Garden Update

 I think I over did the garden this year. It is twice the size of last years garden. One of these days I am going to take my husband's surveying tape and measure it. Until that happens, I haven't the slightest idea how big it is. All I know is that for the first time in my life my garden has weeds in it. Which must mean that I over did it a bit.

This photo was taken from the west end of the garden. This is the new part of the garden. You can see the piles of weeds I pulled up the other day. Next week I hope to get some of these rows mulched. This week I am just concentrating on getting the weeds pulled out before they go to seed.

This photo was taken from the east side of the garden and has mostly  been mulched. I haven't had the weed problem so much on this side. 

The garden is actually bigger than what you see in these two photos. I am not showing you the squash patch, which is almost 100% weeds minus the little clearings I made around each hill of squash.

This has been a challenging year in the garden. We started off with a very cold, late spring, then when it warmed up, the temperatures rose into the 90's then dropped back down into the 50's. This spring was all about extreme temperatures. As the result most of my early greens got stressed and bolted. I didn't get to harvest anything of the broccoli raab that I was looking forward too. (I did leave a few of the bolted plants to harvest the seeds. I will replant for fall as soon as I can.)

It has also been a very buggy year. One of the reasons I am so behind on weeding is that bug control had to come first or else I would have no vegetables left. I spent hours picking Colorado potato beetles off the potatoes and hours trying to defeat the squash vine borers. (The verdict is still out on whether or not what I am doing will work to prevent the destruction of this years pumpkin crop.)

(The first zucchini--maybe I will be able to pick it in the next few days?)

Now I am battling the cabbage worms on my cabbage and Brussels sprouts.

(Caraflex cabbage--an early conical summer cabbage. I think some of the heads will be ready to pick next week. This appears to be the cabbage worms favorite cabbage though.)

85% of my bean crop got killed off by some kind of maggot that burrowed up into the stems when the beans first sprouted. I finally replanted more green beans today. I always grow a lot of green beans to freeze and have never been able to grow enough to last us until the next bean crop, so I'm tripling the amount of beans I am growing this year. Today I replanted Royal Burgundy, Isar yellow filet beans, Tender Pick, and Burpee's Stringless Green Pod. I've never had insect damage on my green beans before and am hoping that what ever the maggot was, it won't destroy the beans I just planted.

(Royal Burgundy bean blossom.)

The tomatoes got stressed with the extreme temperatures this spring, but are finally starting to perk up and some even have tomatoes on them. They will be later than usual, but at least the plants look healthy.

(Heat Wave tomato)

All weed aren't bad, though. I've been tossing the lambs quarters in a bowl as I weed. Then at the end of the day, I de-stem them, wash and blanch them, then freeze them.  Lambs quarters is a mild tender wild green that can be used in pretty much any recipe in place of spinach. Since my spinach crop was a complete failure this spring, I am happy to have these weeds to freeze for winter soups and casseroles.

(Lambs quarters--at the perfect size for eating.)

We have been eating quite a bit out the garden already. The potatoes have come in beautifully. And we have been eating them almost every day. (I don't think it is possible to get tired of new potatoes!). My second planting of lettuce is doing well, we've started eating baby beets and carrots, and we are getting lots and lots of peas. Lots of Swiss chard and kale too. Garlic and onions still have some growing to do, but I planted enough to be able to pull them early as I need them.  On our camping trip last weekend the only things that weren't home grown that we ate were the meats and bread. Between the eggs from our chickens, the potatoes, green salad, and lots of grilled veggies, 80% of what we ate came from our little homestead. (I did pack some snacks, but we didn't even touch those.)

Then there are always the little delights that make gardening so much fun--like finding a fairy-like umbrella hiding under the red leaf lettuce:

 How is your garden doing this year?