Gardens update

 Alright, so here it is the end of June and I am woefully behind and really seriously slacking in the garden dept.  This is a picture of the garden at this moment - in DESPERATE need of some weeding!  Did I mention that we moved to a brand new spot and hubby wanted a "traditional row garden"?  I *really* prefer my square foot/ lasagna bed garden - so much easier!  Things are growing in here, among the weeds.  We have harvested some peas, lettuce and cucumbers.  There are onions, carrots, beets, peppers, chard, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprout, kale, beans, lots of squash, and pumpkin.  The corn didn't really come up and the chickens found their way back in - their favorite dust bathing spot is where we planted the corn, so that's a lost cause.  The 30 tomato plants that we planted from seed?  Well, about 3 of them came up.  So, I bought 6 plants at Lowe's and then found a lady on craigslist selling tomato plants for $2 each.  She had sold most of them but had some left and said I could just have them for free since they were getting straggly being in containers so long.  So, I picked up 20 free tomato plants!  :-)  I now have 24 plants in the ground doing well and probably at least 18 different varieties - which is tons of fun!  Below are pics of the peas, apples, and the fig tree so far this year.  I have also harvested some asparagus, and rhubarb and very soon will be picking lots of wild and domestic blackberries.

Pallet Garden

I love this idea!  Need to keep it in mind for up on the deck (whenever it gets finished!).

Pallet Garden

First plantings!

Tom got the garden tilled Saturday.  It is about 24'x36' and we are planting traditional rows this year at Tom's request.  I love my lasagna/square foot gardening, but the garden where I have done that in the past is currently occupied by goats, and Tom was feeling nostalgic and wanted to see a traditional row garden, sooo...  here we go!  Hopefully it will work out well.  I am a little nervous since it is a new spot and method I haven't used in years.

Heather planted spinach, lettuce and peas in the L-shaped beds of the small garden on Saturday also.  A bit later than usual, but the weather has been irrational lately - frost and 40 for the high and then 80 the next day.  They may still do fine.

Today the girls and I planted out the early crops:  lettuce, cabbage, onion, beets, carrots, eggplant, kale, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, swiss chard, and brussels sprout.

I used a garden planner software which I found very helpful and less time consuming than my own drawings and spreadsheets.  It can be found at this link.  I am going to try to figure out how to post a screen shot of my plan here, but haven't yet had time.

This morning, I also tilled up most of the side yard and this evening Will planted grass seed for us!  The grass was pretty much gone after the chickens ate away at it all fall and winter.  I look forward to some nice green grass.  He had such fun running the spreader around - it may not turn out exactly uniform, but he got the job done.  :-)

A couple weeks ago, we were given quite a group of thornless blackberries and some black raspberries.  We put the blackberries adjacent to the small garden where the others were, and ended up adding some fenced area as the deer had already found them.  We planted a long row of raspberries behind the house,  running parallel to it and coming up to the clothesline and adjacent to the kiwi arbor.  They seem to be doing very well and have not yet been found by deer.

We are going to be on vacation soon for 10 days and I can't wait to come home and see how things have grown. A good friend is house/animal sitting for us and will water the garden and yard too.  It will be fun to be surprised by the growth when we return!

A walk through the woods

... and around the yard.  Some early plant pics, and animals too.  :-)

Early spring?

I can't tell when looking out my window - but when I get outside and poke around, there are lots of little green shoots coming up and I have a crocus bloom today!  :-)  That is so encouraging and I can't wait for spring to really arrive and lots of time to play outdoors.