Vegetable Gardening

[NbyNW]

I'm in Seattle this week and was going over my back yard to assess what needs to be done to get it back in shape, as it got very overgrown in our absence.

I planted 5 asparagus crowns about 6 years ago and only one survived. The spears were only ever just a few mm thick so we always just let it fern out. But this week I found some nice thick spears coming up! Woohoo!

[smilingcat]

My new place is in a town called Troutdale just outside of Portland. The town has a reputation for being extremely windy.

To protect my veggie garden, we are planting lots of berry plants in hedgerows to form windbreaks. Blueberries, raspberries, Marion berries, Logan berries. Hopefully, two years from now, we will be up to our eye balls with fresh berries. I also purchased about 50 strawberry plants to help with erosion control. Two varieties are Mt. Hood and Rainier strawberries. Neither are good for commercial because they just don't hold up as well as commercially viable ones like Seascape, Quinult (sp), Gaviota... And my partner loves Rhubarb so we also purchased a rhubarb plant. I picked one which has multiple buds and one which can be divided later this season.

It will be an interesting year starting out from scratch. Have to tear out the useless lawn first. I plan on using poly tunnel to jump start my veggies and toward the end of growing season, plan on using taller poly tunnel with solar heater to extend my growing season. We are going to experiment with year round growing in Portland.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Nby- did you eat the little asparagus spear(s)? How cute!

Smilingcat- my big veg garden got started in the summer too, 2 years ago. At first I felt cheated when things got delayed and that I couldn't get things planted that Spring, but then I realized that I could sow an entire Fall garden of veggies from seed that would do great if sown in mid to late summer. That first Fall I got carrots, turnips, lots of lettuces, scallions, all kinds of stuff.
Here was a photo of the brand new garden that I planted from seed in mid July 2009, even before the garden fence was put up and completed:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGz...0/posts-up.jpg
Same garden, by mid Sept:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGz...h/garden_1.jpg
Mid December, I was still harvesting turnips and carrots:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGz...ts-turnips.jpg

So, a whole lot can be done with a veg garden started in mid summer
That whole garden space had been useless backyard lawn since 1941.

Sounds like you will have lots of berries on your property! You might want to look into putting up some native/solitary bee nesting blocks in your yard- they will pollinate your berries like gangbusters, with only a little effort in return. You might actually get double the number of berries if you attract lots of pollinating mason and leafcutter bees to nest there. Very sweet to have them buzzing around too, they don't sting unless you accidentally squeeze them.

[mudmucker]

Who are you people who have been gardening already!

The snow finally just left my house here in MA - up to a week and a half ago my gardens weren't even exposed. Only today I've just turned the raised beds and other plots over by hand. I would be planting peas, beets, lettuce, and chard this weekend except I've decided to take the plunge and I'm getting some trees cut next week and thought I'd wait a weekend until I know the heavy machinery has enough room. Five trees in all. I don't like to cut trees but I live on a woodlot. Three are quite big, about 3 feet dbh. It'll be a costly endeavor overall, but divide it up per tree and my quote is pretty cheap compared to some areas. These tree guys are hard up for work so it's a bit competitive. I've got a company with good insurance. Four of the five trees are very close to the house, some not in the best condition and if they were to split and break off they'd easily crush the house and whoever might be in it. Also, four trees will open up the garden to a lot more sun and I'm very excited about that part. Strategically done. After the tree guys are done, I'll plant the peas, beets, lettuce, and chard seed. Radish too. I have brocolli, napa cabbage, and savoy cabbage seedlings under my grow lights ready to be put out as well. Cloches are ready. My other seedlings for the warmer weather such as the tomatoes, eggplant, parsley, winter cabbage, leeks, winter squash, and basil are doing well under the lights and will be ready to go out at the end of May. At that time I'll be planting the rest of the warm weather veg seeds such as cucumber, potatoes, summer squashes, and more lettuce. Carrots a little before hand.

In the meantime, I still have potatoes and onions going strong in the root cellar but this week the temps have gone up in the mid-40's in the root cellar and will go higher. The root cellar is reaching perfect temperatures for storing my homemade cheddar cheese.

Also, I finally finished off my top bar beehive that I built over the winter and I'm ready for my bees, which are expected to arrive next weekend April 23.

After all that, I will be building my chicken coop to house 3 hens. After that, I'm taking a break from projects.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wow, nice looking top bar hive- very nicely built!
Good luck hiving your bees.
I too have another nuc coming in about 10 more days, added to the hive I've had since last year. Fun!

Wish I could keep a few hens, but they are noisy and against my zoning laws so ...alas....
Bees are easier to keep under wraps in back of the garden fence! ;D

[NbyNW]

Nby- did you eat the little asparagus spear(s)? How cute!

Not yet -- this morning I count 5 spears making their way up -- I'm going to wait until they're a little bigger to harvest them.

[Koronin]

Since we just bought a house we'll be planting a garden next year. (In process of moving, this week painted the rooms that needed painted.) We did plant my two blueberry bushes, which had been in large pots for about 4 years. We knew we wouldn't be staying in that home, just didn't know we'd be moving across the state. But we plan on staying here for a long time. So they are planted and bought two strawberry bushes today (half price at Lowe's) that will get planted either tomorrow or next weekend. Couldn't pass them up at half price, esp since I've wanted strawberry bushes for a long time.

[Jolt]

Smilingcat- my big veg garden got started in the summer too, 2 years ago. At first I felt cheated when things got delayed and that I couldn't get things planted that Spring, but then I realized that I could sow an entire Fall garden of veggies from seed that would do great if sown in mid to late summer. That first Fall I got carrots, turnips, lots of lettuces, scallions, all kinds of stuff.
Here was a photo of the brand new garden that I planted from seed in mid July 2009, even before the garden fence was put up and completed:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGz...0/posts-up.jpg
Same garden, by mid Sept:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGz...h/garden_1.jpg
Mid December, I was still harvesting turnips and carrots:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGz...ts-turnips.jpg

So, a whole lot can be done with a veg garden started in mid summer
That whole garden space had been useless backyard lawn since 1941.

That's good to hear that even with a late start you can still have a pretty good garden--that's the situation I will likely have this year as I am moving around the beginning of June and if I get the apartment I hope to get, the building has a spot in the yard where it sounds like I could put in a garden (I asked the landlord when he was showing me the place, since the spot in question is where a swimming pool was filled in and isn't all that attractive as it is now, and he said he's all for anything that improves the property!).