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| Not exactly the garden but close by |
Although I wanted to write this post about the state of our community garden, I couldn't resist sharing this picture of the lilacs by the fence, which are just about exactly one month early. By mid-May, when they would usually be blooming, they'll be gone. But they sure are pretty right now.
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| Rob's is on the right, mine in the middle, and Linda's to the left |
Here's what my garden looks like with the first plants put in. I always use starts rather than seeds, because they get a much better chance to survive the onslaught of slugs if they come into my care a little larger. In the front, closest to the camera, is Romanesco broccoli, then lettuce, and regular broccoli. Farther on down are last year's leeks, which I could harvest at any time, but I'm not quite ready. And behind the leeks?
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| Strawberries in bloom |
Strawberries! Lots and lots of them, and judging by the number of blossoms, I'll be enjoying them for weeks, I'm hoping. They are super sweet and last year they hardly got a chance to ripen before I picked them and popped them into my mouth. I did give a few to Smart Guy, but I never told him how many I ate before they came into the house.
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| The cut and the uncut weeds |
Yesterday I bought a weed eater (a
Ryobi cordless one) and Rob made the first pass at the weeds. The battery died before he was half finished, so today I'm going to see how it works and make a stab at the next part. As you can see, the weeds are tall and tough to cut. That's our community garden on the left, still being prepared for our tomato and zucchini plants. But things are definitely coming along.
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| Miller High Life slug bait |
Rob has inserted these little cups throughout his garden, filled partly with beer, which attract the slugs and gives them a happy demise, I suspect. I'm going to get some of these into my own garden, but I feel very lucky to have his plot next to mine, because that means there should be fewer of them around my vegetables, too. Don't look too closely at that picture, which contains at least one drowned slug. That's the state of the Pinewood Heights 2015 community garden in mid-April!
:-)
I am very impressed. I planted nothing this year due to my bad experience last year. The humming bird flowers did well, but what with our water shortage, I just don't feel compelled to be growing anything that can't be eaten.
ReplyDeleteHappy little slugs indeed *hic*
ReplyDeleteYour garden is very impressive, and already ahead of us here, with all the cold and rain we've been having.
~Jo
How fun to be part of a community garden, DJan...I can almost smell your lilacs.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh about the strawberries comment!! Yes, I probably would have eaten more that I let on too. Looking forward to seeing your garden grow!
ReplyDeleteThe traffic feed to the right of your blog has been static for weeks. Maybe you should delete it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the veggies. And fresh strawberries? Yum.
Good slug bait! They must love drowning in the beer or they wouldn't go in there! Your Strawberries look wonderful! You may have to thin them some...or share with someone else:)
ReplyDeleteAll the challenges make gardening fun. I look after my slug problem by going out after dark with my headlamp and picking off the slugs!
ReplyDeleteBefore I started reading your blog and one or two others out west, I had no idea that our seasons are so different! Nice for you to have such a long summer!
ReplyDeleteGet those dastardly slugs!! My hubby planted our garden the other day. It's always fun to watch it grow and harvest the fresh veggies.
ReplyDeleteCan't even begin to say why I'm jealous of those lilacs. And, I recall going on slug hunts at night when I lived and gardened in Denver. Beer didn't work. Old fashioned late night murder did. Squish, squish. With glee.
ReplyDeleteTom uses bear in cups in some areas, but with the size of our yard, we also use slug bait. Tender new spring growth must be protected.
ReplyDeleteTom's greenhouse seedlings are coming along, and will be planted out something after the frist of May. That's when we'll plant warm weather crops.
Our lilacs are in bloom too. The spouse couldn't resist and cut some to put in a vase in the kitchen. They are soooo fragrant, almost overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteAnd the excitement begins! (And the work, but so worth it.) I love seeing your garden adventures. Beer to capture slugs--new facts in my world. Of course, we don't have slugs here--LOL! Best of luck for a good garden year. :)
ReplyDeleteAfraid my lilac trees wont be blooming for a bit yet, however, I can enjoy yours and almost smell them way up here in Atlantic Canada. Aah, great slug bait, and great idea. Ooh, the strawberries look lovely and you are going to have a lovely batch, by the looks of the growing there. Thank you for sharing your garden with us DJan. Have a wonderful day :)
ReplyDeletelaughing at you poaching the strawberries before bringing them in to smart guy. :)
ReplyDeletei have a battery-operated weed eater and am quite happy with it - unless i try to cut crab grass or something tough, it does pretty well and has lasted me years!
(i just know i can't get all the weed eating done at once before the battery dies.)
DeleteGood luck with your weed eater. I had a battery one and gave it away. It just caressed the weeds and left them standing.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see a slug or their handy work. Most of my beds are raised so that must deter them. Hey, at least his died happy.
Those silly slugs. They should have known better.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor was having trouble with her weed eater yesterday. I went out to tell her she could use my electric clippers if she needed. I've never tried those weed eater things. They scare me for some reason. I hope you get it going and get the weeds cut.
Your garden has the promise of much good growth to come.
I can just imagine the lovely scent of the lilacs. Slugs? Yuck! We have the same problem over here. Someone told me egg shells work. Nope. Then again maybe I didn't have enough. Strawberries! Yum! You're so lucky to have organic strawberries. I've read that the ones you get in the market are often full of pesticides.
ReplyDeleteLilacs should always come a month early, we need that boost of color after a long winter. And thank you for the slug idea. They're so yucky I don't want to pluck them off things like some people do and how tidy if they would just drop neatly into a cup and die.
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