The Next Chapter: Farming in Suburbia

Moved to my other blog

2009-05-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Will not be posting here anymore since I moved back to the farm. Here is the other blog's addy. www.cathysteck.blogspot.com

Thanks, Cathy

Updated Tomato Varieties to Sell Below

2009-03-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Added links to the different varieties. Will be available mid-April.

Tomato Varieties I'm Starting This Year

2009-03-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

The varieties I'm selling will have a star next to them. All tomatoes listed are heirloom and open-pollinated (not hybrid). All started in Peaceful Valley's soiless started mix and transplanted in Peaceful Valley's *organic* potting soil. I'm only selling to Sacramento County folks and anyone who wants to drive to get plants. I can bring some with me to Smartsville area as well. Sorry for the inconvenience to anyone who wanted me to ship tomato seedlings. I don't have the resources at the moment to ship. Thanks for understanding.

Determinate Tomatoes - plant has determined height
Siletz*

Indeterminate Tomatoes - plant keeps growing

Cherry types
Isis Candy* - my favorite cherry type
Peacevine Cherry*
Sweetie*
Black Cherry*
Gardener's Delight*

Sauce types
Opalka*
San Marzano*

Persimmon*
Black Brandywine*
Pink Brandywine*
Rainbow*
Caspian Pink*
Stupice*
Copia
Dagma's Perfection*
Black Prince*
Wapsipinicon Peach*
Flame*
Eva Purple Ball*
Delicious*
Cuostralee*
Cherokee Purple*
Illinois Beauty*
Pineapple*
Stump O' The World
Marvel Stripe*
Cherokee Choc.*
Burbank Slicing*
Prue*

Tomato Starts That Will Be For Sale In a Few Weeks

2009-03-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Tomato seedlings freshly transplanted. So excited!

I will soon list the different varieties that will be available for sale and how many I have available of each.

Mexican Gherkin and Rosemary Cuttings

2009-03-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

It's growing so well. Yeah! I think I will be able to try some gherkins this year.

My rosemary cuttings. Will be selling these at Farmers' Market as well.

Tomato Seedlings, Winter Sowing and Transplants This Week

2009-03-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

My tomato seedlings. Yeah! They look so great!

My transplants so far. Some from winter sowing others from seperating mint plants.

All my winter sowing stuff moved. Had to make room for transplants.

Mint transplants.

Moving Back To The Farm

2009-03-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

So I will be going back to my homesteading blog and posting there in the next month or so since I will be moving back to the farm. Will post again when I start posting there instead of here.

Seedlings

2009-03-10T11:44:00.001-07:00

Tomato seedlings! Yippee! These came up after only 4 days! Oh my! Good golly germination batman! These two varieties are both new seeds sold this year. Super fresh seeds. These I am growing intensively like last year in soiless seed starter mix from Peaceful Valley. It works great! And since I'm going to use thier potting soil I should not have any of the problems I did last year with the bad soil I got. Where's the thumbs up smilie when you need it. LOL!

Luffah seedling. They grow so sssllllooooowwwlllllyyyy. This seedling has been up for a few weeks now. They take off near the end of summer and get huge, but this first stage takes forever.

Mexican Gherkins. I can already tell they are doing much better than last years seedlings. That bad soil really did a number on all my plants I transplanted last year. Whew! Hopefully these will be ready the end of April for planting.

Seedlings and Winter Sowing

2009-03-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

Pineapple and Chocolate mint I seperated into several plants for sale.

Broccoli and Swiss Chard seedlings. Anyone need any?

All my winter sowing receptacles. ;-) Everything is sprouting and it is so exciting! It's just really hard to take pictures of seedlings in them. LOL! The seedlings I'm most excited about are the Goji Berry plants coming up and the first tomato seedlings, Peacevine tomatoes.

Transplanting Winter Sown Swiss Chard

2009-02-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

Happy little swiss chard in thier winter sown home.

Another view. Aren't they cute?

Close-up of the greenery.

Transplanted happy little swiss chard. Yeah!

Transplanting Winter Sown Broccoli

2009-02-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

Little broccoli plants. They are so much stronger and healthier than I thought they would be. Winter sowing sure makes strong little plants.

Transplanted broccoli plants. So happy.

Started First Seeds Inside

2009-02-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

Started peppers (red cheese, early jalepeno, peter pepper), mexican gherkins, sweet william, some other flower I can't remember, and luffah's. Yeah! Will try to get some pics of the garden soon.

Winter Sowing - My New Project

2009-01-09T17:24:00.001-08:00

So, this is my new project, winter sowing. The seeds are supposed to start germinating when they are ready to, when it is warm enough for them. Takes a lot of work and space I need for other crops out of it. Thanks Jen for the milk jugs. Would love more when you have them. ;-)

So first you find a reciptical for said winter sowing project. There are a lot of different things you can use for this. These are the only thing I have access to so milk jugs it is. Cut around the milk jug being careful to leave one of the labels intact so its easier to close. Poke 6-8 holes in the bottom with a sharp knife. Load up with a couple inches of dirt. I use PVFS potting soil and perlite mixed in. Water. Then plant your seeds.

Label receptical with duct tape on the bottom so the sun doesn't bleach it.

Tape where you cut the milk jug and leave it outside. Water if needed depending on how wet your climate is. It's not supposed to rain here for awhile so I will have to keep an eye on them.

Backyard Garden in the Winter

2009-01-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

It still looks really good. So left to right in the back is strawberries, bright lights swiss chard, and artichokes in there half wine barrels. In the front left to right is rosemary, spearmint, chocolate mint, pineapple mint with coconut geranium on top, rhubarb with columbine in sm. pot on top.
I was hoping the artichokes would go a little more dormant so that I could transplant them in the new garden in the next month. Not sure what to do about that.
The swiss chard I have had since last Spring. I think it was supposed to bolt during the heat. Guess not.

Close-up of the left side.

Close-up of the right side.

Rhubarb is trying to come back already too, another plant I wanted to put in the new garden. Go dormant please!

New Garden Getting There

2008-12-01T21:23:00.000-08:00

Looking good so far. Need to get the back half done, but working on it. 4ft rows with 3ft paths in between. You can tell the rows with compost mixed in and cover crop seeds on top. I thought the last rain would start them sprouting, but most didn't. Hopefully the next rain will start them germinating. James has been a trooper with it all. He went twice with me today and I got 3 ditches in the paths put in so we can get good drainage so my compost doesn't wash away or have big wash outs or something. James found lots of worms. Good for the ground and a good distraction for James. Poor worms though, most don't make after being manhandled by James. Oh well, seems like there are lots of them. Yeah!

My Little Gardener Learning How To Save Seeds

2008-11-30T12:56:00.000-08:00

Saving Okra seeds.

Being silly while saving seeds. It can't all be that boring.

New Garden Patch

2008-11-09T22:31:00.000-08:00

Here is what we started with. 1/2 acre of grass and a 13 horsepower tiller. My friend Paul showed me this post on craigslist about someone in Carmichael that needed someone to garden thier backyard. How lucky am I to have such a good friend keeping an eye out for me. If you see this post Paul, Thanks! The garden is just a couple blocks away from our house. So, for the next 5 years this will be our garden. Yippee!

Mostly tilled.

Almost done. This was at 5 O'clock. Rog finished tilling at 5:30. We did it! Thanks Rog, your the best! Now to make rows so that it will drain properly when it rains next. I saw some worms when I was digging around too. Yeah! This is so exciting! I need to transplant strawberry plants and plant some garlic. Yum!

Pineapple Tomato

2008-11-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

So, this is the only tomato I got besides the sungold cherry tomatoes. It's a pineapple tomato. It was green when I picked it and I put it in a bag like my friend Paul recommended. And it worked. Probably doesn't taste as good as it would right off the vine, but I will take what I can get after my soil disaster with my transplant tomatoes this year. Really don't buy Edna's Best Organic soil. It's expensive and its not as good as Peaceful Valley Farm Supplies'.

Isn't it pretty?

Yum!

Paul's a.k.a. Sacratomato's Garden I

2008-10-29T15:04:00.001-07:00

James and I met up with one of my local garden internet buddies to take some pictures for him for a couple of idig contests. He had an awesome garden.

Here is his gate upon entering his garden.

Yummy korean watermelon.

A second melon. Beautiful.

Ambrosia cantelope. He let us take it home. Mmmmm.....

Paul's a.k.a. Sacratomato's Garden

2008-10-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

Paul's big monster pumpkin James got to pose on. It's over 80 inches around.

Proof you don't have to have a lot of room to grow big pumpkins.

Huge watermelon Paul is letting go to save seeds from.

Smaller watermelon of same variety. I forgot to take a pic of the whole plant. It was huge.

How do you know when a pumpkin has had too much to drink????

2008-10-09T10:31:00.001-07:00

My friend sent me this and I thought I'd share it with everyone. I thought it was hilarious.

Garden as of 10/07 and Okra

2008-10-07T14:57:00.001-07:00

Here is the big plot in all its glory. It is pretty green. Just took out that front right tomato plant, but everything else will stay until it goes to seed or dies. The half plot we have is just dying pumpkin plants I need to pull out. Will work on that tomorrow or Thursday.
My huge okra. It went crazy this year. Letting a few pods get huge and dry so that I can harvest the seeds.

Luffah's, Luffah's, Everywhere Luffah's

2008-10-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

Luffah gourd plant taking over the tepee and the bean trellis. You can see a smaller loofah hanging in the middle.
James and a loofah.
Pretty loofah flowers.
One big loofah. That is our biggest loofah yet.

Tomatoes

2008-10-07T14:40:00.001-07:00

Finally one big tomato on the vine. Maybe, just maybe it will ripen on the vine. We'll see. May have to ripen on the counter. From my garden map this is supposed to be a Pineapple tomato.
One sad San Marzano tomato. I don't think it will get full size. Such a shame I had such aspirations for this variety. Will try again next year.
I pulled out my Sungold tomato plant. Look how long the roots are. Amazing!

Sorry its been so long - update on garden.

2008-10-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry its been so long since my last post. Here is James and most of our pumpkin harvest. 4 cinderella pumpkins, 9 Musquee de Provence, and 4 batwing pumpkins. This is all from my half plot which is amazing! It's definately a pumpkin year for us. The batwings which are next to James' hand didn't turn out like they said they would lest I picked them too late, maybe they were darker and turned more orange over time, I don't know. They are supposed to be black on the bottom and orange on the top. Here is a pic of what they are supposed to look like. Oh well. It's supposed to rain this weekend, that is what has prompted me to pick all my pumpkins and squash except for the luffahs, which are just starting to produce. They say they need a long growing season and now I believe it. They didn't start producing until a couple of weeks ago, but they grow fast. Hopefully I will remember to get a picture of them soon. They are taking over the tepee and the bean trellis. They are pretty though. Constantly in bloom.
Here are my New England Pie pumpkins. They will be yummy! Oh, and final thought on direct seed vs. transplant are quite telling. The transplant for the new england pie was a smaller plant and produced only one pumpkin while the direct seeded plant was 3 times the size of the transplant and grew 4 pumpkins. So, next year I will be direct seeding most of my pumpkins and squash and I will start the loofah gourds and Mexican Sour Gherkins inside sooner than I did this year.
Here are my butternuts. There are 3-4 more on the vine still growing too. This is from one plant. Quite prolific. I can't wait to eat one. Will wait until the green goes away on them. They keep forever (atleast until about March), so we have some time before we dig in, well except for the one the stem broke off.

Musquee de Provence

2008-08-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was trying to flip this one on to its bottom and it snapped off. Not to worry there are so many pumpkins in there I will have more than enough. I'm hoping it will turn orange. We'll see. I've never picked a green one before.

Garden as of 8/5

2008-08-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Large plot. We've been getting tons of beans lately. Add some garlic and butter. Yum! If you click on the pic you can see the tomato plant in front going crazy. Some of the other tomato plants are starting to catch up. Yeah! I hope they produce before it gets too cold.
Pumpkin plants are still going crazy. There are a ton of pumpkins in there lots of pumkin for the freezer. Good for pie and pumpkin cookies all winter long. Yum!

2008-08-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Watermelon. Grow, grow, grow!
Cinderella pumpkin. Big one for Jen.
Musquee de Provence pumpkin for eating. There are like 10-20 in there.
Zucchini. James actually helped me take this picture. He put the flash on and everything.

Garden as of 7/15

2008-07-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Large plot.
Small plot being taken over by the pumpkins. Remind me next year to put in one row of pumpkins in the big plot with LOTS of room to grow.

2008-07-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

The vines are taking over. Yeah! Now it will be shaded enough for James.
Beans are going crazy. On the bottom right you can see my okra plants.
Look how cool that is.

2008-07-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes finally turning color. Maybe they will be ready for pesto pasta salad on Saturday.
Cinderella pumpkin getting big.
I think this is a Musquee pumpkin, but with how much the pumpkin vines are intertwined I have no idea.
Happy gardener eating yummy strawberries.

2008-07-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

New England pie pumpkin hanging in the tepee.
I think I have about 5 of them so far. Yum! Can't wait for Pumpkin pie.
Our first cucumber. At the top of the pic you can see a little guy starting to grow.
Little baby butternut squash. There are a lot of them on the vine. Yeah!

Putting by Zucchini

2008-07-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

Look at all that zucchini. Making some bread today. Yum!

Ready for the freezer. This is one of the best ways to put zucchini in the freezer so it doesn't become mushy and yucky. You can add this to any recipe that calls for shredded zuke. I have it measured out in 2 cups for bread, but you can use it for pancakes and whatever else.

Still Comparing and Beans

2008-07-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

It's just sad how the right one which was a transplant is so small and pathetic while the direct seed is huge and is sending off side shoots like crazy.
Lots of bean plant.
Another bean view.

2008-07-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

The strawberries doing thier thing. We've been getting a few a day. They are yummy.
Our half plot. Yes, I put too many big pumpkins on the one side I know. Oh, well.

My First Canning Experience!

2008-07-06T22:30:00.000-07:00

Yum! The four on the left are made with sugar. The four on the right are made with honey. I can see why it can be such an obsession.

Ok, well I had a brain fart and forget to say what I canned. Plums from my dad's overloaded tree. Wish I could go get more, but I probably won't be able to go up there until next week sometime. I don't know which variety they are, I think that went in one ear and out the other, if you really want to know I will find out for you.

Garden as of 7/4

2008-07-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

So much greener lately. We finally got a sign for our plot.
Yeah, a pumpkin. Cinderella pumpkin. I have to go to the garden every day just to keep the plant from creeping everywhere except our plot.
New England Pie pumpkin hanging in the tepee. The vine supposeably will strengthen as the pumpkin grows, we'll see, its a small variety pumpkin so I think it will be alright.
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. Yeah, for tomato's. After all my trouble with the transplant soil I thought I'd never have tomatoes. I need to go get some wedding favor bags so I can start saving seed. These are sungold tomatoes, I forgot, I can't save seed for them. They are my only hybrid. I can't wait to add them to pesto pasta though. Mmmmm.....

Garden Plot as of 6/24

2008-06-24T23:19:00.001-07:00

It's looking much greener now. Green beans are finally starting to fill in on the wire in front of the tepee. My only really good looking tomato plant (front right corner next to the lavender). Strawberries are going a little wild, but that's ok.
Can you say lopsided. Just a little. Those pumpkin plants and Zucchini are just dwarfing everything else. The zucchini plants are definately growing different as well. The direct seeded plant is twice as big already and developing its first zuke.

Direct Seed vs. Transplant, First Zucchini, and Little Bitty Pumpkin

2008-06-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Baby pumpkin.
My first Zucchini of the year. Yippee! And it won't be the last and I will be here complaining about how many silly zucchini's I have and how I'm sick of eating them soon. LOL!

Here is my direct seed (left front) vs. transplant (right front) of squash and pumpkins results. Look how the direct seeded plant on the left has bigger leaves and is a lot greener and healthier looking. Now we wait to see how they produce.

Green beans on the left finally starting to fill in the tunnel to the tepee. And my cucumber plant on the right with little bitty teany tiny cucumbers on it.

Tagged By Two

2008-06-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve been tagged! By GardenPunks AND Garden of Eatin' . Katie of GardenPunks is a local garden blogger and Amy of Garden of Eatin' is a fellow redhead and garden blogger and both are fellow mdcer's.

Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on the blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are my six random things:
1) I love to dirt bike ride (my only ungreen thing I do)
2) I love dark chocolate
3) My favorite color is brown
4) I raised dairy goats in 4-H.
5) I went to Cal Poly CA and majored in Animal Science with a minor in Poultry Science.
6) I'm waiting for my Angora goats to sell so I can get some German Angora rabbits.

And here are the people I am tagging:

Carrot Tops because I just love her veggie garden pictures on her blog and she is a fellow redhead.

Sher with her My Photo Blog Blog because I love every picture she takes. She has a really cool camera and awesome pictures.

It Blows here because Sarah has a farm and I can't wait to be living on a farm again.

Not Hannah's because she writes a lot about her photos.

A Little Dirt Never Hurt because Jessica has a lot of cool ideas on her blog in the veggie garden.

My Little Slice of Heaven because she has a really cool garden blog.

Look! Look! There are 3!!!!!

2008-06-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

You can see the 2 really well in this photo.
It's hard to see, but the third one is down there. Very nice.
Oh, and I keep forgetting to say where I got these beauties that seem to love the heat. At Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. 3 bareroot artichokes for $9.99. I thought that was a pretty good deal.

2008-06-15T22:47:00.000-07:00

My swiss chard and my sad looking kale. I think something is eating it. I have more coming up. Plus some dill coming up as well that is hard to see.
James smelling roses at the garden. Mmmm....
This is me trying to get a photo of my squash/watermelon/pumpkins with James posing, but he decided at the last minute he wanted to look at the photos I already took. So, this is what I got. ;-)

Artichoke! Yes, That is Singular.

2008-06-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Beautiful isn't it?
I can't wait to eat it! Yum!

The Garden June 9th

2008-06-09T13:22:00.001-07:00

New England Pie and Luffa

2008-06-09T13:12:00.001-07:00

My New England Pie Pumpkin plants. The closer one I seeded, the back one I transplanted. We'll see if the direct seeded one catches up and exceeds the transplant. I've heard its very possible. This is my test.
My sad little luffa. I think I should have started it earlier inside and transplanted it when it was bigger. It may have done better. Will have to remember that.

First Pumpkin of 2008, Musquee, and Tomato

2008-06-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Awww.... Look at that, my first pumpkin, hopefully. The flower is still open so I don't know if it's been fertilized or not yet, but there is a male flower open at the same time, so cross your fingers. This will be a cinderella pumpkin (Rouge Vif d' Etampes ). Hope there will be two, one for Jen and one for us for Halloween, anymore than that I will see how it tastes cooked, then freeze the rest for Thanksgiving and Christmas pies.
Musquee de Provence. I just love the leaves, so cool. This will be an eating pumpkin.
My biggest tomato. Hopefully we will get something. There were so many varieties I wanted to try, I hope they pull through. I think this one is doing the best because it was totally taken out of that yucky soil that the others are still in when I transplanted them. I should have taken all that soil off all of them. Oh well, next time I will know, if this happens again. By the way it was Edna's Best potting soil I used for transplanting in. I should have used Peaceful Valley's Organic Potting soil like last year when my plants did so well.

The Beans, The Beans!

2008-06-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

They are getting there.

Harvesting the Garlic and Shallots

2008-06-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

Here they are my meager garlic and shallots harvest. ;-)
Garlic up close. Now, I'm trying to figure out what those little things hanging on them are. Are they seeds or are they tiny cloves? Hmmmm....
Shallots.

Garlic

2008-06-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

So, when your garlic starts looking like this, it is time to pull it. It's almost to the point of starting to rot. Not good. I didn't think it was that close. Sheesh! So, I'm probably going to pull all of the garlic and shallots this week and then cure them at the farm. I'm so excited to have fresh garlic! Awesome garlic bread coming soon.
I pulled one. Looking good. Mmmmm....
Yum!

I Don't Believe it

2008-06-02T16:45:00.001-07:00

Do you see what I see? Our first little artichoke. Awww.... I can't wait to eat it. Yummmm.... I just didn't believe we would actually get an artichoke the first year. We will probably get our fill this year and its only June 2nd. We got these little guys as bare root from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.
My banana plant at its happiest. I got it last year from a local MDCer and it was so sad when I got it and then it got even sadder when that big storm hit in Jan. and snapped it clean off at the base. And now it has grown back bigger and better. Amazing! And yes you can grow bananas in CA. Here is a great banana site!

Update

2008-05-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

The beans are finally coming up. I think they just needed to be watered deeper. So, since the irrigation system has been in they are coming up nicely along with the okra. Tomato plants are still stagnant and James almost killed the Mexican Gherkin today. It's fine, but that was close. Whew! Will take pictures this next week if we aren't too crazy with swim lessons. ;-)

Irrigation and Okra

2008-05-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

Here is the irrigation system on the large plot. I used 1/2" poly tubing and t-tape. It's an easy system to set-up.
Irrigation on the half plot. Things are coming along. I think I'm going to put more compost down and plant flowers between the squash and melons. I just can't believe this weather though. 100's last week, 60-70's and rain this week and finally back to 80's next week. Such wierd weather.
Little baby okra sprout. There are several coming up. I hope my beans start coming up. I think I should have waited until it cooled down to plant them instead of right before that heat wave. I have more seeds if need be.

Transplants and Seedlings in the Garden May 20th

2008-05-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here is my cinderella pumpkin (Rouge Vif d' Etampes ) transplant. Besides the musquee it is doing the best. It's really taking off.
My zucchini seedlings are just popping up too. Waiting for some more musquee and mini jack's seedlings to pop up.

2008-05-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

Batwings pumpkin. Really cool looking pumpkin.
Musquee de Provence pumpkin transplant. I like thier cool looking leaves.
Moon and Stars watermelon transplant. When they start producing watermelons I will show how to tell when your watermelons are ripe.

2008-05-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Zucchini transplant. It is doing better now that it has cooled down a bit. Seems like all my melon and pumpkin transplants are growing well now.
New England Pie Pumpkin transplant.
Cucumber seedlings popping up. I will need to thin those after they get thier second leaves.

2008-05-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Itty bitty Mexican Gherkin. I saw slug or snail tracks all the way around the plant, but not on it. So far so good.
The luffa transplant. It likes the cool weather. It's not even 80 after all those days in the 100's.
All planted! Can you tell yet?

My Garden May 14th

2008-05-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Large garden plot in the daytime. It's getting there. Maybe we'll see green soon.
Transplanted 5 tomato plants today. 9 to go that are still getting hardened off so they don't die in the 100 degree heat. Supposed to be in the 80's next week and I think they will have a better chance then. It's supposed to be 103 tomorrow. Yikes! Yes, my little seedlings. I had a hard time with my tomato seedlings. Tried putting them in a cold frame after 4 weeks and they were stunted and sad. Didn't have room anywhere else so there you go. Next year I will do all shelves and lights in the garage and they will be big like last year. :-) I can hope can't I? Maybe we can get a greenhouse for next year. I can dream can't I?
One of my tomato rows. I dug 1.5 foot holes and added egg shell for calcium and some pelleted fish emulsion then put the dirt back. James got a little excited with the egg shell in the first hole.

My Flowers

2008-05-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Hummingbird sage and columbine. The columbine is a companion plant for my rhubarb. It's supposed to keep some type of spider away.
My coleus and rudbeckia plants.
Queen's Ann's Lace, more rudbeckia, and marine heliotrope. The heliotrope is supposed to be really fragrant.
Really neat looking coleus. It looks to be speckled instead of the classic color in the middle of the leaves. I may have to collect the seed and try to get some cuttings of this one at the end of the season.

Some Transplants Today

2008-05-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

We'll see how they do, its supposed to be hot the next few days. I can always direct seed most of these.

transplanted:
Musquee de Provence pumpkins
moon and stars watermelon
zucchini
batwings pumpkins

I need to dig holes for my tomatoes to put in thier amenities. That might take a couple days.

Seeds Planted

2008-05-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

James and I planted seeds in the garden today:

Ura green pole beans
radishes for companion planting
mexican gherkin
butternut squash
new england pie pumpkin
moon and stars watermelon
zucchini
mini jacks
clemson spineless okra
batwings pumpkins
Musquee de Provence pumpkins (for cooking with)
cucumber

Later today we will put in some transplants. Yeah!

The Garden

2008-05-11T21:24:00.001-07:00

The full plot with compost and ready to plant. That's our lavender and strawberry plants that the were left from last year. The strawberries are so yummy.
Here is a close-up of our teepee (I know its crooked, it happens ;-)), if you click on the pic you can see the wire in the front for the beans to climb. You can also see the compost at the bottom of each part of the teepee trellis where I will plant some butternut squash, New England Pie Pumpkins, Mexican Gherkin, and some Spinning guards. We have to have something fun for James to pick. I'm so excited!
Here is my half plot. I will be planting Moon and Stars watermelon, Musquee de Provence , and zucchini. Maybe some flowers in between for some color.
Me on Mother's Day happily spreading my compost out and getting my plots ready to plant. I am so happy! It really seems darker out than it was. There was one other couple there spreading compost too. It was so nice.

Luffa Sponges

2008-05-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, many of the projects I would like to do. It was also suggested to put luffa sponge in a soap mold and poor the soap over the luffa. That would be an awesome scrub. Here are some pics from a fellow Idigger. Luffa Sponge making.

Will take pics of the garden Sat. Just need to make sure I have the camera with me. My father in law Phil is going to help me get a load of compost on Sat. so I can finally start my garden. Would have done this sooner except Roger's truck was totaled and there went my compost transportation with it. I have got the teepee up and need to get some wire up for the bean tunnel for infront of the teepee. Hopefully we can get that done tonight.;-)

Baby Bird

2008-05-02T22:22:00.001-07:00

The baby bird we found yesterday. He looked pretty healthy, but he was out in the pasture and I figured he would just die or Maddie would find it and eat it so what did we have to lose. So far he is doing well. He eats every 3 hours. As you can see in the picture this is right after he ate. His crop is full. I think he was only a day or two maybe when we found him, he still hasn't opened his eyes. It will be neat to see what kind of bird this is.

Seedlings

2008-04-22T13:45:00.001-07:00

My squash, pumpkins, watermelon, and gourds. They grow so fast, I think its only been a week.
Re-starting nasturtium and marigolds. Luckily they grow fast too. ;-) These will be for companion planting. I always have my "The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food" close by. I love and highly recommend this book for growing organically. Herbs and flowers are wonderful to have in your yard to keep away pests and bring in more pollinators.

More Seedlings

2008-04-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

My flowers. Coleus, rudbeckia, yarrow, sweet william, columbine, unruly cosmos.
My basil, all kinds.

Can You Believe This?

2008-04-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

36,000 tomatoes from one plant. And that’s not the record.

My Container Garden and some Seedlings

2008-04-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

Here is my container garden minus my banana plant. It is happily sitting in the somewhat shade to my left. Mostly mints that will need dividing next year, 1 hydrangea that I need to transplant, my rhubarb, and my sad looking rosemary (can't wait to finally plant it permanently).
Here is my chocolate flower plant that made it through the winter although it didn't bloom for me last year, it has a ton of blooms for me this year. Yeah!
My little pumpkin seedlings are emerging. Woot!

The Garden in the Backyard

2008-04-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a view of everything.
My largest artichoke. Hoping we get some this summer.

Here is my 6' bed. Currently it has elephant garlic (that I finally fertilized and mulched) and one dino kale that came up, two carrots, and a six pack of swiss chard that I planted. I will add some marigolds and nasturtiums soon. I will try to remember to add another kale. Need more for my smoothies.

Working on the Full Plot

2008-04-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

We've been working on the big plot getting it ready to put some compost down. There is a patch of strawberries that needs to be trimmed up so that it can get watered in one of the rows with t-tape. They are starting to bear strawberries so were hoping to eat some soon. ;-) I'm debating on what I'm going to with the lavender in the corner. Might just leave it, but trim it up a bit.

Saw someone with a ton of bamboo in thier front yard and scored bamboo for our trellis. Yeah! The guy was so nice. We took about 15 thick stalks. Some were thick enough by themselves and others we are going to tie together. Can't wait to erect our tepee. James will be so happy to have his own little hideout at the garden esp. when it gets warmer.

Our Progress So Far

2008-03-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here is my gardening buddy posing for me in front of our half plot at the community garden. We are almost done. Whew! I can only go as fast as his attention span will let us. He's been so good about helping me. He loves to get the weeds and put them in the wagon and help me throw them into the weed pile. We love looking for bugs too. We've been seeing a lot of those rolly polly bugs (pill bugs), a worm here or there, and we've been seeing a lot of lady bug larvae wandering around (yeah for them!). Hopefully we can get this plot done by the end of the week and then we can start work on our full sized plot. :-)
Oh and then I can start planting marigolds to start with. I'm so excited!

My Little Greenhouse

2008-03-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

My greenhouse keeping everybody warm and cozy. So far I have tomatoes and cosmos in there.

2008-03-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have to update my pic of my garden plot because I'm almost halfway through weeding and I'm so proud. We've been at for more than a week. It's starting to look a lot better without all the weeds.

My Community Garden Plots! Yeah!

2008-03-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

I finally got my plots at the community garden. Yippee! This one is my biggest project. It's a half plot. To the left is the owner of the other half. She couldn't keep up with the whole thing so luckily I was able to attain it. The weeds are a lot of work though. Whew! My back and legs are a little sore. So far in about a day in a half (4 1/2 hours) I got as far as the mulched with straw part. I put newspaper down first and then the straw on top to really keep out the weeds. Crossing my fingers it works. Then later I will put two rows in. That way I can irrigate them easily. James has been a big help. Luckily he is letting me get in about an hour and a half each time we go. He likes looking for bugs, esp. the lady bugs. Those keep his interest for a long time. He does like to help put the weeds in the garden cart and take a ride to dump them out. He loves to throw the weeds in the weed pile. As soon as we get the weeds taken care of though we won't be at the garden as much until we actually need to get ready to plant after the last frost date. I think I'm going to put the artichokes in this plot, flowers, and whatever other veggie that don't fit in my big plot.
Here is my second plot. It is a full 20x24. Click on the pic to make it bigger if you need to. Whoever had it last mulched really well. So, only a couple weeds to take care of. They did leave behind a rosemary plant and some strawberries, but I don't think the berries are going to produce, atleast it doesn't look like it. Oh, and the right hand corner is a raised bed, but I think I'm going to take that out and put the teepee trellis for James there so it doesn't shade anybody else's garden. Mainly tomatoes, squash and beans will go here besides the companion plants that go with those. So exciting!

Transplants

2008-03-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Happy little Cosmo transplants. Sigh..... Can't wait to plant these.
Very happy tomato plants. Coustralee and Stump O' The World.
Not so happy tomato plants. Live and learn I guess. Now I know better to wait a little longer on transplanting. Lost about half I think. Sungold's. Bummer.
Happy little tomato plants waiting to get big enough to transplant. ;-)

2008-03-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

A bee! Yeah! Not all is lost. ;-)
Densely planted seedlings.
Sungold tomatoes transplanted.

Starting Seeds

2008-02-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Mini-greeenhouse. The veggies.
The Flowers.
The whole set-up.

2008-01-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like were moving fast towards seed starting. I can't wait. Got everything set-up (well, except for what I posted below, the newspaper pots, I need to make LOTS of those, probably 500 or so). I just need to test the water bed heater pad to see if it will work for me. I ordered seeds from http://www.tomatofest.com/ and http://www.rareseeds.com/ . I can't wait to have them in my sweaty little palms. It's like Christmas when you get seeds. You have in your hands the starting of the next 7 months of work and the end result a yummy big tomato. I can hope it works out better this year with tomatoes. I'm armed with more knowledge and know how about these tomatoes this year. I can only hope I'm victorious with my feeding and watering of them. I'm also entering myself into a giant tomato contest. For more fun than anything. Hoping to get atleast a noteable mention. Also, selling tomato, herb, and flower starts this year. Hope to make some income. We'll see. It's not a big investment so I'm not looking to lose much if it doesn't work out.
So far this is what I'm looking at planting this year.
Tomato's
Arkansas Traveler
Brandywine
Delicious
Illinois Beauty
Cherokee Purple
Caspian Pink
San Marzano
Marvel Stripe
Cuostralee
Stump O' The World
Eva Purple Ball-Tomato Seeds
Aunt Ginny's Purple
Cherokee Choc.
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Siletz
Giant Belgium (because I've entered the giant tomato contest at idig)
Brandywine - Red
Wapsipinicon Peach
Pineapple
Flame (Hillbilly)

Peppers
Peter Peppers (because they look like what they are called and my BIL wanted to try them )
Early Jalepeno
Red Cheese Pepper

Casino Gold Corn

Bush Slicer Cucumber
Mexican Sour Gurkin

Basil
Genovese
Profumo di Genova

Clemson Spineless Okra

Dark Green Zucchini

Pumpkins
New England Sugar Pie
Mini - Jacks
Musquee de Provence
batwings (I know they are hybrid, but they are so darn cute! )

Butternut Squash

Beans
Ura Pole Beans
Tri-color Pole Beans
Purple Hull Cowpea

Beet Berry

Improved Green Globe Artichoke

Moon and Stars Watermelon

Nasturtiums and African Marigolds to keep the bugs away.

Part I of Newspaper Pot Making

2008-01-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

It's pretty easy. Hope this helps someone who wants to re-plant transplants at a lower cost. I'm definately using it. ;-)

Part II of Newspaper Pot Making

2008-01-28T16:26:00.001-08:00

All finished. I found these instructions at www.Tomatoville.com

My Seed Starting Set-up So Far For My Gardens

2008-01-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

Shop lights and heating pads. One professional gardening heating pad and I'm also going to try a waterbed heating pad. It has a temp. control and everything. So I'm hopeful it will work. We'll see! This will have lots of seed trays in it at the end of the month. Yeah! Oh, and fans to keep them from going leggy.

Pics of some of my plants

2007-12-12T00:23:00.000-08:00

I just had taken the dead stocks off of my rhubarb from the cold and now its trying to grow again. It's so confused.
My java blue banana plant is getting another leaf. Yeah!
My coleus at the farm. It's getting a little droopy from the cold, but still in pretty good shape. I'm amazed. I thought I'd be able to steal those half wine barrells to plant here by now.

Really Cool Pic

2007-11-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

Isn't that just so neat?

See!

2007-11-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

Little Arugula
Baby Kale
My raised garden bed.

I see Seedlings!

2007-11-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe with how cold and how shaded my raised garden was that I'd actually see seedlings now instead of waiting until Spring. Yeah! Will get pics soon!

Got Dirt?

2007-10-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

Put my raised bed together and filled it with dirt. Yeah!
And a little compost. Will need to get 4 or 5 more bags of compost and then I can mix it and plant my fall garden.
Of course until I find something to keep the cats from going potty in it I put a blanket over it. Shelby likes to sleep on it if I'm not paying attention.

My Birds Finally Got A Flight Cage

2007-10-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I've been trying to find a good cage for them both for a couple years. There was a bird expo yesterday in Roseville and I thought I'd check it out and see if someone was selling bird cages. Sure enough and for great prices. I got this one for $135 from The Country Roost. Great deal and its huge, but at the same time perfect size for the space I have them in. I think they were a little upset though when I took them out of thier secure little cages. I'm sure they will get used to it quite soon.

In other news I have found some top soil someone is giving away for my raised beds on craigslist. Yeah, I can finally start my raised beds. I'm also selling the old bird cages on craigslist.

Pallet Compost Bin and Instructions on How to Make Your Own

2007-10-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Three sides up and a couple branches in the bottom so far. I secured the three sides so far with one bungee cord across the back.
All my twigs in the bottom for good airflow. This helps make your bin an aerobic composter (also known as non-stinky bin you need air for this).
Close-up of twigs in the bottom. I have a couple trees above my bin that have some dead branches. I just pulled a couple down to line my bin.
Putting the final pallet on the front. This keeps the dogs and kid out of the compost bin. You can see the bungee cord stretched across the front. It's not going anywhere.

Instructions Part II

2007-10-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

Put down your brown or carbon compost (small twigs, leaves and other woody material) which also includes shredded newspaper. You want enough so that no flies or insects can really get to your nitrogen compost (need grass clippings, kitchen waste and other garden waste) like those too ripe watermelon you see in the above photos next to the bin. If you need a resource for stuff to put on your compost pile go to 163 Things You Can Compost.
Kitchen wastes (sorry forgot to take a photo of kitchen waste) and then another layer of shredded newspaper. I'm so tempted to go pick up everyone's piles of leaves next to the sidewalks. So, from then on out keep layering making sure you have carbon layer on top.
Finally you need the last ingredient, water. "Sprinkling the pile with a water hose every other day or so depending on rain will keep it cooking. If you want to speed up the process, be sure to turn your pile once a week to once a month. This can be done easily with a pitchfork. " Your pile should be the consistency of a damp sponge.
And there you go easy to follow intructions on how to make your own compost bin. Easy and FREE!

Found Pallets for my Compost Bin!

2007-10-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah, someone had them on freecycle this week. Free pallets for my compost bin. Woohoo! Here is what I'm going to make: Pallet compost bin. That one says to use bailing wire or hooks and eyes, but I'm going to use bungee cords. Just as easy and I have a couple in the back of the truck. Will post pics of my finished compost bin later.

I also just got some Hosta seeds for planting around the outside edge of the fence. It's mostly shaded most of the day so hopefully it will green it up a bit. I just need to see if I can just plant the seeds in the ground or need to start them inside.

Went to the nursery yesterday

2007-10-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Found out what kind of trees I have in my yard and how much my huge pumpkin is worth yesterday. James and I went to a nursery yesterday that was selling pumpkins and saw some as big as my huge pumpkin. He's worth ...... drum roll........... $100! Can you believe it? Wow! I thought that was pretty cool!
Oh and we found the same kind of tree we have in our yard there. They are Drake Evergreen Elms. I looked it up and it is a tree originated from China. I'm so glad its not a black walnut or something bad like that.

2007-10-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of our new yard and where I'm going to put the raised bed. Of course, Shelby and James had to get in the pic.
Here are my potted plants. My basil is looking sad.
Look! There is still life in this banana plant after all. Poor guy almost died and new green is coming out the top. We will have new leaves after all. Not all is lost! Yeah!

I still got it I tell ya! I got two wolf whistles yesterday in a 20 minute period of time while I was out riding my bike with my fam. Both times I was a little bit ahead of Roger and James in the trailer. I thought it was pretty funny because then they saw Rog and James go by. Hehe! Anyway, just thought it was funny!

So, I got my wood for my raised bed. Now I just have to fill it with dirt and plant my fall garden. Garlic, onion, carrots, kale, and what have you.

What kind of tree is this?

2007-10-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

Leaves are about 1 1/2 inches long.
There are two of these in our yard. They have an straight trunk and are about 30-40 feet tall. The only tree I could possibly find that kind of resembled it was a hackberry tree.

2007-10-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

Roger's friend Wiley. What a nut. He wanted a self-portrait I guess.
Harley, Wiley's daughter. Isn't she a cutie?
Hard to see, but this is Darik our neighbor that Wiley has been hanging out with and drinking with. Well, Darik and his friend had been drinking all day and had passed out early. Wiley came over looking for lipstick and mascara to put on them, but I didn't have any to give so he took a red permanent ink pen. He painted all thier nails, including thier toe nails. Hahahahaha! Super funny! Anyway, Wiley is always good for a laugh. He's a 40 year old still living in the 80's.

Pumpkin ready for Halloween

2007-09-18T23:08:00.001-07:00

Haven't posted in awhile. Will post pics when I'm home again of our neighbors and friends that live near us. Oh and going to put the pumpkin on the porch. It's in the back of my truck at the moment as you can see. Pretty cool huh? Compared to the dog and the kid.

Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago

2007-08-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

So, I went to a wedding for my cousin in Chicago and had seen in the Organic Gardening magazine a couple months ago that they had featured Chicago and places to go. So, I saw this place on thier list and thought it would be great to go to. I loved it! They had several linking greenhouses with different themes and they were all lovely! Here is a beautiful hanging basket I encountered.
A close-up of the basket.
A bird of paradise.

2007-08-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

Click on this pic and you'll get a better view. It was just awesome.
These palms almost touch the top of the greenhouse.
Giant Sea Grapes. Very cool.

They had lots of lovely gardens outside as well. It was all beautiful. They also had several different examples of composting including worm composting. They had it set-up so kids could dig in there and find worms. So neat!

WoW! It's been over 3 Weeks

2007-08-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

We moved over 3 weeks ago and I just got the internet hooked up. We had to figure out who to call since AT&T would have to re-wire the house in order to get thier service. So we figured it out and here we are. Still in the land of boxes and some child proofing needed. The yard is pretty safe so I'm not too worried about that. Whew! It's a lot of work to move.
Well, I gotta get some things done around here,but I'm sure I will be back soon to post more, most likely with pictures. ;-)

2007-07-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

Roger met the neighbors the other day. He says they are really nice and they have a yellow lab about a year old. Yeah for Shelby! She'll have a buddy to play with for sure.

I also found out that there is a community garden about 1.5 miles away. Yeah! So exciting. I can see we are going to be doing a LOT of walking. So great! Hopefully they will have an extra space for us. Will have to start my compost bins right away so that I will have compost by the time I will need it for next Spring. I will have to see if I can put a cover crop in January and then hopefully they will have a tiller I can use or I could rent one for the day. Then maybe just dig in what area I need to start with some cold crops in February. I wonder how big the spaces are? Will have to make a whole garden plan and all that. Sounds like fun! Can't wait to plant flowers and veggies next year. Going to go with smaller pumpkins and probably only one butternut squash plant, but will have to plant those next to corn or something to save space. Hmmmm..... (rubbing chin). I'm thinking since there is a community bulletin board that I will plant some tomato and herb starts and post them for sale there. So many things to think about and do. Maybe even some squash starts.

Basil

2007-07-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

Genovese basil ready to be planted at the new place. Will probably plant some of it on the farm. That's a lot of basil. Mmmmm..... Pesto!

2007-07-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

Got the keys to the new place. Looking forward to moving in and getting set-up. Woohoo! Our own place, how exciting! James and Shelby will be ecstatic because there is a huge park close by with a playground and a dog park! James will be excited to see a whole bunch of dogs running around so he can say Arf! Arf! He loves to go out and bark with Shelby when she goes out to investigate things.