Channeling a green thumb by posting in green...
Hoping this year will yield a more productive crop than last...
I present to you: THE MASSON FAMILY GARDEN (2013)!!!
We started a bunch of tomato, cucumber, and sweet pepper seed inside a few months ago and spring has been kind, so most are outside now! I think I waited too long to transplant last year and I'm hoping getting them in earlier (and this much drier spring!) will help us get a few RIPE cherry tomatoes this year (although I do love green tomato salsa...). What follows are a selection of what's growing now :)
Cucs! I'm trying them both in the garden (likely to climb a trellis) and in hanging baskets. Hoping that we'll get enough for a few jars of pickles! They're looking pretty weak right now, but we'll see.
Lettuce. I've got seeds planted in pots as well as out in the garden itself (with lots of slug bait scattered about). I haven't had much luck growing lettuce from seed, but we'll see how this year goes.
This is actually a hot pepper plant that I started from seed LAST YEAR. I kept 3 of these guys alive inside all winter and I'm hoping that now that they're out in bigger pots and seeing some sunshine that they'll take off. Again... we'll see ;)
Tomatoes!! These I am also trying in hanging baskets. All of the seeds I planted germinated this year so we have a gazillion (ok, maybe 14 or 15) tomato plants in the garden. Nine in hanging baskets and several out in the garden. The one below actually has some blossoms starting on it! I think it's a yellow tomato one that I bought started from the farmer's market.
Herbs! Right now we have rosemary (not doing so hot in a pot on the deck), oregano, thyme, sage, basil, parsley (which is so easy to grow!!), cilantro and mint planted. I'd like to try drying some of my own herbs for the winter - we have many of the fixings for herbs de Provence. I may also try freezing some. Oregano, thyme, mint and parley seem to survive the winters out here quite well, so we have fresh herbs all winter!
Broccoli. Another easy easy easy crop. These are almost ready to harvest already! And these plants will just keep on going right to fall. A word of advice if growing broccoli: little caterpillars hide inside the florets. They are camouflaged too, the little buggers!! Simply rinsing does not remove them. Remi and I found this out the hard way when we finally, at the very end of a happy summer of eating raw broccoli, steamed a batch and discovered we also had steamed caterpillars on our plates! Guess we'd been getting a bit of extra protein all summer... *YUCK* Some broccoli-related tips (including how to avoid eating these little critters): http://www.vegetable-gardening-made-simple.com/harvesting-broccoli.html.
Strawberries!! These are still the plants from last year, planted in our strawberry pot. I think I might emove them into their own garden space this year though. These are perennial plants. We have two different kinds. The first picture showing the little guys is alpine strawberry. These stay small. Below are ever-bearing strawberries which fruit now and again later in the summer. Last year we didn't have much of a harvest so this year we're going to protect the plants with chicken wire. Not only to the birds eat them, but so does MAGGIE - bad dog!
Alpine strawberries again.
Our blueberry bushes are doing much better this year than last! It's not going to be a mega-harvest, but definitely more fruitful (haha) than last year.
Peas. Also very easy to grow, provided you don't get too much rain when you plant the seeds out - they will rot in the ground sometimes. They also like the chilly weather, so they can go out quite early. I'm due to plant another row soon. I didn't photograph them, but we also have climbing green beans in.
I'm also trying carrots and beets this year. Carrots are quite finicky - I'm not sure that they'll like our chunky soil. They also need their seeds planted close enough to the soil surface that light reaches them. I didn't have too many germinate on the first planting. I need to get some more seeds in.
Beets.
We've already harvested the rhubarb once this year and it's back with a vengence! I've talked Remi into strawberry-rhubarb jam.
Chives. I guess this should have gone under the herb section... This was here when we moved in. They seed themselves.
And the cherries are out! We're hoping for a sunnier spring so these don't split on the trees again.
Now for some flower shots. We're really getting the front garden cleaned up. We've cut down the old rhododendron and replaced it with two new ones (a pink and a white that bloom at different times in the spring). Both have new growth on them and are looking good! We've put in hydrangeas out front and a new maple tree!
Old hydrangea bush:
Lots of bees around! They seem to love the rose bushes and the lavender. We're going to likely plants some lavender out back for next year to keep the bees around all season and so they're there when our veggies/fruits bloom.
Lavender. Notice another little bee buddy!
Remi surveying the front garden (new maple in the background).
Roses:
YIKES! You're probably all gardened-out! I'll try to post later in the season again when the plants are larger and hopefully filling our fridge with yumminess :)
Happy spring into summer!
S
