Spring/ Summer Garden

Before I could plant my summer garden, I had to pick some of the yummies. Sadly, I had to take out the sugar snap peas to make room for the rest of the garden. It pained me so to do this because there was still a good yield. In fact the pile you see here filled a gallon zip lock bag 3/4 of the way full. The carrot is just a baby but wanted to show you where they are at and I was able to get 3 gallon bags of lettuce.

For the last 3 years, evil has taken root in my vegetable garden. There he is, tucked right next to my fence and next to my carrots, Mr. Poison Oak. Each year I have carefully removed him, dug him out from the roots, carefully removed him with double rubber gloves (that I quickly take off from the inside out) and he still comes back. The evil thing about him is that he has given me a nasty rash the last two years. I might be free and clear this year because it has been 5 days since he was once again asked "to leave AND NEVER COME BACK, thank you".

My herb garden is doing wonderful right now. If you live anywhere in the area, you are welcome to come over and take some fresh herbs for yourself and your cooking. The herbs that are doing great are: rosemary, sage, thyme, peppermint, cilantro, oregano, chives, parsley, and tarragon. The herbs not doing so well: basil (for some reason it has never done well in my garden), and dill. Now if my tomatoes were ready to go for canning, I would be able to make and can my own salsa, tomato soup, and tomato sauce but the tomatoes are no where near to being ready for such a honor. They have at the least 50 days up to 75 days. The planters boxes for the herbs are on the West side of my house.

Some of you might wonder about where I grow my garden. Here is where I grow most of my vegi's. My yard is lower than my neighbors so my garden is the walk down step, about 2 1/2 feet. The plot is about 30' x 5' and runs North South and is on the East side of my house. Every time I plant I rototiller the ground, put in a compost mix, NCSP organic compound and a box of Dr. Earth Fertilizer (is high in chicken manure) and roto 2 more times. This year I am going to put my tomatoes in big, and they have to be big to work properly, containers. I wanted more room in my garden for other things and not just tomatoes. I will explain what I planted this year starting from the bottom. Starting at the bottom I first have what I planted in the winter: there is the red onions, yellow sweet onions, white onions and green onions, then you will see my carrots and 5 different varieties of lettuce. If you look closely you will see that all of my onions just got hair cuts and had their greens cut off. There is no purpose in keeping them long, they will cause the onion to come out of the ground. You might also see small flowers surrounding the entire garden. These are Marigolds and they help keep out the bad bugs. Now onto what I planted on Friday: two tomatoes, 5 bush bean plants and 5 different types of squash. My 5 remaining tomatoes are sitting on the edge of the wall waiting to get put into large pots.