Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Summer 2011

Summer has been dry, and very hot. Tomatoes are in and very plentiful. Zucchini were great, we got so many, had to give some away. Shredded and froze some for later use. made a WW zucchini bread that was yummy. Also, cooked with tarragon which was different.
Apples on Honey crisp tree did not do well will only get two out of a dozen or so.
The other tree only has two apples but looks beautiful. cucumber were wonderful, but all but one of the plants has died, new cukes on the remaining plant. Eggplants have been good 3 so far more to come. Peppers Jalapeno did well. Overall it has been a good year. NO blight, that has plagued the garden the last few years. Was is the straw? I didn't use it this year.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Spring 2011 In the Garden

This has been such a wet spring. Somehow I managed to get in a garden, in between the raindrops, or down pours I should say.

This years plantings look like this

Vegetable garden:

lower box, on trellis that Andrew put up this spring are, peas then cabbage, purple cabbage, spinach and swiss chard. Been in since mid April.

middle box: on the trellis, pole bean, than tomatoes 4 plants beefsteak variety, then brussel sprouts and cauliflower.

top box: cucumbers on the trellis, eggplant, zucchini and a couple of volunteer pumpkin plants.

Fruits:

Apple trees look good, honey crisp has LOTS of apples, golden a couple. put in two stake type fertilizers on each. need to spray when the rain finally stops!
Blueberry bushes: last year's bush is full of blueberries, 3 new bushes this year, adjusting well but no berries.
Two new strawberry plants went in very early (March) and are well established with lots of berries.

Herb scene:
Replaced purple sage, lavender and rosemary this year. planted some more parsley. dill came up on its own. nice.

Chickens have been laying well since February. molt lasted a long time. all are laying every day or every other day.

Very persistent fox has been hanging around mid to late morning or later in the afternoon.

Flowers:
planted some poppies this year from Home Depot (on sale) two survived and have been blooming beautifully, older poppies doing well. Need to more red poppy from iris/daffodil patch.