Organic Gardening

Hi, Sweet Friends!
Because of the chickens that we free range through our property, our garden has been growing in a hoop house for the past month. New garden fencing is up and the chickens are separated from the garden while the plants are young.

There is nothing left in the yard but a few weeds since the chickens have come!

We have amended the old boxes as the chickens have literally destroyed any soil, compost, and bugs that the old soil may have held.  And ran into the problem of the Whiteflies in the tomatoes.

Our Garden Design with the chicken fencing added.

 Tomatoes

The tomatoes have had a dose of soap spray that will kill the whiteflies and larva. Next is remaking the boxes with new soils, compost, leaves, ash and egg shells. This should have been attended to in Spring, however, these digging chickens love to make a mess of any dirt project that is attempted.

Early Girl Tomatoes are truly an early Summer Blessing!

This year we are looking into different tomatoes than last years garden. We are growing the normal Beefsteak & Early Girl varieties, but thought that the dishes would be more colorful with the addition of a Brandywine, Plum Tomatoes (paste), and new Quart Tomatoes from Burpee™.

The addition of the Brandywine Tomato will give us a purplish streaked tomato and is delicious!
The Plum Tomatoes will be used to make the paste that will be canned.

Canned Tomato Sauce.

The Quart Tomatoes will be canned for sauces, salsa, chili, and chunked for stews.

Nothing more satisfying than a fresh from the garden salad!

We have grown Tomatoes for the past 9 years in the New Mexico/Colorado area and are very pleased with the results each year!

Peppers

The pepper varieties are a bit wild this year, with our old standbys of Whopper Bell, Cayenne, Poblano, Mild Jalapeno and then the additions of  Big Bertha & Purple Beauty Sweet Peppers. We are also growing Pimento Peppers.

Cucumbers 

We have tried many varieties of cucumbers, however, the ones that do the best are Bonnie™ Burpless Hybrid and Burpee™ Speedy Green Hybrid Cucumbers(climbers).

Lettuce

We are succession planting the lettuce this year. We started with a Spotted Trout, Butter Crunch, and Livingston Mix Leaf Lettuces and have planted these again in the hoop house. We are also trying Red Sail Leaf Lettuce, Ice Berg, Black Seeded Simpson, and Arugula. They will be eaten as early leaf lettuces for salads.

Squash

 We are only growing Yellow Patty Pan, Golden Scallop, and Green Peter Pan Squash this year. These squashes are flat and saucer shaped. They are best eaten while small, the size of your hand. Otherwise, they become seedy.

Zucchini

 We usually like the Black Beauty Heirloom variety, but have added Golden Zucchini this year.

Winter Squash

Table Queen is our favorite Winter variety. We have grown Butternut and Acorn in the past.

Potatoes

We put in a few red potatoes this year the same as last year. 

Beans

Our regulars are Kentucky Wonder(climber)& Tendergreen Improved(bush variety for in front of the climbers). We also like Blue Lake Special and they do well in these areas of the West. This year we are trying a Bush variety called Contender.
Contenter is an Heirloom variety.

Spinach

 Giant Noble is long standing and great for succession planting.

Onions

Our onion choices for the year are Reds, Vidalia Sweet, & White. We also are growing bunching onions and scallions for quick additions to salads and stir fry.

Radish

French Breakfast is an Heirloom variety that we enjoy most and is the only variety grown this year. We have grown White Globe and Scarlet, but we enjoy the elongated shape & milder taste of the French Breakfast variety.

Pumpkin

Two varieties we keep with are Halloween, a large pumpkin, and Tiny Orange, a small variety we use for decorating this Fall.

Carrots

We grow Nantes and Danver's Half long Carrots in the garden every year. These are shorter varieties than the normal long carrot. We have rocky soil in this area and the shorts work out well. They store nicely in a bucket filled with sand stored in a cool place.

Turnip & Beet Greens & Mustard

This year, since we eat tons of salads, we are growing Seven Top Greens Turnip and Heirloom Lake Valley Beets for their leaves. They will be a wonderful addition to the salads!
We are also growing Mustard for leaves. The Mustard is a Red Mizuna Variety.

So there you have it! That's the garden rundown for this year! We are excited as always to be eating from our own gardens! I will keep you posted thru the growing season.  And I will be posting up the herb garden, as usual, when I harvest next week.

Enjoy growing your own foods!
 Here are some popular gardening links:

Organic Gardening

Greenhouse or Hoop House To Extend the Growing Season

Organic Gardening DIY

8 Vintage Gardening Tips For The Organic Garden

Enjoy!

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