We’re approaching mid July and our garden is entering its phase of intense production. That means we’re canning, freezing and dehydrating to keep up with the bounty. Here are some pics you might enjoy.
Fava beans are highly nutritious, great fresh in soups, but these are destined to dry on the vine for winter use.
This is an Italian variety of zucchini, Costata Romanesco. You can see it looks a bit different from the usual. We’re getting ready to try it in the kitchen for the first time!
The beautiful Savoy cabbage is a joy to behold and so easy to grow.
Eggplant in bloom!!
Yellow Finn potato blossoms. That means new potatoes are ready for the table! These have been planted in buckets with dirt. Gardeners tell me that the bucket will fill with big spuds and lots of them.
The potato patch. Some are planted directly in the soil and hilled up with dirt. Those on the left were placed in trenches and covered with straw only. I’m experimenting with several growing methods to see which yields best and produces the nicest potatoes.
What’s with the clothespin? It’s there to keep it dark inside. Want a peek?
Wow! Darkness keeps the cauliflower snowy white.
Sweet corn and safflower are lookin’ good. I think a gopher is pulling the soybeans underground. See the partial row in the front? That used to be full and there are no tracks on the surface. This happened to some potatoes last year in about the same spot.
Squash are in bloom, too, and some little ones starting out. This is a heritage variety brought out west over 100 yrs. ago from Tennessee to Whitman County. A friend from Elberton has given me some seeds.
We’ve been enjoying carrots for several weeks now. Raised beds allow for early spring planting since the ground doesn’t need any preparation. It’s so easy! We have to keep ours in a cage, tho, because of deer. They love carrots…
Beets and parsnips.
We’re in our second planting of several crops such as lettuces, spinach and pak choy.
Natives: Rocky Mountain Penstemon and Fireweed
My favorite rosebush.
It’s good to be home a lot. To spend time loving and caring for one’s surroundings provides a direct link to the feeling of days well spent, life well lived. It is calming and cultivates one’s connection to the earth and all that lives. We need to nurture our earth and live in ways that make it possible.
Anna
Jan
Angela
