June Gloom

The second Saturday in June and we're "enjoying" a chilly, overcast morning and hoping that the sun will break through.  The last post, started on Memorial Day, finally went live this morning.  I had taken a lot of pictures and tried to load lots of them to the blog at the same time, resulting in blogger frustration.  Since I do want to document how the garden grows, I'll post some of the May 30th pictures today.

The blackberries are ripening nicely.  We've harvested a few bowlfuls and enjoyed them on ice cream -- not quite enough are ripening daily to add to the freezer.

Lots of flowers are showing their colors... volunteer sweet peas and snapdragons along with an iris that has bloomed for the first time since we moved into the house.  Each year it has produced a spray of leaves but never any more.  This year, it produced a half dozen cream and chocolate colored flowers.

The wild flowers, yellow and blue are making their way through the tall grass and are a delight to see.
 

 Ferns are all over the higher part of the hill, too.  This maidenhair fern has been growing up near the deck for years and often goes unnoticed because of all the grasses and poison oak that surround it.

And of course the poison oak is growing better than any other plant on the property!  It's beginning to turn red, so that should make it a little easier to see -- and hopefully avoid -- the next time I'm working on the hill.

 Even the flowers we planted are looking good... or at least they were two weeks ago!

Memorial Day 2011

Memorial Day, 2011 -- a day to honor the efforts and commitment of those who have given their lives to insure our freedom.  It's been a year full of frustrating political nonsense and mixed messages, but the truth of the matter is that we live in a wonderful country that allows us to voice our opinions, celebrate our differences and pursue our goals.

Thanks to all who have had a part in protecting our freedoms.

One of those freedoms is to spend time in the garden!  And the garden is growing.  Plums, peaches, apples and walnuts are growing and ripening.  We actually have lots of little walnuts!  Hopefully they'll survive the summer and the blue jays!  The peaches are ripening nicely and we should have enough plums for a little bit of plum wine.  The rest of the vegetable garden is coming along nicely too -- We've harvested a few artichokes and are watching the lettuce, arugula, carrots, beets and tomatoes grow.

  

Long time no post!

Lots of activity on the Bell Family Farm over the past few weeks, but most of it has involved the removal of weeds and some unruly ivy --- gallons and gallons of weeds over the past three weekends.  And unfortunately, there are at least twice as many weeds left on the property.  We'll probably have to pull out the old weed whacker before we're done!


While we've been busily removing weeds, the rest of the garden, thankfully, has been taking care of itself! It looks like we'll have a great blackberry crop this summer -- lots of the berries have already set and sections of the rows that have rarely produced are loaded with potential.

The backyard apple tree is in full bloom and, if it's not overshadowed by the surrounding oaks, we should have a good crop.  The frontyard tree, that I severely pruned last year and this spring looks like it's taking the year off!  We had only a few blossoms and already it's suffering from the mildew that it gets every year.

 Last week, the walnut tree was loaded with blossoms, more than any other year.  Hopefully we'll see something as a result of it's hard work.  But when I checked this week, all the flowers had fallen off... oh well.
The cherry tree has done well and there are easily 4-5 dozen cherries already set.  I imagine that the birds will get them the day before we decide to pick!

The rock roses that we planted about 6 years ago have really been beautiful this year ... thriving on neglect!  And the little seeds that I planted f ew weeks ago are sprouting.  I even had to tie up my little tomatoes today.







It all goes to show that gardening is cyclical.  You fertilize, mulch, plant and set the automatic sprinklers and the plants you want take care of themselves.  In the meantime, you pull and prune the plants you don't want while the fruit and veggies grow.  By the time you're done with all the weeding and pruning, it's time to harvest, preserve and enjoy!
Twenty minutes later, you prepare the beds for the next season!

Spring Veggies are planted!

With confidence, we installed two substantial tomato trellises in the front veggie bed.  Constructed from 8 foot lodge poles they should be able to support the cherry and roma tomatoes that I planted this afternoon.  We intend to put in two more plants at the south end of the bed and are toying with the idea of planting a couple more plants in hanging baskets suspended between the two towers.

Last year we noticed that gophers had gotten into our topmost veggie bed... the one that was full of potatoes.  We had underwired the bed, but evidently the gophers were persistent enough to chew through the aviary wire we had used.  I dug out about half of the soil and spread it out among the other beds.  I'll replace the wire and order more topsoil soon.

 In the process, I found lots of volunteer potatoes from last summer.  They've been transplanted into the center bin along with some garlic and are doing quite well.  Looks like another good year for potatoes.

It was a great sunny day, so I also sowed seeds of edamame, brussel sprouts, cabbage, basil, lettuce, carrots and beets today.  The asparagus and rhubarb continue to produce well.   With all the rain we've had this year, we should have bumper crops!

 We have a new addition to the farm -- this little fig tree -- that was a gift from our neighbors Russ and Marian.  We need to find a home for it -- probably near the apricot tree in the back, but I need more "gopher deterrents" before I plant it!

The plum tree is still loaded with blossoms, even after the snow and rain of the past few weeks.  In fact yesterday, the honeybees were busily pollinating the flowers.  If all holds, this should be a good year for the plums -- and much appreciated after last years dismal crop.

A close-up of plum blossoms and one of the first peach blossoms of the year.  While the plum blossoms set all along the length of the old and new wood, it looks like peach blossoms only form on new wood.  I'll be looking at the distribution of fruit on the tree closely this year to see if I can do a better job of pruning next year.

The camellias are always productive, but this year is more amazing than ever.  What you see here is a pile of blossoms on the ground waiting to be added to the compost pile. 

The cherry and apricot trees are beginning to awaken.  It doesn't look like we'll have any cots this year, but the tree is only a year old.  

The berries, on the other hand look good.  And judging by the size of the buds, I'll probably be spraying the berries again in the next couple of weeks to try to get rid of the berry mites.  

Because it rained last night, today was the perfect day to fertilize -- and that I did!
2 cups for each of the citrus trees
3 cups for the apple, peach and plum trees
2 cups for the apricot, walnut and cherry trees
about 1/3 cup for each of the berry canes
and about 1/4 cup for each of the roses, geraniums and other flowering plants in the backyard -- even the potted plants on the deck.
I also fertilized the peas, lettuce, artichokes -- and asparagus, which was the only thing I originally planned to fertilize.
Hopefully the good plants will benefit from the fertilizer more than the weeds!

Wildflowers and Oak trees

Much of what makes the Bell Family Farm such a wonderful setting has nothing to do with the Bell Family or with farming!  The oak trees are beginning their annual growth cycle, setting flowers and preparing for the spring.  The wildflowers, tricked by a few warm and sunny days and a good amount of rain are opening in expectation of warmer days in the near future.

The weather that coaxes the oaks and wildflowers also encourages the weeds -- an eternal battle here.  Most of Saturday this weekend was devoted to the systematic removal of
prolific and pesky weeds.  But, the
chore of weed-pulling is as good an excuse as any to get outside and appreciate the natural beauty of the environment.  And I suppose if the flowers on the weeds were more appealing and they didn't overwhelm everything else, I'd consider them a gift of the hill as well.