Time to Relax, #food fight friday
Taking a gamble on the weather, we decided to plant our garden a little earlier than ever before. Frost is always a worry, but the gamble paid off. Our garden got a jump start this year, and we are ahead of the usual schedule. With everything planted, a little TLC, sunshine, and some watering should get us to where we want to be by the end of the season. Our goal is to be able to grow enough produce to get us from one year to the next.
Hopefully we will need to buy another freezer.
Tomatoes and sweet potatoes.
Tomatoes
Beets
Despite all of the seedlings looking so healthy, thinning is a must.
Carrots
Ditto on the carrots, thin, thin, and then thin some more.
The peas are off and climbing.
Hops are doing great, as some of the vines have already grown more than 12 feet.
An interesting little thing about hop vines grown in the northern hemisphere, is that they will spiral in a clockwise direction as they move up the twine.
In the southern hemisphere they will spiral in a counter clockwise direction.
The Red onions and the Sweet white onions are doing well.
Potatoes have almost all sprouted and made their way through the hay.
Redoing the bed with a lot more organic matter seems to be working, look at thes babies.
There was one opening in one of the rows of potatoes.
But, with a little investigating, I could see that this guy was just a little behind.
The recently transplanted hop rhizomes seem to have taken, as well as the other vegetables planted in this row.
Yellow squash, or summer squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
The new raised boxes doing their thing.
Cabbage
More cabbage, peppers, and some more tomatoes, you can never have too many tomatoes.
The green Bell Peppers were started from seed and are thriving.
Boxes full of goodness.
Eggplant, have not had to much luck with this vegetable in the past, but giving it another go.
The broccoli is already developing heads.
Cauliflower showing a lot of new growth.
Green beans getting ready to spiral up the polls.
Garlic planted last November should be bountiful.
With all of the heavy lifting done, let the games begin.
Hope you enjoyed! thebigsweed
Dang man! I know quite a few people with gardens and I don’t know if they’re as impressive as yours—awesome!
Any literature explaining why vines grow clockwise or counter clockwise? Ther must be some science to that somewhere, yeah?
And what’s with the hay? I didn’t notice Bay spread over anything other than the potatoes, why is that?
Great entry, @thebigsweed, you sure know how to make an #fff entry—happy Friday!
edit I keep meaning to mention how much cleaner your pictures look without the dates on them, in my opinion anyway, I noticed you stopped attaching the dates recently—good call! I was probably gonna say something else right here but I might’ve forgot that too.
Hello @dandays. Had the family up threw Monday and it was a very busy 4 days, mostly playing games. The grand-kids are non-stop and they wore me the heck out. Basketball, wiffle ball, swimming, fishing, hiking, board games, and so much more. You know what they say use it or loose it, and while I still am able I like to participate in all activities despite the price I pay after they leave.
Talk about cooking, I felt like a short order cook.
Hay can be placed over the potatoes seeds right after planting because they can make their way right through the hay. The remainder of the vegetables we allow to grow a bit and then place the hay around them, initally they have a problem making their way through a blanket of hay.
The beets as well as the carrots don't neet any hay, as their vegetation will completly shade the earth they are growing in. The reason for the hay is twofold, it blankets the earth to retain moisture and also provides the plant with a more even soil temperature throughout the day and night.
I have also been told by a couple of other people that the pictures look cleaner without the time/date stamp.
On some of the posts I do eliminate it, but on others I like to have a record for myself of exactly when the events in the blog have taken place.
Thanks for stopping by my friend.
The old #homestead is looking good !!
A lot of our success is due to your
I hope your garden brings some great harvest
thanks for stopping by @@@adenijiadeshina
Everything looks so big and healthy. I love your raised beds. They must make gardening easier on your back!
Thanks @melinda010100 for taking the time to view this post. The raised beds make gardening even that much more enjoyable. You know one thing, we ain't getting any younger and with about 80% of the garden now in raised beds, tending to the relentless weeds is no longer a back breaker.
Thanks again.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes… red onions, SWEET POTATOES, broccoli, oh my!!! I’m so jealous of this garden you two have going on. I bet your dinner table is always cracking 🤡. Especially right now, I could use a bowl full of all of those fresh yummies. @dandays is still pining for your maple syrup though… I’ll just take a few sweet potatoes please. Very impressive @thebigsweed. And great job in the kitchen Chef! I saw your wife’s triple F this week 😉. Bravo 👏👏
Thanks @puravidaville for your wonderful compliments. Right now most of the produce from last year's harvest has been consumed, and it is back to the store for us. Give it a couple more months and we should be stocked up again. We have expanded the garden in an attempt to be able to go from one year to the next without having to purchase many of the vegetables we so love. We are down to 5 pckg of blueberries, I carrot, and four beets.
Dear @thebigsweed, congratulations for the nice garden! You really did a great job! Your garden is different from what we have and I love it. Those wooden boxes not only look good but are comfortable as well, you don't have to bend over, it saves you from a lot of trouble.
Also love that you're using hay to cover the ground. I know it protects the soil from the sun and keeps moisture from evaporating but somehow my dad has never tried it out. We use foil now.
I know garlic and onion too, can be planted in November but we never do and we have a very different type here, the leaves are very similar to onion just thinner. I've never seen that type what you have, here.
Eggplant need a special soil and we had no luck with it either, they don't grow as it should and don't taste very good, better to buy from the farmers market.
Looks like you have a little bit of everything and I'm glad you're growing your own vegetables. it's a bet thing to do.
Good luck with the garden and hope you post some updates 😀
Thank you for the compliments @erikah. Gardening is a passion of ours, and a means to get away from eating vegetables that have been grown using all of the chemicals sprayed on conventionally grown produce. The raised beds have taken several years to build, but they should be around for years.
Good luck with your garden as well. I will be doing an update every couple of weeks, as many people have requested that I keep them posted on the growth of our vegetables. Thanks again.
Thank you very much, I'm looking forward to reading your updates. I love seeing other gardeners work. Have a nice weekend.
Howdy sir bigsweed! wow and wow, what a masterpiece of a garden! I think you guys will grow a years worth this time. Amazing progress, all looks so healthy, you all are very gifted in this area! that's a ton of work too.
Thanks @janton for taking time out of your day to view my post, it is greatly appreciated.
Being retired has allowed us the ability to drop whatever we are doing when it becomes work. We like to think of it as hobbitizing. The only real work I do around here are the dishes.
I hope everything is going well for you. Thanks again!
haha! howdy sir bigsweed! I love that, "hobbitizing" I will remember that term, hope I can use it soon! lol. God bless you guys, see you in the next post!
You've been visited by @riverflows from Homesteaders Co-op.
Oh goodness what a gorgeous and neat garden! I am actually mind blown about the hops and have to do more research to confirm that. I'm in Australia and have finished my crazy hop harvest - enjoying droppers of tincture in herbal tea which helps you sleep a treat. I will let you know which way mine twine in a year or so!
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Thanks to both @homesteaderscoop and @riverflows for the wonderful compliments. Hops do have a scientifically proven Soporific effect. After harvesting the hops, my wife takes the flower and puts a bunch o them inside of a cloth sacks. When they are fresh, we place the sack inside of our pillowcase to assist us in getting a good night's sleep. I don't know if it is all in our heads, but it does seem to add a sence of calmness when it it time to get some ZZZZZZZZs
Your Food Fight Friday Contender has been entered into Round 46
May your contender make it out alive and not be placed in a permanent food coma!
Good Luck
Nothing like a little food coma.
Whoa!!! You guys got it going on!!! I am jealous of you beets!! My whole box got eaten by these pesky birds!!! My carrots look good but then poor beets. I absolutely love the way you have all the raised beds and boxes. What a great looking farm you got there @thebigsweed.
Cheers
Thanks @jlsplatts. The raised beds do save the back and the knees, both of which do get a little achy at this stage. Being that beets are one of our favorite vegetables, I feel your pain. Thanks for your continued support my friend. Keep me posted when you go on that fishing trip with your father and brothers, with Mel Jr. should be a great getaway.
You know what they say, A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.