We've Started Planting--Update

In the two months since the last post we have been moving slowly forward. We are still sharecropping across the street, though with some modifications. The family, while grieving for their mother, has made it clear that they want us to continue gardening in their back yard. There have been some changes as a grandson has moved into an RV trailer in the yard. There are more dogs now at the house and in fairness to them and the family we have given up some marginal beds. The beds were always a struggle as it was, so this will be helpful to them and less work for us.

We have planted potatoes and tomatoes in the last week. The weather has been warm and there is little chance more rain or cold will come soon. We would like the rain though. These are the first beds we have planted across the street using the our version of the no-till method. The beds were not dug in with compost as in the past. A layer of the chicken bedding was layered across the bed. This is from the chicken yard and is straw, green waste and manure that has been building over the winter. Instead of raking the bedding out and putting it in the compost pile, we added more hay or straw to the mix and let the chickens scratch and eat and distribute the material evenly. We've built up 4-6 inches of this material. We dig it out in layers and spread it over the beds, not disturbing the planting bed. We then dig a small hole in the beds and plant the potato or tomato disturbing the bed as little as possible. After the planting is finished, straw is spread over the bed as a top dressing. Cages are placed around the tomato plants. Next year or season the same protocol will be followed and eventually the bed will have the manure filled compost worked into the soil by worms and other critters.

This is our first time no-tilling with produce, though we started no-tilling around our fruit trees last year. We did a variation with our corn experiment last summer, but it was just the straw to help retain water and keep down weeds. The soil around the trees and under the wood chip mulch is soft and moist and full of worms.

Another aspect of the no-till is our approach to weeds. We are not worrying about them as much. If you look to nature, all ground eventually is covered with vegetation or duff. Nature strives to grow something. Weeds are the first things to grow many times. We are trying to grow something, crops, and are using duff in the form of straw or wood chips to recreate this version of nature.

20 August 2014

Another update with no pictures. We picked beans for dinner and freezing from the third bed last night. Great beans.

The last of the corn, though there are a few ears still on the stalks. These all went to the chickens as they are underdeveloped in a variety of ways. Still a success in my mind.

The aphids are getting to the squash with few ladybugs in sight. Last night Maureen released the last of the second batch of the little orange critters. We let them go too late it seems.

We also picked some Bell peppers.

Yard is still producing, though always some weirdness in the crops.

Garden Update

No pictures, just some thoughts. The corn has been a success in that we have been eating the corn as well as the chickens. The last count I heard was 65 ears and counting. We've picked some since then. The second bed hasn't done as well as the first, but it is another variety.

We put a few thousand lady bugs on the squash and they left for some other place. We'll try again soon.

The Anaheim peppers are still producing, even when covered with the squash plants. Maureen has made two batches of Pico do Gallo salsa. This year the Anaheims seem to be a bit hotter than years past. Still good salsa.

The last set of beans are up and growing well, but not ready for picking.

We have three water melon and have picked four cantaloupe. Not being a cantaloupe eater I can't tell you of their quality, but Maureen isn't complaining.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Update on the Sharecropper Garden

Thought it was time to show the progress of the garden across the street. As usual, some successes and some not so successful. These are the good shots. I'm weeding in the background, but the green beans growing are the third of four beds planted this summer. Needs a bit of weeding care, but more food to come.

This is just to the west of the last picture and shows from the bottom watermelon, squash trying to suffocate pepper plants, and beans going to seed. The dry looking plant near the center is an artichoke waiting for next year. The O'Henry peach is in the back propped up to prevent limb breakage.

I'm standing between the corn beds. On the right is the first bed we planted and the left has the second bed that was planted two to three weeks later. We did pick our first ears of corn.  They could have waited a few days, but it looks like we will have more to come and we couldn't wait. (And we were hungry that night.)

One of two watermelon growing. The watermelon this year is going to be a race between growth and the aphids. Maybe a midseason/trade deadline deal for some ladybugs will help us.

And the always refreshing fruits of our efforts. The corn is ours. The lettuce for the salad was from the farmer's market. The goats milk used for the dressing was from our farm friends. The salad is topped with our green peppers, zucchini, hard boiled eggs and cracklins from the lard rendering process.

The next thing to do is make the wine to go along with the meal.  Our last wine attempt made good vinegar.

It's Been a While

It's been over a year and a half for a post about our across the street gardening adventure. It has been frustrating at times, but slow progress is being made. The pictures are a snapshot of where we are now, and not a full picture. The corn is a new attempt. So far much better than expected, and if nothing else it will become chicken feed. Just as a note, we are trying a new approach to the walkways. With our recent tree felling and trimming projects at home, we ask for the shredded remains from the tree people.  They gladly oblige saving them a trip to recycling. The chipped trees and leaves make a mulch for both the walkways and some of the beds. We'll see how this works out. The open bed just in front of the corn has just been planted with beans.

Enjoy.

Garden Update for May Day

It is always fun to cross the street and see the garden, even doubly so when Pecan our transplanted cat greets us. Quickest purr in the West.

This is one of my responsibilities, the compost pile. Actually quite a fun venture. Pile a bunch of stuff and watch it rot. This is the half that is left over after sifting the good stuff out. This will break down for a while more. Some will be added and then the sifting will begin again. Probably not the "correct" way, but it works for us and we get good compost.

The next three pictures are of beds recently planted. In the first you might just be able to pick out the new O'Henry peach planted (way way back there) near the shed on the right (note from Maureen~ I will post a close-up photo in the next day or so). The rest are general pictures of the beds and some of the many tomatoes that have been planted this year. We are now up to 74 plants, counting the ones in our home garden, of the 110 eventually going into the ground.

12 more slicing tomatoes...mostly heirloom.

10 more paste tomatoes...also mostly heirloom.

Maureen is weeding around the artichoke, cilantro going to seed on the left there and oregano in the foreground of the photo.

Look close and you will see one artichoke and three smaller ones in this picture.

With all said and done, a good weekend.

...and in case you were playing the 'Where's Waldo' game with us~

Peach tree....

...and baby artichokes.

What's New and Happenin'

I don't write much about the garden. I tend to let Maureen because she does a better job and I like to think of myself as the brute strength of this operation, emphasis on brute. Here are some crude pictures of what is happening in the last few weeks.


This is one of the new wine bottle herb beds. The bottles are filled with sand and buried upside down to form a bed. They are at the end of the wooden formed beds and set off the garden. 'Tis also fun to create more empty bottles for more beds.

This is one of the older beds with a winter crop.



These are the new beds that have been created in the last two weekends. Besides tidying up the place a bit, we now have more places to grow.

More fun than a barrel of monkeys in store for us.