PHEW! Today I planted amaranth in three 3-foot "crop circles" in the front yard. We have two varieties: red garnet (6-8 feet tall) and love lies bleeding (3-4 feet tall). I put the tallest variety in the center of the circles with the other around the border. So amazing to think that out of this pin-head sized seed such a nutritious, large, eye-catching plant will form. I didn't realize it when we bought the seeds, but amaranth leaves are also edible and taste a little like spinach (is that a bit like any mystery meat just tasting like chicken?). Looking forward to trying it! I'm hoping to plant one or two more amaranth circles, but I may be running out of steam.
I also realized that I had neglected to plant my red kuri hubbard squash when I planted the rest of the winter squash. Fortunately, on two of the three winter squash hills only two of the five seeds germinated (NOT from Baker Creek!), so I just put three hubbard squash seeds on each hill. Now there are four types of winter squash on three hills.
I did a little research and it looks like if we stake the tomatoes really well, we can plant them two feet apart instead of three feet apart without affecting production levels. So, yes, I moved all the recently-transplanted tomatoes and added in more so we could have thirty tomato plants instead of twenty. If we're inundated, we'll just have to offer a tomato CSA. :)
I also tripped on some boards and fell square on my face today. Didn't even have enough time to put my hands in front of me to break the fall! My whole body feels just a bit off, but nothing injured or anything. Just jarred.
We now have 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables growing in the yard! Hard to believe how much can be squeezed onto a 10,000-square-foot lot, especially after some major tree and bush removal.
We're doing so much better than last year! Last year we didn't even start thinking about the vegetable garden until April (we were still on Oregon time). Now look at how much we've already finished this January/February/March. I do wish I had gotten our seeds going sooner and that the top hadn't blown off the hooped row, but I'm still quite happy with how much more on the ball we are this year.
Exhausted, but in a really good way!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday Farming
Another long day filled with working outside, and attending to all the other details of life. D.'s job today was to sort out the two big boxes of irrigation equipment and figure out how the giant puzzle all fits together. He got a good start on it!
In the morning I planted zucchini, yellow squash, lemon squash, and Japanese pickling eggplant in the bed D. finished a few days ago. When that bed is done with squash and eggplant, we think we might turn it into 85 square feet of strawberries in the fall. We'll see!
Then I dug up an area of equal size next to it for our oat bed. The package I had was just enough for that. We could have built a raised bed for it, but we're running low on compost; probably only four more wheelbarrow loads are left. I used a hoe to loosen it all up. Underneath the surface of sticks and leaves, there were several inches of well-composted wood chips (they've been there for 7 months now). After loosening it up, I flipped the sand to the top, with the bits of less composted wood chips going underneath and mixed it around a bit. I found many earthworms in the process, which is especially nice since there were NONE when we first started working in the front yard last year.
I broadcasted the oats in the bed, then used an upside down metal rake to smooth out the bed while also getting the oats to be a bit under the earth. That worked surprisingly well! Watered down that bed and it was good to go. I'm planting oats there for two experimental reasons: to see what it's like to grow grain and process it, and to use as a cover crop to enrich the soil for next year. We can add a bed then and have what should be a GREAT bed after that. I'd like to do a similar cover crop in rotating beds each year for the soil benefit (and the reaping benefit!). Hoping the oats will grow fine in the adequate but not fantastic soil. We'll see. Another experiment!
My last morning job was to plant the Indian cream cobra melons. I think when these ripen, the skin peels back a bit and looks kind of like the head of a cobra. Those are planted in the same bed as the Japanese sakata melons by the chicken coop.
In the afternoon I took many of the tomato starts out of their cups and planted twenty-two in the bed. They're still pretty small - maybe 3-4 inches tall. (Had our first ones survived, they'd probably be a good 1-2 feet tall now!) We have nine different varieties of heirloom tomatoes, in lots of different colors - brown, red, green, yellow, pink. There are still at least another 22 in cups. I'll save those until we know the ones in the bed are taking off nicely, then someone else will inherit some good starts! I also planted three purple tomatillos. The peppers were still really small (about an inch), and only had their first two true leaves. We'll wait a bit longer for those!
The tomato bed is five feet wide. Last week, I planted cilantro and Thai basil along the short ends, basil along one long end and the tomatillos and peppers will go along the other long side. All the tomatoes go down the middle, 3 feet apart but staggered instead of a straight row so I could squeeze in a few more.
And last of all, we got seven eggs this week from our chickens (our first week of eggs!). I think we have two that are laying. Hopefully, the other three will follow suit soon. We also did a blind taste test. I had three kinds of eggs (plain scrambled with no salt) - ours, free-range organic eggs from the store, and regular eggs. Pretty much no one could detect any difference in taste. Two of us preferred ours and the organic to the regular, but it wasn't a strong preference at all! Maybe their flavor will distinguish themselves as the chickens mature. And at $4.79/dozen for organic, I don't normally buy them, but the store had them for sale this week for $0.11/egg instead of the regular at $0.15/egg, so I bought 8 dozen (all they had). So, there you have it. We sure are having fun!
In the morning I planted zucchini, yellow squash, lemon squash, and Japanese pickling eggplant in the bed D. finished a few days ago. When that bed is done with squash and eggplant, we think we might turn it into 85 square feet of strawberries in the fall. We'll see!
Then I dug up an area of equal size next to it for our oat bed. The package I had was just enough for that. We could have built a raised bed for it, but we're running low on compost; probably only four more wheelbarrow loads are left. I used a hoe to loosen it all up. Underneath the surface of sticks and leaves, there were several inches of well-composted wood chips (they've been there for 7 months now). After loosening it up, I flipped the sand to the top, with the bits of less composted wood chips going underneath and mixed it around a bit. I found many earthworms in the process, which is especially nice since there were NONE when we first started working in the front yard last year.
I broadcasted the oats in the bed, then used an upside down metal rake to smooth out the bed while also getting the oats to be a bit under the earth. That worked surprisingly well! Watered down that bed and it was good to go. I'm planting oats there for two experimental reasons: to see what it's like to grow grain and process it, and to use as a cover crop to enrich the soil for next year. We can add a bed then and have what should be a GREAT bed after that. I'd like to do a similar cover crop in rotating beds each year for the soil benefit (and the reaping benefit!). Hoping the oats will grow fine in the adequate but not fantastic soil. We'll see. Another experiment!
My last morning job was to plant the Indian cream cobra melons. I think when these ripen, the skin peels back a bit and looks kind of like the head of a cobra. Those are planted in the same bed as the Japanese sakata melons by the chicken coop.
In the afternoon I took many of the tomato starts out of their cups and planted twenty-two in the bed. They're still pretty small - maybe 3-4 inches tall. (Had our first ones survived, they'd probably be a good 1-2 feet tall now!) We have nine different varieties of heirloom tomatoes, in lots of different colors - brown, red, green, yellow, pink. There are still at least another 22 in cups. I'll save those until we know the ones in the bed are taking off nicely, then someone else will inherit some good starts! I also planted three purple tomatillos. The peppers were still really small (about an inch), and only had their first two true leaves. We'll wait a bit longer for those!
The tomato bed is five feet wide. Last week, I planted cilantro and Thai basil along the short ends, basil along one long end and the tomatillos and peppers will go along the other long side. All the tomatoes go down the middle, 3 feet apart but staggered instead of a straight row so I could squeeze in a few more.
And last of all, we got seven eggs this week from our chickens (our first week of eggs!). I think we have two that are laying. Hopefully, the other three will follow suit soon. We also did a blind taste test. I had three kinds of eggs (plain scrambled with no salt) - ours, free-range organic eggs from the store, and regular eggs. Pretty much no one could detect any difference in taste. Two of us preferred ours and the organic to the regular, but it wasn't a strong preference at all! Maybe their flavor will distinguish themselves as the chickens mature. And at $4.79/dozen for organic, I don't normally buy them, but the store had them for sale this week for $0.11/egg instead of the regular at $0.15/egg, so I bought 8 dozen (all they had). So, there you have it. We sure are having fun!
Monday, March 19, 2012
More Beds
We have just enough compost and more than enough boards to add two more beds to the front yard, so we're going to! D. waterproofed enough boards for two beds that measure 5' x 17'. These will go in between the oak tree at the street (well out of its shadow/root system) and the asparagus bed.
Today while D. was waterproofing the boards, I planted Sakata melons (small 3-4" melons w/edible rind) in the bed near the chicken coop, and Thai basil, slo-bolt basil, and slo-bolt cilantro around the edges of the future tomato/pepper bed. The tomato and pepper seedlings grew a LOT today, so those should be coming along. I weep to think how big the seedlings we had would have been by now had the hoop house not blown apart!
Suddenly it was nearly 7:15 and we hadn't made dinner yet. The kids weren't complaining - they'd been swinging and playing in the sprinkler!
Today while D. was waterproofing the boards, I planted Sakata melons (small 3-4" melons w/edible rind) in the bed near the chicken coop, and Thai basil, slo-bolt basil, and slo-bolt cilantro around the edges of the future tomato/pepper bed. The tomato and pepper seedlings grew a LOT today, so those should be coming along. I weep to think how big the seedlings we had would have been by now had the hoop house not blown apart!
Suddenly it was nearly 7:15 and we hadn't made dinner yet. The kids weren't complaining - they'd been swinging and playing in the sprinkler!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Sunday Pictures
asparagus ferns getting very tall
kiwis leafing out
lettuce coming up strong
sugar snap peas and snow peas going up the trellis
watermelon circle (see previous blog entry)
one of the fruit tree circles
soybeans
the future tilapia pond, turned upside down
over a water collection tank so it doesn't fill with rain water
over a water collection tank so it doesn't fill with rain water
our experimental Concord grape
the first of the potatoes coming up
corn growing; potato area is in the background
eggplant and pepper seedlings
Work Day
A short summary of what we got done today:
•D. finished the last bed in the side yard. Hooray! He also got the bacteria into the soybean bed (we didn't have it handy at planting time). All the peas got a little trellis help too. And watering and fertilizing too. Probably a hundred other things while I wasn't looking.
•I made 5 "watermelon circles." It's an experiment. I dug the holes amongst the foot-tall trees in the orchard, amended with compost, and planted 5 seeds (to be thinned to 3 plants) in each circle. Three different varieties of watermelons. Each circle is about 2.5' diameter. The land around it is the former lawn under several inches of composting chipped wood. There is not much grass left, and the wood chips are fairly composted. I have no idea if this will work, but it was fun to think of a way to use this temporarily open space.
•I ordered 2 different varieties of pomegranates (to replace the lime and pomegranate that got killed in the hoop house oopsie), 6 blueberry bushes (3 different varieties), and a blackberry to replace one of the lost ones.
•I also ordered a few more seeds - 2 kinds of amaranth, oats, long Japanese eggplant, and cobra melons. The amaranth I'm imagining growing in circles in the orchard area as well. It grows quite tall - 6 feet or more and is quite stunning.
•D. finished the last bed in the side yard. Hooray! He also got the bacteria into the soybean bed (we didn't have it handy at planting time). All the peas got a little trellis help too. And watering and fertilizing too. Probably a hundred other things while I wasn't looking.
•I made 5 "watermelon circles." It's an experiment. I dug the holes amongst the foot-tall trees in the orchard, amended with compost, and planted 5 seeds (to be thinned to 3 plants) in each circle. Three different varieties of watermelons. Each circle is about 2.5' diameter. The land around it is the former lawn under several inches of composting chipped wood. There is not much grass left, and the wood chips are fairly composted. I have no idea if this will work, but it was fun to think of a way to use this temporarily open space.
•I ordered 2 different varieties of pomegranates (to replace the lime and pomegranate that got killed in the hoop house oopsie), 6 blueberry bushes (3 different varieties), and a blackberry to replace one of the lost ones.
•I also ordered a few more seeds - 2 kinds of amaranth, oats, long Japanese eggplant, and cobra melons. The amaranth I'm imagining growing in circles in the orchard area as well. It grows quite tall - 6 feet or more and is quite stunning.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Winter Squash
Oh, my. 2/6ths of us were away for a few days, so nothing much got done except watering. 1/6th was busy taking care of 3/6ths and the other 1/6th and I were busy having fun. :)
We got busy again this evening! D. managed to finish another bed (60 square feet). Moments after he finished adding the last load of compost I made three mounds and planted butternut squash, sugar pumpkins, and banana pink jumbo squash (20 square feet each; 1 mound for each variety w/5 seeds, to be thinned to 3 plants).
I also planted a long, narrow bed (2.5' x 32') along the fence with 1/3 Sumter, lemon, and alef beta cucumbers, 1/3 pickling cucumbers, and 1/3 listada and Turkish orange eggplants. I tucked in 7 or 8 Titan sunflowers in the back of the bed too.
Lots of things are sprouting now. The corn is about six inches tall. (I don't think "knee high by the 4th of July" applies here!) The soy beans and pinto beans have all popped up. The pintos have a couple of sets of leaves already. Soy beans are still on their first set. Lots of greens, carrots, beets, etc. all coming up too, but still quite small. The nasturtiums that I planted to grow on top of the chicken coop are coming up too. (Nasturtium buds can be pickled just like capers.)
I learned something about watermelons. Last year, our watermelon just wasn't that sweet. Okay, but not great. And it should be great, since the #1 crop in this part of the world is watermelon! It turns out that if you have a lot of immature seeds inside, the plants weren't pollinated well enough. There should be about 90% black seeds, and then the watermelon ought to fully ripen and be sweet! Who knew? Well, I didn't! I guess I'll be out there hand-pollinating them this summer. I want some good watermelon this year.
Today one other thing was accomplished. D. placed his final order for all the irrigation parts we need, including timers and everything else. For $615 we got enough irrigation supplies to water our entire 1,800+ square feet of fruit and vegetable beds w/timers and fertilizers too. And we should have a few supplies leftover to create a mini-waterpark for the kids!
We got busy again this evening! D. managed to finish another bed (60 square feet). Moments after he finished adding the last load of compost I made three mounds and planted butternut squash, sugar pumpkins, and banana pink jumbo squash (20 square feet each; 1 mound for each variety w/5 seeds, to be thinned to 3 plants).
I also planted a long, narrow bed (2.5' x 32') along the fence with 1/3 Sumter, lemon, and alef beta cucumbers, 1/3 pickling cucumbers, and 1/3 listada and Turkish orange eggplants. I tucked in 7 or 8 Titan sunflowers in the back of the bed too.
Lots of things are sprouting now. The corn is about six inches tall. (I don't think "knee high by the 4th of July" applies here!) The soy beans and pinto beans have all popped up. The pintos have a couple of sets of leaves already. Soy beans are still on their first set. Lots of greens, carrots, beets, etc. all coming up too, but still quite small. The nasturtiums that I planted to grow on top of the chicken coop are coming up too. (Nasturtium buds can be pickled just like capers.)
I learned something about watermelons. Last year, our watermelon just wasn't that sweet. Okay, but not great. And it should be great, since the #1 crop in this part of the world is watermelon! It turns out that if you have a lot of immature seeds inside, the plants weren't pollinated well enough. There should be about 90% black seeds, and then the watermelon ought to fully ripen and be sweet! Who knew? Well, I didn't! I guess I'll be out there hand-pollinating them this summer. I want some good watermelon this year.
Today one other thing was accomplished. D. placed his final order for all the irrigation parts we need, including timers and everything else. For $615 we got enough irrigation supplies to water our entire 1,800+ square feet of fruit and vegetable beds w/timers and fertilizers too. And we should have a few supplies leftover to create a mini-waterpark for the kids!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Beans & Grapes
Between us, we put in another four hours in the garden. It's a bit labor intensive right now! I finished loading up one bed, then planted it with 32 square feet of pinto beans and 64 square feet of soy beans. D. loaded up the other bed, then sulfured all the beds that hadn't yet been sulfured (in order to bring down the pH). I also got cups planted with pepper seeds (bell and jalapeño peppers) to make some starts. The tomatoes and peppers are now all seeded.
Many of the berries are growing very small leaves. We also figured out what the mystery berry is; it's actually a Concord grape that I bought on a whim at Walmart. It's supposed to be a little too hot for Concords but, well, there it was and we'll have a little experiment. There are other purple table grapes that do better in the heat, but how does one find out how they taste?? We used to make our own grape juice. In Oregon we could get Concord grapes for $0.50/pound, making homemade grape juice pretty inexpensive. Here I'm sure we'll never find a price like that, especially as they have to brought in from several hundred miles away and they don't travel well at all (most have a thin skin). The native grapes - muscadines - make terrible-tasting grape juice. Steam-juiced, it tastes like artichoke water, and cold-pressed it tastes like guava juice. Nothing wrong with guava juice, but it's just not the grape juice taste I want!
Many of the berries are growing very small leaves. We also figured out what the mystery berry is; it's actually a Concord grape that I bought on a whim at Walmart. It's supposed to be a little too hot for Concords but, well, there it was and we'll have a little experiment. There are other purple table grapes that do better in the heat, but how does one find out how they taste?? We used to make our own grape juice. In Oregon we could get Concord grapes for $0.50/pound, making homemade grape juice pretty inexpensive. Here I'm sure we'll never find a price like that, especially as they have to brought in from several hundred miles away and they don't travel well at all (most have a thin skin). The native grapes - muscadines - make terrible-tasting grape juice. Steam-juiced, it tastes like artichoke water, and cold-pressed it tastes like guava juice. Nothing wrong with guava juice, but it's just not the grape juice taste I want!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Bed #6
Bed #6 of 8 in the side yard got finished today. It was a bear, with many of the roots from the trees we cut down running through it. But D. persevered throughout the afternoon and got it done. One of the other beds needs another three loads of compost from the wheelbarrow, and the newest bed needs maybe 8 loads. Then just two more to build and fill!
Meanwhile, little sprouts are coming up all over the front and rear gardens. I also got 60+ tomato starts going in cups in the kitchen today. Hoping to work on eggplants, peppers, melons, and squashes soon too!
Meanwhile, little sprouts are coming up all over the front and rear gardens. I also got 60+ tomato starts going in cups in the kitchen today. Hoping to work on eggplants, peppers, melons, and squashes soon too!
Book
When I first grew vegetables, this book, How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons, is the resource I used. Ever since, it has been my all-time favorite about growing vegetables. Loaded with all the right technical information (but not more than you need!), and with great plans for vegetable gardens.
If one could absorb and apply all the information in this book, one could have an extraordinary garden!
If one could absorb and apply all the information in this book, one could have an extraordinary garden!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Weather Info
The University of Georgia maintains a highly useful weather site that records current and historical air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction, soil temperature at 2-, 4-, and 8-inch depths, atmospheric pressure, and soil moisture.
Tonight I used it because the seed packet for my Banana Pink Jumbo winter squash says the seeds can be planted when the soil temperature reaches 60 degrees. Guess what the average soil temperature was in Savannah last week? 60 degrees! I don't know what a Banana Pink Jumbo winter squash will taste like, but at least I know it's okay to plant it now.
Tonight I used it because the seed packet for my Banana Pink Jumbo winter squash says the seeds can be planted when the soil temperature reaches 60 degrees. Guess what the average soil temperature was in Savannah last week? 60 degrees! I don't know what a Banana Pink Jumbo winter squash will taste like, but at least I know it's okay to plant it now.
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