Plums

6/26/13

Hopefully a few of these plums make it. 

Excuse the bug (top left), it's dead now.

Blueberries

6/25/13

They are the early summer blueberries.

Our Elderberry is in Bloom

6/24/13
Our one and only Elderberry have flowers this year.

Vegetables Update

6/20/13
Here are my Indian corns, they are over a foot tall. You can see in between them are my squash.

These are the potatoes. I read somewhere that if you buried/covered the stems with more soil, they are likely to grow more potatoes. I didn't had a chance to do so, because they were already tall when I read the fact.

Here is one of the eggplant. I should have said, "here is one of the eggplant ans what is left of it."Not so bad from last year. As you can see, a flower coming out and three leaves have so much holes from being eaten by flea bugs.

Peaches

6/18/2013
This one is from our oldest peach. I got it from the mail a few years after moving in this house. However DH ran it over a few time with a lawn mower and still grew. It used to be a nectarine, well I bought a nectarine but turned out it is a peach tree.

The other two (smaller once) we bought on the spring of 2011 have some fruits too. I can easily reach them. The fruits already have some marks that something is living in them. So, I picked and throw them under the trees at the end of our property.

I tried adding the pictures I took from them, but somehow blogger kept on flipping it the wrong way. I was able to post a tall pictures with my last post and today I am not allowed. Something screwy. Hoping not much comes down from these bunch.

At my Front Garden

Sage

Chives

Basils

Lavender

Parsley

Peppermint

Strawberry

I have multiple kind of strawberries. A few bunches of chives and parsley. I bought all of these because all of what I started inside the house did not made it. I will not be using any of these, this year but I am looking forward to harvesting some seeds for next year.

More Rain

I didn't even got out of the house today. DH has no work because of rain. I thought we will be able to fill-up the sale agreement to the house we are looking at, but that is understatement. Making an offer is very stressful for both of us, because DH father (FIL) is included. He refuses to discuss anything when his wife (MIL) is around.

She is sick (dementia/ovarian cancer) and no way is able to sign a contract, under the law of mankind. Most of the time, she doesn't even know who and where her husband is. So, DH kept on questioning his father why they can't talk about the sale agreement while she is around.

I'm sorry DH, I can't step in and bug your father about it.

While we are looking through the agreement she came out, and like before we cleared the table. She said to DH while talking to his father, "oh you know him." I almost chime in with, "ok good continue," she didn't recognize anyone. However, she asked where her husband is and DH had to point him out. Then she still question it, "is that you."

I am stress out. I wish we kept reading the agreement and get it over with. She doesn't know anything. Ugh, this is hair pulling, and my back is hurting from stress!

Oh about the title, yes, it rained all day. I do not have any report from the garden.

Showing No Mercy

After a few days of rain, I went outside to our vegetables garden and found a lot of flea bugs on my five eggplants. I shook them off thinking...i don't really knew. The next day most of the eggplants leaves have holes in them...whoa. No way! Yeah, right! That was what I got for not taking care of it the first time I saw it.

Grabbed my garden gloves and started mashing them. Every time I checked it, I grabbed and mashed. After a few days, I can only see two or three on the leaves. However, the absence of  these flea bugs I made a new discovery on one leaf. An orange/red long eggs. Hmm, now what are these? I removed them and mashed just like the bugs.

I checked today and found out these eggs are the eggs of Colorado potato beetle. I was like, "oh, I saw that kind of bug walking on the leaves." Yes, I squeeze one of them today. I am sick and tired of spraying garlic oil mixture, and I learned to check online if the bugs are pest or not. So, I am not showing mercy with these competition.

I also checked the potato and tomato leaves while I was outside. I have to be vigilant this year if I want to harvest some for later use. I might have to buy some marigold to plant between the potatoes. We do have peonies but they are far from the garden (maybe I should move them outside the garden) and sunflower is way too high for potatoes.

When I'm able to harvest some herb seeds, I will plant some in the vegetable garden. The only problem is, the vegetable garden is way too wet for herbs. I don't know if they will survive in the same area. Plant and learn, I guess.

Our Vegetable Garden

As usual, we covered the area with black plastic to kill the weeds off the area. We only put them when we knew there will be no more snow coming. And this year, since I still have the mound from last year, we didn't bother tilling the soil. Plus, if we did, up until now, there will be no plants because it is still pretty wet.

When I put the Indian corns and squash, I cover them with straws and it helped control the weeds. Here are tomato, eggplants and bell peppers. I have to de-bug the eggplant everyday. Those flea bugs are eating the leaves of the eggplants.

Here are the plot of potatoes.

I still have about 1/4 of the garden empty and still have the black plastic cover on. By this week, I will add more peas and corn to that side.

Update on Lemon Grass

I haven't seen lemon grass in my local grocery stores. Why is it that when you are looking for something, it is hard to find? hahaha... I guess that is the reason why I am looking for it.

Anyway, I planned many times to go to Asian market but fuel prices kept stopping me. I can't go there just to buy a bunch of lemon grass. I am expecting transplanting them already into my herb garden this time of year. I just have to keep trying.

Procrastinate :)

Well, not really. However, I will start with my peppermint growing on a wet paper towel inside a jar. It did not go very well for me. It did not sprout at the same time. As soon as I saw sprout I removed the lid. The paper towel dry very fast and the sprouted ones withered with the dry paper towel. I watered and re-place the lids to let the others sprout and the same happened. I think I need to put the jar in front of my eyes the whole time I am doing this. Yes, all of the seeds are gone and I have no peppermint to show for it. I went to my local farm and bought a two inches high, with a lot of roots peppermint (prostrated).

DH finally agree that I can have part of the front lawn for my herb garden. WHOA! He told me last year that he don't really want garden at the front because he feels somewhat trashy. My answer was, I like to be healthy and grow my own herb to use, I do not care what my neighbors say. I guessed that eventually sunk in and he let me. We covered the grass with black plastic and killed the grass. My herbs are living there for about two weeks now, hmmm..I think. :)

This not actually at the front lawn but the side next to our driveway, the sunniest part morning and afternoon. From what I read, most herb like sunny and well drain soil. I don't know about well drain but it's always sunny and hopefully the sun absorb most of the water. They are thriving, i must say.

Three-fourth of my vegetable garden is planted. I kept trying to sprout seeds inside the house but mostly beans and peas are coming out. I wanted some head start from the weeds the reason I am doing this. However, still no luck. Maybe i am impatient or no green thumb sprouting indoors. Anyway, i decided to use straw to keep the weeds controllable, like you can see at above picture of my tiny herb garden.

I have three types of strawberries in this bunch. I am experimenting to use them as ground cover as well as weed controller. I will see next year if they work.