On Coming Back...

Hi, it has been a while...I was thinking about converting to Wordpress, but my laziness has been my hinderance in that migration project, so I think I will bring over my one (and only) post from over there to here later.

The vegetable garden is in the production business now...I am out there picking beans every day (and I swear I pick the almost-ready beans the previous day too!), the butternut squash is coming along nicely (this is my first season growing this, so it's exciting!), the apple and nectarine trees are near full of ripe fruits, the tomato plants are full of green tomatoes, and the zucchini plants...well, they are just doing their own thing and growing crazily, as they are known to do.

I've also got a few cucumber plants and they are growing well, but so far no cukes.

Oh, and I've harvested my first purple viking potatoes a few weeks ago...the next harvest will probably be this weekend. I have pictures that need posting, yes!

I have been working on another project for the past month - one that entails part of my front lawn. I'll post pics and more info about that later.

I just wanted to say that I am back to this blog and I'm hoping to be able to start posting more soon!

Take care.

PS: I have been updating my harvest numbers as often as needed, so if I don't post anything here, my harvest numbers will reflect the latest!

weekend of rain and growth

This weekend, I was barely able to get in some dirt work - I still had the south-side garden to finish up with loosening the soil, covering with compost, then some cardboard, and a layer of mulch/compost on top of that (called "lasagne" method) - but I got it in late this afternoon. now all the beds have been composted! (late, i know...).

So I have a few more beds ready for something to grow, but I have no seedlings that need placement. I do have a few crowded garden beds that I want to space out, so I'm sure I'll have something to plant. If not, there are always more seeds wanting to be planted!

The zucchini plants are really starting to get large now, very quickly. I think it must've been the heat that we had on Thursday/Friday. The tomato plants (especially the Early Girl that I received free from some real estate people wanting to sell properties) are becoming greener and larger. I also found 2 volunteer tomato plants popping up - one is a san marzano, I believe, and the other one is a cherry tomato.

T planted a whole bunch of nasturtium seeds and I see them all popping up everywhere. We will have to work on his spacing technique, but I can't wait to see them all flowering - it will definitely be a beautiful sight.

The corn plants are growing well. It is now that I realize how terribly close I planted them all together. I just hope they are okay with the snug space they have. I just loved the corn we grew last season!

All except one seed potato that I planted have sprouted, and are gaining speed very quickly. It is so exciting to see a new type of vegetable (to me) flourishing in the first season! I just wonder how high I can mound it and if the hight I can go will be enough for a good harvest. I think we may be getting a pound of potatoes per plant...we'll see.

Garlic Success!

The garlic plants that I planted near the cherry tree were looking a bit wind-swept, yellow, and nearly lying parallel to the ground, so I thought they were probably ready to harvest. It is just the beginning of May so it could've been a bit too early, but...

Sunday, my son and I dug up 20 nice heads of garlic! some were quite huge too! I left the leaves on and braided them all together (thought I'd try, although from what I've been reading, I think I should have let it dry a bit first in a cool/well-ventilated area first before doing so...oh well....learning adventures!) and hung them out on an unused trellis, next to the house where it gets very little sun. The rest of the week should be rather hot and dry, so they should be okay for at least this week.

Now I have to think what I can plant back there...I have some tomato plants in front of that area, so I may plant more back there...or the rest of the peppers that I still have to get into the ground... :-) decisions, decisions!

milestone reached: all plots weeded!

YEAH! I weeded all of my plots! Even all of the grasses and vetch that overwintered in my south garden. They were much easier than I anticipated to pull up with my bare hands. I have left them lying on top of the ground and I will do the lasagne method on them with some cardboard and what I have left of soil amendments (I only have 2 bags left...:( ). I'd love to use my own compost instead, but I just don't generate enough for all plots...plus the stuff I have in that bin are not quite ready. I may just use it anyways.

Oh, and thanks to freecycle, I got some awesome compost tea for free!! score! Note to self - dilute it 10:1 (water:tea) ratio before use!

I've started more seeds in hopes that I can still grow some vegetables from seed on my own. I'm getting a little impatient, but I am telling myself that I've spend enough on the garden that I don't needs to spend more on plants, when I have the seeds for it. It's soooooo tempting tho. If I do find exactly what I want at a nursery, I may but it tho...we'll see.

Tough Learning Lesson

My seedlings grew great with the lighting fixtures and the heat mat...but once faced with the outside elements, some died! :-(

Most of it was my fault tho. Next time, try to acclimate seedlings by placing them outside (during the day only) for 2 - 3 days, then after that, up till at least a week, leave them outside.

Also, this year, its been weird weather (when is it NOT during spring????). Through March till now, we've had highs up to the low 80s and lows to the low 60s to mid 50s. It is near the middle of april and the day temps are around low to mid 60s. this weekend it should go into the low 70s.

**It may be best to plant veggies starting mid April (if you can wait till then), which means to start hardening seedlings off during early april.

**Start seedlings around late February, and plant every 2 weeks thereafter.

The time I started seedlings this year was good. Every 2 weeks was good because sometimes some seeds don't sprout, sometimes it takes longer to sprout certain seeds (like peppers and eggplant!!!)

Well, during the planting of veggies, it looks like I may lose most of my tomato plants, I lost ALL of my cucumber plants, and I believe my zucchini plants are fighting to survive...at least they haven't shriveled up completely like the cucumbers. And its been a week or so since planting, so I think they will make it.

I have some rapini that have NO problems with being moved out. I haven't planted them in the ground yet since I'm not sure exactly where to plant them, but I will this weekend.

There are a few other plants (my peppers, eggplant, some butternut squash, some corn, some okra, a couple of zucchinis, maybe a couple of tomato plants too) in containers that have been acclimating this entire week, so I hope to find homes in the ground for them.

**BUY: I don't like the idea that I will be purchasing more for the garden (I spend probably $300 - $400 on the garden already ($200 of which is reuseable), most of which is for amendments...I need to get another compost container).

I will buy some cucumber seedlings (I may try to grow mine first...one more time), some tomatoes, and a good six-pack of corn.

Nectarine tree has the peach leaf curl...make sure to spray ground and tree next winter (january) with the copper fungicide.

I got a few plums, almonds, nectarines, and cherries (YIPEEEEEEE!!!!) growing. I see buds popping on the apple tree, and not just on the part that I got 3 apples from last season...so that is also exciting!

Garlic are growing well...we'll see if we get any bulbs. I counted about 30 plants out there.

I am planting potatoes this season for the very first time. I am growing them in 32-gallon sterilite tubs (safe plastics are 1, 2, 4, 5...these sterilite tubs are 5's)...4 of them. NOT ENOUGH. I bought to kinds of potatoes - the purple viking and the german butterball. 5lbs total of spuds, and could BARELY plant a 1/3 of it. I will try to dig up the merlot grape and see if I can plant a few back there.

Oh, and I dug up the concord grape! I gave it to a co-worker (the merlot one will be going to him too...I just have to dig it up). I bought a ruby seedless to take it's place. If I don't plant potatoes where the merlot is, I'll look for another seedless table grape...maybe flame seedless. but I am not in a real hurry.

seed starting - NOT an easy task

I told myself I wouldn't buy very much for planting in general...I mean why do plants need to be pampered? They have done without for a long time...Well, since seed-starting this year, I've bought 2 (yes, TWO) shop fixtures and 4 bulbs for them, and one seedling heat mat. *sigh*, talking about breaking down! but my entire setup has been under $100. The shelving unit that I am using was already in place in our garage.

After all this, I must be having a bunch of seedlings growing crazily, right? well, read my title for this post again. :-( out of about 36 peat pellet "pots", less than half have sprouted. okay, so some of my seeds are 1 - 2 yrs old, but wow, I expected at least half!

Well, one thing is for sure...this whole experience has humbled me. Seed starting is not a simple process.

But I am not an easy quitter...I have planted a few more seeds, in hopes to get more germination from snow peas (the earlier bunch had 0 germination (that is a ZERO), jacob's cattle beans (also a ZERO germination from the previous planting), butternut squash (I got 1 out of the last planting, yay!), cucumber (I had 2!), I believe it is a celebrity tomato (I haven't planted any of this type before, but I have at least 4 tomato plants from the previous planting), and butternut squash (I may have 1 plant from the previous planting). So, we'll see what the end of the week brings.

*keeping fingers crossed!*

PS: the weeding and bed preparation in my garden is well under way, but I have only managed to finish 1 out of 7.

More Seed Starting

Yeppers...last night, since I actually bought myself a seedling heat mat (*gasp*...I never thought I would buy one of these things...but it is freezing in our garage!!), I decided to plant more seeds:

snow peas
sugar snap peas

and the rest are all bush beans:
blue lake
tendergreen
slenderette
royal burgundy
dragon langerie
jacob's cattle

Jacob's cattle is the first shelling bean I am planting. I chose this one because if I wanted to, I can also pick them early as a snap bean and eat whole.

why bush beans? well, basically because the trellises/cages that I do have, I use for grapes, tomatoes, and peas. plus none of my cages are big enough.

so far, only one of my previously planted seeds have sprouted...I did log what I planted where, but there seems to be a mix up. That peat pot log states that it is a sugar baby seedling, but its too small for a watermelon seedling...it looks more like a sage. we'll see soon. (and fingers crossed that all my seedlings will now grow because of the extra warmth!)