Garden Fall

Fell down the stairs...

After going out in the garden to check on things and harvest whatever was harvestable I took off my garden clothes an shoes and put on my slippers but I didn't put the backs on. I went upstairs to sort my goods into brown bags and the fruit bowl. I gabbed the brown bags I was going to keep for myself and started heading downstairs. I got to the first landing by the sun room door took my first step onto the first basement step and my foot slipped out from under me. Rather than squash my tomatoes I tore up my arm. That's how much I love my "babies" apparently. My right arm is swollen and scratch and my left arm has one scratch and an elbow scrape. We have so many tomatoes I should have let them get squashed but they were the Lemon Boys that everyone including my Mom loves. I'd gathered those for her so I couldn't let them go. 

My harvest of tomatoes, chili peppers, basil, and a cucumber. The 3 lemon boys I wanted to save over my "neck." 

Bowl of our goods collected over the last few days, not the lemons although I so wish. Pretty huh? 

Not the largest but the most painful and swollen of the injuries I sustained. 

Melon Bites

Cooking with Gardens...

Mikes parents made the eggplant I picked into eggplant parmesan. I didn't get to taste it but it looked really good. My mom mixed yellow and red cherry tomatoes to make a tri-colored spinach tomato salad. I have yet to use heat with anything but the pickings are good. 

Eggplant Parmesan

Melons have doubled in size over the last two days, even though its been unseasonably cool.

Large flat melon doubled and rounded out.

Today's tomato harvest, my portion, Mikes dad picked a few other earlier.

Small strawberry harvest from 8G bucket. Slowly coming back now that the rain has let up a bit.

Baby watermelons from the raised bed with bite taken out of them. When I saw these I picked them off so that the energy  the plant was putting into trying to grow them would go to growing new ones. I also double enforced what I thought to be the weak spot in the fence allowing animals in to bite them. I hope I'm right because I looked all over for other weak spots and saw nothing so at this point getting full raised bed melons counts on the spot I enforced being it. 

FlashFlood Warning

NWS...

I got a weird banner notification on my phone. It wants from an application I'd downloaded or anything it was a National emergency warning. One that comes in on its own when something is serious enough. The warning was for flash floods in my area until 6pm. What ridiculous is that right before the rain went crazy I was getting dressed to go out in the garden ad it was SUNNY. I am truly the rainmaker. I'll post pictures of any damage to the garden. Hopefully there won't be any but I doubt that'll be the case co spidering the state of things. I may even bring the berry containers indoors. I don't know what to do yet... Help! 

Back!

Garden Doubled...

I got back from my trip to Atlantic City today and immediately went outside to check on everything. It's unbelievable what a week can do. Everything is at the very least double the size. A few strawberries rotted but I picked and ate one that was delicious and sweet. Then I pick another handful that looked just like the perfectly ripe one. I'll add a picture entry a little later showing how huge and amazing things are... 

Atlantic City or Not?

No Gardening...

My boyfriend and his father were supposed to travel to Atlantic City this evening after work for a Father's Day trip but a couple days before his dad mentioned that he might be too sick to enjoy the trip and that if I'd like to go he'd pay for the nights just like he was going to but that I could take his place. When Mike asked I wasn't sure I wanted to go even though he mentioned staying at the Water Club, the 5 pools, the spa, and outlet shopping. I wasn't sure because I didn't want to leave my Garden behind. Tomorrow is supposed to be the only sunny and beautiful day for the next 3 days so I wanted a chance to really check on things and do some gardening but finally conceded after a lot of persuasion. As we were getting into the at this afternoon I said "if my strawberries die I'm going to kill you." Mike replied "if you'd said that from the beginning I wouldn't have tried so hard to talk you into coming  with me." It was actually funny even though I was being slightly serious. He knows how important the garden is to me and especially the strawberries. Once we got on the road he called his Dad and asked that he tend to things. His Dad said of course and asked that I send directions via email. So hopefully I'll get home and everything will still be alive and well. I may loose the ripening strawberries though. They would probably be ready to pick tomorrow if I was there so I don't know how they'll be when I get back. Maybe they'll be sweeter and better but chances are they won't be edible any longer. I'll have to wait for the next batch which is pretty disappointing considering how much tender love and care I've put into the entire garden but especially those containers. Here's hoping...

I am going to enjoy my trip and my upgraded room. I wonder how other people deal with vacationing when they have gardens that are at there harvesting points or soon to be? Anyone? 

Happy Father's Day, Dads! 

View of the Marina and the Fireworks show at the Revel from our room. 

More fireworks from the show at the Revel. 

Touring

Giving the Tour of Potagar...

I gave my mom and older sister Angela a tour of the garden when they were dropping me off, after getting our nails done and some Starbucks, at home. I walked them through from the driveway eggplant all the way to the Topsy Turvy full of soon-to-be strawberries. I showed them the things I planted in containers yesterday like the eggplant and pepper. I told them about how the heat had caused the watermelon leaves to quadruple in size over the last, now, 5 days. I showed them where the tomato-berry plant used to stand and how it stands a foot taller. I routed the purple and beautiful green arrow green beans towards them so that there view of the color and blossom was not obstructed. I showed them each and every new tomato; told them how the first one had doubled in size and said, "isn't it funny how the growing tomatoes look like they just came out of the fridge. They look crisp and cool." That was said to very little if no response from  either party. Then I moved on to the Lemon Balm and reminded my Mom of how small the plant was just 2 weeks ago when I broke off a leaf for her to smell and get familiar with. When we got to the onions my sister did say "Look Mom green onions. I don't know that the green shoots are green onions but the onions planted are Texas sweet and yellow. I did appreciate the enthusiasm though. I hadn't gotten much so far. After the little lift we moved on to the squash. I pointed out the baby crooknecks and told them about how stuffed squash blossoms are a popular dish. I then showed them how they would grow up the tepee'd trellises to make a hanging vertical situation. Mentioned how it would be nice to see the patty-pan's compared to the crooknecks. Then we moved on to Patch.

Touring Patch...

When we moved into Patch Market I felt like the interest peaked just slightly as I showed off my iceberg lettuce heads and pointed out that they hadn't started compacting until this week. I pointed out my limp and possibly dying slips, that I'd grown from a potato. I showed them the carrot greens and told them about how I planted more radishes just for them. Both my sister and Mom ate the last batch. I moved on to the strawberries proud as can be. I pointed out every large strawberry in the 5G container and mentioned that I was hoping for ripened berries by next week. Finally, I moved over to the Topsy Turvy and spoke about how they weren't as good as the 5G but that I had a lot of berries and they were getting better everyday. I also mentioned that I was surprised considering the Turvy is made to grow strawberries specifically. When were about to turn and walk back the way we came I remembered my tomato plant and pointed it out quickly. I didn't think they cared to see more so I said two words and lead the way back to the car to bid them adieu. 

It's funny... 

They weren't uninterested they just weren't as interested as I thought they would be or at least as fake interested as they should have been. I would have liked a couple "oohs" and "ahhhs" but that's not them. My mom isn't one to gush and my sister, although much more enthused then my mom, isn't into gardening. I actually wasn't upset by her reaction as much as my Mom's but to be honest she'd been a little quiet the entire trip. So it may have had to do little with her excitement or interest. I was disappointed that she wasn't more phony but that's okay. I'll keep asking them to tour and bring them veggies. I am happy that my sister wants my veggies for her new endeavor into juicing. That made me very happy, but like I said her reaction was pretty good and maybe even better than I thought thinking about it now. It was my mom because she asks about my garden everyday, which I like, but I thought she asked because she was interested not just to ask. Maybe she was just in a weird mood. 

I watered the plants in Patch, this evening, after they left. Mr. S. watered the PS plants this morning.

Magic Juice

Arrived...

This morning my order finally arrived. I had placed the order for Sea Magic and a Predalure on April 29 and April 30th they said the "order shipped" but there was no tracking number or estimated delivery date so I just kept checking for it everyday. I didn't check today because I really didn't expect it and, of course, it came. I immediately opened it and look through all the instructions. At first, I was extremely confused by the Sea Magic directions. It said to pour the contents of the package into a 1 gallon bucket or bottle and that was it. I said to Mike "what is going on? Burpee advertised 60 gallons." What I didn't realize was that after you dissolve the contents you use that as your concentrate and mix 3 tablespoons of concentrate with every quart of water. Obviously, they weren't going to expect people to have a 60 gallon container to mix the contents into. So I mix half of the contents into 2 liters and zip locked the rest. I didn't even have a gallon bucket/container. Then I put it in a cool spot, as recommended, and went outside to hang the predalure. It actually came with 2 so I hung them both. One in patch and one on the Shephard hook in Potagar. We have a major earwig infestation in one of the empty beds so I figured we'd need all the help we could get. 

Sea Magic...

A few hours later after Mike left for his weekend trip I went upstairs to mix up a bottle of Sea Magic. I put 1.5 tbsp into 1.5 cups of water in a spray bottle. I sprayed all the plants, liberally, and watered the ones that needed it. I am so excited to see if this stuff works. I had to make 3 spray bottles but I finally got everything sprayed and watered. To be honest, I thought the plants were responding pretty instantly to the spray. They looked perkier after there spray down. The last bottle had about 1/2 a cup left when I was done so I poured it into the Topsy Turvy. You can water the plants and spray them with sea magic. Its up to you. The product is 100% organic so it doesn't matter how you use it, it's supposed to work.

Thinning...

After I finished spraying everything down I thinned a few of the plots. I thinned the green beans down to about 30 plants. I know I still need to thin them down to 18 plants but I want to figure out the trellis issue before I do so I thin the ones that aren't in prime placement for the second twine trellis, we'll need 2. I moved on to thinning the spinach. It's 4 plants per plot and 4 plots. At the moment, even after thinning, we have about 30 plants so I need to thin a little more there too but they are still in early stages so I want to give them time to show me there strength. 

Fencing...

Mr. S. built the first furry pest barrier today and I helped him staple gun the netting on before heading inside. 

Green beans I thinned today.

Roots of the thinned beans. I thought it was pretty amazing that the root system was already so big.

Fencing, its pretty amazing that you can hardly see a double layer of black netting around the bed. All you can really see are the posts and the corners of the netting.

Container spinach in progress.

Lemon Balm in progress.

All the watermelon seedlings I have so far. The count is 7 and they were all planted at different times in different forms.

Hot in Herre

Wilting Plants...

This morning I got up and put everything outside because it was going to be 79 degrees out. I left and went back inside to get things together for the day and came back out about 2 hours later to find that the inside of the greenhouses were sweltering. I immediately removed the iceberg lettuce cups because all of the old and new growth was completely wilted. I thought I might have killed them to be honest but when I brought them inside they perked up. 

Although, some of the things online and in books is over the top and plants are stronger than they've been made out to be it seems like the "seasonal" suggestions are no joke. The temperature outside was about 75 and inside the greenhouse was about 90. Lettuce does best at about 65 degrees. It didn't like the 90 degree heat it was in at all. It took a little while inside for them to perk back up and they still aren't looking as nice as they were this morning. I had planned on transplanting them into the raised bed in Patch today but technically the consistent cool weather isn't guaranteed until next week. Considering that it was hotter then it should be for lettuce out today and is going to be for the rest of the week it seems silly to say but I'm keeping them inside. Not because it isn't "cool" because it's past cool out it's warm to hot out. I figure waiting until Friday when the weather drops back down to the mid-60's is best. 

My strawberries a warm/hot fruit wilted as well.  I think it was a bit of a shock for them. It hasn't been that hot out and all of the sudden it was 90 degrees in the greenhouse. They wilted to find shade and a bit of breeze, I think. Once I took the top off of the greenhouse even though it was hot and sunny they perked back up. They like the heat but not in a flash like that. I need to remember that boiling my crops probably isn't the best way to go. I've been so careful about cold temperatures I forgot that I needed to cool things down when it got to hot. Thank god they perked back up. Some of the most beautiful plants (the taller ones) were the ones that wilted. 

Pre-germ Carrots and Primed Lemon Balm...

I decided to transfer the pre-germinated carrot seeds into a cup with organic soil, today. The pre-germs. weren't very good looking but I wanted to complete the experiment. A lot of the seeds had grown into the wet paper towel and some of the roots had shriveled up but I picked the best looking ones and dropped them into the cup and covered them lightly with soil and water. I might not get anything and I might get some really nice looking sprouts but either way I can wait to see the results. Considering that they were pre-germinated if they're going to sprout at all it'll be in the next 4-5 days. I'll let you know. 

I planted my primed Lemon Balm seeds right before the pre-germ. carrots but that was so much more of a hassle than it was worth. The seeds were so tiny and slick I don't know if I have a cup of dirt sitting in my greenhouse or if I have soon to be Lemon Balm seedlings sitting in there. I couldn't see them go in to save my life. If I flicked them in the cup or over the cup I have no clue. It was just a mess. I think I definitely should have just bought a Lemon Balm plant. Those seeds are either not meant to be primed or not meant to be handled but it was much tougher than seed taping the tiny carrot seeds. I really truly don't know how many I got in if any. They are the same color as soil and the tiniest slickest things. I guess this is a "we'll see" and "both be surprised" if there ever was one. 

Containers...

Lastly, I painted my containers today. I planned on using the old yellow recycling bin for the watermelon plants if they germinate but I didn't want to use it as is.... so I painted it a nice white with green tea trim. It looks pretty and will hold 1 fair sized plant. I also painted a 5 gallon bucket I found green tea with white trim. I am not sure what I'll put in there just yet, maybe the lemon balm, but I know I'll end up using it for something. Maybe one of the tests that goes really well but wasn't planned for in Patch Market. 

Child Alive

As of today my garden is alive and my thumb is green. The radish testers have sprouted to about an inch high, the sweet potato roots are growing there hairs, the potted spinach has shown signs of above soil germination, all of my strawberries are showing some green, even the one that I thought was dead, and my greenhouse is staying warm with condensation. The lettuce I bought at Home Depot yesterday and replanted in cups for root strengthening has grown new leaves.

It's pretty amazing to see everything growing and well. When I saw the radish sprouts the first thing I thought was 'They are so cute!' When I first started planning my veggie garden in Feb. I thought that I would be impatient and that the best part would be the harvest. I was so wrong. The best part is testing different planting methods on seeds and seeing what is most successful. The best part is getting dead looking barefoot strawberries and watching them come alive in days. The best part is making one really crappy greenhouse cover and making an amazing mini greenhouse 24 hours later that keeps the interior temperature up. The best part is everything leading up to the harvest, figuring out what works best for me, and then watching things come alive as a result of what I've done. It's an extremely amazing process. Somewhat like a little child birth.

If that makes sense... Child birth is obviously much more rewarding but since i dot have children this seems better to me. Let me explain. You plant a seed, feed it, water it and nurture it. Finally after a few days you have this little growing baby that will produce for you! Sounds similar right? Or is that just me?

Anyway, next up pre-germinating seeds for planting!

Patch Mark-it!

Plant Markers...

The last time I wrote about the plant markers I was so excited to have found something that would not vanish with the rain. It snowed on Tuesday and guess what vanished with the rain... the writing. Apparently, the nail polish pen I was so excited about wasn't nail polish at all. The actual nail polish fought through the snow without one scratch but the writing didn't make it. So, when I was done adding the Perlite to my raised bed yesterday I grabbed them all and trashed them. I must admit I acted a bit impetuously but I was only thinking those didn't work, now what? What I should have done was kept them, cleared off any "nail polish" pen that was left behind and written the names in black nail polish then glued them to the paint mixers I'd gotten from Home Depot. That was the original plan, to glue them to the paint mixers if they made it through the snow...

Once I got inside I instantly regretted throwing the tiles away. I could have just rewritten the names in black polish. I was so cold I didn't want to go out to the garbage and get them so I decided I would just remake them. I had already remade the carrot markers because the carrots I am planning on planting are two different types. I wanted the markers to reflect each type. Before I remade them I took the mixers and drew the veggie and name directly on them. I thought that might look nicer then the tile. It didn't. Then I used paint markers and drew the name and veggie on it, that didn't look good either. So, I started remaking the tiles and even though I had to write the words with a brush they came out pretty well. It was time to glue the tiles to the paint mixers. I grabbed them and a saw and started to cut them down to a more reasonable size. They were originally about 1.5 feet long. I cut them down to about 9 inches. Then I took tile glue that my mom happened to find and I happened to pick up and put it directly on the wood mixer where the tile would sit. At first, I had some trouble getting the glue out which was strange because I'd just tested it. Then I noticed glue was getting on my hand. From where? I looked and couldn't see where the hole was until I squeeze again. There was a hole on the top of the bottle before the screw. I ended up having to use the hole. It worked fine and I glued each tile to there stick. 

They came out just OK. I don't know if I like them as much as my first tiles except for the carrots but I like them enough to use them. 

Slips in water...

Other than the markers I checked on the spinach (container & faerie plot) and the sweet potatoes. The spinach has been germinating for 9 days and shows no signs of life in either spot. The sweet potatoes have been in water for 3 days and I've already seen some growing roots. I was so psyched to see that but it made me wonder if the spinach will ever grow considering it took my sweets such a short time to show some action. I need to either replant or keep waiting but I think I might replant and keep waiting. See which one turns out first the seeds started in MG garden soil, backyard soil or the seeds I start in organic potting mix. Want to take a guess?

Plot x Plot

Patch Market: Monthly Planting Guide

Key: 
1st Sowing/Planting- Light Purple
2nd Sowing/Planting-Light Pink 
3rd Sowing/Planting-Lime Green
N/A or Weather Doesnt Permit- Aquamarine
Growing- Olive Green
Harvest-Magenta
Note: Colored circle means that, the colored action took place as well as the box color action. Horizontal carrots are Danver126 they can stand hot weather. Because of that they are resown in June. Red Core Chantenay's (vertical row) cannot stand hot weather.

Nail Polish Markers

More Markers...

I was getting pretty frustrated with the broken tile markers. I kept trying the calligraphy ink and they just weren't turning out. I went back to Sharpie markers and that wasn't the look I wanted. So, I got out a small can of sample enamel house paint in black. I started painting one of the tiles and it was looking pretty good but the smell was toxic. I just kept thinking, I don't know if I'm going to pass out mid paint... 

The enamel paint was getting all over the place so I moved to the floor and laid out some extra newspaper and continued trying the black paint. It was too messy, smelly, and thick. It wouldn't dry completely so it got all over my hand but it would dry too quickly on the brush so that my stokes ended up uneven and bulky. It was a complete mess. So I grabbed the trusty acrylic paint kit, a paper cup filled with water and some paper towels. I squeeze out a little crimson, considering that it had worked so well on the sign, and start painting. I stop to take a look at what I've done and it just felt like a child's finger painting. It was too bold not fake enough or realistic enough. Plus, it turns out that acrylic is water soluble when used on tile. May be either way but I didn't think so. I continue sitting on the floor just look at all the samples I've piled up. None of which would work. None of which were up to par. I sigh deeply and got frustrated and started to put all my tools away when I thought, NAIL POLISH! It's waterproof and I think I have most of the colors I'll need. OH MY GOD! I even have a black nail polish pen for the words!! 

I ran to the bathroom and grabbed the nail polish colors, pen, and some acetone for mistakes. I started with the radish plant marker. It looked good. I was even able to add a little shadow on the radishes with the polish pen. Then, I moved on to the carrots. I happened to have this neon orange and I wasn't sure that it would look very good but orange isn't a popular nail color so it had to. I started with the triangles and used Go Aboard by Essie for the greens. They looked great but were missing a little something... adding the little ridges on a carrot in the black polish pen made the carrots. It was officially my favorite. It was on to the sweet potato. This one was going to be tough. I didn't have a true brown color so I improvised with a purplish brown mauve color and a coral for the interior. I figured the only way they would be slightly recognizable was if I made them sliced. So I painted in the body then the coral cross section slice and added some eyes. It was okay... the words made it look even better because they filled in what the oval pots. couldn't. This was finally going well, it was 3 down and 2 to go. The peppers were easy but I made them red even though jalapenos are usually green. I used red because I love the Go Overboard color and didn't want to waste it all (@ $8/bottle) on the marker. Then I moved on to the strawberries and was able to get the tops relatively right. They looked good and amazing after I added all the seeds. I didn't account for the word so "Strawberry" would have to do over "Strawberries." Now, the Spinach. Well what can I say spinach is really hard to paint, draw, copy, & etc. It would have been a green blob and my Essie would have been empty... I decide that I wouldn't make one for the spinach, 1) because it is in a container and the tile would most likely squash it 2) if it wasn't placed in the container it would be placed on the ground and might cut someones bare foot and 3) I'm only using one of that type of container so I know what it is. No need to mark it. 

I am so excited that the nail polish worked and that the markers look good! I was getting extremely frustrated and was not willing to give up on the tile pieces. Thank goodness for nail polish!!!! I'll be putting them out tomorrow along with the decorative tiles... I'll explain about those later when I have them out. 

Dreams Dashed

Dreams...

I'll explain the dream. The dream was that I would buy six strawberry plants and 6 mixed seedlings and my garden would be lush and beautiful. I figured the topsy turvy was some miracle planter that wouldn't let my berries die. I also dreamed that I'd come within budget, $135.00. Considering how much recycled and home materials I used that was a logical dream.

Dashed...

I found out that I need 12 strawberry plants @ $5.00 a plant to fill the topsy turvy to the minimum. It actually fits 30 plants. I found out that the most common seedling sold has been known for disease, Bonnie. I found out that regular potting soil may kill my plants because its just not good enough. I found out I wouldn't meet my budget. If you know me that's the worst of them all. I am unbelievably frugal. Happens when you grow up with little money and not much choice about it.

Overview...
I'm doomed! But my topsy turvy came today so that's good. UGH!

String Them Up!

I started out the day by checking the weather because I decided that gardening in the rain when it's under 70 degrees probably isn't best. The weather read 57 and Sunny so I headed outside with my packet of spinach seeds, a new pair of gloves and a container.

I tried using one container but decided that it just didn't drain as quickly as I'd like... Considering that my strawberry plant was killed partially by root rot I picked a smaller container with better drainage and began filling it. I should have poured instead but I scooped. When I was finally done scooping about 30 minutes later I got one of those small rake looking things and a measuring tape. Why the tape you ask? Well, the back of the seed packaging said to plant the Bloomsdale Long-standing spinach 1/2 in. deep. So I measured the prongs on the small rake tool and raked through the top of the soil at 1/2in depth, abouts. Then I tore open the seed packet and was kinda shocked by how many seeds are in 1 package. I'd gotten 2 for 2 containers. You live and learn, I guess. So I put about 7 seeds in each row. If all of them germinate then I wasted like 38 seeds. I figured my chances were better that I'd get 3 to germinate by trying an overload of seeds. I'll definitely thin them out when they start growing if all of them do or more than 3.

Once I had completed the spinach container I decided that I needed to measure the interior wall of my raised bed considering that I hadn't moved the back wall in that meticulously. I knew it wouldn't come out to my originally planned 5x3 foot raised bed. It came to about 4.5 ft by 2.5 ft. Not exactly what I had expected but closer to that then I had figured. So I took a spade and started drawing the lines in the dirt. I had 6 1x1 square foot plots and on the perimeter I had one 4.5ft by .5in plot and one 2.5 ft by .5 inch plot. Although all of the plants I had plotted wouldn't fit into my square garden perfectly I decided not to be so disappointed by this and instead to be happy that I would have the space, in some sense, for each veggie selected. I am going to use the off-plots for the carrots. One variety in the 2.5 plot and the other in the 4.5 plot. I'll just plant 1 row instead of 2. That'll get me more than enough carrots. I hope. 

Once I had sectioned the dirt off with a spade I went inside to find some pieces of wood to use to hold my ties and string. I came back with 4 chopsticks, 1 paint mixer, 8 kabob sticks, and twine. I remeasured and used the bricks to hold one end of the string and the paint mixer, chopsticks, and kabob sticks to hold the end that ran to the concrete blocks. It took me awhile to get everything just right. I had to measure down the middle twice and remeasure each square once I realized I had gotten the middle off by 3 inches or so. Chopping the dirt up with a spade and tape measure wasn't as efficient as I'd thought. I finally got it right and my raised bed had transformed into a garden. Somehow, those string sections made it look real and fancy almost. I know it sounds silly but my picture of a garden includes those strings so "installing" them was kind of the last piece of building. All I need now besides the plants is a sign for the gate that allows entry to the side yard from the backyard. Then I'll be set.

As far as the container...

My spinach seeds should show something green in about 7 days but I don't know it may be more like 14. I told my mom this and she asked immediately "when can we eat it!?" I replied and said that it would be less if we picked the baby leaves. She said "baby spinach is better! With tomato though! When will they be ready?" And I replied again assuring her that spinach and tomato would be available together at some point in the summer but not as soon as the spinach, of course. I don't actually know this to be true but she sounded more disappointed then I was about sledge hammering my finger (still feel bruised btw). So I made a big to-do about how if we pick the leaves just right the others will keep growing. I read this somewhere but only once and I don't really know what "pick them right" means. I guess until I can plant the "ALFD" (after last frost date) plants I can look into harvesting the spinach and should. I never thought I could have an on-going crop. It'd be like having a home grocery store. Every time I want a spinach salad I just run out to "Patch Market" and pick the spinach fresh out of the container. That is kind of, REALLY COOL! I wish all the others were like that! Maybe they are?! Even if none of the others are on-going I'm pleased to try "picking them right." I told her she'd have to pick the spinach up herself considering that I've slaved over a small container to "make" it for her. I won't make her pick it all up herself but the same site that said to "pick them right" said that it would be better to eat the leaves the same day or moment (forgot) they were picked. So she'll either have to pick them up, get me to drop them off (some task she can get me to do almost anything) or eat day old spinach. I'm pretty sure the spinach in the store is about a month old so that won't be that bad. 

Hard Patch

What I did to plan...

Like I said in my first blog I found this amazing website called SmartGardener.com. It allowed me to lay out my square foot garden in square feet, choose plants, and recommended which plants would be best planted next to each other by laying them out on the grid using pictures of the veggie or fruit. It also allowed me to choose containers in the shape and sizes I planned on using. As you know, I plan on decorating the raised bed by placing containers of spinach and what ever else germinates from a seed around it along with the strawberry topsy turvy. 

Choosing the veggies...

So I did all of the steps and choose all my veggies. Then I changed the veggies from radishes, carrots, spinach, peppers, and sweet potatoes to all of those minus the radishes add the eggplant. The site recommended varieties that would grow well in my region (Arlington, VA). So I choose shooting star eggplants, Danver 126 carrots, Porto Rico sweet potatoes (no i didn't spell it wrong) bloomsdale longstanding spinach and jalapeno peppers. After sticking with that plan for about a day I decided that the eggplant variety would be hard to find in seedling form and took up too much space for something that I wasn't really that into. Then I decided that I wanted to try cherries to be specific I wanted to try the Cossack Pineapple. That ended up needing 4x4 sq. ft. so I dropped that really quick. I looked through all the recommends for my region and space and realized that 1) a lot of the seedlings for the recommended veggies were not available 2) I didn't like a lot of them and 3) that the ones that I did like were root veggies. I wanted 50/50. Meaning that I could pick 50% of the "reward" off of a plant and pull 50% out of the ground like the carrots. 

I'm really discouraged at the moment. I ended up plotting my garden from (left to right) as follows;

00- Easter Egg Radishes 
Good part- they look pretty because they are 3 different colors
Bad part- I don't really eat radishes. Never have! My mom does though so I'll give them to her. Also they are a root. At 25%. OH! And they are a seed start... read below for why this is a bad thing. 

01- Jalapeno Peppers
Good Part- pickable and love them in salsa 
Bad Part- I cannot eat that many because I have severe acid re-flux. 

02- Danver 126 & Red Core Carrots
Good Part- since carrots only need 1x1 sq. foot to grow about 16 plants I can grow 2 different types and Mike loves carrots and blue cheese dressing 
Bad Part- I am growing them from seeds because all the books and sites say its easy and cheap but I don't know that for sure. I may get nothing out of them. Also, a root. At 50%. 

03- Bush Porto Rico Sweet Pots. 
Good Part- I grew them last year and love sweet pots. 
Bad Part- At 75% for roots. 

04- Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach (container) 
Good Part- My mom loves spinach, I can start this right away from seeds in a 1x1 container and grow 4 plants. 
Bad Part- same thing as carrots; books and sites say use seeds I never have so don't know if i'll get one green leaf especially since they are a cool/warm crop in a global warming VA spring season.

005- Ozark & Allstar Strawberries
Good Part- One is a june-bearer and one an ever-bearer. I'll have strawberries all summer/spring long. 
Bad Part- I killed my strawberry last year and don't want these to die too. Along with the carrots, spinach, and radishes. 

If all goes well I'll have an amazing crop... if all goes poorly I may have a pepper and a sweet pot. if the bunnies don't get them first. This fun hobby has become more stressful by the moment. 

Building Completed

I spent the afternoon in the rain finishing the building and filling portion of my garden. It was wet and cold but I was determined. I started by adding the cinder blocks in place of the bricks on the right & back wall. Then because the garden is on a narrow-ish flat that leads to a hill I started sledge hammering stakes into the concrete block holes. One for every block. That didn't go smoothly at all. I slammed my middle finger with the sledge hammer and slid down the hill in what were now soaked and slick garden boots. After hammering 2 stakes in I decided to try a medal rod on the 3rd. That was quick and easy but wasn't going to hold. So, I went looking for something more & found some black plastic fencing (the type you click together) in the shed and put that up for looks and blockage.

The snaps broke as I was trying to hook them together and a piece of the fencing lanced me in the face. I was fine but immediately decided they looked just as good without being snapped together. I hammered the pieces in and moved on to adding the rest of the soil to my raised bed.

I was under the impression that I would have an overload of soil. As I dumped bags 1, 2, & 3 into the bed I realized that the soil I'd bought wasn't going to be enough. I then had a DUH! Moment. The backside was sloping because of the hill and in turn deeper. The only plant I plan on growing that needs any real depth is the sweet potato. So I made a quick decision that I wasn't going to buy another 6 bags @ $3.33/bag. I was going to move the back row up so that it was flatter and the bed would be smaller. That bummed me out because instead of having 9 sq. feet in my square foot garden now I'd only have six. It was worth it though because I wasn't wasting an enormous amount of soil on filling in a hill and I had 1 full bag left over with the same depth all the way around. Moving the blocks meant scooping all of the soil from the back to the front of the bed and removing the stakes I had just busted my fingers to get in... It was disappointing to say the least but overall a much better way of going about my raised bed. The fear of the back wall toppling down the hill was gone and my bed would be completed, today (although my original intention was to get my container of spinach planted which I didn't).

Finally, I mulched the right side of the bed, repositioned the black plastic fencing further in, and placed my shepherd hook a few inches off to the right. Patch Market is ready for the plants!

I grabbed the tools that did not fare well outdoors, took my muddy boots off and washed up. My hair was dripping my nail was throbbing and I was exhausted but I was proud of the work I had done. Hopefully my plants flourish and all of the days and days of hard work aren't for nothing.

Alone on a Home De-top

First Trip...

On my first trip to Home Depot for supplies I went with a friend, Chris. He made it possible for me to get all the stuff I needed and then helped me shop for everything. It was amazing! I was so excited to be getting all of the supplies I needed (minus the plants, too early). Chris helped me load the cinder blocks and choose the best top soil and humus for the job. Once we'd purchased everything a kindly work helped us load the vehicle. He asked us questions like how far we were going and etc. I replied "Arlington" and that set him off on the fact that he had gone to the local high school in Arlington as well. So he chatted and complained and chatted some more. Finally, we were done, thanked him, and drove off.

Chris helped me load the wheelbarrow to drop the supplies in the garden. Our house is on a hill so that's kind of a big task. We had to push all of the supplies to Patch up the hill on one side of the house, across the back of the house and around to the other side where my garden resides twice. We cannot go the easy way because for 1) it's way to narrow and 2) stairs. Even with the both of us loading and unloading it was a bit trying but went quickly. I wanted to address this because I said I had done all the heavy lifting in my last blog. What I meant was that I had gotten the bricks, 1/2 the mulch, topsoil and 3 cinder blocks to the garden on my own and completed the building 100% on my own. Chris helped me get all the rest to the garden. So grateful to him because I made a second trip to Home Depot two days later...

Second Trip...

On my second trip to Home Depot I was alone. I went to the one by our house and spent an hour trying to find things that they just didn't carry. Things I had bought with Chris at the Home Depot a few miles further down the road. (I did get the type of seeds for carrots and spinach that grow well in my area but nothing more.) When I arrived at the 2nd location I parked in the first covered garage and was greeted by a familiar employee with a much weirder demeanor. When he recognized me from my first trip with Chris he began quoting Napoleon Dynamite and following me around the store quoting and asking if I'd need help loading. Finally, I'd gotten so scared and annoyed I asked a young guy to show me around to the things I needed. I picked up six more bags of top soil, 3 concrete blocks, and a Shepard or Forged hook to hang my strawberry topsy turvy. The young man helped me ring everything up and as we were finishing the weird-o guy approached the young man and myself and asked "you got this man? Or do you want me to load?" The other guy answered in an irritated manner "NO DUDE I GOT IT!" Then as the guy left said (to me) "that guy creeps out most of our female clients and does not get that not everyone wants help." He helped me load up my car and I left.

When I got home I grabbed the wheelbarrow and loaded 4 of six bags. It took me 3x as long and my shoulders began hurting half way up the hill. I got it all the way up and to the Gate unloaded and went back for the rest. At this point I'm sweating profusely and my muscles are strained. I loaded the 2nd bunch then tried pushing it up the driveway. I began rolling backwards because the weight superseded my own. I pushed through it and made it to the garden without too much damage but vowed to take someone with me the next time around.

I only need plants now but if I ever do need more I'm taking someone with me 1) because of creepy Napoleon and 2) because I lack the strength.

I'm still really excited and I get to start the container part (decorate area around the bed) tomorrow but at this point I have a much greater respect for farmers landscapers and major home gardeners. It's hard work especially alone on a hilltop.

Building Bed in Patch

Once I had cleared the side yard for Patch Market I needed to build a raised bed. I wanted the bed to be large enough for several different types of veggies and cheap. I wanted to recycle. That didn't happen but I was crafty. I found some old bricks from a project we'd done on the house (sitting in the drive way for 2 years) and bought a couple of cinder blocks (@$1.21/cb) to fill in the lack of bricks. The bed would have been a lot prettier in all brick because it would have matched our house more but it looks good enough and cost me very little in supplies. Well, not including the soil. Being a very petite 5'2 and 108lbs. it was difficult to load the cinder blocks and bricks into wheelbarrow I happened to have (another home repair project) but I managed alone. That isn't to say I didn't almost role down our driveway a few times and trip over my own feet half a dozen times but I did manage. It was hard work and I was sore in the morning. I know everyone says gardening is hard work but stupid ass me I thought 'lazy'. I was wrong.

Like I said, I almost rolled down our hill, and tripped but that wasn't all. I also almost flew over the edge of the wheelbarrow pulling out roots. I got soil in my eye about 4 times putting the bricks in place and smashed my fingers with the cinder blocks. To put the icing on the cake on the way out of Patch I caught my pinky finger on a thorn and bled out gracefully all over my new gardening gloves. So much for all the fun! I think it'll start getting better now that all the heavier lifting is done. Well, I hope so because I don't think the almost's are going to last. Soon I'll be posting "I did's".

Total Cost for bed: $14.52 + tax

Patching Begins

I have been planning to grow a raised bed garden in the side yard for the last few months. Last year I got into gardening much too late. I ended up planting, what I thought were, ever bearing All-star strawberries in July. It turned out that they didn't produce because they were June-bearers. I messed the plant up in more than 1 way... I bought June-bearers, planted in terrible soil, and in a container that did not drain. I was so disappointed. Not to mention the $40.00 or so I wasted on what ended up being a horrible brown turd. After trashing the plant I decided I would try again with a sweet potato plant. To be honest, I did not even know the type. All I did was transplant it into a larger container (not large enough) and watered it now and then. It did grow well but the fruit it bore were tiny, but deliciously light and sweet.

My gardening groove was back thanks to those tiny sweet pots. I decided then that I would create a garden on a much larger scale next spring and I would start planning for it months before the last predicted frost date of 2013. Luckily, I remembered that I wanted to garden in February. I started planning. I read tons of books, looked at Pinterest garden section everyday if not twice a day, and found an amazing website called Smart Gardener that helped me plot the entire thing out. The website helped me pick varieties that worked well in my area. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Before I did all of that I had to clean up the side yard... so I started and Patch Market was born!!!