The early June garden

There's a lot going on here in my garden, and a ton more to do.  Good thing I enjoy this work so much ; )

Now that I have vegetables ready to sell, I have put them on a page titled This Weeks Veggies.  It will include what is in CSA boxes.  You can order by Facebook message, e-mail, or telephone.  Let me know what delivery day (and a second choice) works for you.

The bunnies suddenly stopped coming around and I was afraid something had happened to them.  One morning I saw one again - with a cute little baby!  I was glad - I just love seeing these guys in our yard every day, even though I know they are a danger to my lettuce.  So far, they haven't ventured that way.  Fingers crossed!

My herb garden next to the house.  Contains chives, thyme, parsley, sage, and greens - mustard, arugula, and sorrel.  The greens I planted in the garden were taking so long to come up that I thought they weren't going to, so I planted them in a bunch of different places.  We're gonna have a lot of greens.

And now, lots of pictures of what's coming up and getting big:

French Breakfast radishes, and the little feathery guys in front are carrots.  Garden carrots are so so delicious!

The peas are getting bigger.  Once they have full pods, I'll probably  have to make the boys work so I can sit in the garden and eat fresh peas all day.

The beets started growing pretty fast once I weeded.  

Swiss chard and weeds.

Potatoes - this picture is a bit old.  They are bigger every time I go out there!

Look how cute this baby kale leaf is - Red Russian kale.

Red onion 

Dill volunteering at the end of the garlic bed (and here and there in the peas, beets, and radishes.)

Cherry Belle radishes will be ready soon.

My row of transplanted lettuce.  These guys looked so sad after transplanting, I thought they weren't going to make it.  Now look at them!  The two rows next to them have a lot of baby lettuce that I seeded, as well as swiss chard and radishes/carrots.

Green bean sprout!

Harvested French Breakfast radishes.

I have a lot of plants ready to go into the ground, as soon as I can get my grubby hands on some soil amendments.

Squash - I am planting a great variety of varieties : )

Tomatoes!  (Just a small sampling - also went a little variety crazy here.)

Supercute basil sprout.  I get such a kick out of the second leaves that are tiny versions of the full grown plant.

 I've been preparing for the mass planting that will happen shortly, so I can get things in as soon as I get compost and manure.  I keep getting anxious that the warm weather plants and seeds aren't in yet, then we get snow or frost and I'm reminded not to panic and to let things work out as they will.

I've always been pretty good at straight lines.

I've been having a problem with flea beetles.  They have been gobbling tiny holes in my radish greens, arugula, mustard greens, and kale.  My solution has been to spend a little time most days hunting them with a plastic spoon and petroleum jelly (the tip on the internet suggested treacle, but I'm fresh out.)  I've just been coating the back of the spoon and using my lightning reflexes to catch the bugs in the petroleum jelly.  It works pretty well, actually.  They seem to especially like the arugula - luckily, I have a lot of it coming up untouched in the herb garden.

Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely season!

Melissa

Greetings!  There are some delicious things growing out of the ground here at my wee farm.  Radishes, peas, and beets have sprouted.  Lettuces, leeks, and green onions have been transplanted.  Four hundred feet of potatoes have been planted.  I've also been working hard at starting tomatoes, peppers, and squash inside.

Here are some pictures - don't worry, I watered immediately after taking these, hehe.  I'm working on figuring out a drip irrigation solution so the plants get a slow, constant supply of water right at their roots.

Radishes - these ones are french breakfast - oval shaped with pink  on top and white on bottom.

Marvel of four seasons and bibb lettuces.

The celery seedlings are looking more celery-like.  I love these guys!

Peas!  I love the look of pea plants.

Chioggia beets.

Marvel of four seasons lettuce.  It's a beautiful color, which is not quite captured in this picture.

Swiss chard.

My lovely neighbor across the street (who I've known my whole life - it's nice to be home)  has gifted me with some bibb lettuce, turnips, and chives.  She mentioned (and I read it somewhere once) that thanking someone for a plant is bad luck to the growing of the plant.  Hopefully blogging about it is okay : )

Hope you're all having a great spring!

Melissa

Greetings!

It's been a very busy week here at my tiny farm.  Mom and Dad came to visit and brought the machines I needed to get the ground ready for planting (and helped me out a lot - thanks Mom and Dad!)   It is getting started a little later than I wanted, but I'm just so glad to have the opportunity, I'm not going to stress about it!  I got peas, radishes, beets, and carrots in the ground yesterday, with the help of my good friend, Jamie.  More beets, radishes, and carrots will go in today.  Potatoes are cut and drying and will get planted in a day or two.

Here are some pictures from around my garden:

These super adorable guys (and two others) spend a lot of time in our yard. 

I love them, but I know they will gobble all my lettuce at the first opportunity.    Bunny control research is in the works.  

Mom planted a cherry tree four years ago, and now that she moved it has blossomed for the first time.

Garlic coming up!

Chokecherry trees are filling out.  I am dreaming of jelly : )

Mint coming up.  Mom's had it going for years, and it's a huge patch now.  Cute little guys!

Mom's tulips.  My favorite flower.

Grape hyacinths.

Plenty of work I love to keep my busy these days!  Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather.

Melissa

Good day!

I found some new sprouts today.  Celery is coming up, and they are cute and tiny!

Leeks, finally, just barely.  Can you see him there?

I put my established seedlings outside for some fresh air and sunshine (it was sunny...)

Thanks to my brother for coming over so I had a place to put them.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend : )

Melissa

Seedlings

Greetings!


This is a very exciting time for me- I am going to move into the house in Lavina in one week.  I will till, test, and amend the soil, then get right to planting!  Peas, beets, carrots, radishes, and lettuce will go right into the garden.  I will also have a lot of seeds to start in cups I've been making out of paper grocery bags.  The cups can be put right into the ground, so the roots of the plant won't be disturbed when they get transplanted.  At the White Pine Farm in Michigan - where I worked most of last year - we used a soil block press, which was very nice.  I will definitely get one of those when I can, but for this first year, I'm working with what I have.

These are a few things I have coming up already:

Marvel of Four Seasons lettuce - this lettuce is delicate and pretty.

Cabbage

All the windowsills on one side of the house are filled with onion seedlings.

Green onions

Swiss chard

I hope everyone is having a great spring.  I am ecstatic to be back in Montana and to have an opportunity to get started on my dream of farming.