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| My garden in February 2012 |
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| My raised bed planter on the side of the house in February 2011. |
Take out the dead Stella cherry tree and replace it with a new one (it died from a water leak from our valve box last summer). This is a horrible loss and we are quite sad over it. I already moved the calla lily starts that were growing under it; I hope they make it in their new location under the fig tree. They are small and young and have never flowered yet; these were a share from someone's garden in town.
Take out the Liberty apple tree. As much as it pains me to remove not just a living tree, but one that shares the same name as one of my children, this tree has never given us any apples. I will replace the tree with another Early Elberta peach. The Early Elberta peach tree has been the best fruit tree in my garden, yielding me enough to can a few quarts each year. A second tree would be wonderful.
Take out the pomegranate. Relocate it and/or plant another pomegranate tree in a different location that isn't overshadowed by other trees, including the neighbor's trees.
Relocate 3 grape vines. I hope they make it; grape vines have lots of roots and they grow deep. They need more sun. I only know where one of them will go (into the raised bed planter), so I will have to figure out what to do with the other two.
Take out the tangerine tree that has never done well.
Take out the lemon that froze last year. It has started to regrow, but it will take quite some time, as it lost all of its branches. I may move this tree if I can find a place for it.
Add more manure and compost to the garden. In several places, the dirt has settled greatly in the last 5 years, and it 6 inches lower than where it started.
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| Borage and Chamomile in the garden. Both reseeded themselves. |
Add at least one more blackberry plant to the garden, and several more if funds permit.
Add at least 2 more blueberry bushes to the garden, and more if funds permit.
Reseed the bare spots in the lawn.
I am going to focus on planting more of what I know works, and less experimental seeds of varieties that sound intriguing, but that may or may not work. Just because a variety of lettuce says, "heat tolerant" or "bolt resistant" doesn't mean it won't bolt in April when it's 90º! (It will!) I am planning to stick with more tried and true varieties this year. I hope this means more success this year.
I also will be planting more flowers this year. I want to be able to bring flowers in from the garden even more than I did last year.
Are you planting any new fruit trees, bushes, or vines this year?
My little garden is under a pile of snow. Hard to think spring planting until end of May. I know I need rabbit fencing and mulch this year. The old trash barrel under the down spout was awesome for watering. That will be repeated this year. Still need to water more than that, but helped a lot. Fewer tomato plants, more green beans. We did great with the green onions. My 13 year old loves them chopped up with sour cream so keeps replanting the sets as he pulls them out.
ReplyDeleteSheila- Escanaba
Sheila, did you know you can just harvest the side shoots from the green onions, and they will continue to grow for you? Instead of digging them up, just cut the side pieces. When I do this, they keep growing all year, and eventually go to seed. They reseed easily. I haven't bought green onions for 5 years! In fact, they went from 1 row to 3! I did pull out the extra rows to share with others. It's saved me quite a bit in green onions by doing it this way.
Deletefrom Athanasia...
DeleteSheila, your area of the world sounds more like mine. I would love a blog written by someone who lives in the UP or Northern Wisconsin. Every blog seems to be from an area where one can grow food year round outside, have access to multiple varied kinds of fruit trees, nut trees, berries etc and markets that sell at the extremely low prices they find.
We don't plant/transplant outdoors until almost Memorial Day, seeds earlier. And the garden is winding down in September. It would be nice to have some kind of a green house but I do not see that happening. I do move herbs onto my kitchen window for the "winter" which is actually October through April.
Now thinking about what I can cook and bake to warm up the house. It was -8 this a.m. and even though the sun is out the house is too cool still.
I live in ND. I feel for you--I'm envious of Brandy's peaches, figs and blackberries, wishing so much I could grow them. My blog covers more than gardening, but I do talk about extending the gardening/harvesting season: www.ProvidentHomeCompanion.com
DeleteThis site is from a guy who lives about 30 mi from us and I love his ideas: http://strawbalegardens.com/ I'm going to try some of these ideas this year.
Here's another MN garden blog that I visit now and again: http://www.theminnesotagarden.com/
And there's this from Farmer's Almanac: http://www.almanac.com/gardening/tips/ND/Casselton/January Type in your zip code and you get gardening advice for your climate.
Happy gardening!
Athanasia, you should definitely read Charlene's blog. She has a gardening area about the same size as mine, and she gets half the year in snow, but she gets MUCH, MUCH more from her garden than I do! The extreme heat here makes it very hard to grow a lot of things, such as tomatoes, squash, and green beans--all of which are very low-yield here. Charlene and I both put in 20 tomato plants one year; she canned sauce and I barely had enough for our table. I highly recommend her blog.
Deletefrom Athanasia...
DeleteOK, I signed up for the Provident Home Companion. Looking forward to that.
Oh yes! I have garden plans. We have lived in our home for almost 15 years and I am kicking myself for not planting any fruit trees. They would be so productive by now. Trees I want to plant: apple, cherry, pear, plum & apricot. I also want grape vines. I want to add to my berry patch and make a larger pumpkin/squash patch. I want to add some more flowers for cutting also. Now I just need to figure out how how to do it frugally. That will be the challenge. :-)
ReplyDeleteWildseed Farms sells widlflower seeds in large amounts. Ssme of them are great cutting flowers, too, and they will usually reseed themselves as well. They sell zinnias and larkspur, both of which are great, prolific flowers that I use for cutting and landscape flowers. They have lots of other choices too.Their prices are really good, because you get a LOT of seeds.
DeleteCheck out my Growing Flowers for Less page on my website for more ideas on adding lots of flowers for less to your garden: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/kitchen-garden/growing-flowers-for-less
DeleteThanks! I will check out that site. :-)
DeleteWe have had a big garden for the last 8 years, but I am working on a plan for year round gardening. It is quite possible here in Alabama, but I am in a big learning curve. I know all about summer/fall crops, but am researching for winter/spring.
ReplyDeleteI am also in Alabama, zone 7b/8a. Greens and Brassicas are great to overwinter here. Last year I had lettuce for salad almost all winter, and chard. This year I have broccoli, collards, and Red Russian kale -all the bugs got killed in the mild frost, but the hardy veggies don't mind a bit. My fall-planted carrots are still growing, but so slowly, they are too tiny to eat. I planted bulb onions in October, hopefully they will be ready to pull in spring. Many perennial herbs do well, too -my rosemary and thyme are going strong from last year, and the mint has not died back yet. I put in some Roman chamomile that is very pretty green but has not flowered yet. Sugar Snap peas or shelling peas, and lettuces or mesclun are good to start in late Jan/early Feb depending on your zone. I really recommend Pete Melby's "hot humid South" gardening guide at http://www.energyusereduction.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
DeleteYes! We try to add trees every year. Here in southern california the bare root fruit trees, berries and things are already in the nurseries. Usually thru the end of January. I see green grass and flowers in your february picture, so your climate must be similar to ours most years. (this year has been cold and rainy) You can get fruit trees that are better adapted to your climate for about 15.00 a tree bare root at a locally owned nursery. Varieties most big box stores don't have :) This year we bought some low chill southern blueberries, olallieberries, a few artichoke crowns and some trees. Look at the dave wilson website, they have an apple called sundowner that is low chill 200-300 hours with high chill adaptability. (you mentioned your lemon froze)Anna apple does well here as does Fuji and granny smith.
ReplyDeletekathy
I stay away from bare-root trees when I can. I buy potted trees from the local nursery; they are bigger and do better. Most of our trees are low-chill varities. The Early Elberta is a medium chill, but it has done wonderfully. The Stella cherry is high-chill, but it has done realatively well in the corner, which has its own colder microclimate in my garden.
DeleteI grew up in Southern California, and our climate is similar, but we get much less rain, are hotter and also a little colder in winter.
On my garden page there is a link to a man in Southern California who grows apple trees; I bought most of my apples from him, including the Liberty. I knew the Liberty was a riskier one to try here, but I chose it anyway. Since it hasn't flowered, I am pulling it out.
We usually don't have problems with Meyer lemons freezing here, but a few nights it got down to 22º when the lemon froze. That was a colder than usual winter. The other 2 lemons right next to that one pulled through just fine, though!
I got some benchgraft trees from him a few years ago! :) Most nurseries here get the same bareroot trees in, pot them up and sell them within days for 3x higher :( We were able to get 13 trees for what 4 or 5 in pots would have cost. I have had a hard time with lemons and the high winds stripping their leaves. I have gotten two lemons from two trees, and they are about 4 years old. I keep hoping if they get big enough they might produce more. :)
DeleteLike Sheila, its hard to think of gardening this time of year. We have a good 2 feet of snow on the ground. But we will have a garden when spring comes.
ReplyDelete1. DH will build an extra garden bed (4x8)
2. I will plant my yellow and purples wax beans in that bed as I found they grow so mich that they over clouds everything that is around them.
3. We don't plan on planting any trees this year. Would love too, but we don't have the money for that.
4. I want to start growing my own herbs this year
I find that my local nursery has less expensive trees than the catalogs, plus they're bigger than the ones from the catalogs, and they are already leafing out. Our nursery has sales on fruit trees in the spring; they are usually $20-$22 on sale. Perhaps there is something you can cut to be able to purchase trees--eat more meatless meals, perhaps?
DeleteI'm in Canada, he lowest i've seen on fruits trees was more around 40$ and that is on sale. I never thouht to go in spring to see if the price are lower. I will check it out.
DeleteLinda, our local nursery usually has fruit tree sales in spring and fall, as both are good planting times. You can check their sales flyer on their website, which is helpful if you don't get the newspaper. Perhaps yours has the same?
DeleteSounds like you're going to be busy in the garden! :) I'm still finalizing my plans for my 2013 garden but since everything is covered in snow, I figure I have plenty of time! I would love to put in some fruit trees but don't have any place to put them unless we have some large trees cut down. Our lot is just under an acre but it's heavily wooded. But, instead of focusing on what I can't grow I'm doing my best to maximize what I can grow. :)
ReplyDeleteI currently have (3) 4x8 raised beds and (4) 4x4 raised beds that we put in last year. I also have the East side of my house that's a blank slate and stone beds in the front of my house that are empty. The front stone beds get little to no sun so I'm going to try experimenting with growing some cabbage and swiss chard there. I also have a small square of lawn that I'm going to take up and plant an herb garden instead-maybe with a bird bath in the center. I'll have to see how far I can stretch the budget to allow for everything on my list!
My zone 5 garden is snowy but I've been planning my 2013 garden for a couple of weeks now!
ReplyDeleteI Have already separated seeds into individual packets for a seed swap in January. I will widen the south garden to go along the fence of my property. We planted an eating grape last year (as well as raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, and asparagus) and I would like to plant a few more fruits: Semi dwarf Santa rosa plum (self fertile), Bush cherries (though I haven't been able to find a place to ship hem to me! I'm trying to lie down roots with my perennial garden in my city lot but it is expensive to do that! It's important to both DH and I and we will earmarks money each month for the next 5 months or them. If we don't do it now, we wont have mature trees in 5 years - well have babies!
Brandi- curiosity is killing me - why are you guys making these changes? It seems like a lot for you little property and I know your garden is not something you take lightly! Thanks for sharing!
Non-producing trees do me no good. The pomegranate was overshadowed last year and the fruit rotted on the vine instead of ripening. It was not in my original plans to put it there, and I thought it would work. It did until this last year.
DeleteThe grapes on the back wall were too shaded and ended up with downy mildew last year. This is also a result of things growing and overshadowing it. I think blackberries would do well there; I will add them IF I can find a way to do it. I want to move the grapes to a sunnier location. One will go in the raised bed.
I need to add dirt and manure each year, but I haven't been able to afford it. Last year I had the poorest year in my garden yet. The dirt needs to be added this year.
The dead tree has to be replaced. I had to wait to do it until I had the money to do so.
My mom gave me some gift certificates to the local nursery for Christmas, which covered some of this.
As far as adding more things--I want the garden to be more productive. Fruit gives me the best return for my money and gives me food every year. I want to add more flowers because I want to bring more flowers into the house to have on the table all the time.
from Athanasia...
DeleteHow big is the tree? My husband has removed trees himself from our yard. Some he has cut and then rented a stump grinder, other smaller ones he has been able to dig around and then hitch our VW bus up to it and pull out.
He prunes the smaller trees with an extension saw...it is about 50 years old...it is my parents saw. When my mother first offered it to him he looked askance at it. Now he is glad we talked him into its usefulness. He does not climb to prune though. We have 10 large shade trees...oak, ash, maple, honey locust, bass...we paid a service to trim them out this year. It was an expense, but saves worrying about tree damage. Our 1st 2 snow falls had been extremely heavy snow and it was nice not loosing any branches this year.
You are an inspiration as always! I am not LDS (lots of family member are though!) and you inspire me in my faith as well as just life stuff (cooking, gardening, homemaking, etc). I appreciate the time you take to answer questions- I really do look up to and respect what your family is doing! If I lived closer to you, I'd love to meet you but, alas, Denver is not near!
DeleteKeep your chin up in 2013, and may God bless you and yours.
I plan to grow the things that have done well for me in the past and hopefully put in a pear tree this year, as well as baby the apple tree that is still alive. Hopefully I'll remember to plant zinnias, since I love them and they require minimal attention.
ReplyDeleteYup! This spring we are putting in a weeping Santa Rosa plum, a Seckel pear, a couple hazelnut bushes, Aronia, red, pink, and white currants, elderberries, two kinds of strawberries, asparagus, dwarf mulberry, and a replacement Saskatoon berry. Also going to put in three permanent, reseeding patches of lettuce. And nasturtiums, sorrel, sweet cicely, lovage, and calendula. Phew. We should be busy.
ReplyDeleteJana - where are you purchasing your trees from. I want a Santa Rosa plum but and am interested in the weeping varety. Got any recommendations?
DeleteThanks!
Our nursery carries Santa Rosa plums. Santa Rosa and Green Gage are the only ones they carry that are self-fertile. All of the other plums require a pollinator. If you are only going to get one plum tree, make sure it is self-fertile, or you will never get any fruit.
DeleteI would highly recommend the Green Gage plums. I have a friend that gives them to me every year and they are wonderful.
DeleteLivinggracefully- it is coming from Raintree nursery. It is like a regular Santa Rosa, but weeping. And slightly smaller. And, according to Dave Wilson Nursery, who also sells it, slightly more delicious.
DeleteWhen you move as many plants as you are planning, you will lose some of them, but usually you do not lose them all, so those that survive save you money in the long run!
ReplyDeleteThis year I asked for rooting powder for Christmas, & received it, so I will be trying to root cuttings from my grapevine. I have tried rooting pruned cuttings in the past without success, hence the rooting powder, but I will also be using a Forsythe pot this year. I had to google it to find out what it was, when I read about it on another blog, but if I can make it work, then I will plant the new vines in 3 places, one of which will be the opposite side of the arbor I am putting in, where the grapes currently grow. I have almost enough salvaged lumber for a 2nd arbor, so I am trying to decide where to place that. - Marivene
I know they might not make it, but I'm going to go ahead and attempt it, since it will also save me years of growth!
DeleteBrandy, If you want more of the same variety you can tip layer your blackberries. I've had some do it on their own. If you pin part of a cane down it will develop roots. This way you'll get one for free, or for the cost of watering.
ReplyDeleteMy garden plans are not firmed up quite yet. But I'll share what I want to do. My garden is also under snow and we've had snow storms everyday since Christmas.
I have been saving milk jugs and toilet paper rolls to make mini green houses and start my own seeds. I'll put these out sometime before February to start and harden on their own.
I want to add another pear and another sour cherry tree. I also want to put in a couple of filberts. I am considering new locations for a couple more fruit trees outside of our orchard area. I was thinking of a peach and another apple. I have places for 11 trees and 9 are doing well. But I lost some large branches to heavy yield on my golden delicious.
I have to finally remove the rainier cherry stump. The Utah giant sweet cherry will have until spring to show signs of value and then I will know if I need to remove it finally. I'd hate to not grow any sweet cherries, but I've never had any success from any place I have lived. I can squeeze a pear into the middle row which means I may be putting 3 trees into the orchard.
I have another grape in the garage that is dormant, waiting to put into the row of grapes. This was my first year so I'm just getting started with them.
I'm trying to establish a raspberry bed... hopefully the starts from last fall will do well enough. I'm also trying to establish an asparagus bed... I started with 6 roots last year.
I need to add a lot of compost to my garden again. My husband comes from a farming mentality so will we be tilling it in, and then I hope to use what I can find to rake up the soil into beds and lay cardboard between rows to reduce weeds. I'll probably only get a couple of beds raised but it is a start... and they will be simple enough to dismantle at the end of the season so we can till again.
I have brussels sprouts, carrots, spinach, and chard, oh, and turnips and beets still in the garden. Not sure the spinach can handle our current temps, but it is under a thick enough blanket of snow that it might just be fine.
I have to fix up the herb garden... adding thyme, horseradish, and chamomile.
I plan on sinking compost tubes in permanent areas at least.
And I know it is tough, but I want a fig tree. I don't think mine is going to make it. I tried to pot it so it wouldn't die back but I think it died entirely. It is in my garage (with my grape and more raspberry starts).
I have also toyed with an idea of growing 2 tons of food, so that I would not purchase any produce I can grow. (I would buy citrus) but that is not firmed up yet as to how I would do it, and I still need to figure just how much produce I would use.
Penelope
I have tip layer my blackberries, but I want to put some in a different place in the garden entirely, so that won't work in that spot. I've had one take that way. The ones I did from cuttings with rooting powder didn't survive, even though they rooted.
DeleteI would love to know how you use TP rolls to start seeds. I am envisioning cutting them in half and adding soil and seed, maybe draining into a pan. Does the cardboard hold up enough to seedling watering? Does it break down enough for root penetration if you plant it altogether?
DeleteI don't buy jiffy pellets anymore since they have non-boidegradable mesh to hold the peat together. They are also expensive. Lately I have been using small yogurt containers with a hole drilled into the bottom. My friend gave me these.
Thanks.
Margery, I haven't tried it yet, this will be my first year. I'm taking the toilet paper rolls and folding one end, kind of like in gift wrapping, to form a bottom end. I'll pack these tightly into the base of a milk carton and fill with soil. The milk carton will have drainage holes and I'll leave the lid off so snow can get in. I know I will have to water it some as well. I'm combining two different ideas I have seen on pinterest and hoping it will work. I'm guessing the toilet paper rolls will hold up long enough to get to planting them and with how my trench composting worked last year, I'm pretty sure they will break down quickly enough. If they seem too tough, then I can just rip them apart when I set the plants.
DeleteAs to folding the rolls. I collapse 2 sides to meet in the center and that creates opposite points, sort of, that I then fold into the center. And then I reach my hand into the center and kind of smush it until it seems flat enough.
Hope that helps.
Penelope
We have plans to grow again what we were the most successful with last summer. Zucchini, squash, bell peppers, and cilantro. We will try again with tomatoes maybe we will try a few different types(our tomato plants died last year). We would also, like to try our hand at cantaloupe and pumpkins this year.
ReplyDeleteWe will have to replace our young Apple tree that didn't survive the drought. Maybe add Pear tree if the money is available.
I am hoping that here in Oklahoma that we will have more rain this summer. The last two years have made it very hard to grow anything in the garden. ---Carrie M.
Sorry about the broken post - I hit publish instead of preview!
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about putting some of the grapes in the front yard? I am considering putting some grapes, & the 2nd, smaller, grape arbor, in our front yard. The front yard receives strong afternoon sun from the west, & I think an arbor would be pretty there.
I also need to find a spot for the holly plant my husband was given as a gift at work. Brandy, do you know how big holly plants grow? Is it something I could plant in a semi protected area in the flower bed under a front overhang? I think it would be a pretty "front yard" ornamental plant.
All but one of our blueberry plants died, but the raspberries I transplanted last year grew beautifully, so I plan to dig out & seriously amend the soil next to our back fence by the shed, so the raspberries in the "original" stand can grow taller than 8 inches & actually produce some fruit. The plants are right next to wire fence, that adjoins a pasture. The neighbors have no problem with letting the raspberries "run" there, but so far the clay soil has prevented that. I intend to add aged manure, coffee grounds (dried & stored in old Gatorade bottles in the shed), dried grass clippings from last year (stored in the large clear plastic bag in which I received the coffee grounds from Starbucks,in the shed over winter). The raspberries are on either side of the shed, which sits on a gentle slope. Right now the raspberries are on either side of the shed, but there is space around the back where they could sucker if I can get them going. I like having brambles next to this back fence, since the wire is not that secure of a fence, & most people are not inclined to climb through brambles, so they increase our backyard security as well.
I transplanted a dogwood tree last fall. It immediately went into dormancy, & may have winter killed. If it doesn't make it, then I will plant a fruit tree to replace it. -Marivene
I have thought about several things in the front yard, but it would need to be compeltely changed. It would need dirt--what we have is white caliche, high in salt, hard as concrete (literally--you have to jackhammer to plant trees), with an alkalinity of aroud 8.5-9 ph. You have to bring in dirt here, and run sprinkler lines, level the yard, and run drip lines too. It's around $1000 to do that, and it's a tiny front yard.
DeleteI would like to do the front yard; I've had it drawn out in my mind for years, but the money isn't there for it, and my husband isn't sure he wants to do it even if we had it.
I've never grown holly, Marivene. I think it would be ideal in a front yard, though!
DeleteHolly will grow into 20' tall trees in the right climate!
DeleteMarivene, when I lived in Oregon, there was a big holly farm about a mile up the road. They do grow tall. Holly grew well in Oregon but when we inquired about planting it in our yard, we were told you had to have two holly trees, one male and one female or one or the other close by if just planting one. We were not sucessful with our one plant.
DeleteAlso, we grew raspberries. They were the ever-bearing variety and we had a wonderful patch. One thing we put on all our garden veggies and our berries was a handful of epsom salt. Works great on roses too as well as coffee grounds and compost (from our compost pile). Teri
Teri, when you say you were not successful, do you mean that it never had the red berries on it, or that it died? I know without 2 trees for pollination there will be no berries, but I think it might be a pretty addition to the landscape for free, just for the foliage.
DeleteI know that epsom salts are a good source of magnesium, but we already have such a salt load in our soil that I prefer to avoid it. I use coffee grounds, aged manure, compost & banana peels. -Marivene
This past year was a rough one for my garden between especially dry and wild weather, 2 very close wildfires, and deer decimating several fruit trees. The vegetable garden raised beds also struggled to produce anything despite our best efforts. We were finally able to afford a fence to keep out the deer at the end of last summer, so hopefully that will help. I think our raised beds need to be doubled in depth to produce more food, but that project will have to wait until next summer. Our funds this summer need to go to building stairs from our back door to our backyard (Our house is on a hill, so the main floor is the second floor in the back of the house. After three full summers without direct access to the backyard, this is a necessary project.)
ReplyDeleteMy first focus this year will be on nursing the apricot, pear, plum, apple, peach, nectarine, grape vine, strawberries, 3 blackberries, and 6 cherry bushes back to health from the deer devastation.
The non-edible portion of my garden is a lush xeriscape style garden, so that once it is established it will need supplemental water only a few times per year. This will allow us to use the water for only those things that feed us. My second focus this year will be to push my seed starting count from my usual 250-300 plants for xeric and veggie garden to around 500-600 seedlings. This year I will just focus on the xeric plants to finish filling out the non-edible portions of my yard, as well as starting an herb garden. I anticipate the cost for this will be around $50. I will use my raised beds for this with the winter sowing method, since I will not be using them for a veggie garden this year.
Next year ,2014 , we plan to build up the (3) 4x8 and (1) 4x4 beds we already have and add (8) new 4x4 beds and a 2x16 bed along one fence line.
We have a few goals this year for the garden. We didn't get as much done last year with extreme for us heat and drought, running all over the whole summer and me being sick for a good chunk of the year. But, here are some of our goals this year. Like many of the earlier comments, our garden is under snow and it's -5F today here currently and we won't be able to plant until the middle-end of May, so we have some time to finalize things.
ReplyDelete* Finish edging all the beds (we purchased it last year on sale but didn't get it all installed).
* Add compost to all beds.
* Add new mulch to all beds.
* Get a rain barrel to replace the downspout that runs across our patio.
* Re-do the front flower bed. Any suggestions for very high shade tollerant plants in zone 4 would be appreciated! We need both small and large and something with color - our house is tan with dark green trim so anything goes color-wise. I have lily of the valley but they're done by June and some hostas but we need to do something else and more of it. It just keeps turning into a weed pile!
* Grow more of what we know works in our yard - both summer and winter squash, melons, tomatoes, peppers, beans and peas.
* Try growing at least one new vegetable. Suggestions anyone?
* Add more cutting flowers to our garden. Again, we're open to suggestions here!
* Split and transplant perennial flowers.
* Finish digging in the flower bed along the west side of the yard.
* Add a storage shed for the mower, lawn chairs, etc.
* Extend our patio.
The list looks long but we'll be working on it the whole summer. We're also only planning on being in this house about 2 1/2 more years, so fruit bushes won't do us much good. We have raspberries, rhubarb and grapes at this point. We also have a lot of shade from the neighbor's trees and our huge Crimson King Maple that I don't want to add our to the shade factor on our small yard.
Thanks for the inspiration everyone! And Brandy, will you post progress photos as your work goes along? I'd love to see how your garden is transforming!
Happy New Year everyone,
Lea
If you're not already growing Swiss chard, I would suggest that--the Fordhook Giant variety, as it is quite prolific.
DeleteCutting flowers that are esy and inexpensive: Larkspur and Zinnias from Wildseed Farms. Get the 1/4 oz size and you can plant for several years.
Sorry, it's the ounce size that you should get. I double checked on their site. There is a TON in that.
DeleteHow about herbs? Oregano has pretty purple flowers that the bees love.
DeleteLea, I have a very shady front yard too and struggled to grow anything there last year. The only plants that didn't die were Astilbe and Hydrangeas. This year I'm hoping to add switchgrass, irises, geranium rozanne, dwarf mock orange, and more hydrangeas. Nothing is edible, unfortunately, but I may try adding in cabbage or swiss chard and see if they'll grow. You might also want to try growing begonias or helleborus. Here's a link for shade perennials:
Deletehttp://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/full-part-shade-perennials.html?refine.current=&refine.refinements=price+new_product+blooms+color+sunshine_shade+height_code+moist+fragrance+pot_size+zone+options&reset=&pagenumber=&itemsperpage=1000&refine.blooms=&refine.color=&refine.sunshine_shade=&refine.moist=&refine.fragrance=&refine.zone=&refine.options=
Oh, I've seen the hellebores from White Flower farm! So pretty!
DeleteOh what good suggestions! Thanks everyone!
DeleteI had completely forgotten about larkspur but I have a relative that I can get seeds from so that one should be easy! Now we just have to look at options for the rest of it.... that's the hard part, isn't it?
Happy gardening, planning and dreaming everyone,
Lea
When you mention harvesting the side shoots of green onions, what do you mean? Not pulling the whole onion up? I'm curious because I'd love to have some seed themselves. Also, can you talk a bit about your watering system? Do you have an irrigation system? In ground? Or on top? Or soaker hoses? A big problem with me gardening is the constant watering needed and I'm looking to put some (inexpensive) watering system in place this year. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes I do mean that. I never pull the whole thing out.
DeleteI have drip irrigiation. I have a line that has holes pre-drilled every six inches that I run over the top of the ground. It makes it very easy to plant and space plants. It gets the water just right to where I need it and doesn't waste it like a soaker hose does (those do not work well here).
You can see a close-up of my drip line (which I got at the nursery) with the Johnny-Jump-Ups here: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/kitchen-garden/gardening-for-less
My drip irrigation is on a timer. I set the time; I never have to go out to water, which is helpful, because I'm not going out when it's 120º!
DeleteHas anyone here ever made their own rain barrel? We live in the Seattle area- it would be nice to have water in the summer when we dont have rain.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess that I'm a little nervous about it, but we plan to leave our garden fallow this year. We have never done that before, but after much talk and prayer, we think it's the right thing to do. We have had so many problems with deer, rabbits, etc. and I think the soil needs some replenishing as well. We have rabbits and chickens,and I can get all the horse and alpaca manure I want, so I plan to do a lot of tilling. My husband wants to put a taller fence around the whole thing and/or build more 'hoop houses'. We do have one hoop house that we plan to plant with the things that do well here - lettuces, carrots, onions, zucchini and green beans. I have success with chard, but my family won't eat it, so I just grow some to feed to my hens.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I need to do some work in the orchard too, so we'll be plenty busy. We also want to do some landscaping, as we can manage and afford it.
I usually do a lot of canning and freezing, so I will be watching sales for opportunities to purchase tomatoes, corn, etc. to put up.
I want to go through my seeds and decide what to buy. I want to order them during the next month. I bought a lot of seeds on a clearance sale for 25 cents a packet last fall, and tried to buy things that I use constantly. I hope to save some serious money there and order less.
DeleteMy husband built a mini greenhouse on our deck a few years ago. It is made from sticks and plastic, and was never intended to be anything but temporary. He hopes to re-do the plastic since it is getting tattered, and make it last a little longer. It's been at least 4 years so far--a nice surprise I plan to start peppers and onions in late January/early February and tomatoes in February. I usually start several other plants in February or March. Things like squash wait until April since we can't plant things out until May or even June. We live at a little elevation and sadly our garden is located where spring run-off keeps it soggy until later.
Last year, my husband built me 4 large raised beds in the enclosed larger garden area (deer are a problem). I want to maintain them by getting rid of weeds between them and making sure they are well-composted. I did add compost this past fall as I removed spent vegetation, but have a few areas that still need it. I am trying to overwinter Walla Walla onions. Time will tell how it turns out. I want to put chips around them again. We got the tree trimmer people that were trimming the trees in our area to dump the chips in a pile on the edge of our field. They did it a couple of times. So, that's what I'll use. The raised beds were an experiment last year to see if we could plant earlier since they would not be as soggy as the main garden.
The berries need tied up and pruned. We have razzberries, blackberries, boysenberries and thornless blackberries. I have a few blueberries that look terrible.....we'll see if I can figure that out. We have a pruning guide from the extension office to look at. I have 2 rows of grapes. 1 row is extremely old and part of the supports have collapsed. I want that cleaned up, pruned, wild blackberries removed from it or I want it gone. The other grape row is from starts we started from our old place. The dirt is poor on all these fruit rows, and I need compost on them. I have a raised bed of strawberries. This year I want to divide them.
Because of our elevation, we experimented with planting some tomatoes in cages with plastic on them in one raised bed last year. I want to try it again. I felt it caused us to get tomatoes. some years, I have planted up to 75 or 100 tomato plants and still had to bum off of my sister for enough to can. Last summer, I was able to can what I needed for the first time since moving to this new location, and even had some to give away. I can whole tomatoes, crushed, juice, sauce, salsa, and pizza sauce. However, my green beans were mediocre for the first time ever. I need to can about 100 quarts of them each year, so a big goal this year is to get enough of them.
I also need to freeze broccoli, so I need to grow a bunch of that. I had bad luck with cucumbers last summer, so need to work on getting enough to pickle and eat fresh this year.
Becky
Hi!I do not think I will have a large garden this year.Our soil is really poor.I have spent a lot of money getting good top soil trucked in several times .But the garden never really took off.Also in our area there has been some new construction and the deers and rabbits have come from all over to our yard to eat the fruit trees up.I also had a weird tree virus that killed several trees that had to be cut down.So if I choice to garden I will have a clean slate.I do nor know totally what I am doing.Pat
ReplyDeleteLast year, I attempted my first raised veggie garden. I did a square foot garden and planted peas, beans, tomatoes, and zucchini. The zucchini, beans, and tomatoes did well. I only planted one round because I got busy with a new job in the fall. This year, I plan to expand and do more than one planting so we have more veggies. I want my garden to produce enough food so that we buy very little produce and save money. I did a lot of research last year on blueberry plants and then forgot to buy them in the fall. I still want to plant blueberries. I'll have to do a little more research and see if I can plant them in the spring. I have a $25 Lowe's gift card that I can use for supplies to get started. I'd love to have fruit trees one day.
ReplyDelete-Amie
Your pictures are beautiful. This year I plan to start my first small vegetable garden. I look forward to visiting here a bit when I'm ready to plan for that later this spring!
ReplyDeleteHi! I LOVE your daffodil border in the first photo! Absolutely amazing. I've planted daffodils for the first time this year and hope they look as good!
ReplyDeleteMy gardening changes this winter: I just took out my Knock-Out roses from my landscaping around the house and planted blueberry bushes alternating with loropetalum instead. With asparagus planted in the flower beds too. I'm not allowed to have anything that looks like a vegetable garden where I live, so I'm trying to be covert. :)
Loved your site and will try to check back often! Happy New Year!
These are naturalizing dafodils, and I planted them several years ago; I really should have divided them this fall. I was just looking at pictures of them the last couple of years; there weren't anywhere near as many as there were last year. It's taken several years for them to get to be so full of blooms.
DeleteYou should be able to combine quite a few things for edible landscaping, so that it's not obvious at all that what you are growing is edible. Your trees can be fruit trees, too. There are many choices for edible bushes and vines as well. Herbs fit in well with flowers and are pretty un-noticeable in the garden in the front yard; I had lots of herbs in the front yard at my last house (I have parsley in my front yard right now). Good luck!
Your daffodils are wonderful! I planted some orange and white daffodil bulbs this fall in a pot, so we'll see if they come up this spring.
ReplyDeleteCurrently planning out my container garden. It got scorched last year (and I'm not even in the desert!), so the plants produced very, very little - a double handful of green beans and cherry tomatoes and ONE zucchini. At least my green onions survived, though I need to make them a little greenhouse for overwintering.
I do have a question for you, I just started blogging... would you mind if I put a link to your blog on my list of favorites? I frequently tell people about your site and blog in person, so naturally I want to continue that digitally. Not that I have readers right now, but I still wanted to ask permission.
-Chantal Williamson (from facebook)
I would love a link! Thanks! For my website there is a button that you can use: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/about/link-to-this-site, but for the blog you can just link to it!
DeleteI haven't looked at your blog or website for so long. I'm so glad I did. Its just lovely. You are such an incredible woman, juggling and living life so fully. Thank you for your powerful example. I love your projects, photography and such. Thank you for sharing! I hope all is well with your sweet family. I would love to connect with you again sometime and catch up! Onward, my sweet sister in Zion.
ReplyDeleteHello Kata!
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