A tour of the garden...

So now that everything is planted I wanted to take you on a brief tour and show you what's in the ground. These are from one week after things went in so not a great deal of progress.

The garden is laid out in 12 rectangular beds with a gravel path up the center (so six on either side). Each bed is bordered by straw pathways to allow me to work the garden without having to step on the beds. I generally work my garden counter-clockwise starting from the lower right corner and that's how I will show you the beds here.

Bed 1 is for lettuce, which I plant from seed in two week intervals so that we get fresh salad all summer. You can see in the bed that there are two bricks that I use to mark off the bed into thirds so I know where to plant the next batch.

Beds 2 and 3 are for herbs, divided very loosely into Italian and non-Italian varieties. Bed 2 is "non-Italians" such as coriander, tarragon, thyme, Thai basil and oregano. Bed 3 is the Italians: flat-leaf parsley, basil, rosemary and sage.

Next comes the first of three tomato beds. In position 4 I have the heirloom varieties and and I think I dropped some yellow cherry tomatoes in there as well. Notice how all are caged and the stakes are in position ready for tying...in 2006 I learned what a fiasco unsupported tomatoes can be.

And bed 5 is our string beans from seed. These will take a while to emerge and the packaging failed to say whether these were pole or bush style beans so I have a trellis at the ready in case these guys need some support.

That concludes part one of our tour...stay tuned for part 2 which will include some drama and a cliffhanger ending!

One week later...

So the plants are in the ground and generally seem to be doing their thing.  My squashes and eggplants are looking a bit feeble still but that could be down to the cold snap we had for two nights this past week.  Based on previous experience, these may not recover and I may have to replace them with new plants, I'll make that call next week.

I did my first weeding of the season today, finished in a record 15 minutes.  If I'm smart enough to stay on top of it then every week could be this quick (I'm not, so they won't be).

I also spent some time sprucing up the drip irrigation system.  As is typical each year, some of the lines need to be replaced and others need to be respositioned.

Here's how things looked last week, I'll get you another shot this weekend:

The big day...

Memorial Day weekend is the typical starting point for the garden.  Last year (2007) our garden plans were derailed by an unfortunate accident involving my dad, some gasoline and a match (don't ask).  Now that everything is back to normal I'm keen to get some things in the ground.

I do have one confession, in order to help keep on top of general maintenance around the grounds I have someone who helps me during the week.  Brian is my gardener/caretaker/go-to guy for helping keep things in tip top shape.  He does a great job and his efforts during the week allow me to enjoy some of my weekend.  He did a great job this week of getting the beds set up...we're heading out to get some plants momentarily.  Here's the before shot:

The other big project...

The big project

So it's been a while since I've sat down and given the blog some attention. A lot has happened since my last post. The biggest change since last year is the arrival of this guy:

This is Logan and he was my Christmas present in 2006. He's now a year and a half (has it been that long) and life is pretty different now.

Most mornings during the week we're up at 5:30 to get some exercise up in Central Park. On weekends up in the Country, we sleep late to 7am (if I'm lucky).

He's a City dog during the week and loves being totally goofy with the other dogs he meets on the street.

When we're in the country he's a different dog entirely. He's a real sportsman and could chase a ball for hours. This is what I was doing last summer instead of gardening and blogging:

But this summer I'm planning on being back in the garden, with some other big changes afoot...

Watch this space!

Could it be? Is he back? Stay tuned!

Oh where, oh where has he gone???

Work has very little time for blogging, or indeed gardening, these days. We're in the middle of planning season and it's all just been pretty manic. I left for London last weekend and was there all week, got back yesterday and will miss yet another weekend upstate for the wedding of Jim's brother today. September is going to a rough month for me and my country pursuits.

That said, I have been managing to squeeze in a day or two upstate over the past few weeks. The pumpkins are coming in at the rate of one or two a week. The tomatoes are finally ripening. The zukes have done their thing and it's time for them to come out, same for the cukes. It's nearly time to get the garden shut down for the winter.

Start of October I will throw some bulbs in which I have not done before. Apparently the actual planting process is easy...keeping the deer and rodents away, not so much.

Be patient friends, I will write when I can.

Poor Planning

Next year, I must be smarter with my August. We are away for three weekends this month which has made it nigh impossible to enjoy the fruits of my labors. We have a bachelor party this coming weekend so I took Monday off to tend to things, including my lawn which will require a machete soon.

Last of the 2006 Projects

After the granite, I swore I was done with projects for 2006. But I spoke to my friend Raeph last weekend and decided that we could fit in two minor things before the winter:

1) New external doors at the main entrances (which should improve energy retention this winter)

2) A ceiling fan and light in the porch so we can start to use that room more

Homework is never done.

Little Nibbles

I will get you photographic evidence next week but we noticed some nibbles out of some of the low hanging tomatoes this weekend. A rodent of some kind, not rabbit, something smaller (chipmunk maybe).

But lemme ask you, why must my little friend take two bites out of seven tomatoes when he'd get the same amount of fruit from just eating the one and leaving the other six for me!?

Restaurant Report: BLT Fish Shack

In an effort to cover topics outside of the garden I'll share with you a recent experience at a New York resto. Last Thursday night I had dinner at BLT Fish with my friend Ben. We had an 8:30 reservation and showed up at 8:30. So far so good.

The table wasn't ready but we were assured they were paying now so shouldn't be long. No sweat, we'll have a glass of wine at the bar (an unmemorable Riesling). 15 minutes later, still no table but a polite reminder to the maitre, with the response of "just a few more minutes please." 30 minutes later, still at the bar.

That was when the hostess came by and we said "we've been here for 30 minutes watching plenty of people get seated, at the very least you can offer to buy us a drink." Her response: she laughed. She really did, like I made a joke. Very irritating. We eventually got seated (I know, I know we should have walked out then) and had a fine, but by no means transcendent, meal. The iceberg wedge was really excellent, the garlic bread that comes with the table was pretty superb as well. The lobster roll was good but not $24 good and the fries that came with it were pretty soggy and disappointing.

Fortunately Ben is good company and we had a great time together. I can't say I'll rush back to BLT Fish. It's been well reviewed and we probably caught them on an off evening, but the pool is too deep in NY to reward an average experience.

Sitting on the fence

Can someone tell me why my pumpkin vines insist upon growing along my fence. It's not an aesthetic issue but I am concerned that as the fruits get heavier, my fence will groan under the weight. Next year I need to come up with a trellising concept for the pumpkins.

Any thoughts?

Weeks 18 and 19: 12 and 19 August -- No frickin' tomatoes

Can you believe it? How ridiculous that they won't ripen. So strange...or maybe not. It's my first year, maybe this is typical.

So I've been a delinquent blogger over the past two weeks. I owe you guys some major updates, right? Here's the dirt:

• The beans are still coming in nicely, a good pound or so each week. They are yummy. Interestingly the bush beans have been more consistent than the poles.
• Zukes are still coming out huge. I'm not sure what to keep doing with them. This weekend we battered and fried them, that seemed to go well.
• Squash and cukes still doing their thing too
• There will be no artichokes this year. I've lost two of the six plants and the rest aren't looking so hot. I will try to cover and mulch them well over the winter but I'm not confident that they will cooperate.
• And yes, the pumpkins are continuing their conquest. We have at least four growing specimens that we will look forward to.

So life in the garden continues apace. Lots of lessons for next year which I will bounce off you in the coming days.

Week 17: 5 August -- Stubborn Tomatoes

So now they are just laughing at me. These guys are sitting there just refusing to ripen. And I know exactly what's going to happen...one week I'm going to have 25 pounds of tomatoes ripen at once.

The plums I have a plan for...sauce that I will freeze. But what about the rest. I guess it'll be BLTs and tricolores for a week straight. Actually I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Vulture and Deer

Bee Balm

This is called Bee Balm, although I didn't know that until Jim's sister pointed it out this past weekend. I have quite a few of them around. They seem to take very well to our microclimate upstate and the flowers last for ages.

Apparently the leaves are edible and can be used in place of mint in some recipes. Must try that some time.

How about a Pimm's my dear?

I found THE best use for cucumbers from the garden. On my way back from London last time I picked up a bottle of Pimm's at Heathrow. Pimm's (or a Pimm's Cup more precisely) is the quintessential British summer drink.

The recipe is simple: 1 part Pimm's, 2 parts Sprite (the British say lemonade, but they mean Sprite or 7UP), a cucumber spear in each glass, and whatever fruit you have on hand (we used strawberries, and some lemon and lime slices). We forgot to add mint leaves but you can if you want it even more refreshing.

I can't tell you what's in Pimm's, it's a closely guarded secret. Here's more info if you can't get enough. We just about finished the bottle this weekend. Good thing I'm back in London in September!

I think they're doing something wrong...

Have a look at this. If their compost smells like sulfur, something definitely is not right with it. Or the odor could be coming from someplace that had nothing to do with the compost.

Week 16: 29 July -- Squash Attack

And by squash attack, I mean all types. The zukes, pumpkins and yellow squash are steadily marching forward and taking over everything in their path. The pumpkins are especially Napoleonic. I even saw my first baby pumpkin this weekend.

No pictures for you but I can tell you that this weekend I pulled out:

• 6 Giant Zucchinis...I must get better at catching them when they are younger, they get a bit mushy with age
• A dozen yellow squash
• 8 Cucumbers (message to self, use gloves next time)
  
• 3 Cherry tomatoes...what's up with that
• A few good handfuls of delicious string beans, even some yellow ones
• The tomatoes are rapidly ripening, any week now I should be inundated
  

But really not a whole lot to do; weeding and harvesting are the main chores these days.

But what's up with my artichokes, I'm not seeing any choke stems coming out of them yet. I hope they're not pulling some "first season, no choke" BS with me.

Keeping guard

No doggies allowed in the garden. This is Bogey and what he wants more than anything is to be in there with me. Actually, what he wants more than anything is cheese, but failing that, he wants to be in there with me.

He'll have to settle for standing guard while I'm working. He gets paid in string beans.