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.

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.

Fall Garden and Clean Up

Beautiful carrots (kalidesope from burpe) were one of the things I pulled this past weekend. I also took out parsnips and peppers. There were tons of green tomatoes and a few cherry tomatoes turning red. With the upcoming frost predicted thought it best to pick them.
There are still brocolli plants and lettuce, arugula, and spinach left.
Cleaned up the herb garden, ready for next year. cut back roses, and hydrangea.
A few weeks back I planted 10 gorgeous mums by the lampost and driveway and 4 ornamental cabbages. Hope the mums come back next year. and I hope i didn't disturb the tulips bulbs I put there earlier this year.
Chickens are not laying, 1 egg a day for over a month. Molting I suppose with all the feathers in the coop.

Hummingbird

Ran out the door this morning on my way to work and almost smacked right into a hummingbird who had been getting a drink from the fountain on the patio.

Apples are delicious!

We got the first taste of our Golden apples and the verdict was unanimous! They are crisp, sweet, and juicy. Too bad we only got three of the this year.

How could a whole year go by.........

Well here it is, August 2010 and I haven't posted once in a whole year!! Shameless, really.

Unfortunately, not to much has changed with my garden.

I planted a variety of tomatoes, heirlooms and hybrids. Same blight happened again this year. Tomato plants went in early, before Mother's Day and grew like crazy, reaching 5ft by early June. Tons of tomatoes on the vines, my favorite hands down was a Roman Candle. It was a gorgeous yellow plum, very firm meaty variety I got from a coworker. He also gave me a variety called Gold Medal which was a yellow and red swirly stripy variety tasty but not as good a producer. Brandywines where wonderful too until the blight hit and dessimated my tomatoe crop. I waited as long as I could then pulled all the tomatoes off the vines and put them in various places to ripen. I left them on vines and cut vines off. The Roman Candle tomatoes grew in bunches like grapes, very cool to see. One good thing, I planted a couple of tomato plants late after clearing out the remnants of the blight, same bed and they are doing really well, lush and green.
In the spring I grew mesculen and arugula lettuces which have grown wild at this point.
Carrots and parsnips are coming along.
Peppers and eggplants going crazy.
We hung a netting for pole beans and they are climbed up the top, no flowering yet.
On the Herb front I planted a couple of new plants in the herb garden
two new strawberry plants which did very well,
Pineapple sage, maritini spruge, eucaliptus, are other additions

The blueberry plant we planted last year came in really nicely this year only no blossoms or berries!! Have to work on that for next year. Maybe has to do with soil condition? There are plenty of other blueberry bushes in neighbors yard that did fine.

Of the two apple trees we planted last year only one produced apples. the Golden Delicious apple tree started out with 5 apples, deer ate 2 so 3 are left.
Honey crisp apple tree did not blossom at all and looks sick. Have sprayed for worms, and will feed this fall.

Chickens are great!! still have 4 healthy girls producing 2-3 eggs a day. Leaving the coop open at night when the temperature was really high. Need to start closing it as it is getting cooler in the evening. Next time I get feed I am going to get some oystershells to add to their diet.
They haven't been out to free range at all, hopefully this weekend we let them out to spread their wings.

Late Blight

It looks as though I have or should I say my tomatoes have "late blight" . Probably from all of the cool weather and rain we have had. I vainly tried to remove what I could and start anew, but the referenced article above does not give me hope. There are still a ton of tomaotes which are usable if they don't have the spots etc.
On a lighter note>..
Carrots are beautiful and should be ready to pick.
I have planted lettuces, rocket, but the neighbors cats find this bed compfy, and so I find them sleeping in it. I may try to start seeds inside in a more controlled climate.
The honey crisp apple tree is doing very poorly. leaves are brown and diseased looking. so sad
the other green able tree (golden something ) is doing much better despite the deer eating at its lower branches.
still need to put the blueberry bush in. thought I would wait for cooler weather.