Monday, April 16, 2012

Rule #14: Give it time

So first up is to announce that our 11 month old Mckinley is finally crawling!  This is big news in our house.  She is loving her new freedom and pulling up on everything now, including mommy's legs.  In other "give it time" news Larkyn has really started taking off with her fine motor skills. This has been more difficult for her as it doesn't seem that she has decided which hand is dominate. However she is very excited to use her scissors and doing well with it.

On to gardening news and Harvest Monday. For various reasons I have been unable to participate in Harvest Monday, but was bound and determined to add my name to the list today. If you don't already know, Harvest Monday is a chance to share what you are harvesting and see what others are harvesting around the world. It is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions.  So to update on my gardening first, all the baby plants have been doing well and I have planted my Swiss Chard, Kale, and one Broccoli Rabe transplants in the garden this weekend.  Why only one Broccoli Rabe?  They are older seeds and that is the only one that came up.  I sowed the rest of the seeds in the garden this weekend, hoping for a few more.  I don't think I will start Swiss Chard inside again, they are delicate seedlings and I am not sure they will survive. The kale is a bit stronger so I may do that inside again next year. Saturday and Sunday (April 14 and 15) I sowed three types of lettuces, Tatsoi, Arugula, Peas,  four varieties of Green Beans, Broccoli Rabe, Spinach, Carrots, and Beets.  Now we wait to see how things come up. This year we used a locally created Leaf Grow to our garden. The compost was not ready, but hopefully we will use it in the fall or most likely next spring. This mix has proving very successful for my neighbors so I am hoping my seeds and plants do well. Recently I have harvested arugula, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, and my one fennel. Why only one?  I didn't plant that many in the fall and didn't  care for them very well since Mckinley was still very young.  This guy survived the winter outside of the hoop house!  I guess that wasn't too hard since it was a pretty mild winter. I plan on doing a lot more fennel this year. (Excuse the crazy Picture layout...haven't figured all that out and don't know when I'll get around to that!)
A surprise last bit of Endive I harvested a few weeks ago. These were a lot of work to clean so I am not sure that I will do the curly leaf Endive again!

Fennel
Swiss Chard
Lettuce
Close up of Fennel
Spinach making a come back


Can I crawl on this stuff?
Easter Egg Hunt






Chef Larkyn and Lella on Easter!

9 comments:

  1. Welcome to Harvest Monday and congrats on your harvest! It's always nice to harvest this time of year, ha?

    About your pictures...I usually set my cursor to the center format setting, then upload all my pics...then, they all wind up being centered from the beginning. Then, if I want to add a caption or simply write in between each photo, I can :-)

    Hope you have a wonderful week! Happy harvesting!

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  2. Thanks....I have actually posted a few times before, but it has taken me a while to get back! LOL. Thanks for the advice. I tried to fiddle with it and will continue to try out your suggestions!

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  3. Nice endive! They are a pain though LOL

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  4. The fennel is beautiful. I've yet to grow it but someday I'm going to have to.

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  5. It sounds like you are a very busy person - All the gardening and two little helpers! :)

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  6. Congratulations on the beautiful vegetable garden!
    Here in Italy we say: "You have a green thumb!" ^_______^

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  7. Amber - your name sounds familiar as a sub at Fulton Elementary. What years would that have been? What are you doing now? Home with two lovely little ones?

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  8. Yes home and happy to do so!!Worked and waited on kids to be able to stay home. I did kindergarten a lot there. Would have been the 1998-2000 time frame.

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  9. Ah, looks like your garden has been keeping you busy, wonderful harvest! I'm especially envious of the over-wintered fennel!

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