May 19, 2009: From the Garden

Not much has been going on in the garden this week, as we have been busy trying to get the preparation done for the new shed. Several lilac trees had to be cut down and their roots dug out, as well as a rather large old flowering almond, a really big volunteer mulberry tree and an overgrown tam juniper. The roots were unbelievable! Our son, John and Mr. H did all the grunt work, while I sat on a concrete block and supervised. Hey, it's about time I got to sit down on the job!



As John dug out sod where the concrete forms will be, I had him put it in the areas of the lawn where I'd killed out the Bermuda grass. No more big dead patches!



I got Mr. H on the working end of an axe. That's the hardest work he's done in a while!



I drew up a plan on how I want the interior of the shed, and where the different items will be parked/stored. We decided, after looking at what a tight fit it would be for the lawn mowers, cart, trailer, tiller, etc., to make it 14' deep instead of 12'. (Click on photo for full size).


Today I had to tie up the sugar snap pea vines with some twine, as the wind is blowing quite hard and ripping them off the fence. They are finally showing some growth since I put the bird netting over them. The regular peas, however, still don't look very good. I think the birds damaged them to the point that they don't have much of a chance now.

I'm still getting all the spinach we can eat. The leaves aren't as large as they were a couple weeks ago, but I picked 10 ounces four days ago, and another 14 ounces today. I also picked 9 ounces of lettuce and 5 ounces of green onions. As you can see in the picture below, the onions are already 22" long!


19 comments:

  1. The harvest looks great Granny.

    I need to take lessons from you in getting the family to tackle the heavy work whilst you sit by and "supervise". I never get away with that one ... try as I might!

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  2. Sounds like you will have one fine shed soon. I went with an 8x10 and wish ever since it was larger. My pea's are kind of so-so too. They have started to grow a bit but it seems like they are just sitting there. I have a photo up of your purple peppers. They are starting to really grow now. I hope yours are too.

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  3. KitsapFG, believe me, that was a "once in a lifetime" supervising job! I won't be so lucky now that the stumps are out.

    Dan, You wouldn't believe my purple peppers...I finally planted them in a pot and set them in the flower garden, because they were too small to go out with the big boys! You know how long they have been growing, under the same conditions as all the rest....the larger of the two might be 3 or 4" tall!

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  4. Hi Granny
    Wow, you're going to have one nice shed.
    I'm trying green onions for the first time...how long does it take for them to get to that point?

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  5. Granny - John sure is a good son....(he needs a belt, though) heh. After seeing Mr. H using that axe, I bet he would do real good at the "wack a mole" game. The shed is gonna be nice, that's for sure! I'll start mine very soon, and hopefully pick up some ideas from yours. The harvest looks great!

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  6. Sue, those are my "cheaters" that were planted 3/27. When I buy green onions in the grocery store, I can never use them all before they go slimy, so I plant the leftovers. However, the onions I planted on 4/3 from sets are just about that size now. I always buy sets or, if I'm doing Walla Walla Sweet, plants. I haven't grown my onions from seed in years, much preferring the sets/plants.

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  7. EG, I didn't think to loan John my tool belt. I have a nifty leather one that I won't let Mr. H even look at! Mr. H does not take care of his tools, so my belt and tool box are off limits to him.

    John works hard WHEN he works (for me, he always works hard at his job), but I have a difficult time getting him over here to do it! He's supposed to have three days off by the end of the month and he was going to do the actual shed building then, but we don't even have the concrete forms built yet :-(

    The sprinklers came on yesterday, and I discovered we broke an irrigation water line while removing the flowering almond, so Mr. H and I fixed that yesterday.

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  8. Granny - hee hee...What I meant to say, was that John needs to pull his britches up...ha! He's a good son, though...

    I wish someone would help me build my shed :-( EG always tired......

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  9. LOL, EG! John was born with that skinny little butt! Those are red undershorts though, not plumber's crack!

    I know what you mean, EG. I'm the one who has to do most of the work around here, and it does make me tired. Luckily I don't consider most of my gardening "work".

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  10. Nice harvest. My spinach is starting to slow down and I'm not tired of it yet :<. We are going to have a heat wave and I'm sure it will bolt. That is some nice shed you are building. I sadly don't have a shed. I store everything in the garage.

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  11. I was born with a skinny little butt too...kept it for a good long time, but it's gone now. I'm only eating salads for this week to see if it helps. If only I could grow spinach like yours.

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  12. Daphne, I had to pull two rows of perfect baby spinach from one of the gardens, as it was crowding out the lettuce and peppers. I'd hoped it would be all harvested before the other stuff needed the room. At least the plants were big enough to eat. There is still one row left, a different variety than the one I've been picking....I wanted to do a taste comparison.

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  13. Cheryl, I had a skinny little butt for years, then it grew to a big fat butt in my 50s/60s, then I got it all little and skinny again, now it's expanding like a balloon. My wardrobe comes in sizes 8-14!

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  14. My husband is no gardener, but he is a good heavy-work guy! It's good to have them around.

    Your spinach looks GREAT. I'm going to have to investigate the hoop house thing, just for bug control as spinach is always heavily infested with leaf miners here.

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  15. Stefaneener, I always tell Mr. H that the only reason I keep him around is to open jars for me. ;-)

    My spinach gets leaf miners, too. It wasn't bad this spring, as they went for the beets instead. I guess my beets were a catch crop for them. My fall spinach and beets weren't bothered with miners at all.

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  16. That shed is going to be so nice!
    What is your secret to spinach? I can't mine to do anything. It's been sitting there tiny as a bee for months now. Bah.

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  17. Jenn, the concrete slab got poured today! I'm afraid Annie is going to embed her little fat body in the concrete!

    I put alfalfa pellets around my spinach...not sure if that's what makes it grow so well or not, but it's a cheap and mild nitrogen at $11 for 50 pounds. I feed them to my greens and to my rabbit!

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  18. LOL!
    Oh alfalfa pellets.... I'll have to give that a try. Thanks!

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  19. YW, Jenn. Now I have to go pick more spinach. Knock on wood, it hasn't begun to bolt yet!

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