I find it difficult to spend much time in the house so I have not really had the time to blog. I feel most sad about that because I really like to post and I like keeping the historical record of my vegetable garden above most all other posts. These posts really help to refresh my memory.
Above is a long shot of the vegetable garden. It's looking great this year!
This first bed has been planted with corn, carrots, and squash by my three year old grandson. He simply could not get enough of planting seeds! Prior to planting the corn on Sunday, May 28th, the bed had been planted with potatoes and other cool season crops in and amongst a cover crop of rye and crimson clover. That cover crop was a mistake; or rather the mistake was mine. I made the mistake of planting the cool season crops in the bed while the cover crop was still growing and I underestimated just how tall and thick the cover crop would get. The cover crop totally smothered out the cool season vegetables and as a final insult, never died! I had to physically pull all of the rye and crimson clover. Next year I will use only one kind of seed for a cover crop and I will be sure to till it under prior to planting in the spring. Lesson learned. My corn is a bit late going in but I think it will still be fine.
This end of the bed was planted in onion sets in February and I did pull the cover crop prior to planting the onion sets. As a result, these onions are doing fantastically and will be ready for harvest in a few weeks. I also have interplanted basil among the onion bulbs so once the onions are pulled the basil will be in a good spot to grow.
Bed number two is doing just fine. I have some mums, dahlias, and alliums growing among the crops here. This bed is mainly still full of cool season crops with squash planted in and among the cool season crops. At one end of the bed where I have harvested the cool season crops the peppers are growing well.
The cabbage is looking good. Due to the cabbage worm I will most likely be harvesting these very soon since I saw some of the cabbage moths flying around looking to lay their eggs.
Here we see the peppers growing in their cages in the foreground of this bed. My cats like taking walks with me in the garden. Here Tiger is getting a good look.
We had fun picking a lot of strawberries from the strawberry bed. This year the strawberries were all very good. Last year I had a short harvest due to mold getting on the berries because there was apparently not enough air circulation.
The last two beds are kind of boring. The furthest away is packed with tomatoes. I am growing some that I started from seed in the greenhouse in January. Those cultivars are: San Marzano (paste tomato and I have already picked four of these), 'Cherokee', and 'Pineapple'. I also purchased some cherry tomato plants and a 'Beefmaster' tomato plant. All are doing well and are mulched with cardboard and seasoned straw to keep the weeds down.
The bed to the right is my cucumber/vining bed. I planted about 25 plants of cucumbers and my grandson planted watermelon and squash. Soon this bed will be a jungle.
When we walk around the vegetable garden we now can see a fence. I found a couple of deer browsing in this garden on the cover crop so I thought it wise to fence it off. The irises in this bed have gone by and all been trimmed down. They will now be replaced with self seeding zinnias.
I am always so happy for self seeding zinnias because they save me so much time. Whenever the ground is very wet I gently pull these seedlings and plant them all around the garden. Most of them are on the edge of the iris bed because the iris leaves were so thick they prevented the sun from reaching the interior of the bed. Butterflies love zinnias and come summer this will be a great way to attract pollinators to the vegetable garden area.
A close up of the self seeding zinnias....
in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
Good morning! I hope everyone is having a great spring. It has been a fantastic one here in my part of Tennessee. The plants are most happy. I am happy too because just as the irises go by the daylilies are coming into bloom!
Let's talk vegetables though...
My vegetable garden is an absolute delight. It takes a little maintenance but not really as much as one would think. I do a bit of weeding but that's about it. The gravel paths seem to get some weeds too; which really frustrates me but I hope with time they lessen.
The southeast bed still has some cool weather crops in the form of cabbage. This is the same cabbage Mr. Fix-it and I planted last fall. We have some small heads growing but at the same time the cabbage plants are flowering. I have left them alone for now. Mr. Fix-it planted several tomato plants in this bed and they are beginning to bloom and grow large. We can't wait for fresh tomatoes and hope this is a better year for tomatoes than last year.
The northeast bed definitely has a bunch of cool weather crops growing in it. We have broccoli, spinach (it did absolutely nothing), two types of lettuce which is now going to seed, potatoes, and onions.
The potatoes and onions are doing really well. I even think the onions will bulb up for us. It is quite hard to get onions to bulb up in Tennessee, at least that's been my experience. If we are successful with this planting we will be delighted and will follow the same regimen next year as well.
As a side note on bulbing vegetables I must mention my garlic. Normally garlic is very easy to grow here and I've been successful growing it each of the previous years I've grown it. Not so this year. I planted the bulbs last fall which is normal, but I think I left the plants alone for too long this spring. By the time I dug the garlic the foliage was vanishing quite quickly. Garlic is not usually ready to be dug until late May or early June in my area so early May was unusual for foliage to be dying off. You dig garlic when the foliage begins to yellow. When I finally dug the garlic it had definitely cloved up but was all separated due to cloving up so well. Sigh. Note to self: dig as soon as the foliage begins to yellow if only to check on the bulbing.
We pick fresh strawberries daily! Yum!!! This system of raised planting works okay but due to the thickness of the foliage a lot of the berries are well hidden. At least from me. When the chickens are allowed to free roam (not often) the Boss (the rooster) has no trouble finding the good berries. He is persona non grata in the veggie garden. I really need to fence it off soon.
My herb garden is a delight to the senses. I read a report on Facebook that says sniffing rosemary each day helps to improve your memory. I make it a point to sniff mine:)
This bed has been weeded but not fully planted. It is a hot weather bed that will contain vining crops such as cucumbers, melons, and squash. I hope to get to planting it soon. Mr. Fix-it and I are delighted our move odyssey is almost at an end. Within the next two weeks both of our other houses will have been sold and we can finally settle down to just focusing on this current home and garden. Maintaining all that we have done for the last three and one half years has been a burden--really. We are so grateful it is nearly done!
The last bed is our tomato bed. I jumped the gun and planted tomato starts back in March when we had a long spell of warm weather. The subsequent frosts took out most of those tomato plants though a few that were covered with the hay survived. Mr. Fix-it replanted all of these tomato plants and they are doing quite well. I amended this bed quite a bit since we had such awful luck with tomatoes last year. This bed was covered with wood ashes to increase the pH (our soil is acidic), and I also added some tomato fertilizer. I mean most summers vegetable gardeners get tons of tomatoes but we barely got a dozen last year from five plants. This was rather disappointing so I fear we went overboard with tomato plant this year in hopes of harvesting a bumper crop. Time will tell....
in the vegetable garden.....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
Good morning! It is iris time in Tennessee (early iris) and since my vegetable garden has a plethora of them surrounding it I thought I'd start with a pretty in this month's vegetable garden post.
Prior to next month's Vegetable Garden post though I really must get some good pictures of all of these irises. These were planted in the fall of 2014. None of these irises bloomed last year but this year promises to be a banner year looking at all of the buds.
Here is a long shot of the four beds and a bit of the outer iris garden.
The southeast bed has just been planted with a bunch of pepper and cherry tomato plants by Mr. Fix-it. I must say him working in the garden is a dream come true for me. I never ever thought I'd see the day he would be digging in the garden but he does. He planted almost all of our new tomato plants and pepper plants. This was because even though I had already planted the tomato plants last month, a frost came and took all but four. It really is my own fault for planting too soon but the bad part is that if I knew a frost was coming I could've covered the plants. I was overconfident and did not pay attention to the weather forecast. A few tomato and pepper plants did survive so it was not a bad frost, but a frost nonetheless. I was prepared to replant if needed, and it was needed. Good thing I've got Mr. Fix-it for that and our average last date of frost has passed so we are safe now!
There are a few cabbage plants left in this bed that are beginning to go to seed. I am leaving them for the bees as these plants are not causing any issues. The far end also has a bunch of garlic growing that was planted last fall. Once it progresses and is ready for harvest you'll see it up close.
The northeast bed is pretty! The dark red plant is lettuce. We have picked some of it expecting a deliciously fresh salad. All we got was fresh because this lettuce is bitter. It is most likely a soil problem. I'll have to work on that issue. The four rows of potatoes finally showed up too so Mr. Fix-it is happy. Onions and broccoli are also doing well. The spinach we planted has done nothing at all though. That is one reason why I suspect a soil issue in this bed. Note to self, get a soil test ASAP!
There are a bunch of strawberries growing on the little plants; which are greening up nicely. By next month's post we should be picking these lovely strawberries. They were really good last year.
The herb bed is a delight. The pansies are beginning to shine and the herbs all came back.
The southwest bed has not been fully planted yet. It will be planted with vining crops such as cucumbers, watermelons, and gourds soon. The green foliage is left over carrots from last summer. I also added two eggplants to this bed.
The northwest bed is fully planted with tomatoes. We are short several tomato cages and need to fix that very soon. I prefer cages over staking as it is neater and does not require as much pruning of the tomato plants. The green in this bed is leftover carrots from last fall. I must say the cover crop I planted here did a wonderful job. Once it got hot it all died and made a good mulch where spring weeds could not germinate and grow. I will forever use cover crops when time permits. That's about it for the vegetable garden this month. I hope yours is doing well!
Lastly I had to share 'my boys' in the hood. Meet, Cloud (the gray tabby cat on bottom), Smoke (the dark gray cat in the front), and Tiger (the orange tabby that decided to plant himself on top of his two partners). As you can see they are all happy as a pile of cats can be....just like me....
in the garden.....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
April Fools Day or not this is indeed March's Vegetable Garden update despite being published on April 1st. Mr. Fix-it and I have been very busy in the garden this month and our hard work is paying off. I can't wait until the fruits and vegetables come in. We start with flowers though because flowers are a big part of my vegetable garden and my grand scheme of raising our own food. Above is a one group of red tulips on the edge of the vegetable garden. I am surprised they all came back so wonderfully. Tulips in other parts of the garden have not come back at all. I think these ones did well because they are in a raised bed and in full sun.
A long view of the vegetable garden proper. Note the iris beds on either side of this entrance to the garden. You will see those iris beds at the end of this post-I can't wait until they all bloom. Some irises and peonies already have buds. Spring is here.
The southeast bed is now planted with six sweet pepper plants (Green, Yellow, and Pimento) amongst the wintered over cool season crops of cabbage and Brussels sprouts. While we don't eat the Brussel's sprouts too much now the chickens love the plants. This bed will slowly transition to hot weather crops consisting of bean, peppers, squash, and others.
The northeast bed has been completely redone and planted with cool weather crops. Mr. Fix-it planted three types of onions (red, yellow, and white) and four types of potatoes (blue, Yukon, Red, and White). There is also red lettuce, Buttercrunch lettuce, baby broccoli, and spinach growing in this bed. The green at the far end is all of the onion plants planted in wide rows.
The potatoes take up the middle section of this bed and have given me fits. Or I should say Mr. Fix-it has given me fits. We planted this bed about three weeks ago and it was still pretty cold back then. We started by removing all wintered over weeds, and then backfilling it with good topsoil from our land. THAT was a job hand shoveling the soil into this bed. Over the past year it has settled quite a bit. Then all of the plants went in. Mr. Fix-it was just like a person who watches for the pot to boil-it never seems to happen. He looked everyday for the potato plants to emerge from the ground. The constant searching became even more frenzied as the onions all popped up rather quickly. Mr. Fix-it's expert opinion was all the potatoes rotted. "Harumph!" Said I in my calmest voice. "They will come, be patient." Every single weed that popped up he thought was a potato plant and even when I told him no, they are not potatoes he found it hard to believe me. Mr. Fix-it, for some reason did not know what potato plants look like. I have taken a picture of the emerging leaves to preserve on here for ever and ever just for him. ALL of his potato plants he so carefully planted are finally making an appearance. You just simply have to give gardens time. Trust me, I told him.
I really don't like growing potatoes because it seems you almost always miss a potato or two when you harvest them. If you miss a potato then those same potatoes will come back next year, and the year after, and the year after. You get the idea. I do like fresh potatoes though and so we grow them and we'll see how they do.
No arguments from me on the strawberry bed. There are going to be LOTS of strawberries this spring. Believe it or not even though these plants were transplanted here from the old garden in the fall of 2014 I actually picked several strawberries last spring. They were a delight to eat while working in the hot sun. This year we should have a whole lot more to pick and eat. I think I'll always grow strawberries but can you see how the plants are spreading to the gravel? Strawberries can be a beast you must manage if you don't want your whole vegetable garden to turn into a strawberry bed.
The herb garden is perfect. My lavender, sage, and rosemary all wintered over with no problems. The pansies are also bouncing back now that it is warming up.
The west side of the garden has gotten some attention too.
This is the southwest bed and it has been weeded and is already for vining crops to come sometime in May in the form of direct seeding. The green fuzzy foliage is wintered over carrots.
The northwest bed is now the proud home of 13 tomato plants. Yes, 13! That seems like overkill to me but last year when I planted only five tomato plants we did not even get enough tomatoes for fresh eating. I figured I'd go a little overboard and also amend the soil in this bed hoping to get a better crop of tomatoes. I planted five 'Bradley' tomato plants, four 'Pink Girl' tomatoes, one 'Black Cherry' tomatoes, one 'Husky' Cherry tomato, and two 'Grape' cherry tomatoes. I also added a good amount of wood ashes to raise the pH of this bed, and also heirloom tomato food that is low in nitrogen. I am expecting a better crop this year.
Normally in our neck of the woods you would never ever plant before mid April. Our average date of last frost is mid April but old timers will tell you to be safe wait until May to plant. I don't normally look at calendars when planting so I plant on my own schedule. I do have to be prepared to protect these small plants (tomatoes and peppers) should a very cold night come upon us. Looking out ten days that is not in the forecast so I think I am safe for now. It is really best not to rush your vegetable garden but I had purchased some tomato plants at the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show in early March and those tomato plants were looking rather peaked so I felt it best to plant them. Planting early will not necessarily give me a head start on when I harvest the vegetables so that is not a motivation. Getting the job done is my motivation. Be patient and don't rush it if you have not already planted your garden you still have plenty of time.
The four sides of the vegetable garden have mostly irises growing in these narrow beds. On each of the four corners there are specimen shrubs and I recently planted three honeyberries in this outer bed. But for this side it is all bearded irises of varying colors. Last year only a few bloomed. It looks to be a great year for them in the garden and I can't wait for my rainbow....
in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
