Earlies

Here’s a quick cell phone shot of some early potatoes which I am steaming for lunch as I post this. My computer and camera cable are at a friend’s house, hence the cell phone picture. I said if only one thing did well this year, I wanted potatoes. And while I’ve given up hope for the sort of results a gardener would normally want, my garden is doing okay. I’ve got kale and broccoli ready to be transplanted, some bush beans starting to produce, carrots putting up nice greenery, and a few beets. I’ve been eating peas lately, which has been a joy. Hopefully more next year? Anyway, potatoes are looking good. Another month or two, and I should be harvesting the main crop.

Potatoes Are In!

Well, I got my spuds planted on Thursday. I’ve been meaning to get photos up, but I’ve been a little busy with other things. I was so excited to pretty much be done digging rocks. Finally. I was also nervous to plant potatoes, because they are my favorites, and I am hoping so much that they will grow. Plus, I’ve never grown them. If nothing else yields fruit, but I get potatoes from my garden this year, I will be happy. I made trenches, buried them each about 4 inches deep in a bed of compost, with a little compost over top, and the native soil on top of that. I’m hoping that will give them enough nutrients to get growing. I’ve devoted most of the manure/compost/organic matter on my potato plot, because it is my understanding that they want it, and as I said, they are my first priority. I also got some carrots and a few more radishes planted. So far, all my radishes have disappointed. They’re just not forming radishes. The roots just look like roots, not delicious little bulbs of glory. Oh well, maybe the next batch?

Chitted potatoes in the box, waiting to be planted

Potatoes in the ground, with some compost from here in Maine

Progress

Progress is slow, but coming. Here in Maine, we’re out of the woods as far as frosts go. Finally. Unless we get some sort of freak frost, all should be well. In light of that fact, I have to finish digging rocks out there. I’ve put it off for far too long. My potatoes are ready to go in, and probably becoming a little impatient. Tomorrow. I hope to have the rocks finished up by tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow night will see some potatoes in the ground? I truly hope so. I can’t wait to have some pigs to take care of them rocks for me. One day, one day.

I spent a while today gathering and putting in sticks for my peas to climb. This sort of thing is easier when you are on your own property, and can decide to take down a small tree to meet your needs. Not so much when you live on some one else’s and have to forage around for some already down.

Some of my peas are starting to grow up a bit. Others seem a bit stunted. Although, the last seeding i did looks promising. These are the two best, so far.

My beets are slowly coming up.

I got three rows of beans planted today. My rows run from the path to the outside edge of my garden. Doesn’t look like much, but I think if everything grows, it should be a good first attempt at a full garden. I put compost down to give the beans a bit of a start, and covered them with soil. Let’s hope we get some results.

Some Updates

Well, I’m having mixed feelings about the garden so far. Some things that looked like they were off to a good start, haven’t really come in yet. I think I may have lost some peas early on, while 3 or 4 have really started to develop.  I was wondering if the others would do anything, but they seem to be coming along in their own good time. The last two rows I planted have started putting up a good number of sprouts. I’m pretty sure the two or three days of steady rain we’ve had, combined with the sun today, and hopefully a bit more tomorrow, will improve things.

The lettuces aren’t looking so hot. I had just a couple that have actually germinated, one of which had one of it’s first two leaves broken off during the rain. I should probably get some more in the ground. Potatoes have chitted, and it’s about time to plant those. Here in the next week or so, I hope.

I’m also considering raising rabbits for meat. So now it’s a matter of coming up with a bit of upfront investment of funds, before I can get going. I figure raising meat rabbits, next to painting for myself, and maybe a couple other little money making endeavors, I may be able to sit pretty okay by next year. Plus, it will help ease my way into homesteading on a larger scale. Exciting stuff.

Everything is Alive

I keep going out to my garden to take photos of the little bits of progress I’m seeing, but out of laziness, I don’t get them posted. The problem now is that the differences from day to day are becoming really dramatic now. Where just yesterday I only saw one pea seedling coming up from the soil, today I have six. Where I had a green lettuce looking thing yesterday, today I have a vibrant red lettuce looking thing (which is good, since it is red lettuce). And my radishes just keep on going. I think every radish seed I put down has successfully germinated. Every day that I go out to tend to the garden, I see new and exciting things. This is a refreshing change of pace from last year, where even transplants didn’t seem to do very well. Anyway, photos from the other day (which are not as exciting as what I saw today).

The first of my peas:

Some of the rye that’s still hanging on from last year. It is a bit invasive, but I will probably plant it again this fall. Along with maybe some oats, which should winter kill, and start to rot down to improve my soil.

Sprout.

I have my first sprout of the year. It’s a radish, as I figured it would be. I believe one of the Cherry Belle radishes I planted. I’m glad for something that’s growing. I hope all the rest of the seed follows suit. My chives are also doing well. I trimmed them back, and I have seen definite growth since I did so, two days ago.

More Planting

I did a little more planting today. Another two rows of Sugar Snap peas, a row of radishes (seed courtesy of Koby), and two rows of Merlot lettuce. That takes me up to four rows of peas, two rows of radishes (Cherry Belle and French Breakfast), and two of lettuce. I know it’s not anything to get to excited about in terms of quantity, but it feels good to start putting things in for the year. And now my mind can start to wonder what is going to grow throughout the year. I will continue to keep planting in small increments over the next month or two, and hopefully by the second week of June have just about everything in that I want to get in.

Plans have changed a little as I’ve come into possession of some seeds I would not have probably bought on my own (obviously, since I didn’t!), from Koby. He sent out seed for cukes, dry beans, bush beans, corn, hot and sweet peppers, and probably a few other things. I hadn’t originally intended to grow corn, but I may give it a shot once things warm up. I will probably plant some peppers, as I will have a bit of extra space in my potato plot. Which brings me to what I think is the most exciting news of all: I got my potato tubers today! I’m chitting them now, and will plant them out the first and/or second week of June.

Here’s a few pictures. Nothing fancy, or overly interesting. Just my little rows of planted seed. I went ahead and watered them (as you can see) and covered them to protect them from the rain we are supposed to get tonight and tomorrow. Especially those lettuce seeds. They’re so small and close to the surface, I dont think it would take much to wash them away. More photos as things start to happen.

Radishes in the two far rows, and lettuce in the two closer.

Rows of peas.

Finally, Some Planting.

I’ve been reading Joel Salatin’s book You Can Farm, and it helped me to realize something about myself. Well, I guess I kind of already knew it, but now I can see it as it relates to farming. I’m the sort of person who definitely wants to have things certain, or planned out in advance. That’s not to say that I am the most organized person in the world, who has things all figured out. But it does mean that a lot of times, I won’t start on a project of mine until I think it’s all worked out. *edit for clarity* Joel Salatin discusses how a lot of folks will worry themselves about planting at the exact right time, or in a straight line, or this or that. What happens, then, is that some people never get around to actually DOING what they are talking about doing. They just spend time planning it out, and trying to perfect it. But like he says in the book, potatoes will grow better in the wrong moon phase, than if you don’t plant them at all.

That being said, I’ve been hesitant to plant anything for this year. I’ve been digging rocks, partially dreading it because it needs to be done, but partially also holding on to that, because it doesn’t ask of any commitment from me. So long as I’m “stuck digging rocks,” I don’t have to worry about failing to grow any vegetables. So yesterday I knew I needed to start planting, just to get over my little bit of fear. I started soaking enough peas to plant a row today, and I decided I may as well throw some radishes out, since they grow so fast. Before my carrots will need to go in. I just want to see things growing out there, and I am hoping they will take off quickly and get established, and be worth harvesting come summer.

I am thinking I may go ahead and sow some more seeds in the next day or two. I’ve got another row of peas soaking in water to speed up germination right now, and I believe I will do some lettuce, and a few more radishes. Oh, and I transplanted some chives that we got from Nicki’s grandfather’s garden. They seem to be pretty resilient because I didn’t even realize we had them until like 3 or 4 days of them sitting on the front porch. Hopefully they’re not too far gone. I think they’ll be okay.

Anyway, I’m excited, but I feel a bit scattered. But then, this is my first year doing a full blown, from seed garden with so much space and so many different types of vegetables. I’m sure as the years go on, I’ll get a better hang of it. Photos to come, if anything grows!

Bacon and Flies

Tonight we had BLT sandwiches for dinner. The best part was that it was homemade bacon. Nicki’s dad slaughtered and butchered the two pigs we have been raising over the winter, and today was our first taste of them. There’s all kinds of meat in the freezer in the garage. It’s a pretty awesome thing to see it come to fruition like that.

This past weekend I also did some fly fishing with my friend Ty. We went to L.L. Bean the night before we went out, and I bought a new fly rod as it would have costed me a similar amount of money to buy new fly line and have it all rigged up to the reel and rod I borrowed from my dad. But now I own my own rod. I was supposed to go out fishing with Ty and Kasey on Wednesday, but it looks like I’ll be working that day instead. Pretty bummed out.

Seeds, Concerns, and Rocks.

I finished ordering my seed today, finally. I was holding off on ordering my potatoes to see if a friend would want to go half and half on an order,  so we could get more than one variety. I was also originally planning to get my peas from the same place, but it turns out the peas have sold out, and so I’ve had to order a different variety elsewhere. Anyway, it’s finally done.

Some days, I feel pretty confident that things will grow this year. I am trying to trust in the Lord’s provision, and I have prayed over my labors, the plot I plan to garden on, and just that things will grow and yield fruit. But other days, like today, I get to feeling like the soil looks pretty pathetic out there. Grass hardly grows in that area. It seems like I will be trying to grow vegetables straight out of rocks. I think with time, it could be a good spot, but it would take a few years, and some loving care to get the soil where it needs to be. I’m hoping God overrides everything I know about gardening, though, and performs a little miracle out there for me.

I’ve been working little by little to get the plot ready for planting. Which basically means digging out rocks. I dug a lot last year, but they just keep on coming. And some pretty big ones, too. I’ll also be expanding my garden two feet in width, and one foot in length which will bring the total square footage up to 320. Of course, I will lose 32 square feet for a walkway through the middle of the garden. But it will still be bigger than originally intended.