Starting over, my new garden

 The gardening venture begins anew in a different place.  My daughter and her husband will enjoy the fruits of my labor in the raised beds I left behind at the house we have owned for over 20 years.  I now get to garden in a much larger plot, but one that has been neglected.  One previous gardener used Roundup on a paint roller to "weed" the garden.  The second gardener, I have learned from second hand reports, put in plants and and did very little follow up.  I can believe the reports as I spent all of last summer just trying to clean up dead weed stalks only to find all the precious little babies they were sprouting underneath.  I resorted to the first gardeners technique and used herbicide to control the weeds, but did not plant.  It was tilled a couple times as the compaction was horrific and I expanded the bound with the herbicide to bring it up to the size it was when I I kept a small corner plot her over 20 years ago in the after work hours.
I have decided to not till again this spring to keep the covered weed seeds under the soil and deal with the ones that have and will sprout at the surface.  They are numerous!  I brought in some composted manure last fall which covered the smallest of areas.  This is where I will put my beds of seeds like spinach and such.  The other vine crops will get a mound of compost at their planting site with weed cloth or mulch around their growing area to try and suppress the potential weed army rallying forces underground.

I started this year off as I always do with peas.  The garden here tends to stay wet, so I have chosen to use the mounding method to create raised beds.  I loved my foot high, wood sided beds at home, but I am not going to invest in the materials or labor to do this here.  Starting with the area where the manure was spread last fall, I raked and mixed the soil a bit.  After getting it a bit loose, I pulled it up into a pile and then leveled off two rows for putting in my two different types of peas.  I like the sugar pods, but still enjoy the pleasure of shelling out peas as well.  They are starting off about six inches high, but will settle as the season goes on.  I will side dress these rows with carrots or other rooting crops to take over when the peas are done.  Right now the sprouting peas are covered with mesh to keep the squirrels and chipmunks from digging up and eating the peas as seeds.  I always soak my seeds first as the germination is so much better when I do.
I have to fence this garden much more heavily than I did in my urban plot.  The property is fenced off from the roaming deer herds for the nursery crops, but we still have four residential does that still call this home.  I put a hardware cloth and t-post fence around the perimeter of part of the garden that will keep the tastiest crops away from bunnies and wood chucks.  I am certain that I will have to do battle with something even still.

Next to each t-post is a ten foot conduit post pounded in about two feet.  I fashioned a hook for the top of each to hang a five foot wide mesh cloth that meets up to the three foot tall hardware cloth.  All together they form an eight foot tall enclosure which should keep the deer away from my peas, greens and bean crops.  The opening is an over-lap of the mesh with a gate of hardware cloth.  I have to duck to get through the mesh over-lap, but it is a small sacrifice.  Time will tell how effective this will be.  I did not dig the hardware cloth in very deep and this may be my weak spot if I don't monitor the perimeter enough.

Once my perimeter was secure (this was two separate weekends to accomplish) I felt I could continue with the actual gardening.  I used my Weed Dragon to scorch the weeds that were abundantly germinating already.  Next to the pea rows, I formed a square bed for my greens like spinach and lettuce as well as some root crops of parsnips and salsify.  Both root crops are over 100 days to maturity and are best harvested after frost for sweeter quality.  I have not added my kale yet, but need to make that a priority.  I have greenhouse starts of cabbage and bok choy to add as well.  I just hope the enclosure will fit them all!
I put the tender onion plants in as well.  I did two types of bulb onions, Ailsa Craig and Walla Walla.  I also have Lancelot leeks which I plan on mounding to blanch the stems as they grow.  These were also greenhouse starts back in February.  Onions and leeks are very long season crops when started from seed.  I have decided that the radicchio is going to be a fall crop this year to form the best heads closer to frost.  I also put in my radishes, French Breakfast and April Cross, for my early crop.  I have another called Rat-tailed which is grown for its seed heads that will go in later.  I put in short rows of these as one family can only eat so many ripening radishes at once. Straw that was used for winter protection around my potted fruit crops is down on my walking paths for mulch.  This will get turned in next fall to compost in ground for more soil tilth in future years.  I can't wait for the weather to warm if only to shorten the distance I have to run a hose to water.  I don't have a rain barrel area established here yet as I need to put up some gutter on the shed close to the garden.  I have an idea, I just need to execute.  I look forward to some rain water for spot watering the garden here.

I used what little compost I had left last fall to create a rhubarb bed with bounds.  There was a ceramic "planter" already in place in the yard.  After digging down over two feet, I decided it wasn't getting removed.  I vaguely remember this being put in by my former manager and it involved heavy equipment.  One of my rhubarb varieties didn't make it through summer in the pot that I was growing my roots in.  I think a watering lapse or late planting was to blame.  I was scrambling about with my garlic bulbs last fall looking for a place to put them in before winter.  The rhubarb plot was the only area that I did not plan on disturbing the following year.  It was also the only area that I am not battling weeds.  I will get through the weed ordeal... The garlic has sprouted with hopes of another crop to come this year.
I will continue to plan and plant.  It is almost like learning how to garden all over again.  There is so much work to get done, but I can see all of it in my mind.  I can't wait to share it all with you.

Work hard, play hard, garden in between

I feel as if I have been away for a long time.  There is so much going on as we use every hour of our summer as a precious commodity.  Work has kept me busy for more hours than usual.  Play has taken me away from the computer.

Play has been the best part.  My husband and I made a trip out to the western half of Wisconsin and enjoyed some time along the rivers.  Part of our vacation is the quest for dairy products, namely cheese and ice cream.  We had to look pretty hard for this in a zone that was not dotted with dairies on the Wisconsin cheese map.  (Yep, we really have one!)  Nelson Creamery did not disappoint us.  I enjoyed an ice cream on a 90+ degree day and filled up half of our cooler with cheese.  The place had such a charm about it, I had to share a picture from the building even if it isn't related to the usual stuff I write about.  I do love old buildings.  They are talking about replacing the basketball arena in Milwaukee because it is (gasp!) over 20 years old and so outdated.  Give me a break!  

We also took a long weekend away to spend some time on Lake Winnebago with my husband's side of the family.  They have a nice size boat, so they met us on the lake where we were able to camp.  The weather looked like this on Friday with wind and waves and stayed that way the entire weekend.  We never did leave the dock, but still had a nice time anyway.  I wasn't looking for it, but I found a very new and very cool goat dairy in Pipe, WI.  They sell the best cheeses from other dairies, Kelly's Creamery ice cream (butter pecan was soooo good!), and Wisconsin wines, beers and other beverages.  I would like to go back and enjoy some more of everything.

Back home the garden is starting to kick in gear.  The beans are coming in in almost all my plantings now.  It is so fun having 4 foot rows of each variety.  I am enjoying the filet type beans the most.  So slender and tender in all three varieties I have going.  I will have to look them up later to refresh my memory on what I put in.  Cukes are doing well in the tomato patch but struggling elsewhere.  I would like to put in more pickling vines next year, possibly behind my flower bed with a soaker hose running by them.  I have had my first tomatoes from the 4th of July bush.  They are small but satisfying.  The Sun golds are starting to turn yellow.

Most all the squash and pumpkins have set at least one fruit each.  I am still waiting on the Kiwano melon to even flower.  I have nipped the tips and am thinking it will need some fertilizer with less N and more PK to help it along.  

The peach has several fruits on it and some of them are starting to turn yellow from the hard green state they have been in.  I have heard peaches need aggressive pruning so I will have to do some research on that one.  The Honey gold apple set one fruit which is more than I expected for a new tree.  I wonder if I will enjoy it or if the squirrels we be there first.

My third crop of lettuce is coming along nicely considering the heat wave we went through right after planting.  I have pulled a few radishes from my last sowing.  I think the shade cloth and the soaker hose made the difference with this mid summer sowing.  I continue to mound the soil around the stems to help them bulb rather than stretch.  Kohlrabi is growing but not expanding at the waist yet.  The beds with soaker hoses are fairing much better than those without.  I think I will look for end of season deals on some as there are some that are starting to show their age with some cracking.  I would not garden without them.  My daughter did a fantastic job keeping things moist through our absence wherever she was able to let them run on their own.  Quick connects on each one also helped to make the job easier.

Well, it is time to sit back and seriously enjoy the mojito in my hand.  A mojito mint was definitely a good buy! Check out last year's post on making a mojito yourself.

First Seeds of Spring

My Jung Seeds came in the mail yesterday.  Today I sat in my sunny kitchen with new seeds, old seeds, and a cup of coffee.  An annual inventory of seeds is a must.  Usually I do this prior to the first order.  This year I took a quick look in my seed box and knew what was left without a written list to refer to while ordering.  I still have two more catalogs to order from, so anything I missed with Jung would go on Pine Tree Gardens or Select Seeds.  My daughter/bride-to-be and I will sit down with the last two for cut flower choices.
I thinned out the oldest of my varieties and put them in the Jung shipping box to take to work.  There is always someone willing to throw them in and see what happens.  I cleaned out the worst of them last year, so this year's discards will be a nice addition to someone else's garden plot.  

Some of the new seeds I look forward to getting in the garden:

BEANS!  I had a couple filet type beans last year and loved them!  Maxibel was one of them.  I have added Velour (purple) and Fortex (pole).

Onions - Going back to Copra to get a longer storing onion.  I have had luck with Alisa Craig and Sweet Spanish in the past.  Last year's hot weather may have had an effect on last fall's storage issues.  I had used most of the 30# in recipes for canning and also shared with my daughter and sister, so not too much onion flesh was lost to early sprouting.  I also am going to make sure I sun cure them at least two days.  I thought the intense heat may have been too harsh, but I think the sun is what is needed when curing onions for storage. Just putting them in the garage was not enough.  The new onion I want to try is Red Marble Cipolini.  Both will be seeded by the end of the week for mid-April planting.

Cabbage - A small hybrid of Pak Choi and a triple variety mix of small head cabbage (white, red and savoy).  I am going to do an early sow under lights to get these set in April for an early crop.  I am also going to use a cover of row cover to ward off flea beetles.

Radishes - Refreshed my French Breakfast seed supply (this will be in my garden every year) and also bought Red Meat aka 'Watermelon'.  This is a long keeper.  If you go to the grocery store, you will find it with turnips, parsnips, and other winter root vegetables.  It has been suggested that this is good in a stir fry.  If you have never cooked a radish, try it.  You will be surprised at the delicious transformation of this tangy root crop.

Cucumbers - Rocky Hybrid, a small snack size cuke that is parthenocarpic (all-male flowers).  This is what Jung's has to say about this type of plant:

Parthenocarpic cucumbers - Plant this type if you want to get seedless fruits without pollination. You can plant a single plant of this type and still get fruit. Many of these cultivars were developed for greenhouse culture where there are no bees or other pollinators available. However, the parthenocarpic varieties we offer and that are generally offered by other seed companies are suitable for outdoor planting in home gardens. 

I have a couple other cucumbers to try as well, but this is definitely the most unique one I have in my basket this year.

Peppers - Cajun Belle, sweet with a bit of heat. Ancho San Martin, sets a bit earlier with better production. I was disappointed with the inconsistencies of last year's ancho peppers, poor set and ancho pepper plants that weren't ancho peppers.  If you like a stuffed pepper dish with a South of the Border taste, ancho is your pepper.  Mucho Nacho Jalepeno promise to have a larger pepper with good set.  I let you know how much of these promises are delivered.  I am going to leave the farm market growers to provide me with regular green peppers this year.

When I get my flower order done, I will put in type my hopes and dreams for beauty in the garden.  This year I hope to add annual flower space around a patio in time for planting this spring.  I added a week of vacation on to my years of service.  Those five days are going to be taken as garden days this spring.  I always thought leaving the greenhouse and nursery would mean that I could now take mid-spring, warm weather vacations and it has.  I realized that breaking my garden chores up into single days would also be a good use of spring vacation.  I will see how much I get done with the extra time this year.  Here's to garden dreams!

My Cold Weather Crops

 All the tomatoes have ripened and are not going to wait for us to eat them all fresh.  Tonight, they became spaghetti sauce with one lone tomato on the window sill as a tribute to all the tomatoes that have gone before.

I am still holding on to my lettuce and cilantro.  The late crop of radishes that I put in have a couple sets of leaves, but I doubt that the gamble I took will pay off in late radishes.  I have a double cover on the bed of row and frost cover.  The rain has been getting through, the sunlight is too low to really push any growth at this time of year.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The two varieties of kale that I grew for eating are powering through this time of year.  Kale thrives in the cold weather and the flavor improves.  I have to get out and get some of this on our plates soon.

There is still some Swiss chard and radicchio hanging in there.  I haven't prepared as much of the chard as I have in years past (not one of John's favorites).  The radicchio is a new plant for me.  My coworkers enjoyed the first crop preparing it in different ways.  They shared how well it worked in their cooking.  I think this will be on our plates soon.

 Parsnips are just starting the process which makes them best in cold weather.  The starches start to turn to sugars making the plant fused with anti-freeze qualities.  It also makes them very tasty.  I used a couple in some beef pasties a few weeks ago.  They are only getting sweeter as they get colder.

The Alpine strawberries are still trying to put on some fruit.  It is taking so long for them to turn red.  Sunlight is waning and so it the ripening power.  They are still a delight whenever I find one on the plants.  I think the squirrels have been beating me to the picking, though.

 On the other side of cold weather plants are the ornamentals.  The sedum in the background is a lovely back-drop to the Sunrise flowering kale.  The sweet alysum fills in with a bed of snowy white flowers.  Right behind this bed are the stars of the garden right now.

As everything else has died back, the 4-pack of flowering kale I purchase this spring is just glowing!  While walking back from voting on Tuesday, I was astounded at how vibrant these are even from the distance.  It is no wonder I have had so many people stop and ask what they are.  They are like the neon signs of my fall garden.  I apologize to those wondering what variety it is since I did not have a tag with them.  Next year...more flowering kale.  They really do look best when in full sun.

My pot of Sunset flowering kale is also looking pretty good.  The plants brightened up after moving them into brighter light.  I will tuck a few evergreen boughs into the soil to fill it out and take it into the Christmas season like I did last year.  Maybe some lights as well.

Seeding the outdoor garden 4-12-12

After a fairly easy bike ride home, I had the energy to go out and look things over.  We also had our spruce stump ground today and my husband had me out raking away the chips.  With the work energy started, I knew I could get in the seeds before our anticipated rain tomorrow.  Since I had done all the bed prep this weekend, it would go pretty quickly.  
The funny thing about growing older is that you don't get everything done in the same amount of time as you did even a few years before.  I had managed to sift two large wheelbarrows of compost, weed and work the bed, and spread the compost.  

After all was said and done, I only got my garden peas and flowering sweet peas in the ground.  If they hadn't been soaking overnight and HAD to go in the ground that day, it probably wouldn't have happened.  The garden peas and beans fall victim to the chipmunks in my yard so after planting, I place some expanded metal over the top to keep them safe.  Once the plants are up a couple inches, I can easily lift the 1" mesh over and off the beds.  

I used some single ply twine to grid the bed.  I tied a knot in the end, stapled it to the edge, knotted the opposite and and stapled it down.  It really is good for distinguishing beds in the square foot gardening method.  You really get the most use out of the soil space.  
Kale had overwintered in one corner of the bed.  I have started a second variety of kale in the house which I will pop in next to these.  I also put in Swiss chard, parsnips, green bunching onions, radishes, lettuce, and beets.  I still have to transplant my onions, but I digress.  

I have some tools that I really like for seeding.  Plastic tags and a grease pencil are a must.  I do not rely on my memory and sometimes I put in more than one variety. The grease pencil scrubs off and the tags can be reused until they break.  I have a dibble (blue thingy), a seed dispenser (green thingy), and a seed shaker (red thingy).  The seed shaker was a pretty good purchase as I can use it for lots of different size seeds and the clicker vibrates the tray to move the seed out pretty evenly.  The hand cultivator is very useful for making furrows for larger seed or raking in smaller, shallow seeds.

For plants that "bulb" out like beets and radishes, I make furrows at least twice the depth that is recommended.  I add in the recommended amount over the seed and reserve the extra soil to the sides of the furrow.  As the plants grow, I push the soil up around the plants to encourage the plant to round out rather than get long and leggy.  This is not something I read, but something I learned through trial and error.  It may be our heavy, clay soil that makes the plants push up more than down, but I know it works for me and recommend it to others who don't get nice round radishes.
Radishes were not always on my "must plant" list.  I have acquired a taste for them over time.  French breakfast are my favorites, but Jung sent Purple Plum radish seeds as a freebie so I divided my space for trying both.  Early planting is a must.  They don't like heat and get woody fast when the summer temps go up.  The spring radishes are cool and crisp and don't seem to have the bite of late season radishes.  Give them a whirl if you haven't planted them.  They also come fast and are ready to eat in about a month (almost instant gratification in garden terms).

So after all was said and done, I had 10 different things planted in the vegetable beds. The garlic has been composted and the herb garden is giving me some fresh additions to my cooking (what says Spring better than chives?).  I still have to get the storing onions planted.  They have spent four nights outside in their pots and it has been in the low 30's so they are ready for whatever the weather has to throw at them.  I hope to post some pictures of the new seedlings soon.