...and it's fruit! The only fruit we planted (well, besides rhubarb) is strawberries. We got two bright, beautiful babes this morning!!
We may get one or two more this year. We weren't expecting a lot, since this is the first year and we started the four plants late. Next year, however, we should see much more.
Speaking of progress, some pictures of what's greening up in our back yard:
Beans, with a tomato on each end.****
Tomatoes!! These are the plants started from seed this Spring. We almost gave up on them, but I'm glad we didn't. Here, Michael is stringing up the center ones to reach for the top slat.****
More tomatoes (from plant), peppers, herbs and eggplant. (isn't that grapevine in the background gorgeous?!)****
Closeup of basil. Yay, basil!! I have a pot on the deck I've been pinching off of for regular use. This, if it yields enough, will be used to make and freeze pesto for the winter. Two of the squares are cucumber from another box that was thinned. We're hoping we can get the cuc vines to just drape over the edge of the box.****
Back three are Summer squash (though, we may be harvesting closer to Fall), and the other squares are onions.****
Cuc's in the back, middle two rows are onions and leeks, and the front is dill. A little overkill on the dill. It's okay, we'll give some away (let us know if you want any).****
Potatoes in back, carrots up front. Lots of carrots!****
Greens, greens and more greens! Swiss Chard, arugula and salad greens. We should be able to start harvesting some very soon. There's also a bunch of radishes in there.****
Winter squash. Two kinds, both good Winter keepers.****
Window boxes of herbs. These are plants from the farmers market, since our seeds never did take:( We've got Thai basil, parsley, tarragon, oregano, rosemary and sage in here. Hopefully I can transfer them indoors and find a good spot to keep them going in the Winter. This is a South facing window, in the dining room, but it's fairly shaded. The Winter sun may be different, though. We'll see.****
The raspberries. Of course, we didn't plant these, but I had to show how close we are to harvesting. I'm really looking forward to having enough to freeze, can and eat fresh. There are so many plants in this bush, it shouldn't be a problem.****
And, finally, I had to show some of our compost. You can see the difference in the color of the soil surrounding the peppers here. The darker is our compost from the turning composter we picked up 4-6 weeks ago. Beautiful stuff!
My husband is a natural at this stuff. We wouldn't have the amount of crops and the progress thus far if not for him. He is a farmer in the making, I'm convinced of it. He is always outside, checking, weeding, thinning, watering..doing whatever needs to be done. Check out his blog on how all of this was put together here.
4 comments:
Awesome! I should do an update, too. Our cucumbers aren't doing too hot. I think we will plant seeds next year like my dad did (his look awesome). Hey... I just learned yesterday that eggplant has nicotine in it. Weird!
Yeah, our cucumbers just started gaining in height. Not sure how successful they'll be in the "fruit" department. We'll see.
Nicotine in eggplant?! That is strange. I wonder how much, and about its efficacy...hm, I'll have to look into it.
Yay, looking good. I was just gonna bother you an FB re gardens when I decided to take a peek. Everything looks so much better when things are growing in earnest!
I'm glad to see you're composting aggressively- the more you stir that stuff up the faster you build more soil!
I'm prepared to be amazed at the progress next time you post!
Yes, Andy, it's inspiring to see so much progress! And, so much more since this was posted. We're starting to see actual fruit on our tomato and pepper plants now, and the Winter squash has vines and blossoms aplenty. I'll post an update in a week or two.
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