Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Waiting...ugh...

So we discovered in a past weekend that although I am capable of laying down pavers...I will never have a side job doing this job. Thankfully, mine are holding up quite nicely so far and I have not had to fill in with more sand...I think I did O-K (even if they are HORRIBLY uneven).

This past weekend we had the most amazing Oregon weekend yet this year with 75-80+ degrees both days. The Farmer's Almanac stated that Saturday was not a good day to plant...so I waited, like a good little girl and did my planting on Sunday which was supposedly an ideal day to plant. I am not sure what they know that the rest of us don't but I have heard great things about their ability to predict these things...so I listened. As soon as I was able on Sunday though...I planted corn, green beans, snow peas, radishes, and carrots straight into the garden. I figure, being this is attempt #2 at truly gardening, I will continue to test my abilities to start from seeds.  My starts are still looking quite nice in my window, inside.  I am encouraged by their growth...they all seem very happy so far.  I am hoping this continues for a bit longer so I can get them into the garden soon.


My son's view garden is doing very well also. The pictures of the roots aren't great due to glare from the plastic but you can see what has grown above ground and they are doing very well.


I also threw a ton of steer manure (already composted and ready for garden) into the garden to supplement the soil. It seems there is some dark underground source that sucks the soil from your garden each year......I always wondered what the need for compost was. (Okay, not really...I know it all compacts and continues to compost and yadda yadda.)  I am considering building a composting bin later in the year to try my hand at composting. It seems like a LOT of work...and I am concerned I don't have enough time in the day for all of these projects that I need to keep up with. I will continue to ponder that idea though. I rather like the idea of food scraps being in the compost bin and not in my trash can.

Since I wasn't allowed to plant on Saturday I made some hummingbird food and filled my bird feeders. I also set up my vertical "walls" in the garden for when the starts come out so they have something to grow on. I have decided, after reading some more on vertical gardening, that I will need to create about 4 more vertical walls for all of my vine type plants. According to readings it is easier to garden this way, the plant yields more crop, and you deal with less pests. I would be happy with 2 out of 3 of those! Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of those...I will do so once I get the next 3 or 4 in and you can then see the whole set up.

So, I also started some strawberry seeds because Lowe's had the cutest little strawberry garden set thingy for super cheap and it matched my herb garden thingy in my kitchen window and I just couldn't resist. *sigh*  So I have now added strawberries to the list of fruit and veggies.

And to round it ALLLLLLL out, because I am pretty certain I have some sort of addiction issue now, we bought a peach plum tree (it was a fundraiser for the kid's baseball team...how could I not) that we will be planting out front. I am super excited about it actually. We have a spot in the front that I had yet to figure out how to landscape it properly and the tree was the perfect starting point. As soon as I realized I wanted it there, the rest all seemed to suddenly make sense.

So here is the list of our eatable plants around the house this year:
Peach Plum tree
Apple trees (2)
Cherry tree (although it doesn't produce fruit we can get to...it is about 40 tall)
Corn
Green beans
Snow peas
Radishes
Carrots
Strawberries
Lettuce
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Lemon Basil
Mint
Parsley
Chives
Saffron
Sweet Squash (holding for a later planting)

and some volunteer blackberry...because I live in Oregon and the stuff is EVERYWHERE whether you want it or not.

I will likely grab some starts from the garden center later this spring of peppers since they didn't work out last year. I still really want to see if I can get them to work this year though. I may even grab some spicy peppers so I can make salsa with just my garden stuff.

I am still quite in shock that my garden can handle it all...but it seems I built it just the right size to handle my insanity! :)  So until next time....



2 comments:

  1. I want to come visit your house. Josh and I started planting last year. Right now we are growing cucumbers, onions,tomatos, basil, and some flowers. I can't wait to own my home again and experiment with bigger plants. Although last year the only veggie that looked right were our cherry tomatos. The rest looke mutated. Maybe I can learn something from you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sadly, last year the yield in my garden was rather sad also. I think the only things you could say actually yielded anything worth while were the cherry tomatoes and the snow peas. Snow peas will grow under any circumstance and for as long as the season is. The dumb things don't know enough to stop producing. :P I was very excited at the end of last year when I made the decision to "put down roots" at my new home. It is my boyfriend's home and it was a big decision for me. I built the boxes with his help and cleared that section of the yard...sadly, in late summer when the ground was the driest (note...do this when the ground is wet...it was hard work dry). This will be my first year of dealing with a LARGE garden (by my standards). I'm a little nervous...but super excited by the possibilities of what I can do with all the extra food.

    ReplyDelete