Wednesday, May 11, 2011

garden happenings this week

hiving the bees

sprouting potatoes

repotting tomato seedlings

radishes, arugula, onions, garlic

yellow onion sets

like heather, i like to keep a gardening journal.  it's a practice i started when i first began gardening five years ago (i think i got the idea from you grow girl, which is coincidentally by the same author as grow great grub, which natalie wrote about yesterday).  i'm so glad i got into this habit right away and have stuck with it through the years.  to be honest, i've noticed that my note-taking gets steadily less detailed and more infrequent as the season progresses, but that's okay (for example, last year i noted when the lilac first bloomed in the spring, but neglected to note how many garlic cloves i planted and what types were planted where in the fall, oops!)

anyways, it's been a busy week, so i thought i'd just share some of the happenings from my garden this week:

may 2: radishes are sprouting, and a little bit of the arugula too.  still no carrots though.  the bees came yesterday and the hiving was very successful-can't wait!  must sprout potatoes.

may 8: planted onions-2 containers and some in the ground in between the garlic and arugula.  about 30 yellow onions, i think.  thinned out the radishes.  arugula, lettuce and peas are sprouting, and i think the carrots are finally coming up too.  first farmers market!  i bought some herbs-thyme, rosemary, and sage.  started hardening off seedlings and repotted the tomatoes into bigger pots.  all potatoes were sprouting even though i never took them out of the box.  bought supplies to build potato towers. 

may 11: seedlings have been outside for 3 nights now-still on the porch.  i need to move them into the sun.  thinned arugula and added string to the pea trellises so they can climb.  cut up potatoes this morning, so hopefully i can plant the towers tomorrow.  it's been really hot yesterday and today (almost 90!) and humid and rainy.  bees are doing well- chris came by monday, the queens are alive (with eggs) in both hives.

what's happening in your garden these days?

6 comments:

  1. Yay for beekeeping with miss Chris!

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  2. We built a Kenyan top bar hive at work but I guess they already swarmed and now we have to get anew queen. :-(

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  3. OK what did you do to get your potatoes to sprout like that? The instructions from seed savers said "leave them in a bright, warm place" but NOTHING is happening, and they've been in the bright warm place for over two weeks now. I've gotta get those babies planted! Do share.

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  4. jennifer--honestly- i didn't do anything! i had opened the box but left the potatoes in there for about 2 weeks and then when i finally took them out this past weekend, they were all crazy sprouted. these are from seed savers too- last year i also had no trouble sprouting them. maybe try calling or emailing them? sorry i'm not more help!

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  5. I like the idea of a garden journal. I can imagine that as the seasons progress and harvest takes hold of your life, the note taking might become sparse. My garden consists of two yellow pear tomato plants in containers and a basil plant that I repotted today. We're moving mid summer and renting, so I haven't planted or grown much. But I'm happy to note that I have spotted one tiny flower on each tomato plant.

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