You can see the little purple(!) blossom a the bottom of the plant stem. What a cool plant. I don't think I planted enough to get much yield, but it's fun to see how garbanzos grow. This variety is Black Kabuli that I bought from Fedco. 

We had a strong thunderstorm a couple days ago with high winds and the garlic got knocked over. It looks like it will be ready to harvest soon, I need to research harvest-readiness signs.

The Rosa Bianca eggplants are sooo happy to be under row cover. Not only does it provide excellent protection from flea beetles, it raises the temperature just a bit. I planted basil between the rows and the basil is thriving as well. I just sheared the plant in the photo last week and already there are more leaves to harvest.

The experimental bed of pole beans is looking good. The lower leaves sustained some slug damage, but the plants are thriving now. For these beds, I laid down woody weed stems over grass and weeds, then I put down cardboard. Then I cut holes in the cardboard and piled up a little hill of compost in the hole. I planted directly in the compost. 

Last week I broadcasted annual ryegrass seeds in a few paths that were bare soil. I am hoping that the grass will shade out any weeds and that the ryegrass will winter-kill and provide some free mulch. Sounds too good to be true, but I am hopeful. The seeds are quickly germinating in the wet potato patch.

The garden this time of year feels like the third lap of a mile-long track race. A bunch of work is behind us, but there's still some running to do before the finish line, or in our case, bountiful harvest. Since the garden isn't really the best for spring crops I have pinned my hopes on summer vegetables and I look forward to our hard work paying off soon.

The plastic stayed in place for several weeks- maybe 4 or 5. Last week we took off the plastic intending to till up the dead grass. Not surprisingly the soil was too wet to till. I wanted to get something in the ground there before grass and weeds came back and I remembered the 50 pound bag of Kennebec potato sets that I bought in a spring-fever-frenzy back in March. Julian was really excited to plant them so we decided to make the whole plot a potato patch. Here's our first-ever Little Farm video- Julian's explaining what he is working on. I didn't realize until I watched the video that Avery is answering my questions as well. Cute, but it's kind of hard to hear what the kids are saying. We will have to work on our production more carefully next time. 

He and Avery laid down whole potatoes 12-15" apart in rows that were 3 feet apart. Then we covered the sets with straw. We used a total of two bales of straw. Because potatoes set their fruit above the planted set we will have to add lots more straw, I am planning on at least a bale per row. The soil in the bed is solid clay, so the extra organic matter will be great for the soil anyway. Last year we did have some trouble with mice in a potato bed that was planted this way, but this will be in a more open part of the garden, so I am hoping mice won't be as brave. Also, we still got plenty of potatoes, and the ease in planting makes up for the reduced yields. 

The boys were very pleased with themselves for finishing the job, I was surprised that they stuck with the whole project. Thumbs up! (Avery can't quite do that yet...)

Then Julian and I spread out the plastic sheets next to the planted potatoes, I might plant late potatoes, I still have at least 20 pounds of sets left. 

Eventually this bed will be about 25x50 feet, I am thinking about planting winter wheat there this fall. 

Michael picked up the mower and the weedeater from the service shop (Ace Hardware in Berea- excellent service and quick work!) and we were back in business. We spent this past weekend mowing and cleaning up: Michael cleaned the fence line for the first time this year since January. He got an impressive case of poison ivy and I am really curious about how people keep their fence lines clear (Roundup? Cheap labor? Burning?). Here is what it looks like right now-

We still have a bit of work to do, but before he worked on it, you couldn't even walk between the fence and the garlic- it was solid Johnson grass, poison ivy, bittersweet and honeysuckle. It's a big improvement and I was able to weed the garlic. 

The rest of the garden is coming along, the weeds are no longer out-pacing the vegetables. We have been having more rain, here's what I was trying to push the wheelbarrow through on my way to the compost pile:

Ugh. Really makes the case for raised beds! 

I got a lot of good work done today, due to a magical combination of cooler weather, happy kids, good snacks and my motivation. I finally bought more straw (6 bales) and put it all out today. Two whole bales were used in Julian's potato patch, more on that in the next post. I need more newspaper and straw, but I have plenty of other work to do until I round up more. Here's what the weediest section looked like when I got to the garden.

Here's a closer shot of what it looks like now.

There really are lots of happy little plants snugged in there! I used 6 sheets of newspaper under the straw. I lay the straw on pretty thickly. I still need to add wood mulch to the paths, but I could do that until the cows come home. I feel much better about things and took time to walk around and inspect some fruit progress. The grapes:

The blackberries:

Looks like it will be an excellent blackberry crop this year, I am so glad that we can actually get to the berries, we worked really hard to get the bed weeded and mulched. There are also currants and gooseberries ripening and my alpine strawberries have blossoms on them! I've got my gardening mojo back, and even Johnson grass can't slow me down.