Is There Such A Thing As ‘Gardener’s Anonymous?’

What felt like the shortest week ever in California looks like it was the longest seven days back in Maine.  We knew it would be fun to see how much our garden had grown while we were away but neither of us was ready for the greeting we received upon our return to the homestead.

The corn is almost as tall as the apple trees!

The squash and melons have exploded, both in the greenhouse and out-

The ones in front started out so small-

Not anymore!

We even have good sized peppers in the other greenhouse-

The original circle garden filled in decently.  I spend almost 3 hours yesterday staking up monster tomato plants and I’m not done yet.

The corn here is an heirloom jewel verity.  I made a deal with my lovely husband that he could plant more corn if we got a grain mill so I can make meal and maybe some tortillas from scratch come winter time.

The words had not even left my mouth and he was out there making ANOTHER three beds of corn. You can see the tomotillos here in the left corner of the picture, they are starting to look like trees!

We have had good luck with beans of all types. Strings, runners and bush beans- Oh my!

The green beans are amazing.  We planted them late, about three weeks ago and…

Like all things in life the garden is now taller than I am.  This is not a huge feet by any means but it is amazing to watch your months of hard work grow and (hopefully) fruit.

So green!

We have managed to do all of this without chemicals or pesticides. I have to admit organic gardening requires a commitment to personally squishing A LOT of bugs.  I like to get them while they are young and slow.  We have also released thousands of lady bugs to aid us in our efforts.

There are 11 guinea fowl eggs incubating right now to debug the garden next year.

All in all- it’s a good start.  I have learned not to count chickens before they hatch (or after- for a few days) or anticipate the harvest till the snow falls.  We will see what happens.

For now though I am grateful for the opportunities the land has given us.  Way more fun than watching grass grow, if you ask me.  We will be able to eat food grown right outside our door and that is worth all the bug-bitten dirt-covered sweaty hours in the sun.

The first meeting for the Acton chapter of Gardener’s Anonymous will be held next weekend.

We can talk about compulsive seed buying and probably plant some more corn.