Larry finishes stringing one of the new trellises. We now have nine trellises in the garden, on which we will be growing 36 heirloom tomato plants this summer.
One of the two just-planted potato beds. This year we are growing both red and gold potatoes in the garden.
A perennial lupine plant emerges from dormancy in one of the four corner Mayan pyramid frames in the garden. These tiered frames are used to grow bee- and butterfly-attracting flowers as well as herbs.
Can you see the snow pea shoots just sprouting in the soil? Our early start this year allowed us to plant 158 square feet of intensively spaced pea plants, to be harvested in May and June and then replanted with other crops.
New copper trellises shine in the garden.
Young onion plants, just two weeks after we planted them, are settling in. They will not be harvested until fall, when we expect a crop of about 500 organic red and yellow Italian heirloom onions.
One of our first harvests this spring will be over-wintered garlic. About 300 young garlic plants are thriving in the garden, to be harvested in June.
Amy harvests chives in one of the garden's four Mayan pyramids.
Cool - check out the size of this worm I found!
Audrina helps find good bugs in the garden.
Julie and Audrina have fun wheeling compost to the new potato beds.
Larissa, Audrina and Julie add compost to one of the frames, soon to be planted with carrots and lettuce.
Marcy and Hannah dig compost into a frame to prepare it for planting 640 carrot seeds.
Just-seeded sugar snap peas planted in mid-March.
On our spring kick-off in mid-March at Riverbend, about a dozen gardeners pitched in to prepare the 20 raised beds for spring planting.
Young potatoes two weeks after being planted.
Swiss Giant snow peas start their long climb up the trellises in the garden. Bush sugar snap peas are sprouting in the foreground.
Larry and Kirby check out the irrigation system.
Sage and chives thrive in a Mayan pyramid.
Kirby stands guard over one of the Mayan pyramids planted with herbs and flowers.
Harvest on May 19 included three bins of large French breakfast radishes as well as tender young garlic shoots.
Ken and Hannah add nearly a foot of soil to each of the two potato beds. In two weeks, the young plants grew more than 12".
Most of the volunteers who arrived for our big June 5 planting could not believe how much the garden had grown since they had visited two or four weeks prior. We harvested large bins of cilantro, chives, green onions and beets.
A lupine bursting into bloom in one of the Mayan pyramids.
In the foreground, potatoes, beets and chard. In the background, Larry works to fill the new composter set behind trellises covered with Swiss Giant snow peas.
Colorful spiral supports stand guard over young cucumber plants, which will wind their way up the supports over the summer.
Our first bell peppers of the season were planted June 2, with more to follow as we finish our pea harvest and make more room.
More spiral supports, and new young squash plants join snow peas, beets and carrots in several raised beds.
A young 8-ball squash just after transplanting.
The inviting view north up one of the pathways in the garden.
Here's our brand new three-bin composter, designed to handle all of the garden trimmings plus alpaca manure donated by the property owner.
Once the first bin is filled, its contents will be turned into the second bin, and we will continue to fill the first bin with fresh garden waste. Over time, once the compost has made its way to the third bin, it will be ready to be returned to the garden soil.
Gorgeous young onion plants, cucumbers, potatoes and over-wintered garlic fill this quadrant of the garden.
Kirby and Max keep a watch on the maintenance crew from the comfort of the shade tree.
LOOK at all the peas! We harvested hundreds and hundreds of both sugar snap and snow peas, composting the vines to make way for our big summer planting.
The late June harvest includes over-wintered garlic, beets, spring onions, and (of course) peas.
The pea haul after three people spent three hours harvesting and removing vines to the compost bin.
Garlic and beets ready to go to the warehouse.
A neighbor's barn makes a pretty backdrop to beds planted with onions and cucumbers.
Young heirloom cucumbers start up their spiral supports.
The same 8-ball squash shown above, two weeks later.
Just-planted sweet pepper plants love the summer heat.
A view to the west frames peppers, beets and carrots, and potatoes.
Young tomato plants are starting to climb the copper trellises.
Dwarf lavender in the Mayan pyramids started blooming in mid-June and is a favorite of the bees.
Lupine puts on quite a show in one of the Mayan pyramids.
Fragrant sweet peas have grown more than halfway up the entrance arch, shown here with Swiss chard plants in the background.
Brandy and Nick confer after finishing a maintenance visit July 2.
Just-harvested and washed golden beets, red beets and carrots in mid-July.
Ken and Troy harvest beets and plant kale and chard in their place.
Carrot harvest
Eight ball squash
While carrots grow in the background, cucumber plants continue their climb up spiral supports.
Butterflies and bees love the summer-blooming echinacea and scabiosa at Riverbend.
Summer squash plants. The plants on the left were put in two weeks earlier than those on the right - that's how fast they grow!
Ken and Troy with the harvest
Late July harvest - another big crate of onions are still waiting to be harvested, and we got our first basil and green beans today!
Eight Ball squash can be hollowed out, stuffed and baked, or sliced like a regular zucchini. Fun!
Nelson carrots - a favorite of kids - were harvested entirely by young Laela and her brother Silas today.
Detroit Red beets - and a few golden beets - await transport to BCS.
Layla and Silas show off some of their impressive carrot harvest.
This early August harvest included the first green beans and Sungold tomatoes, as well as three gallon bags of basil.
We harvested two crates of multi-hued Easter Egg radishes.
Nearly finished with the morning's work, young Mary surveys the harvest operations.
Mary and Jojo show off Sungolds. Also harvested today: onions, parsley, three kinds of summer squash and cucumbers.
Mary and Jojo pose with the day's haul. In the background, young cabbage, kale and broccoli plants are thriving, and cucumbers continue their climb up their spiral supports.
Our first tomatoes and peppers of the season! We have many more ripening and are excited they're finally in.
Cucumbers, beans and tomatoes are growing like crazy, now that the August weather has finally warmed up.
Broccoli and kale fill a summer-planted bed, ensuring we'll have a harvest well into the fall.
Squash blossoms decorate an 8-Ball zucchini plant. We are also growing yellow zucchini and a flavorful Italian green heirloom zucchini called Costata Romanesca.
Marcy and Mary start digging for our big potato harvest in early September.
Larry takes a quick break to watch over the potato harvest crew.
Lucas showing off a Keukla Gold potato. We harvested four crates of Keukla Golds and Desiree Reds.
Naomi picking green beans.
Mary busied herself picking a bouquet of wildflowers in the field below the garden.
Max keeps a watchful eye on the kids playing below the garden.
Larissa, with two-month-old Evelyn, helps with the potato harvest.
Naomi clowns for Hannah and Lucas.
Straddling the 4' x 10' potato bed seemed the easiest way for Naomi to harvest in the very center of the bed.
Mary skips back toward the garden to deliver her prize...
...trimming up the stems as she goes.
Shhh! Don't let Mom know I'm behind her.
A present for Mom.
Marcy receiving her gift.
Joe decides he's going to pick some flowers, too.
Hannah takes a breather while Joe delivers his bouquet.
Joe helps dig for potatoes from his favorite vantage point.
Kirby plays King of the Hill on the small mountain of soil we moved out of one of the two potato frames to harvest the spuds.
Silas helps Mom Amy harvest, showing off the smallest one he has found so far.
Our impressive harvest today includes four bins of potatoes as well as kale, yellow and green zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, green beans and several gallon bags of basil.
Kirby seems to really enjoy lying on the dirt pile on the tarp.
Walla Walla sweet onions, planted today, will over-winter and be ready to harvest in May or June.
Larry steps around Kirby to finish the potato harvest.
We have a nice size harvest of large green bell peppers.
There are hundreds of green tomatoes in the garden; everyone is praying for warm weather this month so most of them will have a chance to ripen after one of the coldest, wettest summers in memory. Today was gorgeous, though, sunny and in the 60s.
Summer garden transitioning to fall: the empty potato bed sits next to one full of fall chard and kale; in the background are summer tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, green beans and basil.
Larry works to flush out the drip lines so they won't freeze during the winter.
Marcy, Hannah and Joe work to remove spent Sungold tomato plants.
Troy finishes removing tomato plants from one of the beds.
Fall cleanup - Hannah helps Marcy move tomato vines to the compost pile.
We still have a glorious crop of kale in the garden, which we will continue to harvest in November, along with a bed full of broccoli.
Joe helps drop trimmings into a transport bucket for the compost pile.
Larry pauses just briefly to flash a smile...
Young yellow squash still on the vine.
Nasturtium blooms in one of the corner Mayan pyramids.
Our second-to-last harvest includes loads of tomatoes and sweet peppers, jalapeños, summer and winter squash, cabbage and cucumbers.
Our youngest crew awaits instruction on the final harvest day.
A garden in transition: tomato vines await final harvest, with fall kale and over-wintering Walla Walla sweet onions bask in the warm day.
Mostly green tomatoes await transport. This summer was tough on tomato lovers!
Jessica and daughter Kathleen, Katya and Larry work to pull out summer plants.
Katya pulls the last of the tomato vines off trellises.
Max gets a little loving from his friends.
Final harvest of cucumbers and squash, including many young summer squash with their blossoms still attached - a real delicacy.
An overview of the final fall harvest.
Danny and Max contemplate the nearly completed job of cleaning up the fall garden.
Guarding the last harvest of the season.
Our final harvest of 2010.
Amber quadrant 2
