Peas, garlic and salad greens have given up their space for winter squashes, beans and melons. This is my first year growing in raised beds, and even though I know that our total square footage is about the same as it was last year, it tricks my eyes and I feel like there's just not as much room. And so we've trellised more this year than ever before, peas, beans, cucumbers, melon.... always looking for ways to squeeze in a bit more here and there.
The garden this year is teaching me a lot about how to be selective in what I plant and what I am satisfied with purchasing from someone else. Broccoli, for example. It just doesn't do well for us and I'm not sure why. Ignoring that, I planted a dozen plants nice and early and we got maybe a pound of broccoli in total before they started to bolt and I pulled them out. I could have planted 3 or 4 summer squash plants in that space and we'd be eating fresh squash daily. From now on, I'll leave the broccoli growing to someone else, thanks. Our peas were fabulous and I wish we'd had more, which is where we're at with the beans now. I also wish we'd planted onions and potatoes again and will do so next year. The few volunteers left over from last year have been pleasant surprises. Our garlic did quite well, the tomatoes are coming along and our greens bed is prolific as always. Sadly, the apple tree in our yard has succumbed to some type of root rot and will have to be taken down soon, but in it's place will go 2 or 3 more raised beds (one will definitely be for perennial herbs) and a new tree. The wood will no doubt be used to help keep us warm this winter.
Mike and Claire hooked up our rain barrels and planted our fig trees last week, and Mike made a fancy compost sifting screen that works quite well. He also had the brilliant idea a while back to pile our raked leaves into the chicken yard to let the girls scratch them up for us while adding a bit of their own fertilizer in as well. After a few weeks in there, those leaves are finely shredded with a bit of that good ol' poo mixed in and ready to be added to the compost heap. Brilliant.
We typically get 2 eggs a day from our 3 hens (Mabel, it would seem, is a complete and total freeloader) and I'm spending a lot of time sitting a few feet away from the hive watching in amazement as the bees do their thing. I think I could sit there for hours watching them, getting to know them. I watch as they come back from foraging and tumble into the hive with those huge clusters of pollen weighing down their legs, watch as the ones with the job of protecting the hive keep other bees and insects at bay and remove a dead bee every now and then, and watch as they always seem to do a quick little preening, not unlike our cat, (except that he doesn't fly... not that I know of) just before flying off. Today I picked up a copy of Honeybee, Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese at the library and am excited to get my nose into it.
Oh! And I am SO EXCITED to start "telling" the bees! Anyone ever heard of this? I was just clued in to this last night as I read through some comments posted on the wonderful blog, Soulemama, in response to what Amanda Blake Soule wrote yesterday about recently getting hives of her own. One reader suggested she "tell" her bees and I've now come to know this to mean just what it sounds like~ you tell your bees things. What's going on in the neighborhood, in your life, what you think about things. Anything and everything. You know, to keep them company. Help them get used to the sound of your voice. Feel like part of the family. Apparently it is a tradition that has been around for quite (quite) some time. I think it sounds perfect.
Happy gardening~ I'm off to go talk to my bees!
Your homestead sounds and looks divine! I'm a bit envious. We are in the worst drought ever here. Well really, only the last 150 years or so. It SO hot and DRY. 100's for as long as the meterologist can predict. I was actually thinking that I need to put my pathetic garden to sleep and let it rest. It's just not worth it.
ReplyDeleteIf only a job would appear for my husband in NC! I've dreamed of Asheville for years and years! Four seasons, mountains, deciduous forest, and like-minded folks = dreamy.
Oh, my goodness. You called it my "homestead". I love you. We live, like so many others do, on a 1/4 acre parcel of land and wish it were several times that. Of course I am very grateful for what we have, but can you imagine what we could do with another acre? A cow maybe? Some goats at the very least..... and several more fruit trees and bushes.... about a dozen more hens....
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the drought~ I know that is difficult and frustrating on so many levels.
We DO love this area~ moved down here from New Jersey 9 years ago and are happy to now call it home. We are not far from Asheville, about 15 minutes East, in Black Mountain. Maybe that job will pop up for him!
Lovely! All of it. Next year you will have to be my bee mentor. Our garden has fallen by the wayside some with the craziness of wrapping up law school, working and prioritizing time the the girls. You've inspired me to spend some time weeding and working in the garden this weekend. Our greens are still coming like mad too. We're even eating the bolted ones. A little bitter, but still grateful. I agree with you on the broccoli thing. I really wish I'd planted squash instead. They take up a lot of space and don't yield much. I think when we've got serious acreage next year I may give another go, but I doubt we'd ever be able to produce as much as we all like to eat anyhow.
ReplyDeleteHow did you start your garlic? We have onions this year for the first time and I used starts.
Danielle, I will happily share with you whatever I learn about bees between now and when you get started. I assume I will be learning lots and will still have a ways to go~
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have A LOT on your plate right now, and surely (of course) time with those little ladies is leaps and bounds more important than a weeded and watered garden.
About the garlic, in the past we have ordered from Garlicsmiths, but it can get pretty expensive pretty quickly, so last year we just bought some local organic garlic, separated the bulbs into individual cloves, and planted them (pointy tip up) somewhere between late October and mid November. We mulched them fairly heavily and they were ready by early June. If you do it this way, I'd definitely suggest finding local garlic so you know it's a variety that does well in your area.
good luck with the workload!