We’ve been letting the cats out lately during the day, especially when we are working outside. They like coming outside, and Bayou is getting more and more brave, exploring new territory.  She likes to visit me while I’m working in the garden and meows a lot as she walks. We’ve

Yahoo…we finally got the tomatoes planted.  It’s exciting to see everything coming together.  Tim got out early to construct the trellis for the tall indeterminite plants (Brandywine and Sugar Sweetie), and we got those all planted (18 of them) in the back row of Tier 3.  Then we put in

This morning Tim took some time off work to get out in the yard, and got the beds done for the strawberries.  I got them planted in the afternoon, all in nice little mounds, one for each plant. I bought roots, two varieties.  There’s about 40 plants.  I don’t expect

One of the books I’ve been reading suggested planting celery & leeks in a row together, alternating every other one, in a trench to be filled in as they grow, to blanch the bottoms. I planted them this way, along the front side of one of the tomato rows–both grow

I got a book from the library I’ve just begun to read: “The $64 Tomato” by William Alexander. Just the premise of the book sounds funny!  After all that this guy went through to plant his garden, he estimates that each tomato he brings in cost him $64.  I fear

Tim completed the bed for the Three Sisters (corn, pole beans, squash), and I planted it this morning before it began to rain.  We have found a few different suggestions about how to plant this combination, so we’re experimenting with a few different options. One book suggests planting 4 corn

Photos taken yesterday & today, in the rain.  In a few weeks I should do a similar set for comparison! Tier 1 Peas (snow and sugar), cucumbers (lemon and japanese burpless), radishes, rutabegas (6 of them), calendula Tier 2 Peppers, onions, garlic (coming) Tier 3  Trellis (left): Tomatoes (Indeterminites: Brandywine &

Here are some shots Tim took of the garden from the rooftop. The first from above the garage looking down, and another from the barn roof looking at the entire yard–the only thing not seen is the “three sisters” over on the northwest corner behind the porch. The green stuff

This morning I doused all the plants with “manure tea”, with thanks to my helper on the other side of the fence.  I pruned the suckers off the tomatoes and planted some more marigold seeds.     The broccoli is noticeably bigger, and so are the kale plants.  The brussels

Oh, no!  It hailed today.  It started out as quite a downpour of water, and I was a bit concerned that it might hail….later on my fears came true.  The hail was pea-sized.  The only real damage I’ve seen so far is some of the leaves on the peppers were