Carefully crafted gardens are starting to close...

[MiHale]

This homestead has been busy. Too damp conditions necessitated us to pull our potatoes early it was a good year got about 50 pounds, russet mainly. Raspberries were phenomenal with a couple months of about a pint or more a day, birds got their fill too.

Green beans are slowing down so are the snow peas and cucumbers. The story of the zucchini is different. It seemed to be growing ’funny’, more upright than I’ve ever seen. Digging through the plants I found that one was a yellow summer squash. One seed must of been in the seed pack by mistake. Oh well just a little different.



The real garden story this year is the Butternut Squash. It’s a very versatile vegetable and it lasts a long time. This March we finished the last one from last year’s harvest. It helps that it’s one of our favorites, so I planted some in a straw bale, some in our fenced garden and some in a planter that was outside the greenhouse by the compost pile. I figured that would get us a generous supply. I had some seeds stuck to my grubby hands when I was finished planting so I clapped the clean by the compost pile. A totally unexpected garden.

Well….guess they love growing in compost. This is one side. Compost pile is in front of those logs.



This is the other…the planter is under the very yellow leaves. Steps are for rolling up the greenhouse door.



Here’s some of its fruit…this ones about 18 inches long.







I tried to trellis the squash this year it worked out quite well for this one and the fenced garden. The straw bale garden Butternuts didn’t do so well.

In the fenced garden.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. You will have lots of delicious squash! I'm envious.

I never thought of growing something from a hay bale.

Our cucumbers and lettuce are gone, now. Green beans are almost gone. The tomatoes and banana peppers are abundant right now. I had one nice eggplant so far and maybe I’ll get one or two more.

[MiHale]

4. Beautiful fruits....what kind of tomatoes

One thing though not HAY…STRAW bales. Hay is cut from grass-like fields it could contain any number of different seeds. Straw is the leftover shafts from wheat after the grain is taken, you may get some wheat seeds but rare.
For even more fun check out the YouTube videos on it … just search for Straw Bale Gardening. Be prepared it’s extensive.

[Diamond_Dog]

6. Thank you

The larger tomatoes are Beefsteak and the smaller round ones are Fourth of July. (So named because they were supposed to be ready by the Fourth of July, except they took a couple weeks longer than that to ripen). I’ve picked about a dozen more since I took the photo and there are more out there. I also have 2 Healthy Kick tomato plants that are just ripening now. They’re a sauce tomato, but I like to just use them for salads.

I have a container full of Moby Grape tomatoes too, not in the photo.

The only canning I will be doing is the banana peppers. They are almost ready.

Thanks for the heads-up on hay bales!

What are you going to do with your squash?

[MiHale]

8. Risottos, stews, soups...

I’ll purée some, cube some freeze those. We’ll donate some … saving some whole in storage for usage in the winter.

[Siwsan]

2. Very nice!!

I didn't have a very good crop of anything, this year. Some of the San Marzano and Marinara tomatoes started rotting from the bottom, up and the peppers just weren't very abundant. The zucchini were ok but the yellow squash wasn't. I have some Early Girl tomatoes but not nearly as many as in past years. Normally I have plenty to make lots of stewed tomatoes and home made Marinara sauce and freeze them. Not this year.

Yesterday I did pick some San Marzano tomatoes and sweet peppers, and a zucchini. Along with my garlic and an egg plant from my brother's garden I was able to make a very tasty Ratatouille.

I've discovered that deer have eaten most of the pears and are starting on the apples. The pear tree is on one side of the fenced in veg garden and the apple tree is on the other. The fence wouldn't stop deer so they are also wandering in the veg garden to get from one fruit to the other. That might have something to do with the dismal crop, this year. Lots of the cherry tomatoes are scattered across the ground.

[MiHale]

5. Not really sure but I think you were wetter...

At the time it seemed like we got missed by everything it would almost get here…ugh not quite…close. But the humidity was high but bearable. Absolutely needed to water once daily sometimes and additional in the high afternoon. It was wind dependent.
We’ve got big rabbits…love the bunnies…they’re so freaking cute. I purposely feed them away from anything growing…gardenwise… and plant some old seeds in the field for them to forage. They love bananas and when we get into West Branch the bananas there are dirt cheap so I stock up.

[Probatim]

3. I'm jealous of your butternut squash.

I love seasoning it and roasting "tater tot-sized" bites. We use it on salads, as a side dish, and a topping for my Mexican pizza (basically an open-faced quesadilla with homemade black bean dip, taco sauce, protein, cheese, and sliced jalapenos).

We have a nice pantry that will let us keep a few through the winter - I've hesitated growing them because I don't think I have the room in my suburban home.

[MiHale]

7. Risottos, soups, in stews...

That’s just off the top of my head. I’ll probably purée some, cube more and freeze both those. Of course some poundage is donated, but hoping to save most whole for usage later in the winter. Your ideas sound great gotta try them.

[UserNotFound]

9. A lot of work there...

A very nice setup! What region are you in?

[MiHale]

10. Northern Michigan...thank you...

44.5 latitude, zone 5 to 6, 15 miles W. off Lake Huron. Greenhouse, raised beds, sheltered gardens, indoor grow tents and room lets us play with the ordinary hardiness zone designations.