Once again, as summer drew to a close, the updating became less and less. The gardens still thrive and the soil is still being loved and nurtured. The Spiral Garden is almost completely planted again, for fall crops. Broccoli, swiss and ruby red chard, kale, cauliflower, and more cilantro than most know what to do with in a year. Thinking more kale, and contemplating carrots or a cover crop, as carrots are difficult for some reason in our area. The aquaponics table is still thriving with cherry tomatoes, swiss and ruby red chard, kale, cilantro, and broccoli. The fenced in raised beds have broccoli almost 8" tall on their 4th set of true leaves, while purple potatoes are almost ready to be mounded, garlic clove sprouts are just starting to peak out of the soil, while I have decided to let the basil and tomato bed flower and seed out through the winter. There is something special, something fulfilling in seeing three varieties of basil flower, seed, and regrow exponentially over the seasons in one confined area. Love is still needed in the orchard, if only I can liberate the mounds below the trees of fire ants.

Late June, Early July

First up is an update from June 26th and 27th update. The second set of pictures is from July 2nd and 3rd. Enjoy!

June 24th String of Habanero Peppers, first time trying this and it came out beautifully!

June 26th view of a peach in the orchard. One of three on the tree this day.

June 26th view of the planters moved between the 20 x 20 and the aquaponics table to attract more pollinators.

June 26th view of the table head on, growing into the trellis happily.

June 26th view from the side of the table, cucumbers growing up the back corner.

June 26th view of the 20 by 20

June 27th Jessi posing with our first two peaches (and any fruit!) from the orchard! They were scrumptious!

July 2nd the Ghost Pepper thriving after the week and a half of constant rain.

July 2nd random flower that came back from a discarded planter.

July 2nd view of the onions, carrots, lettuce, and dill

July 2nd view of the rainbow chard, peppers, and flowering parsley

July 2nd, a picture showing the basil and cilantro planter. We have run out of cilantro as it has all gone to seed, or coriander, with our local heat.

July 2nd the Soybean, Kale, and Chard are starting to pop the soil!

July 2nd view of the strawberries, still fruiting, onions, bush beans in front. Followed by the Cherokee Purple, Matt's Wild Cherry, San Marzano Paste, three varieties of basil, and oregano in the back bed. Cucumbers still hanging in there in the far raised bed.

July 2nd view of the sunflowers and mums, loving the influx of rain.

July 3rd update of the aquaponics table.

July 3rd update of the cucumbers in the table, there is a celery plant in the middle of all that.

July 3rd view of the 20 by 20 garden.

July 3rd harvest of San Marzano and Cherry tomatoes, a Rosa Bianca Eggplant, and our first ear of Sugar Pearl Corn!

Oh when summer arrives, quickly with a 104F heat index wednesday and thursday, it arrives to nourish the life already springing forth with plenty of soothing and wholesome energy.  Time seems to slip by in such enjoyable weather so halfway through June we find ourselves already. We have been enjoying bush beans, strawberries, cucumbers, garlic, and more recently purple potatoes from our own garden. The cucumber plants and pumpkins are struggling, possibly due to insects. The cucumber harvest has suffered greatly, but new plants are in the soil already and the aquaponic table has two cucumber plants on their 3rd set of leaves.  Diatomaceous earth and hand squashing bugs are the only methods used thus far besides hoping for beneficial insects to join in. The orchard has not changed much, slow and steady growth it seems. However, the local deer have devoured the Fuji and Anna Apple trees, while consistently nibbling lightly on the Craig's Crimson Cherry too.We have lost all the forming fruits on the Satsuma Mandarin, due to the tree focusing on root growth hopefully so next year will be bountiful.

Enjoy the updates!

June 6th we awoke to an interesting sight in the 20 by 20... a mole had dragged a pole bean plant downward into the soil, creating what I call a bean lily appearance.

June 8th we made out first pickles! Bread and Butter chips in 3 jars, and Dill in the other three.

June 10th we dug up the raised bed with purple potatoes in it as the excessive rain, or possibly soil composition, caused the plants to wilt and die. The result, a colander over flowing with purple potatoes, topped off with strawberries, bush beans, and cucumbers (lemon cucumber are the yellow ones). We have been eating bush beans and strawberries consistently for 2 weeks now!

 

If this video works, it attempts to depict the lightening show we witnessed thursday night. The camera was only able to capture about 1/4 of the lightening! For about an hour we sat outside and watched a massive storm pass over the surrounding area. Gloriously flashing bolts of lightening consistently without pausing for more than 5 seconds the whole duration! Truly an amazing display by Mother Nature. 

June 14th the blueberry bushes are struggling it seems, but trying to fruit still! The Lisbon Lemon can be seed in the background, along with the base of the Parfianka Pomegranate and the Elberta Peach.

June 14th the plants have overwhelmed the container garden. Attempting pineapple plants in the white containers, the habanero closest to the camera is a week and a year old now, fruiting vigorously at this point. The replanted orange tree is thriving, as is the ghost pepper (bush). The 100 gallon air pruning bed is doing great, the sun flowers are most noticeable here. The Meyer Lemon is flourishing, but still no blooms. The mum planters are doing amazing and days away from a full on bloom! Lots of smaller planters in the vicinity too as I am working to help others with starts for their own gardens.

June 14th view of the cucumbers which are truly struggling. Possibly insect damage, definitely suffering from powdery mildew at this point. Without garlic in the 4x4 it looks so empty!

June 14th the Moon and Star watermelon are thriving!! Haven't spotted any fruits forming yet, but plenty of blossoms and pollinators seem to be abundant.

June 14th view of the Elberta Peach, with three fruits on her getting their color! Very exciting as they will be the first harvest of any of the orchard!

June 14th snapshot of work to do. Lots of tending to be done in the L shaped raised bed. The potatoes have been harvested so the Rainbow Chard is spreading out if it can survive the intense summer heat. The bell peppers and habanero are flower and fruiting even at such a small size. The parsley is on it way to flower and consistently keeping us stocked up with fresh leaves. The tomatoes in the area are slowly growing, with onions looking fantastic nearby. The carrots are looking great, while the lettuce starts to bolt and flower. Our cilantro supply is about gone due to the heat pushing the plants into flower and the wind stressing them sideways almost! Plenty of coriander forming along with Dill blossoms and seed!

June 14th view of a sister mound, sugar baby watermelon plants (fruit forming!), peas on their way out, quinoa, and a black beauty eggplant, plant.

June 14th the strawberries are about done at this point, onions, carrots, and bush beans pushing on in the background.

June 14th update on the aquaponics table. The pvc serves as a structure to hold the trellis and also the top half will have a covering to keep rainwater out and intense sun as the summer progresses. Left to right you can see tomato plants thriving and fruiting (not sure if they are roma paste or san marzano), with smaller suckers rooting behind and cucumbers really starting to take off, and a celery plant in the back right corner of the left tub. The right tub has another tomato sucker thriving, not yet fruiting, with a Brandywine heirloom tomato reaching upwards into the trellis, hopefully to bear fruit soon too! Behind those two are a sweet banana pepper heirloom, a chocolate bell pepper, chocolate habanero, and two yellow crookneck squash plants. I worry it may be over planted but time will tell. Feeding the plants in the 110 gallon tub below the table are two koi, one orange named Maya, one silver named Montezuma or Monte for short. I did acquire 3 channel catfish (three inches long each) and 5 bluegill (about 2 inches max each) about a week ago. I may have acted to soon as the nitrite levels in the 110 gallon were still 5ppm the first three days the fish were in the water. Another factor may have been the excessively warm temperatures keeping the water temperature around 80F for three days. Also, the tub was uncovered until yesterday, leaving room for an algae bloom. Currently, I have removed one bluegill and 2 catfish no longer alive from the tub, leaving the potential for 4 bluegill and a catfish to remain.  I have consistently seen Maya and Monte, as they are clearly visible with their vibrant color, and one bluegill during feeding. The water has become very murky due to the algae bloom, but ammonia and nitrite levels are nonexistent the past four days with nitrates barely show up in water tests. I believe we have reached the cycled point, now it is time to get the fish healthy and in greater numbers as to support the potential over stocking of plants. More fish will mean more ammonia, which is converted into nitrite, then nitrate, which the plants use for nutrients. Hoping the algae bloom will settle as will the murkiness of the water.

June 14th view of a three sister mound. This particular shot shows Waltham Butternut Squash ats the base of Kentucky Pole Beans and Sugar Pearl Corn.

June 14th view of the raised tomato bed. Oregano can be seen spreading on the soil level, tomatoes fruiting, and three basil varieties flowering and seeding the surrounding soil. Think we are starting to see a calcium deficiency in the tomatoes.

June 14th view of the 20 by 20 thriving!

Two sets of pictures for viewing pleasure today, one from May 14th and the other from today, the 21st. Also a few pictures scattered about from the setting up of an aquaponics table. Haven't decided on which fish yet, thinking bluegill, catfish, or tilapia to be raised in the 110 gallon tub. Up top in the beds, Brandywine and san marzano tomatoes, with chocolate bell, chocolate habanero, and banana peppers, with two yellow crookneck squash. Still planning on putting in a couple cucumbers and maybe another tomato or two into the remaining space. Basically, aquaponics is taking aquaculture, or raising fish, and combining it with hydroponics. It sounds scary, but I have had aquariums for the past 7 years so I am not so nervous about aquaculture. However, I have zero experience with hydroponics as I prefer soil gardening. Time to learn something new, as aquaponics is virtually drought resistant, weed free (woohoo!!), plants grow up to 30% faster, and best of all the fish waste is converted through the nitrification process into nitrates which are the nutrients for the plants. Talk about awesome, chemical free and a symbiotic relationship requiring no external inputs (besides fish food)! Don't get me wrong, I feel soil gardening is as close as it gets to natural, but think about the vegetation and plant life found on river sides before categorizing aquaponics as not natural. Possibly inhumane raising the fish in the 110 gallon tub, but in terms of efficiency and a close loop symbiotic relationship, I will try my best to accommodate the fish.

May 8th the aquaponics stand is done being clear coated

May 9th the tub has been running for 4 days and finally the stand, rocks, and paneling has come together!

May 14th blue potatoes are doing well, after a third raised bed tier was added!

May 14th view of the potatoes, chard, and peppers

May14th view of the beets, tomatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, cilantro, and dill.

May 14th view of the cucumbers and garlic

May 14th strawberry bed, onions, carrots, and bush beans in the background

May 14th the first few plants were added as the ammonia present has started to convert to nitrite and finally nitrate for the plants.

April 14th view of the tomato, basil, and oregano bed, yes the weed pulling is getting the best of me, but slowly we are getting everything cleared out.

May 14th view of the pumpkins

May 14th view of the watermelon, the yellow one was thinned out

May 14th view of some corn sprouts in one of the three sister mounds, looking a bit nitrogen deficient as the soil was just sand a few months ago.

May 14th the center mound of the 20x20 spiral garden. Turkish oregano, pac choy, sage, black beauty eggplant, beneficial flowers, and quinoa sprouts (left to right).

May 14th brings our first eggplant blossom!

May 14th the peas and purple sweet potatoes to the left, just starting to pop out the soil.

May 14th view of the corn in the sister mounds.

May 14th interesting finding a tomato growing out the side of my watermelon mound. It needs to be removed or transplanted because corn and tomatoes are NOT companion plants, but actually enemies.

May 14th view when I looked up.. poison in our skies, which will fall to the soil and lungs waiting below... :(

You're looking at geoeingeering, not contrails. Very different as one is water vapor and the other is aluminium oxide being sprayed in out atmosphere.

May 14th, you can tell the difference by how the trails dissipate. Contrails dissipate almost instantly, why chemtrails actually spread and dissipate over the sprayed area. This is done without general public knowledge or permission. Be aware of what is in your air when you go out. The crossing patterns are often used, as parallel trails to cover a large area.

May 21st view of the beets, onions, carrots, lettuce, cilantro, and dill

May 21st view of the cucumber plants going vertical, one has cucumbers on it, and what remains of the area where garlic was harvested today.

May 21st view of the strawberry, onions, carrot, and bush beans.

May 21st view of the tomato and herb bed, still half needs tending

May 21st view of the Habanero whom is finally fruiting decent sized peppers!

May 21st view of Jessi's flower garden, a little chaotic but starting plants for friends causes lots of small planters, soon to be transplanted at their homes!

May 21st attempt to get the whole 20x20 in view

May 21st pumpkins are thriving, blossoms soon!

May 21st you can see the huge pumpkin plants, then purple sweet potatoes are really filling up their allocated space now, with peas blooming and fruiting, another week and we should have fresh peas!

 

May 21st watermelon starting to really take off with the corn in the background

May 21st our first garlic harvest! Not the most sizable bulbs but you have to start learning somewhere!

May 21st, the Anna Apple has been ravaged from the bottom up about 3/4 of the tree, deer are relentless eaters in the country.  They actually ate 3 or 4 fruits which were spotted developing around march/april.

May 21st view of the blueberry bushes. Still having a hard time keeping the orchard watered :(

May 21st the poor Fuji Apple has yet again been eaten alive. Going to have to try a couple of other methods since the garlic didnt work as planned.

May 21st the Satsuma Mandarin is still fruiting, although it seems we may lose most if not all fruit as the tree puts her energy towards her roots these first couple years.

May 21st view of our first peaches forming. Three in this picture if you can see them!

May 21st update of the aquaponics setup. Have the Bala Shark from our 55 gallon tank living in the 110 gallon tub. Hopefully he stays healthy for years to come, even as another breed of fish is raised in the same tub for consumption.