SLC Veggies

new garden additions

2009-04-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last summer, shortly after we moved in, we had our bikes stolen from our backyard. The perpetrators jumped the old chain link fence, through the bikes into the back of their truck, which was parked at the apartment complex next door, and took off. I was at the hospital. Camie was here alone. It was 3 am.

Since then, we've been wanting to build a new fence. It happened this weekend. Almost. I need about 10 more fence boards (you can see the section all the way at the back of the yard still needs filled in), and a new skillsaw (I think smoke coming out of the motor is a bad thing.) And some time for my left thumb to heal (exploded the tip with my hammer.)
Yesterday, while waiting for the posts to set, I built this little trellis for the peas. I ripped some 2x4's down the middle, shaped some points on one end, and pounded them in with a sledge hammer. Then I used some twine to make supports for the peas to climb up. I think the sugar snap peas should make it all the way to the top.

And, finally, a shot of the greenhouse - as wide angle as the camera on my iPhone goes. The opening at the back of the greenhouse - where you can see the trunk of the pear tree - was made a couple weeks ago. It was the same day I took my first tomato seedlings from the basement lights to the greenhouse. It was the same day it was 70 degrees with no clouds in the sky. I didn't open the door to the greenhouse. It probably got to over 100 degrees inside, and half of the seedlings died. Now there is permanent ventilation - at least until I build a new door to go there.

Gaia's Garden

2009-04-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yikes.

I've done a lot of reading and learning and planning in anticipation of this gardening season. I read books by Ogden and Coleman. Multiple times. In detail. And I made my plan based on what they wrote. They are the experts and I am the newbie. And, so far, I've executed the plan pretty well.

Then, at the first Garden the Avenues meeting, one person mentioned another book to check out - Gaia's Garden, A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway. So I did check it out, from the library, and it has turned just about everything I've read on its head. Here's what it says from the back cover:

"Gaia's Garden describes a gardening system that combines the best features of wildlife habitat, edible landscapes, and conventional flower and vegetable gardens into a self-renewing landscape that lets nature do most of the work."

One phrase that has come up a couple of times, is "food forest," which really appeals to me. The idea, as I understand it, is that forests grow without the help of humans. Vegetables and fruit can do the same. Our yards can be food forests if we encourage the growth of ecosystems rather than just one product to the exclusion of everything else. As we try to control one product - i.e. the vegetables - and kill everything else - weeds and insects - we are fighting nature. This book explains how we can work with nature and end up having a much more healthy yard with much less work.

I'm still making my way through it, and the paradigm shift is happening. Go and check it out yourself.

garden update as of 4/5/09

2009-04-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of the garden from Feb 22 - leaf mulch still on the beds, irrigation not yet in, and nothing in the ground except the garlic planted last fall:

Here is the most recent photo, though not current (Camie has the camera up in Idaho this weekend, so no new photos - but there's plenty to get caught up on). This was taken about two weeks ago. Garlic has sprouted, some lettuce has been transplanted, the artichokes are outside, and the peas are coming up:One major change that I'm working on this weekend. The chain link fence on the south side of the yard is coming down, and a cedar fence is being installed in its place. The cedar fence is being built right next to the retaining wall of the parking lot next door, so even though it will reduce the amount of southern sun slightly, it will also expand our yard by about 2.5 feet - or almost 200 square feet. And it will give us a little more privacy.

Artichoke update. These have been in the cold frame for about 6 weeks now, going through their first winter season. They are cold hardy down to 25 degrees, so could be transplanted at any time now:

A shot of the garlic bed. With the exception of maybe 3 or 4 cloves, all have sprouted and are doing quite well. This is a nice shot also of the fence that is no longer there. The new cedar fence will be about 2.5 feet to the right of this chain-link.

Peas and spinach. What spinach?! you might ask. Exactly. It should be next to the drip tubing on the right of the photo. It didn't really come up. Not sure why. The peas are doing well, especially the sugar snap peas, which germinated better and are slighty taller than the Oregon giants. The sugar snap peas start where the picture comes into focus - Oregon giants are in the immediate foreground. One other project this weekend is to get a trellis built for these:

seedling updates from 2/7

2009-02-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken on Sunday, so they are a week old, but here they are anyway. This tray was planted on 1/25, mostly with seeds gifted me by our friend Andrew. He gave us some artichoke seeds grown on plants last summer. This tray has been on a warmer. I'm not sure if that has helped or hindered. I planted about 20 artichoke seeds, and about 5 of them have germinated. The largest one in the center of this picture has its first set of real leaves now.

These are lettuces planted about 2/5. They sprouted real fast and are doing quite well. I'll move them to 2" block this weekend and take them out to the greenhouse.

This tray was planted on 1/25 with artichoke seeds purchased at Johnny Seeds, and they are doing quite well. Probably about 75-80% germination, and they had no heat.

Up this weekend: set up the second light station, and seed a whole lot more plants - mostly onions, leeks, and more lettuces. I'll also be transferring some plants out to the greenhouse.

fall garden update: 2/1/09

2009-02-05T17:21:00.001-08:00

I set about cleaning up the fall garden this afternoon. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to be working outside again. It was so nice, in fact, that I decided to pull up some of the carrots that have been sitting since I planted them last fall. I planted them too close together, so many of them were quite small and a bit stringy. But the bigger ones were absolutely delicious - and there's nothing like harvesting fresh vegetables in February.

seedling updates: 2/1/2009

2009-02-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

We have germination. A few of the artichoke seeds and a few of the leeks. Nice! The leeks will head out to the greenhouse maybe next weekend. Today's sunny weather made it about 70 degrees inside the greenhouse - and it was about 45 outside. Here's a shot of some artichokes:

And a tiny leek seedling:

I'm starting to figure out that space is at a premium under the lights. Two solutions. First is to use the small soil blocker - puts out 3/4" cubes. Once these have germinated, I will move them to 2" blocks that have a 3/4" insert, so the 3/4" cubes just fit right inside. I put the 3/4" blocks into 9" pie tins. Second solution: buy another light and some more trays.

I'm covering the pie tins with the 3/4" blocks because they will dry out much faster than the 2" blocks. Here's the complete setup right now.

germinating setup

2009-01-25T17:08:00.000-08:00

I decided to set up a seed-growing station in the basement. Many seed require higher temperatures than I will achieve in the greenhouse in order to germinate. Peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants are notorious for liking soil temperatures of 75-80 degrees for germination. So Joel and I went to Lowe's and purchased this shop light. I hung it from the ceiling in the basement and the seed trays sit on the basement shelf.

The soil blocks were accomplished using a tool purchased for this purpose. It packs seeding soil (mixture from Eliot Coleman) into 2" blocks, four at a time. I have another block maker that makes tiny 3/4" square blocks, but haven't used it yet. This first round is artichokes, rosemary, and leeks. When these germinate, some will be moved to the greenhouse, some will stay under lights, and I'll germinate more using the 3/4" blocks, allowing more blocks to be done at once.You'll notice in the picture above that in the far seed tray, there is a gray mat under the tray. This is a warming pad, purchased initially for Anna's bed outside. Sadly, she passed away a couple of weeks ago after being hit by a car in front of our house. So now I use the heating mat for warming seeds. Anna is buried on the far side of the greenhouse next to the pear tree.

The warmer and the lights are attached to a timer, set to be on for twelve hours and off for twelve hours. This makes it possible to simulate day and night cycles for both temperature and lighting.

the garden is growing

2009-01-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

The snow had mostly melted off by Saturday, and I was able to check in on the garlic. I planted this back in October or early November, and haven't seen it in a while. Here is one of the cloves that worked its way up to the surface, and has now sent down little tendrils into the soil.

But other things are growing, too. Unwanted things. Weeds.

greenhouse

2009-01-25T16:49:00.000-08:00

After a two week setback due to a nasty cold, I've pretty much finished the greenhouse. 2x4 pine framing covered in greenhouse plastic, which has the texture of visquene but has been specially treated to withstand damage from UV rays, so it lasts longer and is a lot more expensive.
I ran battens down the rafters and studs to hold the plastic in place to increase strength - it's snowing right now so it will have its first test tonight.
The clerestory (the vertical portion at the peak of the roof) will eventually have windows, but I have just tacked the plastic over it for now. The windows will allow me to adjust the temperature and ventilation.
I haven't quite figured out how to organize the inside, yet. A place for tools, a workbench, and shelving for the seedlings will all be needed. It's waterproofed now, and I have one thermometer inside and one out to monitor the difference in temperature. I may also run electrical and water (when I re-do the sprinkler system) for added convenience.

announcement: SLC seed swap

2009-01-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

The picture above is taken from the website, from the 2008 seed swap. This is exactly what I've been hoping to find in the SLC area, and looks like it will be a great opportunity to meet more garden enthusiasts from the area. I will be there for sure - even though I won't have any seeds to contribute.

January 31, 2009
5-7 pm
Sorensen Unity Center
1383 S. 900 W.
SLC, UT 84104

Here's the link the website:
SLC People's Market

garden plan: bed #2

2008-12-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

Three main crops in this bed: soy beans, fava beans, and celery.

Celery is the first one I'll start, sowing the seeds indoors on March 1, to give them about 8 weeks before going in the ground on May first. Fava beans will be planted with the peas on March 15 as soon as the ground can be worked, then soy beans will be planted with the pole beans on April 26 or so.

Soy beans are one type of bean that Camie and I both love. Edamame. Mmmmmm. So I'm going for it with a half bed of them. Fava beans are an experiment. Never grown them before, never eaten them before. But they have a pretty good reputation. Celery. For soups and vegetable stock.

Now for the varieties:
Soybeans: Shirofumi (489FO) and Sayamusume (492SO)
Fava beans: Windsor (299WI)
Celery: Diamante Celeriac (3644DC) and Golden Self-Blanching (3631GS)

check it out: MyFarm

2008-12-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

Don't have enough time to grow veggies in your yard? These guys can help - if you happen to live in San Francisco - but the idea is great anywhere.

"MyFarm is a decentralized urban farm. We grow vegetables in backyard gardens throughout the city. By increasing local food production we are creating a secure and sustainable food system. Using organic practices we strive to grow the best tasting most nutritious vegetables. We ask what vegetables you like and grow them just for you."

MyFarm - check out the video, it's about five minutes.

Also worth checking it, the website of the people that produced the MyFarm video: Edible City.

garden plan: bed #1

2008-12-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

This will be the first of my garden planning posts done by each individual bed. The beds are 15 feet long and 30 inches wide, and there are a total of 17.

This first bed will have a trellis, the main crops being pole beans and peas. Camie doesn't like beans, so I'll plant about 2/3 of the bed in peas. The peas will be planted in one row down the middle of the bed, and will be sown directly on March 15, which is the date I'm guessing the soil will be workable. The beans will also be planted in a single row, on April 26, which is the last frost date.

I will also be planting some secondary crops in this bed. At the same time I plant the peas, I will sow radish seeds on either side of where the beans will grow, and spinach seeds on either side of where the peas will grow. These are both very quick-growing plants that will make use of the space on either side of the main crops.

Peas are more of a spring-time crop, and could be done producing by mid-late summer. I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but I have some options in mind if they run out of steam with some room left in the growing season. I could do late-season plantings of fava beans, green onions, or lettuce greens.

Peas and beans, which are in the legume family, replete soil nitrogen. Next year, this bed will be planted with nitrogen-loving plants: lettuces, greens, brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts.) This is part of the crop rotation.

Bored, yet? I know, it's a long post - but there's so much info. Lastly (I promise) are the varieties I'll be planting. The numbers refer to the FedCo catalog.

Pole Beans: Kentucky Wonder (285KW) and Gold of Bacau (284BO)
Peas: Sugarsnap (839SO) and Oregon Giant (818GT)
Spinach: Olympia (2512LY)
Radish: Easter Egg (2224EE) and White Icicle (2262WI)

where do I go from here?

2008-12-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

A lot of the planning work has been completed, which feels great. So what's next?

1. Refine the plan - At this point, I think I have as good an idea what to do with each individual plant as I'm going to have before I actually get into it when the spring rolls around. But what about within each individual bed, where there are often different varieties of plants and dates to think about. So my next step is to go through the beds individually and plan out what will happen in that bed throughout next season. This is a way of double-checking that I am using the space well.

2. Greenhouse - I found a greenhouse design earlier, and I have a spot for it in the garden plan. Now I need to build it. Artichokes and leeks need to be started in the greenhouse in mid-January, which is one month away. Yikes! Time to get busy.

3. Organize the seed exchange with the Garden the Avenues group.

4. Get into the seed catalogs and decide on the different varieties I want to grow. I've talked before about Johnny's Seeds, which I will order some seeds and supplies from. But I've now found another source: FedCo Seeds, which looks quite promising. The catalog is quite entertaining and the prices are amazing. So I'll be looking into it pretty soon and putting my orders together.

5. Irrigation. This isn't too urgent right now, but it's time to start planning it out and researching. I'm not going to have time to water everything by hand, so I'll need a good system, probably drip irrigation. I'm sure I'll be writing more about this later.

garden plan: rough draft is complete

2008-12-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that there will be refinements, but the calendar is complete as of today. Tomato was last on the list - I'm not growing turnips, and zucchini was filed under "summer squash."

Here are a couple of screenshots (click on images for larger size) for how I've organized my thinking. The first is my veggie list, with the tomato section show, which contains the different vegetables with some of the pertinent information. This information has been gleaned from Step by Step, with some additional help from seed catalogs for timing and spacing.

The second is my garden calendar, showing April through July, with dates for sowing indoors, transplanting, and direct sowing (putting the seeds directly in the garden beds.)

With this framework, I now have a pretty good idea of what I need to do for next year's garden. Of course, I'll continue to learn and adjust my ideas and strategies, but the basics are in place. It feels pretty good.

garden plan: in progress

2008-12-04T19:35:00.001-08:00

I keep changing the way that I want to plan out the garden, so it's taking quite a while. But I'm working on it, slowly. I haven't done much outside since I put the leaf mulch on (which, by the way, has mostly blown off the raised beds by now. I should have waited for rain or snow - but we just haven't had enough of it. So I'm going to wait until the leaves are wet, then rake them back up onto the beds.) Here's the plan as it stands right now (click for larger, and legible, image.)

Goals of the planning process:
1. Have a calendar of when each of the different varieties are sown (indoors or out), thinned, and transplanted.
2. Plan in such a way as to have a continuous, gradual harvest rather than everything all at once.
3. Make the transition to a smaller winter garden easy.
4. Optimize garden space using succession planting - for example, planting beans in the corn bed so the beans climb up the corn stalks.

That's all I can think of for now, but it's a lot, and it's taking a while to wrap my head around it all. More information will be forthcoming when I get the plan settled in my mind (and on my computer.)

garden progression

2008-11-28T21:30:00.000-08:00

April (before we moved in)

August

October 12

October 27

November 28

mulched

2008-11-28T20:56:00.000-08:00

First, a clarification, which I only recently figured out. Compost and mulch. Both staples of the organic gardener, but I never really understood the difference between the two.

Compost is broken down organic matter that is added to soil, usually in the spring or a few days-weeks before planting. It is mixed into the soil. (See here, here, here, here, and here to learn about my compost pile adventures.)

Mulch is something that sits on top of soil. It protects against weather and weeds. It may or may not add value to the soil, as it can be made of plastic, cloth, or organic material. Today, Joel and I spread out the leaves that I procured last week.

(In case you haven't noticed, I've been taking pictures from this spot on a regular basis, so that looking back it will be easy to see the progression of the garden from one vantage point. Also, if you click on the images, you will see an enlarged version.)
These leaves will sit on top of the beds all winter, coming off just in time to add some compost a few days before seedlings or seeds go in the ground. Benefits of using leaves for mulch is it adds nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Over the next several months, micro- and macro-organisms will move those nutrients into the soil.
In other news, I bought a new lens today. I was recently featured in a blog post done by a good friend of ours, so I figured that because I'm (nearly) famous, I should get some respectable camera gear. The Nikkor 18-200mm fits our Nikon D40. The photo above and below show off the zoom capabilities of this lens. They are taken from the same spot - above at 18mm, and below at 200mm. That's what I'm talking about.
Lastly, a shot of the swiss chard in the fall garden (I was experimenting with the new lens.) The chard is slowly fading as the frost hits more frequently.

crop rotation

2008-11-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

I am currently working out my garden plan for next year, and there are many considerations. One is crop rotation. The following is my very rudimentary understanding of crop rotations written without references.

Different vegetables require different nutrients - or different proportions of nutrients. These can roughly be grouped by families. So, cabbage, brusels sprouts, and cauliflower, all being of the same family, have about the same effect on the soil. Potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers likewise.

If I plant the same group of vegetables in the same spot year after year, that patch of soil would eventually be depleted of the nutrients needed by that group. Pest problems would probably also worsen each year, since the pests specific to that group could just stay put and wait for the new round of crops in the spring. These are two major reasons for crop rotation.

As I am putting my plan together, I am trying to use only vegetables of the same family within each bed. It's not a totally rigid rule, but will simplify the process of crop rotation in the future - next year, I will be able to keep the grouping of vegetables within the bed the same, just put them in a different bed that I did the previous year.

It does become a little more complicated than this. For example, lettuce loves nitrogen and beans replete soil nitrogen, so it makes sense for lettuce to follow beans. Other plants (such as broccoli, I believe) will produce all leaves and no fruit if there is too much nitrogen in the soil. Therefore, in one bed, it makes sense to plant beans one year to replete the nitrogen stores, lettuce the next year to thrive on that nitrogen, then broccoli the following year once the nitrogen level has been tempered by the lettuce. However, I don't have to worry about this too much right now, because this is year one in all of my beds. I'll get into the more subtle nuances of planning and crop rotation next winter. Until then, you can check out Eliot's books for more information (yes, we're on a first name basis now.)

i'm a scrounge, too

2008-11-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

Taking a tip from Paul Gardener, I had my eye out for some leaves this past week. I've read that uncovered soil in the winter is "naked." Winter weather compacts the soil, leaches away minerals, and does a host of other nasty things - unless the soil is covered. This is where the leaves come in. They keep the soil protected, and, as it slowly decomposes, add badly-needed organic matter.

Yesterday morning, on the way to work, I spotted a side street that seemed to have a plethora of large trees next to the road. And at the base of those large trees: leaves, bagged and tied, just waiting to be hauled away. I simply assumed that they don't care who hauls them away, and since I have no large trees of my own, I figured I could volunteer for the job. So this morning, on my drive to work, I pulled over, filled the back of the Tahoe with about twenty bags of leaves, and was on my way. Took less than five minutes, and felt like a little bit of a drive-by.

I'll probably wait to spread them out until some rain or snow is in the forecast. Otherwise, they'll just dry up and get blown all over the place. They will be the blanket for the garden this winter.

a-z: beans

2008-11-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Camie is not a big fan of green beans. Won't eat them, she says. So I'm keeping the beans under control and going with only four varieties: Isar (Johnny's #2491), which is a yellow French bush bean; and fortex (#34), which is a classic pole bean. Third variety is fava beans, Windsor (#2141), which I've never eaten before, but seem big and delicious and I'm anxious to try them. Fourth is soybeans, Butterbeans (#104), for some delicious edamame. These are also a bush bean. I may add on some dry beans later on.

Timing: I'm going to sow seeds after danger of frost has past and soil temp is above 65 degrees. I could start them indoors before that, but they grow so fast once in the ground that I'd probably only gain a few days to a week at most, and starting indoors requires some significant labor. For fava beans, they are planted when the peas are planted -- first thing in the spring and possible late in the summer for a fall/winter crop.

My rows are 30" accros, so I'll plant the bush beans (the Isar) in rows across the bed, 5 or 6 inches apart, 16 inches between rows. These need to be planted in succession because they need to be harvested about every day to prevent toughness.

The pole beans will be planted using a trellis system, comprised of (3) - 8' 2x2 @ 7.5 ft. on center driven 2 feet into the ground, with a 2x2 cross piece at the top attached with a galvanized nail (drill hole to prevent splitting). In reality, any number of trellis systems would work, but this is the one I'm planning on now. The idea is to get these up in the air so the beans grow straighter, faster, and take up less ground space.

I will put the trellis down the middle of the row, and have one row of beans on each side. Untreated twine will extend down from the trellis crossbar to each bean vine, making a sort of "A" shape. At the end of the season, the plant and the twine will go in the compost pile. One advantage of the "A" frame is that it can be easily covered with plastic to make a mini-greenhouse and extend the harvest of the pole beans past the first frost a ways.

An alternate trellis would have one row of beans down the middle of the bed with one trellis on each side. Twine would extend from the trellises down to the bean plant, making a "V" shape. This wouldn't give you as many bean plants (only one row instead of two), but would make harvesting easier as gravity would help the beans hang down from the outside on the "V" frame rather that from the inside of an "A" frame. But space is limited, to I'll likely stick to the A-frame style and just deal with the slightly increased difficulty of harvesting.

a-z: artichokes

2008-11-11T19:11:00.001-08:00

So first in alphabetical order, and first in terms of when I need to start working on it, is the artichoke. "In Utah?!" you may ask. Well, yes. Here's the plan - pretty much straight from Eliot Coleman.

Artichokes are traditionally perennials, but require more mild winters than we have here to survive. But they can also be grown as annuals with a little manipulation.

To grow as an annual, artichokes need to be fooled into believing that they are in their second season of growth. So I'll start about January 15th, starting the seedlings indoors where they can germinate in the warm temperature. This goes on for 6 weeks and is their first "summer" season. At that point- about early March, the seedlings will go outside to a cold frame, where the temperature needs to be between 25 to 50 degrees F. This is their first "winter" season, and while they need the cold weather to be fooled into their winter cycle, they also need protection from frost and freezing during this time. Hence, the cold frame (I may do a separate post on this some other time, but you can probably google it for now.) They stay in the cold frame until the last frost date, which, I've heard, is somewhere around the end of April/early May for Salt Lake City. At this point, they are transplanted to the garden, where they start their second "summer" season and produce fruit.

I'm ordering the Imperial Star Globe Artichokes (#2120), one packet contains 25 seeds for $3.95. They need 24" spacing, so I'll probably use only half of the seeds, at most. The other half will be up for trade at the seed exchange.

a-z: on buying and trading seeds

2008-11-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

Now is the time of year to start planning what veggies to do next year. Most of the labor for the year is finished, just a few more beds to prep, but it feels like it's almost done. Maybe by this weekend it will be wrapped up and I can just watch while Mother Nature does her work.

Meanwhile, I'm flushing out my veggies list, going through the veggies one by one and mapping everything out on a calendar on when it needs to happen. That way, when the time comes, I can simply act.

I am ordering most of my seeds from Johnny's Seeds for two reasons. First, Eliot Coleman recommends them and I trust him. Second, my in-laws gave me a gift certificate there for my birthday. I have heard it can sometimes take a while to have seeds shipped. So I figure to have my list completed by mid-December.

Seeds are not cheap, but there are things that can be done to ameliorate the cost. This is where a seed exchange comes in. Lets say I want to plant 20 tomato plants this year. I can buy one pack of seeds and grow twenty of the same types of tomatoes for $4 (boooooring). Or, I can grow 20 different varieties, one of each variety, and spend $80 (20 varieties x $4 each). But, with a seed exchange involving twenty people, each person buys one variety of tomato seeds, brings them to the group, and gives each of the other people one seed from their packet. So, each person still spends $4, but can grow 20 different varieties of tomatoes, and they have met and interacted with twenty different gardeners and shared advice and tips. Everybody wins (except, I suppose, the seed company.) I think the seed exchange should take place around the end of January or so to allow adequate germination and seedling growth in the greenhouse before they go into the garden.

evolution of a garden bed

2008-11-11T15:59:00.002-08:00

The five stages of preparing the garden beds where the driveway used to be.

Starting point: asphalt

Step one: bust up the asphalt with a sledge hammer and take it to the dump.

Step two: use pick-axe to loosen up the ground underneath the asphalt, which, as you can see, is pretty much full of both large and small stones.

Step three: double dig the bed. This involves digging down to a depth of about 12 inches, removing all stones, and mixing in compost.

Step four: after letting the bed sit for about a week, plant the veggies - in this case, garlic.

Step five: wait until next summer and harvest.

In this last picture, you can see most of the different steps:

fall garden update: november 8 2008

2008-11-11T15:59:00.001-08:00

The first real snow of the season fell last week, and the fall garden is only a little bit worse for the wear. The victim was the peas. The plants are fine, but the pea pods took a major hit and won't recover. I shelled several of the pods for part of my lunch today. Also for lunch were swiss chard, kale, and a handful of lettuce, all from the garden.

The broccoli is starting to flower. Slowly, though. We'll see what happens with these - who knows how long it will take to get to the point where we can harvest them. So far, we've only been eating some of the leaves, mixed with kale and swiss chard and stir-fried.

garden the avenues: the sign

2008-11-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

As part of my efforts to start a local gardening club, I made this sign over the past couple days and installed in on the fence this afternoon. The idea is that passer-by's will see the sign, go to the website, send me an email, and after a while, we'll have a community of gardeners all connected and helping each other out.

When I told Camie what my plans were, she agreed to let me put a sign up, as long as it looked nice. I hope this one is satisfactory.

late grapes

2008-11-09T13:26:00.001-08:00

Working out in the garden today, trying to complete my list. I looked at the grapevine, and remembered that I had left one cluster on the vine, just to see what would happen. I had forgotten about it for over a month. To my great satisfaction it was still there, and the grapes: delicious!

In my mind, this is part of what growing your own food is all about: a quiet moment out in the garden, taking a break from the work, and enjoying a bunch of grapes grown a few feet away. Then, back to work, with the taste still lingering.

compost pile: late fall checkup

2008-11-08T14:59:00.001-08:00

I moved the compost pile again last weekend, because it had cooled down significantly. I've been curious to see how it would do with the cold weather and the moisture that we've had. Well, it was warm. Not hot like it has been previously. Temperature? I'm not sure, because I think my thermometer is broken. I think it may be too wet. The micro-organisms need oxygen to work, and if there is too much water, they can't access the oxygen. So, after I took this picture, I put a tarp over it to protect it from the winter wetness. I'll probably leave it on until the spring. I'm hoping that when I pull the tarp off the pile (with a flourish, of course) it will be a dark brown crumbly mass ready to feed the garden.

a-z: garlic planted Nov 8.

2008-11-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

I've been putting off planting the garlic until one of the beds was ready to plant, and today was the day. I planted four different varieties: early red Italian, German brown, Chesnok red, silver white (aka Silverskin). My initial bias is towards the Chesnok red, which had a nice purple color and large cloves. These are shown planted in the picture below.
I planted all four varieties - two pounds total - in one bed, dimensions 15' x 30". It took 6 rows. I probably spaced them about 4-5 inches apart, even though 6" is recommended. I should cover them with straw, so I'll need to track down a bale of it somewhere.

I'm keeping my garden plan/journal on the computer via a combination of the blog and drawing on Google SketchUp. In this first image you can see the garlic planted in the front right bed.

In this one, a view from the top down showing the approximate locations of the garlic varieties.

note to self

2008-11-06T20:37:00.001-08:00

things to do this weekend (in this particular order) -

1. plant the garlic

2. double dig the next driveway bed

3. prep the beds in the grass area (next to the driveway beds)

4. double dig other beds as time and energy allow

4.5. take temperature of the compost pile

5. take pictures and prepare posts of everything I've done so far

6. make a "garden the avenues" sign for the front yard

7. take pictures and prepare post of the "garden the avenues" sign for the front yard.

the incredible hulk

2008-10-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

happy halloween.

(thanks to Becky for sending me this image - probably from 1979)

final backyard design

2008-10-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, with Joel's and Mike's help, I tilled most of the back garden, removed a whole lot of rocks, laid out the first beds and started spreading the composted horse manure.

So I'm now committed to the following layout, which you can see schematically represented below. Three sets of 3 pairs of beds. Each bed is 30" by 15', with a 12" path between them. Between each pair and each set is a 36" path. The idea is that 30" is small enough to straddle, and 36" is wide enough for a wheelbarrow. Each bed has a path next to it that is wide enough for a wheelbarrow or wagon and will thus be easily accessible for planting and harvesting.

Total square footage of vegetable planting beds will be a bit over 700, not including the front garden.

fruit salad trees

2008-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

I bought and planted four trees at the nursery on Friday. One peach, one apple, and two fruit salad. Oh, but what is a fruit salad tree?

On the left in the first pic, is a peach tree. But look closely at the leaves and you'll see three different types. It is a peach tree trunk, with two different types of peaches and one type of apricot grafted on. It also has a nectarine branch and a plum branch, but they look pretty much dead so I'm not expecting anything from them. So one tree, three different types of fruit.

The fruit salad tree in the second image is the one on the right. Cherries. Three different types that will have consecutive harvests.

Now we just wait two years and we'll be swimming in fruit. In all likelihood, we'll be moving in 2-1/2 years and we won't see these grow to full maturity. Planting these is really for experience and for fun, so when we move into something a bit more permanent I'll have the experience to plant a real orchard.

i can

2008-10-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Major effort on the canning front this weekend. Mostly late at night. Got the recipe from my mom: 1/4 cup sugar, fill with pears, then with water, and put in huge canning pot for 35 minutes. Total haul was 12 quarts, plus a whole bunch of dehydrated pears. Pretty good for the first attempt. (Thanks to Camie for the pic, and big thanks to both Mike and Camie for helping with the work.)

compost pile(s): the new addition

2008-10-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

If you look closely in this photo, you will see three different piles. Closest to the camera is the aged horse manure, purchased a couple weeks ago and wheelbarrowed to its current location. Next is THE compost pile. We've been following this one closely. It's still hot - I haven't measured the exact temp recently, but I have felt it with my hand, and it is uncomfortable to touch. The newest one is the farthest away, against the back retaining wall.

This new one was built this past weekend as I leveled the back garden area. I created it out of extra cinder blocks of varying sizes that I found around our lot and in our basement over the past several months. This is going to be a long-term compost pile, probably maturing in a year or more, consisting of yard and garden debris and kitchen scraps. We have only just started implementing a system for getting kitchen scraps out to the compost pile, and that will provide a large part of the fodder for this pile. Yard and garden debris will also be added, but we won't have too much of these until next year.

Please note the rock pile in the corner. It will continue to grow as I double-dig the vegetable beds (more on this later). Also, take a look at the pear tree - the prolific and productive pear tree, now with no pears. Thanks to Mike for harvesting. I'm guessing we have about 50 pounds worth, ready to be canned or dehydrated this week as they ripen. I guess it's time to learn about canning.

clearing the back garden

2008-10-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was my birthday, and my son's. I took two days off of work, and spent the first of those two days finishing the driveway digout. The rest of the weekend was spent playing in the mountains and on the golf course, and working the garden soil. The following two photos were take from roughly the same spot - standing against the back fence and shooting towards the house. This first one was taken after I tore down the shed - a few weeks ago:

And here it is on Sunday night:
I started laying out the vegetable beds - a very exciting time. You can see them in the picture above, bordered by some tree branches. Actually, I'm not totally set on my layout, so it will probably change. After fueling up at The Village Inn as a final activity with our family this weekend, I used the cultivator to till the soil. It was all lumpy-bumpy and uneven, so I smoothed it out, making it as level as I could before my arms and daylight wore out.

driveway digout

2008-10-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

You may recall from this post that we had plans for a tractor to come last weekend to dig out the driveway. It snowed, and the tractor man did not want to come. So I bought a sledgehammer. This is a picture from about a week ago.

I used that sledgehammer until I couldn't stand straight and my shoulder was in constant pain. Then, with Terry (the homeless man who walked by as I was working and offered his services) I loaded the broken asphalt into my neighbors trailer and hauled it off to the dump. Terry even scored a couple of beat up, broken bikes at the dump for free, and left them on our front porch until they disappeared at some point on Monday. Getting rid of the driveway in this way was definitely cheaper than hiring someone on a tractor to take care of it, but my body has had to pay the price. Here is the "after" shot:

And one more, a close-up of the driveway. The plan is to work this soil a bit, then plant grass over the majority of it.

fall garden update: peas

2008-10-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous post, I didn't have much hope for these peas. In fact, I had dismissed them as finished once the snow hit. But they are doing terrific. They are quite short, which I am guessing is a function of the decreased amount of light available at this point in the season. I assumed that once the weather turned, it would kill any blossoms and pods on the vine. I was wrong. There are quite a few pods. My big mistake with these: I planted regular peas - I should have planted snap peas, which, I believe, take less time to mature. I've eaten a few of these pods, and while the taste is quite good, the texture is pretty stringy.

So I'm amending my former statement. I may end up trying fall peas next year, after all.

fall garden update: weathering the weather

2008-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we had our first spell of snow. Just a few inches over a couple days, and it melted soon after it fell.

I have toyed around with the idea of putting up a shelter over the fall garden, but I just let it be during the storm to see how it would do.

I'm glad to say that it held up quite well. All of the veggies were chosen for the fall garden based on their resilience to cold weather. In fact, they are thriving quite nicely with the nice weather this week. Here are a couple of photos from today. In this next one, you can see the new lettuce plants, directly seeded on September 20.

Finally, here are the newest carrots and onions, also planted on September 20th, about one month ago. They are growing slowly but steadily.

garden the avenues

2008-10-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago I had "crazy brain." It's when I lay awake at night with my brain going a million miles per hour. This was born during those hours:

garden the avenues

Of course, any of you who would like to join are welcome to, even if you don't live in the Avenues. I'll be making a sign to put out in our front yard, and I'll print some flyers to put out by the sign. I'm even considering going door to door, if necessary.

notice anything missing?

2008-10-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

I tore down the shed yesterday evening, in preparation for tomorrow's activities.

It is now stacked not-so-neatly in our front lawn, waiting until I have the dump trailer tomorrow.

Here is a never-before-seen view of the house and backyard. The shed would have been in the way before.
On the agenda for tomorrow: tear up and haul away asphalt driveway, rototill the entire backyard (grass areas included, if possible), spread 8 yards of horse manure compost in the backyard. This is not the compost that I am brewing right now. It's some stuff I'm purchasing from a horse boarding business in Sandy for $65 delivered! It cost me that much for gas and car washing to get the 2 or 3 yards of goat manure last week. Horse manure is a bit of a gamble because it is known to have more grass seed in it (horses don't have 5 stomachs like cows and can't digest as many seeds). This compost, however, has been brewing for about 6 months, and I'm hoping that it got hot enough to kill any of the seeds, or at least most of them.

final backyard harvest

2008-10-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

The weekend could be another major step in getting the backyard done. With the help of neighbor Fred, a man is coming with a tractor to tear up our useless driveway and till the backyard. Depends on the weather. Hopefully it won't snow until later in the day on Saturday, or at least just be a light snow so we can still work. In preparation, I harvested the last of the veggies from the garden planted a week after we moved in.

In case you didn't notice this tiny little eggplant, I took another photo of it:
Another shot showing off the different colors of the harvest:

fall garden update, October 7

2008-10-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

The fall garden will have its first test this weekend, when the temperatures are supposed to dip and snow is in the forecast. Everything is still going strong at this point. The new seeds I planted a few weeks ago germinated quite nicely and are doing well. We've been hitting the kale and swiss chard fairly frequently, and even cooked up some of the broccoli greens when I thinned them out. Here's a shot of the entire bed:

The major question mark in my mind as I planted this bed was how these peas would do. It has been interesting to watch them grow. They didn't climb very high, which I assume is due to the decreased light and temperature as the fall progresses. I have a feeling they are pretty much done at this point. We'll see what happens this weekend. But I am glad to see that there are a few peas:
This is the only one I have harvested so far. It was delicious!
I'm a bit skeptical that the peas in the fall are worth the extra effort because there are so many other veggies that are hitting their peak at that time. I may try again next year. We'll see.

greenhouse plans

2008-10-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

I don't really have a choice. If I want to do what I'm saying - growing most or all of our produce - I've got to extend the growing season, and I need a place to stage it all. So a greenhouse is a must. I found plans for this one online, and it looks pretty good. I like the design with the clerestory windows up top. And it seems simple enough to build in one day (I know...famous last words.)

At about 80 s.f., this one's pretty small, but should be enough room for what I need. I'll build shelves on the south side to hold trays of seedlings, and will have a bench on the north side as a work area.

compost pile: still cookin'

2008-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

I know the three or four of you who read this blog might be getting sick of compost pile posts, but too bad, here's another one. We've had a lot of rain over the past couple days - it basically started right after I turned the pile over on Friday and hasn't stopped since. So I was anxious to see how the pile faired.

It did quite well. The temperature read 125 degrees, but I only measured one spot and it was pretty superficial - so I'm sure it's hotter on the inside. You have to either look really close or imagine it, but there is steam coming out of the disturbed compost:

I also took a few shots of the peppers - it's nice to see something green on the blog again. First up is the habanero. No, I haven't eaten any of these. I did give my neighbor one, and I'll take his word for it that they are very hot. These started turning orange a couple weeks ago:

Next up is the cayenne:

compost pile: day four

2008-10-04T20:38:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I decided it was time to turn the pile. The temperature was dropping just a bit - average of about 130 degrees over several places in the pile. Plus, I was just anxious to turn it over and see what I would get. Here is a before picture:

A close up after I knocked down one side:
After I finished turning the entire pile:
And one shot after just beginning the process:
Overall I feel pretty encouraged by the process. I think I'll have some pretty nice compost in a couple weeks.

The planning process is ongoing. I'm thinking about building a greenhouse (I don't know how I can avoid it, actually) and I checked out soil block makers online tonight. Lots to think (and write) about.

p.s. - note to self: get the garlic planted!

compost pile: day two

2008-10-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

I know it's the same picture as I posted on Monday, but the pile still looks the same as it did then and I'm too lazy to take and then post a new pic.

But I did measure the internal temperature: 140 degrees! Excellent (try to channel Mr. Burns while you say it in your mind). It should stay that hot for a few more days (I'll be checking it) and as it cools down to about 100 degrees, I'll turn the pile over and repeat the cycle.

compost pile: stacked (day one)

2008-09-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Finally, the compost pile is assembled. I picked up the manure today, free of charge, from Drake Family Farms, a goat farm about 30 minutes away. Big thanks to Fred and Aimee, owners of this restaurant, for the use of their pickup.

The pile is about 5 feet wide by 5 feet long by 4 feet high. It'll probably shrink down over the next few weeks as it is decomposed by the microorganisms in the soil. It's been A LOT of work - and I really hope it's worth it. My body is feeling the work of the last three days, and I need a break.

I built it up like a parfait, with about 6 8-inch layers of ice cream (the carbon-rich wood chips) and 5 2-inch layers of chocolate sauce (the nitrogen-rich goat manure.) I also threw in some coffee grounds that Fred and Aimee brought me from the restaurant for additional nitrogen. Over the next few days, the internal temperature should rise to about 120-140 degrees F, then start cooling (I've read that if it's cold enough outside, the pile will steam as it warms up). Once it dips below 100, I'll turn the pile over to introduce some more oxygen, add some water to feed the microorganisms, and repeat every so often until it stops heating up and the soil is soft and dark.

compost pile: raw material

2008-09-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

Well, about 2/3 of the raw material, in the form of chopped up branches and weeds. The branches were courtesy of the two trees removed last weekend, the weeds were from the hours of work we've put in clearing out the planting beds around the house.

Here's a look at the trees as they stood last Saturday:

Then the big pile of branches left after they were chopped down:

And, finally, after a day and a half loading those branches into the limb chipper, having my forearms all scraped up, and getting more dirty than I've been in years, this is the pile we are left with. It looks pretty small in these photos, but in reality is a big pile:

Next stop: Drake Goat Farms in West Jordan tomorrow afternoon to pick up the goat manure. Then form the pile and turn it every few days.

next steps

2008-09-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

1. Saturday (after work in the morning) and Sunday: chipping all the branches from the trees we tore down last weekend and mulching all of the yard debris created in the past couple months. Cost of renting the chipper: ~$165

2. Monday afternoon - borrow Fred's truck to pick up some goat manure from West Jordan. Then mix with the new mulch to create a huge compost pile. This should take roughly a month or two to decompose.

3. I have two weekdays off in October - the 16th and 17th - for Joel's and my birthday weekend. My plan is to rent a bobcat and a dump trailer and accomplish the following tasks on the evening of the 15th and the 16th (I've got the timing carefully planned out so I'll only have to rent the bobcat and trailer for one day each):

demolish the driveway from the front corner of the house back.
level off the parkstrip out front in preparation for new grass planting.
dig up grass in backyard in accordance with new design.
pick up more manure from the goat farm and mix into raised beds to let sit over the winter.

Renting bobcat and trailer for one day: $360.

Dumping fees: $100 (estimate)

Goat poo: free (woo-hoo!)

new 3d designs

2008-09-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

Refining the design phase of the garden. This is the latest version. I'm loving Google's SketchUp software for helping with the 3d design. Dark brown rectangles = 4' x 8' raised beds for veggies. Click on images for larger size. First view is from above:

This is what you will see from the street (minus the roof):
From the rear:
And another view of the new backyard:
The trees will all be fruit-bearing, 11 total (in this design). Includes existing grape vine and a new raspberry patch. I'm also adding some flower beds along the side of the house where the driveway is now (more on that in a later post.) Total square footage of vegetable beds: 1008!

fall garden update

2008-09-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Most recent pics of the fall garden, taken on September 21. It has now been about 7 weeks since I put these plants in the ground, and here they are. As another fall experiment, I went ahead and finished planting the partial rows of the three lettuces, the onions, and carrots. It's really late now, but I had the seed and the irrigation is already set up, so I figured, "why not?"

The kale and swiss chard are ready to be eaten, which we will begin doing this week. Mmmmm.
The peas started falling over, so I set up this old section of chain link fence I found buried in the backyard underneath some brush. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have peas before the snow flies. We'll see:

the deed is done

2008-09-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

All weekend long, Mike has been putting me through the guilt treatment for wanting to chop down these trees. "If you're so green and organic, how can you kill a tree!?" Fair enough. We're killing these trees to make room for other trees - ones that will produce fruit, and make our yard look a ton better. Here are the before and after shots:

I never thought that there would be so many branches. Here's the pile. Next stop: Diamond Rental for a wood chipper. I can't imagine how big the pile of chips will be, and, once the manure and other ammendments are added, how big our compost pile will be. We'll need it though, 'cause I've been brainstorming again, and more plans are around the corner:

Finally, here's the star of the show, in action. Karson is Camie's cousin's boyfriend, and is awfully handy with a chainsaw:

garden plan: next several weeks

2008-09-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

I don't have anything against fir trees. I grew up with douglas firs in the pacific northwest. But this tree, right in the middle of the yard, is neither majestic nor beautiful. It is awkward and ugly and big. And it's coming down this weekend, thanks to Camie's cousin's boyfriend, Karson. It will open up the backyard quite a bit, and good riddance to it.

So that is next on the list. Once that's done, and we have another huge pile of branches, etc., it's time to rent the limb chipper. I'm not real thrilled, because it's going to cost probably about $150, but since we're getting the tree cut down for free, I guess it will even things out.

The limb chipper is also going to take care of this pile, which has grown to about 3 times this size since I took this picture:

This process will create a huge pile of mulch ready for composting. Next week, my plan is to get a couple truck loads of manure, combine it with the mulch, and let nature do its thing. Hopefully in about a month I'll have a nice compost pile that will feed my garden soil next year.

Also in the next few weeks, it's time to lay out the planting beds and work in some manure to sit over the winter and slowly decompose. I'm delaying this, though, until the current crops have run their course. I'm in a bit of a time crunch, too, since the garlic seeds have arrived and need to be planted. I'd like to have some compost to use by then, too, but I'm not sure exactly how long the compost pile will take to decompose. So we'll just proceed one step at a time and see how it goes.

garden economics: first harvest

2008-09-13T10:57:00.001-07:00

With the harvest of the arugula today, I can now start the "income" portion of garden economics. I'm estimating that the arugula was worth about $2. So here's the total:

Expenses: $274

Income: $2

Time: 16.5

All righty! We're closing the gap.

Please note: the expenses include many one-time purchases - tools, books, irrigation supplies - that won't need to be made again. But I'm trying to be thorough, and I think that over the long term the gap will close and eventually move into the black, even with these big up-front purchases. And more than half of the 16.5 hours was taken up in weeding the yard (still working on it, too), but, since those weeds are going to be reduced to compost used in the garden, I've decided to count it as time spent on the garden.

fall garden: first taste

2008-09-13T10:52:00.001-07:00

First harvest of the fall garden this morning. Arugula, no surprise. We could have harvested several days ago, but waited until today when we had some tomatoes (thanks to our neighbors Fred and Amy for the pineapple tomato used in the sandwich).

Pretty much delicious. I guess this would be a B.A.T. - bacon, arugula, tomato - sandwich. The arugula was moderately spicy, and makes this sandwich way better than its cousin, the B.L.T.

compost pile: getting started

2008-09-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

I am reading a terrific book - Step by Step Organic Vegetable Gardening by Shepherd Ogden. It's about 15 years old, but in the world of organic gardening, it makes it that much better. I highly recommend it.

I have officially started my compost pile today. Here is how I'm doing it. In this photo, on the back right corner of the garden, you can see a wall of leaves - vines hanging down from telephone pole support wires.

In this photo, that wall of leaves and vines is in a big pile on the ground because I ripped them all down today.

Here's a closeup of the pile. It is large, and there's some big branches in there. Also there are all the weeds that I've been pulling up from all over the yard in the past week. It will continue to grow as I finish up the weeding process this weekend.

Compost principles.

Ingredients: fuel, heat, moisture, air
Fuel: carbon. comes from "brown material" like dried out weeds or plants, hay, etc.
Heat: nitrogen. comes from "green material", such as fresh weeds, grass clippings, or manure.
Moisture: key word is moist. Not soaked.
Air: has to be there to feed the process.

I'm doing a quick compost process, which is a bit more labor intensive, but quicker. My plan is to let all of this stuff I cut down today dry out for about a week, and it will serve as the fuel for the compost. I may end up renting some sort of grinder/chipper to chop the big stuff into small pieces and allow for faster composting. Then, I'm getting a truckload of goat manure (free of charge) and will mix the manure (nitrogen source, green material, heat) with the clippings (carbon source, brown material, fuel) in about a 1:4-5 ratio.

In about thirty days, after keeping it moist and turning it regularly to allow fresh air to enter, I should have compost. It will be ready to use then, but I'll wait to use it until the spring, working it into the soil just before setting out the seedlings.

today's harvest

2008-09-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

I had the afternoon off today, so spent some time outside doing yardwork. More on that in the next post. But one thing I did was harvest all of the ripe veggies from the back garden. You'll notice a couple clusters of grapes - delicious, and there's a lot more still on the vine. I'm particularly fond of the bright red cayenne peppers.

Some of the grapes still on the vine.

Update on fall garden in front yard. We had some warm days this past week, and the new plants loved it. They seemed to get bigger each night. The arugula is definitely ready to harvest, and it's probably time to thin out the kale, swiss chard, and broccoli. I'll let the carrots and onions go a while longer before thinning.

The pear tree out back is heavy with fruit, but it's not quite ripe yet. I'm not sure what to expect in terms of insect damage, but hopefully it will be minimal and we'll have tons of pears to eat and dehydrate.

fall garden

2008-09-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

I planted this area in the front of the house about 3-4 weeks ago, in early August. Here is the view of the entire plot. It was an experiment in two things initially, and has turned into a fertile learning opportunity with many more lessons. The initial objectives were to learn about late-season planting and drip irrigation systems.

Arugula has been the superstar so far, which is no surprise given its very short time required for maturity - about 35 days. And it likes cool weather, which we are definitely starting to have. I intended to plant in succession to have a steady crop, but never did, so I have a quarter of a row instead of a half. I have tasted a few leaves already and it is spicy and delicious.

Next up are broccoli and peas. Broccoli is a cool-weather relative of cabbage, and takes 80-100 days to sprout. Which means these would be ready about the end of October. So far so good. I had good germination and will have many seedlings to choose from when I thin these out. Peas are also cool-weather plants, one of the first seeds to go in the ground in the spring. But planting during late summer? Totally depends on the weather. The plants survive frost just fine, but the flowers, which precede the actual peas, so not. So it's a race. Needs 65 days for maturity, or mid-October. Yikes - that might be cutting it too close. Hopefully we'll get lucky. Also had good success with seed germination. (peas on right, broccoli on left)

Lettuce. I thought lettuce would be a sure thing. Another early spring plant, I assumed it would take well to fall weather. But it hasn't. All three of these rows should have lettuce plants all along the top half of the rows. As you can see, that hasn't exactly panned out. I have two guesses as to why, and I think the first one is the best guess. Lettuce seeds won't germinate if the soil temperature is too high. I thought that with the drip irrigation, set for every 5 hours or so, would keep the soil cool enough. Maybe it didn't. Second guess, I may have just killed a lot of the seedlings during the initial weeding. There were a lot of weeds. and I may have been a bit too rough and tried to get too close. Solution: start these indoors next time. Both during spring and late summer plantings. I predict the headstart will do wonders.

Carrots and onions. Both germinated well, so we'll just wait to see how they fare. Both of these will remain in the ground for a while. I'll use some of the onions as green onions, and the remainder I'll leave in the ground until next year, to see how well they do over the winter. Much like garlic. Carrots on left, onions on right.

More superstars of cool-weather: swiss chard (on left) and Russian kale (on right). Great germination with many seedlings. These should last well into the late fall, maybe into winter.

Additional lessons:

Don't bring rocks into the garden. I did this to protect the sprinkler line between the third and fourth rows, because as I was cultivating the ground in preparation for planting, I busted one of those shallow sprinkler pipes (thanks to the previous owners for taking the shortcut on the sprinkler pipe depth). It actually turned out for the better, because the knowledge I gained of sprinklers while the geyser was going in the front yard ultimately allowed me to tie the drip system into the sprinkler system. I thought the rocks would make a nice path in between those rows and over the sprinkler line. They don't. They just get buried in the dirt and give the weeds a good hiding spot.. So now the rocks will be coming out, and staying out.
I should have used raised beds. Planting in rows makes it difficult to get in and out and work in the garden. I've probably trampled quite a few seedlings that way. Raised bed eliminates this problem, which is why they're being used in the backyard.
Weeding. My initial weeding process involved me on my hands and knees, digging with a hand tool trying to pull up every single Morning Glory root. It took forever. It was disheartening and led to me postponing the work. It took about 3 hours to weed the first half. Then I read in a book about the hoe. And promptly borrowed one from my neighbor. 30 minutes later, the second half of the garden was weeded. I know I didn't get the roots, but I'm not so much worried about it. Now, 15 minutes once a week takes care of any new growth, and makes me a much happier gardener. By the way, having rocks in the garden makes weeding with a hoe almost impossible.
My iPhone takes pretty decent pictures. Next time, when shooting into the sun, I'll need to use my hand to shade the lens so there is less glare (the last two pictures show why).

picture this

2008-08-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

The top image is the current "organization" of the garden. The bottom is what I have settled on for the garden plan. 16 raised beds. The twelve on the sides are 4 x 8. The center row is two 4x4 and two 4x7. In the center of the garden is a 10 x 10 square that will be used as a garden patio with outdoor dining table and chairs - eating the vegetables we grow in the garden while sitting in the garden seems kind of fitting. Total square footage of planting areas will be 472.

On the left side of the picture, there are grapevines already planted - they produce fruit, but not very much. So I'll be learning about tending grapes. On the right side, I'll probably be building a fence and planting some raspberries. I'm also considering adding another fruit tree to the back right corner.

I'm a little nervous about the cost of framing the beds and setting the patio, probably with brick pavers. But I do have a birthday coming up.

a-z, garlic

2008-08-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

(Thanks to extremenutritioncoach.com for the pic)

My original plan was to work the list of vegetables in alphabetical order. But as I was reading through my book, I learned that garlic should be started in the fall for a summer harvest. I guess it's sort of like bulb flower - if you want them to bloom in the spring, they need to stew all winter underground. Makes sense to me.

So I ordered the 2 lb Large Garden Pack, from Filaree Farm in central Washington. It was pretty spendy at $40 with shipping, but the supply should perpetuate itself so next year (and the year after that, and the year after that...) I won't have to order any. And this looks like good stuff - it better be good stuff.

If you're interested in growing your own garlic next year - it's time to order it now. Many sellers are running out of garlic seed (which really means a clove of garlic). Mine will be shipped to me in mid-September.

What I'm working with

2008-08-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

This first image is a map I created in Google's Sketchup. It shows a few of the dimension of the lot and the location of the planting beds (in brown). Our lot is about 32 feet wide by 170 feet long, and the main garden area in back is the last 50 feet of the lot.

Next is the front garden area, where I have planted a fall garden and installed a drip irrigation system. There are 5 rows, spaced 12-18 inches apart. I'll write a separate post on this area and what I've got going on.

Next is the "side yard." It's about 5.5 feet wide, and half of that is covered by a concrete sidewalk. It is almost always in the shade. However, our neighbors have offered to let us use the area above the retaining wall next to their house. It's a little over a foot wide, and faces south.

Here's a full view of the backyard with the lawn and most of the back garden visible:

Finally, the back garden with my hastily planted garden. This one also deserves its own post a bit later:

a-z. the list (so far)

2008-08-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

My only gardening book up to this point is The Edible Garden by Sunset. It has an alphabetized list of veggies (and fruit, but I'm not dealing with that at this point). I looked through it tonight - and reviewed some lists I found online - and came up with a list of what I am interested in growing. It's a long list.

My idea at this point is to do regular "a-z" posts for each of the vegetables as a way to summarize what I learn. Included will be information regarding different varieties, when to plant, when to harvest, cost of seeds/starters, ideal soil/sun conditions, spacing, and a tentative spot for them in my garden plan.

Here's the list, about 73 so far:

artichokes, arugula, asparagus, basil, bay leaves, beans

beets, berries, broccoli,brussel sprouts,cabbage, carrots,cauliflower, cauliflower, celery, chard, chervil, chives, cilantro, collards, corn, cress, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, fava beans, fennel, garlic, gourds, grapes, haricots verts, jerusalem artichoke, kale, lavender, leeks, lettuce, marjoram, melons, mint, mushrooms, mustard, mustard greens, okra, onions, oregano, parsley, parsnips, pears, peas, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radicchio, radishes, rhubarb, rosemary, rutabaga, shallots, spices (nutmeg, cloves) spinach, squash, strawberries, sweet potatoes, tarragon, thyme, tomatillo, tomatoes, turnips, turnips, watermelon, yams, zucchini.

Some of these are purely exploring options, and the list may not be complete. But it's a start.

Introduction

2008-08-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends.

I am starting to take my gardening a little bit more seriously, and I think that recording what I am doing will help me keep things straight, as well as providing a resource for other people who are gardening.

Even though our house is tiny, we have a decent sized yard, with a well-established garden area in the back. More about that later. We've lived here for a few months now, and since we moved in fairly late in the garden season, this year was just about throwing some plants in the ground and hoping we get some produce by the end of the growing season.

Now, with the fall and winter looming, I have plenty of time to be considerate, thoughtful, and well-informed in the planning process for next year. And this blog will serve as my notebook.

SLC Veggies

new garden additions

Gaia's Garden

garden update as of 4/5/09

seedling updates from 2/7

fall garden update: 2/1/09

seedling updates: 2/1/2009

germinating setup

the garden is growing

greenhouse

announcement: SLC seed swap

garden plan: bed #2

check it out: MyFarm

garden plan: bed #1

where do I go from here?

garden plan: rough draft is complete

garden plan: in progress

garden progression

mulched

crop rotation

i'm a scrounge, too

recommended reading: the earth knows my name

a-z: beans

a-z: artichokes

a-z: on buying and trading seeds

recommended reading: shepherd ogden

evolution of a garden bed

fall garden update: november 8 2008

garden the avenues: the sign

late grapes

compost pile: late fall checkup

a-z: garlic planted Nov 8.

note to self

more posts coming soon

recommended reading: eliot coleman

the incredible hulk

final backyard design

fruit salad trees

i can

compost pile(s): the new addition

clearing the back garden

driveway digout

fall garden update: peas

fall garden update: weathering the weather

garden the avenues

notice anything missing?

final backyard harvest

fall garden update, October 7

greenhouse plans

compost pile: still cookin'

compost pile: day four

compost pile: day two

compost pile: stacked (day one)

compost pile: raw material

next steps

new 3d designs

fall garden update

the deed is done

garden plan: next several weeks

garden economics: first harvest

fall garden: first taste

compost pile: getting started

today's harvest

fall garden

picture this

a-z, garlic

What I'm working with

a-z. the list (so far)

Introduction