May's Garden (2024)

 

Food has begun coming in from the garden and canning time is here. The swaying white ghost is a blueberry bush which has attracted too many hungry cardinals. It needs to be unwrapped and picked every other day.  Manure load number ten is being unloaded when it isn't raining.

It is necessary to wait until there is an empty spot, of course; however, unless there is a disaster (of which there have been many), there is no time during the year when my garden isn't producing.   

Two years ago Dustin helped set up the support fences. Being a young, healthy, strong, male, and not realizing how forcefully he was hitting the fence posts, he drove the stakes almost to China. Two of them rusted and broke apart deep down in the ground. Since one of the beds is now empty, we decided to tackle the chore of locating the broken piece before it is hit by the tiller.

It required shoveling deep into untilled soil and it was surreal to see how bad the dirt was when I first started gardening twenty years ago. It is hard clay that dries like bricks and is full of rocks. I have almost worked myself to death (not an exaggeration) adding truck loads of compost, leaves, grass, hay, manure and anything else available. The difference it has made to the productivity of the garden is extraordinary.

After the stake was removed, manure from the trailer was added. 

Everything was mixed together. 

Cherokee Wax bush beans and black oil sunflower seeds were planted. I like mixing the yellow beans with the green ones when canning for no other reason than it looks pretty. The sunflower seeds will be pressed into cooking oil.

My garden beds need so much compost and amending because I work them hard. The support fence for this bed stayed up all winter so it would be easy to start planting early. Onion bulbs and snow peas were put out in March and tomatoes, cucumbers and one pole lima bean were added in late April. 

The tomatoes and cucumbers are on the west side of the support fence and the onions are on the east. Last year, peppers were in this area so they could be tied up. The soil is loose and loamy so violent storms can knock tall things over. I'm not complaining at all. This beats the rock hard clay anytime.

Early Rogue tomatoes are early producers and so their seeds were started first.  They will soon tower over the onions which should be almost mature before the shade is too deep.

At the northern end of this fence are cucumbers, one remaining snow pea and a single pole lima bean. The row of snow peas have died from the heat and have been removed - only one remains.  

The tiny cucumbers are ready early and will be pickled whole. They should last long enough for me to make a year's worth for Reese before they succumb to mildew. Their vines will be removed opening up room for the lima bean to overtake the fence. After the onions are harvested, a vining squash or melon will be planted where it can spread along the bare ground below the support fence.  If it is too shady, lettuce or a cool winter crop might be slipped in.

Even though I hate them, I have embraced using nets to ward off insects. It is rewarding looking out my kitchen window and seeing a lush green, growing garden. Watching a field of plastic nets isn't satisfying.  

However, I am willing to try new things. One spot of the netting blew open during a late night rainstorm and before we could close it the next morning, a cabbage moth found the hole. After seeing the superior quality of the other unchewed leaves and how much damage just one moth was capable of in only a few hours, I am convinced to continue using the nets. I don't like them but it has increased the yield.

Another net will be moving around in the garden all summer. As anyone knows who has followed my journey for any length of time, squash vine borers are my nemesis. This year's plan is to cover the susceptible squash varieties with netting, let them grow until they bloom and then remove the covers for pollination. They will be immediately attacked but hopefully, there will be a decent harvest before the plants die.  

The netting will then be moved to another row which will be planted with more of the same squash. The goal is to be able to have a continuous crop of zucchini, yellow and spaghetti squash through out the summer without sprays or scent traps.

One crop of yellow squash was planted earlier and has just been uncovered. Usually, I get two or three harvests before the plant dies. I have always heard jokes about too many zucchini but never experienced the abundance. This just might be the year that happens!

Kitchen preparations for peak canning season have begun. Yesterday I discovered five boxes of canning jars under a pile of junk in an old work shed at an estate sale and then had the nerve to negotiate the price for all of them down to $20 (a steal). I also bought two straw hats for working outside ($3),  and a tire iron for Joshua ($3) which is the item I really went to get. He had a flat tire on the side of the road and his brother rushed him ours. His disappeared in his repeated apartment movings this year. Anyway, as long as the rains continue, I am ready an exceptional summer in the garden! 

Last Month's April Garden (2024)

Last Year's May Garden (2023)

April's Garden (2024)

 

It has been a busy month in the garden. Winter weather is finally finished. The summer garden has been held back because we had two late frosts last week. Spring planting began a few days ago.

The new strawberry bed has begun to produce. Last year, I planted four different varieties and chose the two with the best flavor. As they multiplied, they were divided, transplanted and have almost filled both beds.

The empty areas have onions and an unknown variety of grocery store purchased bulbs of garlic.

We have harvested about ten strawberries so far and have discovered the perfect shade of red when the flavor is at peak ripeness. So far, no berries have made it into the house but have been immediately devoured by whomever spies the treasure.

Today, the garden appears to be nothing but potatoes and onions.

Last summer, I tried starting onion seeds. It didn't go well. These are all that survived. The experiment was a failure of outcome but a success in knowledge attained. It was labor intensive watering and weeding tiny seedlings that were the size of hairs, Never again will I make that mistake. 

Since seed starting was fraught with failure, I decided to buy onion sets from a seed company but was shocked at the prices.  It cost over $35 (including shipping) for this amount. Only a few companies sell them in the fall so they charge premium prices. During spring planting season, the same amount can be grabbed from the bulk bin at the local farmer's co-op for about $5. 

Those planted in the fall survived the winter fine without a hoop house. They are larger than those planted this spring and should mature earlier making way for summer crops.  Planting them in the winter was better because they used up garden space that would have remained empty.

Since winter planting is preferred now, this fall I will try two new solutions. First, Reese offered to start onion seeds for me under his grow light (he will have a better success rate because he knows what he is doing.) We won't transplant any until they are a decent size. Secondly, an old farmer friend said to store some of the inexpensive spring bulbs in the refrigerator and plant them in September.  A few bulbs have been saved back to test that theory.

The carrots that were planted last fall and never covered under a hoop house have begun bolting. I wondered how long they would last.  Most have already been harvested but a few still remain. They are odd shapes because I didn't thin the seedlings due to expectations that nothing would live - wow, was I wrong. 

Onions, carrots and Swiss Chard are all that are left from the winter garden. The summer garden should be finished soon and then we can sit back and watch it grow. 

Last Month's March Garden (2024)

Last Year's April Garden (2023)

Through the Garden Gate