A Garden Tour....

It's been an unusually dry Spring here in our part of the country, but our garden still seems to be thriving. . It might have something to do with us lugging around the hose and sprinkler and giving it a good heavy watering each week. We are praising the Lord and enjoying our garden progress.

I though I would introduce you to some helpers of mine in the garden...my handsome hubby

We used this old guy to trench out a spot for potato planting.

This little piece of machinery helped to break up all the dirt clods when we first tilled up the soil

It may seem a little silly, but here is my compost pile! It's going to be a great help in the garden this fall after harvest! We also plan to add in a black dirt and sand mixture.

Let's start in the fruit garden for our little tour, shall we?

One of the objective to the fruit/flower garden is to "feed my precious honeybees", feed us with the fruit, and enjoying the beautiful flower blooms. My COSMOS are coming up great!

My blackberries are at the end of flowering and getting ready to start forming fruit.

This is my thornless red raspberry patch. I have picked about a handful of berries so far. Since I just planted the starts last Spring I don't think my harvest will be very plentiful, but I think by next year I'll be in business.

I have three cabbage plants in here as well, I know this is the fruit/flowers garden, but I had room so I made an exception. I'm such a rebel like that.

My blueberry bushes are loaded up with berries, but I've learned it takes a lot of blueberries to get just one quart! I'm not sure this first year of harvesting that I'll get much more than that , but I'm planning long term that the three bushes I have with give me a bounty harvest in the years to come.

 My strawberries are still giving me a few berries here and there. but this weather has them all messed up. I ended up with around 25 lbs.+ for the year! I also have zinnias coming up between my blackberry bushes. My rhubarb starts are doing great, as well as my chives.
Now moving out to the veggie garden....My Sunflower patch is shooting up nicely and I know my bees with gladly pollinate them, while I enjoy their blooms.

 I also discovered that I have two separate wild raspberry patches to the right and to the left of my bee hive! Praise the Lord! My bees have been going crazy on all the flowers.

 We planted two varieties of corn this year. This is a picture of the second planting of corn.

 This is the first time we've ever planted potatoes, and so far so good. They look gorgeous, and I love the little flower blooms on top of each plant. I have some purple flowers and some white. We planted three varieties: Yukon Gold, Red Pontiac, and Kennebec

 We have lots of onions in the garden! They will be great for making salsa and spaghetti sauce.

 I have a whole host of vining plants in the garden. Three varieties of pumpkins (10 hills in all), cucumbers, zucchini, butternut squash, gourd mix,  & watermelon.

 I have an abundance of tomato plants as well, 44 plants in all. I planted one grape tomato (seen here), and all the others are from two varieties: Better Boy & Celebrity.

 We have 24 acres of field corn planted to our south. It seems to doing lovely as well in spite of our "no rain" situation. (note: We did get a little last night, and the forecast call for more today.)

 Here is another helper in the garden....He actually doesn't usually come in the garden...good boy...but he does provide ample moral support from the side lines. He also offers a great distraction and excuse to take a break and sit and pet him. (note: The muddy little paws are from a trip to the swamp with my boys to check their "fish trap". He LOVES to go along with them!)

 Here is another shot of the 24 acre field, looking towards our house.

 This seems to be the brand of tractor we are using around our homestead. My Adorable Husband might be boarderline obessed with the Cub Cadet line of tractors. Somehow by some form of magic (or Craigslist) we keep acquiring more of them. At last count there were 3!
Intervention might be needed, just saying!

There you have it! That's what is happening here at The Gaertegang Homestead. Be sure to go check out what other homesteads are up to by visiting the Homestead Revival barn hop.