Pumpkin update

I keep waiting for my garden to become blase or boring, but every day I got out and look and something fascinates me. Today I found that the pumpkin flowers have opened. They've been forming for several days now and this morning they were wide open and the bees were buzzing! I am eagerly awaiting pumpkins.

I'm a tad worried about the carrots though. I don't think I thinned them enough and may not get the abundant supply the greens would lead me to believe. It's hard to pull out perfectly good, healthy looking plants! I want lots of carrots, but I realize that perhaps sometimes less is more :) A good lesson to learn in gardening. Another lesson... better support for the peas!

I also replanted the tomato plant yesterday, from the pot to the garden. The plant has little green tomatoes on it, but it clearly wasn't thriving and I had a big open area where the cukes decided not to grow, so I figured it was worth a shot. The move seems to have helped and the plant is looking better already.

Harvest time!

We are now eating peas, green beans, and purple beans fresh from our garden! I love it. The kids won't eat if I pick them and bring them in, but they will stand by the garden all afternoon and eat. We have green tomatoes and the pumpkin plants are big and strong. I will be so excited if we get pumpkins. I was saying to the boy today that we can make pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and all sorts of yummy pumpkin recipes. He said "let's make pea bread today!!" Hmm... not sure that would be as tasty. I think we've had very good garden weather lately. Warm sunny days with rain every few days. I used left over kiddie pool water to water the garden and tomato plant today, but otherwise haven't had to in quite awhile.



Two other points of interest... I've been reading Let it Rot by Stu Campbell and have lots of good ideas for the compost pile. Unfortunately all of them take at least some $$ and we have very little of it these days, so for now I think we'll keep throwing stuff on the pile and see how it goes. The slow method :) Also, our quince bush (tree) is growing a fruit! We found one when we first bought the house, but there was nothing last year. I think the pruning really helped. We got beautiful flowers on it this year and now a fruit. I wonder if I should prune it every year...

Do you see it? Middle of the picture, slightly towards the top.

The weather's mixed blessing

We've had rain and thunderstorms daily for about two weeks now. The 10-day forecast going forward is much the same. Some days I think, "will it ever end???" and other days I think, "Wow, look at my garden grow!" The peas are out of control and way over the top of my trellis. I had to insert a makeshift stake in the middle to try and give them a little more support. The aren't weighted down with peas though, because my little guy picks them clean every chance he gets.


Yesterday I saw some tiny beginnings on the purple bean plants and the tomato plant on the deck. The pumpkin plants are growing very quickly and I'll be thrilled if we really get pumpkins. It seems almost too good and magical to be true :) Ahh, the wonders of gardening.


I'm reading a book now about composting (several months after I started the compost) and learning all sorts of good things. If my compost works out well I'm going to try and make some serious efforts on the flower gardens next year. I have to figure out how to stay on top of the weeding. There's always something :)

How does Martha do it?

he kids and I picked a bouquet of these beautiful flowers from the garden today. I'm an idiot and can never remember what they are called, but they are in full bloom in the front garden and absolutely gorgeous! Anyway, we brought a handful in and put them in a vase on the table... then I spent the next few hours squishing ants that were falling off the flowers! People always talk about beautiful bouquets from the garden, but how do you get rid of the ants? I doubt Martha has ants running all over her dining room table! Yuck! But they seem to be gone now and the flowers are still aromatic and lovely.



I also failed to mention, on this blog anyway, that we have peas in the garden! We've been picking the ones that are several inches long and eating them, pods and all, and they are very yummy. Not sure if I'm supposed to be letting them grow bigger and shelling the, but oh well. They are tasty and the boy gets very excited about eating them, so I'm not going to change a thing!

The rest of the garden is growing really well too. I'm very happy with things this year. I'll be psyched if I get carrots and pumpkins. I've given up again on the cucumbers. There must be a secret to them that I don't know. Maybe I'll do some research and try again next year. But overall a good garden!

Irises

The irises in the front garden started opening on Wednesday. They are such a beautiful dark purple. The ones in the back garden just started opening this morning and they are a slightly lighter shade of purple. Beautiful!

I need to get a book on outdoor plants because I feel like a dork asking my neighbor to identify what's growing in my garden. In my defense, I didn't plant any of it and she is a professional landscaper, but I still feel silly. Then, to make matters worse, I forget from year to year! So I think I need a book so I can look these things up on my own. Then I might even learn how to care for them. That could come in handy :)

Good growth

There was no frost the other night, but better safe than sorry anyway.

I'm finding myself weirdly proud of my vegetable plants and go out to check on them daily. I like to coax the pea plants towards the trellis and deliberate about which, if any, plants need to be thinned out. I still feel guilty about thinning, as though I may be ruining a perfectly good plant life. But I remind myself that it's for the good of the veggie community :) I hope!

Earlier this week I added two tomato plants and two pepper plants that Julie brought for me. I put them where I planted the cucumbers, since they don't seem to be growing anyway. I wonder if I do something wrong with them. The cukes were the only thing in last years garden that didn't even sprout. Hopefully the tomatoes and peppers will make good use of that space.

The carrots also seem to be growing much slower than the rest of the plants, but maybe that's normal. I think I need to get out the seed packs again and double check that. They are definitely growing though, so maybe we'll get something.

Frosty night?

A quick thanks to my backyard neighbor! I looked out this window this evening and noticed that she had EVERYTHING in her backyard covered -- even the clothes line! Not sure what that's about :/ Anyway, it prompted me to check the weather and, of course, I found a frost advisory. We went out and covered the veggie garden with a tarp and jersey cotton sheets. I hope it works and/or doesn't frost. I will be very sad if I loose my garden.