10 week update !!!!!

  Here it is at 10 weeks already. Erik started hounding me last week for fresh fruit and veges. I never thought I would hear those words come out of his mouth as for 22 years he has been a meat and potatoes kinda guy. I explained to him that Mother Nature ALWAYS starts her bounty in June. like I said I'm not so sure planting early helped at all , they just grew a little slower. Maybe if I had a greenhouse but I'm not so sure I want or need that.

  The Teepees are doing well. Not much vining on my beans but I do have blossoms and approx 20 green beans. Not sure but I may have bought a different variety than last year. The cucumbers are going to town. Lots of little 1" cukes.

 The trees are doing well .I took care of my earwig problem and no more munching on the leaves. I read that earwigs love to munch on stone fruit so that's a good thing. Saw a bird picking earwigs out of the oil in a cat food can the other day. I guess I made "bird sardines". 

  My apple tree finally flowered. It's such a little thing I thought maybe it needed another year. I'm glad to see it flowering later as that means I will have space between the fruit harvests. 

 I had some plastic and pegboards so I decided to try burning the weeds out of this area. It is part of the flood plain and one of my worst weedy areas. After the rainy season I will move it to another part of my yard and see if it worked.  My berries are growing gangbusters. 

 As are the grapes. They were creating a grape wall about 10 feet tall by vines twining together. I retrained them and kind of wished I had done the entire middle fence in grapes.that would be a lot of grapes for us though . I guess one makes raisins ?

 The corn is as high as an elephants eye, actually not. The first section is about three foot and it is beginning to tassel. This is where the rubber meets the road. Do I spray insecticide for cutworms or go organic and put mineral oil on the tassels with my fingers crossed. I did find a cut worm in the weeds next to it while cleaning up. I'm thinking of looking for an organic product but not so sure they are out there. 

The main garden is doing middling to fair .I need to start training the tomatillos up the sides of the pens. They are flowering like CRAZY!!!! My "baby" tomatoes are really starting to grow as well. One died and something ate the top of another but I always plant more than I need to . The peppers are starting to grow. I do remember in years past they grow best in the heat of summer so I'm not really worried.

    That big black ugly thing is some old retail racks. One of of my potato conundrum fixes. It is full of straw. We shall see what happens.

 Poor Pierre needs a makeover. Erin will be home soon for a visit so I'm making her fix him. Maybe this year he will have a little "post punk" revival. All three of my squash varieties have squash babies on them. I have zucchini, patty pan and spaghetti squash. I'm just waiting for them wiley critters to come munch on them. It seems they always get the first ones. I'm going to put some bird net on them today.

 I planted watermelon, cantaloupe and the pumpkins in the tree rounds. I lost 3 watermelon plants to some kind of bug , probably earwigs as the can under that tree is mega full. looks like they will do well.

My eggplants have started to flower. They are  a later season producer however.

My citrus grove is kind of status quo but the little trees are working on growing fruit so plant growth is at a minimum.

Artichokes anyone? This plant is on steroids. Currently there are 4 chokes. The big one is just in time for Erin's visit. My artichoke eating partner.

 My avocados have made it!!!  Woohoo!!!  I really thought the frost killed them. Very frustrated however as they were prime for their first year of fruit. I think this is going to be a year of regrowth. Behind them on the fence are my Mothers Day kiwis. Cross your fingers for me as I'm thinking they will be very high maintenance and may not live.

Onions are growing great guns.

My Roma tomatoes are finally catching up with their onion partners. No white fly yet.

Finally my cilantro in the pig trough is starting to grow. These are from seeds saved last year. Its the first thing I have grown from seeds I have saved . I'm a proud Mama !!!!