onion-ettes

Pretty nice germinating.

first seeds started

Tonight I sowed a bunch of onions! My first time trying onions from seed. I've always had poor results with onion sets. They make great spring onions, but I never get anything resembling a big round bulb. These are a large storage onion from Burpee. I'd love to grow enough so that I won't need to buy grocery store onions for a while.

In a few weeks I'll add tomatoes to the tray. Onions and tomatoes are the only things I'm starting indoors this year. I'll plant four tomato varieties: San marzano, Cherokee purple, red Brandywine, and yellow Brandywine. Growing tomatoes indoors makes me so happy. It's like a little nursery. Squeal!

this blanket of snow is a blanket of woe

Saturday we got 9" of snow. I shouldn't pout too much, it's the only significant snow fall this winter. And it's rapidly melting today as temps are in the 40's.
I washed and dried one large seed tray and will likely start onions soon. I'm excited to grow onions from seed. I hope I get some large ones. Sets have always been disappointing for me, beyond spring onions.

gardening on new year's eve (eve)

So far this has been an exceptionally mild winter. Fear of global warming aside - it's been nice. This morning we helped my uncle as he planted nearly 200 garlic cloves in his garden.
Up the road a little, in my far more modestly sized garden, I finally cleared out the summer's debris. With the arrival of baby #2 in May I hardly had time to harvest anything, let alone actually do garden work. But this week I was able to pull dead plants, dispose of rogue subsoil potatoes and fertilize. I turned in about 25 gallons of partially composted cow manure then planted thirty-some of my own garlic. Today I employed my brother's muscle to top-dress with another 25 gallons of manure. (so much for letting the beds rest in 2012)
I decided to leave the Glads and dahlias in the ground so I threw some hay on them and we'll see if they survive the winter. Part experiment, part lazy.
In 2012 I'd like to start beautifying my garden area. I'm think of mulching all the pathways (with wood mulch instead of hay this time). I'd also like to plant some climbing vines on the fences. I'd love some mandarin honeysuckle and probably some clematis if I can find a white one. I think my girls would really enjoy if I could make it secret garden-y.

August 1st harvest

More potatoes, a few shallots and a mouth full of green beans.
It is SO dry out. We have had a week of humid upper 80's. I watered pretty well yesterday but everything looks limp again. Rain would be nice.

last day of July

With new baby Iris, the garden obviously doesn't have my full attention this year, but there are some crops that never disappoint me. This is the second year of my glad corms and they are giving tons of blooms! I planted zuccs and summer squash late, and sowed the seeds directly so they're just starting to give. And I think the heatwave killed my potato plants. They all look dead but when I pulled one up there were still a few immature spuds underneath, which makes me think the plant wasn't done. But there are still plenty of big guys.

The butternuts and watermelon are coming along slowly in the bed with nasturtium. I fertilized a lot but might need to do it again since they are in last year's tomato bed, and it's probably pretty stripped of nutrients.

The sunflowers got tall but the same insect pests from last year found them and stripped them pretty good. And our woodchuck has gotten the better of my beloved green beans.

I stuck in about 10 tomato plants from the local greenhouse (Celebrity, I think) and there's a bunch of green golf ball sized fruits now. Also, lots of shallots, though some are puny.

I know it would be wise to take next year off from vegetables and let the beds replenish with a cover crop. It might also be a good excuse to focus my attention solely on perennials and landscaping. I mean if I'm not buying seeds and slips I'll finally have an excuse to buy camellias!
Though I might go loca without veggies. Time for some soul searching.

Carrots!

I was about 9 months pregnant when my carrots needed thinning...so they never really got thinned...so they never really got big. Today I decided I should finally harvest all of the tiny yet plentiful roots. There was a nice little bounty. Plenty to freeze, plenty to share, and enough left over for carrot cake. 
Best of all I've just cleared half a bed (16 sq. feet) for new planting. I think more carrots, more green beans, and some beets.