Swelling fruits
A long, gentle rain over
Sunday and Monday has increased the lushness factor of our farm by
50%. I wanted to give you an extensive farm-tour, but I'm working
with one hand tied behind my back with our current
camera situation.
(Life without supermacro is tough.) So, instead, I'll just tell
you that the first of the summer vegetables (beans and cucumbers) are
up, the rye is ready to be cut, and the perennials are growing like
crazy.
The strawberry beds are
finally white with blooms, and the first fruits are being set.
Other perennials that already have little berries swelling include nanking
cherries,
gooseberries, blueberries, and even one of the red currants we planted
this spring.
The peaches are bursting
out of their faded flower wraps and will soon be big enough to thin. I can't tell yet
whether the apples are hanging onto their fruits this year or not, but
I have high hopes.
And it looks like this
will be the first year we'll enjoy iris flowers. Our polyculture
of irises with thyme seems to be working pretty well --- the trick will
be whether the tall iris leaves start to outcompete the low herb now
that they're well-rooted. This is one of my attempts to include a
few more flowers in the garden without feeling the space is entirely
wasted.
Finally, the woody
plants are starting to yearn for another round of weeding. This
week, I'll be torn between prepping 31 beds for the big frost-free,
spring planting on May 15, and getting a head-start on the weedy, woody
perennials. According to Michael
Phillips, the trees
will be be putting out a new flush of feeder roots soon once they hit a
lull in leaf growth, and I definitely want them to be weeded and
mulched down again before then.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Anna,
Another option you can try is to increase the shutter speed. You will need good light for that. If the light is low and behind the object a flash can help even out the light.
Gerry
Ok, I'll admit it. I am totally jealous of how far along your garden is. We have had a cold apring, with unpredictable deep freezes. I have lost two complete crops, amd germination rates are way down. I should be picking lettuce already, but not yet! I am amazed you have planted summer stuff already. Even the things in my hoop houses all froze, with extra layers on and everything. I am thinking the hoop houses dont help much here in the spring, but should extend things in the fall. Good news, though, the extended cold has kept the apple trees from blooming early, so hopefully they wont suffer when the blossoms do open!