After the little over 2" of rain we (finally) got last week, the garden has burst forth. It's curious (and a little frustrating) that no matter how much watering one does (during a drought) with sprinkler or hand-held hose, it's just not the same as the rain Mother Nature gives us. The rain that falls from above has so many more nutrients in it than our well does. We could still use more moisture but are very, very thankful for the much needed rain we recently got.
Our strawberries are producing and we are harvesting now every other day or so. The above is the first harvest of a combined weight of 16-3/4 pounds of luscious berries. The closest bowl is from the new strawberry patch and the other two are from the old patch. What a bounty. As we speak, I have my second double batch of strawberry jam burbling on the stove. That will give us a total of 18 pints so far.
The cabbages are growing nicely. Heads are just beginning to form. This bed holds four red and four green. I stuck a spinach plant I needed to thin on either end of the bed but they're quickly being pushed out.
Our pepper plants are doing well and starting to form blossoms. I kept them covered with hot caps for quite a while but are out in the air and on their own now.
You may not be able to clearly see it with all the greenery in this picture but the Scarlet Runner beans are doing a great job of climbing up the hoop trellis with no help from me. In the past I've had to coax them to grab onto the trellis by tying them up! Why did they decide to do it themselves this year??
Bush beans have been slow, really slow but are now starting to look good. These are the yellow wax ones which always seem to grow faster for me than the green ones.
I have a row of pansies on either end of the garlic bed. These were plants that were volunteers from last year that popped up in various places in the garden. I moved them to this location and I'm happy I took the trouble to save them.
We grew way too many potatoes last year (what a problem to have, eh?), and I attribute it to the great seed potatoes we got from Wood Prairie Family Farm. I've cut back on the footage I planted this year so we'll see if we still get such a big yield. I've hilled them up once and will do so again once more.
14 comments:
I am so, so sad to have lost our little strawberry patch; yours look so good!
Well done Mama Pea! Everything looks wonderful. Happy 4th!
Ah, pansies in June, what a treat! We can only grow them in very early spring or late fall down here in the south (of hell, this time of year). Glad you are having a good garden this year. One day ....
I just loved everything you posted about! Those strawberries look fabulous! I had to replant some of my green beans, carrots and beets but everything else is coming along. Enjoy your growing season. - Jenn
Michelle - Oh, I know how much you must miss your strawberries! It's not the end of them for you. As they say, there's always next year. Plan on them and hope for the best.
Goatldi - Happy 4th of July to you, too. I'm choosing to think good thoughts surrounding the celebration as what our country stood for at a different time.
DFW - Yes, the lovely pansies do like cooler weather . . . and not too, too much sun. In the right conditions you can't beat them for colorful blooms and cheery, chirky little faces!
Jenn - Yupper, for the second year in a row my bush beans had no-show spots (new seeds, too) that I had to go back and push more seeds into the soil. Wish I knew why this was happening. Happily, the replanting has taken hold. Good luck with your gardening efforts this year!
I love seeing your garden. Ours is running slow this year. I think it’s because the weather couldn’t make up its mind when spring should have started. It delayed us putting the plants out. As a result, we never got the sugar snap peas put in. Darn it!
We are swimming in basil and oregano. I’m planning on harvesting oregano this week. I tie it up in bundles hung on a hanger in the guest bathroom because Sophie Kitty likes to play with it. Pesto is also somewhere in the near future. I have some ice cube trays that I got at the dollar store for that. I did see a post someone did recently where they froze their pesto in muffin cup papers. Ice trays are cheaper 🙄
We are finally getting rain too. We went from drought to almost too much. The tomatoes seem to love it. No red ones yet.
-Katie C.
Katie C. - Sounds like your spring weather was just like ours. I got much in later than usual, too. My sugar snap pea vines are about two feet tall but no blossoms yet. I've got herbs growing and plan on drying as much of them as I can. Like all else, organically grown dried herbs at our Co-op have gone up in price. But no basil for making pesto for this gal as I've never met a pesto recipe I liked. I know, I know. Everyone else is crazy about it but something must be wrong with my taster. I use dried basil in a lot of other cooking though. I envy you your ability to produce ripe tomaters!!
Your gardens look fantastic! Strawberry jam - Yes! I live where the weeds laugh and play with verve. So, today, I'm off on another weed conquering tour. My hydroponic strawberry patch (PVC tubes in my little greenhouse) seem to be going gangbusters. I love that I don't have to bend over to pic 'em. (I really can't/shouldn't so it is a good excuse.) Cheers!
Tim - I'm betting you don't have many weeds in your "strawberry patch" either! As far as bending over, my raised beds are only 8-12" high but I find them SO much easier (on my body) to work in than in my areas of flat garden. I once knew a lady in our area that was very overweight but loved to garden so she would lie flat on her stomach and elbows to tend her crops. Can you imagine??
Everything looks so good! And, oh my, all those strawberries! I'm just happy to get a bowlful. :)
Leigh - Thanks, Leigh. 'Tis the time of year when I do a good job of crossing off items on my daily list, but come end of day and I jot down tasks for the next day, I create a list with just as many "new" items on it. You can relate, I know! :o)
Wow! That's great with the strawberries. I cannot wait to get ours planted in raised beds. I small batch canned jam. We had way too much last year and I am still giving jars away to the kids. Nice yield on the eggs too.
I'm a big guy, but not so 'rotund' that I need to lay down to pull weeds - yet. I have a back issue that prevents/punishes bending. BUT, your story made me laugh enough to tell you why:
At a beekeepers meeting, one of the characters (There are a lot of 'em at beekeepers meetings!) told the story about weeding his onion patch. His garden was by the road. He had grown weary, so just laid down in the row for a rest. A car stopped and the driver shouted out, "He Arnold - are you alive?!" It became a favorite catch phrase for my wife and I ever after. "Hey Arnold, are you alive?" we'd badger each other with that whenever we thought the other deserved it. Cheers and happy fourth!
Kristina - We barely made it with the strawberry jam I put by last year. Took our very last jar out just before the current crop came in. This year I'm determined to make enough for two years . . . just in case!
Tim - Great story about Arnold! We have a like saying that we've kept going for over 50 years. Early in our marriage we had a bachelor friend named Al who was kinda lonely so we included him in a lot of our doings. Whenever we asked him if he'd like to join us on one occasion or another he'd reply, "It's up to you." In other words, he wanted to be a part of the goings-on but didn't want to intrude. So often whenever hubby or I suggest doing something, the other one of us replies, "It's up to you, Al." Corny, but much like you and your wife with your funny phrase!
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