CG update

I stopped at the community garden to drop off some flowers today on my way home from work. No pictures today as it was stormy and I didn't want to get camera wet. Thought when I got to the community garden I really wished I did bring it - I was greeted with 4 very cute baby groundhogs who were happily munching on some greens under the watchful eyes of their two very fat parents. That's right, the new community garden also houses a family of groundhogs. So really not sure just how much harvest anyone will be having in that place.

Tuesday harvest

I picked few greens today so I can share with coworkers - salad greens and arugula, onions, broccoli and first kohlrabi.

 Both broccoli and kohlrabi came up to 3.5oz in weight so they'll be added to the brassica total.

 Greens were just at the 7oz mark (the white container did not count as it was zerowed with it)

 And another 8oz of onions that were pulled mostly from the new garden - only 1 red with largish bulb was from overwintered patch by the shed. Onions have been a disapointment so far this year.

I hope my coworkers will enjoy munching on it as much as I have picking :)

EDIT: I'm adding a picture of a broccoli after the main head was picked - growing side shoots.

Monday Harvest

I'm a little late with harvest today so will make it short and let pictures talk.. Picked today were bok choy and some onions..

and Swiss Chard, Spinach and parsley...

 parsley came up to 2.2 oz which is pretty good considering that it's all being dried.

this is Swiss Chard that was 7.2 oz and will be my dinner for tomorrow night

Spinach is in a container to make it easier to weight in - 11.1 oz of it (container weight did not count)

upclose shot of it comparing to my hand just in case ;)

Bok Choy was the bigest hit - 1 lb and 7.4oz of it - will be frozen for laer.

And some onions - 8.7 oz of them. Not much but onions are not doing too good this year.

Community Garden

This weekend I finally got to see my new community garden plot. Or rather a field with roughly tilled ground that we spend several hours measuring and staking plots that are 14feet by 12 feet deep; laying out red mulch for walkway so everyone knows where to walk and where the plots are; raking out weeds and pulling out rocks before anything could be done. This is no where near what I was hoping it would be but I'm happy that it's free to use, and since someone else declined their plot at the last minute I asked and was given 2 plots! So of course I started on them right away. I had two hay bales so I took 4" thick layers and did the perimeter of the garden, separating my area from neighbors and covering back of the garden near fencing to prevent weeds from overtaking the area. So after few hours of raking, cleaning, weeding and mulching with hay this is what it looked like - not very attractive.  

 Then I laid out the landscaping cloth on one bed and planted tomatoes - 25 of them, that included cherokee purple, brandywine, yellow pear, black cherry, san marzano, black krim, rutgers and a rainbow mix - no clue what they'll turn out. Hopefully they will all produce good harvest and it will be enough for the food pantry and something might be left to use at home. So this is what the bed looked like after I was done with it. Some of the tomatoes had to spill to the second bed but I didn't want to over-crowd it. On the very back I did a row of running green beans that can use the fencing for support.

 On the second bed I planted a mix of things - 5 tomatoes that didn't fit on first bed; 12 sweet peppers; 12 leeks, 3 eggplant; 2 watermelons; 1 cantaloupe, butternut squash and 6 pickle bush cucumbers. Melons will be using the backdrop fencing to climb (they're all in the last row on the back) so hopefully it won't be in a way.

I didn't have enough landscaping fabric to cover both beds so I will get more hay and will mulch everything with it around the plants so it retain moisture. It's supposed to be raining for next couple of days so I really hope plants will set well and will start growing. Now I have to figure out how to get supports for all these tomatoes.

weekend garden pictures

my 'runt' tomatoes that survived two frost and disease are doing pretty good! (and yes, I need to weed)

Purple Dragon Carrots mats finally visible without too much strain on eyes

Potatoes going to bloom soon, which means I'll be able to pick some baby potatoes in June

Several Astibe plants that were grown from roots are doing very well!

Purple Irises are all over the front door by the garage, around the mailbox and by the driveway.

My first peony is just about to open up! this is a deep burgundy one that was planted in spring 2009

The pink ad white one are also going to give me preview of what to expect next year.

Friday's harvest

Forgot to post pictures of harvest from friday so posting them now - mix of salads and rhubarb.

 My honey bought me a new toy - electronic food scale so I can get accurate measures now.

that's 2 lbs and 13.5 oz of rhubarb! i see Grany's pie in the future (the white tray was on the scale when it was zeroed out)

Mixed salads - 7.8 oz

arugula, parsley and dill all came up to 5.2oz - the package was not counted in the weight.

Thinking positive to help karma...

Sometimes you can't do much about things that are not in your control so instead of going nuts over it I'm focusing on positive things in my garden..

First irises are in bloom

Rhododendron on the back of the house

First Alpine Strawberries!

first peas starting to bloom!

Persimmon tree is finally starting to grow

cabbages, broccoli and whole lot of mesclun salad around them.

Small picked salad for dinner