Herbs

Holy Herb Garden.

It is so different than last year. Oregano is really over powering lots of the space... I might dig up one kind so that I can have more room for annuals next year. I had meant to plant basil directly into the herb garden but everything went crazy so into a pot it went. Hopefully I don't kill it like I did last year! I put a lemon balm into the herb garden and that has gone wild! I love having all the fresh herbs available for cooking.

Last Year Everything was so little.

Wowza! What a difference a year makes!

Main Garden Late June.

Oh My, Where has the time gone? It is already almost July!

The gardens are doing so well. They look nothing like they did in May! We bought some tomatoes and planted them in late May. We bought 7 this year. 5 for the front garden and two of the cherry variety for the Chicken Garden. Plus we have had so many volunteers popping up. I replanted 4 of them yesterday. Two into pots and two into the ornamental garden. Plus there are 5 more that we are going to let do their thing in the garden. PLUS I gave 4 plants away. I have no idea what variety they are... I suppose since we planted open pollination plants they could be a hybrid. We will have to see if they produce!

We also have some volunteers that I am not sure what they are. I thought at first they were cucumbers but I don't think that is the case now that the cucumbers are up from the seeds I planted. So now I think the plant is either Pumpkin or Butternut squash. Squash would make more sense since I actually had that in the garden last year but we did compost a pumpkin and then use that compost in the garden so it could be that too. I can't wait to find out what we have growing. I gave 4 of those away and kept a handful to fill out my viney section.

Beets and Carrots Can't Wait!

Mystery Plant!

middle heavy.

As much as I have been busy in the garden I have been busy with the bun in the oven too. So I finally got some things planted. It is no easy feat since I can't really bend over much any more and can't squat for long... so if you drive by you are likely to see a very belly heavy woman on all fours carefully spacing beet seeds. I have noticed way more dirty laundry from this years garden! On Thursday the 12th I got lima beans, green beans, beets, carrots, spinach and some onions planted in the main vegetable garden. This weekend we are going to buy some tomatoes from the farmers market since they were so nice last year. I hope to get in all of my inside seeds too. There is no pictures since it is still a bare garden but now with some sticks poking up so I know where to walk and where I planted. Hopefully soon I will only have to bend down to do some harvesting and picking out some stray weeds!

ornamental garden

Just thought I would show some color since our skies have been so gray!

indoor seeds

Since it is till a bit to wet to plant most things I am just letting my seeds grow near the window. The basil and onions are doing well. And all of the big seeds are coming up now too! Cucumbers, swash and pumpkins oh my! Above is some big seeds and in the foreground is a kale.
These are my little basil. Grow grow grow grow!
This tangled greens are my onions! Yummy!

Herb Garden

I love that I don't need to replant to much this year in the herb garden!
the oreganos, marjoram, and thyme are all doing well. So are the chives! Holy moly I didn't even know it was a perennial and man is that thing huge! I added some parsley and lemon balm so far. The basil will go in hopefully soon and I still need some cilantro and dill. Hopefully I will have room! Since this is the second year for the rhubarb I can pick a few stalks and next year I can harvest at will! I wanted to plant more this year but couldn't find any crown at the store. Maybe next year I guess.
The mint survived the winter which is nice because it didn't survive last year. I definitively don't need to buy any this year!

Food Gardens

Hello Spinach! These pots were planted on April 12th because the day was nice and I couldn't stand not having food growing yet! I planted a pot of beets that day too and they are also a blooming!

This is my blank slate! Joe borrowed our very nice neighbors tiller yesterday! It looks so pretty all tilled but I can't wait for it to be all green!

This is my Chicken Garden! Last year I put some ill fated squash in there and we kept forgetting and letting the chickens out and then they would eat all the leaves, naughty naughty! We have been keeping them in their pen more and just giving them sod and grass when we can. So this year I planted some asparagus, garlic, spinach, lettuce, and arugula. 2 years until we can harvest the asparagus. I meant to plant it last year but I guess I can wait for something good!

Dear Garden Diary

Things are still slow as we wait for the sun to make a more permanent appearance in our sky. I planted some more seeds inside on 4/12/11. I started some kale, pumpkins, butternut squash, melons and cucumbers. So far only one kale came up... hello seeds, germinate! I also planted some parsley and Lemon balm into the herb garden on the same day (bought from 7 Dees and FM respectively.) The basil, onions and celery are doing well. I think the lettuce will just have to be direct planted outside.
Joe turned over some grass in the Chicken Garden where I plan on planting all my bush beans this year. I cleaned out some pots that were grass filled and planted some beets and spinach. Hopefully they didn't get rained out. But whatever! I was just jumping the gun cause I am so excited for fresh garden veggies that I can't wait!
In sad news our fig tree didn't make it through the winter. It was dead at the top from frost bite maybe (although it was supposed to be cold hardy to 0 degrees and I think 11 was our lowest this year.) We are thinking about getting a new one. Our cherry tree made it through which is awesome. I can't wait to start getting harvests from it!
One thing that is really producing are the chickens. We get anywhere from 2-4 eggs daily now. It was over whelming at first but I think we have gotten more accustomed to eating way more eggs. Last night we made a vanilla ice cream using 7 of them. Well 7 yolks anyway. I am freezing the whites and once I add 5 more I will make an angel food cake. I have been trying to bake more bread too which has been helpful. This week I am also making eggs au gratin to serve over a salad dressed with homemade dressing that involves eggs. 8 eggs total will go into that meal!

I can't wait for warm sunny weather and to have that brown plot of land in my front yard be bright green again. I really want to plant before for I am too big to even think about bending over!

Weeding!

No pictures but we found an hour or so where it wasn't raining and the sun was out. We weeded our ornamental garden, the pots and herb garden. So amazing how much stuff can grow over the winter. Everything is all set for spring planting! The husband also planted 60 or so bulbs for summer flowers. I can't wait for some sunny weather!

New Year New Garden

Basil
Onions

Ok. So I haven't blogged since September but looking back on stuff from last year I thought about how nice it was to have a record of the garden and when I was doing things to it. So last year at this time it was so much warmer and so much spring-ier. This will be the longest Portland has gone into the year without a 60 degree day. Plus it has been raining, and raining, and raining. We have to paint some siding and it needs 24 hours to dry and since we got it a month ago there has not been one period of 24 hour dryness.

Last year I direct seeded everything and I felt like some stuff took either forever to come up or I put it in the ground way to late. So this year I am starting some seeds inside. So far I have some onions, basil, celery, and lettuce. I planted them around March 11th. They are all germinated and becoming great little plants. I hope to have them in the garden one month from when they were planted. I hope our nice neighbors are going to let us borrow their rototiller again this year.

I am going to start some more seeds inside next month.