The Mediocre Gardener

Flower Garden Update

2009-06-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have several flower gardens. I think I have 5 all said and done... maybe more... I suppose it depends how you group the smaller ones. Regardless, this post is only about two of them. :)
Here is the before garden

This is my side garden. It falls on the side of the house that we use for an entrance. I started cleaning it up last Spring so this is the second season that I've had to work on it. It's REALLY coming together this year. I have lavender, hollyhocks, hosta, butterfly weed, delphiniums (purple and pink..pink isnt blooming yet), wormwood, lambs ear, black-eyed susans, bleeding hearts, salvia, pink scabiosa and sage. In the brick box behind the garden I have gladiolas.
The purple delphinium is the highlight of this garden, as far as I'm concerned. I'm in love with the color. The other garden that I have here I am really just starting. We've had a fence filled with iris, hosta, and daylillies for years. Its overgrown and barely blooming because its so packed. I decided to stretch out the hostas, iris, and daylillies down the property line (which isn't shown). However, I got distracted and decided that this would make a great place for a cutting garden.
This is a photo of the fence line before I touched it. This is very much still a work in progress. I spend most of the afternoon with the tiller and a rake trying to clean out all of the sod. This weekend I"ll be digging up all of the iris, hosta, and daylillies and scattering them around the property. Iris anyone? That IS a giant overgrown rose bush on the very end of the fence row. A sapling was growing right out of the middle of it, pushing the roses down. I clipped out the sapling and tied the bush back for the moment. I'm going to have to cut it back dramatically... but I opted to wait until 1)I've read up on pruning roses and 2) the blooms are finished. The shrub in the front gets white blossoms on it... but I'm not sure what it is. Def. not lilac. I have that about 10 feet further down the fence.

Veggie Garden Update

2009-06-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

Its been two months or so since my last post. I know. I suck. I'm sorry. I have a mess of updates for you. This is a photo of the veggie garden. It is well on its way. So far we have managed to stay 100% organic. We have green beans, kandy corn (yes, spelled with a k), pineapple, roma, beefeater, and cherry tomatoes, green, red, orange, yellow, and purple peppers, cayenne papers, jalapenos, garlic, and yellow onions. We have cantelope, sugar baby watermelons, and yellow squash that needs to be added, still.

The squash, watermellon, and cantelope are going to be grown on a trellis. We're sort of combining tradition gardening with square foot gardening, so we'll see how it all works out. Next year it looks like we'll be trying for 100% square foot gardening, but we started a bit out of sorts this year.

We also have a small herb garden going closer to the house. That has rosemary, basil, tarragon, and cilantro at the moment, with more to come.

It's a lot of hard work, but thankfully, I love it so far. We're staking the tomatoes with old saplings (from when we cleaned out the fenceline) and we are also building additional support structures out of scrap wood and old fencing.

Mad Scientist

2009-03-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Today I purchased a cheap 1 use only test kit for the garden. It checks the pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potash in the soil. When I started, I was hoping for a pH of about 7.0, high nitrogen (because of the sweet corn), and I wasn't sure about the other two, but thought that they were supposed to be low.

It was pretty easy to use. The pH was the easiest. Add soil, add water, empty capsule, and shake.

I moved onto the last 3 tubes, which I did all at once. I had to mix 1 part soil into 5 parts water, wait for everything to settle, then poor the water into the remaining test tubes. Each one had a separate capsule (my only complaint was that getting just the powder into the test tube was kinda tricky) and then waited another 10 minutes. Sort of like a really really LONG at home pregnancy test (without the panic, thank god)

My end results? Perfect pH for what I want to do, I've been told that I don't need to worry about the Potash and Phosphorous, that adding my compost will sort things out, and that my Nitrogen is TOO LOW. Argh. No big deal, I'll just add some to the side that the corns going into. But at least I know that I need to do it and the corn won't suffer, right?

Brush removal and tilling

2009-03-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

I'm getting behind on blogging.... ah! Heck, I'm getting behind on the garden, too, so I'm just trying to take a lot of photos and update the blog when I can and spend more time outside.

I spent yesterday moving all the brush and digging out stray saplings... .I began the process of tilling but I have to go back and make things a great deal larger. Not to mention adding compost to the mix.

The first photo there is of my finished product... as far as the day went. That's the same area that was covered in brush in earlier posts.

Next, we have my assault on saplings that nearly kicked my ass.

I went back through and picked out a lot of the larger clumps of grass. I do believe that generally these are things that you want to leave in... you're supposed to till then cover with tarps or newspaper and hay and let everything decompose, but I dont have time. why? Because I'm behind. So please, mother nature, suck it up and cooperate? Please?

The Before Photos...

2009-03-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

I took a few photos this week of my yard. It is beyond scary. I wanted to be much further ahead then I am now. Ideally, you should dig up your garden BEFORE winter, mix in some straw, and nail some newspaper over it. I have yet to plow my veggie garden. There has been a raging debate on what to do with a massive pile of dead wood in the backyard RIGHT where the garden needs to go. We've decided to rent a wood chipper this week and turn it all into mulch.... but man is it a lot!!

The first photo is where veggie garden #1 will be going. I'm planning on putting corn, tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, and potatoes in this garden. The second photo is a garden for squash, pumpkin, zucchini's, ect. I had to split things up to make sure that I was going to have enough room for everything.

If you squint and turn your head to the left, you may be able to make out very shoddily drawn squares, one in each photo. Thats the exact(ish) spot for the gardens. The giant piles of brush in both photos are what will be going through the wood chipper. In the bottom photo, you can see our orchard which was recently hacked back (literally) to barebones trees. They'd been let go for at least 5 years or more so we didnt have a huge choice. There are two apples, two peaches, and a pear tree.

The run down little shed to the right will also be torn down and replaced. Which is great... that poor little shed is held together with dirt and that's about it. A mighty wind will topple that thing at any moment.

I have a mess of photos of my flower beds being prepped, but I think that I'll save that for next time...

Heirloom Seeds

2009-03-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I have a few comments (I've been a bad blogger and forgot to set this thing to let me know when that happens) and thought I'd respond. Keeping in mind that I'm relatively (very) inexperienced as a vegetable gardener, this is what I know.

Heirloom seeds or genetically modified seeds.... chose at your own discretion. I prefer heirloom seeds. Heirloom seeds are generally open-pollinated, which means that we can plant the seeds that they produce and get some more without dusting them down with some sort of crazy chemical. Do some research on your own on genetically modified seeds and awaken yourself to the horror of today's farming industry...try looking up a company called Monsanto and the badness that surrounds them. (No bias here... heh)

In the meantime, here is a list of great sites for heirloom seeds and info.

Seed Savers Exchange
An excellent website to learn about heirloom seeds and gather your own
rare varieties. They've been in business for around 35 years and is a non=profit, member supported organization.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Another seed saving heirloom oriented website with a focus on... Southern plants

Urban Farmer Seeds
These guys provide both flower and veggie seeds along with a good bit of advice if I remember correctly.

Spring Hill Nursery
I bought flowers from these guys last Spring. They all did WONDERFULLY... and I was really abusive to some of them... I took forever to plant some of them. I actually harvested seeds from some of the flowers and seem to be successfully growing new flowers! Hurrah!

Gurneys Seed & Nursery
I ordered seeds from these guys this year for veggies... it took a really long time to get them. Everything is growing... but I'd check the Better Business Bureau to see if they're having a bad season or something before ordering.

The Farmer's Almanac

Yes, the same almanac from the stores. :) There are forums on here for local seed exchanges, as in, give a little get a little and for advice.

Organic Consumers Association
Just a nice page to inform yourself on organic gardening. You don't have to be a crazy liberal hippy to appreciate it. Honest.

In addition to all of that, Burpee Seeds have always treated me well. Most of what I"m growing this year are Burpee Seeds. :)
These are my pepper plants that I repotted over the weekend. This is BEFORE I gave everyone their own home. :) I spent a good two hours this weekend separating seedlings. This is a mixture of red, green and purple peppers. I've never had purple peppers before, but I'm pumped to try them!

Nifty Container Garden Ideas

2009-03-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

I listened to an episode of the Survival Podcast the other day. It was an older episode, but the host had some great ideas. One of which was to make a hanging basket of tomato and basil plants. The idea is to punch a small hole in the bottom of the coconut liner in a hanging basket and one plant upside-down, there. Fill the basket with some good soil, and then plant the top of the basket with basil. I've heard that Tumbler Cherry Tomatoes work well. I'm going to give this one a try this, year, I think. I tried to find a photo of someone using this method successfully, but couldnt find anything that wasn't the photo on the side of a prepackaged box. If you've done this, let me know! :) P.S. Everything that I have read on this makes a point of saying that the basket will need to be watered every day, twice a day is even better.

Container gardens are also a great way to keep fresh herbs close to the house. (I know, I know, most people interested in gardening know this) But I can't recommend enough putting fresh herbs in baskets and pots on porches and patios. It smells wonderful. As long as you have a good bit of sunlight, Basil and Cilantro (two of my favorite herbs) will grow all summer long. just dont forget to cut them both back. If the cilantro keeps blooming (tiny white flowers) it'll change the taste of the plant. The Basil gets this big stalky thing on it that will bloom in white, too. Lop them all off! As long as you nibble away at your plants, this wont happen. If it does, chop them off and keep going.

I mentioned in earlier posts that I am growing Nasturtiums for my vegetable garden. I'm trying to be as organic as possible. Being a relatively new veggie gardener, I cant promise that I'm 1) going to keep this focus and 2) be successful in it. :p Nasturtiums come into the picture due to companion planting.... meaning that I am trying to mix things into the garden that are useful, and keep away pests. Nasturtiums are edible flowers (they have a mild peppery taste)and they drive away a horde of garden pests. Marigolds, while inedible, also help to keep away the bad bugs and draw in the good ones. I came across a website today that's very nicely laid out. Ommas-Aarden on Companion Planting

Out of control!

2009-03-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

The tomatoes have been separated. Well, almost all of them. I still have to sort through the beef tomatoes, and I think I have about 4 cups of those (each cup has about 4 seedlings in it). Its been... an interesting process. We are building a few new places to store seedlings under lights since we've had enormous success with tomatoes. Check this out:
As you can see... we need more space and proper space at that! I'm a little worried that the tomatoes are going to cave in on everything on the table! The growth is looking pretty good though. I planted the seedlings really deeply:

Actually... in the front left corner I think that is cilantro that was also getting out of hand. I might lose that actually... we'll see what happens. Here's one last shot of the plants that are actually under the full spectrum light. The tomatoes on top, fyi, still get a lot of natural light from the door that they sit in front of. I think that the plants in front are assorted hot peppers. The nasturtiums are wwaaaay in the back (the tall plants).

Tomorrow I"ll try to post some actual gardening info that I've come across. I've posted some links on the site... The Survival Podcast is actually pretty spectacular in regards to gardening advice. Just suck it up through the politics if he gets going, he'll get to the planting. The show covers lots of other things besides planting, just turn on iTunes and weed out (bad pun) the gardening episodes.

Homemade Plant House

2009-03-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

I planted a slew of seeds on February 7th and on February 14th. On the 7th, I planted a few flower seeds. Most of these were seeds that I harvested from my own garden last fall. I've never planted seeds that I harvested on my own before, so I am very curious to see how they do. I planted some sort of red cone flower, delphiniums, a field flower that I cant remember, and a packet of nasturtiums. I read somewhere that its really good for your vegetable garden to mix nasturtiums into the area. Something about bringing in good nematodes or something. Veggie wise, I planted tomatoes (Roma, Cherry, and Better Boys), assorted hot peppers, sweet peppers (green, red and PURPLE!), and a mess of herbs.

My father (again, being horribly handy with power tools) came to the rescue and built an area on a card table for the seeds to grow on. I had to have the seeds fenced in because my cats seem to want to chew on anything green. I've taken a few photos of the mock greenhouse. Since its not actually plastic/glass, I don't think that it constitutes an actual greenhouse since the humidity isn't being trapped inside. There is a full spectrum light attached inside with a timer hooked up to it. It also sits in front of a glass door that gets full morning sunlight.

The top of the house has two separate screens that both lift off for easy watering. After only 3-4 weeks, I feel like I already have substantial growth. I spent several hours over the last few days separating tomato plants. I originally plants four or more seeds per cup. (I'm sorry, I used 12 oz plastic cups to pot each seed) The seeds took off a lot faster than I anticipated.... so if you're new to this like I am, I want to stress to really map out how fast things are going to grow! I sure didn't and now I'm watching the weather closely for a fast Spring!

The really tall plants in the house are the nasturtiums. Already, we've realized that we need to come up with more space for plants.

So I want to be a gardener....

2009-02-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I caught Green Thumb Disease. Out of nowhere I had the urge to dabble in the garden. Last year I tried my first vegetable garden and had a good bit of success with it. I had a few green pepper plants, a mucho nacho plant, cherry and Roma tomatoes, and a mess of herbs. The garden was not very large, about 8 x 8, but in a triangle shape (that's just how it fit). This year, I'm scaling up production and learning how to can. I'm also throwing chickens into the mix. I've decided to ATTEMPT to post photo's of my progress throughout the growing season and well into harvest. I'm sure that, if nothing else, it'll be good for a laugh. :)

To start with, I've never had chickens before, but in about a months time, I will have 6 Rhode Island Red peeps. I've worked out a deal with a local photographer who takes picture of small children with peeps every year. She is going to buy 6 Rhode Island Reds and when the photos are finished, I'm going to take them off of her hands... so basically, free chickens. Hurrah for that. In the meantime, I have to knock down an old chestnut tree that's ridden with disease and insert a chicken coop in its place. Thankfully, my father is handy with power tools and will be building one for me. I'll be taking notes from a safe distance.

Meanwhile, I'll be growing seeds instead of buying plants this year. At least I hope so. I have started the seeds and they are growing wonderfully (photos in the next post) but lord only knows what will happen between now and actually PLANTING the seeds out of doors. The cats could attack them, I could set them outside and have a freeze attack when least expected... so we shall see. The garden this year will be very, very large. I'm planning Sweet Corn, Roma, Cherry, and Beef Tomatoes, a mix assortment of hot peppers, Green, Red, and Purple Sweet Peppers, sugar baby watermelons, zucchini, butter squash, peas, green beans, snap peas, onions, potatoes, pumpkins and a wide variety of herbs. I think I listed it all...

The seeds that I have already started indoors I bought from Gurneys and from Burpees. My seeds from Gurneys arrived late, and I got a bit antsy while waiting, so I ran to a Lowes store and bought Burpees there and everything is coming up just fine so far. I'm using Scotts potting soil without any difficulties so far. My only concern at the moment is 1)where to put plants as more than I expected are coming up and 2) what to do with plants as the season comes in, because I honestly have too many of everything now and I just cant bring myself to waste plants!