Although I didn’t get any garden time in last week, I’m going to try and get out there and make up for it over the next few days before the temps climb up into the 90’s. The row of mammoth sunflowers is growing nicely against the back of the house. I probably should have thinned them out a little bit more but I am super excited to see how tall they get. I think it would be a hoot if they reached the second story windows. 😉
Our resident huntress/soil aerator is back at work.
And the main vegetable garden is growing like mad. Just look at those bean teepees! They are filling up quick. I think it’s probably time to get a second planting in, don’t you think?
This morning I harvested turnips the size of baseballs {we can’t eat them fast enough!}.
And the beets are about the size of golf balls right now. I need to get a second planting of those in as well.
I spotted our first tomato this morning. It’s an India Rose tomato. We bought this tomato plant at the town plant sale last month.
These are the tomato plants that I started from seed at the end of March. Just look at them! I can’t believe how fast they have grown. I can’t remember how many plants I set out {maybe 50?} and I still need to get out there and shove some sticks in the ground and tie them up, but holy cow man, I think we’ll be swimming in tomatoes here in another month or so. Weeeeee!
And check out the basil plants. I started those from seed as well. I plan on picking up a bag of pine nuts when I do my grocery shopping this weekend, and then I’ll make a big batch of pesto to pop in the freezer for winter use.
Daylilies. We are swimming in them. Yellow and orange. Blech.
Dainty pink cottage roses. Now those I like.
And last but not least…. Packing up the cooler this morning with my whopping $20 worth of extra produce I was super excited. But now looking at the photo of my shabby little stand, clearly there’s room for improvement. Especially in the signage department. 😉 Oh well, next time it will be better and if all goes right, by the end of July the HH will have built me a proper stand just in time for selling the real money makers: tomatoes, peppers, squash and eggs.
If I had to guess, the 3 bunches of basil I set out and maybe one box of turnips will sell. But hey, you’ve got to start somewhere, and with the end goal being to bring in $500 this summer {which would cover my garden supplies {but not including Manny} I don’t mind if I have to make it a dollar at a time.
Summer! It’s here. Let’s soak it up.
~Mavis
Em says
The garden is looking great! It’s so hot in Texas right now. My tomato plants are taller than I am, but in the heat, they don’t produce. Hopefully in the fall I will get some tomatoes.
While you’re out shopping, maybe see if you can find a chalkboard that you can cute-up and use as your produce sign?
Bobbie says
Ooh, or chalkboard paint and have the HH make one!
Kaia says
I’m excited to see how your roadside stand does! And your house looks just your style! I didn’t recognize it though..maybe you haven’t shared pictures. And I don’t like daylilies either, but I wanted to encourage the hedge/border idea. I noticed this spring that our neighbor has a border along the driveway and it actually looks neat that way!
Elise in the SF Bay Area says
Wow! It all looks great, and Lucy is back in action! What a difference 3 days make!!!
Good luck with your farm stand, what fun 🙂 It’s like a lemonade stand for grown-ups 🙂
MEM says
I live in the Greater Boston area – I have one basil plant but its growing like mad – looks like a bush right now. I made pesto this morning but used sliced raw almonds instead of the very expensive pine nuts – it tastes fine to me. Other people have used toasted sunflower seeds in their pesto. I happen to love daylilies as my soil is poor and nothing else grows along our fences. You could try potting up a few of those to sell – cheaply – at your “farm stand”.
Carrie says
I also use a cheaper nut for pesto. I’ve tried walnuts and pecans and both work well!
Amber says
I love daylilies too, but not the wild old orange ” ditch lilies “, which I guess are ok in a ditch you do not want to mow. I grow heirloom daylilies , and some new tetraploid ones, which means they have extra genes, and they are especially large, and brightly coloured. I have a border of them down along one side of the veggie garden. I mulch them with straw in the fall, and after that only fertilize them with pellet fertilizer once. They make it easy to have a good looking border, and it is easy to cut the grass in front of them with a riding lawn mower. They prevent the edge of the garden from looking like it needs to be edged and straightened. That is a lot of work each year. The flowers also encourage pollinators to visit the garden and pollinate my vegetables. I also have others in perennial beds. I plant daffodils and tulips in front of them. As the daylily leaves come up, they cover the old dead tulip and daffodil leaves, which must be left to die back naturally, and feed the roots for next year. At peak of bloom, last summer, on July 27th, the Local Horticultural Society payed me a visit. We all wore colourful garden hats, and later enjoyed sitting down in the shade having iced tea and desserts. It caused a stir amongst the neighbours to see their white tent go up on my side lawn, I can tell you !
Mel says
So good to read this! We picked our first 3 cherry tomatoes this week (Sungold and Sunrise Bumblebee). It’s so good to be back in season, and I can’t wait for more. We also harvested more than 100 heads of garlic–our best year yet. I honestly didn’t realize we even planted that many, and they are also larger than usual.
Our cucumbers are just now getting going, but our winter and summer squash are suffering due to squash bugs. I went out and killed over 100 of them yesterday, but I think we just aren’t squash people. I’ve only gotten squash and pumpkins to work one year. I left those beds mostly bare, so I might start some extra green beans there to hedge our bets.
I second the chalkboard paint suggestion!
Rosaleen says
You might consider making a semi-permanent chalkboard sign proclaiming the sale and then generating a price list that you print and hang near the veggies. Keep the list on your computer in a spreadsheet to which you can add amounts, weights, prices, actual sales, etc. You can add or subtract items, saving in separate sheets for your tracking purposes. The appropriate sheet can be displayed in a plastic sheet protector with the open end covered with clear tape to keep out any rain. The chalk sign can be seen from the road and the individual prices of the day can be seen after people stop.
Good Luck!
Carrie says
Are you going on the honor system with your stand? I live on a neighborhood cut-through street so I will get a lot of traffic and have considered setting up a stand but I don’t want anyone to steal from me either. I’ve thought about a sign that says “pay what you can”. I’m just undecided. And I’m only home on the weekends.
I am starting to get a lot of purple green beans and zukes are flowering like crazy. I picked my first Cherokee Purples this week. Peppers and eggplants are doing great too. I also have loads of Swiss Chard but not sure how hot of an item that is for an urban farm stand.
My new chickens are 17 weeks old so I am hoping they will start laying soon. I have switched to Scratch and Peck no corn or soy feed in hopes it will help my older girls (3-4 years old) lay more.
Love these garden posts!
Mavis Butterfield says
I put a glass jar in the cooler with $2 “seed money” in it. People like prices, so I just try and price my stuff at the price I’d want to pay for something. Although I’d never pay a penny for Swiss chard. 😉
Susan says
If you don’t have a lot of houses on your road, you might try pricing herbs and bunches of greens at $1 each. In a small town, word will get around and you might have some regular customers by the time your tomatoes are ready.
Hazel says
You can eat daylily (hemerocallis) flowers- really good, a bit like pea, maybe?? I add them to salads. You can also dry the flowers and powder them- the Chinese use it a lot in soups etc.
Cheryl says
I thought your prices were very reasonable. After how much you paid for cherries, glad to see some realistic pricing.
Em says
You have quite the garden!
Your beets are lovely. Any advice for special care with beets.
Mavis Butterfield says
I just try and keep them weeded. That’s it. 😉 Sometimes I think ignoring the vegetable patch does wonders for it.
Karen Rink says
How about a pop-up tent to cover your table? It would be an eye-catcher and protect table and produce from sun, wind, weather. A checkered table Cloth might look nice.
Good Luck!!
Lindsey says
Your basil plants look pretty tall and I can’t tell if that is fact or photo angle. Anyway, in case you don’t know, pinching out the top of every stem will cause the plant to bush out and you’ll get a larger crop.
Mavis Butterfield says
They are about 12″ right now.
Sue says
Lucy looks good, a bright spot in my day and a smile.
Your garden looks great and I wish I lived close by I would be a customer for sure.
I love those pop up veggie stands, I love fresh and noing that they are grown in a clean environment is a plus.
Michele says
So happy to see Miss Lucy back to her old self.
Kellie says
Ditto on eating the daylillies! You can get rid of the buds by pickling them, too
Brenda says
Do you water every day? I have spring garden in NC and take it for granted that its not hot so therefore not much watering goes on…my beets from Feb where the size of golf balls!
Mavis Butterfield says
I have watered ONCE… at the beginning of the season with a watering cans. That’s it. I can’t believe it.
Katelyn says
Those turnips are often referred to as salad turnips around here – maybe labeling them that way, too, would help. I’d buy them all – they’re my favorite!!
brenda says
Turnips to a northerner are usually rutabagas…the south uses white ones to make turnip salad as mentioned but that recipe is nowhere near a salad as we know..it is a recipe where they use the greens like collard, steam them with pork.
JB says
Mavis, You picked up your Zaycon just in time! Was there any indication when you picked up your meat they were going out of business? My family is sad there will be no bacon in two weeks. I’m hoping my credit card will recover the $$$ spent!
Mavis Butterfield says
No indication at all when I picked up my order. None. The driver even said the route was starting to grow.
Lace Faerie says
I had been reading a lot of unhappy reviews on the web lately. My sister complained that her last order was freezer burned and full of ice crystals. Another sister said her last chicken order was delayed, their email said “due to border issues”. I thought these were American farm bought products!?!
I was having second thoughts about ordering from them again anyways, but I know I had around a $20 credit. That hurts!
JB says
My bacon order was delayed twice! My last chicken was not the best and I decided not to order more of that. I have a friend who has several hundred dollars worth of products ordered that she won’t receive. It is really too bad they don’t deliver the products that were already paid for.
Leslie says
Ferment some turnips!
I cut them into match sticks, then cover with spring water and some salt. If you made any sauerkraut recently, or have some yogurt or something, you can jump start with some whey. Taste after 4 fish days with a starter, or give it a week then taste if starting with just bring. And the green make a cool pesto!
Leslie says
“…if starting with just brinE.”
Gale says
Mmmm…scalloped tomatoes, tomato jam, salsa, spaghetti sauce.
Gee says
If you really want those sunflowers to “skyrocket,” dress them with a couple inches of good compost. You must have some around your area. Around here, we just look when we see cows. If they’re selling compost, they’ll have it in white bags near the road. It just makes plants go crazy.
Gee says
And Lucy might like the smell to roll around in. 🙂
Marybeth says
Pine nuts are so expensive, I use walnuts instead. The garden looks wonderful. Glad Lucy is doing better.
Ronda says
Sell your flowers, I have a farm around me that does that for really good prices and they can’t keep them at their little road side table. They just rubberband them in bunches and put them in mason jars of water. They did add a note to include the price of the jar because people started to take them.
Susie says
Or put all the bunches in a larger bucket of water. 🙂