Ordering Time- Better Late than Never!

I am late ordering my second season seeds. Apparently, I can hold off on the garlic, which I plan to plant from farmers market organic garlic varieties. I read you can chit potatoes for Christmas harvesting on My Tiny Plot, which sounds amazing. For my second season veggies, I’ve selected these from Burpee: Broccoli Raab, Chinese Cabbage, and Colored Mix of Cauliflower.

I think these are all very different, and will be good fall foods to use in sauté’s and stir fries. Plus, I love the look of the Broccoli Raab. I hate when broccoli turns out to have too much stalk.

I think that’s about all the backyard patch can handle right now–when the tomatoes come out the garlic will go in. I hope it all goes well- this is my first year of using the soil and first ever second season plant!

In the meantime…

Well, as it turns out, I haven’t been around the garden much at all this summer. After tilling and composting and planting, I ended up having to spend most of my summer away from home. I’ve been unable to take photos, let alone spend a significant amount of time weeding and feeding. No worries, the tomatoes are coming in nicely and are extremely sweet!

I planted cherry tomatoes for snacks and Early Goliath’s for salads and sandwiches. The butter-leaf lettuce has come up, but honestly doesn’t look that fantastic. Slugs have enjoyed it though- apparently the beer garden was a failure! Broccoli never showed up, and bell peppers are tiny! Corn has sprouted but is just not going to happen this year, and I got about 10 green beans in total from about 6 plants. I guess I should be discouraged, but those tomatoes are so sweet and delicious, I just don’t care about the rest. This was my first year of gardening, first time using that space of yard for a garden, and the soil quality has much to be improved. I am pretty much encouraged by the fact that anything grew at all!

Since I’m moving back home for the fall, a second season harvest is definitely going to happen. Right now I’m thinking winter broccoli, spinach, elephant garlic, and potatoes. I’d also love to put in some onion and cabbage, however I don’t want to tax the soil too much. Any suggestions? I’m learning as I’m going.

To prepare for that second harvest, I’m ordering some seeds from Burpee and making my own biodegradable seed starter pots. I found many ways of making these on several forums, but here’s my version:

I like this idea, because the process of transplanting seedlings into the ground always makes me nervous. I feel like I’m going to upset those underdeveloped root systems. This way, the newspaper composts into the soil and no worries about the seedlings! Since the garden dirt is already warm, I think I’ll transplant them over as soon as they’ve developed some strong leaves and the birds won’t be interested in them anymore. If you want to see how I made them, click here.

Summer’s Here

I must apologize, I haven’t been adding any new content for about 2 months. I’ve been very busy taking exams, starting a new job, and taking more classes. My salad patch is on it’s way, although slowly I must admit. I think the shade of my backyard is proving to be an obstacle. I will add photos and garden updates this weekend!

For now, I’m enjoying the best part about Summer- The Farmers Markets.

As a Side Note:
If anyone happens to live in the midAtlantic region of the US, check out Harvest Seasonal Grill in Glen Eagle. All ingredients are locally grown, and most meals are under 500 calories. My favorite appetizer is definately the un-fried French fries. Wonderful wine selection too!

beer garden?

In the last week, I’ve finished Creating Your Backyard Farm by Nicki Trench, done some work on my garden, and been a bit bummed out about the weather. I was hoping to have transfered my starter plants into the soil last weekend, but I think it will have to wait until Saturday. It’s been unseasonably cold at night (about 30-40 degrees F/about 2 degrees C), and I’m afraid to shock the starters from the warm indoors to the cold soil.

To help things along, I have some black trash bags laid down to hopefully attract heat and warm up the dirt. This is my first garden, and I’m realizing I probably should have done this much sooner (better late than never though, I guess). I’m also employing a neat trick I read about in Creating Your Backyard Farm. By burying mostly empty beer cans (the cheaper the better) so that they’re at ground level, I’m hoping to rid my salad patch of slugs. Apparently, they’re supposed to be attracted to the yeast in the cheap beer, crawl in the opening, and then get trapped. We’ll see if it works!

As a side note, I really want one of these:

Any experienced gardeners that can offer me tips on transplanting the starters? I’d really appreciate it!

My Salad Patch is On Its Way!

This book+seedlings doing well=ready to plant! Pictures to come soon! This weekend will be filled with sunshine, dirt, and broccoli planting.

the plan!

So, I finally figured out how to export my growveg plan so you can see it. Again, this tool is amazing and it’s saved me lots of time. I’m a planner.

My garden is about 10′x14′

If you’ve never used this site before, here’s the coolest part about it. After you map out where you’d like to put everything, growveg makes a nice list for you and reminds you when to plant and where (indoors or out). You can also redesign over your previous year’s plan and it remembers what was once there. So that way, you don’t have to even think about crop rotation. If you’re planning a garden out or are just bored, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial (no strings attached). Another great feature is that growveg will give you basic info about your plant, suggest companion plants, and even throws out some troubleshooting ideas.

Click for larger view

So that’s what I’ve been obsessed with lately. I figured that corn, beans, and squash (melons count!) would go together nicely. Basil is supposed to compliment tomatoes, and I even bought a little bee balm plant to go in the middle.

waiting is hard to do

I’m still waiting for the ground to settle in a bit, waiting until it gets warm enough at night for my new plants-I’m also waiting for a day when I can actually have a few hours to work in my garden! I’ve got so much other work to do right now, but who doesn’t in the spring? While I should have been doing real work, I did manage to make these little garden markers.

For about $1.50 at Lowes and 30 minutes with a sharpie marker, I think they came out pretty good! Of course, these probably won’t last long. But that’s a good excuse to draw new ones next season.

I don’t have access to a color printer/scanner at the moment, so the growveg.com plan will have to be posted tomorrow.

What I’m most worried about at the moment are squirrels. There are so many squirrels near my house! Since we have many old trees in my yard, they’ve always been happy there-and I’ve never minded them, until now. Now, every time I look at a squirrel I can just imagine him eating my future tomatoes. It doesn’t help that my neighbor feeds them from his hand…

I’ve read that cayenne pepper works at keeping them out (I’m not about to poison them, no matter how much they might ruin things). I think my garden is too big for a cage, and they would definitely climb a fence. Too bad my cat is literally the least ferocious animal on the planet.