Garden 2021

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Several seeds were direct sown into the garden early May, or were growing in modules - Logging how they do

Fennel - Sprinkled into the lower mulch, not sure how well this will work. I'm hoping that they will germinate in the mulch and find their way down to the soil I'm thinking instead they will germinate, but won't have a stable footing and will just grow aimlessly until they rot

Carrots, Beets, Spinach - Moved away the mulch, then used a spade to make a shallow drill through the dirt, and sprinkled the seed along, covered over with a bit of mulch

Potatoes, Onions, Shallots - Using seed potatoes, onions and shallots, moved away the mulch, dug shallow holes in the dirt, placed in the seed and covered back up with mulch

Squash - Lots of trials going on here:

Sunflower - Dug up soil and sprinkled in the seeds then covered up with mulch, also started in modules

Peas, Beans, Peanuts - Dug up soil and sprinkled in the seeds, then covered up with mulch Peas started several weeks earlier than the others Peanuts were planted with their shells on

These seeds were sown indoors in modules, which have not yet been planted out Lettuce Bok Choy, Cabbage Calendula Onions, Leeks Salvia Bee balm lemon

Late May

No sign of Fennel or dill yet

I have not found any Carrots, Beets or Spinach pop up yet, it's making me a bit worried that I didn't do something properly and that they have rotted. I'm continuing to water to give them the proper conditions for germination

Carrots did not germinate, but the beets and spinach did

Carrots were re-sown after removing as much mulch as I could, then ripping up the top layer of soil and sowing the seeds broadcast

Potatoes are just now poking up and getting green, and I spotted a few onions or shallots

Squash Seedlings from the Maupens are suffering a bit, but are still alive. I'm not exactly sure why, it could be stress on the roots, or lack of water Zucs, Cucs, Pumpkins, and Squash have all germinated in the modules, these were planted out into the garden A few of the Pumpkin seeds from the compost pile are coming up and doing okay

It took a while, but a few of the direct sown sunflower seeds have come up. Module sunflowers germinated in a matter of days

Peas have come up and are doing very well

Beans are germinating, but have not yet poked up. Peanuts have not yet germinated, maybe because of the shell?

Early June

Fennel and dill have germinated and are now getting their true leaves

Carrots, Beets and Spinach have all germinated and are growing their true leaves Generally they are doing well, it's a bit spotty but this method worked much better than before

Potatoes onions and shallots are all up and doing great

Zucs, Cucs, Pumpkins, and Winter Squash are mostly doing pretty good. Some yellowing on the leaves for some, but others, particularly the pumpkins in the shade where the compost was are very big and healthy I'm keeping them watered, just hoping they can root down a bit further Not sure whether it's a lack of nutrients or just too much sun for their age

All the sunflowers are coming up and growing quickly

Peas are continuing to grow quickly, they have started climbing up the fence. No sign of flowers yet

After finding the germinating beans and taking the germinating peanuts out of their shells I placed them back into the soil evenly Now they are up and doing just fine. The true leaves came quickly and a second wave of new leaves are here

Bought some herbs and a tomato plant at the farmers market. They are all doing relatively well.

Brussel sprouts were sown in modules and I'm keeping them fertilized - true leaves are coming in

Cabbage, kale and cauliflower were all planted out. Lesson learned with brassicas - Keep them well fertilized as seedlings They can grow fast and big in the small modules, but they need to always have access to nutrients The Cabbage and kale did not do as well, most likely because I neglected them for the first part of their development Some cabbage and kale have begun to grow larger since being planted out Some did not, which I discovered was probably because they were not planted very far in the soil, and had too many wood chips blocking root growth Cauliflower on the other hand did fantastically, I waited extra long before putting them in the ground, mostly because they was no need

Strawberries are very prolific, producing 1000+ strawberry buds No ripe strawberries yet, but the biggest fruit so far are as big as a small store bought strawberry I transplanted some smaller runners around the house, we'll see how they do

Blackberries are producing buds for flowers now

Blueberry has come alive and is growing fast, although it is still small

No sign of Raspberry flowers now, although the plants are looking healthy

Various flower seedlings direct sown in the front, some are coming up and are growing fine.

Mulberry trees in front are struggling, one is growing well now, but the other has died off, I'm trying to keep the soil moist for them

Asparagus was sown in modules, they are growing fine. Some of last year's asparagus is coming up, although it's small, and struggling a bit

The last of last year's watermelon was sown in modules, each one germinated and is growing fine They were transferred into pots and are ready to go in the ground now I'm being extra cautious with them to giving them a good chance to grow and maybe make some melons this year

Lettuce and bok choy are in the ground now and they are doing great

Calendula is doing fine, planted some around the house

Elder trees are doing really well, the left one is very prolific, it is making flowers and shooting up quickly

Mid August

Fennel is growing well, some are bolting, others are forming nice little bulbs

One dill plant is doing very well and flowering, it's enough for what we need

Potatoes started dying, we decided to pull them all. We got quite a harvest >20lbs onions and shallots aren't doing very well, but at least they formed some bulbs, so I pulled them

We have more Zucs then we can eat. They have become a bush, as high as the fence, I only kept 3 plants.

Cucs are also doing great, we have plenty for snacks.

We have 3 Pumpkins already, I misplaced our little pumpkins and our butternut squash, so we're actually getting lots of little pumpkins, and not so many butternut squash

I harvested the biggest sunflower and used them, they turned out okay, I think I needed to cook them at a lower temperature

Peas flowered and did great. Pulled them late July after getting powdery mildew and just drying up and falling over

Beans got bit by some pest, and so they are a bit more like a small bush now… They are flowering and we have some tiny beans

Peanuts are growing nicely, and flowering. There are beans in the ground but I don't know how big they are yet.

Herbs are doing okay, they are enough for what we need.

Tomatoes are producing enough for some snacking here and there

Brussel sprout modules got eaten by Finn, damaging their roots quite a bit. They never fully recovered, so I decided to put them in the ground. They aren't wilting like they were, but the growth is slow. I amended some compost, and even with watering frequently, they are taking their time

Cabbage and kale are doing great! They had a slow start, but now the cabbage is forming nice heads, and the kale is producing big leaves

Cauliflower is doing pretty good, no flowers yet, but they are continuing to grow larger. They were planted way too close together

Strawberries were a hit, we had a ton over the month of June into July

Blackberries are ripe now, although there aren't too many.

Blueberry remains pretty small

Raspberry is really large now, but no flowers.

Flowers in the front mostly died, due to scorching sun day after day. Some survived and are now flowering.

Mulberry trees are both alive, after amending some wood chips, they are getting more consistent moisture

Asparagus is huge!

All the lettuce bolted while we were on vacation. I pulled them and put them in the compost pile.

Finn liked sitting on the bok choy, but they were resilient and continued to grow, just in a sort of deformed way. I ended up just pulling them and using them in a stir fry

Harvested a watermelon, it was small, and not quite ripe, but it tasted good

Calenduala is flowering

The one elder tree has berries that are still green

November

Most crops have been pulled

Beans were left to dry, and collected

Kale is doing fantastic and even continuing to grow despite the frosts

Cabbage is generating more heads now

Mums and caledula are doing great, although caledula is struggling from frost a bit

All house plants were re-potted with fresh compost, and moved inside and are doing really well