Garden Friday

This week has been fairly quiet on the gardening scene.

With other tasks on the front burner,

(like getting the inside of the house painted),

we haven't had as much time to devote to the garden

as we'd like.

 The herb/greens garden on the deck is slowly but surely making progress.

We were blessed with quite a bit of rain this past week,

and it shows in the growth of the crops.

Nothing like a good soaker to boost them right along.

The thyme and parsley seem to be happy 

in their shady spot.

These are two herbs that are the most used in our kitchen.

 Another pot has been started with parsley.

We always like to have some for the caterpillars

as well as for our own culinary use.

This spinach is a new crop for me.

I can't say I'm thus far impressed,

but I plan to resow it throughout the fall,

so we won't give up on it just yet.

 Three types of lettuce are doing fairly well.

More will be sown this weekend,

when I plan to sow or resow a few more veggies.

I'm hoping to transplant broccoli and leeks, 

as well as start beets, carrots and kale.

 This pot was left here by the previous owners,

who had a begonia planted in it.

That died, so I tried sowing some lettuce seeds in it,

and wouldn't you know,

the doggone squirrels helped themselves to it.

So far, they haven't been sampling the white pots on the deck,

but I will most likely have to get some shade cloth to deter the pesky varmints.

The east garden is small but doing well.

The tomato and pepper plants look strong and healthy.

They were recently fertilized again with turkey poop.

 

 In fact, the peppers are starting to come in.

These are jalapenos, and I hope to be able to dry them

so that I can have my own red pepper flakes on hand.

There are a few fruit on the tomato plants.

I wasn't sure they would bear fruit,

as we had a couple of weeks of very hot days

and they had not yet flowered.

Mother Nature always surprises me.

Since I didn't get to harvest any of the maters I grew at the rental house,

it will be especially rewarding to pick these beauties.

 

One thing I need to research is why the stems on the maters 

have these spiky-looking things sticking out.

They look like roots, but they are on the stems,

so I'm not sure what that means.

I know I could have staked them better,

but with moving into the new house

and all we are trying to get done,

I haven't made the time to get what I need.

I'll be ready for my next planting though!

I'm still working on the plans for the veggie garden.

I know where I want to put it,

but it will be a while before we can get started on that.

I guess it's a good time to do the planning though,

and I'll have all winter to gather my supplies.

Looking forward to growing fall veggies 

in our new state.

Always learning, always growing.