July on the Homestead

July has been a fast-moving month, and a time of transition in my garden. As we've been busy with fun summertime activities, the garden has been producing well. In fact, many of the plants are finished for the year, including the blueberry bushes, the first batch of peas, and the lettuce. In the meantime, some plants have really started taking off, like the zucchini and patty pan squash, as well as the butternut and buttercup winter squashes.

There have been a few disappointments, too. The Brussels sprouts are still only a few inches high. The beets don't appear to be growing, more either. I blame poor soil and have decided not to plant much in the way of fall or winter crops this year so I can test and amend the soil this fall. (UPDATE 8/5/13: Once I had time to research the beet problem a bit, I realized it was leaf miners - a pest I've never dealt with before. Removing the affected leaves is a good organic way to deal with them.)

The strawberry plants are lush with foliage, but haven't produced many berries. (At first, I blamed this on the fact that I didn't mow them down at the end of the growing season, as usual. But other gardeners in my area are complaining of poor strawberry crops, too, so I think the culprit is really our weird cold, then hot, then cold again spring weather.)

But looking at how much we've grown and how well we've eaten this summer, I can hardly complain!

The new garden bed, where the squash is growing. Every day it fills in with more squash!

The chickens, by the way, are laying daily now. And while it seems to be taking them longer to get into good laying habits than it did our Plymouth Rock flock, the Plymouth Rocks never sounded like a dog's squeak toy when they sneezed! Plus, our new Austrolorps continue to make what I call a "half duck half chicken" sound for their daily conversation. They make me smile.

Basil, with cilantro in the background

Buttercup squash. It's having a tendency to rot on the vine, but placing hay under it has helped.

There are lots of baby butternut squash!

We have about as much pattypan squash as we have zucchini!

2013 Produce Totals 

(All but the squash and tomatoes are from a 12 x 14 ft. garden plot; the squash and tomatoes are in an area measuring 33 x 3 ft.)

Eggs 430

Chicken meat 20 ½ lbs.

Basil 1/4 lbs.

Beets 1

Blackberries 1 1/2 lbs.

Blueberries 7 lbs.

Calendula 8 lbs.

Chives 6 lbs.

Cilantro 1/2 lb.

Collards 6 3/4 lbs.

Dandelion flowers ½ lb.

Dandelion greens 35 lbs.

Dandelion Root 2 lbs.

Garlic: ½ lb. scapes + 1 lb. heads

Green onions 1 lb.

Kale 7 ½ lbs.

Kiwi 1 lb.

Leeks 5 lbs.

Lettuce 11 lbs.

Mint 1/8 lb.

Oregano 1 1/4 lbs.

Pattypan squash 4 lbs.

Parsnips 1 lb.

Passion vine 1 lb.

Peas 5 1/2 lbs.

Radishes 8 lbs.

Rosemary ¼ lb.

Sage 1 1/2 lbs.

Spinach 1 1/4 lbs.

Squash blossoms 2 1/2 lbs.

Sunchokes 40 lbs.

Strawberry 3 1/4 lbs.

Tomato 6 3/4 lbs.

Wild onion 2 lbs.

Zucchini 13 1/2 lbs.