Midsummer At Paradise Cove ...

August 1st is Lughnasadh, the Celtic festival of the midsummer harvests.   To celebrate I'm participating in Northwest Edible Life's nosy neighbor homestead tour today.  Check it out!

Let's take a look at what's happening now that we have actually had a couple of weeks with some sunshine here in soggy Shelton, Washington!  We'll start in "The Garden", the "Edible Landscaping" on the lake side of the property ...

The "Three Sisters" wine barrel plantings (Anasazi and Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans with Golden Bantam corn and assorted squashes) are doing great!  I did have to add some trellising as the beans were outgrowing the corn in the cool weather we were having.

 The Delicata squash in the wooden crate ...

...has even started to form some fruit ...

The cedar log bed down by the lake is looking good ...

... more squash and Tiger Eye beans (the red gadget in the background is one of FitzGyver's toys ... a gasoline powered pump that takes water from the lake and sends it to a fire hose).

The "Dock Box" with buckets full of Rose Gold potato plants that are are starting to blossom now ...

Bingo Beans in one half wine barrel ...

Squash and Anasazi Beans in another ...

The Terrace Garden has a new resident ...

This was totally not my fault.  I HAD to buy him after reading this post on "The Bloggess".  When I saw him at the local nursery I was doomed ... so now Bunny has a friend ...

The two bay laurels in the Bell Garden have doubled in size and the herbs under the bell are ready to be cut and dried ...

I think that's about all that is new in "The Garden"; so let's take a look at " The Farm" on the back side of the house ...

The tomatoes and cucumbers are still coming along ...

I've harvested the potato bed and boxes and am getting ready to replant them ... and the logs in the garbage can are soaking in water.  Do you remember my mushroom experiment?  Well, it's time to see if it has worked; soaking the logs is the first step (I'll keep you posted).

Several of the beds have already been harvested and replanted for fall ...

These are root crops (carrots, beets and parsnips) ...

... and some green beans, beets and onions in the fore ground, snow peas and lettuce to the rear ...

More potatoes ...

...and more potatoes (I use a lot of potatoes in the winter time).

The wine barrel herb planting has come along nicely and I am very impressed with the Pesto Perpetuo Basil; that one is a keeper!

And last, but not least ...

The Cherokee Purple tomatoes outgrew their cages and needed additional support.  They are full of green tomatoes and I have my fingers crossed that the weather will continue to cooperate.

Enjoy!

This Week On The Farm ...

On Sunday I cleared out the last of the Asian greens that had bolted in Bed #4, amended the soil with some compost and chicken manure and planted 196 carrots (Mokum) on seed mats (thanks, AG, for the Seed Mat Tutorial ... this is so much easier on my hands with the smaller seeds).  As I was making the seed mats I realized that I have never posted a photo of the way I organize my seed packages...

 The Mason Jar box came with cardboard dividers between the jars ... exactly the size of most seed packs.  I group them by root crops, lettuces, brassicas, bush beans, pole beans, peas etc.  And yes, I do have to admit that I am compulsive when it comes to buying seeds ... I probably need intervention ...

Yesterday I made seed tapes for more lettuces; 10 each of Spock, Sulu, Red Sails and Speckles (Yes!  I am growing Spock and Sulu! How cool is that?  I wonder if there is a lettuce called Enterprise?  I need to Google that : )   I also got some of my fall/winter brassicas started in soil blocks ... I have more to do today; my fall seed order from Johnny's is here.  I'll have a few more when my fall seed order from Territorial arrives ... yes; I ordered more seeds ... I'm hopeless ...

I transplanted out some of the leek starts (Lexton) that have been growing under lights in the potting shed ... I added 20 leeks to Bed #6 ...

... and 10 more next to the newly planted carrots. 

There is an open spot in the bed for fall/winter beets and turnips that I will be planting in the middle of July.  I find it hard to leave a "hole" like that empty ... I just want to plant something in it ... now!!

Today I am going to put a Carlos Nakai CD on my boombox and get out there and and do some serious weeding.  It is a weekday and all the neighbors are at work so I can turn the volume up : )  Do you listen to music while you garden?

Enjoy!

This Week On The Farm ...

The weather continues to be cold and cloudy.  On "The Farm" side of the property the peas, carrots, potatoes, lettuce and cabbages are all happy; everything else is pouting.  The potted peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos are all now housed in the little greenhouse or the newly expanded "Pepper Palace" ...

I moved it to the side of the greenhouse so I can tap in to the drip watering system and the electric box there.

Yes, that is a heater in the right hand corner.
It is still getting down into the 40's at night!

I harvested my broccoli this week, what little of it there was.  I have to agree with Annie's Granny on the subject of broccoli; I don't think it's worth it.  Ditto cauliflower ... 

As I mentioned in a previous post, this is the first time I've tried to grow brassicas.  Am I missing something here?  Looks like I've got all "cauli" and no "flower".  Shouldn't it be showing some sign of  a head by now?

I think the cabbages are doing what they are supposed to ...

...at least I hope so; that is a head forming in the center, isn't it?

On the bright side, the Dakota shelling peas are just about ready to harvest; maybe another week or so ...

...and the two pumpkin plants also seem to be doing well.  This bed is under some large trees which I think shelter it a bit from cold and wet.  I added the trellis in the back of the bed this week and planted runner beans (Sunset and Painted Lady) at it's base ... I'll add some bush beans after I pull the peas out.

Also on "The Farm" side of the house ...

There is no sign of any hatching going on in the junco nest.  The nest is in the basket right next to the back door which is the most commonly used door into the house ...

Mama junco jumps off the nest every time anyone goes in or out or if the dogs are in the yard, so I can't imagine that the eggs are staying very warm.  I'm hoping that they will still hatch ....

Well, that's it for "The Farm" report ...I'll save "The Garden" for later ....

Enjoy!

Drip...Drip...Drip...

I could be talking about our weather here in Washington (I think we've had one day this month that it didn't rain), but I'm actually talking about installing an automatic drip watering system in my raised beds.  I had the first two beds done using the standard system of laying the tubing on the soil and holding it in place with metal staples.  This was the third drip system I had installed in the last 20 years and I have never liked messing with those staples, especially in a vegetable garden ... they are always in the way when it comes time for harvesting and replanting.  I was thinking that there had to be a better way when light dawned ... literally and figuratively ... the rain stopped long enough for me to go set up a bed with my new system.

I used Rain Bird products purchased online and from the local Ace Hardware.  I attached the system to a hose (temporarily; it will go on a faucet with a timer eventually) with this gizmo...

 

... and then attached some 1/2" tubing ...

I attached some 1/4" tubing to the main line of 1/2" tubing ...

... by punching a hole with this thing ...
















...and using a drip system connector ...












Then I used the same gizmo above to connect some dripline tubing (I was able to find some with 6" drip spacing at my local Ace Hardware) ...

... and I closed the system with a couple of small cable ties (the gray line you see in this photo is the soil warming cable...I'll do a post about installing one of those soon ) ...

... and here's the simple little light bulb that went on to make putting the tubing into the bed so much easier ...

I laced the tubing through these neat little eyelet screw thingies that I attached to the sides of the bed!

TAH DAH!

I still have more beds to set up and the first two beds to redo and then I'll attach the 1/2" tubing to the outsides of the beds so it's nice and neat and bury it where it becomes a trip hazard.  And I'm going to add a line into the greenhouse with tubing and emitters for the plants growing in pots there.  I'll post again when I can show you the finished drip system.

I'm glad my beds are all ready for automatic watering come summer ... Uh, we are going to have a summer this year, aren't we??  Please??

Enjoy!

The Rest Of The Tour....

Raised Bed #6 is planted with leeks (Lancelot), carrots (Yaya), onions (Walla Walla), beets (Touchstone Gold), and more onions (Candy).

Bed #7 is growing garlic, beets (Merlin) and peas (Dakota).

This is one of the four potato boxes ... it's almost time to add another layer of soil over the growing plants (Desiree).

Bed #8 is the all new, hopefully improved, but definitely more interesting pea patch.  I made the teepees and trellises from twigs that I cut on our property and then laced up with twine...

I have some lettuce (Bambi) planted between the trellises of peas...

And finally...Bed #9...horseradish and potatoes....

So there is is...finally finished after three years in the making.  And all planted for spring!  Now if the weather would just cooperate and give us some sunshine so that things would start growing.....

Enjoy!

A Tour of The Farm...

Yesterday morning I finished the last of the Spring planting in The Farm, so I thought a tour might be in order.  This is a schematic of The Farm's layout (made using Territorial Seeds Garden Planner)...

(click on the photo to see a larger version)

The Farm is now nine raised beds with hoop covers, a 6 x 6" pop up greenhouse, a potting shed with a lighted germination stand, four potato boxes and a few half wine barrels ...  

The first two 4 x 4" beds are pretty much identical...snow peas on teepees in the center, chard (Bright Lights), kale (Red Chidori) and spinach (Bloomsdale Savoy) around the edges and cabbage (Primero and Derby Day) or broccoli (De Cicco) in the four corners.

The Farm #3 is 4 x 8" and has a soil heating cable installed.  This is my "last ditch" tomato bed; if we have a repeat of last year's "non-summer" I'm going to install a couple of lights over the plants and turn this bed into a mini-greenhouse!  I have five tomato plants;  three indeterminate (Sweet 100's, Cherokee Purple and SunGold) in the back and two determinate (Siletz and Oregon Spring) in front.  Next there is a row of lettuces (Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sails) and three rows of carrots (Yaya).  There are borage plants in the corners and a row of onion plants (Ailsa Craig) on each end.

Bed #4 is 4 x 8" and grows mostly Asian vegetables and greens; Tatsoi ,Shungiku, Komatsuna, Turnip Hakurei, Radish Shunkyo, Green and Purple Mizuna, Cabbage Orange Mini and several types of Pac Choi ( I'll be telling you more about these vegetables and how they are used in my "Asian Vegetable" series of posts).  I have some Candy onions tucked into this bed here and there; they will be harvested early as spring onions for salads.   There is also cauliflower  (Snow Queen) growing in the four corners of the bed and a cabbage (Primero) on each end.  The copper wire coils you see on some of the plants in the photo are an attempt to discourage slugs; slugs love Asian vegetables almost as much as I do : (

Bed #5 is 4 x 8" and is home to broccoli (De Cicco), cauliflower (Cassius), cabbage (Primero) and has room on each end of the bed for onions (Copra) which are still in the greenhouse and will hopefully be ready to transplant soon.

As you might gather from what I have planted I am quite interested in Companion Planting, a way of creating what I call a "community" in my garden; one plant helping another " Live Long and Prosper" :)

Here are a few resources for information and lists of Companion Plants:

Companion Planting : The Natural Way To Gardening

Wikipedia : List of Companion Plants

Golden Harvest Organics : Companion Planting

This has gotten quite long and I still have a lot to show you...so I think I'll break the post into two parts and finish it on Thursday...

Enjoy!