Early August Garden Tour -

At 7300 feet, August is when the garden starts to come alive. The spring crops of radish and peas have since been pulled out. Spring carrots are ready for harvest. Squash is finally starting to flower, and there are tiny tomatoes, peppers, and green beans hanging on the plants. August is when it finally starts feeling like a garden. By the end of the month, the garden summer vegetables will be ready to begin harvesting, and there will be days with a fall chill on the air.

So here at the beginning, I thought I’d give you a tour of the garden in photos. It won’t look the same as all those lovely Southern or Pacific Northwest gardens, but may it lend some hope to those of you also growing at high altitudes in moderate climates where early June snow storms are a fact of life.

Growing in the Garden

Sunflowers the birds planted are in full bloom.

Yellow, lemon, orange, red, maroon. So many different colors of sunflowers.

Early potatoes are getting ready to be pulled.

Green beans are starting to take over, and the first small harvest came off the vines this morning.

Photo of green cabbage growing in low tunnel — The first green cabbage is getting firm and will be ready to harvest soon.

Photo of three kale plants — Kale from the first spring planting is still going strong.

Photo of celeriac root growing — Celeriac root plants are starting to get big.

Photo of tomato plants — The tomatoes are finally starting to grow.

Photo of purple tomatillos growing — Tomatillos are putting on fruit.

Photo of baby field pumpkin — The first pumpkin is starting to swell.

Photo of pepper plant with baby peppers — Baby Anaheim Peppers (We had some beautiful banana peppers that were getting close to harvest, but something ate them in the night.)

Photo of blue bachelor button — Bachelor buttons have started flowering

Photo of calendula flower — So has the calendula.

Photo of four small sage plants — The sage we started from seed back in February is getting big and has given us several harvests already.

Photo of borage plant with many flowers and seeds — The borage is growing like crazy.

Photo of cucumber plants growing and flowering — Pickling cucumbers are finally starting to grow and flower. You can see the dill shooting up too.

Planning for Autumn

This past week we’ve also planted our fall crop of storage carrots and rutabagas and put up a new low tunnel for a second round of brassicas. Turnips still need to be planted, as well as fall lettuces.

Photo of new low tunnel planted with cabbages, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, and sprouts — New low tunnel planted with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, kale, spinach, and sprouts. Bug netting keeps the beetles and moths out.

Photo of low tunnels in the garden with bug netting. — Now we have two low tunnels.

Photo of garlic and shallots hanging from the rafters of the barn drying — Garlic was pulled around three weeks ago to dry, and shallots were pulled last week.

Animals on the Homestead

We are getting an average of four eggs a day from our five laying hens. The ducks and the geese are getting big too. They’re still several months away from laying, but can no longer be considered ducklings or goslings.