Farm photos

[luzula]

It is Midsummer and everything is growing so fast. Have some photos!

One out of five of my grafts that took. There were so many that failed! I don't know what I was doing wrong with them, even after reading up on mistakes to watch out for. : (


The almond is doing well! Not pictured: the nectarine that is all deformed with leaf curl. I feel bad for it--apparently we ought to have removed those leaves early and then treated it with some sort of fungicide.


The overwintering parsnips from last year in all their flowering glory, which will give us seeds this fall.


Flowering swede/rutabaga, which we stored in the root cellar and then planted in the spring, to get seed. Like the parsnips, they are biannual and flower in their second year. We did the same with a beet variety.


This gooseberry bush is richly rewarding us for freeing it from weed competition last year and manuring it this spring.


Have you ever seen such magnificently lush garlic? I think not.


The tunnel, with tomatoes, cucumbers, melon, aubergine, etc, and with basil and salad inbetween. It's doing well, but we want be so much earlier with these crops next year!


I don't know what on earth that artichoke is doing to bloom already!


Some of our earliest salad, saved to grow for seed. It is annual, but of course bred to be slow to bloom, so for now it's just slowly swelling in the corner, saving its strength.


Celery and fennel, both new crops for us.


Squash, corn, more squash, tomatoes, and potatoes. Thank you, America. The second row of squash are naked-seed ones, grown mainly to get seeds to eat.


We learned from last year's mistakes, and this year were able successfully to grow potatoes in hay.


Sweet lupins, which I've never grown before. Most are Lupinus albus, but to the left is a Lupinus angustifolius. Excited to taste these!


The household pole beans (runners to the right and ordinary beans to the left), with E's radicchio in the background.


Bringing in the hay. You can just see E's tshirt and arm behind one of the haystacks. Apparently he was timing himself and came back all sweaty and triumphant that he had scythed a row in five minutes. I am also scything, and it is hard work! I am keeping the muscle ache in check with daily sessions with my massage ball.


The rye, now taller than me!


More of our experimental beds of grain. From the right it's buckwheat in the foreground and wheat in the background, then a polyculture of oats and peas, then barley, then oats. Except the oats didn't come up well--but this pea variety apparently can stand quite well on its own, so that's good to know.

Comments

Abundance^3

[jesse_the_k]

Fabulous! If you ever take a break and relax by the beans I bet you could hear them growing.

How many hay crops in a summer?

Eighteen hours of daylight seems to accelerate all the things.

Re: Abundance^3

[luzula]

We actually have a hanging chair where one could relax, but I rarely sit in it. *facepalm* Actually my favorite way to relax is just to walk around the garden and notice and enjoy things that have changed. Of course, then I also notice things I should do, but still.

Re: hay crops. Two, I think?

[muccamukk]

That's amazing! Thank you for the pictures!

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! : )

[greenwoodside]

That gooseberry bush is magnificent. So much so that I started thinking of Sauron: its arms are Long.

But I'm sure it doesn't really want to cover all the land in shadow. Just gooseberries.

My own plant is doing well, but is a baby in comparison.

[luzula]

I think that is the first time I have seen a berry bush compared to Sauron. *g*

We also have some baby gooseberry bushes (and other baby berry bushes). When all of them are grown, the farm is going to be overflowing with berries.

[james]

Ooooh! Looks amazing - so much hard work, but amazing as well.

[luzula]

Thank you! It is indeed a lot of hard work, but so worth it.

[seascribble]

So many plants!!!

[luzula]

Very many plants. : )

[chestnut_pod]

That's a working farm, by Jove.

Interested about the lupines! We're always told over here in lupine land that you COULD eat lupine seeds, but you'd have to be hopeful that you harvested the ones that aren't paralyzingly poisonous. Nobody ever brings up specific "sweet" varietals!

Charmed also by the Patch of the Americas. Do you think you'd ever try Three Sister-ing your corn-legumes-squash?

[luzula]

We do work a lot, it's true! : D

Well, lupins/lupines (I've seen both used in English?) have a long history as a human food, but they often have to be soaked and rinsed repeatedly to get rid of the bitter taste. There has been plant breeding research to make new varieties with less bitterness. I'm trying out this one and this one.

We should really have put the bean bed where it belongs, next to the other American crops! I've read about doing the Three Sisters thing from people who've tried it, who said that it's not that easy to get the timing right--the corn has to grow fast enough to be a climbing support for the beans, and the squash can overwhelm everything if planted too early. Have you ever tried it?

[chestnut_pod]

I think the spelling goes either way too? I have a personal preference for the -e; I just think it's pretty that way.

Yes, I did once try it, but I used a mix of commercial varieties, and the timing was, as you say, way off. The squash in particular took over before the corn was tall enough. That said, the beans and squash seemed to do just fine together, and the flowering bed that resulted was simply gorgeous, if hard to harvest later! Probably one would have to do some real research into the appropriate varietals, climates, etc. The university extension here has a really cool master gardener/heritage gardening (basically a formal link with the local Indigenous nation doing this kind of plant work) class, but it requires a full commitment to the master gardener course, which is just not in the cards.

[mergatrude]

So exciting! Look at that happy artichoke! \o/

[luzula]

I don't know if it's happy or not! Often when plants bloom too early, it's because they're stressed by some environmental factor.

[mergatrude]

:(

I'm wishing it all the best.

[hurry_sundown]

Wow! This is all fantastic, Luz. I'm completely in awe of your farming-fu. I can just about grow a houseplant, if it's one of the really hardy ones.

Also, I yet draw breath. I don't remember the last time I poked my head in, so it'sconceivable that was in doubt. 😉

[luzula]

Congratulations on drawing breath! : P And nice to see you.

I mean, I am also impressed and proud at what we have done! It is such a joy.

[regshoe]

That really is magnificent garlic. My garlic is doing pretty well but I think this wins :)

I love lupins as garden flowers but did not know they were edible! Which part do you eat?

This really is an amazing amount and variety of things, and they all look so cool. You can definitely be proud <3

[luzula]

Thank you! : )

From what I have read, not all lupins are edible--many contain bitter substances that are poisonous. It's the seeds that you eat, like with beans and peas. Traditionally you would have to soak them repeatedly to get rid of the bitterness, but the varieties I'm growing are supposed to be bitter-free. We'll see whether they actually are! And I'm also interested in seeing how the yield compares to other legumes.

May your garlic prosper!

[regshoe]

the varieties I'm growing are supposed to be bitter-free. We'll see whether they actually are!

Now, I don't like how uncertain this sounds. Please don't poison yourself trying to see whether they actually are. (Seriously: interesting! I hope they do well)

May your garlic prosper!

Thank you :) The leaves are starting to turn yellow, so I'm hoping it'll be ready to harvest soon.

[luzula]

I think we'll be fine! : ) People have eaten lupin seeds for a long time--if they're bitter we'll just soak them until they aren't.