Vegetable gardening!
Jun. 21st, 2025 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI 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.
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.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-06-22 02:03 am (UTC)I love your growing things. Plus ducklings!
(no subject)
Date: 2025-06-22 11:35 am (UTC)