This is the Garden for Spring 2008. For last years' Garden page click here
Planted May 18, a lot earlier than last year	Sammy, tired after digging up rocks!

Working the kid

Karma keeping watch

One of Sammy's rocks he was bringing to me !

The herbs, dill and parsley are in this planter

Lawn looks nice when it's freshly mowed!

Not so good when the lawn mowers down!

This year I planted, going from left to right: Regular Big Boy and Jet Star tomatoes, two rows of peppers, some hot, some not, yellow and zuchinni squash, cucumbers and finally Celery. We have green beans and peas growing along the trellis side. I think, yet another year I have spaced my squash a little too close to the others! The space their giant leaves take could block the sun and stunt growth to other plants. I think next year they might get their own garden. We are already seeing flowers and small squashes growing here on June 15. The peppers are seeing some bug damage as you can see in the 1st picture below, I need to find a way to stop this with either a non-pesticide mix or a fine mesh covering.

A month later June 15, growing well

Another view on June 15

You can see cherry tomatoes growing on ground next to garden. They're from last years seeds that fell into the soil.

Yet another view

Dill and parsley doing well

Starting some sunflowers, I might put them along my back fence.

It is now June 28, everything is taking off. I have trimmed the zuchinni back somewhat to allow the peppers, celery and cucumbers room to see the sun. We are seeing numerous squash fruits, should be ready to pick in a week or less. There are a few small tomatoes, but right now they are just taking off in their heavy vegetative growth before starting to produce in a few weeks.

Getting bigger, June 28 2008

Zuchinni's need to have their own garden!

Seeing many small yellow squash and zuchinnis

The celery and the cucumbers competing for light, cucumbers rolling off the edge. I might give them something to climb on.

The beans are just starting to poke through the trellis. Their growth has been slow due to the out of control squash taking the light.

Spice planter doing well, I can see some dog activity, though. I guess Sammy or Karma likes parsley!

August 6 2008, the zuchinni and yellow squash are slowing down. I must have had about thirty of them each, running out of recipes and mom and dad and the people at work have gotten their share. The tomatoes are coming in now in droves. I have a tiny bit of cherry tomatoes, a bunch of jet star tomatoes and a bunch of big ugly ripe ones. The cucumbers got shaded too much from the squash leaves as did the peppers and the beans and peas.

Some of the squash harvest.

Mean Garden picture! Mean Garden, mean weather, mean lawn!!

A typical early August picking, now the tomatoes are taking over

Kailey says this tomato looks like a puppy!

I'm not sure how this is happening, maybe it's the occasional tomato that I throw to Sammy for him to eat or seeds that are in the soil but tomato plants are cropping up everywhere! There is one that has just appeared growing out of the spice planter. There are a few all over the lawn in spots and they are spreading over the garden. Guess I should stock up on the tomato recipes!

The parsley's getting big, a stray tomato plant made it's way into the planter

Side view, tomato plants are propagating themselves throughout the garden!

It is now October 20th; the first real hard frost came last night and killed most everything. The tomato plants haven't been producing for a few weeks now, but the long skinny hot peppers have been producing pretty good and the fresh basil and parsley is delicious when freshly picked and brought into the kitchen to be used fresh. The basil is especially good, but it doesn't tolerate frost at all. This is evident by the fact that it was bright green and bushy and then overnight the frost turned the whole plant brown and wilted it. The tomato and pepper plants suffered a similar fate, although I probably could've watered them before nightfall and had them survive a few more days. The celery will take frost but not for long. I think I will pick the celery and scrape the top few inches off of the top of the garden to remove any seeds that might pop up next year when not wanted.

The parsley and basil right before the end.

Final frost kill October 20th 2008, basil is gone, parsley might make it for a few more recipes!

The garden right before the end, new tomato plants everywhere, not producing much, though.

After the first frost kill, only celery plants survived, they will be picked tomorrow