At the front of the yard is the three sisters garden with corn towering high above the squash, and beans intertwined between the corn.
I am very happy with the way this bed turned out. The squash grew to fill in the walking spaces between the rows of corn, and the corn grew fast enough to support the beans for the most part. I think this a planting method that I will most likely use again for these crops. I think it would even work well on a larger scale and it seems to be a really good way to grow some extra food for my chickens to eat.
The first row of the garden next to the corn holds the tomatoes.
These have grown well this year and they seem to have a lot of fruit growing on the vines, but they have been very slow to ripen. I have been getting plenty of cherry tomatoes, but have only picked a handful of the larger varieties so far this summer. I hope they start coming on soon, so I have a chance to make a few batches of salsa. In the meantime I have been freezing the few that I haven't been able to eat and will make them into tomato sauce later in the fall when the weather cools.
Behind the tomatoes are the peppers.
The plants are vigorous and healthy, but not very tall. They have also been very productive. I have left many peppers on the plants to ripen into their final color and many of those are huge! Some of the plants have been looking crowded with their peppers though, so I have picked at least a dozen green and purple peppers and froze them in halves to use with meals this winter.
The turnips and beets are behind the peppers.
This bed has also grown amazingly in a short time. The turnips have already been thinned a couple of times and I have frozen a few quarts of those already. The beets aren't quite big enough yet, but once the turnips aren't there to shade them so much, I think they will grow very quickly.
The cucumbers are behind the turnips and they are very happy!
This bed has been crawling with cucumbers for weeks and I have given up on trying to contain them. At this point I am happy that they do such a good job as a ground cover that I don't have to worry about weeds in this bed.
Next to the cucumbers is the new cabbage patch.
I planted these guys after the garlic was harvested and they have done pretty well so far. The ones in the middle just never came up, but I think 8 cabbage plants is plenty for me. They are starting to form tiny heads in the middle, so I think I will get a nice crop from this bed this fall.
Next to the cabbage is the up and coming bed of lettuce and spinach.
It was the bed that held the onions just a few short weeks ago. Since I have dug them all up I decided to see if I could grow myself some nice salad mix before it got too cold. This bed may get a hoop house cover over it before the season is over and will hopefully keep me in salad into early winter.
The next bed over holds half of my potato crop for the year. Right now it is horrendously overgrown with pasture because of the hay that I mulched the bed with, but beneath that I hope is hiding a treasure trove of red and purple potatoes.
The broccoli bed has gotten completely out of control also, though I am still harvest florets from some of the plants. Other plants in the bed have a horrible infestation of aphids and I need to clean them out before they get worse.
The bush beans are still chugging along, though I have never gotten a huge harvest out of the bed, I have been able to freeze a few quarts of them here and there.
The summer squash is still happily producing and I am getting just enough to have fresh squash if I want it, or fill my dehydrator if I don't.
The brussel sprouts are also growing nicely and have started to form buds at the base of the leaves. I think they should be a good size by the time the first frost comes. I just hope they can avoid the aphids and cutworms that have been feasting on my broccoli in the bed nearby.
Next to the brussel sprouts is my up and coming bed of fall peas. I harvested all the potatoes from this bed since the plants had mostly died back and am hoping that I can get a small crop of peas from this bed before the weather gets too cold. If they don't have enough time to flower, then I will just turn the pea vines back into the soil to add nitrogen rich organic matter for the next crop.
Finally there is my strawberry patch on the side of the pine tree. I finally had a chance to weed it again as it had been taken over by ragweed. I was happy to find eight little strawberry plants holding their own in the shade of the pine. Half of them have even sent out multiple runners, so this patch will only get bigger in time now that it is established.
At this point in the season I have to say that it's been a really great garden for it's first year. I am looking forward to see how it grows for me next year.
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