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The Shed Garden, The West Garden & The Patio Garden
The Shed Garden, The West Garden & The Patio Garden
The shed garden. I really need to take a morning photo of this one, when the poppies are open. The dwarf and semi-dwarf zinnias are beginning to bloom, the oregano is flourishing, the basil is doing much better in a pot than in the garden. Both of the Bloody Butcher tomatoes are fruiting. The two wimpy tomato plants have decided they like being in the big pots in this garden, and have doubled in size since the first of the month. The sun Gold, which I thought had no chance of survival, actually looks like a tomato plant now! I think it's going to make it after all.
Bloody Butcher tomato....soon!
I think Leona the Meyer Lemon likes her place in the shed garden. She's still hanging on to her first lemon, and has a few new baby nubbins. She has grown about six inches in this past week, and turned from a sickly yellow to a healthy green. All she wanted was some warm weather!
The west garden is growing well, too. I could probably sneak a taste of the rhubarb....but I'll control myself. I've tasted a few strawberries from this bed, but there still haven't been enough for a "real" harvest. The Cherokee Purple tomatoes are looking really good, and full of blossoms. There have been hundreds of volunteer Four O'clocks in and around this bed. I have to pull or hoe them out daily. I want them around the patio, but not in my rhubarb bed!
Down the ugly west side of the patio....the servant's entrance (yeah, sure), the tomatoes are also growing well. They get the really warm afternoon sun here. The Heatwave will probably be my big performer when it gets really, really hot.
More strawberries, as ground cover around the patio. There's still no sign of anything sprouting from the seed card I planted a while back.
The Matt's Wild Cherry grew 21" in two weeks. It has some teeny-tiny tomatoes. The Sun Sugar should have a few ripe ones soon.
On the patio, the flat of lettuce seedlings has germinated. Granddaughter Alicyn was here today, and replanted a few of them for me. I moved them from the step to the table top, out of the reach of a two year old!On the home front, Annie and Otto had their first ride in the "new" pickup, and it met with their approval. We put the console up, and Otto got to sit on the front seat between us. He was in seventh Heaven! Annie likes the back seat, where she can immediately fall asleep. I don't know why she likes going bye-bye so much, she sleeps through our entire ride. She can be really comfy now, with a nice soft seat on which to sleep.
Very nice. Everything looks so neat and tidy...my garden is a mess right now. It's hot and things are bolting right and left. I'm pulling things out and feeding the chickens and the worms...too many blank spots in the beds..need to start re-planting. The heat is making me lazy. Looks like you're going to get a few nice broccoli!
ReplyDeleteLynda, that's just one of two broccoli heads left, the others have all been cut. Some of the plants are giving out nice side shoots, some aren't. I'll be pulling out a few this week.
ReplyDeleteEverything does look healthy and as if they have had plenty to drink...if we don't get some rain soon we will lose all we were looking for :o(
ReplyDeleteHoly Moly, you got so much going on here! Sure is a ton of produce coming! How much do you put up?
ReplyDeleteGinny, that's the nice thing about living next to the mighty Columbia River...we have all the water we can use, through our local irrigation district!
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David, I didn't realize I'd removed the link to last year's food preservation, but I just put it back in my sidebar. It's right above the scale....preserving the harvest 2010. For some reason I didn't get everything in there, because I know I processed some dill pickles. I think about 3-4 quarts is all, and one broke in the canner.
David, I just put a link to the 2009 food preservation, too.
ReplyDeleteGranny, your gardens look beautiful! I can't believe you have a big tomato that's turning already...lucky you! "The Italian" is going to be jealous :) Leona is looking really happy and filling out nicely. My little lemon tree hasn't grown much but is blooming like crazy.
ReplyDeleteThank you Granny! I'll check it out!
ReplyDeleteThat's it! I want the Bloody Butcher back.:) Wow, what a treat to have so many things coming on already...carrots, tomatoes, broccoli. Any property for sale in your area.:) In all seriousnes, your garden areas look fantastic and I am continually amazed at how soon you are able to get veggetable plants to produce for you. Thanks for the tour.
ReplyDeleteThe tomatoes are looking good - and you are so lucky to have a large fruited variety starting to ripen already. It is supposed to only reach 60 degrees today for our high and it is misting rain at the moment. This is so not tomato weather. (sigh)
ReplyDeleteGlad Otto loved his new truck seat and that Annie got her beauty sleep whilst being transported. :D
Looking good, granny. I've contemplated growing "heat wave" myself, and will be interested to see how it performs for you....
ReplyDeleteRobin, it doesn't look like a big tomato. I'd call it a salad tomato, much larger than a cherry, but smaller than a regular sized one. It's still about the right size for one BLT!
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Mr. H., why didn't you buy the house next door? I'll bet you would keep the fence line weeded :-)
That Bloody Butcher sure is an early one. Both of the plants have several tomatoes on them already, but they actually blossomed while still inside in their cups.
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Kitsap, yesterday our daughter's family left for their first camping trip of the season. I could have told you it was going to rain! It's also the day the sprinklers are set to water the garden. That makes it rain, too.
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Thanks, EG. Debbie Clegg sent me the Heatwave seeds, so that plant got a really late start. I was going to wait and try it next year, but I have no self control when there's a tomato seed around ;-)
Everything looks really good! I'm excited my new planting of lettuces germinated, not all, but enough to make me happy this time of year!
ReplyDeleteErin, we've gone from feast to famine on the lettuce. I have some that is beginning to get too old, while the seedlings are still too small. I need to time them better next year, planting fewer seeds but planting more often.
ReplyDeleteLooking good Granny, especially those tomatoes! My Myer was pretty yellow to earlier on. It is getting all kinds of bloom again, hope it sets lots of fruit.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dan. Here's hoping we get some warm weather for them.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks great, Granny. Do you have much luck with the citrus in a pot? I'm real good at getting no fruit with them planted in the ground (too much water maybe?) so I'd like to try a dwarf lime in a pot. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteVic, this is my first try! This Dwarf Improved Meyer Lemon is just a year old. It was 4" high when it arrived. It traveled to Arizona with us for the winter, came back north mid-February, and lived in a north facing window until spring. On sunny days I moved it out to our south facing porch. I put it in a larger pot when I put it outside, and I pruned back the branches by about 1/3. It languished through our colder than normal spring, but this past week, with a bit of warmth, it sprung to life and looks better than ever. It will have to go south again next October, so I hope we can transport it with no damage. If we end up staying in WA through a winter, it will have to come inside and possibly be put under lights, as I don't have a sunny window for it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like that plant gets around more than I do! I just picked up a semi-dwarf lime last week and have potted in a 16" pot. I did some research in which numerous sites suggested planting it in a cactus mix to keep the feet dry. So far so good, but time will be the ultimate judge. I'll put up a picture and let you know how it does.
ReplyDeleteVic, good luck with your new citrus tree! I can't believe how mine has improved with these warm days. I'm afraid it is getting so big we might have trouble transporting it south for the winter!
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