May 30, 2012 - The End of May Garden (part 2)

We continue our stroll through the garden....

 This is the garden bed where all the spinach germinated then disappeared, three rows of carrots became 11 carrots, and about half the beets were consumed by who-knows-what.  The beets that survived the attack are looking just beautiful under their protective netting.  About a half dozen spinach plants (from a later seeding) also survived.  Half of the bed is being wasted for planting something else, due to those 11 carrots.  I may try moving them, and if they don't survive it will be no big deal.  I'd like to get some bush beans started there.


 Sugar snap peas are very close....I picked and ate a tiny one yesterday.  Five cauliflower plants are struggling in front of the peas.  They survived 3-year-old Alicyn the other day.  She was fascinated with the owl that hangs there, and kept stepping on the small plants.  The owl has a motion sensor, and goes whooo-whooo when something passes by.  Of course, we had to make multiple trips to the garden to make the owl go whooo-whooo.  After a while I grew weary of taking her to the garden, so I pulled up the stake that holds the owl, moved it over to the edge of the patio and set it up for her.  For some reason the owl's whooo-whooo got stuck and would not shut off.  After a while, Alicyn came in the house and said "Grandma, that thing is really annoying".  She can be so funny for her age!  I showed her the shut off button, so now she can turn the annoying whooo-whooo off.  


 Oregano that's so pretty I don't want to cut it.  I think I'll just let it blossom.


 The three Brussels sprouts had to be covered with netting after birds chomped off some leaves.  They didn't bother the lettuce plants in the front.  For some reason, the birds don't bother the colored lettuces, only the green ones.


Speaking of lettuce, The Thing I has been replanted with new seedlings.  Only one mature plant remains, and will be pulled this week.  More seedlings are ready to take its place.


 A pretty corner in the Kennel Garden.  This columbine lived in my shade garden for years, and would only get one or two blossoms.  After I moved it to the Kennel garden, it really came to life.  All of the alyssum and nasturtiums in this garden are volunteers from last year's plants.  I planted quite a few Johnny Jump Ups around the columbine, but something ate all but one or two.  See the neighbor's pretty (NOT!) weeds behind the fence?


 Silver Queen corn had spotty germination.  I sure can't say the same for the potatoes!  I thought I'd be able to find a few edible sized potatoes by now, since they are blooming, but I only came up with a single walnut sized one which was promptly washed and eaten raw.



The cantaloupe has a long way to go.  I had a lot of trouble getting these seeds to germinate, so I just kept planting them in different places in the garden.  They seem to be doing the best in this pot, but if all of the seeds I've planted turn into mature plants, I'll have to go into the cantaloupe selling business!  I'm quite sure there are more than a dozen plants growing now.


The sweet potato slips were quite small when I planted them, but the roots were many and huge.  This is my first try at growing them for tubers.  The mother potato went into a hanging pot on the patio to hopefully become a pretty vine.


Spacemaster bush cucumbers are beginning to blossom.  Nasturtiums are growing in the two smaller pots.


More pots and buckets.  Fortex pole beans are growing in the blue bucket, hopefully to become my seeds for next year.  At $8 a packet, it only makes sense to grow some for seeds.  I think those are some of Dave's Happy Yummy sweet peppers, along with a Pixie tomato in the three pots.


The West Garden with its buckets of tomatoes, rhubarb and strawberries.


Another view of the West Garden.


"Tomato Alley".  The tomatoes are growing by leaps and bounds, and two of them are fruiting.  The peppers are slow this year, but finally beginning to show a bit of growth.


You want to hear "annoying" ?  Try listening to this guy and his friend conversing with each other all day!  They are my constant garden companions, and the reason I don't leave my bedroom window open in the summer.  The cawing begins at daybreak, right outside my window!


28 comments:

  1. I really need to start more lettuce seedlings. I have just the one planting. I'm sure it will be getting bitter and bolting soon and I have none to replace it. I think I might start some summer heat resistant lettuce.

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    1. Daphne, I have more lettuce seedlings, in two stages of growth, elsewhere in the garden. I also just planted a few seeds of some summer varieties, but they are mixed (black and white) seeds. I'll be able to identify which is red and which is green as soon as they germinate. I should plant some Red Sails, as it has always performed well for me during the summer.

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  2. Jeez, I wish I had a real yard. :( You could feed your whole neighborhood with all of that! Don't you just love nasturtiums? I notice you have them in several places. They are my favorite flowers to have in a veggie garden, especially since they'll grow nearly anywhere.

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    1. Anywhere, yes I do! I even have them planted in places I didn't photograph. I planted some rose colored ones this year, so I'm anxious to see how they perform.

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  3. Lookin' good! I love your potatoes--they are certainly happy where you're growing them. I'm trying nasturtiums this year and hope to sneak them into salads. My kids will NOT eat the flowers, they've informed me, but I think they'd eat the leaves if I told them it was spinach. Do you eat yours or just enjoy the blooms?

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    1. Dorothy, I can sneak a few leaves into the salads, but I can't get away with blossoms. I'll sometimes use them for photos of a salad, but have to remove them before we eat it! I have a real hang up about eating the flowers, as I remember them always having earwigs in them in when I was a kid.

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  4. Beautiful! Can't believe how fast everything has grown.

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    1. Thanks, Jenny, if we get some warm weather this week, as promised by the weather man, it should get some real good growth going.

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  5. Hi Annie, So you have a little one that steps on your garden plants also! I love the columbine. How far apart did you plant your potato rows? They are looking great as most of your things are! Nancy

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    1. Nancy, the beds are 3' wide and 7' long. I planted three rows of potatoes in each bed, spacing them about 12" apart in the rows.

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  6. Annie,

    Absolutely beautiful garden!

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  7. Everything is growing so fast and looks great!

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  8. Why don't you just direct seed your lettuce?

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    1. Vanessa, because I like to always have seedlings growing to take the place of the mature plants as I pull them out. Every time I remove a lettuce plant, I have a new one all ready to go in. If I direct planted, they would all come up at once, and I'd have to thin them out (wasting seeds). I just scatter a few seeds in a plastic container that is kept in a cool spot in the garden, and reseed that as I remove the seedlings to their permanent spot in the garden.

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  9. The stuff that remains looks great, it has been an odd year for us all with pests I guess.

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    1. Kelly, I did have visions of lush and pretty pole bean vines growing up the fence. I've replanted one of the three beds, I'll probably have to replant a second, and the third just might make it yet.

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  10. I just LOVE your garden. The variety of vegetables you have, the organization, the aesthetics...everything! And I didn't know you can eat potatoes raw!

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    1. Tosh, sure you can! I love little raw new potatoes with a bit of salt on them. Just a few bites, not an entire meal, LOL!

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  11. Granny, when I saw your blog post title, I read it as "They end of my garden" and I freaked out, LOL! I guess I need new glasses.

    It looks awesome as always, and is truly an inspiration. I'm eagerly clearing out the area for the garden (it will be raised beds, tilling the old ground would just be more than I could tackle right now) and awaiting my seeds (thanks to you) so I can plan. I know I've missed the spring planting but I'm planning for fall. We get an extra few months down here since our winter doesn't usually arrive until late Nov/early Dec. Anyway, I ramble...your garden is lovely, keep up the good work!

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    1. Oh, my dear 1st. Man, I'm sorry I freaked you out! The end of MY garden will only come with the end of ME!

      I'll bet you can garden all year on the Little Farm. I grew lettuce, onions, carrots and beets through the winter in AZ, as well as patio tomatoes that came inside for a few of the cold nights. I think now you should work on erecting a nice little greenhouse, and then the sky would be the limit LOL!

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  12. very lovely! We have the same problem with crows. There are about 5 or so that just love the tree outside the bedroom window..stupid birds!

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    1. Mrs. P., I hate listening to those crows! They are sooooo loud, and just grate on my nerves.

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  13. WOW Everything is going great guns! I'll need to pick some red sail up for the hot months...

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    1. David, I do provide some partial shade for my summer lettuce. I try to shield it from the afternoon sun.

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