Category: Farm

The Garden begins to provide

This week, the garlic was pulled and is curing in the garage. The late potatoes were planted where the corn failed and the pumpkins in the middle of that bed are growing well. The first zucchini were harvested, it is a compact variety and the squash are about 8″ long and an inch in diameter, so not likely to overwhelm. The green beans are flowering and some small beans are developing.

This afternoon when I went to harvest peas for dinner, I realized that the vines were drying, so I began pulling them and harvesting the peas. After dinner, the rest were pulled. A couple hours of shelling peas, blanching, and freezing and there are about 8 or 9 cups in the freezer, added to about 5 cups of sugar snap peas, and a quart of carrot chunks.

The first basket full.

Headed to the freezer.

Yesterday at the Farmer’s Market, a few quarts of peaches were purchased as we did not get any from our trees this year, and a batch of a favored Peach Sriracha sauce was made and canned for the shelves.

We have a broody hen, she has been sitting the daily eggs for a couple of days. One of my friends has a rooster and gave me a dozen of her fertile extra eggs which will be tucked under her to see if she will raise some barnyard mutts to add to or replace my older gals, and maybe provide a rooster to help protect them.

As successes and failures occur in the garden, and as I age and wish for easier gardening, notes are being made on the plan to remind me for next year. I will plant only sugar snap peas and will make sure to trellis them. The variety of shelling peas planted this year is advertised as free standing, but they were a tangle of 5-6 foot long vines, only harvestable by pulling the lot. It did make for a huge compost pile between the pea vines and the weeds that were hidden within the mess and between the bed and the comfrey. Next time I have a strong helper here, the pile needs to be turned. Last year the tomatillos and cucumbers were a mess, so this year the tomatillos are caged like tomatoes and the cucumbers have a trellis. I followed the Square Foot gardening plan which says a tomato plant only needs 1 square foot. I put 3 in a 4 foot row and 6 in a 4 X 4 square and they are too close together. Son 1 made an A frame trellis for his tomatoes a couple of years ago and I think that would help with spacing and harvesting later.

I now have a 4 x 4 foot bed and a 4 X 8 foot bed idle. In mid July or the first of August, a winter’s worth of carrots, spinach, and chard will be planted there. I am going to figure out how to make cold frames or a mini greenhouse to cover the greens and the carrots will have a thick layer of straw layered over them when freeze threatens.

The apple and Asian pear trees are heavy with fruit. The deer are beginning to come and nibble at the lower branch fruit, but there will be plenty too high for them to reach for us.

This year, I pruned all of the lower branches from the grape vine so the vines are about 4 feet off the ground and they are heavy with fruit. I need to shield the grapes from the deer and then decide how the grapes will be used.

It was difficult to get motivated on the garden this year, but it is nice now that food is coming from it. The last of the spring carrots and the second planting for radishes were harvested earlier this week.

It will be nice if we get some potatoes and pumpkins to store, and carrots that can be pulled as needed this winter. Adding green beans to the freezer as they mature, and having greens in a cold frame or green house to have fresh will make it worth while. I’m still fighting a battle with the Creeping Charlie and to some extent the Smartweed, but less than a month ago.

The riding mower was finally repaired and yesterday afternoon, the remaining grass was mowed. This week is true summer, with temperatures in the mid to upper 80’s and rain predicted only as scattered thunder storms. Maybe our hay will finally be able to be mowed and baled.

Two days ago, I went to my friend’s house and helped them extract honey. That was a new experience and came home with a couple of quarts of very dark delicious honey.

Summer

After a very cool, wet June, we have had two hot sticky days with no rain. More rain and cooler days ahead, but it has allowed walks without umbrellas or raincoats and being able to inspect my hives for the first time since I installed them. This is a very different experience than last year. The two medium boxes for brood on each hive are bursting with honey, eggs, and brood. So many bees. I added a queen excluder to each hive and a honey super on each in hopes of some fall honey. The sourwood is just beginning to bloom so they will be busy, the fields are full of daisies and since we haven’t had a mower in over two weeks, the lawn is full of white and red clover.

The shelf unit I put on the front porch with houseplants has a Wren nest tucked between pots. I think is was a practice nest as it hasn’t been occupied. I will leave it for a few more days before I remove it.

Walks have had some wildlife to see, yesterday a box turtle who didn’t seem to like the attention it was getting and today a caterpillar that has been parasitized with several eggs on it’s back.

The garlic pulled was brought in to the garage and hung in bundles to cure for storage. The garage smells very garlicy now and will until the leaves dry and the skins dry.

Since we live in a log home, we have had annual problems with Carpenter Bees. They drill holes in the facia boards and lay their eggs. That is less of a problem than once they hatch, the woodpeckers peck at the wood to get the larvae. This year the woodpeckers have been relentless, so we purchased 4 owls with a bell and mylar strip and hung them in strategic places hoping that they will discourage any more early morning pecking and stop the damage they are doing.

The month is fading away, July and August bring harvest and processing, a busy time.

SeeSaw days

Typical spring here, hot and humid one day and chilly and gray the next, but the garden grows. Except for the corn. Out of 4 rows in a 12 X 4 foot bed, only two seeds sent up blades. We were due for thunderstorms a couple of days ago, so the bed was reseeded. This may be the last time I try corn. Year before last, there was nothing, last year some came up, but the harvest was pretty paltry for the space it consumed. The only year that corn has ever been “successful” though marginally was the year of the popcorn.

The seed starts for squash, tomatillos, pumpkins, tomatoes, and peppers were all successful and are doing well planted in the beds. The cucumbers failed on first start, but there are several strong seedlings putting out secondary leaves that are currently being hardened off and soon they will be planted in the last bed.

The motivation for the garden has been hard to come by this year, and since I am currently unable to be out in the sun due to a chemo cream use on my face, I have to heavily cover with mineral sunscreen, wear a huge hat and limit my exposure. Sunburns as a kid camping with family, as a young adult working as a lifeguard, have come back to haunt me. Usually, anything found by the dermatologist is zapped with liquid nitrogen, but this time is wasn’t in a place they want to spray. At any rate, early or late, very protected sessions are being done. As an adult, I wear long sleeves nearly year round and always wear a hat with a brim when we are out walking. Sun damage from years ago revisits as we age.

Peas are heavy with blooms and though they are supposed to be a free standing variety, they have toppled all over each other. Soon, peas will be harvested. One of the varieties of spinach is bolting as is the lettuce. The beans are up. The tomatoes, peppers, basil, squash, and tomatillos have been mulched with clean straw, thanks to a friend that was able to get me a couple of bales yesterday. Part of a bale was used to clean the hens coop, a few flakes as mulch and the rest set back in the dry garage for further coop cleaning and garden mulching.

Now if I can just get the paths under control, figure out how to kill off the smartweed and creeping charlie, I will be happy. As it is upper 70’s today and tomorrow with bright sun, the paths were all sprayed with white vinegar and dish soap. If that shows any level of success, it will be repeated until I win, vinegar is cheap and safe. A truck load of wood chips would be great to have, to put about 4 inches between all the beds. The other frustrating area is the tall grass that grows up the welded wire fence. The line trimmer can’t get under the fence and if it hits the wire, it breaks off the trimming line. I don’t want to use chemicals like Liquid Fence, nor do I want to take down the fence and reset it an inch or two off the ground so I can weed under it. I envy neat gardens with no weeds, no grass in-between beds, no fence needed to thwart the deer, groundhogs (saw one today in the yard), and free ranging chickens. Perhaps the electric mesh type moveable fencing that can be moved away, allow mowing, then re-set would do the trick. I already have the 6V charger. Maybe if the vinegar trick works and I can get woodchips, cardboard can be slipped under the fence wire, heavily mulched on both sides out maybe far enough to keep an edge would work.

The bees are again protected from the resident bear. A new battery for the 12V charger was ordered and installed. Tested on the deck, it showed a strong charge, so it was taken back to the bee yard, rehung, and attached to the electric fence wire. When it was turned on, it showed only marginal charge on the fence. Because it was a new solar charged battery, it was left alone to charge for a couple days and still only marginal. This morning, the piece of line that connects the wire to the charger was replaced and the fence is again hot. Hopefully, 12 V will deter the furry beasts.