We named the dog Indiana

This has absolutely nothing to do with gardening but I don't care, it's INDIANA JONES!!! This is the first picture of Harrison Ford dressed as Indy for the new film! Reportedly it was taken by Spielberg himself.

Harrison looks pretty good. I have to admit I was worried that he was going to be too old to play Indy but judging by this picture it looks like he has enough life in him to kick some Nazi butt a few more times...or at least shoot them.

The only thing that saddens me about this flick is that Sean Connery has opted out of it. I was really looking forward to the two of them going back and forth and what with Shia LaBeouf being the third generation Jones, I imagined all sorts hilarious conversations ensuing.

"Nazis... I hate these guys."

No Comment...

Hey everybody!

Tanis just let me know that the comments were enabled only for registered users and that's not what I wanted, so I relaxed the security and now anyone and everyone can comment on the posts. So feel free...but don't feel like you have to...it's just...for every post that goes by without a comment I die a little inside... but you know, no big deal...sigh...

Have a good one!

Strawberries

We have defeated the slow moving enemy!

I poured some slug and snail bait in front of and in the middle of the strawberries and a few days later all that was left of their burgeoning force was goo. I have picked out a couple that seemed to have been wiser than their friends but for the most part the area is clear of them! This has given the strawberries a chance to ripen and be picked! I doubt we'll have enough to share with everyone but if ya happen to come weed sometime soon and see a ripe one in the patch feel free to eat it!

I get by with a little help from my friends…

This week saw the first of the co-opers pitching in to help!

We had a bunch of people come over this week and make a big difference in the garden. Since I didn't take a before and after picture I had to create a graphic representation of what it looked like before they came and helped (shown on the left). Okay, okay, it wasn't that bad but it was close!

Cathy came over on Sunday and helped Tanis plant the zucchini and beans into little pots in front of the garage. We put them in little pots instead of planting directly into the garden because an unknown threat devoured most of our bean seedlings last year and we had to replant them all. Once they get their secondary leaf they’ll be safe and in the clear, at which point they’ll be transferred to the garden. Cathy and Tanis also weeded the peas and planted the sunflowers in the NW side of the garden which I had weeded shortly before. Cathy deserves a fair amount of pity because she had to wear my garden gloves which, honestly, sort of smells like a squirrel that has decomposed in a rain barrel (trust me I know). In any event, great job Cathy! And umm….sorry.

Tuesday afternoon Jess came over with Jude and Natalie. While the kids played in the yard, she and Tanis weeded the SW section of the garden where they planted her cantaloupe, transplanted some more pumpkin plants - because some of the ones I moved looked a little droopy - and got a mound ready for planting the zucchini! Thanks Jess!!

And last but not least, the Hjertager clan came over Tuesday evening to do their part. Pork and Steph took turns watching Ivy - who seemed pretty content to hang out on her blanket in the grass – while the other went and gardened. Steph and Tanis weeded the corn rows while Pork and I strung up the peas, created a mound for the mini pumpkins, got them planted, and weeded the raspberries. Awesome job guys!

Once we were done with all that, we put some burgers on the grill and they showed us a new and awesome way to cook corn on the cob! I’m hoping I’ll be able to do it to the corn we get from the garden!

This idea of coming over and gardening and then staying for some grub seems pretty cool and if anyone is interested in doing this Weed and Feed let me know!

Again thanks to all of you who helped out so far and don’t worry those of you who haven’t yet, we still have plenty of weeds to go around…

Berry Update

The strawberries and raspberries are doing well. Our concern with the strawberries is that the snails don't get them. We have what some might call a snail problem. I've been trying to thin their ranks but their force out numbers the stars...

The raspberries should be fine. The only problem we had last year was not picking them often enough. I don't know if we'll have the same problem this year since I trimmed them back but its possible. I still think we'll get a pretty good harvest from them.

Corn!

The corn has appeared! It's actually come up far faster than I expected, but then again I did get the early variety. So the two inner rows are the Peaches and Cream variety and the outer two (closest to the garage) are the (*)

*fill in when I remember what the early variety is called.

Cantaloupe Antelope

Kinda wish I had a boat...

Okay, so Jess's cantaloupe dream lives on! Who says you can't grow them around here! BAH to them I say! BAH!! I've had these little guys in our garage next to the pop out window and I was a little worried they wouldn't make it but once they got that secondary leaf (the spiky looking one) I felt like they were in the clear. The garage is a nice starting area for seedlings. It gets lots of sun and warmth and keeps them away from predators and the cold temperatures. I'll be putting these guys into the ground shortly. I wish I could separate them into individual plants but I don't want to risk hurting them in the process. so I'll keep them together. They'll keep each other strong! watch each others back and sing songs about the sea! Aye the sea! because that's what a cantaloupe thinks about day and night. Many a man has called the cantaloupe soft but they were wrong! Why I've seen one knock a man clean out with one swing!

CANTALOUPE! A stronger melon exists not...

Pumpkins a Poppin'

So last year we bought a really nice sized pumpkin for me to carve. Great color, great shape... I never carved it. It sat in our living room for months! The cool thing was that it never ever showed any sign of decomposing! It sat in our house at room temperature for a really long time and didn't mold or even get soft and squishy! In the end I chucked it into our garden which Tanis wasn't exactly happy about but I figured it'd at least add some fertilizer to the soil and if the seeds happen to grow all the better, since it seemed to come from some great stock.

Well tilling the garden was just what those seeds needed apparently. I went out into the garden last week to check to see how things were doing and was met with this! seedlings a plenty! they're really strong looking too! I'll be relocating some of them shortly since they're not exactly where we want them to be but I think it's pretty cool that the pumpkin I didn't carve is living on, and maybe this year I'll be able to carve one of its seedlings.