{The back garden. Contains 4 types of beans, tomatoes, carrots, squash of all kinds, melons, cilantro and dill.}
{Strawberry and blueberry patch.}
{The front garden. Contains potatoes, peas, peppers, basil, kohlrabi, beans, lettuce, greens of all kinds, cucumber, shallots.}
{Raspberry patch. Much of it will be moved in the fall to be with the other berries out back.}
{A peek at the ladies and their new digs. Cannot wait to take proper photos and show you, I love it and am so grateful to my husband for making it. He who did not share my NEED for chickens on the property... ahem. }
As I was taking pictures this morning I couldn't help but think this doesn't really look like much. But then I thought, isn't that the point - to watch and take note from seed to harvest? Well, in my garden, many plants are definitely still at the (just sprouted) seed point in their journey.
And so it begins. Another year in which we attempt to grow more and more of our food supply, with hopefully enough to share too.
We are tending two large vegetable gardens (one close to the house, the other in "the back field," as we call it), perennial beds, and a berry patch. Our berry patch contains strawberries (getting established), blueberries (more established), and raspberries (nicely established). The raspberries came down several years ago from Adam's grandmother's homestead in Northern Vermont. They are rather exceptional raspberries, but we are a little biased. ;)
This year much of my garden went in on the late side. Not terribly, it should all catch up in no time, but two weeks later than I would like nonetheless. There was the matter of taking down a large ash tree that blocked about three hours of precious sunlight from a prime garden spot, then prepping that part of the earth for growing veggies.
Some things were planted on schedule - peas, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, kale and collards. Those have been in for some time now. My kale and collards were planted as small little seedlings but seem to be kind of stunted and aren't growing much at all. They aren't dying either... so I remain hopeful. It's a little weird though, seeing their tiny selves just sitting there.
Actually, it's probably a good thing because it gave me a little extra time to source row cover supplies for those crops in hopes to keep the cabbage white butterfly from laying eggs resulting in cabbage worms... my early summer problem last year, and in years past. We determined this pest is such an issue in our area it wasn't worth growing certain crops without floating row covers, so putting up the covers will be my weekend project. (If you use row covers, make sure to put them up before there is moth/egg/worm presence - once they are there you'll just be covering them in!)
Most of the lettuce is about to bolt, but not the romaine that I direct sowed. That is still producing young tender leaves in abundance. I should be sure to do that again next year (and later in the summer).
Fencing continues to be an aesthetics issue for me, but I'm really trying to be patient. I'm truly grateful for any sort of fencing, but I sure would love to wake up one day and have it be all pretty with lots of wooden posts and cute latching gates. Even though re-purposed dog kennel panels have awesome gates and are probably the very best type of 'fencing' for keeping deer out. They are easy to install and are a fairly common Craigslist find. When people are 'done' with dog kennels, they generally just want them off their property and they can become a great score for gardeners.
I mulched with straw (not hay) as I was told this was a good way to keep weeds down. It seems to be keeping other weeds down just fine but the straw has sprouted which is exactly what I thought would not happen. So disappointed. What is your favorite way to mulch and provide weed control?
To do this week:
- Contain raspberries and provide bird safe netting. Looks to be a bumper crop this year if all is protected.
- Add final planting bed to the back garden and sow acorn, delicata, and spaghetti squash.
- Mulch perrenial beds.
- Add tri-pod poles for beans.
- Add row covers for kale and collards.
- Measure the vegetable gardens - I am curious about the square footage.
- Lots of weeding... darn that straw!
I'm sure there's more to do but I'll try to keep the list realistic. I'm looking forward to watching my photos evolve over the summer and fall with these weekly garden posts.
What's happening in your garden? Feel free to share a few thoughts (or a blog link).
