Garden Update

It's been way too long since I've done a garden update.  Life has been a bit crazy here, but starting to get more stable now.  So....

The garlic is just starting to look like it is dying back.  It will still be a few weeks until harvest, but it is looking good!  I can't wait to see how big the heads are.  The tops have been huge!  I've never had garlic so big before.

 The Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage is really heading up.  I can't wait for the first cole slaw of the season.

 These are my Legend tomatoes.  All the tomatoes are covered in flowers, but these are the first fruits I've seen.  Hubby has never liked tomatoes, but has decided that this is the year he will try them.   He loves all tomato products and my bruschetta, that has raw tomato in it.  He even tried a tomato on a salad at a wedding without prompting.  Of course he said it tasted of watery nothingness.  I'm sure he'll love the tomatoes from the garden!

I'm having a very hard time getting a good picture of the tomato trellising.  They are climbing nicely up the supports and so far I'm very happy with this set up.  We'll see in August when they're taller than I am, not that it's difficult to be taller than me.

 The potatoes are starting to look a bit trampled.  The foliage is getting so big that it is falling all over the place.  It's making it very difficult to get around in the garden, since the 3 beds are right smack in the middle of the garden at the gate. 

The corn is not quite as high as an elephant's eye, but it is getting big.  Everything got a good soaking with fish emulsion last night, with a big concentration on the corn. That should get things moving along nicely.  I'm really excited to try it.  On father's day we had corn on the cob with our lobster.  It was obnoxiously sweet.  There was no corn flavor at all.  I hope that is not the trend with the new varieties.  This variety is from Fedco called Incredible.

Lastly, the squash patch.  We still have no flowers on anything, but things are getting bigger and starting to vine. Pictured is Waltham butternut squash and Rouge Vif DTemps. 

 

Harvest Monday

This week is much the same as the past few weeks.  I'm picking the last of the first planting of Cascadia Sugar snap peas, some Winter Density lettuce and a few more garlic scapes that weren't ready before.  Things are really starting to get going now.  Hopefully that will mean a more interesting harvest in the coming weeks. 

Today I'm off to replace the sprinkler and hose feeder that seem to have disappeared from my shed.  The veggies need a good feeding of fish emulsion now, so they'll get that this evening with the watering. 

Check out the other harvests at Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday.

Flowers

These are a few pictures of some of the perennials from Kiwi.  They're all doing quite well and the blooms are beautiful.  Hopefully someday they'll grow up to be as beautiful a garden as where they came from.  I haven't a clue the names of the flowers, but maybe Kiwi will drop by and let us know.

Seeds and things

Yes I realize that this is not a seed.  It's a chicken, a very noisy one at that.  She does however provide me with some rather tasty eggs, so I'll let her stay.  She has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the post, I just haven't had any pictures of the girls lately.

These, however, are spinach seeds.  I'm really in love with how things look when they're setting seed. 

If you click on the picture it will enlarge.  This is the parsnip going to seed.  I love the happy little bee with pollen all over her legs.  There haven't been too many lately, which is making me sad.  Last year I had tons, but so far this year, not too many.

I wish most Americans realized how beautiful veggies are when they are growing.  These potatoes look so boring on the shelf, but while growing put on an amazing show. 

Lastly, the strawberries.  I'm quite happy with the amount of berries on the plants for their first year.  If you look closely though, you'll see that something has taken a small bite out of one already.

Harvest Monday

Now is the time that things are really starting to come in from the garden.  It's so exciting and actually quite early for New England.  Above is a pound of garlic scapes.  These were made into garlic scape pesto and frozen in cubes for the year.  Absolutely delicious!

Some lettuce is also making an appearance.  It has not been a good year for lettuce in my garden.  I don't think it's liking all the heat we've had.

Lastly are the sugar snap peas.  These joined some of the garlic scape pesto in a wonderful chicken and pasta dish last night.  The peas are 3 weeks early this year.  We're loving every minute of it. 

Check out who else is posting over at Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday.

Herbs

I love to cook.  Since I also love to garden, I have been adding herbs to my edible landscape over the years.  One is sage.  Aside from the gorgeous blue flowers, it is a tasty herb to have.  The quintessential Thanksgiving flavor.  It is a perennial, as are most of the herbs I will show today. 

Next is chives.  They are wonderful to top off lots of dishes and one of my favorites to add to eggs.  This plant is only in its second year, but will get much larger each year.

Rosemary is one of those herbs that dries wonderfully.  It isn't a perennial in my zone 6 garden, but south of me it will grow into a huge bush.  Around here, I'll simply pull up the whole plant and hang it to dry in the fall.  You can transplant it into a pot for indoors if you like, but I've never cared to.  We don't use tons of rosemary, and I get a lot of it from one plant.  It's something I tend to plant every other year or so.

Mint is a favorite here and this is peppermint.  It is wonderful in teas, jellies and mojitos.  Just be careful, as it is invasive and will quickly take over where it is planted.  This is in my new perennial flower garden at the front of my yard.  I'm hoping that everything here will take over.  I'm not a big fan of mowing the lawn, so the less lawn I have, the happier I am.

This is another mint that I just stole from my neighbors.  They have a huge patch (yes it is really invasive) and they were more than happy to let me have some.  Last year they let me harvest as much as I wanted.  I ended up drying some and making mint jelly out of the rest.  It was a real treat.

Lastly I have thyme.  This is a new plant.  I had a nice plant, but Toby decided to dig it up for a nice cool spot to lie last summer.  This is now in the aforementioned perennial flower bed.  I love thyme in chicken dishes and find it goes very well with the sage. 

I also grow the typical annuals of basil and dill, but you've seen pictures of those in past posts.  What kinds of herbs do you like to grow or eat?

Garden update

This has been a fantastic year for the garden so far.  We've had heat and just the right amount of rain.  Everything seems like it is thriving right now.  Above is the cabbage continuing to head up and some spinach that is looking like it is about to bolt.

These are the tomato trellises that J built me.  Shortly after I took the picture, I put up most of the strings to support the vines. I'm really excited to see how they work out.

These are some of the Amish Paste plants.  They are starting to put on flowers, which is just amazing to me. 

This is a miscellaneous bed.  In the front are tomatoes from seed I saved last year.  I'm calling them mystery tomatoes, since they came from a volunteer plant.

The strawberries are just wonderful.  We should have ripe fruit shortly.

My potato jungle has been hilled once already and is ready for some straw.  Some of the plants are even starting to flower.  Behind them are beans.

 

Parsnips have gone to seed and are taller than Morgan right now.  They have spectacular seed heads.  If you'd like some seeds, let me know.

The pumpkins and winter squashes are looking good as well.  I'm anxious for a good crop after last years complete failure.

Lastly the peas.  Morgan thinks these are her personal snack.  I may get enough for a dinner eventually, but for now I'm thrilled that she likes them so much.  They are easily 3 weeks early.  We usually harvest peas in late June.

How are things in your garden.  I'm just amazed at how well the garden is going so far.  It's shaping up to be my best year yet.