Four of eight beds are now full of compost, thanks to D. 520 square feet out of 844 in the side yard are DONE. 62%! On the list for later this week: potatoes. And in another week or so: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and corn.
Now, we just need to keep everything moist enough. A bit challenging... the compost is a mixture of larger and smaller pieces (I call it poor man's compost). Quick drainage. I'm hoping it's not a little TOO quick!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Planting
I finished planting everything that should be done by now! First, I planted in the areas around the berry sticks. There should be room there for a while so a lot of greens went in, which should peter out in the height of summer just as the berry vines (we hope) really take over. If you look at the berry bed in the previous post, you'll see five sections divided up by the trellises. In those five sections (leaving about a foot of space around each berry stick) I planted 1) red leaf romaine, 2) basil, 3) mesclun mix, 4) 1/2 bok choi, 1/2 swiss chard, and 5) Bloomsdale spinach.
Then I moved on to the bed next to that one. Starting on the west end, I planted 18 inches of perilla purple shiso (a spicy Asian mustard that grows about three feet tall). The south half of the bed (maybe 2' x 30'?) has three kinds of beets (crapaudine, cylindra, and tall top early wonder) and two kinds of cauliflower (early snowball and purple sicily). The north half of the bed has seven varieties of carrots (short and sweet, danvers, A#1, amarillo, lunar white, chantenay, and nantes) and two varieties of broccoli (de Cicco and rapini). All are listed in the order I planted, so I know what's what. This may look like a blog, but really it's our gardening notebook!
Many of the seeds I planted today are very small, so I used a spice container that had three openings (the one below sadly only has two!). The main opening was perfect for pouring the seed in. The opening with small holes (like salt shaker) was perfect for the smallest seeds. Finally, the smaller hole was perfect for tapping out the larger seeds. It made it much faster than trying to place all the seeds by hand.
Of course, there are lots of special tools available for this that are very inexpensive ($2–4), but if you forgot to order one when you ordered your seeds and don't feel like going out to buy one, I think the spice can is a great substitute.
Meanwhile, D. was very busy before dinner! He spread 1 lb of sulfur for every 100 square feet of vegetable bed (some had already been done, some not). This will pull down the pH of the soil. Bacteria in the soil will oxidize the sulfur to create a weak sulfuric acid, thereby lowering the pH (making it more acid). (Low pH and high acid always seem like they should be opposites to me!)
Then he worked on reinforcing the wheelbarrow which had become a bit wobbly, and took ten loads of compost into the next bed we're working to fill (about 32' x 5', about the same size as the berry bed). On his way out of the back yard into the front yard to get compost, he took a load of bricks with him so he could mark off the areas where the trees were planted so they won't get accidentally trampled by the kids.
We each spent about 90 minutes in the garden today. Enough to make quite a dent in what needs to be done! The trick now is to keep all the seeds well-watered and not to let them dry out. I already realized I didn't water the front today, and I really should have! We're really going to be missing an irrigation system until we figure that one out...
Then I moved on to the bed next to that one. Starting on the west end, I planted 18 inches of perilla purple shiso (a spicy Asian mustard that grows about three feet tall). The south half of the bed (maybe 2' x 30'?) has three kinds of beets (crapaudine, cylindra, and tall top early wonder) and two kinds of cauliflower (early snowball and purple sicily). The north half of the bed has seven varieties of carrots (short and sweet, danvers, A#1, amarillo, lunar white, chantenay, and nantes) and two varieties of broccoli (de Cicco and rapini). All are listed in the order I planted, so I know what's what. This may look like a blog, but really it's our gardening notebook!
Many of the seeds I planted today are very small, so I used a spice container that had three openings (the one below sadly only has two!). The main opening was perfect for pouring the seed in. The opening with small holes (like salt shaker) was perfect for the smallest seeds. Finally, the smaller hole was perfect for tapping out the larger seeds. It made it much faster than trying to place all the seeds by hand.
Of course, there are lots of special tools available for this that are very inexpensive ($2–4), but if you forgot to order one when you ordered your seeds and don't feel like going out to buy one, I think the spice can is a great substitute.
Meanwhile, D. was very busy before dinner! He spread 1 lb of sulfur for every 100 square feet of vegetable bed (some had already been done, some not). This will pull down the pH of the soil. Bacteria in the soil will oxidize the sulfur to create a weak sulfuric acid, thereby lowering the pH (making it more acid). (Low pH and high acid always seem like they should be opposites to me!)
Then he worked on reinforcing the wheelbarrow which had become a bit wobbly, and took ten loads of compost into the next bed we're working to fill (about 32' x 5', about the same size as the berry bed). On his way out of the back yard into the front yard to get compost, he took a load of bricks with him so he could mark off the areas where the trees were planted so they won't get accidentally trampled by the kids.
We each spent about 90 minutes in the garden today. Enough to make quite a dent in what needs to be done! The trick now is to keep all the seeds well-watered and not to let them dry out. I already realized I didn't water the front today, and I really should have! We're really going to be missing an irrigation system until we figure that one out...
Monday, February 27, 2012
Berry Trellises II
I managed to get the stepping stones and berries in today! Here is a picture of the four trellises against the rear fence of the yard.
They come out at a good angle, so it should be plenty of light on either side. I put in ten Natchez thornless blackberries, ten bababerries, two tayberries, and one mystery berry. It was with the others, but the stem looked nothing like the other three! It's a bit perplexing.
Here's a closer picture of the area between the trellises so you can see the stepping stones and if you look really carefully (or click on the picture!) you can see the berries planted in the ground (they are sticks 12–18" tall).
It felt good to get this done. It took about 90 minutes to haul and place the stepping stones and plant the sticks. Now the fig tree is the only thing we ordered live that hasn't been planted yet. The next task is to plant the long bed right next to the berry bed, and to fill up the long hooped bed (see top photo, right) with compost (20 wheelbarrow loads?).
I would like to plant basil in the open areas in the bed until it's too full of berry brambles. The corners of that bed are also currently vacant, so we'll put in something to fill in those spaces too. So luxurious to have the space!
They come out at a good angle, so it should be plenty of light on either side. I put in ten Natchez thornless blackberries, ten bababerries, two tayberries, and one mystery berry. It was with the others, but the stem looked nothing like the other three! It's a bit perplexing.
Here's a closer picture of the area between the trellises so you can see the stepping stones and if you look really carefully (or click on the picture!) you can see the berries planted in the ground (they are sticks 12–18" tall).
It felt good to get this done. It took about 90 minutes to haul and place the stepping stones and plant the sticks. Now the fig tree is the only thing we ordered live that hasn't been planted yet. The next task is to plant the long bed right next to the berry bed, and to fill up the long hooped bed (see top photo, right) with compost (20 wheelbarrow loads?).
I would like to plant basil in the open areas in the bed until it's too full of berry brambles. The corners of that bed are also currently vacant, so we'll put in something to fill in those spaces too. So luxurious to have the space!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Greens
While D. was busy putting up the trellises, I weeded the beds in the front yard (five of them), pulled up things that weren't really producing any more, added a load of compost per bed, and dug it into the soil a bit. Then I planted, and planted, and planted. What did I plant? Cabbage, arugula, mesclun mix, swiss chard, spinach, canton bok choi, black simpson lettuce, red romaine, bibb lettuce, and Parris Island romaine. The whole front yard is fully planted now. (Or fully as it will get for now!) Actually, I do want to tuck in a few more herbs in the herb spiral now too. Lovely! Now I just have to be really good about keeping the ground moist...
Berry Trellises
Today, D. put in the berry trellises. There are four of them, each about 3' high and 6' long. They extend out from the fence into the bed at an angle. (Reminder to self to take pictures!) We're going to use some of the concrete bricks in the back to make little paths in the beds between the trellises. We have 22 berry plants waiting to be planted there - ten blackberry, ten bababerry, and two tayberry. We hope to get that done this week!
Seed List
Here is a master list of all the seeds we purchased for this coming year (with some leftover for next year, no doubt!). Many of them are heirlooms that were purchased from Baker Creek and Territorial Seed Company. A few of them are hybrids. Hopefully, we will recapture the seeds from the heirlooms and use them next year!
THE LIST
FLOWERS
marigold
cosmos
morning glory
sunflower
nasturtium
zinnia
HERBS
mint
cilantro (slo-bolt)
chives
sage
basil – Siam Queen
basil – Emily
CABBAGE
late flat Dutch
CORN
Thompson prolific
SPINACH
Bloomsdale
New Zealand
BEANS
Asian winged beans
soybeans - Distoy
fava beans
scarlet runner beans
pinto beans
TOMATOES
Riesentraube
German green
Isis
golden girl
Chadwick cherry
southern night
brandywine
amazon
chocolate
purple tomatillos
CAULIFLOWER
purple Sicily
early snowball
CARROT
amarillo
chantenay
lunar white
short and sweet
A#1
danvers
nantes
GREENS
Canton bok
Simpson lettuce
mesclun mix
red roman
shiso
Parris Island romaine
bibb
arugula
swiss chard
PEPPERS
emerald giant
rainbow mix
jalapeño
MELONS
Malali watermelon (Israeli)
Sakata’s sweet melon (small Asian variety)
jubilee watermelon
Georgia rattlesnake watermelon
CUCUMBERS
beit alpha (Israeli)
lemon
Boston pickling
sumter
EGGPLANT
listada de grandia
Turkish
Japanese long
BEETS
crapaudine
early wonder
cylindra
BROCCOLI
rapini
de Cicco
SUMMER SQUASH
lemon squash
tromboncino
black beauty green zucchini
yellow summer squash
WINTER SQUASH
banana pink jumbo
sugar pumpkin
butternut - Waltham
Starts
We were just talking tonight about how, with a 11.5-month growing season, it seems like starting a lot of seedlings indoors or in a hooped bed might not really be a big priority. It might be nice to get a jump start on tomatoes (oh, yum), but really we can otherwise just enjoy those things that are ready when they're ready. Our last freeze is typically February 15. We can plant quite a lot of things directly outdoors now, and even before February 15 we had all those greens, broccoli, onions, garlic, shallots, peas, etc. going pretty well. If we do do starts ahead of time next year, we would really make the hooped bed quite a bit more secure so the top doesn't blow off again. It looks like there's a good chance we lost the pomegranate tree, and possibly the lemon and lime trees. The pomegranate and lemon can be easily replaced by locally-available trees so we'll wait and see. With limited time available, we have to be really careful to maximize and prioritize what we can do. Tomorrow - hoping to plant the kiwis and berries.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Photos
I'm finally getting some pictures up. This is the dump truck that dropped off 1-1/2 loads in our driveway a couple of weeks ago. We've transported about half of it to various beds.
We got a good bit of work done today. The asparagus was starting to come up, so I put on the final layer of compost over that.
It looks less and less asparagus-like as it grows into more of a fern, but it was fun to think that in a couple of years we could be eating these!
I took all the surviving seedlings (turns out that only the spinach and lettuce survived the top being blown off our hooped bed the night it got down to 22 degrees!), and planted those in the front yard. Here you can see how many seedlings ended up not surviving. These were nearly all full before the fateful night.
I moved a bunch of compost into the flower bed by the front driveway.
Then I weeded, fertilized, watered, mucked around, and fed the chickens a huge, fat earthworm. Very satisfying.
In the front yard (the north side) the herb spiral had many things that did well all winter. We had...
parsley
tarragon, thyme, and rosemary
mustard in right foreground
garlic, onions, shallots, and lettuce in left top background
mustard - isn't it pretty?
We got a good bit of work done today. The asparagus was starting to come up, so I put on the final layer of compost over that.
It looks less and less asparagus-like as it grows into more of a fern, but it was fun to think that in a couple of years we could be eating these!I took all the surviving seedlings (turns out that only the spinach and lettuce survived the top being blown off our hooped bed the night it got down to 22 degrees!), and planted those in the front yard. Here you can see how many seedlings ended up not surviving. These were nearly all full before the fateful night.
I moved a bunch of compost into the flower bed by the front driveway.
Then I weeded, fertilized, watered, mucked around, and fed the chickens a huge, fat earthworm. Very satisfying.
In the front yard (the north side) the herb spiral had many things that did well all winter. We had...
parsley
tarragon, thyme, and rosemary
mustard in right foregroundgarlic, onions, shallots, and lettuce in left top background
mustard - isn't it pretty?The snow peas and sugar snap peas are coming up very nicely! They're planted in the onion/shallots/garlic bed.
The collards have been good.
The cabbage has been growing very slowly. Our soil is not all that rich (yet!). It take a pretty penny to import really good soil, so we're building it very slowly. I think next year will be better after the wood chips are completely decomposed (they're in the bottom of the bed), the pH on the soil is lowered, and we can get a good load of manure mixed in.
Happy arugula! This has always been one of my favorite greens. Such a nice, peppery flavor. Great on pizza.
I picked this broccoli a couple of weeks ago, then a couple of new shoots came in. It flowered before we ate it, but it's so beautiful I think I'm leaving it!
The loquat on the east side of the house has lots of nice fruit on it. Last year I made loquat jam, and it was heavenly on meatballs. The fruit will turn a beautiful yellow when it is ripe. It tastes a little bit like a plum.
DH took three-fourths of a day off today to dig holes to plant some of our trees. We're experimenting with a technique of planting four trees in one hole, with the trees spaced about 18–24" apart. We hope to keep all the trees on the smaller side for easier picking and a nicely manageable amount of fruit. The greater number of trees that we were able to plant (16 fruit trees + 6 kiwi vines + a fig tree that will go in the back yard) gives us a wide variety of fruit with each fruit ripening at different times. No special preparation was done for the holes. The most important thing is to give the trees the right amount of water - about 5 gallons per week per tree in every week for which we have less than an inch of rain. He put down a three-inch layer of mulch (wood chips) to hold the water in the ground and keep it warm.
Here is where the kiwis will go. Up and over the arbor, we hope! This was a driveway that cut the corner of our property from one street to the street around the corner. We plopped this outdoor living room (to the right) right on top of the driveway with the arbor extending out over the front yard. I had no idea I would be spending so much time in here. It's truly been like an addition to the house! No more drive-through driveway, but we don't miss it. The end we don't drive on any more is a perfect dumping spot for compost and manure deliveries.
And now the backyard...
a partially-built bed in the backyard
four of the beds
the long bed with chickens
building materials - cucumber trellis, bed materials, berry trellis
the water tank for collecting rain water
The back yard. The pool will be moved to the side yard
and used for tilapia. We want a bigger pool for the kids. We have some hopes
for this part of the yard - a club house (with a zip line to the pool?), a swing, and a ?
Aren't these girls characters? I can't get enough of them! No eggs yet, but any day now.
The collards have been good.
The cabbage has been growing very slowly. Our soil is not all that rich (yet!). It take a pretty penny to import really good soil, so we're building it very slowly. I think next year will be better after the wood chips are completely decomposed (they're in the bottom of the bed), the pH on the soil is lowered, and we can get a good load of manure mixed in.
Happy arugula! This has always been one of my favorite greens. Such a nice, peppery flavor. Great on pizza.
I picked this broccoli a couple of weeks ago, then a couple of new shoots came in. It flowered before we ate it, but it's so beautiful I think I'm leaving it!
The loquat on the east side of the house has lots of nice fruit on it. Last year I made loquat jam, and it was heavenly on meatballs. The fruit will turn a beautiful yellow when it is ripe. It tastes a little bit like a plum.
DH took three-fourths of a day off today to dig holes to plant some of our trees. We're experimenting with a technique of planting four trees in one hole, with the trees spaced about 18–24" apart. We hope to keep all the trees on the smaller side for easier picking and a nicely manageable amount of fruit. The greater number of trees that we were able to plant (16 fruit trees + 6 kiwi vines + a fig tree that will go in the back yard) gives us a wide variety of fruit with each fruit ripening at different times. No special preparation was done for the holes. The most important thing is to give the trees the right amount of water - about 5 gallons per week per tree in every week for which we have less than an inch of rain. He put down a three-inch layer of mulch (wood chips) to hold the water in the ground and keep it warm.
Here is where the kiwis will go. Up and over the arbor, we hope! This was a driveway that cut the corner of our property from one street to the street around the corner. We plopped this outdoor living room (to the right) right on top of the driveway with the arbor extending out over the front yard. I had no idea I would be spending so much time in here. It's truly been like an addition to the house! No more drive-through driveway, but we don't miss it. The end we don't drive on any more is a perfect dumping spot for compost and manure deliveries.
And now the backyard...
a partially-built bed in the backyard
four of the beds
the long bed with chickens
building materials - cucumber trellis, bed materials, berry trellis
the water tank for collecting rain water
The back yard. The pool will be moved to the side yard
and used for tilapia. We want a bigger pool for the kids. We have some hopes
for this part of the yard - a club house (with a zip line to the pool?), a swing, and a ?
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Seeds
Just placed our seed order at Baker Creek. It was for:
Malali (an Israeli watermelon)
Beit Alpha Cucumber (an Israeli cucumber)
Asian Winged Bean
Crapaudine Beet
Rapini Broccoli
Purple of Sicily Cauliflower
Premium Late Flat Dutch Cabbage
Amarillo Carrot (a yellow carrot)
Chantenay Red Core Carrot (a dark orange carrot)
Lunar White Carrot (a white carrot)
Thompson Prolific Dent Corn
Turkish Orange Eggplant
Listada De Gandia Eggplant
Canton Bok (heat-tolerant bok choi!)
European Mesclun Mix
Sakata's Sweet Melon (little, tiny single-serving Asian melons)
Emerald Giant Pepper (keep producing through the heat)
New Zealand Spinach (this and Malabar spinach both produce in the heat; they are different species than "regular" spinach)
Lemon Squash (cute little summer squash)
Verde De Taglio (a sweet chard)
Basil - Siam Queen Thai (Thai basil, oh, yum)
Basil - Emily (stores well after picking)
Cilantro, Slo-Bolt (slo-bolt, YES!)
Shiso (spicy leaf for sushi and salads)
Sensation Mix - Cosmos (probably my favorite flower)
Tall Trailing Mix Nasturtium (fruit buds can be pickled for capers)
Titan Sunflower (BIG sunflowers)
Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomato
Djeena Lee's Golden Tomato
Brandywine Tomato (drool)
Amazon Chocolate
Southern Night Tomato
Chadwick Cherry
Isis Candy Cherry
Riesentraube Tomato
Looking forward to planting soon IYH. We've got to get those trees in also, now that the freezing weather has hopefully passed.
Malali (an Israeli watermelon)
Beit Alpha Cucumber (an Israeli cucumber)
Asian Winged Bean
Crapaudine Beet
Rapini Broccoli
Purple of Sicily Cauliflower
Premium Late Flat Dutch Cabbage
Amarillo Carrot (a yellow carrot)
Chantenay Red Core Carrot (a dark orange carrot)
Lunar White Carrot (a white carrot)
Thompson Prolific Dent Corn
Turkish Orange Eggplant
Listada De Gandia Eggplant
Canton Bok (heat-tolerant bok choi!)
European Mesclun Mix
Sakata's Sweet Melon (little, tiny single-serving Asian melons)
Emerald Giant Pepper (keep producing through the heat)
New Zealand Spinach (this and Malabar spinach both produce in the heat; they are different species than "regular" spinach)
Lemon Squash (cute little summer squash)
Verde De Taglio (a sweet chard)
Basil - Siam Queen Thai (Thai basil, oh, yum)
Basil - Emily (stores well after picking)
Cilantro, Slo-Bolt (slo-bolt, YES!)
Shiso (spicy leaf for sushi and salads)
Sensation Mix - Cosmos (probably my favorite flower)
Tall Trailing Mix Nasturtium (fruit buds can be pickled for capers)
Titan Sunflower (BIG sunflowers)
Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomato
Djeena Lee's Golden Tomato
Brandywine Tomato (drool)
Amazon Chocolate
Southern Night Tomato
Chadwick Cherry
Isis Candy Cherry
Riesentraube Tomato
Looking forward to planting soon IYH. We've got to get those trees in also, now that the freezing weather has hopefully passed.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Loss
I went out this morning to survey the damage to our seedlings. The cover is now off since temperatures are much warmer again - 50s at night, 70s during the day. I got a much better look. Most of them went kaplooey. The lettuces and spinaches are all right, and some of the cauliflower and broccoli might make it too. So, I'm putting together another seed order, and can't believe what a beautiful seed catalog Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has! The website is not nearly as engaging and beautiful as the catalog (though it is also quite good). So many interesting varieties of seeds. I'm looking forward to placing another order, this time with them. We really want to plant as many heirloom varieties as possible so that we can save the seeds ourselves and replant them every year. I'm sad to have lost the tender little seedlings, but I'm eagerly anticipating picking out different varieties to grow.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Frozen
Last weekend, we had freezing temperatures down to 22 degrees or so. Unfortunately, the wind blew the plastic top off the greenhouse. We lost at least a third of all our seedlings. Very sad. I need to re-order several seed packets now. We're just both glad that we aren't ma and pa depending on these crops so our family can EAT!
On Sunday, we finished loading up beds #2 and #3 in the side yard (about 20 wheelbarrow loads of compost). D. started staining (aka moisture protecting) the trellises we'll be using for the berries. That was our Sunday accomplishments last week, with D. recovering from a week+ of a bad cold/sinus infection.
Here is an analysis of our compost that we got back from the county last week (click on the picture and it should be more legible). We'll do the amending that's needed in the coming week. Really hoping to plant soon if temperatures cooperate!
On Sunday, we finished loading up beds #2 and #3 in the side yard (about 20 wheelbarrow loads of compost). D. started staining (aka moisture protecting) the trellises we'll be using for the berries. That was our Sunday accomplishments last week, with D. recovering from a week+ of a bad cold/sinus infection.
Here is an analysis of our compost that we got back from the county last week (click on the picture and it should be more legible). We'll do the amending that's needed in the coming week. Really hoping to plant soon if temperatures cooperate!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Bed Frame
On Sunday, I took the kids out to a fair in the morning and to a birthday party in the afternoon, leaving D. to work on the bed frames uninterrupted. He finished a 100-square-foot frame, and got nearly finished with a slightly shorter second one. Our berries arrived on Saturday and got safely tucked into the hooped frame. Wheelbarrowfuls of dirt await my attention to fill those beds! This Sunday night the temperature will be going down to 34, so I think that we'll wait another week before putting the seedlings out and starting a bunch more.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Berries
Today, I added 22 wheelbarrow loads of compost to the 5' x 30' berry bed. It looks pretty good. We still have to test the soil to see what else it might need, but I went ahead and ordered 22 berry plants, or rather, sticks — 10 Natchez thornless blackberries, 10 bababerries, and 2 tayberries. According to what I've read, bababerries are the only raspberry that can deal with our hot summers.
We have a 30-foot long fence right behind the bed. They bababerries will get trellised along that. The blackberries and tayberries will go on four 8-foot long trellises that will come out at an angle from each of 4 posts along that same fence. A berry forest!
We have a 30-foot long fence right behind the bed. They bababerries will get trellised along that. The blackberries and tayberries will go on four 8-foot long trellises that will come out at an angle from each of 4 posts along that same fence. A berry forest!
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