Planning and thinking

I was just reading one of my garden books and realized as I put it down that I planted daffodils and tulips that should come up in the spring! Also, I have irises that should bloom again. I can't wait to see what all comes up this year. I spread lots of random flower seeds around the house and along the new fence. It will be fun to see how many hollyhocks and others come up around the fence posts. Also with some of my amazon.com gift certificate (Christmas present thanks to Ginna) I ordered some tomato seeds. Brandywine, Black Krim, and Cherokee Purple. I'll also end up getting some paste tomatoes for drying and making paste, but they can wait. I think that and some different kind of potatoes will be all the seed I have to get this year. I still have tons from last year. Although, now that I think about it I may not have zucchini seeds. Not sure what happened to them. Guess I'll add that to the list.

End of 2008

Well, I harvested the brussels sprouts a week or so ago. They were frozen right on the plant and I harvested in several inches of snow. I didn't even wash them. (Beauty of knowing exactly what wasn't put on them.) Just plopped 'em in a casserole dish laid the last 4 pieces of bacon in the package that needed used up over the top and tossed them in the oven. At somewhere around 300 degrees F. I baked them for awhile. I basically forgot about them until I got the rest of dinner going and realized I could smell the bacon. Opened up the oven and mmmm... Poor little brussels didn't even make it to dinner. I ate them all up. Just a handful is what I got but they sure were good. There were two more plants but they never could seem to muster sprouts. Don't know if they didn't get enough to eat or what. Oh well.

We've had our cold snap, snow, and now it is raining. While it snowed the other day I started planning next year's garden. I'll try to be a bit more disciplined this year. I'm going to try to not totally cover my shelves in seedlings. If nothing else because Bear will probably pull them up. I'll have to enlist his help this upcoming year outside. He loves to play outside and helping me in the garden will be the perfect excuse. Not yet two should still be plenty old enough to play in the dirt with Mom. Hopefully he'll still enjoy all the peas and tomatoes straight from the garden next summer. I never could get a basket of tomatoes in without Bear-bites out of at least one tomato, if not two or three tomatoes. I think he was what they call quality control.

Speaking of tomatoes, I want to try several different varieties. Brandywine, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, and a paste tomato are on my list. I wonder what a good paste variety would be... I haven't really heard anything one way or another. If only I can keep myself under control when obtaining seeds this year. I want to go more the heirloom route with most of my veggies. Mostly because of the history behind them. I like the idea that I can grow something my great-grandmother would recognize.

Off to build more wish-lists for spring...

Been awhile

The garden is basically done. I still have brussels sprouts out there that I'm hoping might mature enough to eat in spite of the cold weather. Most of the leaves are raked into the garden and all the flowers have been killed by the snow and freezing weather. I did get a few days of 60 degree weather to plant my garlic, daffodils, and tulips right after our first snow. Of course we haven't see snow since then either. Probably good though since we still have needed to get chores done. I could still stand to mulch around the place and my friend and I need to clean out the chicken coop before it gets too cold. We both want the poop to mellow in the beds over the winter.

That's about it. I'm slowly starting to think gardening and picking out seeds again, but after the crazy tomato canning I'm ready for the break.:) Funny how late winter excitment can turn to the late summer exhaustion. Sure has been nice having our own canned tomatoes and salsa though.

Freeze

Let's see...I haven't been very good about keeping this up. I'm trying to remember when our actual first frost date was. I'm thinking about the 25th of Sept. for frost and then we froze solid about the 5th of Oct. Woke up to and inch and a half of snow on the 9th and it has stayed either below or very close to freezing all weekend. Garden is all done. I missed getting my garlic, daffodils, and tulips in though. I'll have to see if we get a bit of a warm up I'll get the flowers in at least. I might even be able to work the garlic in if I do the south facing bed. We'll see.

I had a bumper crop of tomatoes. My squash didn't do so hot, my peppers finally started producing well about a week before they froze, my broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach bolted, my beans froze, my peas did well, as did my potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and onion. Things grew but just didn't do as well as they maybe should have. My brussels sprouts were just really getting going when the snow hit. They still might be okay, but I haven't had the gumption to go check. I'm ready for winter as far as the garden goes. I'll be ready for the snow to go away I'm sure come Feb. but for now I'm ready to put the garden to bed for a few months.

Spiders in the garden...

Harvest

I haven't really been able to update this since I've been super busy trying to get the harvest in and preserved. I have salsa, stewed tomatoes, ketchup, apple butter, apple sauce, and will soon start in on the plum recipes. Still have tomatoes to finish too. Then hopefully the brussels sprouts will come on soon. Then I can go to freezing them. The saurkraut failed, but we'll get it one of these days.

I have some cool orb spiders in the garden now. I'll post photos later. I feel bad because I keep knocking one of them out of her web. So far she keeps coming back but I don't know how long that will go on if I continue to disturb her. Even if I don't mean to.

Soon to be harvest...

Soon the harvest will be going full swing. I'm starting to see color in the rows of tomatoes and I spotted the first pepper! Green cabbages are in. Although I may not actually get to use one of them since Bear decided to use it as a ball the other night. He was entertained for quite awhile. He also got a kick out of the 1/2 bushel of potatoes that I had dug out of the compost pile. So much fun. Makes me glad I have the garden.

August Rain

We got crazy rain on Friday. For Missoula it was the wettest day on record. Over 2 inches in a 24 hour period. I couldn't believe it. And in August! I'm sure it made my garden happy. It is coming along quite happily. I need to harvest some more green cabbage. Someday the red/purple cabbage will be ready. My cauliflower is just about ready too. Now if I can get my tomatoes to ripen I can pick those and start my canning for real. Of course it would help if my peppers would get a move on so I can make salsa. So far I've only had a few flowers on the peppers, but no fruit.

I have lots of volunteer plants in the garden. Tomatoes everywhere, and some squash of unknown variety. I thought I only planted zucchini and one pumpkin. The one squash that is coming up in the middle of my tomatoes is some sort of round squash. It might be a pumpkin, but it might be an acorn squash of some sort from seeds that went into the compost pile. I think that may be where all of my volunteer tomatoes are coming from as well. I seem to have several yellow pear tomatoes like I had planted last year. I never planted any this year, but a couple of my plants seem to be producing little pear shaped fruits. Its kinda fun to see what is coming up and producing on it's own.

I have beans that are getting ready. We've eaten 3 zucchinis already. 2 green and 1 yellow. Bear loves fresh sauted zucchini. He isn't such a big fan of the broccoli I cooked up with it, but he ate an entire zucchini by himself. Makes it very worth having a garden.

Mmmm...what else? I should dig potatoes and get them stored in the root cellar. My peas are yellowing and are seeming to slow production. I'll just have to pull them soon. Strawberries are done. I didn't get lots this year, but they only got planted this spring. It is almost time to plant my garlic for next year and I think I might try some fall onions for next spring. Not sure how that will work. I'm thinking about maybe a few more beets for this fall too. That's a big fat maybe right now since I'm the only one that eats those.

Notes

Just a few notes here... I'm getting more cabbages but I'm starting to really have to fight the slugs for them. I've gotten some broccoli although with our hot weather it pretty much just bolted straight to flowers/seeds. My peas are wrapping up it seems and the beans are just getting going. I ended up direct sowing some beans since frost got my seedlings I had going. I seem to have a plethora of earwigs and squash bugs. This is in addition to the slugs. I'm not too keen on using anything on them though. I was using beer traps for the slugs. Those seem to work, but you do have to be diligent about resetting them. I have not been. That's one thing, I'm sure I would get more out of the garden if I worked out there more, but I just can't seem to get out there. After working all day in town I want to see my kid once I'm home. The garden really doesn't seem to be all that much worse for the wear though. Plenty of bugs and weeds but my veggies seem to be hardy enough to fend for themselves. Good thing too.

I should get my broccoli in the freezer at some point this weekend. We don't seem to have the worms that get into broccoli. Yay! At least that's one thing I don't have to worry about. I haven't decided if I really want to add more stuff for this fall. I'm going to have a heck of a time keeping up with my harvest as it is. I need to pick up some canning jars and lids so I can put my tomatoes up.

I think that's all for now.

July update

Potatoes freshly harvested.
First two cabbage heads of the season.
Tomatoes everywhere!
The garden getting a much needed drink. The tall plants just under the spray are my tomatoes and the bushier plants in the forground of the garden are my cabbages.
I'm a little behind on this but summer has been busy. My garden has been going nuts. I'm harvesting peas almost every day. Pulled red potatoes for 4th of July potato salad and I pulled up a bunch of Russet Burbanks tonight. The green cabbage are maturing quickly as well. We have gotten lots of onions, some broccoli (even though most bolted with our hot weather), lots of lettuce, some strawberries, and we are going to have LOTS of tomatoes. I have about 18 plants and they are producing like crazy. I'll be busy canning/making salsa later in the year.

Other than that about all the news is that I am having a tough time keeping up with the weeds. I don't have a huge bug problem. Some slugs and some ants. So long as you don't mind a few holes in the leaves it isn't a big deal. I ended up growing a bunch more Russets than I had intended. I dumped my seed potatoes into the compost pile without thinking. So I have lots of potatoes there. Works for me. It is the no work way of planting potatoes I guess.

Off to bed after an evening of weeding, harvesting, and storing...

How the Garden Grows...

Growing, and growing. It has been pretty hot so things are growing like crazy. I have cabbage heads forming and broccoli flowering. The potatoes have bloomed and the peas are starting to pod. Tomatoes are forming as well. Last but not least the slugs have moved in. Also, we ate the first strawberries of the year this evening. Yummy.

We finally got some rain this last week. Wow, are the weeds ever growing! We need to go after them. The horseradish is up. I put it into containers for now so it wouldn't take over my garden. I do wish there was a way to get rid of the ants without getting rid of all the good bugs. Chickens are not an option at this point. We checked with the city. They think we will be able to later since Missoula allows chickens now, but don't know when that will happen. That's okay though since our fence isn't up yet. We got the permit from the city and all so now we just need to start digging. I think. I'll have to double check with Tom.

Better go check on the Bear and see if I have time to pull some weeds...

How the Garden Grows...

Hanging basket of impatients: Front porch of the house with the last of the lilacs hanging on:

Strawberries and herbs:

Veggie garden. The milk jugs are protecting the watermelon...

Well, everything but my one cucumber is in and I'm not so sure I have room. Things are coming along nicely. The tomatoes are establishing themselves alright in spite of going from being frozen to getting sunburnt. The ones that got frozen seem to be coming back. I'm impressed. I thought for sure they were done. I have lots of flowers that need to get going but the veggies are in. Whew. Now comes the work. The weeds are trying my patience.

I am trying an expirment. All the tall grass and weeds I pull from the edges are going in between my rows as mulch. Hopefully this will cut down on the weeds and it will add the organic matter to the soil nice and slowly. We shall see. It kinda looks like hay laying in the wind-rows. I'm hoping it will help with the water as well since it looks like it will be a dry year. May was supposedly about an inch under normal for precipitation this year. Yikes! That doesn't bode well for my garden even if it does for the pocket book what with us being in the fire business.

Who would have thought I would find gardening so enjoyable. I like building the tomato fences and winding the peas up some poles. I even enjoy pulling weeds. Goofy. I do wish I did better with herbs. I just don't know what/where to put them. I have a few here and there though. The parsley, chervil, and chives are going great guns. Now if I can keep the lavender and basil going.

update

The lilacs are almost done blooming. Kinda sad to see them dying off. I love lilacs. It has been hot so it seems they haven't lasted as long. Maybe I'm mis-remembering last spring. I don't have a great memory for the last month or so of being pregnant with Bear. I got my beds planted along the front walk. Just seeds and seedlings. All flowers for Tom. My hanging baskets are doing well. Everything needs water though. It has been hot. It was into the mid 80s. The new plants (currant and raspberries) seem to have established well. I'm behind on weeding the garden. Imagine that? I'm also behind on getting the rest of my tomatoes and some of the other stuff planted. I think I'll see what I can do about getting a lot of stuff planted this weekend. I'm off to see about getting some of it done tonight.

Losses

Well, I didn't get them covered the other night and it froze. I lost what looks to be every other tomato in the row and both of my bush beans. The Kitchen King Beans seem to have made out okay though. Good thing I still have some tomato plants that need planted. It didn't even freeze all that hard. Maybe 28 degrees. I didn't check since I had to go to work and I saw the frost as I was walking to the car. Oh well. Such as life.

The lilacs are in full bloom though. They smell so good. Everything else seems to be doing all right.

Oops! Dog needs out and Bear is getting into everything...

Planting, planting, planting...

The night before last, so Monday, I got several of my tomatoes and all of my beans planted. I know I'll have to run out and cover if it gets too cold at night, but I'm finally getting some room in the house.

Let's see... over the weekend I also got another lavender planted and I found some hostas for the North (shady) side of the house. Mom and Dad were up visiting for the weekend. Mom decided she was going to help outside so my beds are dug along the walk-way and the random flagstones in the backyard are now dug up. She needs to show up more often. Lots got done.

Still more tomatoes, peppers, peas, and squash to plant. It is finally getting warm enough to plant everything. Maybe not the peppers until well into June? We'll see how the weather looks. Of course with the way time is going it will be June before I know it.

hanging baskets

I got the hanging baskets planted today! Impatients and petunias. Also I threw in some salvia seeds in with the impatients and some baby's breath in with the petunias. We'll see if it works. I planted two pots of marigolds I had started a couple weeks ago. I still need to dig the beds along the front walk and I got another lavender to plant.


Now that Mother's Day is past I should be able to plant my tomatoes and that out soon. I'm still kinda chicken though. I'm thinking I'll get some plastic for row covers today and then I can plant them out. That way with the inevitable freeze that we'll get I can not worry as much.

Perfect Spring Day

It was finally nice today so I got my peas, beets, some lettuce, and some spinach planted in the garden. Also, I ended up needing to plant my horseradish and my friend's so they are in containers.

It was a busy day outside. Tom pruned bushes and mowed the lawn. I planted and then we mulched, and I stained the second chair for the porch. Almost done with the set. As soon as we get the little table built and stained we'll be good to go. Our yard is finally coming along. It actually looks like someone lives here again.

Still so many beds I want to put in...

Garden continued...

The photo of the garden...

Garden

Finally the first 3 rows are in the garden. I got them planted on Monday afternoon, just in time for the rainy weather. At least I haven't had to water other than at initial transplant. My broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, walla walla onions, brussels sprouts, red potatos, russet potatoes, and carrots are in. My carrots are the only ones I'm direct seeding with that bunch. I have peas, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, beets, and turnips hardening off getting ready to go in the garden. They'll go in hopefully this weekend if it ever dries out.

I've gotten things mulched with shredded cedar. Hopefully this helps with the bugs. We are also having a guy come in and spray the house for the hobo spiders. We already have them in here this spring and they aren't supposed to move inside until July. Apparently the ones around here think they own the joint.

Oh, I finally uncovered our front walk. Who knows how many years it has been neglected. We used the sod we pulled off of there to help fill in some of the holes around the roots of the trees in the back yard. I want to put flower beds lining the walkway and then put my blueberries out front to mirror the lilacs that sit on either side of the front porch steps. We'll see what happens this summer.

One last thing. I ended up gettting a garden gnome for my veggie garden. I'll have to take some pictures to post once things settle back down here a little bit.

Planting

I'd better log things here for a bit since I can't find my notebook at the moment. I got marigolds, cilantro, snow peas, lavender, sunflowers, and sweet basil planted yesterday. Zinnia's are coming up and I finally got a few cloves of garlic in pots. We'll see how it fairs. I'll have to remember to plant some this fall as well. 1/2 my tomatoes are out in the green house and doing okay. They need planted but the garden plot isn't quite ready. Tom did a bit more tilling for me yesterday so it is closer. Plus I don't want the poor things to freeze. I think Tom is going to try pruning my rose for me. We'll see how it goes. Since I really know nothing about this rose it is kinda hard to do things for the species. That doesn't really work when you don't know the species.

We've had some nutty weather. It was snowing last week and was down in the high 20's and low 30's. Today it is supposed to be in the 60's and sunny. It was nice it rained yesterday though. I never did get water on my transplanted strawberries but the rain took care of that.

I did start leaving broccoli and other hardy plants out of the green house last night. They seem to have faired okay. I think I'll try to get them planted in the garden as soon as I can.

Quick notes

Planted strawberries finally, they came while we were in Austria. Got a Spanish Lavender and planted that today as well. Have tilled the garden a bit, but need to one more time before planting. Part of my garden fence is up and I'll get it finished about the time I get my tilling finished. Oh, I also got a bunch of irises from the neighbor that I planted last Saturday. We'll see how they do.

Leaves

Well sometime this last week the leaves on the lilacs have shown up. They appear to have done so on several of the trees as well. My rose bush is just started to show some green but the lawn needs mown very badly. My raspberries and currant seem to be doing well but my clematis seems to be floundering. The carnations haven't been in long enough to tell if they are doing anything. I have strawberries to plant and I have horseradish on the way. My garden is finally tilled. We bought a small tiller (went with the troy built) and still had to borrow the neighbor's big rototiller to break the sod. No big deal though. I'm hoping to get a lot of my cold weather crops out this weekend. I'm still not sure what I'm doing with my apple trees. I have several my friend and I started from seed. I should get my blueberries in the ground as well now that they've been hanging out on the porch for about a week. Oh, and I discovered that we actually have a sidewalk in the front of our house. We thought it was just paver stones that weren't connected. Nope. Just an old sidewalk with cracks where the grass grew through. We aren't done digging it out either.


Off to find a pot for some garlic I have sprouting. Oh, I also need to plant potatoes. My bag of potatoes has sprouted like crazy.

Growth spurt

I guess leaving my plants did well. Most of them have grown like crazy in a week. Looks like so far only a couple of zucchini and the white lisbon bunching onions didn't make it. My pumpkin is iffy, but looks like it may come back. The zucchini were not doing so hot before we left so I'm not too suprised that these two didn't do well. Everything else looks great though.

Now I need to start getting really rolling on the garden. My strawberries and carnations came while we were gone. I got my raspberries and currant bush planted the day before we left and it looks like they are doing well. Down to just a couple things left that we ordered, horseradish, russian sage, and some re-blooming lilacs. I'll be a planting and tilling fool this weekend. Today will be work, but not Sat. and Sun. Those are my garden days!

Off to make sure everyone is watered for the day...

Outside Garden area

Thought I would get some outdoor pictures to see where we are starting from. Fence lines are staked out and I have started digging the main garden bed. My herb garden has been dug and amended already. My little flower garden on the SW corner of the house is an experiment. All wildflower seed and I just kinda piled straw, chicken poop, peat moss, and who knows what else. I'm also trying to build it up enough there the wasps won't make their home under the siding right there. With all the digging I'm looking at tillers. I haven't decided which kind I want yet. I'm thinking about the Mantis. It is more of a mail order versus go down and pick it out. The Troy Built is at Lowe's and is about the same size as the Mantis. Doesn't dig as deep though. I don't think it has the same kind of warranty either. I don't have to decide quite yet, but should soon. Time to get crackin' on the digging now that it is April.

The main garden plot looking West: Looking NW:

Herb garden on the West end of the house (pretty shady in the a.m. gets sun blasted in the p.m.):

Flower garden on SW corner:

South side of house (I'm thinking mostly flowers):

Everything is getting big...

Beans in the background, watermelon and cantelope in the foreground:

Two flats of tomatoes, two varieties:

Zucchini and cucumbers:

Greenhouse

It appears that the two jugs of water in the bottom have done the trick to keep it above freezing in my greenhouse. Just above...34 degrees. My broccoli and cauliflower got nailed the first night they'd been in there. 28 degrees. They were a little wilty but seem to be doing alright. Most of the seedlings have bounced back. In fact my cauliflower seems happier out there then it was in the house. I've gotten some good growth. I don't think its time to put my tomatoes or anything that sensitive yet, but my hardier stuff seems to do just fine. Yay some space in the house is coming! Then I can maybe start the last of my seeds.


I will for sure have to start my zucchini and cucumbers later next year. My poor little seedlings aren't so little anymore and they are starting to flower already. Oops. I'll just have to remember to start much later with them.

Looks like it is breakfast time...

order

Finally found my order...Should be here next week it looks like. Hopefully everything will hold while we go to Austria. Shouldn't be too bad for one week. I tried my broccoli and cauliflower seedlings in my greenhouse last night. It hasn't been getting below freezing in there so I thought I'd give it a shot. Besides it is still early enough that I can re-start if need be.

I took the tape measure to the garden plot yesterday (in the snow). I think I'm going to make the main plot 30 ft x 11 ft. If I have to expand things next year I will. I also have a couple small beds around the house.

I'd better work on getting ready for work so I can support this habit I've got going.

Losses

I finally had some losses. I lost three okra and a watermelon. Also, I gave up on the angelica seeds and the basil seeds. Of course this still leaves a bunch of seedlings. I'm hoping they don't take too much of a hit when we go to Austria. I do plan on using gel packs to water with while we are gone. We used those one time on my house plants that were stored in the back of my pick-up for a month. They worked really well. I'm hoping they work as well for my seedlings.

I got my blueberries all planted in pots now. I hope that works out well. I'm a little worried as far as my big plant order... I haven't heard anything about them shipping and can't find any confirmation e-mail. Hmmmm...I still have my order print out with the order number and I have an e-mail into them asking about it. I hope things didn't get messed up since the order is also for a friend of mine. If I don't hear anything on Monday I'll have to start making phone calls. I want strawberry and rasberry plants in the ground this year.

Worms

While I was digging beds the other day I discovered we have a large number of worms. Yay! That makes things easier.

Spring!!!

It is official it is spring. We couldn't have had a better day for it either. I bet it was close to 60 degrees out there. I got to dig a bunch of ammendments into my soil in two of my beds today. I didn't get another veggie bed started like I wanted, but I did get a little white wire fence up around the two other beds I'm going to do herbs and flowers in. I also ended up planting one of my blueberry plants in a pot. I thought I had two of them, but one must have dissappeared in the move. I'll have to find another. I was going to plant the blueberries in the yard but realized they had been forced out of dormancy by being inside. I don't think they will be very happy being planted out right now. As nice as today was I just can't see it staying that way. I know we'll get more snow.

Lots more transplants today. Finally my poor beefsteak tomatoes got larger homes. Also, the rest of my walla walla onions. I think that is about the only ones I did today. I seem to either run out of soil or pots. I can't seem to keep them coordinated.

Transplanting

More transplants tonight... Swiss Chard, 1/2 of my Walla Walla onions and all of my peppers got new homes. I still have Beefsteak tomatoes, and the other half of my onions that need homes yet. That will entail a few more pots.

In addition to transplanting veggies I started soaking a couple Bird of Paradise seeds. These will be a long time house plant. It is supposed to take 4 years before they flower. It might be more than I'm willing to carry on, but they are Tom's favorite flower so I'd like to try. They will never survive outside unless we move to a MUCH warmer climate.:) I don't forsee that happening so they'll be house plants. Also, I'm trying starting one of the Hollyhocks indoors. I think the rest I'll direct seed, but I want to see the difference.

Mary and Ginna have supplied me with a wonderful little greenhouse that I stayed up way too late putting together last night. I can't wait to get it in place and see about temperatures etc. I didn't get it out today since I had to finish up the door. What a great way to spend the evening. Two things I love doing...Gardening stuff and putting something together. The best of two worlds. I can't thank them enough.

I think things are actually getting wound down to the point of maintaining right now. I'm going to have to post some of my plants on craigslist. It is a little too cold for a roadside stand right now. -8 degrees F the other night. That just doesn't sound like fun for myself or the seedlings.

Off to bed so I'm not up too late again.

Zucchini, Green onions, and Apples... Cucumbers, cauliflower, and one pumpkin...

Golden Delicious Apple...
All sorts of veggies...

The newest plantings...

As you can see we are being taken over. The zucchini are sure growing like crazy. I need some larger pots for them all ready. Good thing I have some out in the garage. I haven't brought them in yet, but that will have to be next weekends project. I also picked up some blueberries at Costco yesterday. Add that to my crazy bramble hedge.:) I love this stuff. I can't wait to turn our yard into a crazy edible garden.

Gardening

I've been thinking about the whole garden thing. It isn't something I ever really got into before. A big part of that is I've never had a place to put a real garden in at. Also, I was usually busy with school, work, and any other multitude of things. I still am, but getting our own fresh food is a much higher priority now. Its amazing how the price of things can climb upward in just a few years. Between the prices and the simple fact that there is something very satisfying about seeing things grow I'm gardening. Something I didn't think I'd ever do.

On that I'm trying to decide what to do with all of my apples. I have about 7 McIntosh and on Golden Delicious. If only I had the lot next door...Ah well. I will find a place for a few of them and then the others will need to find a home elsewhere. I can't wait for the snow to disappear. Once it is gone and things warm up a bit I'm going to have a yard sale. We need to get rid of lots of excess stuff and I'll put a table of plants out as well. I really don't think I need 2 varieties of tomatoes of 18 plants each. More like 4 or 5 plants each for us. But, I don't want to kill them either. I have things surviving for once and I don't like having to kill them off.

I hear someone woke up from his nap. Time to be responsible I suppose.

New set of planting

I got a chance last night to plant a few more seeds. Now that I know my seeds are pretty darn good at germinating I'm cutting way back on the plantings. Let's see, my list from last night...

Blue Lake Bush Bean
Kitchen King Bean
Brussels Sprouts
Spinach (a hybrid from a friend)
Lemon Balm
Salad Burnet

In addition to this I'm trying an experiment with some Marigolds. I have a large indoor potted plant. I sprinkled a few Marigold seeds around the base of this plant. We'll see how they do. I'm not going to baby those ones too much. If they live with the other plant, great. If not, so be it.

I will be direct sowing my root vegetables. Potatoes (maybe), carrots, beets, turnips, and rutabega. In spite of getting snow we seem to be quickly approaching spring. At least the willow trees and birds are telling me its on it's way. The willows down by the creek are fairly orange and seem to get brighter each day. Before we know it they'll turn green.

Spring is on the way!!

Progress

Well, other than the fact that we now have about 6 inches of snow on the ground things are progressing quite well. All but my rosemary and basil are up. I need to get more big pots to transplant into because I'm out. Everything is growing like crazy.

A friend and I put in a plant and seed order last week. I ordered some flowers, but mostly edibles. I'm putting rasberries as a bramble hedge. We have strawberries, horseradish, and a currant coming. There is a variety of lilac that is supposed to bloom throughout the summer. Then there are the Bird of Paradise, Zinnias, Russian Sage, and a couple other types of flower seeds coming. Also, I'm getting my tomatillo seeds.

Lots of people think I'm crazy with all these seeds and plants. I don't think that most people I talk to realize they aren't all going in one garden. I have several areas planned out in our yard. All according to the light and the moisture. Yes, I will have my main veggie garden, but then I also plan on using things like the currant and rasberries as landscaping hedges. My strawberries are going along the south side of the house. We don't walk there much and it gets great sunlight.

In addition to all this we are going to put in our fence this summer. Then it will be time to figure out whether or not I can have something like chickens or guineas to help control the bugs. We have a crazy number of hobo spiders here. I'd like something that will eat the spiders and make them move out to boot. I'm tired of the things coming in my house and I can't really afford to have an exterminator come out here. I think a couple of chickens just might do the trick. I like to think I'd move out if chickens moved into my neighborhood and I was a spider.

Now that it is March I'm going to have to get cracking on my planting. The main things that I'm going to start inside that are left are: Brussels Sprouts, tomatillos, peas, beans, my herbs, beets, and I'm forgetting others I know. Bear is ready for some play time since he's up from his nap.

And they take over...

My Chervil: Tomatoes, okra, and peppers:

Mostly tomatoes and onions, the big one is a lavender (maybe dormant, maybe dead):

One end table full of zucchini and broccoli and angelica that isn't up yet:

Another end table with zucchini, apples, another lavender, onions, and cabbage:

These are starting to take over my house. I'm not too sad about it though. Things are a bit early since it is only February, but I didn't expect a lot of my seeds to germinate. Things like my White Lisbon onions were about 7 year old seeds. Who knew they would come up with a vengence? I keep re-potting as seedlings get their first real leaves. At least all this makes me feel as though spring is getting close.

Even though we keep getting hard freezes I know spring is on its way. We are getting beautiful sunny days and the robins are back. The chickadees don't seem as numerous either. They must be headed North. Some parts of my soil has thawed a bit. At least late in the day it is mostly soft. It tends to re-freeze at night though. Obviously not safe for little seedlings. It would be nice to have a cold frame this time of year though. Maybe that will be yet another project so I can do this a little more planned out next spring.

I think I might have just had a brilliant idea. I'm sitting here looking at my front porch and think that I may be able to put plastic up and basically have a green house there during the spring. I'll have to look into that.

For now I'd better check on my bread that is rising. I'm trying my own recipe. It seems to be super dense right now. We'll see how it turns out. I was going to do sourdough, but it looks like my starter might have gone bad. I have to do some research though before I toss it. It doesn't smell bad, just looks it. I don't want to toss or use it until I know something further.

Pots

I spent yesterday re-potting the largest of my seedlings. My green zucchini and broccoli. On things like the zucchini I'm going to get rid of the majority of the plants. I really don't need 8 green zucchini and something along the same number of yellow zucchini. I just don't think Tom and I can eat that much. We like zucchini, but wow. So my plan is to have a yard sale this spring anyway to get rid of a bunch of stuff so I think instead of killing plants I will try selling them. I'm thinking about a buck a piece. Maybe this way I can make back a small portion of what I have spent on the garden. Shouldn't be too difficult since I haven't spent much money. All my mulch and compost has been free. I've purchased seed trays, some peat pots, lights, and the seeds. The lights have been the most expensive and even then they weren't very when you compare them to the cost of food.

The cost of food is the main reason I've decided to garden. Things have gotten so expensive these days. I've been amazed at things like milk. Not very long ago $2 would get you a gallon of 2%. Not now. We aren't even as expensive as some places. Then the strange part. Different areas get very different prices. When I go to my parents' place the milk is cheaper but the diapers more expensive. I'm not sure how that works. So at any rate, because of the costs at the grocery store I'm trying to grow our garden. Besides I love homegrown veggies. They taste soooooo much better.

I'd better get Bear down for his morning nap so maybe I can get some more transplanting done.

lights again

Well, I got some lights this weekend. They do seem to be helping. I have all sorts of stuff coming up now.

Chervil, more tomatoes, onions (walla walla), onion (white lisbon bunching), cabbage, okra, cucumbers, watermelon, cantelope, and my peppers. So far I think just my rosemary, sweet peppers, and golden delicious apples haven't come up yet. Soon though.

Now in addition to my lights I need more shelving or something. I'm out of space on the shelf unit I have. Little by little I'll get it going.

Lights

Now that my seedlings are coming up I've needed lights. I got them two days ago. Tom now gives me a hard time about my "grow operation." He tells me I shouldn't be suprised if the cop stops by.:)

Now what I need are more shelves. I have so many little plants that my little three shelf rack just isn't cutting it. I have room for another but haven't been in twon with enough time to get one. I'm saving the lumber in my garage for my raised bed that Tom has said he'd help me build. He's been pretty good about helping me out. Besides the beds he's agreed to help with any rototilling I want to do. Other than that though I'm on my own. It will be interesting to see what Bear comes up with to "help" me this summer. It will be nice once he's old enough for me to put a bounty on bugs and weeds. I'm thinking a nickel or so while he's little and work up as he gets older. The dog will have to help keep neighbor cats out of the garden. Problem is I'm going to have to fence the dog out. He never seems to care unless I don't want him someplace. That's the one place he'll go.

Let's see...I've added hot peppers and cucumbers to my list of plants that have come up. My sweet peppers don't appear to be sprouting yet. Oh, my chervil is coming up and I spotted the very beginnings of okra. I wasn't sure the okra would. I didn't soak it or anything like all the books say to. I'm not a huge fan but I ended up with about 5 or 6 packets of seed from a second hand bundle I got last summer. We'll try 'em. Maybe if I get much I'll pickle it this fall.

The storage of all this come fall will be a new experience as well. I canned a few of the Italian Prunes we have growing here. They turned out pretty well. I'm hoping to make salsa as well this year. For that though I need a pot that isn't aluminum. I forget exactly what it does, but tomatoes and aluminum don't mix well. Something about the acids in the tomatoes.

One other funny thing I have going. I have 3 lavender plants. 3 different varieties and sizes. They all three appeared to die last fall (went dorment I pressumed) but so far only one has any new growth. The middle size. I'm not sure if the others will come out of their funk or not. Granted my days are getting longer but they still have a ways to go before it is actually spring. It may have to do with variety too. I'm going to wait for another several months before doing anything one way or another with them.

And now that the kiddo is down I shall check on plants and actually try to do something today.

Seedlings

Apple Broccoli

Zucchini

seedlings

I have seedlings! Zucchini, Swiss chard, a tomato, and some cauliflower have been added to the broccoli that has been up for about a week. I do worry about them getting to leggy though. My one little light doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I think that will be this weekend's project. New lights for my seed starting. I can already see I'm going to need more space for this project. My one little window just isn't going to do.

Outside I've been working on a bed of compost for the lasagna gardening. I'm a bit leery of the stuff that hasn't really composted down. Although, with our weather it will probably be a bit composted by the time I get to plant. I did find a source for horse manure, sawdust, and straw. There is someone who has several stalls they clean out on a daily basis about 3 blocks from me. Technically she is out of town, but like I said, only 3 blocks away. Also, my friend that has chickens is supposed to get me some chicken poop. Who would think a person could be excited about the prospect of collecting excrement? In addition to the basic manure and kitchen scraps I'm going to try sprinkling a bit of blood meal. I'm trying to do this as close to organic as possible without getting neurotic about it. I hope it turns out. I love home grown veggies. Also, I have all sorts of plans for canning salsa this year.

Speaking of the canning... I hope we have a bumper crop of Italian Prunes again. The plum butter turned out well and I've gotten lots of recipes for them. Someday I will add rasberries, strawberries, gooseberries, and currants to the mix. Also I wouldn't mind adding Oregon Grapes. I think I can get some of this stuff off my parent's property. I don't remember what all is there.

Well, off to be so I can be up bright and early with the kiddo. Maybe he'll let me do some plant tending tomorrow.

Introduction

I decided I'd better branch off from the standard blog for our family for this section. I'm doing this as much for me to keep track of the garden as anything else. I seem to be good at accumulating seeds, but starting them and keeping them alive hasn't really progressed as of yet.

So here is a short list of what I've got going so far:

Green and Yellow Zucchini

Sweet and hot Peppers

Tomatoes (Beefsteak, and one other I can't remember at the moment)

Swiss Chard

Onion (both WallaWalla and White Lisbon Bunching)

Watermelon

Cantelope

Okra (I know, probably won't survive here)

Broccoli

Cauliflower

MacIntosh Apples

Golden Delicous Apples

Chervil

Parsley

Rosemary

Spearmint

I have so many plans for the garden I'm not sure what to do with myself. I'm going to try lasagna gardening so I don't have to dig as much. You aren't supposed to have to at all, but I plan on planting all over the yard so I will still have to dig some. Things like my lavender are not going to go in my veggie garden of course. In light of trying the lasagna gardening I'm on a quest for poop right now. Chicken, horse, and cow. I have a lead on some horse and some chicken. If my truck was working I'd have a mix of horse and cow as well. Its looking like I'd better get the old Ford going this spring.

Just a little basic info too: I'm pretty sure I'm somewhere between Zone 3 and Zone 5. We'll see how our weather compares this year. I have almost a quarter acre worth of yard to play with. We need our fence to go up this spring. I haven't tested the soil yet since it is still frozen. Soon though.

And I leave you with my seed starting photo: (on a side note...I'm trying to do this without spending money.)