Thursday, June 17, 2010

Vegetable Garden

Kohlrabi...the one on the right is bolting...hope the others make it.


Mesclun Mix...a cut and come again lettuce bed. This has been the most rewarding part of the garden so far. I love harvesting the leaves a few times a week for my smoothies.


Butternut Squash. Grew in the dining room from seed (from Reese).

An hour after planting the Squash, I read it needs to be hardened off! So I go out at 9pm and cloche it with a sheet & bamboo stakes, hoping for the best.

Next to the vegetable garden sits the bird feeder full of black oil sunflower seeds. What the birds don't scavenge, is coming up to bloom! I think I will let some of them grow & just stake them to the feeder for the birds...why not.

Carrots. They seem to be growing quite slowly, it may be the weather this year though, because I checked with a friend and hers are behaving similarly. Feel much better now.

Beets! An elixir of love. Or so I hear from the "Wise Woman's Cookery: Food, Sex, Magic and Merriment", delightful insights into plants and their power.

The onion bed. This appears to be a healthy crop of New York Earlie's, I found them at the Tilth sale. Very happy to see these going along so well.

My Jalapeno Pepper plant! I am pretty excited about this one. I love hot peppers.

Heirloom Tomatoes who have seen a very cold and wet year so far, here in Seattle.

I hope they will recover and begin to thrive. Started them in February...a bit early!

Spinach, with garlic peelings and egg shells for protection from pests.

Strawberries.

Garlic.

Lettuce.

Lovage.

Zucchini and Nasturtium in the lavender bed.

Fortunately, the Roma tomato San Marzano and the cherry tomato Yellow Pear, were started month's later than the struggling heirlooms. They were just hardened off over our first weekend of 70 degree weather! What nice timing.

Then they were planted, staked, fertilized and cloched well. I feel like a mother hen.

A peek inside the cloche.