Seedling Update

Every single Jerusalem artichoke and Russian Comfrey that I planted earlier this year has either come up, or is coming up now. 100% success rate, not bad. I hope there is an interest in useful perennial plants in my area. If not I will have a lot of planting to do. If anyone who reads this blog wants some, let me know. I will give you a reader discount. 

Hello! You found my secret message! Words of wisdom: 'Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly' Thomas Jefferson

The indoor plants are doing great. I picked up some clearance plants at the local box store for next to nothing. You should check the back of the outdoor plant section at your local box store. Everyday they put plants they want to get rid of on racks and deeply discount them. I paid a dollar for each of these flats of marigolds. 

With our busy schedules, it is hard to find time to harden off our plants. I wanted to have my brassicas in the ground by now. Depending on the extended forecast, we may try to get a headstart on the season by planting next weekend. Around here, Mother's day is the safe time to plant every year. I want to try to push it up a week. 

The Homestead Is Waking Up

I have been spending more and more time outside recently. The garden is quiet but, some things are waking up. Walking around the yard with a glass of wine yesterday, I felt the stress of the day to day easing and I realized how good gardening and nature make me feel. 

If you do not garden I suggest giving it a try. Even the most ambitious gardening plans are cheaper than a shrink.

This is a mini greenhouse I made to give the Russian Comfrey and Jerusalem Artichokes a head start. I really want to build a proper greenhouse so I can start gardening even earlier.  

I pulled a few Comfrey starts out to check the growth. They are doing very well. The Jerusalem Artichokes are not coming up yet, but I have no worries they will.

Here is a close up of the a Comfrey start. I wasn't very gentle with mother plant. I just put a spade shovel in the middle of it and stepped down. It is amazing how well this plant splits and grows.

This big brown spot in my yard was put there intentionally. I raked all my fall leaves into a big pile and left them there to kill the grass all winter. I recently raked them off the dead spot so I could plant some white clover. I am trying to get large clover patches established in the yard to harvest for future livestock. 

Here is the garlic bed. They did very well overwintering despite me not mulching them. I can't wait to harvest some scapes soon.

Here is a close up of the garlic. I have 6 heirloom varieties growing, 3 hardneck and 3 softneck. 

The Rosa Rugosa is budding out. I have this rose in multiple locations on the property. I enjoyed the rose hip tea I made last year. I plan on propagating some runners and planting it in more spots this year. 

  

Finally, after trying for two years, I got some rhubarb established. It looks so healthy and vibrant, I can't wait to make some strawberry rhubarb gluten free pie!

Here is our golden raspberry. We only got a few off of the plant last year. This will be the second year and I hope it goes crazy. Golden raspberries are so sweet and plump. I will definitely be propagating this to plant around the property. 

Odds and Ends

It's that time of year again! I don't know what is is but I have always loved growing plants indoors. When I was a kid I used to grow flowers from seeds in flats in my bedroom window. I have stepped up my operation since then.

Here are the first brassica's that came up. We have broccoli, cauliflower, walking stick kale, cabbages and brussel sprouts going indoors. 

Here is the first tomato that popped up. They are doing great now I will post pics of the growth soon.

Here is the insulated dog house I am building in the garage. I will have a full post on the construction and design when I finish it. 

Dara was prepping and planting some raised beds on Sunday. She found these giant carrots still going strong. One of them had a soft top and I am sure both were very woody at this point. They went into the compost, but I think if we plant some carrots in the early fall and mulch the bed really good we could pull carrots out through the snow all winter long. 

I started an entrepreneurial experiment recently. I planted 40 Jerusalem Artichokes and 20 Russian Comfrey starts in one quart containers. We plan on making a sign saying something about "Edible Perennial Plants for sale" and trying to sell these from the property on the weekends. We will see where this goes.

Garden Update Sept 2012

We are officially corn farmers! We have two kinds of sweet corn and a blue corn variety. 

This is one of many watermelons growing in between the corn stalks. We have two varieties growing this year. The ones we got last year were so sweet, best watermelon I have ever had.

We have been eating a lot of spaghetti squash since we started the Paleo diet. Now we are growing them. This is such an awesome squash, it really does mimic eating spaghetti, sweet spaghetti. 

We planted 4 of these Amish paste tomato plants in a raised bed. There are literally hundreds of tomatoes on them. We will be canning paste soon. It seems they all ripen at the same time, perfect for canning.

This is a volunteer ground cherry from last year. I will make some salsa with these and the corn. 

The peppers are going crazy now. The problem is I always forget to write down where I put the red, yellow and orange peppers so I tend to eat all of them green. One day I will remember to keep a better garden journal.

I don't like many fresh tomatoes but these orange cherry tomatoes called Blondkopfchen are very good. It is also a very prolific producer. You have to pick everyday to keep up with these. 

Here are some more tomatoes going crazy. There are thousands of tomatoes in the garden right now. We will be picking a ton tonight after being gone on vacation for a week. 

I think these are the mortgage lifter tomatoes. I will know for sure if they turn red. They may be dr wyche's yellow tomato. Again, one day I will properly plot the garden out, I just get so excited when I plant I forget to write it down.

These are Jerusalem artichokes. I can't wait to dig these in the fall. I will do a whole post on it when I harvest.

Here are the Cascade hops. I need to harvest and dry these out this weekend. 

Here are the Catawba grapes. They are so good. I eat a couple or five every time I go to the garden. It will be a few years until I get enough for wine.

Here is a pic looking out at the main garden. It sure is nice to swing after a hot day in the garden.