I’ve been adding more top soil to the backyard row garden so it drains better and is closer to the elevation of the shop building. The size is about 50′ x 40′ now. Several yards of organic material, mostly tree leaves and old straw, was added to the top of the soil and then tilled in. The organic matter should break down in the soil over the winter and add fertility for a spring garden.
I planted all the tomato seedlings I had: 5 each of Celebrity, Red Cherry Large, Cherokee Purple, and Yellow Pear. I planted them all in one row, so I can use the ‘Florida Weave’ method of holding them up.
I bought 4 6-packs of tomato plants from D&L in McKinney for $3.99 each. Varieties: Celebrity, Cherokee Purple, Red Cherry Large, and Yellow Pear. I took one plant from each pack and planted them in the front raised beds. (bed #4 and 6).
We planted 2 bunches of onions about 3 weeks ago. They are growing well now and look healthy. Bed #3 has come from together. I’ve started moving the soil out of the bed to prep rebuilding it. I also made good progress on the fence around the front yard. I need to build another gate and a 15′ section then it will be complete. The comfrey I planted several years ago and cut down every year since is back again as a huge plant! I have piles of cardboard sitting out waiting for me to line the whole yard and fill with wood chips.
Amber pulled up the onions. Some of there were huge. I think onions are year-to-year the easiest crop we grow. She rigged up some wire fence across a few saw horses and hung the onions on the wire fence to dry for a week or so. He plans on freezing some and storing the rest.
We also harvested broccoli, as the weather is getting too hot. The bugs are eating it up quickly and most of it has already bolted. Good eats though!
The tomatoes are getting really close to being ripe. We picked a few that are starting to turn red because we don’t trust the local wildlife to leave them alone. The bushes are getting really tall, to the point we are going to need to top them to keep them from falling over.
The melons in the backyard are growing well. Sweet corn seems to be doing well too. Okra, not so much. I sprayed it all with a foliar fertilizer (Hasta Grow) and I hope that helps. A big mistake from last year was letting the wild non-edible melon continue to grow. The seed it released is now germinating and I have hundreds of those plants growing, in and among my useful plants. Lesson learned: stay on top of the weeding!
We also harvested a few carrots (meh). The blackberries are starting to get ripe, but they are absolutely covered with moths and wasps. Some of the plums are starting to ripen, but they are all infested with bugs because I didn’t spray insecticide at the right time. And our chickens have been naughty and are hanging out and laying eggs in our raised beds. The local rat snake found the eggs and had a nice meal.
My oldest fruit trees along the west side are finally producing fruit! I wish I would have been on top of spraying them for insects though. I lost 7 young fruit trees from last summer’s heat and transplanted the 4 figs that survived in pots last summer.
A few of the blackberries are already starting to ripen. I’m surprised by the number of blackberry plants that have died off. Only the thornless varieties have died, the native thorned variety I have is multiplying faster than I can keep it trimmed. A wasp was occupying the fruit I was photographing.
The raised beds in the front are all doing great. The squash and cucumbers I planted a few weeks ago are all popping up and I’ve already thinned them out. I added a layer of old tree leaves as mulch. We need to hurry up and harvest the broccoli before it bolts. Onions are almost ready to harvest. The peas are putting out fruit faster than we can keep it picked.
In the back in-ground row-garden, all the mellons, corn, okra, and cover crop is starting to come up. I thinned out the melons today and tried to transplant some of them. We should have enough melons to supply the grocery store if these do well.
We planted 4 tomato plants in the raised bed in front of our house. This bed is usually just out-of-control mint. I’m happy to see the start of delicious tomatoes well on their way! We are having a hard time keeping the chickens out of this bed though. The love to hang out and dig around.
I tilled up the in-ground garden and hilled the soil into long rows.
I planted 14 varieties of melons, some okra, and corn, then spread ‘cover and color’ mix in the remaining area.
Next we moved in wood chips to fill the valley’s / walkways, then we watered the area well in hopes all the seed will germinate.
In the front yard raised beds, I planted 2 varieties of cucumber and 2 varieties of squash.
raised bed #1: dwarf gray pea, sugar daddy pea, sugar snap pea, imperator 56 carrot, Parisian carrot, red cord chanty carrot, long imperator 58 carrot.
raised bed #2: Oregon sugar pod 2 pea, gurneys sugar Anne pea, top-notch pea, green magic broccoli
raised bed #3: melting sugar snow pea, Cascadia sugar snap pea, sugar daddy pea, black seeded simpson lettuce, mandarin spinach, french dressing radish, cherry bell radish, purple top white globe turnip
raised bed #4: snowball cauliflower, long island brussels sprouts, Catskills brussels sprouts
raised bed #5: Waltham 29 broccoli, calabrese broccoli
We are in the process of integrating the baby chickens with the older chickens. I moved the chick pin outside but decided the two flocks needed to be able to see each other during the day so we added a wire screen window. We’re also going to experiment with a small door. Our idea is the door is big enough for the babies to go in and out but if they start getting chased by the big chickens the big chickens won’t fit through the door so the baby chickens can get to safety.