Garlic Harvest Time

 Pulled the garlic July 6th. 4.36 lbs (1977g). Then cleaned them. 3.78 lbs (1714g). 35 bulbs. 

Garlic bulbs

Flagship bulb

The biggest bulbs was 3.3 oz (94g).

Produce Incoming!

The flow of produce has begun. Had two somewhat smaller zucchini and a bunch of cherry tomatoes. I've seen some bugs on the zucchini and squashed some bug eggs. But I'm sure it's inevitable. But the zucchini still looks healthy for the moment. Need to pick the garlic but haven't yet.

Some Small Efforts

 Well, the fracking deer noshed on my Jerusalem artichokes. I mean, they left a significant amount of leaves, so I think they will recover.

Deer molested Jerusalem artichokes

Why do they eat only the things I plant? They never eat weeds. Deer, frustrating me for almost 20 years now. And no sign at all of the yams I planted there. Maybe something will sprout, or maybe that's a big failure.

Next planter up is some volunteer garlic and some kale. The kale all bolted, I didn't get much from it. I'm not too optimistic about the garlic either, but what the heck.

Next up are the potatoes. I guess 8 plants. Maybe 11? Anyway, they are doing great. Seeing some flowers.

Taters

Not too weedy despite the neglect I have offered them since planting (been sick for like a month, yuck).

Next planter is all kale, all bolted.

Final planter is full of weeds. I was thinking maybe green beans.

Rolling up the yard to the zucchini trench, things are going a bit better. Seeing zucchini flowers, and some babies.

My baby!

These zucchini are real troopers. The foliage beneath the big ol' zucchini leaves is rather thick! It vaguely leads me to wonder if the density of weeds has any impact on the ability of bugs to get in there. Probably not. It would probably be far better to clear out the weeds and the old dead leaves. It is on the to do list. The plants are looking great though, weeds and all.

Zucchini blowin' up

Tomatoes a little further up the yard are doing great. They always do great in these little cutouts attached to the deck. And enough rain that no varmints are chewing into the stems. I have sealed up the holes a bit, so maybe there are no chipmunk caves there this year.

Tomatoes

The only disappointment with the tomatoes is that almost all of them are black cherry. I mean, those are good, but so is variety. They seemed to be hit less by critters - perhaps the critters couldn't keep up with the abundance. One black cherry produces 750 million tomatoes, while I only get a few from like a mortgage lifter. And the varmints get them before I do.

One task that I did do today was to cut some cloth strips and tie up the tomatoes I put in buckets in the back yard. These guys are doing even better than the front yard ones, which is most unusual!

Back yard. No cukes here this year.

Hot peppers are growing. Leaves are getting eaten a bit. Maybe slugs? Perhaps I should put out a beer trap for them.

Basil needs to be thinned. Seems to be doing ok. Chick peas are growing nicely. Hopefully the deer never find them. I've eaten a few pea pods. Num.

Chick Peas are Fun

 Lots going on. The deer ate the peas right out of the chicken wire fenced in area. I still have a few in the back side garden, but it isn't going to be much.

Peas vining

Pea flowers

More Pea Flowers

Jerusalem Artichokes

More Jerusalem Artichoke

Chick Peas

Chick Peas

 After a soak the chick peas went into a wet paper towel for three days. Sure enough, they sprouted nicely.

Chick pea sprouts after 3 days

I planted out 36 of the seeds in 3 separate 10 gallon grow bags on Monday. No sprouts yet, but I am optimistic.

Pepper plants don't look super great, like they're struggling. I fertilized everything on Sunday. Warmer weather is on the way, so hopefully they will perk up.

Jerusalem Artichokes and Garbanzo Beans

 My Jerusalem artichokes arrived. Got them from etsy of all places. Planted them in the bed down by the end of the driveway. Only got three, they were pricy considering how easy they allegedly are to grow. Very excited to see how they do. As you can see they are roughly the size of a cat's paw. Thanks for the assistance, Marceline!

Jerusalem artichoke tubers

Also trying garbanzo beans. I purchased some dry bulk seed at Whole Foods. Plan is to soak for 8 hours, then sprout in wet paper towel for three days. By then I should have space for them set up outside.

Chick peas soaking

Rainy Days

 Been very rainy lately, so I haven't had to water much. It has been warm lately, though it's 54 F today. I've been doing garden work sporadically, mostly on the weekends when I have free time. Lots still to do, but I guess I should congratulate myself on what I've done so far. I made a list of remaining work to do last post, and since then I've planted the rest of my tomatoes in pots. There are still a few of them unplanted, mostly the smaller stragglers, maybe 5 or 6 plants. I think I'll plant those in the back side plot. A small plot currently with some peas in it. But the peas sprouted in two clumps, leaving space for a few tomatoes. I also put some tomato cages in with the peas for them to climb on. Also managed to find some Jerusalem artichokes on Etsy of all places. Today I may try to sprout some garbanzo beans. So four items checked off my to do list, not bad at all!

I decided to order some fabric grow bags to see how I like those. I basically have an unlimited supply of soil available in my backyard up by the tree line. I've dug out a rather deep hole where the compost heap is/was to fill up my various buckets. But I could easily do 50 times that much without it being noticeable. So anyway I ordered 10x 10 gallon fabric bags. Much cheaper than buckets. Haven't decided exactly where to put them, but probably some on the front porch, some on the back porch, maybe a few on the side of the house. I think I'll try to plant a variety of things and see how it goes. Beans for sure. Maybe some lettuce. Cucumbers would be nice to have.

I took a look back through previous years of the blog to see how Mays past looked. I think we're in pretty good shape this year. In a few previous years I was farther along with tomatoes and zucchini, but mostly behind where I am now.

Some pictures.

Kale in planter by the front door. Planted last year

Volunteer tomato growing the front steps

Potato bed

Potatoes!

Zucchini

Garlic

Tomatoes already flowering

Peas. Suspect I'll get some but not a bumper crop

More tomato flowers

Growth in four days. Noticeable!

A little garden work

 Today was a bit of garden work. Cleaned out some of the vine in the rock garden. Crazy, it was fine last year and now it seems overgrown. The tomatoes there were mostly deer and chipmunk food, which was disappointing. I may see if I can just grow zucchini there. Deer don't seem to prey on zucchini as much.

Also spread some diatomaceous earth around a bunch of plants. It's been very wet here, I figure slugs will be out in no time. But nothing yet. They really crippled the zucchini last year. May put out some beer to draw them in.

All the peppers are planted now. They don't seem super happy. Maybe a bit of transplant shock, oof. I've got about 6 or 7 buckets that will be home to some tomatoes.

Tomatoes do seem happy in the patio wells by the driveway. That seems to be a great spot for them.

Planted some potatoes. Dug out one of the garden beds by the driveway. Two more are empty, I'm thinking sweet potatoes and beans. Another one has garlic, doing great. The last one has kale which overwintered and seems to be perking up. Also some garlic. I have no clue if it's some extras I planted or volunteers from the year before.

TO DO LIST

• Maybe get some different tomatoes/peppers/something else from a nursey.
• Get those remaining black cherry tomatoes in buckets.
• Some more strawberries? Weed the strawberry bed. Some trellis for the peas in there.
• Trellis the other peas.
• Plant some beans
• Plant some more kale. I feel like the overwintered stuff is all bolting already
• Plant some zucchini in the rock garden.
• Turn the pizza oven base into a planter.
• Prune brush in rock garden and the old garden.
• Plant sun flowers out front
• Find Jerusalem artichokes
• Get straw for strawberries
• The asparagus is still alive! Clear out that area of the old garden.
• Plant the berries. They are off to a great start this spring, but one of the blueberries is not so happy. Better get them in the ground. But where???
• Rescue some black raspberries.
• Plant chives
• See if garbanzo beans I got will sprout

New Year in the Garden

 Just to start off, I have been making breakfast sandwiches to take to work quite regularly. For bread I use focaccia mostly, though occasionally Abreaducation white bread. Most days I grab a handful of raw or sometimes frozen spinach and cook it in a little butter until it's unfrozen/wilted. Then I crack a couple eggs in the pan and cover until it sets up a bit, then flip. After that I turn off the burner and put on two thick slices of yellow deli cheddar and cover again. This melts it nicely and doesn't overcook.

This years gardening got off to a decent start. I ordered some seeds and planted a few types of tomatoes and peppers. I figured I would start a few types, get some more seeds and start some other types. Well, it did not work out that way, so I have two types of tomato plants this year, Black Cherry and Sungold. I think I will be disappointed not to have a slicing tomato variety. And no sauce tomato either, though I could certainly make sauce from the two cherry varieties. One other benefit is that it seems like the prolific output of cherry tomatoes outpaces the chipmunks thievery. Did not get many of the sungold to come up. Only about 7 or 8 plants. But the black cherry plants went hog wild.

Black Cherry

I also tried ground cherries. But none of them sprouted. Not sure what I'm doing wrong with them. Had them one year and haven't worked out much since.

Also one variety of peppers popped up. I think it was "Highlander" a New Mexico green chile type. Got a few plants, not enough to go wild, but I'll hopefully have some.

Green Chile

Also went a little nuts on basil. I'm a bit excited about basil this year. I think I'll plant it here, there, everywhere, in the ground, in containers, all over. Be nice to make a good haul of pesto. Some are doing better than others, but they're all mostly just barely sprouted.

Basil

Current plan is buckets near the house for tomatoes. The deer don't like getting that close.

The rock garden landscaping fabric mostly held up, but it's going to take some work to get it suitable for planting. Lots of vines grow in there. I think I'll plant zucchini there, deer seem less likely to eat that.

Have some peas sprouting up. I built a small raised bed out of the posts I tore down from the fenced in garden. That's got peas and strawberries surrounded by chicken wire. Something ate some of the peas that sprouted. Deer maybe. So I put up the chicken wire and that seems to have put a stop to the predation. 

Got 8 tomatoes growing in the wells by the stairs in the front and a bunch of zucchini in the trough out front. Garlic in one of the raised beds by the driveway. Kale in another, and some kale in the little planters by the house. The kale all survived the winter, it was very impressive.

Also have some berry bushes that survived the winter in pots! Blueberries and serviceberries. Also some gooseberries that I transplanted out of the old fenced in garden before the landscapers cleared it.

So lots going on. As always, never quite get to all the things I want to do, but if I get half of the stuff I've gotten started it'll be nice.