Well, it’s that time of the week… my late Sunday Garden Update!

Actually, there wasn’t much going on last Sunday, so I decided to hold off. Now, there’s much more to report, so here we go!

Today was a good work day because Tim came over to keep us moving along. I’m super excited, my Dad is coming up to visit and it’s been a super long time since I’ve seen him last. The girls are really looking forward to this all, and of course, we’ve got a list as long as our arm of things we want to get done and spruced up here at the old Moby!

Onions and garlic are doing super well! They apparently really like the south side of the Moby better than the east side. I think it’s just a little more sunnier over there. That side of the Moby farm is definitely going to be my money maker. I’m so glad we added the four large beds.

And the carrot tape is coming up!! Yah! Of course, the little carrot babies are teeny-tiny. But they are in a lovely little row. I hope they continue to do nicely over there.

My herb experiement is doing pretty nicely. I’ve got this lovely oregnano that’s getting a little wild… my mint is doing lovely… sweet basil and rosemary and chives. I plan to do a little herb harvest this weekend and try out my dehydrator for them. Should be interesting.

I planted mint under the little cherry trees. It’s a lovely green cover and growing nicely. I am hoping that it will be a nice “mulch” so to speak, for the large pots, and cover up the dirt look without having to plant a bunch of flowering things and such underneath the cherry trees.

Jessy shot a lovely picture of my plant that is called Goat’s Beard. I believe. It’s a neat plant, in a dark purple stem and such, with these delicate little cream flowers. I thought I had killed it, but it’s doing really well. All my perennials are really kicking it into high gear this year. Here’s another shot I took a few days after hers.

Well, Jessy and I planted over 42 tomato plants in the beds. I’m kind of wondering what the heck I’m going to do with all the tomatoes. I’m really the only fresh tomato eater… and the girls will eat them in stewed tomatoes, some sauces and of course ketchup, as long as I keep it simple. They do not like salsa. I have a bad feeling that people are going to be running in terror from me when I have pound after pound of tomatoes to give away. I might have to start leaving them on doorsteps and running. Well, I had 10 varieties that I wanted to try and I planted pretty much 4 each, and had two extras that the seed company sent me! (Pink Ponderosa) Should be an interesting tomato year!

I hate to admit it, but I have another 20 plants still in the cold frame! I put them into 3 large pots and I will let them keep growing there, but I’m hoping that I can find a home for them. Hate to just let them die off. They are all great heirloom tomatoes. I might see if my neighbors would like some. Or my buddy Jeff. He said he wanted to grow a couple tomato plants this year. Hmmmm….

I have this lovely milkweed plant that is growing at the corner of my front flower bed. Some might think it’s a weed, but in reality, I’m excited about it. It started last year and we actually had a few monarch caterpillars find it! They love milkweed. And it’s a native species here in our Oak Openings wildlife region. I was so excited to find that it’s sprouted out another plant and it’s growing up nicely. I wouldn’t mind if I had a little milkweed patch there! I can’t wait to show the girls the pods and all.

My two little Meyer lemon trees were not doing well in the house. They just seemed to be, well, dormant. I know I can’t leave them out all year long, but I am hoping that if they get a good 4 months of sunshine and rain, that they will be a little more content to be in the house come fall and winter. And then back out in the springtime. I just would love to have a little lemon tree in the house! I’ve seen pictures of the Meyers inside and I just think it’s marvelous! I do have a few very sunny spots and I’ll be sure to make sure they get a better spot than my desk. Much too dark in there.

Now outside? They are doing really well. One of them must have like 8 to 10 new leaves on it and it’s growing nicely. It’s neat to see how well they are doing outside.

This is my little rag-tag flat of peppers that I’m going to plant either tomorrow or maybe Friday. There are about 16 or 18 of them. Different varieties. Some are doing better than others. I think peppers are a bit hard to start by seed. They just seemed touchy. I suppose I should have started them way earilier! They don’t look like a whole lot. But hopefully once I get them into the raised beds, they will get perking. They are almost all sweet peppers, not hot. But I did get two hot varieties to see how that goes. I can’t eat them but I have friends that love hot stuff, so we’ll see if I can scorch them with some fancy heirloom oddities of the pepper world!

Last but not least… we created the Puppy Containment Force Field 5000. We were having an issue of little Evee outside and her need to just run around like a gumby! She’s a bit too little to be tied to a leash and all, especially for play time. Yet, she hasn’t learned her “yard” yet. After a few too many late nights chasing the little runt all over the place in the dark… and being afraid of loosing her, we opted to put up a little bit of temporary fencing to slow her down a bit. And give her the freedom to race around and grow strong puppy legs and just have fun. And the PCFF5000 is good for old dogs too, that think wandering is quite ok. We fenced in around the apple trees, along the strawberry patch and then across to the Moby in front of the eastern raised beds. It’s only 3 feet tall and easy enough to walk over. We just used some little electric fence posts that are pointed and easy to drive in the ground and move around. To be honest, it’s hard to see from a distance so I don’t think anyone is going to complain. We’re not suppose to build permanent enclosing fences, but I see plenty of folks with decorative and privacy type fences, so I think it will be fine for a while, until the puppy gets a little older. Like I said, it is just temporary until she learns a little better leash behavior and to not take off running all willy nilly whenever she wants to.

Well, we were all so busy this afternoon, I didn’t take any pictures… but Tim helped out so much. He hung the last pair of shutters on the south side windows. I stumbled upon a pair at the discount table at Lowes! $12! Cheaper than even the ReStore store! (Which I looked at first, but none in the right color and size! And they wanted $15 a pair!) Those last pair completes the Shutter of the Month club!! He fixed the screen door where the storm had broke the bottom of the frame and a couple BAD KITTIES had clawed up the screening. (To be honest, it was Nina Kitty that got it all started. Luna and Dixie are not screen clawers by nature, but once it was bad, they just helped a bit.) He added a screen to the bathroom window… yeah! No more moths and buggies in the house! And he planted some plants in my window box… (I’m not very good on ladders!) And cut a board to lay in my frig, because we accidentally broke the glass shelf and it’s $60 to fix! This nice white melanie board was almost perfect to fit in there and didn’t cost nuthin’ cuz I had it laying about from some project. It came from the Ikea discount area and I think it was like 50 cents. He even added some hooks to the shed to help train the wisteria on! All good stuff! With some of those little naggy problems done, we’re ready for our visit! We love the old Moby and we want to show her off to my Dad in all her glory.

Well, that’s the update so far! Maggie harvested another pound of strawberries from the patch… we’re up to 2 pounds of harvest from the farm! I know it’s not a ton, but it feels so great, it’s hard to explain. Gonna be another Cherrios breakfast with those little sweet strawberries all over!

Speaking of strawberries… our local u-pick-it place just opened and I believe next week on a slightly cooler, overcast day (so we don’t get SUNBURNT) we’re going to go and pick at least 20 pounds of the little critters. Going to freeze some whole, and maybe some sliced and then make up some jam! I love strawberries and my girls are kind of okay with them. Maggie’s a bit better… Jessy is still kind of learning to appreciate berries! I still have some blueberries left from last year, but this year we’re going to have plenty of local, delicious strawberries in our freezer and pantry! Can’t wait!!!

Well, off to bed… just wanted to update a few posts that I had rattling around. And the lovely pictures to share with them! Hope everyone just about has all their gardens in place!!!