June Garden and Volunteer Plants

Over the past few weeks we have had much rain, and in between the rain storms we added a few new plants and a few more volunteered in the garden!

New Rhubarb 

New Raspberry

Blueberry from last year has berries! 

Vetch is everywhere

The Paw-Paw is doing nicely - just planted this year!

We planted this 4x8 bed with corn and beans and found that MANY pumpkins came up from last year. As well as an overachieving butternut squash...so we decided that a new bed was needed!

Notice the large volunteer Mammoth Sunflower behind the bed. 

I love these and will find a way to have them all over the garden next year =)

So I took some newspaper and placed it down in the front yard  and wet it with a watering can.

And then I put cardboard over that and wet it down with water.

We filled the circle up with soil...

And moved the many rogue pumpin and butternut squash plants into the new bed...

We watered it in and it looks good as a starting point to replacing the front lawn...

Notice the Sunchokes are about four feet tall in the background!

in the back garden, trees are growing like crazy, grape vines are vining....

In the beds, canning tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and amaranth, carrots, radishes, sea kale,

and eggplant, etc. are all growing. Intermingled hot peppers in each bed as well as 

marigolds, poppies, herbs and flowers all perking up after a week of rain.

And the first of our apple trees is fruiting - I pruned off about 25-30 fruits

and we are letting a few grow near to the trunk where they won't break the branches.

I can't wait to try this fruit!

Sea Kale, Turkish Rocket, Flowering Comfrey and Potatoes!

Two of the perennials we learned of only a couple of years ago - and planted last year Sea Kale and Turkish Rocket  came up early and are growing so fast.  They each are getting broccoli-like flowers. This is something I have never seen!

Sea Kale

Flowering Sea Kale

Flowering Turkish Rocket

 We had a good amount of red potatoes that grew and we canned last year - we were able to have them once a week throughout the winter.  This year, we wanted more control and put them into a 4x4 bed and will build up around them as they grow. There is also a horseradish planted here from another bed where there wasn't as much control of it spreading.  The goal is to grow and can enough potatoes to stop purchasing them for the whole year - until the next harvest in 2014.

Potatoes in a 4x4 Bed with Horseradish (top left corner)

Comfrey is another new addition to our garden and it is spreading and flowering. This makes me happy, because anywhere something useful grows, the grass can't. We are still working on a solution to the grass and are covering it over with mulch, cardboard, straw...whatever we can find that will limit it from coming back. We will have to deal with it in the autumn and really cover it so it doesn't take hold at all in the spring. How great it would be to have a yard of comfrey to walk on instead!

Flowering Dwarf Comfrey

More...Plants!

With the addition of so many plants, we are starting to define paths.
When they are definite, I will be digging to put the pine path into the ground to
make walking level and stable. 

Last Thursday the plants we ordered from Permaculture Nursery  arrived and we spent Friday and Saturday digging, planting, watering, etc.  The care in packaging and shipping was outstanding, I felt like a little kid at Christmas...needless to say, we are very pleased with the plants. Some are still adjusting, but just today the Sea Kale lifted its leaves off the ground and the spinach vine is not wilting.

Plants!

After the unwrapping

Alpine Strawberry

Sea Kale

Hazelnut Hybrid (bush)

Kiwi Vines

Goumi

Tea Bush

Turkish Rocket

Clove Currant

Dwarf Comfrey

Building a new bed

Arugula, Sorrel, Ramps, Horseradish, and in
the back - Spinach Vine ( all Perennials )

Mint Root

Concord Grape 

Not pictured:  Jostaberry, Chinese Yam, Pink Champagne Currant and Russian Comfrey. 

The work involved this year installing the perennials is just about complete. The fruit trees, vines and bushes. Nut trees and bushes, perennial greens, etc.

What is next? We wait for everything to grow....

Corn and Sunflower bed is happily growing!