Above you can see our berry beds. We've got currants, gooseberries, 3 different varieties of raspberries and 2 different honey berries in there. These will get transplanted this fall into the spot of ground we have designated as the berry patch.
We finished planting out the second half of the tomatoes today. The varieties in here include: early girl, cherry sweet 100, chocolate Cherokee, brandy wine, and a chocolate cherry tomato.
Our strawberry bed is booming! There are little green strawberries getting fatter now. We doubled the size of this bed by taking some runner strawberries from the main bunch.
Jeff is very relieved to see that our potatoes are coming up. This is the bed that he cares the most about in the garden. That and the berries, onions, garlic, carrots, fruit trees, rhubarb, cabbage, kohlrabi, fennel, peas.... truthfully, I'm lucky to have a husband who is equally invested in our garden.
Our sugar snap peas are getting bigger and starting to hang onto the fence.
I finished my first week of my master gardener class. In Montana we have an 8 week class that meets once a week for 2 hours that leads to the title of master gardener 1. After this there is another class and then an intensive hands-on course that you must apply to get accepted to. I am feeling very motivated to go all the way through.
From this week at class I learned the importance of soil testing. Based on the information presented, we will be testing the soil from our raised beds and from the ground in our yard to see what we're dealing with. I knew that nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and soil pH affected growth. I did not know that there were things such as cation exchange capacity that could also influence production. I am very interested in the results of the soil test and hope that any deficiencies that come up are easily remedied!
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ReplyDeleteYour garden is looking great...nice strawberries. How exciting to be taking a master gardener course, hope you enjoy the class.
ReplyDeleteThanks Samual! I think one thing we've got going for us for indoor growing is that our house is set up to make excellent use of the sun. Eventually we might invest in some supplemental light sources like LED so that we can grow more food year round in our solarium. For now though, we're focusing on more energy neutral methods of providing year-round food sources (i.e., canning/preserves, drying, storage of tubers, forcing greens, etc.)
ReplyDeleteThanks as well mr. h! The master gardener course should be good. I've read quite a few books that cover the same information, but it's nice to be able to hear it from an expert and do some problem solving. Speaking of experts, what's new in your garden?
Salad greens and perennial herbs are growing like crazy now that it is a tad warmer but everything else is still very slow to grow while we wait for more than 1 or 2 sunny days in a row...soon, soon.:)
ReplyDeleteGreat to know the -- in depth from this blog.This will really help for my forward steps to be taken.
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