Why is it that I never have enough room in my garden? I have the same problem each year, and I thought the problem would be solved by moving out to the country and plowing up space for a huge garden. This year's garden is the biggest garden I have ever had, I and still don't have enough room.
Though, the other question that I suppose needs to be asked is why do I feel the need to grow 22 different varieties of tomatoes? If I didn't need to grow 22 different varieties of tomatoes, I might have room for everything thing else I think I should be growing. (20 varieties are in the ground--but I have seemed to run out of room to put the Amish Paste and Cour de Boeuf tomato plants--not to mention that I still have sweet corn, more green beans, peppers, eggplants, beets, and more to get in the ground!.)
Whatever my problem is, I'm starting to realize that it isn't going to be solved by simply plowing up more garden space...more garden space just means that I will need to start growing twenty different kinds of lettuce and goodness knows what else.
Enough of my problems--on to a quick garden tour!
Looking North-East...
6 different varieties of garlic...
Summer cabbage (in between apple tree seedlings and surrounded by California poppies that are just getting ready to bloom.)
Red romaine lettuce interplanted with daffodils and potatoes.
Spinach, interplanted with green beans and daffodils.
Potatoes in mulch (I wonder if I am growing way too many potatoes--we have four long rows this year--in any case there is going to be lots of picking of Colorado potato beetles.)
One of three long rows of tomatoes.
The garden looking south west. You can see raspberries, rhubarb (which is getting choked by the raspberries), strawberries (which my free range chickens have decided they love and of which they ate every single last ripe one today--I don't think they are going to be free ranging for the rest of the strawberry season!), some random beds of things like carrots, beets, kale, and and perennial flowers, then off in distance the long row of garlic.
I do also have melons, cucumbers, more cabbage, Brussel sprouts, onions, and a long row of sunflowers coming up.
Still need to plant sweet corn, pumpkins (they are getting a separate patch this year), squash, fall beets and carrots, peppers, eggplant, and probably some other vegetables that are slipping my mind right now.
So that is how my garden is growing right now. How is yours doing?
Linked to Farm Girl Friday blog hop.
I wish I had a garden a fraction of the size or yours! Lucky you!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I am very blessed to be able to have a large garden--and even more blessed that the sandy soil is rock free and very easy to work!
DeleteI think you may need a family my size to eat your produce! Very inspirational. Very little edible in our small in town garden, more grass for the children to play on.....
ReplyDeleteI did give a lot away last year, but believe it or not, nothing really went to waste--I froze and canned a lot and we have just about finished everything up from last year's harvest. I really think I am growing too many potatoes this year though...
DeleteI love your garden :) You are right about the space - this year I've been telling myself I need a larger garden (which realistically we do), but like you I'm sure I would always grow too many varieties, and be crammed for space. Tonight I planted out the last of my starts, and ended up having to stick peppers in between a random clump of iris, the cucumbers, and a row of potatoes, and more in where some carrots hadn't germinated very successfully, and still more in between a row of potatoes and some onions... I'm not sure where I thought they were going to be planted, but by the time I got to them, there was just no real room left! :) oh gardening :)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds just like me. I've done that in just about every garden I've ever had. (I've planted walkways as well--who needs walkways, anyway! :)
DeleteI do the same thing ~ because I know that the chickens or the deer will get into the garden and eat or scratch out many of the things planted! They always do! And I don't have the time (or a hinge in my back) to keep up with all that weeding! And then to 'put up' all that for the winter! We must be glutons for punishment ~ as my grandmother used to say! I wouldn't have it any other way!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful! Thanks for sharing. :~}
Ah, yes, planting (at least for me!) is the fun part. Once it starts producing, the pressure is on to start preserving and that feels a whole lot like work! I have been able to keep up with weeding pretty well in the past--but from the looks of it I am not so sure I am going to be able to keep up very well this summer. The trick is mulch and getting the weeds while they are still small...
DeleteYour garden is beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering...do you rototill, or weed by hand? If your veggies are interplanted with daffodils and poppies, etc, what do you do in the spring and fall?
We've had plenty of rain this month, and now the temps are warming up, so my garden is growing in leaps and bounds!I can hardly believe my zucchini is already blossoming!
Alicia, the part of the garden that has perennials in it is heavily mulched, and that keeps the weeds down. The other half of the garden that doesn't have perennials gets plowed in the spring. I do have a small rototiller, but prefer to do most of weeding/tilling by hand anyway. Takes longer, but I find it relaxing.
DeleteI'm a bit behind you, I think, but it does look like it is going to be an excellent garden year here as well!
Beautiful garden Kateri! :)
ReplyDeleteI actually scaled back this year and it looks so pitifully small when I go out there! LOL!!
Thanks, Candy. At least with a scaled back garden you will have more time for other things. :)
DeleteYour garden is a work of art, Kateri.
ReplyDeleteLove this compliment, Sandy. :) I've always mixed flowers and vegetables in my gardens.
DeleteYour garden looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteMine, not so much....I have so many hopes for it, but they usually peter-out.
Thanks, Jess. Gardening does take consistant work--and I find that not letting the garden get overrun with weeds helps alot in staying motivated. If it gets to the point where the weeds have completely taken over, it is just way to overwhelming to try to get a head again.
DeleteThat's a lot of tomatoes but instead of canning all of them you could dehydrate some. We cut them into rounds/slices and when they are dehydrated they are a beautiful transparent wagon wheel shape. You can rehydrate or just pop them into soups or sauces. My husband just likes to eat them plain once in awhile. They take on such a sweet concentrated taste. We also dehydrated pounds and pounds of potato slices and use them just as you would use the boxed potato mixes. See this post for photos http://movingontothepast.blogspot.com/2011/10/all-dried-up-and-ready-to-go.html There's a dehydrated potato recipe here http://movingontothepast.blogspot.com/2011/09/dehydrated-potato-and-green-pepper.html
ReplyDeleteKathy, thanks for reminding me about dehydrating tomatoes. I have done that in the past. My convection oven has a dehydration setting, which works quite well. I'm also planning on trying to juice some using our power juicer...my husband loves tomato juice. I"ve never had dehydrated potatoes. Will go check your link out! Thanks for the information!
DeleteTwo questions.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do with all that produce?
How do you keep the grass out of all that?
I have tried to keep a small garden for years and am in awe of your project. Keep us posted.
Bill, I do a lot of freezing and canning as well as give a lot away. And we eat a lot of vegetables. :)
ReplyDeleteOne of secrets to weed control, especially in a small garden, is mulch. Lots and lots of mulch will keep the grass and weeds down with minimal work.
13 acres of garden? That's huge! Are you an organic gardener?
ReplyDelete