Garden Update

Every year my garden grows a bit more. Scott teases me that soon our backyard will just be raised boxes. I love the process of gardening so much. I love watching things grow. I however am not that enamored with the pest control or weeding. I am ok with the harvest but that does not make my soul sing. My excitement comes from planning my garden and watching it grow. 

After a fitful start, the peas are huge and producing so much. I have to remember to get out there everyday to pick some peas. Some of the peas are hiding so I have to take some time to find all the plump peas. 

My tomatoes and tomatillo plants are flowering and I can't wait to eat their sweet cherries. I stuck to the small tomatoes this year since that is what I really enjoy eating. I can't wait to see what happens with the tomato/potato plants! 

The squash are spreading out. Their leaves are green and strong. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

I made a rookie mistake and planted my lettuce seeds too close and planted too many. The chickens are enjoying the fruits of my labor. There is more lettuce than I can hope to eat. 

My poor brassicas have gotten attacked by caterpillars. My friend Katie helped me out with some tips. I've been out twice a day searching for caterpillars to feed to the chickens.

The rosemary needs to be hacked back and the mint is trying to take over but all in all, I am so proud of my garden! I'm planning to do a bit more planting next week of some short season vegetables. Hopefully they'll thrive! 

2016 Garden

My garden has already changed so much since it was featured on NW Healthy Mama back in April. A few weekends ago, I gathered plants for my spring planting, finally got a trellis for my peas and did some mad weeding. I also ripped out the kale plants from the winter. The chickens had eaten their fill of kale and the plants went to seed when the weather warmed up so quickly.

I planted the carrots in early January and they are looking quite big so I'll be harvesting them soon. Luckily my kids love carrots so we'll be devouring them quickly. 

I planted some beans, corn, zucchini, squash and peppers a few weeks ago and they are all growing so fast. I have low expectations for the corn but thought it would be fun for the kids. I had some extra space in the garden bed and so threw caution to the wind. This year, I also bought a few more tomato plants than usual. I love tomatoes and I'm hoping for a hot summer for strong tomato production. 

This past weekend, I was gifted some sunflower plants from my Buy Nothing group and thinned out my herb garden area. That is one area of the yard that goes from mellow to OVERgrown so quickly.

The sage continues to be overgrown and gigantic with bits of mint sprinkled it. The thyme has really taken off with our Spring heat. Yum! 

My pear tree is looking good. I have a great water irrigation wrap for it that I plan to get on sometime this week. 

One area of the yard that I need to take care of is the blueberry, tagberry and strawberry area. The weeds are growing like mad and I haven't had a chance to get out there and clear some space for these poor plants. They are looking gorgeous with tons of flowers which is giving me great hope! 

The chickens are still doing well and were even given the chance to roam the garden a bit while I did a big clean out of their coop. It's on my list to get them a much better run built. I have all the supplies and plans done, I just need to get it done. I currently have a bird net over their janky run as they quickly learned how to fly out and go on adventures. I'm not comfortable with free-range chickens in my neighbor's yards so bird net it is! 

What are you growing in your garden this year? 

Garden Talk

A few months ago, I contacted NW Healthy Mama about doing a garden tour of my small garden. She accepted and my post is up today. I hope you enjoy it and her wonderful site.

You can see it here: http://nwhealthymama.com/2016/04/gardening-in-ballard/

Summer Garden Update!

It's been a super hot Summer in Seattle which means my garden is in a state of flux. The tomatoes are coming in big and bold. The lettuce bolted. I'm questioning my garden abilities and my peas have withered and died. This year's garden has me facing how little I truly know about growing my own food. I thought I knew a lot but there is so much that I do not know! I'm trying to settle my gardening angst by focusing on the bounty that is about to come from my garden.

My lettuce gave up the ghost a few weeks ago and since it has been so hot around here, I've decided that I'm going to do another round of lettuce. I'm going to try a few different varieties though since this will be my bonus lettuce round. 

I fear my beet greens may have bolted (is that even possible?) but the beets themselves appear to still be growing strong so I'm leaving them alone for now. I'm also leaving the onions alone for another week or so. I fear that I may have planted them too close together but they are looking quite lovely for now. 

I did initially plant my carrots too close but after some careful thinning, they are doing quite well. Our only problem is that we keep pulling a carrot or two to taste them every time we are out there and I fear we are going to eat them all before too long. 

The squash is going gang busters. I planted my zucchini late so while everyone else is starting to complain about an over abundance of zucchini, I have a few more weeks until that avalanche happens. I'm already researching how to cook up all that zucchini! Let's just hope I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch! 

How is your garden growing? Any tips to help me boast my gardening confidence? 

Garden Update

My Spring Garden is going wild! In fact, some of my lettuces are almost ready to harvest. I am extraordinarily excited about my future salads. I planted most of my garden in late March so I'm quite pleased with how everything is turning out. 

I added a trellis to the pea area a week or two ago which the peas seem to be appreciating. They now have a place to climb and grow. 

The carrots are getting big and pushing through the soil. I'm hoping to have some carrots to crunch with my fresh lettuce soon. The beets are looking great too but will require more time in the ground before I can savor them.

This weekend I plan to pick up my tomato plants, a few more strawberry plants and some decorative grasses for under the Cherry Tree. This afternoon while the girls sprint outside in the sun, I plan to do a bit of weeding and garden tending. I love puttering in my garden. Helping plants grow are some of my favorite things to do.

I also need to do something about my kale. I accidently let one plant go to flower and I'm not sure if I can do anything with it. The flowers do add a lovely hint of yellow to my garden though. How is your garden growing? Are you planting anything this weekend? 

NEEDED: Yard Advice

Most of the time, I love our yard but every Spring I begin to hate it. Our yard requires A LOT of weeding which is fine if I had time to get out there and do it. Unfortunately the girls get bored after a few minutes and try to run into the road while giggling in the face of danger. I've been slowly working on re-doing the yard to reduce the need for weeding but I have one corner that I have not been able to come up with a solution for.

We have a beautiful, wee Cherry Tree that is surrounded by irregular rocks. The previous owners planted heather around the tree and it was pretty but the grass and weeds quickly grew up between the plants. Last year, I covered the ground around the tree with cardboard and covered that with topsoil. When Spring arrived, the grass has taken over and covered the area beneath the tree. I spent 4 hours last weekend, pulling out grass and weeds and am now left with a blank canvas.

The advice I need is what should I plant under the tree that either stops weeds/grass from growing in OR hides them well. I've been thinking about decorative grasses or a flowering plant or just flailing around. What would you plant?

Spring Gardening

After weeks of planning, I finally got my Spring Garden in. I had planned to plant everything in early March but that did not happen. On Saturday afternoon, I had a few hours free so instead of cleaning the house (because that is never fun), I decided to spend that time digging in the dirt.

Molly and I headed over to Swanson's to gather plants. I may have gotten a bit out of control but I love plants! I also stocked up on fertilizer, compost and a few other gardening tools. Molly loaded everything up in the red wagons they provide for the kids. I ended up dragging the wagon through Swanson's along with the cart I had gotten for the heavy stuff. Needless to say, I was less than amused at that point.

After we arrived home and unloaded all our goodies, Molly lost interest in gardening and went inside. I headed to the backyard and started planting. I did a bit of garden bed clean-up as some weeds had trickled in since I did the initial garden bed clean-up. After visiting Swanson's, I changed up some of my plans. I decided to focus on more leafy greens and root vegetables and nixed the cauliflower and broccoli plans.

I ended up planting the following:

Box #1 - Black Magic Kale, Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale, Blue Scotch Vates Curled Kale, Renegade Spinach and Miners Lettuce

Box #2 & #3 - Australian Yellow Heirloom Lettuce, Red Leaf Lettuce, Lollo Rossa Leaf Lettuce, Buttercrunch Lettuce, Golden Beets, Cylindra Beets, Walla Walla Onions, Tadorna Leeks, Rainbow Chard

Box #4 - Parmex Carrots, Circus Circus Carrots, Thelma Sanders' Sweet Acorn Squash,  French Petits Pois Heirloom Shelling Peas and Sugar Snap Peas

I also planted two strawberry plants in some empty pots and another rosemary bush in the herb garden section on the side of the house. The herb garden needs some serious weeding and some more herb planting/planning. I also noticed that the Rhubarb is coming up on the side of the house which is exciting. Now to sit back and watch everything grow! Spring is exciting that way, everything starts coming back to life after the Winter and I can't wait to see what happens.

The Spring Garden

I've been plotting out my garden plot for my Spring garden all week. Next week I plan to head out and gather some seeds but for now, I've been busy deciding what will grow in my garden this Spring. It's been unseasonably warm around here so my plans have kicked into high gear. 

I still have a few things growing in my boxes so I'll be adding to the existing plants. There isn't much - one Kale plant, Swiss Chard, Strawberries and a Rosemary plant. 

I found some awesome garden planning sheets on Terraganics Living and have planned out all my boxes with Cauliflower, Broccoli, Beets, Lettuces, Carrots, etc. 

I can't wait to hit up the garden nursery to buy all the seeds! 

Don't forget to vote for my Girl Scout Samoas No-Churn Ice Cream recipe. I'm a finalist in the Western Washington Girl Scout Cookie Contest! I'd love it if you voted for me - HERE.

Planning the 2015 Garden

Last year, I had my first garden in this house and it was awesome! I have high hopes for this year's garden and I'm hoping to expand it from just a Summer garden to a Spring, Summer and Fall garden. 

In preparation for this year's garden, I should have prepped the beds last Fall but to be honest my life was too chaotic for me to even get laundry done in an appropriate time manner so the garden was thrown aside. Today though was a gorgeous day and the kids were hopped full of energy so we headed out to the backyard so they could run around and I could work on the garden. 

I spent some time pulling out the dead tomato plants, the failed broccoli and the never took off spinach. Then I raked out the dirt and swept up some of the leaves. I didn't spend too much time sweeping up things because March is still due to come along with its wind. 

Now I just need to figure what I want to plant in my Spring garden and start planting. I'm also planning to hit up the Tilth Plant sale in the spring to get a load of plants. I'm not sure if I want to start seeds this year or not because to be honest, I'm not sure I'm interested in that much effort.