right now

right now

Apr 27, 2012

End of April Garden, lots of pics!

Windy as heck here, but I'm back in the garden at least!  Perfect temps for working, about 64ยบ.  I spent the day pretty much fixing what the wind has toppled, checking on the tomatoes and "planning" for tomorrow's planting.

???


No, that's not the way I planted that LOL.  Wind?  Voles?  I don't know but one big root was still attached, the rest look like they were cut - hmmm...  Ground Apples, anyone? 

Ugh, I feel like I'm the only one who sees Lamb's Quarter as a weed LOL... no I did not plant that...


Remember my elation that my Artichokes were finally coming back every year?  See that nice one behind Finn?


Yeah, don't worry, this year it's the same end result - dead.




I was meaning to kill that anyways.  :(

But, gardening is like raising livestock sometimes, every now and again you will have to bring out the dead.  

I can't feel depressed for long however, because there is so much that is good in the garden!


Onions


I normally don't see these blooms until early June!



Chives looking as pretty as - well, chives.



Happy Dance!  Finally a root VEGGIE (that's for you, Susan) that grows well here at the beach!  My first year with turnips and I am so excited, even more so because I tried so hard to like radishes the way I did when I was younger, but hate 'em now - but love turnips!



Picked a bunch, I sense a roast pork loin tonight!



Lettuces are really producing now



No more fear of decimating them for a salad!





Turnip & Lettuce Bed



The area off the deck is ready for the hummingbirds a bit early this year.  Catmint & Salvia are already in full bloom.  Purple Homestead Verbena has self seeded vigorously all over the yard and is amazing this year.  If you look carefully in the foreground of the Hollywood Juniper, you will see the normally 4 ft tall Verbena has risen to 6 ft so their little purple heads can get some sun, and it's only April!


Tomorrow is a huge day, it's strawberry picking day, hopefully jam canning day, and direct seed day.  The strawberry fields are open way early this year and I need to get my fill.  Last year was awful, the berries came ready and it was already in the upper 90's in May and picking was torture.  Tomorrow should be in the mid-60's and cloudy and I'll have the whole family's hands to help.  Bummer that the berries will be done by the time the annual Strawberry Festival comes around over Memorial Day weekend, but I'm just glad the farmers are only dealing with an early harvest and not a bust.  Will also be seeding all the summer squash, cukes & beans tomorrow, I hope!  If you don't see a post it's because I'll be in a back brace on the couch :)

19 comments:

  1. I like how nice and full your beds are. No place for weeds to grow and you have no wasted space! Great intensive planting.

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    1. Sustainably, thank you! It took a few years of pushing the envelope before I figured out how much I could pack into the beds :)

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  2. Argh! It is painful to see your garden so fruitful already. We are dealing with yet another night/morning of FREEZE. I hate this! Those turnips are beautiful! Quite an attractive 'veggie', no? (hehehehe). Our strawberry harvest is still just a glimmer in our eyes. Have fun and torture those of us up north with your harvest....

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    1. Ah, Susan, tomorrow will be difficult then, you will have to don your special blinder glasses when I post the strawberry pics! Your time will come :)

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  3. Your lettuce looks amazing, I can't believe how big it is. Ours is far from being harvested and sadly my spinach was a bust this year.:-(
    Hope the next pictures we see of you aren't in a brace... ;-)

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    1. Anke, I was so worried about the lettuces, but I planted several varieties and noted which ones did well and will continue to do that into the heat so I can just start ordering what works from here on out and not be so A.D.D. about my lettuce seeds LOL! So far Bronze Mignonette and Tango Lettuce are winners here right through the summer.

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  4. Everything looks really good. Beautiful turnip. And I can not believe how much lambs quarter you have. It looks like you planted it. I would have that eaten in a day. Yum

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    1. Sorry to piggyback on Jane's comment, but I still can't post one of my own... but WOW -- everything looks so beautiful! I'm quite envious of your lettuce -- mine is nowhere near that filled-in yet, and I'm inspired by your turnips. I'm trying them for the first time this year with my peas. Love the garden eye-candy -- thank you! Enjoy strawberry picking (we're still at least six weeks away from that up here!)

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    2. Thanks, Jane! If your were closer I would have given all that to you, I ended up pulling that whole bed of L.Q. along with some turnip greens and turnips and walked it down to the gal that has some "stealthy" little pigs and goats she's keeping in her yard LOL

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    3. Fiona, this is my first year for turnips as well, and I'm overjoyed! Carrots and potatoes do awful here so I am pretty excited for my successful new root veggie addition!

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  5. Cripes-it's all so BLOOMING BEAUTIFUL! Our low tonight is 18. Trade?

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    1. Sue, oh my... ! I thought our past few nights of 40 were bad!

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  6. Oh wow your garden is in full summer mode! Or it looks like it to me. Up here we haven't even started to plant yet. I think I may attempt to plant my carrots pretty soon though. Heck I think I'll plant my lettuce too. If it gets frozen I can replant. My tulips are up and blooming though. The leaves are just coming out on all the trees.
    I wish you could eat quack grass cause my gardens are full of it!

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  7. Sparkless, I'd be worried if your garden up in B.C. were as far along as mine LOL! Don't worry, it will come! Do you have rhubarb?

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  8. Your garden looks great. I hope to start planting tomatoes next week.

    Lisa

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  9. What lovely turnips and lettuce! I hope you enjoy your day -- the weather sure is (finally?) cooperating.

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  10. Everything looks so good! It's nice when things are ahead of schedule...but, then they are finished early.

    I can't believe you are picking strawberries already! We won't be doing that for some time :(

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  11. I need to adopt your attitude of looking past all of the dead stuff and focusing on what is actually growing! I tend to just wallow in my self-pity. :)

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  12. Don't you just love it when you feel like you CAN actually harvest the lettuce without decimating it? Sorry for the dead things! It's sometimes nice to have things in ahead of schedule because you can do second plantings of other things!

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