June Garden and Other Outdoor Photos

Peas please! These grew beautifully for awhile, then hot weather hit and the vines turned brown almost overnight. Meg loved hunting for the little treasure pods and generally ate a portion of them before they made it inside. We didn't even harvest half a pound of these sweet snaps, but they were fun while they lasted! 

 The little larkspur patch bloomed lovingly all month long. These purple and white flowers added a nice cheery pop of color to the green vegetable plants.

 Blackberries blooming and fruiting.

Red raspberries grew very well but produced just a few handfuls.

 Dill in front, sunflowers behind.

 Spaghetti squash

 Crimson Sweet Watermelon

 The comfrey plant bushing out amongst the green beans.

 Evening rainbow and strange clouds

16 pounds of green beans were picked and eaten in June. We sautéed them alone, with potatoes, with squash, and with chard. A little garlic, salt, and coconut oil in a cast iron skillet made them scrumptious!

 Neighbor playmates came over for an afternoon swim and canoeing fun.

 More pretty sky pictures

 Another group over for canoe races and other games; teenagers this time.

 Success with my $1.00 lily bulb pack from Aldi!

June Garden Harvest: 40 pounds of green beans, mulberries, turnips & greens, Swiss chard, lettuce, snap peas, radish, dill, horseradish, and banana peppers.

The Month of May's Homestead Harvest

1 of 3 patches of turnips. The tops are tasting yummy at this tender stage.

1 of 2 spinach patches. It came up really well this year, but has went to seed quickly.

Sugar snap peas

lettuce blend

green bean rows

Raspberry brambles. Maybe next year we will transplant to nice rows and trellis.

Easter Egg and French Breakfast radishes. The Easter Egg have outperformed this year. The seeds were both saved from last year's crops that went to seed.

cut lettuce and spinach

In May we harvested 9 1/4 pounds of produce, counting mulberries picked off the tree.
Radishes, spinach, lettuce, chard, turnip greens, and cilantro were our fresh goodies.

And Riley shot a couple turkeys that filled 10 quart jars of meat and 18 quarts of broth.

Early Spring Garden~April

I planted half of a pound of Contender green beans in early April before a lovely spring rain. They germinated well and are growing nicely except in the spots where our little dog has dug. I'm not sure if he is smelling something or just being an animal. I'm not particularly a pet fan unless they produce something...I suppose he keep wild critters away and certainly alerts us of visitors down the lane!

Our lone tulip that bloomed this year of a dozen bulbs planted 2 years ago. There is still hope they will show a lovely display eventually!

The barrenish garden behind the patio. I'm loving my small burst of color in the outdoor pillow!

Horseradish is growing around the birdbath. It is spreading with vigor.

 radishes

 spinach

 cilantro

baby sugar snap pea row

pineapple mint 

raspberries 

salvia 

I dug up some of the wildly sprouting horseradish and blended it, jarred it, and covered with vinegar. It is quite tasty! I've never really eaten it much, but since it grows so well and is great for you, we are nibbling on it now and then...it's almost addictive! The girls were giggling to see who could eat enough to burn up their noses. They would roll up a teaspoon in a horseradish leaf and chomp it down; it really opened up our nasal passages! The leaves even have zingy qualities!

April's garden harvest was a slim 1 pound of horseradish, cilantro, and chives, but oh so yummy to be eating fresh again!

2016 Garden Wrap-Up and an Announcement

Now that it's time to think about ordering seeds and garden planning, I want to wrap up last year's harvest before moving forward! We learn from history, right?

I wasn't able to tend to the garden all of August and half of September since we were traveling, however our kind neighbors kept the water going and the vines (and weeds) kept growing. Thanks to the melon and squash, we were able to harvest 83 pounds of produce in the last couple weeks of September, 86 pounds in October, and 16 pounds even in November.

Watermelon, tomatoes, spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, chard, and radish were in our fall crop dinners. I "tried" to scale down on so many different veggies and get larger amounts for lesser varieties...I will continue with that mentality this year. Especially since this season prime garden-time will be baby-time, Lord willing, for us as well! We may fill our extra suburban seat yet!

We already have the empty chicken coop moved over part of the garden to add fertilizer when our mail-order chicks come in February. I'd like to spread some straw on the dirt to decompose a bit too, now that the sun is shining and first trimester blues are abating. It feels good to dream again.

Happy homesteading ya'll!