Sisyphus Acres

Quick update...gardens, surgery, et al

Hi, long time, no blog... Knee surgery went well and am on the road to recovery.  Feels much better now than it did before.  Although I am glad I waited to get the gardens in before I went, the relief almost makes me wish I hadn't.

I have pics of the garden that I'll try to get on in the next day(week) or so...it is in the "pre-spurt" phase.  I'll be taking some new pics soon, it's growing like mad!).

Season started a little later than usual here ~ last frost was June 10th ~ lost my first set of basil cuz I'd laid them in on the 8th thinking it was safe...grrr...

But, all is well in the plots now ~ garlic is just about ready to pic, I have Music, Russian Red and Yugoslav ~ depending on how they come out I may make a market garden to supply local restaurants.  A local co-op recently formed, and I was asked about supplying herbs...so I may seriously look into it.

I recently harvested chive flowers, and I have a batch of chive vinegar steeping in the kitchen.  This weekend I will strain it off and bottle it up for Christmas gifts and personal use.  Marjoram is ready to harvest, as is the first batch of spearmint and bee balm (time to dry some teas).  The elderberries have taken off, hope to have a start on two decent bushes by fall ~ it's nice to see the sticks come to life.  Calendula should be harvested this weekend too, then I'll put them in the dehydrator for quick drying.

All the veggies are doing well except the spinach (which I never have luck with), and the radishes which bolted ~ just the cherries and the white ~ (the watermelon radishes and the black seem ok so far).  The potatoes experiment is really neat.  The plants in the 55 gallon trash barrel are doing amazing, followed by the tires, and then the traditional furrows/hills.  If spud production meets expectations in the barrel, we may grow all our spuds in barrels next year.  Tomatoes and peppers are flowering, all the string beans and peas are nearing production, all the cukes/squash/melons are up and beginning to vine.  The corn is just about knee high, which is right here, corn has to be "knee high by the fourth of July" to ripen before frost here.  Broccolli and cabbage are starting to firm up, broccoli should start heading off soon, and I have the fall batch plan```ted and sprouted.  Brussel sprouts are growing slow but steady.  Okra is beginning to take off as are the soybeans, kidney beans and cranberry beans.  The sunflowers are amazing, but I know I'll be whining about preparing them in the fall.  The Jerusalem artichokes are doing great too...hoping God will bless the crop and we will be able to preserve enough for us and share with friends and neighbors.

Our early blueberries have green berries on and ready, and the valiant grapes have set a lot of clusters, maybe enough to make jelly this year without "borrowing" grapes from Janet!  But most of the fruit orchard won't start producing for another year or two.  UGH!  I have no patience to wait...lol.  Same with the asparagus...all 21 plants made it ~ but no picking until next year   the ferns reached over 6 feet tall though!

I do need to find some wild raspberry or black raspberry patches to pick over.  Hannah has been squirreling around and scavenging wild strawberries ~ we are going to try and "tame" a patch eventually ~ they are certainly little berries, but have hundred fold the taste and sweetness of cultivated strawberries!  Just where to plant them...hmmm...

The balsam firs look great in their neat little row, becoming the second row of the eventual windbreak...we have 25 blue spruce and 23 balsam firs planted in two rows, alongside each other ~ as they grow they will provide a much needed windbreak for the property.  All the chrry bushes survived, but won't produce for another year or so, but the highbush cranberry has surely reached it's stride, it has doubled in size since spring, hope to see it produce mext year (if not this fall).

Lost the rhubarb, though, the crowns never settled in well, so I'll be planting two more next year (unless I can scab a crown from someone this summer)

Ahh, well, time for bed, got to be up early for work ing the AM, will try to get the pics up soon,

val

Well, the veggie garden et al...

Finally able to get back here to chat about the veggie garden...we've got most of the seed planted, finishing up this week, and the plants will be laid in this coming week (last frost date is this week...lost my first set of basil plants to frost on Monday...grrr...dropped some more in yesterday)

So for the veggie garden ~ the garlic is looking amazing, the radishes are coming ready, probably by next week, first batch of carrots have sprouted, as has the spinach.  Leeks are looking nice.

We planted seed this past weekend, and wow, things are happening fast ~ the peas are up, as are the green, yellow and purple beans.  Kidney beans and cranberry beans are also sprouted.  The cukes, beets, turnip and rutabaga are also up.  Sunflowers have popped their heads as have the okra.  The lettuces have started to sprout, will plant another succession this coming week.  Waiting on the "fooled you jalapenos" (jalapenos without the heat).  We are planting the corn Thursday with the broccoli and the cabbage.  We also have squash, pumpkins, melons and zucchini to plant this week.  Potatoes (9 lbs of seed) and onions (180 of 'em) follow, as do the brussel sprouts, tomato and sweet pepper plants.  I'll be planting another succession of carrots in about 2-3 weeks. 

My knee is steadily getting worse so planting has been relegated to hannah mostly ~ I pop the holes in the plastic and she comes behind me to plant the seeds.  I can't really get down and up~ It annoys me (and her I'm sure...lol).  3 weeks 'til the surgery, I can't wait.

Last night we planted some more calendula in the herb garden, first batched junked by a late frost.  The Jerusalem artichokes are beginning to pop up.  Hannah harvested some of the mints and lemon verbena to fresh pack some tea for a friend of hers.  I packed off a lot of dried teas last night ~ the iron-close tea bags are so handy!!

The violets in the herb garden are bright and sunny, I may make some violet jelly soon, if I have enough blossoms...My quince has flowered and it is simply stunning ~ beautiful coral-peach blooms!  My high bush cranberry is looking marvelous, hope it flowers this year!  Looks lik my fruit trees will make me wait another year until they produce...most of them ar under 5 years old, but I am impatient :-)  Elderberries do not seem to have woken up yet, but we'll see.  I do need to drop 2 nectarines in ~ maybe tonight before my historical Society meeting....

We spruced up "Tyler and Megan's Waiting Rock garden" ~ a garden my neice and nephew from texas planted when they came up last year.  They planted it around a big rock they called the "waiting rock" ~ we made a sign for it and everything!

The perennial garden is shaping up too ~ we've got one end revamped and ready to plant got a few gaillardia's in, and a jocob's ladder.  I'll post the plans for that garden at some point...

Well off to a conference call, will chat later!

Oh, and soon I'll be posting some "before" pictures of the gardens, and then more as the season progresses...

Simply yours, val

Proverbs 31 challenge ~ week 5/12

Proverbs 31 challenge

Herb and his spicy sisters...

Now it’s time to talk about the herb garden….I went out to trim back the old growth from last year and was presently surprised by what’s already starting to peek back up through the barely thawed ground!  Yes, believe it or not I still have snow in parts of my yard (hopefully today will melt the last of it)

The Quince seems to have fared well, the chives are already 3” high; the chamomile is up and running, as are the oregano and thyme.  The sage looks like it weathered just fine, as does the Echinacea.  This year I can actually dig the Echinacea, so I have to by some to start making subsequent rotating plantings.  The lavender is looking great, and the catnip is outrageous!  The mints are just beginning to wake up…I have peppermint, spearmint and chocolate mint.  I also have bee balm.  I planted wild ginger and wintergreen last year, but it doesn’t look like either fared well.

This year I am adding elderberry bushes to the herb garden (flu/virus protection), arctic kiwi and the usual basil, dill and parsley.  I may also plant mustard again, but I’m not sure if here or in the veggie garden.  I am going to try to locate some lemon verbena, lemon balm, stevia, and a few other new herbs to put in to round things out.  I plan for mostly perennials, and place annuals in among them.

I make a lot of teas from the herbs, herbed vinegars, and lots of fresh cooking with them.

I am raking out the leaves this weekend, and beginning to dig the “paths” so I can lay pavers in place next week.  The herb garden is 22’ x 13’(15’ maybe), so a walkway is needed.  I am also laying some photodegradeable mulch to help keep weeds down this year ~ with the knee stuff, I won’t be able to be on top of weeding, I’ll need all the help I can get ;-)