It's Spring, right?

Forsythia

Lilac

It's been a long, cold, wet winter and we are really ready for Spring. I took these photos last week on one of the warmer days when it felt like it was really going to be Spring at last.... and then, boom, it got cold again. Really cold, winter cold. It's been that way for the last month, at least. a couple of beautiful days, then a week of cold and miserable.

Lilac

Stuff out in the garden is growing slowly, really slowly. But even though it's been cold and wet, there are signs of rebirth everywhere you look. I love to watch as the trees come to life again and start to put out leaves. Little tiny lilac buds that grow a little every day and the cheerful forsythia are reminders that although it's forty degrees out it's Spring, dammit.

Lettuce

Sugar Snap Peas

Onions

Red Leaf Lettuce

Stripey and his Mom Moe are proving to be a pretty good mouse-control team. They've been hanging around the chicken coop all the time lately. Here she is giving him a couple of pointers. I know that's corny, but I couldn't resist.

 

Stripey's Lesson

Starting Seeds in the Greenhouse

Fat Hen!

Pear Tree

Rosemary blossoms

Wow, Now That's a Tomato!

The garden is now in full swing, we've been picking tomatoes, cucumbers and squash every day. Check out the size of this tomato!

They don't call 'em Mortgage Lifters
for nothing!

The tomato plants are going strong and they are full of fruit. Here's a shot of what I've started calling "tomato alley."

This year we're trying some different varieties of squash that seemed interesting. Two of the varieties we're trying are Costata Romanesca zucchini, an heirloom Italian variety which is grown for its nutty flavor and Tromboncino squash, another Italian variety which is trombone shaped and tastes a little like acorn squash. We made some the other night, sauteed with a little carmelized onion and it was delicious.

Costata Romanesca Zucchini

Tromboncino Squash

Huge Squash Plant

Row of Peppers

The pepper plants are loaded with sweet peppers, they love the heat! Along with red and orange bell peppers we're growing Corno di Toro peppers again this year. A traditional Italian roasting pepper, they are elongated, shaped a little like a bull's horn. They'll ripen to red and have a nice sweet flavor when roasted or eaten raw.

Almost There!

Cosmos

It's been another busy week out in the garden, we've been trying to keep up with the weeding, the mulching,  squishing bugs, finishing up planting the summer stuff and more weeding. The plants have really taken off this week, the bean plants are up to the top of the trellis! We think it'll be another week at least before we get tomatoes, but it looks like squash is right around the corner. We planted 10 varieties of tomatoes including Dad's Sunset, Mortgage Lifter, Mr. Stripey,Hungarian Heart,Gold Medal, Pineapple Hawaiian,Moonglow,San Marzano, Celebrity and Grape tomatoes. We can't wait to try them!

Okra, a red variety

Moonglow Tomatoes! One of our favorites

Yellow Squash

Here's what we'll have this week at the market: Green Peas, Kale, Rainbow Chard, Carrots, Beets, Onions, Garlic and New Zealand Spinach. We'll also have our usual selection of herbs, cut flowers and some handmade pottery.

Gertie hanging out on the back steps, isn't she cute?

Ready For Summer!

We spent the long weekend getting the garden ready for summer.  Evelyn almost has all of the summer plantings in the ground and thanks to Sears finally getting out here to fix the riding mower (after two months of waiting,) I was able to get the rows mulched with grass clippings.  We also got the hose situation all worked out so that we are able to water the garden with just two sprinklers.  Of course, we want to be using drip irrigation and it is definitely on the agenda but we need to save a little to make it possible.  Those drip systems can be pricey.

What follows is a bunch of cool pics.  Enjoy.

Colorful Veggies!

I just got in from harvesting for tomorrow's market at the SDFM, and I was struck by the variety of colors that we are getting right now from the garden.

Carrots an Red Onions

This week we'll have Lettuce mix, New Zealand Spinach, Rainbow Chard, Kale, Green Peas, Beets, Carrots, Purple Top Turnips and a couple of Red Onions. Plus we'll try and have some cherries. The daisies are starting to bloom so there will be some of them in our mixed cut flower bunches. Hope to see you tomorrow!

Purple-Top Turnips

Beets

Rainbow Chard

Red Onions

Home, Home On The Range

My mother and father rolled into town last weekend and "sat a spell."  It was good to see them.  At one point last Saturday afternoon, while I was washing up after the market, Mom said, "I'm going to tell people that if they want to visit North Carolina, May is the month to do it."  The weather has been perfect this spring.  While we've a had a couple of scares with the heat, but the spring has been long, we've had a good amount of rain, and its been really comfortable.

Do, do, do, lookin' out my back door.

Our neighbors winter wheat is starting to turn colors in our front yard and against these beautiful blue skies, the view from the garden is just terrific.  Dad said that the east coast is so different from where they live on the west coast.  Out there, you get really big skies with long horizons, but on the east coast, we essentially live in a forest.  The tree line cuts off the horizon and a long view is rare.  That's one of the reasons I love our place here in Hurdle Mills.  We have a couple of spots where you would think you were in Kansas or California for the views.

I walked that path a hundred ninety,
Long, low time ago, people talk to me

Evelyn has been working really hard on the herb and butterfly garden.  This has been an especially important project that neither of us get enough time for.  This is the side yard that faces the street and there was 200 square feet of despotic ugly attached to the house when we first moved in, that we've since removed.  Underneath the ugly was an old well that was capped and covered with rock and concrete.  Since the demo ("liberation",) we have been using those slabs of concrete and flat rocks to build the path as well as littering the rest of the garden with large rocks and a big hunk of concrete that Evelyn dug out of the dirt.  Evelyn didn't want you to see it but behind those bushes to the left is the remaining pile of rubble.  Anyway, I have gone to calling this the "Ruins Garden" or "Garden of Ruin".  If you have a better name for it, please, leave it in the comments.  Of course, we'll clean it up a bit but it ain't a great priority right now.  Nevertheless, this garden is looking beautiful and totally fits our "shabby chic" way of life.

Beets & Turnips!

We're going to have lots of beets & turnips at the market this week. 

With all the rain we've been having recently the beets have really 

taken off and they look wonderful with lush healthy greens.

Beets

We'll also have salad mix, spinach, romaine lettuce, new zealand spinach, arugula, 

rainbow chard, kale and sugar snap peas. The basil plants are just starting 

to get big enough so we'll bring some of that along with our usual herb selection. 

Asian Lily

These pretty Asian lilies are just starting to bloom 

so we'll have a few of them as well, 

along with our usual selection of mixed bouquets.