Garden Update May 2010

I spent the morning working in the Victory Garden. I weeded around some carrot, radish & swiss chard seedlings. Checked on the progress of everything else & took a few pictures.

Here I have some green Stupice tomatoes. I didn't get them into the ground until April so they're blossoming a few weeks later than last year. I'm also growing Hungarian Heart, German Johnson & Black Krim tomato varieties. The only other variety besides the Stupice to have green tomatoes is the Black Krim. Although all of the plants have flowers blooming.
In between the tomato plants I planted two varieties of cucumbers, Marketmmore 76 & Japanese Climbing. I did this last year and the cukes did very well climbing up the tomato cages. I also planted sunflowers at the end of the bed and maybe they will also serve as a base for the cucumbers to climb up. I also tried something new to support the tomatoes. I strung twine in between poles in the ground to serve as supports. Hopefully the cucumbers will like the twine to climb up too.

The zucchini and yellow squash are starting to blossom too. I've stick with my favorite zucchini variety, Black Beauty, again this year. Last year I was only able to get a few zucchini before the plants were destroyed by insects. I'm not sure what bugs attacked the plants last year but we'll see what happens. I also planted to some crookneck yellow squash. I've never grown these before but we have a few good recipes that use yellow squash and would love to have some fresh squash to use.
Also in the bed I planted some more sunflowers and some pepper plants. For peppers this year I planted Wenk's Hot Yellow, Ancho and also Anahein. The Wenk's Yellow Hot and Anaheim already have blossoms and small peppers. The Anchos have some small flowers but no fruits yet. They were also the last to get planted, about 2 weeks later than the others.

Lastly a picture of my bean fence. On the right of the fence I have Purple Podded beans and on the left I have Kentucky Wonder. I've grown the Kentucky Wonder the past few years and have had great success. The idea of growing purple beans led me to try the Purple Podded ones. They're supposed to turn green as they cook. In front of the fence I'm growing garlic. I just harvested some of the garlic scapes. They're the flower shaft that sprouts up before it goes to seed. I snipped them off to prevent flowering and to encourage bulb growth. They also taste great, we use them in recipes like green onions. They have a strong garlic flavor instead of onion.

My hockey alter ego..

Snaps to the Bruins winning in OT yesterday! 2 quick thoughts.... Miro Satan has been the best mid-season pickup on any team this year. All for a pro-rated $700,000 ! Also, can someone explain to me why Marc Savard doesn't have an Olympic gold medal from Vancouver? He is definitely one of the top 5 Canadian centermen in the NHL..... somebody must have had it in for him when picking the team....

Ok, while getting my playoff hockey fix & commentary on TSN.ca, I noticed an ad for Bud Light. You can put your picture on a hockey card of your favorite team. Each round of the playoffs releases a new "generation" of cards. Here I am when Milt Schmidt and I formed 2/3rds of the famous Kraut & Potato line .

Orr, Sanderson, Espo, Chief, Keaveny.... We won it all in 1970 & 72....

Next up... My years playing with Ray Bourque...... Stay tuned....