In my last post I highlighted the lower garden, one of the 2 main gardens I plant. I basically showed the whole planting process of that plot. Since it's been almost a month, the upper garden is now well established so I will show up to date photos. I did include the planting of peas in a previous post which are in the upper garden.
As is the lower garden, the upper is also packed with veggies. In a year where I was going to cut back a little, well, it just didn't happen.
Starting at the bottom, the upper garden starts off with peas as mentioned above. These were planted on May 3rd, about a week before we got 3 inches of snow, the last snow of the season. Due to the cold weather, only some of the peas came up. Actually, it's amazing any came up. So I replanted the ones that didn't germinate (pre-soaking them to speed up germination), and eventually I had a full row.
Finally the work paid off as I picked the first peas of the season, We enjoyed them in a stir fry, they were so fresh and delicious.
Right next to the peas are a row each of scallions and leeks, both of which I started from seed. The scallions are the Evergreen Bunching variety and the leeks are American Flag.
As you can see, I also built another lettuce box out of scrap lumber from around the house. This allows me to start a new batch of lettuce and greens to eventually replace the plants in the lower garden as we use them. I have it covered in 30% shade cloth, as I do all the lettuce and kale at this time, to prevent the plants from growing too fast and/or bolting in the hot summer sun.
Next up are the potatoes. I wanted to plant all Yukon Gold, however, I didn't initially buy enough seed potatoes for the whole plot. By the time I went back to the local farm store for more, the Yukon Gold were all sold out. I did manage to get some Kennebec which is a good white variety. My parents always grew Kennebec and were always happy with the results.
From Wiki: Kennebec is a medium- to late-maturing white potato. It was bred by the USDA and selected by Presque Isle Station, Maine, in 1941.
From Wiki: Yukon Gold is a large cultivar of potato most distinctly characterized by its thin, smooth, eye-free skin and yellow-tinged flesh.
Both varieties generally yield well and also.store very well.
Overall I will end up with about 50 hills in the 4 rows. As you can see, some didn't come up and I had to replant. However, the replants are all sprouting so the end result will be good. I already hilled the plants once. I will do it again to ensure the new potatoes growing have plenty of soil to develop in without turning green. Potatoes will turn green if exposed to sunlight.
Right above the potatoes are a row of green beans and also carrots. The beans are a slender French type. They are now blossoming and should be ready to pick in 10 days to 2 weeks.
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| Bean Blossoms |
The carrots I planted this year are from Burpee Seeds:
From the Burpee seed catalog: We've combined five distinct colors of carrots in one special blend for a pretty rainbow effect that is sure to be noticed at the dinner table, even by the kids. After testing hundreds of carrot varieties, we developed this easy-to-grow mix of five crispy carrots: Atomic Red, Bambino, Cosmic Purple, Lunar White and Solar Yellow. Smoothly tapered roots grow to 8" x 2" in loose soil.
I am looking forward to harvesting these in the fall.
At the top edge of the garden are pumpkins, sunflowers, and pole beans.
The last few seasons I have been having problems with sunflowers. When planted, birds would eat the buried seeds right out of the ground, which I thought was very strange. How do they know the seeds are a half inch under the soil? Then, the plants were eaten off by woodchucks, the sunflowers being the only plants in both gardens that were bothered. At times I have trouble with woodchucks, I am usually able to live trap and relocate them.
So this season I have had tried something new. I built yet another box to use for the sunflowers. After planting, it was covered with netting until the plants reached about 6 or 8 inches, then the netting removed, and the plants thinned and some moved outside the box. So far so good. I will keep a look out for varmits.
Some of the pumpkins I bought as plants, some were planted from seed. I have Jack O Lantern and some other large varieties from Livingston Seed including Big Moon.
As always, thanks for reading. More updates to come soon.
