Grapes and Beets

This year my garden is really not taking off, usually I would have a whole bunch of posts highlighting all of the bounty from the garden...but not this year. We have pulled two small zucchini, grapes and beets. Not sure what the problem is this year but we have not given up yet!

Here are the grapes. I went to Las Vegas for the annual gathering of librarians known as ALA. When I got home I looked into my back yard and found a nice purple surprise! In a few weeks the green grapes should be ready as well.

Also a little over a week ago I was weeding the garden and noticed the beets were ready. I pulled all of them not sure if they were going to be ok, some were huge which usually means they will be fibrous. This was by far the largest crop of beets I have had survive. 

A day after picking them we canned them There were a variety of types of beets but we cooked them and canned them. They were delicious! We did two canning methods, the smaller beets were left whole and the larger ones were sliced.

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It's that time of year again

It is seed planting time again, over the last week Katie and Kevin have been starting to plant the first round of seeds and they have started sprouting.

Also with out freakish warm weather everything is blooming. The lack of water or rain is a serious issue. We are experiencing the driest year on record and there is no snow pack to rely on either. I have a lot of concerns for my garden this year. However my peach tree is blooming and the blooms are beautiful.

A vibrant color.

My grape plants are also sprouting tiny fuzzy buds.

The bulbs in my front planters are about to bloom as well.

These are a little camouflage but are definitely there.

Overall things are growing and blooming and its good to be getting back into it.

Fall into Winter Yard

My garden was cleared out early this year and I am still getting peppers and tomatoes, the artichokes, garlic and beans are still going strong.

The beans are going crazy, we put many plants in so there is a lot of variety and figuring out what the beans are is an adventure.

These long ones are dried out and were ready to pick.

We didnt get many beans... but we did get some. I will probably mix them in with other dried beans to cook and eat them.

My peach tree was thought lost at one point but is still hanging in there. The rhubarb that I had planted next to it did well while the corn was there around it but died as soon as the corn came out, perhaps too much sun. 

The pomegranete tree is still doing well. I will be pruning it even more this winter as it just keeps getting taller. We got a good crop this year which we finished off a few weeks ago but you can still see some empty red husks there at the top of the tree, way out of reach.

Here you can see what is left of the lawn that I planted. Most of it did well but there are bald spots. I reseeded and fertilized last week, if it sprouts before it freezes there should be an improvement in the Spring. The grapes are losing their leaves and we will be doing some structural work on the trellis when they get pruned.

In the mostly cleared out garden we have finally planted a winter crop. This is a mix of seeds for plants that are beneficial to the soil. The idea being that you grow it over the winter and in the spring you till it into the soil and do not have to add fertilizer or mulch. I have very healthy soil due to the addition of large quantities of mulch over the years, we hope this will keep the quality ip with a lot less shoveling. 

The next project in the yard will be to finish clearing out the garden once it freezes, surprisingly this has not happened yet. Until it does we will keep picking tomatoes and peppers from the garden. 

Grape Trellis

Last year I planted two grape plants. We built them a simple trellis last year that consisted of two posts and some line. The grapes did very well and over grew what was built. This year I knew they needed a larger trellis and pruning them was a good time to do it. Our primary source of information on how to prune them and different types of structures to build was The Grape Grower which I easily found at my library. We started with a trip to Home Depot where I bought two 8 foot 4x4's and a roll of 12 gauge tension wire. I use the term we loosly, my brother actually did most of the actual work. He dug two two foot holes on each side of the existing trellis the put the posts in at an angle.

Next we packed the dirt in tightly around the posts to hold them at the angle.

Next two 10 inch anchors were placed outside of the posts.

Next the old posts and cord were removed.

My brother then drilled holes in the posts for the wire.

A length of wire is attached to the post and the anchor. More wire is pulled through the holes then tightened to created the needed tension. 

Next we used some pieces of wood I had in the garage to stake the grapes and train them up. Once we had selected the branches that would be attached to the stake the others were pruned off.

And here it is, my new completed grape trellis.