May Updates

It seems like I just completed the A to Z Challenge in April and here it is already the last week of May. I'd say I've lost a bit of time but all I have to do it step outside and see where it went.

During the A to Z Challenge I did manage to post a theme, (gardening), post everyday and made fairly good use of the letter of the day. The one thing missing was being able to visit every blog at least once during the month. I did hot quite a few  and picked up some new favorites. I'm getting a second chance, with the 2015 Post Challenge road trip. last time I tried to pick blogs that I thought might have a craft or garden theme first then I checked out ones with what I thought was a catchy title. This time I'm working my way down the list from 1 to whatever the last number ends up being.. it's a bit of a work in process right now.

So in that theme I'll go ahead and update you a bit on some of the projects I talked about in April.
Did they work out? Was a it a bust or would I try it again. Check it and out see.

The garden has been planted and it's in full swing. The Umbrella Market stared last week and it was awesome to see our favorite customers again.

I'll start with an update about the Potato Towers.  Despite our later than normal start and the crazy weather we've had the towers are doing great. I even saw a bloom to two the other day!

I think that it's going great so far. It hasn't been much work other than keeping it watered, which I was smarter this year by adding the soaker hoses to the towers. I'll give you a poundage update at harvest time! I'll mark this one as a success and add it to the list for more towers next year. Sweet potato slips are coming on now. I'm wondering if we can do them the same way. There might be a post about that coming soon.

The Pallet herb garden is a so/so project. we got it built but we need to move it to a shady area. Once we get it moved we'll add the rest of the herbs, which are currently residing in pots.

Now that we have worked out the bugs we can write up a tutorial about what not to do..lol. I love the idea and I can't wait to get it moved into the shade and have it full of plants.

I'm always promoting trying something every year in your garden. This year I'm working on Artichokes, real ones not the Jerusalem artichokes that I talked about earlier.  Although those were a "new" product one year too.

These are the  Green Globe variety and we're hoping for a small harvest this year. We are on the edge of the zones for perennial, but we have a plan for over wintering it this fall. Check back for updates!

You can see the kale in the back ground there, I've been busy making Kale Chips with the curly and puppy cookies with the Dino.

 The fuzz butts are about out so I'll be making more soon. I should even share my great recipe for their favorite Carrot, Kale, Cheese Krunchies. I can't tell you how much I love hay for the garden. We are doing the straw bales on the other end of this garden but these are some that were left over from winter crops and we just spread some around the spring plantings. It cuts down on the work and for that I'll take all of the help I can get!

 I'll be working weeding the garden, baking and creating fun jam flavors so to hold you over here's a few more pictures of our fruits that are growing great, so enjoy and check back soon for more ideas, recipes and updates.

Super excited for the plum crop this year. I'm thinking about all of the great flavors of Jam we'll have for the fall!

 And of course my all time favorite is concord grape.