Monday Garden Club

It's been a rainy week here again. Not like monsoon rain or anything but a little everyday with no chance to dry up between rains to get out there and do some work. Finally yesterday as the rain held off for most of the day, we were finally able to get some much needed weeding done.

The Gardener used his ATV with the cultivator on the back to work up between the rows and the girls and I weeded around the individual plants and uncovered some of the pea plants the Gardener covered up with dirt on one pass. He didn't kill any though!

I ended up replanting the Lima beans that never came up. I used the same seeds so we'll see what happens... I also picked up a small pot of mesclun lettuces at the Farmer's Market last week (although the guy who sold them to me kept calling them masculine) and I planted them in the row where only half of the lettuce seeds I planted actually came up.

The spinach I started ahead of time is almost ready to pick and the spinach I sowed directly into the garden is right behind it.

While the girls and I were on our hands and knees pulling weeds around the radishes we found that some of them were ready! Radishes are a super quick crop that grows almost overnight. The woman I buy eggs and that delicious pork that's in my freezer from is also doing a CSA this year for the first time and we talk gardening every time I stop in. Anyhow, she was telling me that if the weather is very warm, radishes will become spicier and this year hers were almost too spicy with all the warm weather we had several weeks ago. (She planted hers a few weeks before mine.) Ours are plenty spicy for me but the Gardener thought they were perfect. A quick rinse in the sink and a sprinkling of salt with a cold beer is his favorite way to eat them.

Baby summer squash! Only about 2 inches long but within a week it should be big enough to harvest.
The tomato bushes plants are growing like crazy and one of my goals for this week (if the rain stays away) will be to go out there and trim up the tomato plants and start training them up the cages. The trimming being the same theory as the pepper plants I mentioned last week and too tomato plants tend to get very big and sprawl-y very easily so I'm trying to get a jump on it and maybe control some of the tomato insanity. Did I mention I planted over 25 tomato plants? And I only have 10 tomato cages, but I can stake the rest.
Still picking strawberries!

strawberries and radishes picked yesterday

Also, the pick your own strawberry farm right down the road from our house is now open for the season. Binny and I went the day they opened (I'm kind of a stalker like that) which also happened to be the last day of school. We picked two ice cream buckets full in only about 20 minutes. We then had enough time to clean them up, dip them in some melted chocolate, put 4 of them in a cute little box as a gift to the bus driver as she dropped off Mae for the last time this school year. Gotta keep those bus drivers happy! After all, how many winter mornings did she wait for us while I was scurrying around making sure the girls had hats and mittens and shoving boots on their feet?

Now for all you gardeners out there who wish to participate, either leave a comment on what's growing in your yard, or post a Monday Garden Club update on your blog. Don't forget to drop your link in the comments and I'll add it to this post.

Participating Blogs:

Out In Them Sticks: Today's Update and Purple Cauliflower Harvest

Ma Vie Folle
Secret Mom Thoughts
Raising 2 Boys 1 Day At A Time
Naked Opinions