Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Garden Update

I've been a busy beaver lately.  In addition to work, I've been diligently amending and shoveling this















into this.















This terraced bed will hold asparagus in the upper level and strawberries in the lower level.  I planted strawberry transplants and asparagus roots, so I'm anxious to see the asparagus make an appearance. 

I've also been planting my summer garden.  Just about everything is in the ground, and now I need to go back and mulch.  Mulching every year helps tremendously with weeds and keeping moisture where it belongs.  Once the garden is mulched, I hardly ever have to weed.  It's wonderful.   

So far this year I've planted raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, radishes, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, garden huckleberries, ground cherries, several varieties of tomatoes, peppers (bell, anaheim, jalapeno, habanero and chinese five color), zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, swiss chard, amaranth, pole beans, bush beans, long beans, cucumbers, mexican sour gherkins, watermelon, winter squash, french melon, jelly melon, lettuce, snap peas, shelling peas, potatoes, cilantro, parsley, basil (Thai and sweet), and dill.  This is a very ambitious garden for me.  I've never planted so much, and I'm proud to say I've started almost everything from seed, which is also a first for me.  Also, many of these are new to me, such as the garden huckleberries, amaranth, long beans, jelly melon, sour gherkins, and ground cherries.  Laura Ingalls Wilder mentions ground cherries in Little Town on the Prairie, so when I saw them in the seed catalog, I just had to try them!  We'll see what happens! 

The blackberries I trellised have some pretty good blossoms on them and two of my four blueberry bushes are covered with blueberries.  I'll have to get out the bird netting soon.  My peach tree is once again covered with peaches as it is every year, but the tree rats, I mean squirrels, are always an issue.  I have tried everything I can find online to keep them from eating my peaches, but nothing has worked.  My next move is to buy a pellet gun.  I'm serious.  Year after year, I see beautiful peaches develop, and they eat everyone of them before they can ripen. 

What are you planting this year that is new to you?

Happy homesteading,

Candace   

2 comments:

  1. Candace,
    Wow- what a fantastic variety you've planted! That is very exciting. I can't wait to see your updates about how everything is growing. I would love to see it all too!
    It looks like we'll be making our annual trip down at the end of May. I'll be in touch and we can hopefully set up a time to get together :)

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  2. We would love to get together! We'll see what happens with the garden! I have high hopes, but lack of enough sun puts me at a disadvantage.

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