Your garden looks fantastic, fabulous and delight to see. I find it so interesting how much you can grow in such a relatively short growing season that you have up North. (As opposed to where I live in SoCA where we can grow things pretty much year round...oh yes, there definitely things that are ‘seasonal’ and do better in winter, like leaf lettuces, arugula, cilantro, broccoli, cabbage.) And how fast things mature!
Funny you guys haven't had any rain, here it has been the opposite: dry spring, then like Florida weather for the past two months, hot and raining nearly every day or two. Usually by now I expect the grass to be dead from heat and lack of rain, but instead I am mowing constantly.
Thanks! About ten times this year I have seen weather on the radar evaporate as it approaches us. A hundred miles west in the Dakotas, it has been quite wet. Even in Minnesota, it is a contrast between dry and drenched. It has been a very long time since we had an all day rain.
I don't know if you saw this, but Joel Smalley at Dead Man Talking got ahold of Minnesota's excess death info from 2015-2023. it is absolutely democide and iatrogenocide. Add in abortion on demand for any reason at any time, and being a refuge state for sterilizing kids. Meanwhile most of the state is oblivious.
Yea, I did see that... it is quite damning. I am glad I left in 2020... I really liked almost all the people I met, didn't mind the weather, etc., but there was some serious crazy happening in St Paul and Minneapolis.
You are welcome. Yes, that is much what I anticipated. It would look more ordered if I ran a lawn mower over the lanes, but that would do nothing to effect production. I like the half wild, half super productive garden, as it is more as nature orders things. As it evolves year after year however I expect it to look a little less wild.
Do you think the "wild look" might encourage the critters that eat your veggies? Are you making it easy for them? I have never seen a half-wild garden before, it has its appeal. The food gardens I am used to seeing are regimented a bit too much. Is this an experiment on your part?
There are surely more places to hide, however it is a rural farm, so I don't think the predation is out of the ordinary. There are a lot more critters around than in the city, and the ultimate draw is the plethora of food, not the wildness of it. That said, if a baby rabbit were to get in here it would be hard to find. We have several live traps out but so far all we have caught is birds.
Globe artichoke from Johnny's Seeds. Started them under lights indoors in mid February, set them outside in April at 40F for 2 weeks to get them to fruit, as they otherwise need two years to fruit. It worked, but I once saw some in Central Cali that were two or three times bigger, so I assume much older plants.
Free loading little bums! You said just a start. How about deer? One year, we went to town with the expectation to come home and pick tomatoes and Brussels sprouts. We came home and somehow deer got into the fence and ate EVERYTHING down to the ground!
The deer near where I live in northern California are high jumpers, but not broad jumpers. The solution is to erect two fences about 4 feet apart. they can clear a single 7 foot high fence pretty easily. The deer are black tailed deer.
White tail deer are not so prolific. But that is also why I extended the fence a bit higher with masons line, and then put flagging every few feet, to give the illusion of a taller fence. The flagging also blows in the wind, spooking the deer I hope.
Your garden looks fantastic, fabulous and delight to see. I find it so interesting how much you can grow in such a relatively short growing season that you have up North. (As opposed to where I live in SoCA where we can grow things pretty much year round...oh yes, there definitely things that are ‘seasonal’ and do better in winter, like leaf lettuces, arugula, cilantro, broccoli, cabbage.) And how fast things mature!
Wow, you linked to our piece from today so fast! Thanks for the shout out.
Welcome! The more people thinking about growing food or supporting those who do, the better.
Agreed!
That looks wonderful!
Funny you guys haven't had any rain, here it has been the opposite: dry spring, then like Florida weather for the past two months, hot and raining nearly every day or two. Usually by now I expect the grass to be dead from heat and lack of rain, but instead I am mowing constantly.
Thanks! About ten times this year I have seen weather on the radar evaporate as it approaches us. A hundred miles west in the Dakotas, it has been quite wet. Even in Minnesota, it is a contrast between dry and drenched. It has been a very long time since we had an all day rain.
This keeps up, you might be in danger of having to rename the state merely "Kilosota".
I don't know if you saw this, but Joel Smalley at Dead Man Talking got ahold of Minnesota's excess death info from 2015-2023. it is absolutely democide and iatrogenocide. Add in abortion on demand for any reason at any time, and being a refuge state for sterilizing kids. Meanwhile most of the state is oblivious.
https://metatron.substack.com/p/covid-intervention-caused-at-least
Yea, I did see that... it is quite damning. I am glad I left in 2020... I really liked almost all the people I met, didn't mind the weather, etc., but there was some serious crazy happening in St Paul and Minneapolis.
Minnesotan's are very proud of our Minnesota Nice, but there is a very deep and broad, unacknowledged shadow in it....
Thank you for the pleasure of your photos! Does the garden look the way you expected it to?
You are welcome. Yes, that is much what I anticipated. It would look more ordered if I ran a lawn mower over the lanes, but that would do nothing to effect production. I like the half wild, half super productive garden, as it is more as nature orders things. As it evolves year after year however I expect it to look a little less wild.
Do you think the "wild look" might encourage the critters that eat your veggies? Are you making it easy for them? I have never seen a half-wild garden before, it has its appeal. The food gardens I am used to seeing are regimented a bit too much. Is this an experiment on your part?
There are surely more places to hide, however it is a rural farm, so I don't think the predation is out of the ordinary. There are a lot more critters around than in the city, and the ultimate draw is the plethora of food, not the wildness of it. That said, if a baby rabbit were to get in here it would be hard to find. We have several live traps out but so far all we have caught is birds.
Great pictures. You mention artichokes. Did you enter grow Jerusalem Artichokes?
Globe artichoke from Johnny's Seeds. Started them under lights indoors in mid February, set them outside in April at 40F for 2 weeks to get them to fruit, as they otherwise need two years to fruit. It worked, but I once saw some in Central Cali that were two or three times bigger, so I assume much older plants.
If you had to list the predators/freeloaders who visit your garden surreptitiously, how many species would that be?
Moles, voles, mice, woodchucks, chipmunks, pocket gophers, potato beetles, cabbage moths....which is just a start.
Free loading little bums! You said just a start. How about deer? One year, we went to town with the expectation to come home and pick tomatoes and Brussels sprouts. We came home and somehow deer got into the fence and ate EVERYTHING down to the ground!
Not yet here...I have a seven ft fence. Hopefully...never!
The deer near where I live in northern California are high jumpers, but not broad jumpers. The solution is to erect two fences about 4 feet apart. they can clear a single 7 foot high fence pretty easily. The deer are black tailed deer.
White tail deer are not so prolific. But that is also why I extended the fence a bit higher with masons line, and then put flagging every few feet, to give the illusion of a taller fence. The flagging also blows in the wind, spooking the deer I hope.
Thanks for sharing about The Frause Garden on Whidbey Island! Lovely story!