Gardens Update!

Wow - have I been gardening up a storm for the last month and a half...unfortunately, it has only been minimally on my own gardens!! My clients' gardens are looking splendid, so at least I am doing my job.

My own gardens have also been doing well without me! Guess that is a good thing. My "Slope Garden" is beginning to bloom - with coreopsis and dianthus (Sweet William). The irises are mostly faded, with a few stoic stalks, holding their blooms til the bitter end. I am anxiously awaiting the daylilies opening - the buds are plentiful.

My veggie garden is doing well too! Though we did get "robbed" the other night - something came in and took a bite out of each strawberry that was just about ready to harvest! Ugh! Well, the chickens got a treat anyway. A tighter chain on the gate, and there were finally enough berries for another harvest! Phew!

My "Squarish Foot Garden" is flourishing! I've still got squares to fill...hopefully today I can sow some seeds. I did put a few tomato plants at the end - two each - Yellow Pear and Super Sweet 100's (cherry tomatoes).
As for my other tomato plants, they have gone into buckets.



And a new project was begun...

I have started herb seeds in shallow containers (they are "deep planter pans" with holes drilled in the bottom) that I am hoping to be able to move in and out of the chicken run - for them to have some "grazing" - but they don't like chives, so more for us people! :o) Hopefully they will enjoy some of the other varieties I planted: Garlic chives, common chives, common thyme, lemon balm, lemon grass, oregano, dill, parsley, chamomile, and cumin!

I am hoping that I can get a few more flower seeds going out front and a few more veggies...

I've also been enlisted to give my friends some gardening advice!! Love that - it has helped me focus my thoughts on gardening - since I've been obsessed with my chickens and all that goes to caring for them! (Best part of chicken ownership?? My littlest, Zig, sits on my shoulder and snaps mosquitoes out of the air! So much better than spraying myself with bug repellent! If I could figure out how to make her a harness, I'd take her to work with me everyday!)

Hoping all of you (my loyal readers!) are getting out and getting soil under your nails!

Time to harvest some lettuce and arugula for salad...

"Squarish" Foot Gardening!

Hello All! I know it has been nearly a month since my last post, but Chick-Weed-ing has been keeping me busy, as well as my little chickies! One of which has been to the vet for an injury - I am picking her up this afternoon...

So back to my title of "Squarish" Foot Gardening...'WHAT IS THAT??' you ask? Well I'll tell you. It is my version of "Square Foot Gardening", pioneered by Mel Bartholemew. According to his website, "Square Foot Gardening is a simple system that adapts to all levels of experience, physical abilities, and geographical locations. Grow all you want and need in only 20% of the space of a conventional row garden. Save time, water, work and money!"

Basically, you divide your garden bed into square foot areas, with either twine, lattice, whatever you have on hand. Then you plant according to Mel's scheme - so many radishes per square, so many tomatoes per square, etc. There is a lot of great theory behind his method - I have two of his books, and even got to hear him speak! So this year, I was determined to try it...in just one of my veggie beds.

Since the weather was accommodating today, and I was finished up work early, I decided I would at least get out and mark off the bed. The tools I used were: bright yellow mason's string, scissors, ruler, staple gun and hammer.


Then I proceeded to string off sections...this is where the "squarish" comes into play. Because my bed is 9' x 4' (the outside dimension), I couldn't get even 12" x 12" squares. So I have a few that are only 12" x 11" and some that are 12" x 18" - so I will plant larger things there. I stapled the string at the first point and then tied a knot around the staple. I pulled the string tight, measuring to make sure I was close to 12" and stapled it on the other side of the bed. I ran the string along the outside of the bed, put another staple in at 12", then ran it across the bed, until I had all the short lengths done. Then I started the long runners - measuring as I went - and wrapping the string around the existing strings...and hopefully forming some squarish boxes.













Once everything was roped off, I started planting!

In the first square I planted some Burpee Little Caesar that I had started. The other three squares are 3 different types of onions - Candy, Mars, & Copra - that a friend traded me (for some Ramapo tomato seedlings).

I can't wait to get out and plant some of the other things I've got still under lights! And I am hoping that my "squarish" foot gardening does in fact take less work, produce more in smaller spaces, and reduce the amount of weeds I'll have to pull!

If you would like to learn more about Square Foot Gardening, you should visit: Square Foot Gardening Foundation
Happy Gardening!

Winter Gardens

I have been lax at keeping up with this blog - and I apologize! With the holidays and all, I've been busy with all the non-gardening aspects of life.

One issue I've been discussing with some of my fellow Master Gardeners is "What do you do during the winter months?" The consensus seems to be that we are all busy ordering catalogs and planning for spring. A few of us start seeds indoors. I personally, got very adventurous this year, and put up a mini hoop-house over one of the raised beds in my vegetable garden. I planted some cool season vegetables - collard greens, Swiss chard, turnips, spinach and carrots. The carrots are left over from summer - they have been growing slowly, most likely they were started too late in the spring, and being a cool season veg, they were not happy with the warm wet weather we had.

I sowed the seeds for the collards, chard, spinach and turnips in early September. We still had some very warm weather, and unfortunately the spinach and chard did not do well. I had a few chard seedlings come up and none of the spinach. The turnips however, really took! And the collards started out well, until the insects got to them.

Even though my crops were more sparse than I had anticipated, I decided to go to the local home improvement center and picked up 6 lengths 1/2" PVC pipes, 1 length of 3/4" PVC and a roll of 4 mil plastic sheeting, and construct my little hoop-house.

To begin the hoop-house, I had my Dad cut some salvaged re-bar into 18" lengths. There were 10 pieces in all. I drove the re-bar stakes halfway into the ground just to the outside of the raised bed frame, equidistant, down each side. Then, carefully, I drove one end of the 1/2" PVC pipe over the re-bar, and down into the soil about 3". With some ease, I bent the pipe over the bed and down over the re-bar. Once the arch was made, I pressed each side of the PVC until the top of the arch was the height I desired. I continued this until I had 5 "ribs" along the bed. I used the 6th PVC as the top rail, which I tied underneath the center of each rib. The plastic sheeting went over it, anchored with bricks along the sides and ends. I cut the 3/4" PVC into 3-4" pieces, that I split down the middle, removing a sliver about 1/8" wide, to make cuffs for holding the sheeting down. Carefully - and this was the most difficult part of the process - I slid the cuffs over the sheeting and arches. One near the top and one at the bottom of each rib. Where the top rail hung over at the ends, I also put a cuff. And my hoop-house was done!


It has been keeping my little crop of veg nice and warm - even with the 6" of snow we had last week! They are still growing and doing very well. I do not need to water too much, as the plastic sheeting keeps in the moisture. I water thoroughly every two weeks, when the condensation on the inside of the plastic sheeting has decreased. The soil is still warm, and the plants are happy!


My next project will be starting seeds indoors with seeds harvested from some of my clients' gardens as well as from my own garden.