our favorite tomato varieties and tomato spacing trick

 

this weekend we planted tomatoes. 48 tomato plants to be exact. hello, canned tomato sauce & salsa! 

we planted four varieties - cherokee purple, sungolds, celebrity and brandywine. those are among our favorites for eating & canning. they also grow well here in the south. what are your favorite tomato varieties?

with a daunting task like an evening of planting tomatoes, a helpful little trick is always nice. 

our garden is on the smaller size so we like to maximize our bounty with precise spacing. my husband came up with a fun idea i thought i'd share with you today.

we planted our tomatoes exactly 2 ft. apart. this allows our homemade tomato cages to fit perfectly while providing enough space for our tomatoes to grow. using a piece of dried bamboo, a tape measurer & pruning shears, we cut a piece of bamboo exactly 2 ft. long. we then used this measuring (bamboo) stick to measure the spacing between each plant. 

 instead of worrying about getting your measuring tape or yard stick out each time you plant, simply place the measuring stick at the base of your tomato plant that has already been planted. at the end of the stick, plant your next tomato. it's easy peasy & a great activity for the youngins in the garden!

happy planting!

- natalie

late spring happenings: up north edition

after natalie's post yesterday i am once again in shock about the vast difference between the seasons down in arkansas and up here in minnesota! we are just barely scratching the surface of spring here. here's a bit of what's happening up here these days...

over the weekend, i finally cleared out all of last year's remains from my community garden plot. jared and i added some compost and turned the soil (well, he did that part...i've been banned from shoveling duty this year!) and i weeded the plots, dug up the ever expanding garlic chives that i plan to gift to friends and neighbors and transplant into my home gardens, and continued on my annual quest to corral the strawberries back into their designated areas.

back at home, i cleared off the leaf mulch from my perennial gardens and began planting some flowers. i didn't really get around to starting any flower seeds early this year (except for marigolds), so to satisfy my impatience and excitement over spring's belated arrival, i picked up some pansies, alyssum, and dusty miller (we love that name!) at my local garden store to pretty up the front of our house. we brought home another clematis to accompany the one we planted last year. my mother-in-law says they do best in pairs (or more) so we'll see how it turns out.

i also planted a few more pots of flowers with seeds that my friend mary sent me (zinnia and morning glory) and used the extra pansies, etc. to start planting my garage wall garden.

on the vegetable front...the kale starts that i was so generously gifted by a neighbor did not survive the neighborhood squirrels, so i'm starting over with direct seeding. in the next week or so i'll be planting seeds for cucumbers, summer and winter squash, chard, and dry beans. i'm also beginning to harden off my  tomato seedlings that have been growing like mad in the basement.

even though it sounds like a lot (and is!) i am intentionally trying to simplify my garden this year. with the new addition to our family coming in early august, i know my time and energy (and physical ability to bend over, ha!) will be limited. but i just can't stop myself! so...get ready for loads of flowers and herbs in addition to the slightly limited veggies i'm planting...

planting asparagus

On our way out of the nursery this week, we noticed asparagus crowns in a cooler behind the counter. On a whim, we purchased 10 of them and a little book on how to grow them. This is definitely one of the more unusual impulse buys I have ever made. We didn't have a clue what we were getting ourselves into! Asparagus is one of those rare vegetables that I have never seen growing and have never known anything about - except that it's delicious and often hard to come by.

A few things I learned, once I did a little research... Asparagus is a member of the lily family. It is recommended that asparagus be grown in a dedicated bed that is free of weeds and any other competition, and undisturbed by usual annual garden activities. Asparagus does not do well with competition and one should plan to have it around for a long while. A healthy asparagus patch can live up to 30 years. Amazing! Also surprising to me was that it grows tall, feathery, frond-like foliage in the summer - 4-7 feet tall - and the females will produce red berries (though they are toxic). It's a beautiful plant.

Well, we didn't have an empty bed available for them, and they weren't going into the veggie garden, so we had to get with it. The crowns didn't look all that happy to me (though I don't really know what they are supposed to look like), but I felt like we shouldn't let them sit around any longer than absolutely necessary.
 
We chose a spot beside the hoop house, where there still remains a pile of soil left over from the hoop house project last year. We have been wanting to move that pile of soil, and would need some of it for the asparagus bed. We have also intended that the area around the hoop house become the beginnings of more garden space, so it made the most sense to put our asparagus bed there. This location would also be relatively easy to fence from deer, and during this whirlwind project we also installed the first few fence posts.

 While Steven located and cut the lumber for our planter box, I moved dirt,  gathered cardboard and removed all the tape from it.

We sheet mulched the area with the cardboard. This creates an effective weed barrier that will eventually biodegrade. Grass (at least our grass) has an amazing ability to grow through anything, no matter how deep, so a barrier is necessary until it and other perennial weeds have completely died off.

Once our box was built, we filled it with a mix of soil and compost.

 

I dug a trench down the center, mounded a mix of compost and organic fertilizer in the middle of it, and set the crowns on the mounds, draping their rhizomes down the sides. There are a few methods people use for planting asparagus, but this is the one I chose.

We then backfilled with a mix of soil and compost, covering the crowns just a couple inches, and watered well. We should see asparagus shoots in a week or so, but won't be able to start a small amount of harvesting until next year. This will be a practice of patience! In the meantime, we will get to enjoy their fern-like foliage, and anticipate the years ahead of our simple, rewarding investment.

In hindsight, I would have made the box a little bigger, and had this decision been pre-planned, I would have made sure of the health and freshness of our crowns. This was so spontaneous! I am pretty pleased with how quickly we were able to pull this together, and all with materials we had on hand

Have you grown asparagus? Any tips? Did you see any blatant errors? Do deer eat it? :)

A few resources:
http://www.flowersgrowing.com/growing-asparagus-in-home-gardens/
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html
http://organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/asparagus-growing-guide

i'm addicted to plants

i think i have a problem. though, i'm pretty sure i'm not alone. this time of year, when seedlings are sprouting and even beginning to flower, and plant sales abound, and the farmer's market has begun, and the seed racks are everywhere you look, and everyone's gardens look so incredibly lovely i just can't help myself.

despite the fact that i am positively swimming in seedlings (mostly tomatoes, chard, kale, and peppers), i decided to go to the plant sale last friday evening. this is a very large plant sale that i've always been intimidated to go to for fear of the hoards of people. for some reason, still unknown to me, at the last minute and totally unplanned i decided that this would be the year that we would face this sale. so off we went. friday night, just an hour and a half before they closed, proved to be a great time to go. they were out of a few things i wanted, but mostly not and it was not crowded at all.

some of the highlights of what i brought home were: a bay laurel tree (which i'll put in a pot and bring inside for the winters), french sorrel (which someone here suggested for my new front garden, thank you!), summer and winter savory, anise hyssop, victoria louise oriental poppies, goodwin creek lavender, and a niobe clematis. i feel justified in these purchases since they were mostly perennials and i consider those an investment (especially if they are edible or medicinal!). i didn't even look at the vegetable section!

of course, now i have to find the time and space to plant all of these beauties, but given that i spent about 75% of my weekend outside (both at the community garden and in our backyard) i'm thinking i shouldn't have trouble finding the time for these. of course, there is also that wildflower seed packet i just couldn't resist at the hardware store today, and that nice big creeping phlox my friend dropped off on sunday, and...

lately

in the garden...

:: planting, planting, planting- seed & start

:: really enjoying selling starts to our local community & natural foods market

:: the sugar snaps are flowering & the french breakfast (my favorite) radishes are ready!

:: a big heap of top soil & compost in the waiting to add to our compost pile & build new beds for our tomatoes, cucumber & squash varieties

:: fennel! & dill! planted! those two might be my favorite to watch, but don't tell the others!

:: new growth in the compost that soon will be turned. do you enjoy watching life spring up from the compost pile, too?

:: the girls are loving the fresh, green grass to scratch in & munch a bit.

:: the broccoli is almost ready for harvesting. our very first successful broccoli!

:: the perennial flower bed is gorgeous right now

:: thoroughly enjoying our fresh meals & late dinners outside by candlelight

what's been happening in your garden lately?

early planting?

welcome to the earliest minnesota spring on record! i'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it's only mid-march and yet it's been hitting almost eighty degrees and sunny for over a week now. apparently my garden is also confused. the bees are out and buzzing, and many things are blooming and sprouting already...lilac, st. john's wort, yarrow, lavender, borage, chives, oregano, rhubarb...

i'm trying to figure out if i should go ahead and start planting some early crops like peas and greens. normally a freak warm day or two in march would definitely get me excited but i know it's still way too early to plant. but this year is different. they're not predicting any more snow or really cold temps. it will probably get down to the thirties again, but maybe not even a frost. there's some chatter on my local community gardening list-serv about whether it's too early to plant this year, most folks are suggesting to go ahead and try it (why not?!). what i'm really wondering about is whether or not i should be starting my seeds indoors now, i had planned to wait another three weeks or so (planting around april 8 or so, which is about what i did last year), but now i'm all freaked out that i'll be way behind if i wait that long!

either way, it's pretty exciting to see all the sprouting and blooming!

how are you dealing with your early spring (if you're having one)? are you planting already, or holding off?

spring to do list (is it really that time yet?!)

lots of goodness in the garden this week & still so much to do

+ once the ground dries out (we might be waitin' awhile), we plan to till up a large space & plant tomatoes. our starts are showing their first true leaves. ripe tomatoes are just around the corner, friends!

+ harvested the last of our winter spinach & carrots. thankful for the crunch in march.

+ the girls have started laying! over a dozen eggs this week! thankful for their work.

+ planted some beautiful cosmic purple carrots in the garden yesterday evening. along with a row of beets & black simpson summer head lettuce in between each row.

+ weeded a few beds along with our perennial flower garden. the hens love that extra green goodness in their run.

+ enjoying the work outside with my hands. relaxed after a long day with a good book & a homemade chai latte. perfect.

new beginnings

on tuesday, i spent most of my afternoon outside in the garden. pulling up weeds, sinking my hands into the cool soil, looking up at cheerful birds greeting me in the trees, & staring in amazement at the tiny seedlings popping up in our raised beds. our little plot of land is waking up from it's winter slumber as am i. i treasure the beginning of the gardening season.

this year's garden will be our first to tend for an entire year. we have always moved from one home to another throughout the summer months, carrying our many container plants with us. this year is very different- it is a beginning! i want to share some of our goals for this year's garden.

:: expand our garden by adding a field garden! we hope to till up most of our backyard (except for the plot where our chicken tractor moves) & amend the soil with local compost. we will grow tomatoes, zucchini, corn, cucumber & squash in that space.

:: sell starts! the local health foods market where i work is encouraging me to sell my garden starts this spring. i plan to sell two varieties of basil, chamomile, thyme, oregano, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers & more. they are already so healthy & will be ready in about a month.

:: save more! i hope to preserve even more from our garden this year. less jam, more vegetables. those frozen bell peppers came in such handy this year so we plan to add a deep freezer to our garage for more space.

:: educate! we hope to have garden parties & hands-on lessons at our home this year. i am also teaching a series on green living at the university & some canning classes at local churches. today, i have an appointment for gardening consultation & plan to add many more to our schedule. luke & i are excited to serve our community as others begin their gardens & thankful for the extra income from sharing our skill.



& so it begins.

weekend garden notes

my garden has been a bit neglected lately.  i was starting to think that i wouldn't even have the energy to get my garlic in (and i was trying to convince myself that i was okay with that).  this weekend we continued to have unseasonably warm weather and i forced myself to head over to my community garden to harvest my potatoes.  it was a bit disappointing (especially after i realized that i harvested fewer potatoes that i had planted in the first place!), but they will still be delicious.  i planted all blue, german butterball, and rose finn apple.  this year i tried a potato tower method, which was clearly not very successful.  i think a few of my problems were that my towers were too big around (about 3 feet in diameter) and i didn't keep them watered well enough.  if i try this again next year, i will definitely make them smaller.  what's your favorite way to plant potatoes?

i also managed to get my garlic in, which i know i will be really happy about come summer.  since i wasn't sure i was going to plant any, i hadn't purchased any new seed garlic.  i just used the garlic i grew this summer- german extra hardy and georgian fire.  i planted cloves from the largest bulbs and covered them with a pile of leaves, since i didn't have any hay or straw. 

our kale is also still going strong, and now that whatever little bugs were munching on it all summer are gone, maybe we can actually enjoy some of it.  after ignoring my garden for the last two months or so, it felt so fulfilling to get in one last garden day before winter sets in.