kindergardens - weeks 18 & 19 {eating the alphabet}

(long post - you've been warned!)

The kinder has not been in the garden this week.  Neither have his parents.  Between Irene and Lee and other random storms in between, we've accumulated nearly 18 inches of rain in the past 10 days, so we haven't been out much to see what's growing.  I did wade across the soggy yard this afternoon to pluck our last ripe (ridiculously juicy and delicious - oh, it was good) watermelon from the vine.  But other than that the garden has been largely neglected.

Since there are no updates to be had, I thought I'd recite the alphabet instead.  Here goes...

A - apples (well, no apples yet, but we did plant apple trees)

B - broccoli, blueberries

C - cauliflower

D - daikon (Japanese radish - still working on this one - we're hoping to get the seeds in the ground whenever the rain breaks, and hopefully they'll have enough time to grow before it freezes)

E - eggplant

F - flower maze

G - gourds, green beans

H - herbs, hyacinth bean

I - Indian corn

J - jalapeno peppers

K - kohlrabi

L - lettuce

M - melon (cantaloupe)

N - nasturtium

O - onions

P - peppers, pumpkins, potatoes, peas

Q - squash (we cheated...and the vine got killed by a borer, so no pics, either)

R - radishes

S - strawberries, sunflowers, swiss chard

T - tomatoes

 U - rhubarb (cheated again...and again, no pics)

 V - vines (morning glory)

W/X - watermelon/xigua (Chinese watermelon)

Y - yams (another cheat - it's really a sweet potato vine.  But the grocery store labeled it as a yam, so I'm going with it)

 

 Z - zucchini, zinnias (bugs killed the zucchini plant, too, so you just get zinnias...)

Our alphabet garden inspiration came (I think) from this book:

 We naturally had to make a few changes, since we weren't going to be planting quince or mangoes.  And we can't eat through our entire alphabet, but we sure had fun trying some new things that we would have never grown otherwise (and some we will probably never grow again - ha!).

not ready

I'm not ready for this.

Or this.

Or these.

(even though they are BEAUTIFUL)

I'm not ready for this.

Or this, either.

Fall, I love you, but I'm just not ready for you yet.

itty bitty

This little one was born during Hurricane Irene...we think maybe a little prematurely.  He is tiny!

I'm hesitant to pick him up too much, but when I do, he snuggles right in to the palm of my hand.  Makes me want to melt.

(And no, we're not bringing this one home, either).

Linking up to the Live Every Moment photo challenge {animals}.

kindergardens - week 17 {onions, watermelon and irene. oh my!}

I am a slacker.  I had a week and a half to do my KinderGARDEN homework, and it never happened.  I was supposed to take pics of the garden at sunrise or sunset.  But I was either asleep, or busy, or it was cloudy, or dark, or rainy, or hurricane-y.

Most of our gardening this week involved either preparing for Hurricane Irene or surveying the damage afterward.  You can read more about our experience with Irene here, but in summary, the only real casualty we had around here was the sunflowers.

Kiddo took the flattening of his flower maze in stride.  It had become a nearly impenetrable jungle, so he hadn't been using it much, anyway.  I am mourning the loss of the sunflowers, but thankful that nothing else was damaged and that we were able to enjoy them as long as we did.

Before Irene blew in, we decided we'd better clear out the garden "just in case."  We picked the tomatoes and peppers, and the onions FINALLY got pulled out and carted up to the house.

I've got some work cut out for me.  If anyone needs a good cry, you are more than welcome to come over this week and help me chop them up!  :)

(P.S.  Check out that corner bed.  We started with two nearly invisible rows of spindly little plants back in June, with nary a berry in sight.  I'm drooling in anticipation of all those strawberries next year!)

Kiddo took a break to hide away in his morning glory house while I checked on the rest of the garden and Hubby tried to keep the weeds at bay with the mower.

(Photographer's note:  no, our leaves don't really look that good.  The bugs have been busy, but the holes in the leaves were so distracting, I photoshopped most of them out.  The few that I did leave are still driving me crazy - they just might get cloned out, too!)

The most exciting news in our garden this week was...

wait for it...

WATERMELON!!

Hot diggity dog, I can pick a ripe watermelon after all. 

Kiddo and I had fun picnicking in the back yard, dripping watermelon juice everywhere and seeing how far Mommy could spit watermelon seeds (not very far - it was quite pathetic, actually). 

Our garden is definitely winding down, and we are starting to see signs of fall - I canned the last batch of tomatoes a few days ago, and the peppers and other veggies are getting fewer and smaller while the pumpkins are growing at breakneck speed and turning orange.  The air has a cooler, crisper feel to it, and Kiddo started school this week.  Fall is probably my favorite season, but I'm dragging my heels this year, trying to savor the last bits of summer.  One of those bits will be that last watermelon that is still out there in the garden, just waiting to be picked. 

the end of the flower maze

hurricane + sunflowers = not good.

Bye bye flower maze.  But at least our garden doesn't look like this: 

 (source:  friend of a friend's public photo album on Facebook...)

Other than a couple of inches of water in our basement that were easily pumped out, we weathered the storm pretty well.  Now to undo all the preparations we made - extra ice out of the freezer, blankets and pillows back in the closet, drain the water out of the bathtub, etc. etc.  MUCH better than cleaning up wet carpet and clearing downed trees.

According to our unofficial rain gauge (bucket + ruler), we got nearly 8 inches of rain.

While waiting out the storm, we've been having family Lego Rockband sessions, crafting, organizing cupboards and drawers, and redecorating:

(paint + dishsoap.  Details/instructions are here.  Next time, I will remember that an old worn-out sheet is not a thick enough drop cloth.  Oops.)

This afternoon we got sufficiently stir-crazy that we defied the weatherman's warnings and took a quick walk around the block.  Kiddo brought our trusty Garfield ruler to take some measurements.

Sometimes Daddy had to help.

It was windy (go figure), and we pretty much had the roads to ourselves. 

(no, we didn't go down that way...looks a little intimidating with all those trees!)

(the wind is blowing my hood, Mommy!)

When we had made our circuit of the block and compared notes with the few neighbors that were out, we stopped in next door to check on the kittens before heading home to escape the wind.  Kiddo found two new kittens in the barn, just a few hours old.  The neighbor will be dismayed thrilled to have two more cats to feed.

On the way back to the house, we checked the garden one last time.

Note to self:  drizzly rain + humidity + 60 mph wind gusts + naturally curly hair + no shower (because the tub was full of water) + 4 hours of sleep (I was babysitting the basement) = SCARY.

But we have Indian corn!

because you haven't seen enough kitten pictures yet

 "I'm surrounded by kitties, Mommy!"

They are still wobbly and awkward on their feet.  We giggle as we watch them trip over things like sidewalk cracks, their own feet, and sometimes nothing at all.

This is "Teddy" (I was voting for "Ollie," but since I don't want to take him home, my vote didn't count):

Teddy is a polydactyl - he has 6 toes on his front feet.  His sister, Callie, does too.  They make me think of that commercial...

Don't you want to take him home with you now?

kindergardens - week 16 {random updates & a bouquet}

The garden is pretty much going on its own these days...we've had quite a bit of rain this week, so we haven't been out there much, but here's a quick long-winded update:

We continue to flounder in a flood of tomatoes (I picked two more buckets the other day and am trying to pretend that they're not sitting right outside the back door, waiting for me to do something with them).

I am fighting for a dozen baby cantaloupes against the never-ending tide of cucumber beetles,

and I've been checking our two remaining watermelons frequently, trying to figure out when they're ready to be picked.

(The white scars are from me scratching the rind to see what color it is underneath)

I went online and Googled "when to pick watermelon," found a checklist, went through it and crossed off several signs of watermelon readiness, and ran out to the garden ready to eat the juicy red goodness.  I grabbed a big knife and chopped one in half while Kiddo and I drooled in anticipation, only to be disappointed when the watermelon halves fell apart and the entire inside was white!  Not even close to being ripe.  I almost cried.  And tore up my Google list.  Such a beautiful watermelon, totally wasted.  I'm being much more protective of the two that remain.

The onions squat in the ground, waiting for us to come and pluck them from the dirt and rain.

The hyacinth bean vines are growing out of control (over the arch, up the sunflowers, across the fence, down the path...),

 as is the yam sweet potato vine.

The potatoes are dying and will soon be ready to be dug up and transported to the basement, and Kiddo's maze has grown to jungle status. 

Out on the compost pile, hidden in the mile-high weeds,

our volunteer pumpkin vine has been producing these,

and on the other side of the pile, we found a couple of vines with these.

The jewels of the garden, however, have been Kiddo's flowers.

He had a great time picking the best for a bouquet the other day.  I just told him to make sure the stems were "about this long," and he did the rest!

Sweetest bouquet ever.

He's a keeper!

(And so are his flowers).

Linking up:
KinderGARDENS week 16 at The Inadvertent Farmer.