Seedy Saturday - 11 May and More Rain

Watching the news this morning and the forecast is for some heavy rain, with probably high winds too. Of course.

While my garden is plowing on ahead, I am in full battle mode with the HOA 'policewoman' in my neighborhood. The one who came and told me this week her phone is blowing up with neighbors calling, complaining about my garden in my front yard. Which goes against the three people who have actually stopped on their way home after work to tell me how nice my garden looks.

A little history...this is the woman who showed up when I arrived to let me know I needed to spray my yard to get rid of the clover in it. I told her I would NEVER spray my yard, especially to get rid of clover.

Anyway...

Her 'issue' this summer is (1) I have tomatoes planted in front of the house, not flowers and (2) I have some chicken wire and wooden stakes in the front yard too.

First off, I live on a corner lot. Except for one tiny sliver of property, EVERYTHING could be considered my front yard. Secondly, my neighbor is more pissed off with her than I am.

Basically, I told her to stuff it. There is nothing in the by-laws other than keeping your yard mowed and any hedges neatly trimmed. Hopefully, if nothing else, the look of murder on my face has sent her on her way. And me saying 'fine me' and I'll turn it over to my property managers attorneys.

Now that the drama is hopefully out of the way, especially since the garden and plants are my way of destressing.

So it's May 11 and I already have some things I am harvesting from the garden. Of course, my goal this year is to be overrun with tomatoes and peppers. With a few cucumbers and zucchini thrown in. And herbs - lots of herb drying.

Thus far, I have harvested the following:

Lettuce - mixed varieties

Herbs - cilantro, catnip, mint

Sugar Snap Peas - the tiniest ones you have ever seen!

Next, hopefully, will be potatoes. And if all goes well, I will replant for a second harvest toward the fall.

I am excited as some of the tomatoes have already started putting out tiny buds, despite only being about 12-24 inches tall. (Note to self, I need more twine!)

Several of the varieties I have planted this year are new to me and are among the first to start budding up.

Amy’s Sugar

Black Vernissage

Totem (mini-tomato)

Crazy Cherry

Oxheart

Unknown

I really want a bumper crop of tomatoes so I can make, not only tomato sauce for winter soups and chili, but also for salsa and spaghetti sauce. I would like to try drying a few also. My San Marzano tomatoes, which were so tiny, are finally beginning to grow.

Of course, my zucchini has been ‘all male’ so far but hoping that will change in the next few days and the ‘lady flowers’ will start growing.

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My tomatillos have been flowering and hopefully will soon start setting fruit. I would love to be overrun with tomatillos for sauces, primarily salsa verde, which Savvy loves.

Cucumbers, both a regular and the ‘cucamelon’ are starting to grow nicely and climb up their little strings. I would love to make dill pickles this year, along with some candied cucumbers (taste like candied apples). I might even try my hand at making some sweet pickles too since I am not a fan of dill pickles.

With the zucchini, I am going to try pickling them like cucumbers this year to see how that goes. And maybe, if I can get my hands on a spiralizer, making some zucchini noodles to put with fresh cherry tomatoes for a ‘spaghetti’ dinner.

The green beans are starting to climb up my ‘trellis’ of chicken wire. I haven’t grown pole beans before, so this is a learning experience for me.

The seeds I recently started inside (two weeks ago), about half are up. The others which aren't up are also long germinators. So fingers crossed. Now I have to get more containers and potting soil soon.

But it's not all veggies in my yard.



The discount bag of Asian Lilies I planted are slowly coming up. Two so far and three more are just peeping through.

My Gerber Daisy is getting ready to bloom. As is my sunflower. 

And I do have some petunias and a morning glory blooming already. So there! I do have flowers in my front yard too!

The elephant ears which I received from my neighbor are starting to come up.

These, I believe, are supposed to be mini-elephant ears. 

My ginger, which I started on a whim, is up and really growing by leaps and bounds.

And my vanilla orchid is putting out this 'shoot'.

It is curled and I would say it's a leaf. But I don't think a leaf would be coming from a leaf like this. So I will continue to watch.

The thing I am also keeping my fingers crossed on is my Brown Turkey Fig.

Are those tiny figs forming? The plant has almost doubled in size, but still only about a foot or so tall. Maybe?

But now it’s time to wait. Patiently (sure!) And hoping my summer is filled with canning jars!