right now

right now

May 15, 2012

Progress

So much going on the past few days, but most of it good!


Friday was set-up day for the Spring Master Gardener Plant Sale so that meant...

Yay!  I finally got to evict the dozens of basil plants that we've been tripping over!



I could harvest 1 lb of lettuces a day and not deplete the garden now which is awesome, because I still had a few more teacher gifts to put together.  I didn't have enough turnips this go-round so with the bags of mixed lettuces I tied herb bouquets each with chives, parsley, oregano and sage.  I also had plenty of scallions ready to go.  I love doing gifts from the garden since they are always different depending on the time of year and harvest.



Just enough turnips now that we can just have a few for a salad or mixed in with roasted carrots & potatoes.  I won't replant these again until late summer for a fall harvest.


Below is the pepper bed in the foreground with one of the tomato beds in the back, this one has the Brandywines.


Below are the Heirloom Virginia Romas


There are other tomato beds, but I haven't gotten photos of them yet.

Below is a close up of one of the Brandywines


The onions are bolting before "onioning" as usual so I'm picking them as green onions as fast as I can, onions never work out well here, but I can't resist their orderly appearance and keep planting them :)


New things are arriving daily!

Summer Squash is up, now where are those Squash Bugs?!


and below, Zukes...



 I have never grown them believe it or not, since they still seem to show up in my kitchen from random people LOL...  suddenly this year I have the urge so local folks beware and lock your car doors.

Finally, heirloom Lazy Wife Greasy Beans


I'm growing a few types of greasy beans to see which does best for me.  All 3 are local mountain historical varieties.  By the way, they are not "greasy" at all, rather they are so named because the pole beans have a shiny appearance. The Lazy Wife variety is named thus because it grows bunches of pods in clusters which supposedly makes for easier picking.  Hopefully I can minimize the time spent in long sleeves that way since I get horrible rashes from picking beans!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all!  Can you believe I had to share my day this year since hubby's birthday fell on the same day, ha!

25 comments:

  1. I want some of your raised beds! I like how they are high and have an edge added so you can lean on it. Plus the mulch around the bases means you don't have to mow or weed around them.

    Everything looks so lovely. Do you think a package of lettuce would make it here in the mail? No, me either but it would be nice. We haven't even planted our lettuce yet.

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    1. Sparkless, those ledges on the beds were hubby's idea and I admit I love them! They are wide enough to sit on and lay all my seed packets out or tools on :)

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  2. totally unfair I admit but with all the wife's out there that have fisherman for husbands ,it always lands on mothers day,whats up with that and they promised to change ,HA its a mans man world out there."How does your garden grow"name f your new garden book,when is it due out anyway-?---jk

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    1. I just hope it doesn't work out that way for a good many years again!

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  3. Evict basil? There is never enough basil. Never!

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    1. After writing labels for over 100 basil plants I'm OVER them LOL!

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  4. I'm seeing a high degree of orderliness in your garden........are you German?
    LOL!
    You grow THE healthiest looking basils I've ever seen....how in goodness name do you keep your plants so STOCKY. Mine end up spindly........

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    1. Sue, LOL yes! German & Irish, so organized and loud hahaha! Honestly, so many people have asked about my short bushy seedlings that all I can think of is that most people start them too early and they spend too much time under lights. All my seedlings are started with lights suspended only 1/4 inch off the top of the plants, no higher, but I get them outside asap so they don't usually stay indoors for more than 3-4 weeks, so to me starting later gives me healthy plants, no aphids to deal with either!

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  5. Those beans sound like a good idea. Eric got me rose pruning gloves so I don't break out from the tomatoes. You know, it must be the heat. My garden seems to be growing sort of anemically. Yours looks terrific. Basil just is pathetic out here. Cold. . . or at least cold for basil. Enjoy the onionness of the green ones, I guess.

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    1. Stefaneener, pruning gloves are a good idea, sometimes I think I need a bee suit for picking beans LOL!

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  6. As usual, everything in your garden looks picture perfect! Gosh, how I wish I could grow basil like you do. It's NEVER done well for me and I don't know why. When you get moved back to Minnesota, can I enroll in Basil Growing 101?

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    1. Mama Pea, haha to me basil is the easiest, they always sprout about 6 hours after sowing them! See my reply to Sue's comment for how I grow them but since you are well versed in seedlings I can only imagine it is the climate/humidity issues there :) It will be my MN challenge to replicate the basil!

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  7. I finally managed to get rid of the 5 extra flats of little plants I had started this weekend, as well. And, of course, our plant sale was on Mother's Day so I had to work! Bah! But I'm glad for the extra space. Now I just need to get the rest of MY little plants into the ground. Of course I'll get right on it in my spare time.

    I hope your day was happy, even if you had to share it with hubby!

    Judy

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    1. Well, at least I didn't have to work - our sale was on Saturday :)

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  8. Everything in your garden looks so healthy and everything is so neat! If you lived closer, I'd have you help me in my garden. ;-)
    I wish you could send some of that basil my way, mine didn't really germinate as well as I had hoped and I'll have to go and get more seeds.

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    1. I'd love to help, other gardens always strike me as more interesting than my own, I guess the grass is always greener, no pun intended!

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  9. Everything looks awesome. I love your raised beds. We'll be changing ours to be more like yours in the next couple years...otherwise we'll both end up needing back surgery.

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    1. Sustainably, I love the beds, hubby did them for me, one of the few things I didn't put in my "two cents" worth LOL

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  10. Beautiful! I am stunned by how much amazing produce you have growing. hope the greasy beans come out tasty!

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    1. AnywhereEden, I sure hope those greasy beans are good, too, they are the only pole variety I'm doing this year, although I still have my bush beans

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  11. Everything looks wonderful, Erin! BTW - I made fun of you on my blog just how. haha.

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    1. Ha! Sorry our weather was so bad this week for your trip down here!

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  12. Such a beautiful garden you have this summer!

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    1. YOU are the one with the year-round beautiful garden Dani!

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  13. Your garden is looking great. I love how the long, alternating warm and cool spring has led to the hilarious mix of summer and spring crops - peppers already forming while there are still good lettuces in the ground!

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