Spinach

Pic Taken 5/21/2010

Spinach Sprouts off the ground

pic Taken 6/2/2010

Mature plants (after some had been picked off)

Pic Taken 6/2/2010

This year we had a fair amount of spinach. It was tender enough for salads (uncooked) in the early season. But as the heat increased the leaves toughen. But they were still tender enough to to be eaten spasely cooked in Indian dishes.

Pic Taken 6/5/2010
The best harvesting season lasted about 3 weeks in June


Pic taken 6/13/2010

Reaching a thier end. The big plant in the middle is a Squash plant growing in the spinach patch, probably seeded itself from the compost

The Layout

Pic Taken 6/26/2010

We have stuck mostly to the simple structure we laid out for our vegetable that we started with last year. Our vegetable garden consists of four 4 feet by 24 feet patches. Arranged in an L shape, two horizontal and two vertical to the plot.

Pic Taken 6/17/2010

Given our success with composting with the last year, we have gotten a little more adventurous with composting this year, adding waste meat from our kitchen/table to the compost. The challenge last year was keeping the wild critters out of the bin. We were not very successful with that, I think we had everything from rats, rabbits, raccoons and even a fox in our bin last year. So we moved the compost bin nearer to the garden, away from the prairie and the bushes. That didn't quite deter the rat, so we dug and laid a fence into the soil. After a couple of weeks of a repetitive digging and filling match between us and the critter, it finally gave up. So this time we hope the critters have surrendered.

Pic Taken 5/2/2010

The black patch verical to the right is my experimental patch. This patch is covered with a black cloth to increase the soil temperature and grow plant that like more warmth. We have Peppers, Watermelons, Okra(ladies finger), eggplants(Brinjal), on this patch. So far its seems successful.

Daisy

Pic Taken 5/21/2010

The daisies died out in the heat they probably needed more water where they were. Or perhaps the spot they were in was too sunny for them.

Lillies

Pic Taken 5/21/2010

The Lillies bloomed in mid June. The blossoms have fallen off and the stocks are still alive. There were three different colors, yellow, orange & red.

Pic Taken 6/17/2010

Roses

Pic Taken 6/4/2010

There were two yellow buds an one red that have blossomed so far. But in the last month the bushes have been battling fungus some of the leaves in the background of the red flower bush can be seen with brown spots from the fungus.

Pic Taken 6/17/2010

Pic Taken 6/8/2010

Tulips in Full Bloom

Pic Taken 4/13/2010

These were the pics taken when the tulips were in full bloom. After they bloom the plants live for a couple of months and then die down to the base of the stem by summer. They are gone now for this year.

Pic Taken 4/15/2010

Pic Taken 4/15/2010

Tulips

Pics taken 4/11/2010

Tulips

Pic taken 4/16/2010

Tulips come out

We planted tulip bulbs in November last year. They started sprouting in March (pic taken 3/19/2010)

Flower bed

This Flower bed has three rose bushes, Tulips, Seedum. We've added some more since this picture was taken (Pic taken 5/21/2010)

Welcome Season 2010

The snow banks are begining to retreat, the edge of the lawn is begining to show. Granted, it is mostly brown, the temperature is starting to climb up above the freezing point more often. Its time for old man winter to go off on his annual sojourn. And its time to begin thinking about gardening again.

This year we have had more time to plan. So I have come up with a plan for our vegatable garden. We plan to plant 32 different varieties plants, which include vegatables, fruits, greens and herbs. Today, I completed a detailed plan for all the plants including quantity, dates and locations in the garden for each plant. I searched the internet for the last frost date for Cedar Rapids and found a couple of opinions. I chose to place my bets on April 29th being the last frost date.

I started seeds for the eggplants. I hope to have 8 hopefully healthy plants by the end of April. Fingers crossed