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,

Digging In The Dirt

Or, How I Spent My Weekend

Dirt under my nails, dirt all over my feet, dirt all over my clothes, my face, my hair..........
it was all about being outside, away from the computer way more than I usually am, and working in the garden this weekend.

We started on Saturday morning as we went on a quest for more organic seeds and potatoes (to add to the four I found growing in the garden already from last year) and some organic tomato seedlings. We lucked out on both fronts finding our seeds at the local Agway just around the corner. The seedlings we found at a local organic farm stand where I was greeted by a roaming chicken.  They had a nice selection of tomatoes, except for one I always plant for freezing: Romas. So I am still on a quest for some Roma seedlings.

Once we got back to The Bates Estate we got busy outside in the vegetable garden.

We were 'one with nature'.

G had some some planting last weekend, beans, spinach, kale, radish, lettuce, and chard.

To that we added more green beans, peas, cucumbers, potatoes, butternut squash, buttercup squash, summer squash, arugula and peas.  Oh, and more radish because I didn't know G had planted some already until I was watering this morning and noticed he had radish popping up. Should be good for salads this summer to say the least.

It's a pretty big garden and in addition to planting I worked hard on mulching with cardboard covered with leaves between each row. On top of that, we hope to put some salt marsh hay (it doesn't have grass seeds and weeds that get into your garden bed like regular hay can) on top for extra mulch. I'm hoping it will do a great job at keeping the weeds down so all the veg can grow, grow, grow.   G needs to pick up some more cardboard for me and then I can continue on my merry mulching way in hopes of staving off the weeds. We shall see.

I'll take some pictures of what it looks like now so you can see along with us, how the garden progresses. Be prepared for a midsummer weed takeover picture if the mulch doesn't do what I'm hoping it will do.

All of that said, it just felt so awesome to be out in the sunshine digging in the dirt. There is something about working in the soil and earth that, although it it's hard work, it's also stress relieving.

So I challenge you to get out in nature this week and take it all in whether you're digging in the dirt or walking in the woods or through a park. Just breathe it all in.

What was happening in your world this weekend? Did  you get out and dig in the dirt or did curl up with a good book inside? Spill the beans.

Ciao for now,

Around The Estate

The Back 40

We jokingly call our place The Bates Estate. Not sure our little cottage could ever qualify as an estate.  In fact, when we first moved in our house was so small, our garden was bigger than it.  We have since added on giving us just enough room, well at least enough room for me to walk around the bed without turning sideways.  When the warm weather hits, we spend a lot of time outside. We often end the day with a stroll around the yard, as we did yesterday. 

It's Spring.

The apple blossoms are popping.

The the deer have been 'trampaging' (that's sister Di's word combo.... trampling and rampaging) the veg garden and my flower garden.

It was like they'd had an open house. Even chomped my Admiral Nelson lilies. Personally, I think the chipmunk mounds I'm dealing with were enough.

We sat out on the back stoop last night listening to the birds and watching the sunset which was reflecting more to the East last night.

Sunset Meadows

Pretty pink against the blue sky, and the Pamela Jean sailing in the wind.

Soon the bluebirds will be perching on the mast while I swim about the pool. Not soon enough, but soon.

Have a lovely Monday. It's supposed to hit the mid 80s today and I'm loving being in my flip flops.

Peace out,