In the Garden Pictures

Top: Snow Peas  Bottom:  Super Sugar Snap Peas

Radishes, romaine, red leaf lettuce and mint!

Everyday I'm seeing more and more stuff to harvest in the garden.  I've been harvesting boysenberries, sugar snap peas, snow peas, romaine lettuce, rosalita leaf lettuce, radishes (pink, white, red half red & white!), green onions, and mint.  In the next week or so I should be able to harvest spinach and zucchini squash.  I'm already seeing green tomatoes and little bell & hot peppers forming.  This is such an exciting time in the garden.  I love just walking around and checking on the progress of all the plants while munching on raw sugar snap and snow peas.

Phyllis

Bella

I've started letting my Polish hens, Phyllis and Bella, roam the garden.  It really is entertaining to watch them scratching the weeds I've left here and there for them searching for insects.  I even turn over a planter stone or two to surprise them with some big fat ones in hiding.  You should see them run after those little invaders.  This may sound weird, but I am so looking forward to the day I find one of those evil, plump tomato horn worms so I can turn it over to the wrath of the chickens.  A fitting death!  I've been hand picking squash beetles and rolly polly's (that's what we've called them since kids) over to the girls and I haven't seen any squash beetles in two days!

Don't forget, walk your garden every day if you can.  You'll be amazed with the day to day progress and might catch a problem before it's beyond repair.  Also, think of having bird feeders and hummingbird feeders nearby.  Yes, they may eat a bit of your garden here and there, but they will eat far more insects.  I love my little ecosystem right there in the garden.  Sit for a spell and you'll probably see at least 2-3 lizards sunning themselves or on the hunt for bugs.  Come out at night with a flashlight and you'll spot several pairs of glowing eyes from the spiders.  Everyone's welcome as long as they play nice.  Don't play nice and you will be eaten!