First Harvest!

Tonight, I harvested 6 Easter Egg Radishes! Yum! I have picked another two, each at different times, but this was the first "big" bunch.

We received a UPS shipment from Raintree Nursery today. 1 Munstead Lavender, 1 Rosemary, 1 highbush cranberry, 1 rugosa rose, 2 hardy bamboo plants. Unfortunately, the horseradish we ordered was not available because of a mold problem. I guess even the professionals are faced with unfortunate mishaps along the way.

Update

Most of the plants appear to be recovering. It will set them back, sadly, but they are doing OK. There are a few that will need to be replaced, and I have some extras I potted, so we won't have to buy plants to replace them.

I want to dig a new bed to plant popping sorghum this week.

Also planting the last of our flower seeds and will plant some more carrots and radishes and another flat of container salad greens

Stupid Garden Mistakes You Don't Want to Make

Seriously. It was cold and rainy and yucky the week after Mother's Day. Finally, on Friday, the sun came out. I put the seedlings out for a few (very mild) days (and nights), and didn't even think about the fact that that might not be enough to harden them off. Saturday, I spent the entire day outside, mowing the lawn in addition to getting all the plants in the ground. My focus, actually, was getting them into the ground because they were starting to look iffy in their cups and such, and I was concerned that after all the time babying them that they were going to die just because we hadn't put them in the ground in time.

This was our first time raising seedlings. Well, actually our second, but the first time, Killian was born right when they needed to go in the ground (on May 10, Mother's Day, actually). Recovering from his birth and caring for our first baby was an undertaking that enveloped us fully that spring, LOL. So, the seedlings didn't fare so well.

Unfortunately, the current seedlings aren't faring so well, either, despite going into the ground. They are all looking pretty sad. Some worse than others. I am hopeful that today's rain will give them a boost.

Planting!

Lots and lots of planting! Most of our plants are in, and I've potted our leftovers hoping to give them a bit longer so that hopefully we can share them with someone who will use them.

I also have seeds that still need planting, and I am slowly getting those done (after the long haul planting on Saturday).

We have about 15 self-watering containers now, 6 or 7 of which we put together on Sunday. We did about 3 1 gallon containers, which are good for smaller pepper (Thai peppers and/or jalepenos) plants and basil (they would also be good for other things too, but we are using them for these).

Our other containers are in the 5 gallon range, some a bit smaller (they are made from bakery/icing buckets, and not all of them are a full five gallons). Many of them are labeled by weight, and so I haven't figured out exactly what they hold volume-wise. ;)

In our bigger containers:

cherry tomatoes

Minnesota Midget melons

Alibi cukes

Muncher cukes

Mexican Gherkins

peppers

Basil (regular and purple ruffle)

There was a labeling snafu with the peppers, and I have no clue what's what, so we're in for a surprise later....

Last year, we did strawberries, tomatoes, and basil in the containers, so we are trying some new things this year. Because the cukes are space-hogs, I am curious to see how these work.

Reclaimed craft project!

It is cold and gray here today. I have plants ready to go into the ground, but we're holding off a little longer for fear of frost. Today, I found a cute idea online for a welcome sign. I went out to my garage and came across a ratty piece of wood that was perfect for this purpose. It really is not something usable as lumber anymore, and it is a wonder that in the nearly eight years we've lived here that we did not just toss it out or burn it, but now I am glad we did not!

Do I need to justify hostas and bleeding hearts?

No, they're not food. But I do love them. They make me smile.

Suprise!

Ben and I headed out today to clean up the beds in front of our house. They are fairly overgrown and have been well-neglected. Ben started with the raspberry bushes that have overtaken our flowers in the north bed. It seems like a shame to be pulling up raspberry bushes, but last year the berries they produced appeared to be diseased. In addition, they are simply not in an ideal location. We may later add raspberries here, but I would like them to be in a place where they can be well-trained. Next on the list was to remove the last of the myrtle planted in the bed in front of my kitchen.

As I was getting ready to go outside, Molly brought in the mail. In it was a box of perennials from Jung! I had initially planned on putting these plants in the the bed on the other side, but since this one was ready, and it is likely the shadiest of the two, I decided to put the plants there. So, in place of the myrtle and in addition to a bleeding heart plant and the few lipstick strawberry plants that survived the winter, we have two more bleeding hearts, two hostas, and some Astible Spinell. I also sprinkled some kale and rainbow chard to fill in some spaces. We'll see if they survive up front. They might just end up rabbit food.

Also in the box were Jerusalem Artichoke tubers. I planted some in the north bed and a couple in the back yard in the bed along the house.

Before:

We dumped some new soil here a week or so ago, so it probably looks better than it did originally. The big patch there is myrtle. And there's a big green fuzzy thing growing on the corner of the porch that looks like it belongs there, but it does not!

After:

There are tulips and and some other flower that I have not yet identified that has basically naturalized here. After they are done blooming, I will move them and dig up the last of that sneaky myrtle. See the plant growing out of the bricks? Mint. Another very sneaky plant. I need to contend with it in the bed on the other side, but that will be another day...

OK, so it's not a spectacular "after." Give it a few months. The straw is where I planted half a dozen lipstick strawberries last fall. I think about three survived. Hopefully they'll be prolific. ;)