Oh goodness, blogging has taken a backseat this year! But we have been busy, busy farmers. We got very lucky in June and had a friend visit for a weekend to help us weed, which was just outstanding. Unfortunately for us, those damn weeds grew back, but we've been making (minimal) attempts to keep up our weeding efforts. The garden actually looks pretty good despite the re-encroaching weeds, and we've had great harvests so far:
Asparagus - so good! Our first "real" year of harvesting asparagus, and we enjoyed every spear. I'm very glad that we planted a second bed, and we're already looking forward to next year.
We're currently inundated with peas, and I have to say that I'm a little disapointed in the purple podded peas. I had thought that they were snap peas, and planted a full bed's worth of them. But after several tastings, I'm becoming convinced that they are actually soup peas, which I don't really have much of an interest in. I'm wishing I had planted many more actual snap peas and shelling peas, because the ones that we do have are just amazing. And since we're getting about 2 pounds of peas in total a day, it would be nice if I was a little more excited about the varieties I'd planted! Oh well, I guess 2014 is the gardening season in which I finally learn that planting the purple variety of a vegetable doesn't always result in the best taste.
We did a good job of using our rhubarb this year, and I'm looking forward to booting it out of the garden next year to make more space for strawberries. Toddlers are outstanding strawberry consumers, and so the vast majority of this year's berries never made it into the house.
We've been having great beets, carrots, chard, lettuce, and herbs, and I harvested a huge batch of garlic scapes which we've been able to (mostly) use. I also made some outstanding garlic scape pickles, marking the official start to the 2014 canning season.
It's almost time to harvest potatoes, which we've been sneaking for the past few weeks and thoroughly enjoying. Spraying the plants with bT once we first started to see emerging potato bug larvae has helped tremendously.
I had significant issues with cut worms, but only in my cold frames. Those bugs are such jerks, and continued to take down my cauliflower and eggplants even up to last week - and those are not puny little seedlings any more! So frustrating.
We're starting to get raspberries from last year's plants in good quantities. We have lots of Japanese beetles, which are doing a number on the plants and even on the fruit, so we're researching the best ways to combat them.
I've been experimenting with letting our older flock of chickens free range on the days when the dogs go to daycare. The chickens love it, and I think it's helping with bugs, but unfortunately one particularly hectic day we forgot to get the chickens back into their coop before letting the boy dogs out, and now we're down to 11 chickens. Oops. The new flock looks great, though. We have an accidental rooster in there, so will be getting rid of him before the fall, because although it may seem like we don't have limits on animals, I draw the line at a rooster.
I love, love, love having flower gardens. I feel like I'm still in the beginner stage in terms of learning about different plant varieties and what they like, but I do love seeing the blooms in front of the garden, and am getting at least a basic working knowledge of flower versus weed.
