Garden Journal, Week 5

The peach tree- the only tree or vine I have ever planted, untouched by the jaws of Maggy. When it started flowering this spring, we had an unexpected frost (the same that killed off my zinnia and marigold seeds. Note to self- when the weatherman says it will be 35 overnight, assume he meant 25), and most of the peach flowers were kind of burned off. Not that I care, last year it set way too much fruit, and it all ended up withering away halfway through the season since the tree could not support all of it at once. This time, I pulled off most of it and left maybe 15.

The (purple!?!) tulips are finally blooming. I swear the package said dark red. The daffodils never made it. I wonder if they'll still come up next year...

My pride and joy- the tomatos, are just starting to flower, which means in a little over a month I'll finally get to break my 7 month tomato fast. Well, I've eaten tomatos since then, but the store bought ones shouldn't even be considered tomatos. They truly are an affront to God.

Here's mister Pepper. I bought several red, and a green pepper plant, including several jalapenos, serrano, and a banana pepper plant. I don't know why they distinguish between red and green when they sell them, since they all start out green and all end up red anyway- which still doesn't explain why I claim bought 4 red and 1 green...

I'm planting a lot more squash this year since Lucy seems to like it, and Jenny found a great butternut squash soup recipe (It's REALLY good, and I don't like squash...). Zucchini too since she makes pretty good zucchini bread. That, and we really want to stuff someone's backseat with zucchini while they're in church...

I've returned to the tomatillo. I planted several at our provo house and really liked the salsa they made. I justified not planting them the last two years saying that I could just buy them at the store. Well, I never did.

The peas seem to be coming along nicely. I wonder if they'll naturally lean over and grab that fence, or if I'll have to encourage them.
The strawberries are beginning to flower. I bought a variety that says they make good fruit in their first year. Interesting though, the stems are also red... I've never seen that.

I've planted gladiolas out in the front yard garden bed that runs along the house for two years running, and it looks as though they managed to survive the winter there. (The dahlias did not survive in the regular garden though...) I can't remember what color they are. I think its a mix, but I won't find out until about July or so.
In the foreground is garlic, with a few baby spinaches, and in the background is the main bed of onions, garlic and lettuce.
Yay! My grape came back... again. Both winters now Maggie has gotten into the garden and decided she really likes to chew on grape wood. I thought both times it had died permanently, but both plants seem to be coming back.

And as our final exhibit we have....Jerusalem Artichoke. I've never grown it before, but if you've ever lived in Utah in the summer, you might remember those tall, almost sunflower type yellow flowers (but smaller) growing on the side of the road as if it were a weed. It turns out they're all jerusalem artichokes. I hear you can use them like potatos or turnips, and that they have a nice flavor. We'll see about that. I actually bought one in the middle of last summer. I thought it had died off, but lo and behold the plant had grown into two tubers, and both resumed their growth this spring. I transplanted them to a more fertile, sunny spot.