Emerging into Spring

I had almost forgotten that I started this blog. Ironic, since I've been working alot in the garden lately with the warming weather. So, perhaps an update?

I feel like I'm working in phases right now, since change is slowly approaching. I'm waiting for Jaeden's school assignment to be finalized and then, I'm diving into the house-hunting adventure full-force. The goal is to identify a house in May and move during the summer. Somehow, amidst all of the worries and challenges, I feel like this will happen one way or another. I've managed to continue improving my credit score and am hoping to squirrel away money for the next few months in order to be adequately prepared.

So, garden-wise, a few things have happened.

• I've decided not to invest much money in the new veggie season, although decided to try some cooler weather plants that didn't do well last spring/summer. I planted a few choice cold-weather plants from my seed stores collected from the Feed & Seed on Beaver street and added a bit from ACE turner's selection. I planted: Anise, beets, spinach, carrots, butter crunch lettuce, peas, pole beans, broccoli, onions, chives, chamomile and basil.

• Still using companion planting with no pesticide/herbicide and a few natural additions to help control bugs and pests, including beer baths for the snails & slugs, soap spray and ammonia mist for all unwanted pests and smelly herbs to assist in the battle. The snails have been the biggest problem lately and I ended up having to rip up alot of the poor peas who's leaves have been reduced to lacy shreds. Thus I removed as much leaf cover as possible to remove their homes, planted beer bowls among the plants and went out in the early morning hours to pick and discard snails. About 100+ snails and 1 ugly, bulbous slug later, there were far fewer offenders on the peas and lettuce this morning. 

• Strawberry tower remains in place and is already producing. I removed most of the flowers and fruit from last season and already I'm noticing the increase. The snails have discovered them too, sadly..and several of the fruits have little holes in them. Trying very hard not to overreact - still determined not to resort to chemicals. 

• Quite a few things didn't come up. Beets never made it. Many of the pole beans didn't make it past the squirrels either, who left some very unwanted holes in the places where the seeds had been and I've re-seeded twice. Re-planting peas due to massive snail invasion. Hoping that the beer, handpicking and frequent sprays reduce their numbers. I don't mind a wee bit of sharing, but I'm not about to let the snails take over the veggies. Broccoli, carrots and lettuce looks pretty good, all in all. Anise never came up, nor did the onions. I've located onion sets at ACE and decided to spend just a wee bit on some onions since I adore cooking with the fresh ones. Herbs are by far the happiest and I've got 2 sweet little chamomile plants, along with a very joyous rosemary, several parsleys, a few clusters of chives, cilantro, basil, oregano, fennel and thyme. The pennyroyal from last year could happily take over the garden too..and has the most breathtaking scent beside the peas. 

• Pics soon - camera needs new batteries

I need a compass, draw me a map; I'm on the top, I can't get back..

It may be the heat, but I feel like I've entered some unforgiving stage of limbo. Waiting. It's making me somewhat cranky. Why, you ask, has this sense of humdrum suddenly pitched a tent and camped out on the sofa? Dunno. I wish I could tell him to poke someone else and go elsewhere. Blah. Shall I explain?

It's been all over my facebook page, but I've started the house-buying process. It's been incredibly exciting, somewhat worrisome, time-consuming, question/research-inducing and full of uncertainty, leg-work, phone-calls and disgruntled experiences with lenders. Finally though, I think I've narrowed my areas, driven around and around, scrutinized exteriors, yards & ugly facades and received word that I've been approved by the 2 lenders I was specifically talking to. Even better, right?! I was able to pick the lender that had far more experience with FHA loans and 1st time home buyer services and who seemed to be more interested in working with me. We're meeting tomorrow in person to go over info and submit paperwork. Lender, check. I've also selected a group of 8 houses that I really like so far, in good areas that seem to be in my price range. Ready to scope out the inside now. Possibles, check. Doing pretty well so far, I 'spose. This is where my brain starts to interfere, though. Do I attempt to have this accomplished by the end of the summer? Thats where my planting conundrum comes into play. (Come on, I know you were waiting for the relevance.)

I have my veg box and we're reaching that point where various plants are starting to wane. It's nature, I get it. The miserable FL heat is pretty much ensuring that everything except the tomatoes and peppers are wilting pathetically in the blistering sun. I'm itching to do more, but I'm technically working on rented space. Auntie Lynn sent me this amazing book on garden rooms, but again, borrowed space. My mother would not appreciate me digging up her yard and honestly, I want my own to be be able to plan and plant. So, do I gear up for the coming fall and replant? Or do I wait until I get a better handle on the new house situation and start again? Urgh. Alright, ready to dig into the visuals?

Backyard Domination

Right now, my tomatoes are thriving. Well, honestly, I am still of the mind that they are secretly plotting to devour the backyard. They've promptly overgrown all stakes, basket-weaving, poles, hoops and other supports created for them and are now crawling across the lawn. Quite happily, I might add. Part of me wants to mercilessly hack them into submission, but they are absolutely -covered- with fruit. How's that for jeering taunts? "We completely know that we've overgrown the box, aren't supposed to be in the yard and also know how much you like order, but we like it here and you aren't going to chop us down because we're covered in adorable little green gems that will soon grace your table. Haha!" Yup. I swear that they said that to me. So for now, they stay.

Cherry Tomatoes - Cute, eh?

Super Happy Tomatoes

The peppers are almost as ecstatic, gleefully soaking in the sunshine. I have one little lone green pepper and am very excited about cooking with him when he finally reaches maturity.
                                                       Green Pepper

Other than that, corn has been harvested and pulled up. I won't go into too much detail about the few tears shed over their removal. Jaeden and I plucked about 20 ears of teeny tiny ears of corn from the stalks. Adorable. Juicy and sweet too. I definitely want to plant corn again.  

Bush Beans - Still Coming!

Beans are probably the most successful crop in the garden so far, although the tomatoes may beat them when the fruit matures. I've been picking beans for the past month and have already had about 10 small harvests that I've stockpiled in the fridge before cooking with them. They've been wonderful. Even more encouraging is that all those harvests have come from one small section of the garden, probably less than 10 plants. They continue to produce too..which has been awesome. Definitely doing those again too.

Other Vegs? Potatoes continue to grow pretty happily in their box - still not sure what lies beneath. Onion tops are green, which I guess means they aren't done yet. 2 lone cucumbers left - pulled remainder of cantalope plants.

2 cucs left

Another tragedy; they just didn't do well. Plenty of flowers and lots of growth, but they all seemed to succomb to downy mildew and were starting to die. Thus, all pulled. Probably won't plant them again either since they nearly brought down the corn on several occasions. Cucs seemed to have it too. I couldn't bear to pull this last little plant, with the 2 very last cucumbers linging pitifully to the vine. Finally though, my garlic has sprouted. See the pretty green against the barren brown? 

                                                                                 

                                                                                                             Garlic Shoots

Potato Box

And now to the strawberries. Desired to start a strawberry pyramid and ordered about 50 plants from a farm in WA that are supposed to be bred for our climate and seasons. Very excited, however, again, feeling unsure due to the house limbo. I've already built the pyramid (photos to come soon - I did this all by myself!), plants are on the way and I'm going to have to assemble it upon arrival. Somewhat uncertain about that. I can't imagine trying to move them once they've been planted. Suggestions..thoughts?  

                                              Empty Rows - Fall planting?

Strawberry Pot - Ready for the pyramid

            

 Strawberry Runners/New plants - Ready for the pyramid

I really would like...

to have a self-sustaining garden. I've been thinking alot about houses, land, acres, farms and pretty much about everything and all related to creating a space of beauty and bounty. So, now comes a list. Hopefully followed by pictures of the current veg box later.

1. Now - A house with at least 1/4 - 1/2 acre of land
2. Eventually - A house with about 5-15 acres (Does this sound like too much? Could one get lost on this much land?)
2. A large assortment of raised beds hosting veggie gardens & small fruit plants (ie. strawberries, blueberries, blackberries) - the goal here is to avoid shopping for all berry & veggie produce
3. A small assortment of espalier fruit trees, including apple, pear & peach
4. Chickens (of the hen type, probably just a small assortment, probably no more than 5)
5. A goat or two
6. Horses. Absolutely. Probably 2-4 that can roam, mow the lawn and be ridden
7. More than anything, land of my own to beautify, transform into a variety of different 'garden rooms,' play spaces and host sites for animals

Clearing and Cleaning

More of a list today, since I haven't taken new pictures and am not entirely in the mood for a long post. I'm thinking I'll do some sewing today.

1. Cleaned out the cantaloupe section, which mostly meant hacking away at the excessively long vines and tendrils that are running rampant. Still no fruit, but I can at least see dirt again and I could have sworn that the nearby corn sighed in relief.

2. The cucumber has powdery mildew. Gonna try to spray it with milk (and wondering it if actually works) before taking more extreme measures. There are about 10 new cucumbers on the plant and I harvested the bludgeoning instrument last night.

3. Planted 5 new squash plants that I managed to score for 1$ (.50 for 2 trays of 4 - I tossed 3 that looked too sickly to try), although they are sadly also home to aphids. I purchased live ladybugs last night, which will hopefully get rid of them when they get here. :)

4. Have to harvest banana peppers again, as they are huge and very abundant.

5. Just harvested 2nd round of bush beans and there are still small beans on the plants. I have a quart-size baggie about 3/4 full, which is somewhat gratifying. In the fall, I plan to try pole beans. I think they'll save on space and make picking easier. A small black spider made her home in between the majority of the plants and I'm none so thrilled about reaching down into her web for my beans.

6. Potatoe stalks have fallen over with the rain. Again, not hoping for much. Maybe they'll surprise me.

7. I've started making plans for a fall garden. Plans may change somewhat, as I may not be here long enough to put in the effort. Its a long and sudden story, but I may be looking to buy a house sooner, rather than later. I'm not sure what it will mean. With all of the effort invested in the box, I'm of the mind to shovel every last bit of dirt and take the whole thing with me if I go. So much is unknown though, so I'm going to take it a day at a time.

For now, I've decided to try to build my fall garden entirely from seed, starting the plants in trays and by making my own seed tape for the really teeny seeds. I found several very cool sites that give directions about making seed tape and plan to make several rolls as gifts. If all systems are go for the fall, this is what I want:

• Beets
• Broccoli
• Spinach & Lettuce
• Carrots
• Onions
• Strawberries
• Cauliflower
• Beans
• Peas 
• Squash 
• Hopefully all of my herbs too - Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Rosemary, Lavendar, Chamomile, Cilantro, Chives etc

April showers bring May flowers

My box has apparently become overrun by flowers. Not a bad thing, I 'spose, since flowers mean fruit. At least, in theory anyway. But literally, the flowers have invaded and threaten to consume all life within my little wooden confines. I'm hoping to at least be drowning in fruit at some point, if the flowers are going to strangle everything around them.

 

So, first with the good?

1. I have a cucumber! It's more akin to some kind of brawny, battle-like, bludgeoning instrument on a stalk, but it's freaking amazing and one of the few fruits of labor so far. Looking forward to picking it. Isn't it so adorable??!

 Cucumber - Bush Pickle

2. Harvested the first round of peas with Jaeden which was both exciting and somewhat pathetic. We had about enough peas after shelling to fit in a small section of one of his plastic dinner plates. It was worth the tiny return to see his extreme glee while plucking them, though. I re-sowed the pea section, even though I'm not holding my breath for a second harvest due to the quickly rising summer temps. They're one of the plants I'm going to redo in the fall, probably with a sugar snap variety instead of shell plants to increase yield.

3. After picking peas, we moved on to the banana peppers that have propagated like rabid bunnies. They are one of the few veggies in the garden that are extremely abundant already. There have to be around 20 peppers still on the plants, even though we picked about 10. Supposedly, they aren't hot either, which rocks since I loathe spicy food.

Melon/Peas

4. I'm convinced that the melon plants have plotted world domination. They are slowly beginning to overrun the garden and my mother is convinced that they will eventually take down the entire thing. I'm trying to avoid pulling plants, but it may be inevitable. So far, I can't find any fruits, but there has to be hundreds of flowers. Lots of bees too.  

5. The corn plants are taller than I am! (Not saying much, I guess, but I'm thrilled.) Most of the stalks have about 2-3 ears on them and appear to be growing rapidly. My brother is most excited about the corn and I'm really hoping for a good harvest of these, even if most of the other stuff tanks. 

Corn Plants - See the silk? :)

  

6. Not sure what to expect from the potatoes. I've hilled them repeatedly with straw several feet above the stupid box I built with extra wood, but they are still flopping pathetically. Their green, leafy tops are weedlike in their upward rise, but I'm doubtful as to how well they're going to produce. I guess only time

will tell with these guys. 

 Potatoes

7. Tomato plants are enormous and also taller than I am, but rather limited in fruit and flowers. I have about 15 plants, but there just doesn't appear to be much action. Not sure how to change that either.

8. I have beans! They are rather prolific as well and I'm hoping for a decent harvest soon. 

 Bush Beans (Pennyroyal on ground)

 

9. I think that the herbs are ready to happily bunker down and persist through any possible obstacle. The basil plants are bushy and enormous and I'm trying to cut them to keep up with their growth, although the chives don't look quite as plentiful as they were.  

Unfortunately, there have been a few casualities already. All of it comes with new knowledge and a proverbial checklist of mistakes that I'm keeping a mental tally of in with the promise of trying again in the fall. So, where should we start?

1. Don't plant more than 1 (2 at the very most) squash plants in a section. I made the mistake of planting 8, which flowered and fruited at an alarming rate, almost as fast as they spread out into everything else. My poor bean plants looked pathetically dwarfed beneath them. I then made the mistake of attempting to move them. Tsk tsk. Which brings me to mistake #2.

 Squash Burial

2. Squash don't transplant well. Their roots appear to be very shallow and easily disturbed. When I tried to seperate them into new locations, they wilted almost immediately and then promptly died. Flowers, fruit and everything. Add insult to injury, I practically sneezed on the 2nd to last plant and it fell over, cracking the stem all the way to the roots and pretty much ended right there. I pulled the last dead plant from the garden today. I mourn the death of my precious little plants. Sigh. I've been unable to bring myself to compost them, as they've been resigned to a lawn burial in the backyard.

All in all, I guess it could be worse for my first time with something to this degree. More to come!

Pic 1 - Taken 4 weeks earlier on 4/5

4/30 - Updates! :)

The squash has taken over..

Upcoming Projects - Expanding & Maintaining

1. Potato Box -

• Only pictures would truly paint the picture of how much this has really become needed. The potato plants are currently the tallest free-standing plants in the box, probably about 3ft tall. All of the research says that they need to be mounded and mulched for best possible yield, which should also keep them from falling over as they're starting to lean. I had to move a few of the plants around and was somewhat dissapointed to see the absence of potatoes. There are flowers on the tallest plants though, so it shouldn't be too long.

2. Wire trellis to support cantaloupe & cucumbers

• The cantaloupe patch has started to take over the neighboring beans and a few blog sites seem to suggest that I can grow them up. They also say that a 'hammock' will be needed to support the fruit. That strikes me as somewhat funny, but oh well. There are male flowers all over the cucumber and one female that has just opened. Hoping for fruit very soon. :) 

3. Remove several squash plants into pots (ie. washtubs with dirt)

• The squash has also overtaken their patch. I obviously planted too many plants in that space. Mistake that won't be made again. Gonna move at least 2 plants out to give enough room for pollination. Only 1 female flower on 6 plants so far..hoping for more.  

4. Other notes

• Will have to try spinach/lettuce again in the fall, since it didn't seem to work well. I'll also try this again with seedtape, since spacing was an issue and they didn't transplant well.

• Peas are amazing and growing like weeds. About 10 pea pods in total in both collective patches. Bush beans have gotten pretty tall and corn is probably about 3-4 feet too. Onion greens are doing well & herbs are flourishing. Chamomile will have to chopped back, because it's so tall it's falling over. Pruned tomatoes and going to try a new 'basketweaving' staking method to support their height. They must be indeterminate, as they are also huge & still growing. Peppers will also have to staked; one large yellow banana pepper (the only one so far) has nearly toppled the poor plant. So proud of my little box thus far. :)