Early June 2015

"Big Red" Heritage Tomatoes

 

"If I was to choose the life I lead,  I'd be Johnnie Tomato Seed,
'Cause I know what this country needs, is home-grown tomatoes in every yard you see."
                                                                     Guy Clark

     The 10 day forecast on June 1 showed no prediction of frost, so I transplanted most of the tender crops into the garden.  Besides the heritage tomatoes, about 25 Big Red and Abraham Lincoln, that I had started in the house, I bought 8 Early Girl Tomato plants.  As the squash, pumpkins and cucumbers I started didn't do well, I also bought some of those, along with some cauliflower, that I've never grown before.

     I also made the third planting of radishes and the second planting of carrots during the first week in June.  I'd like to get enough carrots to get us through the winter this year.

Jack gives me the Raspberries

     My strawberry patch had never been very productive, so I plowed it under this spring.  However, when my friend Jack told me he had plenty of extra raspberry plants if I wanted some, I went over with a dozen fresh eggs and  bunch of radishes and came home with raspberry plants.  I put 13 plants into the ground a couple of days ago, and it looks like most of them are going to make it.

     This last week, during the last quarter of the moon, I've gotten most of the weeding done.  It's beginning to look like a garden.  We've had ample rainfall so far this year which has resulted in a good harvest of lettuce, radishes and rhubarb, and enough asparagus to delight my taste buds.

Hydroponics Still an Experiment

 

     There's been no harvest from the hydroponic experiment as of yet, but I'm looking forward to good things.  what you see in the picture is a tub filled with a weak manure tea made from our poultry manure, oxygenated by a fish tank bubbler.  The plants are in pots with lots of holes in the bottom so that the roots can go down into the water to get their nutrients.  In two or three weeks the story will be told.

New Red Potatoes by the 4th of July

 

     The planting is about done for the year, but I still plan to put in some more warm weather salad crops like Swiss chard and kale this next week.  We should have peas and new red potatoes by the first week in July, with green beans to follow soon after. 

     May we all be blessed with good food in our stomachs and healthy soil under our fingernails.