Mid summer is a relative term. Where we are, high in the hills, Spring comes late according the calendar, but at just the right time according to our land. And right now, it’s mid summer. In the Milkwood market garden and all around us.
The tomatoes are everywhere, the cucumbers are going nuts, the beans are climbing, the corn is ripening and the eggplants are quickly being consumed. It’s also time to give back to the garden: putting nutrients back in as we take them out in the form of harvest. It’s all part of the great cycle.
Scarlet runners, still flowering as their beans ripen
Eggplant flowers
Good bugs on the corn
And bees on the corn, gathering whatever pollen they can in this crazy dry season
Sunflowers at the end of the rows
Yay market garden team! Karen, Michael and Lawrence
The happy end… beautiful fresh food
Shovelling yet another load of horse bedding from town, to add to the next compost pile
Buckwheat – our green manure of choice this year
Henry and Karen making a nice cow-poo slurry to add to the compost pile being made
100% Milkwood lunch. Roasted taters, braised goose with rhubarb, salad greens and eggplant babaghanoush. Oh so yum.
And the veggies just keep coming. Thank you Summer.
Thank you plants, soil food web, sunshine, photosynthesis, compost, that little bit of rain we had, and most of all to Michael and the market garden crew of students, all learning, growing, sharing and eating as we go.
>> More posts about the Milkwood Market Garden
We train growers! Our upcoming Organic Market Gardening courses are here. There’s beginner and advanced options.
Also Michael teaches Serious Backyard Veggies for the serious backyarder with Costa as a guest presenter when he can fit it in.
Milkwood market garden, midsummer
13 Comments
I go away for three days and miss it like it’s been a month.
Ahh breath of fresh summer days! We just got 3 feet of snow in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It’s nice, but, baby, it ain’t nothing like what these pictures are showing. Haha
Absolutely beautiful pics, makes me want to be there and soak up the incredible energy…
Looks like pure, fresh fun! We lost most of our backyard vegie garden this season due to some out-of-character, super hot days! And also that we recently upsized the beds and the soil we bought was too alkaline, but Winter, we will be ready for you! Your pictures inspire me, thank you so much
Loving the 100% Milkwood lunch!
Do you guys cover your sunflowers to protect them from the birds? I noticed our bees are loving them, but when they have lost their polleny parts & the bees don’t use them anymore, I am covering them with vege netting bags/ sleeves that I made, otherwise the birds (a whole gang of cockies this morning, in fact) ruin them. I am growing them for our chooks, who are most put out watching noisy big wild birds eat their treats! I figure out where you guys are, you would have an even bigger issue with them?
Hi dixiebelle, As soon as the bees finished with mine I pulled them out and hung them up inside the shed to dry out.. Just harvested one flower with around a cup of seeds.. so good.
Thanks Dan, yes, once the kernels have filled out with seed in them, I cut the whole head off to store (usually still in the bag/ netting) and throw one (or part of the huge Giant Russian sunflower heads) into the chook run to keep them amused. I just wondered if Milkwood crew did something similiar, or just let the birds have their way with them?! There are slim pickings for our new bee hive who are desperately trying to establish themselves, so I don’t want to take any possible foraging options away from them!!
Looks amazing – as I sit here looking out at through a dull, cold, wet January here in the UK – you remind me why I like growing my own food so much. Thanks for the Sunday morning pick-me-up!!
Ditto Susie, spring must be around the corner???
Wow, your season starts late, like ours in Tassie, but then yours goes like a steam train! Our sunflowers are just budding, we’re only just starting to get lots of tomatoes & the capsicums aren’t even full sized let alone ripe… Love the sunflower tips, too, thanks.
Hi, nice looking gardens. Is that weedmatting or shade covers on the side of those beds? If shade then do you just pull it over when they’re getting established?
Kirsten – do you worry about medications in the horse bedding? Also, have you guys published the financials for the market garden? Simple stuff like costs vs. sales.
My, my. I’ve been following your blog for some time now, but reading this post just filled me with pure happiness. Well done, Milkwood!
My partner and I have just begun our own farm adventure on family land in Galveston, Texas, USA, and I am looking to your blog, farm and experience as a real bastion to look towards. Thank you, so very much.
Casey, from Moon Dog Farms