Flower gardens

The weekend before last a long flower bed was established in the backyard. All of the flower seedlings have been transplanted to this space and have already doubled in size! There is plenty of room to add several more varieties of flowers in this space. In addition to adding more flowers, we will be planting a red raspberry bush as well as a few dozen strawberry plants in this space.

Early this afternoon, as I was standing in the kitchen looking out at the garden, I noticed the appearance of scapes on the garlic! Scapes, if allowed to mature, will flower. But we don't want that; we want all of the plants energy to go toward bulb growth not flower growth. So, armed with scissors I headed out to the garden to snip the scapes from the plant.

The scapes smell heavenly. Even if you munch on a portion of the scape you can taste garlic. Not just a hint of garlic either; the scapes are packed with flavor. I plan to dice them and use them when making pesto.

As I was walking around the garlic bed snipping off the scapes, little did I know that I was making a very handsome toad nervous. On my fourth and final walk around the garlic (I took some pictures before actually cutting the scapes) a short *hop-hop* caught my eye. Let the record show that I adore toads and was naturally thrilled to have one hanging out in the garlic bed. I said to the little guy, "I'm not going to hurt you but I will take pictures of you as long as you let me." He obliged me while I inched the camera close and set it on the ground in front of him. He even sat still while the lens moved closer toward him as I zoomed in. The camera had a hard time focusing on the toad because there were so many things to focus on. The result is that the toad is a little blurry but the photo included here still captures a very cute amphibian.

Look at these thighs and the girth of the belly!

The front yard is looking very pretty. The goldenrod plant has bright yellow blooms all over it, and a couple of our iris' have flowered, too. So far, a yellow iris with orange beards and our "root beer" iris. This iris is brown and has rust colored beards. It's scent actually smells like root beer! This photograph isn't the best but it does give you an idea of the flowers wonderful coloration. A second bloom is on the way so we will aim for a more pleasing composition next time.

We hope that you're enjoying the sun, heat and your gardens, too!

It's a garden!

It's official!  We have a sizeable vegetable bed and herb bed established, complete with transplanted seedlings.  We decided to establish the garden bed in a different location of the yard than where we began tilling.  The ultimate deciding factor was the gardens proximity to the water barrels.  

The garlic is booming and is a little more than a month away from harvest time.  Judging by the size of several of the stalks, we should have many large beautiful bulbs of garlic come July.

 

The rock divider separates the vegetable garden from the herb garden.  Transplanted sage plants look lovely in their new location.  Very tiny leek plants are planted there, too.  Soon basil, thyme, oregano, dill, marjoram, tarragon, rosemary, parsley and mojito mint will fill the remaining space in the herb garden.

More photos coming soon of the existing flower beds in the yard as well as a new bed we're going to establish in the back yard this weekend.  We have one remaining flat of flower seedlings that need a new and permanent home.  Gosh, I enjoy this time of year! 

Ready to till the soil!

Greetings!

My Pop brought his tiller over today and showed me how to operate the it.  Before we got to grilling burgers for our Mother's Day supper, we made two passes in the area where John and I plan to establish our vegetable garden.  I'll finish the job next weekend and hope to transplant all of the seedlings then, too.  I'm so thrilled about this project!  I've been dreaming about having a large garden for years and years and the time has arrived.  I feel like there should be a ribbon cutting or champagne toast just before the first seedling goes into the soil.

Enjoy the photos.

Growing strong

GARLIC!

Strong seedlings

A small forest of various seedlings nearly ready to transplant.

Full sun

A nifty tip in Crockett's Victory Garden suggests planting garden rows that run N/S.  The logic here is that all of the plants will receive the benefit of full sun.  Before I ventured outside Sunday afternoon to consider the location and size of the garden, I armed myself with a compass. 

First, I established due south and due north and marked the locations with a stake.  The blue string in the image marks the N/S direction.  As of right now, the overall garden size is 15' deep by 24' wide.  Between each bed will be a path that is 36" wide, making the individual beds 5' x 7'.  The benefit of four individual beds is that they can be accessed from all four sides more easily than one large bed, especially in John's case.   Hmm, now I'm wondering if the beds themselves shouldn't be set up in a N/S direction as well?  Long angled beds ( \ \ \ \ \ ) instead of four rectangular beds ( = = ).  Hmmm.

It felt so nice to be in the yard contemplating where to establish the garden as well as other flower beds.  No snow, just grass under foot, the warm bright sun, and the scent of the warming Earth.  Before we know it, we'll be slicing into our first homegrown tomato and eating it with a few leaves of freshly picked basil.

The garlic continues to grow rapidly and there are several seeds that have sprouted in the seed flats!  So far, all six hollyhock seeds have sprouted, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli. 

Now, the biggest task that remains is to determine how much soil to have delivered and what to use as the border for the raised garden beds.  Fun, fun, fun!

Allium Sativum

Garlic, sweet, garlic. 

Even as small as these shoots are, they smell heavenly.  And as each variety of garlic will have its own distinctive flavor, each shoot has a unique scent.

We purchased our garlic bulbs from Seed Savers Exchange.  Their selection is great and have never failed to produce.  We have Chet's Italian Red, German Extra Hardy and Georgian Fire growing.  The name of the forth variety escapes me right now.