May 24, 2010: It Must Be March!

Yes, it must be March. Our weather tells me so. I cannot remember May ever being as cold as it has been this year. By this date in May we usually have days in the 80s or higher, and nights in the high fifties. This year we can't seem to get out of the low 40s/60s. Once in a while the sun blesses us by appearing from behind a cloud, and we get a fleeting glimpse of what spring should be like.


The Week of May 17 - 23

Planted

Two 4' strips Ingot carrots (double rows @ 2" apart)

Ottawa Cranberry dry pole beans (24) from Daphne

Seeds in soil blocks: 7 morning glory, 3 marigold, 10 Four O'Clocks

A "block" each of Dragon Tongue beans (11) from Dan and Royal Burgundy beans (12) from saved seed. A "block" is a bit larger than a square.

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It's Harvest Monday!
Join in the fun at Daphne's Dandelions. Brag about your harvest, whether it be large or small, and see what others have harvested this past week.


Harvested:


6 oz. lettuce (1 dinner plate sized head of Buttercrunch), 8 oz. Sparkler radishes & 9 oz. green onions (some not shown) that have grown to 36" long


8 oz. lettuce (mostly Red Sails, a few leaves of Red Romaine)


16 oz. mixed lettuces


11 oz. mixed lettuce & 2 oz. onion (one onion that was going to seed)


28 oz. spinach & a sprig of rosemary (not shown)



11 oz. red lettuces, some leaves were a foot long


10 oz. (1 head Buttercrunch) that hides the dinner plate it sits on


Consumed:

Huge wilted lettuce/spinach salad with green onions

Lettuce & sliced green onions on hamburgers, with sweet & dill relishes from last year's garden


Rosemary in the roasted potatoes, cooked spinach. The meal doesn't look very pretty, it needs a bit more color (fresh tomatoes, anyone?) but it was delicious! I cooked the shrimp on the barbecue, and they were well seasoned with pepper and garlic and basted with butter.


Lettuce (lots!) on my tuna sandwich x2

Mixed lettuce & spinach salad x2

Mixed lettuce & spinach salad with radishes x2

Onions in hash and on burgers.

Sweet & dill relishes, ketchup and 2 pints of salsa from last year's garden at family barbecue, along with fresh lettuce for the hamburgers.

100% of Cookie's (the pet rabbit) greens are now from the garden, as well as 100% of ours.


Observations:

It must be the coldest, windiest May ever.

Sparkler radishes were smaller, but didn't have the wire worm damage that Champion and Cherry Belle had.


Yellow crookneck squash (I think) are volunteering behind the shed, where the old compost pile was situated last year. I picked out three to grow, and will keep the rest pulled. I'm just about positive these are the crooknecks, as I tossed some really big ones last year.


Buttercrunch lettuce heads put on 4 ounces from the beginning of the week to the end of the week, and started forming a tight inner head.


General Gardening:

Bought two new sprinklers, the kind that can be run several in a line, and set them up to cover the north garden. I had three sprinklers on the system, but there wasn't enough pressure for the third one, so I had to crawl behind the dog kennel, move the compost barrel and go on hands and knees under the arborvitae to connect the hose for sprinkler #3 to a different outlet. Then I had to hook up the hose for sprinkler #4 to the other outlet on the same Y fitting as #3 and run that hose down the fence line so it would also water my neighbor's little strip garden as well as my east garden. Now everything gets watered with automatic timers, and Mr. Granny won't have to move hoses to mow the back yard. Only the buckets and containers have to be watered by hand, which takes about ten minutes.

Dug compost into west garden, stapled strips of wire fencing to the cedar fence for the Ottawa Cranberry pole beans to climb, then fenced off the south side of it to keep the dogs out, Trying to decide what kind of flowers I want there.

Put dog protection fencing over the volunteer yellow crookneck squash.

Made plant labels for all the tomatoes and the peppers that are in pots. I ended up with an extra label, so I've misplaced a tomato or counted wrong. The one untagged tomato is one of the last ones I potted up, and I didn't write down what it was...it's either a Husky Red Cherry or a Dwarf Champion (the two leftover labels). I'll have to compare it to those plants once it bears fruit.

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Other Stuff:


Saturday I baked 30 big hamburger buns and 10 hot dog buns for Sunday's family barbecue.

On Sunday, the entire family (17 of us over the age of 12, four babies and three dogs) came for hamburgers, hot dogs and brats cooked on our new barbecue.


We bought it last week, and it only took us three days to put together. Who knew a barbecue could have so many parts! It was a nice replacement for our old one, which really served us well for 20 years.


Amy, the youngest daughter, brought the baked beans. Shannon, the oldest daughter, brought fruit salad and pasta salad. Scott, the youngest son, and his SO Kris, brought the chips and dip and the cheese for the burgers. Son John, the oldest boy, and his SO Carol, brought the delicious lemon bars for dessert. I supplied the meat, buns, potato salad and salsa. Amy's husband, Bryan, did the cooking. We had a good card game and lots of food. Too much food!


Great-grandson Carter, granddaughter Alicyn, great-granddaughter Cambri. Great-grandbaby Remington was asleep in the house.



23 comments:

  1. You've been INCREDIBLY busy! I love that you bake your own hot dog/hamburger buns! I hope to attempt that one day! I can't even believe how much lettuce you are able to harvest! It is all beautiful!

    Grandbabies are looking pretty cute too! :)

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  2. Look at that Mohawk! He's one cool dude.

    For some reason, I can't seem to get beans to germinate outside or inside. And the presprouted beans don't seem to emerge any quicker. I don't get it.

    Weather patterns must be off this year again. I hear the folks in England have been getting a mighty cold spring. We've enjoyed a very warm one. Temperatures are excepted to reach 90 tomorrow. To say that the weather has been unpredictable is surely an understatement.

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  3. Oooh! Nice grill! I bet you all had a great time and sounds like some yummy food too! Maybe your warmer weather is coming...ours just got here, it's hot this week!

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  4. I like the pretty flower photos at the end. Pink flowers are so pretty. ;>

    Well your cool weather is making that lettuce grow. Mine was growing really well until it got hotter. And tomorrow is supposed to be 89! Wow. I think we stole your warm weather. Cool and cloudy is more our type of May.

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  5. Granny I'm with you on the weather. I can't remember a time this late in May being this cold and wet! We are due for more rain this week... May in my area of California has always been in the 70's and 80's.

    Your harvest looks just wonderful. I did not plant enough lettuce this year. Since we are getting more rain this week I think I will seed a few open squares when I get home from work today.

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  6. Your family gathering sounds like a great time and food had by all! The grand babies are so adorable!

    It was a very, very windy weekend here. I'm so tired of the chilly weather, I found myself craving east coast weather--humidity and all, for the first time in two years. LOL

    BTW, nice new grill! http://blogs.app.com/saywhat/files/2009/01/grill.jpg LOL

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  7. Cute babies, nice buns, crazy laundry baskets of lettuce...what will you give us next? ;)

    We have been much warmer this year compared to last, sorry to hear you have not!

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  8. Sounds like you had a great cookout and family get together. It's 90F here today, I wish I could send you some of the heat!

    I truly love that 'fancy' new harvest basket you have. You and my wife both have the thrifty gene!

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  9. I totally feel your pain AG....the weather here has been about the same...wind, cold and rain....today however, the sun is shining...guess where I'm going? lol

    Your greens are beautiful as are your darling grandchildren : )

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  10. Loads of lettuce! I can see that I may have to put the gardeners fleece back on mine if it gets any hotter here.

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  11. Sounds like a grand ole' time!

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  12. Thomas, are you sure birds aren't stealing your bean seed out of the ground? It happens to me sometimes with my Edamame!

    GRANNY! You are so busy you are putting me to shame, I'm trying to keep up though! Everything looks fantastic and yummy, it sounds like you had a great time BBQ'ing with your family, it must be really wonderful to look around and see all the wonderful things in the yard, both in garden goodies and loving family, cute little kiddos too!

    p.s. word verification is "arizated" - sounds like something you would sign off with during the winter internet battle, short for "irritated in arizona":)

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  13. Sounds like a great family BBQ! And that lettuce harvest is one to die for. Wow! So many varieties!

    I wish I could send you some of our unusually warm weather.

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  14. Thank you, Megan. I think they're a handsome bunch, too.

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    Thomas, I don't usually have trouble with beans germinating, but I do have a few that come up and don't develop any leaves. I had some morning glories do the same thing this year, but the second planting did great.

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    Shawn Ann, it's supposed to warm into the 70s this week, but lows still in the 40s. Very unusual for this area.

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    Daphne, some day you'll grow some pretty pink flowers ;-)

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    Liisa, yes...at least we have good lettuce weather for once! I'll be out picking spinach again tomorrow, too.

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    Momma_S, cool grill! Maybe I should get myself a gold partial ;-)

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    Kelly, I thought for an encore I could maybe do a pole dance on the patio table ;-)

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  15. Villager, I could use some of your hot weather, but let's keep it down around 80. OK? Nothing wrong with frugal wives.

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    Sunny, I enjoyed being outside all day today, too. But I didn't get much done...I sent some time with my neighbor, just sittin' and talkin'.

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    Jan, I need to get my lattice ready for mine, when it does turn hot it will come on us really fast.

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    Ribbit, it was. But my kids keep winning all the poker money!

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    Pooh, Erin...nobody can put YOU to shame! You're the busiest mom I know.

    I love it. I was rather arizated this past winter. I wanted to come home!

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    Rachel, you guys all promise to send me the warm, but I never get it. ;-)

    We're eating that lettuce and spinach as fast as I can pick it. The fridge is bare again tonight, I'll have to harvest in the morning.

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  16. Your harvests look great! I'm still waiting on my lettuce. It is almost ready for harvest, seems to be taking its time this year. We seem to have opposite weather, days have been in the high 80's here. Strange to have the a/c on in May.

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  17. Dan, it has been good lettuce/spinach weather for sure! I've never had such beautiful heads of lettuce. I normally just harvest the outer leaves, or do the cut-and-come-again method. This year I'm harvesting the entire plant. The other crops could use a bit more warmth, though.

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  18. Your grandchildren are so cute!

    We've also been having a very cold May. I've resigned myself to a late harvest of tomatoes and peppers. The plants are just sitting and waiting out this cold spell.

    Lovely lettuce! It's only fair, if it's going to be a cold May, at least the lettuce should outstanding, and your surely is.

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  19. It's been cool here too AG - and wet. The spinach, peas, broccoli, cabbages, and lettuces are happy with that weather. The tomatoes, corn, beans, pumpkins, zucchini, cukes, and other warm weather crops - not so much.

    The family barbeque sounds like it was a fabulous affair!

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  20. My goodness you have been a busy lady!! As always, your harvest looks amazing. I saw some of your "harvest" baskets - the ones with the handles - at Walmart for $1.49. I almost picked some up, but then my husband reminded me that I'll NEVER grow enough lettuce to fill one like you!

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  21. Angela, I agree! I've already harvested almost as much lettuce and spinach this spring as I did all of last year.

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    Kitsap, it was nice to have everyone all together. We've decided to have a monthly family get-together. Last month there were four birthdays, this month three birthdays and Mother's Day, next month Father's Day...we can always find something to celebrate ;-)

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    Caffeinated Mom, you should have bought it. Just think how many tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers you could carry in it!

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  22. I can't imagine harvesting enough lettuce to fill a laundry basket! Amazing. Congrats on your new BBQ and your decision to have family gettogethers every month. Good idea. with home baked hot dog and hamburger buns, you should have a crowd at every feast.

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  23. Lou Murray, it's been the best year ever for lettuce. Our part of WA is desert-like, and normally quite hot and dry. This spring has been cold and wet, with temperatures about 15-20 degrees below normal. I'm also being very diligent about succession planting of the lettuces. I'm doing very little "cut and come again" harvesting, instead letting the heads mature and then replacing them with new plants. I now have lettuce in several stages of growth, and about 30 seedlings growing inside. It takes a lot of lettuce to feed a hungry rabbit and a hungry Mr. Granny ;-)

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