Garden Video Update 7/20/09

Welcome to Jane! Thanks for following my blog! Best wishes as you make your big move!

Garden Overview

I have had hardly any weeds to pull in my garden... but... I'm being surrounded by weeds outside the garden!

Better get that taken care of before those weeds go to seed!

Yukon Gold baby "gourmet" potatoes harvested last week when I couldn't find my camera! This basket contains maybe 3 pounds of potatoes. I roasted some in olive oil last week... they were fantastic!!!

Want to walk around the garden with me?

Find out what grows good in Wyoming...

Empty squares...

I am just totally loving Square Foot Gardening!

Empty squares...

-Harvested a few squares of Yukon Golds and more will be coming out soon.

-Harvested a few squares of radishes.

-My lettuce bed is getting empty...

Planting more...

Today I planted more carrots & radishes.

-planted 2 squares of round carrots

-planted 2 squares of white tipped radishes (don't know how these will do with the heat)

Thinking about a fall/winter crop...

-broccoli

-over winter carrots???

When I had a row garden I felt totally overwhelmed with weeds and plants... and produce. But having my garden broken down into 1 foot by 1 foot squares really makes all the difference!

Where is my camera??? My Harvest begins slowly...

I am so missing my camera... it's in a bag that I put somewhere... I'm so missing sharing my garden photos with you!!!! Got to find that bag..

Harvest News...

Broccoli... I harvested 4 smallish heads of broccoli the other day. We've eaten two of them in a salad. They taste totally different from store bought broccoli. Milder... Darn... wish that I had planted lots of broccoli so that I could freeze some for the future. Well... hence my garden adventure of learning...

Yukon Golds... I roasted some of the "baby gourmet yukon gold" potatoes that I harvested the other day. They were FANTASTIC!!! Even my son who doesn't particularly care for potatoes, had a second helping! They went perfectly with my beef roast!!!

Leaf Greens... Last night I harvested another basket of leaf greens (my 2nd planting).

Tomatoes... My tomato plants continue to bush out... and have lots of flowers on them! I spied many baby tomatoes last night!!! I'm soooo excited!!!!

Peas... Tender, sweet peas are coming on! We picked some last night to go in the salad... and a few we just popped in our mouths! Aaron said they were good.

Green beans... little beans are appearing! Aaron (age 11) gave them his stamp of approval last night as he nibbled on one!

Strawberries... We're getting to the end of our strawberries. Oh did we enjoy eating fresh, sweet.. and sometimes tart strawberries!!! We got lots this year for the very first time... but jam DIDN'T get made. We just enjoyed eating them fresh too much! As I harvest the last of them, they will go into the freezer for fruit smoothies!

Raspberries... We spied a few red raspberries yesterday. Plop... straight into our eager mouths they went! We want more.... MORE!!!

We're having a terrible time with grasshoppers in the raspberry patch again this year. Guess I'm going to have to buy some DE.

Found it!!! Just found my camera! Yeah... will post photos soon!

More later!!!

Out with the sad potato plants...

My very sad Yukon Gold potato box

Out with the "near death" potato plants!

Many of my potato plants died... or were near death. It made me so sad to look at them.

So, I made the executive decision to remove the "near death" plants and harvest the baby potatoes that they produced. Yummy!!!!

I was surprised to see how many baby potatoes lay beneath those sad plants! There's enough for a couple meals... I'm thinking roasted baby potatoes to go with my beef roast for tonight!

Steps Taken...

I added compost and extra soil throughout the potato box in hopes that my remaining somewhat healthy plants will thrive and produce good sized potatoes!

Video walk thru update 7/11/09

Blooming Tomatoes!

Olpaka and Rutger

We were so busy "house finishing" yesterday, that I didn't get to poke around my garden... but I did make the time today to make my weekly Garden Video Update!

Overall, everything is filling out nicely! We continue to have nice warm sunny days here and my garden is loving it!

My yukon gold potato patch is looking very sad... but there will be some potatoes to harvest even still!

Want to walk around the garden with me?

Garden Harvest 7/1/09

A big welcome to Amy, Mary, & Elaine! Thanks for following my blog!!

I picked some romaine lettuce...

And yes... more radishes...

A few baby yukon gold potatoes...

And 2 garlic scapes...

And an even bigger batch of yummy strawberries!!!!

I even got to see the strawberry patch toad!

Yummy!!!

Whole garden photo update...

Rain!
Boy, the weather has been strange this spring/summer here in Wyoming! We've gotten so much rain!

It's raining tonight which is awesome because my beds were getting a bit dry.

Now, on average... our area gets 6" of moisture a year. We're in a high desert. I think that we've already gotten that 6" plus... The countryside is really getting green!

Loving SFG...

I am so enjoying my garden! I love to walk around my boxes and see the growth of my plants! I'm sooo happy that I decided to do Square Foot Gardening (SFG) this year! It sure was a LOT of work getting it set up... but I've pulled less than 40 weeds so far this season... and THAT is just incredible!!!

Whole Garden photo...

Here's the whole garden picture that I took this afternoon from a 2nd floor window.

I think that I can safely put away all my plastic sheeting now... although... typically we a 1 or 2 hail storms in June.

In the 2nd row (front to back) you can see my Wando Peas (a bush variety)... don't they look organized?

Yukon Golds... update

My Yukon Gold Potatoes are starting to flower. They're getting taller and the plants are filling out. If you look at the garden overview photo, my potato box is the 3rd one on the right... my onion box is just to the left of it there in the middle.

When are Potatoes Ripe?

I was just over to Skippy's Garden where Kathy has a great post on potatoes... "When are Potatoes Ripe." I found it to be very helpful! Thanks for that great post Kathy!

Click HERE for detailed information on growing Yukon Golds. I read that they're ready in about 90 days... so that would be August for me.

Sprouting...

-Carrots (a whole 4x4 bed!)

-Beets (4 squares)

-Radishes (too many squares to count!)

-Collards (2 squares)

I was so inspired by the beautiful Collards that so many of you are harvesting... that I planted 2 squares and they're sprouting up!

Harvest...

We continue to enjoy salad greens and some radishes... and a few onions that we plucked because I double planted a few squares.

Gardening Friends!

Love your comments! It's so much fun to read your garden blogs! I'm learning so much!

Sprouting!

Didn't get to spend much time in my garden today... Had too many errands to do with hubby.

Today's Sprout Report...

-Bush beans are beginning to poke up!

-A few potatoes are up

-Wando Peas are poking thru

Vining Tomatoes

My vining tomatoes got wind burn or frost bite the other night. They look pretty sad, but I think that they'll make it thru!

Put to bed for the night

My 4x4 beds that have tomatoes in them are all covered up for the night. I made the dome covers from Mel's book.

Aaron's Gigantic Pumpkin Bed

My son Aaron (age 11) and I made a small 2x2 bed out of scrap lumber and got it all filled with Mel's Mix. The bed is going in front of some trees, don't worry it'll still get lots of sun! Will be making a trellis for this box... the mosquitoes chased us home. In Aaron's sage wisdom, he said to me... "That's what tomorrow's for..."

Planting Onions & Yukon Gold Potatoes today...

Hi Gardening friends!

It's so much fun connecting with you! I really enjoy reading your blogs... and seeing how your garden is going.

I'm taking a quick lunch break... thought I'd post a quick entry...

Today so far I've planted almost a whole 4x4 box of onions and a whole 4x4 box of Yukon Gold potatoes.