Just weeding and stuff

They must have heard me, cause my secret cabbage seedling is gone.  I did pick and eat my kholrabi, so i claim victory over that.

So they are still getting in.

The fence simply cannot be working. Yeah it keeps cats and dogs out, but that's not what eats my stuff.

I think we might try using chicken wire sooner rather than later,  why wait?  As soon as i get another installment of funds, it will happen.  If i'm going to try again for a fall crop i will need it.

Or i will simply plant a whole row of kale (and maybe some pretty flowering types, beautiful and edible).  That is the only thing that still remains untouched.  I can't believe it.

The collards aren't getting hit too hard either.

I think i might try growing the chard in a big pot i have.  Or maybe get back into container gardening again. I like this idea and instructional i found in another little blog i follow called A Potter's Garden.  Her blog led me to this: SWC.
Now, i'll always keep a terrestrial garden, but if i can't keep the woodchucks out of my broccoli any other way, i'll have to grow my veggies in a box that is off the ground and can be surrounded by a small wire cage of some sort.

No way i'm going to let this continue and i'm not going to give up on growing cabbage and broccoli..

Anyway, i weeded a lot today. Got both sides of a whole row done and most of another. That makes me mostly caught up

I can actually see my onions now,  some of them are paired with herbs, so that is what those big green clumps are in that section.  The walkways are full of the pulled-up weeds.  I don't know if i should put them in the compost pile or leave them there, i'll be stepping on them regularly and if their roots dry out enough the remains will become mulch.

I still need to pull the weeds that are living on the edges of the walkways,  but i had to call it a day after these rows were done.  I hope to finish it up tomorrow.
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This is a mess!I used those strips of plywood to hold down the row cover, but i just haven't made putting them someplace else a priority.
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I have a baby cucumber!

Its blurry cause i stuck my finger in the photo, but this is so i can see how small it is now.

Hopefully these plants produce a lot and nothing gets into them.

I dug up and sent off a rosemary and a basil plant and sent a few of the Welsh onions i ended up not having room for (to my SIL). They are like chives, only fatter, flowering in white instead of pink and they have a flavor more like garlic.

I'm also brining up some country style pork ribs to smoke and grill tomorrow.  I have them in the basic salt and sugar brine with a tablespoon of 'sweet' pickling spice in it. I'm hoping that the spices will make things seem to taste sweeter since i won't use barbeque sauce on them.

I need to find out what i can use chervil with. I have a few plants that are doing great but i forgot what the stuff is good with.  I think it is in Herbes de Provence ....  maybe good with chicken?  I eat a lot of chicken.

I'm almost scared to say it, but my basil plants all look nice.  There is word of a basil blight that is not just causing headaches for commercial growers but home gardeners as well.  I don't know anyone else on my street or anyone within a few more streets who garden, so i think my risk is minimal.
 My sage also looks good.  I hope to have plenty to dry to use until next summer.

Currently reading "The Backyard Berry Book" i'm still reading the grape grower book, but the berry book i have os a library loan and its one of 5 or so that i borrowed, so it has a higher finish priority.

Oh, speaking of grapes, my Reliance and Marechal Foch have flower buds. I noticed this when i was giving my Toddler a supervised  run of the yard.  I didn't have enough hands for the camera so i didn't photo the grapes.  I think i will let them open just to see them once, then i will remove them in favor of stronger growth. 

Planning and plotting...

Today i plan to pick the Kohlrabi. They are going to be on the small side, but they type i have (early purple vienna) isn't  supposed to get to baseball size. I do wish they were bigger, but i think the plant is more likely to try and regrow leaves first rather than continue enlarging its bulb so i'm just going to make a single meal of the golf ball sized veggie.  I think i could put down some buckwheat seeds to hold the space for the seedlings i'll plant later.

It looks like the garden remains unraided again today.  Three days in a row with no new defilement. 

Today is nice and cool, it would be a great day to catch up with weeding but hubby and the oldest are probably going to be out visiting his sister  today, so i won't have anyone to  watch the toddler.  I'd have her outside with me, but she won't stick around and sitting in the stroller is not good enough for her.  She loves being outside, which is great, but it has to be her playtime 100%, not my time to get anything done. :o)

I wish my bulbing fennel was either bigger or needed thinning cause i'd send some over to my sister in law (she's the Chef and beautiful things can be done with baby fennel). I'm going to try and pot up a couple rosemary plants for her if i have the time to get out there and do it before hubby and daughter #1 head out.

I had wanted to grow way more herbs than i was actually able to get out this year. I have some seeds that are perennials, like winter savory and peppermint, and i think either oregano and thyme are perennial- or both are, i'd have to look it up again.  Anyway, i lost many of them to frost and the rest i  still haven't planted because i don't have a permanent place for them yet. 

I wanted to get going on those flowerbeds by now but the heat and weather came in so it hasn't happened....  but when it does, i want to put the herbs in there i think.