An update on the peas, greens, and the Square Foot Gardens

One of the pea varieties (Alaska, I think) has flowers on it today! They're so pretty when they flower. I took a couple of pictures, although I'm not sure you'll be able to see the flowers very clearly.

As you can see they're doing pretty well and I'm hopeful about getting a good harvest as long as it doesn't snap super-hot.

The greens, on the other hand, aren't doing as well. I think the problem is that I was lazy when I planted them and thinned them out too late, so the plants aren't flourishing.

I don't hold out much hope for getting a harvest from any of these this year, but it was instructive and I'll likely try again in the fall.

The Square Foot Gardens are doing great! We're slowly filling in the empty squares, although the fourth one is still empty at this point. We've added a couple of different varieties of tomatoes and the most up-to-date diagram of each garden is available on my Flickr photostream.

I didn't snap pictures of the zucchini and yellow squash in the front yard, but they're doing really well. Everything is growing like crazy, thanks to all of the rain we got! My irises are blooming and they're so beautiful, I'll try to get some pictures of them for my next post. I hope that everyone is having a wonderful spring!

Everything is sprouting!

I'm so excited! All of the peas that I planted in the first round of planting are coming up, and even some from the second time. It took longer than it did in the fall, but I'm really excited about getting some fresh peas. My greens have all sprouted except for one, which I neglected to add to the list in the previous post. I'm not sure that I actually put seeds in them, so if they don't come up in the next week I'll plant something else in those two pots. See why I need to write everything down? I'll get some more pictures up soon.

Happy Spring!

Planting Peas in the Drizzling Rain

I was going to plant peas yesterday but it was cold and rainy, so I waited hoping for better weather. Today is a little better, but it's still about 45 degrees and drizzling. Oh well, I didn't figure I'd melt so out I went, with my faithful garden helper (my 8 year old son) and his umbrella to keep my seeds nice and dry. I wasn't terribly excited about going out there, to be honest, but that all changed when I stooped down to dig the little trench to bury seeds in and there, on the other side of the fencing panel, were peas peeking out! At first I was worried that the snow and cold had pushed them up, but upon closer examination it wasn't the cold... they're sprouting! I got such a rush of joy. *happy sigh* Needless to say planting the rest of the row no longer seemed like such a chore.

I used up the last of my Oregon Sugar Peas, which I knew was going to happen, so when I was at the feed store buying a dozen kinds of greens seeds Monday (see my previous post about planting some of them) I found some edible pod seeds called Sugar Ann Garden Peas. Actually, looking for edible pod pea seeds to replace the Oregons was what led me to look at their seed selection in the first place, so I have them to thank when I sit down to eat a delicious meal of those greens! Anyway, the lady at the feed store said she liked Sugar Ann so I bought a big bag to give them a try. There's no question their seeds are cheaper, but I cringe at not buying all organic seeds. The high price tag made the decision for me, so we'll see how they turn out.

Also, I don't think I mentioned before that the fence panel that goes down the center of the pea patch has 24 squares, so I divided it up into 5, 5, 4, 5, and 5 squares when I did my planting. I'm trying to be meticulous in keeping track of what we really like and what grows well so that I don't waste time and energy. It also satisfies my slightly OCD personality, if I'm honest. Here's the updated pea garden diagram:

No signs of sprouting from the greens yet, but it hasn't even been a week so I'm still hopeful. I hope you're getting ready for spring. I know that I'm starting to twitch every time I pass the nurseries, Lowe's, the feed store, and just about anywhere else that sells green things! I'm lucky to have a great resource right in the little town where I live, a local hardware store that hasn't sold out.

It's time for peas!

Today I put in the first seeds of the year ... peas! I planted some last fall and they were so incredibly delicious that I've been champing at the bit to get them started this spring. I'll plant again on the weekends for the next few weeks in the hopes of getting a long harvest. I took some pictures but I've managed to lose the download cable for the camera, so they're trapped on the camera until my dear husband buys a card reader. Once he does I'll post pictures of before and after, as well as pictures of my little tire garden before and after. I gave it a spring cleaning and turned the soil so it's all ready for seeds or seedlings, in a month or so.

Also, we're going to try Square Foot Gardening this year, so I'll be posting about how that goes as well. I'm excited about my butterfly garden as well, since I should have three different colors of monarda this year as well as the new pink variegated butterfly bush that I put in at the end of the season last year.

Happy spring, everyone!

New Pictures taken 7/23/08

It's taken me weeks to get this post up, sorry about that! Sometimes real life doesn't allow for much online time, and dialup isn't really conducive to the uploading of photos. We're supposed to be getting cable modem soon, but I'm not sure when that will actually happen. Since Blogger isn't doing a stellar job of handling pictures, I've decided to upload the pictures to Flickr, since it does a much better job of organizing them and doesn't limit the display size. I'll still put a few pictures here, but to see all of them, just go to the Flickr link on the right.

On Saturday we planted the pea patch. I have a picture on the camera waiting to be downloaded, but of course I grabbed the wrong cable this morning. Here's the layout of the patch:



I got a little carried away when ordering seeds, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

In an effort to deter deer I strung up some pie plates around my little garden area (after they ravaged my sweet potatoes twice). If the tires they're planted in didn't look hick enough, the pie plates are the icing on the cake! *giggle*


Between the pie plates, some hair clippings from my little one, and an unmentionable deterrent method I read about online, the deer seem to have lost interest.

A gentle soaking rain...

Last night we got a wonderful soaking rain, which saved me from watering the vegetables this morning. I went out and harvest three zucchinis and one yellow squash, as well as three beautiful golden wax beans. I also planted some more bean seeds hoping to get a late harvest. We'll see if it works out! Also, the sweet potatoes seem to be bouncing back vigorously from their deer-inflicted defoliation. My dad says it might even help them to put more energy into the roots instead of the greens. Time will tell.

Enticing Butterflies and Hummingbirds (and other flowers)

I love butterflies and for some reason just seeing flowers has always made me happy, so when we bought this farm I decided that I would add a little bit of floral delight each year. I know it's not about gardening, per se, but attracting pollinators is as important to me as growing food, so I'm going to share.



This is the butterfly garden I mentioned in my previous post; the one that's over the animal cemetary.



Another view of the butterfly garden.



Some daisy-type plants I put in a couple of years ago. They were standing tall under they got beaten down by rain. Even growing along the ground they're still going strong.






Last year I bought a single monarda plant that I thought was Jack Kline (which is red), but turned out to be Raspberry Sorbet (which is hot pink). The plant had one flower stalk with a gorgeous single flower when I put it in, but this year it came back with a half-dozen gorgeous flowers! I went to the feed store about a month ago and they had red, pink, and white monarda so I bought a pink one and a white one, thinking the one I had was red. When I realized my mistake I planted the new pink one with the one that was already there, put the white one between two of the butterfly bushes, and returned and bought two red one, which I put between two different butterfly bushes. Unfortunately the red one had already flowered so I don't have a picture of how pretty the red ones are. Oh well, next year!









Last year I bought a bag of Butterfly/Hummingbird seeds and planted them, and some came up again this year! I also bought a couple of random plants (the names of which I can't recall, so if you know the name, please let me know!) and put them in because the tag said butterflies liked them.



These are two astilbe plants that were in pots for months after I bought them and appeared quite dead, but I put them in the ground anyway and they bounced back! They're beside the driveway so when they flower I'll be able to see them clearly.



This is sweet basil that I planted two or three years ago in a planter beside the driveway and it keeps coming up. The butterflies love it. I'm afraid to plant it in the ground because I suspect it'll take everything over, but I'm looking around the yard and figuring out where I don't mind of something takes over, such as along the edges of the property, thinking that I'll plant such things there.

I'm going to put the butterfly bush pictures in a separate post because there's quite a few of them.

When we bought this farm 5 years ago there was a newly planted patch of irises beside the driveway that bloomed so beautifully; they were lavender and there were a few tulips and gladiolas mixed in. Sadly, we were too caught up in other things to pay much attention to it and in the last two years blackberries have seriously taken it over. I'm thinking that this fall I need to move the irises, because they're going to get choked out completely before long.

How it all began...

In the spring of this year I was walking through the little nursery in town with my seven-year-old son and he stated that we live on a farm, so we should become gardeners. I smiled and said that was a great idea, since we've lived on our farm for almost 5 years and haven't grown any of our own food to date. I've planted flowers, but hadn't ventured into anything edible. The truth is, I grew up in a subdivision and the thought of gardening intimidates me because my only memories are of a huge tomato patch in the back yard that my Dad made us weed... and the night the June bugs came up at dusk and got in my hair *cringe* It's very much possible that I only had to weed once, but growing up in suburbia, I was totally out of touch with the food chain. Food came from the grocery store, right?

As I grew up and realized the implications of the chemicals we ingested, the artificial flavors and colorings, the impact of factory farming, I not only became a vegetarian but I also started trying to support local, organic farming. I live in a very small rural town so the farmer's market is pretty small, but every year I do what I can to support its growth and I thoroughly enjoy the delicious vegetables and baked goods!

So, I decided to start this blog to track my venture into gardening. Yesterday I took some pictures of my strange little tire plantings (a tire place cuts the sides out of old tires and you can take them for free, so I grabbed a few the year we moved in and only now put them to use). Sadly I don't have the cable that's needed to get the pictures off the camera, but I'll try to do so this weekend and post them.

Anyone who lives nearby or is in the same area, please say hi; I would love to talk to other gardeners!