the season is upon us...

Strawberry season, that is if you're here in the Northeast, or other areas of the country in USDA hardiness zone six.  No more supermarket strawberries that taste like cardboard for the time being.  Next week I'll be eating tons, making strawberry jam (more on that to follow next week)  and strawberry shortcake with biscuits (the real way, not the sponge cake way).

I bought these just down the road from my house at a local orchard, where one of the employees grows these on their own time, pretty neat, huh?  We're growing strawberries here too, but they are smaller and more sour, I think a different variety is  in order for next year.

At the same time that the strawberries are ready, it's time to put in the tender bulbs.  It's also time to change over the spring pots, put in all the annuals, do the second ridiculous round of overdue major weeding, next sowing of beets, chards, time to do major plantings in the borders, shear back the early bloomers so they'll rebloom etc.  the list is endless right now.  Everything needs to be done in a scramble of it's finally warm enough, yet its not too hot frenzy.  I actually did a lot of those things today, during the six precious hours that my children were in school.  Unfortunately, I don't have one picture to show for it.  Today was a really sweaty, dirty work day and the thought of taking on and off my gloves constantly to take pictures just wasn't going to happen.  My camera is way too precious to me to to put my mud caked hands and gloves on it.  Maybe I should hire a photographer?  One who will take payment in strawberry shortcake?

So, back to the tender bulbs (which actually aren't all bulbs, some are tubers and rhizomes, but why split hairs).  It's time to put in cannas, dahlias, and other bulb like things that don't like the soil here when it's cold.  I promise, I'll take pictures of them when they bloom.  Truthfully, they aren't that exciting to look at right now anyway.  Plant them the same way you would other bulbs, to the depth mentioned on the package.  The difference with tender bulbs is they need to be dug up at the end of the season and stored in a very specific fashion, then they can be replanted next year.  Unless your lazy like me, who has no strength left at the end of the gardening season to do this task (plus its an invitation for mice to find their way into your basement where you store them, yikes).  I buy all my tender bulbs at the cheapest place possible, usually a hardware store or Agway and leave them in the ground.  

On a completely unrelated note, I just ate a whiskey brined pickle from Whole Foods.   It's probably one of the best things I've ever eaten.  Just so you know...

Here's a question for you...

What kind of gardener plans an extended weekend vacation in what is usually the best part of the growing season?  One who forgets how fickle mother nature can be, and who assumed that everything would be planted, and well established enough that drip irrigation on a timer would be all the minding that the vegetable garden would need.  Not too smart.

Things are really out of whack this year, cold, wet spring, followed by spurts of very hot weather.  My plants are seriously confused.  Nonetheless... things are finally starting to move along (If you are a farmer's market shopper or belong to a CSA please take pity on the farmers, everything is running very late).

This week I'll be harvesting (yes in 90+ degree weather);

Black seeded simpson lettuce, this was started inside, limped along, now is finally ready.

Snap peas and leaf lettuces

AND garlic scapes!!!!!

What's a garlic scape you ask?  Here is a great explanation from Dorie Greenspan along with a fabulous recipe for garlic scape pesto, which is what I will be making with my scapes.  Anyone want to come for dinner tonight?

When they start to curl they are ready to be harvested.

take me home country road....

There are those that might argue that I don't actually live in the country.  I've heard it said that if you live less than 15 minutes from a Starbucks (yes there is one close to here) you don't really live in the country. I have to disagree for the following reasons;

1.  There is not one, but two feed stores about 5 minutes away (don't know what a feed store is, you definitely don't live in the country, but they are really awesome).

2. Within walking distance of our house there are the following varieties of livestock being raised; goats, sheep, and cows.

3.  There are no traffic lights in our town.  Just one yellow flashing light.

4.  The one "store" we have in town lets you set up an account, just like the old days - wait until my kids figure that out.

5. There are 22 working farms in our town (aren't we lucky?!) And our Memorial Day Parade looks like this....

Photo credit, Samantha Henry, The Daily Easton

sorry...

I know it's been a while, but kids, life, holiday weekend, good weather and massive planting, all got in the way of spending time in front of the computer.  And now, I'm heading out of town.

So a quick round up of what's been going on here at the homestead...

We've started harvesting strawberries

Tomatoes were moved out of the basement and into the sunlight - pictured is 'black cherry'

So I had a little bit of an ethical dilemma this week (alright that sounds a little too dramatic).  I was standing in line at Whole Foods, and the woman in front of me was buying tomato seeds.  Here in the Northeast, our growing season is not long enough to grow tomatoes from seed outside.  Seeds need to be started inside many weeks ahead of planting.  I wondered to myself, should I say something to this stranger that is likely an inexperienced gardener, and save her from a summer of frustration of not being able to grow tomatoes?  Or should I just keep my mouth shut?  In the end I didn't say anything, and then felt guilty about it all day.  The end message however, is that it's not too late to plant tomatoes, if you purchase transplants from a nursery (not from a big box store please, let's avoid the potential spreading of the tomato blight).

Don't forget to plant your tomatoes really deep, they like having their stems buried.  Seriously (but don't ever do that with any other plant).

This happened this week too...

Three apple trees arrived, two Braeburns in espalier form (oh just wait for the pruning post on this in the winter) and one dwarf Red Delicious.  The kids were jumping for joy when they got home from school, "you mean we can just go outside and pick an apple off the tree and eat it?"  Well, I explained, not this year.  The tree really shouldn't be allowed to have any fruit mature on it, that way all it's energy should go into rooting and getting established, for the longer and better health of the tree.  

But really, am I actually going to have the strength to pull all of these off?  I'm not so sure.

I can almost taste the pesto

Ah..... the sunshine has returned.  That means it was time to get out and get my herbs in the ground.  Herbs are one of the easiest and most satisfying things to grow according to me (if you care).

For newer gardeners herbs are the perfect plant.  They don't really care about soil quality, no amending or fertilizing necessary.  They don't have a lot of disease and pest problems.  They don't require frequent watering, in fact they rather prefer being somewhat neglected.  The most fragrant herbs that you will ever find have been allowed to dry out to almost the point of wilting before they are watered.  I'll skip the complicated botany lesson as to why this is, but basically,  when the plant is denied water it gets totally stressed out because it thinks it's dying.  Since a plants basic goal in life is to reproduce itself it goes into a "I'd better attract pollinators" mode, and puts it's best scent forward.  Then when you water, the plant goes back to it's normal habit but the awesome scent/taste remains.   Don't you like how I talk about plants like they are people?  I know, it's a little weird.

I'm really fortunate that one of the largest herb growers in the country is pretty much right in my backyard.  If you are living anywhere in the Northeast, you probably see Gilbertie's* herbs at your local nursery.  I've bought my herbs from them for probably about 15 years.  Sure I could start my own in the basement with the rest of my plants, but honestly they are the masters.  I've never once had a problem with any herb I've purchased from them, so why mess with perfection?  Herbs are also kind of fussy when started inside, not in a greenhouse.  If you've been following along you know that I have no patience for plants that need babying.  I have 2 human babies and 1 of the canine variety to take care of already, my plants need to be tough.

A couple of things about this new herb garden that I established today.  It's kind of a weird shape, but I'm just working with what I have.  This spot was formerly enclosed by lovely boxwoods (traditional for an herb garden)  but the 9 foot snow drifts this past winter did most of them in.  I'll probably replace them at some point, but I'll let you in on a little secret this bed will likely be expanded this summer and that low stone wall which seems to serve no purpose just might be going away.  Yes, bring on the sledgehammers.  In the meantime, this is what I've got, and the ugly green fencing is a cheap solution to keep fido from using this spot as his private bathroom, cause we're going to be eating this stuff!  This garden is also in our pool area, and away from all of the other vegetables I grow, so I wanted it to look pretty too.

I always, always, lay out the plants first - not that I don't make changes, but it's the only way to get the spacing right.

Now comes the hardest part for both experienced and new gardeners.  When it's all planted, watered, mulch you think to yourself, "there is too much empty space."  I feel it too, trust me, I wanted to shove more plants in to make look prettier, more finished, etc.  Here's the thing though, these babies are going to grow a lot over the next few months you've got to leave them room, not to mention that you need to leave stepping room so the herbs can be harvested. 

In this small space there are 5 different types of basil, 2 kinds of sage, lemon balm, lemon verbena, cilantro, bronze leaf fennel, dill, parsley, borage and rosemary and scented geraniums.  A prize goes to you if you know what borage is, and what you can use it for!  I promise, I'll take some follow up photos in a few weeks, you will be surprised at how quickly things change.  I have a knack for growing some really monster basil (details on how to do that in a future post).

Herbs also do fantastically in containers.  It's that whole drying out thing again.  It's really great if you only have a balcony or patio for growing space.  In fact prior to this year, I grew the majority of my herbs in containers.  I just wasn't smart enough to take any pictures

*This is not a paid advertisement for Gilbertie's I've got no connection to them at all, despite the fact that I've spent a ridiculous amount of money at their nursery over the years.

p.s. hope you like the site redesign. I kinda realized that I wasn't doing my photos any favors by having them on a white background.  It's a work in progress, but I think this is looking quite a bit better!

thinking I should build an ark...

I'm finding it hard to motivate to write anything with this ridiculously dreary weather we are having.   There is nothing like planting most of your summer vegetables in the rain as I did on Sunday morning.  Well, at least I don't have to water.

In one of the few moments that it hasn't been raining in what seems like weeks I managed to snap this picture of a rhododendron (PJM is the variety, one of the most common plants out there) that is ready to be pruned.  Rhodies and Azaleas need to be pruned as soon as they are done flowering.  Really, AS SOON... not a few weeks later, not at the end of the season.  Prune at any other time and you will not have flowers the following season, and don't lie to me when you call me when there are issues, suggesting that maybe you need to fertilize (true story, withholding names to spare friends from humiliation).

Ugly rain destroyed flowers - time to prune.

Cheers!

Lessons learned on the Roquette.

1.  I may be a pretty decent cook, but I am a lousy bartender.
2.  There is a fatal flaw in the recipe, and that is the absence of tonic or even regular water.  I nearly choked on the first very small sip.
3.  It looks cute, greenish tint, little green flecks of arugula.  My husband thinks he can improve on the recipe.  We'll see what he comes up with!