Harvests

This has been my best harvest in years!! It's still not that great, but I am thankful for every little bit. We've gotten some little broccoli, a good number of tomatoes and charry tomatoes red, yellow and purple, some zucchini, some greens and some basil. I think I would have gotten bigger harvests if I had weeded and fertilized again, but when we decided to move, I decided to spend more time cleaning and packing. We also got a lot of raspberries. I also have some chard and collards growing alright. So fun!!

Harvests

This has been my best harvest in years!! It's still not that great, but I am thankful for every little bit. We've gotten some little broccoli, a good number of tomatoes and charry tomatoes red, yellow and purple, some zucchini, some greens and some basil. I think I would have gotten bigger harvests if I had weeded and fertilized again, but when we decided to move, I decided to spend more time cleaning and packing. We also got a lot of raspberries. I also have some chard and collards growing alright. So fun!!

Harvests

The tomatoes are finally ripening, we've been enjoying small greenish purple ones. My zucchini plant hit a good spot and we get a new zuke every other day. I've gotten 2 yellow squashes so far. I harvested our first cuke yesterday and our first eggplant. They all look really good. There are not a lot in the works, but I am grateful for the little bit I get. We've gotten some beans, and I love going out every morning for greens from the garden and yard. We haven't weeded or fertilized in a long while-- I'm sure the plants would be growing better if I had done so, but I'm just so pleased to be harvesting stuff even if it's not the most I could have, it's good and we are eating it all. I made ratatouille yesterday for dinner and it was sooooo good. I'm loving my herbs too. I need to harvest and dry them this week and fertilize and weed and plant- but I don't know how much I'll actually do!!

Growing Good

My tomato plants are like 5 ft. tall. There are lots of flowers and little tomatoes. It is so rewarding!! I staked them up higher, but my support boards are a little flimsy. I've never had this problem before. I'm so excited to have this problem. the greens that came up are doing great too. The cabbage and brocoli are huge too. This is when gardening is fun!!

Looking Good

My garden is doing the best it has ever done. My tomato plants are up to my chest and flowering and looking good. The squash plant leaves are big. The broccoli and cabbage are big. It is so awesome. #1 has been collecting strawberries everyday. the front garden is still stunted so I think I'll let it sit over the summer and maybe plant some greens in the fall. We'll see! The weather has been great and humid. I've only watered like 2 times this season which is very unusual for Utah.

Fertilized and Watered

i watered and fertilized on Friday. It was finally hot. The tomatoes and everything else in the back garden are looking good, normal and growing. Everything in the front garden-- the kids is stunted. I did the same thing for both. I planted purple potatoes in the dirt i scraped off the top of the stunted garden and they are doing awesome. I haven't even watered them yet and they are like 3 feet high. Confusing!! I guess the nutrients are tied up in the soil. I guess I add too much.

watering

The drip is all set up in the back garden. People have been telling me to not overwater tomatoes so that will be the last time I water them for awhile. Nothing has come up yet, but I did get diatomaceous earth so hopefully when it comes up, the slugs won't get them.

More Planting, chickens

We got more planiting done. I'm going to let the area under the basketball banker go though-- I may just use it for wheatgrass instead of tomatoes and other things that will get snapped off. all we have left to plant is the squashes, cukes, corn and beans and a couple more tomato starts. I didn't want to plant those until I got diatomaceous earth which I finally did yesterday. They had it at the feed store. We will also probably be getting 3 or 5 chickens. I watched a video on how you can keep them in a chicken tractor and have them till up your garden and get it good and ready for planting without having to clean out a coop. It looks very low maintenance and good for the garden and the yard. So I think we'll give it a try. I don't want a ton of eggs- we don't eat any now, but a few good clean organic eggs would be a nice addition to our diet. That's why I only want 3 chickens, but the kids each want their own, so I may give in to 5. I think kids will take care of them, and from what I've read- they look pretty fun. I hope it doesn't cost too much to build the tractor.

Planting

I got some cucumbers planted before it rained AGAIN!!! I got the last bed ready in the back garden in order to do so. I put on blood meal, kelp meal and acidifying agent with iron and other micronutrients. Just one bed left to ready by the patio. There were some really big worms and a bunch of little red wigglers too- I'm sure from the ones I bought for a failed worm bin.

Planting

#5 harvested radishes today!! Even though it still looks sorry, this is a big improvement. We haven't been able to grow radishes before-- they would bolt!! The cilantro looks good too. The other stuff need some more help- help I will try to give it all tomorrow.

I finished installing the drip tape- it looks like it is working well. We planted our cruciferaceous veggies, strawberries some of the tomatoes and peppers. Yay- it was gloriously sunny and nice today for a change. So nice to be outside and get a good amount of stuff done!

Prepared the Beds

Saturday was sunny at last. It has been rainy and stormy for weeks, i just haven't been able to do hardly anything outside. It was nice to get some stuff done. The kids and I had dug out most all the weeds and they were pretty much dead so I just cultivated the soil and raked it smooth and got the grass stems and roots out. I also added sulfur with iron and other micronutrients to lower the pH, blood meal, kelp meal and cottonseed meal. There are a good number of worms, so hopefully.

The kids gardens are acting typical unfortunately. We added some organic fertilizer that we had- a starter mix with michorizae, but the seedlings have sprouted and then they just sit and don't grow. I think I'll add the sulfur mixture and some blood meal. Very frustrating.

I killed my seedlings

Sadly I've killed my beautiful seedlings and it is very very sad. I even shed a few tears over it. I'm afraid I may end up getting more of the same rotten garden I get every year. Oh well. Here's what happened:

My seedlings looked better than ever because I actually fertilized them this time around. I knew they needed to be hardened off before being planted in the ground, so I set them on our picnic table outside and forgot all about them. I left them out all night, but I don't think they froze- I think they scorched. They are pretty much all dead.

I bought plants form the greenhouse today, but I'll wait til next week to plant since we're supposed to be getting a storm. The kids gardens are looking typically bad. The small greens are starting to bolt and hardly anything came up and the few things that did are tiny and stunted.

I'm going to add some micronutrients and sulfur to acidify the soil. It's very frustrating.

planting

I just planted a flat with some lettuce, cukes, squash, chard, basil,kale and a few other things- if I weren't so tired I'd do more.

A lot of things aren't coming up in the kids' garden areas, so I'm trying this way- giving them a good start indoors then transplant-- I hope!

My tomato starts

My tomato starts are looking good. I have been watering them with liquid kelp and not worrying about keeping them in the sunniest part of the house this year. They are just in our sunroom area. I though it wasn't sunny enough because it is north facing, but they are doing great. Relief!

finally Spring!

We have finally had about 2 fairly nice days. It has been wonderful to spend time outside.

winter just won't go away

We took our spring break, but Wed. was the only semi-nice day. We planted a blackberry bush, cherry tree, apple tree and plum tree. Tons of snow--3 days, it just won't stop-- I think this has been an unusually long winter.

first planting of the year

I gave each child a 3x4 foot plot for their own to plant and take care of. We added some starter fertilizer mix I already had and they all planted peas and then various carrots, onions, lettuce, kale, beets and spinach and chard. I hope it grows!! It was cold but we got it done. We also planted tomatoes and peppers indoors on Saturday.

Snow!!

It snowed a lot today and it has been extremely cold. I found out that we are on the 40 degree latitude line and that is the same as Spain and southern Italy and Greece. So our daylength here is great for growing all kinds of veggies year round. My husband said he would build me a greenhouse and I have to find someone to tear out a bunch of scrub oak to make room for it!!

Bed Prep

Today we dug and raked and forked our garden beds to get ready for planting. It was pretty cold so we didn't bother planting anything yet. I think I just have a hard time following instructions. I did when I was first learning to cook. The recipe was just a guide and I made some pretty gross stuff. The advantage to cooking is that you get a new chance to start over everyday. With gardening you don't get a new chance until the next season. I tried doing some fall plantings and such but the summer crops are a one time trial. So if you don't get it right you have to wait til the following year.

So I think I may have reached my number of tries and learned exactly what not to do. I really think I am on the right track now. I think that everytime I added organic matter to the gardens, it was too much and the microbes tied up the nitrogen. Also, I think the garden needs continual applications on nitrogen and it also need to be watered evenly without even a hint of drying out. I have been reading "Gardening When it Counts" by Steve Solomon and that has clearedup a number of things in my mind. Also many of the books are written for different soils and climates than my Utah alkaline mountainous short season.

I also need to follow what my dad does because he gets fabulous results. So my plan is to not add any compost or organic matter this spring except for the grass and leaves that are already on the beds. They can act as a mulch to break down slowly and keep in moisture. Also I'm going to fertilize with fish emulsion regularly-- I have to talk to my dad about how often to fertilize and water. I am also going to spread bloodmeal on the beds before planting as well as a micronutrient mixture such as azomite or kelp meal. I think they have been mineral deficient.

wish me luck!!

weather update

it has been soooooo cold-- the sun shines but it is below freezing and especially cold at night.

Plants are growing!!

The snow has pretty much melted. It snowed on Tuesday, but it's pretty much gone again now. I went out to see if my fall crops have started growing and they have!! There are lots of little spinach plants, little lettuce plants and kale and cilantro!! I have also gotten my soil test results and an organic gardening book and I think I know what a lot my problem has been -- the soil is sandy and alkaline which is a bad combination. I also have hardly any worms. So I am going to feed the worms and fertilize the plants. I hope this the year I have a good garden-- produce and everything is soooooo expensive!!