Yesterday I didn't see anything ready to harvest. This morning I see Eggplant, cucumbers, fennel, beets, carrots and even a few tomatoes turning red. This morning's harvest will be tonight's salad.

Out of Control

Everything is growing out of control. The square foot garden is overflowing. I think we may have needed to space things better and stake more. The two watermelon vines are like Kudzu. I am letting them just go over the wall and putting a fence around them to keep the dogs away. I have cucumber plants that are staked and are over 4 feet tall and blocking and taking over the basil, carrots and smaller plants around them. We have 7 tomato plants that are full of fruit and are over 6 feet tall.
We have already enjoyed eating eggplants, cucumbers, onions, squash, strawberries, blueberries and lots of herbs. Hopefully we will be able to keep it all together for harvest.

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Memorial Day 2010

It's been over a month since the last post. I am more into gardening than blogging about the garden.

In the last month everything has taken off. The tomato vines are all heavy with green tomatoes. We have some eggplant almost ready for harvest. We have already eaten all the strawberries. Have our first baby cucs. I have using an organic pesticide that hopefully will knock out any problems. I am trying to be mostly organic, but I did fertilize with Miracle Grow because i was not sure that the blood meal, compost etc was enough.

Squirrels get the fruit

Remember the apples from my last post? Well so did the squirrels. I have got to put up the electric fence before the tomatoes come. I am not growing a garden so that a rat with a cute tail can harvest everything.

First broccoli.

The tomato plants have grown so much in a week that I needed to get cages to start support. I've not added any fertilizer other than the compost at planting. There are at least 4 varieties, but the problem is that the tags got washed away.

The last time I saw my little green apples.

Enjoying the front porch with my boys, Buck & Paco.

This plant is interesting because the red part is actually the leaves. The flower is white. It is called a bougainvillea. They were all over Vieques.

Just love the color here.

Azaleas in full bloom.

Radar on guard

Things are popping

We got tired of the mulch and thought it would be nice to have grass. It looked great for about a week but it just couldn't stand up to the dogs. It seems they all want to pee in the same place. Dogs are good people but they are not good for the garden.

Our garden is in full swing now. This week I planted tomatoes, two kinds of cucumbers, watermelons, beets, okra, eggplant, marigolds and lavender. This is all in the back yard. Out front Joy has been busy with the more decorative plants and herbs. Next week I'll add peppers and some other edibles to the front.

I started a lot from seeds this year under grow lights and had some sad results. I'm still hoping the peppers will be plant able and I did get several heirloom tomatoes, but most were too spindly to plant. Planting seeds is a lot riskier than buying plants, but it's also a bit more exciting. Sometimes little seeds, sprout and push leaves up the earth. Other times nothing ever appears and you just replant.

We have our first baby apples popping out. I'm sure the squirrels are already planning on eating them as soon as they are ripe.

So far one square of carrots and beets have emerged and one of each nothing has happened. I think it may be getting too late to replant since both of these do better in cooler weather.

We are still struggling to balance dogs with gardening. Keeping Radar out is always a challenge. Yes, I am a dog trainer, but catching him in the act is difficult. I'm not sure which is more of a threat- Radar or the squirrels.

It's been awhile since I've posted. It is hard to get excited about planting when it is still so cold. We have put in some sod in the back yard hoping that it could stand up to the boys. It looks great but no matter how much we water the dogs urine has already done a job. All four seem to pee in the same spot so maybe the rest will be OK.

Since I've been home all day getting ready for tonight's Seder I spent some time in the garden. I am still concerned about planting peppers and tomatoes but hopefully the early crops will make it. I started alot of plants from seeds and I'm sure how that is working. It's really hard to get those tender little plants out of the tray and into the ground without tearing them apart.

Is winter over?

OK I know winter is not over. We had a great day with sun and temp over 60 Monday it will get close to 70. It looks like the week should stay above freezing, but we can have frost as late as mid April. This means you can plant but you have to be careful that you plant frost tolerant plants and be ready to cover if Jack Frost comes around.

With Joy out of town I decided to spend the day working in the garden. It's not as much fun but it keeps me out of trouble. But really the only trouble I would get into would be cooking pork ribs or shrimp on the grill. If Joy keeps leaving me alone it may come to that.

I've got 51 squares ready for crops. If you are like us and don't have a lot of space and want fresh veges with as little work as possible I believe that Square Foot Gardening is the way to go. We raised the beds 3 feet not just to keep the dogs out but so we don't have to bend over or get on our knees. We aren't old, but the joints aren't as fluid as they once were.

So far I've planted 19 of the 51 squares. I'll have some tomatoes and other large crops in spaces other than the squares in our raised bed. we have 6 Blueberries in a bed by the house.

In the 19 squares we have 12 beets, 8 Bibb lettuce, 4 strawberries, 2 cilantro, 4 onion chives, 4 garlic, 2 broccoli, 32 carrots and 4 mustard.

I used chop sticks to space the plants and dig the hole. This will be 9 beets

These plants will be planted outside in 2-3 weeks, but today I let them enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, also known as "hardening".