I realized I hadn't shared a significant part of the garden, the veggie patch. Yesterday was a productive day in the food garden and I wanted to show a bit of what I've been up to out there.
This is only my 2nd year raising a vegetable garden. I'd made meager attempts in the past, but found myself typically neglecting the food plants. In delving into the veggies this time, I decided to approach it more like I approach ornamental gardening and just have fun with it. As a result plants are placed here and there, where the space is available at the moment and where it just seems to work at the time.
Yesterday I harvested the first crop of potatoes, and got a 2nd crop planted.
Russets, reds, and blues
I only planted russets for the later crop- I think they store better than others, fingers crossed I'll have plenty to store through winter. The other half of this bed with a row of beans was available, so there they went!
Last year I bought way too many seeds and only got around to sowing about half of them. I've been able to try several of those this year, beets being among them. My first attempt at growing beets, and it looks like a success!
Buggy Brussels sprouts, turnips, parsnips, and a newly planted patch of sweet potatoes.
Cucumbers are on the way! I'm not a fan of fresh cukes, but I LOVE pickles. Last year I put up over 50 jars of pickles, dills, sweet dills, bread and butter, lime pickles, sweet gherkins, and hamburger slices. They're all gone- will do at least double that amount this year.
I've come to the conclusion that those beautiful veggies gardens you see in magazines and on gardening shows are bogus- I'm convinced they're all planted from potted specimens just before filming or photographing. Sort of like those air brushed models who have been photo shopped to look unrealistically perfect. I used to aim for those beautifully uniform rows, each plant perfect, and of course I was always disappointed. While I do see plenty of plants that look picture perfect, I typically see stunted, yellowed, or bug eaten plants right next to the perfect ones. Lots of times part of the row of direct sown seeds germinates perfectly, while part of the row is scant. Now I just have fun with it, where one thing fails, I try something else. If part of the row does't germinate, I'll stick a few pepper plants there- as the spirit leads! LOL
In this bed the Dinosaur Kale didn't germinate and grow consistently, so I've filled in with squash and a few tomatoes.
The curly dwarf kale has done very well!
Much of what I try growing is experimental, as I've never seen many of them growing in this area before. Fennel bulb is one of those experiments- I'll certainly be growing lots more of this next year!
The spots where I harvested potatoes were immediately re-planted, one area with Malabar spinach (with my little make shift trellis of ornamental grass canes), another with tomatoes. I hadn't found any German potato leaf tomato plants this year and was kinda bummed because they're my favorites for fresh eating and sandwiches. I was happy to see some show up where I had added compost to the ornamental gardens! They now have they're own spot in the veggie patch!
Parsnips are planted at the front of the bed with the Malabar spinach, and they're already big!
My first attempt at turnips- one is the size of a bowling ball! LOL
Another area where potatoes were harvested, is now planted in sweet potatoes. I just cooked the last large sweet potato I had stored from last years harvest a couple of nights ago. There were some small ones stored that I potted a few weeks ago to stimulate sprouting for new plants. They were slow to sprout, but the timing worked out great with the potato harvest- I wouldn't have had a bed available if they'd sprouted sooner anyway.
Peppers are coming along nicely!
