May 10, 2012 Onions and Garlic

May 10, 2012

Onion sets and onion plants

Garlic--planted last October

May 8, 2012: Garden, peas, apple trees, herbs

May 8, 2012

 view of the whole garden from the bridge

new apple tree continues to grow new leaves!

the herb garden and the barn

garlic and herbs

peas and lettuce

May 4, 2012: Greenhouse and seedlings

 May 4, 2012: Greenhouse and seedlings

tomato seedlings

lavender seedlings

May 3, 2012: Asparagus, Apple tree, volunteer potatoes, strawberry buds, herbs

May 3, 2012: Asparagus, Apple tree, volunteer potatoes, strawberry buds, herbs
I have no more notes from last year's garden, but plenty of photos, so I'm going to post pictures for the rest of the garden season and harvest, and hope to be a better blogger for the 2013 garden!
Photos from May 3, 2012

Asparagus harvested May 3---started so early this year, that I'll have to stop harvesting asparagus soon, to let it leaf out for next year.

Volunteer potatoes (must have issed some last year)

New apple tree leafing out!

Strawberries starting to set fruit! 

Herb garden:

chives in middle, plus lemon thyme and common thyme

Chamomile next to chives on right, just coming up

Lovage and sorrel on left, with lemon balm back left.

Lavendar and salad burnett in front

Ornamental oregano on right

April 26, 2012: Garlic, onions, tarragon, peas, lettuce, blueberry flowers

April 22-watered all

April 23-dug up old landscape fabric (3 layers! From south end of veggie patch, next to old strawberries---so, so difficult, buried down several inches.    So many long white grass and bindweed roots alive under all that!  Also dug up landscape fabric from in front of old strawberry patch.  Raked smooth. 

April 26-planted new blueberry and raspberry, watered all.

April 27: 0.2 inches of rain fell

April 29:  Watered new blueberry and new raspberry “sticks” with a bucket of water.   Cut asparagus (for soup!).  Transplanted a few borage seedlings to back of herb bed.   

Today I dug out old black plastic from in front of old tomato bed and onion/garlic bed—not nearly so deep nor so many weeds as I had encountered last Monday.    Also took up black plastic and deeper landscape fabric from path south of onion/garlic bed.  The old woodchips on top of this black plastic and landscape fabric I’ve been digging up were mostly soil by now, so I raked them smooth and think they will be fine for planting marigolds.  Digging out all this old plastic and landscape fabric has made me question using it anymore more than once.   But I think it served a great purpose when we used it—it got the garden under control at a time when we couldn’t keep up with the weeds.  Now I think I can---the soil is much better, the weeds far fewer, and my commitment much greater.  I like the idea of not using it for paths between the rows of crops---only as a weed control around annual plants like tomatoes and cucumbers, on the main new path through the middle of the garden, and the hope-to-be-installed at some point new paths around the entire perimeter.

Looking back to April 2012: Asparagus!

Last year I was unable to post onto by blog after mid-April--not sure why?  I continued for a while in a word document on my computer, and then got too busy gardening to blog, but did keep taking pictures.   Tonight, Jan. 27, 2013, I find that I can again post, so I'm going to add the notes I have, plus pictures, during the next few days, and so somewhat belatedly finish my report of the garden in 2012.  It seems so interesting, to me at least!, to look back on a year and see what happened when.
This first photo is of the asparagus patch on April 13--asparagus and so many weeds!  Would love to start over with a new non-weedy asparagus patch someday, except that this one grows great asparagus!

April 11-15, 2012: Apples, grapes, and herbs!

April 11: Laid landscape fabric on grape bed and covered with woodchips.

Planted 2 new grapevines and 2 dwarf apple trees:

Nearest barn: Thompson Seedless Green Grapes (now realize these are zone 7-9 grapes--ouch!)

Farthest from barn: Canadice Red Seedless Grapes-late August fruit

Farthest north: Pixie Crunch  Dwarf Apple Tree–grows 6’-(sweeter than Honeycrisp) fruits late August

Farthest south: Pristine  Dwarf Yellow Apple Tree-grows 6’ – fruits early July

Watered everything well.

New grapes!

New dwarf apple trees!

April 12: Watered new apple trees and grape vines

April 13:  Dumped wheelbarrows of manure on ends of old tomato bed and onion bed.

Watered everything well.

April 14:  with help from Laura and Rich, we weeded herb bed and pulled up old black plastic from edges.  Mostly we weeded out lemon balm which had taken over!   That left good clumps of salad burnett, lovage, sorrel, 2^nd year curly parsley, bergamot, ornamental pink-flowering oregano, several lavender, lemon thyme, common thyme, and lots of chives.   Saw some new borage sprouts—will undoubtedly be more.  We left a triangle of lemon balm at back left corner.   And there is a great stand of tarragon in the corner of the onion bed and some 2^nd year flat parsley in the peapod bed.   I have some herbs growing in greenhouse (basil, lavender, oregano, and flat parsley—I planted rosemary but I don’t think it sprouted. The herb bed looks great!

April 15:  Raked the herb bed smoother and re-set some of the stone spiral.  SAW TWO BLUEBIRDS!! Ripped up last year’s landscape fabric from old tomato bed, dug out deep deep bindweed, spread manure, and raked smooth.   Also dug dandelions from old strawberry bed and borders.  Cut some long asparagus for Tuesday’s healthy food luncheon.  Cut and threw away some asparagus that looked bad---perhaps froze last week?  Or was damaged by my weeding, or by drought?   Watered everything well.    Flooded the blockbarn, as in ark-needed!  And tonight it is  raining hard!