Scaredy Cat Farmer

Cutting my loses

2010-08-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I reduced my tomato crop by 1/4 (I only have 8 plants so I took 2 out.) They hadn't produced any fruit yet (not even the green kind.) I figured they couldn't produce fruit in what remains of the season and were only sucking up precious resources from the containers they were planted in. Hopefully the existing green tomatoes will ripen soon.

Today I hope to thin out my squashes for the same reason -- better to get some crop with fewer than no crop with many.

My garden has been largely overlooked lately. It has lost the fight against young kids, camps, camping, and houseguests. But as little as I have been able to put into it (or harvest from it), it still offers some great rewards. Like whenever I look out my kitchen window and "catch" the kids snacking on strawberries. Although I got very ambitious about my garden for a bit and later disheartened that I didn't come close to reaching my vision, getting to watch my kids forage is a pretty great reward in itself.

Making sad tomatoes happy again

2010-08-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

It has been a tough few weeks in my garden. Mostly I haven't found a lot of time to be there. It's funny how gardening has become like exercise -- you forget how much you enjoy it until get a chance to do it again....

Lately my garden has me worried because everything seems to be growing behind schedule (and what else can you expect in a cool summer.) I was particularly worried about my tomatoes above. I thought they caugh tomato blight because the leaves were drooping and yellowing. I started removing damaged leaves and contacted the hotline at Seattle Tilth for confirmation. They surprised me by writing back that they thought it might be an iron deficiency due to an inability to take up water. (The darkened veins and the yellowing from the edge inward led to the diagnosis.) Well, it sounds like a more optimistic prognosis to me!

So today I finally got back into the garden. As they recommended, I added an inch of compost to my pot (mushroom compost was what I had handy.) I sprayed the leaves with kelp water to fertilize. And I added coffee to the soil. Seattle Tilth recommended adding coffee grounds -- but all I had was some unused, unwanted ground coffee. Hopefully, the plants will make a great turn around and I will see no more yellow leaves while the fruit ripens.

Good bugs

2010-08-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

And thank goodness, because I left these two alone.... These soldier beetles eat soft-bodied insects including aphids, catapillars, and slugs -- all known to frequent my garden. I am glad to see some soldier beetles consider my raised bed home.

Wet and dry gardening

2010-08-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

I have been harvesting cabbage since my return -- and it finally dawned on me that I was seeing something pretty special. I bought a six-pack of cabbage starts at Seattle Tilth's spring sale. The ones that didn't fit in my raised bed I added to my ornamental bed in the front yard.

The difference between my raised bed and my ornamental bed is water. The ornamentals get none -- I designed it to be drought tolerant and haven't watered it since the first year it was planted. The difference between the cabbages is visually clear. The well-watered raised bed cabbage is smooth.

The un-watered ornamental bed cabbage is heavily "savoyed."

If you click the savoyed cabbage image to get the larger one, you can see why. The wrinkles and crinkles catch water and hold it (sometimes all day.) The watered cabbage doesn't need wrinkles because it gets what it needs from the soil.

scaredy cat farmer returns

2010-07-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

I am back after a two week vacation in AZ. Sorry to disappear with out warning, but it seemed wrong to announce I was abandoning my home on the web.

Predictably I returned to a bunch of bolted produce.

I have managed to clean out the beds and am hoping to get some winter starts in this weekend.

who stole the apples?

2010-07-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

I found two of my makeshift applesox in the grass this week -- and the apples were gone. I have lost half my crop. I am thinking whoever left these tracks on the kids' picnic table is the answer....

Could it be a racoon? If it is, I am sure this garden predator won't have a chance of taking him out.

self-watering containers

2010-07-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today I made self-watering containers, from scratch. I put them out on my deck next to my EarthBox Ready-to-Grow kit -- which I put together at the start of June (blame the cool weather -- we still haven't reached 80 -- and my fear of fertilizer for the limited growth of my plants.)

If you look online, you will find a lot of advice on how to make self-watering containers using 5-gallon food buckets or 15-gallon plastic storage bins. I took that advice and tricked out a Home Depot plastic pot because I wanted something a little prettier for my deck. I wound up with the kit for expediency's sake. I had tomatoes that needed planting and all my supplies last month -- but no will to move forward with my project. The EarthBox kit was very easy. The hardest part was pulling the sticker off the perforated base that separates the soil from the water.

I think the EarthBox kit was also less expensive than my home-made version was for the same growing space. But I stand by my project. My self-watering pots are cuter....

So here is what it took to make them:

2 plastic containers
2 Ups-A-Daisy planter inserts
length of PVC pipe
a power drill with router and drill bits
cotton string to use as a wick for the water
2 cubic foot bag of potting soil
dowel and styrofoam balls to make water indicator

This is how my helper and I put the pots together. After enlarging one of the holes (so the PVC could fit), we put the Ups-A-Daisy insert in place and ran 4 strings from top to bottom. We added a length of PVC (cut at angle at the bottom -- you could also just drill some holes in it so the water can get from the top to the bottom.) Next I drilled some small overflow holes into my container so I wouldn't have to worry about flooding. Then we filled our pot with water up to the insert (the EarthBox kit suggested this -- my guess is it helps keep the soil from falling through the holes.)

Then we added potting soil and plants, moved the wicks toward the center, clipped the wicks, and finally covered the wicks with additional soil so they wouldn't dry out. (Please send happy thoughts to the poor pepper plant below....)

Finally, we made our water-level indicator by putting a stryofoam ball on the end of dowel and clipping it until it fit just inside the PVC pipe.

Now I know if the dowel does't float to the top, I need to fill the container. I also will put a little landscape fabric cap on my pipe to keep water-breeding bugs out of my pot -- I don't want to have dinner with them on the deck.

I am hoping these fancy pots will give my container garden a fighting chance with my chaotic life. Now I just need to figure out how to fertilize appropriately....

wireworm trap

2010-07-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

This picture shows my wireworm trap in action. I stuck a number of full-grown carrots throughout my raised bed. I pull them up and check for takers. Wireworms are not very fast. In fact, they often "play stick" when pulled up in the trap. I usually take my time and cut them in half with an old plant description stick.

I felt silly using good carrots as bait -- but they have lasted a couple of weeks already and don't show much sign of decay. I hear you can bury potatoes too but I haven't tried it yet.

using my new pest knowlege

2010-07-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

I took a class last weekend on pest management in the garden through Seattle Tilth. Walked away with a better appreciation of Integrated Pest Management -- and a curiousity about my weeds and flowers.

In IPM, prevention is the first strategy. And a gardener must realize that there is no such thing as perfect. A few holes or bad bugs doesn't mean failure -- it means you are part of something alive. A gardener using IPM must be patient. Live with the 'bad things' and make sure they are bad before acting. This keeps you from applying a solution that is worse than the problem.

I found these leaves in my raised bed -- but I don't know what is causing the problem, so my strategy is to OBSERVE until I do. See, I am not too late. I need time to understand (or to learn so I can understand.) If the damage spreads quickly to other leaves, then I will act fast. If not, I am free to dawdle.

In the meantime, I can pick on the things I do understand. Practicing IPM means spending more time looking at your garden closely. The big things are obvious when they arrive.

But the little things are there too. This catapillar I found on on a piece of bark that made it into the raised bed. Its color was so unusual (to me) that I took a picture of it before I squashed it (too close to my cabbage.)

By looking closely I also found this guy. Turns out it is a stink- or a shield-bug (it took a lot of internet research to figure that out.) How did I make it out of childhood and not know that?! I wasn't sure what to do about it since I kept seeing online that it likes to eat hawthorn leaves until I found this page that said it was happy eating any broadleaf plant. Since I found it on the trellising above my struggling (hole-y) bean plants, I got rid of him.

The first 'aggressive' IPM strategy is physical control -- which includes making barriers and handpicking offenders. I found the four slugs below under the wrapper leaves of my cabbage. Clearly garden pests, they did not survive the shoe test.

I was really worried that all the holes in my cabbage leaves would mean the heads would be teaming with worms -- but they were beautiful once I opened them up. I am wondering if all the damage was done by slugs and not the offspring of the white moth I saw in the yard. But the slugs don't explain all the tiny poop I saw. The next step in IPM strategy is to introduce natural predators to your garden -- maybe I got lucky and some good bugs took care of the (possible) cabbage maggots for me.

The last strategy for eliminating pests using IPM is employing a chemical control. The tip is to always start with the mildest remedy -- such as soap spray. And then make sure your soap spray is made out of a mild soap like Doc Bronners if you want to keep you veggies as healthy as can be.

Finally, I figured out that I am going to have to learn a lot more about bugs and plants before I really understand what is going on in my yard. There is a lot to know about bugs (good and bad) and their lifecycles. There is a lot to know about plants -- what I want to eat, what good bugs need to thrive, and what a weed's location might say about soil.

seed starting again

2010-06-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

My seeds arrived from Territorial and I am back to seed starting again. I am a bit surprised to be here so soon -- especially given my poor results this spring -- but the seed packet for the brussels sprouts demanded I give it another try. "Erratic seed germination makes direct sowing difficult?!"**

This time I went with peet pots. I enjoyed seeding with peat pellets in the spring but I didn't like what I saw at harvest time.

Poor little guy couldn't bust through the pellet (of course, it was probably a bad choice to put a beet in one of these in the first place.)

As for my brussels sprouts, I am going to put some seeds directly into the ground and cross my fingers. And I am going to do my best to nurture the ones in my peet pots. But my fingers are crossed for those ones too since I have never gotten a seed start to 4 inches before. Here's to crossing the 2 inch mark!

**Update** "A clue, a clue," -- anonymous child on Blues Clues.
Over at digginfood Willi Galloway explains that warm temperatures during summer make direct seeding iffy because the seeds/sprouts might dry out in a warm spell.

highs and lows in the garden

2010-06-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

The kids found some strawberries in the yard. They were pretty pleased with themselves. Picked them without asking and then ran inside to show off their treasure.

I also found my own treasures in the yard. Tonight I made a soup featuring fennel and chard from my raised bed. It turned out to be rather tasty. And I was pleased that I made good on my desire to eat more veggies today.

In the harvesting though I ran into one of my arch nemeses: a wireworm (visible on the railing next to the bulb beneath the hole it was creating on the root.) Wireworms are known to eat roots and stems. Thank goodness it wasn't interested in the bulb or my dinner would have been blown....

I wound up bagging it so I can take it to a garden pest talk over the weekend. I am wondering if the slow growth in my raised beds is due to wireworm damage -- or just a general lack of sun and heat.

drawn in by the winter catalog....

2010-06-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling a bit low lately about my gardening prowess. It is certainly limited. Something has been foraging for my pea seeds -- and it seems that I have allowed catapillars/cabbage worms/loopers to get the best of my cabbage. There are now holes that dig into the core of head and plenty of poop to go with it.

According to the Territorial Seed catalog, I should have sprayed with Bacillus thuringienses at the first sighting of a moth near my plants (which I saw weeks ago, but did nothing more than fret about.) Since I delayed, I can try baiting the cabbage worms with wheat bran soaked in BT solution. I will probably try that if I can find some time next week -- and see if it makes a difference. I hate seeing potential food turn to waste but I have a limited tolerance for bugs in my food.

I was griping to my husband about what a failure I am turning out to be as a farmer and he reminded me that I am just starting out and that we would all pay a lot more attention to keeping the crops healthy if we were actually dependent on the food. Which is true. And I realized that I got into this adventure because I wanted my family and I to eat more veggies -- and that gardening isn't a great way to eat more veggies. Eating veggies is a great way to eat more veggies.

So it is time to separate the veggie eating goal from the garden. I can address the veggie eating goal by changing what I buy at the food store (and supplement with the few edible suprises I produce as I gain gardening skills.) And in the meantime, I should admit that I am enjoying the garden in itself because I like learning how the plants grow and what pests to look for and what works where. And I hope I will feel a lot more successful if I let the garden be just about gardening, learning about nature, and exploring my relationship with it.

So I decided to go ahead with a winter garden and ordered more things from Territorial Seed. Turns out I am a sucker for things purple and red. I have been really curious lately about mixing edibles and ornamentals. I think most of these things (maybe not the carrots) are great candidates for the front yard. Four things I will be trying this fall are:

welcome guest

2010-06-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

After weeks of watching aphids and holes emerge and re-emerge in my raised veggie bed, I finally spotted a good sign: a lady beetle. Help is on its way! I hear ladybugs are great eaters of aphids.

Ironically, I also saw my first ant in the garden today too. Ants are known to protect aphids for their honeydew.

So let the battle begin.... I know which side I am rooting for!

Culprit?

2010-06-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

My kindergartener says this mammoth slug looks like a really dirty chocolate kiss. It was larger than a bouncy ball from a gumball machine -- but not as big as a kiwi.

Definitely large enough that I was afraid to smoosh it. It is the largest slug I have ever seen in my yard.

holes, holes, holes

2010-06-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

This week I read Louis Sachar's novel Holes. It is a great read. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a quick summer splurge book -- even if you don't fit into the teenage boy demographic the book was created for.

In the book, there were a lot of holes. Holes to dig, holes to be dug....

And it turned out that when I returned to my garden, there were a lot of holes there too.

I haven't been a vegetable gardener long enough to know if this is okay -- or if my crops have been doomed to failure just as the weather has finally got warm enough for things to start growing fast.

back from camping ...

2010-06-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

... to discover that the melons and squashes I planted have sprouted. I was afraid I was going to have to replant the entire patch -- but most seem to have some growth going (though one sprout was detached from its root -- how and why I don't know....)

Now the little guys just have to grow to fill in the trellis I made for them.

I wanted them to go up rather than out so I made a structure out of premade cedar trellising and steel fence stakes. As a young woman I used to make fence for the Forest Service (among other things when we weren't fighting fires.) It was a real pleasure to get one of those fence pounders back into my hands...

apple socks

2010-06-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

Turns out I wasn't too late to sock my apples. I took a look at the Seattle Tree Fruit Society website on maggot barriers and found out that quarter size is the upper end, but still within reasonable, for protecting one's fruit.

I thought I was pretty smart buying pantyhose to do the job but when I opened the package I realized that they weren't going to look like I had seen in the picture at the STFS website (see figure 4.)

My nylons were way too loose. Still short on time I decided to work with what I had (no time to either make a legitimate order of maggot barriers or to snag some peds from a department store shoe department.)

I decided to just knot the pantyhose on -- until I tried it. There was no way I was going to make a good knot without knocking off the fruit. And then I realized there is something I am good at (as a parent of young girls): ponytails.

So into the house for rubberbands it was. The resulting socks are not pretty but hopefully they will be effective. Would hate to lose any of the four fruits we have....

And before next season (and hopefully a bigger harvest of fruit), I am going to head out to a STFS meeting and pick up barriers and some fruit growing knowlege.

garden life

2010-06-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

Spent some time today in the fruit bed weeding. Found lots of oxalis. It's a pretty little weed with its dusky purple cast -- but I have been told it is a dangerous one -- to dig out the entire root or this little guy will multiply fast. And I am being diligent about it since in another corner of my yard clover and vetch has overrun the existing periwinkle and is threating my nandina too.

In more upbeat garden news -- while weeding the fruit bed my son found 4 apples growing on our columnar tree. This is the first time it has born fruit (it was planted 2 years ago.)

His discovery took me by total surprise. I heard that stocking covers help prevent apple maggots infestation (which we are prone to in this area.) I think we were supposed to get the covers on before the fruit reached nickel size and now I have quarters. Plus I was caught unprepared since we have never had fruit before. I bought nylons at the foodstore tonight so I can cover up my beauties tomorrow.

Another surprise in my apple tree was the spiraled dweller below. With my snail lover nearby, I had to quietly palm him and quickly launch him over the fence into the street. I didn't go check on his landing... I can be mean when there are edibles involved.

I also spent some time just enjoying the aesthetics of an abundant garden. I am so glad I started planting months ago.

the miracle of cabbage

2010-05-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

My cabbage has been growing and growing -- dominating more than its alotted square foot in my raised bed -- but it hasn't been looking like cabbage. I was wondering if maybe I planted a non-heading variety. And then I happened upon a post over at Modern Victory Garden that said her savoyed cabbage has large exterior whorl leaves that are just turning inward to become heads.

And I thought two things: "I didn't plant the wrong type of cabbage" and "I have savoyed cabbage." Well, one out of two isn't bad ... I planted the right cabbage but it isn't savoyed. Apparently savoyed refers to the crinkled leaves found on winter cabbages.

I looked up my seeds online. My parel cabbages have blue green wrapper leaves (check) that protect the white-leaved head core (not yet.) My cabbages are growing slowly -- as I am pretty sure they are getting close to the 50 days advertised on the packet. Maybe it is the cool weather.

Or maybe it is my spacing. When I read that they produced 6 inch heads I thought: "I can put 4 in a square foot." I knew nothing of wrapper leaves or how a cabbage grows. I think in the future I will give my 6 inch cabbage a full foot to grow in. Right now three are duking it out for growing rights -- and the nearby marigolds, beets, and spinach are trying not to be overwhelmed.

aphids, again

2010-05-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

This tomato leaf is infested with aphids. I am so tired of aphids. I had them in my garden window starts. I had them in my raised bed (and they get worse every time I use the remay cover). And now I have them on my Topsy Turvy tomato plants. Not much to do but go out with the hose on this rather rainy day, spray the heck out of the leaves, and hope they don't return.

returning

2010-05-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

I have been missing in action lately. Buried under a mile long to-do list that included spreading my grandparents' ashes on the ground that used to be my grandmother's garden.

Now I am hoping I am back, literally and figuratively -- my Grams' garden is in NJ, all the way across the country. As I settle back in the weather is not cooperating. We have little sun and no heat. Today we are socked in with rain and clouds -- and not the variegated ones we are used to. All in all, not a very inspiring day.

But I spent my morning at a Molbak's lecture on "How to Eat Your Front Yard," by Marianne Binetti (she has a new book, Edible Gardening For Washington and Oregon, that came out this spring.) She was very engaging -- and apparently hosts European garden tours too.

I went because I was intrigued by the idea of integrating food with ornamentals -- plus I am always a sucker for a lecture that promises information specific to my climate. She offered four steps: start with a plan, improve the soil with raised beds (or grow herbs instead), grow up, and create edible fences/borders. The information that I took away that was particularly useful for me was:

find garden hotspots for warm weather veggies. Hotspots are located on the south and west sides of the house and are often near concrete (which will increase heat by holding it and releasing it overnight.)
swiss chard will last for 2 years (while you slowly harvest the outer leaves) if planted in a raised bed that offers good drainage. Which made me think: why am I reseeding it every 4 weeks??!
harvest herbs between 10 am (when the leaves dry) and noon (when the essential oils start to burn off.)
blueberries only need to be protected from birds when they are at their ripest. She likes "tutu" tulle for the task.
cover seeds with flat boards or tulle for three days when first planted to keep birds from eating your seeds as treats.
red mulch has been shown to speed tomato growth (though only by 2-3 days). You can buy red plastic mulch -- or use red plastic plates to get this effect.
in the Pacific NW, you shouldn't pinch out the suckers that grow between branches on tomatoes. The plants need every leaf they can get to absorb our limited sun.

more trouble

2010-05-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

I was taking a peek at my large raised bed while I worked around the yard today and heard myself wondering -- why does it look like a strobe light in the garden? And lo and behold I found a perfectly white butterfly flitting beneath a broad cabbage leaf. All I could think was cabbage worms!

Really, how do people grow vegetables without insects?

I shooed the butterfly away and replaced the remay -- and cursed myself for taking it off in the first place.

Please, please, please let me raise some edible food.

oh no!

2010-05-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

A wireworm (click beetle larva) has attacked my radishes!

The little devil fell off one of the radishes as it was plucked -- and I failed to squash it, being bare-handed and all. And by time I had run around to get my 'nearby' scissors -- it has scurried back into the earth. Where is beyond me.

Three out of four radishes damaged has me worried. Not so much for the radishes since they grow so quick, but for the parsnips I planted with them. At 110 days investment, that single wireworm could break my heart. How are so many pretty vegetables sold at the food store?

going where I didn't want to go...

2010-05-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

Today I stretched hose under the deck so I could set-up a soaker hose for a small, summer-veggie, raised bed. I got the task done -- but it didn't look fun.

From either direction:

When you are a scaredy-cat with a big imagination -- even this is a tight space. I seemed to make it through unscathed but then I am never really sure until a day later when the bug bites show up, or don't.

the kiwis are in ...

2010-05-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

and aren't they cute!

(The male Artic Beauty is on the left/top and the female September Sun in on the right/bottom.) Quite honestly, they have been abused. Left in their pots for way too long, the September Sun was even dropped. But they are rumored to be hardy plants and I hope they are itching for a second chance.

So look how far we have come recently. Before:

After:

a nice, warm Mother's Day

2010-05-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

It is not easy to gain momentum -- to go from 0 to 60 after a week of nothing -- but we did manage to get a few things done in the yard. The one task done, from start to finish, was planting the Topsy Turvy containers. Of course I couldn't do it as instructed, I had to make it more complicated -- though it looked like everyone else's in the end.

I found the TT a bit difficult to wrangle so I devised a way to hold the planter up, but not so far up that the kids and I couldn't get the soil in easy using string. I found the hardest part of the whole exercise was getting the plants and the sponge into the planter without harming the plant -- but once that was done, it was all downhill.

I got a lot of help from the bigger kids. They filled buckets with potting soil and brought them to the deck for me.

I added some extra vermiculite to the potting mix -- worried that they might dryout too fast in the summer.

The instructions said to stop adding soil 2 inches from the top -- so I stopped at 4 and added some compost.

Then I put in a 'water spreader.'

I thought that the water would drain slower with such a device (though that didn't seem to happen.) Maybe it will still serve to disperse the water more evenly throughout the bag. I am not sure at this point that it was worth the effort -- but I did it with some friend's milk jugs, a power drill, and a pair of scissors. A fun and easy project.

And while this was the only completed project this weekend -- we got a lot farther on several more. I did some necessary shopping for supplies, my husband got the kiwi trellises into the ground, and we got started on melon trellises and some of our watering systems. Overall, a very productive weekend.

Off to the races

2010-05-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

The move has been put aside and it is sunny and warm -- today is the day I will plant a whole bunch of things.

I took the kids down to the Seattle Tilth Second Chance edible sale (missed the first chance last weekend to the maybe-move frenzy.) They were incredibly well behaved after a rather rotten ride down (bad traffic, crying baby, mama bringing the wrong snacks and no water....) We picked up some fish peppers and basil to replace the sad seedlings I have been growing, some Polish Linguisa tomatoes (a local favorite and we love sauce), and some white echinacea (because I am curious.)

Right now I am plotting out what will actually make it into the raised bed garden, what will by my topsy turvey experiment (my neighbor had great luck with these last year but the more serious gardeners I follow online all seem to hate them,) what will go into self-watering containers (provided I have time to make them.) There is a lot to do. Wish me luck....

More odd weather

2010-05-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

This morning we are off to a sunny start but yesterday we had a light dusting of hail (visible in the lower right corner of the first picture.) Didn't keep spring from happening in the garden.

Moving?

2010-05-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

Now? Maybe. We put a contigent offer in on a home we love -- but we have to sell our house first. A big if.

So what about the garden? So much work has gone into it. I am hedging my bets. If our house sells, I have to say goodbye and start anew -- but if it doesn't sell the garden here is the joy that takes away the disappointment.

But in the meantime I have to prioritize the hope of moving -- which seriously cuts into garden time at the height of planting season. I had imagined myself shopping the plant sales, planting and prepping this weekend. And that just didn't happen.

I have to adjust. I am pulling back my aspirations. I will get this month's seed into the ground -- for us or for the next family that lives here. But I don't think I will be building melon trellises -- though maybe I can sneak some seeds into the ground.... I am guessing we will know whether we are staying or going in a month -- I could always build the trellises then.

I'm back ...

2010-04-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

and it is time to sort out what needs to get done. I have been dreaming big this year with this veggie garden -- but most of those dreams have been on hold since my grams passed. Thank goodness for the rain -- at least my plants have been watered!

And my husband helped me get Mel's mix into my final raised bed last weekend. I can't forget that. However, planning a party for 125+ with my adoptive family group this Sunday means I won't be gaining much momentum until next week rolls around. So what will I attack first?

the may raised bed plantings. My seeds are good to go but my seedlings...? I was really enthusiastic about starting seeds indoors -- especially for basil and peppers. But I can't say my efforts paid off. Nothing is really growing. I think it is time to give up the ghost -- and find a way to buy those basil and pepper starts.

seed the patches in my wildflower garden.
plant kiwi. I am good to go on this one. My trellises are made and the plants are purchased. I just need time to set the trellises in the ground properly.
plant melons. This is a whole new task. I was going to plant them in my final raised bed and then realized that the East side of my house was not going to give them the heat they need to grow. So I have decided to move them to a sunny spot in the corner of my front yard. I will build a "room-divider" trellis for them there. So I need trellis supplies, building time, grounding the trellis time, and seeding -- plus rearranging what is already there. Lots of work and it should get done asap if the melons are to have a chance.
plant sunflower house. How cute is that?! Can't wait to see the kids play in August. Unfortunately that means clearing/leveling and planting a space for it now....

I think that is it. Maybe I can try to squeeze in the first three this weekend -- and finish them on Monday, if necessary. Then I can dive into the melon project, then the sunflower house. Hopefully I can get all this done by the end of the following weekend. Then I can start tackling....

my hanging planters.
my watering system.
my fruit tree espalier.
my trellis for the small raised bed.
my blackberry trellis.
my worm bin.
my snail barrier on my 2 foot tall raised bed.

And in good news -- I had my first harvest a week or so ago. Choy sum (below) and mustard greens. They contributed to a very tasty stirfry. Looking forward to when the harvests are abundant.

Set back

2010-04-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

My grams died yesterday. I never lived near her but we were close. When I was little my grandparents lived in a 1950s suburb tract house with a train track that ran along the back of their yard. Grams had a raspberry patch that ran along the train easement and she used to make jelly every year. She also kept a veggie patch. It buffered the yard from the raspberries and trains. She battled rabbits and squirrels a lot. Or maybe it was my grandfather who liked to terrorize squirrels with the bb gun he kept in the dining room for just such fun.

Anyway, although I didn't spend time by her side learning to garden -- I figure she is my link to the gardening gene. Born in 1918, she was one of those Depression era people who worked hard, lived simple, saved more than spent, and shared what she had. Her parents were failed homesteaders -- which might explain why so many of my gardening experiments go awry....

I don't recall much of her gardening life but I do know that it ended nearly 15 years ago when her raspberry patch was collateral damage in a track cleaning project. Her heart wasn't in it as much after that -- and then her health declined. Not so rapidly at first. But in the end she physically just wasn't the person she used to be.

I wish I had lived closer by. And I am sorry that we won't get to talk to each other anymore. For now, I am going to go spend some time in the company of family. I won't be able to post for a while (my guess is a week.) Best wishes Grams.

internal saturday

2010-04-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

Funny how things have been chugging along so steadily that finishing my bamboo bed plantings and removing yard waste counted as a slow day. All told though, I spent too much of my day in my head. I have been trying new things with too little information and second guessing my warm season planting plans.

The kids and I tried sprouting seeds as if completing a seed germination test this past week (diggin food has nice pictures and video here.) Since the basil sprouted (their tails weren't nearly as long as the ones in Willi's picture), we potted them up. I am not sure this will work. We left them with little bits of paper towel attached. Not a big deal because I have heard the sprout roots can go right through the towel -- but I don't know if the leaves can go right through and I didn't know which end of the sprout was up at planting (it is easy to lose track with three helpers under the age of 6.) I wish I had kept track of what was going on so I could learn from our effort.

And in the second-guessing department, I am sure my melons will be unsuccessful if I plant them as planned . Only two of my four varieties mature in 85 days or less (important in the Pacific NW) -- and even these might need more heat than the east-facing wall I intended to plant them under will provide. So now I am thinking about moving the melons to a location with more afternoon sun. But where? My best bets are in the front yard. And the best of the best locations is in the spot I was going to make a sunflower castle for the kids. So what to do...?

For now I will shoot for a good night sleep (unlikely, we have a sick sleeper who has already been up several times) and will try more action and less worry tomorrow.

New growing station

2010-04-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

As I was dealing with my indoor pest problem, I also ran across some interesting information on seeds starting and heat by Travis at The Westside Gardener. Basicly, he is pointing out that seedlings might grow lushly with good light and heat but in the Pacific NW those seedlings are not going to meet heat when they get put into the ground; therefore, it is better to raise your seedlings in a cool location with good light. Doing this will make your seedlings 'hard' from the start. (Though he warns about starting truly hot seasoned plants like peppers too soon as they suffer from temperatures under 45 degrees.)

What Travis said made sense to me. My previous growing station was the same as my seed starting station -- in the window of my warm kitchen (in fact, a down right hot kitchen on sunny days thanks to south facing skylights.) Now I have invested in a real shop light and moved my growing station out to the garage. The seedlings will still be protected from the weather but they will not be lulled into thinking they live in a hot climate.

I am hoping my efforts will make a difference.

Plants under attack!

2010-04-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

Found this big (little) guy attached to the stem of a watermelon seedling a few days ago.

Maybe a fruit fly? But then a few hours later I spotted some more. Big ones, little ones, brown ones, green ones. I found them on my seedlings. I found them on my herbs. Especially on the red sage that I bought to plant in the front yard. And I should have known better. One of the things I love about the garden blogging community is that so many people are writing about what they are up to that I get a really good sense of what I should be thinking about as a beginner. And just a couple weeks ago Thomas at A Growing Tradition posted on his run-in with aphids and shared that it makes sense to quarantine new plants before bringing them inside so pests are not spread. Well, if I had only listened....

I still don't know what the creatures were but I could only assume they were up to no good. The only thing I could think to do after noticing these winged things all over the place was to spray them with soapy water (it was dinner time and I had no time to run out to the store.)

Can you see their tiny carcasses?

In other bad news, I found my first slug in the raised bed veggie garden. One of my choy sum leaves was riddled with holes -- and sure enough there was a teeny, tiny slug roaming around underneath. I smooshed it and hope that it was a lonely traveler but know that is not likely. I am going have to accelerate my hunt for copper tape or foil to use as a deterrent. I heard that you should use copper that is at least 4 inches wide -- but all that I have found so far is 1 inch wide (and expensvie at that!)

Weekend roundup

2010-04-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Garden events, like the weather, were mercurial this weekend. We had great gusty hours and calm hours, overcast, rainy, and sunny hours, warm and cold hours. The espaliered pear tree survived the windstorm with its flowers -- though I don't think my cold frame did much to secure that result. It probably got a bit more battered for being 'protected.' Again, I needed a more thorough effort. In this case, I must finish installing the espalier guide lines. If the branches had been secured to them, the wind probably would have whipped by them, no issues.

Anyway, with the help of my dad who was visiting from out of state (I am not sure why anyone ever visits, we always put them to work!) I managed to get a few things done in the yard. All the bamboo got put into the ground, the fruit bed was weeded (the seeds from the wildflower garden on the other side of the fence appear to be migrating), seeds and seedlings were set out in the raised bed, a new light station was begun in my garage (more in on that when I complete it -- as of now my timer doesn't work right...) and many egg hunts unfolded.

When I pulled off the remay to set out the starts and seeds this afternoon, everything looked more robust than it had on Thursday. One of those deep grins grabbed hold of me when I spotted the start of flowers on my choy sum. I have never eaten this pac choi relative before -- but they say you can pull the whole plant to add to stirfries once it flowers. Looks like the first taste of our efforts on Scaredy Cat Farm are around the corner.

try, try again

2010-04-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

Once again I underestimated the strength of the shelter I built. The wind hasn't been as bad as predicted, but it has been consistent. By mid-afternoon, half the plastic protecting the pear tree had freed itself. Staples were not enough. Now I am trying to supplement the staples with lathe -- so far it is holding up. Hopefully everything will remain snug this time and I won't have an update in the morning...

battening down the hatches

2010-04-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

They are predicting winds from 40-60 miles an hour this afternoon so I put some extra clamps on the raised veggie bed to secure the remay and encased the pear tree in plastic to shelter its flowers. Now it is time to wait and see....

Are flies pollinators?

2010-03-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

My euphorbia was abuzz today with flying bugs. There are no less than 4 winged creatures in the picture.

But only two of them look like a bee to me -- this furry faced guy here.

And this striped-back one here.

The rest looked like common flies or flies with blue bottoms (when the light was right.) And the flies way outnumbered the bees.

See how in the last picture, the creature that looked like a fuzzy fly revealed itself to be blue bottomed?

I looked around the web and found that flies can be pollinators at sites such as this one by the U.S. Forest Service. Apparently flies like pale, putrid, funnel-like flowers -- which would explain their attraction to my euphorbia (which doesn't really smell that bad....) And true bees have 2 sets of wings (four wings total) -- so I am thinking that at least one of my 'bees' way above is actually a bee-mimic.

And all of this and I am not sure it is going to matter for my fruits or veggies. Flies are pollinators -- but they won't likely be attracted to the bright, sweet flowers of my fruit starts, bushes, and trees. And my veggies aren't going to need pollination to deliver tasty goodness.

More importantly, I am going to have to figure out what to do to encourage my well-protected veggies to grow....

new ornamental bed attempted

2010-03-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

I have been looking to makeover my patio as a nice place to sit out during the summer -- hopefully while nibbling on treats harvested from our new fruit and veggie gardens. This is what I had:

Besides being a mess, I didn't find the tall arborvitae or the overgrown, black-spotted fotinia inviting. So we went for a full renovation. In February I had out a tree service to remove all the offending plants. That left us with the ability to see two yards over.

So far, I had failed to make the area any more inviting (though the crabapple in the foreground sure is pretty when it blooms.)

However, there is nothing I love more than a bare bed. Starting from scratch lets me play with texture and color. I got out to my local store on Friday (without kids) and picked out a bunch of bunch of low-maintenance plants. First I selected a narrow clumping bamboo, borinda angustissima, to provide height and shelter. It grows to about 15 feet in the Pacific NW and stays to about 2 feet around. It has narrow leaves and a vase-shape that should provide a delicate screen as it matures. I am in love with the darn things.

Then I compared the bamboos to a bunch of possible ground covers (mostly grasses) to see if they would match. In the end, I chose "June" hostas, "Ice Dance" carex, Japanese forest grass, and a "Tom Thumb" phormium to fill in the gaps at the foot of the bamboos. The phormium is the only plant that might need some coddling past the initial first year or two of regular watering. But look at this little detail it brings to the garden.... I had to have it!

On Saturday I set out to get my plants into the ground and ran into a disaster -- the worst rootbound-ness I have seen in purchased plants. I even had to cut one of the pots to get the plant out of it.

I am so in love with this bamboo that I want to make it work -- but so far have failed to find good advice to help me. I tried picking at the roots, I tried soaking them in water ...

Nothing worked. Normally I would cut the roots with a box cutter -- but one of the bamboo's roots spiraled around horizonally so I risk shrinking the roots to mere inches and I am at a loss as to what to do. So for now I am waiting for the bamboo specialist to return to the nursery. I am hoping for definitive advice. I really want these plants to flourish since they will shade me while I munch berries and tomatoes later this summer.

What do you do in the face of excessive rootboundness?

seed, sprout, and first true cabbage leaf

2010-03-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

sprouting contest winner ...

2010-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Tigger melons. Although I am sure that the watermelons, peppers, and basil will catch up soon, I only took the melon sprouts out from under the dome. Who wants to encourage fuzz?!

But then I had to figure out what to do with them. I was wondering if the great distance between my lamp and my sprouts hindered the growth of my last sprouting effort -- and since I really want these to be lush transplants in May and June, I decided to improvise a bit. I am now using a cardboard box to lift my sprouts to the light. I can cut the box down to give them space as they grow. My solution won't be as earth-friendly as using (and reusing) a chain to raise and lower the lights appropriately -- but at least I am repurposing a box.

seed starts, round two

2010-03-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, my original seeds starts did okay -- but my guess is a 1/3 or more will never make it to ground. Yet I remain undaunted. Yesterday my kindergartner was home on a school holiday and we started our second round of seeds in Burpee Eco-Friendly starter kits.

Last time I planted what I should have sowed into the ground (but couldn't because my raised bed wasn't built yet.) This time we are planning ahead for starts that will go into the ground in May (tigger melons, sweet basil, sugar baby watermelons, and moon & stars watermelon) and in June (fish and anaheim peppers.)

Last time I put the pellets straight into the ground. This time I am thinking that I will have to "pot-up" so the seedlings get some size before they go to ground. But first we get to wait and see what sprouts first....

things looking good in the square foot garden

2010-03-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend is over. We got more sun than expected and now its time to think of dinner and get ready for the week. Just a few clean-up tasks left.

It seems that all the plants that I planted yesterday are doing well under their hoop frame/remay cover. The plants look perky and ready to grow. It is one of those moments of small success that makes things good.

I am really curious to see where things will go from here. The regional veggie guru Steve Solomon recommends widely-space, dry gardening for the Pacific Northwest. And I am really intrigued. But on 0.17 acres in the suburbs, I feel the need for my little farm plot to look more landscaped. So here I am on a square foot garden adventure. Can these dense plantings really not just grow but thrive? Will all this effort reward us with food we like to eat? The Osaka Purple Mustard should be the first to answer, baby greens in 20 days....

a good day to buy and plant

2010-03-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

Turns out gardeners are not desperate brides. This morning I headed off to the the Seattle Tilth plant sale with my son. We got there a few minutes before opening: me towing him in the wagon. The line was long but there were still 9 am (opening) bracelets available. Everyone was very friendly. And my growing boy wanted to start his adventure with a snack. So the first place we stopped was the Patty Pan Grill booth for a quesadilla.

Once we took care of my son's hunger, we managed to find most of what we were looking for. As the wagon began to fill, D took over dragging it around himself. He did a great job -- expertly navigating the crowds while I moved back and forth hunting down our next picks.

Ok. Maybe not so much. He is only four. A few people were bumped and apologies were offered. Gardeners are very nice people.

We brought our picks home and I started to set them out while D took a nap. I hope transplanting is not rocket science. I tried to treat everything gently -- but I was pretty quick about it. In the end I imagine time will tell -- we will see what is still thriving next weekend. I hope it all does. Today I put fennel, rainbow chard, some flowers, two types of cabbage, bull's blood beets, choy sum, and osaka purple mustard into the ground. The last two are things I have never tried in my life but sound tasty -- so I really hope this experiment works.

My final garden task of the day was to tuck the plants in for the night -- which I did with some remay and clamps. I hope everything is still looking good in the morning.

should I be intimidated by a plant sale?

2010-03-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

Seattle Tilth just sent out an e-mail about their cool weather plant sale coming up this Saturday -- and quite honestly, it sounds a bit like a David's Bridal $99 wedding gown sales event. There is a pre-sale on Friday night for best selection if you are willing to pay $25 -- and the day of you can pick up a color-coded wristband to secure your 'time of entry' starting an hour before they open. Oh dear. Will there be jockeying? Will there be plant grabbing and trading in the aisles? Do you need to camp out the night before to get a good colored bracelet? If you show up 'sometime in the morning' will there be bracelets and plants left?

I know this is silly but the idea of crowds in need of taming brings out the scaredy side of me. Still, my efforts at seed propagation have been mediocre at best. Only my peas seem to be flourishing (and that despite the fact that I left them outside under the cold frame last night ... it was above freezing and nothing seems to be dying so I am leaving them out tonight too.) I figure I am going to have to suck it up, conquer my fears of the unknown, and try out the plant sale if I am going to produce something edible this spring.

Rough and tumble gardeners? So far everyone I have met has been real nice....

Mother and daughter day

2010-03-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

I spent a fun afternoon with my kindergartner in the garden today. Together we put on a number of finishing touches to our raised veggie bed. Our first task was to mark off squares for our square foot garden. I decided to use ground stakes to do this since they were precut and in the lengths I needed.

To get the job done, we laid down two tape measurers and used 2x2 as a guideline to put our 2 foot stakes down. Here is my daughter making sure things will line up.

Lately she has been really interested in becoming a scientist so she had a great time being technical and exact with her measurements.

After we placed the stakes, we set them into the dirt on their edges to make them more stable.

Afterwards, we placed two 1 foot long stakes perpendicularly to make our one foot square boxes.

Finally, we cut 1/2 inch PVC to length to make hoops for our bed -- my daughter even used the saw herself! Then we put them in place and added the clamps we will use to hold down our cloth once the plants are in.

And we were done. The project turned out much better than my free-standing cold frame -- and my daughter was very pleased with her contribution (and so was I!) Now we can't wait to plant....

improvements don't really improve the cold frame

2010-03-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

I repaired my cold frame today. The lathe I used was too flimsy to do the job well. The frame threatened to blow away in the wind, it got bent out of shape by its own weight, and the plastic detached in one corner.

So I attached some 2x2 cedar to the frame to add heft and stiffen it up. My patch worked but I really must say this turned out to be an ugly project. It looks real cheap and rushed. Next time I start a new project, I will slow down and find out how others went about it before I get started.

Nonetheless, I did learn something from my efforts -- if you want to protect something, what you build must be substantial. Lathe is not substantial -- use 2x2 or other sturdy-sized wood instead.

flimsy cold frame

2010-03-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

Today I made a lightweight cold frame to use as I harden off my transplants. It was really easy to make but turned out rather flimsy. So here is what I did and at the end I will tell you what I am going to do to fix it.

Necessary supplies: 4 foot lathe, metal fasteners, a square, a hammer, 3.5 millimeter plastic, scissors, and a stapler. So I used a square to make sure my angles were good before pounding the fastener in with a hammer.

Here is what the fasteners looked like before and after. The fasteners were rather sharp but I found them easy to work with even with kids around.

Then I cut off the amount of plastic I needed from my roll. And attached it using a stapler -- I have a heavy duty stapler somewhere but couldn't figure out where it was when the time came so my desk stapler had to do.

I think this modest cold frame will be enough to keep my transplants protected while they harden off.

But my cold frame is a little flimsy. The wind threatened to take it away so I put a chair in front of it for the time being. When I get a chance next week I am going to buy some 2x2 and attach it to my frame for greater stability and heft. I don't think a mild wind will down it then.

Still, I am wondering if at this point if it would be more time efficient to just try direct seeding into the ground.

cutie peas

2010-03-12T19:39:00.001-08:00

Bug Identification: friend or foe?

2010-03-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

So I found a couple bugs in my yard over the weekend -- and since all my bug knowlege is limited to the generic: bee, worm, beetle, ant, butterfly, slug, I took pictures and sent them off to Seattle Tilth for identification. My first mystery companion? (Click picture for a closer look.)

A millipede. A gardner's friend. These little guys are a slow-moving decomposers of organic matter such as leaves. They tend to roll up into a spiral when scared -- perhaps that should have tipped me off to its essentially good nature.

My second mystery companion? (Click picture for a closer look.)

A wireworm. A gardner's foe. This little guy tends to live in soils that recently held sod -- which makes sense since I first spotted these quick creatures when I was removing grass for my epimediums. If I only knew what I was seeing then, I would have dispatched of them. Instead I left them to their own devices. As adults they are harmless click beetles. However as young wireworms, they like to eat seeds, stems, and roots -- not good news for a veggie gardner. And the worse news is that they stay in their larval wireworm stage for two to six years before becoming adults. For more information you should check out this University of Maine Cooperative Extension fact sheet that Seattle Tilth shared with me.

Perhaps is was wireworms that did this to my tyfon (turnip.)

Since my epimediums have been slower to emerge than expected, I am going to try a technique that Seattle Tilth said might be helpful -- leave some decoy carrots in the bed to lure the wireworms from the new starts. If I have nibbles in a week I will know that I have a problem.

The raised bed is ready to plant

2010-03-07T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well, the weather turned from short-sleeves to sweatshirts and hats overnight -- dampening our gardening enthusiasm. Nonetheless, we managed to finally fill our large raised bed with our best approximation of Mel's mix (basically a self-mixed potting soil made of multiple composts, peat moss and vermiculite.) The mix made sense to me since my raised bed is basically a very large container.

The light and fluffy mix is begging to be planted. So I am probably lucky that the weather changed so quickly or I might have turned my tender veggie sprouts out too soon. I will have to read up on this but I think the plants can go out once they have true leaves and/or their roots break through the pellets.

I imagine it would be be best if I harden, or leave the pellets outside protected, for a day or two before I plant them out in the soil. To help me harden my pellets, I am thinking of building a small square frame and covering it with a heavy, clear(ish) plastic sheet -- kind of like a smaller version of My Tiny Plot's peach frame -- so I am ready when the time comes.

In the end I am happy that the weather has bought me a chance to regroup. And I am also pleased that the colder weather is bringing rain. I am sure my new strawberries will appreciate it since I am a lazy waterer (my soaker hose still isn't attached to the faucet!)

PM project: the fruit bed

2010-03-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I turned my attention to our fruit bed. I had already laid down the soaker hose so I pulled the strawberry starts from my fridge. I was having a hard time visualizing 50 strawberry plants one foot apart, so I snagged 50 toothpicks from my baking supplies and spread them around to help me with my spacing.

I left the hairy mess of starts out on a plate between damp paper towels since it was short-sleeve weather and I didn't want the roots to dry out.

Raintree Nursery (where I got them) says that strawberries are very flexible: they can be planted in mounds, beds, rows, containers, etc. -- but their root tips should be straight. Now the rest of what I show you I might have gotten wrong. I am NOT an expert. I did what seemed right for me -- it may or may not be right, it may or may not be right for you.

Disclaimer complete, I will now share my process: when I planted my starts I would flip the berries upside down and open up their root skirts.

Then I would place them in a prepared hole. I prepared the holes by shoveling out a spadeful of dirt, then crumbling most of the dirt back in careful to be gentle with the worms. Then I would shape the crumbled dirt in the hole into a mound that was essentially soil level high before setting the strawberry start on top so its skirt would fan out.

Then I would cover the roots with the remaining soil. If you look around you can find a lot of pictures like this one from Ask The Berry Man that give a visual of the level at which the crown should be planted. I hope I got it right.

For the most part though I didn't worry much about planting my strawberries because I knew that the area would be covered with compost later this afternoon -- and that made me feel like I had backup. So by day's end, with the help of a neighborhood teenager who hauled all the compost, my fruit bed looked like this.

I can't wait to see what it looks like this summer! But for now, with an achy back and a mild fever, it is time to get myself to bed so I can recuperate for tomorrow.

AM project: removing tyfon cover crop

2010-03-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

It was a busy day at Scaredy Cat farm. This morning I laid down a soaker hose for my fruit bed then started the transformation of my "weed bed." The first task was to remove all the tyfon cover crop I planted there last fall. Previously the bed had been covered with landscape fabric and beauty bark. I picked tyfon as my renovation crop because it has long tap roots to break up soil and it is edible (though I wasn't brave enough to try more than a few leaves. The bottoms are supposed to be like turnips but something seemed to have gotten to mine first -- see this January post.)

There was a lot of work to do so I enlisted all the help I could get.

And while this looks like lots of work, it wasn't. What started as an Indiana Jones adventure morphed into the German Army, into being farmers, into a fourth of July celebration, into pirates. (Tyfon is that easy to pull.)

The kids and their neighborhood friends did a great job. As you can see, they razed the lot before losing interest.

Which left me with just the devastation to deal with. Unfortunately, despite the tyfon I still had a thick mat of weeds. I started to remove them -- first individually to make sure the really bad weeds were dealt with appropriately, then with a hoe to mow down all the annuals.

I still have work ahead of me (more hoeing and covering the area with compost), but with any luck this bed will get seeded for wildflowers as a draw for beneficial insects tomorrow.

A spring volunteer

2010-03-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Today is gorgeous. Warm and sunny. I spent most of the morning out doing spring cleaning and preparing the beds for the 6 yards of compost that arrived today. In the process I ran into this lovely volunteer. Not one of my picks. Probably not the pick of our house's previous owners either. We inherited huge, sheared boxed box hollies in this bed when we bought the house. So this bloom is a tenacious flower with a real history.

And I didn't weed it. It might not fit my Pacific Northwest sense of style -- but I couldn't give up this lovely breath of spring.

Seed sprouting station modified

2010-03-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

So today I cobbled together a lighting system for my seed starter kits. Not exactly good interior design -- but I figure it will get my seeds the start they need for the time being.

When I checked in on the morning sprouts this afternoon, I noticed that some of the cabbage sprouts were looking a bit fuzzy. I am pretty sure that fuzzy isn't good. So I pulled them, a few marigolds, and a spinach out and set them on a cookie tray for further (less humid) growing. The seed starter kit packaging said the sprouts would be ready to plant when their roots begin to bust through the pellets. Let's hope I have dirt in my planter by then! At the rate they are growing, I might not....

We have sprouts!

2010-03-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

I am absolutely amazed. We only set the seeds in the starter kits on Tuesday afternoon. I was sure I did most everything wrong: I didn't cover the seeds. I only had one heat mat (2 kits fit on it, but I had 4 kits.) My light system wasn't installed (though I finally purchased one a the store yesterday.) I haven't watered yet. In fact, worries about underwatering are what got me peering closely into the kits this morning.

And there they were: cabbage sprouts were coming up.

And on even closer inspection, I could see the beginning of downward rooting on the marigold seeds too.

I think I have to remove the covers after the seeds germinate -- so later today I might move the sprouted pellets to a cookie tray. But I am worried that I am moving too quick -- maybe I should wait for true leaves first. I will have to read up on the process during naptime (the kids' naptime) and make a decision soon.

We started our seeds

2010-03-02T22:22:00.000-08:00

So I still don't have soil in my raised bed and it is already March 2. No problem. The kids and I sowed our first crops in pellets today. Hopefully the soil will be in the bed by time our veggies need to be planted.

Turns out the Burpee "ecofriendly" seed starting kit I bought was really easy to use. A little over 4 cups of warm water turned the dry pellets into dark, moist 2 inch seed beds in about a minute. (In my mind that process would have taken hours. In fact I got the first one started before naps even though we didn't start 'planting' until after my kindergartner returned from school because I was worried that the pellets wouldn't be ready for the seeds.) On a side note, Burpee claims that the trays and lids are made from plants. They feel like plastic. How is that possible?

In the end, I would say that starting seed pellets was not the least stressful task to take on with kids. At first, none of the kids seemed to understand what 'plant a row' meant. But we made it through. Each kid got their own seed (spinach, beets, fennel) and 10 pellets (2 rows) to plant -- then I did the rest (chard, peas, and flowers.) I am still not sure if I got it right. Are you supposed to cover the seeds with something? I did my best to get the seeds down in the center but so far have left them to their own devices.

Finally, I am proud to say that my garden window is being used for its intended purpose for the first time. Up until now it has been largely used as a dish drain.

So as behind as I feel in the planting department, I am now started. Looking forward to seeing some sprouts soon!

Blueberries are in the ground ...

2010-03-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

I ran out of time today but I am feeling pretty pleased. I have a good start on my fruit bed. Below are my four new blueberries straight out of the box.

The biggest had amazing roots. And three cheers for my soil -- a few years back worms were a rarity. Now I run into them all the time. You can spot at least 3 in this picture.*

I didn't get as far as I hoped. My strawberry starts are still in the fridge and the soaker hose is still a figment of my imagination -- but the blueberries are in the ground and stepping stones have been placed so I don't crush the strawberry plants in the fall.

And though everything is so pale in this picture -- where was the promised sun?! You might have noticed that my new blueberry is as tall as my columnar apple and espaliered pear tree. It must be feeling pretty proud of itself. That's okay, cause I am feeling pretty proud too.

*If you are looking but can't find the worms, there is one off the right side of the root ball and a cluster in the upper left of the photo. Perhaps, like me, you can be amazed by the presence of small, good things.

A sunny Sunday for yard chores

2010-02-28T20:40:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful mild and sunny day today. And although I could only find a couple hours to get out into the yard, it was a delightful and productive time. Not only did I get some plants moved and pruned -- I managed to murder 7 snails in the process.

So far I am nervous about pruning my existing fruit trees so I have left them alone (though they have only been in the ground for a year so I think that is okay.) But I do find it incredibly satisfying to clean up my perennials like the hydrangea below. In turn I removed dead wood, long-spent flowers, and old/mis-shapen canes to set the plant up for its growing season. I imagine once I overcome my ignorance of fruit pruning and gain some experience, I will feel the same way about tending to my apples, pears, blueberries, and kiwis as I do these inedible plants.

Somehow the trim makes the yard look so much spiffier -- and that much readier for spring.

The warm weather is supposed to hold for tomorrow. And with the help of a neighborhood teenager this afternoon, my soon-to-be-updated fruit bed is weed-free and ready for planting. I am hoping to take advantage of tomorrow's weather (forecast says 60 degrees and sunny in Seattle) to get my blueberries and strawberries into the ground. Since it is also predicted to start raining again on Tuesday, this is about as perfect as I could have dreamed.

Silliness

2010-02-27T20:42:00.000-08:00

Today I did a bunch of shopping for supplies. Hit four stores and still couldn't commit to buying half my list because I was unsure of my math.

On the lighter side ... I ran into this silly video done by an area nursery. It is their take on civil rights activist General Larry Platt's breakout performance on American Idol -- and it involves growing food.

Fruit starts force a jump start

2010-02-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

... and all is good. UPS dropped a 5 foot long, triangular tube shaped box on my doorstep right before dinner. The kids were so busy pretending they were animals that I was able to wrestle it into the garage with minimal fuss. And now I have the promise of summer fruit stashed in various places: strawberries in the fridge and blueberries and kiwi in the garage. (Thanks Raintree for the owner's manual with the tips on what to do if you are not ready to plant.)

There is nothing like having too much to do to help a person prioritize. Suddenly I know that I am not going to mess with a fancy drip or emitter watering system. In fact, I think I will water most of my vegetables by hand this year -- which will probably turn out to be a very popular decision with the kids once things warm up.

More work arrives tomorrow

2010-02-25T16:40:00.000-08:00

Today I got an e-mail from UPS that my fruit starts will arrive tomorrow. TOMORROW!

But luckily, I got that message right before a nearby teenager stopped by to see what yard work I had to offer -- and I added weeding the fruit bed to the list. He might even take care of doling out compost to all my beds when the yard and I are ready.

Set-backs and set-ups at Scaredy Cat Farm

2010-02-24T14:54:00.000-08:00

I think I got a bit overwhelmed. Last week when I said that I wasn't going to tackle my weeds until my fruit starts arrived and then I would only have to "order compost, do a thorough weeding job, plant the new fruit, lay down a soaker hose, and cover the whole thing with 2" of compost," my heart sunk. That was the list for just one of my beds. My big raised bed still needs to be filled with soil and have some sort of water system put in place. My small raised bed also still needs soil and water -- plus sturdy trellises so I can grow vines upright. And then I kept getting turned around by my planting schedule. It was complicated since I aspire to succession planting and four season edibles. When I ordered my seeds, I didn't even think about seasonal varieties: that you might be able to plant spinach or lettuce year round -- but some varieties flourish in winter and others in summer.

My kindergartner was asking me if I knew what a put-up was the other day. I didn't. And it took two days before it came out that a put-up is the opposite of a put-down (ie. a compliment.) So as I come out of my funk, I am dwelling on my set-ups rather than set-backs.

Set-up number 1: Our large raised bed is in the ground. It even has holders installed in case I am ever ready to try a hoop system (and then I would "only need" to buy and cut 1/2 inch PVCto length, buy and cut the row cover, and figure out how to secure it so it doesn't blow away -- so maybe in the fall....)

Set-up number 2: I managed to get a few inches of soil into the bottom of our structure. Plus, I remembered there are teenage boys around here. I could probably hire one to get more of this task done. (I am using composted sod for the bottom foot and will be buying better raised bed soil for the top foot.)

Set-up number 3: I did manage to design a planting schedule. I even allowed myself to pick out a few more seeds to get me through the winter. And I have decided that just because you can plant in Februrary, it doesn't mean you have to. I will get started in March.

Set-up number 4: I let someone else get me a huge headstart on my soon-to-be renovated, time for a nap/cup of tea/good book relaxation area. They took out the diseased, overgrown fotinia that was turning our eaves into a condo development for young animal families and the arborvitae I never warmed to -- and soon I will regain shade and privacy with plantings of narrow, clumping bamboo, woodrush, and hostas.

Set-up number 5: The end of 'false' spring and the return of the rain predicted for this week has been exaggerated. There have been plenty of sunbursts to sustain me -- and though they probably won't last (the air is a lot crisper than it has been in a while), I might even be ready for 'real' spring when it comes.

Still trying to get my head around plant succession

2010-02-21T00:22:00.000-08:00

I have no business being up this late at night -- but I got started on trying to come up with a garden plan/planting schedule and I just couldn't let go. I have been doing my research and I found Growing Vegetables by Solomon really helped me conceive of time. He says to consider your garden as two gardens: one planted with spring/fall crops and one with summer/winter cover crops. That made sense -- so I started trying to divy my seeds up into these categories and remembered how I thought about growing edibles two years ago and decided it was way too complicated to attempt. So I turned to the slimmer guide, Maritime NW Garden Guide by Seattle Tilth. I paged through month by month and made a chart with my veggies and their planting schedule. It looked like this (C stands for cloched, O for outdoors, I for indoors):

My perusal taught me two additional things about garden planning timing. One, you switch to summer varieties between April and May. Two, you switch to fall and winter varieties between June and July. A bit too complicated for this year's plan -- but good to know.

Time was starting to make sense, but I couldn't get the swing of how it was going to work in the garden. So I opened up a word document, created a table the shape of my raised bed, copied it eight times, and labeled each for a month between March and October (I figure February is a lost cause around here -- better to admit defeat and get started next month.)

My charts looked like this (I have no idea why I couldn't just do a screen grab -- I had to photograph my computer?!) I used dark shading for the spaces I was saving for summer crops, white shading for new plantings, and medium shading for existing plants. It made a lot of sense until about three months in. Who knew plant succession was so hard!

And now I have to cry uncle so this scaredy cat farmer get some sleep. I will try again on Monday.

More on the weeds in my garden

2010-02-19T10:14:00.000-08:00

Turns out two of my bad weeds (and they are still bad even if useful) are edible. I picked up a copy of Winter Gardening in the Pacific Northwest by Binda Colebrook from my local library last night and was thumbing through it this morning. Both chickweed and dandelion were listed as vegetables. Chickweed, unopened dandelion flowers, and blanched dandelion leaves can be added to salads -- and you can make medicinal tea from dandelion roots. Who knew?! Well given what a simple internet search reveals, a lot of other folks....

Scaredy Cat Farmer?

2010-02-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

So I was working on my blog and my 5 year old was looking over my shoulder. She says, "Scaredy Cat Farmer? What does that mean?" So I explain to her that this is my blog and that I am writing down our adventures in the garden this year. She tells me, "that is silly." I take the bait and ask, "why?" "Because you're not a cat."

Well, I am not a farmer either but a girl can have hopes.

The weeds in my patch of the Pacific NW

2010-02-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

The picture above shows part of my fruit bed. It will be full of apples, pears, blueberries and strawberries this spring -- but right now it is full of "green manure." I wasn't sure of what most of this was so I took a bunch of pictures, plant by plant, and e-mailed them to Seattle Tilth's amazing helpline. A few days letter, I learned what I had -- good, bad, and ugly.

THE GOOD: Some of my plants turned out to be desired -- at least by someone. And one was edible!

Oregano

Pansy

Foxglove

THE BAD: These plants are definitely weeds -- but are pretty lightweight fighters for their space in the garden.

Chickweed surrounded by shotweed. Both are easy to pull and new plants can be smothered with an application of about two inches of compost. They say shotweed seeds will fly from the plant when it is touched -- which is why it shouldn't be allowed to go to seed.

Cut leaf geranium. Easy to pull and smother with compost.

Annual fireweed. Another one you don't want to let go to seed. Easy to pull.

Canada Thistle (distinguished from Bull by its lack of spines on its stems). Has a long tap root -- that can live up to two years without a plant attached?! Using a weed hound is recommended.

Dandelion. And nope, I didn't recognize it without its flower. It also has a long tap root and a weed hound is recommended.

THE UGLY: These are the worst of the worst in my garden.

Weedy vetch. It resprouts easily and can grow to smother other plants. Must be diligent about removing all of it.

Oxalis. This one is an aggressive spreader too. Looks like clover. Must dig deeply to remove all of it. Do not put into home compost.

MY PLAN: Probably to let it all sit for a while. Pull the weeds with flowers so nothing goes to seed. Then when my new fruit starts arrive, set to work. Order compost, do a thorough weeding job, plant the new fruit, lay down a soaker hose, and cover the whole thing with 2" of compost.

In the meantime, I rebooted my photo printer and printed out all the pictures. On the back I wrote out Seattle Tilth's tips (abridged) and drew symbols for the illiterate (2 out of three of my kids can't read yet.) I made sad and happy faces for weeds and desired plants -- and pictures of plants above ground (for pull it) and a person with a shovel (for go get an adult.) I am going to stuff them into sandwich baggies so we can carry them into the yard with us -- and hopefully the whole clan will soon be experts at weed identification and eradication!

Planning for crop rotation and succession starting

2010-02-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

Perhaps it was the drizzle (and hail) or the start of the Olympics or the fact that we were together as a family for the first time in a week -- but we didn't get anything done in the yard this weekend. The most I could muster was a planning session in a bowling alley parking lot while my daughter attended a birthday party.

Yes, I settled in with Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades and The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide and tried to wrap my head around two concepts: crop rotation and succession planting. Crop rotation is the practice of moving types of plants (leaf, root, fruit, cover, flower) around in one's garden so their common pests are undermined and the soil is replenished by the growing process itself. Succession planting is a means to make good use of small spaces by removing one plant from the garden after it bears veggies and replacing it with another whose season is just starting.

I can think in three dimensions. I understand that each plant will require a certain amount of space (length, depth, and height) to mature. But add time, and I am sunk -- particularly since crop rotation requires that you think in years and succession planting requires that you think in the life cycle of particular plants.

I am hoping that thinking in four dimensions will come easier with experience but for now I am going to have to do more research. Maybe I will be able to make sense of this if I start by listing seeds by crop type in order to make a basic layout -- then layer on the successions afterwards. It seems like it would be much easier if I had more than two beds to work with but that fix isn't in the cards.

Any advice on being able to plan in four dimensions out there?

The epimediums are in the ground ...

2010-02-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

I have heard that it isn't good to mess with wet soil because it is damaging to its structure -- but we haven't seen a dry day since Monday and the epimediums were thriving in a box in my garage. I understand that epimediums are rather rugged for their delicate looks so I am hoping they will over come their rough start.

They morning started with using my pulaski to break up the soil under the rhodies where the sod used to be. I did some worm damage but didn't see my green enemy again. Then I laid down some compost based soil mix and turned it with the original dirt. I have heard that you don't want to disturb the soil surrounding the plant -- which makes sense to me if you are planting a speciman. But I am planting a groundcover and want to spread -- so I am more worried that running into a different soil texture will inhibit its growth than I am worried about overturning weed seeds. Then I took the epimediums out of their box, careful to keep the orange and yellow bloomers separate. I bought 5 epimediums but was able to get over 12 starts out of them. Hopefully this means they will fill in and become a beautiful groundcover quicker. I laid them out into a nice pattern, made shallow depressions, and covered them with dirt. My final step was to cover my work with way too little compost (less than 0.5 inches). Maybe I will fix that later.

It was a real Seattle day today. It was raining the entire time I was outside. Normally I am a fair weather gardner but those epimediums were begging for soil and finishing that raised bed is going to get my attention this weekend (or maybe my husband's....) The rain didn't mean much until I got the epimediums laid out under the rhodies. Then it quickened and gave me the feeling I was wearing a hat. And not a pretty one at that.

Anyone else garden in the rain?

Not a good bug ...

2010-02-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

On Scaredy Cat Farm, knowledge is power. So after I saw this green bug during sod removal on Monday, I sent its picture in to Seattle Tilth. Their vision is "to transform the NW region into the organic gardening capital of the world." And I think they can do it because they run a fantastic helpline that is quick, informative, and sympathetic towards newbie gardners like me.

Unfortunately, this bug is most likely a cutworm. The helpline would need to see its legs for a positive id --but since I left it to its own devices on Monday, I wouldn't even know where to begin searching for it now. I guess I am going to have to start bagging and tagging unknown critters until my knowledge of good and bad bugs is complete.

Cutworms can be really damaging to vegetable starts. They like to eat the leaves off the crown of emerging plants. I should have eliminated it. I am not big on smooshing bugs -- but sometimes you have to tough it out for the greater good.

Soil Test Results

2010-02-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

Today I had the pleasure of opening my soil test results from UMass' Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Lab. I actually got the results by pdf last Friday -- but since I was busy with the Northwest Flower and Garden show and our raised bed, I didn't quite get to the results. It was a pleasant surprise to find the envelope in our mailbox since I had forgotten about UMass' e-mail -- and there is something somehow more exciting to getting your results when you get to tear paper in the process.

In reading my soil test results, I noticed something about myself -- I don't like to read technical language. I like technical information but I prefer it delivered through a journalist or an enthusiast. I am ashamed to admit that I could feel my reticence rise just from the formatting of the words on the page. And I could feel my brain slow with even the briefest mention of phrases like: soil PH adjustment, ground dolomitic limestone, per 100 square feet.... I think I just know that I am in over my head.

So I reminded myself that it is okay to fail. That I am taking on a lot this year with hardscape, irrigation, plant choices, etc. -- and I can work up to the specifics of scientific soil management over time. This year I am (for the most part) working with fresh soil since I chose to try raised beds. The soil I had tested won't really be nourishing the majority of my crops (though it could leach) -- and my fruit garden might just have to deal with another year of benign neglect (though there seemed to be no red flags in the results and I do promise to water more regularly this year.)

Finally, I did get the good news I was hoping for -- no significant levels of lead. So this scaredy cat farmer has bought herself some piece of mind by having a proper soil test done: I won't be poisoning my kids with our produce. That in itself made my day.

Sod Removal

2010-02-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

So today's project was to remove some sod under my rhodies to make way for my new epimediums. Whew! I learned to remove sod from reading Cass Turnbull's Guide to Pruning a few years back when we first bought the house and inherited an overgrown landscape. Turnball would have you cut your sod into 8 inch squares and layer it (upside down so the grass doesn't show) in a wall 2 feet high, 2-3 feed wide, and as long as you would like. The bonus for making the effort is that your grass turns into quality soil. Today I didn't put the extra effort in. Mostly because since I have followed her advice in the past, and I still have put my soil anywhere (it is destined for my superhuge raised bed), I don't have the space to store it.

My husband's tool of choice for sod removal is a spade. My tool of choice is a pulaski (pictured above.) I am not sure of the tool's true name. I think pulaski might be a brand. Nevertheless, this tool is one I have kept over the years and it is great at sod removal. I use the ax side to score the grass and the narrow hoe side to pull it up. It was pretty quick work since much of the grass under the rhodies was mossy due to shade. I put my remnants into my municipal yard waste bin so they can become compost for someone else.

Of course I ran into some critters while I worked. Lots and lots of worms. I tried to give most of them new homes (or at least a chance for a new home.) Thank goodness I had gloves on! The worms on the surface were easy to grab and toss but some were more embedded. I had to dig a bit and then pull. Worms can offer a surprising amount of resistence -- though in the end it is kind of like pulling a lace out of your shoe. The one above was huge -- at least 6 inches long. It could flatten out so it looked a bit cobra-headed at times. Truly gross -- but I figured it must be an old timer and needed a chance to go on. I tossed it into my ornamental bed and it bee- lined for a heuchera, clearly its survival skills were still in tact.

I also found this green thing while removing sod. Grub? I didn't know what to do with it because I don't know what it is. So I left it -- and all the 1-2 inch yellow centipede-ish creatures I found (too small to photograph) -- to fend for themselves.

I stopped my sod removal project once I had opened up space for the epimediums. Next on my to-do list: add compost, mix soil, and plant the plants. Hopefully I can get that done this week. The epimediums are looking very vigorous on my counter and I would rather see them flourish in the ground.

Raised beds are fun!

2010-02-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

There have been tons of tasks completed today: 4 strawberries from dear friends were tranfered to the front yard, sod was removed, a small bed was placed, a rose was moved out of the way, weeds were weeded, crocisima bulbs were planted, a lavender and rosemary were removed from the fruit bed and placed in with drought-tolerant ornamentals in the front yard -- and yes, we managed to place our large raised bed and add a mole guard (a project made a bit tricky due to the posts and bracing we used.) So we didn't get as far as we hoped, but if you ask the kids: raised beds are fun.

If anyone is curious, the bed my brother build last month was inspired by the plans made available by Sunset magazine. I looked into sealing the bed, but didn't find ready access to anything I considered food grade (like linseed oil.*) I put a query into Seattle Tilth's garden hotline and learned that cedar is supposed to last at least 20-30 years without decomposing. And while I am not sure those numbers will hold when the wood is near soggy soil, I figure I can get at least a good 10 years out of this bed without sealant. I am more afraid of chemicals in my food than rotten wood -- maybe in 10 years I will find out that was a foolish decision, but it is the one I am standing by now.

*The linseed oil I found was double boiled -- but apparently manufacturers tend to use chemicals to mimic the boiling process rather than actually double boiling it these days. I didn't have enough time to look into the potential dangers.

Newspaper seed pots

2010-02-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

When I bought my epimediums yesterday, the grower said to plant them immediately. Well, I need to remove some sod before I can plant and today is to be dedicated to getting my big raised bed into the ground -- so I am going to plan B, temporary repotting. I remembered seeing these cute little paper seed pots in Organic Crops in Pots by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell and I found out how to do them here in this video with Willi Galloway. The basics (fold paper, roll, smoosh into pot shape) look like this:

And perhaps most important for me on a Saturday morning ... it is a kid friendly project. Kids 4+ can help with the folding and rolling. Kids 2+ can fill the pots with soil.

Unfortunately for me, these 3 inch newspaper seed pots were no where close to big enough to housing the epimediums (hairy roots, sticks, and green shoots -- perhaps these are rhizomes?) So we ditched the pots in favor of an available box.

We put in some potting soil, layered in the epimediums, and covered with more soil. I figure this will buy me at least the week it might take before I can remove the sod and prepare the bed. Veggies first!

My only concern with my repurposed box solution is the roots might grow together since they are so mature(though I did try to keep a layer of soil between each epimedium.) But I think both the repurposed box and the newspaper pots could be used as future seed starting methods once I get started with my edible garden.

Anyone use newspaper seed pots or a repurposed box with words of wisdom to offer?

Northwest Flower and Garden Show

2010-02-05T21:17:00.000-08:00

I went down to the Seattle Flower and Garden show today. My first visit ever. It was a bit overwhelming -- and a major distraction. But in a good way....

My first distraction was epimediums. You can't eat epimediums -- but there were the bulbs being sold by Olympic Pennisula growers, and I have been thinking about underplanting the rhodies I inherited with the house with epimediums. Suddenly, I was buying bulbs, looking for ways to engage my kids in the outdoors, marveling over uses of water, discussing bamboos....

In between, there was some good info on edibles too. I got tips on my fruit trees, was inspired by chickens, saw a working worm bin, and picked up info on upcoming sales, workshops, and harvest festivals. I saw Lorene Edwards Forkner speak on Ten Secrets to Great Veggie Gardens. She had a couple good bumpersticker quotes like "eat your zipcode" and "growing isn't just for gardners, growing is for eaters." Plus a nice handout that emphasized planting for the local climate, using organic practices, make the most of small spaces, plant successions, etc. (I am already a convert.) And she reminded us to start, even start small, there will always be next year.

I made up some cards for my blog before heading out to the Northwest Garden Show. They just had my blog address on them. Totally the wrong info (should have been name and email.) I passed out two -- for the chance to keep in touch with others who are tackling their own veggie gardens. Maybe it was the wrong venue -- I will have to try Seattle Tilth's Edible Plant sales -- but I thought there would somehow be an easy way to connect with more people swept up in the edible movement.

So if you are blogging about growing food, let me know so I can check you out.

Soil Temperature Testing

2010-02-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

When my seeds arrived in the mail, some packets had the vague instructions to plant at 50, 60 or 65 degrees -- so I figured it would be good to see what the soil temperature is like now in my yard. I purchased an instant read thermometer last week -- it is supposed to be used for the kitchen ....

I figure I can use it outside as long as I never use it in the kitchen. To complete my test, I plunked the thermometer about an inch into the soil in a few places around my soon to be garden and waited a minute before reading it. My soil temperature is about 45 degrees. It sounds close to ready -- but then we are having an unusually warm winter here in the Pacific NW, so who knows.

After I did my soil temperature test, I decided to look up some information about how to do it accurately. I found a resource I really liked at the Weekend Gardener web magazine and took away these tips:

Don't rely on one reading. Instead, test for several days in a row and use the average before making any decisions.
Don't be random. Try to test at the same time of day, preferably midday.
Test the soil at 2 inches for cool weather crops.
Test the soil at 4 inches for warm weather crops.

There was a lot of other detailed information about using soil temperature to make the most of your vegetable crop in the Weekend Gardener's article. But for now, I am going to end with a tip of my own:

Use tape to mark exactly where 2 and 4 inches are on your probe thermometer. If you use a dial style thermometer for your soil temperature test like I did, the tape won't get in the way of your readings and will let you be more consistent from day to day -- unless you have a good sense of distance. (Not one of my gifts.)

Scaredy Cat Farm is launched

2010-02-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

So I eat my words from last week. I will call this blog Scaredy Cat Farm. I would like this blog to be found -- particularly by other Pacific NW gardeners, by other newbies, by other family gardeners interested in sustainability, by people with real experience who can provide advice (perhaps while recalling their own beginner experiences) -- and this name is more memorable than 0.17 acre farm (though the size of my plot hasn't changed!)

I installed a visitor meter and confirmed what I suspected. I am the only one who reads this Scaredy Cat Farm blog -- that makes me my #1 fan!

A scaredy-cat gardener does a soil test

2010-01-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

So today I realized I should have called this blog -- the Scaredy-Cat Gardner because I swear I am gardening through fear. I face each task with a bit of dread mixed with anticipation. Today I decided to tackle the soil test. I have been putting this off for a while -- mostly thinking that the soil was too wet to test. True, the directions from UMass Soil Testing specifically mention to avoid sampling 'very wet soils' -- but I also hear that I am supposed to sample before I plant and in the Northwest it rains. Today is our third dry day in a row so my regular excuse gave me no defense.

My other fear about soil testing was it would be difficult. Ha. Again, only in the mental preparation. I picked three sites to sample and found that my cultivator easily went into the soil (it has been above freezing overnight for weeks.) A few twists and I loosened enough to put in my Tupperware.

In the end, I only need a cup of soil for my sample. UMass recommended at least 12 scattered subsamples -- I collected over a cup easily. I continued following directions and laid out my samples on cookie sheets covered in clean paper and set them on the kitchen table under the ceiling fan to dry. What UMass didn't tell me was to look for wiggling things. Trust me, if you are as worried as I am about creepy crawlies -- the big stuff is already gone by time you get inside -- but it turns out there are a bunch of mini-worms that look like root hairs that start moving around once the soil is spread out.

I starting to worry about how I am going to overcome my discomfort with bugs. After my soil test I wandered around my yard and saw that the tyfon I planted as a cover crop over a bed I want to fill with wildflowers in the spring is getting big. The package said it could be used as a turnip when mature. So I pulled one to take a peek. It looked mature (though I don't cook with turnips so I don't know what to do with it now) -- but it also looked like someone else already had the first nibbles.

And memories flooded back to me of earlier garden tries -- including a Mexican bean beetle infestation and worms in my brocoli. ... Deep breath ... I am doing this for my kids. And I will fake whatever confidance I need to for them -- but really, is it okay to share food with the rest of the natural world? I rarely share food with other people.

So I am not changing the title of the blog. I plan to push past my fears, to gain some knowlege and some experience. I expect to transform from a scaredy-cat to a (sub)urban farmer. This is just step one. And to help myself out, I looked for good signs in the garden and found these buds starting on the blueberry bush that did well last year.

Oh Dear.

2010-01-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

So I spent some time this morning at a local hardware store looking for seeds starting supplies and a soil thermometer -- and to price soil components. In the process I wound up speaking for a while with a knowlegeable gardener named Terry. I got a lot of great information from her.

Then she mentioned that I could plant my beans under my peas since I will be harvesting the peas when the beans get started. And I realized, I KNOW NOTHING.

The seeds arrived!

2010-01-24T22:47:00.000-08:00

As predicted, the seeds came in last Thursday. I have been so busy that it took me until Saturday to open the box. How exciting!

I spent a couple hours planning. I used a great tool at Skippy's Vegetable Garden (under her...his planting tools.) You just plug in your date of last expected frost and it generates a plan for you. There are a few vegetables I have that weren't mentioned, but the tool meant I didn't have to do the hand method much (consult seed package and catalog directions and do the calendar calculations myself.)

I was only able to get as far as what needs to be sowed early indoors and what can go into the ground at last frost. I still need to figure out what 'when the soil is workable means.' Plus I will have to figure out when to do second plantings. And I guess I need a soil thermometer to determine when my soil gets to 50, 60 and 65 degrees. But so far my spring schedule looks like this:

February 18: Sow Fish and Anaheim Peppers indoors. And I think I can sow my Regal spinach outside (my only hybrid.)

March 18: Sow Chioggia beets and Bright Lights Chard outside. (And maybe Ching-Chiang pac choi -- is this what they call early spring?)

March 25: Sow Sweet Basil, Perfection Fennel, Tigger melon and Moon and Stars watermelon indoors.

April 1: Can sow Galeaux D'Eysines squash indoors -- but it might not make a difference as it can be hard to transplant.

April 15: My strawberries should be in the ground by now if I want berries. This is also the last expected frost date -- so I should be safe to start outside sowing everything outside and to start transplant plants (I am buying my sweet peppers -- Gourmet and Healthy -- and my tomatoes -- Coure di Bue, Japanese Trifele, Chocolate Cherry, Golden Nuggets, and Yellow Pears as plants.)

I still haven't fixed dates for my Red Samarai carrots, Little Gem lettuce, Buttercrunch lettuce, Super Sugar Snap Peas, Cannellini Lingot beans, or Maxibel beans -- it seems like they could all take some cold but then their packets say things like 'when the soil is 60 degrees.' So I guess I will figure it out in time.

And my edamame seeds didn't arrive. They are on backorder. Backorder? What does that mean for a seed? Later this spring? Next year? I will contact Territorial if I find the time. If I am lucky, the seeds will show up before I make the call.

My list of things to plant is huge! And I don't have any seed starting pots. And I haven't tested my soil. My raised bed isn't on the ground. And I can start planting in three and a half weeks! Will my project lift off?

Put in my order...

2010-01-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

I finally committed myself to this summer's garden with a big order from Territorial Seeds. I picked them because they are regional -- and I understand I will have better luck with plants tested in my climate. At first I went through and made up my dream list -- basically looking for short growing season (most of the attempts I have done with edibles in the past seem to be hindered by not enough time for food to ripen.) I was pretty happy with my picks and then Edible Heirlooms by Bill Thorness became available for me at the library.

With Edible Heirlooms, I began to think about biodiversity and sustainablility. So I reviewed my wish list with an eye for open-pollinators rather than hybrids. When my list was complete, I ordered it -- mostly to keep myself from overthinking.

My picks? Well, I found it hard to say no to much so this year we will be trying: sauce and cherry tomatoes (we really don't use slicers); hot and sweet peppers (I am hoping for lots of pepperonata); beets, lettuce, spinach, and chard (because we need more greens in our lives), red carrots (because plain ones would be boring); pac choi and edamame (we have been incorporating more Asian foods into our diet); fancy galeaux squash, tigger melons, and moon and stars watermelons (these will be my experiement in vertical gardening -- they will all grow up); snap peas and green beens ('cause they are easy and you have to?); basil and fennel (because they can be expensive and I like them), cauliflower and canellini beans (just caught my eye.)

Once the seeds get here (could be by the end of the week), I will have to figure out where and when -- and I still have to test my soil, install my raised beds and vine trellising, and figure out a watering system.

I also put in an order from another regional supplier, Raintree Nursery. Here I purchased strawberries, blueberries and kiwi vines. The strawberries need to be in the ground by Tax Day -- and I think everything else will arrive in May. Lots of work ahead but the dreaming makes me happy.

A Cheat

2010-01-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

... and a grateful sister -- that's what I am today.

It sounds stupid but I was afraid to buy the wood for my raised garden bed. I went to my local Home Depot and Lowe's to scope out supply prices. I knew who had what -- HD had no 2"x6" cedar! Had my supply list. Knew I needed to look for straight wood. But was worried about how to get a bunch of 12 foot boards into my car and back home. Paralyzed really. But then my brother came to town. And he did my shopping for me.

And now he is building the bed. I will still have to prepare the ground and get it into place -- but this is a huge help! Now I have to figure out what to seal the bed with. I almost bought boiled linseed oil but then got worried about the additives. I am looking for a non-toxic alternative. Figured I will contact my garden supply store -- though I am open to suggestions. Have any?

The bed is coming along nicely -- and I am so happy because there is a good chance this project would have gotten shelved if my brother hadn't arrived. This raised bed is going to look so much better than the mound of dirt I would have resorted to in the end!

Today ... Or Soon to be Before

2010-01-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

So this year I have been inspired by the urban farm movement to convert more of my garden space to edibles. I am not an experienced gardner. I only started gardening in earnest 2 years ago when we bought our house. My efforts began in the front yard, eliminating the big boxes of hedge plants and replacing them with natives and climate/space appropriate choices.

I worked section by section. The first bed was near the garage. I planted it in the spring and it had no edibles. I replaced foundation plants and introduced underplantings to a maple near our driveway the following fall. I managed to plant for 'bloom-interest' year round but only managed to add one edible: huckleberries.

I thought about planting a vegetable garden last summer -- but with three kids under 5 at the time, I felt overwhelmed. Instead I planted some columnar apples, an espaliered pear, a collection of blueberry bushes, daisies and Echinacea. The plants were pretty much left to survive by their own devices. The trees and the Echinacea never bloomed. (I wasn't surprized by the trees.)

But this year I have been reading: Farm City by Novella Carpenter, The New Low-Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton, Fresh Food From Small Spaces by RJ Rupenthan -- and even the Square Foot Garden by Mel Bartholomew. And I am thinking edibles. I am thinking structures and watering systems. I am thinking if I plan it well enough now, maybe it will be less work later. And I am thinking maybe my kids will be delighted by watching more stuff grow that they can eat.

So I am feeling ambitious. And I am planning on revamping my backyard to make it delicious (still leaving a large chunk of grass so the kiddos can play.) I want to put in a 12' long x 3' wide x 1.5-2' high (there is a slight slope) raised bed below my deck here for vegetables and cool crops since it gets partial sun at best. (There is a sick crabapple at the back, a scruffy nandina at the front, and a whole lot of weeds in between right now.)

On the deck itself I am going to try some "Topsy-Turvy" containers to make the most of available sun on the South facing deck. Between the deck and the house I am thinking razzberries or blackberries (to replace the dying clematis on sticks).

Around the corner on the East side of the house you can see one of my columnar apples. I plan to try some melon and beans nearby. (I will probably take out some grass to enlarge this bed -- and maybe try to line it with wine bottles to warm the earth.)

My main edible garden is across the grass from my house (pictured at the top.) It is about 5' wide -- and 25' on the East Side of my yard and 12' on the North. Here are the blueberries, espaliered pear, one of the columnar apples, flower remnants, and lots and lots of weeds. Especially, chickweed (thanks Seattle Tilth hotline for telling me what it was and what to do about it!) Below is a detail of the bed. I really like the red wood of the blueberries. And I heard Valerie Easton when she said, "simplify." So this year I am pulling the flowers, adding a few new blueberries, and a lot of new strawberries as groundcover, figuring out a watering system -- and hoping for the best.

For the amount of time I have on my hands, I am being overly ambitious. But maybe, if I start early and persist we will have an abundance of things to eat growing in our yard. And if we are really lucky, maybe the bunnies and moles will let us have some too.