Radish Harvest

The past two weeks have seen a lot growth in the garden.  This morning the radishes were calling to be thinned.  Even after pulling this huge bunch of radishes the bed looks just a full as before I started.  Debby has started looking for fun new radish recipes.  One with smashed avacado on toast sounds good.  If that doesn't work we can always fall back on thinly sliced radishes on hot buttered toast.  Both types of radish have a wonderful crisp fresh crunch with a peppery after bite.  Pure spring delight.

Looking around the garden, I see amazing evidence of growth.  The onion sets were put in the ground just over a week ago and their tops are stretching sunward.  I wonder how many peas we will really get since the weather is already so hot.  However, they are still climbing their trellis.  Hope springs eternal.

Kale, spinach, and Swiss chard are all growing like gang busters.  

The basil is filling out into beautiful globes.  The tomatoes are settling in well and starting to fill out.  The carrots will have to be thinned soon.  It has been a wonderful weekend to spend in the garden.   I didn't even mind having to replant the dill in the herb garden.  Since the herb garden doesn't have a high fence, either the rabbits or deer got to the dill.  However, the dill is now safely ensconced inside the fence.  

The morning air has been gentle and breakfast on the deck has been relaxing.  We are quickly making the transition from spring to summer.

As we celebrate this Memorial Day, I want to share this photo I took yesterday morning.  The sun was rising, the sprinkler was watering the garden, and I realized that we had a rainbow.  The rainbow has always been a sign of promise.  

A promise of 

Bounty.  Peace.  Memories.

To all who have served, to all who have gone before, you are not forgotten.

Planting Peas

It has been a busy day.  This morning I had my first green smoothie using our own swiss chard.  In addition to chard our smoothies usually have some fruit.  These have mellon, blue berries, and strawberries.  Debby found some chia seeds to add for additional fiber.  The color may look odd to some but the flavor is great.

My projects for today were to finish the center raised bed in the garden and plant the peas.  Debbie surprised me the other day with some pea plants from the nursery.  I had been really bummed that I hadn't been able to get the peas in early enough.  But the garden wasn't ready in time.  Now that these plants are in the ground it looks like I got my peas planted back in April.

The rest of the garden is growing well.  The radishes and carrots were planted May 1st.  Yesterday I started thinning the radishes (the sprouts will go well in a salad).  The carrots are out of the ground.  In this picture the carrots are those tiny things going crosswise in the background.

So far the deer and rabbits have stayed away from the garden.  We can probably attribute the success with rabbits to the additional chicken wire around the base of the fence.  I wouldn't be surprised if the deer are not interested because the plants aren't big enough.  Only time will tell.

2010 Container Garden

This year we are repeating our container garden efforts. This time we have lettuce, kale, chard, spinach, basil, and one stray cabbage plant. The cabbage plant came with the one of the chard seedlings. I am reusing the containers from last year, but with new soil. The tomatoes haven't been planted yet. We were gone over Memorial Day weekend and I didn't trust that there wouldn't be a frost. So this summer I will probably have the latest tomatoes of anyone I know. Oh well, such is life. By the way, no peas this year. For the handful we harvested last year, it wasn't worth the effort. Maybe next year.