In which the garden is going crazy, and we are happy with that

This is the garden I dreamed of when we moved to Haiku Farm.

Sunflower?  or Triffid?

It's taken four years to get to a "brag-worthy" garden.  Four years of amending the soil with leaves, stall cleanings, kitchen waste and chicken fertilizer.

Santa Jim was up on the rooftop yesterday (practicing?)
so he snapped a picture of the garden.  From this distance,
it looks almost well-behaved!

There hasn't been any science to it.  I don't test the PH of the soil, or any of that.

Cucumbers (future pickles)

We literally just keep dumping sh*t in.

Green and purple beans

And the rewards for our casual caretaking:

13 quarts each: garlic dill pickles and canned beans!

Last spring the feed store had a bin of "fingerling seed potatoes" on sale.  "Prolific producers" said the sign, and that's what I look for.  So I bought a half-pound of fingerling seed potatoes, and planted them.

Those don't look like "fingers" to me.
Looks to me like a totally different body part--
and the garden is FULL OF THEM.

I'm pretty sure "prolific" is not quite the right word.  "Run-amok" seems more precise.

This is a 40-gallon wheelbarrow, and these aren't all the potatoes--
at least 4 more plants are still in the garden,
happily buried under pumpkin vines.
I'll have to harvest them in October when the vines die back!

And, of course, there's the annual Zucchini Problem.  We take zukes with us everywhere, handing them out as "hostess gifts" to the people we visit.

Chef Jason is up to the Zucchini Challenge:
he sliced 'em thickly and grilled 'em like steaks.

 And, of course, at home we eat out of the garden every day.
Today's backyard scramble: potatoes, beans, zukes.
Yay!

It's what I've always wanted.

And.  

It's good.

Comments

  1. I have garden envy! Wish I lived closer, I'd help you out with your zuke problem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah yes, I had a triffid disguised as a blackberry bush one year - ya gotta watch those triffids! As for the zucchini, I love them sliced lengthwise, tossed on the BBQ cut side down until nice dark grill marks appear on it, flip over and top cut side with a tomato-based sause like salsa, pasta sauce or even just BBQ sauce, close BBQ and let heat until zucchini is "el dente" - do not overcook it! Add a little grated cheese like asiago, let heat a moment more until cheese starts to melt. Serve. Delicious! (And I don't usually care for zucchini).

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey on NPR last week there was a show about "The Zucchini Problem" - the bane of gardeners or something. I wanted to laugh, and then cry, cuz yet again, I've failed at zucchini. I have two miserable half dead plants - outside this year cuz I thought it might make a difference. I got mostly half-rotten ones, (blossom end rot is what it's called), but a couple big huge ones so I made bread and fried zucchini. IT'S NOT ENOUGH! Zucchini is like my favorite veggie and I need more! I can't believe I'm buying zucchini at the store....in August. I asked my mother in law, the gardener, and she just says, "Yah, lots of people have that problem."

    Maybe it's a Germany thing?

    On a better note, we have our first ever cucumbers. You shoulda seen J out there tending to the seedlings, determined to make them grow for the first time (we usually fail). This time, YAY! And home grown is so much better.

    We also have a beet patch that is takign way too long to get big, and a big kohlrabi patch, but still, way too small (the plants are huge, the fruit part is tiny *sigh*).

    This year is another apple year (it varies) so I'm really looking forward to cider and having free horse treats - and they're even good enough for me to eat and I don't like apples.

    The walnut trees look great, as well as the plums. A colleague of mine asks me every day if the plums are ripe cuz she wants to make a cake.

    I'm so pleased that you finally have the garden you wanted! I envy your beans most of all. I gave up on growing those as well.

    Flowers bigger than people are just wrong.

    HAPPINESS!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your garden! This year between the never ending rain (in the last four months we've gotten over 30 inches which is 20 more inches that for the same time frame last year) and the bear cub eating all of my squashlings and melons my garden has been a flop. I got a really good crop of peas, two cantaloupe, and some lovely mellow peppers that the bear wasn't interest in... but that's it. Hopefully next year I can try to work more with the bear protection and maybe plant so that the garden drains better but for now I'll just admire yours.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

To err is human. To be anonymous is not.

Popular Posts