Things are growing pretty well…for the most part. The onions are still completely choked with weeds, but the garlic is looking really good. I pulled a few garlic hoping to give the remaining plants more space, so we’ll see…
I harvested the teeniest little carrot the other day, while I was working with the tomatoes. These were actually seeds I planted in the fall, hoping for a “winter garden,” but nothing {no-thing} grew. I was very surprised to find these little guys growing when the weather warmed, and even more excited when I harvested a full-size, grocery-store-looking carrot this week! We haven’t eaten it yet because it’s just too awesome. I’ve been “growing” carrots since we started gardening in…2010?, and I’ve never {ever} harvested a dinner-worthy carrot. Accident or not, it’ll be good eats.
The asparagus didn’t look harvest-able for as long as I was hoping. We got maybe 8 pounds? We ate what we harvested and had asparagus every few nights for about 2 weeks. That’s probably normal but still a little disappointing. I was especially concerned when it didn’t seem like any more would grow – so we wouldn’t have anything to leave through the fall to do its thing. Fortunately, there’s a pretty decent stand of asparagus morphing into tiny trees out there now, so hopefully our patch isn’t doomed…
The raspberries should be ready to harvest soon. Lots of fruit growing. I’m concerned about the nasty fruit flies we had last year… I’m also disappointed that even though we worked and worked to tame the canes last fall, there is so much new growth you can barely even see the mature canes, better yet harvest from them without drawing blood. I’ve found a fair number of wineberry canes around the farm, so if we can harvest a good amount from them I may not keep the raspberries. {If it’s even possible to get rid of raspberries – they put out runners 6+ feet away!}
Some of our tomato starts are actually still alive. Most didn’t make it, but a top dressing of chicken house shavings seemed to help a lot. The starts we got from the farmer’s market are way more full and already setting fruit.
My Sugar Snap Peas didn’t germinate very well. Only 50% even though I’m pretty sure I put two seeds per hole… The four plants that are growing look really great, and starting to set some pods. We’ve actually never grown this tasty snack, so I’m just keeping my fingers crossed for something edible.
I planted black beans again for drying. I had good luck with the plants in 2012 but didn’t plant enough to actually eat any. Practically speaking, I think I would need to plant hundreds of row-feet to grow enough to eat for the year. If these produce we’ll save some for planting next year and enjoy one special beans-from-the-garden meal sometime this winter. I’m still not sure if planting in the ground will be an option for us here – there are SO many rocks! My pasture management plan is focused on #1) producing healthy animals and #2) building up organic matter. {More on that later.}
That dag-on Winter Rye is still persisting! It even put out seed this month! The kids and I hacked it back and I gave it all to the sheep, hoping we wouldn’t have any accidentally seeding itself in the garden. I think I’ll cover the last remaining bed with cardboard and compost and let it sit for a while. Ugh.
I started my first potatoes this month! I’ve never grown potatoes but I had a rather large bag of spuds sprouting in the pantry to I went ahead and put them in the ground. I had very little hope for anything, but they are all {ALL} growing green leaves and looking really good! I honestly can’t believe it. I *think* they are New Potatoes, but I’m not sure if that just means young potatoes, so who knows what we’ll end up with.
How’s your garden growing?
Hi, Rebecca. We’re way behind you up north here. About sugar snaps, though, I’ve grown them for a few years and rarely get more than 50% germination. I grow about 4 feet of them and seed them very heavily in a trench (actually, I do that with all peas. The other Farmer Rebekah says they like to be crowded.) Every other pea does better (Alaska and Lincoln shells, two other kinds of snaps, Oregon Giant snow).
I’ve got peas, radishes, carrots and bunching onions in. Only things ripe are the radishes, but many bolted in the heat before making round roots. At least I like the greens. I have about 20 tomato plants and about 20 peppers (hot and sweet) potted up and ready to plant, as soon as I get the ground ready. I have a 72-cell flat of lettuce in the cellar under lights to be transplanted as they get bigger. Will seed another one of those in about two weeks. Also will be planting pole beans (8-10 varieties), summer squash (6-8 varieties), pumpkins (1 or 2 varieties), potatoes, sweet potatoes and drying beans. Maybe.
We’re doing a major project involving moving our barn and installing solar, and the guy transporting the 400 yards of fill we need for this dumped about 40 yards of it on my gardens. Contractor can’t come until tomorrow to “fix” the mess, and I’m pretty concerned about the compression underneath all those huge mounds. I worked so hard last summer not to walk on most of those two “fields” (each about 750 s.f.) and when I weed whacked a couple of weeks ago, the ground was lovely. Didn’t get tilled because we had to buy a new tiller (another long story). So I’m less happy than I might be. . .but hopeful that things will be good after tomorrow. (I really wonder what that guy was thinking. He had to have been able to see the fences that he inundated! Plus we all – us, the contractor and the building mover – painted lines on the ground showing where the fill should go.)
At least it finally rained here. Two-plus lovely rain days, after getting almost no rain for the past six weeks. Everything already in the ground is very happy.
Keep us posted. I love reading your stories. Any chance you’ll get north for Grey Fox?
–sarah