Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I think I can, I think I can...

Although we haven't had an overabundance of hot sunny days so far this year (What's with the rain storm, it's almost June!), we have managed to avoid the late freezes that seemed to plague gardens last year. Not that things are growing with reckless abandon, but they are keeping a slow and steady pace as the days get longer and the sun spends more time out in the open. My squash patch has been soaking up that sunshine and putting it to good use.


The crooknecks have been making the most progress. All of my plants have several female flower setting.

Not to be left behind, the zucchini plants have just started forming little buds. I remember as summer came to a close last year I thought if I ever saw one again it would be too soon. Now however, I'm craving a large hearty scoop of sauteed zucchini with my dinner!



Well they still have a long way to go, and the butternut hasn't even been planted yet, but I am happy to report a healthy set of squash this year. My heart goes out to the poor victims of the Sacramento hail storm a few weeks ago. I hear many good squash plants perished in those parts as a result. Don't worry, my plants will carry on the good fight.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Herb Garden Revisited

Back in March I shared with you my new herb garden. All the plants were such small hopeful babies that barely made a blimp in the dirt. In case you forgot, here's a reminder.


Over the past couple of months, these little blips of plants have stretched their legs and filled in the space with great enthusiasm. They have also been joined by a few friends, both intentional and unintentional. I have since planted two dill and two Thia basil plants. Some intruders who snuck in there are chives and tarragon that apparently refused to die when I dug up the original herb garden.

Its really hard to get a good full picture of the herb garden since the raised beds start right behind where I'm standing to take this picture. Here is another that gives you a better idea of the different colors I was able to get out of plain old herbs.

The amazing purple flowers are from thyme. I know I need to cut them but they are just so pretty. I bet they would  make a great salad garnish. Behind that are two different kinds of sage with drastically different leaf colors, and behind those are bright green parsley. Love it. Love it. Love it.

OK, I might be basking in this a bit at this point, but a lot of times my big plans don't come together as well as I would like, and this one is just like I pictured it in my head. I have an herb garden that is beautiful to look at and provides me with a ton of herbs. I know have fresh rosemary, genovese basil, Thai basil, tarragon, thyme, marjoram, chives, dill and parsley growing right outside my door. I even have room for a few more varieties!!!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What a Difference a Week Makes

Well friends I am now back from my cruise and got a chance to briefly toodle around my yard this morning, and what I found surprised me a bit. Everything has exploded! I was concerned with the crazy storms our area had while I was gone that I would be coming home to stunted and possibly destroyed plants, but the opposite has occurred. Take a look at this giant handful of strawberries I picked this morning.


Now, strawberries don't often make it from the bed all the way into the house because they generally get eaten right off the vine. This morning however, they made a beautiful addition to my bowl of cereal. I'm not generally a big cereal eater, but with these added to the bowl it made a nice light breakfast after the past week of gluttony.  
Something else that has done quite nicely are my tomato seedlings. They spent the whole week outside and seemed to handle it just fine. My Amish Paste tomatoes seem to have done particularly well.


If your tomatoes didn't fare so well in the past week of inclement weather, feel free to take a few of these off my hands. I'm happy to share. I think I'm going to give these guys one more week in the red cups and then off to the garden with them!

Tune in tomorrow when I will hopefully share with you the wonderful progress my herb garden has made!