Praying for Rain....but I still have to weed.

    It has been hot and dry and the ground is hard, now that I have my cast off, I have two hands to carry the watering can....and two hands to weed, but I have yet to do that - maybe tomorrow.  According to the weather man, it is considering raining today, that would be a blessing....but my weeds will grow too.  Oh well, I will still need to weed, so bring on the rain.  Here are a few pictures of my porch pot and hanging baskets today.

The hanging baskets

The porch pot

My garden planted and growing, but in need of weeding.

Spring Pots

So I have been doing some gardening this spring.  Here are a few of my pots that I have on my porch, they are a little fuller now as it has been about a month since I planted them.

Dahlias, petunias, geranium, and some spiky thing. 

Basil, geranium, and roesemary

I also revamped my fairy gardened, added a house and replaced the dead pine with a olive tree.  

Also had some help from mom to get my vegetables planted, since I am having some difficulties with my right hand - not allowed to lift anything, little use of my thumb as noted in the last picture.  

Thanks Mom.

Setting up teepees, for my long beans and rattlesnake beans.

Managed to take a flying exit from my bike March 17 and it has slowed me down a bit.    I got this beautiful cast a little over 3 weeks ago, after finally going to see an orthopedic doctor.  Hit a pothole while bicycling, and it just kept giving me problems, no broken bones, but a partially torn ligament and some fluid around one of the bones.  Looking forward to its return to proper use.

It is February, but feels almost as if spring is in the air. I suppose it is time to start thinking about what I want to plant in my garden this year and order any seeds that I want to start.

Since I haven't posted in a while, here are a few late findings from my garden las fall.

A persimmon tomato

Hungarian Oxheart tomato

Beets from my garden that I shredded for a salad.

I mixed them with mandolin sliced spinach and tossed them with some dressing.

A tomatilla from my garden.

They never really got any bigger than that before frost, so here are some I got at the farmer's market.

I am thinking maybe some Hungarian Oxheart, one yellow tomato plant - perhaps persimmon, San Marzano for sauce, and a Snow White cherry tomato this year, and maybe one Japanese Black Trifle, if I can find one, I don't think I'll start it myself. Some red peppers, I made a most delicious Roasted Red Pepper Spread last fall, and I want to try it again......... More planning is in order.

Enjoying the produce!!

Well my garden is not as neglected as one may think from reading this blog, I just have not taken time to sit down and share. I have been enjoying cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and cauliflower from the garden.

A bucketful of fresh picked tomatoes - by the way all of those tomatoes listed in my poll are tomatoes in my garden.

A head of cauliflower.

Ready to fry up some zucchini.

A black krim tomato...or was this a japanese black triffel...

Some broccoli, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, peppers, and tomato from the garden.

Peeking Beneath the Leaves

The garden as it looked this evening. Currently I am enjoying a radish sandwich. If you are a fan of radishes, you should be disappointed that you didn't stop by this evening, because I was kindly sharing my radish harvest.

I have also enjoyed lettuce and chives...

For lunch today I had a cucumber

And this evening I even picked a green pepper.

Some other sights among the leaves....

Many Cucumbers to come.

Hungarian Wax Peppers

Tomatoes waiting to turn red.

More Peppers

Brussel Sprout nodes.

Cayenne Pepper

Radishes, Beets, and Swiss Chard

A Quick Tour of My Garden

I was a little creative with my garden layout this year --- but I also got a little carried away purchasing tomatoes (but that is a story for another time, just know that I have more tomatoes than I need.)

I planted my tomatoes in each of the four corners. I have a little rule that since I have a dozen tomato cages, I am allowed to have 12 tomato plants. Well I broke the rules and you will notice that I have some staked tomatoes. Then I have two circles of lettuce and onions, a circle in the middle of beets, radishes, carrots, and swiss chard, and two bean teepees at the other end. Along the edges, I have broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts on the left and peas and peppers on the right. This pictures was taken a number of weeks ago - the two plants just in front of the lettuce circles are cucumbers and I have already harvested 4 cucumbers and soon will have quite a few more.

Above: One of my staked tomatoes, between two cages.

Below: The peppers - including cayenne, thai hot, whitney, and king arthur, and hungarian wax.

My lettuce circle, with onions planted in the middle.

Weeds, weeds, weeds...

Last evening I weeded my garden, so if you stop by now it will look superb. If you would have come by over the weekend, you may not have known where to look for my plants. I have really been trying to keep it looking nice, but last week it kept raining and never gave the garden a chance to dry out. The one evening it was really nice, I went on a bike ride and didn't get home in time to do much in my garden. Oh well, it looks good now, minus the need to tie up my tomatoes to the stakes again.

Looking back at my posts it doesn't appear that I have shared anything about my garden this year so there is much to share. So here is what I did with my hanging pots.

The plants waiting to be planted. A nice variety of color.

When I emptied my pot from last year, I found a little friend. Perhaps I should buy a toad house...

All potted...

And up on the shepherd's hook...

I later added one pot I got at the greenhouse.

The one I got at the greenhouse is proving to be the most difficult to take care of. If you stop by this evening you may find my garden looking nice, but this pot of yellow not so nice. It needs watered everyday and it didn't like my weekend away, it is looking quite poorly. I watered it well and used some miracle grow on it, hopefully in a couple of days it will revive.