Vegetable Gardening

[GLC1968]

Wait - you mean I haven't b1tched about this here yet? We've been running ragged trying to get everything done with pretty much only weekends on which to work!

Yes, we are looking to sell. The ultimate goal will be to continue with what we are doing but in a different location (still in the Portland area). We *may* have to take some time off from it though - depending on what we find or what we decide to 'create'. Basically, we hate our road, our house will need a *very* expensive new roof in the next 5 years, my commute is sucking up too much of my time, our basement will flood pretty severely without power (something we were lied to about!), and we'd like slightly more land (2-3 acres instead of just 1). I'd also like a smaller house, but that's kind of hard to find around here. In addition to shopping existing places, we are also going to investigate buying land and building, so we really don't know what the future will hold at this point.

I will seriously miss the fruit trees, the bison out back, the blackberry and loganberry bushes and our basement pantry - but all of these things can be rebuilt in the new place (except the bison!). I will not miss the flooding, the traffic, the accidents out front, the methlab next door (or whatever it is), chicken-hunting neighbor dogs or having to drive somewhere in order to go for a run!

Of course, it's not a great time to sell (though our area is doing better than the country overall), so it is possible that we will stay. If we cannot get enough from our house to cover the realtor fees (and the loan), then we won't sell. We have already accepted that we will be losing our entire down-payment but we hope to make it up on the new place.

[spokewench]

Well, the snow was melting really well yesterday - water was pouring off of everyone's roofs and I thought YES ! I will be able to play in the garden this weekend; AND t h e n - I woke up to more snow this morning! Yikes.

It wasn't much, but I want to work in my GARDEN! Stop snowing please!

[WindingRoad]

MMMMMMM some tomatoes would be soooooo good! My apartment complex has a community garden. I hope to plant some tomatoes whenever it stops snowing.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

GLC i didn't realize you had only one acre- your posts and pictures always seemed like it was a big farm/homestead!
I can understand why you'd want more room, espec if you dislike the road and your neighbors. We have about 1/3 acre and it's tough to deal with. We can't have chickens or goats,which I'd love...though i do have bees which are existing 'under the radar', behind the veg garden. At least i get to have a good sized veg garden!
Good luck on your house hunting.

[GLC1968]

And it was all a false alarm.... We made the decision on Friday that we are going to stay in our current place. We are researching solid fencing to reduce road noise and we are saving our pennies for a new roof in the next few years. We will also rethink how we have both the goats and the chickens set up to maximize our current space a bit. It really is amazing what can be done with only an acre!

Ultimately, we decided to stay because we REALLY want to build our own place on the right piece of land. Being perfectly honest with ourselves, we can't really afford that right now without picking up much more debt than we'd like, so we are going to stay put for 5-10 years and continue to save (and research).

Sooo...what does this mean for vegetable gardening? Plenty! The beautiful front flower bed that we just finished? I was going to plant pansies for selling purposes but didn't get to it yet. Now it's going to be a healing and seasoning herb garden (perennials)!

And all the work we did to clean up the blackberries, raspberries, loganberries and marrionberries will now be for our own harvest instead of someone else's. Yay!

We spent the weekend destroying and rebuilding our kitchen (due to nothing but rain, rain, rain), so no progress was made on our garden boxes or row garden area yet. We are planning though - and sorting through our existing seeds! I can't wait to see things grow again!!

[spokewench]

I've been busy playing tennis, but was able to clean out two garden beds (flower beds in front). One more bed left in front, plus some perennial pots on the side of the driveway to go. That will clean up the front!

But, I really want to clean up my back garden beds and get some compost dug in. It is supposed to be really warm this week (unusually so) so I am hoping to get out there a little bit tomorrow on my Wednesday off; but I need to play some tennis and was hoping to get in a small bike ride. Also, have a filthy house! There is just too much to do this time of the year!

Am off to visit my sister for the weekend - its her birthday! So, this coming weekend is a wash. The next weekend is a wash - I'm going to play in a tennis tournament. See, there is just too much to do when I want to garden!

[abejita]

This is my second year planting a veggie garden. I have a 4x12 raised bed garden. This year, I planted 3 types of tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, zukes, cukes, cantalope, watermelon, green onions, cilantro and strawberries. I already have a few little tomatoes!

[spokewench]

This is my second year planting a veggie garden. I have a 4x12 raised bed garden. This year, I planted 3 types of tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, zukes, cukes, cantalope, watermelon, green onions, cilantro and strawberries. I already have a few little tomatoes!

What a difference a few hundred miles makes! I haven't even been able to plant my cold weather crop; might not get it in due to other things in life getting in the way! Tomatoes in March - WOW

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

yeah still freezing cold here- highs only around 40F, lows in the 20's.
Tomatoes...? LOL!!

[abejita]

Yep...gotta love Texas! It is supposed to be 90 on saturday.

[GLC1968]

It was a big adjustment for us coming to the PNW from the south. Not only did we quickly learn that many things that were super easy to grow in the south, won't grow at all here (like okra!)...but I had to learn to plant in an essentially arid environment for the first time in my life. I've never had to use mulch to retain water like I do for the summer months here!

Oh, and we haven't hit 60F yet and it's almost April. That's unheard of around here! Spring? What spring?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well- finally a gorgeous warm sunny day- Spring has fully arrived!

I chose one of the three long beds in my vegetable garden and dug it deep with a fork, pulled out old roots and dead stubs, and raked out debris. Will save the other beds for another day so I don't kill myself. I guess it's about 3' by 30 feet.
There is something so inspiring and beautiful about a bed of freshly dug bare earth.
Ok, I can't stand it....going down to town to pick up a few packets of early seed! The rest I'll order online to get some special types I like.
I can definitely sow some spinach!

[spokewench]

Well- finally a gorgeous warm sunny day- Spring has fully arrived!

I chose one of the three long beds in my vegetable garden and dug it deep with a fork, pulled out old roots and dead stubs, and raked out debris. Will save the other beds for another day so I don't kill myself. I guess it's about 3' by 30 feet.
There is something so inspiring and beautiful about a bed of freshly dug bare earth.
Ok, I can't stand it....going down to town to pick up a few packets of early seed! The rest I'll order online to get some special types I like.
I can definitely sow some spinach!

That's what I thought a week ago - 70 degrees beautiful; today over 1 foot of snow; just spent about an hour outside digging out the driveway and back deck to the hot tub. One of these days, I WILL GET INTO THE GARDEN!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yikes, poor Spokewench!

I wound up getting a bunch of seedlings as well as various standard seeds.
I got seedlings of cabbage, bok choy, 3 kinds of onions, red lettuce, and red kale.
I planted several seed rows of spinach and French breakfast radish. More seed to plant over the next few days- romaine, buttercrunch, Swiss chard, and kohlrabi. Do carrot seeds do well in the cool early Spring?
Good to be back in the garden again! We should get some rain by Monday, so the timing is good.

[spokewench]

Yikes, poor Spokewench!

I wound up getting a bunch of seedlings as well as various standard seeds.
I got seedlings of cabbage, bok choy, 3 kinds of onions, red lettuce, and red kale.
I planted several seed rows of spinach and French breakfast radish. More seed to plant over the next few days- romaine, buttercrunch, Swiss chard, and kohlrabi. Do carrot seeds do well in the cool early Spring?
Good to be back in the garden again! We should get some rain by Monday, so the timing is good.

I'm soooo jealous; but we are supposed to warm up all week - hopefully, next weekend will be nice and I can go to town in the garden. If it warms like they said, the snow will melt quickly. That's the good thing about spring snow