Saturday, July 19, 2014

Early Summer Farm

Besides weeding every couple of days and feeding every couple of weeks, the farm is growing on it's own without much intervention from me.  I don't really have a farm, but that's what my New Jersey Hubby calls it.  The only animals are two cats that enjoy fertilizing the garden when I'm not looking.  Nevertheless, I am wondering if the NEW RAISED BED will contain the plants growing in it.

  


The squash, especially is taking off.  The leaves are gigantic.  It's hard to see in this shot because I was focusing on the lovely blossom.













I have my first squash blossoms!
 










The pole beans are climbing and doing great.  No signs of beans yet though.








                   The beans are in the middle of the two squash plants.






The Heirloom tomato plant in the middle has outgrown it's cage.  I think I really needed a trellis to support it.  I have green tomatoes on each plant, Roma, Heirloom, and Yellow.













All in all, the garden looks very different than a few weeks ago.























 
"Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature.  And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve".   - Max Planck

Monday, July 7, 2014

Back From Vacation

There's nothing quite like going on vacation to get a different perspective.  It was good for me to stop looking at my garden and mentally urging everything to grow.  Our family took a camping vacation with 10 other family members.  Enough said.  However, we visited Steamboat Springs, CO, and it is absolutely stunning there. 

  

I was so in the moment and busy with so many other people that I did not take many photos.  Here are a couple that show off the area's beauty.  Indian Paintbrush, Daisies, Columbine, and Lupine were all flowering.









I took a trail ride around Steamboat Lake.  To say it was scenic would be faint praise.






 

It has taken me 3 days to get to look at my garden.  Not too bad!  There were definitely weeds, but the mulch of peat moss and grass is doing it's job.  The grass clippings that I have been curing were ready, and this evening I mixed them with peat moss, and spread my third batch around the garden.  The green/brown coloring of the mulch is not as striking looking as straw that I used last year.  It blends in with everything else in the garden.











The beans are climbing up the trellis that I made for them.  These are my first pole beans, so I am very excited to see them!










Tonight we had some baby lettuce and radishes from our garden.  Delish. 


"The most serious gardening I do would seem very strange to an onlooker, for it involves hours of walking round in circles, apparently doing nothing."  -  Helen Dillo


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Puttering Around

Sunday was Father's Day, so the Hubby and daughter went for a hike.  Given this wonderful opportunity, I headed to the garden to do some things that needed doing!







First, I planted a Thyme plant since my seeds failed to sprout.









I weeded of course, and mixed up my mulch.  This batch covered a lot more of the garden, but I didn't let the grass clippings cure as long.  They were actually a bit wet as well, but heck, they're going to get wet in the garden, right?

The plants are all doing much better now that the soaker hoses are turned on and water the garden twice a day, for 15 minutes each.  I do hope I remember to check this next year, so I can tell Hubby how long to set the timer for.  Each year we try and remember what we did last year.  Oy!





And, drum roll please........... the lettuce is finally up after only about 3 different plantings.  And in mid June to boot!  If  I'm as lucky as I have been in other years, my greens keep going throughout the entire summer, despite the heat.  Call it luck, high altitude or Reiki.  I'm just not sure which it is, but I am grateful!











  My last bit of work was moving my Sun, which was in the front of my house, to the Perennial Herb Garden.  It has faded a bit, and needs some paint, but I'm quite pleased with it in it's new location.  I think garden art is just fabulous.  Now I just need to find the perfect place for my flamingos.









 
"Life begins the day you start a Garden.  -  Chinese Proverb


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Mulch On!

Finding a good mulch for my garden has been an adventure for me.  Two years ago, some good friends of mine (you know who you are :-)), told me that straw was recommended to them as a great mulch.   I went to the local Feed Store.  They were pretty much out of straw, so they gave me some feed bags, and told me I could take, for free, whatever I could scrap off the ground.  I spent about an hour stuffing bags full of dirty straw, but went home happy, and it worked very well.

Last year, I went to the very same Feed Store and purchased what I was told was straw.  Now, it could very well have been straw, but I picked wheat out of my garden all summer long.  So much for keeping the weeds down!

This year, I spoke with many individuals, from nurseries to backyard gardeners.  Each had their own opinion.  After listening to all, I've decided to go with a mix of grass clippings and peat moss.




I wish that I had worked this out earlier, since I have to "cure" the grass clippings by leaving them out to dry for a while before I mix in the peat.  I have managed to complete one wheelbarrow full.  The above is my second round of grass clippings.  The first round only covered about 1/8 of the garden.  This is going to take a while!



"Gardening is a process, not a product".  -  unknown

Monday, June 9, 2014

The Plants Are Coming Up

The weather has been a bit on the cool side so far.  We've had some nice hot days, but not enough to really get things growing.  The greens are getting a good start here and there, but not necessarily taking off.  Patience, patience, patience!




 You can see from the photo, that the additional soaker hose has been added.








 The most exciting news is that the zucchini is up,
















 and the tea rose is loving it's new home in the perennial herb garden!







 I'm getting a grip on why the book, Teaming With Microbes, states that too many cats are not good for the soil food web.  I have one feline in particular that enjoys taking a nice morning pee in the garden.  I have of course strongly discouraged this, but one can only do so much with cats! 



"Be pleased with your garden, don't pursue the perfection of a picture.  What you see in a photo lasted only as long as the shuttle's snap".  - Janet Macunovich

Monday, June 2, 2014

Watering solved!

Another weekend in the garden.  My weeks have been so busy that I have only had time on the weekends.  My ability to tolerate this is because the seeds are just beginning to come up into plants.  It's probably best that I have been busy.  


 

 Now, for the exciting news!  Hubby mounted the hose caddy to the outside wall on the perennial herb garden side.  I used it this morning to water the herbs and potted peppers.  It was so much easier than dragging the hose from the back of the house around to the garden.  Woo hoo!







Hubby also laid the soaker hoses into the NEW RAISED BED yesterday too!  We had to add a second hose since the bed is bigger now.  The watering went off this morning at 7:00am without a hitch.  Engineers are so nice to have around the house!




Much to be thankful for!

"Watching something grow is good for morale.  It helps us believe in life."  -  Myron S. Kaufman

Thursday, May 29, 2014

First Offerings

Last night I made leek and chard quesadillas from the leeks and chard in the garden!  How exciting it is for me to go out into the garden and pick fresh ingredients for meals.









                                                          Here they are in all of their glory.





                                                  Other greens are coming up nicely as well.







Lettuce, Kale, Chard, Spinach and Arugula have sprouted.









But the very best gift of all this week was finally putting out the Budha that I purchased this last April.  I see him out my kitchen window, and I am in my kitchen plenty!  It's a reminder of the peace and serenity that I seek in my life.  That with patience and practice, I will see beyond this world to a more expansive existence.  Namaste.





"Learn to be an observer in all seasons.  Every single day, your garden has something new and wonderful to show you".  - unknown

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Peppers are in, still a bit chilly

I planted the peppers yesterday, and tidied up the Perennial Herb Garden a bit.  I'm using a Smart Pot this year for one of the pepper plants.  These are supposed able to allow air flow completely around the plant, so the plants stay healthier and grow more roots.




The Smart Pot is the black pot in the lower left corner of this photo.  It is very flexible, and can hold a lot of soil, since it does not taper in at the bottom like the conventional plastic pots do.








There is still the jalapeno to plant.  Yet another trip to Home Depot!


The herbs that were planted last weekend are doing well in their new environment.






I hope to plant a Tea Rose in the Herb Garden this weekend.  With us repairing our deck, that could be iffy.  That, and the fact that there is more rain in the forecast all weekend.  We're still not out of the woods as far as flooding goes.  Loveland had flooding last night.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Perennial Herb Garden started!

Sunday was a late Mother's Day gift.  Hubby took me to buy some pepper plants and flowers that would have been impossible to plant last weekend.




 There's one green bell pepper, one yellow bell pepper, one red bell pepper, and one jalapeno plant this year.





These are hard to see right now, but this barrel has a spike, and 4 white, and 4 purple Alysum plants








Since we cannot afford to completely put new soil in the bed that is to become the perennial  herb garden, Hubby dug holes for the 2 lavender, 1 Rosemary, and 1 Oregano plants that I have been nursing over the winter.  Below are the before and,



after photos!



I'm looking forward to adding more herbs, and a tea rose bush later on.






Monday, May 19, 2014

Last Frost

Last week was a need to have patience week.  Our last frost was Tues night, so planting was put off for some warmer temps.  Saturday was warmer and  prime time to plant my 3 tomato plants.








I also added a row of carrots, radishes, and beets in front of the tomato plants.  I decided to wait a couple of weeks to start the beans and squash, as the instructions on the seed packets said to wait 2 - 3 weeks after the last frost.  I also added a row of dill and basil in front of the other greens, to the left of the tomato plants.

This year, I'm going to try growing cilantro inside.  I hope I can keep some in a pot to be able to use all summer.  We just had AC installed a week ago, so it should be cool enough.  I just hate buying in the grocery store what I could easily grow myself, and I just love cilantro.  I'll need some when the tomato and pepper plants are ready later this summer, for pico de gallo.

I also weeded a bit Saturday, and put some mulch around our 2 Potentillas that greet visitors with their cheery yellow blossoms.





Whoops!  Forgot to sweep after Hubby edged.




I did this a very lazy way.  I put down newspaper, and then covered it with mulch.  I can see the white of the newspaper peeking out a bit.  I believe it is best to did out grass first.  We'll see how this does.......


I'll finish this up with some more beautiful photos of the Iris, Lilac, Strawberry and Apple Tree bed.



Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Farmer's Plants Survived!







Parsley's lookin' good!







The Iris, Lilac, Apple Tree, and Strawberries did fine without the sock warmers.











                                            And look who I found checking out the garden!




Monday, May 12, 2014

Snow for Mother's Day

I believe this is the first Mother's Day, since I've been a Mother, to skip planting something in my yard or garden.  The Mother of a snowstorm hit Colorado on Mother's Day.  It rained/snowed all day, night, and stopped around noon today.  Since we're north of Denver, and east of the foothills, we thankfully didn't get as much as other areas.




  I covered the volunteers in my vegetable garden, and brought the potted herbs on my deck inside on my baker's rack that faces southwest.  Thank goodness I didn't plant my tomatoes yet!

This photo is at a weird angle, but I think you get the idea.  :-)







 Others that I've spoken with are hoping their tomato plants will survive.  Thank you to my friends at the local Hydro-ponics store for advising me to wait until Mother's Day or after to plant them.  That has always been my personal rule-of-thumb, so I'm glad to have it confirmed by some experts.




We've lost 1 branch so far, and the temperature is predicted to dip into the 20's tonight, so I'm going to send as much Reiki to the trees and flowers on our property as I can, since I really cannot see myself covering all of the Lilacs and Iris with socks from all of our sock drawers!  This was the advice of a garden expert on the local news.





Lastly, I want to thank my Mother for going out of her way to be able to follow my blog.  Thanks, Mom!  You have always been my biggest fan, and encouraging to even my craziest behaviors and ideas.  I love you!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Still Raining!

Yay!  It's still raining!  Everything looks bright green and happy.  When I went out to add to the compost pile this evening, I clipped a few lilac stems from our tree.  They smell wonderful.  I put them on our Shabbat/Alter table with the photos of our loved ones that have since passed on.  I know that in some way they are enjoying them.

 Below is the lilac bush, and you can see the iris peeking out in the lower right.  This photo was taken a few days ago, and the iris have really taken off since then. 



There are deep purple and lighter purple blooms underneath the lilac bush, along with wild strawberries.  There are bees buzzing all around them.  The blossoms in this area of the yard are just magnificent!

 
 

I hope that the snow they are calling for on Sunday night stays in the mountains.



We have an apple tree next to the lilac bush that is filled with blossoms this year.  I have decided to donate the apples to the squirrels, since I don't have a choice anyway.  The little scamps will take a few bites out of each green apple, and let them drop to the ground.  I assume it's because the apples are too tart, but I don't profess to understand the mind of squirrels! 









This photo of the apple tree doesn't do it justice.  My daughter has suggested that I need to work on taking better photos.  Perhaps she'll give me a lesson for Mother's Day!

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

It's Raining!

It's finally raining here, stingy as it is.  Hopefully, we'll get more throughout the evening and night.  A friend/client/teacher of mine once said that plants love rain water much more than water from the hose.  Makes perfect sense to me, although I have no empirical proof.  I believe that a really great gardener relies on instinct as much as fact.  Yes, that's the way I have always been, and probably always will be. God willing!

Speaking of empirical proof.  I'm reading a book that was recommended to me by my local Hydroponic store owner, called Teaming with Microbes, The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web - Revised Edition.  The authors are Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis.  They live in Alaska, so I've got to believe that these guys are dedicated gardeners.  It can't be real easy up there.  I'm not to far into into it, chapter two actually, but it is a great book for layman, and laywomen about the life that lives in the soil.  It's a whole other world of living things, and chemicals and tilling kills the life that lives there, requiring more and more chemical additives each year to grow plants.  The claim is that by leaving the food web community of the soil, (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and aphids),  to do their thing, that the soil will renew itself each year, and grow healthier and stronger.  Since I'm not far into the book, this is a simplistic description.





It's raining again, harder this time.  Yay!  The rain should help all of my seeds to sprout soon.  It's always a thrill to see them poking up through the dirt.  I'll dream tonight of soon to be fresh meals all summer long from my garden.  Sweet dreams indeed.




Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Seed Sorting

I have been sorting my seed packets, and planing what to plant this coming weekend in the NEW RAISED BED! 

So far I know that I will plant the carrot, and nasturtium seeds next to the tomato plants, as I have read that they are nice companions. 







Above are the tomato plants that I purchased at our local Vitamin Cottage.  There is an Heirloom, a Roma, and a Yellow Brandywine.  Shown from right to left.

At the new end of the NEW RAISED BED! I'll plant Yellow Crookneck Squash, Blue Lake pole bean, and Cocozelle Summer Squash seeds.  Again, I've read that these are good companions.

Finally, I need to find a place for Beet and Radish seeds.  I'm thinking of trying to plant in a design instead of traditional rows. 

Monday, May 5, 2014

The farmer plants some seeds.

Another busy weekend in the garden/yard.  Hubby finished securing the NEW RAISED BED!  with rebarb.  He started Friday evening, and finished Saturday morning.



After putting in more organic soil and compost, I planted lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, arugula, and cilantro in short horizontal rows.  To the right of the new plantings, are chard from last year.  Yay! Since we don't have our soaker hose hooker up yet, I'll need to water daily, if we don't get rain.  I consider it a labor of love to raise these seeds into beautiful, healthy and delicious plants.  Each row has a Popsicle stick with the name of the plant.  I'll know where not to walk now, since the seeds are just beginning their process.



I also planted some sunflower seeds to pick fresh cut flowers for our home.  I love sunflowers decorating the Shabat/Alter table in our dining room.  These were planted in the space between the NEW RAISED BED!, and the wild strawberry patch.  I'll post pictures as the sunflowers grow and develop.



On Sunday, my dear, dear Hubby, took out an old lilac tree root, and the last juniper/fire hazard next to the house, opening up space for the Herb Garden.  It will take some time and effort to remove the wood chips, and develop good soil, but it will be well worth it to have a perennial herb garden to look forward to every year.








                        This is the before shot,





  



        
   and this is the after!


Not a huge difference, but enough to grow many more plants.

                                             
 


















Saturday, May 3, 2014

Compost!



The wind has finally died down, and it supposed to be warmer this weekend.  
We've got the compost pile set up, and Hubby has his hi-tech compost tool that can "stir" the compost easier and more efficiently.  Engineers! I've been adding food scraps daily.  The compost from last year turned out nicely, but there wasn't much do to the small container.  We should be able to produce much more with this system!





We have the timbers for the raised bed, now we just need to secure them with posts.  I'd like to plant some spring plants such as kale, spinach, lettuce, arugula, cilantro, and dill, but it will depend on when the bed is finished.  We combined two sections.  The first section, that is on the left side of the photo, was our previous garden, and the second, on the right side of the photo, had wood chips, and old straw.  The second really didn't grow anything but some hollyhock volunteers.  This year, with added soil and compost, will be where the squash is planted.



Since learning that we don't need to use a rototiller each spring, I can let some things go to seed and see what comes up each spring.  Leeks fom last year can be seen in the middle of the photo.  What cannot be seen from this photo is chard, carrots, and parsley.   At the closer end, between the wild strawberries and the bed, I'll plant some sunflowers for cutting.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

NEW RAISED BED!

Not a good day for gardening today, as it was super windy, plus I worked all day.
Tomorrow, I plan to go to the local hydroponic store.  One of the owners has recommended cocozelli seeds, (squash) to try this year.  If I start them now, they and the newest part of my NEW RAISED BED!!!! will both be ready.  This new section will get lots of organic soil and compost.  It was covered with mulch, and mint was infiltrating.  I am committed to keeping the mint at bay.  It is a lovely spearmint, however, it needs to be contained.  I have found it far away from it's source.  It is quite an opportunist!
My husband is concerned that I will be blogging too much.  My son wanted to see how many people had viewed my previous post.  Gotta love variety out of the garden too!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Created April 29, 2014

                            
I'm embarking on a gardening adventure!  I'm taking my gardening hobby to a new level.  A real compost pile, raised beds, companion plants, improved soil, and eventually completely remaking my very large front lawn into a space not only for growing non-gmo, organic, local food, but a place of beauty.