Although, it's not without it's work, the Lord's touch of abundance has filled out the Kitchen Garden rather nicely! As we no longer have the ducks to munch down all our slugs, and we did NOT get truly dry weather until mid-July, it has been a challenge to keep those munching mollusks at bay!
We were gifted Sunflower starts from Miss Judy, bought some local sunflower mixed seeds from 'Chipping Twigs Farm' (acclimated better for growing) and we got some started from our own seeds.... I was determined to have some Sunflowers!
We had to wait to get all the starts in, but when it was warm and dry enough we planted them just in front of the wood chip border mounds. They are coming in well as a living privacy screen. The slugs were able to get to some of them creating some gaps, (grrr!) so, I used some Jerusalem Artichoke (also from 'Chipping Twigs') to fill them in as they also do much better with soggy weather... They are getting quite tall, but have yet to flower....The bonus, these produce a high fiber root crop that will expand and produce even more next year!
We had to wait to get all the starts in, but when it was warm and dry enough we planted them just in front of the wood chip border mounds. They are coming in well as a living privacy screen. The slugs were able to get to some of them creating some gaps, (grrr!) so, I used some Jerusalem Artichoke (also from 'Chipping Twigs') to fill them in as they also do much better with soggy weather... They are getting quite tall, but have yet to flower....The bonus, these produce a high fiber root crop that will expand and produce even more next year!
We have also struggled with greedy, hungry MOLES!!! These guys have found the areas we topped with rabbit manure, or where we put it into the holes before we planted (I recommend this to everyone) and they love all the worms that gravitate to those nutrient rich spots. Unfortunately, as they tunnel, they tear up root systems and we go out to the gardens only to find giant sunflowers tipping because their roots have been seared. In the case of our raspberry patch (on the other side of the house), we've lost over a third because a mole tunneled through and we didn't know until the poor raspberries had baked in the heavy sun and were drying out so quickly! Because we mulched heavy with wood shavings in that area, it is much harder to see the digging and harder to get soil back into those roots.
We work diligently to make the soil rich for the plants and those moles want to fill their bellies on the goodness as well! We have tried a number of measures and have only trapped one mole so far... One thing we've noticed in our raspberry patch, the row we made a hugel kultur in was not affected. The wood chunks make it very hard for the moles to dig - so YaY! We're learning!
Making more of our beds hugel kultur will require quite a bit of forethought and work. But will be work for the winter, not now...
We work diligently to make the soil rich for the plants and those moles want to fill their bellies on the goodness as well! We have tried a number of measures and have only trapped one mole so far... One thing we've noticed in our raspberry patch, the row we made a hugel kultur in was not affected. The wood chunks make it very hard for the moles to dig - so YaY! We're learning!
Making more of our beds hugel kultur will require quite a bit of forethought and work. But will be work for the winter, not now...
He's standing at about 6' tall, yes, those are BIG broccoli!
We are now harvesting HUGE heads of delicious broccoli that Jr. Farmer is showing off! They are 'the best broccoli' Dad says he's ever tasted. I was pleased they had solid, strong stems. I learned years ago that a local, large farm was having problems with hollow shafts on their broccoli. I researched it and learned it was due to low levels of boron. I believe the Lord has directed our efforts to avoid that with our soil amending & compost tea treatments and that is something many don't consider, but another aspect we're thankful for! Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ has poured out a fruitful garden for us!
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time... Ecclesiastes 3:11