The Beans have sprouted.

The garden is finally starting to look like we have been planting. The last of the things started from seed have popped up, in this case the green beans. We have 2 main types of bean this year. On the left is a Blue Lake Bean. Pooka got these a gift from her grandparents as well as a garden kit. On the right are our standard kitchen bean.

 More beans have sprouted and they have all reached a good size since these pictures were taken. There is still a bit of an empty spot. I am sure it will not stay empty long since we had some plants we gave up on come back.

Bye Bye Squash and Corn

Well, I finally did it. I finally got some of the backlogged gardening caught up. Not all of it mind you but on Sunday, Pooka and I took the chance of being home alone to get some work done. The squash was easily dead. Honestly, we didn't get anything off the corn, but the 2 ears we had rotted before they were able to be harvested. It looks like if we want to do corn again next year, we need to get our act together.

Dead and deader

We ended up with a bunch of empty pots when all was said and done. Mostly for giggles, Pooka planted some more pea plants in the pots. This variety should be fairly cold tolerant, and now that Pooka takes lunches to school daily, she loves being able to take the veggies she is growing in her lunch box. 

Not empty for long

Now to see if we get anything off these peas. Hopefully they handle the cold as well as they say they should, as well as their short growing time. But no matter what, Pooka will be happy to see things going and I will just say if we don't get any peas off the plant, I planted the seeds to put some nitrogen back in the dirt. The beans and peas in the corn pot were still quite happy and healthy and producing, so we left them alone the best we could.

The Green beans are doing okay

 As for the nastiness that was pulled out of those pots, it went out to the curb with the rest of the yard waste for the city to dispose of. I don't see us composting anytime soon.

That is alot of dead plant material

Thinking for fall

The last few weeks, Pooka and I have been wondering about what fall will bring. We know it will mean less tomatoes and peppers, but we are trying to extend our harvest of at least some of the veggies. Peas are one that have taken off this year and may do well as the temperatures begin to drop.

Soon to be peas and beans

So the last few weeks, Pooka and I have been begining to think of getting the sugar snap peas, the green beans and the carrot seeds planted. Most have begun to sprout.

Another group of carrots

The pak choi is doing well, and we will be transplanting it soon. Then we will be restarting the spinach and the lettuce again. Daddy and I even agreed to go to the nursery and buy some more broccoli plants to get in the ground so we will have plenty of broccoli. If it is anything like last year, the broccoli lived past when the snow had begun to fall.

Lunchtime

In a bit of a rush, but I wanted to show you all what I am taking to work for lunch tonight. Everything was grown in Pooka's garden and she said I could take the second cherry tomato "since you haven't tried them yet. They are delicious."

Homegrown carrots, peas, beans and cherry tomato

I know using plastic bags isn't the best answer, but the kitchen is still in process of being rebuilt and we don't currently have a sink for dishes. I added a store bought cucumber to make sure I get enough. I am waiting impatiently for ours to come in. Hopefully I bought my last sets for awhile.

Cucumber is getting there.

Getting There

The harvests are getting bigger. On Friday, Pooka and I harvested these yellow squash from her yellow squashes from her mystery squash plant. They are fairly small still, but I heard if you harvest them smaller they are less seedy and taste better. That's the hope. We haven't had a chance to try them yet since we lost the kitchen this weekend. We are planning on trying them today.

Harvests

Pooka was so very excited to see that first yellow cherry tomato. I barely got pictures before she was jumping in and eating it. She said it tasted wonderful and is hoping for a purple cherry tomato next. I told her we will see. Brother also had a handful of blueberries in there. Those lasted about as long as the cherry tomato.

July 1st pictures

The first of the month has come again, and I while I am a tad late, I want to get up the monthly picture. I feel so much has changed, but I am still waiting on that first tomato and cucumber. Soon I hope. Also, if you look up at the top, there is a page where I am keeping track of my harvest totals, so feel free to check that out.


Corner set up

The corner stand still holds the zinnias, the lone oregano pot, the green marigold pot that has some sort of squash in it, and the snap dragons. The lilac is doing really well in this spot.

Deck side one

The pots on the deck are looking very green. The second sowing of carrots has begun to sprout, the squash and eggplant are getting large. We had to get trellises for the squash to grow up. The blueberries are starting to ripen while the strawberries are covered in flowers and berries.



Deck view two

The other side of the deck shows the greens doing well, The zucchini is growing well in the corner and the marigold on the table has the beginnings of a bloom. The second pot of spinach also has begun to sprout.

Bok choi and broccoli

The Geometric broccoli had some problems with cabbage worm, but a cup of soapy water has fixed that. They are slowly growing back but seem determined to keep growing. The Bok Choi was removed since it had long past gone to seed and has since been reseeded.

Peas, beans and peppers

The peas seem to be starting to die in the heat. However, they hold on and are still producing if a bit slowly. The green beans however are getting their step and really starting to produce. The basil plants next to them have flourished in this spot and I cut them back just this morning to start drying some.

Peppers, tomatillos and onions

The sweet pepper plants continue to grow, but do seem to be struggling some. The store bought sweet peppers have begun to produce, but seem to be having some issues. Meanwhile the green and yellow peppers are doing quite well. They are all flowering and growing. The tomatillos keep flowering, but have yet to put any tomatillo on of size. They are flowering, fruiting then drop these tiny little flowers. The onions seem to do well and we are thinking of cutting them since the winds in the recent storms keep damaging the greens.

Corn, squash, potatoes

The corn is doing well, but needs to be staked up. The squash is flowering and fruiting, but so far none of the squash is of a big enough size. The potatoes in the back seem to be dying back and I am thinking it means we will have potatoes soon.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli

The broccoli suffered a bit from the cabbage worms as well, but the biggest plant has already produce one small head that we had for dinner. The cucumbers have yet to really put fruit on, but we have seen them flowering. The tomatoes still hold tons of tomatoes that we keep watching for any signs of ripening. They are getting good sized.

Tomatoes

The tomato plants continue to love this spot. They have already gotten their second tier on the custom built cage. We have green tomatoes everywhere, but yet to see a red tomato.

Jalapenos, poblano, cherry tomatoes

The hot peppers are doing well. The jalapenos are flowering and you can see tiny peppers, the poblanos are starting to really grow and may start showing us blooms soon. The cherry tomatoes are growing as well and have good fruit as well, but we have yet to see anything turn ripe.

stargazer

The stargazers out front are growing quite well. The blooms are starting to appear on the flowers. A bit of color out front.

garlic bed

We have harvested most of the garlic now, but the biggest ones are still seeming to do well. Daddy and I remembered we didn't amend this bed very well and think that may have something to do with the small garlic bulbs. We have already made plans to get some compost in this bed before winter.

Herb bed with lilac

The front herb bed is doing really well. The cilantro is trying to bolt, but other then that, most everything is growing quite well. We have already been drying herbs for the winter. Mostly tho it is nice to be able to go grab fresh ones for dinner. The lilac is still struggling, but I am hoping it makes it.

sunflowers

The sunflowers are growing quite well. I doubt for the second year in a row that we get anything near the 20' tall mammoths the package promised, but they all seem to be doing well and we have blooms on a few.

Reaping the rewards

Today my kids are merrily eating their veggies at lunch. Not just store bought veggies (which they love to eat anyway) but veggies grown and picked and washed by them. I was torn on what to make for lunch and then we saw these hanging on the pea plant.

Peas are calling

After a bit more looking we also found some green beans.  The kids both asked if they could try their carrots. They are still on the small side for carrots, but we called them baby carrots. They both asked if they could have the greens off their carrots and I told them to try it. Brother was not a fan, but the ever adventurous Pooka loved it. I am thinking of putting the rest of the greens in a salad tonight for dinner, but only time will tell if we get that far.

Yummy Lunch

Round 2 planting

I can say I finished our second rounds of planting. Last Friday, Pooka and I started a second batch of carrots as well as some spinach. We were doing so much with the spinach that we had cut it back a bit to far and it was starting to struggle.

 

For the carrots, we had always planned to try and do a second set a month or so after originally planting them to extend our harvest. This was more like 2 months, but hopefully it will give us more carrots to eat throughout the summer. Now to just hopefully start really getting to see the rewards of our plantings.

 

We did manage to get some peas and green beans in the corn pot as well. Hopefully the 2 of the 3 sisters works well. That is the hope anyway. We will have to see.

Food glorious food

It is official. The garden is producing.

Pooka's and my morning walk through the garden showed signs of food starting that was more then just leafy veggies.

The peas are going great. In this picture alone, you can easily see 3 but the plant has double that. We are just waiting for them to fill out and we can pick them. We could pick them now as snow peas, but I know both kids love sugar snap peas better.

The green bean plants are producing as well. They are smaller in size, but seem to be happy in their spot. We never seem to get enough for a side of just green beans, but we do get enough to have them as a nice snack for the kids, which I am always willing to let them have.

Here you can see a tiny little tomatillo growing on the back of a flower. If this keeps up, we will have tomatillos coming out of our ears. I think Daddy is as excited as Pooka is for them.

Here is a tiny little cucumber on our tiny little plant. I figured it might take longer to get cucumbers, but the plant is growing and apparently making cucumbers. This is a family staple around here.

Tomatoes. Thats right, I found a tomato on one of the tomato plants. I do need to go through and prune the suckers off the tomatoes (After I re-read how to) but its good to see we are already getting tomatoes. Hopefully we won't be waiting till the last minute to get them like last year.

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.

The groundhog was on the take.

I am really done with this whole winter thing. I woke up to ICE on my car yesterday. I swear it is as if Mother Nature said "Haha, you have every single one of your pots in use and more plants to put in them. I am going to mock you by being 18 degrees when you woke up this morning."

Now, I try not to get upset about things I cannot do anything about, but when you have a 2+ foot tall pea plant growing in the house, as well as 12" tall bean plants. I think I get the right to make one small grump.

26" tall pea plant.

Not to mention the bench that goes under our front room window is now accross the room and has broccoli sitting on it. It is keeping some random toys, Darth Vader and Pooka's magnifying glass company.

Newly transplanted Broccoli sitting on the bench.

I need the weather to warm up at least some. I am not ask for 70 degree days here, (although we did have them this time last year). Nope, I am just asking for 40 degree days where I can put the peas and the beans and the broccoli outside, since they all love those temps. I need my pots back for other plants. I really don't want to have to buy more pots, but I am starting to think I may need to.

I am all out of pots and tables.

I think the groundhog that said spring was coming was on the take. I bet he got paid a nice big salad for lying to us. The little liar.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go buy some pots and a couple more tables... 

Our little seeds are growing up

This week we have been super busy here at the science garden. We have started to seriously transplant the larger plants into 6" pots to "hold them over" until they can go outside. Some I am hoping to get outside sooner rather then later, others well, they will need to wait a bit longer.

Peas, beans and sunflowers..oh my..

As you can see, we have been transplanting alot. This table shows all the sunflowers, Pooka's saved seeds from last year as well as the commercial "mammoth" sunflowers.  The differences between them is another post.  This also has our pea plants as well as some of the green beans. I am hoping in the next week or so it will get warm enough I can start taking some of them outside to get better light.

Snowing on the peas

I tried briefly on Wednesday to put plants outside. I had the newly transplanted sunflowers and the peas outside to get some of the precious sunlight. I had noticed it was clouding over so I pulled the sunflowers in. Not 5 minutes after I had put the sunflowers in the house we got snow, in MID MARCH. At least he peas didn't seem to mind.

Green beans with the seed starters

This is the front room. It is a bit crowded currently with seed starters still floating around and the green beans that are living on that table. We had 8 green beans that were ready for tranplant out of 9. I noticed yesterday it looks like the 9th is starting to sprout as well.

More transplants withs the tomato and pepper seeds

Here is the third table we had to put up this week. We were running out of horizontal surface in front of windows. In front you see the tomato and pepper seeds, but in the pots are the Growum's tomatoes and half of the cilantro starters from Growum's. All seem to have taken to their transplant well, but I do worry they may not be getting enough sun there. Come on warm weather so we can move some things outside.


Flowers

Remember the flower Pooka got from her birthday from her Great Aunt. Well it flowered this week, giving us a very pretty red bloom. Pooka loves that it is red since red is one of her top 2 favorite colors (purple being the other one). I swear its a red, even if the picture makes it more orange looking. It has been nice to have a real spark of spring while we wait for the real spring to come.

Talk about confusing

Like many people, we have been hit with late winter storms. In fact, if you look out the back door right now, you will see well at least 4+ inches of snow. That doesn't count the ice that came before it.

Rosemary, Lavender, Audrey's empty pot

Basically, our dog loves it, Pooka went out and played in it this morning for a few minutes before deciding it was cold.  I am okay with it, (but I desperatly need a snow day), but it reminds us that winter is not yet over. Although one would think heading into March we would be past most of it. The rosemary in that small red pot is pretty much dead, the lavender in the green pot may come back and the stuff in the tan pot was the dirt from Audrey, so I have nothing to worry about in it.

On the flip side you walk into the house, and you see spring everywhere. Pooka's Grow um seeds are very busy sprouting left and right. Daily I go through and turn them 90 degrees since they are reaching for the sun outside.  Here you see the lettuce, bok choy, Peas, broccolli, cilantro all fairly well established. The basil is just starting to really grow.

Half the grow ums.

At the other end of the table you will see the rest of the Grow ums.  The oregano has tiny tiny sprouts. I didn't see them but Pooka did since she takes her magnifying glass to them daily to watch for changes. This is her favorite part, she loves planting the seeds on top so she can watch the roots come out and go into the dirt. I also placed the clearanced herbs here so they are all in the same spot.

Rest of the grow ums and clearanced herbs

We have been very busy around here. We also got most of our veggies seeds started. I was worrying that the peppers would take too long to germinate, so I wanted them done early. Pooka and I did it very rushed on a Saturday night in those 16 cell starters. Those are an interesting contraption and I will get a post up on them later.

Seeds seeds at least they are started.

Then I realized I was well into the window to start tomatoes. Except I didn't realize till after I started to hydrate the pellets, did I realized I grabbed the 72 cell starter instead of the tomato starter, so Pooka and I just went with it and spent an entire afternoon on Monday starting the tomatoes, sunflowers, and well everything else. Now we wait. I still need to start the snapdragons, and most of our herbs, but those will go into peat pots probably this weekend. Right now, Pooka is having plenty of fun watching her plants change and grow, and I am running out of places to put seeds. Plus, I think if I have to use a third card table, Daddy may have something to say about it.