Gardening Check-in

Last weekend was beautiful out, so I was motivated to get out and work in the garden. Its been off to a slow start this year. The plants I've sown from seeds are just barely getting going, so I also opted to add some vegetable starts to have better results. I bought three tomato plants (Tom Thumb, Patio, and Early Girl), and some basil as companion plantings. Those went into tubs next to the patio (against the sunny south wall of the house).

Early Girl tomato plant with Purple Opal Basil

Patio tomato with basil

 I also potted up two pepper plants - Italian Roaster and Early Jalapeno. Those are in the same spot against the house - hopefully there will be just enough heat there to get something ripened. In the raised bed at the back of the yard (home of the carrots, turnips, strawberries, and Mr. Mystery) I added two cucumber plants.


I added some annual color to the patio as well - I potted five hanging baskets of petunias, fuchsias, and begonias, and added a few other spots of color to perennial planters with begonias and petunias.

Apparently I was feeling extra motivated at that point, so I dragged my old sewing table outside where its become a side table, and set up a little display with a sweet lavender plant my aunt gave Gabi and the sand dollars we found at the coast a few weeks ago. Initially I thought I might paint the table a bright color, but I'm liking the wood tone against the blue of the house so I might just wax and seal it instead of painting. I'm not sure which would be more time consuming - probably the one that will make it look better!

Finally, my husband's cousin was coming over for lunch, so I managed to throw a tablecloth on the patio table and even got a few blooms into a vase before he arrived. We ate outside all weekend, everything we ate came off the grill, and of course now its back to the usual June gloom and we're all in sweaters again. Will it ever be summer?

Summer's almost here - time for a to-do list!

Summertime is approaching (more slowly in this part of the world, but oh well) and its the time of year when I get motivated to fix up the house and get projects done. We have a few big parties every summer, so that's usually the impetus to get moving. Here's what I'd like to get done this summer:

• Finish the kitchen remodel! This means sand and paint the cabinets and doors, install new hardware, and paint the windowsill and sink back splash. This project has been underway for over two years, and its about damn time it got finished. It still seems kind of impossible to finish though - I mean, just the thought of debating cabinet hinges with my husband exhausts me.

• Add an exterior outlet to the front porch area that's tied in to the porch light, and then string decorative lights along the porch ceiling. Theoretically this could be a snap - shut off the power, splice in a wire and attach an outdoor outlet, but of course there is the whole choosing the lights thing. . .and the whole getting a free moment thing. I guess that might be a hamper on every bullet point on this list.

• Build the chicken coop, so its ready for occupancy next spring. This is something we can work on little by little. The first step is just to clear the wood out of the woodshed (yes, we have an actual woodshed that will become the coop), and then we can move forward with the floor, walls and sleeping area. I also want to use as much salvage material as possible, so getting an early start on this project will help with that.

• Paint the porch chair, the picnic table and chairs, and the patio side table. This will be a 1-day project. We just need to agree on colors, buy the paint, and get it done. It would be nice to knock this one off first so that we could start the summer with a spiffed up patio.

• Plant, tend, and harvest vegetables from the garden. So I'm already underway on this one, but every year I start strong and then taper off as the summer goes on. This is more of a midsummer task when I start to lose interest in watering and weeding.

• Go to a U-Pick strawberry patch, pick a bunch, and put up strawberry preserves. What a fun adventure to do with the kids - they'll love to go into a field of strawberries and help fill a basket. The canning could be fun too, as long as I don't go overboard. The last time I canned strawberry preserves was probably 7 years ago, and I had so many berries I was canning for 12 hours. Hence no more canning for 7 years! I think I've blocked the worst part out now, so I'm ready to try again.

• Have a garage sale and get rid of some of the baby things we don't need anymore. I'm sure craigslist is more efficient, and I can probably make more money that way, but I do love having garage sales. My husband, on the other hand, really does not, so we'll see if this one happens.

That's about enough of a list - its pretty comprehensive - I'll try to check off items as they get completed this summer, and we'll see where I end up at the end of September (summer starts in July here, and lasts through September). Wish me luck!

This Week in the Garden

I thought I'd put up a few pictures of the little garden babies - and in doing so I think I've identified the Mr. Mystery seedlings! But first, here's a look at the turnip seedlings:

After I took this shot I took advantage of the nice weather and thinned the seedlings out so they had more breathing room - I'll have to thin them again later but next time I should be able to get a few turnip greens to eat - this time they were just too tiny to bother with.

So here is a picture of Mr. Mystery:

Mr. Mystery

I think THIS mystery is solved! Looking at the sprout towards the rear, it looks to me like these little guys are cilantro seedlings. Gabi must have dumped the extra cilantro seeds into this raised bed after we sowed some in the greens bowl on the patio. So case closed! Or is it . . . ?

As I was photographing this bed, I noticed yet another mystery seedling:

Señor Misterio

So here we go again - that big guy in the middle of the picture is another mystery plant. It LOOKS like it's some kind of squash sprout, like maybe a zucchini? I guess I'll have to wait and see, at least until it gets a few more leaves. I have absolutely no idea where ONE squash seed would come from though. I didn't even have any in this bed last year.

Finally, here's a photo of something that's making me very happy:

Baby Strawberries!

I can't wait until the first ones are ripe! Last year the squirrels got too many of the strawberries - this time I'll have to come up with some defense, because I don't want that happening again. Our lab might have to start sleeping outside!

Growing things

It's time for another go-round with the garden . . . about 6 years ago I had the best vegetable growing experience ever (for me) but since then we moved to a new house with not the best micro-climate, and its been all downhill since then. Each spring I set out to have a great edible garden, and by midsummer its a mostly neglected, struggling little patch of meh. I do fine with ornamentals, perennial veggies, and even potted tomatoes on the patio but those annual veggies stump me every time. I can't even get a decent zucchini crop out of my yard!

Well, this year will be different! (yeah, let's see). So far I've gotten into the ground:

• sugar snap peas
• radishes
• carrots
• something else that for the life of me I can't remember now (seriously!)
• Mixed greens
• cilantro

Everything is sprouting (even Mr. Mystery) so here's hoping! Now if we could only get above 60 degrees. . .