BEFORE and AFTER pics! Each of the beds needs to be cleared of all the dead plant debris and prepared for our fall planting of garlic. I am adding 3 inches of mushroom compost to each bed. Couldn't bring myself to rip out the blooms just yet....but when we plant the garlic, we'll switch out the marigolds for some bulbs that will bloom in the spring!
The sunchokes are magnificent!
They finally opened!
What are these plants...
...that tower over us at 10 to 12 feet tall, and fill up half of a 20 foot bed? They are Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus), commonly known as sunchokes. I am growing them at the request of family members who fell in love with the delicate flavor of this root vegetable when traveling in California. It's a species of sunflower native to the eastern part of our country. The tuber should be ready to harvest next summer and, in the meantime, I shall have to content myself to wait for the blooms that should appear before the frost!
Culinary lavender
Here John is selecting lavender for a chocolate lavender cake he's hoping to make! This bed, right outside our front door, makes for a heavenly scent!
Very tempting...
and although it looks ripe, it still needs a few more weeks. One way to tell is by taste; another is by the color of the seeds inside. Ripe apples will have dark brown seeds. Light seeds mean the apple still has some maturing to do. Patience is a virtue....
One of our native flowers....
Rudbeckia hirta, commonly called black-eyed-Susan, is a North American flowering plant in the sunflower family, native to Eastern and Central North America and naturalized in the Western part of the continent as well as in China. Wikipedia
Walnut Hill?
The farm is named for the stand of young black walnut trees at the top of the drive. Juglans nigra, or black walnut, can present challenges for the farmer. The trees are allelopathic, which means they release chemicals from their deep roots which exude a natural herbicide called juglone. Juglone can kill or stunt the growth of many of the garden's fruits and vegetables. The plentiful trees informed our decision to construct raised beds in the vegetable garden. We look forward to harvesting the nuts of these fascinating trees this fall.
A real Farm to Table Dinner....
on the river in downtown Chicago...and in honor of our special guest from the Pacific Northwest! Everything served, with the exception of the salmon and blueberries, had been harvested from Walnut Hill Farm the day before!
Bruschetta - A mix of heirloom tomatoes and Genovese basil atop grilled garlic knots
Beet Salad with Chevre - Bull's Blood and Detroit Red beets
Pacific Wild Salmon on bed of grilled onions and squash - Walla Walla onions, Dark Star zucchini and Yellow Crookneck squash, Maxibel Haricot Verts, and Danvers 126 carrots
Zucchini Bread
Blueberries topped with Greek Yogurt and served with Chocolate Garlic truffles
A ton of tomatoes?
Not quite! How many tomatoes will one tomato plant yield? I was hoping to have an answer by the end of this summer. Although I thought I'd be more diligent and weigh all of my produce each week, I found it easier to do a simple count. I can backtrack at the end of the season and divide by the number of plants. To date, I've harvested 502 of these beauties!
Experimenting with hydroponics
These oakleaf lettuces are thriving in the greenhouse and are ready to harvest in 28 days. Perhaps they are a solution for winter salads.
Planting for a fall harvest...
Once garlic and onions have been harvested, beds are planted with a fall harvest in mind. Kohlrabi, beets, carrots, spinach, kale, and a variety of lettuces should keep us going through November!
Mmmmmmmm.....
.....mmmmmm...good!
Hidden treasures....
When preparing one of the beds for replanting, I discovered this nest of bunnies just below the surface. I count six...and one has her eyes open, so I'm thinking they're about 10 days old. This means they are almost old enough to be moving on! Now I know why my beet leaves continue to be devoured each evening. Mama has stayed close to her babies!
Mid-summer bounty!
From arugula to zucchini...and so many delicious things in between!
First Annual Garlic Fest....
was a huge success! Thank you to all who helped! And now to decide...what to plant in those empty beds!