More harvesting!

This garden is going nuts - it's awesome!  We are both bringing in lots of zucch/squash/cucumbers to share w/our coworkers tomorrow.  Some pics from tonight:

Chris is checking the cucumbers; melons are closer in the foreground, squash/zucch's to the left and beyond the picture.  Tomatoes (small and green still) are right beyond the cukes.  Way too packed but all seem to be producing just fine so far.

YAY first little watermelon!!

Tuesday night harvest;  4 zucchini, 3 summer squash, 2 spaghetti squash, lots of dragons tongue beans, lettuce, basil, 3 slicing cukes and 4 pickling cukes!

Harvesting!

Finally been harvesting a lot from the garden.  We have also come to realize that we need to double its size next year - the squash, melons, and cukes are all intertwined and too close (that is the jungle to the right/ rear).  They seem to be doing fine though.  Notice the dead eggplants in the bottom left - there were slug/bugs on them and I used Dr.Bronner's and water but at a much stronger dilution than was recommended online.  Oops.  Follow recommended dilutions!

I made the mistake of not realizing how FAST zucchini and squash can grow in just a few days and ended up w/some huge ones; not the best for eating grilled/sautéed due to the seeds, but perfect for baking.

Zucchini, summer squash, a head of romaine, 2 cucumbers (for pickling), and a teeny carrot!

I wanted to see how the carrots were doing/ how big they are, and I discovered they are still tiny :)  This is a heritage breed "Dragon Carrot".  Purple  on the outside and orange when sliced.  It has a slightly spicy flavor!

Broccoli - so good.  Will plant more towards the fall.

Broccoli, sugar snap peas, basil, slicing cucumber

And more lettuce!

Garden Update

The garden is doing well - still only herbs harvested so far.  Soon!

So for now we are still relying on the farmer's market -

This week we got:  redleaf and buttercrunch lettuces, pickling cukes and an asian cucumber, dill for pickling, red scallions, sweet onions, sugar snap peas and snow peas, zucchini & squash, buffalo burgers, a buffalo flank steak, and lamb chops!

Garden - beginning of June

The garden is growing well - I also planted a few new plants this weekend to fill in some open spots we had where a few plants failed.

Garden

The garden is doing well.  The seedling bell peppers & eggplant were failures so I purchased some plants at the local store.  Peas, beans, cukes, melon & squash are going nuts!  The lattice is ready for the climbers!  Some pics:

Garden Step 1

We got our garden in last weekend!
We ended up using Trex Decking planks for the edging since standard wood would fall apart eventually and treated wood is a no-no for a veggie garden.  We got a few bags of cow manure as well to add some nutrients to the soil although we think it is in pretty good shape - there were a  LOT of worms in there!  We also did a quickie soil test kit...luckily the pH is great and does not have to be adjusted.  Here are some photos:

Our awesome custom painted wheelbarrow ready to go - our 1st anniversary gift from my sister!

Lily found the Bovung very interesting-

Our $75 Craigslist special rototiller ready to go.

Chris finished while I painted the fence we got from his parents'.  Love to reuse!

Needs another tilling to chop up the chunks from putting the boards in but we were done for the day.

And a peek of the front where the peonies are coming up!

Garden Plans!

We are close to installing our garden... I planted the seeds that are to be started indoors this weekend. I purchased all our seeds from Seed Savers Exchange a few months ago and have been eagerly awaiting this time!

I have the seeds of:

2 kinds of beans
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
2 kids of carrots
2 kinds of cucumbers (one for salads, one that's for pickling)
Eggplant
Lettuce mix
Beets
Red onion
Yellow onion
Melon
Peas
Sunflower mix
Squash
Zucchini

I am planning on buying plants of basil, parsley and cilantro as well.

I discovered GrowVeg.com which is a great website to lay out your garden!  It helps with companion planting but I liked this Site as a better reference.  There is a free 30 day trial on growveg, which I am doing now.  This is the initial plan I drafted for our 10x30' raised bed, using marigolds & sunflowers as companion flowers.  The top row is along the outside fenceline so the peas & beans can climb.

Here is a picture of Lily playing from today which also shows where the garden will be; along that side fenceline.

Hopefully next weekend we will get the lumber and construct the raised bed...can't wait!