Monday, April 26, 2010

Opening Day at the Garden

4/26/2010 - I picked up some more plants last night in search of Poblano Peppers. I didn't find any Poblanos but I did score buy one get one plants at Lowe's. I picked up a couple of Rutger's tomatoes, a six pack of Red Beefsteak tomatoes, a couple of Jalapeno peppers, a couple of Roma tomatoes, and a Patio Cherry tomato plant. I also picked up some herbs like provence lavendar, sweet basil, rosemary, and mint.

I roused my sorry body out of bed and got down to the garden & feed store at 7am this morning. OK, really I am not a farmer and don't get up with the chickens. I am a nocturnal creature. But sometimes we do what we have to. I scrounged around and found Poblano peppers! Yea, me! I also snagged some sage and cilantro. Still no patty pan or baby zucchini. Hmmm....and the garden guy wasn't so optimistic.

I hustled down to the garden and planted tomatoes, jalapenos, poblanos, and some cucumber seeds. The next day or two may be a little cooler, but then it will warm up. This is good for my lettuce!

I still have one whole plot and a half to plant. I also bought a slicing cucumber plant from an area FFA group along with a couple of Cherry Tomato plants.

This evening was our opening event for returning gardeners to the garden. Wow! I didn't realize there were that many. How exciting and encouraging. Good food was shared and it was really nice meeting so many folks.

I still need to plant those and also get in my squash. I haven't decided yet about a regular zucchini. I may have to go with it if I can't find the baby zucchini. I also need to spend time with other gardeners at the community garden planting corn, watermelon and cantaloupe. (Yum!)

I hope to have the time to plan and plant flowers with my daughter within the week. I also need to pick up some long and rectangle planters for my herbs I purchased and get in my patio cherry tomatoes. I have a number of spare small pots I can plant little flowers.

I keep thinking I am about done only to think of more. But I am so thoroughly enjoying all of this!

Friday, April 23, 2010

What to plant?

4/23/2010 - "What shall I grow?" is always the question rolling around in my head....here are my thoughts thus far but we will see how it shakes out. I am also listing what I plan to do with each. This is a long list and most things will be a one plant deal to try out except for things that I have really specific plans for like peppers and tomatoes. I am disappointed though - I can't grow corn! What is a garden without corn?? It is part of the guidelines of the community garden. They do have a long row on the back of the garden that they will be planting corn, so I hope it will do well and I can get some. I also won't be able to grow watermelon or cantaloupe again because of the garden guidelines. But again they said I could have a couple of mounds to plant these apart from my plots. They sprawl too much and may be a problem for other folks plots.

Planted already:
  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Bibb Lettuce
  • Carrots - duds! May try growing at home in containers?
  • Okra - pickles!
  • Green Bell Peppers - family loves munching on these and will also vacuum pack/freeze
  • Red Bell Peppers - same as green
To be planted?
  • Pickle Cucumbers - pickles!
  • Slicing Cucumbers - salads
  • Jalapeno Peppers - pickles and stuffed peppers
  • Poblano Peppers - chile rellenos!!!
  • Crook-Neck Summer Squash - eat fresh, sauteed, casseroles, freeze?
  • Patty Pan Summer Squash - sauteed
  • Zucchini - freeze
  • Courgette Bambino Zucchini - sauteed
  • Cherry or Grape Tomatoes - eat like jelly beans!, salads
  • Roma Tomatoes - paste, sauces, salads
  • Beef Steak, Brandywine, and/or Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes - stewed (plain and Italian), sauce, juice - canned
  • Yellow/Orange Tomatoes - sandwiches, munching
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon
I am sure this is much too ambitious. We will see what actually makes the cut. :-)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Hand-tilling, Back-breaking Heartattack work!

4/22/2010 - I invested in one of those 4-pronged cultivators. I thought that the pitch fork thing would actually go too deep for these plots. The plots are only about 4" deep and hard rocky stuff underneath. I got that 7 in 1 tool (shovel, serated edge, knife like edge, weeder, tamper, etc.). Let's hope this one doesn't break!

OK, time to till up this soil by hand. I didn't want to mess around waiting for someone to till for me and it rained a night or two back so maybe not so bad. I started on the first plot and there were so many rocks, stones and....poop! I am betting it is the Canadian geese that hang out in the park nearby. At first I thought it was dog poop - but I am pretty certain it is those geese. I have seen them waddle over from time to time. The neighborhood dogs don't seem to go as far back where the garden plots are.

As I was tilling the first new plot in the corner there were ants like crazy! Not good! I mean everywhere. I turned the soil under and put additional soil in there but I will need to put something down to combat these ants or the crops will suffer.







I got both of the new plots tilled and as I was raking them getting the rocks out my neighbor/friend's husband showed up to check up on additional work that was being done to set out more plots for future gardeners! He asked who tilled my garden for me. LOL! No worries! Well, I am done tilling now. It was good for me physically to get a good work out and work the muscles. I got two skinned up thumbs even though I had gloves on...no blisters just shaved off skin. Ouch!

These plots look so much nicer! It is supposed to rain this weekend. So that will give me time to plan more and get whatever I can't find locally ordered online.



I also weeded more around my initial plot the weeds were almost as tall as me! Still some more cleaning around the plot to be done but I will come back to it. I am whipped and ready to pack up and be done for a couple of days. :-)


Here are close up shots of my lettuce:

Weeds out - time to till

4/19/2010 - Finished weeding the two new plots. The dirt is hard as rock. I had considered hand-tilling the plots myself until I saw how hard they were. My friend's husband may come and till my plots for me. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so maybe that will loosen things up.

Fortunately the weeds came up easily in one plot since it was mainly just ground cover and not rooted. There were a few nasty deeply rooted weeds but not too bad. In the second plot the weeds were more rooted and took some maneuvering, digging, pulling and back breaking. In the first plot half way through I broke my hand shovel I was digging more rooted weeds with. That is what you get with a cheap shovel.

I am wondering what I should invest in to till this up if I have to do it by hand. A cultivator or pitch fork like thing? I guess it is also time to pony up more cash for a nicer heavy duty hand trowel/shovel. I saw one of those fancy 7 in 1 tools...Tim Allen tool of gardeners. :-)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Two plots and WEEDS!


4/18/2010 - I got a call from my friend on the garden board and she told me which two additional plots are mine now. I can't wait to get down there and clean up the plots.

4/19/2010 - ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!! Oh my word!! Look at these plots. My work is cut out for me. I got one plot weeded this evening.

The good news is the person who had these plots before had put a lot of work and nutrients into their plots before they bailed on them part way through the summer. Maybe that is why the weeds are so lush. :-)

April 11-16 - Plant a little more...

4/11/2010 - I am so getting the itch to get more in the ground! I went to Lowe's "just to browse" the assortment of garden goodies since mid-March when I was there last. Oh my! Self-control young gardener! I picked out an assortment of flower seeds for my daughter based on her requests. I picked up two green bell pepper plants and a red bell pepper plant. I also selected a number of other seeds I would like to plant soon.
Went to the garden and got the peppers into the soil with a layer of mushroom compost under a layer of soil. I am not too sure about this mushroom compost. I used hummus last fall. But I also started with good rich soil too. Watered everything good too.

The lettuce is looking good! Where are my carrots?? Hmm....















4/16/2010 - I went down to the feed store that carries about every sort of yard, garden, feed sort of stuff you can imagine. I picked up a couple of plant starts and began quizzing about what more would be coming in that I didn't see. Before I could finish my request the owner (?) assured me that yes he would have what I wanted. I hope so...

I went to the garden plot and planted two Clemson Spineless Okra and a Boston Pickling Cucumber. In hindsight I think I got the pickling cucumber way too close to the okra and edge of plot. Have to think on that one.

Here are my peppers, okra and one pickle plant. This picture was actually a couple of days after planting and you can tell they need a drink.















The lettuce is looking quite lush - still no carrots...sigh. But a fellow gardener showed up while I was watering and wrapping things up. She said last year she tried carrots and they started well. They were big and fat with nice tops but at 3-4" down they started curling. The plots aren't deep enough. Well mine haven't done anything so maybe I will give it a go in a deep container at home. Although it is probably getting too late in the season now.

We are officially past the "last frost date" and it has been real nice out. The soil is about the right temperature so it is really time to get busy.

Now if the garden board would just assign me my two additional plots!! I need to weed and till them.

March 27-29 - getting ready and planting a little

3/27/2010 - Weeded my initial fall plot. Not too much to weed since there were crops up until Christmas. Then it has been so cold and rainy that nothing could grow anyway. I threw in the remainder of the fall's hummus compost and mixed it in.

I had hoped to get in late winter early spring crops like beets, broccoli, etc. but it was so cold and rainy. Plus my work schedule was a nightmare! 60-80 hour work weeks as a programmer do not make the gardener. :-)

Week of 3/29/2010 - Planted Burpee Bibb Lettuce seeds, Little Finger Carrot seed tape, Vivian Romaine Lettuce seeds and Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds. I thought I would try the seed tape and seeds to see which I like or what did the best. Under each row I laid a layer of mushroom compost, a layer of soil and then the seeds with a thin (1/8-1/4") soil covering over the seeds.

Spring is Here!

What in the world?! Haven't been on here since October?? Yikes. Well I actually have something to blog about now.
I started gardening last fall with fall/winter crops like cabbage, lettuces, broccoli, beets and onions. My beets and onions didn't do anything but my lettuces, broccoli and cabbages were great! So I thought I would keep on with that success and learn and do more since I enjoyed it so much.I don't have a garden at home but I rent a plot at a community garden. This spring I am splurging and renting two more plots because it seemed that one just wouldn't be enough for my vegetable taste buds and so many things I would like to try. These plots are about the size of a twin-sized bed. At this point I just want something to grow. As I figure out how to grow things I will dial things in to get the most out of a small space. So here we go...

Here are a couple of pictures from last fall - Black-seeded lettuce and Chinese cabbage: