Lettuce wealth

The first strawberry!

Look what turned red today!
Memorial day will be the very beginning of the strawberry season.

Kill turf with newspaper

I so wish I'd taken the time to lay newspaper down the whole length of fence. The foreground has been under paper for about a month and a half. The prospect of turning it over to plant is joyous compared to the next section down the fence.

Chives, Rosemary, and Iris

This is definitely a lovely late May combo.

Asparagus

The first spindly shoots have appeared.

Up close and personal

I started the carrots ages ago, and they finally look like carrots. I'm just lucky they're still standing considering the state of my pea crop.

Got this cool -looking lettuce-leaf basil at the greenhouse on Monday.

And here are my beets, standing a full 3" tall.

And just for kicks - the oregano looking so much happier than last year.

Garden Art

We always thought a statue would look good in this garden, but anything we could afford was too close to a cheesy lawn ornament - not what we were after.

It took me 15 minutes to scavange and balance this pile of rocks. I half-hope the wind or rain will blow it down so I can do it again. California poppies are planted around the base.

(Note, 2 days later the smallest 2 top rocks rolled off in a thunderstorm. tee hee.)

Lettuce lessons

A couple weeks ago I bought lettuce starts from a nursery because they were just SO much bigger than my starts out in the garden. I felt defeated when I put these beautiful greenhouse plants in next to my tiny seedlings. But regard the lettuce patch today. Who started in the greenhouse?

Hint - it's the ones with the generous spacing, not the ones that are already mashed up against each other.

I let kale go to seed in this garden two years ago, and thus I will probably never have to plant kale again.

Seed starting failures

For future reference - I had no luck starting chard or spinach in the garden from seed. I bought a new packet of chard seeds yesterday, 'cause I just can't believe the trouble I'm having with them.

I could barely get celery to start from seed, it would germinate, but was just SO weak. Yesterday I bought 6 strong starts for $1.

Next year it's lights or a greenhouse/coldframe or both.

The tomato report

Doug and I have intentions to save tomatoes this year. I had planned space for 3 romas, and 4 slicing tomato plants, but then we started to wonder if there should be more, so we made space for two more in the flower bed along the back walk.

So the tomato inventory will be:

3 Amish Paste Tomatos (Romas, indeterminate, heirloom)
From the seed savers exchange:
(Solanum lycopersicum) First listed in the 1987 SSE Yearbook by Thane Earl of Whitewater, Wisconsin. Commercialized by Tom Hauch of Heirloom Seeds, who acquired it from the Amish near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Bright red 8-12 ounce fruits vary in shape from oxheart to rounded plum. Delicious flesh is juicy and meaty, excellent for sauce or fresh eating. One of Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste varieties. Indeterminate, 85 days from transplant.

2 Mr. Stripey (beefstake, indeterminate, heirloom)
From Gurneys':

Mr. Stripey Tomato

Mild-Flavored English Heirloom

Slice up a few of these beautiful tomatoes for your next family picnic! Mild, low-acid flavor and intriguing color are sure to win praise. Plum-sized, bicolor fruits have yellow flesh and a pink center. Indeterminate. 80 DAYS.

1 Cherokee Purple (beefsteak, indeterminate, heirloom)
From wikipedia:

Cherokee purple is the name of a cultivar of tomato, unusual for the deep purple/red hue of its fruit. It was one of the first of the "black" color group of tomatoes. It is also unusual in being extremely popular for the sake of its flavor, instead of only its unusual color. Cherokee Purple tomatoes are beefsteak in style, with green "shoulders" across the top. They are also notable for having a dense, juicy texture, with small seed locules irregularly scattered throughout the flesh. The comparatively dark interior color is enhanced by the tendency of the seeds to be surrounded by green gel.

This cultivar originated with Craig LeHoullier, who claimed it was a century-old cultivar originating with the Cherokee people. In 1990, while living in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Craig received unsolicited in the mail, from John Green of Sevierville, Tennessee, a brief note and a small packet of seeds. The note indicated that John wanted to share this unnamed tomato with Craig, and that it was a purple tomato that the Cherokee Indians gave to his neighbors 100 years ago. Upon growing the seeds and observing the fruit, Craig was surprised and delighted to find that the fruit was remarkably close to being a true purple in color (pink tomatoes were often referred to as purple in horticultural literature, so the color of the tomato was quite a surprise). The tomato was named in line with the note that accompanied the seeds, and a sample of seeds sent that winter to Jeff McCormack, founder of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, as well as listed in the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) Yearbook 1991 edition. A few years later, Craig also sent it to Rob Johnston, founder of Johnny's Selected Seeds. Both seed companies elected to multiply the seed and carry the variety in their seed catalogs. Craig sent out many seed samples to SSE members over the next few years. Through these transactions, as well as the availability via the two seed companies, Cherokee Purple has become a very popular, widely grown and well regarded variety. Craig now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Cherokee Purple remains one of his favorite varieties in a tomato collection that numbers well over 1500 varieties.

1 Supersonic Red Tomato (slicer, indeterminate, hybrid)
From Reimer seeds:
79 days. Lycopersicon esculentum. (F1) Plant produces heavy yields of 8 to 12 oz red tomatoes. The tomato is flavorful and crack resistant. Especially popular in the Northeast. Excellent for salads, sandwiches, and canning. Disease Resistant: VF. Indeterminate.

2 from Doug's grandmother, unknown variety (slicers)

The two raised from seed Doug saved from his grandmother's tomatoes are starting to make progress. I set them out way too early because they needed the outdoor light. Yesterday I bought 3 wall o' waters at the greenhouse. I was too stingy back in April to buy them, and I sure wish I had. These plants would surely be three times bigger. Well, better late than never? I put one around one of the Amish paste tomato plants too, to see if it sees any advantage over its neighbors - but they are all pretty big having enjoyed greenhouse conditions up 'til now.

Status Report

This is a beautiful old lilac in our backyard. Anybody know the variety?

Here's the garden, in disarray, today, May 13th.

This doesn't look like much, but it will hopefully be a cut flower strip planted from Victory Seeds cut flower mix.
"Our mix includes the following 23 annual and perennial varieties: Calendula (Fancy Mix), Aster (Single Rainbow), Batchelor Button (Polka Dot Mix), Ox-eye Daisy, Godetia (Semi Dwarf Mix), Lance-leafed Coreopsis, Plains Coreopsis, Cosmos(Sensation Mix), Chinese Forget-Me-Nots, Larkspur (Giant Imperial Mix), Purple Coneflower, Perennial Gaillardia, Baby's Breath, Strawflower, Spurred Snapdragon,Scarlet Flax, Blue Flax, Poppy (Shirley Double Mix), Black-eyed Susan, Sweet William Catchfly, Crackerjack, Crimson Clover, and Pumila (Semi Dwarf Mix)."

Here's the "fortified" greens garden. I think the rabbits got in behind the garlic. I tried to stop them with rocks, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning. There better still be lettuce and peas in there. So far the carrots, which are outside the fence have gone unnoticed.

The strawberry bed is flowering, but no signs of fruit yet.

Weeds are still the greenest thing in the garden.

But these tomatoes have finally set their first new leaves. It's been too cold for them, but they weren't doing well inside in the flats so I jumped the gun and moved them out. They are surviving and hopefully the warm weather will kick them into gear. They are planted from seed saved from my husband's grandmother's tomatoes, so they are worth growing out even if they never become very strong. Our other plants will be purchased from a nursery.

The Chinese greens are finally looking good.

The garlic is still the most successful crop in the garden.

Here's the High Mowing Mesclun mix. I need to put another planting in of this.

And these starts are much further along, purchased for $0.25/each at Sammis greenhouse. Next year I am going to get serious about a cold frame or a greenhouse.

Beets. I cultivated and mulched them with grass clippings today.

Yea! The first potatoes. Red Norland.

Yesterday I cut all the flower stalks off the rhubarb plant, hoping for stronger leaves.

For some reason the raspberries are only sprouting leaves on the lower 1/3 of the stems. I don't remember this happening last year. There are buds higher, just not sprouting leaves. Maybe they'll come as the weather gets warmer.

Earlier this spring I contemplated asparagus, and decided I had already taken on too much and it would have to wait until next year. Then I was standing at the checkout at Sammis Greenhouse and they had crowns for $1 each. And I know it takes 4 years before you can really harvest, and waiting until next year makes that 5 years, so we went for it. We dug a trench and put the first load of compost in the bottom and then the crowns and 4 inches of soil. The shoots will come up and then we'll add more soil. Hopefully the asparagus will like this spot - for the next 15 years. Ames will be in high school when this crop stops producing.

Chive flowers are about to pop.

This is the meager state of last years' oregano start.

Spearmint and apple mint from Sammis.

Rabbits!

My fortification is compromised!

How many potatoes?

OK, I just reread the part in Animal Vegetable Miracle where Kingsolver says they planted three 70-ft rows of potatoes. I have three 4-ft rows.

Forget sustenance, I'm not even sure my garden classifies as a hobby.