Summer Garden Update

This summer we have been blessed with fantastic Sunshine and ample rainfall to keep all the springs bubbling.
After a dismal Spring and lengthy winter, our gardens are making a fantastic return.

One of our tomato gardens this year has been planted with a German cultivar known as Strawberry Tomatoes. They are meaty and sweet, similiar to a watermelon. Their unique shape seems to keep Blossom End Rot from taking hold, as all the rain is diverted into a single point and allowed to fall free.



Our new retaining wall is planted with LemonGrass, BitterMelon and Congo WaterMelon.



Our Arugala Microgreens garden has Hungarian Wax Pepper and Japanese Eggplant interspersed for late summer harvesting.



Chinese Water Spinach is thriving in our new plot. First we built a stone wall and then backfilled it with compost and wood ash, afterwards we diverted a natural spring to keep a fresh supply of water in circulation.



Magnus and Soraya guard the Black Beauty Eggplant plot. In the distance can be seen the Hot Pepper patch.



Our ButterNut Squash are nearly ready for harvest. It is one of our favorite meals when combined with local Flores Butter and Honey.



More to come as the summer unfolds and time permits.

Beltane Approaches

The weather is warming up and the rains are slowing to a drizzle with only occasional showers.
Trout are plentiful in our river and Konswan is an awesome fisher-woman.



Some of the larger ones are nearly like Salmon.



The fertile soil has been amended for good measure and the beds are ready for planting.



The young transplants of Chinese Cabbage are thriving in the extra hours of sunlight.



Our Jerusalem Artichokes are pushing through the soil, opening up their tender new leaves.



And our meditation garden is a lovely spot to take a break or watch the sunrise.  The boxwood hedges are growing in and the flowers are spreading to cover the earth.

Beltane is only days away and we are waiting eagerly to embrace another fertile year of abundance and growth.

Adorable Little Thieves

"Red-Headed Thief" caught red-handed. This is the female Sylvia atricapilla. "Black-Headed Thief. This is the male Sylvia atricapilla." Tiny little things---amazing how they get here at all and from where? These guys got into the netting, but could not figure out how to get out. After untangling them from the netting, they were photographed and released. We do not know what variety of bird they are so far. If any of you know, send me a link and I will post it along with the name. (Thank you to Emily Harris Griffin for identifying our little culprits.) These little birds love to eat all of our lettuces, all greens from the Brassica family (that includes pak choi, broccoli, cauliflower, mustards, all cabbages, and much more), even the spicy mustard seedlings. As a non-lethal preventative measure, we put netting around and over the newly transplanted Chinese cabbages. Above the newly planted garden with netting is the cold frame in which we sow seeds and nurture the seedlings until they are transplanted. It is raised-bed garden covered with discarded windows. We built the stone retaining walls to take advantage of this protected space with full sun.

February Harvest Update

We have been living off the 'fat of the land' this winter.

More Organic Fruits and Veggies

The weather this summer has been perfect.

Our existing gardens are producing twice as much as last year. Our newly built gardens are in full swing as well.

It is a year of abundance!



Passion Fruit, Melon Pear, Long Beans, Lemongrass, and Basil.



Assortment of Heirloom tomatoes and some experimental hybrids of our own.



Green ones for pickling.



The hot peppers our now coming daily, along with all these lovely tomatoes and cucumbers.

More Garden Photos

Although there are too many photos to post, here are a few more peeks into our gardens.

These strawberries are a little out of control! Yet the birds manage to find the berries before I do. I supppose the early birds do get all the goodies!

This is the first year we have tried to grow an open-pollinated tomato, not a fancy hybrid. Brandywine tomatoes are an heirloom type, from which we should be able to save seeds. This way we can stop supporting agribusiness and be more self-suficient.

It is a hot summer, so we try to have some refreshing salad as much as we can. The mesclun mixes are great. We also grow a type called Simpson's black seeded lettuce. They are more tasty than butter lettuces and the ants do not carry the seeds away before they germinate!

Pictured here are the bolted parts of a Chinese red leaf mustard. I cover the seed pods with a netting, the purple stuff, so the birds do not harvest the seeds first. We ate mustard leaves all fall, winter, through to early summer. The heat and more hours of sunlight cause them to bolt, or go to seed. We have been saving seed of this mustard for two years now. They are a true treat in the winter, especially with their spiciness similar to arugula or water cress, when not much else will grow in the open garden.