The Squash Are On The Way

I was walking around the garden yesterday and I was amazed by how quickly the squash went from being a tiny little helpless seedling to being a monstrous plant just bursting with flower buds.  It was only last week that the squash started showing any real progress in their growth.  The very first flower bloomed only a couple days ago, but already you can see the fruit forming below it.

This is the yellow squash plant.  From the looks of things we will be inundated with them in about a week or two.  The busiest part of the season is just beginning and I will have to make a point to check my plants daily if I want to stay on top of the harvest.  Zucchini and yellow squash have a tendency to hide in the stalks of the leaves until they are enormous.  I would like to stay away from the baseball bat sized ones because the smaller ones are more tender and flavorful.  The small ones also preserve better when they are dehydrated.  I plan on giving away alot of my surplus to friends, and dehydrating the rest for feeding to the chickens or adding to soups and breads.

 

The winter squash have also started putting out their first flowers.  The first to go so far are the pumpkins.  I am sure the rest will follow shortly.

 

 

I am a little curious to see what comes out of the other squash plants.  I have long since forgotten which variety I planted where, so I guess I will just have to wait and see what grows.  The plants are also growing so fast that I have no doubt that they will be taking over that end of the garden in a few short weeks.  Lucky for me I planned on that, so the plants will have plenty of room to roam.  There is nothing tall growing in the beds around them and if they grow into the pathways that is fine because they will help to shade out the weeds.

 

Pole Beans

This is the second year I will be planting pole beans from my own saved seeds.  So far it has been a slow start to the year.  I have had to replant the bed twice when half the seeds never came up.  The ones that did come up first are doing quite well.  They have even grown tall enough to reach over to the poles they are planted around.  The first set to wrap themselves around the pole look quite happy.

 

As filled out as they look at the bottom makes me think that the bean tipis will work nicely once they climb to the top of the poles.  I was a little worried about how well they will be able to grip the slick pvc pipe, but it looks like it won't be a big problem.  I will just have to make sure that they stay trained to the poles in the begining and the rest should work itself out.

The only other thing I have to worry about is keeping the poles tied in a tipi fashion.  We have wild wind gusts out here and the poles are so flexible that they bend until the tie slips off of one.  It isn't long after that the poles will all be waving independantly in the breeze.  I hope that once the beans take hold that the poles will be less likely to bend as far.  I may have to use duct tape or something to make sure the ties don't slip anymore.  I wouldn't want the waving poles to damage the bean plants they were meant to support.

Weeding the Corn

The corn beds have been on the back burner for a while now but I was finally able to get around to pulling the weeds in them this week.  It was quite the project.  This is what they looked like before weeding last week:

In some of the beds the weeds were taller than the corn.  You could hardly tell that there was corn growing in some areas because the weeds were so thick.  This made it frustrating to water this area because it seems like every time I did the weeds grew twice as fast.  It is not my intention to make my weeds grow faster, so I really needed to do something about it.

 

The last day that I had off I was able to devote many hours to weeding the corn patch and here is what it looks like after:

As you can see the corn has grown a few inches in this short time.  I am hoping that it will be enough to shade out any new weeds that pop up underneath them.  It is also nice to know that the weeds will no longer be stealing nutrients and water from the corn either. 

 

You can even see all the way down the row.  I am trying to find enough boards to put down the middle of each row so I can walk through the row without getting stuck in the mud after I water.  The boards will also help to keep the weeds from growing down the path which means less weeding in the future.  It sure does feel nice to have this out of the way for a little while.  Soon the garden will be big and strong enough to let the chickens out again so they can go on weed and bug patrol for me too.

 

 

Dwarf Orange Tree

A few years ago I ordered a dwarf orange tree from a nursery.  When I got the tree it was little more than a twig that I stuck in some dirt and hoped it would live.  Well live it did.  It grew very little that first year, though it did put out a couple flowers that actually made it to the fruit stage.  The oranges are tiny - about the size of a nickle, and tart.  They still taste like an orange, but with more zip than you would expect from an orange.  The following year the tree never put out any flowers, but did grow a lot more new leaves.  This year it has rounded out nicely and has produced an abundance of flowers.

 

The flowers have such a sweet fragrance.  I love it when I can catch a whiff just walking by.  I think that we will have many more oranges this year even if they are just tiny things.

Strawberry Moon

Every month has a full moon that is special for different reasons.  In native american cultures each full moon held special significance in their lives because it was the signal of certain seasonal changes that will only happen in once a year.  The moon was tied to harvesting certain crops and in this month's case that crop would be strawberries.  This month this moon is supposed to be a super moon to boot.  That means that the moon is at it's closest point relative to the earth and actually appears larger to us in the sky.  Lucky for us the moon is full at the same time which makes it a super moon.  A Strawberry Super moon.  I find it interesting that this is also happening close to the solstice.  These kinds of things don't happen very often, so if you get to witness this consider yourself lucky.

The Year of the Squash

The past few years I haven't had squat in the way of winter squash.  The first year's garden didn't have enough space in the plan for too many squash plants.  Squash like to sprawl so they need alot of room to move around.  So I opted for summer squash over winter squash because they can be very productive with only a couple plants.  And they certainly were very productive.

 

Last year I had inter planted squash with corn using the three sisters concept.  I'm not quite sure if my timing was off or if I used bad seeds, but very few squash came up.  The ones that did come up were so inundated with weeds that they were very stunted in the beginning.  Then the corn I choose was a variety that can grow 11 feet tall so it grows pretty fast and it ended up shading out most of the plants that were left.  I don't think I harvested a single winter squash that year.

 

This year is looking much brighter for the squash family.  I have devoted 4 whole beds to nothing but squash and melons.  So far the squash have come up phenomenally.  I had a chance to weed them very well at a critical time in their growth and they have really done well ever since.

 

This is the bed before a good weeding.

 

This is only a few days after weeding.

 

As good as this years plants are looking I'm willing to bet we get tons of squash this year.  This will be great for the chickens since they will get all the seeds they can eat plus any cooked squash that we can't finish.

Not a Single Strawberry

Over the past few days the strawberry harvest has been dwindling.  Not that it was ever huge or anything,  but 7 or 8 berries a day really takes a long time to add up to anything substantial. I was diligently saving the fresh berries in a bag in the freezer until there would be enough to make jam.  My pathetic grand total amounts to half a quart bag of frozen strawberries.  Maybe enough to make 2 1/2 pint jars of jam when all is said and done.

I think that I may get just a couple more berries if I keep my eyes peeled when I'm digging around in the strawberry bed, unless some other critter beats me to them instead.  I think that may be what happened yesterday when I went looking for strawberries to pick.  I was sure that I would have a couple to pick that weren't quite ready a couple days ago, but when I looked there was nothing at all but a couple mostly eaten berries hanging from their stems.  If this is the way things are now then it looks like my strawberry harvest has come to an end for this year.  Maybe next year I will plant a couple dozen everbearing varieties so I can extend the harvest through the summer.

Bear Creek Hike

For this week's day off, we decided to try out Bear Creek Trail.  It's about an hour's drive south of town, just this side of Red Mountain.  There is a creek to get to see eventually that I think the trail is named after.  This trail should take you to two different mines if you can make it that far.  We passed a family of backpackers and were passed by a number of trail runners along the way.  Seeing as how the trail follows along the edge of a cliff through many parts I can honestly say that I have great respect for the trail runners.  I would never be so sure of my footing that close to the edge of a several hundred foot drop off.  Those people have a stronger stomach than I do and that is the truth.  The trail starts off by crossing a land bridge over the highway and then goes up through a series of switchbacks.  The trail through much of the switchbacks is loose slate chunks that have eroded out of the sides of the mountain interspersed with some hard packed dirt.

 After about a mile or so the switchbacks give way to a trail along the side of a steep cliff.  In many places the trail can be quite narrow and if you are afraid of heights then this is probably not the trail for you.

 

For the most part I tend to have a healthy respect for heights so I was indeed very frightened while I walked along these parts of the trail.  The narrow trail combined with the steep edge and loose gravel made for a little bit of an adrenaline rush at times.

 

We did get our first glimpse of Bear Creek as we rounded the first of the points on the side of the cliff.

Unfortunately the pictures don't really give you a good sense of how far away that stream is from where I was standing.  I would say there was a several hundred foot drop to get down there. 

 

 Ironically the higher up the mountain we hiked, the closer we got to the water.  By the time we had reached our stopping point we had a fairly nice view of the creek.

 

 

There were a couple other nice views along the way.

 

 

 

This shale was literally crumbling out of the side of the mountain as we hike by.  You could jiggle pieces of it loose and many would break apart into thin sheets so you could see between the layers of the rock.

The range of colors you could see here is amazing.

 

On the way back down we had a great view of the valley below where it opens up into the little town of Ouray.  I still find it hard to believe that I can hike to places with views like this. 

 

This trail was quite a challenge for me.  Not because the hiking was difficult (though the switchbacks are a good workout), but because I had to swallow my fear of heights if I wanted to get anywhere on this trail.  I did well for quite a while, but I came to a part of the trail that I just didn't want to cross.  It means that we didn't make it to the mines that lie along this trail, but at this point I am proud of myself for getting as far as I did.  I give full credit for this to my curiosity about what was around the next bend.  Bravery had very little to do with it, since I spent most of my time watching my footing and trying not to look over the cliff's edge just in case I should slip.  I might have gotten farther had I not looked ahead to the next set of tight curves on the lip of a cliff.  Sometimes you just have to know when to say when.

 

 

 

 

 

Weeding

Weeding has become the endless chore at this point in the season.  Every time I water it seems like the weeds grow faster than the plants that are supposed to be there.  I know that eventually the plants will become established enough to out compete the weeds, but until they do I need to keep the weeds from choking them out.  So I spend my evenings pulling weeds.  This year's addition is by far the worst as far as keeping up with the weeds,  Last year's addition is faring slightly better and hasn't needed as much of my time.  The beds in the original garden have needed very minimal weeding so far.  The paths are a different story all together.  In this area I have a never ending battle with some very nasty thistles that I just can't seem to get rid of.  I have even used dandelion poppers to break off their taproots deep in the soil.  Somehow they keep coming back and once they get big their thorns are so big they poke me through my gloves.  My hope this year is to get rid of all of them before they go to seed.  The trick is that even though I think I get rid of them in the garden there are always a few hiding along the fence line and they tend to get overlooked there.  This year I will do my best to get every last one that I see.  As for the rest of the garden.....I will just have to do the best I can.  Soon harvest season will be upon us and most of my time will be devoted to picking and preserving the fruits of my labor.

The Garden Is Taking Off - Part Three

This year's addition is doing well now that things have had a little time to grow.  The only problem is that the weeds are doing very well also and I'm having a hard time keeping up with them.

The peppers seem to be holding their own against the weeds so far.  Most of the beds in this section are so over run with weeds that all I can do is try to keep them away from the immediate vicinity of the plants that I do want in the garden. 

 

Even though the plants are still fairly small, some of them have actually started to make peppers.  I hope this is a hint of the size of the harvest to come.  I have a feeling that as long as the summer stays hot and sunny, the peppers will be quite happy.

 

The corn has started to come along as well.  If I can keep the weeds down until they get bigger they may be able to outcompete them and I won't have to work so hard to keep the weeds at bay.

 

The bush beans are starting to pop nicely also.  These are going to be saved for next years seed so I'm not really counting on a huge harvest  this time around.  I just want to get enough to see if I like them enough to keep growing them.

 

 The winter squash are also starting to fill out nicely.  It looks like we will be growing about 24 plants which means we should get a lot of squash from these beds.

 

Even the watermelons look like they will be making an attempt this year, though they are still small.  The yellow spots on the leaves are a part of how this plant is supposed to look.  It will even get yellow spots on the fruit when it is ripe and it's called amish moon and stars for the patterns on the rind of the melons. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Garden Is Taking Off - Part Two

In last year's addition everything is starting to leaf out nicely.  This section holds three beds of potatoes, a bed of pole bean tipi's, a bed of cucumbers planted on either side of my trellis design for this year, and ends with a bed of summer squash.

The potatoes have only been hilled up once and have started to flower.  I've read that once they flower you can begin to harvest them because they will put more energy to the flowers than the tubers.  I don't know if this is true and it seems far too early in the season to start harvesting, so I will be leaving them in the ground until the stems die back.  I hope to get many large mature tubers like I did the first time I attempted to grow potatoes.  The larger tubers seem to keep better.  If we have any left over by next spring I will be using them to plant next year's garden.

 

The beans that have come up are starting to put out many new leaves.  I have a feeling that it won't be long until they are climbing the poles of the tipis.  There are still a few bare spots that I will have to attempt to replant for a second time.  I don't know if there is a problem with the soil where I planted them or if I've kept it too dry or too wet.  It's hard to say why some just aren't coming up.  Either way, I have to replant if I want the tipi's to look filled out.  One lonely bean plant climbing up a pole won't fill out much, not to mention it won't make for a large harvest either.

 

Some of the first cucumbers to come up are starting to put out good growth and the second round of plantings have all sprouted, so things look good for the cucumbers harvest so far.

 

The summer squash has really started to grow as well and I can even see the tiny beginnings of flowers forming in the centers of the plants.  The weeks of drying zucchini aren't far away from the looks of things.  I'm not sure what I was thinking planting 6 of these kinds of squash.  There may be a lot of zucchini bread in our future.

 

 

 

The Garden Is Taking Off - Part One

We have had some nice hot weather for the last two weeks or so and the Garden is really loving it.  I've been trying as hard as I can to keep up with the weeds, but as you can see in some of these pictures, right now the weeds are winning.  I guess that will happen when you are trying to make sure that your garden is well watered.

The peas have almost reached the top of the fence and have begun to make tons of flowers.  Pretty soon the nights will be filled with the sound of the dehydrator helping to save our harvests for the coming months.

 

The carrot bed is working out nicely so far.  As the radishes are harvested the carrots have filled out to take up their space.  Some of them have even started to fill out their roots.  Fresh carrots won't be far behind. 

 

The broccoli are just starting to fill out as they branch off to make more florets.  The onions in front of them seem to be doing their job so far since none of the plants seem to have any bug problems yet.  I hope that remains true as the season progresses.

 

The three remaining brussel sprouts are coming along nicely also.  If they don't become infested with aphids this year we might still get a small harvest.

 

The onion bed is growing taller by the day.  Right now some of them are up to my knee.  I had to pluck a few flower stalks off of the sets that I planted which is one of the downfalls of growing onions from sets.  I do think that I might allow some of them to go to flower so I can collect the seeds, but the last time I tried that none of the seeds sprouted. 

 

The garlic has been growing so nicely that some plants are as tall as my hip.  If this harvest is as good as it looks right now I just might have enough to make it to next year with some left over for seed which is exactly what I wanted.

 

The tomatoes are growing by leaps and bounds and all of them have several flowers on them.  One of them has already set fruit as well.  It's starting to look like we will be eating fresh tomatoes in a few short weeks.

 

The celery has stalks that are growing taller and thicker everyday.  When the stalks get big enough I will start cutting off the large stems and leaving the small ones to continue to grow.  Last year I dehydrated the celery and I think it turned out a little bitter.  Right now I have only used small amounts in soups and stocks.  This year I think I will blanch and freeze most of it to see if it tastes any better when we have to use it later on.

 

The lettuce bed has some promise, though I think my timing may have been off when I staggered my planting of lettuces.  The first few rounds have been growing nicely and I harvest a gallon bag off of them every few days.  The next few rounds seem like they have been very slow to sprout and have taken a long time to start growing.  The problem is that the older plants look like they may start to bolt soon and after that they get very bitter.  The younger plants are no where near ready to start harvesting, but maybe they will grow fast once they get a little more established.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light Harvests

The garden is growing slowly but steadily.  The young seedlings are sending up more leaves and filling out nicely.  After topping the young broccoli they sent out many new florets which I was able to harvest for a fresh salad topping.

 

I will have to keep up with harvesting the florets for the rest of the summer or they will go to seed and stop producing.

 

The peas have grown enough to produce their first harvest.

 There aren't many peas yet, but the plants are becoming covered in flowers and I'm sure I will have plenty to harvest in the next few weeks.  For now they too have become additions to the salad we have been enjoying fresh on a daily basis.

 

These are some carrots that were ready for harvest from a planter box I planted in January.  They aren't very big, but they sure are tasty.  I hope the ones growing out in the garden are this flavorful.

 

 

I have also been able to harvest about a half cup of ripe strawberries from the strawberry patch almost every day.  Since I am only getting a few at a time and they don't last long in the fridge I have been freezing what I do have until I have enough for a batch of strawberry jam.  I bet it will the tastiest jam I've ever had.

Campsites

What do I look for in a campsite?  I want something away from other people.  Preferably next to a stream with a relatively flat place where I can set up a tent.  We had all of that on the last camping trip we went on.  The first night we stayed at a little campground with composting toilets and a water tap.  I think some of the sites had electricity and you could buy wood from the campground host.  As far as roughing it goes, if you like to watch the great outdoors from the luxury of your camper, then this would be the campground for you.  The campground itself was located in a fairly remote area on a non-major road.  Half the sites were nicely forested areas along the side of a good sized mountain stream.  The site we stayed in had a short path to a nice little gravel beach where we could sit and soak our feet in the stream.  Pretty sweet site if you ask me.

 

The second night we went a little more adventurous and spent the night camped at a site in the national forest.  It was a pull off on the side of a major, but not heavily traveled highway.  It was almost pure luck that we stopped there, but it turned out to be a pretty nice site.  It too had a good sized stream running through it.  It also had a nicely treed little area not too far from the stream with several fire pits around the area.  Luckily for us, no one else was camped there, so we parked and set up camp.  Some previous visitors to the site had made some nice log seats and also left a grill screen that just happened to fit perfectly on the fire pit. 

 

We spent the night exploring the area along the stream and then had a little campfire while the stars came out.  The only sound that night was the quiet rushing of the stream and the occasional car driving down the highway.  The site was fairly well hidden in a thicket of trees so car lights were not a big deal.

This was the view across the street at dusk

 

This was a little upstream from our site

The pull off in the middle of nowhere

 

The pebble beach only a few feet from our campsite and no one around for miles.

Perfect.

 

 

 

 

Hike to the Petroglyphs

One of the things I got to see on our trip to Mesa Verde was a large petroglyph on the wall of the canyon.  It did require a good hike to get to, but the hike and the experience was well worth the effort.

The trail takes you down into the canyon winding along the side of a steep slope. 

 The trail goes through several narrow slots in the rocks and under several overhangs. 

 

One of the overhangs was big enough for a few small structures.

 

There were many interesting things in the rocks along the trail.

 

 

The Petroglyphs are on a vertical wall of rock in the shade of some very old trees.

 

As I looked at them I wondered about what they meant.  I wondered what inspired the person that made them.  I wondered what life was like for them at that time in this valley.

 

After the petroglyphs the trail takes a steep turn up the side of the canyon and you end up walking on top of the overhangs you were just in.  The views aren't bad from the top either.