Informal Independence Days Update

I'm currently out of town but had a quick moment to pop online so here's a quick little update.

Before I left town, my tomatoes were getting big. Headed off to find tomato cages and all the stores are out. My Can-Do-Girl was making her own and I think they're adorable with all their little imperfections--like little alien space creatures--I will have to get pics and probably will have to make my own when I get back.

While here on vacay, I've helped my MIL plant her green onion ends, learned more about food storage at her church and done a lot more research on pruning my espaliers {thanks for lending me your library card--and the new St George library is absolutely gorgeous!}

I will be home for one day then off again for a fun family camping trip to test our survival skills in the wild! Thanks to everyone at home who are keeping an eye on the house, mail and watering my plants!

A Reason For Cool Weather Crops

I love gleaning bits of information from here and there. While this article in the LA Times talks about a California garden climate (you lucky year round gardeners!), the principles of crop rotation and alternate growing seasons can work anywhere:

Lyons recommends changing out plants "en masse" twice a year; he plants summer vegetables in April or May ("I'll add more tomatoes in July so they'll go right through into winter," he notes) and winter vegetables in October or November. Every six weeks, he puts in interval crops, like pole beans, haricots verts, green onions, beets and carrots.

"When you alternate full growing seasons," he says, "you can rotate crops very easily. You put in your tomatoes in the summer, then you put in something else in the winter, and then you can do tomatoes in the same spot the following summer."

Good enough reason for me! Correct me if I'm wrong, that means all I have to figure out is the cool season crops and then my summer season crops can stay in the same place that I've already figured out--and I won't have to re-figure out either season year after year!

Independence Days Update

• Plant Something: rhubarb, pumpkin
  
• Harvest Something: more strawberries
  
• Preserve Something: baked a bunch of banana bread loaves using our ripe bananas, then sliced and froze them for breakfasts later on
  
• Prep Something: bought a compost bin from a yard sale
• Cook Something: baked four loaves of homemade bread
  
• Manage Your Reserves:
  
• Work on Local Food Systems: considering starting a "garden club" or "country club" with some of my neighbors as way to covertly make it fun and useful at the same time, which I think will be key to getting some people going around here. Also, thinking of suggesting some classes to my church's womens group about food storage and emergency preparedness {which means I'll probably be the one who ends up teaching it and learning as we go along, but I think it would be fun!}
  

Flickr Find

{image via Flickr}

I am absolutely loving these brightly painted cans on the wall! Is there any sort of food-safe spray paint out there that could be used so that you could actually grow some edibles or herbs in something like this? I really want to know and my initial google search for food safe spray paint hasn't turned up much, so if anyone knows anything, please, please, please tell me!

Click here for more details on how she painted and hung these lil' cuties up!

A Bird's Eye View

Here is a lovely bird on the rooftop singing the most beautiful song I've ever heard!

Picked With Love

Nature In Our Backyard

Look what we found today lounging around in our garden beds! It's name is Lucy/Harold because we don't know if its a boy or a girl.

By golly! It's working!

From this . . . .

To this . . . .

Look at those green onions growing back!

~~~~~

See what started it all, right here!

Dying Tree

This poor little tree of mine has been through a lot. Namely, a puppy named Cocoa. She gnawed at this poor little tree when it was new~~I guess she thought it looked like a great teething toy. We thought she had killed it, but it sprang up a new shoot that seemed to survive over the past few years with scars to show for it.

This year it bloomed and that was it. I think it is infested with bugs, which this lovely bird is more than willing to peck at but subsequently, I think this tree is truly a goner now.

That's ok. While it was a pretty tree and a fast grower, I think I'd rather have a more useful tree like a peach tree or something.

Independence Days Update

I've had a busy last two weeks with school getting out and other things so here is an update from the last two weeks from what I can remember, so, let's see...

• Plant Something: I've planted tons of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, melons, peppers, grapes, strawberries transplanted from a neighbors yard
  
• Harvest Something: so far strawberries are the only thing ready to harvest and only a handful at that, so I just put them in my yogurt
  
• Preserve Something: I made homemade vegetable broth from the veggie ends I had been saving in the freezer
  
• Prep Something: I've been trying to figure out what sort of drip system to put in my raised beds, got one drip type hose for one of them. Trying to figure out where to start my compost pile.
  
• Cook Something: homemade chicken noodle soup
  
• Manage Your Reserves:
  
• Work on Local Food Systems: trying to plant seeds in peoples minds about gardening and self sufficiency
• Learning more about: rain barrels, compost systems, container plants, solar energy for my house and last but not least, learning more about chickens
  

Rose Hips

I believe these are what are called rose hips. The part of the rose leftover if you don't deadhead them. I have always left them through the winter for the birds. But I've never seen any birds eat them. Hmm...

According to The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery they are an excellent source of vitamin C. Here are some tips from her book:

• Gather any time after they have turned from yellow to orange and on to scarlet.
• Don't gather if they have gone soft~~they're not nice after that {I think mine in my picture are old and have gone soft, so I won't be trying those ones}
  
• Don't gather if they have been sprayed with any sort of chemical or spray
• Wash and cut off both ends of hips with scissors
• Keep cool until you can use or preserve them
• To freeze, just toss into a plastic bag and freeze until needed.
• To dry large hips, wash, cut open, take out seeds, spread and dry in oven at 110 degrees until hard and brittle.
• To dry small hips, you can dry whole without cutting or removing seeds. Store in airtight jars.
  

In her book, are also some recipes on how to use rose hips such as, Rose Hip Tea, Rose Pear Granita, Rose Hip Syrup, Rose Hip Jam, Rose Hip Jelly and Rose Hip Extract. I think I will have to try my hand at some of these this year. Though I hear harvesting them after the first frost can make the hips taste sweeter, so it will probably be a while before I get to.

It's also interesting to note that roses were included in the Colonial Garden Plan. Decorative and useful. This goes along perfectly for a decorative kitchen garden!

So something to keep in mind as a potential food source should you ever need it. And since it is so high in vitamin C, it might not be a bad idea to make a warm lovely herbal tea for wintertime when we could all use a bit more vitamin C to keep us healthy!

First Harvest!

It's not much--yet!

We're just happy that the strawberries look like they're surviving the transplantation from my lovely neighbors yard!

Colonial Garden Plan

Click picture to enlarge

{via The Landscape Makeover Book by Sara Jane Von Trapp}

Notice the lovely symmetrical and decorative plantings of herbs and fruits among the flowers, shrubs and green grassy lawn.

June

This is a collection from various sources such as Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel and Month by Month Gardening in Utah by John Cretti to help keep me on track. I will post updates to each month as needed.

FRESH VEGGIES:

Asparagus

Beans

Peppers

Lettuce

Peas

Zucchini

New Zealand spinach

Onions

Broccoli

Kohlrabi

Cabbage

FROZEN VEGGIES: not used in summer

CANNED VEGGIES: seldom used, except for pickles

ROOT CELLAR: emptied and cleaned out in June

SOW SEEDS INDOORS

Start cool weather seedlings now like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts

PLANT OUTSIDE

Last call for planting pumpkins and watermelons

Plant more sweet corn, beans and late cucumbers if have space

Replant the pea patch with something else once harvested all pea pods

OTHER TASKS

* Pull out bolted (seed forming) lettuce, spent broccoli stems and other cool season crops.

* Use tops of beets and turnips as salad greens.
* Thin root crops

* Pinch and prune the tips of herbs to delay premature flowering and encourage more compact growth