Giant Parsnip

You know how you almost always miss one or two carrots or parsnips during harvest? Either because you've topped it but didn't get it out all the way and forgotten or just somehow overlooked it when the foliage died back?

Well, sometimes you get a giant!

This puppy came out with a great deal of effort along with 2 others of normal size. This giant one finally broke off about halfway down in order to come out. The others were about 16 inches long. Amazing!

Now, how will it taste? No clue. I usually leave parsnips in the garden during winter to harvest after the first freeze but I seem to have missed a couple of dozen. One or two I'll leave for new seed, but the rest have to get eaten. Anyone know if there is something special I should do to cook these over-wintered giants?

Boscoe is amazed also. I believe that look means; "So, can I eat that one too?"

Snow, Ice, Sunshine and Gardens

And how do you like your weather lately? Pshaw! If yours has been doing anything like mine, then you've been on a roller coaster.

Norfolk, especially where I'm at on the interior river's edge, isn't really known for horrible winters. Cold, yes. Rainy, yes. Snow in March? Ehhh...apparently the answer is yes to that now too!

Here's a nice picture of my house after the snow had plenty of time to go away. We were not amused since we had just finished planting some things.

And yes, my house is missing some screens. We've had some killer wind storms and I can't find the same kind of frames for these screens. ::sigh::



And here the Pupperonski's are expressing their dubious feelings about leaving the cozy house in such weather.



Luckily for me, nothing major was transplanted yet, just a few seeds for radishes and other cold hardy items put in. You might notice that the normally even layer of pine needles I usually have is a bit bare. My normal source doesn't sell them anymore. I mean, seriously, dozens of bags are put to the curbs all the time and I can't get enough to lay down in my yard? Boggles the mind, it does. Alas, picking up some myself isn't really an option. No one, including me, separates out things so almost all bags have some of the invasive species contaminating them. And I certainly don't need to introduce more!



And during that windswept night, we had some crashing and falling all about the house. One nice big branch landed on the roof and caused a bit of work (no punctures) but this one is the hum-dinger. It may look small, but it actually comes up to my hips and is pretty hefty. It was sunk into the ground, spear style, almost a foot. Sure glad that one wasn't on my roof!



So the weather was so dreary and cold, we decided to stay in and keep trying out bread recipes. I'm still stumped as to why my white bread rises up so wonderfully high and light while my whole wheat bread is so low and dense.





Here we are above, about a week later, and you can see that I've begun the transplanting. Cold weather crops like cauliflower, brocolli and so on are in the new beds. Potatoes are in the big pots (well, a few are since my Peaceful Valley replacement order never did come in!)

After that, we were, shall we say gifted?, with 4 straight days of rain. Ack, it was horrid. So far we've have very few garden casualties though.




Above, just two weeks later I've finished all the moving of beds, with my final bed moved from behind that tree where the shadow is (unwise placement, I know) to a nice sunny front row seat. It is now mostly empty and getting a nice sunshine sanitization session before getting refilled with fresh dirt and compost.

For a nice peek at what I wake up to every day, above is the view from the back of my house. My bedroom overlooks this and the wind over the water and through those invasive phragmites australis is heaven to wake up to. They are mostly between 10-12 feet tall but there are a couple that are even taller. I remain at war with them, but it is a war of attrition and I won't lose!

I've slowly been replacing them with natives that have largely disappeared from this area like Lobelia Cardinalis, Joe Pye Weed, Dutchman's breeches, short spartina, Jack in the Pulpits and other lovely and appropriate things.

Gigi and Boscoe give you all a nice howdy-doo, too!

Seed Potatoes are Here! What now?

My seed potato order from Peaceful Valley is in! I ordered 5 lbs of their Red, Yellow and Blue mix just for fun. I've got some Yukon Gold here so these will be a nice flavorful change if I'm successfull. Included are Yellow Finn, Colorado Rose and All Blue.

My original Grand Plan was to build potato boxes like these.

But then I recently saw these Crocus Potato Boxes and fell in love with the concept. I couldn't actually build any for the price these are, but how long would they last? Anyone got any ideas?

I'm hesitant to build yet more things that I'm going to have to load up in a truck in 2 or 3 years and take with the other 13000 lbs of stuff to my final homestead. And with all the other dirt hauling and raised bed building and tree planting this early spring, I'm really dreading putting yet another building project in the queue. Hmm..that sounds perilously close to whining doesn't it?

I may just wind up making a big pile of dirt and straw.

What would you all recommend?

Tracking the Costs of Reclaiming the Good Life

Last year I was absolutely dedicated to the idea of tracking how much it cost to start a garden. To that end, I saved all recepts and even logged them for a while.

By September I wound up with a large pile of fading receipts, indecipherable entries streaked with garden dirt and a vague notion that I had spent approximately 7 dollars per pound of vegetables.

I was not impressed.

But, like I said before the vast majority of those costs are going to be amortized out over time. The dirt deliveries, building raised beds, various cages and stakes, seeds...well, the list is really endless. Suffice it to say that I pretty much started from an idea and a check-card and didn't even own a wheelbarrow.

Again, I'm determined to keep track of my garden costs. I'm also creating new beds so I will again have some additional costs.

So far, one dirt delivery at $224.00, the Lowe's purchase above at $120.83. Olive trees at 124, apple trees at 70, grow lights at 145...okay, the list is long and I'll get to it. I promise!

The real reason I post this is because of the economy now. For a while I've been telling my friends and co-workers to start a bit of a garden so they can enjoy it. They all like the produce but don't like the idea of a garden. And invariably, when I bring up that it offers independence and food security even in stressed money times, they always point out that all of us are doing just fine so why bother.

This year is different for many though and now I've found people asking me about starting a garden. I hate to tell them all that they need since most of them are starting where I did, with nothing for gardening.

When money is tight it is hard to scrape up the investment and even harder if nothing comes of all the investment. To my view, people should start a garden and get over some of our common rookie mistakes when they are prosperous, not when they are strapped.

How do you get that across to others? Do you find it is the same for people you know or meet? What do you recommend to people who really need to start but are pretty broke or under economic stress?

And for those who are also relatively new to this, how many years did it take to amortize out your initial investments in gardening?

Arbequina Olive Trees....Finally!

For several years I had only to go to my local store to get the best olive in the universe. The tiny and perfect Arbequina.

They are like crack.

One taste and you're over with. Even the girls got addicted to them. When we got transferred and suddenly, no more true imported Arbequina olives were available. Believe me, I searched. It wasn't happening. Finally I had some imported myself at ridiculous prices. But they weren't the same and were clearly inferior to the previous perfection. A sort of anemic relative really.

After a few years of this I decided that enough was enough and if I couldn't get them, I would grow them. Yet after several months, I still couldn't find decent sized trees, with parental history of a compact height and excellent quality oil.

But now I found GrowQuest in Oregon. They were very prompt in answering questions via email, helping me to work out what size trees I should get and even working out the best shipment options for my wallet and the trees. Super fantastic. So now I have 4 trees on the way that should, if I care for them properly this spring and they adjust to the new weather, give me olives late this summer! Oh yeah...my own olives.

Now, the trees aren't here yet so I can't give you a final opinion on the seller yet but I will as soon as they arrive. You can also be sure I'll post pictures of them throughout the year so you can see how things are going.

Wish me luck!

Seed Starting Status and My First 2009 Load of Dirt

Early seed starting is moving right along. I'm set to plant some things as early as the beginning of March (those things calling for planting before last frost) and I've started seeds for those things going in at the end of March. And as of today, even my tomato seeds have been started.

Here is a picture of my final seed starting setup with both Jump Start lights in place. I did find this system in other places and was amazed that the cost was 50-90% more than the place I got it. Gotta love a good deal.

This window is almost south facing, slightly south-southeast really, and I worried that it wouldn't get enough light on the seeds which is why I bought the lights. I may have actually been able to get away with less. As you can see, the seedlings are all leaning forward, towards the window.


While I am using the trays with peat cells for some, what you see below is actually my favorite way to start seeds. The containers are Beneful Ready Meal containers. I re-use them for the home made dog food but had so many last year I gave this a try and found it wonderfully effective.

I simply put 5 dents in the starter mix in the container and start five seeds for bigger items like peppers or tomatoes. For things like leeks and onions, I just sprinkle them on thinly and cover with a bit more soil mix. What makes it great is that I don't waste whole cells for seeds that don't sprout and getting them apart is a breeze. I just wait till I would normally water and pop the whole, slightly dry, hunk of soil and plants out onto the transplant area. Then I douse with water and it separates all by itself. Teasing apart over developed roots can be a bit of trouble, but timing is everything.

Don't the newly sprouted onions look lovely and delicate? I love the smell of them as I'm now thinning out the weak.

And now for my most recent bout of self-punishment via dirt movement. Here is my delivery of 6 cubic yards of topsoil. In the picture below, I've actually already taken off a bit of the back section so it isn't quite as tall as it was.


And here is what it looked like the next day. I did get it all moved on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, despite the hours of misting that made it get ever heavier.

I used this topsoil to create a level area for my 2 new raised beds to go on. So none of this is even garden dirt but rather a base. I'm letting it settle for a couple of weeks before setting up the new beds and then filling them with a further delivery of compost mix.

It's Dirt Time Again....::sigh::

I've been putting this off. No, that is too mild a statement. I have been putting it off out of sheer dread.

For those who read my blog last year in early spring, you may remember that I built my raised beds and then hauled 10 cubic yards of dirt back to them, one wheelbarrow at a time. It was cold, a bit rainy and my arm hurt for days afterwards.

But here we are again. I'm building more raised beds, more than doubling my garden space, so I'm going to need lots of dirt. I do mean LOTS of dirt. I'm also building a small bed all the way around the house. That means more dirt and even worse, nice heavy blocks of stone to build the beds.

Yehaww...can you hear the sarcasm?

The latest edition of Living the Country Life journal has a great head to head challenge of 11 small utility tractors. Well, not really small but smaller. The range in price from $28K to over $50K. When I think of that dirt and all the dirt to come in my life, I'm almost tempted.

I'm open to any offers of assistence. Bring a wheelbarrow. I'll provide lunch.

Heirloom Seeds and Another Grow Light..With Info!

After I posted a picture of my little grow light set up for seed starting, I got some emails asking about it, particularly in terms of price and how it is performing. I did some looking around and did notice that most grow light systems are pretty darn expensive. Bigger ones have the added disadvantage of not being very portable.

So it looks like I got really lucky and now that I've ordered a second one, I'll share the link! The one I got is the Green Thumb Jump Start System. I got it from YardLover.com and the price was only $65, which is about half the price of the same size system everywhere else. (No, I'm not getting a kick back so click away!)

It came with 2 48 inch bulbs of the full spectrum sort also. It is quite sturdy, easy to put together and very user friendly. So, yes, I do recommend it.

As I said, I ordered a second one today. I'll be putting it on that same table right in front of the other one. Then I can fit pretty much my whole seed starting operation on that one table. Pretty nifty, huh.

Seed orders are being made and rolling in now. I got my Baker Creek Heirloom Seed order in and have started quite a few of them just yesterday. Their catalog is just luscious and even their seed packets are adorable and ever so retro. Here are just a few from this order.


I'm thinking that a lot of people will think I'm awfully early with seed starting since I am in Virginia, but I'm not really. Last frost date is March 25th and on top of that, I'm on the tidally influenced river and the climate is moderated some at my house because of that big body of water coming by all day.

Speaking of my seed starting, some of my stuff is coming up and they look so tiny and perfect. My brocolli below.

And here are my spanish and red onions. Yes, I do know there are too many in a cell. I cull them some so the weak should tremble! I actually have pretty good luck with just tearing the cell off and teasing them apart to transplant. At least I did last year.

And even with my very hefty Baker Creek order in, I have loads more coming. I do love variety and I'm slowly switching to open pollinated heirloom varieties. This is what my collection to date looks like. Yes, that is a shoe box..lol.

And just because we haven't seen him in a while, here is Boscoe saying how much he misses everyone after the holidays. It seems he put on a little bit of belly with the holiday bounty!

"Have-More" Plan - The Book I Should Have Bought First!

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of books about gardening, homesteading and other related topics. In fact, I counted them. It turns out I have 126 of them. Each of them has prices ranging from $9.95 (very few) to $49.95 (also very few) but most are in the range of 25 to 30 bucks. That means, just using the average, I have spent $3150-$3780 on those type of books.

Now, I don't know if I actually spent that much since a good portion of them came from Amazon, but even if I got a discount, that is pretty ridiculous.

What is worse, most of them are simply not that useful.

When an expert writes a book on say, gardening, they assume too much or they get too basic. It is difficult to fill a book up with material and it seems no one wants to write pamphlets that won't bring in good money.

Of course, there are exceptions and I do have a handspan of books I just couldn't do without. And almost all of them have their place and have been used for reference or to double check things.

I just got a new one though and I find it so wonderful, so awesome and well, so darn great that I've got to tell you all about it. It is a short book, more of an oversized pamphlet really and it was written in the 1940's. It is called the "Have-More" Plan by Ed and Carolyn Robinson.

I just got mine from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds instead of Amazon because it is one of the few books that doesn't have a discount and I like to support my favorite places.

Ed and Carolyn were city people who simply got tired of it, took their young son and went to the country. As total novices they managed to commute for work to the city and have a mini-homestead that supplied a truly amazing part of their support. And this was in the 40's!

The book is oversized and paperback and reprinted exactly as it was on the second edition, which had a few more lessons learned in it. It's written more like a series of articles, none of them meant to be the end all in how to for any subject, but more of a guide to how they chose and did it and all the things they wound up doing wrong in doing so.

Subjects range from Bee Keeping to home meat rabbits and even in setting up a Harvest Kitchen. These two are amazing...really.

It's told in a wonderfully conversational tone and is filled with those lovely pre-1960s assumptions on gender roles that will have you cracking up a bit. They included lots of family snapshots that aren't just cute, but incredibly useful. Even right to his little chicken guillotine, complete with chicken under the blade. (Don't worry, no gore and it is just before the ax fell.)

Some of the sections are pretty eye-opening. Under their food preservation section they do go on about using a freezer. These were very new to the market then and they actually paid more for their freezer in 1941 than I would in buy the same sized one today!

They do use actual money numbers in the book and while clearly we don't buy our homestead for 2,650.00 anymore, the use of relative numbers does work in many instances because we don't make 100 bucks a month anymore either.

Some of you may really like the goat section. I learned a LOT about goats here and have a lot less fear of getting those dairy goats than before. His were awfully cute too.

The tone of the book is such that you'd think you were talking to a city dweller today. The urge for sustainable living and a bit more control over our food and a happy and less stressful life appears to remain unchanged.

One of the most surprising parts of this book is the whole pre-1960's gender role thing. While it is clear their speech indicates they were raised with those views, like everyone else, their reality was far different. Once they got homesteading, they really did become equal with each relying on the other. They don't say it in so many words, but she is a far more powerful member of the household than she was before homesteading. I do like that!

Nonetheless, I find this to be the most enjoyable and useful of the books I've gotten since Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening. And it was the cheapest one too!

I did find it online however I'm not sure if it is a legal copy so I'm not including the link. It looks like a scanned copy of the original and since that one isn't copyrighted, but in 1978 it was, I can't be sure. I'll keep researching and update if I find it is a legal copy. Either way, the scan is a bad one and the lovely copy I have is a delight to own.

*Disclaimer: I do NOT have an Amazon store or any other concession for these links. They are the same links you'd get from google searching. I don't do ads or commissions and get no kick backs. Just passing on the good info....

Garden Season of 2009 is Starting Early!

Oh yes, the seed catalogs have been coming in and I've been a drooling over the bright and shiny pictures of rare and heirloom plants. I've got dozens of sticky tabs in the catalogs and literally hundreds of marks on pages indicating my "short list" of possibles for this year.

The gardener's dilemma is truly hitting me: How can I wait even one more day even when I know it isn't time yet?

Yeah, well, I didn't wait.

This winter I purchased some things from my List (previously posted about) and got set up for starting seeds with a little less trouble and a little more success this year. In the picture below you can see my initial set-up.

I bought a full spectrum flourescent grow light stand and a longer folding table to set it on. I put it in a large unused room with full southern exposure from those 2 big windows. When set longways, I can fit 2 large seed flats under it. If set shortways, then 4 will fit.

A little later in the season, when I just put seeds in a little dish with soil in it and transfer after they sprout, I'll be able to fit a fairly comfortable number under there.

On January 4th, I started a bunch of Red and Yellow Onion seeds as well as some eggplant seeds from the slowest of last years eggplants. I'm determined to get adept at growing onion from seed and last year I started them February 1st, which gave me only small onions to harvest.

According to my ridiculously complicated schedule, in two weeks I'll start seeds for a great many of my other veggies and that will make me very happy.

So now, I'd best get cracking on those seed catalogs. Stop drooling and start ordering is my rule for the day!

2009 Tentative Garden Plan

As you may have guessed from my 2008 Harvest Wrap Up post, I'm now a firm and converted believer in the Square Foot Gardening method for us urban or suburban gardeners. There is simply no better way to get so much from so little space. And in terms of labor, it was certainly a total breeze even with a full time job, family requirements and even the occassional need to travel. Basically, I love it.

Of course, now I need more. Yes, more beds. I've been measuring and mulling for a few months now and I've come up with a new arrangement that will allow me to put in 2 additional 4x8 foot beds, which more than doubles my growing space. I'm also putting in a little side area that I'll use for squash and such. And not to be forgotten, I'll be building potato boxes off to the side also. Those 50 big containers will also still be gettting a workout.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. So from the top:

Goal 1: Produce 75% of my veggies for fresh eating. Last year was far less, with many gaps in production I intend to close.
Goal 2: Produce sufficient to can or dehydrate or freeze a further 50% of my veggies needs for the entire year for one person. While I did very well in this respect this year, it was supplemented with corn, berries and tomatoes purchased at a local farm. I also ran out of my yummy Rare Breed (TM) marinara sauce before the tomato plants even died!
Goal 3: Grow 3 new things.

Now, that doesn't sound too bad does it? Yeah...right! Below are some images of the slides I've made of the intended plan after much diddling about. This isn't certain yet since I'm getting a very important second opinion before the work begins.

You'll notice on all the beds next year I'm really going to take advantage of interplanting more than I did this year. I simply didn't know enough or have enough confidence to work this sort of plan. But the numbers don't lie and the yield can be vastly increased by putting those little fast growers around the bases of the slow ones.


In Bed 1, I intend to plant some of the Tomatoes, Peppers and Cukes relatively early, while others I'll grow in slightly larger starter pots to be transplanted as spring harvest completes later. It is sort of an experiment since this year I didn't have enough data to determine what differences the time spacing made in harvests. I'm kicking hard on providing more onions since I used up all mine by the first week of November this year.

In Bed 2, I'm doing much the same as Bed 1 with more tomatoes, eggplants and peppers and lots of interplanting.

Bed 4, which was in use this year, is going to be moved to a more advantageous spot and put into heavy production. Bed 3, my champion bed this year, is in the prime spot for an experiment in the 3 Sisters Method of growing. I've used the spacing of tall corn listed in the SFG book and worked everything else around it, but I am worried that only 2 squash should go in between rather than 4. For those who aren't familiar with the method, it is the standard Native American method and it is increasingly popular again for very good reason. The corn, planted first, provides the support for a couple of climbing beans planted a couple of weeks later. The beans, in turn, provide nitrogen fixing for the heavy feeding corn. The squash, planted last, provides cooling shade to the roots of corn which really helps it grow during high summer, shades out weeds and keeps moisture in the soil. Pretty sweet arrangement!

Bed 5, which is the one I put to the side of my house is in a position to have extended spring, milder summer temps and an extended fall. As a matter of fact, this is the bed that produced brandywine tomatoes and pole beans until November 10th, even after 2 freezes. It is just in a perfect sheltered spot. Since I've been able to grow lettuce there all summer, I'm going to really leverage that this next year.

All the herbs that I had scattered all over are going to be concentrated in pots this year. The misc list shows some of my other goodies and includes my new items like Watermelon, Sunflowers and Luffa. The apple trees are brand new and not expected to produce for a couple of years and the coffee beans that sprouted are actually taking a nose dive right now and will probably be replaced soon.

So, to make this blog post even more ridiculously long, I'm going to put in my harvest estimates based on the above plan. Yes, it is a bit optimized. I counted all carrots and beets and other single root crops as harvested, even though many will be pulled early and some may not make it. Others are based on what I got from each plant this year, like eggplant and tomato. If anyone sees anything totally out to lunch here, please do let me know!

Harvest Estimates from Planting Plan in Beds 1 through 5

Spring

Carrots – 168 each
Beets – 144 each
Radishes – 72 bulbs
Onions – 60 bulbs
Cauliflower – 12 heads
Snap Pea – 24 plants
Peas – 32 plants
Cabbage – 4 heads
Brussels Sprouts – 8 plants worth (20-30 per)
Lettuce – 20 plants
Broccoli – 5 plants worth (5 main heads, many small sides)

Summer
Tomato – 24 plants in beds (more in pots), unknown quantity, aiming for 200 pounds, hoping for more!
Cucumbers – 4 plants, unknown quantity
Eggplant – 9 plants, usually 5 pounds or more per plant in beds
Peppers (hot and sweet) – 15 plants, unknown mix or quantity
Bush Beans (green beans) – 99 plants, unknown yield, usually ¼ pound per plant

Multi-Season Harvest
Leeks – 32 bulbs (fall harvest)
Parsnips – 64 each (early winter harvest)
Acorn Squash – 3 plants, unknown harvest, usually 3-5 per plant
Corn – 16 plants, usually 1-3 ears per plants
Pole Beans – 32 plants, long harvest, usually ½ pound per plant
Yellow Squash – 2 plants, usually 7-10 pounds per plant
Zucchini – 2 plants, usually 7-10 pounds per plant

Fall Planting for Early Winter Harvest
Not yet completely decided since it will depend on earlier harvests but estimates are:
Carrots – 144 to 288 each
Beets – 144 each
Peas – 64 plants
Cauliflower – 16 heads
Brussell Sprouts – 16 plants (20-30 per plant)
Brocolli – 8 main heads with many side shoots
Cabbage – 8 heads

Harvest Estimate from Planting Plan for Containers and Side Areas
Sunflowers – 20 Heads for seed
Yellow Squash – 2 to 3 plants
Zucchini – 2 to 3 plants
Luffa – 2 plants
Butternut Squash – 2- 3 plants
Strawberries – unknown number of plants
Potatoes – 20 to 50 pounds each from 2 potato boxes
Cucumbers – Several in pots and in flower beds
Peppers – All extra starts in pots and flower beds
Roma Tomatoes – more in pots

State of the Garden...15 August 2008

Not many pictures to post yet, but I'll get out amongst the swarms of mosquitoes to get more today or tomorrow. And that brings me to my first update! The mosquitoes are a nightmare right now. The combination of good soil, occasional really hard rains that leave just enough puddlling and my naturalized part of the yard mean it is an ideal breeding ground. And to top it off, I'm a magnet for the little blood suckers! At this point, unless it is the hottest part of the day when they are not active, I wear long sleeves and jeans even in 100+ degree weather while working out there. But it is so worth it!

Just look at one afternoon's worth of pick up. That doesn't include the beans and grape tomatoes either. Just the big ones. For lots of gardeners, this doesn't represent much, but to me this is heaven. All organically grown using a new gardening technique and with having made a few pretty dire mistakes in where I placed a few of the raised beds so I'm happy.


Below is a snap of my butternut squash. While fruit are setting and looking pretty fantastic, there are spots on the leaves that have me confused. What is that? Is that just the effects of having my stucco re-done around the bottom of my house, which created clouds of dust that had to be hosed off every day? Is that a disease? Is it the effect of having placed my squash bed in a place that wound up getting a little less light than they really need?

Right now my tomatoes are going strong on their second flush of fruit, most of them gaining good sizes quickly and leaving me breathlessly waiting for the ripening. I'm particularly excited because the ones fruiting now are my heirlooms, which I had begun to despair of ever setting fruit. My eggplants are loaded and gaining size daily. And the second flush of peppers are set and growing, but too slowly for me. I inspect them like the avid fan I am every single day. See my previous entry if you want to know the two types that have me over the moon this year.

Planting for fall crops is on the schedule for this weekend. Carrots, parsnips and the like are going in as seeds while I'm going to re-start the seeds for the things like cauliflower, cabbage and brussell sprouts. Something I can't identify has nipped off the tender young growth of my previous starts so I'm on the lookout for the brave thief who'll do that right on my own deck! Pole beans are coming as are the bush beans. I think from now on I might stick with pole beans. Not only because of the taste, but because I simply don't see the ripe beans in the bush beans until they get oversized. It is much easier with pole beans.

Squash is still so-so and it is directly related to their position, I'm sure. I'll be moving the squash bed this winter too so they can get more sun during the best of summer. My bad. Which is ironic, I think. Most people have luck with those crops if nothing else and have so much they feed it to chickens. But me, I need hundreds of pounds of the combined crops for making dog food over the winter and can get only enough for fresh eating.

And here I am. Just a snap for my mother...

And for all those breathless Boscoe fans, here is the big man! His leg looks fantastic doesn't it? The hair is growing back and while I do miss his little naked old man butt, I'm sure he is happier with his right cheek well covered. I don't think the scar will be evident at all once it is fully regrown. He is doing exceptionally well and he is chafing at the bit at the enforced rest now. Once he gets moving and warmed up, he has only the slightest of limps, something most wouldn't even recognize as a limp. That is far better than when he came home from my sister's in early June so the surgery looks like a success at this point. He has gone on a short walk to the water this past week because he was so stir crazy and enjoyed himself immensely, marking every tree on the route with glee. But, we do have to be careful. The surgeon made sure I understood that most surgery failures happen from 3 to 8 weeks post surgery because owner's give in to the dog's desire for more activity. So I'm holding steady and giving only minimal surrender to his pleas. Isn't he adorable with his head cocked to the side?

Garden is Good!

Now, in case you didn't see that the first time....

Yes!! Those are the tomatoes I got today and that doesn't include the peppers, eggplants, green beans, stevia or grape tomatoes. Hola...we have good stuff here.

Oh, and please excuse how I look because it was 96 degrees outside with 83% humidity and I was working hard. Remember, focus on the tomatoes...

As much as that is, it still isn't enough to for a full canning batch, so I'm headed off to my favorite farm to get 6 dozen ears of very sweet corn, a half bushel of just-picked peaches and a half bushel more tomatoes. Between that and my harvest today and tomorrow, I should have enough for a nice big batch of canning.

State of the Garden...17 July 2008

I know, I know; I haven't updated the garden in total for several weeks. With Boscoe, it's been just too busy to get all that is happening in there down at one time.

But, things are a moving and it is way overtime for a full report with lots of pictures.

First, the bugs. I started to get a nasty case of aphids last month so I decided to see what an order of ladybugs would do to them. I ordered them and a bag of red wrigglers for the soil and my compost pile (I'll write more on them later). I released half the ladybugs right away and put the rest in the fridge for later. Sure enough, I had not an aphid in sight within 24 hours! Just a few days ago, I released the other half when I saw evidence of more aphids starting on the eggplant. Again, not an aphid in sight now. But, also not a ladybug in sight either. They just don't seem to hang around after supper! Here's a nice shot of them.


For those who remember, I had a small problem with my peppers. The blooms were simply falling right off or even if they fertilized, the little nublets of pepper fell off. It was very depressing. It looked like I might have over-nitrogened some of them because of the heavy leaf growth and others were simply not liking all the sun. I moved them and voila..pepper heaven for many of them. Here is my Spanish Spice pepper showing some lovely 8 inch hanging fruit. Some of the bells are now following suit. The Godfathers and the poblanos are also producing really heavily right now. Right now I'm frantically looking for ways to preserve the bounty for later.


My first eggplant came off the other day too! It is quite small but I understand that is normal for the first one. I'm not worrying too much. There's more growing. Here is a snap of my confusing yellow squash plant. It has no growing tip at all. It produced one male and one female flower and they made one single perfect squash. I'm letting it grow unchecked to see what happens to it. Just out of curiosity :)


And here is my experiment in lettuce. Since I've never actually seen one go to seed, I decided to let one of each kind bolt to see what it looks like. It is quite attractive, isn't it?


Here is a nice picture of my pickings for the other night. It was just enough to enjoy a lovely grilled dinner of eggplant and peppers with a small carrot salad and sliced tomato...yummm. Those Spanish peppers are over 8 inches long just to give you an idea of scale.


This is my largest Butternut squash plant. The leaves are huge and the bloom gigantic. I'm confused about them though. It looks like all the blooms and buds are male. Do they do like Zucchini and produce males first and then females or what? Any info is welcome to this squash newbie.


This bad picture is an early morning shot of my squash bed. Those large and tall bush like plants in the back are actually my Stevia plants. Amazing how huge they are getting, but I'm sure not complaining.


Bed One here has changed over the past month in a big way. Newly planted bush beans and edamame have taken the place of peas and carrots and the tomato plants are producing well, even if they look a bit ragged. Gigi approves as you can see. Beds 2 and 3 are equally changed with more beans of various kinds and peppers transplanted from the smaller pots in the container garden.


This was a short tour and I didn't include flowers this time, shame on me, but I'll hopefully catch up soon. I'd love to see pictures of everyone else's garden.

To finish off, here is a nice picture of Boscoe's shaved behind and leg. His incision looks good and his butt is funny enough to share. :) Happy gardening everyone!

My First Tomato!

Yes, I got it. My first tomato. Just look at this rosy hued beauty. And yes, I did just make a tomato sandwich and slurp it up like it was my last meal. Ahhhhh...

There are several more getting a nice blush so I'll be flush here really soon. While I am grateful for the wonderful beets, peas, carrots, onions and beans since they were also delicious and fed me well, there is nothing quite like that first tomato!

State of the Garden - 15 June 2008

It's been a few weeks since I posted but for once I have good reason! I was gone for a week on business, which turns out to be a hot topic for my garden, and then we had Jordan's graduation. Anyway, don't for a moment think that I forgot my garden during all this to-doing.

Everything was growing like crazy the last week of May. Dozens of tomatoes growing, carrots coming ripe as well as beets and the peas were getting harvested. Bush beans making their tiny little selves known for the future and peppers a blooming.

Well, no more of that.

Not to say I'm blaming anyone, because I'm not at all. One of my sisters took care of my garden while I was gone and I really thought I explained well, but apparently not. She drowned all my plants with severe overwatering. I came home to find exploded tomato stems, rotten roots, drowned foliage all yellow and diseased looking. It was horrible. I did keep a good face on it and not scream and shout about the months of labor down the tubes.

In a way, it is my fault. I took her out to show her what a deep watering looked like and told her to do a deep watering on Wednesday. I also said, and here is where I went wrong, to give them a shot of water if they looked droopy before Wednesday. Urgh. Somehow that translated to pouring gallon after gallon onto each one every day.

She finally told me on Thursday and I said don't water anymore so I did have time to compose myself for the sight.

Anyway, it is my bad. Here is what some of the carnage looks like even now, a week later. Via massive surgery on some I was able to save many of the indeterminate ones, but all the determinates like Roma, for canning of sauces so crucial this year, are done for.


Also, Boscoe came home with a bad limp. It started to get a bit better after a few days and I asked her about it since she didn't say anything about an injury when I came home. She did relate that he fell hard on a curb. It has started to get worse again and he appears to be having a issue keeping his leg under him. It wants to splay to the side so I'm thinking he may have seriously damaged or even broken a hip. We are going to vet for x-rays.

Gigi also came home looking so bloated it was shocking. I thought she was just getting overfed since the feeding instructions weren't followed well, but rather doubled. But that night I got a disgusting shock. I came in to wake them in the morning and found the room covered with dark red puke and a bit of bright blood. And in that puke what did I find? Two complete, if a bit digested, plastic grocery bags. Ack! She looked bloated no longer. It was about 6 square feet of it all told. I watched her and she was back to her perky self so I'm pretty sure she is fine.

You might say to yourself, I can't complain since she did me a favor. And you'd be right. It was about 100 bucks less than the boarding and the housesitter would have been since I only gave her 20 bucks a day. I didn't really think the housesitter would know about the garden and I was worried Boscoe would be unhappy being boarded. (Of ocurse, the X-rays alone are going to be over $300, so....)

Nonetheless, I have learned a valid lesson. Write all instructions down. Follow up daily with detailed phone calls.


You might also ask yourself if she might not see this. And to this I say, not bloody likely. We live in the same town so why would she read about it? She's not very interested in my gardening anyway.

No, I'm not bitter. ::laughs:: Oh, I'll get over it, I always do eventually. And then I'm shocked anew when it happens again!

Needless to say, that is why I didn't post a "State of the Garden" when I came back. It was too depressing. But now, a week of hard work and delicate surgery and it is starting to come back as much as can be expected. And there is even good news. One of the tomatoes on the least affected plant has, as of just this evening, got a distinct blush upon it. I fully expect to have nice ripe tomato shortly.

I have no intention of sharing it.

Here is a close up of some of the plants in the pot area. One eggplant in particular is quite large, much more so than the others, and has a plentitude of blooms going. You can see in the back row the twisted remains of the supersteaks, which are not going to make it, and a couple of limping romas.




And below you can see the early results of the greatly disorganized Brandywine experiment. The blooms weren't taking for those, even though I had great large tomatoes on others. Though I did find out from a helpful person on the Homesteading board that they tend to take when it gets a bit hotter, I also heard some responses that made me wonder about positioning. So I staked and suckered some as normal, caged and didn't sucker a couple and then let a couple sprawl. It turns out the one sprawling is starting to get more blooms and they are taking much better.

Here is bed one. You can see it has recovered pretty well. Given that it gets the most sun it seems to have weathered the waterfest better. You may be able to see the tops of the big tomato plants are twisted and upturned from the overwatering, but a bit of pruning and it appears to be bouncing back. I had to rip up the peas and I've planted more bush beans. The existing bush beans dropped most of their blooms but the ones already growing kept doing so and I did get a few off of them. I will be finishing that harvest and ripping them up soon. Beets have been mostly harvested and most of the carrots there too. That bed is about to go through some changes soon!


Here are a few of the nice big carrots I harvested this evening. Burpee Sweet Treat Hybrid and they are a nice tasting carrot! But what are those bumps on the bottoms? I just scrub them off as of now and I've noticed nothing wrong, but they are a big and freaky looking. Are those just places that would produce roots?

And here is a close up of the surviving tomatoes. It was that bottom one that showed a blush this evening, just a few hours after this photo was taken.

Here is bed 2, which didn't fare as well. The tomatoes and pole beans in the back row are goners but I'm still hesitating on pulling them up after all the work. Ah well, such is life, I'll do it this week. I'm starting to see a small head inside the largest cauliflower plant too. I've brushed the onion tops to the side a bit since they are starting to flop, but I'm harvesting them too and they are quite mellow and delicous. The red onion sets I'm growing are doing well and as soon as I read up a bit more I'll process them for planting next year.

My little side bed here is definitely showing some progress! Zucchini and yellow squash as well as the butternut are starting to zoom up. Good thing too! The stevia is working wonderfully and I've discovered the key to keeping it healthy is actually cutting it severely. Amazing stuff. Herbs doing well there also.

And here is a problem. The one item that is doing puzzling things are the peppers. All of them are dropping their blossoms after you can see the bud of the pepper in there. I have no idea why. They are getting the right light, not too hot and they clearly fertilizing since it is a bud of the fruit that is dropping off. Any ideas? Is it just a reaction to the week of overwatering that will pass?


And finally, bed 3. The soybeans were a loss as well about half the bush bean plants. The other half are limping along and some have a few paltry beans but I'm going to give those a shot before pulling them up. The tomatoes were hard hit but surgery has possibly saved them. One of them has a decent load of tomatoes so I worked hard on that one.



Here is a close up of the back showing some of the tomatoes on that plant and the pea twining through it. I've extended spring in this bed by planting it where I did. It gets some residual cooling from the vent under the house and the sun hits it just right and misses the scorching noon hours. So, peas are still rampantly blooming and setting.



In other non-food news, my mutant hostas are large and definitely in charge, while the flowers are blooming for the early summer and the late summer ones are green and growing a good base foliage.



My gardenia smells heavenly and opening the front door means a wall of the sweetest scent hits you.

These are just some random shots of the really pretty flowers blooming in my front bed.



To bring us back to the world of the practical, here is one of my water barrels, about half full, after just 3 days of drip from the AC unit. It isn't very elegant, but it works. I'm getting a funnel to put in there so that I'll lose less to the wind. I've already used a great many gallons of it and it is still half full. While the AC is costing me a fortune, at least I get some nice clean garden water for it!



And here I am, getting ready to see Jordan graduate! It was good to know she did it and that I had a lot to do with the girl she has become.


And here is my Boscoe, who is on enforced rest, taking it easy in the garden while I work. What a handsome devil he is, even when he is in discomfort.