We are now finished with the shell peas and sugar pod peas. Both have been pulled from the garden. There was only three messes of peas, which we ate fresh.

The lettuce is mostly gone. It was a satisfactory amount this year, just wish it woul last longer into the heat of summer. The spinach was zilch. The only spinach we had was two delicious bags from Springbank Farm.

The strawberries are over and the raspberries, both black and red, are beginning. Since it has been dry, the yield will most likely be on the small side. July 1 update: black raspberries have dried up this year. Through June we picked 7 quarts of red raspberries.

We used up our last celeriac from 2009 in black bean soup. The celeriac stored very well this past year. Since my seed did not germinate well, we bought a dozen plants. I planted what puny things that did come and maybe half of them survived. I meant to get another dozen, but never got back to the greenhouse. So we will have a lot less celeriac for our soups this winter.

Something seems to be up in the woods, as the girls pastured above are most watchful at the moment. I have not been able to see what all the excitement is about…a Bear? Turkey or deer would elicit this response

I started harvesting garlic. I dig some and then wonder if they are ready. Have done this two days in a row. We have 75 stiff neck, about 40 softneck and 14 of our own soft neck that are in their third year. They did very well. Nice big bulbs. This is about a 30-50% reduction in the amount we planted.. we still have pounds of garlic left from last year hanging in the basement. So I’m hoping I did not misjudge their readiness, as everything is ahead of schedule this season…..

I suddenly realized it is dry – as in not raining – had not been raining, was not forecast to rain. On top of that it is cool. So I quickly slapped on the remaining paint/stain on the front and side porch, a lick on the wood shed and used the remainder on the chicken coop. Paint gone. Done til next year. Yeah!

Our garden harvest has begun! We’ve been having lettuce for 2-3 weeks, but with the heat most of the lettuce left has bolted. Our spinach did not amount to much, it appeared retarded, mainly because I planted in a newly created garden space that turned out to not be fit soil. Oops.

• Sugar peas – we froze 14 pints and ate a couple more pints. The peas did very well this year – none of the plants were diseased and the rainfall was adequate
• Shell peas – on the other hand the shell peas only gave us a couple of dinners. They were good…just not enough of them.
• Strawberries – we actually got enough at one time to make a batch of jam. (8 jars). The rest we ate as pies, or pie filling. The patch produced 10.5 quarts this year as compared to the 2 quarts last year. We actually fended off the deer, rabbits, chipmunks, chickens and humid weather. The plants paid for themselves this year! Maybe we will do another patch as they were quite tasty compared to some that we bought (@$2.50/quart).
• Ah yes, I have been reminded about the Black Yum Raspberries. We picked 1/2 quart and ated them. And that’s all she wrote as the dry weather kilt the juiciness in the remainder.
• Cherries – we visited a pick your own orchard (Way Fruit Farm) and came away with 22 pounds (less $33) of very ripe, and very lovely sour cherries. From this we got 7 jars cherry jam, almost 7 quarts pie filling, 2 quarts frozen, and two fresh pies.
• Red Raspberries – picked one quart yesterday and one today. Tasty this year – lots of sunshine and heat. They are just beginning to ripen – still it’s early. And there were Japanese beetles about – also early. But amounted to so few as to not be a nuisance.
• Garlic: 70 stiff neck, 40 soft neck, 14 our soft necks
• Onions: Red Candy Apple – circa 80 onions, not large this year
• Onions: Alisa Craig – circa 60 onions, not large this year
• Mustard- still hanging, all plants came up on their own. Managed to get 2/3 cup seeds from this volunteer crop.
• Broccoli 8 pints frozen, several meals
• Masai Green Beans – canned 8 pints July 26
• Onion: Red Torpedo circa 90 onions. New variety to us – very tasty.
• Onions: Mars circa 110 onions. Not super large this year
• Onions: Red Zeppellin circa 50+ so far. They are ready waaay too early. Another 220+ Zeps on July 29. Total circa 270.
• Onion: Copra circa 130-140 July 29
• Vegetable Stock – 8 quarts with 1.5 recipe from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. This uses carrots, tomatoes, celery, onions, peppers, garlic – all either freshly harvested or clean out the frig of last years carrots that we had stored in sand.
• Salsa – 9 pints The first bunch of tomatoes were committed to salsa since we had run out.
• Bread and Butter Pickles – 9 pints May be the only pickles as vines are almost dead.
• Eggplant – Parmigiana – well we have harvested at least 6 eggplants, and I have lost track of how many frozen (aka TV) dinners are in the freezer . Just fried up a nice one yesterday that yielded two dinners. December 7 update: the eggplants just kept growing right up until frost. Lots of fried eggplant in the freezer, lots of Moussaka… we love eggplant.
• Red Potatoes (Norland and Red Pontiac) 1/2 BU (8/9/2010)
• White Potatoes yielded about 1 and 1/2 bushels (includes some red). Total from 3 rows potatoes is 2 fat bushels. Not a super potato year.
• Red Haven peaches from McNitt Orchards 1/2 bushel $15.00 We ate them all: pies, peaches, pies, peaches with ‘our” frozen [ice] cream. We had way too many canned peaches left over to can anymore this year. August 1
• Vegetable Soup 15 pints We had tried this last year and found it a wonderful soup- canned in pints this year instead of quarts.
• Ketchup – batch yielded 4 and 3/4 pints. I had canned tomatoes and the result was not satisfactory (too much head space in the end) so we made ketchup from them.
• Dried Sweet Corn – many 1/2 sheet trays later, we have a fat half gallon of dried corn.
• Corn – 9 pints (one did not seal) August 16.
• Tomato Sauce 18 pints August 16 and 29
• Tomato 7 quarts August 24
• Marinara 12 pints
• Dill Pickles 17 pints
• Peach Nectar 7 quarts from our own peaches which were sooo many they broke branches off the tree – sniff
• Peaches 9 pints our own peaches – yes I said I had enough canned peaches, but…
• Stew Vegetables 17 pints This is awesome – instant stew that takes like the hours long version. Just add some meat and a thickener, make some biscuits, and WOW.
• Grape Juice 7 quarts August 27 (grapes were early)
• Chili 7 pints rather a concentrate: add cooked kidneys later. Consists of 3.5 pounds beef, 3 onions, 3 peppers, 2 garlics September 3
• Pears 9 pints Bought 1/2 bushel $15 I think. They were not as tasty this year.
• Tomato paste 5 half pints
• Salsa 7 pints (total of 16 pints I think) Then we made small batches to keep from eating up our canned. As of December 5, we are now into our 2nd jar of canned salsa. Me thinks we shudda made more.
• Tomato 7 quarts – one did not seal Total of 13 quarts
• Apple Juice -15 half gallon plus a gallon to drink fresh. Our own apples, pressed by our own lil hands. We makeitourselves, ya know…
• Dry beans circa 40 pounds: Brown 1/2 gallon, Black 2 gallons +/-, Pinto 1 gallon, Kidney 3/4 gallon, our very own “spotted beans” one gallon. Plus we have 48 pounds from previous years. Note, must eat more beans… must control urge to plant and plant and plant beans….but they are so pretty and shiny, not to mention yummy!
• BBQ sauce 11 half pints

Dent corn 3 1/2 bushel ear corn = 5.5 gallons shell corn [ten hills of corn yielded 1 bushel+/-]

• Butternut squash 3 bushels or 35 squashes (and most are HUGE – a tremendous squash year, btw)
• Popcorn – 1/2 gallon + similar amount from 2008

Off to a bit of a late start this year, with a seemingly early (maybe by three weeks?) spring, on getting seeds started both indoors and out.

Coldframe Three types of cabbage (Early Surprize, Krautman and Wakeman) and broccoli (Windsor and Umpqua)

Rambo’s Garden One bed has sugar peas. Another has Spinach, lettuce, and carrots. We installed a (hopefully) chicken-keeper-outer fence around Rambo’s garden…so far, so good. But the rabbits have already made inroads.

Indoors:4 dozen tomato: Big Beefstake and Syrian. A few Dusky eggplant, but will probably end up buying some eggplant plants. Three dozen celeriac, half dozen Tango celery. Parlsey and thyme for herbs. Sniff, I’m Out of Oregano seed, but we do have several plants (which, BTW, were Not enough for us last year!) growing outside.

March 26 the Wando (and free ‘experimental’) peas were planted.

The onion beds are ready for the onions, which arrived today, March 31 via ‘brown’. Thank you Dixondale Farms!

Most of the other beds are more or less ready. Surprisingly the chickens have not made a total mess of them – yet.

The main garden needs a quick run through with the wheel cultivator, so as to keep ahead of the weeds. Five days of sun forecast, so may be able to do this in a day or 2.

Onions, from Dixondale Farms Total $41.50

• Red Candy Apple 1
• Alisa Craig 1
• Mars 2
• Red Zeppilin 3
• Copra 2
• Leeks 1/2 bundle

Soil from Park Seed Total $44.68

• Seed starting soil 6 bags for $23.82
• Potting Soil 3 bags for $14.91

Seeds from Pinetree Total $18.95

• Masai Green Beans $1.85
• Honey Select Sweet Corn 4 for $7.80
• Homemade Pickles cucs $1.15
• Buttercrunch lettuce .95
• Waltham Butternut squash .95
• Cool Breeze cuc $1.35
• Evergreen Bunching Heshiko onion $1.15

Total to date: $105.13 … and we have lots of leftover seed to use this year. There may be some soil leftover for next year… maybe. If my seed starting doesn’t go better this year, then I won’t bother to invest in more expensive “soil”.

We will be purchasing our pepper plants and eggplants locally.

March 1 and there is still way too much white stuff on the ground. My new onions plants will be here in 4 weeks! Come on spring. Eating too much of our good stored food and not getting enough exercise. Oh where are the days when I’m just too exhausted from the garden that I don’t even want to cook? Ha

I decided I had better go through the stored potatoes and onions and see who is turning into soft goo.

I tossed circa 1/2 bushel of potatoes, mostly small ones that I never got around to using because of their size, and some reds that had shriveled and sprouted like crazy. Both these batches of potatoes were in baskets. The one in the storage under the stairs was furthest gone. I think it gets too warm in there when the wood stove is roaring. It’s either find another location – such as the pine chest under the window, or insulate the under-stair closet. Storing the potatoes that will not fit in the frigs in the pine chest may be the way to go – it is the coldest spot in the room, especially when we crack the window.

We have two red onions left. They kept very well this year and I am hoping they do as well this coming year, as we will be growing more reds and less Copra.

In going through the multiple bags and bags of Copra, there was about a peck that had sprouted or were soft. By my calculations there is 1 and 1/2 bushel of Copra left to get us through to onion time – sometime in July when the Red Candy should be ready. There will also be walking onions and bunching onions as well.

Before I forget, like I did last year, to make a notation of our field/dent corn crop-here is our 2009 harvest.

• Red (Bloody Butcher) – from saved seed – 1/2 gallon
• Blue (Blue Hopi) – from saved and Fedco seed – 1 gallon
• Yellow (Reid?) – from saved and Shumway seed – 3 1/2 gallons

I ‘think’ (that miserable lack of decent record keeping skill), that we had circa 1 and a half bushel of ear corn. If so that was more than last year. It does seem that we have more corn this year…which is good as I had used the last corn up about 6 weeks ago.

The garlic has been harvested and hung. 102 stiffneck, 58 softneck bulbs and a couple dozen of our own (stiff?) garlics.

It was different this year – the softneck leaves all seemed to go brown at the same time, and after hanging them today I think we may have been a little late on the harvest. The stiff neck seems to be more normal. Overall the bulbs don’t look as big this year as last. The ground seemed rather hard. We had a lot of rain until the last three weeks. The real test will be to see how well they keep. We used all our stiff neck from last year, and have quite a bit of soft neck left over. We did reduce our softneck planting last fall by 40 cloves! So maybe this quantity will be more in line with our needs.

Anymore, easier IS better. When good ideas come along, when they are too many to remember, I must write them down. These tips come from Sharon Lovejoy’s Trowel and Error, published in 2003. This is a delightful book filled with tips.

• To clean plant pots and trays: mix 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/3 cup rubbing alcohol and 1/3 cup water. Scrub.
• Cut old wood venetian blinds into short lengths for plant labels.
• Enclose young apples in small brown paper bags for bug protection. Slit bottom of bag, staple top closed. Remove a ew days before harvest so apple will color.
• Poke small holes in a gallon milk jig and bury it, with neck exposed. It will water plants that need extra mositure (celery).
• Epsom salts provide a quick shot of magnesium and sulfur. Aspirin fights mildew, black spot (2 tablets in 1 qt water). Wood ash contains calcium, phosphorous and potassium.
• Booster for tomato, eggplant and peppers as they begin to bloom: 2 T Epsom salts with one gallon water. Pour into soil around plants.
• Comfrey tea, rich in potassium and nitrogen. A few handfuls in large can of water. Add blackstrap molasses (pound) and brew for 10 days. Water plants.
• Basil Tea, fights bugs (aphids, cabbage loopers, cuc beetles). Handful of leaves to 1/ 2 gallon water. Brew in sun a few days. Strain, add liquid soap (1/8 t) in spray bottle.
• Molasses bath – 12.5 oz molasses to gallon of water. steep a week or so. Pour into soil around plants or use as spray.
• Pepper spray for bugs: 1/2 cup apple vinegar, 1 t tobasco, 1/8 t soap. Shake and apply. OR: 2 T red pepper, 6 drops soap, 1 gallon water. Sit overnight. Spray plants weekly for brassicas!
• For asparagus: Early! 5 oz sugar, 1 T yeast, 1 qr water to feed soil and attract beneficial insects to attack asparagus beetle.
• Damping off disease: 16 Chamomile tea bags or 2 C dried flowers with 2 qt water. Simmer 20 minutes, then brew several hours. Spray foliage daily with tea until outdoors.
• Potato blight: 1 T mineral oil, 1 t baking soda, 1 gallon water. Shake and spray
• Aphids: shallow Yellow pan with soapy water
• Moles are insectivores
• Wormy corn: after silk turns brown, apply 20 drops mineral oil to tips of ear
• Wood ash in soil before plant carrots
• Carpenter ants: use diatomaceous earth or silica aerogels. Spray into hard to reach areas with squeeze bottle. Repowder after rain. ear eye and nose protection.
• Deer: Mylar. Chicken wire undulating on ground. Fishong line at 2 and 4 feet – or web pattern. Smelly soap hanging from bushes
• Colorado potato beetle: onion and garlic around potato.
• Foil on soil around tomato, peppers, basil, squash. Prevent viruses and flourish. Wrap tomato stems in foil to stop blight. On squash and cucs to stop borer.
• For bites and stings, use slice of garlic on onion on bite for 20 minutes.
• Interplant borage among vegetables to eliminate pests.
• Seed Saving:Clean jars, 2 T powdered milk wrapped in tissues, seeds in paper packet. Replace powdered milk every 6 months. Store in frig or cool dry place.

The red and blue dent corn found the ground yesterday. We have two groups of blue corn: one from our saved seed from last year and some Blue Hopi Flour Corn from Fedco. There is also a block of Bloody Butcher corn (it is so pretty) from saved seed. It will be interesting to see if it crossed with other corns. Our seed is planted where the pinto beans were last year. The soil is much better than last year, and with the beans before them, maybe our colored corn will do better this year. They are also in a bit sunnier location.

Potatoes were hoed for the first time and all have emerged.