The joy of the garden - James Gibbon

Having a garden is one of the most fulfilling things you can do. The hard work and time put into the garden during the spring, combined with the constant watering and weeding is finally paying its dividends. As I discussed in my last post, we started to get our first cuttings of lettuce and other vegetables. Now we are starting to be overwhelmed with vegetables from our garden. The radishes, carrots, lettuce and tomatoes are in full swing and we are getting vegetables everyday from the garden. We even have a cucumber and should have more on the way! How exciting!

Summer will be over before we know it and I am doing my best to take advantage of every day out here on the farm. Whether it’s spending time in the garden, managing the chickens, or taking care of the horses - there is always something to do to keep me busy. I’m excited to see what more the garden produces and am already coming up with ideas for next year. Stay tuned for more updates!

Planting the Cucumbers

Cucumbers or pickles? I’ll take both! This is one of the reasons I was so excited to transplant our cucumbers into the garden the other day. Let me walk you through the process:

1. Prepare the soil for planting. I got some Organic Compost to place on top of the top soil to enrich the soil and provide a better ecosystem for the cucumbers. I layed out 1 full bag of compost and it allowed for about 2-3 inches of compost layer above the ground.

2. Take cucumbers out of tray with spoon and begin planting. I used a spoon and spooned them out of the tray they were seeded in. I then dug out some holes with the Korean Hand Plow in the compost and covered them up.

3. Water the cucumbers. Water the fresh transplants and ensure a safe and secure transplant.’

Below are some pictures of the entire process!

The Garden is Coming Together

Spring has sprung in Bozeman, Montana and lots of work has to be done to get our garden going. Fortunately we have gotten a lot done so far, although it looks like we are just getting started. Our first problem in the garden was lots of weeds. The soil that was not covered over the winter, had begun to grow many weeds and the only way to get the weeds out without disturbing the soil too much was by hand. Pulling these weeds is a arduous task, but with time and dedication we were able to get the first few rows weeded and ready for planting.

Pictured above you can see our finished rows. Our rows consist of added organic compost and then our seeds are spaced as suggested throughout the row. Our first row is Onions, then followed by Kale and Spinach. Then we have Radishes and Carrots 🥕. Near the blue tarp on the other side, we have a row of Butter Lettuce and a row of Arugula.

The cool thing about our garden is that this is just the beginning! We still have cucumbers 🥒, Corn 🌽, and much much more! Stay tuned for updates on the garden and our progress as the growing season continues!