Gardening 2015: Update #5

To keep tabs on our gardens at our 1880s Homestead in Southern Maine, you can catch past updates here:

Gardening 2015: Take One
Take two.
Take three.
Take four.

Here is what my garden looked like the first week of June.


And here is what it looked like on June 20th. It's grown since then, but I just didn't have a chance to get out there and take pics.




Forgive me if I pat myself on the back a little bit. This is the best my garden has EVER looked.  I tried to work smarter instead of harder. 7 truckloads of manure. 4 truckloads of grass clipping mulch. 7 packed as much as possible giant grain bags of leaves for mulch.  The weeds are the least they have ever been. Hoping the yield will be the best yet this year!  So far, I've harvested and consumed/prepared 48.5 pounds of produce from our garden to date.  Well, that's what hasn't been consumed on spot. I am eager to know the final amount!

 

There's flowers on peas, peppers, tomatoes, cukes, different squashes, pumpkins.  There's mini summer squashes.  There's greens, oh the greens!  Garlic scrapes, green onions, fresh herbs.  This garden is feeding us now, for sure.

beans

tomatoes. 
I planted them facing east, with the majority of the stem base underground so it had a chance to grow a strong root system. These are so sturdy. It pays to ask the farmers how they plant them!

Squash of some sort

Tomatoes. Grown from seed, by me.

I made a "pea house". The kids can play in the middle.

Knee high by the 4th of July. Wait..does that apply to sunflowers?

broccoli

I wrote zucchini, but it appears they are summer squash.

Potatoes

Celery and glads.

 

 

 I think what has me most excited are the fruits.  This is the first year we're really getting a variety. Strawberries, cherries.  We have our first plum!  We'll have blueberries. Elderberries times a million. My husband helped me elevate the grapes and it looks like it has made a world of difference.  And apples. Not in our just planted orchard, but the trees I spent a cold day in February pruning a ton.  That tree is loaded with apples now! Not one last year, oodles this year. I sure hope they are good!  Most fruits are consumed on site. Which is just fine with me.

First success at cherries!

First plum



Apples



Heirloom Raspberries

I decided to try a little experiment.  Did you read about growing 100 lbs of potatoes in a four foot space?  I have been wanting to try. Took some sprouted potatoes and an old wooden duckblind I found in the barn. Figured I'd give it a try.  Put it next to the compost out there. My husband helped with this project. :) We have potatoes in the garden too. We'll see which one yields more.

 You see our visitor?  Not a shy one. I think a rabbit has visited too.

 Even with the visitors, we've been bringing quite a bit in.

 We now have more radishes in our house than I've ever had before.  I'm not sure I'm a fan of radishes, to be honest.  But they are easy to grow and fun to harvest.  I think I'll just put them in soups and such.

 

 I did put them with cous cous, olive oil, green onions, garlic scrapes and fresh herbs and we all loved it though.

 My family loves kale. Goodness, we eat a lot of it. Glad it's back.

Our meals have been looking like this: Homegrown/homemade for everything. Homemade hamburger buns, venison burgers, kale chips, that cous cous salad I listed above and canned pears.

 Or mashed potato soup with fresh chives and homemade biscuits (must blog that recipe!).

 All in all, so good so far.  How is your garden doing?