Late June veggie & flower garden

Here are some photos from Sunday when I took pictures of the garden. This garden is at my grandparents. They try there best to maintain it for me since I don't live a mile from them anymore. Grandma waters, fertilizes and adds some soil to the cucumbers in grow bags and the potatoes in grow buckets. She has been fertilizing l, or what she calls "side dressing" the cushaw, tomatoes, corn, beans, and potatoes in the ground.

I have some cucumbers growing in the ground, but these are in the grow bags which I set up a trellis around.

Cucumbers 

Cucumbers in grow bags

Not pictured is the grow buckets of potatoes growing. Theres more than 20 buckets and grow bags with potatoes growing. Potatoes are also growing in the ground across from the beans.

Below are pictures of the rows of cushaw and some corn. I had sowed cucumbers and watermelon in the rows too amongst the corn and cushaw, but I'm not sure if they're growing. 

Cushaw, cucumber, melon, corn

Cushaw, cucumber, melon

Beside the cushaws, tomatoes are tied to tobacco sticks. 

Tomaotes 

Tomatoes 

Potatoes, tomaotes, corn

Beans and corn

The tomatoes are growing closely with the rows of corn. Across from the tomatoes and corn are the rows of beans. Varieties I planted were Half runners, Hidatsa, and Turkey craw. I have the tobacco sticks up to mark off rows for the beans but I still need to put up the fencing for them to grow.

Beans

Here are some rows of potatoes growing in the ground. 

Potatoes 

Lastly, the flower gardens are looking beautifully vibrant despite a hog infiltrating the flower gardens last week. Here are a few pictures that I took Sunday on Fathers day.

Gladiolus 

Wildflower garden

Bee balm

Veggies and flowers in April garden

Work is never done--especially, not mine! Not only am I transplanting and sewing veggies and flowers in my garden, but also in my grandparent's neck of the woods.

Yesterday I bought my grandparents 6 pansies, a gerbera, 3 tattoo black cherry petunias, a Vermillion rose begonia, and another type of pink rose geranium. I transplanted the pansies today in large pots at their house.

Additionally, I tilled and mulched a flower bed against their house where I also planted 65 gladiolus bulbs. Then I dug up a couple spots where their rose bushes are and planted over 10 Hollyhock roots.

Then, I also worked on the structure for my hardy kiwi plants. I have a male and female and need another female kiwi to plant with them. I hammered in 4 metal posts and tied 4 swing set poles to the posts and then tied fencing up as a support for the kiwis. Honestly though, the kiwis are growing in such a tangled mess, I'll have to full with them this fall by cutting them back completely. I have had them growing here for over 5 years and have yet to see blooms.

All these projects today drained all my energy, but yesterday I managed to buy some mulch and sheet mulch over the mint and oregano patch, including the Hibiscus and Phlox patch, and one of my garden beds. I mulched around the artichoke and okra seedlings and put mulch in 14 potato bags to prep for planting potatoes on Good Friday.

I'll take a break for the rest of the evening and start working in the morning to finish laying the mulch.

Mulched artichoke, okra, hibiscus, and phlox

Mulched mint and oregano bottle garden

The six garden beds are full of arugula, spinach, radish, lettuces, peas, and cilantro, and I have been picking them here and there to eat. I harvested some radishes to make room for the other radishes too. With these, it's important to keep them watered throughout the spring.

Onion and lettuce bed

Strawberry bed

Lettuces 

Compost pile of squashes!

cilantro bed and radish, arugula, spinach bed

Cilantro 

spianch and arugula 

Pineapple sage

Radishes and lettuces 

blueberry, raspberry, and goji berry patch
With plastic sheeting

You might say all these pictures of flowers are repetitive but I am in love! These flowers are my babies! Everyday there are new flowers, angles, the sun hits them a certain way--I can't help but take so many photos...

I transplanted Dahlias too with my mother today. It's the little things like planting flowers with your family and showing gratitude, making memories mean more to them than anything, so dont take that for granted and do something for someone everyday. That's what flowers have taught me in growing them.

Additions to the food forest + new seeds (VIDEO of bean varieties/seed collection & when to grow)

In a previous post, I show you some of the new seeds we bought from Vegan seeds and SOS (Seeds of sustenance), and here I wanted to show you a the collection haul we purchased from Seed Savers Exchange. In the video below I show you the varieties of beans we purchased from the site, and Apple gourd, arugula, and peas. From Rare seeds website, we got 2 Aronia berry plants, 2 Goji berry plants, and 2 Dwarf mulberry tree plants with a variety of seeds as well. Those trees don't ship until April. I made the foolish mistake of transplanting blueberry and raspberry plants so early. Recently, we transplanted new additions to the food forest including 1 Lapins Sweet Cherry tree and 2 Elberta Semi-dwarf Peach trees, with 16 blueberry and raspberry plants (Sunshine, Blue Crop, Pink Lemonade blueberry varieties and Anne variety raspberry.) I did mulch the trees and berry plants with pine needles, but I noticed some plants had died at the tops of the berry plants. I should have mulched over top of the plants (probably.)

In the first two pictures below, are of the bean varieties from Rare seeds. Those include Turkey craw, Calypso, and Hidatsa Shield. And not seen in the picture is the Christmas lima beans.

Below are the blueberry and raspberry plant varieties, and peach trees and cherry tree.

January-February garden tasks

For the last two days there has been a break in the bitter cold weather. In fact the Sun has graced us these past few days, so I have been working outside. On Tuesday, James and I hauled several tons of gravel back-and-forth to put on the driveway. Then Wednesday and Thursday I collected leaves, humus, degraded wood chips from the woods to put on the garden.
The leaves were added to some of the Hugelkultur mounds. As you know these have four steps: Layers of Logs/sticks, twigs/small wood debris, leafs/mulch, then compost/soil on top. I have a total of 10 Hugelkultur mounds (four finished, four halfway finished, and two a fourth of the way finished). The four halfway finished mounds already have layers of logs/sticks/twigs/leafs; and in the upcoming days or weeks I will add the soil and compost on top. The other two mounds are only logs/sticks for now, and I will need to add small wood debris before adding leafs. After adding layers of leaf material, I will then add soil and compost. The process can be finished very quick, however the weather has not permitted me finishing the mounds until closer to Spring.

The picture below is one of my Main Gardens which has been revamped to Hugelkultur mounds. In the picture I am pointing to the garden that noticeably has 9 protruding mounds. (The other Hugel mound is in the front of the house which is our longest Hugel bed, which you can see in this video: Hugelkultur bed phase 2).

It is the beginning of February, so this month will be a time to finish adding the final layers of soil and compost to all 10 Hugelkultur mounds. By the time I complete the mounds at the beginning of March I will be directly sowing Kale, Radishes, Beets, Carrots, Lettuce, Onion, Peas, Spinach, Broccoli. Of course you can see my Garden Calendars for All USDA Gardening Zones for each vegetable and specific planting dates: Garden Calendar for ALL USDA ZONES 1-11 (When to grow different vegetables & Moon phases.
As these vegetables grow throughout April and May, it will be time to replace them with Summer vegetables like Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, etc. I also have a picture of my 2015 Garden Layout which will show you what vegetables I am planting together in accordance to Companion planting (preventing "pests" and adding nutrients), and in relation to where the Sun hits the garden: Layout of 2015 Spring, Summer & Fall Garden using polyculture, pest prevention, & companion planting. The post includes pictures of my Garden layout for 2 of my 4 gardens. I have yet to decide what I am growing on my other two gardens. It will depend on how many seeds I have left. I know I will have many vegetable seeds left. If you haven't seen my seed inventory, go to the post here: Seeds I bought for 2015 Garden.