I finished getting the potatoes hilled up. Other than their rather haphazard germination rate, they're looking good. This is the first time I've planted potatoes in the "pumpkin patch" so I'll be curious to see what kind of a yield we get this year. We so much prefer red potatoes to white ones that I didn't plant anything but reds.
This morning I picked our first decent sized harvest of strawberries. I've given some away and the rest we'll use in our lunch time smoothies and/or eat fresh in a bowl with milk. (Or cream, hee-hee.) Sure wish somebody would use some of them to make a refrigerated strawberry pie topped with whipped cream.
I'm not quite finished with working on our expanded blueberry/haskcap berry patch yet today. Had to come in for a break from the sun . . . and bending over.Early this spring we decided to expand the above area. Papa Pea plowed up the sod and I've now tilled it three times. We've picked about a ton of rocks off it three times, too. This morning we trekked into town to pick up a couple bales of peat moss for me to spread on the new area. This will start to make the soil more acidic so it'll be ready for more blueberry or haskap berry bushes when we decide what to put in there.
The new area is "L"-shaped and the three haskap bushes we planted this spring are across the foot of the "L".
They're not lush bushes yet (!) but have progressed a lot from the sticks we planted.Well, I've slurped up the last of my iced coffee pick-me-up so I suppose I'd better get back out there to finish up for the day before time to make dinner. I think grilled cheese sandwiches and a cold broccoli salad will be the "gourmet" selection for tonight!
I know you're feeling like the garden just isn't up to speed yet MP, but it looks pretty good to me!!! I hear ya on the red potatoes. Love em!
ReplyDeletetami - Thanks, Tami. I should be grateful that my garden is doing as good as it is. Talked with a couple of other gardeners in my area yesterday and they're having more trouble than I am. And just why is it we keep trying to garden??
DeleteYou're making me want to go back and buy the blueberry bushes I saw today... must resist...
ReplyDeleteJen - Oh, I can see now that you have your own place the gardening bug is going to bite you bad!!
DeleteI find that I am very interested in what is in cold broccoli salad. No cooking will be going on here while the heat wave is on, so you must share that recipe. Those strawberries look wonderful.
ReplyDeleteJane - Will get that broccoli salad recipe up in a post today for you. Glad to share!
DeleteYour potatoes look so nice! I love red potatoes as well, and just picked a 5 gallon bucket. Love all your updates on your garden!
ReplyDeleteShannon - You're the kind of gardener that makes me feel I'm so far behind! You already have harvested potatoes?? Holy cow!
DeleteFor being late, your potatoes put mine to shame. And I"m envious of your strawberries, between frost, dry weather and chipmunks we only got two small pickings. Barely enough to eat. sigh...
ReplyDeleteAnd your blueberry patch looks amazing! I desperately need to weed mine.
Judy
Judy - Geesh! At least YOU'RE not harvesting your potatoes, too! Shame about your strawberries. Wish I could send you some of mine. I had a big bowl for breakfast. Thanks for the compliment on our blueberry patch. I was out weeding it before breakfast this morning. Heck, it was even before coffee! Gotta beat the heat.
DeleteYour gardens are looking good considering all the bad weather.
ReplyDeleteThe cat keeps chewing on our blueberry bushes so the one bush on the end isn't looking too good. There's only one bush that looks like it may have a few berries on it.
You always make me so jealous of your lovely strawberries.
Sparkless - Wish I could send you some fresh strawberries, too!
DeleteWhat's lacking in that cat's diet that he keeps chewing on the blueberry bushes? Bad cat.
beautiful strawberries my dear ,mind if I pick a few (dozen)and no I will never start talking with out humor ,keeps my veins alive,they may not be jumping but that might be a good think,I get enough excitement.How about a normal boring sleepy rainy movie watching normal,oh I said that didn't I NORMAL
ReplyDeletejudy - There are berries out there to pick today so come on over! :o}
DeleteWe could use a rainy day, too. Can't believe I'm actually saying that after our recent flooding but the hot, sunny days have dried everything up.
Can I come eat at your place? Fresh-picked homegrown strawberries, grilled cheese with broccoli salad... I like the way you eat! Seriously, your place is so beautiful. You garden is so beautiful and I continue to drool over your 'dirt'. sigh... it's beautiful too. :) After all your rain and crummy weather, I bet it feels so good to be outside.
ReplyDeleteLisa - You are too complimentary. When I was out in the garden early this morning, for the first time I noticed that things look like they're actually taking hold and starting to grow. I was worried they weren't gonna do that this year!
DeleteTaco Salad for dinner tonight. Wanna come?
Taco Salad sounds great!!! You prepare such a diversity of dishes... golly, I wish we weren't a half a country apart.
DeleteLisa - I find that I really need a lot of variety in my food. It's not that we don't eat leftovers . . . but for the second or third time in a row I have to fool myself into thinking it's something new by serving it with a totally different salad or roll or side dish.
DeleteI wish we weren't half a country apart, too. Blogging does play tricks on your mind though. You become so familiar and bonded with some folks that you feel as if they live just next door . . . or should!
:) I love these photos!
ReplyDeleteI so wanted to plant potatoes, but we're just not set up for it this year. Maybe next?
Enjoy your weekend! :D
Reasonable Season (Me) - You're doin' GREAT with your gardening this year. Next year . . . POTATOES!
DeleteOh boy, I can identify with that "break from bending over" statement. Bending and picking really takes a toll after while on our "older" backs, doesn't it? Your strawberries are beautiful. I just pick a quart or two of blueberries this morning at our former house. Nice that the new owners let us do that.
ReplyDeleteKaren L. - Ha! I can remember my back yelling at me after working in the garden too long even back when I was in my 20s-30s. Just not a normal position to be in for any length of time!
DeleteGood deal with being able to still get blueberries from your former garden. Really good deal!
I am always in awe at both the size and orderly-ness of your garden. I go limp even contemplating working with that much cultivation. 80 degrees sound pretty good right now. We've gone from 60s to 90s. There is never anything in between, it seems. Has your garden recovered from the deluge? I'll be looking forward to seeing that cold broccoli salad, too. I have a recipe that I use but I can always use more!
ReplyDeleteSusan - All the credit goes to my crew of 4 gardeners that I employ full time. (Hahahahaha!) Papa Pea and I were out before breakfast this morning trying to beat the heat and I think it was worth it. Now it's 1 p.m. and we just had our smoothies for lunch and we're gonna stay inside for a couple of hours hoping it might be a shade cooler to go out again later.
DeleteYes, it's remarkable that the garden can seem as dry now as it does after having had standing water on it a little more than a week ago. I didn't lose as much as some people did so I'm thankful.
Broccoli Salad recipe comin' up!
I have a lot of catching up to do, wow those berries look great! You're potato hills look so perfectly "hilled"! No wonder mine are a such a mess every year, I definitely can use your photo as a reference for how I should be doing it :)
ReplyDeleteErin - Does that mean I can add "Potato Hilling" to my resume? ;o)
ReplyDelete