Let us eat Lettuce

Just picked our first batch of romaine lettuce.. Still fighting the slugs for control of the lettuce, but boy is it yummy.. I need to plant some more seeds so we have lettuce all summer long (and maybe even winter.)

The growing season has started! *HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!**

Growing season is in full bloom now..

• Though we did again lose Mr. Cucumber start so I had to throw in some seeds and hope for the best..

 The Lettuce, Carrots and Peas are growing really well now in the raised beds. I even put a cover over the peppers to help them warm up a bit and catch up!

Brooklyn enjoying the "fruits of our labor" first lettuce of the season

Here are some before and afters of the progress of my garden

The Potatoe Towers are doing great, the garden can one needed to really be re-filled and is now almost to the top. The other ones are slowly flowering so in goes more compost!

Before Potato Tower

During Potatoe Tower

Before

During

  



The Veggies have been planted..

Wow, what a long day!! Started at 10am and just finishing at 4pm but most of the veggies are happily planted in their new home..
I finally got to use my rota tiller that I have not used in 3 yrs, I was worried I wouldn't get it going but it started and off I went turning over the soil so I could add my peat moss "soil conditioner!"

What I planted today:

• Walla Walla onions (bought the starters from Molbaks, there were so many I split the bundle with my friend Ashley Fun blog for preschool crafts

Zones: 3 - 9 (-30° F.) Height: 6 - 10 inches Spacing: - 6 inches between plants, 12 - 24 inches between rows Depth: Set outdoors as soon as the soil can be worked. Set plants 2 inches deep for bunching onions, ½ inch deep for standard onions, and 1 inch deep for sets. Space bunching onions 3 – 4 inches apart, standard and sets 4-6 inches apart. Water regularly to avoid Spread: 3 - 5 inches Sun/Shade: full sun

•  Broccoli, and I planted 4 starts (cause that is what I bought the pack in!)

I had to judge the spacing for the pumpkins and squash that I am going to plant because I have to allow for their vines to grow. So I planted the Broccoli on the edge of the garden..

• Little Jack O Lateran Pumpkins (they will be awesome for fall decorations!!)

These little boys need alot of sun and space.

105 days to grow, they will be done in Sept!

• Mystery Plant!! I won't tell cause I don't know if this will take cause it's a warm weather veggie..

  

Right now that is it for the garden plot, though I will have to work on the rest of the potatoes next week...

Off to my raised beds :)

• Planted was Pepper Plot!  Jalapeño Peppers and regular Peppers..

• Roma Tomatoes..  

  

 
A view of my raised beds!

Hopefully I can update later and give more detail of everything..

The official gardening season has started!!

I have been waiting and waiting for the "last frost" warning to pass.. Every day and every night I look at the temperature and say, just a little longer!!

 I was too eager with Matthew Cucumber

 

and he didn't make it.. :(   It was just too chilly overnight a the poor plant died of being too cold..

This week is going to hit the 70's so off I go prepping everything for planting..

This past weekend I planted a couple more things by seed inside to give them a bit more of a head start as they are warm weather veggies.. It still is a little cold in the morning and my gardening plot is in the shade until 11am.. Once the sun moves position it will be more sunshine (I hope!)..

I have planted squash, tomatoes, pumpkins and Thai Basil and hopefully will plant them on Memorial Day long weekend.. Till then, I am going to prep the garden plot with compost and peat!

Yesterday, May 17th I had some wonderful helpers Matthew and his buddy Kyler help with some plantings..

First Matthew and I made a new little plot area for a couple of containers.. Strawberry pot and Basil plant (GO PESTO!)

Then we prepped a hanging basket and are going to try cherry tomatoes in there!

Now the fun part!! POTATOES

My inspiration for my potatoe towers!

Matthew and Kyler helped prepped the spot for the potatoes that are going to be grown in a tower.
What I bought was re barb from Home Depot (4ft high) and I had left over chicken wire (from somewhere)..

   

These are yukon gold potatoes and I hopefully will have the reed screen around them next week.

For those of you who know my backyard, here is a peak of the new garden plot and lawn after the landscaping project we just did this spring.. Gone are the maple tree stumps and the uneven backfill from our addition almost 4yrs ago. So excited with the space we have now..

Sunshine and Lollipops!! Finally, a weather forecast to make me want to dance.

MIA!! It's not my fault

Sorry everyone for being MIA.. Really, there hasn't been much to do since the weather has just been horrible the last few weeks.. Rain Rain Rain, Hail, Rain and back down to just over freezing overnight.
I really want to work in my yard but I don't want to kill anything.

But there is hope!!!

The kiddos and I did get out just after lunch for some lawn mowing and gardening.. It's sad to say I might have put Matthew Cucumber in too early as he wasn't looking so hot.. The cold overnight weather and damp days might have just done him in.. Cross your fingers..
(no pictures of today, was kinda lame in the photo opt moments.. )

Just as a reminder though:

Coming to life

May 3rd, looking good

Nicely tucked away,trying to keep warm

Hopefully things will pick up this week!

Now that the weather is suppose to be on the up, I am going to get my tomatoes ready (doing cherry tomatoes in a hanging basket this year), squash and pumpkins ready.

Did plant some onions today, will update on that too..

Different ways to grow potatoes

First of all I would like to thank Mr.Sunshine for finally making his apperance and allowing us to enjoy the warmth of his rays.. It's been a hard few weeks with the constant rain and gloomy days, but I think we are on our way out of that..

Over the weekend I went down to the Grange in Issaquah to pick up starter potatoes. No, you can't just use those potatoes from the store (I wonder why, I should check that out?!?!)
I got a few varieties to grow, though today I just started with one type.

I decided to re-try growing potatoes in a garbage can..This is my first start of potatos until I get my supplies for the potatoe towers..
Potatoe Towers

The Garbage Can

Start with compost and straw as a layer

Matthew layering in the potatoes

Good night Burbank Potatoes

See you soon!

The Cucumber is growing

Matthew Cucumber Seedling has a sister... Brooklyn Cucumber Seedling has emerged beside him, though I am sad to say that she may not be joining him in the garden.. We will see, as I am going to try to split them into two different plants.

Outside I went on a beautiful Tuesday and started to work on a home for Mr. Cucumber.
It took me awhile to figure out where to put him as it's all about length of sun, spacing and whether or not it would create shade for other plants.

I decided to put it beside the strawberry bed (which may not be the strawberry bed for much longer).
The shade would be projected behind the bed but not to shade the raspberry patch.. Trial and error is how this will work..

I took and old trellis and nailed it into the side of the box for support.. Then I added extra netting around it to help the cucumber grow up the trellis.

Because I am putting the cucumber in a wine barrel, I didn't want to waste so much soil for a little plant. I layed the bottom half with styroform (will not decompose, but is more used as a filler) and the rest with compost and potting soil.  I will have to wait for a couple of weeks to transplate Mr. Matthew as the seedling still has to grown and I have to warm up the soil (covering it with a black weed barrier cloth)

Birth of the Cucumbers

What started out as a poke of green this morning, turned into a one inch long seedling.. I can't believe it grew that much in just a day..

Two weeks ago March 23rd, I planted the seeds in our heated greenhouse and out emerged  Mr. Matthew Seedling (yes, he has been named.. can you guess who named him??) today.
This is our cucumber plant, I am excited to see what becomes of him.

Today was "Create a Pot"

Still stuck inside due to the unseasonably cold weather, we again got inspired by my friend Ashley and created our own Flower Pot.

Directions on how to create this pretty Flower Pot:
Flower Power

Even Miss Brooklyn got into the action with Food Coloring and Yogurt

Another round of "Y"ucky weather-Where are you spring?

This last few days have been really "Y"ucky  (I did that for Matthew as he is learning the letter "Y" at preschool this week..
Some inspirations from family and friends helped us find some indoor crafts to do.

• Hubby's 30th birthday on April 4th
• My friend Ashley's creativity   Pitter Patter in Seattle

The kids and I decided to make Daddy a happy birthday card..  I went searching for a couple of web sites to help with some ideas.

• Daddy's Present!

 Supplies needed:

A piece of light-colored construction paper (white, pale blue, pale yellow, etc.) - for the backgound One piece of brightly-colored construction paper - for the flower petals A photo of the child Scissors Glue - I just used tape Green tempera paint A brush (or just use your finger) Pen or pencil

1) Cut a circle around the head of a picture of a child (this will be the center of the flower.

2) Cut a flower shape out of colorful construction paper. Make sure that the flower is a bit bigger than the round picture of the child, but small enough so that it will fit on the paper.

• Flower Template  = Great for people like me who can't draw..

3)Glue the paper flower towards the top of a piece of paper.

4) Using green tempera paint, draw a stem for your flower

5)Have the child make two green (or whatever color you want) handprints near the base of the stem - these will be the flower's leaves.

• This was quite fun to attempt with a 10mth old

6) Glue the picture of the child to the center of the flower.

7)Write the child's name (and the date, if you wish) on the paper.
You now have an adorable keepsake of your child.

Matthew age 3.5yrs and Brooklyn age 10mths.
Happy Birthday Daddy!

Here comes the Raspberries!!

Yesterday, before the crazy weather attacked us, we got out to a raspberry bed..
Brooklyn was napping (kinda the only time the hubby and I can get a project done together), and off we went to plant the raspberries. I had to run inside to re-read the website that I found with planting instructions.. (Don't want to goof up!)

How I learned how to plant rasperries.


The clearing starts...

Matthew is such a great helper

After the weed and overgrowth was cleared out, the cocktail of soil mixture starts..

Gotta lime up the soil first

Then a little smelly manure, veggies love it

Now, getting the posts in..

About 4 feet high and 8 feet long

 3 bare root raspberries, waiting to
 be planted

Self Portait!

Our Raspberries