My garden sucks so far this year. It’s true, it does. I planted some stuff. Some creature is eating my lettuce. My peas are turning so yellow, I might start calling them pees. My raised beds, so eager to have plants in March, are still sitting empty – except for the occasional weed and random plants that I put in about a month ago.
I’d like to say that I just haven’t had time. But the reality is you make time for what you want. So I just have not made the time for my garden yet this year. I keep thinking next week I’ll get to it. . . .Then it’s next week.
But I refuse to feel guilty. I told myself that if I’m going to garden it has to be source of stress relief, not a reason to stress.
Even though I think it’s lame, I still took some photos for you.
It’s been rainy this past week, so everything was covered with a light shower. My strawberries (pictured above at the very top) are actually doing great! They require so little work – thank you strawberries. My plant really grew from last year. They are mixed in with grass and weeds. It’s a mess, but the berries are growing.
Meet Tomato plant #1. She’s doing splendidly. She even has some buds. She has one friend – another tomato plant. That’s all I have for tomatoes in the ground right now.
My snap peas. I have a whole long row of these beauties, which have yellow leaves and bases (what am I doing wrong?). These poor babies have nothing to climb on. The lattice broke that I had last year and I went to pick up a new lattice, but it didn’t fit into our little car. So I need to take some twine and give them some simple strings to climb up. It would probably take me 15 minutes with a staple gun. And although it’s a simple, needed, task I haven’t done it yet. Next week. 🙂 Please don’t report me to C. Pea. S. for being a bad pea mother. I promise I’ll do better.
Meet Sage. I planted him a few weeks ago and he decided to bloom. What the heck is up with that? Why is my sage blooming and is that the same thing as bolting? I have no idea. No idea. I need some sage advice. Literally. Help me out.
And meet Oregano. He’s doing fine. I thought after the fact that I should have planted him in a pot, so it would not take over the small raised bed I have him in. We’ll see what happens. . .
And although I can’t seem to make time for my garden, I do have thyme in my garden. And this blasted plant is blooming too. What does this mean? I have no idea. If you have thyme, please leave me a comment and let me know. 🙂
And rosemary. I love you. Thank you for growing like gangbusters, even though the only time I pay attention to you is when I’m cutting a branch for roasted chicken. You are a good friend for growing without complaint or random blooms.
And then we have Walla Walla Sweet onions. I’m hoping that they are doing well. The shoots sure do look pathetic. But I’m hoping I’m growing some sweet onions under the surface.
And look at this beauty. This is what heads of lettuce look like when they are being eaten by something. They are the same size as when I planted them nearly a month ago. And I haven’t even harvested anything yet!
I caught the chickens eating them once. But I have been watching them and haven’t seen them over there again. It must be a rabbit or something coming at dawn/dusk and getting some grub. Please ignore the weeds and tall grass surrounding the plants – the chickens are slacking on the job.
I do have some heads of lettuce that are doing better and I’m excited to maybe harvest some in the next few weeks. If we can keep the slugs and critters away.
My flowers seem to be doing okay, no thanks to me.
This unassuming potted plant is a climbing rose from my husband’s great grandma’s climbing rose plant in Tennessee. His grandpa gave us a cutting last year and it’s just taken off this year. I have to find a very special place to plant it.
One of the last spring tulips. . .I’ll miss them and hope to plant more next year!
These hydrangea plants are still in the pots – my mother’s day gift from my darling kids. I need to find a place to plant them! What kind of area do they like?
I love, love, love these irises when they bloom. We brought a few tubers from our old house when we moved. I don’t know what variety they are, but they are tall and gigantic.
And another pretty iris. Even on rainy days, you can usually find a bright spot. 🙂
What’s going on in your yard this week?
Shannon says
Hey Heather, your peas need more dirt around them. They also need something to grow up against. Some type of wire fencing works well. I have my greens beans growing up against fencing. Your tomatoes need cages around them. Your lettuce looks fine. Probably slugs getting to them. Since you have free roaming chickens, they are probably getting into things also. Sluggo bait works wonders with slugs and other bugs to. But I don’t know if it’s safe for chickens. But beer put in a tuna can works well too. Also, if your not to squeamish, you can kill the slugs when you find them ( I use sluggo as I’m a wuss and don’t have any beer or chickens) Your herbs really need to be in their own containers as they will take over your garden bed. Cut them back and cut the flowers off them as they shouldn’t be there. Your flowers are beautiful =) Your onions will do great. Patience is all it takes. Yes the rain sucks right now. If your concerned about your soil being to hot then add more dirt and mix it up and around it’ll be fine. I have 4 beds as I’m in a community garden. And some things are growing great cuz of the rain some aren’t but will as we get sun. I’m not expecting much from tomatoes. Due to the weather that is. But still am hopeful. Hope this helps.
Tara says
You may want to put a tomato cage around your maters before they get to big you cannot do it anymore. One thing you can do for your peas is to put a handful or so of soil around the base of them. It will help protect the roots. Putting in something for them to climb on will help them not look so stressed at the bottom, as the weight of the plant leaning can cause the to uproot them selves and/or break. I would also get a veggie fertilizer. Sometime chicken poo can be to hot unless it has had a lot of time to decompose. This can burn your plants and make them look yellow.
There is some stuff that you can buy called liquid fence. There is some for bunnies and deer and cats and dogs. I have only found it at Sunbirds. You just spray it around the perimeter of your garden and it is supposed to keep rabbits and ect out. I have never used it but people I know have and says it works. You can also get the mesh net and surround your garden.
Good Luck!
melissa says
trim back the blossoms on your herbs bc when they bloom they are putting all there energy into being pretty…the thing with herbs, well, what I have found is that you need to trim them back…use them in cooking so they don’t bloom…when you trim them back , just a few inches off the top, they bush out and produce more stems. Roses are heavy feeders…find a plant food that is specially made for roses and watch out for aphids. Those little buggers are hard to get rid of if they cover the plant. Check the now and then to catch them early. The irises are beautiful! I think slugs got your lettuce so get some sluggo or something that is safe for gardening, or beer, and I put my line of defense outside the raised garden. I don’t completely believe them when they say it is safe. I have to go back to what I am doing. But you are doing better than me. I have asked my husband to help me rototill the garden space out but he has been putting it off. I have starter plants planted from seed but alas no garden to put them in. He decided he wanted to move the garden this year…ugh. So I am stuck right now.
Ardelle Gotcher says
If you get aphids, a small amount of Ivory liquid dish soap in a spray bottle of water, mix and spray aphids. this will kill them!
Mickayla says
This is my first year trying a garden and my plants started really well when we had all that nice warm sunshine, lately they have just maintained and not gotten much bigger. With the weather we have been having I can’t help but think that the plants are just missing the warm sunshine! My father told me not to plant anything before Memorial day so maybe you are just in time to get started with planting the rest of your beds.
I planted marigold near my lettuce to keep the slugs away and it seems to be working. Evidently they don’t like the marigolds.
When I was researching the herb garden a while back I ran across this blog post and found it very useful.
http://skinnygourmet.blogspot.jp/2008/05/ten-mistakes-new-herb-gardeners-make.html
Good luck!
LisaL says
Peas like to be planted close together so they may do better adding more. To keep my beds from being eaten this year I added hoops with wildlife netting over it to keep out any squirrels, birds, etc. (especially handy for me in the seed stage.)
Judy says
I planted small garden in containers and am finding slugs and spiders on them plus with all this rain the few containers that had holes to drain on the side seem to be doing better I have tomato plants,three types of cucumbers,walla walla onions I have not planted yet and few herbs peppermint, is one of them its late I forgot the rest I love your site and reading and seeing the pictures you are doing well and I figure we will learn as we go along and get better ever single year.
Lisa Johnson says
Hey heather a thought came to me after i read the above comment , “stop comparing your gardent to others” what a statement! we could apply this to a whole heck of a lot of things…especially for us ladies! anyway… a small a ha moment for me… about the thyme…an herbalist told me that whatever herbs etc are growing wild in your garden it’s exactly what your body needs… SO apparently you need some thyme… probably both if your life looks like mine. 😀 google homeopathic uses for thyme… and get to it! kidding!
Julie2 says
Oh Heather, your garden is not lame. Stop comparing your garden to others. I also have something eating my peas & chard. In fact, I woke up last weekend to 100% of my charge being gone in one morning (im assuming a rabbit). He left all the kale for me, that was nice. Sunnier days will help with finding time to garden. Your pictures are beautiful.
kyli says
Do you fertalize your veggies? Your peas may need some more nitrogen. Plus their roots are very shallow so they can dry out faster than some of your other plants. I know lack of water is not the case around here but just a thought.
Heather Clarke says
We use our chickens poop mixed in with the soil, all winter, as a fertilizer. I *may* have let them get a little dry. 🙂 I didn’t realize that about the roots, I’ll try and be better about watering them.