It’s been hot and very smoky here, but this morning we had a little rain and the air is almost breathable. The garden is looking a-ok
Got a good amount of food out today.
Cooked up a yummy low-fat lunch to starve my gallbladder.
Dude, I love arugula.
That was a few days ago at 4:30. So much smoke that the sun turned red
I fertilized the tomatoes, squash, and blueberries a couple of days ago.
Today I did some fall planting- Brussels sprouts, leeks, green onions in South C (soil well fluffed with amendment), cover crop on South D…
Peas, beets, and carrots in West E.
Arugula and leeks in upper A.
I made up a bowl of future-salad. I also planted some basil seeds with my plant (and spilled dirt on the floor!) and replanted some cat grass for the kitties.
I cooked up a big stir fry up work on this week (Garden: yellow squash, zucchini, garlic, hot peppers from the freezer, beets, beet greens, chard, kale. + beans) This is my favorite way to eat up a bunch of greens, and makes a lot of food (:
oh! And I’m out of cilantro seeds, so I’m trying out some of the ones I harvested last year for coriander while my plants bolt.
Strawberries are still nuts, blueberries are starting but the robins won’t share.
We’ve been gone a couple of days, and came home to our first real harvest.
Which I fried and braised
Into this
Yum!
Includes beet greens, Swiss chard, kale, romaine, squash, peas, onion, and garlic from the garden; peppers from the freezer, and beans salt oil from the store.
Also
Strawberries a plenty!
It’s been raining for a few days, almost thunderstorming, and I’ve been busy/flaring to much to be outside. (dislocated neck?)
I planted a few more okra starts in south d and west e
After pulling a bunch of bolting radishes. I found some beets hiding under there, too.
And a lovely robins egg blue robins egg.
the green beans are growing!
I fertilized (acidizer) the tomatoes, except for one container tomato as a test.
Then I side dressed basically everything- lower and pots
Planted nasturtium along the new rock wall in the lower bed
And a couple of delicata on the slope- protected by copper and sluggo.
Asparagus progress
Volunteer Mullein
Okra progress.
(Please forgive my typos. I’m juggling kittens as I write this.) The weeds are really out of control, so I went after the ones on the slope on Sunday. Filled up the big compost bin- /:
Now you can see the hydrangeas and roses that are about to bloom, and this pretty plant from the buy nothing group.
Some delightful creature devoured all but one of my winter squash starts. Grrr. I put a couple more seeds in the ground, and am starting some more inside.
I also planted a bunch of things to eat as babygreens. We love the Swiss chard.
I transplanted some leafy starts in South A.
Progress
This is one of my favorite places in the garden. Jungle-like with artichoke plants as big as my car.
P and I worked in the garden this afternoon. He mowed and got the irrigation mostly set up. I planted planted planted.
4 okra plants went into south d.
I replaced the non-starting direct sown squash seeds with starts.
Planted the remaining “healthy” peppers in upper c. Five total between the two beds.
Starting some more leafy greens to plant in the upper beds.
As I do every year I planted “just one more” tomato (red Robin) in a container.
Here’s some progress shots.
Feeling better today- so I decided to embrace the sun and get some stuff in the ground!
Also notable- although I feel like we’ve had some rain, the soil was DRY dry, and I had to hand water everything. It’s about time to set up the drip line I guess.
2 Nova sauce and one red Robin cherry tomato start (my starts) went into west C and west d. They went into cages… Which always feel a little optimistic in size this time of year. (;
Two peppers went into upper B… Which was supposed to be full of kale, chard, and romaine…. HA! Next year I won’t even bother direct seeding those.
I put out one little okra to test soil conditions in West D. If it’s still alive in a couple of days I’ll move the rest out. Okra would probably be a good use for water walls in the future.
I moved a couple of the squash starts out to the greenhouse, and planted a bit more romaine and kale in there.
I also added red fertilizer to the tomatoes in the ground, and blue to the blueberries and camelia.
PROGRESS
Green bean sprout
Chardonnay or Gewurztraminer grape. Not sure which. /:
Garlic
we also have a small army of mushrooms around the planters.
Time and (limited) experience in the garden has taught me that the only way to learn anything out here is to do it wrong at least once. I’ve run this theory by several experienced gardeners, and they always nod then tell me stories.
So, here are some things I’d like to tell past Alison.
– Plant perennials that need time to mature the second that you decide you’re interested in gardening. Do not wait several years so that you can wait another couple of years to eat your raspberries and asparagus
-DO NOT PLANT OREGANO IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, you idiot. It is monstrous!
-Do not leave the greenhouse closed on a 86Degree spring day. Everything will die. It will roast and die, and you will cry.
-Don’t skip soil amendment just because it’s far away and heavy.
-Don’t plant strawberries or raspberries without some heavy defenses. They will conquer the garden.
-Don’t take free plants with holes chewed in them. You. Are. Dumb.
****
Okay! Enough berating. One thing I did so right was to use the leaves as mulch on some of the beds and between our neighbors very weedy yard and our moderately weedy lawn.
The patch of green in the middle is a transplanted perennial sunflower. g.
I spent the morning weeding (if there isn’t an old saying about the difficulty of pulling grass from the onion bed there should be.) and placing a second bed for peas (west e). The poor peas that I planted in the lower bed have not been able to win the war against whatever is eating them (I have all kinds of theories, but no luck… Something is digging there. /: ) so if they come up in the west bed, I’ll have to reorganize a bit more. (Squash, peppers, and okra need homes.)
Things that weren’t roasted in the greenhouse LOVED the warm sunny weather. I think some greens are starting (kale, chard, romaine), radishes are getting bigger, grapes… many things.
The weather is gorgeous, for a few days. I did a little wander through the garden- things are still happening slowly. I put a balanced fertilizer on the leafy veggies with the hope that it will inspire them to pick up.
The starts are looking amazing since I repotted them. That probably means it’s time to repot again (;
I traded out a few of the smaller ones from the greenhouse to see if they do better inside.
I also moved the greenhouse so it will get more fun. Sometimes I have to sacrifice aesthetics.
The little container tomato is hanging in there.
Remaining apple is starting to get leaves.
Strawberry and parsley baskets showing some growth.