garden Archives | wit wisdom and food

whet your whistle wednesday: issue ten

February 19, 2014 by anne 3 Comments

I am ready for spring and the garden. I haven’t seen anything close to the weather the rest of the country has so if I am ready you all must be overdue. We have had a mild winter out here causing us to gear up for a drought.Gardening is going to be a challenge with water restrictions. I am going to try to make it happen though because I enjoyed the garden so much last year. My success last year didn’t match the fun I had so hopefully a year of experience produces a bigger bounty.

It will be challenging to have a productive garden during the drought but I have found some tips that will make it a little easier.

Having great soil makes it easier for plants to get nutrients with limited water. One of the best ways to get better soil is to add compost. You can make your own and I would love to try. If I finally pull it off I will start with a worm compost bin this year.

I would love to create a drip irrigation system to help focus my watering while using less water. While I will probably set us a system hooked to a hose I will also be adding water bottle drip irrigation. Recycling and water saving in one. Eat your heart out Al Gore!

One of my favorite things about gardening is watching the critters that come to visit. I made a spot just for birds and butterflies last year. I transformed a boring outdoor clothes dryer into a fun spot for the birds. Hopefully I will get around to finishing it up and make it the top spot in the neighborhood.

A bunch of cute tea-cup bird feeders complete with shade would be cute hanging above the bird garden.

Hanging paint can bird feeders in the tree would make for a party in the trees. Not to mention a feast for some of the squirrels in the yard.

What I never got right was the hummingbird feeder. I tried the cheap ones and it never worked out. For just a small splurge I would love to get this outdoorsy lantern feeder.

Marking plants as you put them in the ground is a helpful way to remember what that seed was when it looks the same as every other thing sprouting from the ground. I love these cute markers and you could get the wooden spoons for cheap at the dollar store.

Recycling objects from your house, the thrift store or other finds can add some whimsy to the garden. My favorite upcycle planters are the colander, pots and pans.

To add some more variety and height to the porch plants I would love to try a flower tower.

When you have a large bounty you have to find something to do with all those veggies. Last summer I really enjoyed trying some canning recipes. Unfortunately not with veggies from my own garden. This year I hope I can make my own tomato sauce from my own tomatoes.

Once I have it all jarred up making them cute would make for a stash of gifts for later in the year. A group of adorable labels would be the perfect thing to make them cute and unforgettable.

I might need to grow rhubarb this year. I love mixing fruits with rhubarb to make crisps, tarts and pies but it is rhubarb rosemary jam that might encourage this tart fruit.

Welcome to the Gardening Infographic portion of your Wednesday

changes in the garden

April 16, 2013 by anne 1 Comment

It has become a lot warmer here (sorry if it is cold where you are) and things are really starting to grow. I am still trying to figure out the right amount of water for everything and battling some soil issues. Here a visual look at what is going on in the garden this week.

spray painted pots on patio

fuchsia and creeping thyme

coleus

Side bed filled with sunflowers, gladiolus, dahlia, anemone, peony and grass.

I have tried a variety of trellis options to see what I prefer and want to use every year.

So far I like the netting the least. It has been extremely windy and the netting is blowing over the tops of the plants getting tangled. For the record I planted way too many cucumbers. Should have done more pickling cucumbers. I may actually take out a few of the plants and put in a second crop of pickling cucumbers. Hopefully that middle row of sunflowers makes the cucumbers taste even better.

Tomatoes and peppers are coming along and the squash has started to sprout. Haven’t found a good amount of water for the tomatoes. I am considering PVC pipe to help with the problem. I still need to build a support system for the rest of the tomatoes.

The beans were the last seeds I put in and most of them have come up and the last few are pushing through the dirt now.

The radishes will probably be the first thing we get to enjoy out of the garden.

Though the corn might be the thing I am most excited about. Need to figure out how to protect it from the squirrels.

I need to thin out a few of the crops and get the melons into the ground before we leave for Hawaii. So far there is a lot of progress and I can’t wait to walk through it when it is all in bloom.

my new obsession

April 4, 2013 by anne 2 Comments

I can’t seem to stop myself or gain any semblance of self control. It is my new obsession and I can’t get enough. Every time I pass the garden center at the store I seem to always pick up something new. When we were walking through a grocery store the other day I tried to casually turn and scan the plant section and see if they had anything exciting. Tom is apparently on to me and quickly said “no more plants.” I must confess I went got a tray full yesterday: 6 new basil plants, 4 coleus and a fuchsia plant. The justification was I had two new planters sitting at home that needed plants. I couldn’t rightfully leave them empty in the garage. They have a purpose in life and it must be filled.

If plants did nothing after you brought them home and put them in the ground I think I might be able to resist but plants and seeds do magical things after you get them home and it makes me want more. These amazing things with a little attention (sometimes hardly any attention) grow and change and it feels like it happens before my very eyes. Before I go to work I walk the garden and check everything out, maybe pull some weeds and when I get home to see some new sprout coming out of the ground or the start of a new flower it makes me giddy and eager to plant more stuff so I can see it come up out of the ground or start to bloom.

The thrill of the challenge isn’t lost on me either. I have one flower bed that I didn’t prep properly before planting. Now I have some plants that aren’t doing as well as others and I will be damned if I am going to lose them. Not on my watch are they going down. I will keep them going I will find a way. I have lost a few already this season because of inexperience. I am going to win this and every year I will be a better gardener than the year before. On the plus side nature is a pretty strong and some what adaptable force that keeps some things alive even on my bad days.

I just can’t believe that at some point this summer my little planter boxes filled with dirt are going to become lush with green leaves. Winters are mild and spring luckily starts early here which means that I have most things in the ground and ready to grow which leaves me with anticipation for the months of enjoyment I will still get from the garden. Assuming I can win the war with the animals over who gets to eat the spoils of my labor I should have quite the bounty this summer. I am already eyeing the canning supplies I want to get so I can make jams, sauces and pickles. There were two Coleman camp stoves at the thrift store yesterday and I almost got them to make the canning easier. They would make it look just like my mom’s kitchen at the end of summer.

I will admit it I am on the edges of sane with the amount of plants I have put in the ground this year. The advice is that once you start gardening you should start small because it is a lot of work. I passed that awhile ago. The only thing holding me back from going completely overboard is that this isn’t our house and we won’t be here forever to watch some of plants I want grow to their full potential. I would have a orchard in my back yard given the opportunity.

garden is ready for take off

February 28, 2013 by anne 3 Comments

There have been a few posts this week about getting our garden up and running. We put some of the finishing touches on it during our weekend. The layout of the planter boxes turned out a little differently than I had drawn on the graph paper. It just worked better for the space and the gravel we ordered. Neither of us can believe where we started and where we ended up. I usually put the money shot at the top of the post but you are going to have to work for this one. It is so much more impressive when you see the progression. We are kind of like proud parents, even if you told us our garden isn’t that impressive we would be certain you are lying and jealous that it isn’t yours.

Well it started out looking like this. Weeds everywhere. We figured we would just live with them and at least the planter boxes would be free of them after we put something down to kill them.

After some consideration we decided that maybe we should lay a gravel path in between the planters. We contacted the landlord and they agreed to take on a portion of the cost since the project would be an improvement to the yard. We were pretty excited and got some weed block on order to take care of the weeds so we wouldn’t be weeding through gravel. Then there was a decision to rent a rototiller and in the words of my husband, the project began to take on a life of it’s own.

We decided to line the planter boxes. I think it was a wise choice since it was free wood and we are growing veggies in there so I feel better about them being lined and nothing leeching into the soil. It felt like an episode of Dexter lining them. I promise you there was no blood spilled in the making of this garden. Well there was that one incident when my thumb hit the tree but it was merely a flesh wound.

We laid down the weed blocker that we got from amazon. Since we decided to put it under the path all we had to do was lay down a large square instead of measuring each planter box. I think I would have found that a little tedious after lining all of the boxes.

The experience of buying enough top soil and gravel for this project had a bit of a learning curve to it and a reminder I should have retained at least a little more high school math. Once we finally figured out the area that we would need to fill and how that converted to cubic yards we were all set. In case you come across a similar challenge google cubic yard calculator and you will be on your way. Thank you internets you saved us again. After we got everything tilled we headed down to a local landscape place to look at gravel. It should have been no surprise but it turns out we have expensive taste. The rock we really loved was $400 a cubic yard. Needless to say we picked something a little more reasonable. We got 2 yards of 1/4 blue granite. It is a pretty standard gravel for paths. Until you purchase something by the yard you really have no idea just how much that is. The below picture is 5 yards of soil and 2 yards of gravel. We looked it up and it is 5 tons of soil and 2.8 tons of gravel. In terms that might make that more imaginable. 5 yards of soil equals about 75 wheelbarrow trips. 2 yards of gravel equals about 30 very heavy wheelbarrow trips. Don’t forget you have to get the product into the wheelbarrow first. Tom is pretty tired right about now and he can’t stop kvetching about the 8 tons he hauled.

While that last bit made it sound like he had all the fun and now has all the aches let us not forget someone has to smooth out all the piles of gravel. I think I will make a core exercise video that centers around landscaping projects. Who needs pilates when you have weeds and gravel. After the first day we had the majority of the driveway cleared and the garden was starting to come together. We made a trip to the hardware store for some edging supplies and then called day one done. Surprisingly this entire project only had us at the hardware store 4 times. That is an improvement over the last project but at least 4 trips.

Day two we finished up edging and cleaning up the driveway. The dump truck load is now all in the backyard somewhere. We decided to extend the gravel to the deck so it looks even more like a complete project. Behind the garden we finished getting rid of the weeds and planted a bag of wildflower seeds. Sorry we didn’t use seed bombs but this covers a larger area. May need to sling shot some seed bombs into some other areas of the yard for the thrill of watching random patches start to bloom. In the effort of full disclosure; my brother is the maker of seed bombs and I am extremely proud. We also planted a border of zinnas around the front of the garden. The stakes are ready to make the trellis for the cucumbers and peas.

While the garden is ready for takeoff I am afraid Tom and I are ready for a weekend off. I don’t see any big projects come up next weekend. The planting will start in a couple weeks while Tom goes golfing, assuming the night time temperatures are staying in the 40’s by then. I am so excited to see everything come up. I just with that burpee catalog would show up so I could circle seeds like I used to circle the Toys ‘R’ Us flyer and the Sears catalog at Christmas.

my love of graph paper

February 27, 2013 by anne 2 Comments

Any excuse to use graph paper is a good one. Our last weekend was a chilly one so while I couldn’t spend as much time outside as I would have liked I did get to embrace the garden by drawing and redrawing it on graph paper. I did one version that was a foot for every square. Then I zoomed in on the garden and made every foot = two squares. This gave me enough space to written my veggies and make my color blocks look more impressive.

Square foot gardening is an easy way to get started gardening or a way to garden in limited space or in my case space that isn’t mine. One of the things I like most about the idea of square foot gardening is that you can use companion gardening to improve the vegetables flavor and deter common garden pests. You could probably do a similar thing in a traditional row garden but since I never heard of it until I started researching square foot gardening it is obviously more beneficial in square foot gardening. This logic is very similar to “everything you read on the internet is true”. Fool proof stuff I am working with here.

When I started drawing out the grids I wanted to put something different in each square. Then I started to get overwhelmed. So I condensed it down to some of my favorites and veggies I use the most in the kitchen. When I wrote out the shopping list it is still a long list of veggies and herbs.

The drawing shows all the raised beds we will have and the plan for the gravel pathway we are putting around the beds.

zoomed in 4 squares =1sq. ft.

I am going to end up growing 25 different things in the garden. It will end up being more since I am planning on growing a few different varieties of tomatoes. I think the plants I am most looking forward to are peas, strawberries and cherry tomatoes because I love eating them right out of the garden. Though the potatoes are the experiment I am looking forward to the most. It makes me giddy like a kid to think about growing potatoes. Something about a tower of dirt giving you potatoes is fascinating.

I will keep you posted on the actual garden building as we progress with filing the beds, laying the path and spreading the wild flower garden. I have a few other garden projects up my sleeve for this summer.

If you want more information about square foot gardening you can find it here.

Do you have gardening plans this summer?

getting the garden off the ground

February 22, 2013 by anne 3 Comments

Do you know how much you really can get for free on craigslist? Turns out it is an exorbitant amount of things. We didn’t need the 75 maxi pads, the iced tea or the styrofoam coolers with ice packs. I am sure some lucky person picked up those gems. We however went for the free wood.

Beautiful isn’t it? You know you want a pile of it for your very own. If you have a husband recently turned handyman hanging around the house and you have an itch to garden you might really want this pile of wood. Because he can use his new circular saw and turn it into this.

From the description and the time it took Tom to make these they sound pretty simple. He cut the boards down to the size he needed and used the scraps to make joints to attach the boards. We bought nails to attach them but I planned wrong and we didn’t get the right size. So Tom headed to the store and got a larger nail. Then it turned out nails weren’t the easiest way. So he headed back to the hardware store and picked up some longer screws. After that he had the first few done in no time.

One other thing to keep in mind as you are getting start with your circular saw always know where your cord is. If by chance you forget and cut it in half it turns out it is really easy and inexpensive to fit as long as you have enough cord left. Lucky for Tom he had just enough. There are some great videos on YouTube that will help you learn how to do it.

These planter boxes are going to help me get the garden off the ground, literally. Now I get to bust out the graph paper again and plan the veggie garden! Then I get to flip through the burpee catalog.

What have you found on craigslist? Do you have a handyman around the house to help you out? Are you planning a garden for this summer?

st. francis and sunbeams

February 15, 2013 by anne 2 Comments

Since we started getting the backyard together I have been looking at statues of St. Francis of Assisi to go in the garden. Some have him only holding a couple birds but I have always liked the versions that have a few more animals around him. They always make him look so peaceful and welcoming which is just want a garden should be.

I was very excited to come home yesterday and find this Valentine present waiting for me. For now he is hanging out on the porch maybe we will move him when we get some other things planted in the yard. Speaking of that pay no mind to the dirt yard. It isn’t really ours we are just renting and putting in a lawn is more work than we want to put into someone else house. Instead we are going to add some planter boxes and other color to make it look peaceful and welcoming.

I think the quote: “A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” is my new favorite. I love quotes of all kinds but this one really brightened my day. It makes me smile every time I read it.
It is the perfect quote to help shake off winter and usher in spring.

Did you get something special for Valentine’s Day? Do you have a favorite quote?