building raised beds

Raised beds serve several functions. They warm the soil by allowing the sun to warm the edges as well as the surface. They define areas for walking and planting so that planting areas don't get compacted by walking. And they define separate areas for different crops, allowing easier and more efficient preparation of soils for specific crops.

I'm thinking about raised beds now, and am cheered by seeing the big pile of boards for my new beds in my front yard (getting covered by snow soon I hear). I thought it would be fun to take a look at different types of raised beds. I've seen many creative options at our community garden. I've seen edges made of house siding, rocks, discarded pallets.

Raised beds my husband has previously built for me are fir or pine from a local store. We used 2 x 3’s, which a a bit low, but work fine. I'm looking forward to beds made from 2 x 6’s in my new garden. We don't use pressure treated, but you can if you prefer. It will last longer and the new pressure treating methods are not toxic like the older ones. You can also use cedar (if you can afford it). It will last longer than fir. My guess is the costs may balance out in the long run and the cedar will be less work as you need to replace less often. My fir beds are started to rot after 3 years and my husband is replaces one or two a year.

You can build beds with corner posts and then drive the corner posts into the soil and level the beds. Or you can do the reverse – drive in corner posts and then attach and leveled beds around them.

Here are some links that show bed design: http://www.homedepotgardenclub.com/us/en/landscaping/projects/how-to-build-a-raised-garden-bed?contentid=1142http://carletongarden.blogspot.com/search/label/raised%20beds

wood for my new raised beds!

We bought a bunch of 2 x 6's for my new raised beds. 15 and 12' lengths for the long sides of the beds. With all this snow, it'll be a while before we can use them, but we're ready.

Skippy loves to pose!

revised 2014 garden plans

I've scaled down on the size I'm planning for my new home garden. Originally I had a giant garden planned, almost twice as big as this one. But I've realized that I don't need to grow much more food than I did before. Plus, since I will have a a big lawn to mow, a small orchard to tend, and my chickens, two dogs, and hopefully a couple bee hives to care for too, so I don't want to burn out too soon. This garden version is only a little bigger than my old home garden.

The two large beds at each end of the garden will be for crops like potatoes or corn. Its been difficult to dig potato trenches in the 3.5 foot wide beds at my community plot. I think 6 x 15 will give me some good space for digging. I can get two 15 ft rows, or five 6 ft rows. I won't grow potatoes here this year, because the soil is so hard. This year, I'll grow plants in the 6 inches of soil that I'll bring in to fill the raised beds. I'm hoping that, by next year, the worms will get busy and loosen up the deeper soil for me. I'll try tomatoes and popcorn in the big beds this year.

A big difference between this garden and my old home garden will be the amount of sun. I'll be able to grow tomatoes again! (fingers crossed) In recent years, my old home garden had gotten too shady and late blight can be a problem in the community garden. I'm planning two 4 x 12 beds for tomatoes. Using string and cross pole supports, I can grow 4 rows of 6 plants; 24 plants. Wow! I haven't been able to can my own sauce in years.

Other things I am looking forward to this year:

- More potatoes: I'll use 2 beds in my community plot this year. The flea beetles have gotten really bad for the potatoes there, so I'll try Johnny's Mycotrol, an organic beetle control. (I've started a program at the community garden to provide all gardeners with a variety of organic pest controls and Mycotrol is a new one we're adding this year. Its not very effective for me to spray my crops when pests go rampant in neighboring plots. We had really good success controlling late blight in tomatoes last year by providing sprays and resistant plants.)

- More beets, carrots and lettuce: These didn't grow in the shade at home and I wasn't able to water frequently enough to grow them in my community plot. I had a water spigot installed last fall right next to the location where the new garden will be. This year, I am planning on using drip lines and sprinklers with a timer to make sure the garden gets regular irrigation.

- And I'll have room for popcorn again! I had such fun with this several years ago when I got a good crop at my community plot. But in a small patch, only the inner rows get pollinated and produce ears. I hope this big 6x15 foot patch will do well. Corn ear worms were also a problem at the community plot so I'll see how that goes here.

- Not that I'm looking forward to it, but it'll be new for me to garden with a lot of wildlife around. There are so many deer and raccoons here. I'll plan a 6 foot chicken wire fence. Either that or an electric fence.

sweet potato sprouts

I have three sweet potato varieties sprouting: Beauregard, Jewel and Hannah. I am keeping them at 80*F, as they don't seem to grow at all at cooler temperatures. Still, they are growing slowly.

sunning seedlings

Such a nice day, my seedlings were sunning outside. It was near 60*F on our sunny patio. Still a foot of snow, but melting fast. My onion seedlings are growing and the celeriac have sprouted. My 6 year old onion seeds still haven't come up. Last year they eventually sprouted, so I'm giving them more time.

looking forward to an exciting new garden book....

Garden writer Niki Jabbour (Author of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, 2012 American Horticultural Society Book Award winner) has put together a brand new book. Its titled Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden. It includes plans from really interesting food gardens - AND ... one of them is MINE! (ah, well, Skippy's, I should say...)

Our section is titled "Urban Shade Garden". It includes a beautiful diagram of my garden plan drawn by an artist. And Niki's write up after interviewing me. I've seen the copy of my section and I love it. Can't wait to see the rest of the book. It has a March release date set - I think towards the end of the month.

Here's a link to her first book review. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is the most versatile, user-friendly, practical and absolutely gorgeous food growing manual I have ever seen!" Wow, sounds super!

snow covered garden chairs

sweet potato sprouts

I count about 17 sprouts coming along. Some really small still. Last year I planted about 30, but they were too close. So about 20 should be good this year.

winter

We have about 2 feet of snow everywhere. I have to use snow shoes to walk to the end of my backyard where I'll dig my new garden in a couple months. Skippy and Suzie sink in up to their bellies in the snow. And my poor chickens haven't been out of their coop in weeks.

But the sun is getting bright. Its noticeably higher in the sky - coming up over the tops of the tall pines by 9 am now. Our forecast is for a couple more inches of snow tomorrow and Wednesday, and then a warming trend - up into the 50's! And rain.

Yes! Spring will come. Its 30 days til spring - and counting! March 24 I planted my peas last year (I did have to pull aside the snow to get the seeds in). Its 81 days (11 weeks) til my last frost. Inside on my plant racks, my onion seeds have sprouted and the sweet potato slips are an inch tall. In two weeks, I'll do a big planting of broccoli, kale, lettuce, escarole, and eggplant seeds. Yes, spring is coming.

onion sprouts!

My onion seedlings are up!

These are all 1 year old seeds. The 6 year old seeds haven't come up yet (but they did last year).

new clips

Skippy and Suzie got new hairdos yesterday. Their breeder, Heather, spent the day with us and groomed the dogs. She's teaching me how to do this and helped with selecting the tools I will need. She clipped their muzzles and ears short, lion clip-style, took a lot of fur off their bodies, and shaped their legs.

That's Suzie above, and Skippy below.

collapsing cold frame

Today I checked my cold frame and saw it is collapsing. :-( The left side of it has bowed out and the top panels are sinking in under a full load of wet snow. (I'll add a photo here tomorrow.)

It had 3 feet of snow fall on it over the weekend - and then we had rain. The frame is a few years old now and was not designed to bear weight. I should have shoveled a path to it and cleared the panels of snow right away - but I told my husband, "no it will be fine". (wrong...)

So, I am looking into new cold frame designs.

valentine eggs

I put together 4 blue eggs and a Meyer lemon as a gift for a friend on Valentines Day.

tiny new onion sprouts!!

I found a first onion sprout today. Yippee!!

I guess one of the reasons onions and celeriac are planted first is that they sprout slow and they grow slow. I'm wishing I had sowed a few broccolis just to get things going! This evening, I used a toothpick and checked around in the onion pots for sprouts. Since I like to use up my old seed, and onion seed doesn't last long, I often have trays that don't sprout.

The Pontiac onions are sprouting, but apparently not Frontier, Ruby Ring, or leeks. I had an email from Fedco today that my new onion, leek and shallot seeds are on the way. I'll get some pots ready so I can plant this fresh seed as soon as it arrives.

Go sprouts, GO!

walking in the snow

Today Skippy and I walked our 2 mile route around the big pond (Fresh Pond in Cambridge). Thankfully the path was plowed nicely. It had 4 ft edges and 3 ft of soft snow beyond. Skippy tried to explore off path, but sunk in to his belly. So we stuck to the path. Lots of people and dogs were walking this route too. Skippy met lots of his buddies on this first bright sunny day after the "blizzard of 2013".

The sledding hill at the east side of the Pond was crowded with sledders. Its a perfect sledding slope. Skippy kept loosing track of me as we walked through the crowd milling at the top of the hill, waiting to make another run to break the track speed or distance record (or wipe out midway down the hill). Eventually he would find me as I use hand signals (like frantically waving my arms) to communicate with Skip. Skippy chased 5 or 6 sledders down the hill. His favorite thing to do. Fortunately all seemed OK with a big black dog running after them and barking wildly. Tiny kids sometimes get upset. Skippy had fun, the kids had fun. Me too.

I looked for wildlife that had come out after the storm. At home, the squirrels and sparrows came out about midday. By the pond, I saw a sleeping screech owl, probably hungry and looking forward to nightfall so he could hunt. Also lots of fluffy robins (sitting in trees), and chickadees singing their spring song, "dee de, dee de". I think this song has something to do with Valentines Day coming soon.

Well, quite a storm, and a beautiful day after! A good time to relax and enjoy a cozy fire (and martini).

2013 garden plans

While snowed in, I worked on my Garden Plan for the coming season. Its just a guide for me, and I don't follow it to the letter. The most important parts of the Plan are making sure the locations of the potatoes and roots are rotated. Also, reminding me that there is a limit to the amount of space I have and I shouldn't go too crazy with planting seeds.

A couple things I plan to do differently this year:
- Move the cucumbers to a bed of their own so they don't over run the eggplants.
- Grow only half as many Butternut squash, 5 plants instead of 10.
- Try shell beans (Jacob's Cattle and Cannelloni), since beans do OK in my shadier plots.
- Grow more carrots, beets, and onions.
- Grow a row of heirloom tomatoes in my sunniest spot at home (in my cold frame), and a row of late-blight resistant tomatoes at my community plot.
- Don't plant basil under the tomatoes again in case I want to spray the tomatoes. (I lost my basil last year.) Probably nothing should be under the tomatoes.
- Save more seeds. I want to pick 2 or 3 of my favorite crops and begin saving their seeds.

new button

While I was snowed in today, I added a new button to my sidebar. A Facebook LIKE button. Please LIKE this blog!

its hard to play fetch in 30 inches of snow

before and after

... and then another 30 or so

first one inch ...

My husband put a yardstick up in the garden.

The garden gnomes took the storm head on.

2014 planting list

January (inside under lights)
Sweet Potatoes

February 8 (inside under lights)
Onion, Frontier
Onion, Pontiac
Onion, Walla Walla Sweet
Onion, White Wing
Shallot, Prisma
Celeriac

March 8 (inside under lights)
(Note: Many of these I mixed together to get more variety of fewer plants.) Parsley, Single Italian
Pepper, Canary Bell (note: peppers need to be 75*F+ to germinate)
Pepper, Sweet Yellow
Chili, Thai Hot
Chili, mix of Tepin, Jalpeno, Anaheim
Broccoli, Romanesco
Broccoli, Cook's Super Blend Hybrid
Broccoli, Diplomat
Eggplant, Kamo
Eggplant, Calliope F1
Escarole, Broadleaf Batavian
Escarole, Natacha
Endive, Dubuisson
Endive, Tres Fine Maraichere Olesh
Lettuce, Butterhead Sylvestra MT0
Lettuce, Butterhead Red Cross
Lettuce, Butterhead Skyphos
Lettuce, Prizehead
Lettuce, Oak Leaf Blend
Greens, Johnny's Elegance Greens Mix
Greens, Kyoto Mizuna
Kale, Blue curled scotch
Tomato, Red Siberian (note: I planted just a few very early tomatoes)
Tomato, Orange Blossom
Tomato, Pink Beauty

the onions are sown!

I planted a whole tray of onion seeds today. Its exciting to have extra planting space to be planting for this year! The varieties I planted are on my 2014 planting list.

one of these eggs is not like the others...

So, I've collected many pink-brown eggs and many green-blue eggs. In addition to these, I've found two specked brown eggs. I know Ginger, my Auracana, is laying the green-blue ones - because that's what Auracanas (Easter Eggers) do. I know Penny, my Black Astralorp, is laying the brown-pink ones because I saw her pop one out and pretty much caught it as it ejected (!). I don't know if Penny is the one laying the occasional speckled eggs or if maybe Bertha, my light Brahma, is laying them. A mystery....

mini pies and Meyer Derby

My favorite dough recipe is this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/apple-pie-recipe.html

I like it for apple pie as in the recipe. Today we made a double batch and used half for mini pies with canned fruit and froze the other half. My favorite fillings for mini pies are canned cherry or blueberry. To make mini pies, I roll the dough in a square, slice it in three or four sections, dollop on the fruit, fold over the dough, crimp and bake. I'm looking forward to canning my own fruit soon for these little pies.

For the perfect beverage with these little pies, I like a Meyer Derby. Mix 2 oz Bermuda dark rum, add maple syrup and squeeze fresh Meyers lemons to taste. Shake with ice and then strain into a chilled martini glass. Yum!

snow coming

Looks like my gardens will be buried under 2 feet of snow soon!! We have a Nor'easter coming at us.

first seeds planted

I planted 5 six-packs of seeds yesterday. Three varieties of onions (Pontiac, Ruby Ring and Frontier), plus leeks and celeriac. Yippee, the season has begun!!!

seed starting pots - fresh out of the dishwasher

My aging collection of seed trays and pots is clean again and ready to go. A bit warped, but functional. They all went through the dishwasher this morning. I even found an empty white milk bottle in our recycling bin to cut up for labels. I'm ready to plant!

a good time to start planting seeds

Now that the sweet potatoes are planted, I think it a good time to start planting some onion seeds. Its only 2 weeks early. My husband found my bags of potting soil in the shed over the weekend and they are thawed out by now. I still need to find the seed trays I saved and run them through the dishwasher. Then I need to locate some labels. If I can't find some little wooden ones from last year, there's usually something plastic in the recycling bin that I can cut into labels.

Eight days, 2 laying hens, 10 eggs
Ginger 6 medium blue eggs and Penny 4 large brown eggs

indoor gardening

I brought 3 orchids back with me from Florida earlier this month. I packed them in a travel tube and carried them on the airplane. They made it home fine, only a little crushed. A magenta dendrobium, an orange and red cattleya and a small unnamed pink dendrobium. The red cattleya, burana beauty, is amazing. I have never had an orchid with such a beautiful scent. These new plants have joined my old orchids and a couple amaryllis on the window sill.

Below are some old photos of orchids on my sill that I never posted. They add some more color here.