The 2020 hop harvest is in. The centennial produced a handful of hops that I’ll use in a barbecue sauce. We got about 44 ounces of cascade — much of which will be used in the 2020 fresh hop beer. The new baby plants we got this year got to set their roots, and hopefully we’ll see some cones next year. I cannot wait to try some Medusa!
The bees love our sunflowers
Flowers starting to form sunflower seeds:
I’d read, many years ago, that a sunflower is actually thousands of tiny flowers surrounded by the large yellow petals. It’s really cool, though, to see this close-up.
I’ve got tiny watermelons forming — four so far, each about half an inch across!
The peppers are getting bigger
The corn is taller than Anya
I’ve still got plenty of green tomatoes growing, and for the first time ever I have carrots growing. We’re enjoying the bush beans. There are a lot of flowers on the climbing beans, but no beans yet. I do have a large wall covered in green, leafy vines and a collection of purple and red flowers.
It’s almost time to plant the broccoli, brussle sprouts, and kale! We’ve gotten a few harvests from the bush beans (and I planted more seeds a few weeks ago), and the wall of pole beans is covered in flowers. Anya and I have been snacking on pea leaf microgreens (and macrogreens!) — and rabbits apparently love pea plants above any other plant. The little bed of microgreens seems to have saved the rest of my garden from nibbles. The corn is almost as tall as I am, and the cucumber plants are covering the A-frame. Tiny peppers are starting to form on the plans
And I’ve got dozens of green tomatoes
It looks like moving the garden to a sunnier spot has been a huge improvement in production.
Next year,I want to adjust the planting schedule:
March: Start the peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, pumpkins, squash, and cantaloupe indoors. Plant snow peas outdoors.
Late April: Start the corn indoors.
Mid/late May: Plant the plants that have been growing since March. Sprinkle carrot seeds around the tomato plants — that worked quite well as I’ve never had carrots grow before. Plant the bush and pole beans outdoors.
June: Plant the corn outside. Start the broccoli, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower indoors.
July: Plant second round of bush beans outdoors.
August: Plant broccoli, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower
There are green tomatoes ripening, the beans are growing on the bush beans … and we’ve got cucumbers! I knew there were flowers with little proto-cucumbers growing. Anya and I were grilling dinner tonight, and I noticed a large diameter end of a cucumber nestled in the center of the plant. Pushed aside a few leaves and wow, that’s a large cucumber. I held Anya’s hand so she could lean over into the center of the plant and she found four more! There are still a lot of flowers and cucumbers starting too.
More blooms!
Anya and I walked around the property today, checking on our new blueberry and hop plants. She noticed something over along the ridge line; and, when we walked over to it, we found the first iris of the season had bloomed!
