Front Pots 2009

We took a trip to Hart's Nursery today. Ty (12) helped me pick out plants for the front stoop. Who knows, maybe he'll be a landscapist someday. We looked for plants that would do well in part shade since the front faces the North. I think he did an awesome job choosing contrasting colors, different textures and various heights. He chose:

Mexican Feather Grass: full sun/part shade 12-18"

Lemon Twist Coleus: Sun Shade 24-36"

Blue Bird full sun/part shade 10-12" a bit trailing

Rockapulco Purple Impatiens part shade 10-20"

Ipomoea Sweet Caroline full sun 14-18" trailing

We filled two light weight pots 20" wide and 16" tall with top soil and compost and mixed in fertilizer pellets.

Update-June 11th, 2009

2009 Gardening Planting Dates & Notes

4/5/09
Tarragon

4/12/09
all transplants
Broccoli -harvested 6/18-Small heads, very tasty. Continued to send out small shoots clear through August.
Brussell Sprouts-8/30 still not doing really well. They are getting eaten by something at night.
Cabbage-getting chewed up by cabbage loopers. i hand pick almost daily. consider row cover next time.
Cauliflower-began harvesting 6/18-getting chewed
Ice Berg Lettuce-planted 4/12 in between the cauliflower and broccoli plants. It really seemed happy and healthy, but never formed the tight heads you get in the store. Maybe because I harvested the outer leaves. Bugs weren't a problem.
Kennibec Potatoes
Lollo Lettuce -loved this lettuce and it's bright red color. planted 4/17 and ate thru late June. Bugs didn't bother this lettuce.
Red Potatoes
Red Onions
Simpson Lettuce-planted 4/12 in between the broccoli and cauliflower. It also thrived under the leaves of it's friend and no bug problem.
Yukon Gold Potatoes

4/17/09
New Zealand Spinach-grew very well, no bug problems. I just didn't know what to do with it. I ended up pulling it all out before it flowered and composted all of it.
Bloomsdale Spinach-planted 4/17 and ate it thru mid June. Grow more of it and more frequently. Cutworms did seem to like this, so I hand picked them daily.
Tom Thumb Lettuce-Planted 4/17 and was ready in late May. Very cute little iceberg heads. You need to pick this when they are young or they go to seed very quickly. Bugs seemed to stay clear of this one.
Mascara Lettuce-planted 4/17 and started harvesting in late may. This leaf is very pretty and looks like a green/red oak leaf. Great in a garden salad mix. Bugs didn't bother it very much.
Forellenschluss (from transplants) Lettuce-planted 4/17 and started harvesting early may. Very pretty. Cabbage loopers love this one.
Dark Lollo Lettuce-planted 4/17 and started harvesting Mid may. Love this lettuce. Bugs not a problem.
White Onions
Marigolds

4/18/09
Sugar Snap Peas -planted 4/18 and started harvesting 6/18. These are very sweet, pod and peas. If left to get fat, the seeds are very woody. No bug problem.
Blue Pod Peas-love these just for the colorful flowers they produce and then the purple pea pods. They are absolutely brilliant in a salad. Pick when very young, otherwise they are woody.

4/20/09
Detroit Beets-beets didn't grow this season.
Bulls Blood Beets
Chioggia Beets
Muscade Carrots-didn't like the taste of any of the carrots. But pulled them long after july. A friend told me they should be picked before july heat. I'll try them in my fall garden.
Atomic Red Carrots
Danvers Carrots
Amarillo Carrots
Lunar White Carrots

4/25/09
Parsley
Basil
German Cherry Tomato-pretty tasteless.
Green Zebra Tomato
Cherokee Purple-really like this tomato
Red Grape Tomato
Green Tennessee Tomato
Kentucky Beefsteak Tomato
Flame Hillbilly Tomato
Brandy Wine Tomato
Beefsteak Tomato
Green Peppers

4/30/09
Cucumber-growing quickly, no bugs yet-6/24.
Pole Beans-growing, cucumber beetle problem; sprayed and no growth is not affected.
Scarlet Red Beans-growing, cucumber beetle problem; sprayed and no growth is not affected.
Yard long bean-growing, cucumber beetle problem; sprayed and no growth is not affected.

Need some HTML help

Can anyone help me with html language? I'd like my header picture (alium) to be to the left side of my text rather than behind it?

Sweet Potato Starter

I've read that we can start our own sweet potato slips simply by placing the sweet potato in water. Seems easy enough. I used a flower vase with a narrow neck but larger mouth. I inserted toothpicks into the potato so it would hold itself up. We'll watch it and once we have enough foliage we'll transplant some outside.

First Raised Bed of the Season

I know it's a little late getting my raised beds planted, but this is my first year. My plan was to have six raised beds 4x8 ft long and 20 inches deep built. I found some great videos on how to build raised beds on youtube by The Garden Girl/Patti Moreno. I had my husband watch the videos and then very nicely asked if he would make them for me. He started out by making 2 beds. He bought 12 2x8x10 boards, 2 2x2x8 (for reinforcement inside the box), and a box of 3 1/2 in deck screws. He and the kids were able to construct them pretty quickly in one evening. He did cuss a bit about a few warped boards, so look for the straightest boards you can buy! We placed them in our backyard so we could look at them from our kitchen window up above.

I thought I'd get these filled in no time! I started with a layer of horse manure, then shredded paper, old produce from the grocery store, straw, more manure and then topsoil and compost. 20 inches tall doesn't seem like much until you are trying to fill it. Once my husband saw how much it took to fill it, he wanted to compromise and only make two more beds and do two next year. I already have my garden graphed out, so I went for 4 more beds 10 inches deep. He doesn't have to know now, that we'll add another 10 inches next summer.

Aren't these beds lovely? I didn't put a weed barrier on the bottom for two reasons: I thought the beds are deep enough and I want the worms to be able to get into my beds. It's their garden too and I need their help.

This is a picture from the deck on the back of our house overlooking the gardens and pond. Myron built the arbor and swing and we love sitting there watching the wildlife and fish. We like to build a small fire pit close by to enjoy smore's in the evening.

Here's Trooper. He LOVE's to garden. As you can see, I marked off one foot sections with string for square foot gardening. It really does make it so much easier to plant.

This is my bricked in garden that I use for herbs, cut flowers and whatever else I need to put over there.

This year I'm trying potatoes in a bag and also cages. We'll see which they prefer.

Here you can see my six beds, not all quite ready. Ty and I filled two more of the smaller beds last night. We carried 40 40lbs bags of topsoil and compost. They didn't quite finish off the two beds. I think 25 bags per bed will do it. I keep telling Jon that next year will be much easier. We'll start making our own compost this year. So moving forward we should be pretty self-sufficient.

This year I've decided to purchase only heirloom seeds. I'll see how they grow this year and start collecting my own seeds. It's not as easy as I thought, so I'll start with baby steps. The first bed is filled with transplants I started in my grow room. The lettuce looks pretty good. We've got Simpson, mascara and lollo lettuce, brussell sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower planted.

Spring fever in January

So in January, when I could hardly stand it, I begin reading through my gardening books and internet articles. I stumbled upon topics such as Heirloom seeds, sustainable gardening, survivalist living. I was intrigued. I decided to commit to an organic Heirloom garden this season and see what all the fuss is about. As you get older and think of the earth you are leaving your children, you begin looking at living in this world differently. How can you do the things you do with less of a hurtful impact on the earth? This is what I want to find out. It was still January and I couldn't go outside and get dirty so I decided to order my Heirloom seeds. After reading many reviews, I ordered from Baker's Creek Heirloom. I went a little over board, but all my reading indicates that I need to help the world of seed savers keep these seeds going.... I'm just doing my part.

I ordered:

Old Homestead (Kentucky Wonder) Bean

Scarlet Runner Beans

Bull's Blood Beets

Chioggia (Bassano) Beets

Detroit Red Beets

Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli

Long Island Improved Brussell Sprouts

Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage

Perfection Drumhead Savoy Cabbage

Snowball Self-blanching Cauliflower

Danvers 126 Half Long Carrots

Atomic Red Carrots

Lunar White Carrots

Amarillo Carrots

Muscade Carrots

Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn

True Gold Sweet Corn

Delikatesse Cucumber

Wonderberry

Tom Thumb Lettuce

Forellenschluss Lettuce

Henderson's Black-Seeded Simpson

Iceberg

Dark Lolla Rossa

Lollo Rossa

Mascara

Kansas Lettuce

Blue Podded Peas

Sugar Snap Peas

Purple Jalepeno Pepper

Emerald Giant Pepper

Early Scarlet Globe Radish

Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach

New Zealand Spinach

Winter Luxary Pie Pumpkin

Green Zebra Tomato

Spear's Tennessee Green

Kentucky Beefsteak

Brandywine

Cherokee Purple

Beefsteak

Red Grape

Flame (Hillbilly)

White Zebra

Egg Yolk

Long Milky Way Moon and Stars Watermelon

Cilantro

Dill-Bouquet

Parsley-Giant of Italy

Russian Tarragon

Basil