garden tales

 

We downsized the garden a bit this year.  We're using the smaller upper garden and instead of the larger lower garden (we live on a hill), we have two raised planting boxes.  I always wanted some and when the neighbors next door moved this spring, I jumped on them. 

 

 

 

I have green beans in one box and sweet peas and strawberries in the others.   We have tomatoes in the upper garden. 

 

 

 

There's a little something going on with the green beans.  The edges of the leaves look burnt on the edges.  The new leaves are ok, so I'm not going to worry.  I wonder if they got sun burnt from a mid day watering?  

 

 

The logan berries are two weeks later than they have been in the past three years, but they're here now and Bee and I are devouring them by the bowl full. 

 

 

 

 We planted new strawberries this year.  The others are so buried under the thorns of the logan berries, they are impossible to get to. 

They new ones were not great producers this year, but I think next year they'll be better.

 

 

I can't wait for the tomatoes.  I don't really eat them off season, they're so disappointing from the grocery.  I planted several varieties of heirloom tomatoes. 

 

 

After my plants were coming up, I put newspaper down and then straw on top just like I've done the past few years.  It's my favorite gardening short cut!  Few if any weeds and it helps keep the moisture in the ground.  Here's more about that from two years ago.
 

 

And my favorite flowers are blooming.  It's the best part of the yard!

 

The goal for the garden this year was low maintenance.  Hopefully low maintenance still can be high producing.

growing... and not growing

I'm an awful gardener this summer.

I waited and waited on the peaches to get bigger and almost missed the whole crop.  We had about 20 peaches when it came down to it, and were able to eat about half.  The bugs got a few, and a few were just too ripe by the time we got to them.  I wasn't expecting any this first year so I'll be happy with 10.

 

I thought I was growing zucchini, then I thought it was  a watermelon.  It turned out to be a pumpkin.  We have one beautiful orange pumpkin.  In August.  No zucchini.  No watermelon.

 
The eggplant are so tiny they aren't worth prepping to eat.   I've been so neglectful.  So so neglectful. 

The tomatoes are just now starting to ripen.  They're a month behind schedule.  Hopefully I get some nice ones before frost. 

I planted over a dozen green bean plants and have about three left.  One at least is a good producer.  The dog loves the top garden.  Loves it like he digs and rolls in it.  Live and learn.

I wrote on facebook the other day that it's a good thing it 2013 and food is available at the store because we'd starve this winter.  I haven't even put up any produce from the farmers market this summer.  I've had a one track mind... school!  (I'm back full time now and the kids come this week.  I am happy to spend my days working on things for school.  I forgot how much I love it.)

Spring fruit

Spring has to be my favorite time of year!  Maybe it's just the relief of the dreary gray end of winter months. Maybe it's the signs of new life in the yard.  Maybe its the promise of deliciousness starting to grow when I didn't have to do much work!

 

The fruits in the yard are starting all on their own.  Of course there was work in the fall to prune and clean up, but that's been a long time ago.  My last year's Mother's Day peach tree flowered.  Does that mean we will have little peaches this year? 

The rhubarb (that probably isn't a fruit... but I don't know) is up and a it.  Last year was the first year and the directions clearly said not to pick and eat the first year.  It was a long summer watching it look ready and delicious but leaving it.  I'm thinking about my high school best friend and college roommate's grandma who used to make us this delicious rhubarb and strawberry dessert.  And lamb, she made us lamb.  I'm drooling.

The logan berries are looking pert this year. My arms are finally healed up from the spring cleanup.  My forearms looked like I'd been in fight with a dozen kittens.  

Strawberries. Oh sweet strawberries.  I spread the strawberries out some last fall and enlarged their bed then too.  It looks like I have less, but that shouldn't be the case.  We'll just have to see how they produce this year having a little more room. 

Now it's time to get working on the vegetables!

easy growing

I found these old pictures from this summer in a draft post.  It's cold outside, so I', just going to enjoy them today.  With a cup of hot chocolate. And slippers on my feet.

November tomatoes

I picked the rest of the tomatoes this week (ignore my weirdly wrinkled hand).  It's November and I'm still pulling red ones.  I have one last plant that seriously would make you think it's still summer, but all the others got picked and knocked over.  There were bunches for us, 

and bunches for my friend's chickens.  They prefer the green ones and love some good bugs. I had a lot that fit that description.  I've been meaning to get this done three weeks ago.

I also picked the last daisy.  It was a random stray bloom. 

Now if I can just get out to trim up the berry bushes, we'll be in good shape.

okra and tomatos

 I was looking for other ways to eat the okra, and I found it.  Fresh and raw.  They can't be great big long ones- those are hard and stringy.  Oh man, if you can put aside the slight slime- this may be the best way to eat okra.  That sounds appetizing doesn't it!

Tomatoes in October.  Good grief.  They aren't pretty and you have to wash really well or you'll eat a pill bug, but we're still getting bunches every other day or so.  I have been lazy and have been freezing more than canning this year.  I'll regret that decision this winter I'm sure.  It's working for me right now though  Think there will be another BLT for me today!

best part of summer

They aren't pretty, but they might very well be the best part of the summer. 

Heirloom tomatoes just taste better.  These are organic purple cherokee.  My favorite all times are black krum, but I didn't grow any of those this year.  I grew only what seeds I had on hand.  Next year!

The list might be longer than tomatoes. School starts for us in two days.  I need to add sleeping in, long stretches of playing outside with friends, swimming, lazy mornings, going to the water park, and the lack of snow boots.  Those are the best parts of summer. 

(Lou built this balance beams using his tool kit!)

the garden -note to self

We are really enjoying the okra this summer.  It's new for us to grow, and has been easy.  I have two plants, but next year, note to self- we will have three or four.  I will need to look into other ways to cook it next year, frying is the only way we eat it currently.  I was told by a friend that one plant is all you need, but I'm not sure if it's my issue or theirs.  It is a constant producer, but I need more that 2 pods (is that what they're called?) at a time.  I have to save them up in the kitchen and a few get soft before I have enough to cook up.  I think they're a funny plant, the okra appears to grow upside down. 

The corn is gone, next year I'll stagger the planting more.  This was our second year to plant corn, our first to get to eat it, so it was a success regardless.  Note to self- next year more corn and stagger the planting.  The stalks are still up because they are the poles for some beans.  I tried the 'three sisters' method (except the bottom sisters -god rest their little green souls are dead).  I won't bother doing this next year because it's hard to get in through the stalks to check the beans.

The tomatoes are peaking, but I am having the same trouble as last year.  My plants get so heavy that I end up with a maze of fabric strips holding things up.  The whole garden gets laced for support making my picking a crawling task.  Literally, I have to crawl from plant to plant.  Next year, I'll use stronger cages or reinforced steel bars or something.

I'm pretty sure I'll be using some poison on the squash next year.  I lost the last one to vine boarers.  That's two years in a row those stinkers have robbed me of a freezer full of zucchini bread. They were the bottom sisters to the corn and beans.

The peas are doing well.  The pole beans aren't as great as the bush beans, next year more bush beans, less pole beans.

I will plant more green beans for sure.  We can have them for supper every few days.  I've boiled them, grilled them, pan fried them and cooked them in other dishes, and I have to say fresh from the garden beans are better than any other green beans, no matter how you cook them. 

weird stuff in the garden

All the carrot tops dried up and withered away.  When I had to water the garden, they got plenty of water, in the last two weeks, we've had rain.  I didn't realize they weren't getting any water since they were sort of protected under the porch overhang. I pulled them up and we just had these tiny stubs of carrots.  

I left one out on the table to clean up and have the kids taste.  

Either we have rabbits in the house  

or the kids couldn't wait. 

Many of the onions tops also dried up.  I don't know but it probably had something to do with my neglect.  I can't confirm that.  They are little, but still count as onions. 

This is only weird because we actually got to eat them, but we picked the rest of the corn this week.  The racoons let us get it all!  Here's one batch.  I had to pretend 'little house on the prairie' for the kids to get them to help pick.  I was Laura, Lou was Almanzo and Bee was Mary (preblindness)- who played her part very conceited bragging about her blond hair.  They were both concerned that Almanzo and Laura didn't know each other as kids, but we worked through it.

Next year, we need to plant more I guess, I only canned 3 pints and froze 2 quart bags in additional to what we ate fresh. 

The vine borers are here again.  I've lost most of the yellow squash and zucchini plants.  I think I've down to one of each, that's from 6 each.  There is still an acorn squash plant that seems undisturbed though.  We'll wait and see. I did get this weird squash zucchini combo on a zucchini plant.  It tasted fine, it just looked a little weird.  

 It made some nice zucchini bread. This loaf got delivered to a friend.  I used some of those leftover cupcake wrappers from Bee's party to add some color. 

 With typing this, now all I can think about is zucchini bread.  Thank goodness the folk at the grocery store are better at growing zucchini than I am and I can get some there today. 

weeds in the garden

This posted Thursday with no text.  I am not sure how that happened.  So here is some text to go with the pictures. 

This picture shows the weed free area of the garden.  Early in the season, I planted and laid down newspaper and topped it with grass clippings.  It worked well last year.  The problem this year was that if I want grass clippings, I had to be out and ready for them when hubby mows.  If I wasn't, I didn't get clippings.  Now, we are out of grass clippings.  We haven't mowed in weeks since we haven't had any rain.

So, the front part of the garden looked like this.  Weedy and embarrassing. Seriously, you can't tell what is weeds and what is tomatoes. 

So, I broke down and spent a few hours on two separate days fixing it back up.  I went to the recycling center and grabbed a big stack of newspaper.  I laid several layers down all around the garden.  I kept the hose out and sprayed them wet as I went to keep them from blowing away.  It looked like I was paper mache'-ing the garden.

Then I laid down a nice layer of straw.  I have heard some garden bloggers saying that straw is expensive where I they live.  I pay $3.50 a bale.  I think that's a fine price.  I have to transport it, but they will load it for me. I can fit two in my car at a time.

After several hours and a nice watering, it looks like a garden again. 

A happy garden = happy zucchinis.  Can they be happy if they get grilled and eaten?  A happy garden = my happy tummy.