Fresh from the garden

It has been a while since my last post. Moving kind of sucks the life out of you.

Despite the upheaval, I have still managed to get to the garden and sample a few early veggies. There is nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables that you have grown yourself. I'm kicking myself that I didn't grow more peas. They were fabulous!! For sure next year I will try and grow more. I think the taller ones would be a better idea.

I haven't been giving the garden as much attention as I would like but today I'm going to spend a couple of hours there. My compost needs turning badly and I would love to find some brown matter to dig in. Bad time of year to try and find leaves to dig in. We are near a wooded area and I could probably find some but I don't want to run into any bears!!

I have made a few mistakes in the garden and I'm sure I will make more next year but you never know til you try. My potatoes are all rather top heavy and fell over. I might try and dig up some today and try and cut them back a bit. My boxes don't quite have enough in them yet (I need more compost!!) and I had trouble hilling them up. The soil was a bit compacted and hard to move around. Next year hopefully the soil will be a bit better.

In the fall I plan on adding more manure, seaweed, compost and will top it off with leaves. Those raised beds are going to be as full as I can get them!

My great experiment of placing a teepee around my zucchini with scarlet runner beans was kind of pretty but a bad bad idea. The beans are now shading the zucchini and it isn't liking it one bit. I am getting some zucchini but some are kind of rotting. It is pretty though. I hate to pull the runner beans and I guess a few less zucchini isn't such a bad thing.

Carrots... what can I say. I didn't thin them and I must must try and do it today. I have only managed a few stubby ones and I know that is the problem. Beets too, but I have thinned them a bit while eating the tops (yum).

The tomatoes have done much better after their trimming but I could have trimmed a lot more and I planted them too close together. Another mistake! I will need to rig up another way of protecting them for next year. A permanent structure will be in order I think. My little cover fills with water in the rain and is a bit of a shaky thing. It has helped but definitely will have to get something a little more sturdy for next year.

My cucumbers are doing well so far. The plant I bought died and I threw in the entire packet of seeds and three plants grew. Not a great success rate but with our wet cold spring I will take anything. I have spotted a small cucumber so fingers crossed!

Someone asked me the other day if I thought I was saving money by growing my own veggies. Certainly not this year that's for sure but I didn't do it to save money. I think it is the satisfaction of watching things grow that you planted and put effort into and of course for the taste. What a difference that makes.

There are ways to save money I know and I really should thin things more but for this year I'm happy....