Garden Friday

 

 

 

 Welcome back to Garden Friday,

where we share what's growing in our Piedmont garden.

 

 

 

It's been slow growing and our germination hasn't been stellar,

but everything from broccoli to tatsoi has been resown.

A few lettuce seedlings have come up,

including buttercrunch and green oakleaf.

With the blessing of rain these past few days,

we hope that we will have plants popping up quickly.

 

The snap peas have germinated quite well,

and I've decided that they will be grown for shoots instead of pods.

I may even look into getting a different variety of seeds

specifically for growing shoots.

 

Although I did put aside a few heads of our home grown garlic for planting,

I decided to order a bit more from Sow True,

just to ensure that we have enough to use and share.

Sister is a big garlic fan and we must keep her well stocked.

This crop will be planted in the next week or two.

 

Our sweet potatoes were harvested this week

and I have to say that I am very pleased.

It's the first time since I've been growing them

that I remember pulling them up in clumps.

We grew our own slips, so I wonder if that is the reason.

They haven't yet been weighed,

as they are curing in the garage,

but I hope to weigh them in another week or so.

 

At this point, it's a waiting game,

looking out for new seedlings in the garden beds.

We are in a transitional time

and I'm still dealing with skin issues on my hands,

and have lost a lot of motivation due to my discomfort.

We'll do what we can!

 

What do you have growing in the fall garden?
 

Garden Friday

 

 

 

Welcome to Garden Friday,

where we share what's happening in our Piedmont garden.
 It's dry, folks.

It's been a while since we've seen any rain,

and the ground is cracking beneath our feet.

We are hopeful that by the end of next week

we'll get a few toad stranglers.

Fingers crossed.

 

This liriope, which usually does just fine without supplemental water,

is feeling the pinch.

I'll make sure to get some hydration to this little guy today.

 

Fortunately, with the drip irrigation in place,

the raised beds are doing fine.

This is the weekend we usually harvest garlic,

so that we can get our sweet potato slips in.

I have to say, that the garlic this year is not looking too good

and I don't have time to let it sit for another month to grow.

 We'll take what we get and be glad in it.

 

This parsley is going to seed

and I believe I'll just let it stay right where it is.

One reason is to encourage the black swallowtail butterfly

to call it home.

This is one of their host plants,

along with carrots, dill, fennel and rue. 

We have Walla Walla onions in this bed that will

start to be harvested in the next week or so.

We'll just pull them up as needed

and it does my heart good to know 

that I won't need to buy onions for a good, long while.

 

 

The potatoes are rockin'

underneath the shade of the snap peas.

I did lose one plant, not sure why,

but with flowers spied on these taters just yesterday,

we should be harvesting in a few weeks.

 

Speaking of snap peas,

we've been snacking on these sweet morsels all week.

I like them straight off the vines.

No dressing needed.

 

Our lettuce is coming along in a couple of the raised beds,

but I have to say that germination of some other crops was not great.

I'll just keep reseeding as needed and move onto other crops

as the summer season comes upon us.

 

 It looks like something is finding our green beans tasty.

 

So far, only one of our turmeric plants has come back.

It looks like the lemongrass didn't make it,

although we overwintered it in the garage.
 

 

The front porch flower bed is alive with color!

I am still hoping to pick up a few more perennials for this bed,

as we move toward irrigating it soon.

 

The pollinator bed near the vegetable garden is doing well

and I attribute that to the drip system.

I noticed a few of the mammoth sunflowers starting to pop up.

Last year, they were over 12 feet tall!

Shasta daisies

 

There are a few areas in the back of the house I've been working on.

This will be a new spot to add some hosta and maybe hydrangea plants.

This area is wooded, so I'll need to choose what I plant carefully.

 

A few hosta plants and Solomon's seal have been added

underneath our back deck.

I can see this area filled with hostas.

 

This area has a trail on the left of the photo,

that leads to our dear neighbor's back door.

I'd like to add to this collection of plants

to line the trail for both of us to enjoy.

 

These canna lilies were recently added to a bed

next to the front door.

They look a little worse for wear,

but I'm hoping with continued watering,

they'll settle in nicely and add some dramatic color here.

 

The lavender is coming into bloom and the scent is terrific!

I'd like to bring it into the house as much as possible,

so that we can enjoy the fragrance.

 

The hyacinth bean seeds have germinated around our teepees

out near the veggie beds.

 This climber displays a mass of gorgeous purple flowers

that last all summer long.

 

Today I hope to get all of the cardboard down where the grass has come up.

This is my method of dealing with unwanted grass and weeds.

A bit of wood chips or mulch on top, and you'd never know it's there.

 

Would you look at this amazing toad house a friend made for us?

I had the cracked terra cotta pots another friend had given me,

and I asked this crafty lady to paint them for us.

I think the toads will absolutely love it!

 

 

Speaking of critters,

Big K spied this guy crossing the road between our house 

and our neighbors'.

Although I know some folks are squeamish about snakes,

they provide a valuable service by ridding our property of rodents.

He was actually only about four feet long.

Here's hoping conditions are just right where you are.

Oh, and if you happen to have any extra rain you could send our way,

we'd appreciate it!

 

Be Blissed!

Garden Friday

 

Houdini and Henrietta "chook chat"

 

Welcome back to Garden Friday!

We're sharing what's "growing on" in our spring garden.

 

The good news is that the asparagus came up this week.

The bad news is that since it's first year asparagus,

we have to wait until at least next year to harvest.

But after that, we'll be pickin' fools!

 

 More good news!

As predicted last week, the snap peas are making progress.

Hopefully, by this time next week,

we'll be snacking on these morsels on a daily basis.

 

These are Walla Walla onions, a new to me crop this year.

I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed in their size,

as I was expecting a large bulbous onion.

Probably due to gardener error, so I will try them again in the fall.

There will still be plenty to harvest,

so I will let you know how the flavor is.

 

The blueberries are getting closer every day.

With a dozen bushes out there,

we are sure to have our fill.

Most likely we will be freezing any we can wrestle away from the birds.

 

A few days ago, I noticed some beans coming up.

These are most likely a bush variety,

as they are planted in the raised bed.

 

A few strawberries have already been sampled.

Out of the handful that I tried, one was super sweet,

and the others were a bit on the tart side.

Maybe I'm just too impatient to wait for full ripening?

I guess I will have to force myself to keep tasting...

 

A tray of green beans and various melons

finally decided to germinate.

They will all be transplanted into raised beds.

I will be so excited if we actually get melons this year!

It's one of the few crops that all of us eat,

and I would love to share that with my boys.

 

This red lettuce and spinach have been in this bed since September,

and are just now starting to bolt.

The flavor has been great, right up to this point.

 

More lettuces have been sown in another bed,

so we should have greens all summer long.

(Sorry for the blurry shot.)

 

Our magnolia tree is bursting with buds.

It won't be long until the tree is 

covered in enormous white flowers.

 

This yarrow has already been blooming for months.

It's one of the easiest flowers to grow,

and attracts many pollinators to our mailbox bed.

 

The lantana is coming back all of a sudden.

This plant always throws me for a loop,

as it looks like it's not doing a thing.

Then, just like magic, it starts leafing out like crazy!

 

We will soon be inundated with colorful coneflowers.

This is one of my absolute favorites,

and another pollinator-friendly plant.

Here's a future project.

A friend was going to get rid of this cute lil' cart,

so I took it home and plan to repurpose it.

It needs a bit of work,

but it'll be a labor of love.

 

The sunflowers are starting to pop up all around the chicken yard,

thanks to a sunflower seed-stealing squirrel who leaves a mess around the fencing.

These are the sunflowers we use to give to the chooks as treats,

so I have no idea how big they'll get.

Looks like we'll have plenty of seeds to harvest for next year.

The loofah seeds planted underneath our gazebo structure germinated.

We are well on our way to providing ample shade for the chooks this summer.

Wilma

 

 I noticed some mushrooms coming up underneath our yard waste compost pile.

That can only be a good sign.

 

 

With several days of rain this past week,

I remembered to leave out the bucket that has turkey poop remnants in it.

This allows me to use rain water for compost tea making,

and I just continue to add it to another pourable container for giving crops a boost. 

These volunteer milkweed line the driveway.

Well, that's not a bad thing.

Where there's milkweed,

monarchs are close behind!

 

I hope you enjoy some time outside this weekend!