Veggie Garden

The rainy cool weather this spring has definitely gotten the veggie garden off to a good start. Lot's of "babies" on the way. Here are some (windy) pictures of a few things. Despite my caging efforts on the strawberries, the birds managed to clean both plantings totally clean of my first crop. Devastating! So, this morning, I'll be double caging them to try and fend off the attack. There are new berries forming, so I've got to get to it quick. Of course, they only steal them riiiiiight before they are just ripe. Sneaky. The Rhubarb is quite robust. I'll be harvesting some in the next few days and will start canning it. My goal is to get a strawberry & rhubarb pie out of the garden this year! The tomatoes are in high gear this year. (I attribute that to my fantabulous NHG organic veggie food...). The first on the way are 'Sugary' and 'Sun Sugar' a yellow variety.  I'll be trying to can as many tomatoes as I can get this year. Actually, I've got all the ingredients in the garden for a good salsa, so I'll probably make and can that up too. Tiny baby squash are on the way. I have 'Peter Pan' and a couple other varieties. Potatoes and horseradish are growing nicely. Will be looking for a fall harvest there. Corn seedlings are up to about 4" tall, as well as purple beans, snap peas and one last crop of lettuce. The first 3 banana peppers of the season are ready, but the pepper plants won't really take off until the heat comes on. Anyone need pepper sauce or pickled peppers? I'll have plenty! I decided to espalier fruit trees all along the NE side of our yard - which has an ugly chain link fence. If I let them grow standard, they'd shade the veggie garden. So this way, I can camouflage the fence, keep in the sun, and get better fruit production. So far I've planted a pear and a peach. I'll probably plant another pear and a plum. I've also planted blackberries and raspberries along the remainder of the side fence and along the back fence. We have great neighbors and they said they wouldn't mind sharing the "fence fruit"!