First Harvest!

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on May 23, 2009

090523_radishesToday we picked the first spinach of the season and put it on our sandwiches for lunch.  I also got a handful of radishes to eat with supper.  Yay!

I planted the green beans and peas today, along with a second sowing of basil, as the first batch didn’t come up at all.  The warmer weather should help.

Home Gym = Our Yard?

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Posted by admin | Posted in Flower Beds, Home & Property, Vegetable Garden | Posted on May 3, 2009

I spent both Wednesday and Thursday evenings planting the perennials from Mom.  Fun to get, but lots of work to get them in the ground.  I have everything planted now except the 2 forsythia bushes, which I am still deciding what to do with.

I started a rhubarb patch near the raspberry area, in a sunny opening in the sumacs.  Minding what Mom told me, I made sure to dig a VERY large hole and fill it with compost before placing the transplants.  Digging in rocky clay is hard work!  I hope they make it.

Today, Saturday, we put the last of the composted manure onto the garden and I turned-over the entire bean and pea area.  Ryan pounded the 12 fence posts into place with a sledgehammer.  We’re ready!

I weeded the entire rear flower bed and then walked the ENTIRE YARD with the wheelbarrow picking up every single branch.  I used a rake for this job under the fruit trees because of the quantity of downed branches from pruning.  I think I was picking up branches for almost 2 hours straight.  I’m feeling a little tight right now – not unexpected.  That was a big job and I’m glad it’s done.  Between the two of us working today, the bon fire area is ready for a party because we have over 5 feet of branches stacked and ready to burn!

Ryan then proceeded to mow the entire property for the first time this season.  Yay!  Took so long the batteries in his headset radio died, but it looks fantastic.

Cold Weather Seedlings

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on May 2, 2009

Here’s a peek at how the (clockwise) radishes, onions, lettuce, and spinach are doing!

Cold weather seedlings

Garden Plans!

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on April 27, 2009

Ryan’s softball game was cancelled tonight, so we had an unexpected evening to work!  I know that’s how most people feel, right?

The most exciting thing about today is that we finished drawing up the 2009 vegetable garden plan.  (It’s to scale, but not painted…)  ;)  Here is what we are planting this year:

  • Beans: green snap pole, yellow wax bush
  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Greens: lettuce varieties, spinach, swiss chard
  • Herbs: basil, chives, cilantro, dill, garlic, garlic chives, lavender, oregano, parsley, thyme
  • Melons: cantaloupe (undecided: watermelon)
  • Onions: yellow, red
  • Peas: sweet sugar snap pole
  • Peppers: anaheim, cayenne, Hungarian wax, jalapeno, poblano (ancho), traditional (red, orange, green)
  • Radishes
  • Rhubarb
  • Squash, summer: yellow, zucchini
  • Squash, winter: acorn, butternut, fancy gourd mix (undecided: pumpkin – maybe in a separate bed?)
  • Tomatoes: traditional, roma, yellow pear, cherry
We ruled out corn and potatoes due to size limitation of the garden plot, health factor (starch), and low purchase price.

Seedlings Spotted!

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on April 24, 2009

Just a quick note to document that we spotted the first itty-bitty lettuce and spinach seedlings tonight.  Yay!  We picked up some fallen branches in the front yard in preparation for the first mow, and then ordered carry-out fish.  A simple, enjoyable night.

Nice Evening With Mom

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Posted by admin | Posted in Flower Beds, Vegetable Garden | Posted on April 17, 2009

Mom came over last night with an amazing roasted veggie pasta topping – yum!  We started off the gardening season with the best reason for having a garden… fresh veggies.

Together we planted spinach, lettuce, radishes, onions, and garlic.  She showed me how she mixes the lettuce seeds with corn meal to help evenly disperse them.  We watered everything thoroughly last night and again this morning, and with a 70 degree sunny day, the little seeds should be off to a good start.  We’ll see!

Mom pointed out how the day lilies around the well pump are in need of help.  We dug up big clumps of them and pulled out grass roots and weeds while separating the little bulbs from each other.  She was right – they were packed really tight and showed stunted growth.  I’ll finish that job tonight.

A few weeks ago Ryan brought home 4 rose bushes for us.  I was afraid to put them out too soon, but I learned that they need to get in the ground ASAP!  They are bursting with new growth already – very cool.  Add “create rose bed” to the list!

Soil Conditioning

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on April 16, 2009

Last night was a team effort.  I worked in the garden, digging out early spring weeds, while Ryan managed the compost rotation.  He removed the freshest layer of organic matter off the top of the first bin and brought the rest to the garden in wheel-barrow loads.  Around 10 loads of gardener’s black gold were shoveled from bin #1 onto the top of the freshly-weeded garden.

With bin #1 empty, Ryan was able to start a fresh pile of matter composting.  Yay!  Two more compost bins to go, plus the remaining composted manure.  We’ll get there.  My goal was to have at least enough transferred to the garden so I could work a plot big enough for the cold-weather veggies.  They’re going in tonight!

This is exciting.  I love this time of year.

Clean Slate

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on April 15, 2009

After feeling like the last house on the block with Christmas lights up, I finally cleared all of last year’s tomato plants, corn stalks, egg plant skeletons, and sunflower scarecrows from the garden last night.  It was my first time working in the garden since the day our dog Charlie died.  But with most activities lately, I just have to DO it.  Jump in and work through the pain.  It was nice.  I kneeled down and raised the earth in my hands and breathed deep… it was a wonderful smell.  Healing.

Anyway… just have to pull out the bean & pea fencing and we’re ready to put on a layer of compost tonight.  I hope to turn over a plot big enough to get my onions, lettuce, and radishes started on Thursday!

2009 Seed Inventory

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on March 2, 2009

So I totally geeked out on Thursday and made a Seed Inventory list… what seeds we have, their age, which to start indoors, and which we need to buy this year.

On Saturday, we caught the end of the Menard’s seed sale (20% off, plus 40% off) and tried not to go crazy with our selections.  They already had onion sets!  Can you believe it?  We’re both in the gardening mood now, and it’s disappointing to come home and see our garden drifted over with a foot of snow.

Think spring!  Meanwhile, we compost.

First Time Canning

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Posted by admin | Posted in Vegetable Garden | Posted on August 11, 2008

Today was my first time canning alone, without Mom, a Grandmother, or anyone else.  It was also my first time pressure canning.  I borrowed a small pressure cooker from my Grandma-in-law to give it a try.  Worked great!  I will definitely do this again.  Yummy, beautiful, green beans!

To my dismay, the beans do lose their brilliant color upon canning.  They end up looking just like regular canned beans, but at least I know where they came from, when, and what’s in them!