Strawberries, Raccoon and Scarecrows

We were hoping to have enough strawberries this year to sell, but even though we had a very good crop, the bed wasn't big enough and the raccoon that seemed to think we were his personal takeout service dashed those dreams. We did manage a couple of good feeds and they were sooooo good.

We have harvested some peas and herbs. Enough to make an amazing tabbouleh salad. We used garlic, mint and parsley from the garden. We are also drying Chamomile, lavender, oregano, lemon balm and catnip. All can be used for teas, but after smelling the cat nip I think I will save that for the cats. So in the next month we hope to be selling teas, tomatoes, herbs, salsa, stewed tomatoes and jams. I will keep you updated.

Fisher Spider

This little Lady is living in our shed. We thought she was a boy, but we saw her carrying an egg sac. She may be the biggest spider I have seen around here.

Perennials Galore

We were so lucky that the previous owners loved flowers. In the city I had a small flower garden, but this plethora of flora is insane. I have been neglecting them, because of the vegetable garden, but I think the next time I have a few hours free to myself I will work with some flowers. It may take me into the winter but I vow to get it done this year.

Strawberry Patch Etc

My strawberry patch is doing amazing. We won't have enough to sell this year, but I can't wait to eat them. The strawberries have been one of the easiest and most prolific things we have planted so far. Speaking of prolific, our rhubarb patch seems to be on steroids this year. We picked the patch about a week ago and it is huge again. If everything grew like rhubarb we wouldn't have a food crisis. The other two pictures are my chives and oregano. They along with the rhubarb were a nice surprise last year when they came up in the garden. The previous owner had not mentioned them, but we were very pleased they had planted them. It brings a smile to my face just to see the first signs of an impending harvest. 

A String of Sun..... I hope

We have experienced a string of rain as everyone knows. This has made only the slugs happy. Now I am hoping we are going to have a string of sun and warm weather. I am headed out to plant some more green peppers, ground cherries and green beans. The rain we have had has washed my green bean seeds out of the ground and they are growing all over the place. If it does get sunny I will take out my camera as I haven't put up any pictures lately.
Heres to the sun. Come for a visit, stay for a coffee, I have missed you.

Rain GRRRRRR!

The rain is getting to everyone. Last year we were late planting because we had to literally start from scratch, but this year it has been hard to find more than one day in a row to get planting. The good news is I have been able to gradually build up my leg and arm muscles so I can still walk and feed myself at the end of the day. When you garden for 8 hours muscles you didn't even know were there will hurt.
My husband comes home this weekend and I am so excited to get some help.
Even with the rain and pain and no ball and chain I have planted quite a few rows and have had things come up and if they don't float away then it should be a bountiful harvest.
We have planted so far    spinach (sprouting)
                                       arugula  (sprouted)
                                       beets
                                       carrots
                                       beans (yellow and green)
                                       anise
                                       chamomile
                                       parsley
                                       roma tomatoes (started inside)
                                       ground cherries (started inside)
                                       peas ( about 2 inches up so far)

Sounds like a lot but there isn't even a dent in what needs to be done. If  the sun ever comes out I will take a picture of my progress.
                                     

Brrrr

I am getting impatient at how long it is taking for spring to come. It is only 2 today. I remember last year giving my mother a huge bouquet of hyacinths for her birthday this time  last year. So far the only flowers up are a couple of sad little crocus. I can only hope things turn around soon. My fingers are a itching to plant.
The good news is everything I have started in the greenhouse is going like gangbusters. The ground cherries should be another bumper crop and I even started another weird berry this year. It is called a sunberry. It was very easy to start from seed. The package said 50 seeds and I came out with 81 plants. Thank-you veseys'
My tomatoes are very healthy too. I am even growing beefsteak this year. I am not a fan of the large tomatoes, but we had so many requests I couldn't ignore it. So next time I blog I will give a full list of what to expect this year and how you can get your hands on some of our very tasty veggies and fruit.

stupid cat

Well my cat has destroyed about a hundred plants. I had them planted in one of those plastic flats. Well three of those plastic flats. How can such a cute little thing be so destructive?
So my parsley, chamomile and basil will not be as plentiful as I hoped. He took his little paws and dug for all he was worth. At least he didn't use it for what I thought he might have used it for. If you know what I mean.
Today should be a gorgeous day so I will try and spend as much time outside as possible. The task of cleaning up the garden is not so bad if you take it row by row. The kids usually help too. Of course I am using air quotes around the help, but they do learn something every time and someday that may come in handy. Free labor is hard to come by.

Long Time No Type

Well I wanted to keep on top of this blog and it is proving to be harder than I thought. It has been a busy spring. I will say busy but satisfying. I am so excited to be entering our second and very glad that I don't have almost an acre of sod to lift up. Weeds don't seem so bad after that.
This winter we lost our greenhouse to a very nasty wind storm. It turn itself totally inside out and left us nothing to salvage.
We have two temporary greenhouses I am using this year, but we are quite excited to have a permanent structure built in the fall. My Dad is going to design and build it so I know it will last.
I am going to take some pictures of our seedlings and send some info about this season's crops. We have switched things up a bit having learn a ton from our mistakes and successes.
So far I can report that Vesey's has come through again and my seedlings are coming like gangbusters. Almost too well. Planting extra always make sense, but when things come so well you start to run out of room it kills me to throw away perfectly goos plants. Next year we shouldn't have that problem as our greenhouse will be big enough to grow into. More later

Electa

Thinking Time

It is time to think about spring. For those of you who think I am jumping the gun, that is one of the perks of being a gardener. We get to jump the gun on the warmer weather. I love the early planning stages when all things are possible. All things can turn out just as we envision them and that is a special time indeed. I have made a list of seeds that I want to grow this year. I have added beefsteak tomatoes as they were requested quite often last year. This year we should have a small harvest of all things berry. Blue, straw rasp and black were all planted last year and we are hoping this year we will be able to reap what we have sown.
We have planned to increase our ground cherry production. We made a jam last year and it was one of the tastiest. We are also going to sell the berries. Everyone who tastes one thinks they are the best and no two people have agreed on what they taste like. In a pie, jam or right from the husk I think they taste like heaven.
I will keep you updated and when I do my order I will post a list of what I will be growing for the 2011 season.