Sunday, May 31, 2009

end of may

we have tried some new gardening tactics this year.

the tomatoes are mostly in new ground. it was a considerable effort to make new gardening spots where only rocks lived before. one of the new rows doing nicely so far. i like the asparagus backdrop.

the foreground highlights the new raised beds. we'll be doing more of that next year.

another innovation is the deep mulch from mowing the yard.


these tomatoes have a double dose of compost we'll be doing more of that also.


amish paste were the earliest tomatoes we planted. here is one of half a dozen fruits of this size.

they are a little larger than a quarter.


this is the crazy alien hat-trick. we have been avoiding this mostly because it looks so funny..

supposedly this discombobulates the moth that lays the dreaded vine borer.

yummy deep mulch of yard clippings.

another thing that we are trying is widely spaced single rows with a large no-tred-zone.

the tomatillos are filling their little protective covering. we'll have fresh salsa very soon.


kassi is the true garden helper. she can be counted on to pick an evening salad.


we planted another double row of beets.


jocelyn is looking very healthy these days.


the broiler chickens are looking very tasty.

they rarely stand up.

we love our chicken tractors. they are so easy to move and attend. their feeder easily holds twenty four hours worth of feed.

i had to add that little piece of 1/2" pvc pipe across the bottom to keep the waste to a minimum.

we use recycled plastic soaker hoses for our watering needs. great care must be taken during handling since they get leaks easily. we'll likely keep this technology for years to come. we use hose manifolds to water several rows at once. these hoses need to be run in parallel. each manufacturer seems to have different flow rates. we buy what ever is on sale that year. one small innovation that i'm trying is to put a piece of tarp under the manifolds. this makes it possible to detect leaks and doesn't allow weeds to hide in the tangled hose/manifold mess.


we are trying a black plastic mulch this year on the melons and sweet potatoes. i had better examples of this but they also contained photos of tabitha.

the beans had spotty germination. there are new reseedings crooking up in between.

we love some cucumbers.

fresh sliced cucumbers with mayo on toast, that is all the lunch i need.

the kittens are deep in that really cute stage. meet rose tyler...

meet the doctor..


teh sun-chokes are doing well. they need to be tied up soon.


obviously kassi is still asleep other wise i wouldn't be able to take this shot.


tabitha's flower herb bed.

the other half.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have a beautiful garden.

tansy said...

do you just wrap the foil around the squash or is it buried in the ground? is it too late for me to do that now? they've been in the ground for over a month. i have such a bumper crop coming on, i want to avoid the borers if at all possible.

the garden is looking marvelous as usual! i always have garden envy when i see yours! :D

Michelle, Queen Behind the Lens! said...

Wow! Just beautiful. Total garden envy over here. My tomatoes are still struggling to soak of the warm sun that's just beginning to make an appearance up here in the PNW. We have rocky soil here, too-- raised beds are the only way to go!

Thanks for sharing!

Megan said...

I would love it if you'd share how you eat your beets. I had pickled as a child and never enjoyed them (but that's been 15 years) and I've had roasted beets which I enjoyed but making roasted veggies is a bit too hot in summertime.

Omelay said...

kathleen, thank you there is still plenty of time for ruination.

tansy, i say do it now. yeah just wrapped to reflect the sun up to the under side of the leaves.

michelle, thanks. we get warmer a little earlier than pnw.

megan, i prefer them steamed. borscht is one of my favorites too. kassi loves pickled. beets are like anything, if they are fresh and cooked well they are excellent. the stuff you can normally get in the store shouldn't even be called beets.

Anonymous said...

Now that is one healthy looking garden!

Ron said...

It's all looking fantastic, Karl and Tabitha.

I wonder, is that foil just for borers? Or squash bugs as well? I'm determined to stay on top of them this year...

Those maters sure look good! Here's to hoping for sunny, warm, non-stormy weather for a couple of months!

Ron

Wendy said...

Your garden looks amazing - as usual. I was showing off mine today and was thinking about how much has changed over the years in what we do. It's always an experiment, isn't it?

We're taking our first "batch" of broilers to the butcher tomorrow. It'll be nice to have chicken again ;).

Woody said...

Looking great Karl..

Omelay said...

molly, wendy, woody, thank you. we have put tons of effort into the garden this year.

ron, sorry but it only professes to work for the dreaded vine borer. picking the squash bug and squishing it is the only thing that seems to work for us. i've seen people put small boards on the dirt near the squash and every morning, evening and several visits in between you might find a slightly larger concentration of them under there;)

MotherOfBlessings said...

Can you post how you built your chicken tractor. Also, have you had much trouble with predators? We have had 3 attacks since Jan that cost us over 60 birds! One was by a dog that actually tore the wood siding off of the coop! Any advice? I need a tractor for our meat bird but I am scared of losing more.

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