Garden update

We are still having issues with little beetles on the green beans. The beans are barely growing because their leaves are being eaten so quickly. I go out and squish beetles several times a week and dust with Dipel Dust and Diatomaceous Earth, but I'm not sure it's helping! The beetles fly!

Yesterday I planted a row of green beans (topnotch yellow and bush blue lake) and corn (golden bantam and Illini). I think some of the tomatoes are getting ready to bloom. They look so much healthier this year, I think due to the cow manure Dad brought over.

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Gardening

I accomplished a lot in the garden today. I put straw mulch around the potato plants and down the aisles. Yesterday I planted cauliflower in between the potatoes. They are companion plants, so we'll see how that works. Today I also planted the walking onions from Grandpa Ettling between the tomatoes. Hopefully if it continues to stay sunny today, the Hubs will rototill the rest of the garden so I can transplant the pepper plants.
I also transplanted some plants. When we first moved in, the water softener was washing away the dirt in that area, so I planted some hostas and flowers that are salt-resistant in that area. The grass has really taken off by the water softener recently, I think because we switched to a different salt. It's more expensive, but less likely to kill grass. So I transplanted the hostas, purple coneflower, daylilies, lilies, white salvia and a fern to the dining room window area. I need to add more rock mulch around the transplants.

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Garden update

I accomplished some in the garden today. I planted another half row of green beans, and a half row of corn. I mulched in the aisle between the tomato plants - hopefully I'll be able to walk in the aisles after a rain now.

I planted the two rose bushes that I bought last month. Another Tropicana (that went by our bedroom window)and another yellow rose. I'll have to look up the name because Oregano is what is coming to mind but I know that's not it!

I also got bunching onions from Grandpa Ettling and a redbud tree. Not sure where the tree is going yet, but the onions will go in between the tomatoes for now.

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Garden

Today I planted tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. I still have two more varieties to plant, but ran out of room...

I planted:
Yellow Pear x 2
Black Cherry x 2
Red Zebra x 3
Rainbow Heirloom x 9
Roma x 9
San Marzano x 10

Also green tomatillos x 2.

During transplanting, I mixed peat moss into the transplant hole, and watered in with Schultz transplant solution. Then I mulched with the straw that we used last fall to insulate the shed concrete slab while it was curing.

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Garden 4.19.14

Finally! I spent several hours in the garden this morning. The Hubs tilled about half the garden for me. Oh, and Thursday evening I planted 3 Victoria Rhubarb plants.

I prepped the seed potatoes; I cut them into smaller pieces so each piece has an eye. They are drying out a bit on newspaper on our dining room table. Hopefully they will go in the ground this evening or tomorrow morning.

I planted golden shallots, red and yellow onions, mesclun mix, dill, Cylindra beets, Ruby Queen beets, and Tyee spinach. I also planted a first sowing of Top Crop green beans, and Sugar Sweet Pumpkins and Sweeter Yet cucumbers. I also planted a mix of castor beans, bachelor buttons, zinnias, Shasta daisies, and coreopsis.

Then I raked/hoed areas to plant tomatoes and the potatoes.

The rest of the garden will have peppers, corn, more green beans, winter and summer squash, more cucumbers, melons, tomatillos, carrots and more herbs.

This year instead of planting short rows across the garden, we are trying long rows that go the length of the garden (minus the area with the flowers, strawberries and asparagus). We are trying long rows so the Hubs can rototill the aisles - this will help keep weeds down, and will keep me from having to bend over and pull weeds when I'm super pregnant.

Earlier this week I started having second thoughts about such a large garden while pregnant. Then I decided to move forward with it. A garden gives me alone-time so I can think by myself, it gets me out in the sunshine for several hours each week, and it provides exercise (don't believe me? Try hoe-ing for 30 minutes, or bending over to weed or harvest. It's hard work!).

The fruit trees all appear to be growing, with the exception of the golden apricot that I planted in the fall of 2012. It is slow to set on leaves or blooms compared to the other apricot tree. So much for having multiple varieties that will polinate each other - kind of impossible when only one tree is blooming! The grapes, raspberries and blueberries are all coming back. And the blackberries I transplanted from the farm are growing. I am still looking for golden raspberries (a request by the Hubs) because the bare root ones I ordered from Burgess never sprouted. They even sent replacement plants and those didn't sprout.

The flower bulbs are also blooming, and the peonies are growing (although I don't expect them to bloom for another year).

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Seedling Update

Almost all the pepper seeds have sprouted. Except for the poblanos. Brand new seed - the garden center even had to order them because they were out - and only 4 of the 12 seeds that I planted have sprouted. I was telling the Hubs this, and he said I say this every year - that the poblano seeds are always slower. So I guess next year I will start the poblano seeds a week before everything else.
Yesterday I transplanted the cauliflower and broccoli into larger containers. I left two per container, but I planted them deeper so they aren't so leggy. I've never had much luck with brassica transplants, so we'll see how it works this year. They may be one of those vegetables, like tomatillos, that I have to buy plants for.
Next weekend the garden calendar says to start tomatoes! I'm really excited because I got a package of heirloom blend seeds that has all different colors and sizes of tomatoes. I don't typically like "grab bag" style seeds, but I've never met a tomato I didn't like, and I figured this would give me a chance to sample several varieties to see if there are some I want to specifically grow in the future.
Yesterday I raked some of the straw in the garden to the edge, so that when we get manure from the farm we don't have as much prep to do here. The straw came from when the Hubs poured the concrete floor for his shop. It was getting cold at that time, so we insulated the curing concrete with tarps and straw. After the concrete cured, we had 6 or so bales of loose straw and I suggested we put it in the garden area to use as mulch this year. Genius idea! It wasn't even hard to move because the straw was on top of the tarps, so we pulled the tarps down the driveway and dumped the straw in the garden. Surprisingly the straw hasn't blown away, even though we've had a couple crazy winter storms that blew shingles off the roof.
Looking forward, I'm a little anxious about our baby kangaroo's arrival. I know, we have about another 6 months until the baby arrives. But I'm thinking about his/her arrival in the middle of garden harvest season; I'm going to need extra help weeding the garden, harvesting and processing the vegetables. I'm also making a list of meals I can put in the freezer ahead of time and meals I can have ready to put in the crockpot for the first several weeks. My ideas so far:
Lasagnas - both a bechamel sauce and a red sauce variety
Stuffed shells or manicotti or canelloni
Meatballs
Turkey burgers - mixed up, preformed and frozen
Enchilada casserole
For the crockpot - fixings for roasts, pulled pork, stroganoff, and chicken noodle soup

Also looking forward to fresh veggies from the garden!

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Some updates

Most of the pepper seeds I planted have sprouted. The broccoli and cauliflower are ready to transplant into larger containers.

Yesterday was really nice outside - upper 60s - so I took advantage of the warmth and worked outside. I fertilized some of the fruit trees (I would have fertilized them all, but I ran out of fertilizer), and gave all the planters that have bulbs a dose of bone meal. I also pulled back the mulch from the strawberries and gave them and the asparagus a dose of super phosphate.

My garden calendar says this week is the week to plant spinach and root vegetables. But the garden is really wet - like you step in and sink 4" - so there's no garden work going on yet. I also need some manure from the farm before I start planting.

I also worked on the planter bed retaining wall. The portion I'm working on now is the farthest away from the rock and block piles so far. I'm about to turn the next corner of the house, but we need to figure out what we're doing with the patio in the backyard before I get too much farther.

On the home front, the Hubs and I are expecting a baby the end of August. Each week since I found out I was pregnant, I've been writing a blog post to what we've deemed our "baby kangaroo". I plan to publish those blog posts so I remember what happened each week of my pregnancy.

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Pepper planting

Today I started seed for poblano, jalapeno, banana, Chinese giant peppers (4-6" red bell peppers), Carnival mix peppers (mix of multi colored bell peppers) and yummy pepper mix (these look like the little bag of peppers from Aldi).

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Starting seeds

Last weekend I started broccoli and cauliflower seed. I have (3) six packs of cauliflower and (1) of broccoli. The seed was from last year, so I wasn't sure how well it would germinate. Almost all the cauliflower has come up, but less than half the broccoli.

Later today or tomorrow I will plant seeds of peppers and eggplant. I bought a mix of sweet pepper seeds, and I have seed leftover from previous years for poblano/ancho, jalapeno and banana peppers. This year I am starting the peppers a couple weeks earlier than last year, so hopefully they will be a little bigger at transplant time. The eggplant is also old seed, so it may not even germinate...

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Garden Report 8.25.13

Sorry for the blurry picture, but at least I remembered to photograph!

Yesterday morning I harvested green and yellow beans, cucumbers, a yellow squash, tomatoes, tomatillos, beets, peppers and the last of the onions. I'd say it was a pretty successful harvesting. I think I'm going to make another cherry tomato pie, but maybe with mozzarella instead of chevre.

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Garden Report 8.19.13

I've fallen a little behind with the garden report.... Not because there's not anything coming out of the garden, but I've had other things to do...

 Last week we made tacos with chorizo from the Butcher Block, pico with tomatoes, onion and cilatro from the garden, and fiesta corn made with onions from the garden, corn from the farmer's market.

 There's been a steady stream of green beans.

And tons of tomatoes. Not enough to can, but almost too many to eat fresh.

We got 1-3/4" of rain yesterday afternoon and evening, so it will be awhile before I get back in the garden again. There are tons of tomatoes and peppers ready again!

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Last 2 weeks of harvest + Looking forward

 Tomatillos, black cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, red zebra tomatoes, romas, green beans, soybeans, and a cucumber

 Peaches, bell pepper, onion, shallots, parsnips and carrots

Tomatillos, cucumber and green beans

With these tomatillos, I made a sauce served over chicken thighs and brown rice with sliced avocado and sour cream. 

 Yesterday I was driving up the driveway and looked off to the left and out of nowhere, there is a pear tree loaded with pears. Not a pear I planted, but one that came with the property. I guess we didn't notice it last year because it was so dry? I also noticed 2 more persimmon trees, which gives me 4 total persimmon trees. MMMmmm. Can hardly wait for fall!

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Garden Report 7.16.13

I'm a little behind on posting photographs from this weekend....

I picked lettuce (a lot of which has bolted), pulled beets, carrots and a couple parsnips. There are still a lot of carrots and parsnips in the ground, but I pulled some to see if they were actually producing anything. Surprisingly they were, unlike the radishes that didn't have anything worth eating...

I also dug the potatoes. The tops had all died back and I was afraid there wouldn't be any potatoes, but we had about 3 -4 potatoes for every 1 potato that I planted. In their place, I'll plant some more sweet corn.

We stopped by the farmer's market on Saturday morning and I got a peck of peaches. I made 7 half-pint jars of jam, and a peach tart, and still have almost a whole box left. I've been eating a lot of fresh peaches and making lots of smoothies.

For dinner on Sunday, I sauteed potatoes, and another pan of potato and parsnip "fries". Everything tasted so great - possibly even better since it was home grown.

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Garden Report 7.7.13

 Saturday I picked several more peppers.

 Check out the pepper plant on the far right. It used to have leaves. All the other plants around it have leaves.  I don't see any animal tracks or bugs. Strangest thing ever.

 This was an experiment this year. The tomato on the left I planted in the garden from seed at the same time that I set out the tomato plant on the right. I started several Dinner Plate tomatoes inside, but only one survived. I want more of them. We'll see how it measures up to the transplants.

 The first green beans are appearing!!!There are at least two in this photo (Where's Waldo?)

I started buying herbs directly from Frontier Coop. When I lived in Springfield MO, the organic store there sold these spices in bulk - you scooped out however much you needed and they sold by the ounce. There is a health food store here, too, and I would like to keep my tax dollars local. However, when I can get the herbs and spices shipped to my door for less than what I can buy them locally, I have hard time justifying. Even after shipping, it was cheaper to buy them online. I bought a pound each of: Himalayan Pink Salt, Ground Cumin, Cinnamon, Chili Powder, Garlic Granules and Onion Soup Mix. The salt, cumin, chili, and garlic will be gone in less than 6 months. We eat a lot of Mexican inspired dishes...

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Garden Report 7.4.13

Well this is a little late for an update, but better late than never.

Last week our taco night did not go as well as planned. Turned out the Hubs bought the wrong cut of meat, and even though the marinade was delicious, the meat was almost too tough to chew. Luckily we also grilled a tri-tip roast and deer steaks, and those served as taco fillings quite nicely. We used the chewy meat in breakfasts for a few days - cut up in very small pieces and mixed in with fried potatoes, topped with an overeasy egg. And I wonder why my cholesterol is high...? At least that's not my "everyday" breakfast - during the week my breakfast is whole grain cereal with fresh fruit.

The peppers and onions that were sides for the tacos included the above pictured peppers, fresh from the garden.

While some plants in the garden seem to be doing really well, others are stunted and looking a little sad. Turns out the corn and potatoes needed phosphate, and the beans need potassium. I fertilized the corn, potatoes and root vegetables with phosphate, and gave the latest planting of beans and corn a dose of the 10-10-10 fertilizer. I really hate using fertilizer, but I also realize the plants need to eat like I do. And since the garden is brand-spanking new this year, and we didn't get any organic matter (translation: cow shit) mixed into it yet, fertilizer will have to do.

These websites have been very helpful in diagnosing garden issues:
http://msucares.com/crops/corn/corn_stunted.html
http://customers.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/potato.htm

Last weekend I planted an azalea. I incorporated peat moss into the hole, and fertilized with the Root & Bloom fertilizer, and Sulfur. While I had the sulfur out, I gave a dose to the blueberries as well.

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Raindrops keep falling on my head

I had no idea it was going to rain yesterday. I shy away from watching the news and forecast on the weekends because most of the news is depressing and if I'm at home most of the weekend I can change clothes to accommodate the weather.

Yesterday afternoon it poured down rain. Two inches per my rain gauge. I'll always welcome rain because it helps the garden and orchard grow. But I had been waiting all week for the garden to dry out so I could weed (we had 3 inches earlier in the week).

Right before the rain started, my replacement plants from Burgess arrived in the mail. They have a great, hassle-free replacement policy. They don't even ask you to send back the dead plants, just the shipping label. About $100 worth of plants had to be replaced. They had been in the ground for over a month and were not greening up at all. I asked for replacements for:
Blue spruce x 3
Blackberries x 5
Red raspberries x 3
Gold raspberries x 3
Cherry bushes x 4
Creeping phlox x 6
Rhubarb x 1

Early this morning, I donned my galoshes and replanted everything. I also took a walk to check out the Norway Spruce that I ordered from the Conservation Department this year. On the lower side of the property, 5 out of 19 trees are alive. On the upper side, 19 out of 25 are alive. The differences: the upper side was planted with leftover Myke from when I put our live Christmas tree in the ground, and the upper part gets more sun. I expected the lower side to have a better survival rate because it is partly sunny and wetter. I ordered 50 trees; I have two leftover in a bucket of water, and the rest were DOA.

Yesterday, we bought most of what we need to finish the kitchen island: 2x4s, wainscoting (for the backside) and a butcherblock countertop. We were going to do concrete countertops, but I was dreading the dust all over our furniture and carpet, and the amount of time it would take to make the countertops, and was really concerned about cracking. An 8' butcherblock countertop cost us $160 at Menards. If we like it on the island, we may replace the remaining countertops, which are currently a (nonlovely) forest green marble laminate.

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Garden Report 6.9.13

Today was a rather productive day in the garden. It's not even noon yet and I accomplished all the garden chores I wanted to do today (except for one).

At this point, until I start harvesting, I am finished planting seeds. Unless, of course, I have to replant seeds again.

Today I replanted:
all the cucurbit family items: watermelon, cantaloupe, three varieties of cucumbers, acorn squash and summer squash. Of all the seeds I planted several weeks ago, only about half a dozen plants have emerged.

Illini and Kandy Korn sweet corn - because only about a dozen plants came up in two 20' rows - pretty disappointing saying the seed was this year's seed

I planted, for the first time:
2 half rows of Iochief and Golden Bantam sweet corn, and a whole row of Early Bird Garden sweet corn. The latter two are left over seed from last year.

a row of Top Notch yellow bush beans, and a row of Topcrop green bush beans

American Flag leeks where I harvested Karina peas - I pulled the pea plants because they were starting to yellow/die

I also planted marigold seeds between some of the tomato and pepper plants

Yesterday I hoe-ed between all the rows and today the Hubs rototilled between each row.

I put a slow release 14-14-14 fertilizer around all emerged plants. This way I'll know which seeds were replanted. I also put a combination of Dipel Dust and diatomaceous earth on the peppers, potatoes, beans and cucurbits. I put the dusts in one of the Hub's old socks and shook it around each plant. So much easier than a shaker!

The only chore left to do is mulch the strawberry and asparagus plants with straw. I may do that later this afternoon.

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Garden Update 5.18.13

Cherries have set on 

Black beans and green beans have sprouted. It appears some of the corn seeds were eaten by birds.

 The lettuce is finally getting bigger.

Peaches are set on!

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Garden Update 5.9.13

It feels like forever since I've written a garden update. Mostly because it's been so rainy and wet (I'm not complaining!) that I couldn't even walk in the garden.

I was caught up on plan review and my other projects, so I decided to take a couple hours off this afternoon.   There's rain coming in the forecast, and today was 80s and sunny - perfect time to plant!

I planted:
Kandy Korn sweet corn
Illini sweet corn (supposed to be good for freezing and canning)
Black turtle black beans
Soybeans (mmm edamame)
Kentucky Blue green beans
Some sweet peppers - napoleon, and some of the sweet mix I started from seed
The rest of the tomatoes I started from seed - yellow pear, thessaloniki, black cherry, dinner plate, red zebra
Artichoke seed- this is 4 years old so it may not germinate
Transplanted the 2 rhubarb plants
Perennial and annual flowers at the end of the garden to attract pollinators: zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, dianthus, bachelor buttons

I need to remember next year to start the pepper seeds earlier and the tomato seeds later. My tomatoes were getting really leggy, which meant I buried a lot of the stem, but they were REALLY leggy. And the peppers (and tomatillos) were still really small - they could have used another 2-4 weeks inside.

I'm going to try to convince the Hubs to roto-till the garden tomorrow if it isn't raining. I would like to plant cukes, zukes, watermelon, squash, cantaloupe and pumpkins soon, but hoeing the garden when it hasn't been tilled in several rains is backbreaking. (This is possibly evidence that I could not be a pioneer woman- I like my power tools. But, if I was pioneer woman, I also wouldn't be reviewing building plans as my primary job; I'd be planting a garden and looking after children, so I'd have more time to dedicate to planting a garden. I'm 28 and already looking forward to retirement. Hopefully I'll still be in good enough physical shape that I can garden when I retire!)

On other notes:
Our bird feeder is attracting several different birds: cardinals, goldfinches, indigo buntings, mourning doves and (possibly) wrens - or some other small bird.
We put up a hummingbird feeder last week after seeing a hummingbird outside the window. It was back and feeding less than an hour after the feeder was installed!
There is a swallow of some sort (looks like a barn swallow nest but more mossy) on our garage. This morning I saw fuzzy chick heads poking above the nest.
Rembrant tulips are beautiful! I'm going to buy and plant more this fall. I like them better than monocolor tulips.
It appears the Blue Spruce, raspberries, blackberries and cherry bushes from Burgess did not survive. I'll be notifying them I need replacements soon.
Our spruce order from the Missouri Conservation Department came this week. The trees are the same size or bigger than the ones from Burgess. They'll be planted this weekend, as well as the daylilies.

My garden plot looks a lot smaller now with planted rows.

The lettuces and root vegetables are really slow growing. I'm afraid they won't get any growing in before they get too hot and bolt. After they come out of the garden, I'm going to direct-sow broccoli and cauliflower. I started some from seed but am not sure where to put it. Once the cucurbits, more corn and more beans are in the ground, there won't be room for brassicas.

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Two days

Two days ago, I harvested two big bags of tomatoes. Most of them were Romas, with quite a few yellow and a couple Beefsteak.

Yesterday evening I harvested 5 summer squash. This may be close to the end squash season. I keep finding a lot of of squash bugs and squishing them. And a lot of squash bug eggs. I wish they would stop fornicating!

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