The gardens at Sweet Bear Farm are ever evolving. Kate is in charge of most garden operations, although Jeremiah is employed as the manpower behind the rototiller.

The first year on the farm, a 25 x 25 foot fenced garden was started in a corner of the pasture, close to the farm road. It was quickly clear that more garden space was necessary if Kate wanted to grow any sort of squash crops. She had planted zucchini with inadequate space and it over took a row of potatoes and a row of tomatoes.

The second year on on the farm, a separate squash patch was planted near the house in an area that had been reclaimed from sumac.

The patch did well, yielding some pumpkins and many acorn, butternut and spaghetti squashes (the watermelon did not fare so well). Other successes were tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers and Brussel sprouts started from seed and snow/sugar snap peas. Carrots were a near-total failure as some small creature ate off most of the tops before the carrots could grow.

Spring 2017, the third year on the farm, we tilled up the squash patch from the previous year and planted a strawberry patch. The first 3 dozen strawberry plants came from an organic farm just a few miles down the road in Corinth. The other half of the bed was already started with lettuce, peas and beans, so after the summer growing season is over, we’ll fertilize that section and plant more strawberries to complete the bed.

Just up hill of the strawberry patch, Jeremiah planted a dozen blueberry bushes for Mother’s Day. Eleanor is a big blueberry fan; the birds will have to fight her for the fruit!

 

**The narrative on this page will continue to change as the gardens develop, check back frequently for updates**