Summertime

Okay... I'm getting behind in this blog as much as I've been getting behind in the weeding. This summer has been the wettest one that I remember, ever. It was wreaking havoc on the squash and zucchini which kept turning to mold, but we've still got plenty of squash and a few zucchini. Sadly the shallots rotted away from too much water, but I still have hope for the carrots. The tomatoes have been loving it -- no splits from the rain and lots of luscious green leaves. Beans are prolific as always.

June:

July:

Edamame:

Here's a tomato tart (kind of quiche-like) that I made this week with pink and Cherokee Purple tomatoes.

Summertime and the Living is Beany

The squash and zucchini may be rotting due to all the rain we've had, but the beans have exploded. I picked a few pounds of green beans and Dragon Tongue beans this afternoon.

We are waiting for the tomatoes and Nardello peppers to start turning red. The edamame pods are looking nice and fuzzy and might be ready in a week or less. Can't wait!

Fail Blog

One of the reasons we started this blog is to document some of the recurring problems we've had in the past. A particular problem is an assumed bacterial wilt of some sort that affects our Yellow Pear tomatoes. Apparently the bacteria can stay in the soil for years, which is probably why I've had this problem for years. This year it was particularly bad (sad), and I've had to rip up the plant before we even got any fruit:

The Amish Paste tomato is also questionable, but not suffering as badly as the Yellow Pear (they are on opposite ends of the tomato side of the garden). It's wilted-looking but still green and growing, if slowly.

The other three tomatoes (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Pink) are looking beautiful along with the carrots we planted in between!

Behind the tomatoes are the Christmas lima beans which are doing their pole thing all across the fence:

On the squash side of the garden, I've picked a handful of green beans and we have some fuzzy little edamame that will soon be ready!

Sometimes I Kill Plants Too

It's tempting when writing this blog to post pictures of everything looking perfect and growing along just fine. Inadvertently I've been leaving out the plants I've killed off already, because that's not nearly as much fun to discuss or photograph! A few things that haven't gone well so far...
-- Chamomile, night-scented stock, marjoram, and parsley seedlings keep dying, despite repeated attempts at starting seeds.
-- Sunflower seeds I saved from last year haven't sprouted.
-- Birds ate half my spinach seeds or transplanted them into other pots.
-- The first Amish Paste tomato that I planted died and had to be replaced.
-- My Amish Paste and Yellow Pear tomatoes are starting to suffer just like they have the previous few years. I suspect some time of viral/fungi disease. It has rained a lot but I don't think that's the only problem.

Amish Paste tomato wilting:

Yellow Pear tomato leaves curling up:

In good news, we have several baby zucchini and squash, Nardello peppers, and lots of bean flowers that will soon be producing delicious food!

The strawberry harvest was also plentiful (now it's over... wahhhh....) and I made several delicious treats supplemented by farmers' market strawberries, including:

Strawberry lemon basil sorbet

Strawberry buttermilk pancakes

Strawberry ice cream (with strawberry sauce and chocolate cherry biscotti)

Updates from Kevin

Kevin sent me some beautiful pictures of our garden while I was teaching today!

Dragon and green beans, peppers, squash, and zucchini:

Tomatoes:

Squash and zucchini:

Lavender:

Beans and peppers, cucumber along the fence:

Lavender with edamame:

Bean flowers:

Pink tomato:

Ronde de Nice zucchini:

Getting Established

I finally did a round of hours-long weeding this past weekend, so now I can showcase the growing plants. Here we have the tomatoes separated by carrots and beans, with shallots and lavender to the far left.

On the other side are the peppers and beans (not pictured), along with squash, zucchini, edamame, and some cucumbers starting to come up along the fence. The dill and cilantro are coming up from seeds that drifted around the garden last year.

Strawberries are really starting to ripen!

Aww Hail :(

Today we had two assemblies and an evening concert at my elementary school. After the first morning assembly, a helicopter landed in the field behind our school.

We came back for a quick break in between performances #2 and #3 to find hail all over the yard. My beautiful arugula, spinach, and strawberries were shredded :(

Some leaves got knocked off of everything but the tomatoes look especially bad. I may have to replant (luckily I have a few extra plants still indoors.)

Planting Day!

The weather has finally warmed up enough in the evenings, so it's time to start the majority of the planting. I will keep the eggplants and melons indoors until things warm up more in May.

Lavender from last year. 5 different tomato plants (Amish Paste, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Pink, and Yellow Pear). Carrots (dragon and baby). Christmas lima beans. Parsley.

Strawberries and basil.

Wedding lavender. Sage. Edamame. Ronde de Nice zucchini. Yellow squash. Cucumbers. Green beans. Peppers (jalapeño, poblano, Nardello).

The shallots I planted are starting to sprout!

Spinach. Arugula. Oregano from past years. Lemon verbena (purchased since I couldn't find seeds.)

Tarragon (bought as a plant.)

Lemon balm (from seed).

April Showers

It has been a rather cold, slow start to spring. Last week on spring break, I weeded and conditioned the soil in the other half of our garden. We added some organic soil conditioner as well as regular top soil since we tend to lose a lot every year.

I also repotted the chives and thyme that survived the winter. Last year's sage (smaller pots) is doing well with some new growth. I might put them in the ground soon and hopefully they will last!

I planted some arugula and spinach in pots, and moved another thyme plant into the ground out front to see if it survives. Below is the arugula (although a squirrel has been digging through it persistently...)

Indoors, the tomatoes and peppers are doing great. I've been putting them outside for short periods of time to harden them up.

I've had to replant my herbs a few times because they accidentally dried out in the cardboard egg cartons. I remember last year that styrofoam actually worked better because I didn't have to water the herbs so often. Now all the herbs are growing, and the sage in the glass jar looks particularly lovely.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

On this lovely warm St. Patrick's Day, Kevin made me an amazing lunch of beer bacon biscuits, shepherds pie, and Guinness! Biscuits and beer below:

The seeds are coming along nicely too. Almost all of the Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, and pink tomatoes are up, as well as one Yellow Pear. Still waiting on the Amish Paste. Every herb has at least something going on, including marjoram which has been the slowest to germinate. Sage is looking beautiful in the mason jar:

And finally the Nardello peppers have germinated!

In Like a Lion

After Thursday's snowstorm, we had some gorgeous weather on Sunday and Monday, enough to coax some of my seeds to start growing. I'm excited (and relieved) that some seedlings are coming up even in the potentially-dense soil. Yesterday some Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, and pink tomato sprouts appeared, along with one eggplant seedling.

Chamomile and lemon balm have been joined by thyme, basil, and oregano. Still no sign of lemon basil. Chamomile keeps wilting and shriveling up, even when I adjust sun and water. Not sure what the problem is there.