And the beet goes on.... And the beet goes on...

The garden is producing well for us. You can use this picture to compare to the prior ones from about the same angle. Since this we did the first harvest of peas, and weeded the buggers. Also green and yellow beans and an initial installment of carrots. The peas were frozen, and the beans and carrots are canned. What a weekend. You can see in the picture towards the back that the corn is now fully tasselled, and the potatoes are, well, huge. In the last picture you can see the beets I just picked. There's about another crop that size if the one's that were left behind will just grow now. I'm becoming a big believer in thinning when the plants initially come up, especially beets and carrots.

Peas, beans, beets and carrots will continue to produce over the next month. Then the corn will be in. The squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and finally potatoes and pumpkins. We are going to need a lot of canning jars.

I wish I had a new picture of Pat's hair as it comes in. It's salt and pepper and soft like a baby. Now about 3/4 inch long. It' s looking pretty good too.

Olie said to Lena... "Hey Lena, I've been taking this Vigaro because the doctor said it would make me more potent." Lena says.. "Oh Olie, not Vigaro. Vigaro is a plant fertilizer. You're not supposed to take that. You are thinking about Viagra." Olie says, "Oh my, that might explain the berries!" [Courtesy of Garrison Keillor]


See the beets. You thought they were apples, didn't you.

Peas, yummy.

Garden update: The weeds are doing as well as the intentional plants, but we are staying somewhat ahead. From the back of the picture... The corn is standing chest high in the back, then the potatoes, about hip high and flowering. We pulled up one of the potato plants this weekend and there were small golf ball sized tubers. Yeah. Next on the left are the beans, green and white. In the middle is still the chicken poop and harvested weeds and we pulled up the radishes and they are piled up there too, temporarily. Then on the right is the beets, just days away from harvest and canning. In front of all that on the left are flowering and poding peas (Maddie just weeded, Thank you Maddie), then some squash and cucumbers in the middle, and on the right are fingerling carrots, spinach and lettuce. Not seen are the tomatoes that are nicely flowering and onions that are thumb-sized.

OK, so I decided to plant more in some of the bare spots, and again closer to the chicken poop in the middle. Also tilled up the old radish area where I planed corn. I found another spot for more corn too. In front of the tomatoes I could not resist planting romaine lettuce. And I made 6 dirt mounds and planted watermelon, buttercup squash, big pumpkins and more cucumbers.

We are very pleased with the garden, and have found this a great opportunity (Thank you Brian and putting his garden spot on Craigslist) to reconnect with gardening that both Pat and I did throughout our childhood, and to pass on the gardening pleasures, yes, even weeding, onto Maddie and others.

So far, so good.

A tale of two gardens

Random pictures of produce is today's theme.

A fledgling garden of peas, corn, beans, potatoes, beets, onions, tomatoes, squash, radishes, lettuce, carrots, spinach and various species of weeds. All organic. From our back yard, Maddie made a rhubarb pie! Yeah, my favorite. And, then there's Mom's new crop of post-chemo hair, which has us all very excited.

The long view of the garden. Peas on the left. Potatoes and corn to the back. The potatoes have hay spread between them to promote the new potatoes under them, and to conserve water and keep weeds down.

The first crop of radishes. Big, fat and wonderful.

Yummmmm!

Mom's hair is growing nearly as fast as our corn! Enjoy the pictures!