Ten Reasons to grow a Vegetable Garden

I look forward each year to growing my own vegetables.  Here's a few reasons to give it a go if you haven't already.

1.  It's eco-friendly.  The food you grew in your back yard didn't travel 100 miles (or more) to get to your table. It's local food at it's finest, and is just a few steps away from your kitchen.
2. It's healthy.  You know what you've put into your vegetables, what you have or haven't sprayed on them.  It will also encourage you to eat your own vegetables because you worked hard to get them!
3. It's exercise.  Ever dig a hole?  What about digging up a hole garden? It's a work out! Weeding is too.  Gardening gets you outside, enjoy the fresh air. If you live in a hot climate like I do, make sure you do your digging and weeding first thing in the morning before the heat hits, and feel the benefits of a good work out the rest of your day.
4. It's educational. I homeschool so I find the educational value in everything. We're beginning a botany unit study and it's perfect to start our own seeds in and watch them grow.  Great timing, too.
5. It's cheap. This should have been #1 right? Done right with proper planning gardening can be cheap. It can be expensive, too. Ever read the $64 tomato?  If you're looking to stretch your budget, get your seeds, and get moving.  Seeds can be as cheap as $1 a packet, and you can get so much food for that dollar.
6. It's delicious. Any food you grow yourself is going to taste better than the bland stuff they sell at the store.  The kinds of vegetables they sell at the grocery store are usually varieties created to have a long shelf life so they can survive their trek to you.  Try new varieties or even old heirlooms that were created to taste good. Imagine... a red tomato. It's a marvelous thing.
7. It's a silent protest. I have lot's of issues with the FDA, and food in American in general.  When I grow my own food I don't buy it from someone else. Period. Don't like what's going on with food politics?  Stick it to the man, and grow it yourself. 
8. It's therapeutic.  Kids been yelling all day?  Boss get on your nerves at work?  Go outside, and pick at your garden. Listen to the birds, the kids playing in the neighborhood and unwind.  I always feel better after I get my evening pickins in.
9. It's beautiful. I love gardens of all kinds.  I have seen some breathtaking vegetable gardens.  Don't forget to mix in flowers and herbs in your garden.  Marigolds to keep the rabbits gone, some nasturtiums because they're yummy, and any other small little flower to attract bees and other pollinators to your back yard grocery store.
10. It's communal. I have swapped seeds with neighbors on both sides, and across the street.  We trade heirloom seeds, garlic, whatever we have on hand just to help each other have a beautiful variety of things to grow.  We also talk about solutions to problems we all might have.  Bottom line, it gets us talking and builds community.

Do you have a horrid brown thumb?  Next best solution to a back yard vegetable garden is joining a CSA.  Find a farmer, and keep it local!

Homestead Happenings

I've finally gotten around to planting some seeds. I feel like I'm already late in the game with seeds.  I need to get outside and actually sow some spinach and other winter, early spring seeds.  Here's what little I've started so far.

Last year I bought one dill plant from the local nursery, and I harvested the seeds from the flowers once it dried out. This is the first time I've tried this with dill, and I'm pleased to see sprouts this week.  Yay for free herbs, right?

I always try to save plastic seed starter cups whenever I buy plants from the nurseries.  I had to buy quite a bit last year since I moved to Maryland mid-May.  I couldn't start any seeds last year.  These are spaghetti squashes.  Funny, usually I start tomatoes first.  I'm always stressed to get enough tomato plants so I can preserve them.  Right now we're on a spaghetti squash kick though.  I grew one plant last year. I got one squash from it.  Ate it around January.  My goal is to get 20 squashes.  Not plants, but harvest at least 20 squashes.  So far, these are 5 plants.  I'd like to plant the entire packet I bought to reach this goal.

I got some free plywood this week from the local small engine shop.  They put their pallets and extra plywood out back for people to pick up.  So far our new chicken coop has cost us around $30 in supplies.  Hopefully I can pick up some more wood this week and keep it as cheap as possible.

And now for some sad news.  This is our spare rooster.  We're going to have to butcher him at the end of the week.  He appears to have some kind of tumor and has always been a runt and somewhat sickly.  I've raised this fella from the time he was 2 days old.  It will be our first butcher for us, and I'm testing the waters with how I feel about this.  We've talked about raising meat birds, and if I seem to be ok with this process then we may end up getting meat birds later on. 

The good and bad, right?

Growing Garlic

I could dwell on the problems in my life, and sometimes it's incredibly hard not to.  So, my zen is usually out in the garden.  It's the simple moments like this though that bring me joy and help me put everything aside.  I stole a moment the other day when a shipment of garlic arrived.

There's so much garlic that I think if I planted it all I wouldn't have room for anything else, so I'm giving some to some gardener friends to see how they do with it as well.  This is the first time I've grown garlic in Colorado, and I've done little bits in Virginia when I lived there.  This is the biggest haul I've tried, so hopefully it will winter well, and I'll have garlic coming out of my ears next summer.

On a sunny Friday afternoon, I grabbed my girl, and we went planting.  She loves getting out there in the dirt, she always has.  I refreshed my memory on how to grow garlic on some links that I will provide.  I'm no expert at all, just a hobby gardener.

I still have some summer clearing out to do to make more room for garlic.  The garlic will stay in the garden until next July, so I have to choose my space carefully.  The bed we were working in wasn't very successful with anything I planted this year, so I feel like anything is an improvement.  Anyway, here are some links to some bloggers who know more about growing garlic than I do.

1. http://www.dharmarose.com/garden/growing_garlic.html

2. http://peakgardening.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/growing-garlic/ (Colorado specific!)

3. http://www.9news.com/life/garden/story.aspx?storyid=100955&catid=222

Growing Herbs: Jaime Oliver

I have been a long time fan of Jaime Oliver. He has huge dreams that I hope come to fruition. Have a fantastic weekend!!

Recycled seed container

I have the gardening bug, like two fold because I really didn't get to garden last summer.  Lots of my spring posts are going to be how to stretch your buck in the garden.  I've been inspired by Gayla Trail the author of Grow Great Grub, and You Grow Girl.  I bought her book Grow Great Grub last year just for the eye candy, and now I'm putting some of her ideas and practices to use.

One of my weaknesses is the veggie dumplings from Whole Foods. This is the container said dumplings come in.  Perfect for lettuce because of it's shallow root system.  It would also be good for some herbs, or sprouts.  If you have one of those pop out herb windows in your kitchen, you could probably grow fresh spring lettuce all year long.

First things first, you need to cut holes in the bottom of your container for proper drainage.  Simple enough, a sharp knife, or scissors will do. Next fill it with some potting mix, or a seed starting mix. I used a blend of mesclun for my spring lettuce.  I love the variety, and to me variety means something will pop up, guaranteed.  It's just yummy too.

Keep it moist for a few weeks in your spring weather.  The seeds like chilled nights, and don't do too well when it gets super hot.  The Colorado weather right now is perfect for them because it still dips into the 40's and 50's at night.  Sometimes even the 30's.

In a few weeks you should have sprouts, and in about a month they should be ready for you to eat.  I did this container two weeks ago, and the sprouts are what I'm looking at today.  Two more weeks, and we should have our own home grown lettuce.  I have plenty of these containers too, so if I wanted to do another round of them, I could.  Then I could constantly have fresh lettuce to munch on.

Garden Update

It's a little sad honestly, to see this post from last year and how my garden exploded this week into full growth.  My garden this week, is just barely getting started.  Sunday I noticed I finally had some lettuce sprouts.  I planted them almost three weeks ago, and I was beginning to wonder if they were going to come up at all.    I had also planted some cauliflower, which may have also come up.  They need to grow a bit more before I can figure out what is what.  I forgot to label. ;)

The blueberries are doing well, however I was dissapointed to find spittle bugs on them already.  I pulled off the very small infestation, and will probably make the repellent recipe that is linked here.  For now they've been hosed down, and I"ll keep an eye out.  Anymore spittle bugs, and they get garlic...and tons of it.


There are some peas that I planted mid-March on the equinox.  I did it to bring in spring, and I finally transferred it out to the garden.  In all honesty, I wasn't sure if pea transplants would do well.  I've heard they don't, but this one seems to be doing alright.  I may try this technique next year as well, especially since this growing season starts so late.   

The tomatoes I planted a few weeks ago are doing fine.  Maybe I"m just being impatient this year, I don't know.  I usually put these puppies in the ground by May 15th.  I may put the larger ones I bought at the store out and cover them when it dips too cold, but these guys I think are going to wait until labor day.  I love Colorado, I really do.  I think my garden here though is going to be quite a challenge.  

Broccoli from the garden

I grew broccoli in the garden for the first time this year, so I'm sharing what I'm learning as I go.  I've watched the first head grow, and then grow passed the point of picking.  I wasn't even sure if I was looking at broccoli, or the cauliflower I planted next to it.  It started to bloom, so I panicked and looked online.  Harvest as soon as you see yellow, or you'll end up with what I have here on the right.  So, I harvested some more today.  The heads were smaller then I expected, perhaps it's the type of broccoli, but now we can eat it for dinner tonight.

What I did manage to harvest doesn't seem like it's really worth saving at all.  It's about three little florets which will be enough for us all to have a taste.  Kind of disappointing.  I have a few more weeks before we are out of here, so hopefully we'll get a few more nibbles of broccoli.  I thought I had planted enough to have a crop big enough to freeze some.  Apparently not.  Oh well, can't win them all.

Oh, note the yellow in the broccoli on the side.  According to this website a broccoli bunch should be tight when it's time to harvest.  If you see any yellow on them, harvest them immediately, or you'll end up with what you see up top.

Garden Update

I feel like I haven't done a garden update in a while.  I talked about strawberries briefly last week, but not a full blow update I suppose.  It's been difficult coming to grips with leaving my beloved garden, and I've stopped adding things to it at this point.  I will continue to document it's growth until I leave it, for you're information, and mine.  Sadly I don't think I"ll be able to reap the rewards of all my hard work.  Maybe I'll get someone in here who will finish the work, who knows.

The first shot is of my potato tire.  I filled two tires with organic topsoil, and put about six little seed potatoes in there.  I guess it's been about 10 days or so since I've done that.  This morning I noticed some growth popping through the soil.  I'm hoping to be here when they are ready for harvest.  I would have planted bush beans and marigolds in the tires too, but like I said, I've stopped adding to the garden.

Here is a shot of my broccoli/cauliflower patch.  They are doing extremely well, and I am hopeful I'll be able to snip these buggers before we head out.  I plan on being in the house until the end of June, so it's a highly a possibility.  This is my first time growing brassicas, so I'm reading and learning as I go.  I've been told to wrap the cauliflower in it's own leaves about a week or two prior to harvesting.  Perhaps this is to make it white, or has something to do with flavor.  If I get the opportunity to do that, I will document it here.

My roses started blooming last week.  This particular bush is a monster, and has to be frequently cut back or it will be too heavy for itself and fall over.  I've tied it up in years passed but I've learned to just trim it.  I gave it a harsh snipping in March just as it started to wake up from winter.  It's already huge again.  I'm not great with roses, there used to be two rose bushes here, and one died.  How I killed it I will never know, and honestly I think it was just weak stock.  To keep your roses blooming cut the dead heads immediately, you will have beautiful smelling roses all summer if you do.

This is my monstrous lavender bush.  I just got this last year while visiting my best friend, and it's huge. I plan on selling the dried flower buds once they're ready.  Going to keep a few for crafting, and then probably sell the rest on Etsy.  Hopefully lavender is a perennial in Colorado too.  It really does well in Virginia.

This organized chaos below is what I aim for in my garden.  Peas climbing up their trellis, lettuce that is ready for harvest, and complete pulling up.  Tomatoes growing in between said lettuce and kale,  and nasturtiums filling up the spaces.  Bare ground will invite weeds.  Of course you don't want your jam packed garden to suffer because they're fighting for nutrients, so you have to find the right balance.  

  

The last few days it's been raining, and it wasn't until I posted this picture did I notice the bane of my garden on the leaves.  SLUGS.  I hate them...and I fight them always.  Can you spot the creep in the picture above? My solution though is beer, and yes it works.  They are attracted to the yeast in beer, they go to it and drown, like this little f%$k is about to do (sorry, I told you I hate them).  If you don't have beer on hand, then I suggest salt.  It isn't great, and it feels like warfare if you have serious slug issues.  It's so much nicer to set the beer trap and walk away.  I honestly buy cheap beer for this purpose.  I hate going out there with salt.

Die creep!  There he goes!

Anyway, enjoy your day.  Happy Gardening. :)

Garden Update

This passed week or so the garden took off. Maybe it's the warm weather, or the rain...who knows. Friday I harvested my first bit of lettuce for our Fish Tacos, it was definitely a nice touch. Today I think I have enough out there for an entire bowl of salad...but now I want tomatoes to go with it. Oh well.

I have the entire garden now fully planned out. I know where everything is going to go, so I went ahead and bought some perennial flowers over the weekend. I'm sticking to small flowers that attract beneficial insects, and some that spread. This is alyssum pictured here to the left. I found a yellow variety, which I thought would be nice. Cosmos, zinnias and calendulas are also a pretty and beneficial flower for your veggie garden. Who says veggies can't be pretty??

Here is a shot of my cauliflower. It's growing! It's been in the ground about five weeks now, and this is the only one growing any food. I'm excited, this is the first time I've grown cauliflower. If I'm still living in this house come fall, I'm planting another crop. No brocolli yet, but I will let you know as soon as I see any growing. I'm getting worried that from here on out, it will be too warm to get any good stuff growing.


Here is a shot of my lettuce, onions, peas and kale. I think there is enough lettuce for salad now, but this is the only lettuce that managed to come up this year. I had another row that didn't do anything. I blame it on the heat wave we had a few weeks back.

My next project will be with this tire here. I have some potatoes that are ready to be put in the ground, and probably should already be in the ground.

Easy and green way to reuse tires if you have some laying around. Taters like warmth, black tires absorb heat from the sun. I've read you'll have tires full of taters if you try this method. I've also heard that brand new metal trashcans work well too. Tires are free though, so I'm sticking to the used tires. :)


Anyway, feel free to link you're own gardens, I would love to see what other people are up to. Happy gardening!

Reuse -- Using cans in the garden

This blog is not a gardening blog. Honest. It's spring and that's what's on my mind right now, so deal. ;) Cans! I don't use cans in the kitchen much, mostly because of the BPA levels found in the plastic linings. I do, however, buy coffee that comes in cans, and I've come up with numerous uses for them. One of them using them as a seedling protector in the garden.




Once you've emptied the can, put it upside down in a can opener and remove the bottom, and discard it in your recycling bin.

What you'll get is a metal tube, just perfect for protecting your tomato seedlings from nasties and weather. The main reason I need these, is slugs and cut worms. Sunday night we had a huge storm, hail and all come through. The tomato seedlings that were protected by cans were the only ones that survived. I had one that just disappeared, likely washed away with the heavy rain. Sucky..

I'll keep my seedlings in these until they look like they're about to outgrow them. They have to be pulled up over the plant, so I would imagine about two weeks with this. Then the cans go in storage until next time, or the recycling bin.

My grandfather inspired this technique. Snooping around his old barn one day, I found paint cans with their bottoms taken out. I asked my dad what they were used for, and he explained the gardening tip. Funny how reusing things isn't some new age hippie thing, but a practical practice revisited.

Nasturtium -- A garden must have

It's hard to believe that after about 5+ years of vegetable gardening I have never grown a Nasturtium before this year. When visiting my best friend a few weeks ago, she raved about how easy this flower is to grow, and to grow it in between my vegetables. So, while out with her, I bought a few seed packets to take home and give this guy a try. Shortly after I got home, my daughter and I pushed a few of these seeds down in the ground.

I haven't been weeding much because of this though. Mostly because I didn't know what the leaves looked like, I was afraid I'd pull up a baby flower instead of a weed. Yesterday however, I looked up what they looked like, so I could go out there and confidently avoid my baby Nasturtium's.

So why plant them?

1. They are edible! They are a beautiful addition to any salad, and I have read they taste similar to watercress. Once I have an abundant supply, I'll let you know my own personal thoughts on this.

2. According to the book, Great Garden Companions (linked below), they are reputed to keep away cucumber beetles, so they make a great companion for you're cukes. They also create a habitat for predatory insects...you know, the ones you want in your garden to keep the nasties at bay.

3. They are easy. Even you who has a black thumb can grow these babies. They are hard to kill, and generally reseed themselves year after year. So plant them, enjoy them, forget about them. They'll still be there.

4. One plant will have a variety of colors on it. You'll have a beautiful variety of colors in your garden.

5. Because they are a spreading plant, they act like a live mulch, preventing weeds, and helping your garden retain water. Meaning less work for you.

This is a stock photo I found online, I'll be sure to post more pictures as mine continue to grow. The picture of the seedling up top is from the garden.

Happy Saturday!!

Garden update

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but I decided I couldn't wait. The rain this morning made such a good photo op.

The peas are starting to grow, and will soon be latching on to the fencing I put up for them. My son is waiting patiently, he remembers how awesome they were last year. When you pick them off the vine they burst sweet sugar water in your mouth, so delicious and healthy.

The broccoli and cauliflower are growing well. I'm still not sure how well they'll do. After doing some reading, apparently the spring harvest is usually more difficult then the fall harvest. If this crop doesn't work out, I'll be starting some new plants from the seed sometime in July and trying again the fall. I hear the fall harvest tastes better too. I've been checking the underside of the leaves for pests, and I haven't found anything yet. If I do find something my first line of defense will be a garlic/pepper spray.

The lettuce is growing, and I'm expecting next week I'll probably have my first harvest. The kale is growing well too, I absolutely love kale, but this is my first time growing it, so I'm not sure when it will be ready for picking. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll notice some tomato plants are popping up. I have no idea where these mystery tomatoes are coming from. This is a new bed with new dirt, but I'm going to allow some of them to grow. My guess is that they are chucked yellow pear tomatoes from last season. Less work for me to do I guess. :)



Here is an obligatory pansy, just because it's pretty. Who doesn't love pansies, right?