Harvest Festival

tomato pie

cukes lead to pickles

hexagonal tomatoes

humongus watermelon

sunflowers and daisies

homemade Veggie juice

pumpkins came early

lavendar - foraged from neighbor

edamame

baba ganoush (eggplant dip)

raspberries are coming!

raspberries!!!!

tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

Tomatoes were planted yesterday after the last frost (hopefully)! The trays have been outside enjoying sunshine and spending nights on the south window in the garage. We put up shelves to hold our plants over winter, but they have a use in spring as well during frosty nights.

There are over 100 extra plants - the germination rates are in excess of 90%.

Alexa's venture (Tulip Tree Innovations)is set to kick-off at the neighborhood garage sale on May 18. She has a bazillion different herb arrangements in unique, up-cycled and re-purposed containers. They're pretty neat.

We have days with temperatures in low 80's and nights with low 60's for the next few weeks. A true spring but about a month late. Last year (2012) we didn't have a spring - just jumped into 80's and 90's. It was hot!  No idea what the weather pattern will be this year.

strawberries relocated....

Strawberries were thinned from the bed and planted in smaller pots to re-root. We also have strawberry pots to give away to neighbors. The plants are 3 years old and should bear this year even after being disturbed.

a variety of tomatoes

Our tomato varieties:
Cherokee Purple (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Abe Lincoln (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Black Krim (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Big Rainbow (Ferry Morse Heirloom)
Yellow Pear (Burpee Heirloom)
Roma (Burpee)
Sweet 100 hybrid (Burpee)
John Baur (Seed Savers - Bonny Best 1914)
Green Zebra (Seed Savers - Tater Mater 1983)
Tasty Evergreen (Seed Savers - Seedmen 1956)

Alexa really grew strong seedlings this year. This one was sown in February, transplanted after 6 weeks growth and is about 12 weeks old now and ready to go into the garden.

time and tide waits for no....

frost killed yellow squash

tiny cauliflower - started heading in late October

big beefy yellow tomatoes (heirloom)

cauliflower harvest

Some late harvest goodies from the garden.

The cold frame is doing well even with outside temperatures going sub-freezing overnight. Lettuce, arugala, and spinach gets harvested twice a week.

Garlic was planted just before thanksgiving. Twice as much as last year.

heat and more heat

Heirlooms are not doing well in the heat despite plenty of water. 

The strawberries think it is August. 

tiny fruits....

Tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, and cucumbers have all fruited. 

potato harvest...not good so far

red potatoes still growing strong

  The reds look good so far.

The gold potato plants were dead when we got home from vacation. we had a drip system set up to give them water. So we pulled the pile. 


















At least 6 bigger potatoes had started rotting in the wet earth. I dug through 100 pounds of composted soil and straw to the bottom to find a few potatoes.

We did get bigger potatoes but not very many and they were only at the bottom of the barrel. I don't see how people gets "hundreds" of pounds of potatoes from a vertical system.

I followed directions. Oh well. We'll have to maybe throw the potatoes into one of the boxes and try rows next year. 

Homegrown new potatoes taste wonderful!

garlic

The soft-necked garlic looks ready...falling over. I dug up 4 small cloves. I left the others in the ground for a few more days.

The elephant garlic needs another week or so.

A great page for garlic: http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com/garlic-calendar.htm

plant giveaway

I left about 2 dozen tomato plants, a dozen cauliflower and broccoli, plants, a flat of peppermint, lemon balm, and oregano, and a dozen sunflowers on the table at work. Within 5 minutes of my email, there were a dozen folk down there. They were all gone by the time I came back from lunch an hour later. Plants put to good use by folks who appreciate a local harvest.

strawberries - every week

About 12 berries - 1 pint this morning with waffles.

strawberries are here!

Oh yeah!! Strawberries are popping out. It will be a bumper crop. We netted the bed yesterday to keep birds away - they are very greedy. The first two were delicate and sweet!

share the garden

We've made converts out of our friends, Dave and Fred. We helped them install two raised beds and planted some of our heirloom tomatoes. We are using 2L soda bottle as mini greenhouses for the very small plants and also to protect them from critters. Dave and Fred live on the edge of a subdivision where they get rabbits, the occasional deer and other critters. They will also install chicken wire to help with denying the critters.

. 

This brings up an interesting note. I have been thinking about starting a side business for designing and installing raised bed gardens. Small scale for urban dwellers. I've read several books about small business practices. I'm not sure I have the time or energy and we certainly don't need the money. But I toy with the idea nonetheless.

tomatoes are prolific!

Tomatoes: 18 yellow pear, 13 sweet 100's, 3 john baur, 10 green zebra, 11 romas, 5 orange, and 6 black krim. There are a dozen or so other tomato seedlings but the marker is gone...so mystery tomatoes!!


Update: We believe the tomatoes are the SeedSavers Evergreen tomatoes.

freeze warnings

It's been a week of frost and freeze warnings. The beds have been covered and the fruit trees are wrapped. The warm March meant that many plants are ahead of schedule. I'll try to get a picture post up sometime.

Sowing seeds in early March

About the time, the daffodils were blooming (early March), we began sowing seeds in our "clearance sale" $20 green houses. It may have been 40F outside, but it was a toasty 75F inside. 

Dr. Terry Wahls - eating for your body

This pretty much sums up my eating habits - I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

3 dishes: greens, cooked veg, fruit

One of the priorities is to be able to grow all the leafy greens I need through four seasons. It's a challenge.

strawberries

In a flurry of activity this weekend, Alexa and I have planted our strawberries. There are ten plants of 3 different hybrids. The continuous watering system consists of 2liter soda bottles with a small hole in the bottom that is filled with water. This also has the added benefit of provided a local microclimate to warm the area and prevent frost damage. This is one of the new "lasagna" beds with cardboard laid over the lawn, mulched leaves/grass, compost, peat moss, sand, and some garden soil. The PVC pipe allows us to cover the box with plastic for a greenhouse effect or with netting to discourage birds from harvesting our berries.

Goals from 2009 - progress report

I want to revisit my goals from previous years to see how they've worked out (or not.)

1. Don’t go digital on February 17. It’ll save money and liberate time. Affirmative! I didn't go digital and do not have television in my house. I got rid of internet as well so I don't watch any television programming on the laptop either. I do watch DVDs either on the laptop or with Alexa at her house. I have a blackberry so I do get email at home.

2. Commit to an anti-inflammation (mostly vegetarian) lifestyle. This comes and goes. Recommitted with the new season and Alexa's support.

3. Eat 75% local (100 mile ) nutrition. Ditto. The garden was expanded and much more produce will be available from less than 10 ft away. Farmer's market for things I can't or won't grow: zucchini, peaches, apples, specialty plants.

4. Eliminate packaged foods to all extent possible. Mmm, partial success.

5. Reduce waste in the household. Increase recycling. Yep. No-sort recycling with a new company makes it easy to dump everything (plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum, etc) into the big tote. 6. Determine and follow a financial plan and schedule for home improvements (roof, bathroom, deck, etc). I have saved up enough money to complete the projects. Prioritization completed. Now to get quotes and start work.

7. Expand the garden beds. I have twice the growing space as last year. The boxes were built in 4'x4' and 6'x4' dimensions.

8. Plant dwarf fruit trees. The potted lemon tree that Mom gave me in 2009 is in good shape an dproducing fruit. This is on schedule for this year. Blueberry, blackberry/raspberry, and cherry esplanier.

9. Implement rain water catchment for irrigating the garden beds. Also on schedule for this year with the new beds.

10. Ride my bike for enjoyment at least twice a week, weather permitting. With my RA under control, this should be good to go for this summer.

11. Use bike/trailer to do local shopping on weekend. Maybe. Traffic is a problem unless I do grocery shopping at 6 am.

12. Ride to work at least once a week. Possibly. Safety in traffic a concern. 13. Continue reducing “things” in the house aka the 100 Thing Challenge. Pretty good. I still have a big closet to go. The neighborhood grarage sale is coming up 3rd week in May.

14. Explore different compost systems to maximize production and minimize space.I obtained 3 compost tumblers which work pretty efficiently. Also have a cold pile box.