Yikes! It appears that I am long overdue for an update.

Everything is going gangbusters out in the kitchen garden.

I harvested the Russian Banana Fingerling potatoes two weeks ago. They didn’t do as well as I would have liked, so I need to figure out where I went wrong.

The Yukon Gold potatoes will probably be harvested in 2-3 weeks.

The edamame is growing like crazy and it looks like we’ll be eating that in 2 or 3 weeks too.

The tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes, so the real question will be if we’ll get Yellow Pear or Brandywine tomatoes first. I’m betting on the former.

I was feeling somewhat disappointed in the cucumber vines, as they hadn’t grown much, so imagine my surprise today when I discovered one plant loaded with baby cukes and another one with a ready-to-be-picked cuke!

The blueberry bushes are taking their own sweet time, so it looks like we’ll be picking later than usual. Again, in about 2 or 3 weeks.

The strawberries are living up to their everbearer status and we’re still getting a few berries a week.

We’ve been enjoying fresh herbs for weeks now and I’m thrilled with the potential basil harvest.

That’s about all for now. I’ll try to remember to take photos later. It’s hot as heck out there (99 with a heat index of 100+) so while it sucks for us humans, at least the tomatoes will be happy.

It’s definitely starting to feel more like summer around here.

Today I pulled out the pea vines, as they had started to turn brown from the heat.  In spite of all the peas we’d picked in the past couple of weeks, there were still lots and lots left, so we snacked on them throughout the day, had some with dinner, and will finish them off tomorrow evening.  I still have a little lettuce left, so we’ll eat that in the next day or two.

The strawberries I planted earlier this spring are still producing, which is one of the advantages of planting everbearers — not a lot at any time, but we’ll have some throughout the summer.

The blueberry bushes that weren’t crushed by last winter’s snows are loaded with unripe berries.  I’ve covered them with nets, as I’m not keen to share my bounty with the birds or squirrels.  I expect that we’ll have berries in about two or three weeks.

The tomatoes are growing well.  Interestingly enough, the plants that I put in black plastic pots are easily four times the size of all the other tomato plants and have more yellow blooms than the others.  The basil in those pots is larger than the other basil plants too.  I’m assuming that it’s because the black plastic warmed up the dirt within.  If those plants continue to thrive and outproduce the others, I will take that as a sign and next year will build raised beds in the garden for tomatoes. I had them at our old house and they were sturdy enough to warrant the investment.

Both the Yukon Gold potatoes (in the ground) and the Russian Banana Fingerling potatoes (in a potato grow bag) are growing like crazy.

The asparagus has gotten so tall that I’ve had to put supports around the edge of the asparagus bed to keep the plants from flopping over and blocking the path.

The edamame has grown fast, fast, fast and I think we’ll have beans within a month, which will be early for us.

It’s not all just veggies, fruits, and herbs around here.  We also have loads and loads of flowers — all of the roses are going crazy and the summer flowers are starting to bloom.  It’s all looking so much better than last year when so many plants were young.  I think I’ll be able to have vases of flowers most of the summer.

Even though the squirrel ate all the wee apples off the apple trees and the crows are doing I-don’t-know-what out there (mostly just sitting on the fence and looking around), I haven’t seen any deer action in a while.  I probably just jinxed it by saying that, but I have to speak the truth.  Still, it’s probably a sign of how cracked the deer have made me that whenever I see any, even if they’re nowhere near my yard, my heart stops for a moment, then revs up to about 200 b.p.m., as I contemplate the damage those white-tailed beasts could do.

Last summer, Jeff the Builder and crew came back for a couple of days to build a shed for us.  I promised to post photos of it, but never got around to it, as I still needed to paint the shed door.  I finally got around to it yesterday:

Isn’t that cute?  The door just really makes the whole thing pop.

I’ve been busy planting every day this week and I’m STILL not done.

Check out this gorgeous rose I just bought:

Yes, red and pink stripes!

I haven’t had many roses over the years.  Other than a mini rose at my first house and a climbing rose on the fence at my second house, I’ve always shied away from them, fearing that they’d be too fussy and need a lot of work.  Last year, for some reason, I said “screw it” and started planting them.  I have three along one fence, one by another gate, two in another location, and now this one.  I suspect that more roses are in my future.  The rose bush by the front gate is also near the exhaust fan for our garage.  It started blooming profusely earlier this week and now our garage smells like roses too.  Here it is:

In food news, one of my new apple trees is covered in baby apples:

I also finally got all the tomato plants in:

I know, it’s just sea of tomato supports right now.  I’m using cages for the larger tomatoes and stakes for smaller ones.  I’m not a strict proponent of Square Foot Gardening, but I used some of their guidelines and decided that it would be okay to put the tomatoes only two feet apart.

[Totally random note, just outside our fence, we've planted a row of Leyland Cypresses.  I'm really looking forward to the time when the house next door isn't so visible.]

The potatoes are doing well.

Yukon Gold:

Russian Banana Fingerling:

Finally, check out what my in-laws gave me for my birthday:

Isn’t that the coolest face?!  Pete’s stepmother has several in her garden and I’ve always loved them.  I haven’t decided where this one is going, so for now that rather heavy hunk of granite is near the patio.

Here’s the latest tally of tomatoes, as of today:

• 8 Romas
• 6 Yellow Pear
• 4 Better Boy
• 4 Old German
• 2 Yellow Brandywine
• 2 Mortgage Lifters

I haven’t even found places for all these tomatoes and I’m wondering if I can buy more.

I also picked up jalapeno peppers today for Pete, as well as six basil plants.  There’s a part of me that worries that I won’t have enough basil for next winter, yet I had six plants last summer and still have plenty of basil puree in the freezer.

I also bought loads of flowers, including a couple of incredible rhododendrons and two gorgeous roses.  Photos coming as some point soon.

Updated:  Oops!  While I was planting today, I discovered 2 red Brandywine tomatoe and 2 more basil plants.

I started planting summer veggies today:

• 2 kinds of tomatoes (4 plants each): Better Boy and a variety developed by Mennonites, German something-or-the-other (I’ll look at the tag the next time I’m outside)  I don’t normally plant this early, but it’s in the 80s outside and supposed to get to almost 90 tomorrow, so I’m not too worried about a rogue frost at this point.
• 4 cucumber plants
• 1/4 pound of edamame seeds (I bought 1 lb and will plant weekly until they’re all in)
• 25% of 1/2 lb of cannellini beans

I want a lot of edamame and beans this year, but didn’t quite think about how much 1 lb and 1/2 lb of seeds would be.  In addition to putting seeds in the kitchen garden, I also put some along the fence where the blueberry bushes are — the cannellini in the back, so it can twine up the fence, and the edamame in front of the bushes.  The benefit of this is that it will help improve the soil over there too.

When I plant things that will need supports or trellises, I always put those in at the same time so that I don’t have to disturb the plants later on.  I’m thrilled beyond all belief to look out and see all that height in the garden.  This year, instead of using bean poles, I’m going to try using tomato cages for the beans.  It’s essentially the same shape and should save me a lot of tying later on.

I also tasted some of the lettuce, which hasn’t done squat due to three 90+ degree days right after Easter.  I know, thank you Mother Nature for the heat when it’s not wanted.  As I suspected, one kind of lettuce had bolted and gotten bitter, so I pulled those plants out.  The other kind still tastes good and I think we’ll have salads this week.  I’m also disappointed in my attempts to grow spinach and carrots from seed.  Nothing came of that experiment at all.

On the other hand, the English peas look good and I tied up some drooping plants today.  The potatoes are looking great and the asparagus continues to go gangbusters.

Instead of telling you what’s going on in the garden today, I have to tell you about something going on inside the house.

We built this house to be as energy efficient as possible — good windows, good insulation, good mechanicals, etc.

We also used primarily fluorescent light bulbs (with two exceptions in the entire house), Energy Star appliances, etc.

We weren’t sure what to expect in terms of our electric bills (we don’t have gas), but we did think they’d be lower than at our old house.

In the first year, we found that we were right and we were averaging $125/month for electricity for a family of four. A little more during the hottest and coldest months and a little less in the spring and fall when we don’t have the heat or AC on.

Imagine our surprise this week when last month’s electric bill came and it was only $66! We’re still not 100% certain it’s not a mistake, but for now we’re gloating over our lowest electric bill in over 15 years.

I mentioned last week that I’ve been busy mulching the paths around the kitchen garden.  Here’s what it looks like now:

Sorry for the crappy photo quality; I took the photo through the window of the girls’ toy room.

Anyway, I know this all looks overwhelmingly brown, but from the ground it’s not like that.  The main kitchen garden is the large rectangle in the middle and you can see the stepping stones I’ve used to divide the garden into eight sections and to enable me to walk between planting areas.

I still have more mulching to do at the top around the raised bed for strawberries.

The skinny strip along the fence is blueberry bushes, grapevines, and flowers.  The area at the bottom is for peonies and, eventually, more flowers.  The area to the right is roses, hydrangeas, and other flowers and herbs.

As you can see, my plants need to do a lot of growing to fill in.

Way back in the upper left corner, I have raspberries and this spring planted two apple trees.  I hope to plant more apples and also cherry trees at some point.

I’m planning to start planting edamame and cannellini beans this weekend and, in another 10 days or so, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and more!

Oh people, there’s been an explosion of growth in the garden lately.  But before I show you that, let me tell you about my most recent project.

I’ve been wanting some height in the garden.  Some sort of arbor or trellis that I could paint cobalt blue for a pop of color, then plant flowers that will grow up it.  I really wanted cedar tuteurs, but boy-howdy are they expensive.

I came up with a compromise:

Okay, so not a great photo, but hopefully you get the idea.  I bought bamboo poles and spray-painted them cobalt blue, then tied them together with light blue grosgrain ribbon.  Instead of spending $240 + shipping/handling for two (not that I was actually going to spend that kind of money), I spent less than $20 including the spray paint.  Plus, I got to spray paint!  I haven’t decided what vines to plant on them, but I’m sure I’ll find something fun soon.

What else is going on out in the garden?

Here’s my old fashioned garden by the back door:

Wow, quite a contrast with a year ago.

Over on the far left, there’s a pink rose by the fence and some lilac colored irises just in front.  Up in the front, I have alliums that are about to bloom, loads of bee balm (a.k.a. monarda), rose campion, and purple and white coneflowers.  (Not that any of those will be blooming for at least a month.)  Back there in the middle, that small shrub is a lilac that did nothing at all last year.  It didn’t grow at all, much less bloom.  It must have known that I had murder in my heart this spring, because all of sudden it just started growing.  To the left of it, near the rose, is a peony that probably won’t bloom for at least another two weeks.  There are supposed to be foxgloves there in the back by the house, but they probably won’t do much for another year or two.  With foxgloves, I usually put in plants every year for three or four years and also throw seeds down every single year.  Eventually, they’ll take hold and wow me every spring.  In front of the rock border, you can see some of the creeping jenny I have in the path.

In the kitchen garden, I’ve mostly been busy with mulch:

Okay, so that’s not a great angle.  It was taken near the top of the hill, looking downward.  Basically, I’ve been mulching all the grass paths around the kitchen garden.  All of the light brown spots are either food or flower gardens that are mulched with shredded cypress and the dark brown places are mulched with chipped pine.  I’ll take better photos soon.

In the kitchen garden itself, the asparagus is going gangbusters.

Considering that I planted only a dozen spears a year ago, I’m pleased with how well the asparagus is doing.  I planted another dozen spears this year too, so eventually I’ll have a really nice asparagus harvest every spring.

Up in the front yard, we have a lot of color too.

Compare that with last year and you’ll be amazed.  Eventually, that whole area will be filled with phlox in a variety of colors.  The butterfly bushes don’t look great right now because I had to cut them back pretty severely.  Most were badly crushed by the snow, but all have rebounded nicely.  I’ll be covering more grass with mulch soon and adding more butterfly bushes for more color (and butterflies!).

Woo hoo!  I love this time of year.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been focused on mulching and also covering the grass paths with landscaping paper and chipped mulch.  Photos soon, I promise.

Today I added 12 more Jersey Knight asparagus plants to the asparagus area of the garden, bringing the total to 24.  I also bought strawberry plants.  I had planned to buy a dozen, but the guy at the garden shop told me that four should do and even then I’ll likely need to thin out the raised bed next year.  The plants are already producing, so we’ll have strawberries soon.

I bought loads of herbs — dill (for pickles), tri-color sage (for the colors), pineapple sage (for the smell), and loads of lavender and chives.  I put lavender in both of the rose gardens and at the ends of the garden rows (to repel some pests, as well as attract bees).  The chives went into the rose gardens to in order to repel Japanese beetles.

Also bought, but not planted:  a grape vine and various annuals that I couldn’t resist.  All those will stay on the back porch and will come in at night.  I’ll plant them in about a month.

As for what I planted a few weeks ago, the peas are already popping up.  No signs yet of carrots or spinach.  The lettuces are looking good too and I expect that we’ll be having salads in a week or two.