barn.  The garden is in front of and to the right side of the barn.  We planted some old dwarf sunflower seeds, as well as some more flowers behind the garden there.  I am hoping for the best, but this is not an area I am going to water or do much with, so it will be what can make it there.  With all the rain we are getting they will get a good start and I think they will do fine.  We planted some Mammoth sunflowers, State Fair Mix Zinnia, Giants of California Zinnia, and Sensation Candy Stripe Cosmos.

I am loving having some flowers around even though my main interest in gardening is growing food.  They just make me happy to look at them and the beneficial insects, butterflies, and bees enjoy them too. 

Peas, Strawberries, and Chard oh my

Today we found the first peas and ate them quickly in the garden, my children love them fresh off the plant.  The strawberries are also picking up production and taste so good.  There is also a fair amount of chard ready to eat.  Some of the potatoes are starting to get buds, I don't know that I am going to worry about hilling them, I might just let them go I think we will harvest plenty.  Oh and the iris are blooming in the garden, such a lovely addition.

Harvesting Strawberries and planting just a bit more

We were planting a few marigolds, basil, and some dwarf junior sunflower (picture from Azure) seedlings in the garden today and doing a little weeding when the children were very happy to discover ripe strawberries :)  They each got to eat several and I got one little one and it was really yummy.  We have an ever-bearing variety, so this is the start of something good.

The Holstein Cowpeas we planted are coming up as well as the Double Standard Sweet Corn, the cowpeas grow so fast.  The sunflowers are just breaking through as well, we planted some Tiger Eye Mix Sunflower and Mammoth Grey Stripe at the ends of two beds a couple of weeks ago.

The pea blossoms are looking great, we should have peas in now time.  A few of the tomatoes and peppers are getting to be good sizes and have blooms on them.  I stopped pinching most of the tomato blooms and am letting them get going.  The tomatillos are covered with flowers so we should be making some major salsa verde this summer.

Planting season almost complete

I think today will be nearly complete planting the main part of the garden, well maybe not the corn.  I hope to get the rest of my plants in from Azure and a few others and some seeds as well.  I am never quite done as we tweak and add things, as well as planting additional vegetables like carrots, beets, and radishes.  A few hours in the morning will go a long way today and it looks like great timing because the weather is calling for rain all next week.  I love rain in the spring, it means the less I have to water, my seedlings will be very happy next week and so will I :)

Harvesting 2012 Mother's Day

We have harvested a few radishes so far this year, tonight I was able to harvest enough to get enough to put in our salad to take to a dear friends for dinner this Mother's Day.  I really like these white hailstone radishes, they are large and tasty.  Happy Mother's Day!

Planting season continues

Tonight I got some of the lovely plants in the ground.  I am trying tomatillos this year, they are the regular green variety so I planted two of those plants.  I have heard you need two plants for pollination but only two because they are so productive.  The basil was planted and I separated the plants as there were many seedlings in each pot so I have quite a little row lined up.  Next to them are some La Roma tomatoes from the local green house and a bit further are four Anaheim peppers, I haven't grown them before, but I think they will be a great one for salsa for us. Sun Gold tomatoes made the garden this year for a cherry variety.  I am not loving that many plants are hybrid, that is unusual for me, but buying them from greenhouses some will be.  They sounds like a nice cherry choice.  Two celery plants also made it in the cold bed.  As well as a Vates Curly Kale that was free from ordering so many plants from Azure.

Planting season... more plants arrive

This year since we are buying most of the plants, I ordered from Azure Standard to get some lovely organic plants. We are trying some new things and getting some more herbs that they bees will enjoy.  I hope to get them in the ground soon, but it is pretty rainy right now so if that doesn't happen for a few days they will be just fine.

Planting season continues

I have another bed almost completely planted.  The peas in this bed are coming up great and so are the herbs.  This bed has herbs at the end that are a mix of annuals and perennials, the annuals are not in yet.  I am doing mainly store bought plants this year because of the early warmth and the greenhouse delay. I planted early girl tomatoes (seems like another variety I might have forgotten at the moment as well), several colored bell peppers, four jalepenos and a couple types of marigolds.

Flowers reinvigorated

This year is so productive!  We also replanted the small flower bed in the front.  It was not the grass taking over that bed, but the yarrow.  My husband built a pine box for the bed so it would be taller than the previous concrete edging and hopefully that will help to keep out the yarrow and grass.  My iris and lilies are so much happier!  I am going to try and mulch them to keep them that way.  I also pulled the weed from my two half wine barrels and got some seed planted in them as well as a new columbine in one as one barrels didn't come back  and put in a couple of pansies.  The little flower bed also got a some crysanthymums and violas to go around the tulips that are in it.  Only one tulip is going to bloom this year but I am still hopeful they others will next year.  I normally don't do annual plants, but those lovely viola and pansy faces were too much to pass on this year.  I am enjoying getting some instant beauty in as well as I wait for the Love in a Mist seeds to come up and the columbines to flower.

Strawberries

We totally replanted the strawberry bed!  It was quite a bit of work, but worth it.  The grass really tends to takeover in that bed so we pulled out all the plants and took out all the grass that had woven all around the roots.  We added sand (just a bit on the top), manure, fertilizer, and peat moss and replanted most of the plants back in the bed.  The great thing is with all the new plants in there we were able to plant another small bed in the front yard that had been empty and give a bucket full of crowns to our friends! 

Planting Season

This year seems to have been unusually warm, so I have taken the risk and gotten many plants in the ground already.  I have checked the weather reports and average lows and I think we are going to be ok.  I know the plants won't do a ton of growing, but they are in little hot caps and I have some time now to get them in.

In the Garden

Today was the first day of the season to get our hands in the soil.  It was so nice!  We turned some of our raised beds and enjoyed getting some vitamin D.  I planted several things in our cold bed, the one we always start our early seeds in.  I planted some Marvel of Four Seasons lettuce, Easter Egg radishes, Bulls Blood Beets, some carrots, possibly spinach and several types of peas including Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow, Sugar Ann Snap, Blue Podded.  The Blue Podded aren't my favorite for taste as the pods get less edible at a smaller size than the others, but it is always fun to grow a purple vegetable :)  I am hoping to get some things planted in the green house very soon, unfortunately it became a storage shed in the off season and needs cleaned out.