its been a good spring.

i am a little late in planting but the slow cold start to things makes me less guilty. if i have the energy, i'll get the tomatoes and melons, corn, beans and squash in tomorrow.

the fava beans are blooming, i don't think i have the space to keep them until they fruit out sadly. but it definitely makes me want to plant them this winter. my raspberries are looking awesome.

this is the first year the chickens and bunnies have been successfully contained. which has to mean good things. i'm getting ready to lock the girls up so that i can try to grow them some 'pasture'.

i seem to be nothing but platitudes

while the progress on my front yard hasn't been what i had hoped for, in my avoidance of that dastardly task i have accomplished a great many other things.

• needing to test my tiller skills, i tilled the side garden by the patio. while it was all fresh and new, i decided to plant an herb garden. sage, rosemary, thyme, dill, and some chives dug up from another part of the yard. sprinkled some red california poppies—if it all comes up it will be ah-mazing.
• today i tilled in the middle front vegetable bed and planted the entire thing: sunflowers, (tendersweet, purple haze) carrots, chinese cabbage, (cylindrica, golden) beets, italian lettuce and fennel. i hope the weather rewards me.

other wonderful news in the gardensphere

• the tomatoes and peppers have been successfully hardened off and i think i will plant them this weekend. the favas have done nearly nothing and i expect that they won't—so i think i will just till them in.
• the arugula, radishes and mizuna are making some headway. (it only got warm just this weekend.)
• the front window box is looking nice, ants killed my chinese cabbage and broccoli but the salad greens, purple cabbage and (california?) poppy seeds are all coming up lovely.
• the melons, zukes, cukes and squash are all started. zinnias too!

will i successfully grow peas this year? (pretty iffy).

very very very excited for this season. this is going to be a good one.

they're alive

yesteday i spent some time puttering with the plants. i'm not sure if it was smart or just neurotic—but i moved the seedlings around by size, which allowed me to put the lid back on one of the trays to help nurture the little guys some more.

it also provided an opportunity to take stock of what was doing well and what wasn't. to my pleasure, the tomatoes are all looking good. if i keep on top of it, this could be my first year to grow tomatoes from seed. (last year i massacred all of my little friends through neglect.)

the peppers were also looking good, and the rosa bianca eggplant. a handful of things died and did not come back, so in the restructuring i did a quick replant in hopes of more peppers and more herbs. for good measure, i planted another tray heavily with thyme, cabbage and lettuce.

so i have three trays going and in a few weeks i'll start my cucumbers, melons and zuchinni. this april has been unseasonably cold and with the rate that squash and melons grow, i think it would be tempting fate to try and plant them now. soon, soon.

spring has sprung, in my basement

despite my best attempts to neglect them, the seedlings are surviving.

after killing all my peppers, its now part of my morning routine to go downstairs and water everything. this weekend i will likely plant another round of things and move some things around—its difficult to maintain trays half tall and green, half newly planted.

those especially impressive sprouts at the bottom are four o'clocks and down the way are several starts of bunny tails grass. here's hoping for an especially productive project weekend coming up.

harvest monday: late august

in addition to these beautiful tomatoes, i have eggplant of all shapes and colors and my cucumbers are experiencing a renaissance. peppers are also coming on, not the jungle i'd hoped for but peppers still.

the fall garden

reading heavy petal, i remembered—fall garden!

thus far i have chard, spinach, radishes, broccoli and carrots in the ground.

it feels good. i'm looking at fall as my second chance.

next up? more greens. mizuna, mache, stir-fry. mustard. arugula.

then i'm thinking turnips, fava beans, onions, raab and cabbage. oh, and peas!

i've never done well with fall gardening before but after my half-assed summer i have a desire to succeed. and my watering timer puts me ahead of the game. (really, i swear you should get yourself one.)

in the not-too-distant past i had good luck with fall. feeling lucky.

first tomatoes of the season

i think these are the purple chinese ones, i'll have to look up the name

not the summer i intended

this year was something of a disaster. lack of forward momentum (plus) grand plans (equals) frustration, disappointment, and weeds. just to name a few.

i think next year i will be simpler. smaller.

and automated.
if there is anything that i learned this year, is that an automated watering system is my savior.

maybe i will do an entire raised bed with flowers for cutting. zinnias. sunflowers.
fewer tomatoes, fewer eggplant. more greens. more beans.

while the guilt still nags at me, i am feeling a little better about it. things are growing, even with my minimal input. sometimes you just need to admit defeat and do what you can with what you have. there are tomatoes and eggs and cucumbers. smile and take a nap.

a small moment

today i spent a few moments in the garden.
had wanted to spend more, but the muggy warmth was unappealing.

tomatoes aren't ripe yet but i did score a veritable bounty.
three cucumbers, fistful of small carrots, two eggplant, two peppers and a small bowl of green beans.

it was a nice feeling. hopefully it will rain tonight and the air will clear a little.

fresh bean deliciousness

today i picked my first beans and found a baby cucumber that is growing.
still working on the motivation to do anything more productive in the garden.

a little bit here and there

last night i finally got some zuchinni seeds in the ground. !!!

i planted four types (magda, gadzukes, yellow straight, verte et blanc) in my strawberry bed after some vicious weeding. i am hoping as the squash grow large they will dominate and make it inhospitable for the weedlings. i also threw some cosmos and calendula seeds in to add some color.

the temperature is finally picking up and all the warm-crops are benefiting. the cucumbers are finally making progress and the tomatoes look happier than ever. the cool season crops are all bolting, so i sowed another series of radishes and greens in an attempt to fake them out.

the little seedlings i inherited are struggling from my lack of attention. i threw a few artichokes in the ground simply because they didn't look like they could live much longer. my 'structure' is slowly coming apart as i just try to get.things.in.the.ground.

so my priorities are to rescue the seedlings and plant winter squash seeds.
secondary priorities are any remaining brassicas and dry beans. and weeding. lots of it.

harvesting: second week of june

one thing i am not harvesting: salad. the chickens absolutely destroyed my salad greens!
but there is plenty of arugula and broccoli raab to make up for it. and a smattering of chard.

and i started picking some gooseberries off my gooseberry bush, although i think i may have picked them a little early—but i don't know how to tell since they are naturally tart.

its a very slow start to the season. rain, rain, rain.

garden photos

salad greens, radishes and spinach

fresh new bed, ready for eggplant and tomatillos

a sea of chamomile

pack of peppers

last night i planted thirty-five peppers. with twenty still waiting for their rightful spot.

i remember carefully labeling them and always keeping an eye on how i flipped the container, so that i'd always know what was what. well—all bets are off now. plopping them into the ground i was even more excite to have no idea what was what.

they are all rather small and i planted them probably only six to eight inches from each other. as the summer progresses my chamomile jungle will be replaced with a pepper one.

harvesting: third week of may

today andrea at Heavy Petal posted the beginning of a new series: Now Harvesting.

i like the idea and i'm not going to steal it but i'll respond to it in the manner which blogs often work: by blogging it. it happily coincides with my first 'harvest' of any sort from the garden

so this week i have finally begun to harvest salad greens. the arugula is almost ready.

i've also pulled up two french breakfast radishes and dove in to my fresh chives, thyme, savory and rosemary. i predict next week will bring the addition of spinach!

right now is when i feel the pangs the hardest and regret my slow start the most. even still, i am enjoying fresh salad from the garden immensely. its hard to stay down with a fresh plate of homegrown veggies.

grow baby grow!

its nice to come home from a weekend away and find that everything has grown at least an inch.

i have recognizable arugula, spinach and heads of loose leaf lettuce now, the chamomile is about to bloom (tea!) the beets, carrots and parsnips have a decided presence. the tomatoes are perkier—green zebra and cherokee purple are already putting out flowers which is encouraging. tonight i plant peppers and eggplants and tomatillos.

portland was sunny and full of fun. the farmer's market was still void of fava beans so i'll have to hold out hope for our market here. sounds like the intensely frigid december did them no great benefit. but i did score some early season cucumbers, new potatoes and red cipollini onions—all of which i already have designs on.

glad for the break, glad to be home. what else can i say.
the next few weeks are going to be good ones.

cure-all? the garden.

last thursday i feigned illness and stayed home to play in the garden.
it was a beautiful sunny spring day and i just had to get something in the ground.

beans and cucumbers were the lucky souls this time around. i have two tee-pee trellises up with lemon cucumber, japanese long cucumber and madori cucumber seedlings (the armenians died). around them i've done a loop of maxibel and soliel beans each—my two favorites from last year. i popped some nasturtiums and marigolds at the corners, chamomile in the center.

i have an entire bed that is self-seeded in chamomile. i once heard chamomile acts like a tonic to plants nearby so as i work on making room for my peppers, i've been relocating chamomile to various areas.

the new cucumber trellises

things are looking good. when i get back from portland i'll put in almost everything else—peppers and eggplants and melons during the week, corn and squash over the weekend. i'm going to run nasturtiums down the length of the berry beds for a nice pop of color and i think some squash will end up by the strawberries.

i am starting to know how awesome the garden is going to look, starting to feel it. looking forward to another warm sunny season with long days and endless amounts of fun.

leap of faith

despite the variable weather i decided to throw my hat in the tomato ring.

this saturday i needed a perk-me-up, so at the farmer's market i picked up tomatoes to replace the ones that failed. i ended up with: pink brandywine, green zebra, purple cherokee, zapotec, orange anada, violet jasper, orange woodle, principe borhgese and red fig. once i got over the disappointment of the ones i grew dying, i let myself get carried away with fun tomato varieties.

got them in the ground that afternoon and they are still kickin'—so i am feeling good.

the weather is perking up. i've been taking advantage of the warm days to harden off what i've grown and everything seems to be doing well. i am starting to make eyes at my cucumbers, peppers and beans—their time is close (today?! tomorrow?!)

spring is here! its amazing what a little sunshine can do.

i'm trying to be patient, but c'mon!

this spring will not end, wait, i mean begin. this spring will not end or begin.

according to accuweather.com it is 50 degrees outside. its may 5th. cinco de mayo.
we're supposed to be living it up with margaritas and pretending we are in mexico.

instead, we have a freeze warning in effect until thursday.

more than anything it is affecting my spirit and motivation. it hasn't felt like time to grow things and i have been slow and haphazard at seeding. my friends and blogs with their luscious looking spinach and radishes make me green with envy.

looking at the forecast it looks like night temps are above 50 starting next friday (the 14th) but dip back down until the following wednesday. i know that the heat will come but its hard to believe it.

i've spent the week re-organizing the kitchen and spending quality time with the dog. i think this weekend i think i will revamp my efforts in the yard—but that is always what i say. we'll see what i do.

trying not to let my spirits get quashed by the cold weather and struggling plants. at least it will give me the opportunity to try at peas one more time. and saturday looks to be good weather with lots of activity.

trying for some perspective

i appear to have killed most of my tomatoes.
it started out that they were looking a little yellow around the ears. last sunday i took them outside, doused them with fish emulsion and let them experience the outdoors.

i brought them in at dusk and thought—oh my. more shriveled, more yellow.
that was several days ago, they don't appear to be getting much better.

too much fertilizer? too much sun? too much cold?
or is it the mold on the outside of the peat pots?

devastation, tears, guilt—the whole why me?! act. it took me a few hours to calm down.

to counteract that self-imposed sense of woe i thought i might muse on all the things going right this season. yesterday i took a look around and was pleasantly surprised.

outside the spinach is coming up well—which is a first for me. perhaps the warm-turned-cold spring is helping me out on that. the carrots, beets and arugula are also up in a nice form and the neighbor's potatoes are looking healthy. the black raspberries in back are doing good, as is the gooseberry bush. my flower pots are living and sprouting and i see poppies on the way.

not to mention that i have one full rain barrel!

inside the peppers are making up for the tomatoes and look amazing. as do the squash and melons. better yet, the once-thought-for-dead cabbage are looking good and will be thriving outside soon. the sweet potatoes in the kitchen are beginning to sprout.

my dog is healthy, my cats are happy and everyone living in the house seems to be having a good time.

the first farmer's market is this saturday and i am planning on bicycling down and loading up with seasonal foods, flowers and maybe some tomato plants. as was pointed out to me, i will have a garden this year, it might just not all be grown from (my) seed.

so i will move on to bigger concerns—like why isn't it above 50 at night yet?!