A very large garden update

You know when you go to a restaurant and you say that your eyes were bigger than your stomach?

Well, at the Woodwards, our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs when it comes to projects.  We always go a bit over the top. Do a little more than is normal. And then wonder why in the world we thought that was possible.

The garden’s sort of like that. We set our sights a little high and planted an area that is about 20×75. That’s a lot bigger than the garden we’ve planted the past two years – which was 0x0.

I thought it was about time for a garden update, since I’ve gotten a few questions about how it’s going. (Check out our overly ambitious plan for more details. I stuck pretty close to this plan.)

Overall, it has been going well. A few highs and lows …

I’m a slave to the weather.

We had a crazy spring and most everything got in the ground later than I expected. It was so cold for so long. And then it just rained and rained and rained some more. It ended up working out okay, because our plants were loving all the water. But, geez. I thought we were going to wash away.

Starting seeds didn’t go according to plan.

After all the work we did starting seeds in our basement growing station, they didn’t do great in the ground. I let them grow accustomed to being outside (hardening off) before planting, but they still didn’t adjust well. I think it may have been because they were still rather small and we have such hard, clay soil, even after adding compost and manure and tilling.

A few have survived, but I ended up having to buy a LOT of pepper and tomato plants, which is a bummer. But that’s okay. It’d be more of a bummer to have no peppers or tomatoes. Look. Pepper.

Hay is the best thing ever for our garden.

We bought a few hay bales and we’ve been using them as mulch between rows. Because we don’t live at the property (yet), we aren’t weeding as regularly as we probably should. So Ryan uses a hoe to get the weeds broken up between rows and then we spread hay to keep the weeds at bay. It really works well, and looks nice and neat to boot. It also makes a great walkway.

 

Found objects can be the best garden additions.

Ryan recently created trellises for the snap peas and cucumbers from these metal pieces in the ravine on our property. He says they were part of some sort of structure for pigs when the property was used as a hog farm.

Regardless, they have held up great for being in the ravine for 50+ years and are a sturdy way to hold vining vegetables. A stake easily holds it up.

Veggie progress reports

Our lettuce is dominating. I don’t know if it’s because they are getting a little more rain than normal, but they are still holding out into July. Normally, they’d be done and done by now.

I’ve already picked a bundle of snap peas, which we love to eat raw and steamed.

Our pumpkins and squash are going nuts. I so hope we get tons from these this year.

And we planted eight total rows of corns and pole beans (the pole beans are intended to grow up the corn stalks). This variety is a strawberry popcorn variety that has the neatest stem.

Once I broke down and bought tomato plants, they took off. I already have quite a few fruits growing.

The onions are going crazy. I could actually pick the green onions anytime, but we’re holding out for the big guys. (I Planted red, white and yellow varieties.)

And I also added a few strawberry plants. We likely won’t get any fruit this year, but maybe next year. And the leaves look uber happy.

 

For the first time ever, I am actually having luck growing cilantro. Again, maybe it was the rain. But, I see lots of salsa in my future.

And I have a dill plant that is looking awesome, too. I started this from seed and it’s the first time I’ve been able to get dill to grow from seed.

Harvest

The harvesting has already begun. The lettuce is always in abundance and we’ve also brought home a few peppers and snap peas.