Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Random Musings...


Mr. Drizzle has hung around long enough... Mr. Drizzle - you are like fish & company... after a few days you begin to stink. How I long for Mr. Golden Sunshine to make an appearance!

OK, so we got very spoiled her in Indy during the month of April. Temps were unseasonably warm. This past week - which is MID MAY - has proven damp & cold. Now I know God has His reason for this weather pattern here in Indy, but it is bumming me out a bit!  I did get out in the garden on Sunday to weed. The damp soil did make it easier to pull out those weeds. OK Lord, you helped make my labor a bit easier. We did have a tiny bit of firewood left on the front porch that Jim didn't want to move back to the wood pile so the cooler temps afforded us to enjoy one last fire in the fireplace. OK Lord, You know I love a cozy fire and You knew Jim didn't want to move that wood. I did get the winter & summer clothes swapped over. OK Lord, You knew I wouldn't do that on a nice day full of sunshine!  Lord... I got that stuff done... can You bring on some sunsine! (grin)

I did get a nice 66 mile bike ride in on Saturday morning before the rain moved in... but the drizzle is keeping me off the bike tonight and placing me in the Y on the treadmill to run. Ugggh! OK Lord, You are protecting me from getting hurt out there on the road - Right?

I wanted to get out and get more pics of the garden, but these will have to do. These photos were taken a few weeks ago - everything is really bigger and fuller now. So the rain is good - right? We should have a lot of great, fresh produce this season. I can't wait! Fresh veggies taste so much better than store bought. We are trying potatoes for the first time. So far we have tomatoes, potatoes, lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, garlic, brussels sprouts, radishes, zuchinni, several types of peppers and many differnt herbs planted. We will have more tomatoes than we will ever eat or can, so our friends will be quite happy. I will can banana peppers & jalapeno peppers this summer and I will also make jalapeno jelly to share. Once the radishes and lettuces are done we will put in beans a beets. I am going to put more onions in soon and we will harvest some potatoes early as to have "new" potatoes and put more spuds in for harvest later in the fall.

Jet guarding the yard from squirrels. 

























Garlic... it actually had seeded itself from last year's harvest.  I had to dig up the garlic and divide.  I am happy to say they look wonderful!  I was a bit worried when I took this picture!










Lemon Boy tomato plant - just one of many varieties of tomatoes we have planted this year.  We have plenty of romas for canning & making sauces.  Nice Big Boy tomatoes for slicing.  Cherry tomatoes for the nieces and nephews! Some Mr. Stripeys and a Granny Smith tomato plant.  The Granny Smith is a new plant for me... I will be interested to see how they taste!










Broccoli plant!  I believe we have 8 broccoli plants.  Each plant will produce a large stalk of broccoli.  After it's harvested tender shoots of broccoli will grow out of the plant so we can enjoy broccoli for a while.















Chives are just one of the many herbs we grow.  I actually have 3 chive plants and they are all in bloom right now.  This picture just shows this plant budding out.  You can eat the flowers - we toss them into salads.  I have 2 of the 3 chive plants that need divided.  We also grow marjoram, thyme, oregano, basil, cilantro, italian flat leaf parsely and rosemary.  I love using fresh herbs in my cooking!










This is one of the many potato plants.  We planted reds, yukon golds & russets.  I can't wait!  We tried two different styles of planting to see which works best.  This particular plant keeps getting top soil mound up over the foliage. 

Bibb lettuce... once the temps warm... the lettuce will bolt and become bitter.  We will plant more at the end of August!




Oh... and we got a rhubarb start last year.  It looks great!  I think I will have enough for a pie this summer!  Oh... and we also put asparagus in this spring.  Next year we might be able to pick a few stalks.  Asparagus takes a few years!

I will get some more updated pictures in the next few days so you can see how much the veggies have grown! 


8 comments:

Kim@Seasons of My Heart said...

Hey Kristen~
I LOVED reading this post. A little of this...a little of that. :-)

We too had a cold, damp week last week..but this week..we are in the mid 70's to 80's which is WARM for us this time of year.

Ok...66 mile bike ride...in ONE sitting? Oh my poor rear!! How in the world do you do that? lol

I LOVE the pictures of your garden..how wonderful..and rhubarb???? My fav...you'll have to let me know how your pie turns out.

Have an AMAZING week my friend.

Kim~

Joyce said...

I'm envious of your garden. Do you have any trouble with deer or rabbits? We have alot of wildlife up here so I'm sticking with a few veggies in pots on the deck. I'd love to do something grand like yours but I'm not sure the critters would allow it.

Joy Junktion said...

Oh how wonderful to have a garden...here in AZ it is waaay more work than it produces so - no garden for us.
Sure am hoping your rainy days clear for Time Trials and Pole Day - You know It's almost race day:)
Blessings

Kristen said...

Joyce... rabbits yes! We keep chicken wire around plants until they are large enough that the rabbits don't want to munch. We don't live too far out, so deer aren't a problem... however on Monday we did have a deer in our front yard. :o He didn't seem to have found the back yard!

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

You're so good to the earth, friend. I wish I loved gardening; I suppose enjoying the fresh produce of my neighbors will have to suffice!

Enjoy.

peace~elaine

Angela Baylis said...

Oh how I wish you and I were neighbors! I'd love to take a bike ride with you. I love fresh vegetables. I could help you eat some of those extra tomatoes! I hope you are doing well. I'm glad I stopped over here today!
Take good care, friend!
Love,
Angie xoxo

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

Miss reading you; hope you are well. Just stopping by to say hi.

peace~elaine

Becky said...

Kristen your garden looks so wonderful! What kind of garlic are you growing? When it's time to harvest, I would love to get a start of it from you. In return, I could send you a start of some of the garlic I grow. I've got a bed at the farm that's made up of garlics I have gotten from friends. Makes me happy just to look at it.