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.

transplanted tomatoes and peppers into bigger pots

Transplanted tomatoes and pepperss.

sunflowers

Alexa is 5'4"...the sunflower is almost 7' tall.

This one is from seeds Kervin gave me...we're been calling the giant russian sunflowers, but that's just a guess.

Also, a happy bee.

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

potted plants

herbs

planter

Herbs in pots: clockwise...stevia, dill, thyme, and baby basils

Bonus planter: calladium and double tap petunias.

peas are flowering

These peas are in one of the "new" beds from last year and are almost chest high. In an old bed, they barely got to waist high. I assume the abundant nutrition from compost has helped their growth. 

These are snow peas so the pods are picked young. 

Underneath are the cucumbers and yellow squash plants which will be trellised up as well.

delivery!

This is what $500 looks like!

weeds are not really weeds

Peppermint and lemon balm starts. They are going wild in and out of the boxes. Started them and plan to offer them at the neighborhood garage sale next Saturday.

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.

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. 

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.