Turtle Eggs

She did it again! Eleanor started digging test sites in our compost pile last Friday, and this morning, last night's test site was all covered up.  I took a peek, and here's what I found...

We can't really leave them there because there are all kinds of risks to the eggs... other turtles, bugs, potential rodents, and the fact that she lays her eggs right on top of the compost pile that we frequently turn! :) 

This is Eleanor's third year laying eggs here, and so far none of the eggs have been fertile.  We're hoping third time is a charm, and she definitely had males present all of last year, so the possibility is there!

Here they are in their new home.  I used extra coconut pellets that I had from my seed starting for the mixture and put it in these deli containers.  Each egg was marked with a marker to indicate the top (if turtle eggs are turned the embryos can drown).  They were placed in indentations in the mix, and now we wait!  (Anywhere from 45-90 days!) There is a fifth egg not shown, but that one is in its own container.

I'm really hoping to see some baby turtles this year!

Harvest Monday

Yep! I've got one of those today!  We had food from our garden this week!

The husband had two salads in his lunch this week from this one.

My husband, brother-in-law, and I shared this baby slightly making up for the incredibly UNHEALTHY hot wings that my husband made to go along with it.

Salad included this pretty bunch of radishes

Finally, I've enjoyed several of the first strawberries of the year! They're not as sweet or soft as I remember from last year, but it's still early.  I'm not sure if that means anything, or if the fact that a few of the days I harvested them the temperature was around 55, but they definitely weren't everything I remembered from last year.  Beautiful, and another harvest nevertheless.

First one!

Second batch!

Third picking-- left this one on a day longer for extra redness, but was still tart...

If you want to check out what others are harvesting this week, pop on over to Daphne's Dandelions!

Pretty Little Peas!

First pea blossom- showed up yesterday!  I love these little guys! Four more today!

Broccoli and Turtles

I didn't really have much of a harvest this week. I pulled one radish. I also pulled one from Mandi's garden to try it (hers are all ready!)

I did, however, find this little baby growing in the garden when I was doing my morning walk about.

The plant is rather small, and this is perhaps the plant "bolting", but this is my THIRD year planting broccoli, and the very FIRST to see any sort of broccoli head forming.  I'm hoping it does well!

I figured it's been a while since I posted about the turtles, and I was out feeding them today, so I decided to share some pictures.

Feeding, as it was today, consists of taking my hand shovel out to the compost/turtle area, and starting to dig around a little.  It doesn't take much to draw the attention of Eleanor (our second turtle).  She is the least shy, and has a very large appetite.  It took no time at all for her to start in on the action, and Bernie (the SHY guy) decided to join in.  It wasn't long before Margaret (our first turtle) wanted some worms as well.  They eat anything that moves basically. They love earthworms, and will eat all sorts of grubs.  They all have their own personalities.

Eleanor the Dinosaur (as close as my husband will get to one anyway...)

She thinks my fingers are worms... she's very curious

Look at how pretty Solomon's coloring is!

Eleanor and Margaret digging/waiting for me to dig worms

I've been keeping an eye on Eleanor these days, she's laid eggs the past two years at this time, and it could be any day now! 

Garden Update

I've sick as a dog for the last six days, and finally got the time/desperation to go to the doctor yesterday.  Turns out I'd had strep for five days, along with an upper respiratory infection which made that sore throat feel all the worse. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since last Monday, so blogging (and gardening) hasn't been my first priority.

There really isn't MUCH left to do this growing season for a while. I still have to transplant spaghetti squash and watermelon, and will eventually be seeding another round of green beans, but it's good that my tomatoes were already in the ground. I'm glad I didn't have to worry about them this week! From the looks of it, they have recovered, their foliage has turned green, and I already have a couple plants that are giving the glorious nursery start a run for its money!

The strawberries are going bananas

Snow Peas are growing like crazy! I think I'll be seeing some blossoms soon!

Zucchini in their pots

I rode my bike over to check on Mandi's garden this morning (I'm "garden-sitting" while they're on vacation!).  It still amazes me how much her broccoli has grown compared to mine!  Even the nursery starts that replaced two of my plants haven't caught up with hers. Her peas however, are kind of yellowing, whereas mine are flourishing.  Her lettuce looks a lot better than mine, but I kind of expected it to be further along than it is even still.

I was VERY sad to find that the Cherokee Purple seedling I gave to her has been eaten almost to the ground.  Several of her tomato plants have been chewed on, two of her peppers have been annihilated as well.  I guess she's going to need some more chicken wire to go along the chain link fencing.

I don't have any extras of this plant, but will be replacing it with something before they get back!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! :)

Harvest Monday

I meant to post some of this last week, so forgive me, because some of this was from last week as well!

I used some fresh scallions on a delicious baked potato

I cut out just about all of the lettuce from the Aerogarden (the only place that's growing DECENT sized lettuce for me.  I was going to make a salad for my lunch, when I realized my husband had taken the camera with him to school, and I eat this without getting a picture first. My husband got to eat it in a salad the next day, though it wasn't as crisp as it would have been.

I added these:

to help make this:

(which by the way, the recipe called for entirely too much spinach, and I'll be remembering that for next time...)

I got my very first radish 4/30. It was a beauty, and the taste was excellent.  I had it with just a touch of an asiago parmesan dressing.

Join in on the fun, and see what everyone else is harvesting from their gardens over at Daphne's Dandelions!

Garden Update

It's been a busy week, and my husband has been good about hogging the computer and camera because the semester is winding down for him.  I have definitely had some time to do some gardening though!  I'm sorry this will probably be a long post, and probably heavy on the pictures.

Gardening evidence

Thursday 4/28:
Transplanted all 20 tomatoes and 20 peppers, as well as three marigolds, and a basil plant. *I decided that whatever it was that was harming my tomatoes (which no one could seem to really get an idea about... best guess was edema) hadn't killed them yet, there was no wilting, and what was left looked as if it had "hardened over", I figured I'd bite the bullet and put them in the ground before I'd waited too long.

I also was able to bring over the transplants to Mandi to fill her second 4 by 8 bed.  It's nice to see things filling out in her bed. I go over there about once a week.  It's so much fun to see a weeks worth of growth at a time!

This was a three hour gardening evening.  It was a lot of work, but worthwhile.  I have the most ridiculous looking tomato stakes out there (culled lumber at Home Depot- 20 8 ft 1x2's cost me around $3.00) They'll work though, and since I still can't find myself a nursing job, saving money is a higher priority than things looking nice.

Part of the work included gathering up this year's potential Maple Forest-- I have two maple trees around my house, and another in the neighbors' yard, so everywhere gets loaded with those helicopter seeds. I don't feel I had as many to pick up as last year.  Maybe they're not all down yet. I'm hoping it's not that.


Saturday 4/30:
I stole Granny's idea with pots from Dollar Tree, drilled holes in them, and transplanted two zucchini, and two yellow squash.  I know 2.5 gallons is nowhere near the right size for squash, but I don't want to be feeding the neighbors with squash, and my broccoli is nowhere NEAR done, as I had hoped... (which is where I had planned to interplant my squash initially) so it's an experiment.  Who doesn't love a good experiment every now and then.  I know I'll be watering them at least twice a day once our June and July heat rolls around, but I wanted to give it a try. My squash was obliterated by the combination of squash bugs and squash vine borers last year, that I figure using containers may be an easier way to contain pests.

I wasn't planning on doing more than those four plants that day, and my husband was hoping to leave after I was finished to go to make a Home Depot trip, but he had to ask me if I was going to put the rest of the pots on the patio away now, since I'd planted in those four. I told him I had plans for them, and away those plans went.

I potted up cilantro, and garlic chives into one pot (the other one in the photo with the zucchini)

I put impatiens in another, and a cayenne pepper in another one. (I didn't have room for the cayenne pepper in my garden, and I read peppers do well in containers anyway)

That got the ball rolling, so that's when I planted some of the basil into the ground, some more cilantro went into the ground, as well as a few cucumber transplants.

(Edamame and bush beans were up today as well!)

Sunday 5/1:  All tomatoes and peppers (and any other plants I have grown for others) have been delivered, with the exception of my next-door neighbor, but she just got back from vacation, and didn't want to plant them just yet. I still have close to 20 extra tomatoes, and a few jalapenos left.  I think the neighbor next to them is going to at least be offered a few plants.  I am constantly getting requests for tomatoes, and they are putting "dibs" on my strawberries this year, so I think I'm going to let them grow some of their own! :)  (If I have runners from my strawberries that I can give them this year, I plan to do that as well!!) Fortunately, I should be in excess with my strawberries this year, the plants are just LOADED with blossoms and small berries already!

I have had some small harvests, and have been able to use some in meals, but I'll save those pictures for tomorrow.

I can hardly believe it is May already! We're going to have to start watching our turtles behavior in the evening.  It's about the time for egg laying, and I don't want to miss it and end up tossing eggs around in the compost pile when it gets turned! It was May 13th last year when Eleanor laid her clutch of eggs, and May 20 something the year before. We've got 4 females, who we KNOW have the opportunity to have had them fertilized this year, so we're going to be on the lookout! I am REALLY hoping for some little turtle babies this year!