Greens!

Ever wonder what 6 lbs 14.5 oz of greens looks like? Well now you know.

Garden update

The potatoes are growing surprisingly well.  Time to mound up soil.
My Dill is very tall and flowering.
I repotted the blueberries and after a year of thinking they were dead there is finally new growth appearing.
I have lots of seedlings to transplant and need to do it soon.
The green beans I planted are finally sprouting too.
I love seeing signs of Spring.

Yarden Coming Along Nicely

The front yard garden (aka Yarden) is coming along nicely.  I wish I were physically capable of doing so much more so much quicker than I am, however my condition only allows for 15 - 20 minutes of physical activity at a time, and even then I'm down and out for at least an hour afterward.

I posted this picture on my facebook page the other day and was amazed to see the sorta drastic results, or the fruits of my labor if you will.

After seeing the change side by side I decided to play around with some ideas in paint.  I'm thinking a bean teepee off to the side and some white trellises between the windows to grow Blue Sky Vine, or some other beautiful, lush flowering vine.  

Thoughts?

Planted asparagus today

Today I cleaned out bed 2 in the yarden, filled it with soil and planted Mary Washington Asparagus seeds. I have no idea if it will grow, but it was worth a shot since I got the seeds for free. I have done a lot of reading on growing asparagus here in zone 9b and it seems asparagus doesn't like it here and will not grow. But you never know unless you try, right?
Wish my seeds luck & in 3 years I should be able to harvest my first set of spears.


Also want to add I found this great info on growing asparagus in hot climates.

You know how they say you can’t grow asparagus in hot climates? Well, don’t believe it. I live in Zone 9 in Texas, about 10 miles inland in the Galveston area. My husband and I have been growing asparagus in our gardens since 1980. Of course, you do have to make a few modifications to adapt to the heat and soil.
1) Pick the right variety. Texas A&M found hybrids produce better in the heat. Mary Washington and Jersey Giant have done great for me. Purple Passion has also worked well here.
2) Pick the right location for your beds. An area with northern exposure is good, to take advantage of the ‘northers’ when they blow through. Eastern side is good too. Even better, make sure there is at least a little protection from the late afternoon sun – your production won’t drop off as much after 5-6 years if the plants don’t get regularly cooked in the afternoon sun in summer. Mulch is your friend, put it on top of the manure and add more if it gets thin after you stop harvesting. I’ve located my beds both on the north side of the house and on the north side of my property next to a wooden privacy fence. Both have worked well.
3) Prepare the beds carefully. Raised beds only – I can’t say this enough – with good garden soil/rose soil placed on top of the UNDISTURBED soil already there. (I have clay/caliche soil that turns to concrete when it dries out-don’t even try to amend it since it’s a waste of time and money.) Prepare a year ahead if you can, and kill off weeds as they continue to sprout. ESPECIALLY make sure you take time to get rid of nutsedge (or nutgrass, as it is sometimes called) before planting. It can make your life miserable if you don’t, since Roundup only kills off the tops and it keeps coming back.
4) Cut back the ferns in late Dec/early Jan, even if they are still green. You won’t have a frost to kill them back and force dormancy. So do it manually before the (somewhat) cold weather hits in Jan/Feb. If you’re lucky, you may even get a light freeze every 2 or 3 years to help! Cut back the stalks to about 1/2″ to 1″ below the soil line or they could introduce rot to the root in this climate.
5) Invest and buy good quality composted cow manure to top every year. The cheap stuff usually has weed seeds. I ended up with carolina horsenettle sprouting one year, and finally had to kill off the entire bed to get rid of it after it spread to half my garden. Nasty, nasty stuff.

With these differences, I have had tremendous success with my asparagus, and usually end up freezing and giving away quite a bit every year from a single 3′x24′ bed with 11-year-old crowns.

Update 3/28/13:  6 of the 10 seeds I planted have sprouted (5 sprouted by last week and I just noticed one popping up yesterday).  It's going to be a painfully slow process growing asparagus but will hopefully be worth the wait.  

Easy Organic Homemade Ketchup

I had a few very ripe tomatoes and was not sure what to do with them (since I don't like tomatoes) so I started looking for easy homemade ketchup recipes.  I wasn't able to find one that suited my needs (the few tomatoes I had and the spices I have on hand) so I compiled a little bit of all the recipes and came up with this one.


Fresh tomatoes  (I had just under 2 lbs)
white vinegar
sugar
salt
onion powder
garlic powder
onions
garlic

First I blended all of my tomatoes in the blender and ran them through my mesh strainer into a pan.  Turned the heat onto Med.  Finely chopped a small onion and added it to the pan.  Minced a large clove of garlic and tossed that in too.  Added a sprinkle of salt (to taste), some onion powder and garlic powder (again, to taste) then 2 TBSP or so of sugar.  Whisked it all together and let it boil down to a thick consistency.  I let it cool then put it back into the blender to make it nice and smooth.

Easy and delicious!

Cabbage Harvest

Harvested quite a large head of cabbage today.  4 lbs 9 oz!  After doing some research I read many old farmers just harvest the head and first couple sets of outer leaves and in a few weeks they get up to four small cabbages to harvest, so that's how I harvested it too.  Can't hurt to try, huh?

I've never tasted a leek before, but my daughter planted a bunch of leek seeds and they all came up so I did some research on how and when to separate the leeks.

Alien looking leek seedlings.

I was able to find some very useful information on growing leeks here.

Growing Leeks

Grace your dinner table with an easy-to-grow, elegant onion cousin: the leek. Sweet and mild, leeks are gentle on the digestive system and play the role of onion in dishes, only toned down. Unlike onions, leeks don’t produce bulbs, but stash their flavor in thick, juicy stems, looking similar to a giant scallion. Leafy stems are pretty and don’t need much room in the garden.

You will find a clump of several leek seedling plants in our pots.

In the supermarket, leeks cost a premium; harvested from the garden, their a trouble-free bargain. Leeks are most famous for leek and potato soup, but they’re also good steamed like asparagus, oven-roasted, chopped in quiche, or wrapped in ham, baked, and covered with cheese sauce.

Frost-tolerant leeks thrive in cool weather. In Zones 7 and warmer, plants can overwinter in the ground, perfect for fall planting. In northerly zones, tuck plants into beds in early spring, as soon as soil can be worked.

• Soil, Planting, and Care
• Troubleshooting
• Harvest and Storage
• FAQs

Even though our biodegradable pot directions indicate planting the whole pot, in the case of leeks, you need to remove the plant from the pot and very gently coax the clump of seedlings apart so that you can plant each leek seedling separately.

Plant leeks in a sunny spot in soil that is fertile and well drained. Leeks thrive in traditional garden beds, raised beds, or even in tall containers. Space leeks depending on the stem size you want to harvest. For thickest stems, space seedlings 6 to 8 inches apart. For thinner, scallion-size leeks, follow tighter spacing, setting seedlings 3 to 4 inches apart. You’ll gain the best of both worlds by spacing seedlings 3 to 4 inches apart and thinning every other stem when they reach scallion size, allowing remaining stems to grow to thicker size.

Leeks need two things to thrive: high nitrogen and consistent soil moisture. If possible, add compost or organic fertilizer to the leek bed the season prior to planting. Otherwise, work in organic matter into the ground a few days before if possible.

To produce a succulent white stem, leeks must be blanched—that is covered or hidden from the sun. To do this, plant leeks into deep holes. Deeper planting yields a more drought-resistant plant. Make narrow trench 6 to 8 inches deep and tuck seedlings into the trench, pulling soil up to the base of the first green leaf. Water well.

Bury the plants up to the point where the foliage arises from the stem, but not so deep that soil gets into the folds between the leaves.

After planting, mulch the bed with straw, grass clippings, or some other organic material to help soil retain moisture. Soak newly planted leeks with a liquid fertilizer such as Bonnie’s Herb and Vegetable Plant Food. Water leeks as needed until plants are established. After that, plants require an inch of water a week, either through rainfall or irrigation. Inconsistent moisture yields tough stems. Continue fertilizing plants with liquid fertilizer every week or so during the growing season.

As leeks grow, mound the soil from the trench around stems, beginning when stems are 1 inch thick.

I found this great article online regarding harvesting beans.

Harvesting Beans: When Do You Pick Beans

Image by Baron Chandler

By Heather Rhoades

Growing beans is easy. But many gardeners wonder when do you pick beans. The answer to this question depends on the kind of bean that you are growing and how you would like to eat them.

Harvesting snap beans

Green, wax, bush and pole beans all belong to this group. The best time when to pick beans in this group is while they are still young and tender and before the seeds inside are visibly evident when looking at the pod.

If you wait too long to pick snap beans, even by a day or two, the beans will be tough, course, woody and stringy. This will make them unfit for your dinner table.

Harvesting shell beans for their pods

Shell beans, such as kidney, black and fava beans, can be harvested like snap beans and eaten in the same way. The best time when to pick beans for eating like snap beans is while they are still young and tender and before the seeds inside are visibly evident when looking at the pod.

Harvesting shell beans as tender beans

While shell beans are frequently harvested dry, you do not necessarily need to wait for them to dry before enjoying the beans themselves. Harvesting beans when they are tender or “green” is perfectly ok. The best time when to pick beans for this method is after the beans inside have visibly developed but before the pod has dried.

If you pick beans this way, be sure to thoroughly cook the beans as many shell beans contain a chemical that can cause gas. This chemical breaks down when the beans are cooked.

How to harvest and dry beans

The last way to harvest shell beans is to pick the beans as dry beans. In order to do this, you will leave he beans on the vine until the pod and the bean is dry and hard. Once he beans are dry, they can be stored in a dry, cool place for many months, even years.

Planted Green Beans and Yellow Beans 2/19/2013

I recently planted beans and peas in the border beds by the chicken coop and yesterday I added Yellow Beans and Green Beans to the mix.  I'm hoping to have enough beans to eat fresh and put up.  I still have a couple hundred more bean seeds to plant, and I'm focusing on succession planting them so I'm not overwhelmed with prepping.  Last night I told my husband I hope I can grow enough beans to make everyone sick of beans and he said there is no way I can do that.  Challenge accepted!

What to plant in March Zone 9b

March is quickly approaching and I've got the itch to get more seeds in the ground ASAP.  

Here is a list of what you can plant in March in zone 9b.

Beans: Bush, Pole, and Lima
Cantaloupes
Sweet Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Okra
English Peas
Peppers
Sweet Potatoes
Pumpkin
Gourds
Squash
Tomato
Watermelons
Carrots
Collards
Kohlrabi
Beets
Lettuce
Mustard
Green onions and Shallots
Radish
Turnips
* Mound up soil around potato stems to protect tubers from sun damage.

The items in BOLD are the crops I'm going to grow, however my primary focus will be on growing beans.  Lots and lots of beans.  I've got a shit ton of green bean seeds, along with a few new varieties that I am going to grow.  Speaking to other gardeners in my community, we average 4 to 8 green beans per bush bean plant.  That means I'll need to plant at least 20 plants for every meal I want to be able to serve my family, and more if I want to can or freeze beans for the winter.  I have about 400 green bean seeds, and hope to get them ALL in the ground this season. 

Planted Beans & Peas 2/16/13

We're expecting a frost tonight, but other than this unexpected fluke the weather has been exceptionally warm and nice.  I am taking a chance here, but I moved forward with planting some beans and peas today, in hopes of an early crop in the next 2 months.  I've never grown plants up the chicken coop before, but my theory is the vines will climb up the wire and the extra nutrients from the chicken manure in the coop will leach into the soil where the seeds are.  I'm also going to try growing Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans up the 4x4 fence posts.  Again, I'm hoping they will climb the posts, but only time will tell.

How to Save Broccoli Seeds (With Pictures)

Broccoli is probably one of the most loved vegetables on the planet.  Of course I don't know if this is fact or not, but I've never met a kid who doesn't love eating "baby trees" and with it's mild flavor even the pickiest adults I know enjoy it.

Let's talk about HOW TO SAVE BROCCOLI SEEDS

First, grow some broccoli.  As difficult as it is to NOT harvest it, leave it alone.  

After the head starts opening you'll see shoots with pretty little yellow flowers come up.

Aren't those pretty, happy flowers?  

When all of the seed pods that develop where the flowers were swell, cut down the stalks and place in a brown paper bag.  There was a mishap with my GrowBox and I had to chop the stalks down earlier than I would have liked to.  Hopefully the seeds are still viable.

After the pods are dry and crunchy pick them off.  I suggest doing this over a bowl because I had broccoli seeds flying everywhere.

When you've loaded up your pods, smash them.  I used my hands to do this.  Just crunch and smash.

To separate the seeds from the pods I got out my two favorite kitchen tools...The colander and the bowl.  

I placed the colander inside the bowl.

I gave it a gentle shake and swirl and the seeds fell through the holes.  Ideally this was a perfect plan.  I didn't account for (a) some of the pods going through the holes and (b) not smashing enough so there were still some unopened pods.

As any OCD Gardener would do, I picked through the pile one by one to make sure I didn't miss any seeds.  There were also a few pods that weren't fully dry.  I would have let them sit longer but we're hosting a party this weekend and I needed to get the bag of seeds off my kitchen floor.  The green pods went into the container and will be tossed into the compost.  Who knows, I may get some volunteer broccoli out of it.  

When I finished searching through the pods this is what was left.  I bin for the compost and a bowl of seeds to grow.

My finished broccoli seeds.  Some folks are extra OCD here and remove all the little bits of chaff from the bowl.  I figure it's just some extra organic matter for the garden so I leave it.  

The next step will be testing germination of the seeds, but I haven't gotten that far yet. 

The seeds I originally planted were purchased from MyPatriotSupply.com.  This specific variety is called Green Sprouting Broccoli.

First Egg After Molting

I recently wrote about my hens molting.  Heavens to Betsy was I getting aggravated at not having fresh eggs. Yesterday I noticed Ming Ming squatting, a behavior they started just before they first started laying.  Being the Mother Hen I am I decided to put their nesting box back in the coop last night.  I was rewarded with an egg today.  54 days with no eggs and the wait is finally over.  I am so excited she may as well have laid a Golden Egg!  Yahoo!

The Discouraged Gardener

There is so much gardening information available.  Websites, forums, books, friends, farmers....it seems everywhere I turn there is someone who thinks they know better than everyone else.  Some things I've heard:

Your plants will burn in the hot Florida sun, so make sure they aren't in direct sunlight all day.
Your plants need direct sunlight all day.  They won't grow in shade.
Grow your veggies under trees so they get filtered sunlight.
We have pests so you can't garden organically.
Grow your soil organically and you won't have pests.
Intercrop.
Plant in rows.
Square foot gardening.
Use manure.
Don't use manure.
Use fertilizer.
Don't use fertilizer.
Keep laying layers of wood chips.
Only use goat, rabbit or llama manure.
Add all the organic matter you can get your hands on.
Use Miracle Grow.
Grow in the ground.
Only grow in containers.
Plant by the lunar cycles.
Watch for volunteer plants.


...And the list goes on and on.  Not only is it overwhelming, it is also discouraging.  It seems like no matter what I try to do there is someone always telling me I'm doing it wrong (of course they are offering "helpful suggestions" but they may as well be saying nanny-nanny-boo-boo).  If things were growing out of control and over productive I might laugh them off and tell them, "well it's working for me so I'm not changing it."  The reality is I see pictures of lush, beautiful gardens and I get so jealous of those folks because my garden isn't producing anywhere near enough to provide one meal for my family, let alone sustaining us through an entire year.  I really, truly, desperately want to grow enough food for my family so I've thought long and hard about how to remedy the issues I'm having.

Invest in good quality seeds.  This means going through all of my 150+ varieties of seeds, doing germination testing, tossing old seeds and getting serious about planting the remainders.  In the past year the most success I've had with any brand or supplier or seeds was a single pack of Organic Heirloom Italian Genovese Basil from Botanical Interests.  The plants were huge and super productive.  I don't have the income to order more seeds from Botanical Interests yet, but when I do you can be sure I'll be switching over to their seeds 100%.

Grow only the foods my family loves.  I'm a sucker for a seed catalog.  I can spend countless hours reading every.single.description from cover to cover, sharpie marker in hand, circling away frantically at all of the things I "must have" for the upcoming season.  I don't actually place orders for them and always feel boring with my green beans, squash, tomato and pepper plants when I could have had things like Calypso beans, Purple and Green Artichoke or Tonda di Parigi Carrots to grow.  *sigh*  My family eats green beans, tomatoes, squash and peppers.  I do try to add at least one new variety each year, which is how we found Mibuna Mustard Greens.  Delish!  I have also tried growing several varieties of radishes, and no one in my family eats them!

Succession plant.  I can't stress this one enough.  I get all gung-ho about gardening, don't see results as quickly as I'd like, then I get discouraged and give up.  I need to stay on top of succession planting this season.

Plan the garden layout.  It seems I never have enough space in the garden.  I'm probably trying to grow too many things to have a decent harvest of any single crop.  What started out as one main garden bed has grown into planting edibles in all of my border beds and in the front yard.  If I start with a better planned layout maybe everything will benefit.

After losing my job 3 years ago I finally have the time to garden, but I don't have the income for it.  I know there are lots of ways to garden on the cheap, but here in Central Florida we need LOTS of amendments, more than a person can seemingly add successfully.  By the time I amend and get the seeds in the ground all of my organic matter is gone.

My toddler is almost 3 now and it's nearly impossible to find the time to get out there alone to garden.  I love that she wants to do it with me, but she generally just goes behind me digging up the seeds I planted or washing them away (she calls it "watering the seeds").  I know she will grow up too fast and she won't be doing this forever, but when you're trying to be self-sufficient it is really hard to sit back and watch it happen.  I have built her a bed of her own, but she likes to dig in the main bed more.

What struggles do you face in the garden?  Do you ever get discouraged?

Growing Salad in the GrowBox

I've been contemplating what to plant in my GrowBox and this morning I decided I wanted to plant a salad garden.  Here's a diagram of the seed placement.  Not sure how well multiple crops will do in the limited space, but giving it a try anyway.  Figured I can eat fresh baby salads and small (finger sized) carrots as I thin plants to give them more space.

When will my hens start laying again?

Back in mid-December the hens started slowing down egg production.  While that was expected, I did not expect them to molt at 8 months old and stop laying all together.  We collected our last egg on December 21st.  I was really missing the taste of farm fresh eggs, but am lucky enough to have a wonderful friend who has many pet chickens and who happens to be a vegan, so she is keeping us with a supply for the time being.    While this is all well and good, I do miss the whole process of keeping things simply self-sufficient.  

I've been doing a bit of reading online and it seems I may have poor layers who are also slow molters, where the molting process can actually take up to 7 months.  SEVEN MONTHS?!?!?  Yikes.  They didn't even start laying until September. :(  A fast molt only takes 2 - 3 months.  Anyone know of a chicken that doesn't molt?!?  Lol.

I've also read the molting process typically happens once a year for adult birds.  Pullets, or immature hens, go through one full and three partial molts prior to coming into lay.  Does this describe my young gals?  8 months old and molting???

It has been mentioned eggs become higher quality after a molt.  I guess that's something positive to keep in mind, huh?

It's often suggested you add extra protein to a chicken's diet during a molt.  Feathers are made up of protein after all.  I have been adding mealworms, some scrambled eggs, more table scraps and veggie garden plants.

Guess all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.  

Garden Tour: February 2013

Beets and Thai Peppers in my EarthBox

Dill and Cilantro need to be harvested and dried

Ghost Pepper Plant looking better

Mibuna Mustard

Failed attempt at spreading veggie and flower seeds in my flower bed.  Cleanup added to my To Do list.

One of my daughters gardens

Cabbage almost ready to harvest

More Mibuna Mustard.  This stuff tastes AMAZING!

My other daughter's garden.

Potatoes planted today in grow bags.

This is the GrowBox.  I don't like it nearly as much as my EarthBox, but hey, maybe I got a defective one.  This one does not wick water.

Broccoli seeds ripening

Key Limes

Main Bed, freshly clean and amended.

Hardin's miniature tomatoes.  

Celery trench

Another shot of the main bed

Meyer Lemon Tree

Pinecone Ginger not doing well.  On my To Do list is to move it to a wet, shady area out back.

Bed 1 of the front yard garden. Pumpkin, kohlrabi, bibb lettuce, tomatoes, chard and a watermelon plant.  This bed is filled with leaf litter topped with horse manure.

Bed 2 was a failure.  I used leaf litter and bulk potting soil from the local nursery and nothing else.  To Do:  Amend heavily and grow asparagus here.

Bed 4 is my tomato bed.  Can't decide if I want to add supports or let the plants sprawl, but I need to figure it out quickly.  Bed was filled with leaf litter, shoveled soil from chicken coop and topped with wood chip mulch.

Bed 3 - Strawberries, nasturtiums and kales.  Bed was filled with leaf litter, shoveled soil from the chicken coop and topped with wood chip mulch.

Surinam Cherry

Bed 5 has garlic and onions growing.  Bed was filled with horse manure and topped with wood chip mulch.

Another Meyer Lemon Tree.

The Moringa Tree got a haircut.  Patiently waiting for it to re-grow.

Meyer Lemon tree.