Showing posts with label lettuce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lettuce. Show all posts

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Midwest Gardening: Herbs and Veggies on June 1

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 Such a busy week, I finally took photos on the 1st, and then have not had time, sitting down, to get them up!

Are we doing things differently, Yes! We cut back on the quantity of tomatoes, because my canning pantry is still full from our last two years. We also cut back on zucchini and yellow summer squash for the same reason. We will have plenty of fresh produce, just not for mass canning.

The first plants to pop out are herbs.
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This is the second year for a new Sage plant (middle) and it's doing well. I have another new Sage to the left, with Parsley, lower right is Marjoram, which is lovely with chicken and pork. The other bits of green are sedums. Last year I bought a square foot of small sedums, and sprinkled bits of them in lots of empty places. And they came back! YAY!

The marker on the left is Cilantro from seed which is doing nothing. Every year I plant herb seeds in the greenhouse and they just don't make it when transplanted. So I'm giving up! 

On the front porch I have pots with Parsley, Basil and Rosemary, Cherry Tomatoes and flowers.

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One of the  first plants to appear in the garden are the  Chives, which can really go wild. I keep a container on the porch and have three spots in the garden that always have Chives.

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I'm excited above the herbs and the trough pond is my climbing rose---which if you can see the buds will be a massive display. We have five birdhouses on this trellis, and they seem to all have noisy, scolding, sparrows, and I think some wild canaries in one. 
I spent an entire day, clearing the 5' easement behind the greenhouse and this trellis and used the weed fabric and three big bags of mulch back there, so the rose will no longer be attacked by weeds.

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I'd love to say I'm growing Spearmint---but it's invasive and I have been pulling it out for thirty-eight  years. The two Rhubarbs are doing well, I did a large cutting on Monday. And, we will have dessert this weekend. I did put a Moon Pumpkin started in the greenhouse in between the two Rhubarbs. Cross your fingers we get a nice big Pumpkin. 

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In the vegetable garden on the left are pots with Carnival and Green Peppers, next is Kohlrabi I grew in the greenhouse, then Spinach, then Fordhook Chard, and Ruby Chard, far right are 6 Broccoli plants. This area gets some shade in the afternoon, so I put the cooler loving plants here.

Our vegetable garden is roughly 20x 28' and we use cloth to cover the ground and then plant afterward. It works for us---and keeps the weeds at bay. We don't put mulch on it, and it's removed and reused for usually three years.
It works!!

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And, We leave lots of space in the garden for stumbling around, lol. On the railings I grow Nasturtiums, the bees love them, radishes, green onions, lettuces.

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On our trellis in the middle, I have beans on each side this year. They are doing well, and the birds didn't get all the seeds this year. I really consciously rotate crops. 

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Winter Squash, small Pumpkins and Gourds are along the east side. These hopefully will all be trained up the walls, and I planted lots of sunflowers along here also.

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Three north side trellis' have cucumbers, three varieties, that will be trained to go up. We have been amending the soil on this end of the garden which was all clay and rock. It looked really good this Spring after Hubby tilled in all our raked leaves and peat moss. We did that last fall also.  

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In between the trellis' are suflowers, hopefully not fifteen feet tall. I always try to mix flowers in my garden for the pollinators. We have twelve tomato plants with cages this year.

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A few Zucchini a couple of Summer Yellow Squash. I'm using extra tomato cages as hose protection.

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A few extra plants, Green peppers, and some extra Cherry Tomatoes. This is where the sandbox was the Grand grew out of. We are using paver base now with some future plans for this area. So many projects, so little time. 
Not shown, we are doing red potatoes in a garbage can, where you add soil as it grows. We will see how that works.

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Gardening is not all vegetables, a new trellis for the Clematis, and despite digging out half the DayLilies...they are super full again this year.
I'll show the shady areas next week after I plant some Coleus I started from seed and some new Caladiums.

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In our entertaining areas, I have pots, some filled with Mint for Bee protection, (I'm allergic) and others with Lemon Grass for the mosquitos. 
Flowers from our greenhouse include: 4 O'Clocks, Marigolds, Bachelor Buttons, Alyssum, Nasturtiums, Forget Me Nots, and I planted lots of Zinnias and Sunflowers and some taller Marigolds. These are all around the yard and in garden areas in the ground and in pots.

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On the East side of the house are Perennials, Holly Hocks(only a few this year) some must have froze out. I have planted a tray of seeded starts from the greenhouse and also seeds in the ground, so next year will be again full of Holly Hocks! (Bi-ennials)

The old yellow chair was retired(disintegrated) and is replaced for now with a light orange pot full of flowers and grass. Our Peonies are delayed from the late spring and just starting to bloom this week.

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Along the east fence are lots of winter Squashes planted to climb the fencing. 
I have placed my Hot Pepper pots here, far from the garden and the other peppers. It's always a surprise when a nice bell pepper, slightly misshaped turns out to be hot from cross pollinating. 

We also have Japanese Eggplants and Dill on this side. (no photo)

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The first Peony bloom ....YAY! 

Happy Midwest Gardening, more next week as I finish up the rest of the yard, slowly! 

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW???

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Saturday, June 13, 2020

Midwest Gardening: What's Blooming/Growing

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We spent a hard week trimming, clearing debris and all dead/dying/overgrown stuff out. 

Time to enjoy some blooming.  

Everything seems to be just growing so fast right now. Here's some quick photos with only one story, lol. 


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Only thing blooming around the pond right now is this rosebush---which had been dead/dormant for over 10 years. Last year I coaxed three flowers out of it. And, this year I cleared all the other plants around, trimmed and fertilized. And, Whaaa-Laaaa---roses and lots more buds, too. It was originally a climber and gets long tendrils, which I have been cutting back also? I am far from a rose grower...but I'm proud of this! 

(Honestly I knew the root would be huge -30 years or so- and really didn't want to dig it out...LOL)
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It has luscious crimson roses! 

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One of two pots around the pond, I planted with this purple thing...hoping it climbs out soon.

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Geranium blooming here. The squirrels have been digging in all three pots along the garage...it will be a miracle if some of the plants make it after being planted multiple times. 


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I bought red geraniums early---an 8 pack, but one was this color...it's pretty, but???


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The squirrels have been rearranging the Gnome village in the backyard. Everyday!

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I always thought Gnomes would live under a shady tree. The Grand helped me place all these...! 


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I'm cutting lettuce today, and the peas are starting to blossom.


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Also more lettuce and onions, picking for the week! 
Tips on keeping garden lettuce on this post:


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All the tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans are starting to bloom! And a few short sunflowers.

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Pots are starting to explode, the Caladiums and Elephant ears....are really winding up! 

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The back pond is running, and the trellis rose is starting to bloom. Hubby is working on a base for a new fence behind here.


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Last thing I planted last week---sweet peas for the east fence.


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The Hollyhocks are thick with leaves and forming the bud stems at about 4 feet high. I wonder how tall they will be this year?  The birdhouse is moveable, I never know when plants may cover something!


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These are the Hollyhocks I planted last year---they should bloom this year, HH's are biennial--so they seed and then bloom after the second year.

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Last Iris....waiting to open.......sigh. such a short season!  My Sedum plants are very happy, also.

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I've actually sat  here a bit... the crazy hot temps have cooled off, and watching the birds with my feet up and a cool drink is...

One of Life's simple pleasures! 

WHAT DO YOU HAVE BLOOMING?

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Saturday, May 30, 2020

Midwest Gardening: Tips for the First Crop May 2020

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OUR FIRST CROP....Lettuce!


We've planted Lettuces in several areas of the yard. Railing boxes were started early in the greenhouse, while more was started in the ground or transplanted from trays. I trimmed the bolted lettuce out.


We have Black-seed Simpson, Mesclun Mix, Traditional Mix, Bibb, Romaine and Red Lettuces in various areas. When it gets too hot, the railing planters will be moved to semi-shade to prolong growth.


So yesterday, May 29, 2020, I walked around with a scissors and picked a bit of everything. Never cut your plant completely away, just remove no more than half, that way your lettuce will continue to grow. I rinsed everything in nice cold water. 

Plain clean dish towels are ready--I'm no longer using paper towel for this...! It's been too hard at times to find paper products, and this is a GREEN way. 


I carefully set all the stems up with narrow ends down to drain. Leave it this way for 10-15 minutes to completely drain. 



Spread your greens on the towels. Gently layer another towel on top. 



I bleach my towels, so these will come easily clean and are sanitary on the greens. 



Double over the bottom edge and then roll the towel loosely. Place in plastic bag, (I wash and reuse these all summer for greens). 



Loosely cover with a second bag...



Stand on end in the upper part of your Fridge. Simply unroll for serving. 
This will keep your greens up to a week, and of course it will be time to pick again! 

Onions aren't quite ready, maybe later next week! 


HOW'S YOUR GARDEN GROWING?
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