Garden Update and FHE in the Mountains

Our garden is coming along nicely. I was rather disappointed that my first batch of Sugar Sprint Bush Peas only had about a 50% germination rate, compared to the Sugar Sprint Pole Peas with their 95% germination rate. However, I planted a second round of the Bush variety and, presumably thanks to the warmer weather we've had of late, they've shown almost a 100% germination rate - Hooray! I love peas! Speaking of which, as I was thinning some of the Pole variety I decided to nibble on some of the tender sprouts and leaves and they tasted just like peas, but in leaf-form. They were quite tasty and refreshing and I think if I have to thin any more I might just throw them in a salad.

The garden layout with labels. We'll be planting some squash at the far end behind the AC unit and I'll have to figure out where the best place for my green beans will be when May 6th rolls around.

I am also happy to report that the broccoli plant that Corbin violently uprooted while my back was turned is still coming along nicely and keeping up with his brethren. Because of this incident I've had to use an old, wooden vine-guide as a baby barrier to keep him from terrorizing my fledgling plants. So far, it's worked like a charm.

The baby-barrier.

My most impressive box: Pole Peas and Broccoli

It has been around 85 degrees for the past three days and Mitzi was freaking out about a dry patch on our front lawn that has really suffered in this heat. So I got back in the crawl space and turned the sprinklers on. This also provided me an opportunity to test my newly installed (as of this year) soaker-tube system for the garden. I ripped out the existing sprinkler system which had seriously disappointed me last year and installed soaker tubing to the two most active garden boxes. The guy at Lowe's gave me a plastic capping end for the section of pipe I cut which I installed per his instructions but which also seemed rather flimsy. Oh well, I buried it, built my garden, installed my soaker lines, and hoped for the best. When I activated that system everything looked well, with the exception of a few spots that were soaking more than others. Right as I was about to shut it off, the water pressure from the one remaining sprinkler head connected to that system lost pressure dramatically. I looked at my soaker lines and saw a fountain of muddy water bursting forth from the ground near where I had capped the severed sprinkler line about 18" below. D'oh! Looks like I've got a Saturday morning project ahead of me.

These Pole Peas are off to the races!

Other than that, the garden is looking great. My lazy beets have finally started to show their sprouts, as has the first planting of carrots. The broccoli starts I got from the store are doing very nicely, though it's not hard to tell which ones get the most sunlight (the south side of the two east-most boxes are still shaded most of the day). This garden is already off to a much better start than any previous Cannon-family garden. I'm looking forward to those garden peas come the end of May or June.

View of downtown Boise from the mountains near Table Rock.

On Monday, Mitzi had the good idea to have an FHE in the mountains. The weather has been beautiful and things are looking greener, so it was a great time to do it. Part of the reason she wanted to go to the mountains was to grab some rocks to do some new landscaping at our house. I ended up hauling three rocks up the mountainside (unfortunately for us, or rather, for me, there were no usable rocks close to the road or on the uphill-side that I could simply roll down) and boy my legs were feeling it. Corbin had a great time running around in the wilderness. We got some yummy DQ ice cream on the way home and it was quite an enjoyable little adventure.

Our new rocks. That one on the left was a killer.

Corbin was loving this mountain adventure, though it was too steep for him to run around unassisted by his mommy.