Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

The Disappearing Act

2012-01-02T02:03:00.003-07:00

Hello Friends!

I know you must think I have forgotten about you, but it is not so. Hubby did finally get back from Korea, but we were not able to stay in Colorado. There was no real garden for me this year, and I stayed away from my gardening haunts as it just made me sad to think about it.

We've moved to Washington (state). The Colorado house finally sold in August, and we're looking for a house here near Olympia. I really hope we find one soon, so I can start to plan my spring planting!! Finding what we are looking for is proving to take longer than usual, but the right one will come along in due time.

When I can really allow myself to think gardening for real, I will be back...
Amy

2010 Numbers

2010-10-31T23:41:00.004-06:00

We finally had a killing freeze a few days ago. I still have to go out to the garden to do the final clean-up, but I think I can safely add up the yields for the season now.

It wasn't the best year for several of my plants. The peas and beans and summer squash were all repeatedly chomped down as seedlings. I suspect pill bugs as they were the only bugs I ever saw real signs of on the plants, even when checking by flashlight at night. I finally got the zucchini go grow somewhere around July 4th, on the 3rd or 4th attempt. Most of my cucumbers suffered an early demise due to a little trellis accident. My neighbor removed his fence which was supporting my ladder trellis and I didn't have it secure enough before a strong windstorm came along a couple days later and ripped the plants right out of the ground. The few Tanja cucumbers I did get to eat were some of the best I think I've had. They are definitely on the repeat list.

Another for the repeat list is the Carmen Peppers. I'll also grow them in a pot again as the plant in the pot produced more ripe peppers which were larger and earlier than the ones in-ground. Both plantings were started indoors at the same time, so I think warmth of the black pot was a benefit for the peppers.

My big producer (again) was the Small Wonder Spaghetti Squash. I won't try planting them where they share space with any other squash though, the spaghetti took over and none of the others produced. I did get one little Small Sugar Pumpkin but I'm not sure at this point if it will ripen, it started so late.

Anyway, here are the numbers:

SALAD GREENS/LETTUCE 4.38#
RADISHES .31#
BUSH BEANS 14.25# (Pole beans did not fare well)
TOMATOES 5.69# (Mostly cherry tomatoes)
GARLIC .5#
CUCUMBERS 3.25#
POTATOES 24.88#
PEPPERS 1.94#
CARROTS .44# (I had terrible germination rates)
ZUCCHINI 10.69# (I was glad to have any, with the start they had)
PATTYPAN SQUASH 2.94#
SPAGHETTI SQUASH 53.00#

ROUNDED TOTAL: 122#

Please Excuse...

2010-10-05T17:18:00.002-06:00

Please excuse Amy from her blog-posting this summer...

I feel a bit like I need one of those excuse notes my mother used to write when I missed school...

I'm sorry for the disappearance this summer. It's been a little difficult for me to keep up with the blog. Some of you may remember that my husband has been in Korea since May 2009. We thought he would be able to come back to Colorado but unfortunately, that is not the case. Turns out, even federal firefighting jobs are hard to come by this year. He was offered and accepted a position in the Tacoma, WA area. He finally has come back to the states and after a short visit here in Colorado, he left this morning to head to Tacoma.

While I have still been tending my garden (mostly), I have had to focus more on finishing projects around my house, preparing it for sale. It's been hard for me to write about it, as I am sad to have to leave. I have started to write this post several times over the past few weeks but I just wasn't ready to deal with it yet. I will post my end-of-season results once the cold finishes the growing season and I'll try to keep up with my online friends again soon, but I guess until I get my house sold and my new living situation figured out, I may be a little quiet here.

I will be back though- even if I can only garden in containers, I'm not giving it up.

Things Are Looking Up!

2010-07-26T21:24:00.002-06:00

July has brought us some rain followed by warm temperatures and it's really starting to show out in the garden now. My zucchini are still alive (yay!!) and are starting to get a little bigger. It'll still be quite a while before I get any but the farm stand opened last weekend (I'm so glad they're back!) and they have good zucchini. I've gotten a few zuccs, cucumbers and sweet onions from them this week. I'm going to try out the corn later this week.

The pattypan is still small but has some baby squash starting on it now. The plants were pretty small last year but I thought it was due to being in partial shade. This one is in the sun and is still small. I'm thinking they're just much littler plants than zucchini.

Once again, I think the spaghetti squash is going to be the star of the garden. This bed actually has spaghetti squash, butternut squash, small sugar pumpkin and sugar baby watermelon. Most of what you see in this photo is spaghetti squash. The pumpkin and butternut are starting to put on some size but the spaghetti squash is going crazy. I think there are days that squash grows 6". I have to check it daily to keep it on its trellis and in the bed.

The bush beans have taken off too. I'll give you one guess which section has started to produce this week...

Caterpillar Help?

2010-07-24T20:15:00.001-06:00

I've got these caterpillars on one of my young trees in the back yard. Anybody know what they are? The biggest ones are about an inch and a half long.

Thanks for listening...

2010-07-18T22:58:00.003-06:00

Sorry about the whining in my last post. Thanks for "listening" and I appreciate your sympathies. I was having a moment that day...

I know I garden in a challenging environment. Probably why the neighbors looked at me funny when I built the garden (though I'm really glad I did!!). I came across this edition of our little town paper the other day (sadly, it's been hanging around in a pile of stuff since May. It's taken it's proper place in the recycle bin now.) Somehow, this headline gives me a feeling of validation...

Things are looking better out there this week and I replanted beans and peas today. I should still have time for a good crop of bush beans though I hope I'm not too early on the peas. We'll soon see (it's OK if I am, I have more seed...).

Third time isn't always a charm...

2010-07-12T22:50:00.007-06:00

Year three with my garden is turning out to be a frustrating one. Spring was long and cold. May and June were very very dry. July is bringing some rain and hot days but with that also comes the risk of hail. Here's our little hailstorm July 4th... It came with over an inch of rain and we didn't get the big bad hail that some others nearby got, so I guess I won't complain.

These milk jugs didn't really appreciate that hailstorm though they were likely brittle from the sun exposure though. They are on season 2 of use.

This bed probably bothers me the most. This should be full of zucchini, pattypan and pole beans by now. The indoor started zucchini didn't survive a strong windstorm early on. The direct sown seeds either didn't sprout or were immediately eaten by the bugs. The indoor sprouted zucchini seeds were eaten. I just planted out some indoor starts yesterday. They were still there today so I guess there's hope. At least 2 of the new ones already have their first true leaves so hopefully they're big enough to survive. I've planted the pole beans I think 3 times. These should be Rattlesnake and Zi 28 Long beans. Today when I looked, I do see a few new sprouts so maybe...

Same story with the other pole beans (I think Kentucky Blue and Blue Lake maybe?). I tried to presprout some in the house like I've done with peas but it didn't work so well. I've replanted AGAIN and fairly heavily. Hopefully something will survive and be able to produce before frost.

Even the bush beans are having some trouble. This year, instead of my normal spacing of about 9/sf, I thought I'd try out wider spacing. I planted them about 6" apart or 4/sf this year. Unless the surviving plants produce like crazy, I think I'll go back to my previous method. At least that way, when a couple didn't make it, there wasn't a huge gaping hole where a plant should be. I'm going to replant the empty spaces sometime this week.

The tomatoes were doing well until something came along and chewed the stems. I lost 2 this way last week. The others seem to be doing well though a few of them are very small still. The Galinas Gold Cherry and I think the Thessaloniki are growing well at this point.

This half bed should be full of broccoli and cauliflower. Sadly, right after I gave away my extra starts, I started losing plants. I'm not expecting to see any broccoli though I may get cauliflower.

Finally, my carrots did not do well at all. With the dry windy weather, I guess I just didn't keep them wet enough to sprout. I have about 3 carrots from 4 squares that sprouted. So sad. I sprouted some indoors (wet coffee filters) and put them out today. Perhaps they'll survive...

I guess, on the plus side, the onions are doing well this year, much better than the past 2. Of course, I mainly use onions when I cook zucchini...

Slime Mold

2010-06-21T19:35:00.002-06:00

When I went to the garden today, I found a very unpleasant-looking surprise. It looked as though something vomited in my squash bed. Strange thing is, I found the same thing last year.

This disgusting stuff was almost completely covering one poor little watermelon seedling (look closely in the center of the above photo). When I poked the stuff with a stick, it was soft & gooey and mustard-yellow in the center. Just gross.

I took these pictures planning to post a "what the heck" question but I decided to see if I could figure it out myself. Amazingly when I Googled "garden Colorado yellow slimy" I actually got useful results! After clicking a result titled "Yellow Goo in your Garden" from CSU's Extension office, I had a name to search. Slime Mold.

The next article from CSU (The Slime Molds) describes the mold as resembling dog vomit. I knew I had the right answer then! Actually, after reading the article, I'm almost wishing I hadn't poked it apart as much as I did (before I hosed it down pretty well to free the poor melon). It really is sort of interesting. I did have to laugh at the end of the article where it says "Like nature's other organisms, slime molds should be looked at for their beauty and enjoyed as one enjoys a mass planting of dianthus or snapdragons". I'm not so sure I'd go that far...

Sprouts in my Squash

2010-06-17T22:50:00.005-06:00

What happens when you keep spaghetti squash in the house for

8 months?

It starts to sprout!!

I ate it anyway!!

It was my last one...boy I hope they grow well again!!

Umbrella Trellis

2010-06-16T23:55:00.002-06:00

Ever wonder what to do with a broken patio umbrella?? How about a bean trellis?

While out walking the dogs one afternoon a while back, I came across an apparently unwanted patio umbrella that just looked like it needed a second chance at life, so I brought it home. I took the fabric cover off and removed the crank handle. It's been on my porch for a while waiting for me to figure out how to do the rest of what I wanted to do. I wanted to use it to grow pole beans in one of the "rings" so I needed to reign in the size a little bit. I tried bending/pulling the ends in and holding them in place with a strip of plumbing strap but I couldn't get that whole scenario to work out for me. I was telling a friend about it the other day and he asked why I didn't just cut it. Today, I thought, hmmm, why DON'T I just cut it?? So I did.

It would have been much quicker if I had some bolt cutters but I don't (and neither does the neighbor). I cut the first one with a hacksaw but that was going to take forever. I decided to be bold and pull out the reciprocating saw. I cut about halfway through with the saw (and I still have all my fingers and toes) then I snapped the ends off.

I had some shelf caps (that cover the cut ends of white wire closet shelving) that I glued onto the ends so I didn't end up hurting myself. Since the locking mechanism that keeps the umbrella up didn't work anymore, I put a screw into an existing hole to keep the top in place. It works well since I wanted a smaller diameter trellis anyway.

I took my new UFO-looking trellis to the garden. I dug down until the ground got hard and set the lower pole. It's wedged in there with some leftover concrete block and brick pieces. I added the upper portion and tied it to the nearby t-post to keep it in place. I then ran string from the ends to the ground holding them in place with some makeshift pins I made by bending some of the "call-before-you-dig" flags I had hanging around. I planted some beans and now I hope they'll actually grow well this year and get to the top!

It's a good thing the neighbors like me :-)

Hail Danger

2010-06-14T23:59:00.003-06:00

Ok, so I took these pictures a few days ago (6/11) and it's taken me this long to ACTUALLY get them posted here but I guess better late than never? It's still pretty accurate anyway.

We had a little shift in the weather this weekend. We went from hot and dry to cold and damp with the cold being ushered in by some wicked thunderstorms. Before the front arrived, I tried to cover the garden as best I could, just in case. I've got my usual sheer curtains and it doesn't show in the photo but I've also added some old window screening to some of the smaller spots. I'll need to take that back off soon as I think it shades the plants more than the sheers do. I also quickly re-assembled the tomato trellis-structure. Over the top I have a double layer of chicken wire, slightly offset. Once the tomatoes get taller, I won't be able to use my hoops. I hope if big hail comes along the wire might save the plants. Of course, it can still come in the sides- I have some more sheer fabric I can wrap around the whole bed.

Sometimes I wonder if all this covering is pointless since if big nasty hail comes along, it will shred that fabric tout de suite, but I do think it's worth a try at least. I do think it helps the plants avoid the battering from the more likely pea-sized hail.

We were fortunate again in this last round of storms, we got some much-needed rain and we only saw very small hail. Some other areas of Colorado were much less fortunate. There was talk of golf and tennis ball sized hail in other areas.

The Red Pontiacs in the potato bin are showing good growth lately. I did add some more mulch the other day but I don't think the bin is going to end up very tall this year. The potatoes are showing flower buds this week and I suspect once flowering begins, top growth will likely end. I did get them into the ground somewhat late this year.

I'm not having much summer squash success so far. First, I started the seeds indoors WAY too early. When I planted them out, the zucchini didn't make it (I suspect high wind brought their demise). I planted seeds which should have sprouted by now I think but there's no sign of them. I'm pre-sprouting a few more just to check the seed which is new this year- I just opened the package to direct sow more. The originals were 2008 seed. The cucumbers seem stagnant too and seeds are slow to sprout there as well. I replanted those the other day.

This poor squash is the saddest story of them all. While watering the non-sprouting seeds the other day I noticed one of my pretty pattypans looked wilted. I hadn't watered them for a couple days and thought perhaps that one was dry. I gave it a drink & left the garden. The next day, it looked sadder still. When I looked closely at the stem, it was a bad scene.

Yep, those little white strings are all that's left of it's stem. I'm not sure of the culprit but when I pulled back the mulch I saw several of my little roly-poly pillbug "friends". I am hesitant to blame them since by the time I looked closely, the plant was dying but I've read stories from those who think they do eat live plants too. Something has also been snacking on the bean cotyledons. I haven't spied that culprit yet.

On a happier note, the lettuce are finally growing big enough to harvest some leaves. I harvested the mustard greens after my last post as the plants were sending up flower buds. I flicked off 5 or 6 caterpillars and found a couple more when I was washing them, but I'm quite sure I got them all off. After I took this photo, I snipped off all the leaves that were big enough to eat. I normally would have let them grow a little bit bigger but I decided to harvest them, just in case the hail really did come this time. At least this way, I got to eat some!

After a cool few days (highs in the 50's), we should be closer to 80 tomorrow (technically, that's today, it's a little late tonight). Hopefully I'll get the perennials & herbs on my front porch planted this week. I hoped to do it today but another thunderstorm rolled through shortly after I went outside. While I'm sure my mild fear of lightening comes from an early childhood incident , I've heard enough stories of local people being struck by lightening in the past couple years, I don't stay outside much when the thunder starts. Like the weatherman says - "When thunder roars -get indoors"!!

Transplanting Tomatoes & Peppers

2010-06-05T20:17:00.003-06:00

Today was a beautiful day! Earlier in the week, the forecast temperature for today was 93 degrees which I was somewhat dreading. My house does not have central air and it's early in the summer for that kind of heat, I'm just not used to it. Thankfully, the forecast changed. Today was in the mid-80s and a little cloudy most of the day with just a little wind. It was hot in the garden when the sun came out and I did end up with a bit of a sunburn, but I finally got some more planting done.

I transplanted the peppers into their designated area (I call this ring #3- though it's really more of a rectangle, it's named for the way it was built). I added the jugs of colored water and a couple dark rocks to absorb heat and there's plastic 3/4 of the way around the outside to add some warmth and cut the wind. I tied some row cover fabric over the top as well- sort of a pepper-incubator if you will. I add the extra heat steps because our nighttime temps dip pretty low all summer long- in part because of the altitude (we're at 7000'). I am just now planting them out because I think I put them out too early last year and the peppers were stunted until late in the season. I'm hoping I get some peppers before October this year. In this ring I have planted two Banana peppers, two Pimiento peppers and two Carmen peppers. I also have a third Carmen that I planted in a pot. I'm especially looking forward to the Carmen peppers, they sound like they'll be really good. The Carmens are the big plants in the foreground.

I also planted the tomatoes. Some of the little guys are still so very small. Hopefully they'll grow now that they're outdoors. The photo shows about half of a 4x10' bed. In that half, I've got 12 tomato plants. I suspect some won't make it or will remain small this year. The big ones you might actually be able to see in the picture are Galinas Gold Cherry (2) and Thessaloniki (2). I've also got a Jubilee Yellow, a Kelloggs Breakfast, two Black Cherry, three Rutgers and one Roma. Since it doesn't look like hubby is likely to be around this summer either, I'm not terribly concerned about tomato production. I'm not a big tomato eater (though I do sort of like the flavor of the gold and black cherries). At this point, I'm starting to think of growing tomatoes as sort of a challenge. Except for the cherries, we have not had great success yet.

When watering yesterday, I noticed there were a lot of ants on my larger Catnip plant. When I flipped over the leaves I found masses of aphids. I hosed them off last night but as you can see, I didn't get them all.

The lettuce & salad greens are growing pretty well now. The cabbage worms have discovered the Savanna Mustard though. I'll have to remember to look carefully when I pick them - I'll pass on the extra protein if I can at all help it. It's not a major infestation at this point, hopefully hand-picking will keep them at bay.

The poor started-too-early spaghetti squash transplants are still looking pretty sickly though there's actually a female bloom starting on one of them!. I planted some seeds just in case and I noticed one direct-sown sprout today. I wish I could remember how many seeds I planted though, the pumpkins don't look like they're going to make it and I hope I tucked in a few seeds.

I lost all the zucchini transplants (I think the wind beat them up too much) but the pattypan squash transplants are looking quite healthy.

I also planted two more varieties of beans today, Top Notch (yellow bush) and Burpee's Tenderpod (green bush). The Tendergreen Improved (bush green) and Cherokee Wax (bush yellow) I planted earlier are starting to sprout now. I'm still waiting on the Zi 28-2 Long beans and the Rattlesnake beans to sprout. They should be popping up soon.

Now, we just need a little rain... (just a little with no hail please) :-)

Finally, some gardening weather!!

2010-05-29T23:36:00.007-06:00

I finally got a chance to make some progress in the garden this week. We've had some beautiful warm (actually, hot) weather. I missed the chance to work outdoors Thursday since the house was getting a new roof and it wasn't safe to be out working near the house (and there were 6 guys on my roof)- I just stayed inside for the most part. Friday, I made some progress. I got more seeds and starts planted, pulled a few weeds, added some more mulch, tweaked the trellises and generally cleaned up the mess I had going out in the garden.

I planted the started-too-early squash and zucchini a few days ago. Some have fared better than others. Both zucchini starts seem to have succumbed to the strong winds we've had and the pumpkins aren't looking so good. I think the spaghetti squash, butternut, watermelons & pattypan are going to make it. I direct-sowed a few seeds just in case. I also planted out the cucumber starts along with a few seeds. I planted seeds of Rattlesnake beans, the Zi Long Beans and I replanted the peas since they've not done much of anything and they've been out there a few weeks. I've had just a few that have broken ground. It is possible the bunnies discovered them and chomped them before I ever saw them since I actually planted them outside the raised bed. Oops..

It seems pretty much impossible to get an overview photo of the garden but this one gets pretty close. I've just caught the corner of a couple beds, but you can get a general idea of the plot. I'll try to catch the same angle later in the season when there's actually something growing out there to give it some dimension. I think if you click the photo, you'll get a bigger view.

So, here's one of my less successful beds- the asparagus I planted last year didn't do so well. I'm not sure if you can see but there are 4 spears in this bed. I planted 10 roots. Several didn't come up at all last year and I think these are from two roots. I ordered replacements but they won't come until next spring. The strawberries didn't fare much better. I've only got about 4 plants total out there from 25. I'm not sure what happened to them. Last year, they started out great then turned yellowish. I'm sure that was a fertilizer deficit but it seemed strange since all the new beds last year were filled pretty much the same and the other plants did fine. I lost most over the winter though. I have replacements coming soon.

The raspberry patch is filling in well. I planted 9 plants last year, one didn't sprout. There are lots more now. Hopefully I'll get some berries this year. Last year, my fall-bearers froze before they ripened.

The pots at the top of the retaining wall are a visual aid for planning the herb garden. It was supposed to go in last year but I never got that far. Right now, the only thing planted up there are the walking onions. Hopefully that will work out alright, those onions might not stay where I put them. They should be fine for a year or two I think, then they'll need some supervision or a dedicated bed of their own.

This is the salad bed. I've got Summer Crisp, Baby Romaine, Black-Seeded Simpson, Savanna Mustard & Teton Spinach in there. I started the seeds in milk jugs on the porch (wintersowing-style) and transplanted them a few days before I left for Montana. I'm finally seeing some growth. Hopefully I'll get some lettuce before it bolts. I also have a few Swiss Chard, Broccoli & Cauliflower in the other half of the bed. Of course, since I gave away my extra broccoli starts at the swap, 2 of the 3 have since died (presumably the wind, possibly hail). It's ok though, broccoli isn't my favorite anyway. I tossed in a couple more seeds for gee whiz yesterday.

This bed may become an interesting experiment in squash growing. I've got spaghetti, butternut, pumpkin (Small Sugar) and watermelon (Sugar Baby) in there. I debated which way to place the trellis and though it looks funny backwards, I think that will be more effective. I added string to it to give a little more climbing area. I need to find a couple more 2x2s and add them to the backside to make it more like a stepladder. It has at least stayed put with the winds we've had so far, unlike the actual ladder which I had to secure a little better. The jugs of water and rocks in the bed are to absorb heat to help keep the little plants warm at night. I need to work on a cover for this one though, my previous attempts have all blown off. Hail is bound to come along and I've got to try and protect the plants. There have been some devastating hailstorms around Denver and Pueblo this week. We got a little taste the other day but it stopped before it got too bad. Denver had 6" of hail on the ground and had to bring out snowplows to clear it.

The Red Pontiacs potatoes in the bin are starting to show some growth. The other potato patches are showing some green now as well. Once again, I've got potatoes scattered all around. I seem to have some self-control issues when it comes to buying seed potatoes. I was pretty good this year, I bought Red Pontiac, Purple Majesty & Majestic Purple (which may end up being the same as the Majesty, I'm not sure). I also planted the pantry-sprouted spuds from last year's harvest.

That's all I've got for today. It's been a slow spring but things are looking up! Soon, the tomatoes & peppers will be headed out the door.

Well, there is one more thing... this one can't wait for the veggies to get going!

Spring Swap

2010-05-26T23:27:00.004-06:00

This past Sunday was the annual Spring Swap for members of the Rocky Mountain Gardening Forum. The RMG folks have done a swap in the spring and fall for the past few years. This is my third swap (spring, fall, spring). This year, we met in Longmont. (about a 2 hour drive for me). We had a potluck lunch and time to visit for a while (finally getting to match faces to the screen-names we already know), then we started the plant picking.

The "rules" allow members to post offers and requests beforehand and to have items earmarked for them in advance. After we've found the earmark recipients, we draw numbers to decide the order of the draw. Each member who brought plants gives a brief description of what they brought, then, in the order of the numbers, each person gets to choose a plant. We do two rounds of picking by the numbers, then it's a free-for-all. I tried to copy/paste a few pictures from the swap (with permission by the taker, Laura_42) but I can't figure out how to make that work (I suspect Flickr doesn't allow it) so if you're interested, click THIS LINK

These are the goodies I came home with this year. Since most of the plants are small, it doesn't really look like a whole lot in the pictures there's really a lot of stuff in there (click the links to see what they should look like grown up).

This first picture shows the many May Night Salvia (which were sulking a little when I took the picture but look great now), I think I have 8. There's also a Pasque Flower, Balloon Flower, Clematis (Radar Love), Dianthus (Arctic Fire), and an Oriental Lily (specifics unknown).

Then there is a Chocolate Mint, Chives, Agastache Desert Sunrise, Viola, 2 Blue Fescue (Elijah Blue), a Gazania, 6 little Cosmos, a Zauschneria (Hummingbird Flower), a Rudbeckia Fulgida, 2 Anemone Sylvestris (Snowdrop Anemone), an Ajuga Replens 'Chocolate Chip', Black Cherry Tomato, and a start of Dianthus Simulans that I hope will take root.

Finally there's 2 Lamb's Ear starts, a few packets of seeds (cukes, beans & peas), and quite possibly what I'm most excited about, Egyptian Walking Onions. I got to be the third person to pick and they were my first choice. They didn't last long and those who didn't get any really hope there will be more at the Fall Swap.

All in all, it was a great day!!

Oh where, oh where have my wormy friends gone??

2010-05-20T23:23:00.006-06:00

Ahhhhh.... home again! I'm back from a week-long trip to Montana. I left Colorado a week ago Tuesday, passed through cold, rain & some snow in Wyoming and got to Montana in time for a beautiful weekend! Hubby flew in from Korea and met me there to watch my stepson graduate from the University of Montana in Missoula (with high honors I might add) and to see my step-daughter get married in Great Falls. What a week! We're all back home now. I made it just in time for some beautiful Colorado weather!

Today, instead of unpacking or doing my laundry, I worked in the garden. I put up the ladder trellis and the other ladder-like trellis I built last year and hopefully have them secured in their spots. I planted the corn and watered the perennials. lettuce & potatoes. When I pulled back the straw mulch where I intended to plant the radishes & carrots, I discovered a little problem. The mulch layer I added in the fall had not decomposed like I expected. The corn bed was the same way but those seeds are big enough, I was able to fake it (hopefully) by planting into flakes of straw. I can't do that with my paper-towel seed mats. I ended up moving the mulch, digging out the fully composted lasagna layers of two years ago. I put the old stuff in a few large tree pots for temporary storage, dumped the mulch layer into the bottom of the bed, tossed in a few clods of sod from the front garden (they need to go somewhere...), watered it all and put the finished stuff on top to create a better planting area. Aside from doing something I thought I would NOT do (dig in my raised bed), I made a disconcerting discovery - my worms have gone AWOL!!

The bed I was digging in is the same one where I found the bounty of beautiful worms last spring (in the pumpkin shells). Sure, I've got some wrigglers in there but not the glorious gobs of them I was expecting. The deeper I dug the emptier it was. Truthfully, I'd suspect if asked, they might claim it was a hostile work environment as the bed and all the mulch layers were on the dry side. I don't think we had as much moisture this winter. Hopefully adding some moisture will bring them back. I will have to do some digging this summer and check on the troops, I may have to re-think some of my plans...

I was going to post this with no pictures but it just seemed like something was missing- so here you go- a couple pics from our side trip to White Sulphur Springs where we enjoyed a good burger and the hot spring-fed pools in a small town where there was nobody (read children) that we had to make any plans with- for just one night.

Maybe springtime will come to Colorado...

2010-05-11T23:16:00.003-06:00

I feel like I am SO far behind getting the garden planted this year. The weather is just not cooperating this spring. We've had a few nice days here and there but then get hit with cold, snow and/or strong winds. Tonight's forecast called for the possibility of snow again. I FINALLY transplanted the lettuce & other salad greens from their milk jugs on the front porch this weekend. That's about all I've got out there. SO far behind!!

Seems like these guys should be almost ready to harvest by now. Oh well, I guess they'll do what they'll do... I will admit, I didn't try as hard to get plants out early this year but I'm not convinced I got very far ahead by putting plants out in the cooler weather. I've just been a little less energetic this spring. Our average last frost date is coming soon - THEN I will have to kick it into high gear.

The little raspberries are doing pretty well. All the plants survived the winter and look to be suckering nicely. These are Caroline (red), Anne (yellow) and Canby (thornless summer-bearing red). I've also got some garlic tucked around the edges. I decided to try that instead of planting in the garden beds. Since I don't plant a whole bed of garlic, I have to work around it (since it's fall planted) during spring bed-prep. I just have to make sure I'm paying attention and pull it before the tops die back completely and I lose them. Even if I miss them though, they do serve as a companion plant for the berries.

The jostaberries have started blooming this week. I'm excited to taste these as I've been curious to try them since reading about them last year. Jostaberries are a cross between gooseberries & black currants, neither of which I ever really eaten though I did taste a gooseberry several years ago. Even if I don't like them, they should create a nice green backdrop to the front flower garden (another project soon to get some attention) and unlike gooseberries, they are thornless.

The Saskatoon (Serviceberry) has lots of blooms on it though it's still a pretty small plant. I hope they grow more this year (second summer). This is the larger one, the smaller one doesn't seem to have blooms but I did see some new stems around the base the other day.

The daffodils & tulips in the back are in bloom now. These daffodils seem to come out a little later than some of the others.

I'm happy to see these tulips returned this year. I really like them. When they first came up, the blooms looked like they were going to be solid yellow. I was thinking the originals didn't make it and the offshoots came up plain but I guess they just don't turn orange until the blooms mature a little. Last year, my neighbor commented that these tulips seemed to almost glow in the right light.

That's all I've got for right now- soon enough though, there will be more...

Cooking Spaghetti Squash

2010-05-03T23:49:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to post this little how-to for quite some time. I realized I'd better get on it - the squash are almost gone! I have two left and they'll be eaten very soon. I cooked one about a week ago and discovered one of the seeds had actually sprouted INSIDE the squash. The squash was still in good shape, no rot or soft spots but it was a little reminder that they won't last forever.

I'm actually quite impressed with how well they've kept. I picked them in October and it's now May. I had one that was starting to go bad a couple months ago but it was still good enough that I cooked it & added it to the dogs' dinner. I stored them under the buffet in the dining room. It's not near a heat vent, shielded from the sun and close enough to the kitchen that I remember to eat them!

If you'd like to see how they grew, check this link: Spaghetti Squash posts

I grew the Small Wonder variety of spaghetti squash. This is actually one of the smaller ones. It's little enough that I can eat it myself. While I normally have no trouble eating leftovers, when I tried leftover spaghetti squash, I wasn't very happy with it. I'd recommend only cooking half the squash if it's too big to eat at once. Scoop the seeds from the second half, wrap it & pop it in the fridge for another day or so.

Rinse the squash if needed and carefully cut it in half. Be sure to keep track of all your fingers, sometimes the squash are not the easiest to cut.

Scoop out the seeds (which you can cook and eat like pumpkin seeds if you want to) and place in a microwave safe dish. Microwave on high until soft enough to dent when pressed. I'll recommend a knife handle for this task though I often use my fingertip for this (and soon regret it). This little guy took about 9 minutes to cook.

Once cooked, I let it cool a few minutes then holding the skin with a towel, I scrape the stands out with a fork. Then add a little butter, garlic, salt & pepper & Parmesan cheese.

Top it off with a sprinkling of mozzarella.

Then bake until the cheese starts to brown.

I'll admit, this may not actually be the prettiest I've ever cooked- I used the toaster oven and then left it in a touch too long (I was chatting with hubby on Skype). It was still pretty tasty though!

Out my back door

2010-04-23T22:00:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, severe thunderstorms, hail & tornado warnings (nearby but not at my house), snow today...

Tomatoes in my shower??

2010-04-20T00:41:00.003-06:00

Yes, that's right, I have tomatoes in my shower. I started to think the basement might still be a little chilly for the toms and they might benefit from some upstairs time. Problem is, I only have ONE south-facing window on the upper floors of my house. Here it is:

One benefit to having seedlings in the shower - they're easy to water :-)

On another note, I have finally broken out the colored pencils again and created a garden plan.

I still have a couple tweaks to make - like filling in the tomato varieties and adding the potatoes but it's pretty close. I'll use the ladder trellis in the cucumber ring and the other trellis I built last summer for the winter squash & cukes.

I'd best get busy soon with some outdoor work as spring may have finally sprung. I'm seeing signs of life around the yard now. The grass is beginning to green. The jostaberries have leafed out. Tulips, hyacinths and iris are showing green leaves and the daffodils are blooming. We need some rain soon though or I'll have some serious watering to do this week. We've got a chance of afternoon showers for the next few days, perhaps some moisture will come our way.

These little green sprouts are the new suckers from the Anne raspberries I planted last year. The Carolines are also spreading. I peeked under the leaves around the one blackberry that grew last year and I saw a little green sprout under there.

The rhubarb popped out of the ground quite nicely this past week. No sign yet of the asparagus or strawberries but it's probably not quite time for them yet. Soon enough, we shall see.

Attention Seed Addicts!!

2010-04-09T22:45:00.002-06:00

On an earlier forum post, I was called an Enabler, so for all you addicts out there who would like to be enabled, did you know this weekend, seeds at Home Depot are Buy One Get One Free???

Did I need seeds????
Did I buy seeds????
Do I have any idea where I can plant these??
(call it a head start for next year if they don't fit now!!)

Mmmm...what's growing in my basement?

2010-04-06T23:58:00.003-06:00

Ok, maybe I shouldn't ask that question, I'm not having the best luck this past week or so... While working on my caulking/weather-sealing project last week, I discovered the exterior trim around my kitchen window was in bad shape. It was wet and rotten. When I pulled it off, it got worse. I won't know the full extent until it's time to take it all apart, but at least I've got someone to fix it for me. He'll have to pull the trim & siding and the kitchen window for sure. Hopefully it's not too much worse in there.

Anyway, this is what I have and WANT growing in my basement!! This is my indoor lettuce (Mesclun) box and very soon it will be salad time!

It looks like the cat has stopped tromping through the seedlings now. I don't think she did too much damage in the end.

This is what else is growing in my basement. It's my collection of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini & squash. The spaghetti squash is off to a good (though accidentally too early) start. They are the tallest seedlings under the lights. Soon I may have to put them in the window by the mesclun and see if that's enough light for them. Otherwise I'll need to find more ways to prop up the tomatoes & peppers! My Carmen peppers sprouted and soon will be moved downstairs (or squeezed in I should say). Maybe next year I need to get another light (or self control?? Nah, another light).

New (to me) Varieties

2010-04-02T22:52:00.005-06:00

I wasn't going to order any seeds this year. I didn't want to pay the shipping charge for what's sure to be a small order. I really had almost all the seeds I needed already (since I tend to pick up a packet here or there, I'm sure you know how that goes...). Then one day last month, I got an email announcing a free shipping weekend on seeds. I couldn't help it, I just HAD to look...

I couldn't help myself, I ended up placing an order (you KNEW that was coming, didn't you). Some of the seeds I got weren't ones I would have ordered on their own but there were these that I just HAD to try (since that shipping was free after all...). I just wanted to share the ones that convinced me to place an order.

Pepper Carmen

Small Enough for Flowerpots, Sweet Enough for the Whole Family!

Big, horn-shaped fruits have wide shoulders, a tapered shape, and green-to-red color.
75 days from transplanting. Here's a Sweet Italian Pepper you can grow on the porch or balcony as well as in the vegetable patch! Just 28 inches high and about 16 inches wide, these plants are so compact they'll "fit in" anywhere, yet so heavy-bearing and delicious they won a 2006 All-America Selection!
The peppers are horn-shaped, with wide shoulders and a tapering body. They turn from green to deep red, increasing their vitamin content as they redden. And the flavor is remarkable -- super-sweet, either raw or cooked!

Widely adaptable, Carmen is the Pepper your whole family will love. Stuff them, saute them, or chop and eat them fresh from the plant -- this is certain to become your new favorite!

Start seeds indoors or, in climate with short growing seasons, outdoors at least one week after last frost. If starting indoors, allow 7 to 10 weeks for the seeds to mature into seedlings large enough to transplant safely. Fertilize when the blooms appear, and water well. Fruit is most nutritious if allowed to turn red on the plant, but it will have its full complement of flavor even when green.

(http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5609/)

Cucumber Tanja
Cucumis sativus Tanja

Heavy Yields of Bitter-free Cukes
Very dark skin protects the tender flesh within.
60 days from sowing. Completely bitter free and packed with ultra-tender flavor, these dark green cukes are among the most delicious and succulent in the entire family. Every gardener who prizes the flavor of a cucumber fresh from the cool soil will adore Tanja!
Setting very heavy yields, this plant may be grown in a coldframe in short-autumn climates, proving quite cold tolerant. The cukes reach about 13 1/2 inches long, boast exceptionally dark skin, and are simply scrumptious. Expect heavy yields from these vigorous plants.
http://http//www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5553/

Cucumber Park's All-Season Burpless Hybrid
Cucumis sativus Park's All-Season Burpless Hybrid

Seedless, Burpless, and Super Early!
Sets more fruit than any other Cuke we've grown!
48 to 50 days. In just 7 weeks from sowing, you'll start harvesting beautiful cucumber, 8 1/2 inches long by 1 1/2 inches wide, with a sweet, crispy flavor! Completely burpless and without a trace of bitterness, they are also seedless if grown apart from other cucumber plants! The heavy-bearing vine needs no bees for pollination, so you don't have to wait till the garden gets going to start harvesting these scrumptious fruits! Strong and vigorous, these vines set more fruit than any other cuke we have ever grown--bar none! That's pretty incredible, considering the heavy-hitters we've seen over the years. Great resistance to Powdery Mildew, Scab, Downy Mildew, and Cucumber Mosaic Virus.
Direct-sow seeds in a sunny spot after all danger of frost is past, or start indoors and transplant when the first true leaf appears. Cucumbers can be allowed to grow on the ground, but for longer, straighter fruit and to save garden space, grow them in a cage or on a trellis, allowing 1 foot between plants. Keep them well-watered, and keep the fruits picked promptly to encourage new fruit sets.
(http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5553/)

I also ordered Purple Haze carrots (also new to me), Organic Black Beauty Zucchini (what I've grown the last 2 years), Super Sugar Snap Peas and Mustard Savanah Hybrid which I'm hoping is the green in the Mesclun Mix that we liked so much two years ago.

Of course, I didn't really NEED more peppers or cucumbers and now I have to figure out just WHERE I'm going to put them... Perhaps it's a good thing I didn't very specifically plan the beds, just a general layout. I can still work in some details. I might just have to try out some of those Carmen peppers in pots though (grin)!

I am now doing my best to stay at least 10 feet away from all seed racks. Of course, I do plan to purchase seed potatoes tomorrow... I'm only getting 2 kinds this year. That's the plan at least...

The Slacker is Back (and it's Seed Starting Time!!)

2010-03-24T19:37:00.005-06:00

First of all, my apologies for the hiatus. I didn't do much outdoors this winter and found myself with very little to post about. It will probably take me a bit to get back into the swing of things but I'll try to be better!

I'll also admit, I am a bit slow with this post as well. I was thinking of you all and I did take pictures and I was thinking about my blog but alas, I was sidetracked. I also discovered I never re-installed my photo software when my hard drive crashed in December and I don't seem to be able to get it reload from the disk, grrr...

I finally downloaded Picasa so I'm at least semi-functional photo-wise (but I'm still annoyed about the other software).

Anyway... I'd like to show you my high-tech germinating set-up.

Spiffy eh?
The TV puts out enough heat to keep the seeds a little warmer than room temperature.

My lack of success with pepper germination last year led me to a better setup for those this year.

I have an old heating pad that my husband used so much over the years the "high" setting no longer works. Medium seems to do a good job keeping things at 75-80 degrees in the box though. The Rubbermaid box protects the pad from any moisture and a piece of plastic wrap keeps the humidity high in the box. One tray (those are Oreo trays just in case you wondered) has 3 types of onion seeds, thickly sown as they were older seeds and I was unsure of their viability. The other tray has pepper seeds. I planted 5 in each row. One row has Sweet Banana and the other two have Sweet Mixed Pimiento Dulce, also leftovers from last year. With the bottom heat I had germination in about 10 days or so. About 2/3 of the peppers have sprouted so far.

There are also some squash or cukes filling in the rest of the heated space. The tomatoes & the rest of the cucurbits were in the cooler box over the TV. Most ended up rotating into the warm box at some point but were doing well in the cooler box. My OOPS on this (also read "lack of planning or paying attention") is the fact that I STARTED the cucurbits. I will probably wish I had waited on those as they may be huge by the time they can go out. Oh well...

This feisty little Spaghetti Squash (Small Wonder), like some of it's companions, actually had a root coming out of the bottom of the peat pot about as soon as it sprouted. The cotyledons aren't even completely open yet.

I am anxiously awaiting fresh salad season. We haven't had a lot of warm days yet for planting outdoors (matter of fact, right now, my garden is completely covered by several inches of snow!). I decided to try an experiment. Using the "rooting box" that I retrieved from the front porch, I pretty thickly sowed Mesclun seeds (from 2008). It was fast and easy since it was already filled with seed starting medium. I gave the pots a little cleaning and added a little fresh medium and planted. I put the cover on the box (propped open slightly) and set it on the living room floor for about 4 days, until the seeds germinated.

Once I had sprouts, I moved it to the basement. It sits in a sunny, south facing window. The basement is heated somewhat but is very cool (it's unfinished space). When I check on the lettuce, I just look out the window into the cold snowy garden. It makes me think this might be a good idea! So far, they're doing quite well though the little cat keeps stepping on them. She's pretty sure the water in the pots is for her drinking pleasure.

Speaking of the little cat, here they are catching a little sunbeam in the morning sun last week. As they get older, they really seem to enjoy following the sunbeam through the house. I find the gray one laying in random spots around the house, like in the closet doorway, on the bedroom floor, on the stairs...

Annie & Gabby

So, there's the beginning of my catch-up posting. I'll be back again soon!!

Just a little somethin' to look at...

2009-11-11T23:30:00.003-07:00

Ok, I'll admit it, I've been slackin' on the garden work lately. I have done some cleanup and I started to move the mulch pile (that's been sitting by my driveway for months now) to refresh the mulch between the garden beds, but alas, I have not finished yet. I keep forgetting to go out and even check on my poor little lettuce plants (they did survive the cold and snow though). Since I don't really have much to report garden-wise, I thought I'd post a few pictures from my trip to Vermont in October.

Ok, so this one is back in Colorado... they just look so sweet I had to post it.

I always put bandanas on them for Halloween - they just look friendlier that way. I also put a baby gate between the doors so when I open it for trick-or-treaters, the dogs can say hi to the kiddos but can't go out (or scare any of them too much).

Wilson has a bandaged paw because he ripped another toenail (second one in a month). The vet had to remove the nail and he had to be bandaged for 5 days. He's doing fine now.

Hopefully I'll have more garden progress to report soon. I'd better get that mulch pile moved soon- I think it will just add to the depth of my cross-driveway snowdrift if I don't get it out of the way. I don't need that bugger to get any deeper than it already does (and a storm's coming soon...likely this weekend).

Then & Now- October Review

2009-10-30T21:57:00.010-06:00

Time for the final monthly review of the season!

I was a little worried about the spaghetti squash when I picked them. They nearly all had some yellow but weren't looking very ripe at all. I left them on the vine as long as possible even though the vines were looking pretty dead.

I had read they would ripen as long as they had started changing color and YAY they did! They spent about 3 weeks just like this on my dining room table. Only one looks like it may not turn. It didn't have any yellow when it was picked. I ate one for dinner tonight!

The yellowing bell pepper ripened off-plant as well and was eaten about 10 days later (it came on my road trip with me- it's the ONLY yellow bell that grew and I wasn't going to miss out on eating it!!

I had to pick everything that was approaching ripeness at the beginning of the month because I was gone for a couple weeks. I went back to Vermont for my class reunion. We had a whole weekend bash and it was a great time! As a bit of a gee-whiz, I tried to cover the garden to see what might make it while I was away. Temps had been hitting lows in the 30's before I left so I figured if the weather held out for a couple weeks, it might make it.

It didn't.

About a week after I left, the weather took a drastic turn. The forecast showed a low of 19 one night, high in the 20's and then a low of 14. I knew it wouldn't make it through that kind of cold. All of the covers had open spots for ventilation for the warm days and they would have needed blankets and probably lights to survive those lows. Oh well. I think the biggest disappointment was the raspberries. There were so many berries on the plants that froze before ripening.

I was part-way through the garden clean-up the other day when I had to stop for some reason. I didn't get to work outside again the end of this week for sure! We had a nasty storm roll through. We didn't get the 2+ feet of snow that some areas around Denver saw, just 3-4". Those 3-4" coupled with some wicked winds sure can make some good drifts though! This was my garden yesterday. I wonder how the baby lettuce in bed #1 are doing under all that snow.

Too bad my driveway looks like this too. We get the worst snowdrift across the drive with nearly every storm. I guess shoveling snow is good exercise at least which is probably good since I bought Halloween candy this week...

October Harvest Totals:

ZUCCHINI 6 OZ
LETTUCE 4 OZ
BEANS 1 OZ
TOMATOES 9 OZ
CARROTS 13 OZ
CUKES 5 OZ
PEPPERS 1# 11 OZ
DAIKON RADISH 3 OZ
SPAGHETTI SQUASH 27# 14 OZ
PUMPKIN -2 VOLUNTEERS- 18# 7 OZ
POTATOES 7# 6 OZ

October Total: 927 oz = 57# 15 oz

September total: 878 oz = 54# 14 oz
August total: 338 oz = 21 lb 2 oz
July total: 157 oz = 9 lb 13 oz
June total: 69 oz =4 lb 5 oz
May total: 10 oz .

Total: 2379 oz = 148 lb 11 oz

Then & Now- September Review

2009-10-02T01:23:00.003-06:00

Time again for the month in review (ok, so I'm actually a day late- oops!)

2/3rds of the beans are done & gone. I cut the plants and added round one of the fall additions. This bed was new this year and shrank to about 6" below the top of the boards. I added some partially composted weeds (bottom layer- I figure if there are seeds in there, most of them will be buried far enough down that they won't be a problem), mostly finished compost, coffee grounds & leaves. Topped it off with a piece of landscape fabric stapled to the top of the bed to keep it neat.

The last 1/3rd was still producing until a few days ago. There may be a little more to come but it won't be much. The yellows in the other bed have pretty well quit too. Most of the 2 beds in the center of the photo (the plastic overlaps to the other one) are no longer producing. The plastic is there for one reason - the peppers. I picked all the usable peppers today as we are expected to freeze tonight. All the extra real estate is covered for a couple reasons. I'm getting ready to take a trip before long. I want to try and give the peppers a chance to produce a little more (though I don't have high expectations) but I won't be home to monitor temperatures in the garden. The peppers are under a curtain and in the middle of this plastic tunnel. The ends of the tunnel are open for ventilation. We'll see how they look when I get back.

The sunflowers have been cut down. I hope to save the seeds for sunflower shoots this winter and for the birds.

Anybody know what these black things are on the back of the sunflower leaves? They're everywhere. They're not squishy like eggs but harder like spores on ferns. I haven't had a chance to look anything up quite yet...

I was sad to see this plant go. It was one of the prettiest plants in the garden this year. It was quite seriously hit with powdery mildew though I don't think that was it's only problem. I initially ignored it figuring it was just time for the plant to go. When I realized I was seeing powdery mildew I did try spraying it but it was too late.

The squash all have some yellow so I'm crossing my fingers they will finish ripening. I harvested 16 from the plants today as well as several Giant Marconi peppers, the ONE yellow bell on the plant, and a few pimiento & banana peppers. I also dug about 5 lbs of potatoes.

I'm afraid I will miss these ripening, so sad... I'll tell the neighbor to come pick them. I think she'll be happy to.

September harvest totals:

ZUCCHINI 11# 6 OZ

LETTUCE 7 OZ

GREEN BEANS 4# 8

YELLOW BEANS 1# 15

ROMA TOMATOES 1# 12

RED TOMATOES 2#

BLACK CHERRY TOMATOES 2# 3

YELLOW CHERRY TOMATOES 1# 10

CARROTS 9 OZ

CUKES 1# 4

PEPPERS 12 OZ

RADISHES 4 OZ

PATTYPAN SQUASH 1# 8

PUMPKIN -SMALL SUGAR- 3# 14

CORN 4# 7

POTATOES 16# 7

September total: 878 oz = 54# 14 oz

August total: 338 oz = 21 lb 2 oz

July total: 157 oz = 9 lb 13 oz
June total: 69 oz =4 lb 5 oz
May total: 10 oz .

Total: 1452 oz = 90 lb 12 oz

I really am still here!

2009-09-29T02:05:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to add a quick post to let you all know that I AM still here! There should be a new post in the next couple days. The hubby came home for a visit this last couple weeks and I haven't had time to write anything. I'll try to get caught up soon.
Thanks for stickin' around!

Meme Award!

2009-09-13T22:34:00.004-06:00

I would like to thank Rachel of GrafixMuse's Garden Spot and Shawn Ann of Shawn Ann's Garden for giving me the Meme Award!

The Meme award guidelines:
1. Link back to the person who gave you the award 
2. Reveal 7 things about yourself 
3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and link to them 
4. Let each blogger know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. 
5. Let the tagger know when your post is up.

So here goes...

1. I'm from small-town Vermont (ok, so nearly everyone in VT is from a small town...) and though we've lived several places, Colorado Springs is the biggest city I've ever lived this close to (about 360,000 people). I don't actually live in COS but I'm only about 10 minutes east of the city. I don't think I would like to live anywhere bigger.

2. We have lived in Ogden UT, San Angelo TX, Great Falls MT, Wasilla AK and Falcon CO.

3. I was a Realtor in MT and AK. I am currently in a class to get my license here.

4. I am the middle child of 3. My sister is 2 years older and my brother is one year younger. My brother was adopted from Korea when I was 5 and he was 4. He didn't speak a word of English when he came to live with us.

5. I don't have kids of my own but I have a stepdaughter who is 25 and a stepson who is 21. My s/s lived with us when he was in high school. The first parent/teacher conference we ever went to as parents was for a sophomore. Both kids live in Montana now.

6. I have 2 dogs - Veronica, a 7 y/o lab/hound/shepherd mix and a Wilson a 3 y/o lab/??? and 2 cats (13 & 15 years old).

7. Our first dog was a lab/chow mix who was a great dog. After she died, I said I wasn't getting another black dog because I knew there wouldn't be another like her. Then I saw the puppy pictures of Val & Veronica that the shelter posted online and that was the end of that... (we brought them both home).

And now for the hard part...I would like to pass the Meme along to the following bloggers: (and since I was slow to respond, I know some of you have already gotten this. Don't panic, you don't have to do it again...)

Subsistence Pattern

The Corner Yard

Gamine's Garden

The Gardens at Melissa Majora

Sinfonian's Square Foot Garden

Toni's Weedless Square Foot Garden

Our Engineered Garden

Thanks all! Now I've got to get caught up on my reading!!

Then & Now- August Review

2009-08-31T21:58:00.005-06:00

Time again for some comparison photos!

The green beans started the season looking less-than-great in June, mustered a good recovery in July and are now winding down production.

This bed has Landreth Stringless, Contender and French Filet bush beans. I would plant the Contender and French Filet again. They produce nice long, straight pods and seemed more productive than the Landreth. The raw flavor was also better. They were all mixed together for cooking so I didn't notice any flavor difference at dinnertime.

The sunflowers are going a little nuts now! The bees love the sunflowers as well as the bolted broccoli flowers. They have both sprawled out of the beds enough that I avoid those pathways to not anger any bees. Most of the time, I can see about 10 bees in the broccoli.

The spaghetti squash look like they're maturing now. They are starting to turn yellow though there is still a lot of green on the fruits. My understanding is they are ready to pick once they have fully turned color. The foliage is looking pretty shabby and appears to have some powdery mildew starting as well.

It took seemingly forever, but some of my peppers I started from seed are producing! I really thought they were never going to grow (my watermelon didn't...). Next year, I will not subject the peppers to such cool spring temps. They'll have to be babied a little more.

My pumpkin is nearly ready! I think there is also a second one just starting to grow. I'm not positive how many surviving plants I have on that ladder but it's at least 2, so the production is really low. On the other hand, I bought the seeds on clearance last fall for about a quarter so I'm not going to complain too much.

I also have what I believe may be a larger pumpkin that sprouted from some compost under my transplanted lilacs in the back yard. I must not have looked at it closely for a while because when I checked it earlier I had several male blooms and no females. I checked it yesterday and there's a fruit that's probably 10" long! There's another small one as well. I'm pretty impressed as this didn't receive any care at all. I think I watered the lilac once this summer as it looked a little wilted (probably because this large squash plant was sucking away all it's water). Maybe I watered twice.

-AUGUST HARVEST TOTALS-

Zucchini 74 oz (4 lb 10 oz) 15 fruits

Beans (all varieties) 150 oz (9 lb 6 oz)

Pattypan Squash 14 oz 2 fruits

Carrots 11 oz

Peppers 3 oz (2 fruits)

Potatoes 34 oz (2 lb 2 oz)

Cucumbers 33 oz (2 lb 1 oz) 6 fruits

Tomatoes 19 oz (1 lb 3 oz)

Total: 338 oz = 21 lb 2 oz

July total: 157 oz = 9 lb 13 oz
June total: 69 oz =4 lb 5 oz
May total: 10 oz .

Total: 574 oz = 35 lb 14 oz

If you'd like to re-visit my July review, click this link:
http://transplantedgardener.blogspot.com/2009/07/then-now-july-review.html

Slow & Steady

2009-08-24T22:14:00.005-06:00

The garden is slowly and steadily creeping along but I don't have anything major to report this week, hence the recent blog-slacking. I've also started studying for my real estate license finally (time to go back to work again), so I've had a little less garden time lately. I've been picking beans and zucchini pretty regularly but neither is threatening to over-run my house yet. The cherry tomatoes are starting to produce a little more but again, nothing overwhelming.

The sunflowers are still looking nice...

The spaghetti squash are starting to show some yellow now

and the small sugar pumpkin is starting to show some orange.

That's it, that's all I've got for today... slow & steady...

OT: for fans of handmade jewelry...

2009-08-17T10:25:00.007-06:00

Ok, I know this is WAY off-topic, but I wanted to pass on a chance to win these handmade "Moonlight" earrings made by Sara of Shy Siren.

I know Sara from our days in school and I think she creates beautiful jewelry, so I wanted to pass this along to those who may be interested.

To enter, visit Shy Siren, pick your favorite and visit the Sweeter than Me blog at http://kristinfriesen.blogspot.com/2009/08/weekly-giveaway-shysiren.html and leave her a comment.

Now, off to check the garden..

Pattypan Progress

2009-08-15T23:35:00.003-06:00

Friday night, the first pattypan squash was nearly ready to pick. I already had a zucchini to eat with my dinner, so I left it to grow for one more day.

It's about 3" across and weighs almost 5 ounces.

This was my first pattypan (ever) and while I want to try it grilled, I was having some leftover steak and didn't want to fire up the grill just for the squash, so I decided to saute it the same way I cook zucchini.

Other than my dinner a bearing a strange resemblance to Lisa Simpson, it was pretty good (sorry, no finished photo, :-) I was hungry). I thought it had a little milder flavor than my zucchini. Something about the shape of this squash made me wonder if the skin would be noticeable or tough but it was very tender. I might slice it in a chunkier manner next time I saute it. I'll probably cut it into thicker whole slices when I try it on the grill.

I'm giving it a thumbs up!

Unsettled Weather

2009-08-10T23:11:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was a warm and clear day. We didn't even have our typical afternoon storm threat. I uncovered all the garden beds so the plants could have some nice warm sunshine and didn't give it a second thought. I didn't give it a second thought until I went to bed last night that is.

As I was laying there nearly asleep I suddenly heard the sound of rain which was soon followed by the sounds of thunder and small hail. I jumped out of bed and headed out to cover the garden. I made it as far as the front porch. When I got outside, there was so much lightning overhead combined with the fact that it was late and all the neighborhood had gone to bed, that I didn't dare go- call me paranoid but people DO get hit by lightning- so back to bed I went. I cringed every time I heard the hail come back. After about 30 minutes, the storm subsided and I fell asleep.

This morning, I went to check the garden and was pleasantly surprised to find very little damage and .4" in the rain gauge. I knew I wouldn't be home this afternoon and they were predicting more storms, so the covers went on early today. As far as I know, it was quiet until this afternoon. Shortly after I returned home this evening, a storm arrived. Fortunately, we missed the golf ball sized hail (again) that the storm was throwing on it's way east. The brunt of this storm tracked just a little south of us, so we just got about .2" of rain and some small hail (and thunder of course). I clicked on my weather link (on the right side of the page) and they show 1.98" of rain and are just located about a mile of so from here.

When I looked out my kitchen window after dinner tonight, this is what I saw.

This (below) is the main part of the storm.

Doesn't it look like that could be a tornado? It's not, but it was putting on quite a light show a few minutes later.

It seems quiet outside now. We'll see what comes tomorrow!

August Update

2009-08-06T23:53:00.005-06:00

It's been a pretty quiet week in the garden. I have harvested just a few zucchini, a half pound of beans and just under 2 pounds of small potatoes. A few of the pots of potatoes were looking dead and I was pretty sure it's too early for most of them to be ready. When I poked down around the "done" plants, I discovered that they were dry! With all the rain we had in July I was worried that they were too wet. Most of the straw was wet but the compost at the bottom was dry. I watered the pots and I plan to take the moisture meter out to check everything tomorrow as it has been several days since we've had any significant rainfall.

Early week harvest - zucchini, beans & potatoes.

I hand-pollinated the little pattypan when the bloom opened the other morning. There are a few more female blossoms starting to form now as well.

The Green Dragon Burpless finally has a little cucumber! I need to look up when these started producing last year, it feels like they have been very slow this year.

The yellow bell pepper is growing nicely. The other peppers are showing more blooms now too.

I did make this unpleasant discovery on my Roma tomato today (grrr...). I'm going to try adding some calcium (and checking their moisture) though from what I saw online today, Romas are very prone to BER, so it at least makes me feel a little better. :-)

To end on a more positive note, I've got a couple of these blooming...

The sunflowers are planted along the edges of the corn bed in an attempt to aid pollination by possibly acting as a windbreak so the pollen doesn't all get blown away in our winds. I honestly don't know if this will make a bit of difference. It was a suggestion I received over on GardenWeb and I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it. As a bonus, I plan to save the seeds- some for the birds and some to sprout for shoots to add to salads.

That's about all for right now. This week we're supposed to have temps in the 80's so I should be seeing a little more production in the garden soon (I hope!).

Pattypan Photos by Request

2009-08-02T17:10:00.002-06:00

For loc the lurker :-)
This is my pattypan - the package says: Squash Calabaza, Flying Saucer Hybrid
If your leaves don't look the same, it may just be a difference in the variety. Hope this helps!
As soon as you have female blossoms though, you should be able to tell which they are.

Then & Now - July Review

2009-07-31T22:05:00.008-06:00

Today's a double post day - be sure to scroll down & see what else is happening out there!

It's time for some before & after photos! When we see our gardens every day, sometimes it's easy to lose sight of just how much has happened over the past few weeks. Here are some comparison photos to show growth for the month of July.

June's green beans weren't looking so great. Sickly and yellow. I think it was too much moisture.

Much improved for July. They are behind last year's beans though. Last year by this time they had produced the bulk of their crop. So far this year, I've only harvested a handful.

The tomatoes are plugging along...

They're hiding, but they're in there! The storm clouds rolling in today looked a little nasty, so this is my attempt to offer a little hail protection. I have a few green tomatoes but not huge amounts. They are still producing flowers.

This one actually surprised me!

Once the corn finally gets going, boy does it grow!

Finally, what's likely the most impressive thing growing in my garden...

I have about 10 or 12 of these babies growing on the ladder!

-JULY HARVEST TOTALS-

Strawberries - 2 oz

Sugar Snap Peas- 22 oz

Broccoli- 4 oz

Radishes- 2 oz

Cucumber- 3 oz

Lettuce- 49 oz

Garlic (untrimmed) 44 oz

Zucchini- 11 oz

Potatoes- 17 oz

Scallions- 1 oz

Beans-(green & yellow) 2 oz

July total: 157 oz = 9 lb 13 oz

June total: 69 oz =4 lb 5 oz

May total: 10 oz .

Total: 236 oz = 14 lb 12 oz

Fresh from the Rain

2009-07-31T21:11:00.010-06:00

After a few warm dry days, our stormy weather returned. We had temperatures near 90 at the end of last week then a cold front came through and dropped us to about 60. I think Colorado Springs had a record low for the high temperature yesterday. Today warmed back up to around 80 or so, at least until our afternoon storm arrived. We've gotten another 2 inches of rain this week! Last July was apparently one of the driest on record. This July is the total opposite!

Between rains, I went out for a few pictures.

The daikon seed pods are finally starting to dry.

My first blush of tomato color! Strangely, this is probably the smallest tomato plant I have.

Soon, I'll get to taste a Pattypan!

I don't think this is good... This potato plant (I think it's Yukon Gold, I forgot to check the tag) has black spots all over it's leaves. It doesn't look as healthy as it's neighbors. I'll have to look this up.

With all the hail that our area has had recently, I've been concerned about the garden. I've been covering what I can. The tomatoes have a chicken wire cover over the top (2 layers, overlapped to make the holes smaller) to hopefully protect them from any whopper hailstorms. Since I can't easily toss fabric over the top, I wrapped it around the sides. I don't think the fabric will stop huge hail but it should at least protect against smaller stones. Since I've covered plants, the hail has skipped us (thankfully). Of course, now I'm a little paranoid - I'm afraid the day I don't cover will be the day the hail comes...

I have one little bell pepper starting. This is a purchased plant though one of my seed starts looks like it might actually kick into gear and bloom soon.

The first borage bloom opened today.

My sugar snap peas have passed their prime. While I keep thinking I should cut them down, they still produce just a few peas. This is why I haven't cut them yet..

Saskatoons!

2009-07-29T20:30:00.003-06:00

I wanted to plant bushes of some sort near one corner of the fence this spring. While trying to decide what to plant, I read about Saskatoons. Saskatoons are edible, they should grow well here and they weren't very expensive at all (I think they cost me about $8 for the pair after discounts), so I decided to try them. Gurney's markets them as a blueberry for the west as they live in alkaline soils. I figured if I didn't like them, the birds would and I'd still have bushes that bloom, fruit and have nice fall color.

For those unfamiliar, Saskatoons (Amelanchier) are also known as Serviceberry, Shadblow or Juneberry. I'm not absolutely positive that these are all 3 the same thing, but everything I found sure makes it sound like they are, or they are very close. They grow as an erect shrub to about 20' tall (taller in rich soils). Compact clusters of fragrant flowers appear in spring followed by sweet, blue berries in summer and long lasting orange-red fall color. They are native to the western United States and Canada.

I tried to highlight the Serviceberry in this photo from the Xeriscape gardens for an idea of how they look when more mature though it's still hard to distinguish between it and the bush behind it..

For my $8, I received two little Saskatoon sticks, one of which bloomed in early June. They have chicken wire around them so the dogs don't accidentally run them over. They are still really hard to see.

View from above...

I wandered out to check on my little sticks today and look what I found!

I picked the two ripest berries to taste-test. I had been told they have pretty big seeds for a little berry, so I cut one open to look before I ate it.

Compared to a currant (which have huge seeds if you've never eaten them), the seeds aren't too bad, but there seem to be 4 seeds per berry, to they are certainly noticeable. Probably twice the size of raspberry seeds. These two tasted pretty good. They may have been a little over-ripe, but not bad at all. They didn't have a really strong flavor and I'm not sure how to describe it. even though I went back and picked the two next-ripest berries. Maybe when I have more of a handful to eat, I'll come up with something. For now, the best I can do is they were sweet and un-offensive though the seeds were certainly noticeable (I ate some & spit some). So far they look like they'll be productive though. This fruiting plant isn't even 3' tall yet.

On another note, look what the cat found the other day. I actually saw one toad last year and was so surprised to find one out here in the dry prairie. This year might be nicer for them (I'm guessing, I don't really know) as we've had a lot more moisture. This guy is a little messy looking since he had crammed himself between a clay saucer with a few plants awaiting their big move to the new flower garden and the exterior wall of the garage where the spider (whom I need to eyeball - it looks to be a black & shiny one) lives. Mr. Toad is traveling with some bug bodies stuck to him.

Since my darlin' Annie was trying to smack him on the head and if he moved from his spot wedged behind the saucer he would be sitting in the hot mid-day sun on the sidewalk, I nudged him into an empty pot and moved him to the cooler ground under the little lilac. The cat found him again so she had to go inside. Sometime after I went inside, Mr. Toad moved on. Who could blame him? Maybe next year he'll find some nice spots to hide in the new perennial garden and he'll decide to stay a while.

An Apple a Day...

2009-07-26T15:51:00.006-06:00

I picked these up last week...

They're Yellow Transparent apples from an orchard in Penrose (CO). I replied to an ad on Craigslist and had a really nice chat with one of the orchard owners. I hope to pay them a visit during the fall apple season. I was able to pick these up in Colorado Springs this time.

Yellow Transparent apples are an early variety that originated in Russia (or thereabouts) and were introduced into the U.S. in 1870. I had never had them before, and when I tried to find out more about them, I kept reading posts like "my grandmother always used these for applesauce" or "my grandmother used them for apple pie" or "they're hard to come by and tend to be expensive", so I decided to give them a try (though at $15 for a 30# box, I didn't think they were too expensive).

They have a flavor that is tart like a Granny Smith but with a texture like a McIntosh. Since I wanted apples in the fall for applesauce (but didn't end up getting any), that was my plan for most of them.

I was well supervised, as usual.

The first batch, I cooked about 10#. I added about a cup of water and cooked them at low/med heat. I also added a little citric acid powder to this batch because the recipe I was looking at said to (and I had some). I don't really need a recipe for applesauce, but I was using one for guidance on the amount of water and sugar to add. It turned out not to be so helpful. Although I multiplied the amount of water they recommended, it wasn't enough for the size pot I used, and I ended up scorching the apples on the bottom and I still had to add more sugar for the right taste.

I made more last night. This time, I added 2 cups of water and had much better results.

10 pounds of apples, quartered and cored

Cooked until tender

Pressed through the "applesauce smusher" as I've always called it, though an Internet search last year told me it's really called a chinois

I know there are more modern & efficient ways to make applesauce, but this is how we did it it when I was growing up and there's something I find satisfying about it.

After "smushing" I set the pan back onto the warm (turned off) burner and added the sugar. I added cinnamon to the first batch since the scorching darkened it and cinnamon seemed like a good idea. I didn't add any to the second batch. I added a splash of orange juice instead of the citric acid powder to the second batch.

I hadn't really intended to turn the ENTIRE box into applesauce. I planned to slice and freeze some for apple pie and other apple goodies as well. Thing is, I didn't get to it quickly enough. After a couple of warm days (we don't have A/C), the apples were fading fast (did I mention they don't keep very well?). By last night, they no longer had the crisp texture they had just last week and they were beginning to discolor in their centers. I didn't think they'd make great pie anymore, so into the pot they went! After letting the sauce cool a bit, I spooned it into containers and froze it. So, I didn't get the variety of uses (though one can use applesauce for many things) I did get the homemade applesauce I was looking for (and can I just say YUM!).

Garden Helpers

2009-07-23T16:30:00.002-06:00

I had a little "help" in the garden the other day. I know I've posted photos of the dogs, but once in a while, these two show up to "help" too (though I seriously suspect they were trying to get me to go inside and feed them).

Meet Gabby (who's giving me an earful here). He's my 15 year old I've had since he was a kitten. He's actually the only one of mine who didn't come from the shelter or from the streets.

He recently had some dental work done and is showing off his missing fang in this photo. Poor old guy just had 5 more teeth pulled. He doesn't really have many left on the right side of his mouth. He has almost all of them on the left though - go figure.

This is Annie. She's 13 now. She's a Manx mix (hence the lack of a tail) who showed up as a stray at the flower shop where I worked in Texas. We think she was 8 months old when we took her in.

Gabby & Annie, bellied up to the catnip bar. I started a few catnip plants from seed this spring. I don't think they'll get a chance to grow out of control, at least not this year. They're keeping them well trimmed.

Something distracted her from her grazing...

Hanging out in the corn...

Again, my ever-hopeful girl, Veronica. Since I fed her a couple sugar snap peas, this is what she does while I'm in the garden with an occasional grumble to remind me of her wishes.

My boy, Wilson isn't so excited about veggies, so he just pops by to check in once in a while, so no photos of him this time. He'll make an appearance here again soon I'm sure.

Squash Blossoms & Sweet Corn

2009-07-21T23:43:00.003-06:00

I was reading a post over at Daphne's Dandelions yesterday and she mentioned adding squash blossoms to her salad. I've heard of people eating them battered and fried but I don't remember hearing of others eating them raw. I decided to try it out tonight, so tonight, you get to see some more food photos!

Tonight's salad is pretty similar to the one from the other night- Simpson, red & Baby Romaine lettuce, borage, radish, Sugar Snap peas, broccoli (I remembered it tonight) and of course, a squash blossom, all from the garden. Actually, I think it's pumpkin but that crazy spaghetti squash may easily have crept over to the pumpkin side, so I'm not actually sure which it was. (Carrots from the store & cucumber from the farm stand).

Truthfully, I didn't really notice much of any flavor from the flower, but if sure did make the salad pretty! Perhaps I may have noticed it if I had fewer ingredients, but I really like the variety when it's so easily available. I did notice the fuzziness of the borage leaves in a couple bites tonight which was a little weird, but still ok.

On my way to town this afternoon, I discovered we have a farm stand in our little town! We have one corner that in the time I've lived here (about 1.5 years) has had a garden center (no plants, just other stuff), a different produce stand (from the western slope of CO), a car dealer, and now this farm stand. This one brings veggies from Rocky Ford which is a couple hours southeast of here. I bought a cucumber (mine are nowhere near ready) and three ears of Peaches & Cream sweet corn. I was pretty excited to find the corn and was especially happy that it really tasted pretty darn good (especially for an early corn). I think I was spoiled with the fresh corn my mom always picked up at the farm on the way home from work. Vermont has some really really good sweet corn. My husband thought he had tasted good corn until I took him home with me one summer. Of course, it ruined him for most of what we seem to usually find. I might just have to go back for some more tomorrow. The guy told me that it was fresh picked this morning and he intends to continue that practice for the rest of the summer. I hope he does!

I'm not sure how much I can call this a garden meal, but I so enjoyed the corn and the pretty salad I decided to post it. I roasted another head of (garden) garlic (I did a better job of cutting the top this time so it squeezed out much better- of course, I took it out just a little too soon, so it didn't spread well on the bread but it still tasted good) and I added some peppers to the top of the pork chops that I still had in the freezer from last year's garden (it was a nice idea but it kept the breading from getting crispy -bummer). There was a bit of fresh thyme on there and the bread crumbs came from a loaf of whole wheat bread that I messed up a while back (I think that one over-rose then fell and it was so dry I just crumbled it up and put the crumbs in the freezer). The pork chops weren't my best work but at least I have one left over to eat later. That corn is history though...

Look what I got today! More to follow on these...

Garlic, Potatoes & Dinner!

2009-07-19T23:24:00.006-06:00

I decided it was time to harvest the garlic this weekend. When I have tried to grow garlic in the past, I've waited until the tops were brown, as in all of the tops. After some reading on the GardenWeb forums, I learned I should pull it while some of the tops were still green (5 green leaves seemed to be the conclusion). Pulling while some are green means fewer heads break off and need to be searched for. I pulled 28 plants with an untrimmed weight of 2.75#.

(do you like my modern scale? It's pretty accurate actually. I believe this scale sat on the porch at my great-aunt's house. I think she used it to weigh her garden veggies).

The largest heads seemed to be the plants that did not form a scape. The ones I removed the scapes from appear to be slightly larger than those I left intact. I also had a handful that were very small heads or just bulbs. Of course, I don't have enough plants to actually draw hard & fast conclusions about scapes & bulb sizes, but it would appear that they do reduce the head size somewhat. I don't think it's a major reduction in the bulbs I left intact, but if you're going for big, it might matter.

As I was sorting my little batch of garlic on the back deck, I was well supervised. She's trying to look innocent, but don't think she wouldn't have snatched some if I left her alone with it. I watched her carefully since I think garlic really isn't good for dogs. I don't worry about a little garlic in foods or some garlic powder in their treats but I'm guessing a head or three might have unpleasant consequences.

I'm quite sure though that she was hoping I'd walk away, just for a few minutes...

I poked around in some of the potatoes today. When I removed the straw from the sad looking patch in my previous post, I did find a couple of potatoes. They were way down at ground level, but at least there was something there. I put the straw back and I hope they'll continue to grow a bit more. I also had one of the smaller pots that had died back last week. I had planted two red potatoes that sprouted in my pantry into a nursery pot about 14" diameter (I'm guessing). I had run out of larger pots, so I plunked them in there & hoped something would grow.

Something grew...

It's not much at all (a whole 4 oz), but better than a rotten mass of goo!

I was having one of those days today where it was seeming nearly impossible to get motivated, or when I did, somebody would call me, I'd chat for a bit, and all motivation was gone again. I took a late afternoon trip to the garden and returned with my little potatoes and one of the zucchini I mentioned the other day. This little zuch looked like it was growing but it must not have actually been pollinated. The end was starting to yellow, so I decided to eat it. So, I have my potatoes & zucchini and suddenly I realized, I too, could have a garden dinner! (Well, make that a garden dinner that isn't just a salad). I was actually quite inspired by everyone's garden dinners, so I'd like to thank you for motivating me to eat a decent meal tonight. Chances are good I would have just gone for something quick that fit my lazy mood for the day. This was much better.

I don't know if I mentioned it before or not, but my DH is usually the one who cooks. My cook is in Korea. I'm doing well when I eat something other than spaghetti and Parmesan cheese when left to my own devices. I am generally doing better with it this time (though I did have spaghetti for lunch...) and I do think the garden has had a lot to do with my eating better.

I did have a salad with my dinner rather than for my dinner. Tonight's salad had from the garden:
Lettuce: Black Seeded Simpson, Baby Romaine & something red from the Mesclun mix
Borage leaves (first time I've eaten these. They seemed pretty fuzzy but I cut them into thin slices and they were a nice flavor addition)
Sugar Snap Peas and a
Radish
(the carrot was from the store)

I just realized I forgot to add a little broccoli. Oops.

My garden dinner was a sauteed mix of (from the garden):
Garlic
Scallions
Red potatoes
unpollinated Zucchini
Sugar Snap Peas
English Thyme

I also added (not from the garden)
Olive oil, salt & pepper & some leftover grilled chicken.

(yep, I grew up in a dairy state, I drink my milk with dinner)

I had enough dough in the fridge for one last loaf of bread (it's an Artisan Bread in 5 min a day recipe) so when I decided to make a real dinner, I pulled it out and let it rest for about 40 minutes. While it was baking (I don't really cook but I do bake) I put a head of garlic in to roast. I have never had (or made) roasted garlic before. I think I should have cut the top a little lower, but is there some neat trick to get the garlic OUT that I missed somewhere? It was a pretty messy process. The garlic had a surprisingly mild flavor. I'm assuming that's due to the roasting (and why so many people like it).

I followed up with a bit of vanilla frozen yogurt with strawberry sauce (not from the garden this year, maybe next?).

Yes, it's a little heavy on the strawberries, but I didn't have enough for 2 servings (it was leftover from last week), so what choice did I have?

So there it is, my first official garden dinner. It was pretty tasty and really helped me get motivated today not to mention much healthier than what I might have eaten otherwise!

Touristing Colorado

2009-07-19T12:21:00.011-06:00

I thought I'd share a few photos from my travels while my mother was visiting. Since she'd only been to Colorado for a conference in Denver, we had plenty to see that wasn't too far from home. I think we could have spent another week and still would have had plenty to do without travelling very far!

Our longest travel day was a trip to Summit County. We drove over Loveland Pass, past Arapahoe Basin, to Keystone. We rode the gondola to the top to check out the view. Lots of bikers and hikers use the gondola (for your $12 pass, you can go up or down as many times as you want for the day).

I thought this was kind of interesting - it seems to be an enclosed moving walkway to transport kids up the bunny hill. (We've mostly skied smaller areas, so I'd never seen this before.)
What a good way to keep the little ones warm & happy while learning!

We passed through Frisco (with a quick stop at the fruit stand for some early peaches, plums, a cuke & zucchini - all very good. The plums could have been a little sweeter, but the organic peaches were wonderfully sweet & ready to eat). We had a nice scenic drive back through the South Park area, Hartsel and Woodland Park.

We visited the Cliff Dwellings Museum in Manitou Springs (just west of Colorado Springs). It's nowhere near the size of Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado but it was close to home and had a pretty interesting (and well detailed) museum.

Ready for a rare sight?
That's me at the Cliff Dwellings. I'm usually the one behind the camera, so there aren't so many pictures of me floating around out there. (When DH returns home, that may change since he has a camera of his own now.)

The museum had a pretty large collection of very old pottery that was in wonderful condition. I was actually pretty impressed with the museum. The displays were well explained and pretty detailed. It's not a huge museum, but we spent a lot more time in there than I would have anticipated.

We rode the Pike's Peak Cog Railway to the top of the mountain (elevation 14,110' ). It was in the 40's up at the top, chilly for July, but much warmer than the 18* when we went with another visitor in May)

After we got back home, I was on Facebook, and learned that a gal I knew from high school was visiting Colorado and had been to Pike's Peak. When I commented that I had been there too, she said she actually saw me! Our train was going up as her train was coming down. I think this is the craziest thing, considering I have not seen her for probably 19 years!! I might have thought it too coincidental, but she knew what time I was on the train!! Weird huh?

Of course, we made the trip to Garden of the Gods...

and we went to the Xeriscape Gardens. I really hoped to have more time (and photos) here, but there was quite a storm brewing that afternoon, and I had neglected to fully charge my camera battery. It was flashing red at me the entire time we were at the gardens.

I really really wanted to try lightning photos again. The view was great - gardens in the foreground, Garden of the Gods in the middle and lightning over Pike's Peak! The failing battery, lack of a tripod and danger of being struck by lightning put a real damper on that idea. Someday, I'll go back over there with a good battery, a tripod and clean car windows and try for that shot. Did you know the car only protects you from lightning if the windows are rolled up?? Lightning is a real danger here. There were actually 2 people injured by lightning from this storm coming over the mountain. They were leaning against one end of the car when the other end was hit. They were able to call for help and were taken to the hospital . (http://www.koaa.com/aaaa_top_stories/x1974618608/Hikers-near-car-struck-by-lightning)

Thanks for taking my little off-topic trip with me! I hope you enjoyed the detour!

Ignore It and It will Grow?

2009-07-17T10:42:00.007-06:00

Mom's gone back home from her visit, so "touristing" is over and there's gardening to be done! During her visit, we were gone most days, so the garden didn't get much attention. I usually had time to give it a once-over most days. I picked a few peas & cut some lettuce (and one actual head of broccoli - a small one, but still a head), and tried to keep the spaghetti squash contained.

Here's the photo overview...

Not much apparent change in the potato bin - hopefully that means something is happening underneath the straw.

I have two little zucchini that should be big enough to pick soon!

The flying saucer squash grew quite a lot this week. Only problem is, it seems to be a bush plant not a vine plant (like I THOUGHT it was). I guess it's good that I put it at the end of the bed. Since the watermelon don't look too promising, the Green Dragon cucumber will have plenty of space on the new trellis I built a couple weeks ago for these three!

When I saw the bush form, I thought I just wasn't paying attention to the seed packet (I did the same thing last year with the zucchini) but I looked at the package today and it actually doesn't say if it's bush or vine. If I had looked really closely at the picture on the package, I might have noticed it looked a bit like a bush plant, but it wasn't so obvious. This makes me feel a little better knowing it's not just that I didn't READ the package but that doesn't change anything. I hope there's going to be enough space for all the plants I have there. I wouldn't have planted so close if I had realized they wouldn't grow UP!

The spaghetti squash and corn both put on lots of growth while I wasn't looking. It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the squash has actually about reached the top of the ladder! The corn has fully recovered from it's hail damage it seems.

The green beans are looking much, much better. There's still some yellow in there, but there's lots more green now. I'm thinking they looked so bad because they were too wet. We had .7" of rain on Sunday, but it's been mostly dry since and we've had some hot, sunny weather. I did sprinkle some coffee grounds around the worst of the plants but I can't see that it made much difference since that spot isn't greener than the rest. I'm really leaning toward too much water having caused the problems.

Look under this very pale leaf and you'll even seem some blooms!!

I am a bit concerned about my potatoes though. I have a few batches that aren't looking so good right now. These are Red Pontiac which are a late variety. I tried to peek around the stems but I'm not seeing signs of tubers. The straw seems to stay really really wet, so I hope they don't just rot away. I will be so sad if none of my potatoes grow! Not all of them are looking bad though, so there's still hope. I'll just let these be and see what they end up doing.

To end on a positive note, look what appeared this week! These are Thessaloniki tomatoes. I do have baby toms on some of the other plants as well, but these are the largest ones I've found so far. You can see some of the hail damage from the earlier storms but other than making my plants less pretty, it doesn't seem to have caused any real harm.

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon!

HAIL NO!!!

2009-07-08T01:25:00.008-06:00

So far in July, we've had nearly 4 inches of rain!! Of course, with this rain has come the threat of more severe weather and the gardeners' nightmare, HAIL! I guess I can feel fortunate that we've only had pea & marble sized hail. The storm that left this loveliness was apparently throwing golf balls around in other areas.

After a few storms, the hail damage is starting to show up in the garden as well. The zucchini doesn't look so bad, just a few holes in the leaves. The one on the right has a couple female blossoms coming, maybe I'll have zucchini soon!

The corn looks a little shredded after yesterday's storm.

This poor little borage didn't enjoy the pommeling so much.

After the first hail, I decided to build some protection for the tomatoes, just in case the golf balls come hurtling through the sky, they might stand a chance. I have two layers of chicken wire (offset so the holes are smaller) attached to a couple pieces of wood at each end. I laid it over the top of the trellis and tied it to the top supports. When the growing season is over, I can untie the wire and use it over the bed to hold down the fall mulch. Of course, this doesn't offer full protection as the sides are still open, but I'm hoping it helps (well, really, I'm hoping it's unnecessary). I also added ropes for the tomatoes to grow up. I still need to add the lines for the beans. The beans aren't growing so fast yet, so I still have a little time on that one.

The spaghetti squash & pumpkins are creeping up the ladder more and more each day. The Small Wonder squash is looking like it will be quite prolific. I may have spaghetti squash coming out my ears come fall!! Of course, the squash will probably all have little hail scars on them... The nasturtiums look the worst of everything in this bed. Those big round leaves took a severe beating.

This is the new addition this week. I finally got the trellis for the cukes & watermelon added. I had a few 2x2's left still so I used 'em along with the spindles that came from the stairs we cut down to fit the garden area (so I wouldn't have to jump off the retaining wall anymore). I had a set of hinges in the basement from an old project that was taken apart and a pair of brackets to keep the thing square (that I have no idea where they came from).

Too bad it doesn't sit at quite the same angle as the ladder. Oh well...

I covered all the bush beans after the first (or second?) storm. I figured they seemed to be having a tough enough time this year with out being beaten to death by flying ice.

They're still yellow, but they're looking a little better than they were. They are putting on growth now and they look like blooms may be on the way soon. I was going to try some fish emulsion, but the only time I remembered to look for some while I've been at the store, they didn't have any. We don't have any nurseries out here and I haven't been nearby any recently. I did apply some coffee grounds around the worst of them, just to see if that would do anything. I still wonder if it's because they're pretty wet. This week is supposed to be hot and I think dry, so maybe they'll perk up a little more. I've never had beans look this bad and the germination rates have been pretty dismal as well. I'm hoping the heat helps these guys get back to normal.

To top it all off, look what I found hatching (or emerging, or whatever these guys do)...

I wasn't sure at first what was wrong with it, it was laying so strangely on the mulch, then I realized it's legs weren't free yet. I wasn't so thrilled to find this guy for sure.

Well, there's my update for this week, a little early. I'm off my usual routine anyway as I didn't do my end-of-week pictures last week and Mom flies in tomorrow so I'm may not have a chance to update for about a week (we be out doing tourist-y things not garden-y things I think!). I'll be back before long though!

RAIN!!!

2009-07-05T13:43:00.006-06:00

We had a wet spring and summer is starting out that way as well. From yesterday's rain, I had 1.6" of rain in the rain gauge which for a dry place like Colorado, is a lot of rain (my neighbor's tops out at 1.5" and was above that, so who knows which is right). We also had .6" on July 2 and June 27 with .3 in between. When Mom comes to visit later this week, she will get to see an unusually green Colorado! I haven't lived here long enough to know what is actually "usual" but I'm told by my friend who grew up here and moved back here 4 years ago, that this is not "usual" .

Our house has a deep sump pit, but doesn't have a permanent pump set up. The pump is in the pit but plugged in with an extension cord (to our one outlet in the unfinished basement) and attached to a garden hose that we run out the window. A few weeks ago, I bought two barrels, figuring I'd try to fill them from the sump (rather than a rain barrel). I won't get as much water but I'll have a lot more control. Plus, I've been working on a drainage "system" to utilize the water from the downspouts for some of the trees and flower garden spots. I wasn't sure if I'd manage to fill the barrels over the summer based on last year's rainfall, or lack thereof. They're both full now and I'm kicking myself a bit for only buying two!! (though I may soon wish I had gotten the spigots installed on them before I filled them). I still have almost 2' of water in the sump pit and as I was running the hose to the front lawn (figured I'd make sure the grass got a DEEP watering) it started to rain again. I worked outside for a few minutes until I was chased into the house by one wicked thunder clap. Then the rain REALLY started again.

I took that photo 45 minutes ago. The rain has nearly stopped (for now at least) and the rain gauge has .7" of rain in it now. I won't be watering the garden any time soon! I planted a small test patch of grass in the backyard Friday. I hope the seed hasn't all washed away.

While I'm on the subject of weather, here are a few more weather-related photos I've taken in the past week.

The Determined Daikon

2009-07-03T00:51:00.008-06:00

I've never been the biggest fan of radishes. I like to grow them but usually my husband is the one who eats them. I don't mind them when they're mild but I'm not so fond of them when they start to get hot. I have learned that I do like them sliced thin and added to my salad (since I'm still growing them but my radish eater isn't here right now). Turns out, I can also eat broccoli in small pieces in my salad (I've never been so big on broccoli either).

Last year, my husband took me to dinner at a Korean restaurant in Colorado Springs. One of the side dishes they brought me was radish. Since most of the sides were something spicy (or otherwise something I wasn't likely to eat), and I don't do spicy, the radish was the safest choice for me. It turned out to be really good. It was a nice, mild radish. I'm pretty sure it was a Daikon.

This was the about the extent of my daikon knowledge when I saw a package of seeds at the nursery early in the spring. I figured I'd try them & see how it went. The seeds I bought are Miyashige White which are grown in the fall for a winter radish (though there are other varieties that can be grown in spring & summer). I planted just a few seeds to see what happened if they were planted in spring. I presprouted the seeds inside then transplanted them to the garden. I had two that survived (see the top of the photo).

I picked one and ate it when it was about 4" long or so (which may have been too early- I think they should be more like 12" long). The other quickly bolted. I decided to leave it there to see what it would do. I also hope to harvest seeds for sprouting. I can only handle a few radish sprouts at a time (on their own, they've got a little bite to 'em) but hubby loves them. The one I ate did have some pep to it like the regular ones so it too was sliced thin & added to the salad.

Whenever I have seen flowering radishes, usually the root is very small. My blooming daikon actually has a very large root. I suppose it has to because it turned into a very large plant! Of course, the work Daikon means Large Root in Japanese, so I guess that makes sense.

Yep, that's ONE daikon radish!

I read on GardenWeb not too long ago that radish seed pods are edible. I had never seen the seed pods before (guess I had always pulled the plant by then) so for those of you who are like me, here's what a radish seed pod looks like.

I did eat a couple (raw from the garden) and they tasted pretty good (like a radish, imagine that) but they were a little hot for my taste. That may be the variety, and that it's out of it's season, so I may try one again in the fall.

Here's that mega-radish from another view. Those flowers reach out over about a 4'x4' area (this is a 4'x10' bed).

Shortly after I took these photos, while I was gone to town, we must have had some pretty wicked winds. When I came home, this is what I found...

Check out the poor sugar snap peas at the other end. They were smushed up but they're doing fine. The daikon was pretty beat up. A few of it's branches broke off and it was pretty well laid over. To allow the other plants growing nearby to see the light of day, I scooped it up and tied it together. I used the hoops in another bed so now it is held up with a scrap piece of irrigation tubing.

I found some information on preparing daikon on What's Cooking America http://whatscookingamerica.net/DaikonRadish.htm

"Preparation - This is an extremely versatile vegetable that can be eaten raw in salads or cut into strips or chips for relish trays. It also can be stir-fried, grilled, baked, boiled or broiled. Use the daikon as you would a radish. It may be served raw in salads or grated for use as a condiment (if you don't have a Japanese-style grater, use a cheese grater and grate just before serving), pickled, or simmered in a soup. They are also preserved by salting as in making sauerkraut. Daikon also is used in soups and simmered dishes. To prepare, peel skin as you would a carrot and cut for whatever style your recipe idea calls for. Not only is the root eaten, but the leaves also are rich in vitamin C, beta carotene, calcium, and iron, so they are worth using instead of discarding.
A Japanese secret to cooking daikon is to use water in which rice has been washed or a bit of rice bran added (this keeps the daikon white and eliminates bitterness and sharpness}.
For Chips, Relish Tray Sticks or Stir Fries - Simply peel Daikon with a peeler and cut crossways for thin chips. Dip thin chips in ice water and they will crisp and curl for a Daikon chip platter with your favorite sour cream or yogurt dip. Cut into julienne strips for relish trays, salads or stir-frys.

Nutrition Information - Daikon is very low in calories. A 3 ounce serving contains only 18 calories and provides 34 percent of the RDA for vitamin C. Rich in vitamin C, daikon contains active enzymes that aid digestion, particularly of starchy foods. Select those that feel heavy and have lustrous skin and fresh leaves."

Well, that's what I can tell you (so far at least) about the Daikon Radish. I'm sure there are others out there like me who don't know what ALL the different veggies are and what you do with them, so I hope this is informative for someone out there!

Then & Now - June Review

2009-06-30T20:34:00.008-06:00

When we see our gardens every day, sometimes it's easy to lose sight of just how much has happened over the past few weeks. I decided to post some comparison photos to show growth for the month of June. I don't have photos from exactly one month ago, but I got as close as possible. Some photos were taken May 29 and some were taken June 5.

Note the black hoop for reference-

I don't think I'll end up adding the top board as they look about ready to bloom and foliage growth seems to have slowed.

The milk jugs are barely visible anymore.

This milk jug will soon be covered as well.

These were overflow potatoes. This is really supposed to be the grape area but I just planted it this year so the potatoes should not be in the way. The grape is in the middle.

Harvest totals so far:

MAY:
Salad Greens- 7 oz
Radishes- 3 oz
May total- 10 oz

JUNE:
Salad Greens- 30 oz
Radishes - 4 oz
Peas- 31 oz
Strawberries - 8 (~1 oz)
Broccoli- ~3 oz
June total- 69 oz = 4 lb 5 oz

Total: 79 oz = 4 lb 15 oz

I have to estimate a little on the radishes, broccoli & berries as I'm only picking a small amount at a time. They weigh less than 1 oz, so I have added several together to estimate weight.

Wow, this is the first time I've added up the harvest list. I didn't realize that I had harvested quite that much. I'm also amazed sometimes just how much the garden has grown so far. I start to get impatient sometimes and there are days it seems like nothing has changed out there. Guess the proof is in the pics!!

Xeriscape & Garden of the Gods

2009-06-26T22:43:00.006-06:00

I had an appointment at the Air Force Academy today (did you know that gardening can give you "tennis elbow"?) and since I was on the west side of the city, I decided to stop at the Colorado Springs Utilities Xeriscape Demonstration Garden. I kept meaning to go last summer but never made it, so this was my first visit.

I wanted to share a few photos to help dispel the false impression that Xeriscape = Zeroscape. I see the misuse of the term xeriscape quite often. Xeriscape is not a sea of rock. Rock may have it's place in a waterwise landscape but it's really not the only option.

I only had a few minutes to preview the garden (I'll go back in a couple weeks with Mom while she's here) so I didn't get to really read the signs well. I know one of these photos is of a moderate water use garden (the 2nd one) but I think the others are all low water use. One of the principles of xeriscape is to group plants by their water needs.

So, here's the short tour:

One website I think is a great source of information on plants' water needs is X-rated Gardening http://www.gardencentersofcolorado.org/xratedgardening/perennials.htm.

Colorado Springs Utilities also has xeriscape information here-
http://www.csu.org/residential/greenback/water/xeriscape/item1123.html

I didn't have a lot of time before my appointment and on my way across town, I kept going back & forth, trying to decide if I should go to the gardens or to Garden of the Gods. I opted for the gardens but I ended up going to Garden of the Gods after my appointment. I was there for a picnic with my neighbors a couple weeks ago and with all the rain we had earlier this spring, everything is so green here this year. The contrast between the rocks and the vegetation is just so pretty.

For those who don't know, Garden of the Gods is a park on the west side of Colorado Springs with some unusual rock formations. When it was gifted to the city, one of the stipulations was that it would always remain free and open to the public. Today, I just drove the loop around the park, but there is also a very nice walking trail through the formations. It really is a beautiful park.

If you'd like more information about Garden of the Gods, visit their website http://www.gardenofgods.com/yourvisit/index.cfm.

Garden Update

2009-06-25T22:59:00.004-06:00

Just a few photos of the garden today.

The spaghetti squash is cruisin' along. I'm trying to convince it to climb the ladder. Looks like the first female blossoms must not have been pollinated as they are yellowing and one fell off today. There are probably 8 more there already, so I'm not worried. I'm pretty sure I will have a jungle of spaghetti squash come end of summer. The pumpkin is following quickly along behind the spaghetti. At least they are both small fruit varieties (small wonder and small sugar).

When I ordered seeds this spring, I also ordered some seeds for sprouting. On a bit of a whim, I decided to plant some mung beans last week. I've don't know much about mung beans other than the sprouts are pretty good and it sounds like they're a bush bean. I've tucked them in along the edge of the squash bed, just to the left of the nasturtium in the above photo. We'll see what happens!

On the subject of beans, something is wrong with my bush beans.

At first, as the leaves yellowed, I thought it was the normal period where they get a little yellow after sprouting but they didn't get better. The front 6 squares in this photo are one variety, the first planting of beans. I plucked the worst leaves from the plant in the center square, but they were very very pale. If I remember right, the center plants were the first to sprout and the edges were later. I did plant a little early, so I'm wondering if it was still too cold for them. The greener ones behind the bad ones in the photo were planted a couple weeks later than these. If they yellow too, it may be a disease or a deficiency. This is a new bed this year, so maybe they don't like something in the layers.

Mmmmmm...... Tomorrow.........

I SHOULD have had my first ripe strawberry earlier this week. I checked the garden and saw the first blush of color on the berries one afternoon. The next morning when I checked, I was surprised to see a bit of almost ripe berry (so soon!) and was quickly disappointed when I saw that something had beaten me to it. It and it's 3 friends. I'm quite sure it was a bird since the berries had a slashed area in them.

I used one of the sheer curtains to cover the top thinking that the moving fabric would deter the birds. When I checked the next morning all looked good. When I checked that afternoon, the one ripening berry I had was GONE. The cap was there, the rest was gone. The strawberries are now completely wrapped. I have a piece of old sheer/gauze type curtain material my mom had in a trunk (probably for 30 years - who knows). It's about 20' feet long so even though it's not too wide, I can make a couple passes with it. It seems to be working as I have ripening berries under there that are still intact. Today, there was another that was nearly ripe. I couldn't take it- I ate it. It was so good... it reminded me of the wild berries we used to pick when I was young. I'm letting the rest ripen before I pick them.

The All-Blue potatoes in the ground are the first to bloom with Kennebecs soon to follow.

JustJenn, I made a point of smelling these this morning and I agree, they do smell good.

I'm very curious to see what's going on underneath all the potato foliage but I am resisting the urge to snoop until they're ready (or closer at least). I hope some of the blue or purple potatoes are ready when my mom comes to visit in a couple weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that at least something from the garden is ready while she's here. I'm afraid lettuce and peas will be done but I'm not sure what will be ready.

Speaking of fingers, I went to have my fingerprints scanned today for a background check (I'm getting my real estate license again and Colorado likes to check you out first). After she scanned all my fingers, she had to roll & scan each one individually. The computer compares the two scans and apparently tries to match a certain number of points. If it can't match a certain number, it rejects the match. The program rejected every one of mine from multiple tries. The first question she asked me when we were having problems - Do you do a lot of gardening?? Ok, so she tossed in "without gloves" or have you handwashed dishes for a long time? I guess it wears the fingerprints down enough to make scanning difficult.

I twice worked as a dishwasher many years ago, I worked at a flower shop for 6 years- about every job there was there but mainly in the greenhouse or design room, 5 years or so of sign work, I'm a pretty chronic hand-washer and I only started wearing gloves regularly in the past few years. Not lookin' good for these fingertips...

Calling All Garlic Growers!!

2009-06-21T22:10:00.005-06:00

I have a question for all you experienced garlic growers. Is this a garlic scape? If so, what should i do with it? I hear they're tasty, but I really don't know what to do with it or when to do it. Also, does this become a bloom and need to be removed?

Your input is greatly appreciated!!

Those Lovely Ladies

2009-06-18T23:19:00.004-06:00

While watering the babies on the front porch today, I saw a terrible sight - gobs of aphids nestled into the tips of the little mums. Time for a little help from my friends...

The past few days, I've noticed a pretty significant population explosion of lady bugs. While pulling weeds in the back yard I actually have to check the plants so I don't squish them. They seem to be everywhere and thick. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Either they really enjoyed the unusual spring moisture or somebody released them and they all came to my house! I even spotted some in the front lawn this evening.

When I saw the aphids, I went out back and caught a few of them. Several hours later, they were still trekking around the mums.

I was thinking I should mow the back weed-patch (we don't have a lawn back there yet) but I'm afraid it would be a lady-massacre if I did. For now, I'm just going to pull the tall and weediest looking stuff. We don't have many manicured back yards out here so if I don't mow, I won't offend my neighbors.

We are also having a population explosion of Miller Moths it seems.
http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/Pests/millers.htm

Although CSU says the population is normal this year , http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/moths.html
they were the topic of a short blurb on the news tonight. These guys are everywhere at my house right now. When I open my front door, a flurry of moths come flying out. I've got them bouncing into the windows, flying into the shower, dying on the floor but I think the worst was when I put a loaf of bread into the 450* oven the other day, one must have been hiding behind the towel hanging on the oven door. I opened the door, he flew in. He didn't make it back out (well he did, but it was on the end of a spatula - something about fresh bread in a steamy oven with a moth at the bottom didn't seem yummy...).

I was happy to hear that they should only be hanging around here for another week or so.

Ok, I don't want bears either...

2009-06-13T22:22:00.003-06:00

I officially take back my previous comment (from the mountain lion conversation) when I said I'd almost rather have bears.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/sns-ap-co--bearinhome,0,6746663.story

Small bear wanders into Colorado Springs home, shot by owner
By Associated Press
3:52 PM MDT, June 13, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A small bear wandered into a Colorado Springs home and was shot and killed by the homeowner.The incident happened Friday night when the 100-pound bear pushed its way through a heavy door into the house and started growling. The unnamed homeowner shot the bear four times with a Colt .45 revolver as it made its way to a staircase.

The resident called authorities after the bear died. Wildlife officials say the bear's hide will be used for educational purposes and that the shooting was justified.

Last week, a bear climbed through a window of a home in Cheyenne Canyon to grab steaks sitting on the counter. The homeowners found the bear and called authorities, who tranquilized the bear and relocated it 100 miles away.

___Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com

I know there were bears near our house in Alaska (we found scat in the lot behind us and the neighbors found it in their backyard) but they never made their presence known. We didn't even have problems with the trash there. The moose were more troublesome than the bears, and about the worst they did -other than drive the dog crazy (and give me a good scare for my pup's safety) -was strip the tops of all the raspberry bushes.

There are so many people here, the run-ins are probably inevitable.

Trellis Progress

2009-06-12T22:21:00.008-06:00

I've made some progress with my trellis situation this week. I stayed with essentially the same plan but I changed how it's put together. My original plan was to build 4 individual rectangles to go over the bed. Once I built the first one, I felt it was not going to be sufficient once the beans & tomatoes started getting tall.

Here's what I ended up building...

While it looks very similar to what I had planned, I made some real changes to how I built it. This one is built in sections that run down the sides, not over the bed, which makes it much less dangerous (for the plants) during installation. The 4 uprights have a loop of pipe strap at the top which is how they're attached to the top horizontal piece. Having the uprights loosely attached made it easier to adjust placement (read: lots of wiggle room!). I marked where I wanted them on the side of the bed, attached with one screw to hold the height, straightened them out and added a second screw in the bottom. I then put up the other side the same way. I put the overhead cross pieces on last. There are 2 at the tomato end to run string from. There's one at the pole bean end just for visual balance and a little extra support. I'm going to run horizontal lines for the beans similar to the peas but a little more heavy duty (and neater) as they'll be there much longer than the peas.

I also decided to use my scavenged ladder for the Small Wonder spaghetti squash and Small Sugar pumpkins. The ladder is not safe for use anymore so it's got a new purpose. I picked this up free on Craigslist this spring. I also added a few cross pieces to it. These were also scavenged. They were attached to the stairs we re-purposed so I wouldn't have to jump off the retaining wall anymore (or go the long way around) to get to the garden. All last summer, I used a bale of straw as a step (still had to jump down, just not as far). By fall, my step was getting lower and lower...

Anyway, I have a little pile of these 2x2's from the stairs and I was happy to finally find a use for at least a few of them. This poor ladder will look like a jungle by fall I suspect. I did put a couple screws in each side to attach it to the bed so (hopefully) it won't come crashing down in a storm.

I still have to add something for the cukes, patty pan squash and watermelon (if they ever sprout - I had one weak start but it died shortly after transplanting) .

Speaking of spaghetti squash, here's why I was getting anxious about a trellis here...

I know, it's not huge, but it's growing pretty quick. It's sending out tendrils and if you look to the right of the photo, there's a female bloom about to open. Luckily, the bloom on the left appears to be male. I'm surprised how quickly this one bloomed. The spaghetti squash and pumpkin are the farthest along of my vining plants. The cukes & patty pan are hanging in but are smaller. The watermelon is non-existent. The zucchini seem to be starting to show some growth now as well.

The potatoes in the bin didn't put on a huge amount of height this week but they are filling out more. I'll add another board soon. I've added some straw to nearly all the potatoes this week. . Some are growing faster than others, but most seem to be in good shape. The only variety that seems to be doing poorly is Viking.

These are Red Pontiac, a late season variety.

When reading about growing strawberries, I read conflicting information about what to do with Junebearing strawberries. Some sources say pluck the blooms the first year, others say leave them. I even read that they won't produce the first year. Unless that last bit refers to runners that are sprouted in the summer, I'd call it false information.

This is one of the Honeoye I planted this spring. I decided to learn for myself what the best way to handle the blooms was. I plucked blooms off half the plants and let the other half go. I have 4-6 berries started on the ones I let the flowers grow. I'm planning to allow limited runners this summer. I want the bed to fill in but I want to (try to) avoid total chaos. We'll see how that goes...

It wasn't for nothin' after all

2009-06-08T20:00:00.003-06:00

I went out to check the garden this morning and discovered I was wrong about how much support my peas required. They stood up fine on their own but today, our wind returned (and if the forecast storms show up, the wind will be much worse). I cringed as I saw the bloom covered tops bent over in the wind. I tried to think of something tall I could quickly put out for them. All I could come up with was my less-than-stellar trellis I started the other day.

It was a little tricky to move in the wind, but once I got the screws started, it wasn't hard to straighten and attach. I just ran some cotton string between the sides which was enough to straighten out the poor peas. They looked broken, but when I got them stood back up, the stems looked fine. I guess I'll find out in the next couple days if I'm going to lose any. It seems strange to me how often the wind manages to blow from the direction of the house (ok, it bounces off the house, but still...). Last year, the corn was usually flattened from that direction.

The trellis actually seems a lot more stable than it did before. I think it's because of the string holding the sides. I'm thinking I may be able tweak my plan a little and make it work. I'm still undecided though. Maybe tonight I'll check out some more options & see what I can come up with.

Back to the Drawing Board

2009-06-07T00:10:00.005-06:00

The time is fast approaching that I will need to have all my trellis work completed. That also means I'd better make up my mind what I'm going to build! I have 3 beds that require some form of support. I thought I had two of the three figured out. Two of three has turned into ZERO of three. I was using the sticks for the rattlesnake beans and pickling cukes, up until I discovered the tree branches were rooting. For the other pole beans and tomatoes, I was planning to use a stack of 2x2's I have on hand (a freebie from last summer). It seemed so simple, too simple in fact. The plan was to build 4 sets of these...

This is not going to work. It's completely unstable and when there are plants on it, I think it could come crashing down during a good windstorm. Unlike some fellow gardeners who very much enjoy overengineering these types of projects (I'm sure this post will make at least one man in Alabama cringe) I tend to go with more of a "wing it with what you've got until you really know what you want" sort of method. Sometimes, it doesn't work out so well, so back to the drawing board it is. I also still need to decide how I'm going to support the vining plants. I've really got to get crackin', the pumpkin is starting to grow.

The potatoes are growing well it seems. I'll be adding the second board on my bin before too long now. I'm curious to see the differences in production between the potatoes in the containers, the bin and the ones in the ground.

Most of the tomatoes are doing well. I lost the one Roma, but the others are all hanging in. I have one little guy in here who's lagging behind but it was not looking well when I planted it, so it's at least an improvement.

The Galinas Gold Cherry which was the early leader in growth before transplanting isn't doing as well as it was. It has a little leaf curl and just isn't thriving like some of the others. It is still growing and is about to bloom again. Hopefully, it straightens itself out.

The black cherry (not pictured) which looked bad after transplanting seems to be doing well now.

These are the remaining Rattlesnake beans (since the bunny dug in behind them). I'm going to wait a bit longer to see if more sprout before I fill in the blank spots. I had them planted around the sticks that I had to pull out. Crazy trees.

On a positive note, the Sugar Snaps are SO close! Not much longer now- I can hardly wait!!

To those of you who use Blogger, I can't drag & drop anything in compose mode anymore (for the past few weeks) for some reason. Anyone else having this problem?

Cold and Dreary Days

2009-06-03T20:59:00.004-06:00

It's been a cold and dreary couple of days here in Colorado. Yesterday at 4 pm it was 43 degrees, windy and kind of rainy. Today at about noon, it was 43 degrees with a pretty good fog. It did clear out this afternoon for a little while and we made it to about 57 degrees when the sun came out for a minute.

Monday afternoon, until a nasty looking (and sounding) storm rolled in, I was making some progress in the front yard. I was in the midst of the dirt work to correct the negative drainage and start at a better (higher) ground level for the Jostaberry bushes -which will soon be the backdrop for my new flower garden. Because I was building up the ground level, I had to remove the downspout elbow and extension piece so I could work underneath it. I will also have to cut off part of the downspout so that it will drain correctly. Of course, this means it HAD to rain! I tossed a tote lid under the vertical downspout to at least slow the water down enough that it wouldn't wash away ALL the dirt I had just moved.

I'm starting to think that if we want it to rain, I should just have my neighbors put more gopher bait in the tunnel that leads to my yard. I moved their downspout the last time so at least the water doesn't run through the tunnel and puddle in my yard (with the possibility that my dog will drink from the potentially poisoned puddle).

It's supposed to be in the high 70's-low 80's the next few days, so I think I should be seeing another growth spurt soon.

I did remember to take a picture of the blooming stick a.k.a. my Saskatoon blueberry today. I put the chicken wire around it so the dogs don't run it over. It's so little, it's hard to see from a distance. I hope it produces a couple of berries this summer, just enough to find out how they taste.

Of course, Mr. Nosy was quite sure he needed to be involved, as usual...

Answers, Austrees & critters

2009-06-01T00:05:00.006-06:00

I wandered out to the garden this morning to plant round 2 of the corn, a batch of yellow beans and some pole beans. I took a peek at the Rattlesnake beans and got a surprise. I'm quite sure there was a rabbit in the bed last night. The little bugger dug out a spot just behind the sticks in the picture from my last post, between the beans and one of the Roma tomatoes. I noticed one of the Romas wasn't looking good yesterday, now I think it's done for. I'll probably lose a few beans but I have more seed and it's early enough in the season to replant with no problem. I'm quite sure now that the previous mystery digging was a rabbit after all. It does still seem surprising that they didn't seem to eat anything. Today's digging looked like the digging in the mulch earlier this spring. I think I gave the bunny easy access to the bed by leaving a pile of straw flakes I had removed from one of the other beds when I planted it. I removed that pile today.

While repairing the bunny damage, I noticed more buds forming on the Austree trimmings. I figured since there was already disturbance in the area, I might as well check to make sure there weren't any roots forming on the sticks. I yanked one out and wouldn't you know, that sucker had roots on it!. Not what I wanted to see at all. I pulled out all of the sticks that showed any signs of green. I had roots starting on 3 or 4 of them, so now I need to come up with a new plan for them this week, before the beans & cuke get very big.

The critters were active the last couple days. In additions to the rabbit, I also found that the pocket gophers have been active on BOTH sides of the backyard. I'm used to finding evidence on the north side but today I had a busy digger on the south side as well. I found one Mountain Mahogany chewed off at the roots, and a second that may or may not have been a gopher casualty. It was headed for a third, nice, healthy little bush that's only about 6" tall. There was also a hole inside the fence. I hope it doesn't make it to the new fruit trees.

On the plus side, I did notice today that one of the two Saskatoons is actually blooming -which is surprising since they are really just sticks at this point. They're so small and hard to see, I actually have fencing around them so the dogs don't run over them. The second one is getting a few leaves now. I also am finally seeing signs of life from the Anne raspberries. I was starting to wonder if they'd ever grow. 8 of the 9 raspberry plants either have leaves or buds now. One Caroline isn't doing anything yet. I'm only seeing growth on one of the blackberries so far but I'm trying to be patient. The raspberries were all planted before the blackberries, so I'm going to wait & see.

The downside to feeding the worms

2009-05-29T21:40:00.005-06:00

Today, I was out planting the second round of beans and I saw something that gave me a bit of a scare (not as much as something else I heard today, but I'll get to that in a minute). Right behind the peppers' covered area and actually under a piece of chicken wire that was laying on top of the straw, I saw a clump of what I am quite sure is bunny fur. Then, I looked across the bed and saw this raised area. It's a little hard to see in the photo because of the straw, but there was a hump 6-8" or so high where the yellow beans are supposed to go. I had a moment of panic, thinking there was a bunny nest in my garden bed and I have seen spots in the mulch out back that looked like bunnies were starting to nest. I resisted the urge to immediately dig into the mound (though I'll admit, I did peek) and went inside to get my camera.

Thankfully, I don't have a bunny nest.

Remember my happy worm pictures?? http://transplantedgardener.blogspot.com/2009/03/worms.html

What I do have is lots and lots of squash or pumpkin sprouts (still, much easier to handle than cute little baby bunnies though I'm not quite sure what to think of the fur).

I guess we shouldn't be too concerned about planting Curcubit seeds too deep...

Don't get me wrong, it DID occur to me last fall that this could happen - I didn't put any squash in the bed I where I planned to plant similar plants come spring, but I didn't really think they would push up such a big area on their way up. I found another mound toward the north end of the bed, where I have corn starting to sprout. I reached into that one and tried to pull those loose without disturbing the corn too much then smushed it back into place. We'll see how effective that was before too long.

This photo shows the Sugar Snap Peas two weeks ago (Friday, 5-15)

and here they are today!

I can't believe the height change in two weeks. The hoop and the brown wire fence visible above are still in the same spot, just much harder to see. For a good reference, check out the hoop behind the peas (over the lettuce). No peas yet, but there are more blooms. The weather has been cooler this past week though today was the first of several (forecast) warm days, so the plants should be kicking back into gear again.

The beans are starting to sprout. These are the Rattlesnake Beans but some of the Landreth are popping up as well. I'm really really hoping I didn't make a mistake with the sticks I used here. These are prunings from the neighbor's Austrees, a vigorous tree of the willow family. They had been removed from the tree for several weeks and to (hopefully) be on the safe side, I peeled all the bark from the bottoms of the branches. I'm worried though because the branches are starting to bud out again. I don't know if it's stored energy in the wood or if somehow they are sprouting roots?? Is it possible for them to grow even though I peeled them??

The direct-sown zucchini I planted under plastic in Ring #2 sprouted early this week. I had 3 sprouts under there Tuesday (when I was telling the neighbor what was planted where) but when I looked yesterday, I only had two!! One was completely missing and another has a couple holes in it's little leaves. I forgot to check on them today, I hope the others are still there.

My Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce I sowed in the milk jug this spring http://transplantedgardener.blogspot.com/2009/04/photo-update.html was split up. Some went into the garden and some are living in yogurt cups on the front porch waiting for my friend to build her garden where they are supposed to be living. Maybe the ones in the garden have been busy growing massive roots or something, but I may have to steal one of Andrea's plants for a comparison. So far, hers are bigger than mine, and she doesn't even have them yet!

Lettuce in the garden...

Lettuce on the porch...

It didn't make it into the photo, but her spinach is bigger too. I may just squeeze one of these into the garden to see if I should leave mine on the covered porch longer next year. The porch plants don't get as much sunshine but they probably warm faster because of the containers and stay warmer because they're up next to the house.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you my scarier story! I could see from my house that one of the neighbors on the street behind us was having a garage sale today (the house in the distance in today's pea pic). I stopped by on my way out to run errands today, in part to see if there were any goodies I needed and partially as an excuse to meet them. I get a chuckle sometimes as I hear her yelling at her dogs when they take off - hers listen about as well as mine do! Anyway, we chatted about the dogs a little (she notices Veronica's impatient yelping at the door - it is a bit different for a big dog. I mentioned to the husband that Wilson was obsessively barking at something last night (every time he went out the door, he ran out barking- several times in a couple hours) when he tells me he heard something going up the street past his house one night that he really thought sounded like a MOUNTAIN LION. I'm not actually sure what he meant - what the sound was - but he said it was distinctive.

So I went about my merry way and later on, I spotted the neighbor behind us out in her backyard (the other house you can see in the pea pic). I wandered out to say hello as I haven't seen her for a while and told her what the guy across the street told me. She told me that about a month ago when her brother was in town, they were headed in to register their ATVs (they recently moved here) one morning about 8:00 and as they passed the open field at the edge of the neighborhood (about 1/3 mile from my house by road, shorter as the crow flies) they both saw a large animal, reddish/brown color with a long tail, out in the field. They thought it looked like a cat but didn't think they lived out here. When they were at the office (wherever you have to register ATVs- I don't actually know here) they were looking at the mounts there and became quite convinced that they had in fact seen a mountain lion.

Having TWO people tell me this kind of information in the same day is incredibly disturbing to me. I thought the most dangerous wildlife we have here is the fox. Mountain lions are one of the scariest animals around. I think I'd rather have bears.

Now We're Growing!

2009-05-22T21:20:00.003-06:00

After a few days of beautiful weather this past week, we've had some noticeable growth around the yard and garden. This is one of the lilacs (all the photos were taken yesterday-Thursday). This one is out front, and hasn't been moved (yet) like the others. The ones in back are doing well and are just a smidge behind this one with their blooms. I did have to water the transplants with the hot weather (mid-80's) we had. When I felt under the mulch, it felt wet, so I wasn't sure at first if they were wilted because of a lack of water or too much. I watered just a little and they perked back up, so they must have been dry in their reduced root area.

Look at the peas!! I can't believe how they've grown in just a week! This photo was taken 5-21. The photo in my last post was taken 5-15. They are starting to bloom so I should be eating Sugar Snaps soon!

I was able to harvest a little from the salad greens this week. The baby lettuces I set out are being a little slow but I expect they'll take off soon.

These are the potatoes in my bin. I added a little straw around them today. I think I'll be adding the first board later next week.

These are the tomatoes in ring#4. When I planted the tomatoes, I messed up my planting plan a little. There were supposed to be two Galinas Gold Cherries. One of the cherries didn't make it so I just had the one toward the back/left to plant here. When I planted the rest, I separated the plants by type - cherry, slicer or paste. After I planted all the slicers (using all the available space for them) I realized I had mis-categorized one plant. I had confused the Imur Prior Beta as a paste instead of a slicer. I had started Roma and Paquebot Roma for paste, so I knew there were 2 kinds but I forgot the Paquebot start didn't make it. I plunked the Imur Prior Beta in with the Galinas Gold Cherry. So much for being organized...

The plastic is to help create a little bit of a microclimate for the plants. The day I planted them was really windy and our nights are still pretty cool (40's mostly) so I figured a little extra protection might do them well. All of my more tender plants have some sort of protection, it varies from bed to bed right now. I uncover some plants more often than others but none require daily attention . So far, so good. The Galinas was starting to flower but I pinched the blossoms. I'll leave the next ones, I just felt like they should be in the ground just a little longer before trying to set fruit.

These are the slicers, well, they're at least not cherries or pastes... I couldn't say for sure that slicer is the correct term for all of them, but it works for me. The 2 on the left are Kellogg's Breakfast, a yellow variety. The center 2 (one must be hiding behind the jug) are Thessaloniki (Red) and the right front is Rutgers (red) and back right is Neves Azorian (red).

The poor little Black Cherry was really looking bad last week. I didn't think it was going to make it but it is looking much better this week. It might survive after all!

This is the same potato I posted the picture of last week. I added some straw around this guy today too. This is one of the "overflow" patches. If you look closely toward the center, you can see the stick that is the grape- the intended resident for this space. It is also showing signs of life. You can see one of the posts I put in this week for the trellis. I set posts for the grape and the blackberries. I used wood from a split rail fence my neighbor removed. I used the posts for the grape and the rails for the blackberry. I still have to install the raspberry poles but I 'm using T-posts, so while I'll have to install more of them, the installation will be less involved. It was a little tricky for me to cut off the excess height on the tall ones (alone). I got it done though.

The zucchini I transplanted isn't looking so great. I removed two very yellow leaves before I brought the camera outside. I think it is too wet. I spread the straw mulch away a bit more and I think it looks like it might recover . I have started some more seed just in case. While most things really needed the rain we got today (almost an inch), the zucchini probably wasn't one of them... The grass should be much happier though.

I'm also seeing signs of life in the raspberry patch. This is one of the Canby Raspberries. I have growth on 2/3 of the Canby and 2/3 of the Caroline. The Anne that looked so impressive when they came in, aren't doing anything yet. One of the Triple Crown Blackberries has sprouted as well and leaves are starting on the apples and peaches. The asparagus is finally starting to appear and the Honeoye Strawberries are still looking good. They are starting to bloom. I have read mixed advice about letting June-bearing strawberries produce the first year (some even said they won't). I plucked the blooms from half. I'm going to let the other half do what they want.

So, that's the update for this week. I started moving the phlox and tulips today but was interrupted by a rather nasty thunderstorm. I have a graduation to attend tomorrow north of Denver, so the rest will have to wait until Sunday.

I think Spring is FINALLY here!!

2009-05-15T20:30:00.007-06:00

I'm still here! I haven't posted recently as I was sidetracked by life for a little while. We had a house guest for a few days and DH has headed overseas for a time. I've been busy helping him get ready to go and then getting the house ready for company.

MAYBE we're finally done with winter! No snow recently and we have BLOOMS! The tulips survived this year and have been blooming nicely. The phlox does well here too. It bloomed like this last year. I hope these plants survive their upcoming relocation as they are in the future home of a few Jostaberries. This is in front of the porch and while the phlox and tulips are pretty, I think I need something a little larger for this area.

I planted the orange tulips in the fall. These are holding up really well. They have been in bloom for a week now, been blown by the wind and still look great! I found these on clearance at Walmart of all places.

We did have a little garden attack about 10 days ago. I went out to the garden and found this hole.

It's about one square foot and about 5-6 inches deep. The culprit is unknown. What is surprising is that the hole was dug in a nearly empty square. There were a few very very small onions there but that's it. It looks like something was tunneling in, but the hole didn't go anywhere. I had planted several tiny lettuce and spinach starts at the other end of the bed that were untouched. My main suspects are rabbit, small dog, or fox?? I think rabbits have dug a few spots in the backyard this month in some mulch areas, but this didn't look the same. This had a much bigger area dug up than the spots in the back. We may never know what it was. Very minimal damage though.

I hadn't realized how much the peas have grown until I saw the pictures in my last post. I think we'll have blooms soon.

Last weekend, I went to the plant swap for the Rocky Mountain Gardening Forum on GardenWeb. It was nice to meet some of the gardeners I chat with online. They have really helped me a lot learning to plant in my new location. I also brought home some great plants. I was especially happy somebody brought some peppers as mine did not do well at all. The few that germinated, didn't really thrive. I think it was just not warm enough for them in the basement. I got a California Wonder (green) and a Banana Pepper.

I planted out the peppers along with the tomatoes, squash & cukes I had started. It still may be a little chilly for these heat lovers, so they are tucked down into the straw mulch next to a gallon of colored water and are all under cover. I'm hoping I created a suitable microclimate for the little guys. Some of the tomatoes suffered from our winds this week. The black cherry doesn't look too good and I lost a couple smaller ones. Most of them seem in good shape though. The toms are all buried pretty deep to help them have good, deep roots.

The strawberries don't need their cover anymore. They're doing well still.

My potatoes are FINALLY starting to poke up through the straw. I've been peeking under the straw once in a while just to see if any of them were even alive! We're supposed to reach 82 on Monday. I think the plants will enjoy it.

Finally, here is one of the Freecycle rhubarb I got. This is the biggest of the 3 that I planted this spring but at least they are all growing!

I also planted some of the green beans. The beds seem to be pretty warm now and I also used covers to help keep it that way. We have finally hit our average last frost time, so I think it's fairly safe to try now. Next week I'll plant the corn then I'll try to stagger the rest of the bean plantings.

That's it for today's update. Soon, I think there will be much much more to report!

Photo Update

2009-04-28T23:55:00.004-06:00

Since I last posted, our weather has had quite the mood swings. We've been from Winter to Summer to Winter...must mean it's Spring!

We were out of town the weekend of the 18th. We barely missed one heck of a snowstorm. It was snowy that Friday for about 30 miles and the rest of our trip was just rain. While we were gone, we got enough wet snow to leave almost an inch of water in the rain gauge. By the time we got home Sunday, the roads had thawed and the snow was disappearing fast. Just a few miles north, they were snowed in for the weekend, but I think we got less than a foot. Then we had a few beautiful, sunny, warm days in the mid to upper 70's. Soon, winter returned. Sunday night, we got another 3-4" of snow (and another 7/8" of moisture - very very wet snow). Today was cold (40's) and wet until afternoon. By dinner, it was 60!

The tulips are so close to blooming. Last year when they got this close, they froze. I've tossed a bit of straw over them when it's been nasty this year. I'd really like to see them bloom!

I started some more seeds winter sowing style. These are my lettuce sprouts. I have lettuce, mesclun, broccoli and spinach all sprouted in the jugs. I will do these this way next year for sure.

This is one of the rhubarb roots I got through Freecycle trying to pop up. I have another one that I ordered (a couple days before the Freecycle offer) that is finally showing some signs of life. I wasn't sure, it didn't look great when I got it.

Some of my berries arrived. Here are the Caroline & Anne. The Caroline looked so-so but alive for sure. The Anne looked really good. Large canes with lots of healthy roots. I was impressed.

You can only see the indent, but the patch is now it's intended U-shape. I used some cedar pickets I scavenged from the neighbor's scrap wood pile and pretty much built a floor, 2 boards thick, to act as a center barrier to help keep it orderly later. It shouldn't be terribly hard to keep track of varieties when they creep. Caroline -red, fall bearing- are on the left. Anne - yellow, fall-bearing- are by the fence and Canby - red, thornless, summer bearing are on the right.

The Honeoye strawberries came right before our trip. They are doing quite well. There were 26 in the bundle and they all are still there. I put the plastic hoop over the bed to help warm it a bit more. The ends don't close on this one, so I can just leave it for a while. These have been in the ground probably 12 days at the photo time.

The rest of my fruit is en route. I need to use the one nice-weather day (Wed) to do some prep work before they all come. The blackberries, Canby raspberry, grape, saskatoons, 2 apple and 2 peach trees are all on the way. Here's hoping they arrive in good shape! I will admit, I succumbed to the $25 coupon on the catalog with the iffy ratings (the yellow, G one...). So far, I think I'm doing ok. The asparagus roots seemed a little more dry than I would have liked (and I'm still waiting for them to come up) but otherwise, the plants have been alright.

If you noticed, I slipped a couple more items into my fruit selection. I was planning to use a $100 gift card to get 2 apple trees locally. When we went to look, I couldn't get the kind I want in a price that I could justify. They were about $99 each. I just couldn't do it. I'll use my card for another tree and some shrubs. I ordered 2 semi-dwarf apples (Honeycrisp & Golden Delicious) and 2 standard peach (Red Haven & Intrepid). I bought all 4 of them for less than the cost of one local apple.

The Sugar Snap Peas are still growing and the row I added is making some progress. I take off the plastic whenever the weather is over about 50 so they get sun and fresh air.

I have 3 little Daikon radishes started. The other 3 didn't make it. I don't really water enough under the plastic. I need to start some more. I'm not sure how well they'll do since they are considered a winter radish (planted for fall) but I wanted to try.

The little lettuce has been out there for quite a while. It's finally starting to grow, just a little.

Finally, a little trip to the backyard. The lilacs seem to be doing well. The bigger white one gets a bit of a lean after a strong wind, so I know they need some serious root growth. They are getting ready to bloom soon though. I'm hoping that's a sign that they are doing ok and not a last-chance-to-reproduce-before-I-die reaction. With the thick mulch and having gotten lots of moisture, I think they should make it. Lilacs are tough plants.

Hopefully winter will finally end soon. Our last frost date is May 15. I had really hoped to get more veggies planted out early. The weather guy mentioned the other day that we're really not safe from snow until about Mother's Day. Let's hope it's sooner.

Slow Progress

2009-04-14T22:19:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted for a while because I was hoping to have a bit more to show for the week. I think we've had more snow since the official beginning of Spring than we had all winter. We very much need the moisture here, so I won't complain too much. We seem to have a couple of fairly nice days and then a little return to winter. It's coming again this weekend.

The asparagus and rhubarb arrived last week. After a couple days in the garage (because of snow) I got them planted. I worked on the raspberry patch last week to change it from a giant lasagna bed to the U-shaped patch it was intended to be. I used some of the "lasagna" to top off a couple of the newer beds that have settled down a few inches, to create rings #3 & 4, and soon will take some more to prep for the blackberries. I need to make some progress with the blackberry spot because they should be arriving in the next week or so. The strawberries should be arriving any time now. I hope they come tomorrow so I can get them planted before the weekend.

I did have a surprise this morning though. Last week, while I was out planting potatoes -and let me tell you, I had A LOT of potatoes - I even had to dig a couple small beds because I ran out of planned space and still had some more to plant! Anyway, I was out planting potatoes, and I saw the power company cutting some shrubs at a house down the street. I wandered over (after much debate with myself whether or not to do it) and asked if they had any wood chips to dump. They didn't have much in the truck then, but took my name and address. This morning, I had a load of pine mulch delivered (Free! Yay!) . Of course, it's A LOT of pine mulch... it looks a little funny because the pine needles are still green, but I don't think it matters, they'll brown and blend in before too long. I wish I had known when he was coming, I could have had a better spot for him to dump it, but I'm not going to complain. I don't have to hook up the trailer and go get it, so it works for me. I wonder if the pile will heat up since it has the chipped wood and green needles (and is about 4' tall and 6-8' around).

I've collected a couple buckets of snow from these storms. I'm making a bucket of compost tea (though I'm not sure it's doing anything, maybe I'm just making dirty water??). I also want to try making lacto bacillus (sp?) or something... I need to do some more reading so see just what I am going to make. I collected the snow now, because it might be a long time before I can collect a bucket of rainwater. I also collected a little bit of fresh, clean snow for something else I haven't had in years, Sugar on Snow. For those who don't come from the land of maple syrup, the syrup is boiled down a little more and drizzled onto the bowl of snow. It is supposed to be sort of chewy and candy-like. I must have boiled a little too long. I made some really hard-to-eat maple candy that seemed to completely encase a couple of my molars for several minutes before I could finally pry it off (pretty huh?). What was left in the pan turned to a much easier-to-eat bit of maple sugar. I have one more bowl of snow in the freezer, so I may attempt it again one of these days.

I've had a few more seeds sprout (indoors), moved the wintersown containers to the front porch (where they should be warmer), took some cuttings of the creeping phlox we have out front to see if they will root, moved another small tree (I needed to fill about a foot of dirt around the corner of the patio, so the tree had to move), and moved the 2 clematis from the front to the back.

The poor clematis, I'm surprised they were doing so well. I moved them because I'm going to plant Jostaberry bushes in front of the front porch (where the clematis were). When I dug them up, I discovered they were planted in bottomless coffee cans. One of the cans was mostly rusted away, the other I had to cut off. They were very rootbound. I'm amazed they got enough water to survive (and bloom quite nicely) last year, as I rarely watered directly where they were. I assumed they had roots out around the plants. I can understand if they were mint or something, but I have never heard of planting clematis that way (of course, I've never had clematis before). I think if they can survive that, they just might make it growing up the posts to the back deck.

***update*** Steve over at Valley Gardens (see my blog list) tells me that rootbound clematis are supposed to bloom better which is probably why they were in the coffee cans. Thanks for the info!!

I've been working on quite a few things, I just haven't gotten so many things finished. I don't even have any new pictures (can you believe it? I'll take more soon though). I actually feel a little more productive now that I have written down what I have worked on. It didn't feel like I had done much, even though I have been busy. If the weather is decent tomorrow, I need to take the poor puppies out for a walk. We've played ball a bit, here and there, but they need some good exercise and attention.

It's Spring, Why Does it Feel Like Winter??

2009-04-05T01:06:00.004-06:00

WhooHoo, April Fool's Day...

This is what it looked like out my front door on Wednesday evening. You can't see it, but it is snowing sideways. This is also what it looked like today, except I think the wind was a little worse today. With temps in the mid-20's and strong winds, it was cold out there! At one point, the sun did try to come out through the blowing snow. It actually got up to 70 in the garden! I've gotten nothing done outside for days now because it has either been cold or really windy, or both. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold but Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be nice. My rhubarb and asparagus came in the mail today. I'll plant them, and some potatoes, on Monday.

Since I haven't gotten too much done this week, I thought I would share my garden plan. Please forgive that it's a bit messy, and truly not quite complete (pretty close though).

The first scan is the overview of the garden area. I drew this up quickly tonight for this posting but I really did need to do it. I took the layout from a partially completed drawing and I never completed the measurements, so this is off by just a bit. The space between the potato bin and ring 4 is not that large and the 2.5'x 11' bed is about 3' closer to all the other beds than this looks (that's my guess at least)

This next one is the one I actually use. This comes to the garden with me. I still have a few details to decide on. I'm not sure exactly the number of tomato plants I'm going to try to include as well as the final numbers I'm going to try with the cukes, squash & other vines.

You may notice the center of the first bed is shaded in blue. That's the area I'm trying to get started early. Some are doing better than others, but I do have life out there at least!

I am a little concerned that I'm planning to plant some major chaos in the 2.5'x 11' bed. All of the vines will be trellised, but I may be underestimating the jungle potential.

Since the zucchini really take up a lot of space, I'm putting them in the "rings" instead. I have 2 of them built but the other 2 aren't quite finished yet. I should add that to Monday's list.

There are also some companion plants marked here. That's to remind me which plants will help which crops (and one to avoid).

We've decided not to use the sprinkler system this summer so I put the potato bin back where it was last year (they were watered with overspray from a sprinkler head & DH didn't realize it. While I was out of town, he watered them some more...they didn't make it). Most of my potatoes are going in containers along the side of the house this year (north edge of the garden area).

These are the perennial edible varieties I am planting.

ANNE RASPBERRY
CAROLINE RASPBERRY
TRIPLE CROWN THORNLESS BLACKBERRY
CHIPMAN'S CANADA RED RHUBARB
JERSEY KNIGHT HYBRID 2 YR ASPARAGUS
HONEOYE JUNEBEARING STRAWBERRY
CANBY RASPBERRY RASPBERRY
SEEDLESS RED CANADICE GRAPE
SASKATOON BLUEBERRY

I also have 2 more rhubarb roots I received from someone on Freecycle recently. They are planted on the north side of the house (far enough away from the house to get good sun though). I also want to try some Jostaberries along the front of the porch as a backdrop to the flower garden.

Here is the list of vegetables, herbs & companion plants.

SWEET BASIL
BORAGO OFFICINALIS (BORAGE)
NEPETA CATARIA (CATNIP)
ORIGANUM VULGARE (OREGANO)
THYMUS VULGARIS (THYME, ENGLISH)
ITALIAN PARSLEY
NASTURTIUM, MARIGOLDS, PETUNIAS, SWEET ALYSSUM, BLUE FLAX, (as companions)

RATTLESNAKE BEANS (POLE)
GOLDEN WAX BUSH BEANS
KENTUCKY WONDER POLE BEANS
LANDRETH STRINGLESS BUSH BEANS
CONTENDER BUSH BEANS
CHEROKEE WAX BEANS (BUSH)
GREEN SPROUTED CALABRESE BROCCOLI
DANVERS HALF LONG CARROT
CHANTENAY CARROT
GREEN DRAGON BURPLESS CUCUMBER
NATIONAL PICKLING CUCUMBER
SWEET SALAD MIX MESCLUN
BLACK SEEDED SIMPSON LETTUCE
WHITE LISBON BUNCHING ONION
WALLA WALLAONION
RED ONION
SUGAR SNAP POLE (PEAS)
SWEET MIX PIMIENTO DULCE (multi-color) PEPPER
SWEET BANANA PEPPER
POTATOES: ALL BLUE, KENNEBEC,PURPLE MAJESTY, VIKING, RED PONTIAC, DARK RED NORLAND, and a few that sprouted in the pantry.
SMALL SUGAR PUMPKIN
SPARKLER WHITE TIP RADISH
DAIKON RADISH
SPARKLER RADISH
CHAMPION RADISH
TETON HYBRID SPINACH
BLACK BEAUTY ZUCCHINI SQUASH
CALABAZA FLYING SAUCER HYBRID SQUASH
SMALL WONDER HYBRID (SPAGHETTI) SQUASH
RUTGERS SELECT TOMATO
ROMA ORGANIC TOMATO
GALINA'S GOLD CHERRY TOMATO
BLACK CHERRY TOMATO
PAQUEBOT ROMA TOMATO
THESSALONKI TOMATO
KELLOGG'S BREAKFAST TOMATO
IMUR PRIOR BETA TOMATO
NEVE'S AZORIAN RED TOMATO
SUGAR BABY WATERMELON

So, there's the plan...we'll have to wait for the reality...

Colorado Blizzard

2009-03-27T22:46:00.008-06:00

As you may have heard, Colorado had some nasty weather the last couple days. We were under winter storm and blizzard warnings until noon today. We were expecting anywhere from 8 to 13 inches of snow in our area. I don't really know how much snow we ended up with because of the winds and the drifting. They closed highways, schools and Air Force bases last night and today and we heard stories of pretty rough driving and a few bad accidents. I didn't have to be anywhere, so I just stayed off the roads and hubby worked an overnight shift at the fire department last night, so we weren't travelling.

This was my driveway this morning. I forgot to take a picture before I started to clear it, so this is the best pic I have. It doesn't look like much in the photo, but the snowdrift was about 3' deep and ran across the drive (even though I did get it mostly cleared last night). The rest was pretty clear. The chunky snow on the left is what I had moved already. One neighbor came to help me shovel and another came with his 4-wheeler & plow. He had taken out the highest portion of the drift and was clearing the mailbox area when a cable broke on his plow. We got enough done that hubby could get the car in when he came home. Once he got home from work, he fired up the riding mower & plow and finished the drive.

While we were working, one car couldn't make it up the hill (we tried pushing it but couldn't get any traction) and a UPS driver decided not to try it as he had already been stuck once today. Turns out, if I sit on the front end of the mower with my feet on the plow while he drives, it can do a really good job clearing the street, so we actually plowed the road too. With the county budget problems, we had no idea if/when they would make it out here to plow, and people would be coming home from work soon. We were happy that when the plow did come by around 6:30 or 7:00 he didn't just re-spread the less-than-professional-plower piles we left between houses causing us to have to clear the end of the drive again...he zigged around them instead.

I was watching the temps in the garden throughout the day yesterday. Before the storm rolled in (around 11), it was sunny, about 32 outside and about 50 in the garden. The clouds came and within an hour or so I think, the temp outside dropped to about 20. About midnight, it was 7 degrees outside and it had finally fallen to 30 in the garden. I plugged in the just-in-case Christmas lights I had strung in the bed, and the temp went up to 35. We had a bit of a snow drift up the side of the bed last night, but by morning, it was HUGE!

This is about the same viewpoint I took a photo from the other day (just from a little further back). The metal trash can you can see is at the end of the garden bed that has the plastic cover (and the veggies started). That drift is about 5' tall. (Notice the bare ground in the back yards)

Just to the left of center, you can see the top of the plastic covering the bed. The end over the garlic didn't hold up well and appears caved in, but I really didn't go poking around there too much today. We are expecting cold temps tonight and I figured the insulation was good. Right now (at 11:20 pm) it's 18 deg outside and 31 under all that snow. I didn't plug the lights back in, mostly because I have no idea what they're touching now.

Finally, this is my neighbor's trampoline, and not the neighbor who's yard it's in. It travelled quite a ways and over 2 fences to get there. It has held up surprisingly well to some strong winds this year, but I guess this one was just too much for it. We saw them move it back to the owner's yard. It didn't look good.

All in all, it was some nasty weather but warmer temperatures are coming back tomorrow. It brought some much needed moisture to our area, and for that, we are happy.

March Updates

2009-03-24T22:29:00.008-06:00

It seems I have garden projects scattered all over the place right now! I have a few seedlings under lights in the basement. I'm pre-sprouting the seeds in the egg cartons on the cable box then moving them to the lights as they come up. Here are a few of the baby tomatoes I have down there. I have tomatoes, a couple peppers, herbs and a few ornamentals for companion planting. I found a pretty helpful website on companion planting not too long ago. Some of them I knew but many were new to me. Check it out at http://www.homeandgardensite.com/companion_planting.htm . I actually have seeds for a number of plants on the list so I'm going to work them in around the garden this summer.

Here's a look in the garden today. The peas I pre-sprouted and moved out are doing pretty well. They're about 3-6" tall now. Of the sprouted seeds I moved out, most of the seeds I started on the paper towels didn't make it. I might try this method one more time but only if the upper layers of the bed are more like soil than mulch. I think they just dried out. The seeds I started in the organic starting mix are doing better. When I started putting these out, I planted them into a layer of more finished compost I added to the mulch layer so they'd have a little more to grow in.

Here's a rather messy view of the garden area today. The bed in the foreground with the plastic is where I'm starting the cool season plants. It's covered because it is still very early in the season here. Out last frost date isn't until about May 15. More than anything, I'm playing with these seeds and learning a few lessons along the way. Eventually I'll find the right combination of methods or the proper planting time will come along. Either way, eventually, something will grow...

Along the fence are the 3 new beds. These are filled with the horse manure compost from the straw bale bin, the contents of the temporary beds, the last of the pile of aspen leaves that wouldn't shred last fall, coffee grounds, a bit of compost and a handful of worms. I topped these off with pads of straw (that I soaked in water first). I'm thinking the straw pads will help keep the beds from drying. I'm really wanting these to break down and settle so I can top them off before planting. The straw does seem to be working. I also have them covered with some old landscape fabric to also keep them from drying out and to keep the straw from blowing away. I saw on the news last week that so far this YEAR we have had about 1/4 inch of moisture. Yep, it's dry! I also added a little more to 3 other beds (I stole some material from the raspberry area - where the path will be) and topped them off with straw as well.

In between the beds (adding nicely to the look of the garden I must say...) are the bags of shredded leaves I'm saving to use as mulch. Next year I need a nicer looking storage (or hiding) spot for those. I had them tucked away a little nicer until I moved the lilacs out and the new beds in.

In the left corner are the stacks of large (I think 35 gal maybe?) nursery pots I'm going to use for potatoes. In front of the bins is the kiddie pool that I used to park the strawberry plants I was given in October. Their bed wasn't built yet, so I thought they'd be ok in the pool. I stabbed some drainage holes in the pool and filled it with some of the (fairly fresh at the time) horse manure and hay mixture I had cooking in the raspberry bed. The plants looked ok in the fall. I let them grow until freezing weather came and I mulched them with straw and circled the pool (which was in the corner by the fence) with the bags of leaves as insulation. I didn't want it to thaw too early. I pulled out the pool this last week and uncovered the little guys. I should have done it sooner. The survival rate does not look good. Most of the crowns were rotting and very few show signs of life. I think they have recently rotted because the roots are black but still attached. If they had rotted in the fall, I doubt I'd see the roots. I pulled out all that I could find and moved them to small trays filled with the starting soil and put them on the front porch until I can see how many survived. I didn't dump the pool in case I missed some that might be alive. It's really quite a bummer. Now I think I'll need to order some. This is a little bit of the life left in that whole pool full of strawberries. (sigh...)

But spring is coming, the hyacinths are appearing... Daffodils and tulips are coming up as well.

And I had a moment of excitement this weekend. I was giving my wintersowing containers a drink and I noticed I have a few sprouts!! Not many yet, but I was happy to see that it just might work! I found a couple sprouts of Rocky Mountain Penstemon, Dianthus knappii, and Liatris. Here are the Liatris sprouts...

I actually sowed 22 more containers this weekend. I'm trying lettuce & spinach that way too.

These are the lilac bushes we moved (remember those fun-to-dig holes a while back?). I have one more to move but the straw bale poo pile is still in the way. I had it all planned out, but when we moved the bigger bush a piece split off so we planted it where the other one (from the front yard) is supposed to go. I really wouldn't mind the lilac in the front yard but it's planted in a spot where I don't think it will work well when it grows big. It's at the corner of the front walk. When it grows, it will encroach on the walk and block the view of the front door. I think they're going to survive the transplanting. We were concerned about the larger one but it has the biggest buds of them all. We dug up a saucer-shaped area around the plants to break up and aerate the soil for the roots. We put a layer of the composted manure around the plants, then mulched that with a layer of hay topped with some wood mulch. They actually stayed moist for two weeks this way. They may have gone longer but we watered them for good measure. I want them to have enough moisture to re-grow the roots they lost in the move.

And finally, some things don't really change... This seems to be how a game of fetch always ends... if only Wilson would play fetch... he prefers to play keep-away with the occasional game of "chicken" mixed in. I actually got smacked in the kneecap with his hard head the other day. Ouch. :-)

Worms!!

2009-03-18T22:31:00.010-06:00

I've been working on finishing up the new raised beds on days we've had nice weather. Today I filled the last of the 3 beds that we put where the lilacs used to be. Each one got a layer of newspaper (for good measure) followed by layers of old hay, the horse manure compost from the straw bale bin, coffee grounds, leaves, pine needles and the contents of the two 4x4 boxes we built and filled in the fall in their temporary location just outside the gate (pretty much the same materials, they've just been mixed for a few months). Today's box also got a little of the dirt I dug out from the spot we put the lilacs (yep, that lovely stuff in the pictures...). I probably added about 16 shovels full of the dirt I think. I was careful to layer and mix it well with the manure compost so it wouldn't have the chance to return to it's former state. I do try to remember to add some form of dirt into the beds just for the mineral content.

I was pretty happy with the condition of the contents of the temporary boxes. From the top, it didn't appear much had broken down but throughout the center, most of the materials had broken down very nicely.

I also added a little bit of finished compost (last year's batch) to the first two (I forgot today) and some of the mostly finished from my current bin in the hopes that I would be adding beneficial microbes to the bed in the process as well as compost from a wider variety of materials. I also a little bit of the lower mulch layer from my older beds to "seed" the new ones with some worms. I have a pretty good population in there these days it seems. This is what I pretty regularly find in there.

I reached into the mulch and grabbed a handful of material, took it to the new bed and this is what I saw.

Aren't they beautiful?

Because the beds are filled with so much organic material, they shrank down by several inches throughout the season last year. In the fall, I topped them off with leaves, hay, pine needles and some horse manure. After Thanksgiving, I picked up about 10 squash & pumpkins from someone who had used them as decorations. I had recently added many to the compost pile, so I decided to chop these open and bury them under the new mulch layer for the worms. Seems the worms like them (this is a chunk of squash they're on).

I have also been finding worms under the wood mulch in the pathways. Portions of the path had landscape fabric (some scraps I had) under the mulch. When I had to pull up some of the fabric to add the new beds, I discovered quite a number of worms stuck in the fabric. I few of them seemed to be wound up in the fibers and I also found several that were dead. I'm removing the rest of the fabric because of this. I want the worms to be able to travel between areas and be able to move up and down between the ground and the mulch. The worms seem to live near the surface and I want to help them survive.

I'm quite excited about the worm population. When I dug into the ground to level the beds and break up the top layer of soil last year, I think I may have found about 3 worms (maybe). Last year's load of manure came with a good supply of my little pals. Conditions must be favorable for them in there because they do seem to have multiplied! I'm starting to think of my garden as a giant worm bin. They eat the organic material and leave worm castings to fertilize my plants. It seems to me, if I keep them happy and well fed, they'll keep my plants happy and well fed, like a self-fertilizing garden!

Potato Crazy!

2009-03-14T00:48:00.003-06:00

Last year, because I got a bit of a late start with the garden, when I went to the nearest nursery for seed potatoes, they were sold out. They sent me to a feed store across town who had a few left. I wasn't going to let that be the story this year, so a couple weeks ago, I emailed the local nurseries I could find online (I think 5 places?) and asked when their seed potatoes arrive, what varieties they carry and how much they cost. Within a day, I had replies from all but one. From there I looked up the varieties they carried and decided on my list. They got the potatoes in early this week, so I headed into town to get the best selection. I went to 2 garden centers. I got most of my list from one store (ok, and I added one type on a whim) and found my way to the second just to get some Purple Majesty seed potatoes. These are said to be unusually high in antioxidants. They are VERY purple inside! I should have taken a picture when I cut the seed, but I didn't think of it at the time.

I'm quite sure I went a little overboard but I liked the different colors and I wanted some early types and some later maturing types. Here's what I got:

NORLAND:
Red, Early (determinate - so won't do well in a "tower")
Yield: Low to intermediate
Excellent for boiling & frying. Fair for baking.

VIKING
Red, Main season maturity, but early tuber set
High yield potential
Excellent culinary quality

RED PONTIAC (SYNONYM: Dakota Chief )

Red, Late Season

High yield potential
Generally good storage properties

KENNEBEC
White, Main season maturity

High yield of large tubers
Thin, smooth white skin

Good culinary qualities (especially chips & fries)

YUKON GOLD

Yellow, Medium to early maturity (also not good for towers)
Moderate yield
Yellow/white skin & light yellow tuber flesh

Retains flesh color when baked, boiled or french-fried

ALL BLUE (this was my impulse purchase)

Blue, Main season
Oblong medium size, deep blue to purple skin and brilliant purple flesh

Moist, firm flesh with slightly grainy texture

Excellent storage

PURPLE MAJESTY
Purple, Medium to late season

Smooth purple skin and deep purple flesh

High yielding

Makes excellent purple chips

The above descriptions are from the following websites:
http://www.umaine.edu/paa/var.htm
http://potatoes.wsu.edu/varieties/

There is a lot more information there as well on a dizzying number of varieties. I'm glad I had a relatively short list to choose from.

Seed Starting Round 2

2009-03-11T22:24:00.005-06:00

I tried the cornstarch gel and paper towels which successfully sprouted radishes, scallions, and some of the lettuce & broccoli seeds but I had little success with my Walla Walla and Red Onions. I also had no success with Carrots or Spinach. For the sprouts that were successful, I put them straight into the garden (which is under plastic). Of the pre-sprouted seeds I put out from the previous try, the peas are doing the best. Most of them have come up and are about 2 inches tall and looking healthy. The others have been very slow. Part of the problem is probably that the top layer of my garden is currently more like mulch than soil. I plunked the paper towels into the mulch layer to see what they'd do. It's been over a week, but I am starting to see a couple of them poking out. I dug around in there a bit the other day. Some of the seeds look the same as when I put them in, some looked like they dried out and I couldn't find a couple of them (I didn't dig them all out, I was just curious as to what was going on out there). We'll see what the rest do. In the meantime, I'm trying another method which seems to be going better.

I used the same clear plastic egg cartons but I used Organic Starting Soil in them this time. When I filled them, I pressed the soil in pretty firmly so it would pop out intact like a little tiny soil block. I re-sowed both types of onion, the carrots, a few spinach, lettuce & broccoli to fill in for those that didn't sprout. I started these last Thursday, so it's been just under a week. I put them back on the cable box again. Those little soil plugs actually get quite warm on there. I had a couple lettuce sprouts by Saturday! With this method though, you have to be able to take out the sprouts as soon as they appear. One appeared late Friday but I left it until Saturday. It was about an inch tall and looking for some light. I also propped the lids open a bit with a toothpick as the lack of circulation did cause the loss of a couple of the little guys. I'm guessing it was the dreaded Damping Off.

The onions have done much much better this way. I planted out about 14 of them today (in about 40 degree, windy weather to boot...).
Just a little push on the bottom of the egg carton and the little soil plug just pops right. I did have one come out accidentally today but it stayed together well enough to pop back in. When I planted these, I used some pretty well finished compost (from one of the beds I layered in the fall) that was more of a soil-like consistency to use around the little plugs. I think they'll fare a little better that way. I also direct-seeded carrot seeds (in the same compost) and covered them with a square bucket lid (substitute for a board).

I started a few tomato seeds in a few of the empty plugs last night. When these sprout, I'll move them to larger containers and I'll put them under lights to grow.

We had such nice warm weather for a few days, then it got cold again. I really can't complain since it is only March, and the weather forecast looks nice for next week (I'm not sure, but I THINK I saw 77 on the weather chart one day next week???) With the nighttime temps back into the mid-teens, I put the original sheet of plastic over the "new & improved (and uhm, more ventilated) piece that's been covering the bed for the past couple weeks. What I have found is that it seems to stay about 10-12 degrees warmer in there than the outdoor night temps. This must be from the water jugs because with just plastic, the garden thermometer usually reads a couple degrees lower than the one just outside my back door. It's nice to see they make such a difference.

Seed Starting Experiment

2009-03-03T20:45:00.009-07:00

I decided to try and get an early start on some cool weather crops this season. I put the plastic over one of the beds a couple weeks in advance to warm the soil a bit more and watch the temperatures before starting some seeds. There were some wild temperature swings in there, down in the 20's at night but about 115 degrees in the late morning (until I opened it). We added a row of milk jugs filled with dark colored water to each side of the bed in hopes that they will help regulate the temps a little better. I have noticed it does stay a few degrees warmer at night. I can't tell as well with the daytime temps because my husband had an idea for making the plastic easier to open and close. When he was finished, there was a bit more of a gap around the edges than he had intended. Shortly thereafter, the wind ripped off one of the hooks it was secured with. Let's just say my garden is better ventilated now than it was before...

I had read about making homemade seed tapes and about pre-germinating seeds and I decided to try a little of both. First I tried making a paste with a mix of flour & water. What I ended up with was a sticky gooey mess.

It didn't squeeze out of the bag very well at all. The cat liked it though...

Time to try something else...

This one seemed simple, pre-sprouting sugar snap peas (collected from last season's plants). Last spring, I soaked the seeds overnight before planting and they came up quickly. When I attempted a fall crop, I didn't soak the seeds and they took a lot longer to sprout. Since I'm really starting this pretty early, I figured pre-sprouting may be a good idea. This is just peas on a napkin in a bit of water.

I also read about using a cornstarch & water gel to start seeds. This was much better than the flour & water. I used about 1 TBSP cornstarch mixed with a cup of water and boiled it for a minute. I may have brought it to a boil too quickly resulting in a few lumps which I'll try to avoid next time. I put a spot of gel on a bit of paper towel using a baggie like a pastry bag and placed the seed in the gel. This was really pretty easy using a toothpick. Once I touched the end of a toothpick into the gel, it picked up seeds quite nicely.

Then I put the paper towel into these new style egg cartons. If you haven't seen them, they are a 3 piece unit. One cup under the egg, one cup over the egg and a flat lid over the top. I cut off one section of the cups (leaving a regular egg carton) then took that section, stabbed a hole in the bottom of each cup with an exacto knife and placed the seed in it. That piece sits in the upside down egg carton lid with the other cup as the new top.

I tried red onion, walla-walla onion, spinach, broccoli, lettuce & mesclun in the egg cartons. I also tried some seed strips of carrots, scallions & radishes in a storage box.

After a thorough spritzing with the water bottle, I put the storage box on the back of my television (which is on WAY too much) and the egg cartons on a rack over the cable converter box which seems to be warm all the time. I used the rack so I wouldn't burn up the box by covering it's ventilation.

Then I learned a few things.

1. Peas don't smell good when you get them wet and leave them in a warm little box.

2. Onions don't either.

3. Radishes can sprout in 24 hours!!

The peas took 3 days. I thought they would be easier to plant using the paper towels, so I used some of the gel (I had put it in the refrigerator) and carefully placed the sprouted seeds in the gel. I used a pair of hemostats to place the seeds.

I also used them to place the seeds & paper towels in the garden.

I pulled back the mulch where the seeds were to go and put the strips in and loosely covered them with an inch or so of the mulch (leaves and pine needles added in the fall).

The seeds have been outside since Feb. 18, almost 2 weeks now. When I checked earlier today I have some peas that are up through the mulch. I can see signs of life in the radishes and scallions. I'm still not seeing anything from the lettuce, mesclun or broccoli. Next time I will put the seeds in soil (or soil-like compost) rather than plunking them in the mulch. I suspect they may have come up better that way.

The red and walla-walla onions, carrots and spinach did not sprout. They might have, but after 2 weeks, I wasn't as regular with the spray bottle and they dried out. I like the egg cartons better than the storage box because they have more air circulation but planting the strips was really easy.

The verdict? Not sure. For some seeds, this didn't work well at all. I really won't know for sure until I see the results in the garden and what the survival rate is for the seeds. I'm going to find another method to start the onions & spinach.

Playin' in the dirt

2009-02-24T21:12:00.010-07:00

The weather was beautiful today (high 60's) so I thought I'd get outside and see what I could get done. First, I turned the horse manure compost pile. The pile was smelling a bit like stagnant water when I dug into it yesterday so I figured it was time for some air. I skipped the plastic on the bottom this time as the plastic was a pain when I was turning the pile and the worst odor in the pile was the wet hay at the bottom, on top of the plastic. I think it's probably done enough to use when I am ready for it . There's still a fair amount of the paper bedding visible, but I think it's no different than the paper in a lasagna bed, so I'm not going to worry about it. I do kind of wish I had gotten the compost thermometer when I started the pile so I knew for sure what temperature it reached, but too late for that now. Oh well.

Next I started digging the holes for transplanting the lilacs that we'll be moving soon. There are 3 lilacs along the fence by the vegetable garden that I'm moving so I can add 3 more beds. This is how far I got...

I will admit, I was a bit tired from turning that pile but geez this ground is hard. The one farthest back got a good start but check out the one in the middle! It's about 2-3 inches deep! I just didn't have the strength to attack it with the San Angelo bar today. I'll try again tomorrow.

Here's a close-up of the nearest hole in the picture. The whitish colored area is where the shovel scraped against that layer that is about as hard as concrete. I dumped a couple gallons of water in each hole and called it good for the day. I'll see if the water softens it enough to dig out, otherwise I'll have to break out the bar. I suppose I'm due for a good upper arm workout anyway...

Yesterday's project ended with a bit more success than today's. I prepped a couple of additional spots for spring planting. One of these rings is for rhubarb and the other for zucchini. I'm going to make probably 2 more of these later.

I started with 10' pieces of metal landscape edging (I picked up a stack of it free a while back). My husband riveted them into circles for me. Since I put them on a slightly sloped area, I did have to dig around the edges a bit to level them somewhat though I didn't get terribly particular about it. Thankfully, this area was not near as hard as the spot I was digging today. I put the plastic trim on the top edge and hauled over some rocks to dress it up a bit. The rocks are from a large pile we picked up free last summer (Craigslist again). They look a bit like fire rings don't they??

This is what they're being filled with. Newspaper, spoiled hay, coffee grounds, some of the manure compost from the big pile and about 1/2 bucket of mostly finished compost from my regular bin (not pictured).

(Granny, that's my dumping garden cart that gets LOTS of use! It's how I move nearly everything out here!)

Campfire anyone?? Ok, this is the first layer, newspaper. The wind wasn't blowing a thousand miles per hour at that point, so I didn't have to wet it down first.

Next a couple inches of manure compost, then a layer of hay, which I attempted to wet down in the tote but I didn't let it sit long enough to absorb much apparently. Next a silver bag of coffee, a little compost, the other half cart of manure, the rest of the hay, and a plastic bag of coffee. I poked at it a bit with the cultivator so the coffee fell down into the hay so the coffee layer wasn't quite so thick, dumped the rest of the "hay" water on top and finished it off with a tote full of leaves.

After I filled the second one, I laid a piece of old fencing over the top weighted down with a piece of lumber so all the leaves don't blow away. Now we just have to wait for planting time!