December's Garden (2024)

 

It took us a while to get all the hoop houses up but we did it. 

The garden isn't as lush as last year's December garden and appears sparse on a gray and dreary, rainy day. Considering it didn't seem as if we would have anything due to the unusual hot fall weather, I'm thrilled to have this much. It is more than we can eat fresh with plenty to store for later. The garden looks bare but my pantry continues to be restocked.

There has been one big failure - the broccoli. All three beds are almost dead. This one has two remaining plants.

This is how they look. The seed catalog said Calabrese Broccoli was winter hardy. Obviously they weren't hardy enough. The packet is still full of seeds so I will start more in the early spring in hopes of getting a crop. Next fall, something else will be tried.

The two survivors are sandwiched between large lettuce plants so perhaps they are sheltered from the harsh winds.  

The Golden Cabbage experiment continues. Dropping a seed in each empty spot left by a harvested plant has worked so far. I'm sure it is depleting the nutrients but it is saving quite a bit of work and letting me see how different sizes relate to the bitter cold.

The big ones can't seem to manage the harsh weather without getting frost damage. I'm wondering if it is caused by being too close to the roof of the hoop house or if their height makes them susceptible to high winds. They have gotten huge, densely packed, are heavy to carry and nothing like those sold in the grocery stores. 

The seeds are some I have saved and they produce different colors. Nature is so unpredictable.

Now for a fantastic big success! Back in the spring when onion sets were available cheaply in bulk, I took the advice of an old-time farmer friend and purchased extra to store in my refrigerator until the fall planting. They have all sprouted! This is a game changer. It beats ordering expensive bulbs online. This spring, a year's worth will be purchased to be planted in the empty beds in the next winter garden. A few might be started from seed in the fall depending on the outcome of those seedlings growing now. This is less costly, easier, and utilizes unused space in the garden 

Big success number two is the spinach bed. It was so frustrating. It was planted four different times because the seeds wouldn't germinate. It does appear like the soil or the sun was too warm even though the planting date was correct on the calendar. There are three different varieties intermingled because I purchased the seeds from different places.

Spinach is one of our favorites and I was determined to have some. They have rewarded my diligence by producing abundantly.  My message to other gardeners is, don't give up. Keep trying. Eventually it will pay off and be worth it.

Last Month's November Garden (2024)

Last Year's December Garden (2023)

November's Garden (2024)

 

Ready or not, tonight winter arrives. The temperature will drop to 19 degrees and there will be four nights of bitter cold.  Outside is gray, dark, and dreary

I didn't think there would be a winter garden because it was started so late due to the drought and heat. Seeds just wouldn't sprout in the blistering hot soil; now it seems, they knew best. When it finally cooled down a month later than normal, they began to grow at record speed and made up the difference. There isn't the usual large variety of vegetables as has been grown in years past, just the hardy, faithful few in larger amounts. My goal was something is better than nothing. The lesson learned is: be patient. The plants know what they are doing.

The second lesson I have learned is that this area is always going to be in a drought during growing season. Period. It will rain all around us but for some reason, the clouds on the radar screen can be seen parting as they get close. We wonder if there is some kind of updraft caused from the heat of so many rocks in this area. There is a whole section on this site dedicated to all the rocks. Droughts are normal for my neighborhood and I need to expect it.

We are still trying to get the hoop houses ready. It is slow going because I mulch every bed before closing the covers. Weeds will grow quickly underneath causing the beds to stay too wet. 

I'm trying some new ideas this year. Whenever a Golden Cabbage head was harvested, a seed was dropped in the hole. This is against all gardening rules, I know, but I want to see how maturity effects the survival rate.

This one is destined to be sautéed with an onion in butter for supper tonight.

None of the beets are going to be put under covers. Too many are growing for us to eat so I want to watch how they survive the dead of winter. The last few Sugar Beets in this row are about to be harvested. They have gotten a bit too large and are getting tough. Bill only likes them fresh and it isn't always possible to time the harvests right.

Next on the menu is a row of Detroit Red Beets. Not as sweet as Sugar Beets but still good enough.

Albino beets were put in the empty spots in this tomato bed. Onions were planted later when frost killed them.

Last year's experiment of not covering half of the carrots proved a hoop house didn't make any difference in their growth. I don't claim this will work everywhere but it did work well here in zone 7a. The carrot bed will remain unprotected.

The goal is to find as many winter hardy varieties as possible so as to use fewer hoop houses. If they don't need the extra protection, why go to the bother of putting them up? We are almost finished with preparations for winter and then we will huddle down and hibernate until spring. All that is left will to be venture out on occasion to harvest an armload of fresh greens. 

Last Month's October Garden (2024)

Last Year's November Garden (2023)

October's Garden (2024)

 

The summer garden is finished. We didn't think summer would ever end. Normally, the hot weather breaks around the middle of September but this year it remained in the low 90s up until two weeks ago.  I am glad to see it finally go.

Everything has been either eaten or stored away deep within the pantry.  I feel safe and content and am not fretting over the future. The winter garden is out except for onions and garlic. As my neighbors were clearing their gardens and laying them to rest, we were planting again.  It has been a busy month and we are tired - very tired. 

Bill has continued to share the garden workload and has done more than I. Watching his face when he saw the large amount of food as we ingathered was thrilling.  He now understands how much it really takes to prepare for the year.  It is one thing to see a weekly basket of groceries from the store but quite another to carry a year's worth of unprocessed food into the kitchen.

It has been a rough month but well worth the work. We are both ready for a long rest. 

Last Month's September Garden (2024)

Last Year's October Garden (2023)

September's Garden (2024)

This has been an unusual month. Something terrible produced something good. At the beginning of the month, I pulled a muscle in my back and became bedridden. In addition to working full-time, Bill took over everything including the garden.

He isn't a stranger to it but has only helped when I asked. For the first time, he was responsible for everything. He made the daily inspection trips to the garden, watched it change, learned to spot problems and decided when to harvest. The pupil became the master and I love it. Our conversations have been long and interesting. He now sees what I see and understands what I have been talking about forever. He sees the work involved and the rewards that can be achieved. I have a partner in the garden.

When I was able to sit in a chair and "supervise", he began clearing the spent vegetables and planting seeds for the winter garden.  It was a blessing to have someone do all the heavy lifting.

This is the only yellow squash left and its days are numbered. The experiment to plant zucchini, spaghetti, and yellow squash under nets later in the season after the squash vine borers were (hopefully) gone, failed. It wasn't anything I did but something the seed companies did wrong.

I purchased seeds from three different reputable companies and everything had crossed. It's anybody's guess as to what they are now. They don't taste like spaghetti or yellow squash but more like butternut. Next year, I will buy all new seeds and once again try to grow zucchini, yellow and spaghetti squash. 

The moschata variety (resistant to borers) squash bed in the front of the garden (which was the potato bed planted in the massive pile of horse manure in the spring) is taking over the yard. 

It was planted late so it is unknown how much can be produced. It is impassible but if you peep under the leaves on the edges, hidden squash can be seen. This is going to be a surprising treasure hunt.

The first frost will arrive this month so it is time to start the fall harvest. For the first time, I'm excited and look forward to sharing the discoveries. 

Last Month's August Garden (2024)

Last Year's September Garden (2023)

Through the Garden Gate

August Garden (2024)

 

The garden appears to be a wee bit out of control, but alas, that is August.

There is a method to this madness and the jungle is organized chaos. (I see it even though others can't.)  The goal is to waste no space and push the garden to the max since this is premium growing season. This is the time of the year when all of the the seeds I dropped into an empty spot becomes evident.  Something is going to grow in the bare soil - it will be either a vegetable or a weed.

In this bed, the okra will grow tall and should be over my head by the end of summer. Instead of leaving the soil below unproductive, the lower leaves have been trimmed to open up the understory for a new experimental vining squash, Teot Bat Put. It is larger and more aggressive than expected.

A cantaloupe is at the  end of this row and is supposed to trellis up a wire support. It has refused to cooperate and insists on spreading along the ground. Everything doesn't always go according to plans.

This corner has cherry tomatoes on the left growing up the fence and over the arches attached to the field fence. Sweet potatoes spread below. In the center are sweet peppers and to the right are tomatoes with winter squash underneath. The tall arch in the back is covered in lima beans and the water sprinkler can be seen high above. We haven't had one single little drop of rain this whole month.

The horses keep the fence row clear; hopefully, they won't devour the tomatoes growing toward them that are only a mere few inches from their reach. 

The right side of this corner looks impassible until you get up close.

There is a narrow passageway beside the squash vine located under the tomatoes and a tunnel below the lima bean arch at the end of the row. You must watch where you step and duck to get under the arch. It knocks my hat off every time. I may have to crawl through on hands and knees before frost hits.

Lima beans are slow to get established since they can't bear any cool weather. This year, they were started a month earlier in March and then transplanted into the garden in April. The harvest began a month earlier! It has already made a huge increase in the output compared to last year.

Frosty Lima beans are huge and will swell even larger when cooked. Their flavor is a unique from other varieties. The roots take up a small space and there are only three plants growing all together. They have grown over this arch for two years in a row but it has been easy to plant the roots in different spots to avoid any nutritional deficiencies.

The been pods are hidden in the leaves but can be found when looking underneath. We almost missed the early harvest because we weren't expecting it and didn't see them until they began to dry

Not everything has been a smashing success. The garbanzo beans have been a failure. They look spindly and the pods are dropping before maturity. Bummer. We like garbanzo beans so it would be great to be able to grow them.

Bill built a new structure from the old chicken yard doors.  The broken, storm tossed chair with the short leg (caused by a weed eater accident) was placed inside.  Everything around here keeps being recycled and repurposed until it falls apart (I am included in that list). Green beans were planted to make a shady spot for my frequent coffee breaks.

The plants on the sunnier left side (south) are twice the size of those on the right (north) side. The back of garden continues to get shadier as the trees in the woods grow taller. There is one empty spot to the left of the arch that has not been reseeded yet. It was caused by a thieving racoon who dug up my sweet potatoes. Bill caught him red handed. Something will be planted there when/if there is ever rain in the forecast again.

This is the view while sitting under the green bean arch facing the morning sun. The right (south) side of the garden is already in full sun. The shade on the left (north) will last until after lunch. A new patch of purple hull peas doesn't seem to mind the low light and are blooming. The pole protruding in the middle of the peas holds the sprinkler as it is moved from spot to spot.

Tomorrow will be the first of September and the green beans over the arch are only just now beginning to bloom. They obviously don't like any shade at all.

Even though they can't seem to produce a bean, at least hey keep me cool as I rest.  Not everything that appears to be a failure really is. The green bean arch has been a smashing success for me. 

Last Month's July Garden (2024)
Last Year's August Garden (2023)

Through the Garden Gate