Bountiful

Considering that there have been many 100° F days in a row-- with no rain-- we have been fortunate with the garden this year.

The idea of  erecting farm fence posts with wire strung across as a trellis for cucumbers and foot-long beans has worked well.  This year there have been fewer of those cukes that grew huge because you didn't see them in time to pick them when they'd be more tasty.

The tomatoes, despite a worrisome threat of blossom rot (ugh), have done well.  Kudos to us for keeping up with weeding and training those vines to stay in their cages.

And the sunflowers, well, enough said.

Today was another harvest day.  Have a look for yourself:

Bountiful

Sunshine (and hot)

Although it is getting hot and dry now, the Sunflowers seem to be happy-- and huge.

Because it is so dry we're watering the garden from the river to keep stress from our well and protect our well water.  The little pump you see here does a nice job of pumping water up the river bank and all the way to the garden.  It's one of the few 2-cycle engines that starts reliably and easily.

It's Summer!

Every June begins summertime.  Update:  those blackberries are ripe and ready for picking.  Plenty for you—there are way more of them than birds to eat them.
The River is ready for your enjoyment.

Take a look at the Garden.  It is doing very well this year.

And see the harvest after everything was picked just two days earlier.

Also doing really well are Sunflowers.  These all germinated on their own-- evidently from last year's seeds.  Several of them were transplanted to the flower garden when they were just a few inches high,   Reminds you of "... look at me now ..." from Karmin's viral video of the same name?

Though you may be wishing for better weather where you are, it's been great here at the River.  Here's those sunflowers for you to enjoy.

Spring is here (almost) !

The garden

Lots of cedar trees have grown up in our lot  adjacent to the 'cabin'.  The picnic bench you see here has stayed close to home.  It is tethered onto a post in the ground.  Before tethering, it had floated down several lots to a neighbor's tree line during a good sized flood (before the flood of May 2010)

The garden has been tilled for 2012.  Rows are marked with string.  It's a beautiful day... mostly sunny and unseasonably warm

The sky has darkened; thunder claps are occurring, but no rain.  The dark sky brings out the contrast of the trees beginning to leaf out.

A telephoto shot reveals the River as it bends northward.

Down from the picnic bench is a path that leads over the bridge to the River's edge.  The water is higher now than in the Summer.  The path is ready to be repaired after several high waters that approached flood stage.

Kayaking

After starting the garden, it was time for a well-earned break.

Dragging the kayak to the beginning of the path at the Riverbank.

Preparing to climb aboard.  A little trickier this time as recent late Winter high waters have brought sand and mud to where there had been a good base of river rock.

Underway!  The substantial wake is created by such powerful paddle strokes

.

It was a good ride, into the setting sun.

Already planted:  lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, beets, radishes, red onions, white onions, yellow onions.  To be planted tomorrow-- potatoes.

Soon it will be summer!

The neighborhood is alive with crops and flowers.
See a sampling for yourself.  Be sure to see the pair of Goldfinches.

" ... how does your Garden grow?"

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.
.
.

Rototilling the garden

Every Spring the garden is prepared for the planting season. This is the time of year when we're not thinking of weeding, watering, and, yes, the work it takes to harvest all those crops. In our minds there are no rabbits, raccoons, deer or armadillos. We've ordered the seeds and are getting ready to get those cold-weather crop seedlings: lettuce, broccoli, cabbage-- to name a few.


When it begins to turn warm, we anxiously wait for the garden to dry out enough to be able to rototill. 

• If the ground is too damp we can get stuck in the mud. 
• If we wait too long we miss out on the full growing season. The heat of the summer comes early in Tennessee. 

 Four-wheel drive helps, but it's not always enough. So it's an educated guess between jumping the gun and waiting longer than needed. This year we got lucky. Being on site, we could jump in at just the right time.


"A labor of love" best describes this Rite of Spring. Hearing the growling, rumbly sound of the tractor's diesel engine is the music. Get a small taste for yourself from the video (click on "YouTube" to enjoy it from there).

Birds chirp in the early morning

(remember to click those 4 arrows at the bottom to see video in full screen)


Early morning is a special time at the river. The birds are hungry and happy in the early-morning sunshine. Often, the River is calm.  This morning there's a clear late-winter blue sky.  We can see beyond the trees and,  especially, we can see the riverfront.  Already the birch trees' branches--  at the river's edge--are picking up some color; soon it will be spring.

The video pans from the road, across the west yard and garden.  Then the River comes into view.  Look along the entire riverfront.  Listen for all the birds.  Finally, we're at the covered porch where we get to see a surprise.
..

Strawberries in furrows

The rototiller/cultivator helped to expand the strawberry patch with furrows.

Twenty-seven strawberry plants were extracted from the patch and were placed in the new furrows.

(see other posting for picture of cat who had helped do this gardening)

How to Grow Strawberries - Not

Next year will be better for Strawberries?
Despite moderate efforts at weed control and a meager attempt to put old tall grass clippings under the nascent strawberries, all kinds of weeds permeated the little patch.

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This strawberry patch looks so much better!

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Hide and seek

Where is Tracker?
It's there between the okra and the old corn stalks.  The okra are just about finished blooming.  Enough have been eaten.  Lots of okra now in the freezer.
The corn harvest was good.  The raccoons didn't come by until the corn was nearly all harvested. Plenty of corn is in the freezer, too.
Tracker is sitting abreast of the corn stalks.  It's waiting for an automatic pull & load feature to get rid of the stalks.  Those stalks have roots!  They're not easy to pull, even after recent rains.

Another great day

So many different ways to have fun at the River. Today is grass-cutting day. Tommorrow-- pick lots more Corn!

Tour the garden

Ride with us and take a spin around the garden.(click the picture to see the movie)

You'll see everything is well-watered, thanks to the heavy rains (see the flood, next post, below)

It's hard to see the squash hiding under those big leaves, but they're there.
Later we hope to have watermelons!

Harvest

Morning glories, watermelon (big), mowing the yard, the field of yellow as summer begins to wane at the river.

See the watermelon on the porch at the bottom of the collage?  We enjoyed it very much with some neighbors.

Tomatos (Tomatoes?)

Another reason why Summer is great!
The Garden














The Harvest












The prize

Back home at the farm

We're back at the river today. The garden is full of tomatoes, potatoes, squash, onions, corn, cabbage, broccoli, watermelon, cantaloupe, green beans, jalapeño peppers, cucumbers and some herbs.

Sunflowers are tall!

Look how tall the sunflowers have grown. In front of them are white, pink, purple cosmos.

The other picture shows all the sunflowers smiling at you. Reminds me of lots of kids all trying to get into the picture.

In the background is the PT Cruiser convertible, this time with its top down. More fun.