2018 Garden is BOOMING!

The above photo was taken shortly after we planted.

The harvest began with green and wax beans on May 18th.

Banana Peppers on May 19th.

1 Cherry Tomato on the 23rd.

In just TWO WEEKS, we have harvested:

Beans:  5 GALLONS

Banana Peppers:  43 of 'em

Cherry Tomatoes:  48 of 'em

(Dom's 2 hay bales didn't work out, so no big tomatoes this year.)

Pretty impressive for a small garden, huh?

**On a side note:  Since the 23rd of this month, our Blueberry Bushes have produced 10 Quarts already!

Gardens May 13, 2018

I cannot get over how wonderful Hay Bale Gardening is!  My tomatoes are planted in 2 hay bales.  I surrounded the bales with green beans and wax beans.  They're very happy.

Dom's banana peppers are flourishing in the soil.

I didn't bother taking a picture of his 2 hay bales.  His tomatoes are pathetic.  They're alive but wimpy.

I bought my 2 bales at a local feed/seed joint.  Cheap.

He procrastinated.  The only bales that he could find were "Premium" hay bales at the Tractor Center.  $$$$$   These things were so dense that we had difficulty planting.  I think that the roots are having problems growing.

So... we'll have plenty of cherry tomatoes, cheese and onion stuffed banana peppers wrapped with bacon and beans!

2018 Gardens

We're all planted!  We have 4 raised beds.  This is my 2nd year of hay-bale gardening.  Dom's first.

In my two bales, I have 3 Sweet Million cherry tomatoes, 6 Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, Greek oregano, and lemon thyme.  I have these surrounded by 3 different types of bush beans.

Dom planted a lot of peppers in the soil.  Hot banana, sweet banana, jalapenos and something new for us this year...garden salsa peppers.

In Dom's hay bales he planted 6 tomatoes.  3 Goliath and 3 Better Boy.  Next to them, I planted a first for me...  Multiplier Onions

The fourth garden contains 50 Italian Heirloom garlic plants.  100's of years old.  These were given to us years ago by a dear friend, Lor, in Ohio.  We replant 50 cloves every Fall.

So Far- so good!

Pasta Puttanesca

We have harvested well over 300 cherry tomatoes from just 3 plants, thus far....and they're still going strong.  (I cannot get over this Hay Bale Gardening!  What a success!)

I whipped this up yesterday.  Quick and Easy.....  DELICIOUS!

1 Sliced Onion
Small can of Black Olives
Cherry Tomatoes
3/4 cup Chablis  (or Chicken Broth)
Garlic and Garlic Scapes (which I had in the refrigerator)

Saute your veggies in Olive Oil, dump in your wine and simmer away.

Served over Angel Hair Pasta.

We topped this with fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, fresh Oregano, and fresh Thyme out of the garden.

I have to slip in one photo of Dom's tomatoes.... also Hay Bale:

Our Garden is Progressing Nicely

This was taken March 28th:

Look at us now.  I'm SO HOPEFUL that these Hay Bales will be fruitful.  The tomatoes look great, thus far.  If this works, we'll do a lot of hay bales next year.

Check out the difference:

Planted in a hay bale

Planted in soil

Garden 2017

My first experience with hay bale gardening seems like a good one.  The tomatoes, oregano and thyme seem very happy.

The 2 Gardens on the LEFT are mine.  Dom's are to the right.  So far- so good!

Garden 2017

100+ Year Old Heirloom Italian Garlic

Tomatoes, Oregano and Thyme Surrounded with Wax, Heirloom and Bush Beans

Dom's Sweet Banana Peppers, Hot Banana Peppers and Tomatoes

Purple Pole Beans.  (Turn bright green when cooked)

Dom's Watermelons, Cantaloupes and His First Attempt at Sweet Corn 

Hay Bale Gardening

We've got some type of funky virus in our soil that makes all of our tomatoes drop dead.

We'd taken a soil sample to both our County Agent and our USDA....they both said that it was hopeless.

Just as the tomatoes start producing fruit, the plants wither and dye, one by one.  We've tried potting soil, moving our gardens, container gardeing, getting a truckload of topsoil...no luck.

So....  I'm trying this.  Hay Bale Gardening.  http://www.newsprepper.com/hay-bale-gardening-effortless-food-production-with-no-weeds-no-fertilizer-less-watering-video/#.VrpnAvkrLIU

Starting small with only 2 hay bales.  3 cherry tomatoes, 1 regular tomato, thyme and oregano.