Vegetable Gardening

[GLC1968]

I thought you were going to do it? Don't you remember offering??

I could certainly use the workout! I'm actually committed to double-digging another section of our garden this weekend. Upper body workouts to go with my biking for the lower body!

We are lucky that we have super rich soil already on our property, but that super rich soil means super strong and persistant weeds. Because we get so much rain for 3/4's of the year, it also gets VERY compacted...like cement if we don't loosen/aerate it in the spring. I've been slowly double-digging different sections of our row garden with the hopes that eventually, it'll all get done and with attendence, won't need 'doing' ever again!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

GLC- yes you are lucky to have rich soil there! But.....double digging....{{{shudder}}}
I'm very glad to not do that.

Here are the pictures from our new topsoil (all 26 cubic yards of it) that has been brought in and put in the garden area:
http://strumelia.blogspot.com/2009/0...oil-is-in.html

I'm so excited!!

Next we start laying out the bermed beds and paths, while leaving the perimeter naked for the fence people to do their work in a couple of weeks.

[bmccasland]

That's an ambitious garden! Grow some zinnias too - my grandmother did, just for color. In my mind, a vegetable gardens still needs flowers if my practical grandmothers did it (they fed their families from the garden).

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

That's an ambitious garden! Grow some zinnias too - my grandmother did, just for color. In my mind, a vegetable gardens still needs flowers if my practical grandmothers did it (they fed their families from the garden).

I have plans to sprinkle in some nasturtiums, borage, and calendula... then we could eat them in salads!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Laid out and shaped the beds and the paths today!:
http://strumelia.blogspot.com/2009/0...and-paths.html
Gosh it all looks so neat- but of course the weeds will get wind of the new virgin real estate soon.

Can't do much around the perimeter because the fence people will be making a big mess there....but I can start planting seeds all around in the middle now...I'm so very excited!
It'll be my first time ever planting things like turnips, beets, spinach, carrots, kohlrabi, etc. I used to always be a flower and herb gardener with just a sideline of tomatoes and maybe one or two other veggies. This is a big step for me, and hopefully a big healthy step in our lifestyle too.

[GLC1968]

Wow, Lisa - that looks wonderful! How beautiful it's all going to be when all full of greenery!

When planting flowers in with veggies - marigolds and lavender are good choices because they repel lots of bad-for-veggie bugs.

[smilingcat]

so here are pics from my yard and yard itself.

5 round one on the left are lemon cucumber. The little black spec is hard spiky thing so we rub it off with a sponge. When fully ripe, it does have a hint of lemon. The two in the middle are Aremenian cucumber. When we first grew them, I thought it had crossed with a mellon of some sort. fruit is pale light green. Very mild refreshing taste. yummm... And dark rough looking thing is one variety of Japanese cucmber. Yes we do eat the skin on that one. It does have bit of bitter cucmber taste but even my partner really loves it.

Second pic: crooked neck squash and two kinds of zuccini

[smilingcat]

front yard with owl kachina, sun and the moon. Big tomato plants, taller than me but the fruit is languishing because its been overcast for the last three weeks. I think we've had two sunny days here. Cool too with highs only in the 70's. My side or back yard where its the squash and zuccinis are growing. Acorn, Crooked neck, two kinds of zuccini, and lemon cucmber. Out of pic are the red bell pepper, ginger, raddishes... Also we are having terrible bouts with aphids so we have been releasing thousands of lady bugs every other week. And the ladybugs are staying around. We also have marigolds scattered amongst the plants...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wow, Lisa - that looks wonderful! How beautiful it's all going to be when all full of greenery!
When planting flowers in with veggies - marigolds and lavender are good choices because they repel lots of bad-for-veggie bugs.

Thanks GLC- I am so excited I can't stand it!
Unfortunately, lavender usually dies here every winter if left outside- unless it's planted in a very protected place like next to a sunny wall or an interior corner of walls meeting. I have never had lavender survive the winter- it can get as low as -25F or -30F here sometimes. I can't growe it in pots to take in during the winter because I have a large cactus collection inside my house which takes up literally every single window space inside.

My first planting here will be sort of an experiment of Fall crops. When Spring comes I will be able to plan and time everything much better. And the blueberry bushes and strawberries will go in their bed in the Spring as well.
I'll be able to start pole beans from seed and make bean teepees as well in the Spring. But for now I am happy to try out some Fall season root vegetable seeds and also succession planting of quick cool growers like lettuce, spinach, radishes, etc.

front yard with owl kachina, sun and the moon. Big tomato plants, taller than me but the fruit is languishing because its been overcast for the last three weeks. I think we've had two sunny days here. Cool too with highs only in the 70's. My side or back yard where its the squash and zuccinis are growing. Acorn, Crooked neck, two kinds of zuccini, and lemon cucmber. Out of pic are the red bell pepper, ginger, raddishes... Also we are having terrible bouts with aphids so we have been releasing thousands of lady bugs every other week. And the ladybugs are staying around. We also have marigolds scattered amongst the plants...

Cat, that is just lovely! Oh, you Californians with your mystical moons and suns and katchinas... . I love seeing the diff kinds of cucumbers. Such a pretty garden you have!
A friend once served us a big pitcher of ice water that had been steeped with cucumber slices overnight in the fridge- it was SO REFRESHING and tasty! And then we ate the slices in our glasses too.

I might need to make a scraggly scarecrow of some sort, since the crows have been hanging around here in the back yard way too much lately and I'm about to plant lots of seeds! I can't put any wind chimes as they would drive my husband nuts. Not sure I could deal with the 'look' of aluminum pie plates or CDs dangling on strings. This garden is our Main View from our kitchen and back porch. What do others use for shooing crows away?

I now need to read all my Fall seed packets to determine the best timing of planting seeds over the next two months. Everything pivots on the date of our first frost here, which averages around Sept 20 in our area. (so early!) Though of course many things like spinach and turnips will be ok beyond that depending on the conditions.

[tulip]

Lisa, you have plenty of room for an awesome greenhouse like GLC has...perfect for overwintering the lavender...yeah, I'll spend your money for you!

[GLC1968]

I have lavender in the ground near the house, but I also have it in pots so that I can move it around our boxes as necessary to chase away the right pests. You could do that and then move it inside in the winter.

I didn't want to plant it in our boxes precisely because it's a perennial here and I plan to rotate those boxes each year. Marigolds will die after the first frost, so they work well for our use.

We have cd's strung in a row on one string that stretches across one end of our garden. It's actually not as ugly as I had thought it would be. Personally, I can't stand the pie-plate look but I'm tolerating the cd's well enough. I've also seen people using those sinful plastic grocery bags on strings (since they catch the wind so easily) as well. I've heard that they'll chase off deer if you use white ones but we don't have a deer problem, so I can't say for sure. Unfortunately, that's not a very attactive solution either though.

Scarecrows don't work. We had one when we were kids and we watched the crows just eat our corn out of the ground each time we tried replanting.

You can see them in the back of this photo:

Some of our potatoes and our corn...

And for good measure here are a few more:

The whole garden as of last weekend...


The boxes - growing like mad. (see the lavender pot? I need to repot it still...there is another one out there somewhere, too)


Freshly washed swiss chard - to go into this:


Chard and artichoke dip

And this:

Swiss chard tuna salad

We also have kale, spinach and mustard coming out of our ears at this point!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Ooooohhh.....that chard/tuna salad looks GOOD!!!! We love tuna salad and I'll have to make some with dark greens choppe din, and dill!

Your garden is looking great.
But- why no deer?? Look at all those hills and forests! No deer??
And....why don't rabbits and woodchucks just mow down all your vegetables systematically? I don't get it!
We have to put a MAJOR fence in here for deer, woodchucks, and rabbits...and we live practically in the village! Just trapped a big raccoon last week and 'transferred' him to a wild nature conservancy area. We were trying for the huge woodchuck under our shed, but got the raccoon instead. And a squirrel, which I just released again. Last year we got a baby skunk, and I just released him from the trap as well without trying to move him. Last month we had a red fox living in our yard for a week, but he seems to have moved on.

I just 'mapped out' all my successive seed sowings, to start in the next couple of days. Five successive plantings- July 4, July 18, Aug 1, Aug 10, and Aug 20.
First sowing will include: 4 types of radishes, spinach, bok choy, kohlrabi, turnips, Swiss chard, carrots, cilantro, Chinese winter radishes, purple bunching onions, scallions, leaf lettuce, romaine, butterhead lettuce, and 2 kinds of beets. (I already have some of these producing or maturing in my small older garden, which i planted in the Spring).
Last sowing will be planting radishes only, around August 20th- about 30 days before our average first frost.

[GLC1968]

We have no deer because we are surrounded by 8 foot buffalo fencing on two sides, a 6 ft privacy fence that is covered with blackberry brambles on one side and a road where cars routinely drive 65 mph all night long, on the 4th side. We are just too hard to get to in comparison to all the other bounty surrounding us, so the deer don't bother.

We do see the occasional racoon or rabbit - but with 5 dogs and 5 cats all pretty much free roaming within the space outlined above (our neighbors and us), they don't have much of a chance to do any damage before being chased off...

And the goats keep the hawks away from the chickens and the chickens keep most of the bugs under control.

We are just one big happy pest-controlling family!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We have no deer because we are surrounded by 8 foot buffalo fencing on two sides, a 6 ft privacy fence that is covered with blackberry brambles on one side and a road where cars routinely drive 65 mph all night long, on the 4th side. We are just too hard to get to in comparison to all the other bounty surrounding us, so the deer don't bother.

We do see the occasional racoon or rabbit - but with 5 dogs and 5 cats all pretty much free roaming within the space outlined above (our neighbors and us), they don't have much of a chance to do any damage before being chased off...

And the goats keep the hawks away from the chickens and the chickens keep most of the bugs under control.

We are just one big happy pest-controlling family!

Oh, ok, that makes a lot of sense now! 8 foot buffalo fencing will certainly do it! Lucky you!
And 5 dogs in the yard will keep away the other critters for sure.

In contrast, our kitties sit about on velvet cushions inside the house nibbling bon-bons all day. They don't 'do' rabbits or woodchucks or squirrels....

[deeaimond]

I look at all these photos of your bountiful land and i'm just quite jealous of it all... wish i was born somewhere that had less people and more room.