Corn pokin'

We've got corn! And lots of green beans.

Really excited, though, about the corn.

Last year we had corn but various things -- bugs, deer, other bugs -- ate it. I think we ended up with only a couple ears. Last year, the Japanese beetles also ate up the beans until around September, after which the beans rebounded and we were flush with beans for about a month.

So, 2008: very sad to report that aphid-like bugs infested my summer squash plants, and some of the pumpkins, so I had to pull them up. But, unlike last year, the corn and beans are flourishing. Here's the first ear that we picked, and then ate, last week. With a couple beans in the background.

To fill in where the squash had been, I forged ahead with 2008 Garden 2.0 -- lots of little exciting experiments: First, turnips, pak choi (supposed to be like bok choi) and swiss chard. Like, two feet of each. Just to see how they do. Planted those last week and they're starting to sprout. Turnips planted in late summer last year turned out great, so we'll see....

Today continued the experiment: Planted spring onions, spinach... and carrots. I suspect it is a little late for carrots in our zone 5/6 climate, but we might get some baby ones. We've got more than two months of summer left, after all!

Also, Evan started replacing the windows. He started today and got 90 percent of the work done on one. I didn't take pictures as we were crunched for time when he started, but we will document next weekend when he ventures to do the next one. He's planning on replacing eight windows before winter comes knocking....

Full garden ahead

Squash, squash everywhere. We have a bounty! Admittedly, we'll soon run out of ways to prepare them. Here's a sampling:

Also... what a difference a month makes. If you scroll back to the "Chomp" entry from June 10, you'll see a pretty barren plot that had been made even more paltry due to somebody eating our tomato plants down to the nibs.

Thanks to Evan's fence, here it is today. The tomatoes have now grown to become nearly a solid mass of plants.

The other side of the plot is sweet corn, still developing.

One more thing: We picked the garlic. We braided it and hung it in the smokehouse to dry. Don't know how long it will take to use it all; we probably got 40 cloves of garlic!

Random act of squash

So, here it is, the first real fruit of this summer's garden -- a yellow summer squash, in its infancy!

But the truth is, I didn't plant this squash. I planted squash, yes. The squash plants that I sowed are growing quite nicely...

However, this particular specimen is the volunteer offspring from some flat yellow summer squash of 2007.

The squash that I planted are probably a week or two behind this squash, which sprouted in-between the shallots, all by its lonesome. When I realized what it was, I decided to let it go and see what happened.

It's looking nice. We'll keep it!

Chomp, chomp

Something has been eating our tomato plants, so Evan put up a fence:

All things considered, it didn't take overly long to build. Here's one of the specimens that I hope will survive.

One or two of the other tomato plants were almost completely eaten away; nothing remains but the stem. Interestingly, the hungry critter went for the heirloom tomatoes and didn't make dinner out of one of the non-heirloom plants that I'd also planted.

Nate seems to be enjoying the fence as a new obstacle to run around.

Weathering it

Had some visitors from NYC last weekend. Saturday afternoon, Salma helped me plant the tomatoes while Evan took everyone else on a hike.

After we finished our planting, it rained on and off for most of the rest of the weekend. So, our timing was good, in terms of planting. We also planted beans and some summer squash. I hope to be posting their growing progress here, so Salma can see how they do!

The chives are blooming. They looked particularly vibrant in the rain.

Weekend warrior-diggers

Nearly all work around here happens on the weekends. During the week, we're, you know, working at our work jobs. Anyway, last weekend there was a lot of tearing up old overgrown flower beds, wrestling with rows of weeds along the edges of buildings, scrambling to put some order on areas that were beginning to go wild. All crammed into a couple hours when Nate naps in the afternoon.

We started by beautifying, or trying to. Planted flowers, clipped back weeds, turned in compost, nothing too monumental -- just a few hours of digging, tearing, pushing, tossing, panting, etc., etc. Then on Sunday I decided it was time to tear up an old flower bed that had been overgrown with what I think was lots and lots of yarrow, as well as a few tiger lillies and a bunch of weeds.

We carted off the lilies (above photo, in wheelbarrow) and replanted them by the side of a building near the pond. From the side of that building, we carted away a jumble of weeds and dead leaves.

I took a photo of the tiny collection of herbs that replaced the old hard-bitten yarrow patch, but it looks like nothing, so I'll wait to post that until I have a decent "after" photo ... like maybe in August.

I planted rosemary (two plants, one of which is supposed to be hardy to zone 5, and we're zone 6, so I have high hopes). Also planted tarragon and Greek oregano, both of which are supposed to survive here. Evan lined my new little herb garden with rocks.

This is actually my second herb patch; the first one contains a bounty of sage and thyme, both planted two summers ago and which have survived the winters thus far.

As for what I think is or was yarrow (or whatever it is that we yanked up), I potted up a few specimens for potential relocation somewhere else, though I think Evan would be happy if I trashed them all.

I also have some mint, in a big huge pot, that I kept alive over the winter, which I need to plant somewhere soon. But I know that spreads easily, so I really need to find the right location.

Watch our garden grow

... Or rather, watch the dimensions of our garden grow.

Worked on expanding two small plots of garden yesterday -- joining them together to create one bigger plot. Lots of hacking up the turf, knocking off dirt and earthworms, and carting away wheelbarrows of the weed-grass sod.

Evan mixed in some compost and mushroom soil and evened out the old and new garden sections. We now have two plots as pictured below; the other plot is just a big brown rectangle of dirt and stones and a couple weary thyme plants, so it doesn't make for much to look at.

But here's the newer plot, in which we have a few things growing already:

Evan got the tiller going to loosen up all of the soil on the far side of the plot, where we then planted two rows of onions.

The onion-y looking rows in the photo are actually garlic that we planted last fall. I'm hoping/ expecting it to be ready to be pulled up in June. Garlic is new territory for us, so we'll see...

The part of the garden in the front of the picture is planted with some of this garlic, plus shallots (planted last week; still not sprouted), cilantro and baby spinach. A few of the baby spinach plants surprised us and survived the winter; I planted some more seeds of the same in-between the survivors, and they are just starting to sprout above the earth.

Today we got lots of rain! I hope we'll see some growin' going on by the weekend.

Asparagus rising

Not quite two weeks ago, the asparagus was barely peeping out of the soil.

As of tonight... it's about as tall as our son!

We're letting the asparagus go/ grow this year; I've read that you should let it grow three years before cutting it. But depending on how many shoots come up next year, we might not be able to wait that long!

Straight to summer

One week ago, we were on the cusp of spring...

In six days, spring was bypassed and we got an early preview of summer.

With temperatures soaring into the 80s, the garden, trees, lawn, everything burst into greenness. It was bright and hot and, really, a little much, but we tried to take advantage of the warm weather. Among a number of other projects, Evan transplanted some Tiger lilies that were overgrowing their space. We decided a new good location for the overflow was by the side of the barn, where there is a stone wall.

We also dug up the garden some more. I tried to instill some order on one corner of the plot, raked in some compost and planted two rows of shallots. Shallots don't sound all that exciting, but seeing how we cook with a ton of shallots, I could probably plant the entire garden with shallots and it would be worthwhile. I planted two rows -- around 35 bulbs. Here are some sitting in a row, before I pushed them down into the ground and covered the sides of the bulbs with dirt. In the background, to the right, is garlic that we planted last fall.

Finally... we marveled at how much the asparagus grew in the past week, thanks to the heat wave. Here's a photo of some of the asparagus yesterday:

Compare to my post from a week ago (below), when it was just a few inches above the ground. It must have grown, oh, three or four inches, at least, in a week. And in the past day it grew another two inches, or maybe even three.

Now, spring, now!

The flowers are just beginning to bud, as are a few trees. One warm day yesterday, a spring tease. Here's an even more hopeful indicator: We pulled back the mulched leaves that had been protecting the asparagus that we planted last year. And found this underneath:

I am in awe!

The largest shoot is only a few inches long, but it is recognizable and vibrant-looking, even in its paleness.

We planted some strawberry plants and baby spinach, and Evan turned up some more turf to connect two of our four small garden plots.

The garden is otherwise a wash of ugly dirt and shale, worn down by winter. There are a few perennials trying to come back to life; a feeble row of garlic, green tops beginning to perk up; and some volunteer cilantro clinging close to the ground.

Emerging...

My God, is it spring yet?

Apparently, some of us think it's right around the corner. We can only hope.

Let it ... snow?

It's not quite Thanksgiving and we were hit with a snowstorm today.

This is highly unusual where we live. Sure, we get snow, but typically not before the leaves have fallen off the trees.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but every other photo that I took, in an effort to document this beautiful, strange weather anomaly, is just a blur of white. In the end, we got around five or six inches of floppy wet white stuff.

So, I checked out the garden. Mid-day, nearly everything was blanketed. I dug around under snow and cut what I expect will be the last of the spinach, and got a bunch of cilantro too. Nearby, peeking through, I spied some thyme:

I also pulled up the last of the turnips. The purple hue of the roots look particularly fresh against the white light of the day!

We'll probably roast them...

Good to be green

On Saturday, it rained and rained. A downpour for half the day. When it cleared up in the afternoon, the garden was looking better. Here's the same old patch that I keep taking photos of... spinach in the center; thyme to the left; turnips on the far left. The beets are largely hidden by the broccoli raab on the right; marigolds are in the background:

Here's a closeup of the spinach -- looking good enough to eat!

Here's something cool ... I planted cilantro near the beans in spring but it went to seed before I could even use any of it. The seed has come up and I now have dozens of cilantro seedlings:

The following is a photo from Sunday, when we spent a few hours (yes...) doing cleanup. Pulled up the tomatoes and stored the stakes that had been supporting them, and Evan roto-tilled that plot. Weeded the patch where the pumpkins had been. Pulled up the remains of the bean plants, and here's that cleaned-up patch.

Notice what I'm calling "basil gone wild" in the back center of the photo. I didn't pull it up, but that crazy bush (around two feet by two feet, mostly flowers) probably met its maker last night, as we had our first frost. The little row of greens poking up, in the middle, is garlic. The frothy greens on the far right are asparagus.

Under the leaves

Like, a month ago, I took a photo of the broccoli raab and beets. They were tiny little seedlings.

Now look at them! As of yesterday. Broccoli raab on the left, beets on the right.

Due to our lack of kitchen / appliances, we can't eat any of this good stuff. Well, yes, we now have appliances, but we're still working on getting them hooked up. I've been cooking some veggies in the microwave, but I don't think that will do justice to anything I'm currently growing (the green beans are pretty much kaput)... So in the meantime, I have to be content with looking at them ... and giving some away... and hoping a small sampling will last until when we do get some of our kitchen up and running again.

The beets, up close:

We grew beets in our first garden, last year. But this is my first time growing turnips. I plan on roasting them. This photo of our turnips makes me want to crawl under the turnip leaves, and tuck myself away from the hot October sun:

It's been dry and warmer than is normal. But yes, even though a small portion of the garden is flourishing, it really is fall. Here's one view from the garden ... The colors aren't Photoshopped; everything seems a little washed out from the lack of rain.

Garden Act III

Now that the Japanese beetles have died off, our green bean teepee is thriving. I picked several meals' worth of beans this morning. Unfortunately with the weekend demolition and removal of our kitchen cooktop, we don't have many ways to prep them, other than steaming them in the microwave. I'll be giving some to my in-laws...

Here is a corner of another part of the garden, where I planted some fall greens. The full row on the right is broccoli raab. I've planted it twice before, in spring, but it went to seed really quickly. These fall seedlings are looking awesome!

The half-row in the middle is comprised of beets. To the left of the beets is a row of spinach (looks like dirt in this photo, but the seedlings are just poking through!). Last year we had great luck with spinach planted shortly after Labor Day... enjoyed it in early November.

On the far left, out of the photo, I planted turnips. I would like to try to get another row or two of greens in, soon.

More on the harvest

The garden is on its last legs. So I'm tallying up what we've got. Lots of tomatoes, lots of beans (some a little tough), a couple butternut squash and three pumpkins:

We also grew some onions, which in the above photo are drying out behind the pumpkins. It rained nearly all last week, so we lost a fourth pumpkin and a couple onions -- they turned to mush before I could pick them. The tomatoes are still delicious but slowing down a little bit.

But we have also planted a few fall crops; a few weeks ago I got a row of beets in and they are now coming up/ visible. This afternoon we planted spinach and broccoli raab. Last fall we had pretty good success with spinach, and today's planting is from the same pack of seeds.

And we were finally able to plant the grasses on the bank next to the patio Evan built in July.

The next project is the kitchen. If I have time, I will be documenting that in detail, as it is going to be the largest renovation that we'll be doing around here for the next few years. We're doing a complete remodeling -- floor to ceiling. This past summer we spent countless weeks working on the remodeling plans; soon we'll start in the actual work.... well, "we" includes the contractor, an electrician, plumber, etc. Maybe it will all be done by Christmas.

Tomato abundance

It's been a while since we've updated. The baby and work have kept us too busy.

But the bounty of summer has inspired me to start posting again. I've managed to plant and maintain a garden (sort of...). And it's tomato season here and this year's crop is much better (well, larger) than last:

Last year we had lots of very small, flavorful tomatoes. This year we've got some heirloom tomato plants that are going gangbusters: The tomatoes are mostly very large -- some weigh a pound apiece. There are also some other tomato plants producing smaller tomatoes.

They all taste great, and tonight we had a dinner of them tossed with basil, garlic, shallots and linguine. Two nights ago I made a sauce of them, with some diced eggplant, and we had it over polenta.

The plants themselves are so top-heavy with foliage that they look like they'll fall over. The tomatoes are mostly clustered at the bottom of the plants. Next year I have to do a better job of staking them up. You can't really tell in this picture, but the plant in the middle (background) is tipping over.

Honey I shrunk the beefsteaks

The garden has been looking a bit ratty of late. It's late summer and, well, there aren't a whole hell of a lot of vegetables that perk up and get giddy at the thought of hot, dry weather. Except for tomatoes.

We've got a bumper crop this year off of four plants: two plum and two beefsteak. Believe it or not, the small tomatoes above are beefsteak. They taste great -- very sweet and hearty -- but they're just miniaturized, a bit larger than cherry tomatoes. Perhaps we should have pinched off some of the buds on the beefsteak plants? I'm not sure, but even miniaturized, I'm loving 'em. Our plum tomatoes, on the other hand, are gargantuan. Gina's hoping to can a portion of them and the rest are destined for some great sauces.

More painting this weekend, but I took it rather slow. It's a birthday weekend; I can afford to slack.

Progress amidst the rain

After a weekend of rain – steady, persistent rain – we were finally able to get out and mow a portion of the lawn yesterday evening. Two thick ribeyes were waiting in the fridge for dinner, so Gina handled the large portions with the riding mower while I followed with the trim mower. As I was trimming around the garden, I noticed an explosion of broccoli rabe in one of the plots -- a perfect complement to a steak grilled medium-rare! After mowing, I went out and clipped off a good bunch and then sautéed them with some garlic for dinner. There's nothing like fresh produce for dinner.

Speaking of the garden, I've been remiss in posting pics of our progress, which has been coming along nicely. There are seven plots, each about 4' x 8'. What started off as somewhat tenuous – we had a run of dry, hot weather in early spring – has developed into a nice spread of goods. We have six tomato plants, a few rows of broccoli rabe, two cabbage plants, six kale plants, a row of onions, some thyme and basil, a bunch of newly-sprouted beans, and some beets. Oh, there's some cauliflower in there, too.

This weekend we got 4 yards of compost delivered and I intended to work on the flower beds around the house. But since the rain sidelined any outdoor projects, I was able to paint the ceiling in the bedroom – something that has bugged me for months. The ceiling is rather low, and an astute reader (thanks, Laurie!) advised us to paint the ceiling the same color as the walls to give it a bit more height. Man, did that work wonders (again, pictures to come). Not only does the ceiling look better, but it gives the appearance of space around the tops of the windows. I rearranged the furniture in the room, too, since most of it was out the hallway while I painted. The new setup takes great advantage of the long, narrow room.

And yes, I still have heaps of exterior painting to start.

On the lower part of our property is a spring-fed pond that is occasionally used to irrigate surrounding crops. It's a bit barren, and long term I'd love to introduce some ornamental grass and other landscape elements to make it a bit more pleasing. But the problem of the moment is the slow and steady growth of filamentous algae all around the perimeter of the pond. The algae is particularly thick at the upper end where the spring is located. From what I've read, the problem is likely a result of runoff from fields and a septic drain field that lies a couple hundred feet above the pond.

I had heard of barley straw as a solution to controlling algae, but after further reading I found that the results were inconsistent, and even when effective the straw needs to be introduced early in spring, before algae growth occurs. I wrote to the Penn State cooperative extension – an excellent resource for any agricultural-related questions – asking for their advice on managing the algae. I specifically wanted something non-toxic that would not harm the numerous fish (including two huge carp) that call the pond home. They pointed me in the direction of a product called Green Clean.

I'm guessing the pond is about 1/3 of an acre in size. My measuring method is admittedly suspect, since I used Yahoo Maps to view an aerial photo and gauge the relative size of the pond. I've been meaning to do some real measurements and somehow I just never got around to it. At any rate, based on the size, I'm estimating volume of the pond is 350,000 gallons using an average depth of 3 feet. 4 pounds of Green Clean should do the trick, but I'll be doing more thorough measurements this weekend to make sure that's correct.

My aching back

Part of the problem with a farm is that there are so many things to do it's tough to know where to begin. Since we moved we've been talking about a garden and, well, since warm weather has arrived we've been out playing in the dirt. Besides, if you have a farm how can you not garden? Sunday was all outdoors: Skies were clear, sun was out, and since the house is filled with plants waiting for somewhere to go, we spent the day digging.

Gina had one plot complete, but we figure we'll need at least a total of four. After years of growth the grass in the meadow is unbelievably thick, so the first step was to remove the sod: loosen with pitchfork, hack a section out, pick it up and whack at it to remove excess dirt. Needless to say, it's time consuming. After a few hours, we had two more plots (4' x 10') complete. Last night (Wednesday) we finished the fourth. We'll need to dig them again before planting, but we're almost there. This weekend the planting begins.

I also built a big compost bin, which we've been filling slowly and steadily. I have no experience here, but I'm trying to get the balance right so that at some point we have some good, healthy compost for the garden. Next up: painting one of the six outbuildings. Hoo, boy. Anyone have any experience with paint sprayers?

Ground breaking

Last week, while the weather was warmer, I got a chance to dig up the first plot of our garden.

On the left is the spot before I dug up the turf; on the right is the finished project, around four hours later. It measures around four feet by 10 feet.

I planted some shallots and beets. That part of the project took me about 10 minutes.

The first lil' seedlings

Here are some of my first plantings.

In the middle are French marigolds -- they were planted around five weeks and have been growing quickly. On the right are more of the same marigolds, planted three weeks ago. On the left are seedlings planted one week ago that have yet to sprout -- daisies.

We're lucky because the majority of our windows are southern-facing, but we've been moving the plants around the house so they can get the most sunlight possible. I planted them all in Burpee seed-starting formula and then transplanted the first batch of marigolds into more seed-starting formula in peat pots. Not so sure I like the peat pots though, they seem to dry out quickly.