Rambling...

Come Sunday it will be 2 weeks since my last planting.  In the past I've over planted, impatiently watched everything grow, harvested too soon, and been upset that I have to start the long process over again once the plants are spent.

This time I'm trying to remember to get out and plant every 2 to 3 weeks.  How do I know if I am planting too much of one thing and not enough of another?  I guess trial and error is all I have to go on.  I am excited to see some seeds I planted popping up here and there, it reminds me of how I felt when I saw my first seeds sprouting.    It is also neat to compare the tiny new seedlings to the more established seedlings, serving as a constant reminder that the plants are growing and we will eventually have food on the table.

There is still plenty of space to plant more seeds in the garden.  This weekend I hope to plant more of the following:

• Beets
• Broccoli
• Carrots (we never seem to have enough of these)
• Cauliflower
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Onions (bulbing)
• Radishes

Come January, I'm looking forward to having many of my plants harvesting to make planting room for:

• Peppers
• Tomatoes (many varieties)
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• English Peas
• Potatoes
• Radishes
• Turnips

Garden Update

Here are the most current pictures of the garden (photos taken 12/13/11).

Kohlrabi 

Kohlrabi 

Strange looking Kohlrabi

Ghost Pepper Plant

Swiss Chard Sprouts

Spinach Sprouting

Radishes - you can see where my toddler stepped on one

Radishes

Beets 

Garlic

Test Lettuce

Test Lettuce

Test Lettuce

From Left to Right - Bibb lettuce, Grand Rapids lettuce, Mesclun, Spinach

Grand Rapids lettuce

Bibb lettuce

Broccoli

Turnips

Crazy alien looking onion sprouts

Full view of garden

Basil

Onions

Carrots

Carrots

Spinach

Bibb Lettuce

Cauliflower

Homemade Laundry Detergent (Powdered)

Years ago I used to make my own liquid laundry detergent.  I loved using it, but sometimes it was a hassle to boil, melt, pour and stir the soap to get it just right.  (It wasn't hard, just time consuming.)  There was always the option of making powdered laundry detergent, but I always wondered if it dissolved in the wash well enough to really work.

Yesterday I ran out of store bought detergent, but still had detergent making supplies on hand (I always wanted to get back into making my own anyway) so I decided to try a powdered version instead of the liquid (gel-like) version.

To my surprise the powdered version worked as well as if not better than the liquid!  And it was SOOOO much easier to make!  Here's how:


Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent


1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1 bar grated soap (Ivory, Zote or Fels Naptha)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Stir well.  Use 1 TBSP per load, or 2 TBSP for heavily soiled loads.

Garden Update

The garden as of today.

The Mesclun is coming in nicely!  Can't wait to harvest a salad.

Radishes have doubled in size this week.

When To Harvest?

As exciting as it is to watch my garden grow and change on a daily basis, the truth is I really want to figure out when I can begin to harvest the food I'm growing for my family.  Isn't being self sufficient the goal here?  According to when I planted things , here is a rough schedule of when I can begin to harvest.

It looks as if the first thing I'll get to harvest will be the Mesclun Mix.  According to several online sites, it can be harvested in as little as 3 to 4 weeks (12/10 - 12/17).  This means starting tomorrow I should be able to go get a snippet here and there.  It is a bit overcrowded in the row, so I need to thin the plants anyway.  I may grab a handful here and there to make my store bought lettuce salads more interesting.

• Radishes (Icicle, Short Top) 28 days = 12/19

• Spinach (Bloomsdale Long Standing) 45 - 55 days = 1/2
• Cauliflower (Early Snowball A) 55-65 days = 1/11
• Turnips (Purple Top White Globe) 55-60 = 1/11
• Beets (Detroit Dark Red, Morse's Strain)  60 days 1/11
• Lettuce (Bibb 60-70, Grand Rapids, 3 test varities, 1/17

• Carrots (Danver's #126) 70 - 80 days = 1/27
• kohlrabi 55 = 1/28
• Swiss chard 60 = 1/30

• Broccoli (De Cicco) 80 - 100 days = 2/19
• basil 80-90 = 2/30

• 6 cloves of white garlic (from Publix).  I've heard mixed results using store bought garlic so I want to try this myself to see how it goes. ???  Read 60 - 75 days AND April

• Onions (Hybrid Granex Yellow PRR) 170 mid-June

Update 1/27/2012:  The Mesclun mix was right on schedule.  As of today, there are a couple radishes that appear they are ready to harvest, but it is now more than a month later than the expected date.  Spinach is not very productive, so I am going to take it out of the garden.  The basil got killed by a heavy frost.  I pulled out the test varieties of lettuce and tossed them in the compost bin (to make room for onions).  None of the other crops appear anywhere close to being ready to harvest.

Square Foot Gardening - Spacing List

This information comes from THE ESSENE SITE.  

In the following list, all spacings are according to Mel in SFG (chapter 18) unless otherwise indicated (Mel left a few out)!

 Basil: 1/sqft (according to sqft reader Kevin M. Wilson)
Beans: bush-type 9/sqft; pole-type 8/sqft (see special grid)
Beets: 16/sqft
Broccoli: 1/sqft
Cabbage: 1/sqft
Carrots: 16/sqft
Cauliflower: 1/sqft
Celery: 4/sqft (6") (according to sqft reader Doreen Howard)
Chard(Swiss): 4/sqft
Corn: 1/sqft (revised in 2/96 OG to 4/sqft)
Cucumbers: 2/sqft in a row of 4 sqft (6" apart along middle of sqft row)
Daffodils: 36/sqft
Eggplant: 1/sqft
Garlic: 4/sqft (6") (according to several sqft readers. Some say 9/sqft (4"))
Leeks: 9/sqft (see special technique in 2/96 OG)
Lettuce: 4/sqft
Marjoram: 4/sqft (according to sqft reader Kevin M. Wilson)
Muskmelons: 1/sqft (grow in row of 4 squares, on trellis)
Okra: 1-2/sqft (according to reader Sandra Walters)
Onions: 16/sqft
Oregano: 1/4sqft (according to sqft reader Kevin M. Wilson)
Parsley: 4/sqft
Peas: 8/sqft (grow in row of 4 squares on trellis, see special grid)
Peppers: 1/sqft
Potatoes: 1/sqft (see special technique in 2/96 OG)
Radishes: 16/sqft
Savory: 1/sqft (according to sqft reader Kevin M. Wilson)
Scallions: 36/sqft (2") (see special technique in 2/96 OG)
Spinach: 9/sqft
Squash, Summer: vine-type 3/4sqft (see special grid); bush-type 1/3sqft (see special grid) (see also Zucchini's revised spacing)
Squash, Winter: 1/2sqft (see special grid)
Sweet Potatoes: 2/sqft (according to sqft reader John Webster)
Thyme: 4/sqft (according to sqft reader Kevin M. Wilson)
Tomatoes: bush-type: 4/4sqft (see special grid); vine-type 1/sqft (in row of 4 on trellis)
Watermelon: bush-type 1/sqft; vine-type 1/2sqft - both kinds along trellis
Zucchini: 1/sqft (Mel from 2/96 OG)

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Here are some visual layout grids. The "*"s are where to put the plant or seed. Each table represents a single square foot unless otherwise indicated.12"x12" space (1 per square foot):

*

6"x6" space (4 per square foot):

*	*
*	*

4"x4" space (9 per square foot):

*	*	*
*	*	*
*	*	*

3"x3" space (16 per square foot):

*	*	*	*
*	*	*	*
*	*	*	*
*	*	*	*

pea/bean row space (1' x 4') (the *'s are the plants, the / are left empty):

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

Summer Squash (old method, vine-type): 1'x4' space (note each block below is 12" high by 16" wide):

*

*

*

Summer squash - bush-type: (3'x3') (the * is the squash, the x's are any other plants you desire in their appropriate spacing):

x	*
x
x
x	x	x	x

Winter Squash: 1'x4' space (note each block below is 1' high by 2' wide):

*

*

Tomatoes (vine-type): 1'x4' space :

*

*

*

*

GARLIC!

To be honest, I had given up the the store bought garlic I planted on 11/20/11.  But today when I went out to water the garden I saw that 5 of my garlic cloves have sprouted!  I am SO excited.  It took 14 days for it to sprout, and from what I've read it takes months for it to be ready to harvest, but I am stoked that it seems to be doing well so far.  I may wait one more week and then stick in some more random cloves here and there to make sure we have enough garlic to last us.

What I'm Planting - December 2011

Here's a rough layout of what I will be planting tomorrow.  I know space looks tight in my chart, but it is not to scale.  The green markings are existing plantings (planted in November).  The red markings are additions I am going to be making, based on the Vegetable Companion Chart.

Vegetable Companion Chart

Vegetable Companion Chart

Plant	Good Companions	Bad Companions
Basil	Pepper, Tomato, Marigold
Bush Beans	Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Lettuce, Pea, Radish, Strawberry, Savory, Tansy, Marigold	Onion
Pole Beans	Carrots, Corn Cucumber, Eggplant, Lettuce, Pea, Radish, Savory, Tansy	Beets, Onion
Beets	Bush Beans, Cabbage, Onion, Sage
Cabbage Family	Bush Beans, Beets, Celery, Onions, Tomato, All Strong Herbs, Marigold, Nasturtium	Strawberry
Carrots	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Lettuce, Onion, Peas, Radish, Tomato, Sage	Dill
Celery	Bush Beans, Cabbage, Onion, Spinach, Tomato
Corn	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Cucumber, Melons, Peas, Squash	Tomato
Cucumbers	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Corn, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Radish, Marigold, Nasturtium, Savory	No Strong Herbs
Eggplant	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Spinach
Lettuce	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Carrots, Cucumbers, Onion, Radish, Strawberries
Melons	Corn, Nasturtium, Radish
Onion	Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Cucumber, Lettuce, Pepper, Squash, Strawberries, Tomato, Savory	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Peas
Parsley	Tomato
Peas	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Carrots, Corn Cucumber, Radish, Turnips	Onion
Pepper	Onion
Radish	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Carrots, Cucumber, Lettuce, Melons, Peas, Squash	Hyssop
Spinach	Celery, Eggplant, Cauliflower
Squash	Corn, Onion, Radish
Strawberry	Bush Beans, Lettuce, Onion, Spinach	Cabbage
Tomato	Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Onion, Mint	Corn, Fennel

Chart Credit