Rambling and Brambling

The raspberry bramble in the yard has by far been the best and most consistant producer on the farm.  We routinely take well over 5 gallons of berries off a year and probably way more than that.  We already made a huge batch of jam with last years leftovers and some of this years crop.

 I thought it would be fun to show the progression of the summer all over the farm and lets start with our raspberries.

Early June. We had just got back from our whirlwind family visit in the lower 48 and I started to go to work on the yard. One of the first things I did was put up some fencing to help rein in our bramble. I also did quite a bit of pruning and next year I'm not only going to do a good prune, but I have a bin of compost ready to fertilize these guys.

By late June the Bramble is in full swing and made the bees very happy with all it's flowers.

By mid July new canes are starting to pop up and we are already harvesting fruit.

By mid August the new canes have come up and the bramble is getting really bushy.  Those canes should be big producers next year.

Here we are at the end of August and the weather is starting to turn cooler at night.  The fruit producing cane's leaves are starting to turn.  Still quite a few berries left in the bramble I just hope we have a little while longer to harvest.

July 13, 2014

Temperatures here in Anchorage have remained about normal if not a little on the cool side and we've had a nice mix of sun and rain, so even though we got a late start a lot of our stuff is going strong.

 The peas are flowering, the carrots are already pretty tall and need a little thinning.

 The lettuce and spinach have been enjoyed for weeks now and we area already on our 2 and third plantings on the French breakfast radishes.  And the beets are coming along nicely.

 Taters are getting bushy.

 As are the raspberries, lots of flowers and happy bees on those bushes.

 In the green house the long beans are putting out a lot of flowers and I'm hoping the next time I post I can report our first crop of beans.

 Cuchs are starting to climb and I've seen the start of a few flowers.

 The tomatoes we got as starts have reached the top of the greenhouse roof.

And we've had a few cabbage actually make it and the squash and zuchs are starting to put out a few flowers.

Mid June on the Farm

Still playing catch up with the posts.  Here's what the yard and garden looked like about June 14th.

 Peas and carrots up and going.

 Radishes radishing, lettuce and spinach growing fast and the beets are starting to pop.

 The taters are finally starting to set leaves

 In the greenhouse the beans and a few of the cuchs are up.

 The tomato starts are also doing good.

 The Zuchs are loving the sun.

And we have a few of the cabbages up as well, if I could just keep the cats out of the beds.

Early June

Start of the season.  We got a late start doing the whirlwind tour of the lower 48 introducing our son to the rest of the family.  But as soon as we got back we starting working on this years crop.  

I finally lined all my potato boxes with plastic to keep the boards from rotting. For some it was already to late.

 We ended up taking out one of the raised beds to move the chickens and their coop to their own part of the yard.  We have peas and carrots in the far bed and beats, radishes, spinach and lettuce in the closest one.

 In the green house we have 3 varities of long bush beans, a couple tomato plants and pepper plants we got as starts from a friend and cucumbers.

 I finally put some fencing up in the raspberry bramble to help support the canes and also make it a little easier to pick berries.

 Out front we have squash, zucchinni, and cabbage almost all from seed exept a few starts. I hope we have a decent enough summer.

And the first signs of life in the garden are these radish shouts.  Since I'm posting this late, this guys has already been dinner.