How is Your Garden Doing?
Big garden fence finished
I actually started working on my veg gardens in February, even though I live in Western Mass. I had to remove and replace the perimeter fence and worked whenever the weather was warm enough.
Big garden – l-r: rhubarb, comfrey, onions (behind comfrey), garlic May 11, 2018
Potatoes planted but not mulched May 11, 2018
But through April the weather was never warm enough to actually plant the gardens. I was only able to start planting a couple weeks ago. Potatoes can go in as early as April 21st, weather permitting, but not this year.
Celery replanted due to crop failure
Peas up in the Small garden, Anne raspberry in foreground
But I’ve been working every spare moment that the weather allows and I’ve nearly caught up. As of May 18th the Small garden is as planted as it can be until May 31st, my last frost date.
Kale in May 16th
Artichokes in May 16th
Brassicas planted May 17th
Beets, celery, dill, hollyhocks planted, rest prepped for planting May 18th
New cold frame covers
My husband built 3 new cold frame covers this week so that job is done.
The Big garden still needs carrots, cabbage, and Swiss chard planted, and the potatoes mulched. Then I will wait until May 31st to plant the rest.
New Herb garden waiting attention
While I wait I will tackle more of the flower and herb gardens. I managed to get most of 4 of the 37 flowerbeds cleaned out. But before I work on any more of those, I will have to clean out, plant, and mulch the New Herb garden.
Kousa dogwood, planted as a 10” seedling in 2015
Mountain laurel buds, will be lots of flowers this year
Old cold frame full of herbs and flowers
The cold frames are full of things waiting to be planted in all gardens.
V garden – Star of Bethlehem
South garden – l-r: hollyhocks, wood hyacinths, lily of the valley, geranium, thyme
South Herb garden – r-l: thyme, chives, rose, Joe Pye weed
Old North garden – l-r: hybrid spiderwort and lily of the valley, Jacob’s ladder, lesser celandine, bloodroot
North Corner garden – white lily of the valley
North Corner garden – yellow primroses, anemones
New North garden – Virginia bluebells and Solomon’s seal, spearmint
New North garden – sweet woodruff, Solomon’s seal
New North garden – pink lily of the valley
So that’s how my gardens are on May 18th .
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Very nice. You will get great growth when it all grows in full. Hay is fantastic. I take all the old hay and compost it and it makes a very nice dark nitrogen rich soil after it breaks down.
Excellent!
You have very nice gardens. Love the hay idea, I read that in your post the other day.
My garden will be planted this weekend! :)
good work..thanks for ur nice habit....
Hello @goldenoakfarm!
I found this post while going through the #ladiesofsteemit tag which is new tag for me, I just discovered it.
Anyways, I really enjoyed your garden post as me and my family have our own garden and, living on the countryside, we always did but I just really got interested in gardening this season. I just took some pictures today for another garden update.
You have a nice selection of veggies, herbs and flowers there and I see you have a lot more waiting to be planted.
Have a lovely weekend! :)
I had no idea you had such a wide variety of flowers in your vast gardens. I'm really impressed by the sheer abundance. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
I love your garden! Beautiful!
Everything is looking great! I am kind of jealous of your herb garden. This is the first year, we have several herbs planted. Last year, we tried cilantro and it was a great success. So this year, we have about 8 or 10 different ones we are trying. Should be fun. Great Job!
I must say that if it were not for my helper friend, I would not have one. He did all the really heavy work. But now it's up and going and doing well in its 3rd year. Just finished planting a new thyme bed in it with 33 pots I had started.