The Week of May 24-30
Planted:
5/24 Transplanted 4 parsley seedlings into flower garden
5/24 Transplanted basil seedlings into larger pots
5/25 Made 40 soil blocks and started seedlings: Red Sails, Jericho and Little Gem lettuces (10 each), Forget-me-nots (10)
5/25 Planted Royal Burgundy bush beans (48) and Black Beauty zucchini (2 hills of 3 each) on Pat's side of the fence.
5/25 Planted Trail of Tears pole beans (25) next to patio.
5/25 Planted 2 gray zucchini seeds in hill where seedling died last week.
5/27 Resowed Bachelor Buttons seed to fill in where birds ate the seedlings, covered container with bird netting.
5/28 Planted 10 Four-O'clocks seedlings.
5/28 Planted 3 morning glory seedlings.
5/30 Planted last 4 morning glory seedlings in kennel garden. Probably too shady for them, but had no other place to put them.
5/30 Pulled some beets that were growing poorly and planted a 4' double row of carrots in their place.
5/24 Transplanted basil seedlings into larger pots
5/25 Made 40 soil blocks and started seedlings: Red Sails, Jericho and Little Gem lettuces (10 each), Forget-me-nots (10)
5/25 Planted Royal Burgundy bush beans (48) and Black Beauty zucchini (2 hills of 3 each) on Pat's side of the fence.
5/25 Planted Trail of Tears pole beans (25) next to patio.
5/25 Planted 2 gray zucchini seeds in hill where seedling died last week.
5/27 Resowed Bachelor Buttons seed to fill in where birds ate the seedlings, covered container with bird netting.
5/28 Planted 10 Four-O'clocks seedlings.
5/28 Planted 3 morning glory seedlings.
5/30 Planted last 4 morning glory seedlings in kennel garden. Probably too shady for them, but had no other place to put them.
5/30 Pulled some beets that were growing poorly and planted a 4' double row of carrots in their place.
Harvested:
5/24 The first strawberries of the season, 2 ounces5/24 20 oz. lettuce
5/24 13 oz. spinach
5/26 3 oz. lettuce
5/26 7 oz. red leaf lettuce
5/26 4 oz. (1) onion
5/28 4 oz. (1) onion
5/29 12 oz. onions (for Pat)
5/29 7 oz. lettuce
5/30 5 oz. strawberries
5/30 28 oz. lettuce
5/30 14 oz. spinach
5/30 1 raspberry, eaten in garden
5/24 13 oz. spinach
5/26 3 oz. lettuce
5/26 7 oz. red leaf lettuce
5/26 4 oz. (1) onion
5/28 4 oz. (1) onion
5/29 12 oz. onions (for Pat)
5/29 7 oz. lettuce
5/30 5 oz. strawberries
5/30 28 oz. lettuce
5/30 14 oz. spinach
5/30 1 raspberry, eaten in garden
7.4375 pounds harvested this week
24.25 pounds total harvest to date for 2010
24.25 pounds total harvest to date for 2010
Consumed:
lettuce (daily)
radishes
spinach
strawberries
onions
chili sauce (2009)
ketchup (2009)
sweet pickle relish (2009)
peach jam (2009)
radishes
spinach
strawberries
onions
chili sauce (2009)
ketchup (2009)
sweet pickle relish (2009)
peach jam (2009)
Observations:
Spinach was picked younger and only one leaf had leaf miner damage.
Buttercrunch lettuce grows large and crisp, but has a tendency toward brown edges on older leaves. I am, however, happy with size, taste and texture.
The onions are sizing up nicely. I pulled one for tonight's dinner, and it weighed 4 ounces.
It has been the coldest, wettest May I've ever experienced. Normal temperatures 80/50, we're lucky to reach 65/45.
The first tomato appeared, on the Minigold.
There was a visitor next door, at Pat's house, Sunday afternoon.General Gardening:
Mixed up some fish fertilizer and fed a few potted plants, and hid the measuring cup behind some potted tomatoes. When I came beck to it, I found Annie had managed to move the large tomato pot several inches, to reach the cup so she could lick that nasty stuff out of it.
Began pruning one of the shrubs in the front yard that suffered a lot of winter damage. Numerous tiny dead branches have to be pruned out by hand, not an easy job and hard on the back, so it may take me a few days to complete.
Added two bags of potting soil to the potato patch for their final hilling.
Did the first pruning of bottom leaves and suckers, and tying up of the tomatoes.
Thinned out and transplanted a few lettuces. I hope I can find room for the 30 I started in soil blocks this week! I may have to make a salad box and put it on the table in the kennel garden. I do have a large tote that I used for tomato seedlings, it could easily be used for lettuce.
Edged back (patio) flower garden
Removed bird netting from peas and snap peas, as the tendrils were beginning to cling to it. Strung garden twine for the shelling peas and pushed in branches for the snap peas for support.
Cut off new raspberry canes along the edges of the bed to provide better air circulation for the bearing plants.
I left the large new canes near the center of the bed for next years crop.
The berries will be more accessible, and much easier to pick now.Garden Blogger's Death Day
This first one isn't really my fault. It's the Roma Grape tomato plant I started for my neighbor, Pat. I gave her a nice, healthy seedling just before she ended up having surgery on her knee, and she didn't tell me she hadn't planted it. It was looking pretty bad by the time it finally got put in a pot on her patio, but there was still some chance of survival. Until her puppy ate it.
I just flat out gave up on these beets, and pulled them out. I'll plant more in July, when they aren't bothered by birds and leaf miners. I planted a 4' double row of carrots to take their place in the garden.
This baby is going next. It's been devoured by birds and insects, and Otto stepped on it yesterday. It only grew to a fraction of the size of the other broccoli plants, so tonight it will die.***Harvest Monday is hosted weekly by Daphne, at Daphne's Dandelions***
***Garden Blogger's Death Day is hosted on the last day of each month by Kate, at Gardening Without Skills***
***Garden Blogger's Death Day is hosted on the last day of each month by Kate, at Gardening Without Skills***
Good harvest Granny. I think that you put all of us to shame with the amount of work that you get done in a week!
ReplyDeleteCute little visitor. I trapped three skunks this spring. The skunks here in town are too tame for safety with the little garden helper around.
Your raspberry patch looks really healthy. I need to look into a trellising method for ours. Your setup looks pretty straightforward. Is that wire on a t-shaped top post?
ReplyDeleteBirds didn't bother my broccoli or cabbage but they pulled a pepper seedling right out of the ground. It was dried out before I noticed. Luckily I had a spare.
I hope you zoomed in on that skunk and weren't as close as it looks!
I'll never tire of commenting about how impressed I am always with your gardening energy. As I've said before, I get tired only from reading all the tasks you've accomplished in your garden.
ReplyDeleteI am very glad you posted the pictures of your raspberry bed. I just planted my first raspberry bed and now I know it is going to look when the plants mature. I'm looking forward to having abed as full as yours.
Nice collage of your harvests!
Granny, you are amazing.
ReplyDelete25 lbs. already, eh? A pretty good start for the year, I reckon. I think we've all lost some plants this year due to various reasons, and lord knows i've had my share. Too bad about the less than ideal weather during May. I hope it's more favorable in June.
ReplyDeleteLooks like lots of work is paying off in your garden... I'm jealous of your leafy greens! ;)
ReplyDeleteRobin, this guy (or gal) wasn't a bit afraid of us. My dogs often go over to Pat's to play with her dog, but I'm hesitant to let them do that now. There's a lot of shrubbery back there where the skunk was, and my curious dogs always have to go back there to explore.
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Villager, I did have wire on the crossbars (two bars, one at the top and one about half way down the post), but the wind blew the canes back and forth and caused some abrasions on them. This year I'm using soft cotton clothesline instead, and it seems to be working well. I can use figure 8 loops of nylon stocking strips to attach the really tall canes to the rope, and they don't slide back and forth in the wind like they do with the wire.
I used a zoom lens. I'm old, not stupid ;-) LOL!
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Angela, if you go back one year in my blog, you can see that I had just four little bare canes then. Those four canes created the monster it is today!
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Ali, I'm not amazing, I just do a lot of work to get very little accomplished!
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EG, it has now warmed to the mid 70s, with intermittent rain showers. I expect everything in the garden to grow about a foot a day under these conditions!
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Jamie, I'm even jealous of my leafy greens! They are the biggest and best I have ever grown, thanks to our colder than usual spring.
So much good stuff here I don't know where to begin.
ReplyDeleteYou're still sowing lettuce this late in the game??? I always thought it was too hot to do so. Maybe I'll follow your lead.
Your pruned raspberry canes look really good. My everbearing variety is supposed to produce a fall crop during the first year and a summer crop the second year on the same cane. I hope I get some this fall.
Congrats on your first tomato!
GBDD - I grown to be more cut-throat when it comes to underperforming plants. Does that make me a bad person? haha.
Thomas, I will provide shade for the new lettuce plants, as needed. I have kept lettuce growing through past summers by suspending some white vinyl "privacy" lattice over the bed. That seems to let just enough sunshine and water through to keep it thriving. Time will tell if it works for me again this year.
ReplyDeleteWhen I grew everbearing raspberries (Heritage) I treated them as one crop type. I found the fall berries to be really good, but the summer ones not so much. I was probably pruning them wrong! It was just a lot easier to cut them all back in early spring and let them bear one crop on new growth in late summer.
Ya, Thomas...you're BAAAAAD!
Oh my goodness, a skunk! I've honestly never seen one alive before and not squished on the side of the road. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteAren't those little tomatoes just gems!
My verification word is amysone...Hope Amy's One is doing well.
Ribbit, I'm a little sad that Pat's going to call animal control and try to have the skunk trapped. I do hope they relocate it and not euthanize it. They are really beautiful little creatures, and this one was so not a bit afraid of us. They are quite harmless if not antagonized. My only fear is the dogs getting near it. I might say though, Mr. Granny has taken to putting the solid door in the pet door at night. We wouldn't put it past a curious skunk to come through that opening! The first time Pat saw it, it was on her patio.
ReplyDeleteAmy's (little) One came to visit today. She's just so darned precious I can't hardly stand it :-) Her (big) One came, too. She's our extra special girl....a teenager that isn't obnoxious. In fact, her (huge) One, that would be her husband, came too, and I put him to work. I'll blog about that tomorrow.
A real life Peppy Le Pew! So cute! Like Ribbit, I've never seen a real-life live skunk either. Very cool to snap a pic too - from far enough away.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for participating in Garden Blogger's Death Day! Sorry you had things to enter though...
Beets - beets intrigue me. I want to grow them, but I don't really enjoy them. I've only eaten them from a can as a kid and I don't know what else to do with them. What do you do with your beets (when they grow, that is)??
Kate, I'm surprised at how many have never seen a live skunk. I've known two people who had them as pets, I had a wild one in my back yard a few years ago, we had an entire family of them under our shed at our previous house and our dog got sprayed. I was even out in the woods one day, sitting and resting on a log, when a young skunk walked right up to me. I sat very still, and once he/she had looked me over, he/she walked slowly away. It was a gorgeous youngster!
ReplyDeleteI make pickled beets, but I made so many last year I really don't need any this year. We also like Harvard beets, which are cooked, sliced or diced, then seasoned with vinegar and sugar, and thickened with cornstarch and eaten hot. I even like them just cooked and sliced and chilled. They are also really good (and sweeter) roasted.
Oh no not a skunk! I had one corner me in our garage when I was younger. Thankfully it was a baby and didn't have any spray yet.
ReplyDeleteOh I hated skunks in the yard when I had dogs. I just dreaded that encounter. Though usually they just do it once then learn. At least your dogs are small. If they get into a skunk it is much easier to wash them. My last dog was 100lbs. Try getting skunk out of that ones coat. We kept her outside and in the laundry room for a few days. She was none too happy.
ReplyDeleteWe had a cocker-poo that got sprayed, and had a terrible time getting the smell out of her long hair. Tomato juice did work on her, but she sure looked pitiful drenched in red juice!
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