The garden today
>> Thursday, April 28, 2011
And we have foliage! So far I'm very happy with the garden, except that it ended up being too small. The previous post showed where I planted everything, and it turned out that the nasturtium were not a trailing variety and I missed some thinning of the marigolds, so the carrots weren't getting any sun. So I moved some of each today in hopes that the carrots will fare better. We have blossoms on the tomatoes, and I've seen a bumblebee this year so hopefully they'll be fertilized. Last year we got blossoms and no tomatoes, so we'll see what happens. I may end up having to go out there with a paintbrush, but I'm hoping not.
Our wonderful neighbor Maggie brought me cherry tomatoes, and I have six cherry trees that need to go in the ground around the back yard, but for the moment I moved the one that has the most cherries on it into the garden house so maybe we'll be able to eat them. Kristianna and Charlie helped me taste test the first strawberries last week, so now I just have to fight the slugs. Nasty critters. So after adding the small 'matos and the raspberry (bottom left inside), the garden house is very full. Some blueberries have dropped the flowers and started becoming berries, so that should be tasty soon!
The mint has totally taken off and filled the pot; I'm not a fan of mint tea, so I need to figure out what else I can do with it. If only I had a lime tree, I'd be set for doctoring up my mojitos. The thyme and basil have started coming up but aren't tall enough yet to taste them. Soon, I hope. And the only other change to the drawing in the last post was that the corner edemame pot became miniature sunflowers instead, and they're coming up nicely. The edemame is also coming up well, though it's being eaten by a voracious insect of some kind. I need to find my pepper spray. The green bean and green onion seeds from last year appear to be completely dead, but at least I have onions from last year becoming enormous, and beans are cheap if I decide I need them. I'm also contemplating a leaf or romaine lettuce, but I'll only plant that if I get my watering system working, since they need to be well watered.
Last week I got the watering system all set up and got all the spray nozzles on the tubing at the right places, and then realized I forgot to flush the line. Clogged line = clogged nozzles, and I only have exactly as many as I need, so I went back to pull them off again... and the warm rubber tubing had snuggled in nicely. When it's not so wet out (we've had a lot of rain) I'll have to go back out with a pliers and get it all finished.
Well, I was going to leave you with two more pix, but Blogger's having a fit. I guess you'll have to wait! Read more...
