So far this has been an excellent month for the garden! It has only been slightly over a week since my last update, and much as happened. The first thing I will brag about is the potato patch. In the last update I mentioned that at least one shoot had appeared through the straw. Here is this mornings view:
It was raining this morning, but I could see probably 15 new shoots above the straw. Assuming something terrible does not happen, I should be getting a nice mess of potatoes this fall!
With the exception of the perennial flower bed in the Southeast end of the garden, all of the tilling has been done. I have also tilled some of the new ground where Duke removed the trees at the Northwest end, and have a nice crop of Pak Choi growing there.
The current layout for this years garden is:
I was able to finish up the fencing and installed two gates so that I don't have to climb over the chicken fence each time I need to get in. I have about 16 pepper plants of various varieties transplanted, and eight tomatoes! If you have trouble reading the map try left-clicking on it. On my computer this brings it up full size and you can pan around to see it.
I have a simple frame with chicken wire that hooks onto the two tomato cages to act as a gate. Note in the bottom center of the photograph the field tile buried with about 4 inches showing. This is an experiment to see if it makes watering the tomatoes easier. The tile goes down about 8 - 10 inches and rests on the compost/soil mixture that the tomatoes are planted in. The idea is to fill the tile with water and then let it slowly seep into the soil at the bottom. This is another trick based on what my granddad Patmore used to do. He would put a long row of tiles under his plants (he also used chicken manure and dug the ditch two feet deep!) and water the whole row from one end.
This photo also shows that the peas are rapidly growing, and (unfortunately) the arugula (in the background) has started going to seed. The blue flax on the left side of the photo is an amazing plant. Each morning it is completely filled with beautiful blue flowers, but toward the end of the day all of the petals fall off! If you look you can see that there is a progression of flower buds on each of the long stems. It is certainly one of my favorite garden flowers.
The above photo shows the flax in the foreground with my winter spinach (to the left) and kale to the right. In between are the broccoli plants that have now been out for about one week.
For once it looks like I will have a nice herb garden! I usually have trouble getting cilantro to germinate, and my basil is sometimes sporadic. This year I carefully kept the area where I planted the seed moist for the week after I sowed the seeds, and it looks like I may have had close to 100% germination.
The above photo shows my bush beans (Top Crop and Burgundy Bush). They were stared in the "seed starter" and transplanted slightly over a week ago. All are looking healthy so far, and a second crop has now been stared in the Yogurt cup seed starter (see photo below)
Finally, I want to show my "pot garden" (that will probably get more hits than anything else in my blog!). The seed starter is on the far end of the picnic table and the clay pots hold a variety of vegetables, including acorn squash, Swiss chard, eggplants, and various mints. In the background you can see the straw for the potato beds.
Nearly every thing is now planted. I will be putting out some more Swiss chard in the garden itself (now in flats), and the onion sets are all planted. One thing that I am planting in excess this year is zucchini! Last year I had a poor crop (damn those wasps that lay eggs on them that bore into the stem!). I am making a real effort to get a decent crop this year. In the photo below you can see my first squashes (zucchini in front, crookneck in back). You can also see where I have started my nasturtium flowers along the fence. I plan on having "nasty's" everywhere in the garden that I can (I love to eat them).
The tuber garden was interesting, but not terribly successful. The sweet potatoes and Oca were grown in large pots. One lesson learned was that clay pots don't work well with sweet potatoes. When we returned from a week long trip I found the pot cracked--the sweet potatoes had grown too large for the container! The potatoes that I stared in the straw were a real mix. Some were usable, but most were too small. The OCA ended up being the most interesting of the tubers. They are small colorful and irregularly shaped. I can certainly say that if we had to exist on these, we would probably stave to death!
If you compare the Oca plant to the left with the image from May 2 update you can see that the plant really took off! I did follow the instructions and put in the garage to avoid frost after the fall equinox. I may try again next year, but only because the plant is interesting, not terribly productive!
