Sisyphus Acres

From the garden...

Wow, it has been a while since I pooped in with an update ~ but as we slip into good weather, I spend as much time outside and off the PC as possible

Well for a Garden update ~ Everything’s planted…that’s it.  No really, we laid in the whole garden over Memorial day weekend, andalso put in the beginnings fo the herb garden too.

Yesterday I went to check ~ the potatoes are about 6 inches high. The cabbage, broccolli, brussel sprouts, pumpkins, squash, peas, cukes and zucchini are doing marvelously (these were all laid in as transplants that we seeded in the house).  The peppers and tomatoes are doing well, though some tomatoes are a little wilty.  All the seeds we planted are coming up, turnip, rutabaga, beets, radishes, spinach, and even a few of the corn already!  The carrots will be a little while ~ and my bazillion onions are doing well.

I am planting my cheddar broccoli seeds this week for a June transplant.  I do still have to place the rest of the onions and the leeks

We have replaced our wooden stakes with pipe, so they are re-useable, we hang metal plates on them to scare off critters, works pretty good…and we constructed a cool pea ladder out of them too (the pipes, not the pie plates).  Strung the ladder with twine on the lower levels and hitched the peas up yesterday.  Will need to string the middle and upper layers next week, but that was good enough for now.

The new blueberry bushes have flowered, and I’m hoping we’ll get some this year from them, and the wild ones that we are tending also are doing well.  The highbnush cranberry is lloking awesome, but I don’t think it will flower this year, probably have to wait until next year ~ our grapevines have baby cluster pods , the new thornless blackberry is doing great ! 

The rhubarb has come up, but it’s first year so we can’t harvest L..Same with the asparagus, but looks like 5 or 6 plants have truly made it!  The pear blossomed, but without a pollinator we’ll have no fruit from that this year .  The apples and the plum are getting ready to blossom, we should get fruit from all 3 types of apples and the plum (open pollinating), and the peach actually survived, threw out it’s first leaves this week, maybe we’ll get something off of that one too!

The herb garden is off to it’s start ~ we have catnip (catmint), dill (from last year’s seed), thyme, basil, cilantro, Rosemary, Tarragon, pineapple sage, and chives.  I still have my peppermint plant, which I am going to take cuttings off and start in the new herb garden. 

I have found a neat way to “pave” the paths in the herb garden ~ I found these ground cover pants called “steppables” at a local nursery ~ they are ground covers that can take being stepped on, and are soft on the feet as well.  They come in a variety of colors and textures.  I picked up 2 initially, but am planning to stop and get some more I figure by alternation colors and textures in the pathways, it will look like stepping stones and when they grow in, they will fill the walkways and make it a barefoot garden!

The perennial flower garden is doing OK, but some of the things we planted last year didn’t make it ~ it is pretty still, but we need to re think drainage and replace our “fallen” plants.

I think that’s it in the garden for today, it’s raining again, so I won’t be out there until Monday I fear ~ gonna clear up for the weekend and then I’m off to the beach.

TTFN

Val