Harvest Monday June 10, 2024

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Blueberries and raspberries are coming in now, and are a seasonal treat for our breakfasts which usually include homemade yogurt or whole grain cereal. The raspberries don’t keep for long, so we eat them while they are fresh and tasty. All the homegrown berries have more flavor than ones we buy, though I admit it is somewhat hard to be impartial.

fresh picked blueberries

red and yellow raspberries

The lettuce is still producing, though the leaves aren’t as tender or mild as they were in cooler weather. With a homemade vinegar and oil dressing, they are flavorful and salads make for a light lunch or dinner. I am experimenting with some summer lettuce, planted in a bed behind the greenhouse. One of the varieties is Tehama, which is a crisphead type that was recommended by our friends Roger and Mary Winstead (Beautiful Edibles) who grow for local markets here.

Sea of Red and Grazion lettuce

summer lettuce planting

I had a little buddy when I was planting the lettuce. This is a Fowler’s Toad, and after jumping out of the way of my trowel it sat on the mulch of shredded paper long enough for me to grab my camera and get a photo.

Fowler’s Toad

toad

The summer squashes are setting on, and I picked the first ones last week. They are running right on schedule, and the plants are healthy and growing nicely. I also cut another spear of broccoli – and we’re still waiting for more to come on.

summer squashes plus broccoli

I don’t usually get photos of small harvests but decided to take one of a green onion and some parsley I cut for a dinner creation last week.

onion and parsley

In other news, we made a trip to Reid’s Orchard last week to get some of the tart and sweet cherries for the freezer. Our cherry pitter doesn’t see action very often, but it is indispensable when we do!

tart cherries

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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Photo Friday: June Blooms

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

I’m taking a break from edibles today to showcase some of the things we have blooming here in early June. I’ll start with the hydrangeas, which are blooming nicely now. We have several kinds, including oakleaf types as well as the Limelight ones which aren’t blooming yet. Ruby Slippers and Snow Queen are flowering now, and both are loaded with blooms. Ruby Slippers flowers start out white and morph to pink and then ruby-red, and the blooms are lightly fragrant as well. It gets a mix of sun and shade, while Snow Queen is a variety that can take more sun than most oakleaf hydrangeas and is quite happy in its spot where it gets full sun.

Ruby Slippers hydrangea

Ruby Slippers changing to pink

Snow Queen hydrangea

Near the Snow Queen hydrangea the Bee Happy bee balm is in full bloom along with a few others in sunny spots. These are all hybrids, while our tall native types are budding up and should join the show soon. The bees love them, plus so do other pollinators and the occasional butterfly and beetle.

Bee Happy bee balm

Pink Chenille bee balm

Bubblegum Blast bee balm

Bumblebee on bee balm

Every year I plant petunias all around Happy Acres in various containers and planters, and they are all in full bloom now. I have Easy Wave Red Velour and Easy Wave Rose Fusion planted near our shop building, and out by our driveway I have a large pots planted with Easy Wave Red, Easy Wave Yellow and Easy Wave Blue. I have a few others scattered about in hanging planters and pots. All of them add color as well as attract the occasional butterfly for their nectar.

Easy Wave Red Velour petunia

Easy Wave Rose Fusion petunia

Wave petunias

We have several clumps of the native spiderwort planted here, in various colors including shades of white, pink and purple. The three-petaled flowers open in the morning and close by early afternoon, with each bloom lasting just one day.  The flowers grow in clusters however, and are usually loaded with flowers once they start blooming. Bees love them, and I rarely see them without one or more bees flitting around from flower to flower.

spiderwort

bee on spiderwort

Our Astilbes are about through blooming, but this pink one is still ablaze with color in the shady area of our garden.

pink astilbe

I’ll close with a somewhat uncommon plant, Ligularia. The Ligularia japonica ‘Chinese Dragon’ is the first one of ours to start blooming, with cutleaf leaves and large yellow-orange flowers that are popular with butterflies. My wife has several of this species planted in her perennial beds, and all are a sight to see when in bloom.

Ligularia ‘Chinese Dragon’

I hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the things we have blooming here in early  June. I will be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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Harvest Monday June 3, 2024

Posted on June 3, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Raspberries are a daily feature of our breakfasts now, with red and gold varieties ripening. It’s not a big haul every day, but just enough to keep us supplied for fresh eating. I need to do a better job of thinning the canes out next time, since harvesting is a challenge and often a prickly affair! The blueberries and blackberries will be ripening soon and joining the raspberries.

red and gold raspberries

I pulled the rest of the overwintered onions last week, since I needed to plant sweet potatoes in the bed where they were growing. They could have used another couple of weeks to finish sizing up, but still made a lot. The Forum onions are not known as a long keeping variety, but these should keep us supplied for several weeks (or more) while they last. I may freeze some of them for later use in soups and other dishes.

harvest of Forum onions

And the smallest harvest of the week was the first spear of broccoli! The stem broccoli varieties typically have a small main head and numerous side shoots, so the small size was not surprising. I’ve got more plants that should be heading up soon. This first one was the Melody variety.

first broccoli spear

I got another smallish head of the Sea of Red lettuce last week. This lettuce colors up well for me both in the greenhouse and outside, and is my current favorite red leaf lettuce. It’s great for salads by itself or mixed with green lettuce varieties and other salad greens.

Sea of Red lettuce

And lastly I cut more arugula for our Saturday night pizza creation. The early planting of arugula is about done for, but I managed to get enough leaves for this time.

arugula

In other news, I baked up a batch of Moomie’s Buns last week. We use these for more than burgers, and we used a couple of these for BBQ pulled pork sandwiches we had for lunch one day. The rest went into the freezer for later use.

whole wheat buns

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!

 


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June Garden Update

Posted on June 1, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

I wanted to give another update on the garden here at Happy Acres. I now have everything planted in the summer vegetable garden, and most everything has been mulched as well. Last week I got the pole beans planted, and they are now mulched and beginning to sprout. I mulched with corrugated cardboard on the front side and recycled cardboard boxes on the back side between the trellis and the outside fence.

bed planted with pole beans

pole beans after mulching

beans sprouting

I also got the sweet potatoes planted on Thursday. I’ve had great success using the no-dig, no-till method the last couple of years, and this is the way I grow all my crops except for the sweet potatoes. Before planting the sweet potatoes though I tilled up an area about two feet wide and a few inches deep. Then I used a garden hoe to form a ridge of soil that is 8 to 10 inches high and about as wide, so the edible roots can form there. I’ve experimented with several different spacings over the years, and I now try and set the plants somewhere between 15 and 16 inches apart in the row. I managed to get 29 plants in a bed that was about 40 feet long.

sweet potato plant

After planting I mulched with corrugated cardboard on either side of the bed and spread shredded paper down the middle part around the plants. I had good luck with this method last year, and the paper and cardboard will help keep down weeds while conserving soil moisture. Eventually both will break down and add organic material to the soil.

sweet potato bed

I also managed to get the vining winter squashes planted this past week. I started these plants indoors about a month ago, and they had developed healthy root systems and several true leaves had formed. I worked in compost and a bit of organic fertilizer before planting, and they should get off to a quick start.

Centercut squash seedlings

Meanwhile, the bush squashes are blooming and setting on fruit. I hand pollinated these first ones, since the bees haven’t yet found the blossoms. Before long they will be all over them and take over the pollination job for me. This year I set out two acorn types (Starry Night and Goldilocks), two yellow squashes (Tempest and Butterfingers) and five zucchinis (Clarimore, Green Machine, Noche, Mexicana and Zefren). They should keep us well supplied for fresh eating and I will freeze the rest for use later.

summer squash plants

first zucchini setting on

I also set out three overwintered peppers last week, and that completes the pepper planting for the year. I grow these overwintered ones in pots the first year, and keep them alive in the basement over the winter until time to set them out the next spring. The two year old plants start producing early and are super productive. I overwintered three of my favorite hot peppers last year: Aji Rico, Aji Delight and Sugar Rush Peach (in the photo).

overwintered pepper plant

The pepper seedlings I set out on 5/21 have taken off and are making good growth. I have seen a few blooms on the larger plants, and so far I haven’t lost any of them.

pepper plant

The tomatoes are also about ready to start blooming. They have really taken off after planting, no doubt helped by the recent rains and a shot of nitrogen they got from the blood meal I spread on the bed before planting. I will side dress with more organic fertilizer in a couple of weeks since they are fairly heavy feeders, and give them a drink of fish emulsion/seaweed fertilizer.

tomato plant

I hope you have enjoyed this update on the spring plantings here in early June. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres.

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Harvest Monday May 27, 2024

Posted on May 27, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It’s still salad season here, and last week I cut both red and green oakleaf lettuces for our use. Our salad creations are never boring, with all sorts of ingredients beside the lettuce, and usually topped with croutons I make from our homemade bread. We supplement with other veggies we buy, though we will use whatever homegrown ones we have available.

Salanova Red Oakleaf lettuce

Salanova Green Oakleaf lettuce

lettuce salad with croutons

We did cut the last spears of asparagus last week, and my wife got a photo to document the occasion. It was a pretty good year for it, and we harvested just under 13 pounds over an 8 week period. We roasted some of the last spears, along with roasted potatoes and some pan-seared tilapia fish fillets.

last asparagus harvest

roasted asparagus

And while the asparagus is done for, the red raspberries are ripening! We’re getting just enough to enjoy for our breakfasts, and the flavor is great compared to those we buy.

red raspberries

I also pulled an overwintered Forum onion that was beginning to bulb up. This variety is not known to be a long keeping onion, but we will use most of them at this stage and we should be well supplied for our onion needs. I set out a variety of onion plants this spring and they are about ready to pull for scallions.

Forum onion

In non-harvest news, last week we picked up a new hardy hibiscus plant from a local nursery. It’s called Luna White, and gets about 24-36 inches tall. The white blooms should make it a great addition to our collection of hibiscus. I was impressed by how many buds were on the small plant already.

Luna White hibiscus

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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