May 21st, 2014

Thanks to a long weekend, and a couple weeks in a row of good weather, projects are finally being checked off of the list.  We've added in the last raised bed, built a greenhouse, and planted a whole lot of food.  We've even began to harvest a few items, although in small amounts.

The latest raised bed to be to the garden.  Every second mound has corn planted in a block of 4.  Once the corn is 6 inches tall, pole and runner beans will be planted with the corn.  At the same time the remaining unused mounds will have 6 different types of squash planted in them.  This is an adaptation of a technique called the 3 sisters planting which many Native American tribes used hundreds of years ago.  The nitrogen from the beans feeds the corn and the squash, the corn provides a climbing support for the beans, and the squash acts as a living mulch by shading the roots of the beans and corn.

I allowed our Rapini plants to go to flower and we ended up with this nice little display of yellow flowers.

We've had some issues with the broccoli bolting.  Still trying to determine why this is happening.  At least the small heads are still edible, and once they are cut off there is plenty of room up the stem for side shoots.

This is about all we're getting for broccoli heads right now.  Still better than nothing.

Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Sprouting broccoli and some young peas in the back.

A few flowers on our young blueberry bushes.

The potato forest.

Our Plum tree which is absolutely loaded!  These fruits are nearly the size of what we were able to harvest in late summer of last year.  Plus there's thousands of them.  Not sure if it was the fall pruning that has caused this, but we'll take it.

Early signs of crab apples.

Spring peas

The first beans

By far my favourite sprout to see breaking through the ground.  Beans just manage to break through the soil with such presence.

Carrots

Rutabagas

Potatoes and Garlic 

Shallots

Red onions and Garlic

Macintosh apples

We're already starting to fill the greenhouse. 

Greenhouse green beans

The first pepper plant to come out of the basement.

The largest two tomato plants.  The biggest is about two and a half feet tall and flowering already.