May 30, 2012 - The End of May Garden (part 1)


I got a bit camera happy today, so I'll break this down into two posts.  

This is the garden at the end of May.

View from the back patio.


 Otto.  


 Zucchini and yellow crookneck squash.


 The first zucchini!


 My favorite spot in the veggie garden has no veggies.


Tomatoes next to the garden shed.


Some Minigold tomatoes, ready to harvest.


 The triangle gardens grow shelling peas, beets, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, garlic, marigolds and alyssum.  The bolting Chinese cabbage was removed last week.  Beets are not protected with netting in this garden, so I hung a sticky fly paper, hoping to trap the leaf miner flies before they did their damage.  It didn't work, but it did catch a lot of them.  The peas are producing a lot of pods now.


 Broccoli, lettuce and alyssum.


 These lovely lettuces will be picked this week, and replaced with "who knows what".  Maybe a single head of cabbage.


 All of the Chioggia beets were pulled from this net covered bed this week, and carrots were planted in their place.  The spinach is very close to bolting, and will soon be replaced with more beets.  These are the cooking (storage) onions I grew from seed.  I'll let them grow and hope they eventually form bulbs.


Bush beans, sweet peppers, carrots, celery and miniature cabbages.


Carrots are growing beautifully.  These were all sown on 12" x 12" seed mats.


 The mini cabbages are beginning to form heads.


 The bush beans are growing much faster than the sweet peppers.  We just haven't had enough warm weather to jump start some of the vegetables.


 The broccoli on the right, in front of the strawberry bed, is the one that was dying last week.  I trimmed off the wilted leaves and pulled the soil way up around the stem, and it looks like it might survive.  The strawberries aren't doing much of anything yet, but that's typical of this variety.  Once they get in gear, they produce quite well.  There is dill growing in the larger pot, along with a few onions and a chamomile plant that may or may not get to stay there.  The small pot was just seeded with cilantro, which hasn't yet germinated.  Pole beans against the fence are the ones being attacked by leaf miners.  It looks like they may possibly survive, unlike the other two plantings.  I don't know why the beans do so poorly against that cedar fence.


 Four hills of Waltham butternut squash will soon cover the entire middle section of this north garden.


 Early Golden Crookneck squash and Honey Select corn.


The raspberries are late this year, but it won't be long now.  Lots of bees buzzing around them.  That's a good thing.


Looking back at the North Garden

22 comments:

  1. GOR-GE-OUS.
    Land sakes, honey--you've got a FARM....and just don't know it!

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    1. Sue, I'm growing it for you! I expect you to be here stealing my spinach any day now...hurry, it's going to bolt soon ;-)

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  2. Lovely. It looks like you are mostly ahead of me right now. I do have some broccoli that is starting to head up though.

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    1. Thanks, Daphne. My broccoli isn't doing much yet, but hey, it's alive! I need to keep checking the peas. I saw pods in my photos that I didn't even know were there!

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  3. Very lovely! I just love how clean and pretty everything is, and YAY for first squash! Mine are just starting to show first blooms :)

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    1. Jenny, I'm waiting for those yellow crookneck squash! I love those, but Mr. Granny is waiting for fried zucchini.

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  4. Very impressive! Everything is looking great. I can identify the group of four lettuce in one of the pictures. The light green frilled is 'Gentilina', the speckled oak is 'Flashy Butter Oak' and the two butterheads are 'Kagraner Somer'. Ant more lettuce for me to identify? LOL!

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    1. Thank you, Ed! I had a plastic marker for the Gentilina, but the ink faded so I was guessing on that one. The others were from one of your mixes, so I had no idea what they were. I am absolutely in love with Flashy Butter Oak. That's the one I've hated to harvest (I ended up with two of them) because they are so gorgeous. I just pulled the last of the two :-( The butterheads have the buttery-est centers of any I've ever grown! The three varieties are now chilling in the refrigerator to be enjoyed in this week's salads. I'm sure there will be more for you to identify, LOL!

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    2. Glad I could help. BTW, that yellow lily is amazing! It has spread so much in a short time.

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    3. Ed, I was amazed at how much larger the lilies had spread just this year!

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  5. These are all really nice shots of the garden, and it looks so productive for this time of year, wow!

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    1. Thanks, Erin. I've been pretty happy with it so far, except for the pole beans and seedlings that were decapitated by insects! I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to take care of, I expected more work with a larger garden, but it's just been a pleasure.

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  6. You must be in love with your expanded garden! I know I am. Everything looks like it is happily growing along.

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    1. Oh, I am, Rachel! Just think, butternut squash AND cantaloupe AND potatoes! I never would have thought I'd have room for all of those at once!

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  7. Your garden looks great! Happy Gardening! Mind

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  8. wow everything looks great. I think I should have looked at these pictures before planting my garden :)

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    1. Mrs. P., you have such a HUGE garden, I have to tuck things here and there to cram in as much as possible in a small space!

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  9. WOW is all I can say. First Zucchini! woohoo! TRIM that oregano. Just give it a haircut a bit and it'll still be pretty. Plus it's going to grow like crazy all summer so trim it, dry it and enjoy it!! Someone in our garden has a huge oregano also that overwintered and is just crazy big. I'll take a pic for you. It's gorgeous also! I like the idea of the min cabbages. What brand did you buy the seeds from? I'm going to try doing a bunch of mini's next year too!
    gorgeous though and more comments in private! hugs and thanks for the pics!

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    1. No, I'd rather the bees enjoy the oregano. I'll get some when I need it. This is a two year old plant, that overwinters right there in that pot.

      I got the mini cabbage seeds from Ed. Gonzales is my favorite, and one I have grown before. It seems to do a bit better for me than Pixie, the other one I'm growing this year. One head is perfect for two people.

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