Taters Are In

Late for our area but, they are in the ground.

 Yup, this year those spuds are in the garden and the buckets are empty.

I’d not had much any success with the potato buckets the past 3 years.  I harvested enough last year for a large skillet of fried potato’s. That’s all…. Not worth the time or water doing that again.  So late yesterday afternoon I learned to run the tiller.  I tried to get it going earlier in the afternoon but my arm strength is not quite enough to pull the cord hard enough, or fast enough.  Of course,  Mr. Fix-It came home and gave it one flick of his wrist (or so it seemed) & it was started right up dag-nabit! I figure there is no sense having these “tools” and not know how to use them.  Besides, the more I learn to do the less work it will be for him fit in after he gets off work…..and I won’t need to wait on him. Anyway, I was able to squeak in 3 20 ft. rows. They will get a few hours of late afternoon shade but it was the last useable space I had.  Next year we’ll mark out another section and have it prepped and ready to spud it up.

Everything else is growing well so far.

The lettuce is thick and filling out great.  I do expect the upcoming heat to put an end to that though.

Strawberries are still blooming and baring fruit.  I think we have 6.5 gallons in the freezer so far.  I’m pretty pleased with that as the first official picking season for these plants.

Squash…all but one have good growth

,

Beets and turnips are both up and need some serious thinning

The beans are putting on a good showing

Blue Lake and Roma beans..

The weeds?

Growing like gangbusters!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,sustainable living,garden,gardening,green things

Green Things

Well, it is Earth Day Right?  Lets talk green!

I worked in the garden for most of the morning, weeding is starting to become a morning ritual already.  I only hope the veggies grow as well as the weeds seem to be.

I do have bits of green poking throughRight now I honestly can’t say if these are the Dragon Tongue beans or regular bush beans because…I just knew I would remember exactly what was planted where….right.

That worked out well!  So, I may or may not have room for 2-3 rows more of something but since Buddy ate my row  markers I’m stuck until everything starts sprouting.  But the good news is things are sprouting, I’m seeing tiny bits of green poking through.  I know its going to happen, but every day (2-3 times) I step out to the garden excitedly checking the progress.  The tomato seedlings , Roma, Celebrity & Better Boys 20 in all went in today along with a few rows of pinto beans.  Thanks Kat for the seed source!  Loofah & white scalloped squash I planted in the earth boxes on the back deck.  This is the first time I’ve planted loofah so any growing/tending pointers you could send my way will be appreciated.  I want to soak them in home made soap and use for gifts this Christmas. 

Rain is called for tonight so it looks like I got everything in just in time. 
My compost bin/pile was not “composting”.  I realized I was way off on ratio of greens to browns and it was not moist enough.  With that adjusted I’m hoping things will now start breaking down.

Isaiah’s daily chore is to take the house scraps out to the compost bin.  This past winter it was fun to play in the snow on the way down.  Now that its nice there are dirt piles and wood piles and roads to build that distract him.  The other day I said “I need you to take the compost out”…he came in and took the can with a disgruntled sigh and said…”just call me compost boy”…..so who am I to disappoint….

”Oh, Compost Boy”

Technorati Tags: gardening,composting,earthday,green things