At war

We are at war. You see, I planted the broccoli and it started getting snipped off. I think Mr. Bunny has a taste for broccoli. Once I found one whole plant GONE, another looking rather sad and a 3rd and a 4th with teeth marks, I declared war on the rabbits.

Rabbit damage

I do go by the rule of thumb that 1/3 of what I start from seed will never germinate, 1/3 of what I plant will go to the critters, and 1/3 will be ours, but it is very frustrating to have your newly planted broccoli all disappear suddenly. Especially when it is the only thing in the ground.

Bunny had some Geometric broccoli

I shored up our defenses. I pulled out my trusty stakes, zip ties and some chicken wire we had bought a few years ago but never used and built myself a wall to prevent Mr. Rabbit. Now, I know it wouldn't slow him down if I hadn't staked the chicken wire into the ground. My hope was that this would make our broccoli look a ton less appealing than any of the neighbors yards and if it didn't I may have caught him and could re home him somewhere a bit farther away.

Cross your fingers this works. 

I can say since the wall has been up, the broccoli has been unharmed. My neighbor did say their lettuce is getting a bit of the bunny treatment, but I also know for a fact a set of rabbits live under their deck next to their garden. One plant did not come back but hopefully once the rest of the garden goes in, I can remove the wall and let nature do it's thing. I am so over buying produce at the store. 

First in the ground

First in the ground

Well, it took two days due to rain, but I finally have something in the ground. The broccoli is in and getting quite comfortable out there. I will say the picture is from day 1, but I managed to get them all in there and now we wait. I know Pooka is really hoping her geometric broccoli will do something this year. I can see her little face getting all excited over a new kind of broccoli that is different. Personally, I am just happy that we have a few less pots on the deck.

Broken Broccolli

During a morning walk down of the garden the other day, I saw this small broccoli plant laying on its side. Completely. Well, I grabbed it and it turns out something caused it to break off its roots. It had a small floret of broccoli. We decided to harvest it and it made a decent snack. 

Broccoli down

When I looked at the end of it, I think it just broke off. What would of caused it to break off, I have no idea. However, I don't plan to find out anytime soon. I sometimes think I need to put a video camera outside at night to show us what is going on, but then I realize I am probably better off not knowing. I will leave it a mystery. Pooka decided to blame Bugs (the bunny) and happy moved on to more important things, like if her carrots are ready to be pulled.

the broken end of the plant

Better late then never - August Overview

I promised these pictures are from the first, even if life has kept us busy of late. The temperatures have been milder this year then most. The garden is certainly loving it tho.

Garlic bed

The old garlic bed has been replanted twice with new annuals and Pooka's new plants. Those will be in a post later. Almost everything in this bed we will have no problem tearing up in the fall to replant garlic. Until then, we will see what we get.

Front yard beds

 The rest of the front bed is filling in nicely. We have been harvesting herbs not only for meals, but we have been drying plenty of herbs as well. It will be so nice come all winter to cook with.

sunflowers

 The Sunflowers are growing. Some of them have reached over 10 feet tall, and the Pooka a few of the Pooka sunflowers have multiple heads. Pooka loves to have Daddy go stand next to them so she can see how tall they are. We have yet to see the velvet sunflowers bloom, but they have started to form buds so their bloom is not too far off.

deck view one

The back deck is covered yet again in plants. The eggplants are getting ready to produce and we are getting some very nice strawberries. Our second set of green onions is growing and we plan are starting to get squash off the squash plants.

Pot stand

The lilac is doing well and the celery plants are doing much better in this slightly shadier spot. The snapdragons are even starting to bloom which gives this little spot some color as well as the lavender sitting on the table between the two chairs. I will say the zinnias died as well as the snapdragons in the easter baskets. At least we know now that easter basket don't work. Good to know.

Deck View 2

Around the table the lettuce and the strawberries are doing okay. The zucchini is going okay. We have yet to get much from it, but it is trying. The pots on the table have all sprouted but are not ready to transplant just yet.

Broccoli and nothing

The bed next to the house is still holding on. The broccoli is still fighting no matter how much the cabbage worms are trying to kill it. The bok choy seeds I planted do not seem to be doing much, but that is why we also started some in a pot. Hopefully in a few days we will be able to transplant the little bok choy

Sugar Snap Peas, Green beans, and Basil

 The peas are still producing no matter how sad they appear. They are holding on but the heat spell we had a week did put some stress on them. The green beans are doing well in their spot. We never seem to have enough for the meals, but the kids are enjoying having green beans as a snack occasionally. The basil is doing very well and is in need of being cut back again. More herbs to dry.

Sweet peppers, Tomatillos, Red onion and romaine

 The Peppers are doing okay. We are finally starting to see some real production out of these and it is making us all very happy. The tomatillos are loaded down with and should be ready soon. Pooka is so excited to have her green salsa. The sweet onions are doing well and some are even flowering. The reds have been pulled, but the lettuce seeds we planted there are sprouted. Maybe the romaine will do better in this setting then the hanging pots

corn squash and peas

The sisters for the corn didn't take. The corn is doing well, if suffering a bit from needing more nitrogen.  I am going to try putting more peas in the container and seeing if it helps. The squash has produced a few times, but it seems to be having its own issue. The dirt from the potatoes is in the black bucket in the back with pea sprouts starting.

Cucumbers and broccoli

The cucumbers are climbing and producing while the regular broccoli is doing well. The geometric broccoli is starting to take off. We have had a couple of broccoli harvests already, but as long as the plants don't bolt, we should be able to get many more.

Tomatoes

The tomatoes look smaller if anything. What happened was that the tomatoes actually fell over. We have already harvested over 180 oz or almost 11.5 lbs of tomatoes. Pooka has already asked to see if we can make homemade ketchup. Brother agreed, but has started to worry maybe he shouldn't have. The tomatoes have become a giant mess I will have to untangle soon.

Spicy peppers and cherry tomatoes

The hot peppers are taking off. We have harvested over 9 oz of jalapeno. The poblano peppers are finally flowering, but we haven't seen any yet. The cherry tomatoes are taking off although we have only seen yellow and orange tomatoes. Pooka is looking desperately for a purple tomato. Hopefully she finds one this year.


As you can see, the garden is doing very well. Pooka has harvested over 421 oz or 26+ lbs of food. Pooka says this total "is the best news ever." I am glad she is happy being her and happy with what she is growing. If we are growing plants that make food, that makes Daddy happy the grocery bill is lower.

Geometric broccoli going in the ground

As we all know, we have had some scope creeping (explosions) this year. The broccoli romanesco went into the ground on Friday. It seemed to have been doing great in the pots and well, I was trying to clear some room on the deck.

I knew going in not all the pots would fit in the bed with the rest of the broccoli. Since I had 4 pots, I decided to only put the contents of 2 pots in the bed with the rest of the broccoli. The rest was going to get moved over with the bok choy.


Geometric broccoli ready to go

First I got the first 2 in their homes. I know that supposedly broccoli and tomatoes do not get along very well, so I made a point to limit how many broccoli I put in the ground. Hopefully between the limit and the fact that I put cucumbers between them, they should all play nicely for a bit.

Pots one and two with the rest of the broccolli

The second two pots got placed in with the bok choy. I do worry since this so close to where we had broccoli last year, that we may run into a bit bigger pest issue. However, everything has been so wet that the pests are everywhere. I am hoping that as soon as it starts to dry out, things should do better.


Pots 3 and four in the ground as well.

Getting these in the ground officially finishes the back beds. Now to do my daily walks and just watch for pests and weeds and hopefully start harvesting soon.

Finally something in the ground

Even with all the insanity of late, we have finally started to get plants in the ground.

First was the tomatoes that were getting too big for their pots. Those went in last week before we even had the beds finished.


Tomatoes

On Monday before we had to leave to deal with family matters, a pot of broccoli fell and the terra cotta pot broke. I grabbed the plant up and got him into the ground.  Not the way you want to plant, but it worked well enough.

Broccoli

But Wednesday Pooka and I finally got a chance to get some real planting done. The weather was nice, the lows were going to be in the 50s, we decided to take a chance. First we started by gathering all the sunflowers in the front yard. It didn't seem like that many when I counted them

Sunflowers all gathered up

Then I had Pooka put the pots where the plants were going to go. There is no rhyme or reason, this was how Pooka wanted to plant them. I did go out and write down on a piece of paper which variety was which so we would know.

Ready for a new home

Next came lots and lots of planting. I don't have pictures since I was getting a tad dirty and moving the rocks to plant was a bit of pain. I will say the rocks have helped with the weeds in this bed. But I am going to be watching it to make sure they stay that way. Once they were all in the ground, this is what they looked like.

Welcome to your new homes Sunflowers

Sadly, the sunflowers due to rocks and weeds took a bit longer then I had expected and we had to leave to do some other things. However, after we were home with Kiddo and Daddy started to make dinner, Pooka and I got the Pak Choi in the ground. They were a tad wilted that day due to the heat, but their new home is in bit shader place which should help. They perked right up after we watered them.

Pak Choi (Bok Choy) that can grow 4 in a square foot

Hopefully this means over the next few days Pooka and I can really get to work getting things in the ground. I know Daddy would like to be able to walk on the deck again, let alone sit down in a chair. Lets all hope the rain holds off until its too late in the evening to do much for the next few days.

OUTSIDE... Finally

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of time taking most of the plants outside. It is finally warm enough that I plan to let them stay outside for a few days.  It was nice to know they finally had enough sun.

Amaryllis went out front.

I put the amaryllis Pooka got over the holiday on the front porch. They are looking rather sad after I think a cat started chewing on a few leaves. I am trying to figure out what to do with the darn things. Can I cut them off now and then have them rebloom later this summer? Any ideas from people who have done this before?

Picture one

Getting all the plants on the back deck in one picture was not going to happen if we still wanted access to the yard and the grill. Instead, I have 3 pictures. Here is the blueberries, strawberries, lilac, potatoes and veggies is all I am going with in the little pots.

Picture 2

Here you can see the last of the plants on the deck itself. The spinach and lettuce is in the back right corner. I finally moved them out of the garage yesterday and some have already taken root. Hopefully I will be cutting myself a salad in no time. The some of the tomatoes are on the strawberry tables. I forgot to bring these in last night, but they seemed okay at first glance.

Picture 3

Here is the plants on the table. I didn't have much rhyme or reason to where things went. I just kinda shoved things places, but I wanted to make sure the roasters of "seedlings" were up a bit higher to keep them safer from the dog. Now not everything looked very healthy and in some cases it was just pots of dirt, but I am hoping to pull out the seeds today and restart some of them. Fortunatly for me they are easy to restart plants like broccoli, pak choi, lettuce, beans and herbs.  Hopefully all of these being outside will help with the gnat issue that killed so many plants this year.

 

Tomates, egg flowers, scallions and mystery

I left some of the more tender plants inside. The egg flowers don't look like they are doing so well since I kinda forgot to water them for a bit. The scallions were growing great, and we actually trimmed them for dinner. We put the cut ends back into the water to see if they regrow. I forgot to get pictures since I was more then a tad melted when Daddy asked to cut them. The tomatoes I am hoping to transplant some of them this weekend. I know they were a bit dry yesterday and I was afraid to put them out when they do not have a whole lot of dirt to hold water.

Surprise peppers

These peppers are still in the front room. I know they are having an issue with mold. Something this kind of tray seems prone to, and no, I do not plan on reusing this kind next year. I am going to keep these guys and hopefully replant them as well soon so I can strengthen them to get them outside. Maybe spring will start staying. However, I haven't taken the tables down, I think that would be testing fate.

One last look

This week the frost/freeze hit pretty hard. I am glad I got outside Monday to take pictures of things before they started looking too bad. Since Monday, the cucumbers are very dead, the tomatoes are about half gone, but the peppers and broccoli are still doing okay. 

Stargazer and lilacs

The lilac's and the stargazer are doing well. They have been sheltered against the house most of the summer, so they are not in too direct of light. I am so glad the lilac's are still alive and doing well. I am planning on bringing them in once they drop their leaves since everyone I have talked to said that they may not do well in the pots especially if we get as cold a winter as predicted.

Dill and zombie parsley

The big dill plant is still flowering. It seems to have fallen a bit in the pot, and I am planning on adding a bit more dirt to stabilize it. I can probably pull the empty bottle out as well. The baby dill is doing well and has been pulled in the house already. It seems to be doing okay on the counter. The parsley came back to life in the garage, so it is in the sink right now since we watered it yesterday.

Containers

The containers are doing well. The basil was all picked and dried last weekend. Although the Sweet Basil plant had new growth on it yesterday. It has been in a garage with no sun for a week. I still can't figure that out. The strawberries came back, but they need moved inside for winter, and most of the herbs still out here I am trying to decide if I want to bring in or see if they make it (Oregano, thyme, ect). The rosemary and lavender should be okay.

Poblano's and Broccoli

 The broccoli is still producing. It should produce well into the fall/early winter. The poblano's are doing well. They still produce, so I walk outside and check for good sized ones. All the peppers from the big harvest have been diced and frozen and put in ziplocks in the freezer to use all winter. I guess I should explain how we do that (But that's another post).

Sweet Peppers and Green Peppers

 The sweet peppers and green peppers are still doing well. All the fruit from them has also been frozen and put away. I keep finding peppers on both plants, so we are going to leave the peppers until they start to look really sad. We never did get anything out of the store bought yellow pepper plant.  I am not buying the plants ever again. That GIANT sweet pepper plant (second closest to the stairs) is my best producer. I am going to miss that plant.

Cucumbers and Tomatoes

 The cucumbers are dying here. Today they are very dead. I really need to pull them, but we are trying to finish the front yard a bit so we can lay some of the dead plants down as compost for the winter. The green bean plant is in there behind the sign. It didn't do much again this year, and I am seriously thinking about not doing those again. However, this year I know it got choked out by the tomatoes and cucumber. I may leave it up to Pooka next year.

Tomatoes

The tomatoes look really bad. Remember the big harvest, it got to a point where we just started hacking and breaking the plants. They still look rather big here, but you can see the torn down bits of them and that they look rather sad. They look worse today, but again, until we are ready to lay them all down, I haven't pulled them yet.




That is what the plants looked like as of Monday the 8th. Overall I think we got our money back from them and probably made a profit. Maybe next year I will weigh what comes in for giggles.  I am planning on trying to get some pictures of the structures holding up the plants as we get things pulled out. Over the winter, I am hoping to updating the blog with our indoor gardening efforts as well as other odds and ends as it pertains to Pooka and her gardening love, and before I know it, I will have to start/get seedlings ready to go in next spring. I have a feeling this may be around for awhile. Especially after yesterday when she wrote a song about it.

"I love gardening, yes I do.
I love gardening yes I do.
I am going to garden forever,
because it makes me happy." - Copyright to a Pooka who was sitting in the car.

Another reason I should never give up on plants...

Today, I was surprised by 2 of the plants in Pooka's garden. One I was hoping I was wrong on, but the other I thought for sure was a waste of resources at this point.

I had long since given up on the broccoli. I thought for sure it had bolted and we would never get anything out of it. I was actually contemplating pulling it out soon so I could start figuring out where I wanted to plant some garlic for fall.  In fact, after planting it, I realized I had planted it too late, so that was a good chunk of the reasoning behind the fact I thought it wouldn't produce and I should pull it.  Pooka on the other hand kept telling me that she wanted broccoli off it. Especially since it had the butterflies on it that one day.

So imagine my surprise this morning when Pooka and I went outside to look at the plants and I glanced at the broccoli and actually saw a head starting to form. It is small and it may only be one bite, but I am going to leave the broccoli and see what happens. Who knows, maybe the plant that is almost as big as Pooka will sprout some next. Maybe we could have Garlicky broccoli for dinner yet using our own broccoli (Or at least partially made by home grown broccoli).

I see you....

We then walked over to the pepper plants. We are a huge pepper family. Pooka and brother love to sit down and eat one as a snack, with or without dip. At this point, we knew it was still a tad early, but I was really worried that they just weren't going to produce at all since they had been attacked by the bugs pretty early on. 

We finally found the beginnings of an actual pepper on one of the sweet pepper plants. Let's just say Pooka was rather excited. I have had to tell her a few times now she needs to wait till it gets bigger.  Now the question is what kind of pepper is it. We had planted a Sweet pepper mix, so did the green peppers and the sweet peppers cross pollinate with the pablano? So will we have a orange or red pepper that is spicy or will it be sweet? Only time and patience can tell.  

The new question will be what will this taste like. 

This is yet again another reminder that I need to let Mother Nature do her thing on her own time. She is a busy lady and I can't force it, but I really wish she would pay attention to what it says on the seed pouches. Or better yet, I could look at the "Days till harvest " information then worry. I guess this is another moment of "Gee, if you read the packet, you may not seem so silly."

After only a month...

So I was flipping through some old pictures yesterday and I was shocked how big everything has gotten. I guess by looking at things day to day, you don't notice as much as if you only see it once and a while. You would think I would know this, I mean I have kids, but that's a whole other issue. 

Today, I am just going to look at what has changed in a month.

Pablanos and Broccoli 6-5

A month ago, the pablanos and broccoli were growing but still looked small.  

Pablanos and Broccoli taken 7-5-12

Today the Pablanos are getting to be good sized. They are flowering like mad, but have yet to have a pepper on them. The broccoli looks to have gone wild, but it hasn't produced any florets yet either. Turns out Broccoli does not like summer, but we are leaving it to see what happens with it in the fall.

Sweet and Bell peppers 6-6-12

The Sweet and bell peppers still had a struggling plant, but were small due to me not starting them early enough. But they were finally starting to show some growth. 

Sweet and bell peppers today 7-5-12

Now the Bell peppers are doing well. They are getting large enough to need some help with supports and while they are getting there, they are starting to finally flower. Again, one day I will learn when to start these suckers since I think alot of the science aspect for Pooka is seeing it grow from seed and not just going out and buying an already established plant (and it is cheaper). 

Cucumbers 6-6-12

The Cucumbers were smaller, but getting good sized. They were just waiting to have enough room to sprawl. 

Cherry tomatoes 6-6-12

Big tomatoes 6-6-12

The Cherry tomatoes were beginning to go nuts. Just like their big Tomato cousins. They had room and were going to make use of it. They had started to really sprawl but were taking some time. 

Cucumbers and Tomatoes 7-5-12

Container garden 6-6-12

Today the cucumbers have begun climbing the trellis, they have reached the deck in a few places and are starting to climb the railings. The Tomato plants (all of them) are quite happy and have green fruit on them. Just a bit more patience and we will have tomoates coming out of our ears. Did I mention the tomatoes plants are probably 5 ft tall? Yeah, they are quite happy.

Container garden 6-6-12

The containers were few and small, but they were started. The cilantro was going nuts, the herbs had been bought since they decided to not start this year. 

Container garden 7-5-12

The lettuce had just been planted, we never expected anything out of it. The chives were in the ground, the herbs bought to replace ones that had never sprouted.

Today the containers are overflowing. We have fresh strawberries daily. The morning glory is ready to eat us (although it looks sad here, it has been super hot and it needed more water). The herbs are all growing, including the seeds we had given up on. We have added more plants, rosemary, purple basil, thyme, a second lavender, Dill. ect. All in all, this are is becoming as much a jungle as the tomatoes (although you can see those behind the strawberries on the table on the far side). The chives are finally growing. I am glad this is one plant that will be back next year since I have yet to get much out if it this year. 

Isn't it amazing what can happen in just a month. Hopefully this time next month, I will have food coming out my ears. Or at least a super happy Pooka since that is the only real goal. (Getting something for all the work is just a huge bonus.)