I am a little embarrassed that we are this far along in August and I am only now posting my end of July garden pictures. Between gardening, hosting guests, playing with the children, housework etc. my poor blog has suffered. So without further adieu I give you…
The July Garden!!!
This is the small garden which will be our berry patch in the future. Everything is doing well. I think one of our biggest issues is that things have grown in to each other.
As our strawberry plants have sent out runners we have potted them so they would root down in the pot then we will transplant them to where we want them. I look forward to a few years down the road when we are producing more than enough strawberries.
Our broccoli did great, this is Joshua holding two heads of broccoli. We did do battle with the cabbage moth, I am not sure who won, the broccoli turned out great but we did end up with some caterpillars coming along for the ride.
We let the little heads go to flower as we saw an interesting video on getting a second crop of broccoli from the same plant in the fall. I am also hoping to collect some seed.
Cauliflower turned out all right my problem was not processing them promptly and the chickens ended up eating more than we did.
Our grapes are coming along, these guys have a way to go as they will be purple by the time they are done, but they are growing well.
This lettuce bolted and I was letting him go to seed but the next day he had fallen over and the base was rotting, again the chickens enjoyed this one.
Our tomatoes are starting to ripen, already we have had more than previous years and if all my green tomatoes ripen we will have a bumper crop!
I am the first to say I am wrong… I did not think the corn would produce as it was a little late going in but it is doing really well and we may yet have corn on the cob from our garden.
The potatoes have done very well and it won’t be long before we harvest them all. The plants in this picture were standing nice and tall but were beaten down by the rain.
This is the back half of the garden that has the potatoes and corn in it. We are still laying down wood chips. The plan is to use this as our main vegetable garden next year. This has been the driest summer on record for quite some time around here, and our garden has been very successful with very little irrigation. I truly believe the success lies in the method. We have embraced the wood chip covering described in the movie, Back to Eden. We have been busy preparing gardens for the future by laying down wood chips. The previous owners of our home had extensive flower gardens, which since we moved in have largely gone to weed. We are currently reclaiming these beds by pulling out plants, shrubs and weeds that have been left to run wild and are covering the beds with wood chips. In time my plan is to replant these gardens with plants that not only offer aesthetics but also have a use, herbs, edible flowers, elderberry bushes etc.
Even Samuel is picking up a shovel to help.
It is great to see Joel out helping in the garden too, 2 years ago I would not have imagined this. All of the children have helped out in different ways in the garden.
Our fruit trees have been a disappointment this year, no fruit on our plum and pear trees and the new apple trees (this is their second year with us) are only showing a few small apples. Time to do more reading about fruit trees.
I didn’t share any pictures of our raspberry and blackberry bushes but they are establishing themselves nicely and I look forward to future berry seasons.
There is our quick run down of our July garden. How have your summer gardens fared?
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Oh, how I wish we had more land! Your pictures remind me of gardening with my grandfather when I was little. I would love to have: a peach tree, a pear tree, grape vines, strawberries, potatoes, corn, lettuce, and potatoes. I think we could swing some grapes if we built above our deck so they could climb. We have wild strawberries galore. I need to learn what will work in containers and what might work in our tiny front yard!
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Wow, I've never seen so much broccoli before!
That tomato is looking nice, red and ripe for the picking. More than anything, it's nice to see everyone helping out with the garden 
You have got a lot of broccoli! I am impressed. I really like broccoli with my Tagliatella and some salmon.
And I agree that it's hard to keep everything up to date during summer vacation!
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LOL- I haven't posted my July yet either- and don't plan to this week so you're doing better than I am!! I envy your broccoli- 3 years straight I haven't gotten anything that even resembles a floret so you definitely won! And this is our 3-4th year with our fruit trees I think and the 2 peach fruitlets withered and I lost the single plum during June drop. It was a really, really bad spring for fruit. Our local orchardist said he estimates he lost half his crop! Can you imagine? I recommend The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips. I'm just about done reading it and if you are planning to grow organically, it is a must read. I learned so much from that book including that it takes years and years before pears fruit. ( I don't remember the specific number for sure. I think it's 4, but the book is out in the van so I can't check.) Your garden looks great and I'm so glad to hear your report on wood chip mulching. The book talks a lot about the benefits of "ramial wood chips" in the organic orchard and he lays out a system for using them in it with all of the fascinating science behind it.
Wow what a great harvest! Our garden did so-so..our strawberries did well, and so did our onions and grape tomatoes. We also have tons of peppers of several kinds (btw..want some next time you're out this way? We have too many!)
Our big tomatoes did very poorly…which is part of the reason we have too many peppers. We planted lots of both hoping to make lots of salsa, and now we don't have any tomatoes for it! Our cucumbers didn't do very well at all, either.
Our carrots I'm still not sure about, and same with our potatoes. We got a few good heads of broccoli, but a lot of it was very limp from the lack of rain this year. I think next year we're going to follow your lead and use wood chips.
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Wow, look at that broccoli! Your garden looks great. I wish I was a gardener! We've tried, but we lose interest or just don't know enough. It's hard in our yard, because we don't have fences and the critters get into everything! I would love to have everything you have. My hubby cut our apple trees down to build the barn. We do have a cherry tree, but the birds usually get the cherries before we do! Hope you have a great weekend.
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I have found that my son likes to pitch in with things I seem to enjoy. If I act like its a chore then he doesn't ask to help. It's nice seeing them pitch in. That broccoli is beautiful! I would have freaked out about the caterpillars though.
Cheryl!! I always smile when I read your blog. I know that the Bible says not to covet thy neighbors garden..BUT GEEZ LOUISE !!! I LOVE YOUR GARDEN and want it no less
God bless you my dear!! and your babies too! Grace, peace and blessings, Carla
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That's so awesome!! Glad to see the wood chip thing is working for you. Where are you getting your chips? Also…have you seen how they grow potatoes by stacking bales or tires and/or layering hay? Saves digging for them. Something else to research
I am so envious !!! How I wish I had such a garden, or half of that garden. How fun that must be, rewarding and great for the kids. I tried a small garden, it was a big fail
Wow that's awesome David! You guys have a big garden, how much land do you have out there? Very encouraging to see so much success with the Back to Eden gardening method.
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We have just under 3 acres, and yes it is great to see others' successes on the BTE FB page.
Thanks Tyson, as Dave said our property is just under 3 acres, I would love more but figure we need to be faithful with what we have, and there is a lot you can do with just under 3 acres. ~Cheryl (Dave\’s wife)