Early July Garden Report

Despite the late cold temperatures this spring, 

along with the frosts, then wet, now dry, 

the garden is doing well:

The lettuces have bolted and flowered and now lay composting, making room for green beans: heirloom Kentucky Wonder Bush (matures in 57 days) and Contender Stringless Beans (40 days). 

Earlier planted beans are flowering beautifully:

The zucchini and squash are prolific with numerous fruits growing right before my eyes:

The edamame is a new addition to the garden this year and growing 

nicely along with fuzzy pods. 

They are soybeans and harvested usually 35-40 days after flowering. 

They can be boiled or steamed and then salted for a healthy treat. 

They are quite tasty as soon as harvested, 

but can be refrigerated up to 3 days.

The July 4 Tomatoes have tomatoes, 

as promised!

But what I'm most excited about are the peas. 

Although we've had some quite hot days, but cool nights, 

the peas are producing!

Peas, peas, peas! 

I love how they are silhouetted in their pea pods:

They are delicious and I can't help but keep eating them 

as I pick them, 

delicately warm and crunchy.

Peas can be stored unshelled and unwashed in the refrigerator for several days. Fresh peas can be blanched in boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then frozen up to 6 months.

Happy Gardening 

and may we continue to be showered with rain, 

keeping a drought at bay.

Protect Your Living Soil for the Winter!

After attending a seminar titled, The Down and Dirty: Soil Building Secrets for Greener Gardens by Elizabeth Murphy of Oregon, who has recently published a book called: Building Soil: A Down to Earth Approach, I decided to reevaluate how I put my gardens to bed for the winter.  

I liked how she explained, that soil is a collection of living organisms that comprise the first few inches of soil and need to be cared for like any organism. It has the same basic needs including: water, food, air and shelter/space. During the winter, soil and its organisms need to be protected from exposure and erosion.

I was inspired to try another way to care for my garden soil during the winter. In the past, I have tried a cover crop such as buckwheat, which she advocates for, but I found it unwieldy to deal with in the spring. I tried covering it with black plastic and was fairly satisfied with this approach, but there are no added nutrients with this method. However, there were fewer weeds and the soil was protected. 

Instead of taking all the spent and dead plants and the nutrients that they embody out of the garden in the fall and taking them to the compost pile, why not leave them in place and compose them there directly. So, with my cutting flower bed, I have left the zinnias in place. The birds, overwintering or who haven't left on migration, have continued to feast on the left-over seeds. This will protect the soil from wind and rain, and the blowing or washing away of all the nutrients or compacting by pounding rains or snow.

I have covered another bed with black plastic for comparison sake. I was surprised to see who was sneaking about. Note the large turkey prints!

She has lots of great ideas, including fall cover crops such as clover and using cardboard, 

all ideas I would like to try next fall. 

Here is a story well worth reading: 

http://www.gardenista.com/posts/dirty-secrets-10-ways-to-improve-garden-soil

Here is a link to her blog: 

http://dirtsecrets.com/secrets/

Bountiful Harvest!

With a late start, well into June, 

after rebuilding all the frames and fence, we still managed to have 

a successful season and a bountiful harvest. 

(See July 1 blog entry for the back story)

The tomatoes were amazingly delicious, especially the cherry tomatoes, which were like eating candy. It was our first year for butternut squash, which grew well and we still have one more on the way.

The 4 eggplant matured late and are still producing, despite the beetles, with at least 8 more
to grow larger.

The 3 green pepper plants did well and produced 5 fruits each, even though they were in
the shadows of the basil plants.

The only issue we have is that the deer are somehow managing to jump or climb into the garden the last couple of weeks, eating the last few tomatoes and plants. Luckily, everything else is still intact. I added more fencing, more wire, but sadly still found hoof prints this morning.

As I was shooting these photos, the suspects were watching me from behind the pines and also eyeing my neighbors garden. 

Rebirth of a Vegetable Garden with Cedar Raised Beds

During this year's early February snow and ice storm, we lost an old Cherry tree, that completely smashed and destroyed our vegetable garden.

For the past couple of months, after replacing the fence, we have been slowly rebuilding and replacing the old pine raised beds, that had also succumbed to rot and bugs, with beautiful new 2" x 10" cedar planks, 8' by 4'.

The untreated pine planks lasted surprisingly for 5 years, but hopefully the new cedar planks will last double or triple that long.

The raised bed was assembled outside the fence and then placed directly over the old bed.

  and then adjustments were made for a good fit.

In the last couple of weeks, parsley, eggplant, zucchini, squash, peppers, and tomatoes have been planted and are growing hardily.