A Glimpse Of The Garden

In The Beginning

We still have just a few seeds left to plant. Once we get out second 'teepee' set up, some peas will be planted at the bottom. Also, I have more arugula and I think I have some more beans. There is still a corner of the garden that these can fill so we can get as much as we can come harvest time.

I also have more mulching to do with cardboard and leaves. G is supposed to pick up some more big sheets of cardboard on the way home tonight, which makes my cutting and laying job much easier than when I'm just using bits and pieces of cardboard.

Things are sprouting already and I promised you some before shots, so here they are.

An overview.  See where all the leaves are? There is cardboard under those leaves, all in an effort to keep the weeds down. It will eventually at the end of the season, compost into the garden. For now, leaves and cardboard are my best friends.  Now look closer.......see the green coming up among the leaves? That's my rows of veg seeds starting to pop.  Once they get a bit bigger, it will be more obvious, like the row next to the cardboard.  I had to leave a couple of rows undone, just to be sure I didn't place the cardboard over the seeds. Now that the rows have for the most part sprouted, I'm ready to lay more cardboard down, and top it with leaves.

I love going out in the morning to take account of what's happening in the garden.

Guess what? If you pull a radish seedling out of the ground and eat it, lo and behold it tastes just like radish. When I quizzed G in a blind taste test, he got it right away just like I knew he would.

Heart shaped early sprouts.

Sweet, yes?

Ah, the powerhouse.

Kale!

Another beautiful leafy green, swiss chard. I think this is rainbow so when it grows up, it will be a beautiful, bright and colorful.

Behold the wonder of planting a seed and watching it sprout. So cool.

 

I do love my beans.

You know the funny thing is, I really didn't have a taste for many vegetables as a kid.....salad, corn, potatoes, tomatoes............but I kept trying. Now, I'm don't think there is a veg I don't love.

Now these might be G's favorites, Dublin man that he is. 

They came up from last year! Sometimes that happens. I think we have four or five potato plants that came back from last year's crop.  Can you tell it's a mound? As potatoes grow you're supposed to keep mounding the dirt up around them, and then they grow more potatoes under that ground you mound.

This teepee is ready for pea tendrils to climb all the way up to the top. We have the branches ready to go for the second, just need to put them up and string them together.

I think the first peas may sprout today. Fingers crossed. The cukes which I planted in the middle of the teepee already have. We'll have to wait and see if that was the best planned spot.

Beyond the vegetable garden, flowers are blooming too.

How gorgeous are peonies? The layers and layers of petals. Swoon.

My rugosa rose looks better than ever. Even G noticed yesterday, and this bee this morning having a feast.

My rose by the door, which I have dubbed Audrey Jr. after the little shop of horrors because if visitors aren't careful they can be eaten up by it, is starting to bloom before I've even pruned. I'm so behind. I've got to give it a spray today with some soapy water. I see some little caterpillars munching and I will be having none of that. Happens every year but the soapy water usually does the trick. Works for aphids too.

That's what is happening at The Bates Estate this Monday, what's happening in your world?


In World Cup news, I was thinking of my blogging/etsy friends Marieken and her mom Wilma on Friday, as I watched the rematch of Spain V. Netherlands. In the last World Cup, Spain beat the Netherlands in the final. Friday, Netherlands stomped on Spain 5-1. I could picture Marieken and Wilma decked out in their team and country's famous bright orange, leaping with joy each time a goal was scored. It was quite a match. Sorry Spain, better luck in the next game. There were other great matches over the weekend as well, a good start to the month long competition. USA plays it's first game this evening against Ghana, always a tough competitor for us. I think we're well prepared though, under our manager Jurgen Klinsmann, a former German player who was quite a powerhouse and part of the West German team who won the World Cup in 1990. We've got a great roster of players, including my man and our captain Clint Dempsey and the rest of the guys. A well rounded team.
 

  AP photo by Jack Dempsey

I believe that we can win.

I will of course, be watching this evening. Will you?

Ciao for now,