June Garden Progress

The garden is growing like gangbusters, and I am totally loving it. This year is sure to be an experiment in what goes well and what doesn't with the change in location, and getting upgraded soil in the boxes (a combination of our goat and chicken poop, along with the neighbors horse poop). What will go exceptionally well? What challenges will we have? This first year in the new location will be a trial run and learning curve for moving forward. I'm excited. 

We had a little setback with the snap peas. Some damn deer got the backsides and two whole end plants by sticking their heads through the fencing. We remedied that with some chicken wire. Should have thought of that to begin with, but meh. Despite this, the snap peas are going strong and began to flower and then produce about 3 weeks ago. I love picking a few for a snack while I waltz around the garden. 

Sam's tomato plants are monstrous. They grew so huge and have an abundance of flowers on them. They literally went from nothing to gigantic in two weeks, lol. We are just starting to see the first tomatoes coming on. 

The onions are doing well and those will be fun to pull when it's time. 

Radishes are always so quick and easy to grow. I've already harvest one round and have another round planted. I slice some for on top of salads, and the rest we cook in a frying pan and they are so delicious. They loose all of their bite once cooked. 

The cucumbers have been grown painfully slow. So slow, in fact, I started to wonder what was up. However, gardening is a daily exercise in patience. They've finally started to show signs of growth. And I know they'll get there when they get there. 

The broccoli also exploded. I have never had broccoli leaves grow so large before. But what is weird is that the crowns have taken FOREVER to grow. Middle of June in years past I was already picking broccoli. So, I don't know. Huge plants, slow to grow crowns, but hoping the crowns will wind up being healthy and huge as well. They're finally starting to form. 

The bush beans are growing beautifully. They finally got to the point I had to add some supports on the sides. They are just now flowering and I expect to see beans growing very soon! 

We had a box free with nothing planted in it, so Anthony planted a row of sunflowers. Two didn't come up, so I redid the seeds and finally they did, so there are a few that are behind in growth. And then unfortunately the one in the middle died. No idea why. But that's alright, we popped a happy little garden token in the middle to fill the space for now. 

Around the sunflowers are mystery plants that started to grow in other boxes that I transplanted there. Squash? Pumpkin? Who knows. We will see. The suspense is almost more than I can take. 

I ALMOST had a completely full and lush bed of carrots, but one of the dogs ran through it and disturbed the left side shortly after I had planted the seeds, so there are gaps. Darn it. However, this is the best I've had a carrot bed look in years. I put a boarder up around the box to prevent the dogs from running through it again. 

For fun, we planted a watermelon start Molly picked out from the store. Hopefully he does well. 

We had purposely left one bed free knowing we were going to plant pumpkins. We finally did that the beginning of June. Not many seeds sprouted, so we went ahead and picked up some starts from the store. Now we have a commination of jack-o-lanterns from starts, and mini pumpkins from seed.  It's always fun growing pumpkins. 

Just like with the carrots, I had to put up a boarder around the box because the dogs kept running through it. I don't know what it is about these sideways laying beds that make the dogs think they should run through them instead of around them when rushing out of the garden to bark at passing cars on the road. 

We planted clover all around the raspberries to help with ground cover and moisture retention. It all came in well. After a month of growth, we weed wacked the length off to give the raspberries a bit more breathing room. 

Its been a trial and error process with watering. I wanted to hand water, but Sam said the sprinkler going for a few hours on them would be enough. We ultimately decided that it wasn't because things were starting to look a little sad and the ripening berries weren't plumping up enough. So I went to hand watering them to ensure they were getting all that they needed. I like doing that so much better anyway. I like having time with them, lol. I am SO EXCITED to be getting berries this year! 

The strawberries literally produced more berries then we have ever gotten. Ever. I picked a few to snack on daily, and then once a week went out and picked everything that was ripe and from that was able to make a few delicious strawberry crips desserts out of them. Pretty epic. 

I don't mind the ground fill around the plants. Its more important to me that the strawberries are able to eventually spread than it is to keep things looking pretty. The end goal is to have the whole tilled area be strawberry plants, to the point where I have to be taking some out so they don't spread past the tilled area, lol. For now, the ground fill weeds get a free pass. 

LOVING the garden move. I just can't say it enough. 

I also have some herbs, jalapeno, and lunchbox pepper plants growing in containers on the porch underneath Molly's window. We did this last year too, and it was a successful growing situation. 

Onwards and upwards! 

With love,

Mama Hauck