What’s Cracking In The Garden

My earlier post (number 158) could have been rerun here a few weeks ago. Got the garden in this weekend, for the most part. Another 50 berry bushes (25 each chokecherry and american plum). Got the last of it in around mid day today just in time for a bit of rain this afternoon/evening. We have a quarter inch of rain so far, with more in the forecast. Off to a decent start...

Here I am starting from scratch after moving last fall.

There were several overgrown gardens and none of them seemed like a good home for growing food. One of those gardens was a large wooden raised bed that was falling apart but it seemed like a good location. So I dismantled the wooden structure and dug out the soil and used that to fill various pits around the yard.

That left a nice clearing where I installed 2 32" tall 6'x2' raised beds and spread a thick layer of woodchips covering the ground of the old base.

Got those beds filled and planted onions and potatoes in one. I plan to plant peppers and herbs in the other. The onions are looking really happy and all the potatoes have sprouted and are growing very quickly.

So far so good. 2 more smaller container beds to place after I prepare a space for them.

Greens - Collard, Mustard and Chard have been doing well for me lately. I've already harvested a bunch from my tiny garden.

Cucumbers produced a bit then the vines yellowed and I had to yank them.

Okra is growing and starting to produce.

Green bell pepper has produced a few nice peppers for me.

One single habanero plant has been producing like a champion. I'm freezing more habaneros than I will be able to eat for a good long time.

Eggplants are starting to produce.

Tomatos are growing but have not produced anything yet.

I have basil growing in the ground like weeds - in the cracks in the walkways, between stepping stones in the gardens, etc. It's everywhere and I'm OK with it. I like basil.

We planted a squash vine that I don't know (or remember) exactly what it is. It grew faster than the cucumber vines and produced a lot of baby football sized (think spaghetti squash sized) melons that had a hard skin and the interior flesh was totally devoid of any flavor whatsoever. I yanked the vines and won't be planting them again. While they grew and produced, they took up massive space and the edible was not enjoyable.

I just hope that we don't have any more drought this coming summer like we did last year.

Always fun discovering what grows at a new property. I just found a pretty decent sized patch of asparagus in one of my overgrown gardens. Score! I wish I knew it was there when it was harvest time. I look forward to next spring.

Got some garden pics this morning.

This is what I have done with the space once occupied by a large overgrown raised bed that was falling apart. I used the soil from it to fill pits around the yard and then used the clearing to put down some raised beds and a thick layer of wood chips. Will be expanding it a bit more to put some deer fence around the whole thing.

I didn't start any from seed this year because I knew I would be out of town for the eclipse and wouldn't have anyone to tend to seedlings while I was away (accept seed potatoes and planted some beans I suppose).

I have potatoes and onions in one of the tall beds, peppers and a few onions in the other and tomatoes in the lower beds. All of them have marigolds and cilantro with some thyme in the lower beds. Will be adding some basil but the nights are still a bit cold for it. Also planted some green beans in the lower beds which haven't sprouted yet.


Potato and onion bed


Pepper bed: Yellow bell, green bell, sweet banana pepper, Anaheim pepper, poblano pepper and many jalapeno pepper plants.


Already have fruits on the yellow banana pepper plants. Not bad for this time of year in Minnesota.




Wasn't sure where to put these chives so I put them in this pot in a space where I had a circle of a dead spot from where the cover of my fire pit was. I want much of the yard to be garden so if I see a dead spot I'm taking it.

Things are growing fast. It has been extremely rainy. Grabbed a few quick pics last weekend. It was very windy so leaves are in weird positions in some of these.



Tomato bed with marigolds, cilantro, nasturtium with thyme and a few carrots hidden in the mix.


Onion and potato bed


Beans getting ready to bloom


Peppers coming along. At least 1 jalapeno mature enough to pick but I'll let it ripen a bit more.






Better boy tomatoes making progress but it will be a while.

My Habanero has continued to produce like a champion - by far the most productive plant in the garden this year. Apparently, I also managed to plant a Scotch Bonnet pepper plant and it has started producing peppers in the last week or so. The Scotch Bonnets are supposed to be more or less equivalent to Habaneros on the Scoville scale, but the ones in my garden are definitely bringing more heat than the Habaneros.

I still have one lonely cucumber vine that is producing nice looking foot long cucumbers even though the vine itself looks like it's withered, dry and dead. It's a mystery to behold.

Okra plants are steady producers and doing well. Same with green bell peppers and eggplant. Unfortunately, it seems like every bug in a square mile radius is having a party feasting on my collard greens.

It's just too hot down here for the tomato plants. They grow ok, but can't seem to grow/bear any fruit to maturity.

And Basil - lol... I have enough Basil growing to make Pesto for the entire neighborhood.

Your season starts way earlier than mine. Too hot for tomatoes is wild. Betting you can't grow most types of lettuce there.

My basil plants are all pretty small. They turn into large bushes for me by the end of the season. Eventually I stop pruning some to get more flowers around.

I don't have room for cucumbers yet here so I'm going to miss those this year. Planning to add at least a couple more beds next spring. I want to expand enough to be able to grow everything I typically grow along with one or two things I haven't yet grown before.

I'm also hoping to put in a few apple trees next spring. Still need to decide exactly where and what types. Been researching it and it's pretty complicated.

Tomatoes stop producing around here when daily temps reach the 90s.

I've actually had some limited success growing Romaine lettuce. Not this year though.

Garden is going well. Squash and melons on the vine. Lettuce, radishes, and beets producing. Zucchini and cucumbers starting their annual onslaught. Tomatoes coming along slowly. Corn is starting to tassel. Lots of raspberries and sand cherries. Making lots of syrup, jam/jelly, and just freezing raspberries.
Sand cherry jelly:

Things are coming along here. It continues to be an extremely rainy summer.

I've started picking peppers (jalapeno and yellow banana so far), picked a few cherry tomatoes and I don't think it will be too much longer before I'm picking beans.





Better boy tomatoes


Insane number of flowers/fruits on just one fruit stem of this grape tomato.



Green beans growing quickly. Really looking forward to frying those up with some red chili flakes.

It turns out I have a good mount of wild onion growing on my property. I would occasionally smell onion when mowing in this area. Now that it's blooming I was able to find out what the source was.

Food garden is producing. Been making tomato sauce and eating lots of peppers and onion from the food garden. Made some killer pizzas.

Wild onion