Our New Neighbor

Midsummer Update

08.02.09- Well, it has been over a month since the last post. We have been through extreme periods of no rain followed by rain every day. This is not the optimal growing conditions we had hoped for. The other issue is that a family of black bears has moved into the the backyard and made short work of the bird feeders and juicy tomatoes. They have discovered the garden. We just hope they leave some for us. All news is not bad. The crops have been coming in. Lots of squash, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, massive bell peppers, and of course tomatoes of all types and sizes. The pick yesterday was over 150 lbs. of tomatoes. The largest heirloom tomatoes weighed in at 1.75lbs., but there are bigger ones on the vines. We are canning the third batch of marinara sauce as I write this. The bell peppers and cherry tomatoes have been doing well in the dehydrator. Zuchini bread and yellow squash pie have also been on the menu. The potaoes are about done, but we canned and froze quite a bit to last through the year. The snow peas are looking great but no peas yet. There are around 25 cantelopes on the vine and they are getting larger by the day. Corn is another story. It was planted late due to weather and is growing slowly in the new lower teir garden area. It may be another year or two before we get that area producing consistantly. The fall veggies have already been started in trays to get ready for the late August plantings. Local markets such as The Chattanoga Market and the nearby Gilmer County Farmers Market have been a great source of fresh berries of all kinds. Pay a visit to your local market and help keep local farming strong. You will also be keeping the money in your community and hey...the veggies taste better! Til next time........

Everything is Now on Schedule

I will start off by letting you know about an arugula pesto we made. Delicious. Just substitute fresh arugula in a basil pesto recipe and serve over fresh pasta of your choice. Terrific! The last of the cauliflower broccoli and cabbage is now coming in. We dug our first yukon gold potatoes of the season and cooked up a batch with fresh homemade butter on top. It seems like the first taters of the year are always the best. Some more firsts this week include the years' first peppers, squash and the corn is starting to come out of the red earth. Exciting times indeed. I also took a photo of a beautiful sweet onion flower in full bloom. Looks good enough to eat. The rains have been steady enough to keep things growing, but we did buy a Gilmour tripod sprinkler just in case we need to apply that mountain well water to the plants. Til next time.

Potato problems and Beautiful Lettuce, Brocolli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, and Tomatoes

The early season veggies are in full swing now. We have beautiful lettuce, huge broccoli heads, and the cabbage and cauliflower will be ready soon. The tomatoes are looking good and growing taller by the day. We are still fighting the Japanese beetles on the potatoes. They can strip a plant of all leaves overnight. Oh well.....we march on. If that is our biggest problem we will be just fine. Things are looking great.

The tomatoes are FINALLY in the ground

Dateline May 17th: The tomatoes were finally put in the ground. We planted 120 of our tomato plants after many rain delays. The first night, deer came through and ate the tops off of about 20 plants. They have already started to grow back. The beetles are attacking the potatoes and we battle them daily. The peppers, okra, squash, and cucumbers were planted the next day and seem to be doing well.

Well, it has been some time since our last post. Spring snow and rains have prevented us from getting any traction in our garden prep. On April 25th, we were able to plow the upper garden. Since then the rows have been put in and are ready for planting. So far, the rain has kept us from doing that. I did snap a few photos of the plowing and the spring lettuce and onions. Note "Rambo the cat" in one photo. He is our chief deer eliminator.

The tomatoes are ready for their new home in the garden and are getting bigger by the day. Hopefully the rains will let up (I hate to even say that as we have been in a severe drought) for a few days and we get to plant!

I did have a wonderful visit to "Out of The Blue" gourmet food and wine store in Blue Ridge Ga. over the weekend. The owners are very nice and the store is stocked with amazing food products to suit any taste. Stop in and check it out next time you are in Blue Ridge.

Stay tuned and get ready for the ups and downs of the mountain gardening season.

The Transplants and The April Snow

Today is APRIL 6th and we are expecting snow tonight. Love this mountain weather. The garden is still pretty much a big mud pit except for the rows of potatoes and row of lettuces, and leafy greens. The potatoes just started coming up. Still plenty of time to get rest of the garden ready, but we need a good 5-7 days of dry weather to till it all up. In the meantime, the tomatoes and peppers in the grow room are looking great. We transplanted the tomatoes into larger pots a couple of days ago. As I finish this post the snow has started coming down.