I posted a tour of Hobbiton Farm in April when the garden was in second gear, all power and acceleration of potential; it was a time of year when I put seedlings in-ground, and the plantings were well underway, past the danger of being eaten whole by slugs and birds, but still very near the beginning of their growth. All was a promise. All was hope. All was a fresh new green.
I’d dare say that July and August are peak garden months. For many, July and August are the best time of year in a foodscape. So much to pick and eat. The leaves are dark green. The tomatoes are bright red and yellow and purple. So much at full ripeness. All the hard work from Winter ensuring soil health and the care we take in planting and nurturing in Spring show up right around now. So in some way, I see it as a time when my mistakes are also highlighted.
This year has been an atypical one, even if every year the garden is different. Some years, the cucumbers do fantastic while the peppers barely have fruit. Other years, the cucumbers don’t fruit at all. This year, the romano beans fruited early and withered by mid-July. I’ve been picking tomatoes since July 4th, right around the time I filmed this tour. I’ve never picked tomatoes this early!
My partner said I ought to give you another tour. So in a pandemic house dress and in full ajumma mode, we recorded the garden in early July. I give you another tour of Hobbiton Farm.
The first clip is of the patio (which right now houses two feral cats adjusting into their new role as barn cats / garden cats). It’s kind of unruly out there! Also, for the first time, it looks like we get to harvest jujube dates!
The biggest difference is that the plants have grown and branched and leafed out. The meadow area, for instance, is replete with cosmos now.
The second clip includes the fruit trees and flower garden portion of the garden. Lots of stone fruit. Lots of netting over the stone fruit, because the squirrels KNOW.
The vegetable garden is unruly, wild, and prolific! This is ALWAYS the part of the garden where my ambition bites me; I get so excited I ALWAYS overplant. LOLz. Here, you see calendula and garlic and asparagus and tomatoes and cucumbers and squash and beans and kalettes SQUISHED together, companion planting be damned. The jeolla-do mustard, at peak in the April video, has long gone to seed.
Oh hello, chickens. Since this was recorded, the flocks integrated. They get along great! And it’s awesome to have them all under one roof. Brad the Rooster won’t leave the younger hens alone; but this way, the ratio is such that he doesn’t pick the hens’ backs bald.
Down at the bottom of the farm are the Tiny House, the hugelkultur bed, and the apiary. I’ll have to give yet another tour soon because since this was filmed in early July, a squirrel gnawed off the head of this mammoth sunflower (which I planted as a salute to Ukraine). Also, I cleaned up the apiary of its old boxes. In sum, things have changed in the last few weeks, even. There’s nothing like watching a video of yourself and the garden to spur you into cleaning up!
There you go.
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