Forgiven

Getting 4 (FOUR!) raspberries today has helped me forgive Tchazo for his trespasses. And so begins the daily visit to the raspberry patch. I need to pick daily in order to get the berries before the neighborhood creatures (or the dogs) get to them first.

Thief!

The story:

This morning I went outside to check how all of the plants are coming along and to pull up a few weeds. Upon inspecting the raspberries, I noticed that a few of them were starting to turn pinkish. I found one in particular that was farther along than the rest. This one was big, plump and nearly ready to be picked. As I held it between my fingers, I decided that with one more day of ripening this would be the sweetest and tastiest little preview of the berry season. I thought that I could pick it today but it would be better if I waited another day. I let go of the berry and turned to the next branch to continue my survey. Mere seconds later, Tchazo came up and SNATCH! He ate the first berry! Pulled it right off the branch! I was stunned. And then I was ticked off. Damn berry thief!

The scene of the crime:

The criminal:

June State of the Garden Report: Potted

To save space and to prevent the problems that invasive, perennial herbs can cause, we elected to plant all of our herbs in pots this year.

On our deck we have:
Rosemary - plant from Mother Earth Gardens
Chives - transplanted from my mom's garden
Spearmint - plant from Mother Earth Gardens
Parsley - plant from Mother Earth Gardens
Cilantro - plant from Mother Earth Gardens
Garlic Chives - transplanted from neighbor's yard
Marglobe Tomato - heirloom plant from my dad
Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato - plant was a gift/hand-me-down from neighbors

Earth Box of Sweet Basil
started from seeds
The seed packet was from 2005. I wasn't sure they were going to sprout, so I planted them really thickly. Sprout, they did. We are working on thinning them out so they have space to grow big and full. Pesto, here we come!

We are borrowing a few of my dad's Earth Boxes and custom made cages so we can grow a few things on our driveway where the sun is strong.

2 of of the boxes have tomatos in them. The varieties are:
Pear Tomato (plant from dad)
Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato (plant from Mother Earth Gardens)
2 Marglobe Tomatos (heirloom plants from dad)

1 box contains all of our pepper plants, including:
6 yellow bell peppers (plants from Menards)
1 sweet red bell pepper (plant from Mother Earth Gardens)
1 green bell pepper (plant from Mother Earth Gardens)

June State of the Garden Report: Fruit Bearing

Last year I had a pretty good crop of raspberries. By last fall, I had researched the variety enough to know that it is everbearing and that pruning them requires good timing. I didn't want to mess it up, so I didn't prune them at all. They seem to have thrived in the neglect with the tallest shoots measuring over 6 feet tall!

There is a solid wall of berries forming on them.

I am looking forward to the bounty of berries to come. From my experience with last year's crop, I know they freeze really well. I used my frozen berries throughout the winter in baked goods, smoothies and oatmeal. I am sure I could find plenty more things to do with them if this year's crop is bigger.

We are also going to let our apple trees fruit this year. Last year I picked the apples off. Hopefully it will pay off this year. I have noticed that a bit of the apples have become shriveled and yellow. I am not sure what that is about. Upon the advice of a tree guy I talked to, I did hang sticky red balls in the trees. Fingers crossed that I get enough apples to make Paul that apple pie I promised him!

This year we are limited to these two fruits. In the future we hope to add a strawberry bed and a rhubarb plant or two.
--------------------------------
Late breaking news! Last night we harvested the first thing out of our garden: a radish! We shared it. It was zesty and so very fresh.

June State of the Garden Report:: In the Ground

Are you prepared for lots of green and brown? Now that the planting is done and the growing season has begun, it is time to document the state of the garden. We are splitting our gardening space this year between an in-ground garden, various potted plants and our existing fruit bearing trees/canes. Through the rest of the week I will be posting a status report on our various gardening projects. We've been spending a lot of time and energy in our yard!

Overview of the garden: left side.

Overview of the garden: right side

Broccoli, Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts
Started with plants from Mother Earth Gardens
Marigolds planted throughout for their rumored pest deterring qualities

Approximately 300 onions - red, white and yellow
started from onions sets (bulbs)
white and yellow from Menards
red from Mother Earth Gardens

Beans - Bush Blue Lake 274
These are the second planting. The first round were from seeds I had bought 3 years ago and stored improperly. They never sprouted. These seeds popped their heads up suddenly and aggressively in the time between my morning and afternoon weeding sessions.

Cocozelle Squash, Buttercrunch Lettuce and Grand Rapids Leaf Lettuce
all started from seed

Heirloom Sweet Peas
started with seeds from my dad
pea trellises built as a collaboration between my dad and Paul

Homemade Pickles Cucumbers and Mesclun Mix Lettuce
started from seeds

Straight Eight Cucumbers
started from seeds

Fiskeby Soybean (Swedish variety of soybeans, Seed Savers Exchange)
started from seeds
We planted a row of these and only 2 came up.
Hopefully we will have better luck with a second planting.

This last shot is a doozy. We planted a bunch of 4 foot rows from seed. In those rows we have:
Collards - Vates Non Heading
Swiss Chard - Red and White Mix (Organic)
Kale - Dwarf Blue Curled
Radish - French Breakfast (Heirloom)
Carrots - Touchon (Heirloom)
Carrots - Carnival Blend (Organic)
Beets - Chioggia (Heirloom)

Total in ground garden space is 11 feet by 29 feet