Garden Ta-Dah!

Okay, this BIG, LONG, garden ta-dah is really for my folks, especially for my dad, who due to a pretty serious ankle surgery, was unable to plant a garden this spring- the first year without one in all of his 76 years.  So, Dad (and friends), these are for you. 

Here's how we started:

Lots of seed packets all over the dining room table and

a pretty vague map with a bunch of scribbles on it...

John plowed and tilled in 46-0-0 (Urea) to give our garden an "N" jump start.

 

We (I mean, everyone else-more about my job later) put in the "pea fence"

which was really the "pole-bean fence" from last year.  As you'll see, the peas really didn't mind a second-hand fence.

The first to be harvested were the chives,

which overwintered just fine from last year's planting.

I froze two clumps worth, which yielded about 10 cups of finely chopped chive bits, which I put in little plastic side dish containers from KFC.  Baked potatoes, here we come!  If you decide to do this, be prepared for your home to smell like onions for days afterward.

So, here's somewhat of a series of progression shots.

Seeding June 7, 2011  

   July 1, 2011       

                                                                      July 16, 2011

The laying of the drip irrigation as well as the planting of the garden were all done by a bunch of our friends, who will all reap the rewards (and aches and pains) of the garden as we go along.  The players of our game are (and in no particular order, just the order I can remember names):

John, Margie, Pop, Ellen, Jeo, Henry, Erik, Viviane, Jacque, Diane, Britte, and of course, Cowboy the Monkey Dog.  Cowboy was definitely more in the way than helpful during installation and I tried supervising from the sidelines

with my own ankle surgery recovery.

Jacque and Viviane

Laying drip lines

John making a funny face- I have no idea what he's doing here,

maybe bending a piece of pipe?

Cutting drip line

Me, supervising?  I look like I'm yelling at someone.  My, how embarrasing.

Okay, this is better.  Goofy grin.

This is probably what I was laughing at... there's Ellen laughing too.

Okay, now there's Ellen resting, 'cause she was so tired laughing...

Just a quick sidenote: 

Cowboy, Margie, and I also have functioned as quality control in addition to supervising.  We test sweet tea, snap peas and strawberries so they won't poison the others. 

Cowboy and Margie doin' their ear-scratchin' thing that they do

Okay, back to the garden...

 Lettuce progression....

 

  Early June, 2011      

   July 16, 2011 

                                                                   July 19, 2011

Corn (15 rows) and Tomatoes (50+ plants)

Note that the corn has doubled in size in three days,

even though the more recent photo is closer.

 

We all are in love with peas... all 4 rows.

One green Early Girl coming, about the size of a golf ball!

Corn is doing well, and so are the weeds.  The corn is knee-high on the 19th of July! 

Here are the beans.  No pole beans, just regular green beans and yellow wax this year.  Last year's pole beans (Ky Blue Wonder) were really disasterous.  They tasted funny and were totally tough, probably due to the heat and not enough water.

Squash/Cucumber progression...

looking a little wilty, but a drip line to each one, lucky ducks.

 Okay, every gardener must admit when it just gets to be too much.

You can't do everything.

. 

It's been hard keeping ontop of the weeds, especially in the onions and garlic.

And the potatoes are now flowering.  We had every intention of piling up dirt around each plant as they grew, but it just didn't get done.  Oh well.  Next year.

 Those 4 rows of potatoes do look really nice, though, don't they?  I can't wait until Fall when we dig for treasure, even if it'll be less than we could have had!!! 

Don't have wait long for some harvest though.  Beside the chives we have....

Radishes and yes, PEAS!!!

(We've also picked 8 cherry tomatoes, but we ate them before we could take photos)

I was thinking that our garden appears to be so free of stuff, but what you don't see

is what's behind the curtain.... our drip system.

John could probably tell you more about the details of it, but I can say this: 

Despite it's haphazard layout, he fashioned a totally awesome watering system out of purchased pipe and super-engineered PVC (he can do anything with that stuff).  We have six lines going throughout the garden to irrigate all that we have growing.  Last year it would take us 5-6 hours a night to water our 100 ft. by 100 ft. garden.  Now it's all automated.

In case your wondering, our vegetable list this year includes:

lettuce (5 varieties, I think)

spinach

swiss chard

carrots

bush and yellow wax beans

peas

garlic

onions

red potatoes

corn

beets

radish

yellow crookneck squash

zucchini

pickling cucumbers

slicing cucumbers

cantaloupe

I think that's it.  Oh, I almost forgot.  We grew a bumper crop of purslane (sp?) this year.  They call it Spanish Spinach here.  I'll try and get a photo of it... anyway, it's a particularly aggressive weed.  You pull it, trim the roots, wash it, then saute it with onions and bacon.    Out of everyone in the group, I was the only one brave enough to try it. 

It's actually pretty good.

And, finally, just because I like them and they finally bloomed this year, we have hollyhocks growing on the west side of our house... happiness is...a perfectly pink hollyhock

And the best sunset of the year, on June 30, 2011,

from the smoke drifting from the Las Conchas fire burning 150,000 acres near

Los Alamos National Laboratory.

 

⁵"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."
      When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
 ⁹His disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
   " 'though seeing, they may not see;
      though hearing, they may not understand.'
 ¹¹"This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹²Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. ¹⁴The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. ¹⁵But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Luke 8:5-15



Well, I think that's about it.  Man, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get it all in....

See ya round the (growing in many ways) corner,

XOXO