Vegetable gardening!

[luzula]

I went around and took a few pictures of what we're growing! We had a long dry spell in the spring, which had me worried that there would be drought, but since then we've have some proper rainy weather, which is good. The dry spell made a dent in the slug population, so we've mostly escaped any serious damage (and the ducks do their part, as well). Now it’s sunny again, and most of our vegetables are doing quite well, although there are a few failures, of course.


Our aubergines, which we put in the small greenhouse we have against one wall (we don't have a big greenhouse yet). They’re flowering now, so it looks like they’re doing okay.


Some tomatoes and chiles and bell peppers, and we optimistically plan to have melons in that bathtub. Look at the chile fruits by my hand, which are quite large already! We'll grow that variety again, for sure. The tomatoes are Black Plum, a paste tomato.


Not having much success with the melon, though. At least not yet--perhaps it will have a growth spurt.


Tomatillo! Small and spindly, though--no idea if it will come to anything.



Two photos of our hotbed, which gave us spring vegetables, although now they are going to flower and we have not kept pace. There's onions, radishes, Ethiopian mustard, spinach, salad, tatsoi, and Siberian kale. And we have now put out small squash plants in the hotbed (you can see them in the photo), which will be the summer crop: three butternut squash and one acorn squash.


We planted the garlic in the fall, and it is now doing well. That's elephant garlic in the first row.


A zucchini (Striato d’Italia) just coming into flower! We have a neighbor who already has zucchini fruits, but then, she has a greenhouse.


One of the old style “grey peas”, which have purple flowers and grayish seeds, as opposed to the modern pea with white flowers and green seeds, which were bred at the end of the 18th century. This one is a carlin pea which housemate brought from England.


Broad beans and potatoes, both doing well. Those two must be the easiest of our crops.


First time I grow maize, going well so far.


Fifteen meters of onions and leek! I wonder how long they will last us? Probably most of the year, is my guess. I love that leek can stand outside all winter, and you can harvest it in the snow. To the left is the Brassicaceae bed, covered against insects, and containing rutabaga/swede, cabbage, kale, broccoli, palm tree kale, pointed cabbage, and brussels sprouts. All growing quite well!


Half of these are sunchoke/Jerusalem artichoke, and half are Helianthus strumosus, a North American sunflower with similar edible roots. Strange, Wikipedia doesn't mention that the roots are edible!


A cultivar of a North American blueberry species, which we planted last fall and which will give us blueberries this year.

I forgot to tell you that we got three ducklings from a friend, and they are already almost full grown! We kept them indoors at first in a box (where they pooped so much, and cheeped in terror whenever we came near) so they wouldn't be cold at night, and only let them out in a small enclosure by day. When we put them in with the adult ducks, we had to keep them separated at first, since the adults showed some aggression towards them. But they have since been accepted, which is a relief. The one adult female (Eva) that we have left after the fox took Ester has now started brooding with a seriousness that Ester never showed. We hope to have more ducklings soon! \o/


The ducks, settled down for the night: in the foreground the two adult males, Egon who is grooming his belly, and Edvin lying down. If you're wondering about the E names, all three humans living here have names starting with E, so we thought the ducks should as well. In the background the three former ducklings. We can't tell their sex yet and haven't given them names; in any case they have not developed much individual personality yet, but move around as a cute and anxious tightly knit group. Eva is in her little house, brooding.

Comments

[dolorosa_12]

This is so impressive! I particularly love your commitment to having close to year-round seasonal growing/harvesting things, and admire the thought with which you've approached this. And the ducks are fabulous!

Are you at the stage of not needing to buy any of your own vegetables (or will be once things move along to the point of having edible leaves/fruit/tubers)?

[luzula]

We have been doing a lot of planning, for sure! But then, housemate has been taking a course in market gardening during the winter. We have six beds that are 15 meters long: one for onions, one for Brassicaceae, one for potatoes, one for legumes, one for maize and squash, and one for root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, beets). And then one extra potato bed grown directly in the grass, and various other smaller beds for experiments etc. This will be greatly expanded next year, mostly for housemate’s market garden, but also for ourselves. And we'll need to rotate, of course.

As for whether we'll need to buy any vegetables, that remains to be seen! We intend to keep track of when we start harvesting and how long it lasts, so we'll know what to grow more of next year. I think we'll be pretty well set up with onions, leafy vegetables, potatoes, maize, beets, and fruits/berries. I don't think we'll have enough carrots and legumes. Winter squash, I don’t know. We definitely won't have enough tomatoes. (And obviously there are things we eat that we don’t grow at all…)

[dolorosa_12]

I look forward to hearing about how things work out later in the year, and next year as well.

[luzula]

I'll post updates again, for sure. : )

[mific]

That all looks wonderful! Very lush and yummy. How do you make the hotbeds warmer (I imagine as way to start growing in earlier spring?) Do you just cover them?

[mific]

Also, I'm so, so envious of your alliums. I have had to give up on growing any onions and garlic as they just get infested with black aphids and die. I think Auckland's just too warm and subtropical for them. :/

[luzula]

Well, I'm sure you have other gardening options which are not open to us, to compensate. : ) But for sure, it's nice to grow alliums.

[luzula]

We made a hot compost in the hotbed, with fresh horse manure and old silage, and then put a layer of soil on top, which was then heated from below. This spring we didn't have windows to fit, but now someone has given us some glass windows we can use to cover the hotbed next spring. We hope to get started with it earlier next year.

[nnozomi]

...how do you have time to hold down a job while also running a full-scale farm? These are amazing! (Do keep posting photos as the vegetables etc. grow if it's not too much trouble, I'm fascinated.) And best wishes to the E-ducks!

[luzula]

Well, it's not a full-scale farm, and there are three of us! But yeah, it has been a lot of work--a year ago, that was just a field of grass.

I will pass on your good wishes. : )

[sovay]

I went around and took a few pictures of what we're growing!

I love your growing things. Plus ducklings!

[luzula]

It's so good to have something concrete to show for one's efforts, which is not always the case in the world.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Wow, your garden looks great!

>>Some tomatoes and chiles and bell peppers<<

Most of my tomatoes have set fruit, along with one tomatillo and one pepper. 'Chocolate Sprinkles' is by far the earliest, has already ripened one and is covered in little green tomatoes. :D

>> A zucchini (Striato d’Italia) just coming into flower! <<

Oh, wow! You could grow that just for the stunning foliage. My zucchini and summer squash are flowering but I don't know if they've set fruit yet.

>>One of the old style “grey peas”, which have purple flowers and grayish seeds, as opposed to the modern pea with white flowers and green seeds, which were bred at the end of the 18th century. This one is a carlin pea which housemate brought from England.<<

That is so pretty. I got some bush snap peas and snow peas. I think they flower pink.

>>Half of these are sunchoke/Jerusalem artichoke, and half are Helianthus strumosus, a North American sunflower with similar edible roots. Strange, Wikipedia doesn't mention that the roots are edible!<<

Huh, I didn't know there was a second edible-root sunflower species. I've got sunchokes trying to take over the prairie garden. They give zero fucks about drought, if you're worried on that front.

>> The ducks, settled down for the night <<

They are so cute. I love ducks.

Re: Thoughts

[luzula]

You must be in a warmer zone than I am if you already have a ripe tomato!

What is the difference between zucchini and summer squash, as you use the words? I would have thought zucchini was the (often green) elongated type of summer squash, but that there are also other types of summer squash (such as the flattened pan-shaped ones).

Helianthus strumosus is preferred by some because it has more streamlined roots, unlike the sunchoke with its protuberances, so it's easier to peel. My friend who grows both, and who gave us the tubers we grow now, says that he can't tell them apart in taste.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> You must be in a warmer zone than I am if you already have a ripe tomato! <<

Currently Zone 6a, bordering 6b.

>> What is the difference between zucchini and summer squash, as you use the words? <<

Summer squash vs. winter squash is based on when they ripen and how well they store, of which zucchini is a type of summer squash. Zucchini vs. summer squash are actually two types of summer squashes. Zucchini is usually green, but occasionally gray or yellow, and is straight and oblong in shape. Summer squash which is yellow comes in straight-neck and crookneck varieties, but is typically slimmer at the neck than zucchini is. The saucer-shaped ones are called pattypan and are another type of summer squash -- excellent for use as a vegetable, we stir-fried some recently and it has a sweetish, buttery taste.

>>Helianthus strumosus is preferred by some because it has more streamlined roots, unlike the sunchoke with its protuberances, so it's easier to peel. My friend who grows both, and who gave us the tubers we grow now, says that he can't tell them apart in taste.<<

Interesting. Sunchoke is supposed to have variable root shapes. Mine have a few bumps but not a lot. Well, the ones I've dug so far -- they're seedlings, so they're less predictable.

[mergatrude]

How wonderful! It looks like you'll have a good harvest. :)

[luzula]

I do hope so! But of course, I am expecting that some things will fail...

[scribe]

Oh my gosh, Luz, this looks incredible! It must have been a TON of work!

(go go little melon, I'm rooting for you! Or perhaps you should be the one rooting...)

[luzula]

It is a lot of work! But it's joyful work--I'm more motivated to work in the garden than to do many other things.

Ha ha, yes, the melon should do more rooting.

[seascribble]

Everything is so lovely! Using a bathtub as a growing bed is a genius idea. Love that everybody has an E name, including the ducks XD

[luzula]

We had the bathtub standing around anyway, so why not use it? And we are already coming up with candidate E-names for the ducklings (the brown duckling has similar coloring as Ester who was taken by the fox, so if she's female, I'd like her to be Estrid, being a similar name but not the same).

[chestnut_pod]

Wow, amazing work! Thank you for sharing these lovely images :)

[luzula]

It was a lot of work! That was just a field of grass a year ago. But it's satisfying and enjoyable work.

What a bounty

[jesse_the_k]

there are so many shades of green in your photos, which make my mouth water.

The e-ducks look cozy when they're sleeping--I can see why people thought their feathers would make for good blankets and coats.

Have you tasted grey peas yet? Perhaps in [Pelēkie zirņi](Grey peas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_peas)?

Re: What a bounty

[luzula]

Grey peas used to be grown all over Europe, but it seems they were kept as a special tradition in Latvia--I didn't know that! Cool. I've tasted grey peas, but not the varieties we have.

[feroxargentea]

Ah, it all looks lovely! I find tomatillos hit and miss, depending on whether we have a warm summer (they're in the greenhouse, but summers can be short and cool here). But they're worth it for the good years, and they seem less finicky than bell peppers and aubergines and melons.

Good luck with the ducklings (Egglings?) I'd have a hard time not giving them E-nicknames at the least!

[luzula]

Yeah, I guess it's always a gamble as to how the summer will turn out. Although tomatillos can be used immature for salsas, yes? One of my tomatillos has a flower now, but as the other one doesn't, I suppose it won't be pollinated. It's very pretty though!

We have decided that the red-brown duckling, which has coloring much like Ester who was taken by the fox, will be Estrid if female, and Esteban if male, in memory of her.

[feroxargentea]

I'm not an expert on tomatillo use, but when the first frosts kill the plants off, I pick whatever's there and throw them all into pasta sauces, even the little ones, so they're definitely edible! Just have to remember to wash the coating off them first. The immature ones are a bit hard, though, so maybe better cooked than raw.

The plants get huge, always bigger than I expect! I have just put some more support strings around mine, and they're waist-high already.

[luzula]

Cool, I will try that! Assuming I get any fruits, that is...will report back.

[osprey_archer]

What beautiful pictures of your garden! I'll look forward to hearing how the harvests turn out.

[luzula]

Thanks! I'll report back later in the summer. But I love just walking around every day and seeing what's happening--the summer squashes are having a growth spurt now, and starting to flower.

[garonne]

So cool! Looking forward to seeing you eat the fruits of your labour :)

[luzula]

I am very much looking forward to eating them! : D I mean, I have eaten various types of leafy vegetable and radish already, but I am longing for tomatoes and squash and potatoes and peas, etc.