Topic: It's Gardening Season - Yay!!!!

[Patty]

Hello again!

How long does your strawberry season last, Astronuc?

Here is this year’s plot at the community garden, the organic garden about 8 miles from my home. We are just starting to harvest summer vegetables.

We live in a dry area of the country (about 18 inches of rain a year, mostly between November and May.) This area used to be a seabed – which means that our soil is alkaline clay (from deposits of lime.) The first couple years at the community garden, I used gardening techniques that I learned in the Midwest – Basically tilling in compost every spring and planting. I found that this didn’t work well here, because the soil and climate is different than in the Midwest. So, I switched to mulching (to conserve water) and lasagna beds (to build crumbly organic planting mix) and have had better luck as a result.

The other issue with the community garden is that it is in the middle of open space. So, we have tons of rodents. I have built "cages" for all my crops, as a result, and these can be fully netted to keep rats and squirrels out. Fortunately this year the snakes, hawks, and weasels are keeping the rodents down. Our resident red-tailed hawk will often perch in our garden as we are working, and will watch us. It is quite an experience!

The first picture will be the most interesting to soil junkies like me :) . This is an image of the "soil" that results from my lasagna layers. The most recent lasagna layers were pine needles, used coffee grounds, straw, and half finished compost. I have pulled those layers back, and you can see the crumbly stuff that comes from *previous* layering, along with about a half dozen worms. I find worms every time I pull up the layers – sometimes just a few and sometimes scads.



Here are some of the vegetables that we have planted. The beans are starting to produce:






We are trying cantaloupe again – and having much better luck this time (very green and lush growth) thanks to lasagna gardening. One leaf is the size of a dinner plate. It is a french variety - I forget the name.



Our basil is coming along:



And so is the corn, which will be topped and netted to prevent the squirrels from eating it, once the ears have been fertilized. I am letting some pumpkins crawl around the perimeter of my plot, near the corn:



I am delighted to have some bell peppers (about 12 plants) coming along nicely this year, and am looking forward to many meals of stuffed peppers:



And finally, we have a volunteer tomatillo. I hadn’t planned on planting any this year, but decided to keep this volunteer because I have found that the "native" plants tend to do better with the climate and rodents.  We found a great recipe for salsa verde last year that we are looking forward to trying again.



I also have zucchini, cucumbers, and a few odds and ends that didn’t get photographed. And we have other plants at home, where the rodent problem is non-existent. Most of our tomatoes are at home, and a few other items.

Thanks for strolling through my garden with me! Happy gardening!

I'd love to see yours, too!

[Astronuc]

Strawberry season last about 3-4 weeks.  I need to work the ground more, with more organic matter, and properly mulch it.
 
We had many strawberries, but they were generally small.  Strawberry season has been over for about 1-2 weeks.


Now the blueberries are ripening, and the raspberries and blackberries have fruited, but are still green.

[Charity]

On top of my car, a bird left me a messy purple blop. That means its Mullberry time in northern Michigan! So today, I'll hike down to the berry trees, eat my fill, and bring the rest home to make syrup.

Deer have been a big problem, eating most of my herbs and my celery. Lack of rain, and high heat has stressed out whats left. Powder mildew has set in on several flowering plants, treating everything with in sight, in hopes of keeping it in check.

Patty your garden looks beautiful, rich and lush, and very well on its way.

[Astronuc]

We have mulberries here too.  I was walking under a tree recently and discovered berries on the ground and overhead.  I tasted some from the tree, and they were sweet.

The blueberries and raspberries are ripening.  I picked about 1.5 pints each last weekend.

The blackberries are ripening and should be ready next week or the week after.

The hot peppers are coming along, but so far the habaneros are the only one's not producing.  They seem to be growing more slowly than the other varieties.

I went to a local farmers market and bought fresh cherries and apricots!  Delicious.

[Astronuc]

I harvested a couple of bowlfulls of blackberries last Saturday.  Unfortunately, a few had mold which started spreading to others.  So I quickly froze them in hopes of salvaging the rest.

If left on the canes, blackberries either dryout or rot, unless an animal gets them.  So far, deer are the only animals I have to keep away.  Birds don't seem to bother the berries.

Raspberry season has been over for a couple of weeks, but we still get blueberries on the late-bearing plants.