I'm back!

I'm back from my scrapbooking retreat. I had a great time but I'm glad to be home and back out into the garden. Here are a few photos from the retreat and then we will get to the garden photos.

This is the room we were in. Like I said in my last post there were about 30 women there. Most everyone was doing traditional scrapbooking and a few of us were doing digital.



Photo Below: Digital scrapping.

~Garden Update~

Before I left on Friday I gave everything a good watering and harvested some raspberries and lettuce.





Sweet Husband, Son and Son's Girlfriend did a great job taking care of my garden while I was gone. They even picked some more raspberries and weighed them for me before they ate them.

It's a amazing to me how fast things grow when you are gone for a few days.

Photo Below: These strawberries are just about ready for picking.



Photo Below: I hand pollenated three female pumpkin flowers last week. When I got home I was happy to see they are growing.



Photo Below: I was hand watering the corn on Friday and did not see this...



So far there are two ears of corn each on six of my stocks. Today the wind picked up and I gave them a little wiggle. I could see the pollen falling on to the silks. I hope I get good even pollenation.



Photo Below: The pole beans mixed with the sugar snap peas.



Photo Below: Spaghetti squash is getting big. There are five more just a bit smaller than this one.



Photo Below: Bush beans are doing great. They are blooming and I have a few beans that are about 2 to 3 inches long.



Photo Below: One of the two red baby bell peppers. They haven't started turing color yet.



Photo Blow: The English cucumber has two more inches to go and I will be able to harvest.



Photo Below: The baby cucumbers put on a lot of growth while I was gone. When looking at this photo full size I counted 10 cucumbers.



Photo Below: Cherry tomatoes are doing really well.



Photo Below: Finally a tomato on the container bush tomato plant.



Photo Below: Bush bean blooms.



Photos Below: Here are some updated photos from the roof...






Photo Below: Looking down on top of the tomato bed.




And this next photo is for Granny over at Annie's Kitchen Garden. She once asked me if I really get up on the roof to take photos...

~June 1st Harvest~

Raspberries



One of the round zucchini was ready to pick today.





Well today was the day to dig into potato bed 2. If you remember from one of my posts the potato greens were not looking so well. I didn't have high hopes of getting much of anything. I also thought the beds might be infested with wire worms since I have seen them in bed 2 which is right in front of the potato beds. Well I'm happy to report I was able to harvest some small taters. I didn't find any pest's in the bed. Check out the next few photos for my harvest...











I was going to pull potatoes in bed 1 in a few weeks but now I think I might wait until July to see if I can get a bigger harvest. I will try potatoes again next year for sure.


Photo below: Potato bed 1. Not looking so good but I'm hoping for gold under there. We'll find out in about a month.



Photo Below: The red norland cleaned up real good.



Todays harvest weighed in at...
Zucchini 1 pound
Red Norland Potato 1 pound 6 oz's
Bintje Potato 12 oz's
Raspberries 4.8 oz's
Sugar Snap Peas 1.2 oz's

Photo Below: Tonight's dinner and dessert...



mmm mmm good!

Garden Update

I wasn't going to post until this weekend but when I got home from work the sun was out and I couldn't wait to go take a walk through the yard... so after taking the dog for a walk and getting dinner in the oven I went out and took a few photos....


Photo Below: The strawberries are looking very happy in their new home.

Click on photos for larger view.



Photo Below: I can't believe how fast the raspberries are growing. This is only my second year growing them. A friend from work gave me four canes last winter so I put them in a big container and they seem to be quite happy.



Photo Below: The snap peas have found their way to the trellis with a little help.



Photo Below: The red norland potatoes are doing very well. I really don't know what to expect since I have never grow potatoes. I like the way they look and the leaves are so stout.



Photo Below: Finally the bintje potatoes have started to sprout.



Photo Below: The nectarine is in full bloom now.



Photo Below: Baby butterhead lettuce is loving our cool rainy weather.

This weekends to do list is a long one.

Check back this weekend to see what's going into the beds.

Spring is Emerging

Everyday when I get home from work one of the first things I do after I kiss my sweet husband is take a walk around the yard to see what's going on. I can safely say Spring is on it's way in my area. Here are a few photos to share with you.....

These Spring bulbs where rescued from the veggie garden redesign when I pulled everything out of the flower bed. I put them in a pot hoping they would survive... and they did!

Click photos for a larger view




Photo Below: The raspberries have enjoyed the recent rains and are really starting to grow.



Photo Below: In potato bed 2 one of my red norland pototoes sprouted!
This is my very first potato so I am excited to see how it will do!



Photo Below: The nectarine is ready to burst into full bloom.

This weekend I will start planting into the new beds.

Be sure to stop by to find out what I planted.

Last Frost Date , Potatoes and New Books

“They” say today is the last frost date for my area. I walked out to the back yard this morning at 5:30 A.M. to find a lite blanket of frost covering everything. Will this be the last of it?… I think we’ll get one or two more days after the rain we are to get the rest of this week and into next.

Today I planted two of my four varieties of potatoes in potato bed 2. Potato bed 1 is still not getting the full sun it needs. Oh and potato bed 3 is now a strawberry bed. My berries will be here next week.




I planted the following two varieties..

“Bintje Heirloom since 1911 and most widely-grown yellow variety in the world. High yielder of medium-sized tubers, keeps exceptionally well, grows anywhere and has excellent flavor anyway you fix them. Yellow/brown skin, creamy yellow flesh. Makes great oven fries!”

Click on photos


“Red Norland Anxious for the first red potatoes from your garden? This is the one you want. Earliest red we sell. Very smooth skin, white flesh, good yielder of medium to large sized consistent tubers with shallow eyes. Stores well and is very popular in the potato belt.”



I will plant the other two in about a weeks...

“Early Rose An old American heirloom, Early Rose has a smooth pinkish red skin and delicious white flesh streaked with red. A favorite back in it’s day, it’s fun to grow, harvest and sample raw. A spud with a great heritage, Early Rose is the parent to Burbank s famous potato and then the offshoot discovered in Colorado called Russet Burbank.”

“Yukon Gold Our best seller and an excellent keeper. Attractive, smooth, thin yellow skin, shallow eyes, yellow flesh and uniform yields. Lends itself well to any method of potato preparation. Immensely popular since its 1980 release from Canada. If you like your fried potatoes golden brown, Yukon Gold will almost turn that color by themselves.”

And the best for last....I received my copies of Square Foot Gardening and All New Square Foot Gardening (both by Mel Bartholomew) today. Time for a glass of wine and a good book.