More and Bigger Compost

Here's our new compost bin.  (Thanks Dad!)
It's huge compared to the old one, and has a door on the bottom of the front through which the compost can be shoveled out. 

"New bin in, Old bin out"

Beans

Maddy helped me with harvesting the first 3 feet of the Calypso bean row.  Here, she shows off the harvest.

"Proud of her Harvest"

After shelling, this is the result. 



"Bowl of Beans"



Most are the calypso bush beans, but there are a few pole beans mixed in too.  Now that those beans are out, I'll till the stems in, add some compost, and plant for a fall beet crop.

Juliet and I

Juliet sleeping.  Me awaiting my slice of pie.

First Tomato

Here it is, the first Cherokee Purple from the garden with some basil.  This one tomato is a milestone, since last year we succeeded in growing exactly Zero tomatoes to edible size.  Since this picture was taken, 2 more CPs have been enjoyed.

I should also take this opportunity to document some more garden goings on.  The carrots I planted along the driveway have sprouted.  They've also subsequently gone missing.  Not wilted, not eaten down to stumps, just gone.  Bummer, for sure and a bit of a mystery since the adjacent strawberry plant has red berries that no creature has bothered to disturb.

Also, 2 days ago I planted 3 fall crops.  Rainbow chard "Bright Lights", short season onions "Walla Walla", and some sort of new kale the name I've forgotten.  The gardening book I read says that if you plant kale on 24" centers and they're not crowding each other out by November that you have serious soil fertility issues.  Well we probably do, so I planted them at 18" intervals.  No harm if they get a little cozy I figure.

In other news, the Blueberries bushes are winding down and got a big dose of seed meal hoed into the soil.  The asparagus has not yet been destroyed by slugs, and got a good bath of worm tea yesterday.  The English Laurel continues to fight a battle of resistance and oppression, but has been reduced a few feet closer to the fence since we've had the property.  Hopefully this opens up some additional space for next year's garden.

Peas

Here's two new lines of peas, marching towards a fall harvest.  They were planted 10 days ago, and broke ground just as the first tomatoes were turning red.  

Meanwhile, I've started lettuce seeds in the basement grow room.  I had tried in the patch where the peas are, but then I've learned that lettuce doesn't germinate well with soil temperatures above 70 degrees.  Hopefully by starting in the cool basement I'll have something to plant outside in a few weeks.

Helping Hand

Michael and Naomi are digging up their backyard.  Messy Madeleine is a nice neighbor, so she offered to help out.  Given a trowel and 20 minutes, she moved a lot of dirt!  Maybe not where Michael wanted it, but at least it got moved!

The chimney sweep & Michael.

Sighted in the backyard

Possibly the World's Biggest Blackberry

Bean Update

Sorry, I couldn't fit the baby into this picture of Shield beans, as it's about 3 feet up the plant.  It appears that my beans have an ailment.  Some fungus or parasite or virus is turning the leaves a lacy yellow.  It's kind of pretty, but I don't think its healthy....  Fortunately it's got good size pods on it, so I'm hopeful that some sort of crop will work out.  

And planning for the fall, I've planted a row of red carrots next to the Calypso beans.  They seem to take so long to germinate that we'll probably have the beans harvested and out before the carrots turn up.