Tag Archives: spinach

May 26, 2024 · 11:21 am

Elephant Ears and Tomatoes

Elephant Ear # 1

Several weeks ago I planted three elephant ear bulbs. They were HUGE, so I planted them in three different planters. Absolutely nothing has been happening until I walked around the yard this morning and saw sprouts! I went back and got my camera so I could share.

Elephant Ear # 2
Elephant Ear # 3

Our weather has been so volatile I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went out to check on my spinach and tomato plants. (The lettuce bolted due to the hot weather several weeks ago and I had to pull it out.) I only have a couple of spinach plants at this point that MAY produce leaves large enough to harvest, but the tomato plants seem to be doing well for such weird weather.

The plants are looking lush. I would like to spray them with EIGHT, which will protect them from bugs and tomato worms, but we’ve been having so much rain I’ve held off. Oddly enough, they also need a good watering.

I’m happy we have anything out there, so I’ll see if we’re still supposed to get severe weather and storms this evening and then decide whether to go back out or wait until tomorrow.

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May 16, 2024 · 9:35 am

The Veggie Garden

I was disappointed yesterday to see my lettuce plants had bolted. Some were about 3 feet tall suddenly. It was clear that our season for fresh lettuce is over.

Our spinach is almost over. I’m going to get out again in a few minutes and harvest a bunch of it.

The happy thing for the day is that our tomatoes seem to be happy, and are producing lots of green tomatoes.

One of our favorite things in the world is ripe, fresh tomatoes sliced to eat with our lunches and dinners, not to mention cut up for salads. The only tomatoes I buy at the store anymore is cherry tomatoes, just for some color in our salads.

I love the fact that we can enjoy fresh spinach cut up in our salads.

We can also saute it as a side dish, or freeze it for cooking later.

This is just a bonus picture of my husband’s favorite flower, clematis. It’s blooming right behind the lettuce/spinach veggie planter, so I snapped a quick pic to share.

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May 10, 2024 · 10:00 am

Yesterday’s Harvest

Lettuce

Spinach

Head Lettuce

It looks like my lettuce is coming to an end. I’m seeing signs of bolting already, due to the temperature getting up into the 80s most afternoons now. Lettuce is a cool weather crop, and we have about 4 days of spring between too cold to plant with overnight freezes to too hot for lettuce…

I’m going to work in the veggies today, pruning, weeding, tweaking, and I’m hoping to finish the last two brick planters.

We have a stunningly beautiful morning here, and I’m looking forward to working outside for several sessions.

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May 3, 2024 · 11:16 am

Yard Work – Garden 5-3-2024

Lettuce and Spinach
Lettuce, Spinach, and Tomatoes
Look closely. There are a couple of green tomatoes beside the top of the stick. I spent a lot of time pinching off suckers, cutting off extraneous branches, adding support to the plants.
Tomatoes
Again, beside the stick are a couple of teeny, tiny, green tomatoes.

I fertilized everything. Looking good so far. We’re really enjoying the spinach and lettuce in salads. I also have a couple of HEADS of lettuce doing well. :0)

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April 30, 2024 · 2:17 pm

Nice Harvest 4-30-2024

Spinach
Lettuce

I had a nice harvest from our little garden this morning. I just finished washing it and putting it in gallon bags for the fridge. We’ll have some of it tonight in a chef salad for dinner.

I’m going to look online for cooking fresh leaf spinach because I’ve never done that before (even though I’m older than dirt, there are lots of things I haven’t done yet :0) )

I still have some pruning, supporting, and weeding to do out there. I’ll do another session soon.

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April 29, 2024 · 10:20 am

After the Storm 4-29-2024

We had super heavy rain in waves from about 8pm until a bit after 11 last night. We were lucky. We were under a tornado warning – with Greenwood actually mentioned as ‘in the path’ but – other than it becoming ominously quiet at one point – the bad stuff passed by us. I watched the TV coverage until I could see the yellow and red blobs, along with associated tornado rectangles, had passed us. (I need to do a harvest of the lettuce and spinach this afternoon.)

I walked around the yard this morning to see if we had any damage. I found one rose bush branch was broken off, but that was all. The garden is still looking good. They certainly got the watering they probably wanted, and then some, but all looks good so far. (The lettuce plants here are head lettuce, and the heads are forming!) I’ll bring some bungie cords to put around the supports to give the tomato plants more to hang onto.

I’m planning to go out later – weather permitting – and see what needs more support, rearranging (in the case of the tomato branches) and what needs harvesting (lettuce and spinach.)

The clematis bloomed suddenly. The blooms are looking a bit battered after the storm, but I’m hoping they’ll perk up. I’ll bring my husband out later, since these are his favorite.

And this is the first bloom of our Stella de Oro lilies. You can see there are several buds, so I’m hoping we’ll have a nice display.

My sister-in-law sent me some phone apps suggestions that might help me identify my mystery perennials. I added them to my phone, and hope to make the time to see how they work later today. She also sent me a Kindle book on flowers and veggies. Isn’t she wonderful?

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April 28, 2024 · 10:19 am

Happy Plants

These pics are from a couple of days ago. All the plants seem happy right now. I really need to harvest lettuce and spinach, but will have to wait until the rain leaves us.

I was excited to see a couple of ‘heads’ of lettuce forming when I looked at things quickly yesterday!

I’m hoping to be able to get up close and personal with my plants tomorrow, doing some harvesting, pruning, and supporting. I also have four planters left to weed and lots of things to cut back…

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April 21, 2024 · 9:47 am

Veggie Garden Update 4-21-2024

So far, things are good. Something was eating my spinach and lettuce, so I mixed and sprayed EIGHT on all the veggie plants earlier this week. I love that stuff because it’s safe for humans and our pets, but kills the pests.

Here you can see the holes in the spinach leaves. Hopefully, I’ve now stopped the pests at least for a while.

I’ll probably do some harvesting of spinach and lettuce later today.

Here are 4 tomato plants along with a few more spinach and lettuce plants. I’m see several yellow blossoms on the tomato plants now.

This is the other tomato planter with another 4 plants. I nipped off suckers and cut off branches that touched the ground earlier. I need to make sure all the branches are supported well. This can change from day to day, and growth can happen quite suddenly, so I want to stay on top of things before I can’t manipulate the branches through the cages anymore.

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April 18, 2024 · 9:33 am

Garden Harvest 4-18-2024

1st harvest of spinach for the season.
2nd harvest of lettuce of the season.

Things are looking good so far in our garden this year. Yesterday I harvested, cleaned, and packaged spinach and lettuce. I fertilized, then mixed and sprayed EIGHT bug killer to hopefully get rid of whatever is eating the leaves. Finally, I watered.

By the time I came in, even though I hadn’t been out there too long, I was wringing wet – I guess due to the humidity. I took a shower, got a big glass of ice water and did some serious relaxing.

The forecast is for possible severe storms this afternoon and evening – with the threat of large hail – so I’ll cover up the three planters mid afternoon.

The Spruce

Before that today, though, I’ll try to get outside to tend our tomato plants. I’ve read that pinching off – or clipping off – the ‘suckers’ (the little branches that sprout in the middle of the “Y” of two branches) will increase the tomato yield and keep the plant healthier. Also, snipping off any branches or leaves touching the ground, plus any below 12 inches as the plants continue to grow. The plants really grow fast when the temperature, sun, and watering are right, so I’ll need to pay attention to keep up with the 8 plants.

I hope that you’re enjoying some nice weather where you are.

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April 17, 2024 · 9:40 am

Veggies, Anyone?

Our veggies are still doing well. I took a gallon bag of lettuce to my hairdresser, Michael, yesterday and he seemed very happy.

I’m going to tend the veggie planters today, weeding, doing any pruning needed, fertilizing, and harvesting some lettuce and spinach.

I’ll get out there this morning because it’s a bit overcast and just almost 70. It’s supposed to get to 88 this afternoon. That may be a record. I hope that it’s not enough fuel for the weather that the rain we’re supposed to get tomorrow afternoon and evening will be severe.

I’ll try to post pics of the harvest later.

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May 21, 2023 · 8:54 am

Garden Update 5-21-2023

The super rainy, colder-than-usual weather has brought very mixed results thus far in my garden. In my survey a few minutes ago, the first thing was that I need to do some serious weeding in my veggie garden.

This is one of the head lettuce plants. It’s doing GREAT. I should be able to harvest very soon and give my friends a nice addition to their salads or sandwiches.

The spinach is looking ‘pale,’ not the deep green I think it should. I’m not sure if fertilizing it at this point would do any good, but I’ll try that. I’m also not sure if the paleness will affect the taste. I’ll see what information I can find.

Here’s the large tomato planter. The plants have exploded and there are lots of yellow blossoms showing. At this point, I’m not sure if I can handle the branches much, and may just need to try to contain them a bit, giving them as much support as I can.

This is the second tomato planter. You can barely see the green metal supports at the top of the plants now. I was going to try to tie the branches to the supports, but they have exploded now, so I’ll just try to do what I can to keep the plant inside the boundaries of the planter.

The bad news is that after several years now, one of the wooden bottoms to the veggie planters has given way. We knew it would happen one day, but it’s sad anyway. I hadn’t planted this planter yet, so we can leave it and decide how we’ll tackle making a new bottom for the planter, save as much of the Mel’s Mix as possible, and rebuild it.

Here is the part of the bottom that completely gave way and fell down.

To round out our tour of the yard, here is one of the healthier weeds I encountered. I’m not sure right now if I’ll pull it or celebrate its health…

And finally, here is some clematis that we have growing in a pot behind the large tomato planter. The picture doesn’t show how glorious the color is. It’s a real explosion of dark purple. Makes my heart happy.

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May 7, 2023 · 10:02 am

How Does My Garden Grow?

These photos are from yesterday. Things are going quite well so far. The plants seem to be thriving, and there are not a whole lot of weeds right now.

If you look closely, there are leaves toward the center of the plant curling up together. The ‘head’ lettuce will form in there.

My spinach leaves are being eaten by ‘something,’ but I can’t find any bugs. I’ll go ahead and spray with Eight to see if I can discourage whatever is chomping down.

The tomato plants are growing a lot each day. We’re trying to get the irrigation system for the flower planters (which includes the tomato planters) to work.

The plants are almost covering the whole surface of the planter now. I only have one plant, though, that has yellow blossoms at this point.

I haven’t planted anything else in the main square foot garden. We’re going one day at a time around here lately, so I haven’t pushed seeing what other plants are available in town.

I’ll be working to see if I can get the two timers in the well house working today. We’ll have a test run later today, though starting Wednesday of next week, we’re supposed to get a LOT of rain.

Do you have a garden this year?

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April 30, 2023 · 10:02 am

Garden Love 2 – Veggie Planters 4-30-2023

hayneedle.com

Thankfully, the veggie garden box plants are doing well, too. I have lettuce and spinach planted so far. If my husband feels up to it tomorrow, we may go look for something else interesting to plant.

You can see a few small weeds in the spaces around the plants, but it shouldn’t take long to take care of that.

I will also do another harvest in the next day or two. We haven’t finished eating what I gathered the first time yet. :0) I harvest the outer leaves of each of the lettuce plants for harvests, leaving the center leaves to form around the ‘head’.

The spinach is looking good, although ‘something’ is eating holes in some of the leaves. I love the fact that we can eat the leaves fresh from the garden in salads. I can also saute the leaves in olive oil, adding bacon bits for additional flavor. And, finally, I can freeze what we can’t eat right away.

If things continue as they are now, I’ll be able to take fresh lettuce and spinach to my friends soon. Such a FUN thing to be able to do.

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April 19, 2023 · 9:31 am

Checking the Garden 4-19-2023

1st tomato blossom

Spinach and Lettuce

Head Lettuce

Spinach

I’ll try to get out in the next few days and get the weeds under control and the wilted/dead parts pruned, but things are looking good so far.

I think the severe weather is JUST supposed to be wind and rain tomorrow. One can hope.

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April 9, 2023 · 2:36 pm

Tomatoes

I found some really nice “Super Girl” tomato plants yesterday. I planted them yesterday afternoon. There are six plants in this brick planter.

Here’s a closer look at some of these.

There are 4 plants in this planter. I’m going to try to keep an eye on these and keep them as tied up as possible. They tend to be calm for awhile and then they ‘spurt’ in growth, seemingly all of a sudden spreading out over everything with the limbs too large to move without breaking them, yet really needing more support. I’ll try to do a better job of getting outside each day or so and giving them as much support as I can this year.

We also got the irrigation system controller installed on the faucet that goes to the garden. It’s set to start at 3pm today. I have a timer set so I can get out there and make sure the sprinklers are working and that the flow of water is good for watering my sweet plants well in the 10 minutes I have the controller set to now.

Later on, we’ll set the irrigation system for the yard. For now, I’ll just water the tomatoes with a hand held hose.

I’ll try to check next week to see what other plants I can add to the main garden.

We’ve started!

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April 3, 2023 · 4:31 pm

The Middle of a Long Day

When we got back from errands this morning, I went right out to the garden with the flat of head lettuce and the flat of spinach. I got them planted before lunch. I’ll set up the automatic watering system tomorrow, but I THINK it’s supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon and evening, giving my new plants lots of water. (I hope not too much!)

My plan is to prep my two brick tomato planters next and get them planted, and then figure out what else will go in the main garden.

After lunch and a rest, we went out to the shop to get the snow tires off the truck and put on the regular tires. We had a hard time. I insisted we come in and rest after we got the tires on the front. We drank water and rested a bit and then went back out. We got it done, but it was a close thing.

My husband surprised me on the walk back from the shop after we finished. He has finally agreed that when the snow tires need to be put back on, we’ll put the tires and wheels and lug nuts in the back of the truck. I’ll make an appointment with the tire place so they will change the tires for us, air up the tires and put the others in the back of the truck. The only thing we’ll have to do next time is get the tires in and out of the back of the truck and into the shop. This has been a long time coming, and I had almost given up hope on getting him to see reason. I’m relieved.

We will do some serious relaxing this evening. :0)

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May 14, 2022 · 3:24 pm

2nd Harvest of the Day 5-14-2022

I just finished washing and processing the spinach I gathered this afternoon.

I took a picture of each of the teeny, tiny (about 2 inches in diameter) cauliflower heads in the garden. This is the best I’ve done on this veggie. Usually ‘something’ happens and I fail to even start a head. I’m hopeful that these will get a bit larger before I have to harvest them. Fingers crossed.

To show how deceptive photography can be, this head is only about 2 inches across. But it’s PRETTY, isn’t it? There are 3 others almost identical to it in my garden right now.

If it’ll cool off a bit (or I can cool down enough) I’ll go back out and start harvesting lettuce.

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May 14, 2022 · 10:27 am

Garden – Initial Assessment

After a week or so of not being able to work in the garden, things are pretty out of hand. My tomato plants are looking healthy, but I’ll need to get serious about pruning this week. I’ll concentrate on trying to be outside early in the morning, or before dark in the evening, or both, until I get things under control. I’ll try to carefully prune, then anchor the plants to the supports.

The veggie garden has exploded. The onion stalks are now over a foot tall. The zucchini plants are huge and blossoming. The record heat has almost done-in the broccoli before it really had a chance to get started. It’s starting to bolt, so I’ll harvest what I can today. Weeds are rampant. The lettuce leaves are huge.

Here’s a close up of a broccoli plant. You can see that the broccoli isn’t nice and compact. It’s growing tall. I need to harvest today to have anything from these at all. :0(

Aside from the gazillion tiny weeds, you can see how TALL this lettuce plant is. That’s not a good sign. Lettuce, broccoli, spinach and cauliflower are early spring plants, needing the cooler weather. I hope that the lettuce leaves are not already bitter. I’ll bite one and see.

I’ll be doing a lot of careful harvesting this weekend, one thing at a time, between rain storms. You would THINK with all this rain the temperature would be cooler, rather than like a sauna…

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April 20, 2022 · 10:02 am

And This is How My Garden Grows…

It’s too rainy to be out working in the garden or the yard today, but –

“Save a boyfriend for a rainy day – and another, in case it doesn’t rain.” ~ Mae West

David Hobson – Better Homes and Gardens – QuoteMaster
My veggie garden is doing well. I’ll start harvesting some lettuce and spinach probably in the next week or so.
Leaf Lettuce – Romaine
I have to admit I’m not really sure whether this one is broccoli or cauliflower.
Spinach
If you look closely, you can see the CUTEST broccoli ever in the center of this plant.
Zucchini

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April 7, 2022 · 11:27 am

How Does Your Garden Grow?

etsy.com

I’ve only had to cover up my veggie plants once for a freeze since I put the plants in the ground, and for that I’m thankful. I’m watching the weather forecasts like a hawk, but so far, things are going well.

leaf lettuce
Spinach
Broccoli
Cauliflower
You can see the red onion sprouts, too.
You can also see some of the neon-pink surveyor’s tape I put on the fence so the deer won’t run into the fence.

Next up, I plan to put in radishes, bell pepper, and celery.

Today’s plan is to start prepping the two brick planters on the far side of the house that we converted to square foot garden planters, preparing to add some tomato plants, probably next week, depending on the weather. I need to get the weeds out, and then add a bunch of Mel’s Mix (a mixture of peat moss, Vermiculite, and at least 3 different types of compost) to each of the planters. Who knows where this stuff GOES?

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March 27, 2022 · 12:54 pm

Garden 3-27-2022

luvocracy.com

I just checked my veggie garden and things seem to be going really well at this point. I could actually start harvesting some lettuce leaves, but I think I’ll let them go awhile longer.

You can see spinach, red onion sprouts, leaf lettuce, and one broccoli or cauliflower plant in this box.

broccoli and lettuce

Spinach, red onions, broccoli and cauliflower

Spinach. I can’t wait to start harvesting these leaves. I plan to put lots in our salads, saute some of them in extra virgin olive oil and bacon bits with a bit of garlic, and then freeze the rest. I really hope I get a good crop this year.

This afternoon, I’ll mix up several two-gallon containers of KillzAll. I’ll spray some under the planter boxes and around my garden, and then move on from there – as many containers as I can during the afternoon.

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March 23, 2022 · 10:49 am

Beware

In my travels around the yard, I went out to check my early spring raised-bed square foot garden. So far, the plants seem very happy.

“It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.” ~ Kate Morton

This is my veggie garden. I have yet to plant radishes, and I’m still on the look-out for head lettuce, since that’s my husband’s favorite. We both love fresh, ripe, home-grown tomatoes, but it’s too early to plant those. I’ve converted two or our handmade brick planters on the other side of the yard on the far side of the house to be tomato planters. I’ll share pics of those when we get them planted later on. As you can see here, one of the next things I’ll do is mix up some weed killer and spray it on the ground underneath my planters. I’ll also spray a perimeter around the whole garden, outside the fence. Another chore is to find our bright, neon-colored tape to string through the fencing so the deer don’t run into it.
Here’s a closer view of a couple of the six planters we have. You can see I’ve really spread the plants out this year. some of the squares are empty, hoping for the head lettuce or radishes, but you can see the wispy sprouts of the sweet red onions on the right of the picture if you look carefully.
Spinach
Leaf Lettuce – Romaine

I’m thankful for a warm, dry home this morning. I really got chilled on my walk, but my spirits are definitely lifted now.

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March 17, 2022 · 9:49 am

The Spring Garden Has Sprung

I had filled up our raised bed, square-foot planters with Mel’s Mix (peat moss, vermiculite, and three kinds of compost) at the end of fall. We put a square plastic bucket in the middle of each planter, then stretched a tarp over each box, using bungee cords to secure them. We had to replace the tarps about a month ago or so, since the weather and sun had pretty much disintegrated them. The purpose of this was to try NOT to have to spend several days prepping the garden before I could plant.

When I started yesterday, the tarps were completely water-laden. I pulled them off the planters and spread them beside the shop, holding them in place with bricks, to dry in the sun. I stored the plastic buckets and bungee cords in one of the trash cans and put it under one of the planters.

There were VERY few weeds in the planters, so I was able to get started with the planting almost immediately! Hooray!!!!!!

If you look carefully, you can see the wire we strung in two directions, creating the ‘squares’ for planting. I was able to get spinach, red onion sets, broccoli, leaf lettuce, and cauliflower plants in town.

I got everything planted except for the red onion sets. I’ll try to get those planted today.

I need to find the timer for our irrigation system, put new batteries in it, and hook it up to the garden faucet, and then hook up the hoses that go to the garden planters.

You can see the hose that runs down the middle of the three planters on one side of the garden. You can also see the sprinkler in the middle of each box. Both sides are set up the same way, then tied together so the whole system works as one on the timer.

I’ll try to get the red onion sets planted today. We’re due for rain late this evening-into-tomorrow, so it’ll be okay if I wait until the weekend to get the irrigation system set up.

I’ll see what other plants are available the next time we have a chance.

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June 5, 2021 · 9:36 am

Friday’s Harvest

We had a good harvest yesterday. My spinach output is dwindling with the warmer weather and soon will be finished, so I’m getting as much as I can and freezing it so none will be wasted.

I’ve never actually done much with yellow crookneck squash before, so this is a lot of fun. I have a lot of little bitty squashes coming on. I decided that the ones above were large enough to harvest. I have a spiralizer tool that will make them nice for sauteing this evening to serve with some pork chops. :0)

It looks like I might have a good sweet onion crop this year. I won’t actually know until much later, but things look good right now. I also have some celery that I grew from cutting off the bottoms of celery I bought at the store. The stalks are ‘spread out’ rather than like the ones you see at the store in the tight groups, but they taste fine, so I’ll take them.

We have small green tomatoes and lots of blossoms on our tomato plants. We have two brick planters that we converted to square foot garden planters. I’m hopeful we’ll have lots of ripe tomatoes to slice and enjoy soon.

I need to do some weeding, but it’s getting dark outside, looking like it’s going to storm. Maybe I can get something done between raindrops…

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May 29, 2021 · 1:02 pm

Garden Progress?

etsy.com

The tall plant on the left of the picture is lettuce that has bolted. I still managed to harvest some lettuce, but pulled this plant, and others out because the leaves will be bitter. The combination of the suddenly much warmer weather and all the rain we have had lately brought my lettuce harvesting to an end.

My poor spinach plants will do the same kind of thing soon, since they are an early spring plant. I’m going to harvest from the remaining plants as long as I can because the spinach can be frozen.

These yellow crookneck squash are cute, aren’t they. I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I’m having fun watching the sweet little things grow.

I had to pull the other two cabbage plants, and I still need to do a lot of weeding to get the garden in reasonable shape. I didn’t take pics of the tomato plants but they have little bitty green tomatoes and lots of yellow blossoms on them. I’m really hoping we have a good tomato harvest this year. Ripe sliced tomatoes are one of our favorite things.

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May 14, 2021 · 9:32 am

Garden Progress

Raised bed square foot garden May 13th
This is cabbage. I’ve never tried to grow this before and I’m like a kid at Christmas. The center portion is where the head of cabbage is forming. I’m going to find as much information as I can. It’s FUN!
One kind of lettuce.
2nd kind of lettuce
Can you see the cute yellow crookneck squash?
I have blossoms on the tomato plants, although none show in this picture.

The forecast is for thunderstorms EVERY DAY between the 17th and the 27th. I’m going to try to get a nice harvest in, either today or tomorrow, before all the rain starts.

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May 4, 2021 · 3:37 pm

Garden Veggies

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I lucked out and the storm last night did not clobber my veggies.

cabbage
Squash
Lettuce
Spinach
Nook Tomatoes

2nd tomato planter

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April 22, 2021 · 10:16 am

Garden Progress

Pinterest
Butter Crunch Lettuce
Spinach
Zucchini

I’ve been covering my veggie plants and tomato planters with sheets for 4 nights now, and so far, things seem to have come through the freezes all right. The Zucchini has had the most reaction. I’ve had to cut off several leaves from the plants. They blackened with the frosts and freezes. There is enough left of the plants that still looks good I think they will make it.

According to the weather website we are now past the freezes. This is really unusual here. Usually, our last frosts are April 5th, and that is even pretty late since I have been trying to grow things. We are supposed to get rain tonight and all day tomorrow.

I have the sheets spread out on the fencing around the garden, trying to dry it out during the day today so I can bag them up and put them away.

I HOPING that things will get back to normal for gardening soon.

Although the veggies seem to be doing all right, my elephant ear bulbs did not make it over wintered in the garage. I have finally given up on them and ordered more bulbs. I am hoping those will arrive soon so that I can get them into the ground.

I gathered my first harvest of the year recently, and we enjoyed a main meal salad last night, featuring our own spinach and lettuce! It’s been quite awhile since we were able to do that. I loved it!

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April 7, 2021 · 9:22 am

Garden Progress 4-7-2021

broccoli
celery
leaf lettuce

spinach
tomatoes
Yellow Crookneck Squash
Zucchini

Things are looking very happy right now. We are under a possibly severe storms warning most of the day, so I’m HOPING that the storms are just rain and wind, rather than hail.

123RF.com

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March 20, 2021 · 10:44 am

Spring Has Sprung!

After Lunch Bunch yesterday, we went to the co-op and bought a bunch of veggie plants.

This is the way my raised bed square foot garden has looked all winter. I did an experiment this year. Hoping to avoid having to spend a day or two weeding the boxes before I could plant, I cleaned out the boxes when the growing season was over, filled up the boxes with Mel’s Mix (soil alternative), put a pail in the middle of each box and covered each box with a tarp, held in place by bungee cords. I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

Happily, this is what I found!

I planted Buttercrunch Leaf Lettuce, Head Lettuce, Spinach, cabbage, yellow crookneck squash, zucchini, and red onions. I will add radish seeds and some celery I’m starting in the kitchen.

We discovered we needed to replace a section of the hose. Then we discovered that the sprinklers’ pressure setting parts in the center of each were broken from being in the weather too long, so we have ordered new sprinklers.

Today I need to weed the two brick planters we converted to square foot gardening and plant the tomato plants we bought yesterday.

I can’t tell you how MUCH my spirits lifted to be outside in the sunshine digging in the dirt, planting my spring garden!

I hope that you are enjoying some nice weather, too.

Happy Saturday!

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May 6, 2020 · 3:37 pm

Wednesday in the Garden

Yesterday I spent a lot of time weeding, staking, and tying up tomato plants to make them as secure as possible with all the waves of severe weather we’ve been having. So far, they seem to be doing fine.  I have six plants in this planter.

 

And four more here.  I actually have some blossoming on a couple of the plants now!

And in the raised bed garden –

My spinach is doing well. My plants aren’t as pretty as they sometimes are because we have had so much heavy rain that the boxes fill up faster than they drain and the soil alternative settles on the plants. These seem healthy, though.

 

 

 

Red onions and head lettuce.

 

Head lettuce.  You can see that the center leaves are starting to curl up, forming the ‘head.’

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