Signs of disease in the potato patch

Lower leaves are turning yellow with black spots...dum...dum...dum
I think it could be early blight.

Young brussels sprouts

The brussels sprouts are coming up well. Here they are at nearly 2 months along. They still look pretty small to me. Sprouts by September?

Snap peas are ready for eating

This is the time of year we eat snap peas for dinner 3 nights a week. These 4 square feet grow snap pea plants 6 or 7 feet tall that put out bushels of peas. Snap peas have been far and away the easiest food I've ever grown. I haven't had any problems with disease or even critters. And for about 4 weeks we get more peas than we can ever eat. By the beginning of July I'll be good and sick of snap peas.

Growing parsnips

This wee parsnip has been in the ground almost two months. Rumor has it that these little babies can stay in the ground through the first frost. I wouldn't know because I've never gotten anything to grow from parsnip seed for the past two years of trying.

Chard 1 month later

The rainbow chard has grown well in the wet June weather. We even had some for dinner the other night. I plucked every other little plant to give the others more room to get bigger and cooked them up with loads of garlic -tender and delicious.

Growing brussels sprouts

The brussels sprouts planted from seed has emerged well, with many seedlings in a row.
I will have to thin them soon, or they will crowd each other out.

spinach in late May

The spinach, though it still has a few weeks to go, is a little disappointing.

snap peas are nearly four feet tall

This picture is from 2 weeks ago. Today the first flowers were out. The last few days of warmth and sun have a big difference.

4 weeks of rain!

It did nothing but rain in the month of May. But we went from having the heat on to having the AC on. Summer arrived in a flash and there was finally, some nice weather for memorial day weekend.
The warm temps have brought out all sorts of flowers, and the veggies are cranking along.
Signs of life from the potato patch.
More beans have emerged, but still a sad showing all around. I think I will plant some more seeds this weekend.
Brussels sprouts and broccoli have come up.
Finally some signs of life from the parsnips. Wee sprouts have emerged over the warm weekend.
we can probably start eating the spinach already. There's still not as much as I would like. I could get perhaps 4 servings of spinach from our still young 3 SF patch.
The strawberries are coming along nicely and the raspberries are starting to flower.

Rain Rain Rain

Once I have plants in the ground, rain is suddenly a welcome thing. 1/4" is expected today.

What a difference a month makes

Just one month later and the April 1st snow is long forgotten. There are snap peas coming up, and lettuce, cilantro, spinach and chard.

Finally we have had a few days where it's not raining, snowing and/or generally cold. Yesterday I got kentucky pole beans, french filet beans, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and basil planted.

These are the good days when the sweetest reward is just the plant emerging from the ground...long before the fungus and blight and critters and hot/dry summer sucks the life out of everything and gardening becomes a daily fight for survival.

How my garden does not grow

Sheesh! An April snow storm has dumped about 3 inches on my little seeds. Fortunately, nothing has actually emerged from the ground yet, so I'm hoping everything will be OK. I don't have much experience with snow gardening.

It will be sad if my peas, lettuce and spinach don't come up, but I can't help thinking about those New England gardeners from 400 years ago who wouldn't have any food to eat if a late snow killed off a young garden.
On the up side, temperatures should be high this weekend and the snow should melt away as quickly as it came.

spring seeds started

After mixing in about 2 yards of compost, we finally get some spring seeds started.
Nantes carrots
Snap peas
Cilantro
Bibb Lettuce
Rainbow Chard
Spinach
went in the ground today. I've laid newspaper down on top of the seeds to keep the hungry birds at bay. I swear there was an entire flock of starlings sitting in the hedgerow waiting for me to finish planting so they could swoop in and eat them up.
I also separated and replanted strawberries, doubled the size of the raspberry bed and thinned out the existing canes to start the new area.

Ah, New England

It wouldn't be spring in New England without a little snow to remind us who the boss is. Spent yesterday clearing out the garden, pulling the weeds which grow all winter long under the snow. We're getting 3 yds. of compost delivered Thursday. With any luck, I'll have the peas and lettuce in the ground next weekend. Getting a later start this year, since we had to wait for all the snow to melt away.
I hope I can remember this feeling of optimism when I'm confronting chipmunks, fungus and leaf spot in August!

Towering snap peas

The snap peas have been a winner again this year. They came up quickly and easily and are now 5 feet tall and starting to produce the first sweet snap peas.

Soil fungus

Some of sort of fungus has attacked. It's growing on the surface like eggs, with tindrilly, moldy roots growing 1 inch down. I suspect it's from mixing in the mulch when I turned the soil.

I dug up patches of it all over the garden. But it might take something more.

Onions, carrots, radish early June

Everything is coming up well since the fence went up. The second round of lettuce is coming in thick. The carrots are growing tall. And the onions are starting to flower. I thinned the radishes and carrots tonight.

Suck it rabbits!

The (hopefully) rabbit-proof fence. Ok, so they can likely jump more than 3 feet high. Hmm, the interwebs tells me that rabbits can jump "36 inches or higher...". I'm willing to gamble that there is enough easy to reach food that rabbits will be detered by the fence. Besides, even if it isn't entirely effective against rabbits, it can surely keep out the litterbox cats and baby D.

Growing Persian cucumbers

Cucumber seedlings emerged after just 1 week. I have started long Persians from seed as well as a pickling cucumber. I just can't help shunning the durable marketmore in favor of more interesting flavors. If last year is any prediction, I will go crawling back to the garden center for some marketmore starts to supplement my failing fancy cucumbers

Growing strawberries

Growing strawberries might be my favorite part of the food garden. The perennial strawberries come back year after year and the biggest issues I face with them are that they spread like crazy and the birds love them. So, I have to pull out a few stray runners and cover the patch with bird netting as June approaches. Those two things aside, they are pure joy. They grow easily and don't seem to have any insect pests. Even when I don't remember to water regularly, they turn out fine. The flavor of garden strawberries is unlike anything I have ever found in a store and the kids gobble them right out of the garden. I love to see the strawberry juice running down their chins as their cheeks bulge with berries.