I feel like I haven't done a garden update in a while. I talked about strawberries briefly last week, but not a full blow update I suppose. It's been difficult coming to grips with leaving my beloved garden, and I've stopped adding things to it at this point. I will continue to document it's growth until I leave it, for you're information, and mine. Sadly I don't think I"ll be able to reap the rewards of all my hard work. Maybe I'll get someone in here who will finish the work, who knows.
The first shot is of my potato tire. I filled two tires with organic topsoil, and put about six little seed potatoes in there. I guess it's been about 10 days or so since I've done that. This morning I noticed some growth popping through the soil. I'm hoping to be here when they are ready for harvest. I would have planted bush beans and marigolds in the tires too, but like I said, I've stopped adding to the garden.
Here is a shot of my broccoli/cauliflower patch. They are doing extremely well, and I am hopeful I'll be able to snip these buggers before we head out. I plan on being in the house until the end of June, so it's a highly a possibility. This is my first time growing brassicas, so I'm reading and learning as I go. I've been told to wrap the cauliflower in it's own leaves about a week or two prior to harvesting. Perhaps this is to make it white, or has something to do with flavor. If I get the opportunity to do that, I will document it here.
My roses started blooming last week. This particular bush is a monster, and has to be frequently cut back or it will be too heavy for itself and fall over. I've tied it up in years passed but I've learned to just trim it. I gave it a harsh snipping in March just as it started to wake up from winter. It's already huge again. I'm not great with roses, there used to be two rose bushes here, and one died. How I killed it I will never know, and honestly I think it was just weak stock. To keep your roses blooming cut the dead heads immediately, you will have beautiful smelling roses all summer if you do.
This is my monstrous lavender bush. I just got this last year while visiting my best friend, and it's huge. I plan on selling the dried flower buds once they're ready. Going to keep a few for crafting, and then probably sell the rest on Etsy. Hopefully lavender is a perennial in Colorado too. It really does well in Virginia.
This organized chaos below is what I aim for in my garden. Peas climbing up their trellis, lettuce that is ready for harvest, and complete pulling up. Tomatoes growing in between said lettuce and kale, and nasturtiums filling up the spaces. Bare ground will invite weeds. Of course you don't want your jam packed garden to suffer because they're fighting for nutrients, so you have to find the right balance.
The last few days it's been raining, and it wasn't until I posted this picture did I notice the bane of my garden on the leaves. SLUGS. I hate them...and I fight them always. Can you spot the creep in the picture above? My solution though is beer, and yes it works. They are attracted to the yeast in beer, they go to it and drown, like this little f%$k is about to do (sorry, I told you I hate them). If you don't have beer on hand, then I suggest salt. It isn't great, and it feels like warfare if you have serious slug issues. It's so much nicer to set the beer trap and walk away. I honestly buy cheap beer for this purpose. I hate going out there with salt.
Die creep! There he goes!
Anyway, enjoy your day. Happy Gardening. :)
Well, hubs was out last week and found us an apartment, and things have been insane around here. Posts may lighten for the next few weeks (month?) until things get worked out. We have to wonderful beautiful cats who sadly may need new homes. If you or anyone you know in the Virginia area may be able to give these two sweet boys a home, please let me know.
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For a home grower, simple precautions can keep your berries all for you. First, try them in a container. Sometimes as the plant ages, containers can get too constricted, so if you must put them on the ground keep a close eye on them. They should have some kind of fence around them, and for any berries getting ready to turn red like this one here from my daughter's strawberry bush, put a plastic card or something underneath it. This will keep the slugs and bugs away. 
Last fall, hubs and I took the kids to Florida to visit some family. My like-minded brother took us to one of his favorite places The Girl's Strawberry Patch. I had never been to an organic strawberry patch before, and seeing how they stack the strawberries up like that in rows, I can see why they don't need pesticides. You don't even need to bend over and pick them. A very neat place.
I have the entire garden now fully planned out. I know where everything is going to go, so I went ahead and bought some perennial flowers over the weekend. I'm sticking to small flowers that attract beneficial insects, and some that spread. This is alyssum pictured here to the left. I found a yellow variety, which I thought would be nice. Cosmos, zinnias and calendulas are also a pretty and beneficial flower for your veggie garden. Who says veggies can't be pretty?? 
Here is a shot of my cauliflower. It's growing! It's been in the ground about five weeks now, and this is the only one growing any food. I'm excited, this is the first time I've grown cauliflower. If I'm still living in this house come fall, I'm planting another crop. No brocolli yet, but I will let you know as soon as I see any growing. I'm getting worried that from here on out, it will be too warm to get any good stuff growing.
Here is a shot of my lettuce, onions, peas and kale. I think there is enough lettuce for salad now, but this is the only lettuce that managed to come up this year. I had another row that didn't do anything. I blame it on the heat wave we had a few weeks back.
My next project will be with this tire here. I have some potatoes that are ready to be put in the ground, and probably should already be in the ground.
This last shot is of the gazebo in old town Front Royal.
