Welcome Spring

Another year! Time to start the garden journal again.

Getting a jump start on the tomatoes. I know it isn't needed to do the peas, but they are so rewarding and easy to do in the window that I mainly do it to keep the smaller kids interested. The top middle set are peas that we saved from last year. They are growing a little slower but it seems at least half will come up.

You will notice my dying houseplant in the middle is recovering from the month long drought that nearly killed it. Shame on me, that poor plant. Also you can see the recent additions to my growing collection of those {tacky}ceramic planters. I have no idea why I love them so.  

Planted the potatoes. There is still another week or three of frost possibility. One of my friends planted hers two weeks ago, and then in passing I mentioned to the neigbour that I was wrestling with when to plant mine. He said it was fine to go ahead and do it since the frost wont be hard enough to damage emerging plants. So there they are- and it was easy work with just a little bit of hoeing. Last year I did hills in the ground. I have two boxes that are low on dirt and mulch, I thought to plant the potatoes there and gradually build them as they need hilling and then use those boxes after harvest for a second planting of green beans. That is the plan anyway, we'll see what actually happens. I have five little seed potatoes left and will try copying another friend who grows hers in a trash can. We'll see if either of these attempts bring success. Every year I learn a little more and Lord willing I will get it all figured out one of these times.

Mid July Update

I'm still over here arguing with my garden. It is tough for those of us born with a green heart but are lacking the green thumb! Way more years of crappy results- each time figuring out a bit more. Thankfully it does mean each year will be better. And Lord willing, I will have many years to get this right. :)

This has been a wet season. Bouts of extreme rain and nearing biblical proportions of frogs and grasshoppers. Apparently a lot of mosquito as well, but that only pesters the gardener and not so much the garden. I have been spraying with the soap water but it isn't enough to keep the beetles off my beans. The tomatoes are getting a fungus of sort. I only water as needed every 2-3 days during the hot weeks, I still have mushrooms in my boxes.

Even with all that, this year is far more successful than other years. I may have yielded more in gardens past, but currently I am spending 20 minutes a morning and that is all that is needed. I probably could bump that up to an hour and have weed free beauty in all my boxes, but I am lazy and not interested. Best of all, I haven't had to volunteer the kids to help with anything. They are pretty quiet about the garden, secretly hoping I have simply forgotten about their ability to help. I'll get them in the fall when it is time to layer and put it all to bed.

So for right now, this has been a good summer. :)

My first generation Boston Pickling cucumbers. There were two rows of four, but only three survived the initial planting. I since filled that space on the right with green beans and a summer squash or two. Guess we will see if they take.

A couple distance shots. My semi-successful yellow wax bean crop. Lots of flowers. No beans yet. 

My failure of a corn patch. Even though I mulched, it wasn't enough for the two weeks of rain we got. The grass was just too fast. Basically that is a patch of corn no higher than a foot and green beans nearly decimated by grasshoppers. In theory, corn should be almost my height by now. My thought is that with the way the sun rises and sets, that particular part of the garden is getting a couple less hours of full sun. I think I will park my new boxes there and use that side for lettuce. I'm liking the ease of boxes too much to bother with dirt patches anymore. Snobby I am.

I did flirt with the idea of buying a hundred tulips and planting them there.

The Red Beans are an experiment this year and 100% a learning thing. Those strings are not enough to trellis the plant and when you combine that with the wet weather it is just a rotting mess. Nothing is getting the chance to dry properly before being rained on. The ones that are drying, are not as pretty as the picture below. I am saving them anyway and hoping they are sufficient seed.

Here is how beans look at harvest once they have fully dried on the vine. I am hoping to get enough to save seeds and replant next year with a better support system. Ideally one box could grow 4+ pounds of dried beans. Not exactly enough for a Little House on the Prairie winter, or even the best use of the garden space considering four pounds of beans is maybe $5...still, I like them.

 Second generation cucumbers in the front (two of the three survived) One is a bush cucumber and the other is a Boston Pickle. I much prefer the boston... they dont take up as much space. The bush one seems to be focusing all the flowers close to the stem and even when I pick them off, it is stubborn to only spit out more flowers. We'll see. It might surprise me and outproduce the other.
I planted some pole beans for kicks. It is just now starting to take off. Originally I had more pole beans with string from the trellis but those did not make it. When in doubt, fill that space with regular beans, right? I keep hoping I will get enough to can. It isn't looking promising.

More cucumbers. More beans. Plant what you eat!  The middle was originally dedicated to two zucchini plants that kicked the bucket. I replanted with summer squash which also topped over and died. Good luck, green beans, the odds are not in your favor.

Pretty much what all my tomato boxes look like. Boo hiss. Lots of green tomatoes that seem to make one orangish red every three days. I waited and waited and nearly dropped an F-bomb when my first beautiful red tomato had a fat worm that was not as patient and beat me to the fruit.  A friend mentioned Marigolds... which I did plant little baby marigolds at the beginning of the year and they all died. So I will either purchase mature plants or try to set my seedlings earlier so the plants have better hope.

Some of the boxes managed to hold on to their pepper plants. Three are even producing peppers.

Early Mornings

Gardening season is here. We had rain, rain and a bit more rain. Now it is 75 degrees by nine so it appears we are going to skip the mild part of the summer.


here is a full shot of the garden.

The patch in the front is potatoes, the patch to the left of that is the corn/green beans/random floor vines.  Plus the boxes yonder. I tilled three more boxes today to be planted this week. That would leave only one empty box- that box only got one wheelbarrow of dirt so it isn't as healthy. It is currently filled with scrap cardboard, the filled water bottles and the kids chuck the hand tools there as well. I'd like to get it cleaned up but it isnt my immediate goal.

We have compost that needs sifting and can be mixed in with these three boxes. Also, I have made arrangements for me and the two younger kids to go pick horse apples. My life is pretty glamorous.

The time in the pic is 8:30 so you can see how we are treated to shade if I get things done early enough. If we get there around 6, it is mostly shade so the cooler temperature is well worth setting the alarm for. Everyone knows I was born with a sticker on the side of my bottle that says no direct sunlight.


This pic is from last week. We sprayed this morning with fertilizer so we'll see if things perk up. It has been said that the week of constant rain washed a lot of nutrients from the dirt. Sounds legit to me so a little spray wont hurt.

Happy two month birthday to the potatoes. I still have mixed feelings about these. I am about $8 worth of hay into this and the effort of hilling is not super simple. A friend of mine is growing hers in trash cans and I have read about potato towers or even bags. I may try this next year.

The harvest is near! Green beans that I started early are now making their first foods and flowers. The green beans that were sown directly in the ground are about two inches and have their first set of large leaves. The corn is a couple inches high as well. That whole area has been lightly mulched with straw and between rows are a few watermelon, cantaloupe and one lonely winter squash.

Only one of my children agreed to be photographed for this shot. The other two were pretty tired and were quite snippy by this point. We were at the lumber store to pick up some cattle fencing so I could pinterest my way into a trellis idea I read about. They were out of the cattle fence and asked if hog fence was fine. same size, same price range. My daughter SWEARS he told me it didn't come rolled up. I obviously missed that part. So imagine how delighted the kids were to carry the 16 foot panel home?

The one in the middle didn't mind :) The lumber yard isn't far, but there was bickering just the same. Happy memories!

Hilling and Tilling

Got the potatoes hilled yesterday.

A close up of the potatoes.

Today we tilled

And planted the corn

Got some green beans in the ground also.

Planted tomatoes and jalapenos in one of the garden boxes. The other boxes will be a bit more work.

The rest of the week calls for rain. If it is clear skies in the morning I hope to get some more stuff done. I'd like to get the other boxes planted but we'll see.

Garden Pre-Check

We are back from vacation and my daughters BFF did a great job feeding the stray cat and watering seedlings. I had already written off the seedlings and hoped for the best. Considering everything was left in an open cold frame for the sun and the slugs and the off & on downpour of May rain, I am quite pleased anything survived. 

I did sort of run to the feed store and made an $18 purchase on some plants before the cheap ones sold out for the season. A tray of 6 plants is $3. They are easy to find at the beginning of the season but as people start planting, all that becomes left are cherry tomatoes or the $5 pots. Nope! 

After a little jaunt to our overgrown pasture I was able to get into the garden. Not as good as it can be, but not nearly as overwhelming as last year. This week is going to be very wet. Wednesday I can get some work done but no tilling. My husband is hoping to get the pasture mowed, which will make everything look less abandoned. 

The boxes where the leaves/cardboard did not blow away are looking great. Last week I planted a couple tomato plants and they aren't dead yet even after being ignored while we were away. This is ideal and I think that if we make an effort to put the garden to bed earlier, there is a chance next year will be this simple. It is satisfying to see that the work paid off.

I'm going to call a time of death and assume the strawberries did not take. 

Boxes that only partially blew away are not terrible and I think having the parameter of the box is a good mind trick in not feeling like I have a huge overgrown field to weed. Plus the weeds pull out without much work. I will put a child in charge of cleaning up a few boxes. 

There are potatoes!!  There are also weeds!!  The potatoes are first on my list for Wednesday. Get some of the weeds picked and then hoe some dirt/straw over and hope that stage two goes well also. I have never grown potatoes before so I am relying on pinterest to teach me.

Also, got one of these guys cleaned up. Untangled the dead from the living and had a child hold the vine while I pulled the old from the latticework and then used a couple ties to get it back on. I am waiting a couple days before doing the other one… just in case I killed it.

I should admit

That I kinda hate gardening. Why does it have to be so much stinking work?

Today we planted strawberries. Got two rhubarb in there as well. I've never grown either. I'm not 100% sure if I had the right side up for the rhubarb so here is hoping. :)  I let the kids plant the strawberries. Explaining it:  "Dig a hole as deep as your shovel. Make a small dirt rock and put it in the middle of your hole, that is your horse. Now take the roots of your strawberry plant and stand him up. Part the legs and put the cowboy on the horse nice and straight. Cover him with dirt."

Also planted potatoes. This is a first for me also and by the grace of pinterest I finally was able to locate a picture of what they even looked like in the ground. To be honest, unless this yields like 200 pounds of the most delicious potatoes ever... I am not doing it again.

But I am a woman and women tend to forget the labor once the work is done. Which is why I have this bad romance with gardening to begin with.

The Pea Patch

The seedlings are a little over two weeks old and were ready for their new digs. Since our broccoli and cauliflower died a violent death when I moved them to the coldframe, we are opting for no spring garden in the main garden. We'll just use the little patch by the house. Be easier for us to keep track of anyway.

Our yard has so many rabbits so we had to put a fence around it. She helped me bury the fencing and opted to stay in the garden and do all the planting herself. She was a little worried when I said I would just leave her in there and bring chicken nuggets every now and then.

But we did get her out in the end. :) As soon as the peas are as tall as their sticks, we will give them some support.