Garden Update

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. :)