Tuesday, May 24, 2016

May 21, 2016

 Wow, I can't believe a month has already passed since I last posted...  I better not waste too much time on this blog or another month will pass.  

So, here's what's going on in the garden these days:

Our one apricot is coming along nicely.  We used to have two apricots, but one aborted randomly.
Peaches are only slightly bigger...
 Meyer lemons getting bigger...
 The Summer squashes Chris planted in this pot are doing better than the ones in the beds.  This amazes me.
 Tomatoes doing good...
 More tomatoes in pots...  The one in the lower left is not looking so hot, we aren't sure why.
 Green beans are doing good.  I've harvested a solid handful so far.
 Corn getting tall.  Chris is in the picture for good measure.
 Our one Gala apple...  We had two, but one aborted.  I'm beginning to sound like a broken record...
 Grapes getting bigger, but we haven't discovered any new clusters.  Right now we only have two.
 Figs...
 This is the Honeycrisp apple tree.  For some mysterious reason (aliens?), a whole cluster of baby apples stopped growing and turned brown and soft.  We currently have five left.
 Cucumbers are looking good.  I got some pics of the baby cukes.  They're around here somewhere...
 Kale plants still hanging in.  As you can see, they are flowering and have sprouted seed pods that look like mini green beans.  But it's still producing small, tender leaves, so we'll keep it.
 Another tomato...  This one is full of big fruits I can hardly wait to eat.
 Cherry tomatoes...
 The onion and garlic bed.  We've harvested 4 or 5 heads of garlic so far; they are awesome.
 Our first Summer squash of the season.  I just ate it in my dinner tonight!
 The espalier Pear tree has risen from the dead.  Hope restored.  Things were dicey for a while there...
 Not sure what's in this bed.  I see some squash, some chickpea plants (who knows what they're going to do), and that tiny one in the center is a habanero.  Chris threw some random beans in this bed and stuff has popped up, but we're not sure exactly what it is.  We're really living on the edge now...
 A closer view of the chickpea plant...  There is a tiny flower on there.  Maybe we'll get one chickpea pod from all of this.
 Blueberries...  They're not getting any bigger or bluer.
 More Summer squash...
 Adorable baby corn...
 Here's a close up of the green beans growing...
 Maddox, relaxing in the garden.  Happy kitty...
 And Penny keeping her eye on me, of course.  Nothing gets by Penny.
 Blackberries getting bigger and starting to darken...
 The Summer squash I ate for dinner tonight.  Put my hand in the pic for good measure.
 Basket of goodies from the garden...
 Here's a close up of the baby cukes...
 Another one...  So cute...
And lastly, the bed with the herbs and lettuce.  We've enjoyed a few heads of lettuce so far.  The cilantro is mostly coriander now.  The parsley is not happy, so I didn't include it in the picture.

Some other random things: Looks like the cherry trees will not be hooking us up this year.  The die-hard chard isn't looking so hot and one of the plants did, in fact, die (I jinxed all of them in my last post).  None of the peppers have really taken off yet.  Chris started some potatoes.  And, I can't think of anything else right now.  Over and out.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

April 23, 2016


A few weeks have passed.  Here are some highlights of what's happening in our garden today...

We added a second tomato plant (on the right) to this pop-up bed.  I forgot to mention last time that the one on the left is a volunteer that popped up in December, and somehow made it through all the rain and frost.  It currently has 3 baby tomatoes; we suspect they will be Chocolate Cherries.  We had other volunteers pop up in December, but our hens got into our backyard one day and chowed down on them.  This was the only survivor.

The baby clementines...  This tree is only about 1.5' tall and is covered in these baby clementines.  It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Mr. Honeybee doing his thing in the blackberry blossoms...  Carry on, Mr. Honeybee.  Carry on...

Something is eating our almond tree leaves.  Does anyone know what it could be?

Check out this cluster of baby Honeycrisp apples!  I think there are about 10 on there, total.

The bush beans look happy, and a few baby jalapenos are growing...

I don't think I got a picture of the kale last time.  These plants are leftover from last Fall.  They keep making these tender kale leaves, which is awesome.

Cucumbers are getting bigger but not looking very happy.  We need to figure out what's going on with them.

These two summer squash plants are stoked in this planter; but the ones in the beds are looking sad, not sure why.

I had to throw in this picture of our new "Kettlepizza" attachment for our Weber.  It is supposed to create wood-firey pizzas without the expense of an actual wood-fire pizza oven.  
We're trying it out tomorrow. 

These are chickpea plants and red beets.  I don't think it is red beet season? But I'm throwing them in anyway.  Worst case scenario: we'll eat the greens.

Our stray cat gang has been thinking it's cool to sharpen their claws on the tender bark of our baby cherry trees.  Enter awesome invention: plastic spikey mat that you can put around the base of your trees, which makes it unpleasant for animals to stand on.  Nice!

Some eggs from our hens this morning...  And check out our awesome retro chaise longues from the 1970s.  Chris wanted to throw them out at one point, but is now grateful for my intervention.

Check out how great these lettuces are doing!

Lady bug larvae!

Maddox, thinking she is hiding...

And finally... We are giving Mason bees a try.  We just got this little starter house for them.  They should be arriving on Wednesday.  We hardly have any honeybees around anymore, so we are hoping this will help with pollination this Spring/Summer.  Stay tuned.