New England, June 2015

Wow Molly, I hadn't realized I only saw half the photos at first!

That sure is one beautiful area. You are using space so well. I love all your new boxes (that's a lot of work!) and I really like how you sat the asparagus at the bottom of the boxes, I assume you'll cover over time. They say asparagus roots rise, so it's work to keep them covered. 

I wondered about the strawberries! LOL! Haven't they done well! Mine are so super prolific, and very tasty. After this fruiting is over I am going to seriously move a good number of them to other spots. For one thing, you can never have too many strawberries, and they need more space. The more new plants they make, the healthier and better crop of strawberries, I think anyway.

We had chipmunks, and squirrels over the winter worked so hard to dig acorns into the ground and then to dig them back up again, it was really funny watching them, but they're almost all gone now. We had circling hawks for a month or so in the early spring, and also had daily visits from fox(es), and I have a feeling they munched on the critters. 

Yesterday I was picking strawberries before the rains came, and the moles/voles/whatever they are were so brazen they were scampering around while I was in there picking. The garden is fenced off, so no foxes go in there.

mollyhespra wrote:...How did you fix mine, Boffer?

I downloaded your pic to my computer, did the steps I listed above, and then re-uploaded it.

CC, this is my first year growing beets and I haven't done anything special to the MM. I think they look taller in the pictures than they actually are. The roots haven't plumped up yet, so the jury is still out, as it were, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are a little behind being as I have been having to cut bits or even whole leaves off due to some leaf-miner type bug really wrecking havoc on them.

But thanks for the compliments and yes, we do like our potatoes. We've got 6 varieties going to see which does best. Last year we grew Yukon Gold and Adirondack Red and they both did well. This year in addition to those two we added All Red (which may actually be the same as Adirondack Red), All Blue, Prairie Blush and Elba.

Our plan is to turn a large closet in the basement into a root cellar. I've emptied it out except for the upright freezer which we'll have to move upstairs. A lot of work, to be sure, but it will be worth it if we can successfully store some veggies in there in addition to those we freeze or can.

Beautiful garden Molly. 

This group has me wanting to plant strawberries.....uh oh!

Molly.......Loved the garden tour.  Such a lovely garden with lots of variety.  I envy your space and your youth.  While I'm downsizing you're upgrading.  Great work.

Thanks for the compliments, all!  

NHG:  I decided to plant more asparagus a bit late this spring, so by the time I found some crowns and then built the raised beds, prepped the ground, etc., the poor crowns weren't looking the best.  As such, I decided to only bury them to a depth of a little above the original ground level (though the actual crowns are about 8" below that).  I figure this year they can catch up some by not having to grow so tall and it will also give me time to make some more MM to fill the beds the rest of the way in the Fall after they've died back.

Sanderson: The fence is 7.5' tall.  We have all sorts of critters come through my yard.  I've seen with my very own eyes: moose, bear, deer, coyotes and innumerable woodchucks.  The fence has been mostly useful against the latter.  There is absolutely no way I could have a veggie garden without that fence.  So far, the 'chuck has left the un-fenced beds with the potatoes, garlic, tomatoes & tomatillos out back alone but there's also a lot of food available to him now.  We're hoping to enclose the back in the same way as the front so we can add some more beds for things that like to sprawl like squash and to help with crop rotation. 

QB: It's all part of the "Master Plan" to learn and build as much as we can now, while we still can, so that hopefully as we age, things will not be as difficult.  Having the beds as tall as we have them is part of that plan, as is covering between the beds with mulch to cut down on the need to mow.  I'm 50 this year & DH is 55, so we don't have much time to dawdle.  Now if I could only figure out how to get rid of the stairs in my house...

CAGirl: Beware what you ask for--strawberries *will* take over.  The variety I have is 'Sparkle' which is June-bearing.  I've read somewhere about varieties that tend not to send so many runners out, but I can't remember which they were...might have been some of the everbearing ones.  If you have the room for it, though, go for it!

CAgirlinMA wrote:
This group has me wanting to plant strawberries.....uh oh!

Things I wish someone had told me about strawberries before I planted (join in, everyone):

I wish I'd built a table top or, at the very least, a 12" tall 2x8 or 10.

Molly,

How does "Sparkle" taste?  It's a variety I'm considering for the next go-around.

Donna: They're nice if you let them get really ripe on the plant.  Otherwise, I find them a bit tart--but then again I prefer sweet to tart.  They are otherwise excellent producers and will take over, so make sure you give them lots of space.

CC: my boxes are almost a foot tall and that's still a bit low for reaching down to find the berries (the one the strawberries are in is actually 4x12 under there somewhere).  Maybe a TT or one of those pyramid-type boxes would be better for comfort, but then we'd run into the question of  whether the crowns would survive the winter all exposed like that.

The last day of June and my garden is pretty much crap.

What happened camprn?

sanderson wrote:Yes,  What happened??  You always have good gardens and production!!

OK, I'll admit looking like  'crap' is a relative term.  What happened? I work full time, I'm a  part time college student, somehow a friend of mine talked me into being on the town planning board, less than ideal weather. These all play a part in taking time away from the garden. Meh...

That explains it, camprn.  

It's okay to take a hiatus. Sounds like you're doing important things. A further degree? Woohoo!

It would be fun to be around them whippersnappers again...

Yeah, with all their newfangled whatchamajiggers, walking around all Herkimer McJerkimer instead of putting a little mustard on it! I asked one where I could find a good parsnip soda the other day and he looked at me like I was Hoagy Carmichael!

And in addition, I bet you're getting ready for the Fair, too, aren't you Camp?

and I thought I was busy.... 

(Won't be there this year.  Got too much going on myself.)

Forgot to mention I have a yellow squash growing.

It's been very hectic with summer schedules here, plus I've been putting in a lot of bee hours, so I haven't gotten into the garden as much as I should be. Strawberries need to be picked, there are still some scapes that need to be cut, the peas actually can be picked too, the lettuce heads are going to seed (which is good, I want to see if they reseed themselves next spring), the kale is growing into bushes... Yikes. Raspberries are starting to come in, too. I've pulled flower heads off of basil plants, need to get those leaves picked.

If you ask me tho, it looks beautifully abundant out there. To the untrained eye it may look like a jungle, but its beauty is its productivity.  The potatoes are almost bushes - must be a good year for them. 

The only thing that again isn't growing well, besides the carrots, is the peppers. The plants get spindly and stay small. They grow little blossoms but the pepper would be bigger than the plant. I have to figure out how to grow peppers. The tomato plants look very strong and green, with some blossoms. And the calendula are beautiful.

LOL, I think you've been too busy to realize there is now a July thread!

Doh! Thanks, molly! 

AtlantaMarie wrote:And in addition, I bet you're getting ready for the Fair, too, aren't you Camp?

and I thought I was busy.... 

(Won't be there this year.  Got too much going on myself.)

I have a few thing to enter for the fair. But I'm not knocking myself out this year. The girls do need to hurry up and cap the honey so I can get ready for the honey show at the fair....