The good, the bad and the ugly.

Let's start with the good.  The things I like about my garden.  I love these tomato supports.  They're keeping everything healthy and are working out very well.  I'll be putting some twine along the outside to try to keep everything contained.

The tomatoes are producing like mad.  I haven't had any red ones yet, but there are so many on the vine, that I should have a banner year.  No sign of disease either!

This has been my absolute best year for peppers.  Usually they do nothing until late August.  Many years I've had to buy peppers to make salsa.  Not this year!

This is a Rouge Vif dTemps or Cinderella pumpkin.  It's getting bigger by the minute and is being joined by many other pumpkins and winter squash.

The corn is getting very tall and starting to tassle.  I am so excited for my first taste of corn.  This is my first year attempting corn, so far so good.

Now onto the bad.

The weeds are unreal.  This is by far the worst.  This is my strawberry bed.  It was created from the composting of all the waste removed when I expanded the garden a few years ago.  It was covered with a tarp to kill weeds and compost everything  down.  It clearly needed to cook a bit longer.  The rest of the garden is weedy, but this is insane.  I swear I could clear this away today and it would look just like this within 3 days.  There is even a rogue lettuce and pumpkin growing haphazardly in there.  I'm seriously considering forgoing the strawberries and covering the whole mess with the tarp again. 

Then there are the squash vine borers.  I get them every year.  I've tried everything you can think of to combat them.  Some years I get a good crop before they're eaten, some years I don't.  This is one of those years where I won't get much.  The gold rush are holding their own, but not producing much.  The black beauty just got pulled out with not a single squash. 

Overall, it's been a great year.  The unprecedented warmth we've had has been wonderful for many of the plants.  The accompanying drought, not so much.  I've been watering lots, but have been unable to keep up with weeds.  My asthma has made it virtually impossible for me to breath in the 90 + degree heat with humidity in the 70s.  Thankfully, things seem to be struggling through the weeds for the most part.  They got a good head start.  Next year I'll mulch better to keep down the weeds.

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.

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. 

Strawberry love

The kids and I just got back from picking 20 pounds of strawberries.  It just so happens this is the same farm that we got our grass fed cow from last year.  He has a few fields that he uses for hay and last year he raised a few cows there as well.  He didn't do it this year, but will again next year and hopefully subsequent years.  These strawberries are destined to top pound cake, go into smoothies, fruit leathers and many will go into the freezer for the winter as well.  I may have to go get some more. 

The kids were big helpers this year.  Although they should probably have weighed Morgan before and after picking, because I think she ate about a pound of strawberries while we were there.  These are just in time for a cookout we're going to on Sunday.  Guess what I'm bringing?

Strawberry fields forever

These are Sparkle Strawberries from Fedco in Maine.  They arrived about 10 days ago, but this was the first day I could get out to plant them.  Thankfully, they stayed nicely in the fridge, waiting for me.  There are 50 plants and I thought I would have extras.  I had guesstimated the size of the bed and was off a bit.  I now have a 3x4 foot area with nothing in it.  They will send out runners and fill in the space, but I have another idea as well.

My neighbor, N, just came back from a trip to her mother's in Maine.  Her mom worked as a seasonal employee at one of the better known seed companies for the past 2 years.  As a result, N came home with lots of neat seeds.  I just started some rhubarb plants for us both.  It will be interesting to see how they do.  I haven't had the best luck with rhubarb.  It's odd, because most people can't kill it and I can't get it to survive transplanting.  Maybe from seed I'll have better luck.  I think it would be absolutely wonderful to have a strawberry and rhubarb bed.  They go so well together in dessert, why not in the garden. 

The kids are anxiously awaiting all the strawberries.  Hopefully, I'll get some this year.  They are meant to be harvested all year, and are said to fruit the first year.  That would be wonderful. 

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get the potatoes in the ground and possibly some flower seeds.  There is so much going on here it is amazing and quite exciting.