Harvest!

Mmmm garden tomatoes!

The Veggie Patch after 10 weeks

We've eaten a lot of snow peas and green beans, some radishes and a carrot. Looking forward to tomatoes, scallions and spaghetti squash later on!

My Veggie Patch- 4 weeks later

It's been 4 weeks since I planted the patch, and things are growing! (Disclosure- the big leek in the back-right corner is from last year. It took its time, but it eventually grew!!)

Veggie Patch 2013!

I started some seeds in the greenhouse, and transplanted the seedlings and planted new seeds into the veggie patch on St. Patrick's Day, Sunday 3/17/13. I dug some good organic fertilizer into the soil so I won't get pygmy veggies this year! I covered them with Darren's homemade seed row covers until they get big enough so birds don't eat them and the sun doesn't fry them:

I also dug around for any blue potatoes that might've grown from the tater I planted in November... 4 potatoes! OK, they are midget potatoes, and I will probably replant them and try for normal sized ones, but it's a start!

Monarch Butterfly

A monarch butterfly came to visit our euryops daisies:

Mini Squash

I got a butternut squash from the garden!! It's a little small though. LOL

In fact, some of the buttercup squashes were tiny too. 2 normal ones and 2 midgetized ones.



Cheap Beer, Slugs, and New Veggies

Thanks to the low low price of $2.99/6-pack at Trader Joe's, our garden slugs have a variety of beers to choose from for their night-time drowning pleasure.

I did taste these beers before pouring them for the slugs, just out of curiosity. Name Tag is really nasty, sweet and chemical tasting. Simpler Times Pilsner isn't so bad actually. It smells sweet but actually has a sort of decent pilsner taste. I still think I'll leave it for the slugs though. Next time I'll try Simpler Times Lager and Simpler Times Mexican Lager, also $2.99/6-pack. I like to give the slimy things a choice of beverages to drown in.





And since they're easily distracted by the beer, I now have broccoli!



And some lettuce!

And the peas are still going strong, and squashes are coming along nicely too.. Yum!

Squash and Mutant Produce #3

I have a squash starting!

And the latest mutant lemon. My friend Jess and I think it looks like an elephant head. Yes? No?



The results of the first night...

5 slugs in one of the three traps I set yesterday.

I plan to put in at least one more trap today, possibly two. I do feel bad about drowning them, but either they die, or my veggie plants die. Something has to die, so I suppose for now it will be the slugs.

Slugs

I decided if I want to have any broccoli and lettuce someday and continue to have peas, then I better make some slug traps. You know, small dishes in the ground filled with beer so the little alkies go for the beer instead of my veggies.. I don't really like the idea of drowning them, but, well, there ya go. I used Sierra Nevada Glissade, because I hate it and we have a bunch of bottles of it for some reason.

I put one on either side of the broccoli:

And one amidst the peas and squash:

And when I get a few more yogurt cups or 1/2 L lime mineral water bottles, I will put one or 2 by the lettuce.

So long, slugs!!

My first harvest! (Not mutant)

Snow peas!!

They are the tall mess of plants to the right of and as tall as the roses.

A pea pod before I picked it.

And 2 pea pods with a penny for size reference. They're so crisp and fresh and yummy!

Mutant Produce #2

Just off the lemon tree this morning.

Maters!

Here are 2 big, juicy tomatoes I picked off the tomato plant I bought when we moved in August. I had accidentally put the tomato plant under the dryer vent outside before I planted it in the ground, and it shriveled. Oops! Well I took so long to get rid of it for some reason, and it came back to life! So I planted it, and this week I got some maters! Look how big and plump and  fresh they are!

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Oh wait. They're not big at all. They're TINY!! Haha. They're supposed to be small though, and they are tasty! :)



Peas!

The peas are growing and reaching out for the trellis with their tiny tendrils!! Squashes are doing well too. Yay!

Planting Day, Part 1

Peas along the zig-zag trellis, and 4 squashes along the front. Kind of making use of any space I can between the roses and other plants in the garden. I hope they grow big and tall!

Sprouts - Day 7

They're growing pretty good so far. So far I have winter squash, peas, broccoli, tomato, and catnip. I am still waiting on green beans, spinach, eggplant, chives, and aster flowers. Today I'm going to mix compost in the garden, and peas will go in soon.

My Seeds!

I sowed my seeds 2 days ago, from seed packets Darren gave me for xmas, and a few others I bought. (I later learned not to put seeds in the sun until they are plants. So I moved it from this sunny wondowsill after taking the photo.)

Winter Squash, Peas, Green Beans, Broccoli, Spinach, Tomato, Eggplant, Chives, Catnip for Genever, and Aster flowers. All the veggies are organic, and I will do my best to keep it that way.

And today, not even 48 hours after sowing, I have a pea spout already!

I can't wait for everything to grow, I hope it all works out. I'm hungry!

Our Mutant Produce

Mutant orange that came off the tree today...

Unfortunately I can't find a pic of the mutant lemon we got off the tree a month or 2 ago. It was wild!





Tangerines!

Our tangerine tree in the backyard. Yummy!