2010 Vegetable Garden Recap Video

Here's a little video I put together recapping the 2010 Vegetable Garden. Enjoy!




Until Next Time, Keep Digging & Eat Well!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
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A week in the sun

Finally, we've had a week with out rain. Not that I'm complaining about the rain but rather about the lack of sun.

I've not been over to the veggie garden in a few days, and I do have kitchen scraps to add to the compost pile.  Whatever scraps we can't use in the freezer soup bucket, goes into the compost bucket. As we pay for our trash removal, it makes more sense to improve our soil, than pay to have it go in a landfill.

Let's see what's happening.

Ther green beans are just starting to mature

The cherry peppers are going, but not sure we'll have enough to pickle. Time will tell.

 

Perhaps the vigorous thinning will result in a few beets.

 

The pumpkin/squash look good too , hopefully get some fruit off these blossoms.

 

Oh, and the real reason for going, the compost heap. Fortunately, the homeowner has six chickens and the coop straw, full of poop, and feathers get added weekly. Should be really nice by next year.

 

So there we are for today. Weather report is for hot humid and rain for the next week.

Until next time, keep digging!

 




My garden blog  http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog  http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/

Sunday morning quick run to the Veggie Plot

Went to the vegetable plot to drop off some kitchen waste and a couple yard bags for the compost heap. It is amazing how much material we put in there and how it keeps compressing down. It does need a layer of carbon soon - so a bit of straw may be in order.

The rain barrels are all full so the design worked, but with so much rain lately we won't need it anytime soon.

What a lovely day, cool, breezy. My kind of weather!

While at the plot we took time to grab a bucket and do some weeding/thinning. I can saw we will likely have more tomatos than we will be able to handle - Good thing, because canning is also on the agenda this summer for the first time.

Radishes and beets were thinned, onions just put in Thursday are already sending up green shoots. Cucumbers, squash, pumpkins are all vigorous. It's a waiting game now. I'm not a fan of waiting but I will.

A walk around the flower beds is next....

Vegetable garden planting and rain barrel installation

It was a long two days at the vegetable garden.

Yesterday was planting the rows - still have one bed half empty waiting for onions, but the rest is done. All the work tilling, turning, amending paid off as the beds were like buttah! We have a lot of tomatos, peppers, radishes, beets and hopefully the squash and cucumbers do their thing. We also planted some pumpkins, watermelons, and cantelope in what used to be the mud lot for the horses years ago.  Oddly I have no pictures, but it's not that exciting as it just looks like the beds shown previously but with some little green bits sticking up. So I'll come back to that in the future.

Today was setting up the rain barrel  system. A full 8 hours work, so I am tired and sunburned but pleased. The steak, potatos O'Brien and cabernet help!

First we repurposed some old gutters.

Next we  figured out how to assemble three barrels together but that will fill and drain evenly. The idea was a manifold connecting them and filling from the bottom up. We did make some air bleeder holes in the tops of the barrels so they will not pressurize.

Anyway here is the fitting assembly. We were fortunate in that the bungs are 1.75" threaded so we just needed to get the same size fittings. The rest is 2" PVC.

Now we flip them over and use some rubber connectors to complete the manifold, install the valve and downspout and we are done!

And there we are! Looks like the heavy lifting is done. Now time, some weeding, watering and harvesting await! I'll keep you posted. Soon will come back to the perennial garden and show you what is happening there.

Happy digging!

Rain Barrel Virginity ends tonight

Supposed to get decent rain over the next 48 hours. Should fill the barrel and test the overflow. Hopefully it doesn’t tip over, flood, fail or otherwise put a large amount of water directly at the foundation.

We’ll know soon enough!

Residential rain barrel installation

So today is a quickie post, back to the home garden.

Been planning a rain barrel for a few years without executing. Finally got around to it. First level the spot as best I can - pea gravel and cinder blocks.

Next, remove the old down spout

Measure and cut - this was not as easy as I wanted, had a heckuva time getting the bend to fit the down spout.

Now re-assemble and put it back up.

I hope it is level enough and the bigger overflow I installed works correctly! 

By the way, the peonies are doing just what I said they would, the supports are nearly obscured.

Well, that's all for now. Until Later.....