My Garden, 2015

I really enjoy my garden. I usually only have pictures of it later in the season as a jungle of vegetation, so this year I took pictures just as it was coming up, and month by month throughout the season, for a year long overview.

March

   The first week or two of March I planted a mix of kale, collards, Chinese cabbage, beets, and turnips. We didn't have a garden fence up, so I covered this small planting with the rabbit run we had built last year to keep the chickens from scratching them up! 

   25th-Planted Swiss Chard, radishes, and lettuce. Earlier planting just barely coming up. Daniel extended the garden by tilling up another 4 feet by 120 feet.

   The apricot tree blossomed and frosted.

April

   1-5, planted the peas behind garage, varieties: Sugar Snap, Purple Capinjer, and Red Pea.

May

   Some of the peas didn't come up so replanted with Green Arrow.

   24th-We had a lot of rain this month, and had to wait for it to get dry enough to till the rest of the garden area. I bought tomato plants, and pepper plants from the farmer's market in Logan, Utah. Planted the tomatoes and covered individual plants with empty milk jugs. Put the peppers under wire and plastic.

 May 7th 

The peas are coming up behind the garage.

Putting up the trellis for the Yellow Snap peas, between the chicken coop and the garage.

Little Lettuce coming up.

The children love finding worms. Daniel likes to use them for fishing, but I enjoy them in the garden helping the soil.

More peas, some purple and red, and the green kind too. (Notice the footprints of a junior helper.)

I love to plant radishes! They come up so fast and have lovely colors.

Andrew loves the garden!

June

   6th- First handful of pea blossoms!

   9th- Laid out soaker hose to peas and greens on Terrace and watered.

   10th-11th- Planted 10 rows of flour corn (Magic Manna Pancake Flour developed by Carol Deppe). Harvested greens. (Discovered collard greens are not popular with the children.) Planted hills of squash at end of corn rows next to lawn. Planted two rows of Rattlesnake beans from seed I grew and harvested a few years ago. Also planted half a row of Kentucky Wonder green beans and half a row of Meeks Running green beans. (They are pretty with a dusting of purple over the green.)

NOTE TO SELF: Do not plant Mustard Greeens again. No one liked them except the chickens.

   13th-18th- Raked and raked to make ground more level. Laid out hoses and put up trellises for beans and tomatoes. Planted beans, varieties: Alabama #1 Pole beans, Neckargold, Harwig's Heirloom, Grandma Roberts Tri-color, Grandma Roberts Purple Pole bean, Monte Gusto Yellow Pole Bean, Louisiana Purple Pod Pole Bean, and Frank Barnett Pole Bean. (My goal is to see which one I like best.) Planted two varieties of sunflower, Arakara and Grey Striped Mammoth. Stuck the last few tomato plants into the ground. Planted squash varieties: Rainbow, Romanesco Costata, Bennings Green Tint, Ingot (strait neck yellow squash), Gill's Golden Pippen Acorn, and Joseph Lofthouse's Landrance Moschata squash. Planted Lofthouse Oliverson Landrace Muskmelon on tomato and bean trellises. Planted Multi-colored sweet corn (Astronomy Dominae) and multi-colored popcorn also from Joseph Lofthouse (a plant breeder in Cache Valley).

   27th- Planted a few hot peppers for salsa and hot pepper jelly. Fertilized tomatoes, peppers, roses and fruit tees.

The pictures this month were taking by Rebecca, June 19th. 

Ellie checking out the emerging corn.

There are always weeds springing up somewhere. On the terrace I am weeding the pepper plants.

Front row is lettuce, the back row is Swiss  Card.

The ruffled leaves are Red Russian Kale, the smooth leaves right front are a leaf broccoli.

Beets. The ones with red leaves are called "Bull's Blood", very, very red when they come up. In the back right corner is Lacinto Kale, a.k.a. Dinosaur Kale

The peas are doing well.

The yellow snap peas are getting close to harvest, but need to fill out more.

The purple peas have purple blossoms. So pretty!

Tomato plants. We are trying a new trellis system, where the tomatoes grow up through the horizontal calf panels.

Some herb I never remember the name of, and onions! (and some weeds.)

The Beans are coming up!

Corn springing out of the ground.

There are strawberries hiding in these weeds, right front corner.

The tall trellises are for beans, and the other rows are corn.

Pepper transplants

We put wiring over the peppers so we can cover them with plastic if there are any late frosts. They like the extra heat. Unfortunately, so do the weeds! And it makes weeding that much harder.

We are harvesting yellow snow peas. They did really well!

Yellow snow peas.

Tomato plants. This type of trellis makes it easy to cover them with plastic.

Another type of kale, with some parsley and lettuce. (And morning glory and weeds.)

My favorite variety of Swiss Chard, Butter, a.k.a. Golden Glebe

What is considered a "red" pea, a cross between the yellow and the purple peas.

These pods are part purple and part yellow. (This cross is still being developed.)

July

   Weeding, weeding, and more weeding! Fertilized peppers, tomatoes, and squash. Picking peas. Some rain. Like the flavor of the Green Arrow shelling peas. Prefer the Butter Swiss Chard over the Silverado Variety of Swiss Chard.

   About the second and third week of July, pulled out all the mustard greens (fed to chickens) and replanted with carrots. Forgot I had planted Pink Eye Pioneer Bush beans and they weren't on a water line. So transplanted the few survivors to a soaker hose so they would get watered. Planted Kale, Mammoth Basil, lettuce, carrots, purple carrots, beets, greens, and radishes for a fall crop.

   After the Yellow Snow peas finished producing, pulled them up and replanted with variety "Alaska" shelling pea.

Pictures taken July 5th-6th.

Look at those beets!

Andrew loves helping pick in the garden.

The Tomatoes are getting bigger.

Beans getting bigger too. I believe this row was the "Rattlesnake" variety with purple stripes.

Peppers and a whole lot of weeds!

The lettuce and radishes have been harvested.

The snap peas now ready. They are later than the snow peas.

The red pea cross has both purple peas and yellow peas. The purple peas are not as sweet, and are used dry for soup.

We have been harvesting leaves from the swiss chard. The kohlrabi is growing, but hasn't bulbed out yet. 

Lacinto Kale. We way over planted. Turns out kale is not really a favorite. But it sure is pretty and grew very well!

Red Russian kale is a little milder and goes well in green salads. (Still too much of it.)

Leaf broccoli--the leaves are picked and steamed or added raw to salads. It doesn't grow huge heads like regular broccoli.

Yellow peas.

Beans

A type of Romaine Lettuce.

Close up of the Bulls Blood Beet leaves.

Purslane is an edible weed. Not much flavor. We tried a bit in salads.

August

   The garden is really going strong!

Andrew and a big zucchini. (Aug 13, 2015)

We like them at a smaller size, but sometimes they just get away from you!

Becca and an even bigger zucchini.
(Aug 13, 2015)

Makala and Ben, August 20th.

The Kohlarbi is really big

The Tomato plants are getting out of control, and the beans are going to town! 

NOTE TO SELF: Give Sunflowers more room!

September
   Too busy harvesting and canning to take pictures of the garden!

October
  Still busy harvesting and canning. The end of Fall is always busy trying to get everything in and taken care of. We bottled beans, made jam and applesauce and salsa; harvested squash and corn, and so many things. Then there is the hunting and that means canning and freezing the meat. So much to do!

Muskmellon and Andrew.

November
   It has been a busy Fall! I wish I would have taken more pictures of the harvest, but enjoyed sharing the ones I had.

Popcorn!

Ellie, November 24th.