Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

It's June in the Vegetable Garden

The month of June brings snow peas, lettuce, and garlic scapes - all of which I have been harvesting.

Below are the snow peas, happily flowering and forming the pods for me to pick.


Monday was planting day for peppers.  Here are two Jimmy Nardello peppers that I got as a thank you gift from Susan at Squash Blossom Farm in MN for supporting her Kickstarter campaign.  I also planted a hill of butternut squash in the far corner which I hope to train away from the peppers into the pathways.  We'll see if that works.  Along the edge of the bed on three sides I planted bush beans. I hope they are all compatible.


As I worked in the garden the bluebird fledglings were madly bothering their parents.  This was the only photo I captured that was in focus.


The six tomato I planted earlier are doing well.  On the left I added one tomato plant, Federle which came from Susan, too plus two eggplants I grew from seed.  I hope I have better luck growing the latter this year.  The bugs like those plants.  You can see the lettuce in front is growing well.


This bed got 4 peppers, 2 each of Cubanelle and Hot peppers.  It
is sharing the bed with lettuce too.


Garlic - can you see the scapes?


Blueberries are loaded.





Another view of tomato bed.


Two more small beds of tomato on the south side of the garden, one pictured here.  Each contains three tomato plants with Juliette plants in the center of each.


Close up of the snow peas.


I also planted two pots of cucumbers to grow on the fence, one pot of yellow squash, and one hill of zucchini currently sharing a bed with lettuce.  There is also one small bed of there pepper plants.  Now I need to get a bale of straw to mulch the beds.  That worked well for me last year.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Harvest Monday - June 2

Snow peas!

Had are really big harvest of snow peas last evening and we ate them all, steamed with a bit of butter.

Delicious.  


I had a harvest of peas earlier last week, enough for the stir fry.


Bok choy doing well too.


And getting lots of lettuce - but no photos sorry.




Thursday, May 29, 2014

Cattails Gone

The pond looks totally different with the cattails gone.  A handyman named Bill came on Tuesday and spent an muggy hot morning pulling the cattails old and new ones and cleaning it all up.

Here's the pond earlier this spring with the new spikes of cattails just beginning to show.  The green spikes around the pond are water iris.


Here is the week or two before the deed was done.  See how tall the cattails have become?


Here is the pond after clean out.  Water full of the silt that got churned up.
Amazingly enough the goldfish survived.


Here's the pile of cattails in the woods edge.


The iris are now in full bloom around the pond.




I'm still drawing a blank on this plant (below).  Anyone know it's name?


Here's the pond two days later after  a good rain.  I don't know if the water will get clearer.


I know the goldfish are more visible which may mean a visit from a heron.



I couldn't have completed this job on my own.