Still Preparing the Garden

I’m trying to pace myself since I’m also prospecting for new clients (i’m a social media manager, if you know of anyone who needs me). The truth is I had a lot of work to do since the garden was borderline chaos last year with my banged up leg and all.

IMG_1215The lemon mint had taken on a life of its own.  I had some lovely flowers that were taking over all of the supports for the squash.

So the past two weekends, I’ve been cutting down the mint and trying to dig out the roots as best I can.

I’ve gotten my seeds from Burpee and need to restring my beanpoles. Darling hubby promised he’d help. I found some lovely jute twine at my local Ace that I’ll be using.  I need to build back up the soil underneath the poles (and get rid of the grass that’s growing underneath one….I’m planning on using a plastic bag).

I’m not sure where I’ll put the bird feeders and nyger seed socks. Maybe the birds will just have to wait for a spell. They’re not terribly patient.

So next weekend, we’ll restring, and I’ll plant peas on one pole.  Then when the grass has died out, I’ll add more soil and in May, plant green beans.  When the peas are done, I’ll plant more green beans, and then when the first green beans die out, I’ll plant more peas for the fall.


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This year, I got some seed potatoes. I read an article where you can grow them in a simple laundry basket, so I’ll be trying that out next weekend as well.

And I’ll be planting carrots, radishes, spinach and lettuce.

Mid May, I’ll make my annual trip to Scotts Valley to purchase my Love Apple Farms tomatoes.  It’s funny, because I’ll promise myself to stop at 8-10 tomato plants since I want to grow so much else in the garden, but I usually come home with about 24 plants.

I’ve set up a Pinterest account here where I’ll also post some pictures of my flowers. And I have a Tumblr account here. And you can connect with me on Twitter!

What were you working on this weekend?

New e-tools from Burpee

Hi, all,

I got an email today from Burpee showcasing their new iphone/ipad app Garden Time Planner

iphone:

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iPad:

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And they have a new mobile browser application called the Gardening Coach.  I can’t wait to see my customized tips. When I signed up, it also asked if I’d be interested in tips on herbs and flowers (heck, yeah).

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Happy March! Are you ready for planting?

Hello! Well I spent an hour today cleaning up the old plants. Yes, you’re right, I should have done it sooner, but I didn’t. I made decent headway with my self watering containers.

I moved the containers of iris bulbs to the front yard and placed them around the roses and geraniums. It should prove a glorious show in May when they start blooming. I love giving my neighbors something pretty to look at.

I still have a few more containers to clean out, and I have to rethread my Burpee poles for my beans and peas. Being an organic hippie mama, I want to use jute that will decompose, but dear hubby thought I should use nylon which would last more than one season. Good thing he won’t be with me when I buy it.

The birds will be disappointed when I plant this up since I’ve been using the poles to hold my socks for nyger seeds and hummingbird feeders.

Speaking of Burpee, they have a new container corn that I’m so tempted to try. Yes I know, it’s not heirloom nor organic, but the time when I tried growing corn in the container, it was so disappointing. And I love fresh picked corn.

I’m planning out the garden this year. And I may actually limit my tomatoes.  Gasp. I signed up for a CSA box with a friend, so I’ll get the box every other week. I’m committed to making more vegetables. But I need to have my heirloom beefsteaks in my backyard. Nothing is better then picking one around 4pm when it’s warmed by the sun, and you slice it & put some olive oil and kosher salt on it. Ok, I’m making myself hungry again.

I love the beans and peas, and always have to have lemon cucumbers. I usually do summer squash, but the years I’ve grown winter squash, I never catch it in time before some evil bug bores a hole in it which is really disappointing. So maybe I’ll try something different this year.

My blueberries have all died, and I’m wondering how I messed that up. One of the four strawberry containers died, so I’ll either replant with strawberries or repurpose.

The Mexican lime is doing well and produced super marvelous limes that were great in margaritas and gin & tonics as well as when I’d cook fish. The tangerine and tangelo were so bitter this year. But then, so were the oranges that were planted in the ground so I wonder if it was the warmer weather conditions.

The plumb tree has some lovely flowers on it. We had a sudden chill and I covered it overnight, and the blossoms all seem fine.

Are you getting ready for spring planting?

Winter Vegetable Harvesting

Winter Vegetable Harvesting

suburbanvegetablegardenerBy now, your spinach, lettuce, and kale are probably getting ready to do some harvesting.  And it’s OK to pull a few leaves at a time.

I was still in a funk and haven’t cleaned out my garden.  I have a ton of excuses.  So I’ve been going back and looking at my pictures of the harvest and really missing fresh veg.  Plus, I’ve been eating egg white scrambles for breakfast, and could be using my own spinach, thank you, rather then buying a large bag.

I did try growing broccoli and cauliflower in containers a few times.  The key is remembering to stake the plants and being brutal about insects.  I lost a lot of cauliflower to these flies that just grossed me out.

And watch the weather.  I lost broccolini and romanescu to a heat wave that caused them to bolt.

However, after taking the walking tour of Love Apple Farms, I’m no longer afraid of bolted plants…they can still be used in salads and other dishes.

Well, just wanted to check in and wish you all a Happy New Year now that January is about over.

Time for some clean up in the garden

my garden needs some love

Time for some clean up in the garden

It’s been an odd 7 months. No pun intended.  For those that didn’t know, I had an accident taking a beginning snowboarding lesson back end of February.  I fractured my leg, and tore through my ACL.  So after the bone healed, I needed surgery to replace the ACL.  (for those curious, I did the cadaver tissue rather then having them take a piece of my hamstring or tendon.  it was a good recovery)

 

So I had a period of time when I could walk on both legs but still needed to wear the brace when I could plant up.  I did have help with watering, thankfully, but I was bull headed about wanting to get independent and putter again.  The downside is I would get really tired and couldn’t stand.  I did go out and squish bugs.  I was really focused on being completely organic this year.

And I used Mittleider Method trace minerals and the results were gorgeous.  Here are some heirloom tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, and a cantaloupe.  Which was delicious.

bounty

So I had set up this blog to be auto-pilot recommending gardening related things for a few reasons. One of which was so Google would keep me indexed for when I healed.

And now is the time to clean up the garden (and the blog), remove the weeds, trim back the dead branches, etc. And for me to get back on track with my love of backyard gardening, and influence you to just try one thing. You will get addicted. And I won’t feel the least bit guilty.

I still want chickens but the dear hubby still says no. Maybe I need to make more scrambles. He did get tired of quiches.

But for now, I need to cut things back, turn the compost pile, and consider planting a cover crop for this winter.  Yes you can do that in a container!  I’ll probably just mix in more trace minerals and worm casings in January, and then start planting early crops like spinach and lettuce and peas.