Spring is Here, Finally!

Finally got the new plastic up.  I'm thinking it's time to make this hoop house a more permanent structure by adding a door and back window and ordering the thick, greenhouse plastic...

I love this pic! My overwintered swiss chard. :)

Seedlings! 

Moved the overwintered swiss chard from the salad table to these beds.  Some withered for days, but they're back up and growing tonight! 

Arugula seedlings!

The Trees are Gone!!

Three trees came down today--I have soooooo much light in my yard, now!!  The one in the back, a Silver Maple, was huge and really shadowed most of the yard, for most of the day.  I was feeling guilty about cutting it down to increase the sunlight for my garden, but when we had three arborists come out to give us bids, they all said it need to come down ASAP because it was split in the middle and starting to rot.  Phew!  What a relief to feel so much better about taking it down!!  There was another smaller tree crowding out several other trees in the back corner, so that one went, too.  Look at how much it opened up the space:

Here's what it looked like before:

And the front tree, as much as I liked it, was too close to the house and it was destroying the new roof.  Now, so much light comes through to our living room!!

Here's what it looked like before:

2012 Seeds!!

It's that time again!! On Saturday night, 3/3/12, around 11 pm, I decided it was time to get my seeds sowed. I would have done this a week earlier, but I was dreadfully sick.  And even though I had prepared the garage station for my seeds, I decided to move operations inside (to my crafting desk) in hopes the warmth would accelerate things (considering I was already a week or two later than I wanted to be).  So here's the garage area, prepared with Styrofoam and foil:

No worries though, I'll use this space in a few weeks when it's time to move the colder season stuff outside before planting in the ground.  Until then, here's my inside space (another reason to move the cold season stuff outside-I don't have enough lighting inside):

Here's what I have started:

3/3/12:

• Ferry Morse (FM) Heirloom Tomatoes:  Pruden's Purple (2), German Johnson (2), Brandywine (3), Mortgage Lifter (2), Cherokee Purple (3), Big Rainbow (2), Black Krim (2)
• Hybrid Tomatoes:  FM Organic Beefsteak (2), Lilly Miller (LM) Sweet 100 Cherry (3)
• FM Organic Early Long Purple Eggplant (2)
• FM Organic Early Jalapeno (1)
• FM Purple Tomatillo (2)
• Virginia Tobacco (3)
• Humes Dwarf Marigolds (25)
• Humes Dwarf Zinnias (15)
• FM Organic Sweet Basil (3)
• Humes White Vienna Kohlrabi (12)
• Plantation Organic Detroit Red Dark Beets (9)
• Humes Perpetual Spinach (9)
• Humes Olympia Spinach (18)
• Humes Rainbow Swiss Chard (6) and FM Organic Ruby Swiss Chard (6)
• Plantation Organic Arugula (9) 
• Humes Organic Icicle Radishes (9) and FM Organic Cherry Belle Radishes (9)
• Humes Smooth Leaf Kale (26) and Humes Curly Kale (16)
• Humes Red Romaine Lettuce (9)
• Humes Paris Island Romaine Lettuce (9)
• Humes Salad Bowl Lettuce (9)
• FM Organic Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce (9)
• FM Organic De Cicco Broccoli (3)
• Lilly Miller Georgia Collards (1)
• Humes Evergreen Bunching Onions--a bunch of seeds in one 4x4 pot (to be thinned later)

3/4/12:

• Humes Dwarf Cosmos (10)
• Humes Echinacea (5) + 18 reseeded in last year's pots in greenhouse
• Humes Dwarf Lupine (5) + 12 reseeded in last year's pots in greenhouse
• Humes Dwarf Daisies (4) reseeded in last year's pots in greenhouse (2 still growing)
• Humes Gloriosa Daisies (18) reseeded in last year's pots in greenhouse
• Ginger root--One large root inside in pot of seed starting mix and earthworm castings
• 5 Jersey Knight Asparagus Crowns (Green Turtle)

The Marigolds are already up (they started teeny sprouts last night, but really came up this morning, 3/6/12)!! I've used the heating pad for 1.5 days, about 12 hours overnight. 

February, 2012, Extended 2011 Fall and Overwintered/Spring Garden!

We have had the mildest winter I can remember since returning to the Pacific NW about ten years ago.  The good? Nothing died, really.  The bad?  Lots of stuff grew little heads or small leaves and then bolted.  Darn it!

Soooooo, I kept telling myself not to do it, but I broke down and ran to the local Fred's and bought myself too many starts...with the exception of the garlic and onions--the squirrels pretty much dug up ALL my garlic in the fall (I think I counted only about four shoots coming up--I planted around 60).  So, 6 nice-sized transplants is welcomed.  In addition, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong with the onions the past few years, so yet again, I bought myself a back-up 6-pack.

Here's how everything looks today:

I just put the plastic back on the little hoops last weekend, February 19, 2012.  I pulled tons of bolting stuff out and planted my transplants (see below).  And look at that broccoli!  It grew ALL winter--that's how mild it's been here.  Several of my broccoli plants intended for fall just didn't quite grow but then took off around January.  Incredibly weird if you ask me....

Teeny cauliflower!

Teeny broccoli!

Overwintered beets, kale, swiss chard and radishes.  They're looking fantastic!!

The newly planted bed on Feb 19th--I left the Georgia Collards (they've been growing since mid-summer, 2011), overwintered celery, some of the kale and swiss chard, some broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.  Then, I planted transplants of pak choi, lacinto kale and cauliflower. In a bucket, I planted the 6 garlic.  In the blue potato bin I placed a bunch of my fall-grown potatoes!! This made me so happy!!

I just harvested this stuff on Feb 19, 2012--kale, broccoli, radishes and celery.  LOVE it!!

Never too late? I'm going to post some pics from this past summer, 2011!

I really did have the best of intentions--I was going to be a superstar youtuber AND blogger, detailing every aspect of my 2011 garden...I have hundreds of pics of my garden and yet I've posted nothing since June! So incredibly wrong!  Isn't that how it always goes?

So here we are at the end of February, 2012.  I want to take this time (it's cold and rainy out, I'm sick, what the heck?) to post a few highlights from the past 8 (yikes!) months or so:

JUNE, 2011

JULY, 2011

After all that time, this is what I got.  I am not growing carrots again!!

This was a transplant I put out in mid-June.  I actually grew two heads of cauliflower this year!! Woohoo!

My sick black baby and his brother, enjoying the good life.  Ed, the jet black cat, had kidney failure.  He always wanted to be an outdoor cat, so we put up the very flimsy garden fencing and let 'em at it.  It really was the best. summer. ever.  Amazingly, neither of the boys tried to escape! Old age, I guess...

This is a great way to save your scallions.  Just cut them up and freeze in a freezer bag.  They're absolutely fine, delicious and I can't even tell they're frozen when I throw them in salads.  The other stuff is dehydrated zucchini chips and pulp crackers.  :) Yummy!!

One of my many harvests. :)  Of course, I tried to arrange everything so it looked like more was there than there really was...

Another first--successfully growing an artichoke!! Yes, it was TEENY, but still.  Really fun.  

I had such high hopes for this Jack O'Lantern.  I think it topped out at around 2 pounds!! 

Ah, homegrown catnip...

The spring organic potatoes, some of which I used to plant another fall crop.  

Fall and winter seeds!! 

One of my biggest red onions.  I clearly need to read up on which ones to grow out here and when to get them in the ground.  This was HUGE compared to most of them...

AUGUST, 2011

Fall potatoes!! I've learned my lesson--always plant these things in a separate container.  I think I'll be surprised by volunteer potatoes in my raised bed for years to come...

Okay, I'm going to break this post up into another one (for the fall pics)!!