Neglected Garden

I have been out of town and working for much of the last week. So I have not been very good at watering my recent transplants and seedlings. It's supposed to rain tonight so I'm hoping that my garden will get watered the old fashioned way.

My tulip tops are starting to turn yellow and tip over. I removed some of the deader ones today but, in the process, I pulled up one bulb. I removed the debris from the dry and dead leaves of the crocuses which now looks like hay.

In the greenhouse, my lettuce had been harvested. The overseers of the greenhouse saw a lot of produce getting leggy and potentially bitter in the heat so they asked permission to harvest it for the local food shelf. I asked them to leave some though because I wanted to continue eating some of it, too. But it looked pretty worked through when it was all said and done. So I pulled out a lot of the more bedraggled plants. Next year, I'll try to remember to not plant quite so much!

The tomatoes in the greenhouse had fallen over so I put in tomato cages. There are a few volunteer tomatoes that I decided to just leave standing. But they're not in good spots to put cages around.

My next project is figuring out what to do with turnips.

Past Last Frost

Sweet William. This flower was planted last year. I wasn't sure what it was when it came up this spring so I'm glad I didn't weed it. It is very fragrant in the morning and has a sweet aroma like petunias.

Our last frost date is 5/12 here so I have planted all of my seedlings outdoors now. Despite my best intentions, I did not properly harden my plants off. It was due to a combination of schedule (being out of town for Grandma's funeral), weather (it frosted), and lack of patience (predictable).

On Sunday, May 16, I planted my tomatoes, peppers, artichokes, pac choi, chinese cabbage, one basil, lots of flower seeds, and some herb seeds outdoors.

Dan put up the trellis for the peas and they are eagerly learning to climb.

This artichoke is the bigger of the two.

This is the smaller artichoke. They were about the same size originally (though this one was a little bigger). But when I put the other artichoke outdoors for vernalization, it really stunted its growth. It will be interesting to see how much catch up growth it does. So far, they both look about the same as when they first went outdoors a week ago.

This are the onions that overwintered. The tops of the flower buds reach my lower rib cage when I'm standing next to them.

Sunflower erupting.

It's May!

5/2/10

Between church and the May Day Parade, I checked on my garden. Nothing wilting or eaten yet. I brought out my next batch of plants for vernalization which include: tomatoes, peppers, pac choi, and chinese cabbage. I left them out for seven hours. The somewhat-leggy tomatoes were bent over and twisted by the end of the day. Good thing I'm breaking them in!

It was a busy weekend in the garden. I met a lot of new gardeners. It's fun to have other people out there now that the weather is getting nicer.

5/1/09

First Day of May!

I planted my, now vernalized, early cabbage, shallots, onions and pansies. I also threw in some more California poppy seeds and put in some hollyhock seeds.

I harvested more spinach and lettuce. The rows looked small when I planted them. But now I have more lettuce than I know what to do with. The spinach cooks down a lot when you steam it. Next year I will plant less lettuce and do more succession plantings.

Spinach, lambs quarters, and some radishes on the bottom. I steamed the spinach with the lambsquarters and they were delicious. I kept the radish greens and I'll cook them up later. I don't like them quite as much. You really do have to cook them since the leaves are a little furry.

Lots of lettuce.

I put in some okra seeds and planted a sprouting ginger root in the greenhouse. I figure those are plants that like it hot. We'll see.

Last weekend, my parents visited to celebrate my birthday.

Linder's seeds.

A proper garden inspection.