Sunday, April 27, 2008

Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries Oh My!

A lot has happened in my garden lately, most notably the addition of 2 blueberry, 2 raspberry, and 2 blackberry plants!! Also, I've almost given up on growing anything in flats this year. It's only April, and things are dying from drought. Unless my New Zealand Spinach grows, I'm putting my flats away until next year. Anyway, here's a rundown, with pics.
Strange looking shoots from my Loch Ness Blackberry.
Pretty green leaves on my Arapaho Blackberry. The raspberries were just big sticks with roots, so they didn't really warrant their own picture. You can see each in the background, Tulameen and Summit.
My blueberry plants, Briteblue, Northsky, and Chippewa. Unfortunately, the birds have gotten to the Briteblue even before it made fruit! All it's leaves are eaten =( I hope it comes back...
The strawberries have tiny green berries now! I'm excited for when they turn red =)
The tomatoes have all been planted properly, and won't be moved for the remainder of the season. I hope they grow big and strong!
Girlish pinkish-purple flowers about to bloom on my chives! The flowers can be eaten in salads or used to color and flavor vinegar. They didn't have flowers last year.
Here's all the chives, count the buds!
Some short pots of lettuce (upper left), arugula (lower left), and spinach (lower right) I'm growing. Arugula seems much easier to grow than lettuce... I harvested the arugula and lettuce growing in my indoor window boxes. The arugula was SPICY!
Finally, an update on the flower boxes. I planted some lavendar, maiden pinks, and white creeping phlox among the lilies. Nothing yet between the hyacinths, but i'm hoping to add a sedum or something.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Fruit Flowers!

Things are growing along in my buckets. I potted up my tomato seedlings and have them under clotches. I removed the clotches from my pea plants, but it seems they are suffering from a little scalding because of it... Oh well!

The real news is that my strawberries have flowers!
And my Briteblue blueberry has a few too. The other 2 blueberry plants I ordered by mail are a bit late in arrival, so I hope this one will still fruit without the additional cross pollination. Just a few berries would be nice =)

Monday, April 14, 2008

Pretty Things to Come in Ugly Garden

I can be a little out of my element when it comes to pretty things... But, here's my attempt. I transplanted my hyacinth and lily bulbs to the window boxes and have mail ordered several flowering perennials from Gurneys. Here's to hoping they'll keep on growing and their flower buds won't be chomped by the pigeons this year.
This is the state of the rest of the garden at the moment. Quite a mess. I went to the Bronx Compost Giveback last weekend and mixed up several new buckets to plant in. It's a challenge figuring out how I'll arrange and improve my irrigation system so that all my new pots can get enough water.
Not much is growing in the garden at the moment. My strawberries are just starting to put out new growth, and the flat of beet and chard babies i sowed is still sporting the tiniest of seedlings.

But, here are my leggy indoor tomato seedlings, which I will definitely be "burying up to their necks":
And a Sugar Ann Snap Pea I've been growing under a makeshift clotch outside: