New England, June 2015

The clear blue sky is great today but I sure wish someone would turn down the air conditioning and shut off the blower. My little summer plants are shivering outside, and it seems crazy to keep pulling the space heaters out of the closet every morning to warm the house.

At least the leafy greens like it , but  the  poor flowering peas are getting blown off their trellises.

We were cloudy, damp and cold most of the day. AND there's a dusting of pollen on the deck you can actually leave footprints in. (Maybe it's the new deck stain...) Makes it kind of hard to get out there. I'm still itchy.

I did a tiny amount today, getting cardboard out there to line the outside of my garden fence on one side. I plan to build that up with a bunch of brush and then other mulches to make a raised row to plant fruit trees next spring, surrounding the garden. It's an area downslope of a drain pipe and gets flooded every spring, so I'm trying to slow down that water stream, hopefully suck it up some with the raised mulch bed, so it doesn't flood my plantings below in the spring, and so that I can capture runoff in case we have issues with drought in the future. After last month it kind of woke me up that instead of letting all this water run off the property in the spring, I should try to capture it. This is one method, I'll have to think of others, because I'm entirely on a downslope here and when it's snow melt time, we have little rivers running down the yard.

I'll get photos of that, maybe this afternoon.

Okay, here are my latest pics. It's kind of long. I'll probably split these up.

My garden is under construction, so remember that. I'm in a project to build soil, as well as to raise the mulch level between rows, as well as build new rows. My method is to put cardboard down (mostly), throw a lot of brush on there (faux woodchips), then layer with all kinds of stuff, but that's as far as I am now. There are weeds that will be squelched by the time this is done, and there are leaves that need to mulch down into humus. The beds have a layer of mulch on top, so it's not really all that pretty, but they *will* break down, eventually.

The awkward tween stages:

Along the outside of the fence, the drain pipe is at the top, is my cardboard layer, to become a raised row for fruit tree planting:

From the other direction:

Overall:

Pole Bean - There are 3 beds like this, this one is the first to sprout because I ran out of seeds, but the other 2 should be sprouting shortly:

Strawberries:

Kale/lettuce (and calendula):

Garlic (with 2 tomato plants stuck in the middle of one because there ended up being a gap there):

This is the work in progress, with cardboard and brush on top, which will have lots of layers, hopefully building the whole garden floor up 6":

And this is one of the buckwheat patches:

This is interesting. I transplanted wild raspberries along the outside of the chicken run. Well, they rooted underneath and now there's a huge growth of them inside the run! The chickens will love that when they produce. The berries must love the chicken manure!

And the elderberry tree outside the chicken run, which also must be loving that manure, because that was just a cutting from someone 2 years ago:


I have more but I better stop there! Phew.

Oh wow, NHG! You've got a lot going on! Is the buckwheat the flat leaves that look like the beginning of bush beans? Or the grassy stuff on the left ?  Also , is that garlic behind the strawberries? I love the tomatoes right in the middle of the garlic. Lol. I have lettuce amongst my garlic. I mean there's space there, right, so why not? Good luck building that ground up 6 inches. It's almost like you could put a compost pile there and eventually that's what would happen. Boy, your raspberries and elderberry sure love that manure! What a great bunch of boulders you have out there. Cute chickens, too! How many do you have? Are they named? Do you eat them?

Anybody know if my new raspberry babies will mind sharing the new bed this season with some volunteers - 3 tomatoes, 1 squash of unknown variety and a few Collard plants?

From what I've found online, the only enemies to raspberry would be potato and blackberry. Raspberry is like a weed! Mine keeps spreading everywhere. Altho I did have one patch that completely disappeared, so I think it can get a virus.

Buckwheat has heart-shaped leaves, but within another week they should be blossoming with white flowers, and they stay for about 6 weeks. They should get about 2' high. (Oh, duh, that's buckwheat in my avatar <-- from a couple summers ago)

Yup, the garlic is in 2 raised beds, 2 x 8. It's hard to see the raised beds in those photos! Some of them are double high, but the ones that aren't are slowly sinking into the ground.   The strawberries are in 4 raised beds, 4x4, but they don't respect boundaries... I noticed that the strawberry bed with the biggest, fullest plants is the bed I used as a compost pile a couple years back. So that says something for compost!

This entire town is pretty well composed of boulders and wet soils... Perfect for raised bed gardening.

I have 15 or 16 chickens right now, but Mr. Noisy is going to have to vacate the premises soon, and one kept flying out of the chicken yard I have fenced for them and I found a pile of feathers today, so I'm not sure if Mr. Fox finally found success or whether she escaped. I would eat them but I can't seem to stomach the whole processing thing. If someone else did it, I'd eat them. So they're just Pampered Pets.

NHG, You have an impressive garden, there. The boulders are huge!! I'm in awe of the strawberry spread.

Nice big space! What do you do with the buckwheat?

The buckwheat is a weed suppressor, a green manure, and a source of nectar for pollinators of all kinds (which also help with garden pest control!), including honeybees. It grows in the cooler climates of the north, and likes 70s/day and cooler nights.

(Bees. Lawnmower is broken right now, things are a tad grown out of control)

Next summer we may put dried beans in much of the buckwheat area, so it will hopefully get the soil started for that.

I grew some last year, and it can seed every three weeks, supposedly. And be kind of hard to get out after that. Wonderfully lush growth that helped fix the soil from running off, but I have to be very careful or they'll just turn into weeds!

Interesting, Marc! We haven't had a problem with it become a weed, altho I heard it can. Maybe our harsh winters just kill it off, or maybe the weeds that come in the spring do.

Curious. I've read that winter will kill it off nicely, but it's the seeds they may have dropped into the ground that I worry about. I had a fresh crop this spring and I hadn't even noticed it because I assumed winter would have killed it off, and I had no reason to venture back to the compost pile where I planted them yet. But we had a mild winter and I guess last fall's seeds were sufficient for a thick spring crop.

Wow Marc, I wish mine did that. I tried replanting seed last year in the same place it was the year before, but it didn't grow, got choked out with weeds, etc. So this year we had to till the area again and then plant it, and it took. Would have saved us a lot of $$ in seed and trouble if it had just replanted itself.

Interesting. One reason I planted buckwheat in one area was because I read it grows so fast it will choke out weeds!

Yup, but if you don't prepare the soil before you throw the buckwheat seed, you're not likely to get much out of it, as I found out. My husband told me "that's not going to work" last summer when I thought I could just toss the seed onto the ground without it being prepared, and he was right. (I'm not into tilling.) I've read as much online lately too. While it's a great fast grower and smother crop, you still can't neglect working the soil first.

When you planted it, did you stir up the soil first, or just throw it around? Just curious, because I found just throwing it around did not let it get a good enough toehold before the weeds came.

I threw it on top of the soil, but then I sprinkled more soil gently over the top so it was just lightly covered.

You know, now that I think about it, I remember having less spectacular results in another garden a bit earlier. The soil wasn't as good and so the result wasn't as great either. Kinda spotty coverage. That soil was well turned, but it was very tired from 20 years of over-cultivation, and sometimes seized up like clay.

Breakfast -baby collards & slug nibbled strawberries:
The slugs were caught in the act and moved to the rock in the center of the bird bath. I don't care that it's 7:30 in the morning, it's definitely Miller time!

So so cold and windy still. Today is overcast and a bit drizzly. I  pulled out my snow pants this morning because I'm tired of the cold wind blowing on me. The tomatoes and ground cherries are showing signs of stress, and the cucumbers aren't budging. The squash seems to be moving along though and the greens are prolific. Haven't put the peppers in yet, looks like Tuesday is the next window for them.

Heading out shopping with the throngs  to  Home Depot for couple more trellis fixings and hopefully some Winterbor kale. Then I'll get the netting at Bennys because theirs is better than anyone elses.

Whatta crummy day...

Marc - Yup, it seems crusty soil is an enemy to buckwheat, as well as "wet feet". I'm finding out which areas of my yard are soggy by the yellowish, stunted buckwheat seedlings. For an easy grower, it sure is picky.

CC - Yeah, it's overcast here right now too, and last night we must have had a light shower because I see pollen polka dots on the deck. At least you're getting damp weather!

Went to the library plant sale this morning! Oh, the treasures... Garlic chives, chives, sorrel, sedum, tansy, lemon thyme, thyme, garden sage, rhubarb... Now to look up what they need, and figure out where to plant them.... Goodbye Saturday...

I got most of my peppers transplanted outdoors which makes me happy.

Above:  This is my covered raised bed with the mini-tomatoes.  Now there's the sweet peppers in the bed, too.  Today in went 2 Jimmy Nardello, I Mini-Red Bell, 1 Lunchbox, 1 Lipstick and 1 Mohawk Yellow Bell. 
Into containers I planted some extras in the flower bed and I also transplanted a nice Genovese Basil into a pot.
Sowed cukes today, too; Boston Pickling and Summer Dance in the Back 40 at the trellis and in a pot, Spacemaster and Bush Crop to put in the flower bed where I have easy access to them daily.

I resurrected an old blog of mine from 2010.  I had 2 since then but can't get into either of them since I got the new computer so resurrecting my old quiltladysgardens blog was a happy circumstance.  Now I can update my doings in the garden, my quilting, and even recipes.
If anyone's interested check it out on:

http://quiltladysgardens.blogspot.com/

I posted my recipe for Potato Pancakes and photos of my gardens.

Wow, QB! I'm so impressed with your blog! Great job!

I tried to comment on it but I don't have an account with any of those options listed.

I'm getting ready to put potatoes on the perennial list...

My garden transplants of peppers, tomatoes, celery and basil are finally turning green (adjusting to their new environment), but darned if last year's potatoes aren't also sprouting in that bed! I tried to remove all potato segments last summer.

So I wonder. And I think we've talked about this before. Just throw your old, deformed, unwanted potato parts into a bed, cover them, mulch them, and then voila, will they sprout in the spring? Just maybe. Easier than ordering seed potatoes every year.

In my climate, potatoes are hard to get rid of once planted. It's easy to miss potatoes the size of a marble when harvesting, and they will start growing the following spring. Harvest orphans are survivors.

I've gotten to the point where I plant potatoes any time of year, particularly when I have stored potatoes that start sprouting and getting soft. Sometimes the foliage in early spring gets freeze damaged, but the potatoes keep coming back.

It sounds like your potatoes can survive your deep freezes. If you plant some in the fall, they just may be some of the first green you see in the spring. It's worth a try.

Yup, I think that would work. And we get pretty cold and snow covered here in the winter. Maybe potatoes will be classified as an invasive.

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First berry!

Nothing much happening. A squash seedling disappeared... Someone ate it. Gonna go make some essential oil spray to get bugs away. Eta... I lied, it's about to pour so no spray.

The Garden June 2015

Ooooh, nice Deborah.  You're doing good this year.  Love all the greenery.