Garden Tasks Ahead

Well, there is so much to do in the garden that is just waiting on me to get out there....I thought I should make a list so nothing is left undone. I figured what is better than a rainy day to figure out what you want to do?

1. Till and amend soil for strawberry patch. Build bed, plant and mulch. Layer.
2. Clear, and build beds for Blueberry Bushes. Amend soil and acidify. Plant, and mulch.
3. Weed tilled area for cherry to be replanted (if it lives), plant and mulch.
4. Turn compost and begin disassembling and reassembling compost bins.
5. Weed, prune, train and mulch black raspberries. Remove and give away suckers.
6. weed, and contain blackberries. Layer.
7. clear, till and amend soil for red raspberries. Layer.
8. MULCH, MULCH, MULCH, MULCH, MULCH!!!

Those are the major projects......

Here's the scoop on the veggies.

So far it seems the broccoli grows everyday, and the tomatoes are not far behind....

No carrot sprouts yet, but they are notoriously slow germinators, and I used the $.10 seeds, so I am just crossing my fingers.

We have been picking peas everyday, to keep the plants growing...but I have decided that I really do like garden peas, so next year I will plan better. The peas that I am growing were actually meant to be a cover crop, and they germinated so slow that I ended up just letting them stay in place with the potatoes.

We planted some bean vines to fill in the chainlink fence next to the hops and they have spouted and appear to be growing pretty well. But they could also use some compost and straw mulch.

The Potatoes are mostly flowering, and I actually picked a few of the above ground fruits off, because I didn't really know if I should allow the plants to waste energy maturing them. I have never grown potatoes successfully and I am trying each and everything once, just so I will have the expirience under my belt and to give me something to contemplate; successes and failures.

So far, these potates have flea beetles. But they don't seem to be doing too much damage.

I am trying to "hill" the potatoes with straw, because it seemed like a really clever trick, (or so I have read), but that seems to encourage slugs. The smallest of the plants are the ones that seem to be sprouting spuds (yes, I check them.....) But the larger ones do not. I have considered pulling back some of the straw and adding more soil, but I don't really have soil just laying around!

Again, I think next year we will do things a bit more organized. I am very excited about the prospect of homegrown potatoes, as that is a tuber we all love and can use a lot of. Although they are relatively cheap, I still find it really cool to grow my own....well, when I really learn how!!!

There are tons of methods for planting potatoes. I used the straw method. There is also the hill method and a oft overlooked tire method. Whatever works for you.....I am still waiting to see if this is going to "work" for me!!! I hear potatoes grown in straw hills have fewer and smaller tubers, but since I have no comparison, I won't know they are smaller! Besides, they were sprouted store-bought russets anyways!!!

Today I fertilized the Asparagus bed and the tomato/pepper bed. But the rain stopped me from getting much else done......more later!

UPDATES

Here is Mick working on the treehouse one day before deer season took over his brain!

Here is Mick and Chas, with his new Rifle at Deer Camp. Aren't they cute lil' hunters??

It is a Rossi .22/250 - 20 ga. combo. Very nice youth gun, that fully rounds out little dude's hunting rifle needs for the next several years. He now has the proper rifles for small game, turkey (well kinda), and deer.....good luck, kiddo! :)

Here is Mick with HIS new gun....he is "bore sighting" so don't freak out. Chamber is completely empty and I don't think the magazine is even in it...he is just checking the range on his new scope. The kids think it is VERY cool, and the neighbors, well, they probably don't....Again, this is not a loaded rifle, so don't bother harrassing me about it!!!

Here is the deer he shot with said gun, and I am happily butchering whilst it hangs from the tree house!

;)

And here are the carrots I was whining about. Although huge, their core was a little green and they were less tasty than I hoped....but, once cooked, they were fine with our deer stew,and we were excited to eat from our garden anyways!! It really was neat to pull these guys out of the ground and take them to Deer camp....it was a very proud moment!

updated with Old pics:

6/10/09

haven't been on lately but as an update: I pulled one of my melons early and it was not tasty. Pulled the other yesterday and it was great. Composting is going very well, and the lettuce starts are in. will be tilling the first bed soon. Have several large gourds on the vine and a few anaheim peppers! maybe we will get a couple carrots as well.
I will try to post pictures as soon as possible!~