Went out looking for stakes yesterday with Josh, in the optimist/foolish hope that the rain will stop long enough for my plants to actually grow. Weather man says we're starting June with a pretty big storm, so I guess not. This close to potting everything up, bringing them inside and putting grow lights over them.
But anyways, back to the stakes. They're hazelnut shoots we found on craigslist. I didn't want to pay 10-15$ a piece for tomato cages, and these sticks were 0.50$ a piece. Got 26 10 foot long sticks for 15$ (I didn't have 13$, and the guy was so nice I thought he deserved the extra 2$). The sellers are this adorable little old couple, Bob and June that had been working this acre for 30 years in Everett. Their garden had an orchard, a rose garden, veggie garden, green house, worm bin, everything you'd want. And it was a bit overgrown, so it had that sort of magical feeling. There were birds nesting right in the middle of the property, and that was just adorable. I think they were thrushes but not robyns. Their garden sorta helped me put to rest any questions I had about comfrey. Ok, the purple blossoms were beautiful. They wasn't too tall, and looked very handsom in the shade under the orchard trees. But it was EVERYWHERE. They told me these were the decendants of one plant June bought 30 years ago. They'd tried an eradication technique a few years ago where they put down lots of black plastic to kill them off. Instead, they sent roots out until they found the light. Kinda thinking comfrey is not worth it...
Friday, May 28, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Worm Bins and Unwise shopping
We were debating on what sort of food digester to have for our scraps. We don't have a garbage disposal at the new house since we're on septic, and anyway now that we have a garden it'd be nice to put that waste to good use. We were thinking of either a homemade green cone or a worm bin. In the end, after looking at online instructions and asking people on the Alternative Kitchen Garden's facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=6726001735) we decided to keep our compost pile for grass clippings and whatnot and have a worm bin. We're picking up the little wigglies today from a lady on craigslist and we've got the bedding shredded, all we need to do it wet it down. Some banana peels and coffee grounds are lying in wait for their first meal too. Josh can't wait for the little guys, it's like I gave him permission for 500 new pets.
While I went about searching for worms yesterday, it appears that I forgot that was the whole point of running to the nursury. I told myself that I had as many plants as I could maintain in my first year garden, but apparently I forgot all about that the second I walked into Molbak's. There were tomatillos, jalapenos, artichokes, and hostas all for very reasonable prices. So now, the four very large pots that had contained my ash tree and rhododendrons at my apartment are now lined up along the south wall of my house with their new charges. The hosta's under the cedar tree, as he'd probably keel over on the south wall.
Molbak's had this potting soil that has bat guano and is advertised to contain no less than 15% chicken manure, so I'd better get the biggest tomatillos in the world out of this experiment. I love tomatillos, I love any sort of green Mexican sauce made from tomatillos, so in my own defense I couldn't resist. When we got back and came to our senses, we realized we didn't have red worms for the bin Josh was constructing, so I went out in search. There are two pretty massive gardens within walking distance of my house, so I grabbed some fancy terracotta pots for barter and went out. The first garden is attached to a house that was just sold, and they didn't have any worms. The second house didn't keep worms either, but somehow I was gifted a cherry tomato plant and a purple heirloom tomato plant. Now I already have 5 tomato plants, but who could resist a purple heirloom tomato?! If anything, its seeds will give me good leverage in a seed swap next year. And I love tomato sauce, tomato salsa, etc. and I know how to can, so they won't go to waste.
In the end I came back worm free, but craigslist had a couple of people selling composting worms. One of them is nearby, and now we're back where I started.
While I went about searching for worms yesterday, it appears that I forgot that was the whole point of running to the nursury. I told myself that I had as many plants as I could maintain in my first year garden, but apparently I forgot all about that the second I walked into Molbak's. There were tomatillos, jalapenos, artichokes, and hostas all for very reasonable prices. So now, the four very large pots that had contained my ash tree and rhododendrons at my apartment are now lined up along the south wall of my house with their new charges. The hosta's under the cedar tree, as he'd probably keel over on the south wall.
Molbak's had this potting soil that has bat guano and is advertised to contain no less than 15% chicken manure, so I'd better get the biggest tomatillos in the world out of this experiment. I love tomatillos, I love any sort of green Mexican sauce made from tomatillos, so in my own defense I couldn't resist. When we got back and came to our senses, we realized we didn't have red worms for the bin Josh was constructing, so I went out in search. There are two pretty massive gardens within walking distance of my house, so I grabbed some fancy terracotta pots for barter and went out. The first garden is attached to a house that was just sold, and they didn't have any worms. The second house didn't keep worms either, but somehow I was gifted a cherry tomato plant and a purple heirloom tomato plant. Now I already have 5 tomato plants, but who could resist a purple heirloom tomato?! If anything, its seeds will give me good leverage in a seed swap next year. And I love tomato sauce, tomato salsa, etc. and I know how to can, so they won't go to waste.
In the end I came back worm free, but craigslist had a couple of people selling composting worms. One of them is nearby, and now we're back where I started.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
What's in the Garden so Far
Our garden's going to be small this year, as we weren't able to even start working on it till May 15th. Our house closed on May 3rd, but we were so busy painting, cleaning and donating all the stuff the old tenant left inside that we just couldn't think about the outside yet. Our new across the street neighbor, Brian was sweet enough to mow the lawn for us until we were moved in properly. You know, once we got the 3,000 lbs of stuff the old tenant left on the lawn to the dump. The old tenant was pretty gross, I don't think he moved more than his cars and his clothes and just left everything else here for us.
May 15th was a big day for us. Josh rented a roto-tiller bright and early at 7am and dug me two veggie plots, flower beds along both sides of the drive way, and two flower beds along the house. The ground is really rocky, but we made lemonade out of those lemons by lining the beds with the rocks, which now (has it only been 5 days?) look very nice with their borders of river stone. The two veggie plots will be henceforth called the North Plot and the South Plot, and the flower beds along the drive way will be called the North Strip and the South Strip. The ones along the house probably won't contain veggies, so I probably won't mention them again.
After roto tilling, I took a big bag of organic compost and started working it in. We were going to let the soil rest for a few days before we did anything else, but wouldn't you know not a few seconds after the compost was added I was in dirt so soft I could make holes for the cucumbers with my fingers. The North Plot got 2 tomato plants (one cherry, the other I don't recall the name of but it's a larger variety, but not so big as to be a beefsteak), a chili pepper plant, 3 yellow squash plants, 4 blue lake bean plants, 4 cucumbers, 3 zucchinis, and two green onions that were left over from last year. Today I was wondering around and two of the yellow squashes don't look so hot; their baby leaves are curling under and turning yellow and their grown up leaves aren't exactly out yet. I'm giving those two another week or so to see if they perk up and if not, culling them and giving my best wishes to the remaining one.
The South plot is more of an herb garden. That bed surrounds a the stump of what I think used to be a Douglas Fir tree. That bed got less compost because I figured the decaying stump would give lots of nutrients. I don't know anything about planting anything around and within old dead tree roots so no one tell me, this is a little experiment. I'd like to use that area in the next few years as host to a plum tree, so I'm hoping the herbs' roots will get into the dead tree roots and break them up to make way for the plum. I put a bay tree there, Lori tells me that they aren't winter hardy here, but the nursery I bought him from said he's cold tolerant to 10 degrees, and it has never been that cold here in my life, so he's staying put. A bunch of cilantro went out there as well, along with a rosemary bush who's just finished flowering, a lemon thyme that just started flowering, a million little chive plants, oregano, and two tomato plants. One of the tomatoes is a cherry variety and the other was a gift from one of my new neighbors. I tell ya, buying a house from a complete slob has its advantages. The previous tenant set the bar so low that by simply not keeping garbage on the front lawn, Josh and I are the neighborhood heroes. Brian came over and tacked up a roof tile, I get a tomato plant, another neighbor Jackie gave me a vine maple. It's just been great. If we'd bought this place from someone who was tidy, then all the neighbors would have noticed is that Josh dresses in all black and they'd be worried that he'd shoot up the block.
But back to this gift tomato. He's a brandywine, and all I knew about brandywines was that they are an heirloom variety. I looked him up and wow he's a monster! It takes him twice as long as the other larger variety I got to give mature tomatoes (I just remembered that was an early girl), he gets enormous and his tomatoes can be a pound and a half each! Jeez I hope he tastes good in salsa because that's where he's going.
On Monday I put nasturtium seeds down on the North and South strips. My great grandmother used to feed them to me out of her garden, and I always thought they were so pretty. Erik had them at the farm and once told me they were the easiest thing to grow. I wanted a nice flower that would go all summer, and I hope they'll fit the bill, plus spice up a salad or two. I sowed some radish and lettuce seeds in old egg cartons as well with the intention of planting them next to the nasturtiums. The seed packets indicate that the radishes will sprout well before the lettuce, but it's the other way around for me. I popped them in the dirt on Saturday and now on Wednesday I have lettuce babies and no radish babies, weird. We'll see what happens. Seattle Tilth is putting on a seedling sale this Saturday, and if I don't see baby radishes by then, I'll just buy them there. I also started dill and parsley in egg cartons, but I don't expect to see them up anytime soon.
May 15th was a big day for us. Josh rented a roto-tiller bright and early at 7am and dug me two veggie plots, flower beds along both sides of the drive way, and two flower beds along the house. The ground is really rocky, but we made lemonade out of those lemons by lining the beds with the rocks, which now (has it only been 5 days?) look very nice with their borders of river stone. The two veggie plots will be henceforth called the North Plot and the South Plot, and the flower beds along the drive way will be called the North Strip and the South Strip. The ones along the house probably won't contain veggies, so I probably won't mention them again.
After roto tilling, I took a big bag of organic compost and started working it in. We were going to let the soil rest for a few days before we did anything else, but wouldn't you know not a few seconds after the compost was added I was in dirt so soft I could make holes for the cucumbers with my fingers. The North Plot got 2 tomato plants (one cherry, the other I don't recall the name of but it's a larger variety, but not so big as to be a beefsteak), a chili pepper plant, 3 yellow squash plants, 4 blue lake bean plants, 4 cucumbers, 3 zucchinis, and two green onions that were left over from last year. Today I was wondering around and two of the yellow squashes don't look so hot; their baby leaves are curling under and turning yellow and their grown up leaves aren't exactly out yet. I'm giving those two another week or so to see if they perk up and if not, culling them and giving my best wishes to the remaining one.
The South plot is more of an herb garden. That bed surrounds a the stump of what I think used to be a Douglas Fir tree. That bed got less compost because I figured the decaying stump would give lots of nutrients. I don't know anything about planting anything around and within old dead tree roots so no one tell me, this is a little experiment. I'd like to use that area in the next few years as host to a plum tree, so I'm hoping the herbs' roots will get into the dead tree roots and break them up to make way for the plum. I put a bay tree there, Lori tells me that they aren't winter hardy here, but the nursery I bought him from said he's cold tolerant to 10 degrees, and it has never been that cold here in my life, so he's staying put. A bunch of cilantro went out there as well, along with a rosemary bush who's just finished flowering, a lemon thyme that just started flowering, a million little chive plants, oregano, and two tomato plants. One of the tomatoes is a cherry variety and the other was a gift from one of my new neighbors. I tell ya, buying a house from a complete slob has its advantages. The previous tenant set the bar so low that by simply not keeping garbage on the front lawn, Josh and I are the neighborhood heroes. Brian came over and tacked up a roof tile, I get a tomato plant, another neighbor Jackie gave me a vine maple. It's just been great. If we'd bought this place from someone who was tidy, then all the neighbors would have noticed is that Josh dresses in all black and they'd be worried that he'd shoot up the block.
But back to this gift tomato. He's a brandywine, and all I knew about brandywines was that they are an heirloom variety. I looked him up and wow he's a monster! It takes him twice as long as the other larger variety I got to give mature tomatoes (I just remembered that was an early girl), he gets enormous and his tomatoes can be a pound and a half each! Jeez I hope he tastes good in salsa because that's where he's going.
On Monday I put nasturtium seeds down on the North and South strips. My great grandmother used to feed them to me out of her garden, and I always thought they were so pretty. Erik had them at the farm and once told me they were the easiest thing to grow. I wanted a nice flower that would go all summer, and I hope they'll fit the bill, plus spice up a salad or two. I sowed some radish and lettuce seeds in old egg cartons as well with the intention of planting them next to the nasturtiums. The seed packets indicate that the radishes will sprout well before the lettuce, but it's the other way around for me. I popped them in the dirt on Saturday and now on Wednesday I have lettuce babies and no radish babies, weird. We'll see what happens. Seattle Tilth is putting on a seedling sale this Saturday, and if I don't see baby radishes by then, I'll just buy them there. I also started dill and parsley in egg cartons, but I don't expect to see them up anytime soon.
First Post
Hello all, well whomever reads these things. I'm writing this as a way to keep track of whatever I do in my garden, as this is my first garden outside of a few pots at my old apartment. So, if you are not me and you read through this, I apologize for the many rambling/incomplete sentences and grammatical errors and I recommend that you just stop reading, as I have no wisdom to share and probably won't improve my writing abilities. I'm just not capable of writing well due to a combination of the facts that I studied math in college and my job consists primarily of reviewing websites written by people who only have the faintest notion of the English language. I called the site"experimental garden" because I don't know what I'm doing, not because of any illicit plants, just fyi.
I know very little about gardening so I was looking around the internet for advice and instruction (I sorta owe the library like a hundred dollars, so they're not too keen on lending me books right now) and I found this great podcast done by an adorable lady named Emma in the UK called Alternative Kitchen Garden ( http://coopette.com/akg ). I think she has similar growing conditions to me in Woodinville, WA (same latitude, I'm in zone 7b, I think she's in 8a) and like me she wants variety and organic practices in her garden. Unlike me, she's an absolute genius and I can't wait to get my hands on her book, which is around 25$ on Amazon. A slight problem with this podcast is that I want to try everything she mentions! For instance, did you know that tea bushes can grow in the Pacific Northwest? I mean, that's not what she actually says, but we have the acidic soil they need, thanks to all the cedar trees. They might good to try, since Josh (hubby) drinks about a gallon of Crystal Lite tea everyday and I'm sure it's going to give him cancer if I don't switch him to something natural soon.
I do have real life garden mentors I can ask questions until I'm blue in the face, but their needs are a bit different than mine; one has a fancy proper garden with shaped topiaries and whatnot, and the other is actually a biodynamic co-op farmer who taught me everything I know about how to raise food while I volunteered at his farm. The farm is called Jubilee Farm, and it's just Southeast of Woodinville in Carnation ( http://www.jubileefarm.org/index.cfm ). The delicious food Erik grows taught me that I'm never trying Kohlrabi or apple trees, Plums and grapes are better grown here than from the store, and that one day I must grow my own celery. I would continue to volunteer at Jubilee for my veggies, but Josh and I just bought a house on a whole fifth of an acre and I'm very excited about trying my own garden. If this is a complete failure, then back to Erik I will go next year. Actually, I feel guilty for not going to Erik this year, but he's a very sucessful farmer, so he can manage without me.
I may or may not link this up with my Facebook page, it all depends on wether or not I can figure out how to.
I know very little about gardening so I was looking around the internet for advice and instruction (I sorta owe the library like a hundred dollars, so they're not too keen on lending me books right now) and I found this great podcast done by an adorable lady named Emma in the UK called Alternative Kitchen Garden ( http://coopette.com/akg ). I think she has similar growing conditions to me in Woodinville, WA (same latitude, I'm in zone 7b, I think she's in 8a) and like me she wants variety and organic practices in her garden. Unlike me, she's an absolute genius and I can't wait to get my hands on her book, which is around 25$ on Amazon. A slight problem with this podcast is that I want to try everything she mentions! For instance, did you know that tea bushes can grow in the Pacific Northwest? I mean, that's not what she actually says, but we have the acidic soil they need, thanks to all the cedar trees. They might good to try, since Josh (hubby) drinks about a gallon of Crystal Lite tea everyday and I'm sure it's going to give him cancer if I don't switch him to something natural soon.
I do have real life garden mentors I can ask questions until I'm blue in the face, but their needs are a bit different than mine; one has a fancy proper garden with shaped topiaries and whatnot, and the other is actually a biodynamic co-op farmer who taught me everything I know about how to raise food while I volunteered at his farm. The farm is called Jubilee Farm, and it's just Southeast of Woodinville in Carnation ( http://www.jubileefarm.org/index.cfm ). The delicious food Erik grows taught me that I'm never trying Kohlrabi or apple trees, Plums and grapes are better grown here than from the store, and that one day I must grow my own celery. I would continue to volunteer at Jubilee for my veggies, but Josh and I just bought a house on a whole fifth of an acre and I'm very excited about trying my own garden. If this is a complete failure, then back to Erik I will go next year. Actually, I feel guilty for not going to Erik this year, but he's a very sucessful farmer, so he can manage without me.
I may or may not link this up with my Facebook page, it all depends on wether or not I can figure out how to.
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