its been almost a month? really?

I spend all my winters in anticipation of summer and it disappears before my eyes.

Lets get this out of our system ahead of time. This will not be a spectacular year, it will be another year of lessons.

There is too much of a good thing. that being rain 5 of the last 7 days in july and 17 of 30 days in june. And even when it was only a few drops it has been overcast. Things are moving sllllloooowly. I should really consider adding another row of boards to the raised beds which only sit about 4-6 inches above ground height.

I am willing to try starting peas on st patrick's day again, but only if they are pre-sprouted. It took forever for them to germinate.

I should start my curcurbits in pots first. The soil just does not get warm enough early enough to get them going, I am going to end up with a lot of things just getting in under the wire if at all.

Slugs are a serious issue now. A duck is unfortunately out of the question.

Garlic spray is a great japanese beetle deterrant, I haven't seen them since.

I should have planted trees years ago.

fried beet chips are a reason to get out of bed in the morning!

My frontyard bed definitely needs more organic matter.

I need more grape vines.

The black tips on the kiwi is likely a water issue, too little I think, and with the rain I have not seen any since.

Playing Catch up

Wow...were to start, things went well at work.

On the stead, 100% of the potatoes have pushed through, I found the bed much easier to work this year, though not as nice as the one thats 4 years old. I can reach into that with my bare hand and get to my wrist with little effort, and come up with a fistfull of worms and chunks of various bits of stuff alive and dead.

I made my first "50 foot" salad last weekend. Arugula, butterhead, and oakleaf lettuce. Very good, nice and tender. On memorial day I grabbed some more arugula, picked up a couple pears and a block of parmisan cheese and made this.


On Monday I transplanted some cukes, nasturtiums, and melons into empty spots in the lettuce patch. Looks like the arugula is done for the season. And something has chewed on 5 of the six broccoli almost to the point of defoliation, but thankfully I found good leaves growing back, so I think they'll be ok. But I found that some of these were ready which made my day. Have you ever seen such gorgeous radishes?


I started corn, black eyed peas and shelling beans.

I noticed something a little disconcerting with the female kiwi vine. Black on the edges of some of the new growth, as shown here.

A search has not turned up any plausible results. I had several shoots coming off last years's growth, so I trimmed this one, and have not seen any others succumb to its fate, but I would like to know what is happening, because it killed a male vine last year. (the replacement however is doing just fine.)

I just realized the other pictures are on other cameras, so I'll save for other posts, but I will leave you with this parting shot, the first and likely last real picture of yours truly that will show up here.



Oh did I mention we had 5 yards of stone delivered for the walkway, and 6 yards of much for the ...um mulching? I did a lot of shoveling. And no my hand is not missing, It was a chilly evening.

In the ground

Well yesterday evening, the spinach, lettuce, peas, broccoli, radishes and beets went in the ground. And of course there was a light frost this morning, but nothing seemed to be really bothered by it. This evening I'm starting the tomato plants for my dad's house, planting some podding radishes and flax outdoors, cutting the potatoes into smaller chunks, and approaching my wife about a spot I think would be perfect for another garden bed. Its worth a shot right?

Out and about in the yard I noticed lemon balm, bee balm, chives, mint, and wormwood poking up out of the ground. The buds on the ornamental cherry are swelling, the lilacs are getting ready to leaf out. I've got about 4 1-year-old blackberry primocanes that are budding and 3 coming up out of the ground. The berry yield will still be small but much better than the 7 berries I got last year.

Go Time!

This morning was frost free. The first one in our backyard. I'm sure there will be more, but intermittent is ok, I've been fine with the occasional frost, peas broccoli, lettuce, spinach, radishes can take it. This afternoon they're going in. I also noticed I have pea shoots peaking out of the soil where I planted them on st. patty's day. I will be interested to see if the month early planting helped or if the cold temps kept them back. Time will tell.



Oh and my potatoes came from Irish Eyes Garden Seed. I have some cutting to do as I got a bunch of lunkers...no big deal. Not surprising since Purple vikings are notorious for their prodigious proportions.

Picking up the gauntlet

and slapping Monsanto in the face with it.

I will admit it, I take very few of the challenges people post on their blogs, and its not because I don't think they are worthwhile or because I am lazy...well maybe a little lazy. Time management is a problem for me, and I think it is difficult enough to get my clark kent existence squared away, let alone track the goings on of my green caped kal-el persona. There is also the issue of lois lang and the kids. I know the road to sustainability for us must be a slow one, and as much as I would jump at some of the great ideas, to get the rest of the family on board means evolution not revolution.

That being said there is particular challenge that I will be participating in again, and that is the growing challenge over at one green generation. They've upped the ante. Not only must you grow something new from seed, but save seed as well. And if the goons at Monsanto are reading this because somehow this entry shows up in a google search...I have a message for you. This simple act of saving seed shall be your undoing...muwahahahaha.

When we garden we take control of our food supply, when we save seed we take control of the future.

Theory and Practice: a map after the fact

I actually intended to do something like this when I first started, but I think its more relevant now that I have changed from the original plan.

Here is how things started, by the book, and I am intentionally leaving the exact square footages of the crops out. If you want those numbers, buy the book.

(click for a larger view)

Then phase two came along and This is essentially how things stand now.


So thats where I am at now, and you can kind of see with the late summer crops where things will be this winter. If all goes according to plan, the remaining warm weather crops in the lower bed will get swapped out with cold weather veggies to overwinter, before the cycle starts again with minor changes (most notably a change of bed locations).

My new goal is to come up with a reliable rotational system that keeps each plot continually productive. It is going to be an evolutionary process to achieve a real sense of flow with the seasons. And of course ideally I'd like to add another bed or two into the rotation.

beetdown

After picking the majority of the beets which amounted to about 9 oz. I got brave and pulled a few carrots. Lest you all think I became a master gardener behold the dismal results.



The bigger ones are about 1/2" wide. I'm not familiar with the carrot growth habit, do they widen first and then grow deeper? Is there hope for the ones still in the ground? or is this as good as they get.

The Beets faired better:


They are nice and round, it doesn't look like anything got into them, I don't think I have enough to pickle them, so I think its soup for some and I'll just cook the rest fresh. They have a nice red and white striping, so maybe I can get some good high res shots when I cut into them.

Surprises Blooms and miscellany

Well as predicted, first the flowers then the pea pods (I know what a daring amount of foresight) They are still young and could be eaten whole, I am tempted to take a nibble now, but I prefer the plump sweet gems inside, so I'll wait.


The potato forest (actually its only about 40 square feet, but it looks impressive from this angle doesn't it.)


Blurry as it is this one deserves inclusion for one reason. I never planted it, in fact I haven't grown strawberries in 3 years. It is growing in the raspberry patch and I mistook it for such until I got a closer look at the flowers one day. Where it came from I don't know but this is probably the most unlikely and welcome "volunteer" I have encountered. Sure there may only be a couple berries but I take it more as a sign from someone somewhere that this whole project is moving in the right direction.



Speaking of raspberries...I got a couple canes from a friend when he moved into his new house and they were taking over the property. I had no idea that raspberries were biennial so I mowed every year. Well after actually taking the time to read about them (after I mowed them again). They are biennials. First comes the primocane straight up from the ground, then next year the floricanes branch out and fruit the second year. Well I thought I had ruined my chances this year but apparently there was a bit of a stump left on one and it fruited!


The first nasturtium flower of the year about a day after its prime, and a minute before I ate it.



My salad bowl as I like to call it. Lettuce up front, a second crop of radishes and carrots, some pole beans for the trellis (third generation kentucky wonders, the first seed I ever saved) and a lone cucumber survivor. We had a freakinsh swing of weather from cold to hot and dry right around the time they were transplanted and the other one succumbed to the nasty conditions.


The garden as it stands now. (You can actually see the tomato plants next to the potatoes now, they took about a week to get used to that spot but they are rolling now.)



Lavender starting to bloom (a tad earlier than I remember from last year)




Yes fennel does bolt, and it looks like this


Feverfew that lives between the lavender bush is starting to flower (and I didn't get a picture, but I picked about half a cup of chamomile flowers and the plants are still covered. Not bad for only 3 plants)

Second Verse, Same as the First

Part of eating seasonally, or locally, or whatever is dealing with the repeats nature has to offer. We did so gleefully last night with another mix of lettuce topped with a few paper thin radish slices (flexing the knife skills). Anyhow, after about 1 week the stump of leaf lettuce is coming back strong, and oddly enough, the tom thumb head lettuce stump which I had left for dead in the ground is sprouting little baby leaves. I didn't think head lettuce would do that. Is this kind of like coppicing a tree?


Ya learn something new everyday right? In other news the peas are flowering with a vengeance, the potato plant have leafed out like wildfire, almost touching each other now, and the tomato transplants seem to be holding their own.

The First Harvest

Ladies and gentlemen, the first produce of the season, and appropriately around the same time of year I used to start the garden in the past. Thanks to mr. jeavons and the almighty we had a nice salad with dinner that traveled exactly 0 food miles. My wife remarked that she had never had lettuce so fresh....get used to it hon.

And for those who are part of the growing challenge, this was from seed so I guess I met the goal...but I'm not stopping here.

By the way thats green salad bowl leaf lettuce, a head of tom thumb lettuce, and my bahco pruning knife which works great for reaching under the head and cutting. I usually leave the roots in the ground when I harvest a plant, what about you?

in between raindrops

I managed to get a few more low quality pictures. It would seem that the chinese cabbage are a magnet for whatever bug appears to be preying upon its leaves. I tried to save the garden ones by planting a few extras from the original flat and discovered within two days the weaker new transplants hand been..true to form...decimated. Its no far flung theory, bugs really do prey upon the weaker plants. Hopefully that will give the garden cabbage enough of a reprieve to make a comeback. It has been unusually cold and rainy, and things are just kind of in a holding pattern with the exception of:

Fennel (which I have never grown or tasted before, but I can say with certainty that I am pleased with the results of both)

leaf lettuce (green arrow variety) Its really taking off, and despite being started at the same time under the same conditions, appears to be fairing much better than the heads of tom thumb above it. Which is a shame because I could live on tom thumb lettuce.

and in even worse pictures are evidence of radishes starting to form little baby bulbs, And broccoli making some nice big leaves (which seem to be left relatively untouched by the phantom bug)

In other news, the tomato seedlings are doing nicely although the peppers are off to a very slow start. I think I will start them earlier next year. The cuccumbers do not appear to be liking the weather and are no bigger than when they were first planted. We are supposed to have warmer weather this weekend which should help that though.

And despite the verrrry stressful day yesterday there was a bright spot. The kiwi vines arrived from Miller Nurseries. Being in CNY these are of course the original grape sized hardy variety rather than the fuzzy plum sized commonly sold in supermarkets. Kiwi is our soon to be adopted daughter's favorite fruit, and a big hit with the rest of us so I figured, why not? I purchased a male and female vine and started digging. Normally I find the act very therapeudic and the first hole was, but with all the gravel and clay in the spot where the male vine is going I had to quit after about 15 minutes. It was not a day to turn a delight into a hassle. On a positive note though pruned the vine down a bit before planting with my new bahco pruners. Very nice product, I'm not one for endorsements but these are a good high quality garden tool. Check out Earthtools.com a lot more friendly and knowledgable than the Home Despot.

A visual smorgasborg

First, you MUST take a moment to view Path to Freedom's amazing video. They're close to the 100,000 mark, so if you've seen it once, well, watch it again. It really is that inspiring.

and now without further ado...

my own meager progress.

Thats two types of lettuce (started a week apart) and peas.

More Peas, chinese cabbage, broccoli, and even though you probably cant see it, the beets and carrots are in there too.

The onion sets are starting to take off, and the radishes have sprouted off to the left below the marker stick.

and with the exception of the onions, all were started from seed! So far I have been following the perscribed method in the jeavons book as close as humanly possible. And despite my doubts about the beet and carrot transplants, they seem to be doing ok.

Theory and practice part 5: fear and trepidation

Following the schedule jeavons outlines, I transplanted a TON of stuff this week, peas (a labor of love to be sure) lettuce, (I jumped the gun on the broccoli and cabbage but they seem fine), onions, carrots, beets and radishes. The radishes were direct seeded, but the carrots and beets were transplants. Here's where my objection comes in. At this point in the schedule, they are still tiny. I wouldn't dare put them in anything less than perfect soil. Actually did dare, I put them in anyway. only time will tell if they make it.

The book is a still a fantastic resource, but I think it really needs some disclaimers about the expected conditions for the "sample" beds.

who knows, I could be wrong.

weekend wrapup (sorry no pics)

well the arbor is almost done, the beds are dug, the first of the transplants are in (I think I lost a couple lettuce plants to heat, thankfully I have replacements ready.) The sad part is that they were my favorites: "Tom Thumb" a softball sized heading lettuce. By far the most delicious I have ever tasted.

I put in nasturtiums in the walled bed that is holding some surprisingly lush blooming lilac saplings (surprising that they survived). What did I do this weekend for earth day? the same thing I plan on doing every weekend I can. Move towards a more empowering post consumer lifestyle.

My wife commented that I seemed especially driven, staying busing from sunup to sundown, strangely, it doesn't feel like work.

I got all the perennials in minus two that I couldn't fit in the armload, I realized I need a lot more to fill in the spaces. I got a bit of seeding to do tonight.

And to top it all off I had a great talk with our 8 year old about how the difference between a weed and non-weed is in the eye of the beholder. Our yard is in bloom with dandelions from about late may onward, and her previous impression was from someone who found them to be a nuisance and tried to eradicate them. I told her about the multiple uses for them as greens, coffee substitute, wine. She seemed impressed and pressed for more plants that could be used like that. I was at a loss to elaborate, but who knows I might have a little herbalist on my hands.

She's a self professed "indoor girl" but this weekend she came inside with dirty bare feet, so its a step in the right direction.

parting shots

well its a bittersweet day, it is now warm enough to transplant most of the fine perennials who have been keeping me company in my office. Despite only really getting sun in the morning they appear to be doing well if a bit leggy. So farewell (left to right) purple basil, german chamomile, hyssop, stjohns wort, valerian, stjohns wort, mint. See you in the back yard.

whatever will I do without them in the office...I know, plant MORE!

Theory and Practice Part 3: Throw diversity at the problem

I found the second chapter of Gaia’s Garden particularly inspiring. The author retells a story about a group of permaculturists who were working with a relatively ingenious self watering bed setup adjacent to a wetland. Unsurprisingly they ran into roadblocks along the way in the form of local wildlife who found their garden particularly tasty. After giving up on trying to thwart the varmints, they found that the next year predatory species and other forms of competition were keeping the offenders in check. In other words, nature will balance the scales if given the opportunity. In theory then all we gardeners have to do is sit back and things will eventually take care of themselves right? Right?

The difference between myself and the above intrepid horticulturalists is one of diversity. Quite simply, there is no way I (nor most on a suburban lot) ever hope to approach the level of biological diversity present in the wetland example, nor even the average field/ forest boundary. Nor can most of us living on an 1/8th of an acre city lot afford the space to spare for the “wild” zones prescribed in permaculture landscaping. The only thing that comes close to being a zone five on my lot is the space behind the shed. So how do I cram the necessary number of species into my lot to never concern myself with pests again? Well, unfortunately I don’t believe that is an option, however I believe I can come close.

Anyone who has picked up a gardening book has heard of companion plants. I’m not going to go into adjacent plants providing enhancement to the soil, what I want to focus on is the ability certain crops have to attract certain animals, be they the “trap crops” which divert the attention of garden freeloaders, or nursery crops to shelter and attract beneficial predators. While it is impossible for the average enthusiast to know what every plant attracts or repels, I don’t think that is a problem. Simply increasing the number of plant species in any given area increases the chances of reducing the size of the bulls eye on your favorite vegetables. It’s a game of sheer statistical chance. If you plant it, they will come. So what do I plant?

Taking a cue from every permaculture reference out there, perennials, you cant beat the maintenance factor, and self seeding annuals aren’t far behind. I don’t need to plant borage near my tomato plants anymore, I did it once, and each year it comes back in such numbers that I continually thin it for weeks. The nice thing is, a lot of common herbs are perennial and hardy to most zones in the US. So I got seeds for all my favorite kitchen herbs, tea herbs, flowers, and some I hadn’t heard of and started growing them right around Christmas.

To date I have started
Hyssop, Lavender, St. John’s Wort, Valerian, mint, Creeping thyme, feverfew, chamomile, lemon balm, bee balm, wormwood, 3 kinds of basil, anise, angelica, bee balm, coneflower, red leaf plantain, black cohosh, garlic chives, common sage, rosemary, hollyhock, zinnias, morning glory, nasturtiums and I’m probably forgetting something. That’s 27 by my count. 26 Extra species this year who are doing nothing but looking nice, attracting bugs, and providing the occasional leaf for seasoning or tea. Ideally I’d like to have 2 species of non harvested plant for each one that is harvested. All of these are going in a section of the yard adjacent to the small pond we put in last year. Before the end of this year hopefully I will have some kind of cattails or lilies for even more diversity.

Over the centuries humanity has bred into our agricultural stocks desirable traits for our own consumption. This does not necessarily make them ideally suited to grow in the wild, but I believe by simply adding a touch of the wild in an area near our prized plants, we reintroduce the biological support systems which in turn reduce our dependency on “imported controls” to pest populations. Permaculture design does this by progressively wilder zones, but ultimately I think the real benefit there is diversity. I do not believe it is necessary to target specific pest populations if one has enough diversity present in the local flora. After 3 years of disappointing curcurbit experiences due to cucumber beetles I am going to try to not try this year. I’m not going to bother trying the “plant X to control Y” method, especially in light of its questionable effectiveness thus far. I’m going to throw a whole bundle of stuff at the wall and hope that something sticks, and if not, add even more next year.

The flood cannot be stopped, only redirected

Old Business First.



















as you can see, the nascent perrenial sanctuary is taking off! It will be a shame to part with the cheer when it comes time to move them into their permanent home in our yard. I will certainly have to fill the empty spots in the window. Nothing much to report on the veggie front, I'm still waiting on the shipment from moose tubers, by schedule, I should have started chitting today. A week or so shouldnt really mess with things in the long run. I do have carrot seed to start tonight.


On to new business...

My recent agricultural persuits have prompted my father to begin a more expanded gardening program this year. Last year he had a couple tomato bushes and a few herbs, but I found out last night he is adding another bed and going to try spinache, lettuce, and my favorite: peas. I convinced him to try some heirloom varieties, and I know as soon as he opens up that first pod, he'll be hooked for life.

first sprouts

its official, yesterday afternoon I came home to find a whole mess of things growing. Unsurprisingly the lettuce broccoli and cabbage led the way. However, amaranth was also peeking out in shades of purple...weird. (ok not rare but I have never seen anything sprout in purple.)

still waiting on the beets and bok choy, and of course the herbs, but those I know will take longer.

According to "How to Grow" In two days I am supposed to prick out the lettuce into new flats to give them space I guess, I am nervous about this, I dont want to snap the little buggers.

Theory and Practice: pt 2

growing times and seedling starting

Despite what some see as being too rigid (and for the advanced and intuitive gardener this is likely true.) Jeavons offers a wonderful schedule of seed starting and transplanting wherein you simply plug in your frost dates in the appropriate blanks and count backwards or forwards x number of weeks for each crop and task. Orderly and foolproof, exactly what I need, given my proclivities for disorderly foolishness.

The fun begins 6 weeks before the last frost date (which I fudged slightly to better align with the phase of the moon, hey, couldn’t hurt) Job 1 happens March 19th. Not surprisingly it is starting seed of some of the cold weather crops in zone 3 (broccoli, beets, lettuce, etc.) So lets focus on zone 3 for a moment. Given the schedule outlined in terms of weeks, and when it is recommended to plant the next crop in succession, The first crop in zone 3 gets roughly 55 days in the ground. Seems a bit short but I managed to gather together everything I needed thanks to the wonder of heirloom seeds. I realize that the 55 days to maturity means from date of germination, so technically I could get longer maturing varieties, since I will be starting the seed long before it actually goes in the ground, but because of the aforementioned less than six month growing season, I am trying to “rush” the first succession in this zone to give plenty of time for the other two. Particularly the final succession of cold season produce to plant longer maturing varieties I chose for their reputation to do well into winter months or their reputation for “keeping.” More on that later. Based on my experience with this first year I may try longer maturing varieties in subsequent years.

Here’s what goes into flats on the 19th (I am omitting quantities, if you want those, buy the book, its worth it.)

Broccoli: Green Goliath (purchased from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)
Cabbage toraziroh 45 day, blues Chinese (hyb) 52 days Both purchased from Fedco, toraziroh is a bok choy type and given its quick growth, I can stagger the plantings to stretch the harvest and still get them mature and out of the ground in time for the second succession. I tried to keep to non-hybrid seed, but the blues Chinese seemed like such a good fit, and it was hard to find a fast maturing head cabbage.
Beets dolce di Chioggia 52 days (SESE)
Lettuce tom thumb 46 days fedco, arugula 40 days (SESE) green leaf salad bowl 50 days (victory seed co)
Amaranth (love lies bleeding (fedco) this is technically not part of the 100 sq feed going into the bed, but since it contributes to the overall diversity of the local ecosystem I felt I should include it.

Next week’s job is easy ( I hope) prick out the lettuce seedlings into new flats. Not sure how necessary this is, but I’ll follow the directions anyway.

The difference between theory and practice

As my regular readers (s) know, I am abandoning the “amateur” method of one spot, one crop whole season gardening for a more extensive succession based plan outlined in Jeavons’ How to grow more… book. The following series I shall dub “Theory and Practice,” will deal with my effort to mimic as exactly as possible the 100 sq ft garden Jevons offers as the introduction to the growbiointensive plan. Jeavons dictates that this plan should be adequate for areas with a 6 month growing season. Since I am not blessed with such the succession timings will be one of the items which will need to be accommodated. I will leave that subject for further installments.

First I intend to deal with the physical layout of the ideal as proposed in the book, and the modified plan I will require to accommodate the physical considerations of our small backyard space. Since copying the page from the book would be a bad thing from a legal perspective I will do my best to relay the gist of it.

His diagram outlines a 5x20 ft area with what are not named as such but I will call succession zones. The first zone, contains for the most part either long season or indeterminate producers like pumpkins, tomatoes, cucurbits, peppers, etc. As indicated in the planting schedule, this zone is not immediately planted, as many of the crops require warmer soil temperatures, and when combined with the expected days to maturity, the result is no time left for subsequent planting in theory. Given my previous experience with peppers and tomatoes, I see no reason why this sector will not be productive well into fall. By and large this is the only zone of the garden I have familiarity with.

The second succession zone is composed of two separate crops, first potatoes planted in spring and harvested at roughly 65 days, and second a main crop of corn to make the most use of the warmer longer days. I call this succession zone 2 (as in two crops).

The third zone seems to be a yo-yo of sorts, and the most interesting in my opinion. Starting with cold hardy salad vegetables and greens (if you have never had fresh peas in a salad you are missing out) and going to an early crop of corn immediately after, then returning back to greens, legumes, brassicas in the fall. This will be Zone 3 (as in 3 plantings)

As indicated before all this lies in a single 5x20 raised bed, certainly the most flexible layout but unfortunately not suited for my case. In planning I quickly found that I could not evenly divide the zones into two beds without splitting the crops and interfering with what I believe was an attempt by the author to ensure that even the border crops in each of the zones are somewhat complementary. Unfortunately the size constraint mandates that I make do with what I have been allotted, and therefore the first zone (long season, will be split into two identical segments, each having half the allotted number of plants. The original plans do not indicate equal size of the zones, so I will make the 3 zones of size equal to the largest zone, in this case zone 2 (the tomato -> corn zone). Since that means extra space in the other zone I will make the plantings larger rather than add additional types. Where appropriate I will try to estimate what the harvest totals would be using the original sized plantings. If you are curious click on the image of the backyard to see the two roughly trapezoidal bed areas, each of roughly 60 feet so as to allow for equal size in each zone.

In the next part I'll go over the schedule and variety of plantings.