our homestead: garden's growing

My little garden is off to a good start. I am beyond happy that the growing season is here again. Every morning I enjoy the ritual of letting my birds out, watering the plants in my greenhouse and watching the growth of my vegetable garden while casually plucking weeds. I'm fairly tired from a busy day of working the yard and I'm about to go sit out on the porch for the remainder of this warm evening we're having to listen to the sounds of nightfall and to smell the sweet scent of my white lilac (it seems to emit the most perfume at dusk), so I'll post a few photos of my garden's current state.

Wild numbers of sunflowers are popping up every which way around my yard. Aww, we'll be so lucky when they are all flowering.

Nasturtiums, German Chamomile and poppies are all growing.

Velvety and tangy 'Apple Mint' growing taller everyday. I'm looking forward to some summer mojitos made with this. Yum!

Our main vegetable patch (we have a few other patches scattered around the yard). This is also where we grew our garlic patch last year. I made some nice raised beds and everything I've planted here is coming up.

I've already snuck a few 'French Breakfast Radishes' from our radish patch. Oh so sweet and adorable.

One of my little broccoli plants. This is my first year growing broccoli.

Potatoes! This year I planted two potato patches: one for us and one for the ducks. I read that mashed potatoes make for a good filler food for ducks, so we'll be able to stretch our feed dollars more.

Baby 'Lacinato Kale' peeking out of the soil. Waiting to be braised with some lemon and chickenstock.

Our arugula patch. Soon this will grace my homemade pizzas with pancetta and goatcheese. Oh baby! 

Itty-bitty kohlrabi: one of my favorite vegetables. When it's full grown, its stems will swell into little green baseballs. You peel them and snack on them fresh or can roast them up. They are in the cabbage family and taste like sweet broccoli.

'Arabian Nights Nasturtiums' peeking out of the ground in the vegetable garden. Their flowers are supposed to be red, white and purple in lieu of the usual orange and yellow. They'll help ward off certain insect pests and will be a sweet and spicy addition to our salads.

Fava beans! These guys are sweet and nutty, like a delicious lima bean (har har), and can be planted with peas as they are more of a colder season bean.

Snap and shelling peas coming up below my branch pea trellis.

My tomatoes are in full swing in the greenhouse. I think they are taller and healthier than they were last year at this time. In fact, I'll have to go back and check, but I'm not even sure I had them out to the greenhouse yet last year.

I also have lots of tomato flowers blooming, meaning I'll have tomatoes sooner this year than last.

Oh what have we here! My first "tomato".

Here's one of my 'English Brown Turkey' figs, leafing out.

And the peppers!

This is my happy place.

trail setters: happy 4th of july!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Above is a pie plate full of fresh dug red, white and blue potatoes from my backyard. These will be turned into a festive potato salad shortly with the addition of some homegrown candy onion, celery and peas. I also have a Pacific Northwest bing cherry pie in the oven right now. Yum!

our homestead: oh hey, potatoes!

All of the potatoes I planted back in early spring are growing and appear to be very healthy. I planted French La Ratte Fingerlings, Peruvian Purples and Nordland Roasters. I've been foliar feeding my potato plants about once a week now...usually I give them a little spritz of a mix of water and organic fish fertilizer (nice and stinky). I also like to crumble a little compost around each plant now and then. It also helps that I planted sugar snap peas next to my potatoes- legumes grab hold of nitrogen in the air and bring it into the soil (nitrogen promotes leafy green growth). Right now, my pea starts are about a foot tall each.

Two of the best preventatives of potato blight include crop rotation and good nutrition. I'm growing my potatoes in soil that has been free of potatoes or tomatoes or any other Nightshaders, and I'm keeping up on the nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous.

Anyway, I did my first "hilling" yesterday. Hilling- where one draws the soil up around the potato plants on either side to build a raised mound- is essential for edible tuber development as tubers that are exposed to sunlight can turn green (a green potato can give you a stomach ache). The potatoes will branch off along the stem of the plant, so in hilling the soil, I'm ensuring that my tubers will grow in darkness and thus be fit to eat. There's nothing like a new potato- fresh, buttery and sweet with thin, papery skin. Mmm...

our homestead: welcoming spring with a potato (and pea) planting

Spring! Spring! Oh my darling, you've come back to me! In celebration of the growing season, I've spent the day digging around one of my garden patches, planting out potatoes and sugar snap peas. To prepare this year's potato patch, I was sure to clear out any pesky weeds and dig up any large stones, then I put down heaps of rich compost (potatoes love some fertile soil) and "green manure", also known as alfalfa grass, grown by a local farm. I selected three organic seed potato varieties: 1) french fingerlings (a buttery, gourmet finger-shaped tuber with a golden flesh and blush, papery skin), 2) all blue potatoes (it's safe to say that this one's my favorite- blue in hue, slightly sweet, and oh boy! it makes the best mashed potatoes with peas), and 3) classic red nordland roasters (bring on the rosemary!). I dug three long trenches about 3-4 inches deep, about 2 feet apart, and dropped a potato every 12 inches down each row before covering them up with a blanket of soil.

When their first starts emerge from the earth, I'll begin drawing up the soil around their stalks as they grow. This is known as "hilling"...essentially as your potato plant grows you build a mound around it on either side, ensuring its developing tubers aren't exposed to any sunlight as sunlight causes them to turn green. Eventually the potato plants will grow bushy (they almost look like determinate tomato plants), flower, and then they will start to turn brown. A midsummer dying potato plant marks the kickoff for potato harvesting (of course you can always dig around before this point...usually when the flowers appear...and steal a potato or two). To harvest, whole plants can be pulled up, attached tubers and all, and digging around the plant's surrounding hill will reveal even more new potatoes.

So why did I plant sugar snap peas by my potatoes? Other than the fact that a fresh sugar snap tastes like vegetable candy, peas, another cool-weather crop, are kindred spirits with developing potatoes. Peas, like all legumes, are "nitrogen fixing", meaning they'll grab a hold of nitrogen in the air and enrich their surrounding soil. Nitrogen is essential for healthy green development (leaves, stalks and shoots), and potatoes are heavy Nitrogen feeders. Want to strengthen your soil for some summer corn or tomatoes? Plant some good ol' peas now!