In the Garden: 2022, part 3 - Continuing to Plan

Since my last post (part 2 on 2/2/22 ha), I received all of the ordered varietals and maintained my organization by planting date.  My seed box is packed very full.  :-)

I have a loose plan for what to plant where.

I intended to prune my Black Raspberries in mid-February, but we've actually had winter, including some extremely cold temperatures.... so this has not yet been completed

The "sun room" has not gotten warmer since January, so I'm losing confidence that this will be useful for seed starting.  Which means I will likely be on the hunt for seedlings in mid-May, rather than starting the late-season seeds here...  on the bright side, I will have lots of late-season seeds for next year.  :-D

I still need to clean out the beds and improve the soil with the alpaca and goat manure we've collected thus far.

I also need to firm up the compost location.

While there is always more to do, and it is snowing today, there are signs of spring... Robins, Red-winged Black Birds, tiny bits of green... spring will be here soon.

Garden 2022, part 2

I did not spend much time watching the sun exposure at the new place over last summer.  The photo I shared last time shows the beds being quite shaded by Pine Trees.... though, I do remember it getting hot out there.

I finished compiling my Planting Wish List a few days ago and found my inventory and starting tools.

I organized the existing seeds into one container by planting date, and ordered the remaining varietals, which should arrive in a few weeks.

Personally, I want to be able to put up a lot of vegetables; especially beans, peas, corn, and tomatoes.  But I need to be cognizant of my available time, along with the other projects we expect to be doing this year.  So I will attempt to grow enough tomatoes for canning.... because Hubba says, "Life is too short to eat winter tomatoes,"  and the remainder will be primarily for our own consumption upon picking.

We have a "sun room" on the new house that I was planning to use for starting seeds.  It hasn't been as warm as I expected and it leaks water (the floor is wet from snow melting in January).   So adding that to the fact that it blocks the view of the back yard, it will be going away at some point... in favor of a proper green house and letting more light into the house.

In the meantime, I hope it will warm up as the days get longer, If so, I will start late-season seeds in here around the end of March.  If not, I will look locally for plants that have already been started.

Of the things the former owners did have planted, there were far too many Sunflowers, two extremely large Rhubarb plants and two Black Raspberries.

The Sunflowers will be pulled and given to the chickens if they find their way into any of the walk ways.

Rhubarb, while I enjoy it, is toxic to goats and chickens.  Both of which have access in the current location, so these will either be moved or removed over the summer.

The Black Raspberries were a special treat last summer... so I've been researching how/when to prune them because we definitely want these to continue.

I found a few good resources; Colorado State University Extension, Iowa State University Extension and The Coloradoan.  So it seems like February should be the best time for pruning... keeping 5-ish viable canes per plant at about 18-inches tall.

There is also an ornamental Pear Tree (in the background) and a prolific Crabapple Tree... so while I'm quite disappointed that this is not a fruit-bearing Pear, I will have to try out a few Crabapple recipes next fall.

To the extent that each growing season is a bit of an experiment, this year is absolutely that.

Happy Planning for Planting!

(...and we're happy to finally be having some winter!!)

Garden 2022, part 1

It occurred to me over the weekend that St. Patrick's Day is about 7 weeks away and it will be time to plant the Early Season Seeds.

7 Weeks!

Spring will be here in about 7 WEEKS!

This seems crazy to me.  We haven't had much of a Winter yet, but Spring is really close.

So I started going thru the one Seed Catalogue I have to make a list of the things I'd like to plant.

I did not plant a garden last year because we were so focused on finding our new home and expected to be in the throws of moving during most of the growing season.

We are finally starting to approach the end of our moving process... so I expect to have time available for garden-tending.  WooHoo!

The new place has several raised beds.... 8, in total.

While there were volunteer tomatoes and onions last year, this area was mostly weeds.  So I have a good amount of work to turn this into a productive garden space.

Over the next week or so I will finish making my Seed Wish List and compare it to what I have in stock.  Then to figure out what to put where.

Happy Planning for Planting!

In the Garden: Cherry Tree

Hubba and I planted this Montmorency Cherry Tree soon after we moved into our current house.

We've gotten a small harvest here and there, but usually the Robins devour the fruit right before it ripens.

This year, we have a pair of Crows hanging around and we do not have Robins nesting on the house.  I'm not sure if these are correlated, but it seems to be.

As such, my tree is was able to fill of ripe fruit, so we took advantage and made a pie.

Since my books are packed for the move, I used this recipe.

Then we collected and froze a few batches and shared the bounty with our neighbors.

We intend to plant a larger cherry (hopefully Rainier, because they are my favorite to eat) at the new place, once we're settled.... but this pie was so good, we may end up with a few varieties. ;-)

I hope you're having a glorious summer!

Garden 2020, part 11

Since my last post, our harvests have continued to trickle in.

We've eaten the garlic, shallots, and remaining onions.  I definitely want to plant more of these next year.

We're still getting rainbow chard and I'm letting the spinach go to seed.

The winter squash have started to flower(!) ...

... and spread out.

The corn and tomatoes continue to hang on and give me hope.

My tiny herb garden is doing well.

I extremely happy with this variety of Basil, and plan to grow more next time.

With the exception of the herbs, everything I've been able to harvest was grown from directly-sowed seed.  None of the indoor starts survived transplanting.  :-/

We have about 3 months until our first freeze.  So while it's quite hot right now, I'm starting to think about planting cooler-season/fall veggies.  Not sure if/what I'll do yet.

I hope your garden adventures have gone better than mine this summer.  :-)

Garden 2020, part 10

My garden has sustained damage due to hail and extreme heat, but we have also had small harvests so far... mostly onions, spinach, and chard.

Most of the transplants have not survived, so several have been replaced by directly sowing into the outside garden.  I think I will wait to do any more seed starting until I have a greenhouse... or at least a different house with better light.  ;-)

There were a good amount of cherries (that the birds enjoyed) and only about a dozen apples that I can find.

Our neighbor brought over duck eggs from their family farm... so pretty and delicious.

The melons and squashes are all looking good so far.

The onions and rainbow chard have been delicious sauteed with mushrooms and the spinach has been enjoyed raw.

I've gotten some use from the tiny herb garden... in here are rosemary, basil, winter savory, and chives.

The rabbits ate my peas and fava beans... :-(  But I'm still holding hope for tomatoes and corn.

For future reference, I think my garden needs to be in the dogs' territory, but protected from the dogs and alpaca, in order to keep the rabbits out.

It does look rather pathetic from this point of view, but rest assured, we are eating from this garden.

Garden 2020, part 9

My intention for this year was to increase the variety of foods we were eating.  Being home due to COVID-19 has helped a lot in this endeavor.

The idea is that the more whole the food and the more variety of the foods, the more nutrients you are receiving, and therefore the healthier you should be.

We've tried different cuts of meat and different recipes during this Stay-at-Home period and our garden will be providing a greater variety of vegetables.

Over the weekend I replanted some of the early-season starts that did not survive thru transplanting and added a few new varieties.

So my garden is now fully planted.  It doesn't look like much from this broad view, yet.  But the following are doing well:

Peas

Fava Beans

Carrots

Red Onions

Spinach and Lettuce

Chard

I have attempted 43 varieties so far.  46 if you count our fruit trees.  A few have definitely not survived and I'm holding hope for a few others.

Regardless, I think we will achieve my goal of adding more variety to our diet.  :-)

Garden 2020, part 8

I planted all of my surviving late-season seedlings in the outside garden on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend.

Some of the starts didn't make it to planting.  I assume its a combination of limited sunlight inside the house and old seeds.

Then Sunday we received close to an inch of rain (when 2-inches is normal for the month) and Monday was relatively cool, so some of the starts have not survived transplanting, but many of the directly sowed varieties are doing well.

The neighborhood bees have visited the few fruit tree flowers, so I am expecting some fruit, but not too much this year.  Though there are definitely cherries in progress.

I have about 1/3 of the outside garden still available for planting and a few more varieties I'd like to get into the ground.

I am completely loving my garden this year, especially having the ability to spend a few minutes weeding each morning!  I also collected the first harvest of a few hail-damaged spinach leaves this week!

Garden 2020, part 7

Since I'm at home, I'm making a point to check on my garden every morning and weed a bit after feeding the alpacas.

This way it's more of a daily 10-15 minute task rather than a major weekend chore.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy playing in the dirt every day!

My spinach is getting close to being able to harvest (a little).  The chard and carrots are starting to come up.  The peas, fava beans, onions, and garlic are all looking good.

We had a mild freeze on Monday, May 10th...  So I'm now targeting the planting of my late season seeds to about May 25th, Memorial Day, which is next weekend.

I hope you all are having a great spring!

Garden 2020, part 6

The fruit trees are starting to leaf out and flower now...

and the outside garden has food growing in it!

Considering I don't have a great space for growing plants indoors, the late-season seedlings are doing much better than I expected.

Our last frost was on May 5th (so far) so I'm targeting the planting of these for about May 19th.

In the meantime, I  found this wonderful Salad Bowl at our locally-owned market.  This has been a fun way to get fresh greens while we're waiting for the outside crop to grow.

These mixed greens were especially nice paired with smoked cuts of local lamb earlier this week.

How's your garden growing?