in between raindrops

I managed to get a few more low quality pictures. It would seem that the chinese cabbage are a magnet for whatever bug appears to be preying upon its leaves. I tried to save the garden ones by planting a few extras from the original flat and discovered within two days the weaker new transplants hand been..true to form...decimated. Its no far flung theory, bugs really do prey upon the weaker plants. Hopefully that will give the garden cabbage enough of a reprieve to make a comeback. It has been unusually cold and rainy, and things are just kind of in a holding pattern with the exception of:

Fennel (which I have never grown or tasted before, but I can say with certainty that I am pleased with the results of both)

leaf lettuce (green arrow variety) Its really taking off, and despite being started at the same time under the same conditions, appears to be fairing much better than the heads of tom thumb above it. Which is a shame because I could live on tom thumb lettuce.

and in even worse pictures are evidence of radishes starting to form little baby bulbs, And broccoli making some nice big leaves (which seem to be left relatively untouched by the phantom bug)

In other news, the tomato seedlings are doing nicely although the peppers are off to a very slow start. I think I will start them earlier next year. The cuccumbers do not appear to be liking the weather and are no bigger than when they were first planted. We are supposed to have warmer weather this weekend which should help that though.

And despite the verrrry stressful day yesterday there was a bright spot. The kiwi vines arrived from Miller Nurseries. Being in CNY these are of course the original grape sized hardy variety rather than the fuzzy plum sized commonly sold in supermarkets. Kiwi is our soon to be adopted daughter's favorite fruit, and a big hit with the rest of us so I figured, why not? I purchased a male and female vine and started digging. Normally I find the act very therapeudic and the first hole was, but with all the gravel and clay in the spot where the male vine is going I had to quit after about 15 minutes. It was not a day to turn a delight into a hassle. On a positive note though pruned the vine down a bit before planting with my new bahco pruners. Very nice product, I'm not one for endorsements but these are a good high quality garden tool. Check out Earthtools.com a lot more friendly and knowledgable than the Home Despot.