Harvest Monday 5.11.15

Good Morning. It's Monday again, Harvest report time! As usual I am linking into Daphne's Dandelions. Make sure you stop by her place to check out what's being harvested all over the world.

This weeks main harvest has been green beans. Each day I've been able to get a nice handful of them. Enough that on Mothers Day I was able to not only serve the 7 of us, but I have left overs that will be good for dinner tonight as well. I also harvested a few more blueberries (Only enough for us to eat off the bushes each day) and a few cherry tomatoes for salad toppings. I really love this time of year. I wish the variety stayed through the summer, but around here not much does well in the humidity.

Since I'll be pummeling the main crops this year I've decided to try to net at least part of the main bed and try to grow pumpkins in there. The kids will get a kick out of it as it's been a couple years since we've had a good crop. Maybe I'll put some up the trellis and try some gold nuggets as well. YUM! This is something to look forward to, even if I won't have my usual things to eat from the garden meanwhile. What else will grow really fast in the summer? Maybe some black eyed peas. They do reasonably well in the humidity. I've gotten my husband and son to eat greens in small quantities finally so maybe black eyed peas will be the next thing I force on them. ;-)

The extension piece of the main bed has begun. The new blueberry plants are here and they need a lot of TLC, so I'm trying to get that section completed first. The plan is to work each night this week for an hour on it. Last night I got the outline figured out and the foundation set up. Unfortunately It runs uphill a bit so I need to go back and level it out again. Trial and error and all that. Only good news is that once I've decided I like the way the foundation is laid it will be easy to stack them and make a wall. The foundation brick is completely under the ground and the second layer will be about 1-2" under as well totaling roughly 6". I'm hoping this barrier will help keep the invading grasses OUT of my garden and if all goes well the additional height of the wall will help to control the weeds as well.

Today I am absolutely exhausted. After getting those bricks out of the ground  last weekend, and loading them, hauling them and unloading this weekend I also went out to the blueberry farm (on Mothers Day) to buy 5 mature plants. That turned out to be more work than I realized. We got them loaded but had to get help to unload them when we got home. It was just too much. My muscles are just plain wore out. Only I'm not terribly sore. Just mildly achy. That's great news because had I pushed my back too hard I'd be in trouble today. It helped that I spent an hour or so in the pool yesterday as well...

All right back to work with me, though it will be hard not to spend the entire day dreaming of the garden and trying to figure out what I want to do with it. :-D

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.4.2015

Goodness, I almost forgot it was Monday again! It's amazing how quickly the time flies round here!

This weeks main harvest was blueberries. 3.5 pounds of them. It pretty well ends the season with only a few dozen berries left on the bushes. I've trimmed most of them back already and now it's babying them until fall again. Well worth it if you ask me.

Most of the blueberries were washed, dried and frozen on baggies for easy access. I saved a pound that is destined for blueberry pie and blueberry muffins. I'll also make blueberry jam, but that I can make from frozen berries if I need to. We tend to eat about a pint in a day between the 5 of us.

Yum. Some of these berries were exceptionally large, and I'm hoping that means that the fruit size is going to increase next year to match what only a few of these were. This was the 3rd year in production for these plants. Maybe the 4th year is ideal for size, or maybe i"m just finally supplying the bushes with what they need.

I currently have 16 plants that I rooted from cuttings last year. They will be ready to begin production next year or the following depending on their summer growth.

In other news, also joining this weeks harvest are peaches!

These lovely little jewels are scrumptious and I'm finally getting enough to keep the kids fed each day. Featured here is a typical bowl that gets picked and eaten daily. But, production is ramped up with a lot ripening at once now. It means the chickens are getting their fair share of them. That's good because once they get soft at all the fruit flies are insane. Any tips for getting rid of fruit flies? Blech.

They are so bad that even when I pick fruit that still needs to ripen to bring inside the next morning we a couple in the house again. 

I'm not getting enough to can, and it's just a little too much to keep up with for fresh eating. The quality of the fruit isn't as good in years past, but the quantity makes up for that. They still taste incredible cooked with a little cinnamon on top. 

This solidifies my thoughts on taking out the second peach tree. It's just not producing much at all and it's not healthy. I'd rather take it out and replace it with a pollinator for my unknown variety of plum. Then again I could end up with 2 trees that don't produce plums. HA! That would stink. The plums bloom after the peaches have set fruit, so timing wise we'd move from strawberries in February to March and April blueberries, then April/May peaches & figs and May/June plums and guava. After that it's blackberries, persimmons and pomegranates. My garden would finally be set for March-September with perennial fruits. Whoot!

Now, waht will give me fruits in November, December and January here? The citrus is just too hard with the greening around here. I still have 3 trees but only 1 is capable of producing good fruit, and even so it' son my porch so it doesn't get pollinated well unless it blooms on the weekend. LOL

Well, make sure you stop by Daphne's Dandelions to see what is being harvested all over the world, and what people are doing with those harvests. Have a great week!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 4.20.15

This week the main harvest was carrots. The rest of the carrots in the garden are iffy - but these were wonderful....

Weighing in at a little over 2 pounds after cleaning, this harvest was my favorite this week.

This week showed the end of the snap peas. I pulled the plants. The pods were swelling before I could harvest them and the plants were getting ratty.

I also finished harvesting the potatoes. I think at least. There could still be a plant tucked in underneath something, but in the long run this will be the end of them until fall. Sweet potatoes are still in and will be plundered all summer as usual. However, this year I am not planting as many. Space is tighter than ever in the garden so I'm trying to plant only what will be used. Nothing stores well here so it's no use growing more just to have it go bad. 

Blue berries have peaked and i"m getting about 5 ounces a day. Perfect size for adding to our breakfasts and a few for popping in our mouths as we go along. They have gotten extremely sweet now so resistance is futile!

Speaking of blueberries. It's also time to go to the u-pick place. I sure hope some year I'll not need to go there any more, but for now it's a great family experience and it gives us enough to get through the year.

Strawberries have flushed again so you'll be seeing them again on next weeks harvest.

Well- back to work for me. Don't forget to stop by Daphne's this week! Can't wait to finish putting in a few new plants for the patio this week.

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 4.6.2015

Oh for all that I am - mostly I am forgetful...I can't believe I haven't posted lately. We have been SO busy with so many different things.
But lets start this with what I am here for... HARVEST MONDAY! don't forget to get over to Daphne's Dandelions for the lo-down on what is being harvested all over.

This week I still didn't take very many pictures, but I do have one good one to share at least and it will give you an idea of what's been eaten, harvested, and stored lately.

It may look rather small but it's several pounds of carrots, several pounds of greens and the days picking of strawberries and blueberries.

Most of the carrots and berries just don't make it inside but this day I pulled more than normal as I needed space for the smaller carrots to start putting on some girth. It's getting hot every day and I would like to eat them before they all turn bitter.

Not shown is the head of cabbage and a few potatoes that I pulled as well. The vast majority of the cool weather crops are torn out and other than the rest of the baby carrots, some snap peas/snowpeas and potatoes we are switched to summer crops. 

The tomatoes are beginning to set fruit already! The green beans are giving me a few each day as well. Unfortunately those are destined to be ripped out this week as well. They are the fall sowing and this second crop (While great to have) is much smaller. I think new plants would be far more productive. The single eggplant is showing signs that it will flower soon and the cucumber and watermelon(WOW should have started those sooner) are on their first set of leaves. Okra is 6" tall and growing FAST now as well. 

The berries are doing fantastic. Once it hits 90* they will stop altogether and just like that berry season will be over. SO far we've gotten about 3 pounds of blueberries and it looks like there is just as much left to pick. :-)

Ah, the sunshine and warm weather has been fantastic for my soul, but my muscles are not as happy. It's funny how you don't realize in the summer how much you use those muscles, but when you haven't been digging in your garden for months over the winter, your body will remind you that you should have had some other form of exercise!

It hurts so good.

See you soon! (With lots of updates)

Barbie~

Interesting

More than one thing that is interesting, at least to me anyway.

First off - this:

 

 This is my Mother's Day gift. Because it's custom (Cheap custom, but still custom) it couldn't have been a surprise because i had to pick out each piece for my bow. I <3 my new bow. I like shooting with it, too. ;-) We are going on Sunday to Lake Park to slice up some targets and I can't wait!

 Secondly I'm having issues typing and posting pics at the moment. I think all the pics are here but getting them in order and getting the words in the right place is proving difficult. Sorry.

Third, Those cute little critters over there? Just 2 weeks ago they were just yellow puff balls. I'm excited to take them to Alabama in a few weeks. Memorial day is closing in fast! Just look at those shiny new feathers.

 OK- I'm going to stop counting because it's going to be redundant if I don't. So, I'm down to the last couple sweet potatoes that I've grown from last year and I decided to make some baked sweet potato fries. They are my favoirte things, ever...ok well maybe not I do like them mashed, casseroled, with cinamon with salt or any other way you cook them but I do enjoy them as fires just as much... So I sliced up my wonderful potatoes and was taken aback and just how cool these purple ones are.

WOW! What a difference in crsipness. The purple ones are much firmer!

Just look at the marbling in that sucker! You may also notice that it is a bog around as my hand and oogle at the thought that I used HALF of it to make fries and I had enough left over to make a large bowl of mashed potatoes as well... see! I also enjoy the fact that it is one of the few truly purple vegetables that does not loose it's color when you cook it. 

 So, here are the blueberries for the week 3.5 pounds worth. These are getting ready to hit the freezer. I realized that the few bushes i have just aren't enough so....

I bought 50 more. 30 of a new variety that does not have a patent yet (princess uh...something or another) and 20 Jewel plants. I was highly impressed with the fruit quality of this new variety and I'm pleased that i"ll be one of only a few handfuls of people that get to trial it. It grows very tall and lanky just like my Primadonna plants do but the fruit is much sweeter and smaller as well.

 Oh joy! So these babies are hitting getting potted up this weekend and I'm praying they start sprouting up quick. Momma needs more plants!!! :-)

On a side note a NOT so interesting thing? The ducks don't mess in my garden much - but the chickens managed to destroy my corn plantingin about 30 seconds this week. Now I'll have to replant the corn and I'm having trouble remembering which variety is in there already. Oh well. Such is life.

Have a WONDERFUL Mother's Day y'all!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 4.28.14

It's Monday again! Welcome back. :-)

I know it's sporadic around here but there is a LOT happening right now. The blueberry plants are producing well and I'm gathering close to a half pound a day now. I'm in h.e.a.v.e.n! We love blueberries around here. They are the best part of our day. Only problem is every other day I only get a small handful because the birds get to them first. I'm willing to share some things (mulberries for instance - take them ALL!) but I'm possessive of the blues. These babies are the best!

Well- I went to place the pictures here and they are all messed up. I don't know why but apparently I can't save files anymore. This is going to be interesting.

We've been having a lot of tea parties in our house as of late.

The girls really enjoy this and they are begging for them every day. Many a  friend has joined us and the parents are astounded I can get them to drink tea. It's hibiscus and passionfruit tea. Delicious absolutely delicious and so good for you, too... helps that it's pink for those girls that want pink everything. ;-)

The irises are in bloom again. I do love the blooms so much. I divided all of my iris plants this year and gave a bunch away. I really wanted to replant them, but I love my garden friends and have gotten so much from them that this was only a hitch in my step. I'll divide again next yer and replant throughout my walkway.  

I still have the fortnight lilies as well even though I completely destroyed 2 plants because the tubers were so large they were wedge under the sidewalk and impossible to remove. I only kept 1 or 2 divisions of those because they are so aggressive in this space.

So things are happening. I'm gathering strawberries, blue berries and purple pole beans for now. There are some green tomatoes out there teasing me and the bush beans are flowering now, too. Things are beginning to look up now!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.13.13

It's Monday again. This time it comes directly after Mother's Day weekend. I hope that you have a lovely weekend. I know I did. I didn't just have Mother's Day. I had Mother's weekend. :-)

But, as for the harvest. It was fairly meager pickings this week. I actually harvested more than I care to admit because a rather large amount got eaten in the garden. I pulled the pea vines and well, any peas got eaten while I was there. We had a few cool days so there were more than I care to admit. But the vines were well and truly shot and our hot weather is upon us and not relenting so I knew the vines had no hope. I also ate about a half pound of blueberries. I now have 5 pounds in the freezer, so a decent amount for the year. Not enough for our large family, but a good start!

As for what I can actually attest to?

Zucchini made a major come back this week. This one in the picture is only one of 10 that we ate. I grilled a few, but this wasn't out favorite this week. Our favorite is oven roasted with grape seed oil, mozzarella  garlic, spices and tomato..oh - YUM. Even picky teenager eats it like it's going out of style.  We try to take major advantage of it this time of year because it doesn't last long. I have two very strong plants right now but the bugs have come out this week and that means the plants (not just the zucchini) are going to be suffering soon.

I knocked the tomato off the vine but it is nearly ripe now. I also took one that was starting to blush and ripened it with a banana. That was the one we used for the zucchini oven roast. The snap peas are still giving and looking O.K. The vines are hanging tough for now. Not producing well, but still just enough to save their booties.

The blueberries are just giving  the bare minimum they can now. The mocking birds found the fruit this week and I got dive bombed by 3 of the suckers Saturday. I may have to invest in a pellet gun. Wonder if Mockingbird stew is any good? Kidding...sort of.

 

I'll be back to give details of my weekend later. For now- I'd better get back to work.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

 

Harvest Monday 5.6.13

Monday - Already? You've got to be kidding me! This weekend went SO fast!

I worked on a project for the chickens. I forgot to take pictures while I was working because i was by myself, but now that it is almost finished I have to go back and take photos. It's worth it. I turned the door around to their pen. I always hated the door leading to their run. I still do, but I hate it a little less now. LOL.At least I can OPEN the door now. See, it used to open in, and the little chooks always seemed to toss all the shavings wood chips and anything else they could find right in the path of the door. I fixed that! It did impede on their space a little, but there is only 3 of them and they do have a good sized run for just a couple of them. I have a few other things up my sleeve for them this summer, too. Just a couple things to help in the way of boredom and keeping them occupied during our seasonal rains. :-)

Ah, but that isn't why you are here is it? It's not just Monday... it's HARVEST MONDAY! Of course! This weeks harvests included the first potatoes and zucchini of the year. I threw those on the grill with some pork chops Friday night. I love it when a meal comes almost entirely from the garden, and ALL local. :-)

Also harvested more carrots, another cauliflower. This one topped out at a decent 2lbs 9oz. a few strawberries a pound of blueberries (not all pictured) and ... well... Oh yeah! One H.O.T. radish. I'm guessing that the weather is just getting too warm for them now.

The zucchini are full bore now. I've got a good 6 on the 2 bushes/vines? Hmm... Anyway We'll be swimming in them the next couple weeks which is good. They tend to only last a few weeks now as we get into May and June so we will be sure to take advantage while we can!

The potatoes I pulled up are the ones that are planted around the blueberry bushes. I didn't like the idea of leaving them to grow to full size under the blueberries and damaging the bushes roots. I knew the longer I let them grow the more likely I'd have a hard time digging them out and end up hurting the bushes. Since they flowered almost 3 weeks ago I've been keeping a close eye on them. Turned out to be the perfect time to pull this little bush we each got a small potato perfectly proportioned for us!

I would love to show off to you my first blackberries of the season as well, but my lovely daughter decided that she wanted to pick me a bouquet of flowers... (Can you see where this is going?) Just so you know when you cut a blackberry flower it only last a few hours in a vase. Also, just so you know it's REALLY hard not to cry when you realize just  WHAT the flowers are that your well intending child handed you with a smile on her face. 'Happy Mother's Day' she says. Happy Mother's Day, indeed. What a gem she is. Every. Single. Bud. And from the thornless canes no less. LMBO.

Ah, well. I suppose it wouldn't be gardening without trials and tribulations, now would it?

 

OH! Guess what else weird just happened? My blueberries REbloomed! Check it!

How Weird it this? I talked to a local blueberry farmer about it and more than half of his crop re-bloomed as well. He thinks it is because of the really late weird frost/freeze we had a few weeks ago. We had another weird cool spell just Saturday night - it actually got down to 59*. For us in May... that is just freaky. The blooms this time aren't as pretty and I'll assume they won't be as large of fruit, but so far on the bushes that have re-bloomed I have about half again as much fruit. That is good because I didn't get as much fruit this year because we didn't get but about 40 chill hours total. The bush in the picture is only a second year cutting so the fruit wont be kept. It's too small to support it yet. Next spring I'll allow it a small crop.

I'm rambling now. Off to work.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~ 

 

 

Harvest Monday 4.29.13

I can't believe I almost missed it!

 

It's Harvest Monday y'all! ;-) I don't know where all my pictures went this week. I only have 2 to show you. But one of them is mighty impressive. Well, at least to me anyway.

 

My shelling peas? They are blooming profusely because our nights are still cool. Problem is our days are now hitting 90* regularly and they just don't like that. At all. So they are past there prime. Taste is down, toughness is up... I'm thinking I'll have to pull the vines soon. Problem is those darn blossoms make it hard to just yank the vines. LOL. Must do it soon. I know that the peas they are producing are inferior and all I'm doing is creating a mess. Something else could be growing there. Good bye peas. See you again in 7 months. *sigh* The snap peas aren't far behind. :-(

One harvest this week:

Oh, yep. That reminds me. The strawberries are still hanging around. They seem to be shrinking these days. I'm also still getting a handful of blueberries each day. I'm having a hard time measuring them though. Only a few make it into the house... It's like the Bermuda triangle out there. Somewhere between the bushes, the garden and the house. *Poof* they just fall off the radar. The mulberries are still coming by the buckets, but I stopped picking them. I hate them right now. I despise the suckers. I...OK I love the tree, I just don't like it right now.

 

BUT! The cauliflower beast has been harvested. I have harvested a few small (normal for me) heads as seen in the above picture. They usually get to be you know- 3" or so but not this one!

This one weighed in at 4lbs 7oz! WAHOOO!!! I made a cauliflower pizza dough... well I should restate that. I TRIED to make a cauliflower pizza dough. It didn't turn out very well so I scrapped it off the pan turned it over and baked the crap out of it and made it into crackers instead... AWESOME flavor. Oh MAN... <3 serious cauly love here. 1/3 of it will be mashed cheesy cauliflower (like mashed potatoes) and the last third is destined for butter and salt and pepper and steaming.

 

YUM.

 

I've been spending a lot of time int he pool and even went out to the beach this weekend. It was relaxing and Oh so nice to get away even if only for a single day. Now it's back to the grind!

 

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 4.22.13

What a week!

I don't have all the pictures for this week, because it was a complete whirl wind. But I do have a few.

Snap peas, and shelling peas are the stars of the show, but those blueberries? Well, the ones that actually make it into the house... Oh they are DIVINE!!!

I also got 5 jalapeno peppers this week, a radish a carrot (salad, LOL) a tiny tomato, a whole bucket full of eggs and I am keeping an extremely close eye on this little sweetheart: 

This cauliflower has at least doubled in size this week, if not tripled! I'm checking it each day and I'm ready to pull the plug! It's starting to get these little hairy things around the florets and I've never seen that before. I don't know what it means, if anything at all. Also I think it might be a crossbred variety as it's starting to turn slightly orange as it is getting larger.  I CAN NOT WAIT! :-D This one is destined to make a pizza crust and a side dish - it's actually large enough to do both!!! EEEK! (Over the moon here) I also have another heading up the normal way of - oh, that should make a good 3" head. LOL. Oh well. I'm just thrilled I have this one! You should see it on harvest Monday next week.

 

Linking into Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday like always! Be sure to check her place out. She's got the hook up of whats being harvested all over the world! When I checked out my archives last week I realized I've been doing this for THREE years now. Daphne - you are the BOMB for being such a wonderful hostess. 3 years and haven't missed a beat yet!

 

The rain that I was talking about for Saturday? It kind of spit on us here and there, but not enough to make me pull everything inside. (YIPPEE!) I made $230 and my parents made about $50 they only brought over one load of stuff. My friend sat out with me and she had brought one load of stuff. She also made $50. So between all of us $330 for 5 hours of sitting around? Not bad! I still have a table and chairs to sell on Craigslist. Hopefully it will be gone by Friday or else I'm going to take it to Goodwill. I don't like taking too much of my time to sell the stuff, I'd rather give it to someone who needs it. KWIM?

 

Time for some coffee. Hope you have a great day! It's looking like more rain today. I'm happy because this would make 3 days in a row! Remind me of this when I'm complaining in the Summer!?

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 4.15.13

Tax Day. Have you harvested those yet? We have ours done. We didn't get back nearly what we have in years past, and according to our accountant we will get back even less next year. Oh, joy! :-(  Ah, well - no use worrying about that now.

I'm linking in once again to Dahne's Dandelions. Be sure to stop by her place to see what people are harvesting from all over the world. Thanks Daphne for hosting, once again!

This weeks harvest included massive amounts of peas. The snap peas and the shelling peas were very abundant. I also harvest a few jalapenos, blueberries, mulberries, and the first carrot thinnings of the year. They seemed to grow much faster this year than in the past.

Here are the few pictures I got:

 

Tally: 4oz Blueberry, 1lb shelling peas, 8.3oz snap peas, 1.5oz Jalapeno, 1lb mulberries (I quit weighing them), 6oz radish.

Went to Silvia's this weekend and then came home and had some swim time. It felt great to unwind by the pool. I managed to pick up a blush rose, a coral rose, some purple sweet potatoes, some new starts for garlic chives, a rose geranium, a red angel wing begonia and Cheryl gave me a couple pansy babies that will be gracing my desk here at work as soon as they are strong enough to be repotted. :-) So a great big THANK YOU! to Silvia for opening her home and for all the hard work that goes into the garden swaps . I really appreciate all that you do! Besides, I always walk away inspired to continue to work on  creating the environment that I really want to see in my yard for the future.

Lots of work to be done this week. Those new babies all need to be tended to, plus I have a VERY big garage sale to get ready for. It seems we are trying to sell nearly the whole garage! ;-) I'm kicking my precious car out of the garage, so you know i"m getting serious now.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~ 

 

Havest Monday 4.8.13

April is turning out to be a good month for harvesting. It always is, but since i had next to nothing for several months it seems that this month has just exploded. Feast or famine I suppose. :-)

This weeks pictures:

Mulberries are at the top of the harvest list yet again. They tend to steal the show this time of year. Here is just under 6 cups of the the little juicy wonders... I'm only harvesting them twice a week now. Not because I couldn't harvest them every single day, but because I can't mentally deal with them. I don't have time to tend to 2-3 cups each day and there are a few issues starting with them. I'll discuss this later in the week. I still love them, and the kids love eating them, but as in years past we tend to quickly get sick of them. So after about 10 cups a week I quit.

Snap peas joined the harvest this week along with my regular shelling peas, jalapenos, blueberries, strawberries, lettuce 

 

and always present eggs. My kids made me stick the feather in the picture. Apparently my girls are tired of carrying around the same plumage for the past year. Only problem is that none of them are molting entirely either so we have this half molt stage going on where they all look rather scraggly but non of them are doing anything about it. Yet another post I need to get to. ;-)

So tally this week: 5oz shelling peas, 3oz snap peas, 5oz blueberries (forgot to weigh the lettuce we just had salad with it and the strawberries) 1oz jalapeno, 4lb mulberries.

 

Hope your harvesting, too! Don't forget to check in with Daphne to see what people are harvesting all over the world! Thanks Daphne for always being such a great hostess and reminding us to link up!

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 4.1.13

No April Fool's Jokes here. The only joke is the way I feel after a ton of work in the yard this weekend.

Not only did we get the new container filled up, but the playground got cleaned up and newly mulched, the hedges got trimmed, the lawn got mowed, the seeds got sowed, the chicken coop got cleaned... we spent the entire weekend outside. Except for the 3 hours Easter morning that we spent hunting eggs and doing the whole bunny thing.

 

Harvests this week? Peas, Jalapenos, mulberries, a head of lettuce, radishes and...

THE! FIRST! BLUEBERRIES!

Nom, Nom, Nom. Just for Easter morning. I didn't tell anyone. I didn't show anyone. I scarfed them. Most of the berries have been disappearing just before ripening. Much like my peaches. :-( But these I got to in time! Next year I'll net the bushes, but this year I just don't have enough on the poor bushes to make it worth my time and effort. I'll have to decide what to do with the bushes when they are done producing. Around here it's pretty common to see the big producers cut them hedge style at the end of picking in order to allow the new canes time to grow again before next season. I might do this as this is the second year these plants are int he ground. (They spent one yer in pots getting nursed back to health) They are now just barely large enough to sustain that treatment.

Of course we also harvest eggs. And, given the nature of the week and all, you probably figured out what I did with those eggs, right? Right. I boiled them suckers up and we played with them! The kids a blast this year. I don't think that they even really remember dying them last year. They remember seeing them dyed of course, but not the process and just how messy and fun it can be. I'm always on the look out for special things to do with our eggs, and since I'm just not willing to spend the money to go and buy WHITE eggs for this singular occasion we have to get creative to make them stand out. I think we did a pretty darn good job. If I do say so myself. :-)

 

As for the outside work? I don't have all the pictures, but the two boxes I have pictures of.

The newer box still needs the top finished in brick. They are there and waiting, but they were holding up the side bricks while they dried. LOL. The first box is fully planted now. I snapped a picture from the window of my living room. I don't know if you can really see or not, but it has lettuce, tomato, potato, leek, and strawberries. :-D

 

I'm really enjoying the height of the boxes. It makes it nice to have a seat and be able to garden without breaking my back. No aching knees and no itchy grass, either.

 

Sown this week: Early Sunglow? corn, Henderson bush Lima beans, Top Crop green beans, Burmese okra,  Sierra Gold & Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe, Sugar Baby Watermelon,  Kubocha Sunshine, Yard long cucumber, Cilantro, Genovese, Sweet & Giant basil

(BOX) Contender bush beans, Holstein beans, Sun Spot sunflowers, Eureka, & All Season cucumber, Ground cherries

 

I think that is everything. I may have missed something. I only sowed half the box. I'm still undecided on the other half. I may just wait 2 weeks and fill it in with green beans. Can't go wrong with them around here. :-)

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

 

 

Harvest Monday 4.30.12

April is on it's way out. This is the last Harvest for April, and it seems like it just got here. This Spring is nearly done here. The bugs are out in full force by 10 am yelling up a storm announcing that it's too hot to be out. Yet if it's the weekend I'm braving the heat sweating my booty off in the sun. The nights are still strangely cool thanks to the cold front that came through last week, but the highs in the daytime are hitting 90 religiously now and there is no more turning back I'm afraid.

The garden is starting to show the heat stress already and the humidity is in full force now. Fun times the next few weeks!

This weeks harvest:

Mulberries continue to come in at 2 cups (1lb 6oz)every day or two,  or whatever I feel like picking at the time. 3lb 5.6oz green beans, 3lb 2oz onions, 1lb 5oz carrots, 4lb cabbage, 5oz parsley,  6oz broccoli, 4oz strawberry, 5oz blueberry.

a bucket of parsley for drying and chimichuri sauce...

A few zucchini blossoms, I only get these on the weekend when I'm there to go out in the morning.

Oh and the best of all- a pool that is FINALLY ready to swim in... Did I show you this already? I apologize if I did - but it is VERY exciting news around here!

This is probably the best news so far. It gets the kids approval for sure! ;-)

Off to check my seeds and see what type of cowpeas I'll be trying this year....

'Till next time!

Barbie~

*ETA* Linking in to Daphne's Dandelions - I'm so embarassed that I forgot!!!! Don't you forget!!!

This weeks project.

This weeks project was...

SWEET POTATOES!

*Please ignore the grass starting to invade my decking around the pool pump here - how embarrassing*

I am lucky that sweet potatoes can live here nearly year round. But these are special sweets, these are bush sweet potatoes, these are Silvia's sweet potatoes. :-D

First I had to clear the Sweet Ann's out of the way, but my conscience took hold and a few along the back managed to stay because they are still yummy even though very few are coming off the vines now. They won't make but maybe another 2-3 weeks when the green beans next to them come out. But the kids and I eat them as snacks while we harvest and what a bad mommy I would be if the pleading and begging didn't keep the kids from taking them all out? *snicker* OK OK, I admit I like them as much as the kids do and the vines in the back were the best of the bunch so I caved and here is what was left.

After lifting the slips, and rooting them sufficiently this is what they looked like - it was due time for transplanting.

And lookie! My garden gives forth my little squirmy friends again! I just hope that the potatoes will be happy here. I know they tend to do better in Florida in our native sandy soil, but I don't have anywhere I can plant them where they wouldn't be trampled and would still be able to be harvested easily. Anyway - I just wanted to show off my wiggle worm friends again. They fascinate my kids.

And - the first transplants in. The remaining transplants are rooting (I showed the slips coming in the first picture) There will be 4 or 5 more plants to put here. I'm not sure if overcrowding will be an issue with the sweet potatoes, but it sure wasn't with the others. We'll see! Good news is I can always take out a few plants and let the others continue to develop.

I have another type of sweet potato as well that came unnamed, but it looks different so I"m going to say that it won't be a bush and I may be in trouble with that one. I might put it's slips into a pot just so I can keep an eye on it. I know they tend to ramble a lot more than some.

The garden is quickly transitioning to summer now. The zucchini has blossoms going crazy and the tomatoes are setting nicely, the berries are nearly done (except mulberries they seem never ending) the peppers are coming along a little late. The melons and squash are rambling and the onion & garlic.... well I think I may not get any bulbs this year. I may have relied a little too heavily on my new soil. I should have fertilized better. Live and learn. I'll try one last effort in fertilizing, but this late in the year it may send them to bloom. Such is life. Burmese Okra looks completely different than last years crop of Clemson. I'm loving the new look. I hope that the claims of less goo hold true - but honestly the goo hasn't stopped me from eating it, so I'm not sure why I'm worried. LOL. It's nearly time for the cowpeas to be planted and then I'll be moaning and groaning the summer blues of nothing to report again.

Off to the Blueberry U=Pick this weekend to complete the freezer stash, and someone has actually asked to come and see MY garden. *blush*.  SO sad to share it when I just got hit with a horrid case of PM on my tendergreen beans this week.

See you Monday!

'Till next time!

Barbie~