My FarmVille: Week 23

My FarmVille: Week 20

The first ripe tomato has arrived:

The first sunflower opened:

The first (and still only) pumpkin is now bigger than my head:

The corn cobs are plumping up:

The first butternut squash appeared:

The first pickler looks about ready to throw in the brine:

As always there are more garden photos in our gallery.

My FarmVille: Week 19

Those pole beans are climbing so fast I can hardly reach the top of them. The butternut squash vines on the sidewalk trellises are getting pretty big too.

We have our first zucchini!

This pumpkin is growing very quickly as well. Hopefully this year we can carve a full-sized design on it.

Ready to eat this week are green beans, zucchini, broccoli side shoots, beets, and carrots.

My FarmVille: Week 18

The peas are done. No, really this time. I got a few more handfuls off the vines this week but they are really slowing down.

You can see the garlic drying over there on the table. This week I pulled 17 heads out of the ground along with 10 bunches of shallots. This is my garlic harvest, about to be pureed in olive oil for convenient cooking:

The green beans and cucumber vines are rocketing up the trellis (behind the umbrella), and we now have a few tiny beans and cucs coming forth. The corn tassels are pouring out of tiny ears, and we have our first pumpkin (now bigger than my fist):

More garden pics are in our photo gallery.

My FarmVille: Week 15

Sadly, the peas are almost over, and there's not a lot else to eat in the garden right now other than herbs, lettuce and baby carrots. The broccoli is coming in very small and the beets and turnips are still nowhere near eating size, so I'm going to be relying on the farmer's market for a bit.

I have currants though:

The mature lettuce plants are getting really tall as I cut outer leaves off:

Good thing the new lettuces I planted a few weeks ago are harvest size. The weather's getting really hot and I predict these old ones will go to seed very soon.

I can't wait for tomatoes. One day this tiny green San Marzano blob will be in my sauce:

My FarmVille: Week 14

I'm pretty sure it's actually week 14, even though I just posted just last week. I'm getting a few blooms on the eggplant, pepper, and tomato plants in this bed:

I hope the bees come around again. I got another tomato plant yesterday (my 5th--the Sweet Million cherry tom I grew last year that was amazingly productive), but I have no idea where to put it. The herbs are really taking off and spreading out, and I've picked a bit of basil here and there.

The sweet potatoes (under hay) and corn are coming up nicely here:

The sunflowers I planted along the wall (above) are acting as snail bait, because I can't seem to get many to grow much before they get mowed down, giving them belly aches before they get to the other plants (I hope). I also put in another pepper plant right in front there (behind the ginormous strawberry plants in the foreground). That makes 5 pepper plants.

As you can see in the photo below, the peas got really tall and thick, and then fell over.

I'm getting a lot of peas though, so I can't complain. The carrot foliage is growing thicker now, and I've harvested a few more disappointing turnips.

The spinach is at it's end, and I have to decide what to plant there next. I also ate the first head of broccoli and it was pretty good, just very very small, but the buds were opening so I knew it was already mature.

I'm really looking forward to some baby carrots and the next broccoli coming soon.

My FarmVille: Week 12

There was lots of growth while we were away in Michigan. The peas have overgrown the fence, bloomed, and have already produced some rapidly maturing pods:

The larger broccoli plant has a small head forming (as does the cauliflower):

The squash and zucchini are getting ready to climb the ropes:

And the rose exploded with multiple blossoms:

I put some shades over the spinch plants because they are starting to die off in the heat. I've lost 6 plants in the last week and they're going fast. I had to reseed some new ones in the shady area cause I neglected to arrange watering while I was away last week. Oh well! Time to buy a sprinkler timer for my soaker hoses.

My FarmVille: Week 11

Lots of growth in the last week. A couple of the tiny marigold plants have miniature blossoms on them:

The squash and cucumber pre-sprouts I put in the ground earlier in the week are coming up. Hello, butternut squash!

Today, I cleared out the bed beside the garage, formed a hill and furrow and put in the sweet potato roots.

Warmer weather is on the way and with it should come some explosive growth. See you next week!

My FarmVille: Week 8

This week I mowed the lawn, and did a lot of work on the bed over there by the garage wall.

I tied up the currant branches so they're not laying on the ground, and I put some trellis netting and strings on the wooden frame in back. I removed all of the hay, conditioned the soil, and put down black paper mulch. Finally I installed the 2-tier tomato cage next to the wooden frame.

I planted the Greek oregano and Cosmonaut Volkov tomato plants I bought at the Coop earlier in the week (I also bought a paste tomato plant but it died mysteriously of multiple stem injuries). I also seeded all of the pole beans, a zucchini, and round one of the corn. The celery starts are ready to go into the ground between the broccoli plants, just as soon as the shade gets over there.

The nasturtiums I planted under the cherry bushes started coming up, so that's a relief. I wasn't sure I'd ever see those.

I'm still waiting on some impatiens and basil plants, and sweet potato roots from Burpee, and I'm a bit surprised that some of those haven't arrived yet given my zone. I know...patience, patience, patience. Pretty soon these beds will be all planted up and I can just sit back and watch everything grow.

My FarmVille: Week 7

Last week I could have made a progress report, but I was so busy getting ready for my trip (in a post coming soon) that I just let it go. As you can see, the leaves have come out full force since my last post, and the grass is getting pretty shaggy.

Before leaving town last week, in the hay-covered bed, I raised a wooden trellis frame from which the vining plants will hang. In the sidewalk bed, I laid a soaker hose and covered almost all of the bare ground in mulch, so that it would hold moisture while I was away.

The kale is looking mighty big and spikey weird:

These neat flowers appeared on a bush on the side of the house:

Also, some asparagus came up in the front yard:

Foolishly, I bought several baby plants before leaving town last week: cauliflower, English and French thyme, sage, peppermint and spearmint. I saw those cute little plants at the Coop and I could not resist.

Then I figured, what the heck, and planted the marigolds I started indoors a couple months ago in the area under the rose bush, and I put the zinnia starts in the big green planter and moved it under the lilac tree. All my young plants went right into the ground, and thankfully they survived a week of neglect.

This week I planted some nasturtium seeds in the hanging planters, and some dill seed way on the far end of the sidewalk. Also, I filled in some blank spots where carrots, peas, cilantro and a turnip never appeared.

My FarmVille: Week 5

What a difference from last week. No more covers on the plantings! Everything is up now (well only 1/2 the chard is up, but that's another story). Leaves are on the once-bare branches, the grass is growing, and the lawn furniture is out.

The parsley seedlings are in, and I put in another round of peas. I also planted some nasturtium under the cherry bushes cause they look pretty ragged, and not a lot of new growth is coming along.

A couple of nights ago an intruder (a squirrel I'm guessing) rooted around in the part of the garden where the chard was planted. Half (4/8 plants) were ruined so I started those over. Someone does not want me eating chard this spring!

Many of the plants (like this spinach) have their 1st true leaves well underway:

More things are happening around the yard. The tulips and voilets are out:

We even have our first dandelion of the year:

(darn Blogger rotated this one on me GRRRRR)

There are more pics of the plants and other things blooming in the yard in our photo gallery.

My FarmVille: Week 4

From this photo you might think not a lot has changed in the last week, but everything is sprouting now (note fewer cups on the ground), and if you look closely in the foreground under the bare climbing rose bramble you can see I've planted something new there as well (cilantro). Parsley seedlings are hardening off over by the just-now-budding currant canes (upper right).

In the background, on the still hay-covered bed, I've begun preparing some hanging baskets for nasturtiums that will hang from the hooks on the garage wall.

Other new life in the yard includes daffodils springing up everywhere and this bush in the backyard (forsythia?) with the cheery yellow blossoms.

Here are my little spinaches. Hurry up and grow! I'm hungry!

FarmVille: Week 3

All those plastic cups and boxes on the sidewalk bed are covering (and keeping warm and moist) seeds in the ground waiting to sprout some leaves. There are carrots and beets (planted today), turnips, more peas, a second-round of kale, and some remaining unsprouted lettuce and spinach under those.

I also prepared and set some planters in the shady corner area next to the garage (upper right of pic), where soon I'll plant some flowers and cilantro. Because it's nice and cool there, this area will eventually become my summer lettuce and spinach plot.

Almost all of the seeds I planted out a week or two ago are sprouting now: lettuce, spinach, a couple first-round peas, first-round kale, and some pre-sprouted turnip seeds I planted in the last few days.

The chard is not up, partly because I messed up the plot while working on another area, so I'm starting over by trying to pre-sprout some seed inside.

I was getting impatient with the slow germination in the cold ground, so this past week I decided to try pre-sprouting indoors and planting the seeds just as they were breaking open and the first root was coming out. The turnips and kale both responded very well to this plan. The second-round peas are going slow but enough have sprouted to transplant today, and I'm still waiting on that chard. :(

I also planted out my broccoli babies just before the cold rains came on Sunday night. They seem to be taking well to their new home:

I got a late start on my parsley and cilantro indoor starts, but some sprouts are finally coming up in the egg cartons, so those will likely go out next week.

The crocuses came and went pretty quickly over the last week, but the daffodils are starting to open, and soon we'll have tulips. So nice that Spring is finally here.

UPDATE: slow chard seed finally sprouted so that'll go out in the morning. We'll have a full bed very shortly.

Week 2

In week 2 there's not a lot of obvious change except that the snow melted away completely and I took the plastic off the sidewalk bed to let the sun in during the day.

Today I decided to start round one of the snap peas on the first fence there, and I put in a couple Red Russian kale seeds as well. I'm not sure the kale will germinate in the cool weather though.

None of last week's seeds have sprung up yet, but I did see a spinach seed on the surface sending a little root down, so I quickly sprinkled some dirt on it.

However, all of the garlic bulbs sent out new growth (and the shallot shoots are greening up too):

Around the front and back yard there are other signs of life: day lilies, tulips, crocuses, and daffodils are coming up, I think I see tiny wild blue violet plants here and there, and the pussy willow is in furry bloom:

Here's hoping there will be some more green stuff next week.