Vegetable garden is growing...

Garden is growing
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

Here's my nicely caged vegetable garden with sunflowers. The tomatoes have really gone through a growth spurt. The extra fending is going to come in handy to hold them up. The pumpkin, squash and melon plants took a beating with the heavy rains but they seem to be rebounding well. The beets are coming up slowly and i planted more seeds to fill in some of the space. The peppers are holding their own. And out of all the bean seeds that i put in, i have one plant!... so i reseeded. I don't know if a mouse found the seeds or what is going on.

Veggie Garden Notes

The tomato, cabbage and pepper plants seem to be doing pretty well. They have survived their earlier trauma and are starting to grow nicely. I mulched the tomato patch with newspaper and grass clippings. The pumpkin, squash and melon plants are progressing nicely as are the sunflowers on the outside of the fence. The beets are coming along very slowly and i'm disappointed that only one bean plant came up!... Last night i planted more beans and i didn't notice any of the older seeds, so i'm thinking that something ate them.

Daisies and Snaps...

4. The other view
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

hold each other up in a grand fashion... along with the california poppies and dianthus.

Recently there was a knock at the back door and my gardening protege Aubrianna stood there with a pot of sunflowers that she had planted just for me! How delightful to have a youngster who loves gardening... and those sunflowers are about three times the size of the ones i planted. Thank you Boo!

Garden- top down view 5-27-10

Garden- top down view 5-27-10
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

There is a certain exuberance in the garden... all the seeds giving birth to all these new little plants. The violas have gone crazy!

I've noticed in the vegetable garden that the melon, squash, pumpkin and sunflower seedlings are bursting forth. The beets seem to be taking a little longer... and the beans haven't shown anything yet.

A little more planting...

Here's my little vegetable garden... it measures 7 x 12 and is nicely fenced in to keep the critters at bay (more or less).

Yesterday I purchased two heirloom tomato plants (Costoluto Genovese), along with a red pepper plant (Sweet Pimento Lipstick Pepper). They have since been planted along with a new variegated sage, a chartreuse oregano and a columnar basil. My parsley plants survived the winter and are rather voluminous... we had parsley potatoes for dinner tonight.

It was pretty special to see the look on my Dad's face when they visited today. I will remember that smile for a long time.

In go the Veggies...

This evening i took some time to finish up the vegetable garden fence configuration. I then proceeded to plant. The peppers and tomatoes from Burpee were looking weary so i really felt it a good idea to get them into the ground. I also planted seeds of melon, squash, pumpkin, beets, and beans... and sunflowers on the outside of the fence. Once my basil grows a bit more, i'll transfer it to the garden. Let the growing begin!

Two perfect days in a row... on the weekend!

Sunday was an extension of Saturday with gorgeous weather... not too hot with passing clouds. I found myself finding places to work... following the shadows of the yard. I continued with my weeding and mulching routine. I've made a pretty good dent in the three cubic yards of much. I found myself extending the southern edge bed and transplanting a day lily from my main garden. One day lily = seven new plants. I still have more weeding and mulching to do in that corner... especially thinning out the lily-of-the-valley. And did i mention that the black cohosh has come back! I was so delighted to see it bursting through the lily-of-the-valley. The goat's beard is growing very quickly... it really likes it's new home. I did some trimming of branches on the quince and trimmed some dead branches off of the birches. I also trimmed up some of the dogwoods to look like trees, not shrubs.

I noticed when working outside for those two days that the frost we had a week ago did hit some of my plants. It seems that the front of the house was hard hit, especially the hosta, fern and hedges. We also noted crisp leaf edges on the sassafras, holly and heuchera. The temperature fluctuation from 80s to 30s was more than some of the tender shoots could handle.