Carrots and zucchini

Okay, three piddly zucchini, one of which is rotten on the end. Not great, but I think we'll have a few more before winter arrives. Assuming we get a couple more sunny days before the first frost.

The carrots are more impressive. These are just from thinning today. They're real purdy and they taste good, too.

 

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We're so excited about this greenhouse

It's almost Labor Day, and we're leaving for Arizona sometime in October, so we won't plant anything in the greenhouse this year - but we're having fun plotting and planning. We ordered some clear poly for the top, to be installed when we get back in the spring, but yesterday we went ahead and put up the white plastic that came with the greenhouse. Makes a cozy, dry place to hang out. Yes, it's been raining a bit. Is fall here already? I also saw some alder leaves falling to the ground today.

Then today we bought 40 plastic totes from Dianna, the B&D Lilies lady, for $2 each. Craigslist is great. I originally thought we would use the greenhouse for veggie starts and for growing a few tomatoes, but with summers like this, I think it will end up being our main growing locale. We'll line these totes with newspaper and use them as mini growing beds. Dianna plants her lilies in them, and also uses them as storage for the bulbs.

 

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Potato salad

Usually, I'm a snob, preferring my potato salad made with balsamic and olive oil rather than mayonnaise, but I take it all back. This is the best potato salad I've ever had. David and Janet, thanks for the recipe and the ingredients, and be sure to thank Konnie for us, whoever she is.

1 bag Konnie's freshly dug potatoes (I used about 2-1/2 pounds)

2 whole lemons, juiced

3 T olive oil

1/2 cup mayo

1 T basil pesto

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Fresh basil leaves, for garnish

Boil whole potatoes in salted water until fork tender, drain, cut into chunks.

Mix lemon juice, olive oil, mayo, pesto, salt and pepper until creamy. Pour half the dressing over the potatoes, toss, add the pine nuts. Refrigerate for a couple hours. Just before serving, add remainder of dressing and basil leaves.

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The season's first potato, yesiree

 

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The Greenhouse, Part II - up it goes

 

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The Greenhouse, Part I - alotta prep work

This greenhouse, by the way, was contributed by David and Janet, two very generous non-resident members of Hardrock Ranch. Yesterday, we dismantled it from its Whidbey Island home of the last few years, and brought it to Hardrock:

Then, cleaning, painting and repairing (the Whidbey farmers were not gentle):

And some soil fabric as flooring:

 

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It was harder than it looked

We had to dig down 6 inches in one corner, and raise up 8 inches in the opposite corner, and try to make the whole thing level. When you are talking an 19 x 26 inch area (one foot wider on all sides than the greenhouse), that ends up being a lot of dirt to move, and a definitely a challenge to get it level.  Well, we did have that fancy thing you see in the background to help with the leveling.

I think we are ready. We are tired and sore, so it better be good enough. Tomorrow, Trevor is coming to visit, so it's a day off!  Saturday will be another serious work day.

You are invited

You are invited to another party! Saturday 2 p.m., be here or be square (boy, that saying really dates me, doesn't it?). We are going to have a GREENHOUSE RAISING. Yes, a huge 17 x 24 hoop-style greenhouse. We're dismantling and picking it up on Whidbey Island in the morning, should be back here by 2:00. Afterwards, I'll be serving up the margarita recipe I tested the other day (1 orange, 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup Grand Marnier, 3/4 cup tequila and a bunch of ice - blended in the Vitamix).

You don't want to miss that. Be glad are missing the ground-leveling effort, though:

Favas

I'm pretty excited about these favas, a bean I discovered only recently and have never grown. However, this is half of the entire harvest, and there won't be much left to eat after they are shelled. I just didn't plant enough seeds. I get another chance, though - a fall planting will provide a spring or early summer harvest, theoretically.

 

 

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It's all about the dirt

I am definitely sold on the benefits of sheet composting. In various areas, we layered cardboard and/or office waste paper, poop from the neighbor donkey and horse, purchased compost, hay and purchased topsoil. The sheet composted areas are sprouting more mushrooms (which I am assuming is a good thing, indicating both rot and moisture) than a nearby bed where we used the same ingredients but mixed them together. The less the layers are disturbed, the happier the worms and all the other critters. No need to bug the bugs.

We are seeing lots of toads, snakes and earthworms, all positives.

Some of our plants appear to be a bit yellow, so we think we are missing some nutrients but isn't it unlikely to be nitrogen, with all that poop? We have used some general fertilizers plus iron, which seems to be helping.

The hugelcultur area also seems to be doing well. Down there, we planted beans and squash, and started the orchard with two plums, two paw-paw and one fig. The hugel is several feet deep and is holding moisture incredibly well.

Less successful, perhaps, was the cover cropping. It is indeed adding lots of organic material, but organic material AKA weeds. It was an annual cover crop, so as long as none of it reseeds, winter should take care of the problem. But in the meantime, I have pulled a lot of weeds. I am pulling and leaving in place, so some of them keep growing, and I pull them again later. The only good news is that they are easy to pull in our soft, full-of-organic soil. My conclusion as of now is that I will use cover cropping only in areas being prepared for planting in future years.

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Cardoons and artichokes

Anyone know anything about cardoons? I know they're a close relative of the artichoke, and that you eat the stem instead of the flower. The books say you need to blanch the stems or else they will be too tough and stringy. By "blanch" it sounds like they mean wrap it in cardboard while it's still growing. I don't really get that, so I'm just going to grow them for looks this year. They also provide lots of good mulch. Multi-purpose plants, remember?

The literature says that cardoons can be very invasive, but we haven't found anything to be particularly invasive up here, so we'll just let our two plants go to seed and see what happens. Don't you think it's an awesome-looking plant?:

I also planted several artichokes which are much smaller but also seem to be doing okay. Not sure if they're going to deliver anything edible this year, but they should be perennial if we carefully mulch in the fall, so maybe next year. Artichokes typically will provide a harvest for only three to four years, so if we have any success, I'll plant a few new ones every spring.

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Flowers too

 

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The Summer of 2012

Progress has been made. I'll save the discussion and analysis for later - now, just photos so you can see for yourself.

The hedgerow:

The time for a mojito party is now:

Yes, our peas are finally ready (August is considered late in some areas):

All ten timber bamboo plants are doing great:

Fortunately, we were not expecting to live entirely off the land, but we should have a couple squashes by next week to go with the peas:

And some fava beans!:

 

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