GARDEN UPDATE

Our gardens are in full production. We've never had better crops. We have seven raised beds each about 10 ft x 3 ft. (3m x 1m) as well as two hugelkultur hills.(Used for centuries in Eastern Europe and Germany, hugelkultur (in German hugelkultur translates roughly as “mound culture”) is a gardening and farming technique whereby woody debris (fallen branches and/or logs) are used as a resource ) In the top right corner you can see our water tank that collects rainwater and holds 250 gallons. (946 litres)

We are now able to add our own cucumbers to our salads.  Mary picks 1 every day but soon there will be more to pick. Time to get creative with new recipes.

Our raised beds are a mixture of produce. Here we have green onions in the foreground, kale and parsley in the background and a new planting of carrots in the middle. Carrots don't like the heat so I'm experimenting with lettuce leaves to provide shade and keep the soil moist.

Still lots of kale for my smoothies. It also keeps well in the freezer for later use.

The peas are using our bed covers as a trellis which makes for easy picking.

The vines are loaded and we pick 150-200 grams of shelled peas daily. Excess peas are frozen and will be added to Penny's meals this winter.

As the romaine lettuce becomes too bitter to eat we pull it and plant other crops. Here we have our second planting of green onions and radishes. Mary just came in with her first picking of broccoli another crop she has had limited success with. I think our success this year is due to our compost application and no till approach to planting.. We have learned the less you disturb the soil and the more organic material you feed it, the greater your harvest.

Thanks for stopping by and keeping an eye on us.