Garden Friday

Yesterday was the beginning of Hurricane Season.
It feels really strange not having to prep for it.
So grateful that we are not as vulnerable living up here.
We still keep supplies on hand,
but it's nice to know that we probably won't need them
(at least not until winter).
If you are in a hurricane zone,
don't hesitate to get your pantry and first aid kit stocked!

Garden Friday begins with BIG news!

I picked my first snap pea of the season this week.

Ooooh, have those babies been missed!

These are sugar snaps and you can guess how they got that name.

As long as I keep seeing them, I'll be pickin'!

If these aren't harvested when ripe,

it sends a signal to the crop to stop producing.

I found some old shoelaces of C's to use on the trellis

to guide the tendrils.

Work like a charm!

The beets are coming along, but not anywhere near ready.

They've been one of the slower growers in our garden.

We have both red and orange beets planted.

The beet greens are a lovely addition to salads,

and SO GOOD FOR YOU!

The kale is small, but succulent.

I usually prefer my veggies on the smaller side,

as they always prove to be the most tender and flavorful.

The bad news is that the lettuce has started to bolt.

I've been able to pick without tasting any bitterness,

but it won't be long before they will have to be pulled.

No complaints here, they've been providing salads all spring long.

More has been sown to keep the good stuff comin'!

last week

We showed you our cauliflower plants last week,

and how they've blossomed into a wonderful border. 

this week

This week they were riddled with holes.

Not going out to check on them often enough,

these critters got a hold of them and went to town.

It was party time for the pesky creatures.

The crops in the front bed are pretty much decimated.

Ah well, that's life in an organic garden.

Lesson learned. 

Be vigilant!

The two cauliflower plants I have in pots on the front steps fared better.
We might actually get to eat some of this stuff.
I'll be keeping my eye on these two.
 

one month ago

The tomato plants are doing well.
No signs of pest damage so far.

this week

They seem to like this spot out front

with full sun nearly all day.

This is what they looked like a couple of days ago.

And the best news of all...

We've got flowers!

We're on the right track,

but I won't count my chickens just yet.

I have only had moderate success with tomato growing.

The fruit I've been buying at the farmers' market

has kept me hopeful that I will be able to enjoy some home-grown.

Keep your fingers crossed!

We'll be moving in a couple of weeks,
(more about that next week),
and taking our tin can garden with us.
The fun will begin 
when I can start mapping out my veggie beds
at the new place.
Looking forward to starting over and playing with garden design.

What are you harvesting from your garden in this first week of June?

Garden Friday

It seems like it takes no time at all
for Friday to get here.
Every week is busy with house hunting, doctor appointments
and tooling around town, trying to get to know the area.
The garden isn't as far along as I had hoped,
but finding a homestead has naturally been a top priority.
We're making progress and I hope to be able to share good news soon.

The abundant rain here has done wonders for our crops.

The curly kale is finally looking greener.

No doubt the compost tea gave it a boost.

This is the first time I've grown this type of kale,

so I'm not sure how big it's supposed to get.

These small icing containers seem to be a good fit though.

Big news on the cruciferous front.

Our first broccoli head is forming.

Ya-hoo!

We are hoping to get a good-sized head 

and many, many, many side shoots.

We started this crop from seed.

This variety, known as Pacman, is well-known for it's generosity of edibles.

The leaves can be harvested as well, and added to salads or sandwiches.

And of course, broccoli is one of the most nutrient-packed veggies out there.

This is snowball cauliflower and it is just forming fruit.

These seedlings were acquired from a local farmer

at the market here in Denver (NC).

This is a new crop for me,

and I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into it!

I'm thinking roasted cauliflower, carrots and beets.

Speaking of carrots,

the bucket is bursting with carrot tops.

Hopefully, the butterflies won't be laying eggs on these,

so I can harvest them for garnishing.

Swallowtails, especially, enjoy munching on these green, leafy morsels.

Bigger stakes are needed for the snap peas.

They are growing out of their containers,

so I will most likely pick up a couple of bamboo poles

and set up a baling twine wall for them to climb.

I'm doing it.  

I'm really doing it!

I'm growing tomatoes!

They were transplanted into the front bed a couple of weeks ago,

and are now filling out the cages that I placed them in.

Tomatoes are something that I've had mixed success in growing.

I have kind of a deal going with myself,

that I will consider myself a true farmer

 if I can successfully grow delicious, juicy, flavorful maters.

So far, so good!

I'm feeding crops every three weeks with the compost tea

I made from the turkey poop gifted me by my farmer friends back in Florida.

They supplied us with enough fertilizer to last a while.

It looks like it's working!

As spring has awakened,

the ornamental plants around here are struttin' their stuff.

I have no idea what most of them are,

as they are very different than what I grew in my Florida-friendly garden.

It's a revelation to see these beauties come alive,

knowing that they have their own internal timer that triggers the brilliant display.

Fascinating!

I certainly hope you're enjoying your own spring wonder.
Take some time to find something new in your surroundings.
It'll brighten your whole outlook.
Enjoy your weekend, y'all!

Garden Friday

 The side porch is home to a hodgepodge of our home-grown crops we call the tin can garden.
It gets sun from about 10 a.m. until almost 7 o'clock in the evening.
I often cover some of the more tender seedlings overnight.

The lettuces will soon be ready for larger containers.

It will be wonderful to have a mix of greens (and reds) for salads.

 The leek are getting taller,
but I'm going to wait a bit before putting them into bigger pots.

 More tomatoes got seeded and are now taking off.
There is nothing like home-grown tomatoes
and this is actually my personal test as a gardener.
If I can successfully grow tomatoes, I will be so excited!

All of a sudden, the parsley and thyme started to dance right out of their containers.
We're planting some parsley for us and some for the butterflies.

 Another area in the yard houses lettuce, kale, carrots, broccoli, beets and snap peas.

 The carrots seem quite content with the cool mornings and sunny days.

 The peas seemed to be happy to get a dose of compost tea.
The two seeds in the center of the pot got replanted,
as they hadn't yet germinated.
Looking forward to a mess of snap peas!

This past weekend I planted some flower seeds,
now that our temps are consistently in the 70's during the daytime hours.
The sunflowers popped this week!

We used our toilet paper roll pots to start these Mammoth Sunflower plants.
The whole kit-n-kaboodle can be transplanted right into the ground.
The paper will deteriorate over time and feed the soil.

The planting beds in the front of this house get sun most of the day.

I'm hoping it's a good place to transplant these cauliflower crops

we started in tin cans.

The root structure is strong enough to hold the plant together

when removed from the can.

We transplant slightly above the soil line

to ensure for good drainage.

A cauliflower border should be quite becoming!

A little secret sauce never hurt anything either.

The best part of our container/tin can garden 
is that the whole thing can be easily transported to our new home
when we find it.
Just checking on these gifts each day brings me so much contentment.

What loveliness has spring brought your way?


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Simple Saturdays Blog Hop

Garden Friday

 With regular rainfall, things are turning green again.

 
Although our temperatures fluctuate from the 30's to almost 80,
the sunshine and rain are abundant.

It doesn't seem to affect the flowering bushes,
but the veggies, I think, are a bit confused.

 The broccoli is making some progress
and we have a couple of others started in tin cans.
The snap peas planted 2 weeks ago are starting to pop.

 The kale got transplanted into bigger pots 
and fertilized with some of our secret sauce turkey poop compost tea.

The cauliflower on the stoop is growing well,
probably due to the amount of sunshine hitting the front porch. 

 The Tin Can Garden is slow growing,
but hopefully, with more consistent temperatures
in the next few weeks, we'll see some improvement.

 The beets didn't germinate as I'd hoped,
so both varieties got reseeded.
We are hoping for a bucket o'
beets in another couple of months.

The need for sunflowers hit me,
and I decided to go ahead and get some started.
I used paper towel and toilet paper rolls for containers,
that way they can be transplanted directly into the soil when they are ready.

 With colder temperatures expected this weekend,
they will be kept indoors for another couple of weeks.
They have a sunny window near which to sit and stay warm.

Some Shasta daisies were planted here in the side yard.
I noticed them growing in a field across the street the other day
while on my daily walk. 
I also sowed some cactus zinnias in this same bed.

Someone who lived here before planted a lot of dianthus
and we've enjoyed seeing them come back to life after the winter cold.

 So many of the plants are unfamiliar to me,
and without blooms appearing yet,
it's hard to determine what is what.
This looks like it may be some type of lily or iris.
Time will tell.

 Some things will be a total surprise,
as growing here is new to me.

 These alliums planted around the base of a tree
are beginning to strut their stuff.

The other garden project was to make a few
of these suet feeders.
I will sell them along with my daisy totes
at my first farmers' market here next month. 
A new adventure to look forward to.

How's your spring garden coming along?