Better late than never...

Alright, so we said we would be better at blogging...but once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. In our defense, we have been so busy farming, updating our blog seemed to take a back seat. So, now that we've kept you waiting long enough, here's an update.

Almost the entire garden is full now- all expect the future location of the brussel sprouts (which have been growing in a seed tray for about 3 weeks and should be getting transplanted in the next few days) and the area next to our green bean towers. Which brings me to the many structures you can see throughout the garden- all placed to allow better air circulation and lead to a better overall crop. We have our green bean 'tee-pees' which the vined green beans, black beans and purple long beans will climb. To the left of those, we have all of our pepper plants staked. On the perimeter of the garden, you'll see 60 tomato plants which are staked and also tied. While we're on the subject...I'm not trying to brag, but it looks like the best tomato crop, yet. We have 6 varieties, all heirloom, one being a cherry, one an amish paste, some San Marzanos and some varieties that looked so good, we couldn't resist. Everything is growing so well that some plants already have tomatoes the size of softballs- we should be expecting them to ripen by the first week of July! Now that is something to brag about...

Anyway, back to our architecture- In between the peppers and tomatoes, and along side of the artichokes, we have our cucumber 'lean to's'. These will allow the cucumber vines to climb, on an angle, so all the plants have an opportunity to flourish. At the same time, the open space underneath the structures will eventually be a lettuce bed. Since lettuce bolts in the heat of the summer, the plants above will provide ample shade allowing the lettuce to mature in a slightly cooler environment.

Many of our vegetables have already been pulled and harvested. Our rocky top mixed greens are growing faster than we can pick and our arugula is at it's prime. We've been harvesting radishes for about 1 month now- we had 3 varieties, all a little different from the other but just as delicious. Our pak choi has come and gone, but we can look forward to a good crop in the fall. So, let's see if I can give a complete run down of the garden, clockwise from the left corner: artichokes, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, eggplant, tomatillos, squash delicata, yellow squash, boston bibb lettuce, cherokee red lettuce, jericho romaine lettuce, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, chives, cilantro, radishes, mixed greens, rainbow swiss chard, mustard greens, rhubarb, green and red flame lettuce, more boston bibb lettuce, asparagus (sorry, not ready until next year), red and yellow onions, scallions, rainbow carrots, red and golden beets, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, shallots, potatoes, snow peas, watermelon, a little more lettuce, black beans, green beans, purple long beans, soy beans, dragon tongue beans, chinese yard long beans, sweet peppers, hungarian wax peppers, jalepeno peppers, rosemary, english and german thyme, basil, marjoram, dill, cumin, a grape vine along the front fence, and a pumpkin patch off to the side. So, I guess we have our work cut out for us...

I PROMISE I will update sooner this time, and if I don't...well, I guess you'll have to wait longer.

PS- If anyone wants to purchase anything or get a mailing update with our current vegetables for sale and prices, email me at imaheald@gmail.com and I'll add you to our mailing list!

April Showers...

See?!...Told you we'd be back. Lot's to share. First of all, our loyal, 'treasure locator' Sam, spotted a superb find on the side of the road the other day...6 old, wood windows! Joy! What the heck would we do with such a fantastic find?? Make a cold frame box, of course! So Josh, being quite resourceful, found all the materials needed around the property and barn- good for the environment and good for our pockets!After a little construction in the driveway, we moved it to it's permanent home- lining the back edge of the garden. After a long and hard deliberation, we decided on planting loose 'rocky top' and endive lettuce, broccoli raab, radishes, carrots and spinach. Having these plants inside the cold frame will allow for warmer temperatures through the beginning colder months of spring. This way, we are able to increase the length of our season even more.

Around the corner, in our raised beds, we decided to start 2 of our cold weather lettuce varieties (arugula and mesclun mix), pak choi, kale and another variety of radishes. In past years we have had a BIG problem with rabbits slipping through the fence. But this year, we came prepared...We fully lined the inside with poultry fencing and just to be sure no burrowing occurs, buried the fence 6 inches down. Sorry...this is a no rabbit zone...

Last year, being our first year experimenting with our expanded garden space, we weren't that concerned with aesthetics and as the season wore on, our $$ supply dwindled...So, starting anew this season, we are ready and willing to spend, spend, spend! (within our little, tiny budget, of course) Josh surrounded the entire garden with hemlock branches (last year we went about half-way around) from an old tree we took down. These will serve as our fence posts. Plus, taking NO chances, we also lined and buried this garden with poultry fencing, we're currently about half-way done this so far- but I guess I'm being optimistic about finishing that...update to come...

Inside we are in full swing. We have been planting since the first week of March and many of our plants are sprouting, growing and even needing to be transplanted into larger containers. Yippee!! A few weeks ago we planted our peppers and tomatoes, celery, watermelon, and a few herbs. Earlier in the week we planted some brassicas and lettuce varieties. Needless to say, we are well on our way to an awesome season.

spring is coming

We survived another long, tough winter, and we are just days away from the first day of spring. That means one thing...seed starting time! We've been busy getting ready to begin planting and get our season started. Josh is prepping the seed flats here for our onions, rhubarb, artichokes, wonderberries, strawberries, rosemary and papaya.

We are not messing around this year- we cleaned out Home Depot the other day, buying light fixtures and bulbs. Josh constructed a great set up (nicely displayed in our living room) allowing us to have 60 square feet of lit, growing space.
We are on a strict schedule over here, trying to keep all of our seed starting and planting preplanned. Next week we'll be planting our tomatoes and peppers and maybe some brassicas for good measure...guess you'll have to wait and see...
A quick shout out to Johnnys Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Johnnys Seeds supplied us with the SWEETEST new hoes for this season and some great seeds. We bought a stirrup hoe and a collinear hoe- we can hardly contain our excitement. Baker Creek, our favorite seed company, is setting us up for another great year- giving us the opportunity to grow untreated, non-GMO, heirloom seeds, some dating back to the early 1700's.

Until then, we'll try to keep you diligent followers updated! We are vowing to be better bloggers this year...so we'll see how well we keep our promise. Also, besides keeping you 'in the know', we'll be keeping a list of the plants and veggies we have available for sale at that time. So, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us! And, as always, all of our plants and seeds are completely organic and never treated with pesticides! To hold you over until then, since I know you are just as excited as us, here are some pictures of our garlic. Their first leaves have just popped up, breaking through the frozen ground.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON...

Second week of May...RIGHT?? Danger of frost?? What about my plants?!! Danger, danger, danger. So, that is where we are. Hopefully, as I look at the weather forecast, the worst of the cold is over. We had to resort to drastic measures in order to protect our more fragile plants for the last two nights. Our watermelons, cucumbers, zucchini, spaghetti squash and pumpkins have been peering at the moon through windows. We scrounged up as much glassware as we could- mason jars, old salsa jars, cups and glasses...thank god I had all that barware on my registry.... As I gaze down at my garden, though, all seems good! All plants are alive and accounted for.

So, now onto better news! So much has happened in the garden over the past two weeks. Not only have we had a lot of plants come up and sprout, but many of our seedlings have been placed in their new home as well. After our semi-large repurchase of seeds, we were able to replant our broccoli raab, broccoli romanesco, cauliflower, iceberg, scallions, quinoa, red and green cabbage and celery. Plus...BONUS...a few of our 'presumed for dead' plants survived! Therefore, we got to plant those as well. That's a good thing, since they will be available to harvest first before our directly sowed seeds will. Talk about maximizing harvest without even knowing it... We were also able to plant our wheat, turnips, mustard greens, endive, black seeded simpson and even more pak choi. Not that anyone is counting. We will tuck our premie-plants into their new found condos for one more night, we decided- just in case.
And finally, I thank the lovely store associate that mans the return counter at Lowes- and may I add an apology as well. This past weekend, we spent more time at Lowes than the birds that poop all over their garden center. Josh and I were determined to figure out a way to layout a sprinkler/soaker system for our garden. This way, we wouldn't have to spend as much time watering and we could rest assured that all of our garden would get the same amount of love, since of course, we would never play favorites. When we realized we were not made of money, at least not yet...that was a joke...we came to the conclusion that soaker hoses will have to wait until next years endeavor. So, off we trotted, down the garden aisle at Lowes. We picked up some nice hoses, some great hose sprayers and we called it a day. UNTIL...cue the music...we realized that it may be possible to set up an automatic system. So, off we went, again, to Lowes, down that damn garden aisle. This time, we were excited. Oh, the possibilities! How high tech we would be! Another swipe of the credit card and our minds were racing- we couldn't wait until we got home...until we did. Apparently, 3500 square foot coverage on a hose doesn't actually mean that. Don't get me wrong, we were not expecting a Vegas casino fountain showdown, but we were at least hoping for, 40 square feet?? 30?? 20? Nope- MAYBE we got 6. Not sure, I'll confer with Josh, but in the meantime, let's get back to the story.
Obviously, these sprinklers totally sucked. So, off we went...to the store with that happy blue and white sign, again. This is where we get to meet our fantastic 'customer service associate'. Let's call him Frank.
"Welcome to Lowes. Do you have a return?" asks Frank, the Lowes associate.
"Why yes, Frank, I do," replies Lauren.
"Any problems with all of these sprinklers?" asks Frank, considering there were 4.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," insists Lauren. "They are the worst sprinklers I have ever seen in my whole life."
"Alright."....
And so the story goes, you get the picture. Please note, that although this part of our story can sound mean and rude, I insist that it was not. All was done in fun- Frank was fully aware...I could see it in his eyes.
Anyway, down the aisle, blah blah blah....another swipe of the card and we were off. This time, we covered all our avenues. Since we were obviously not only good at buying things but returning them as well, we figured we would not only buy the sprinklers that seemed sufficient, but also the ones that seemed ridiculously over-sufficient. Wahoo! We knew that we had done it. Okay, let's make one thing clear. We did have a 50 ft hose going from the house to the garden, we did have a timer with a 4 way splitter attached...SO WHAT if MAYBE we had 4 more hoses attached to those... We were totally planning on just running two at a time....REGARDLESS...even with just one of our sprinklers going (even the one that said it would cover 8500 square feet), we maxed out at 40 square feet. I will spare all of you the details, although I am sure you are all on the edge of your seats...especially to hear more about Frank...we returned the sprinklers, we returned the timers. Now, here we are, back to square one and we like it like that. Nothing wrong with a little quality time with each other as we water the garden. Plus, truth be told, the sprinklers were a bad idea from the start and we knew it. They are inefficient and wasteful. Guess it was karma kickin' our butts....
Well, that's all for now. We can already start to really grasp how big our garden's harvest is going to be- super exciting and it will be really fun to watch happen. Almost as fun as watching grass grow. See? I told you it would be exciting...

Adventures in Gardening: Part 1

So much has happened since our last blog- some good, some bad. First of all, Josh built a beautiful ladder for our peas to climb. He fashioned it out of old branches and hemp we had laying around. This will help to maximize our crop by allowing the peas to grow upwards instead of all the plants crowding each other. The other picture is of our tomato and pepper flat. All of the plants are looking great, although we had to construct a hanging light in order to give them the light they need on days we cannot get the plants outside- due to weather or work.

Hmmm...what else is new...? We realized that dogs prefer to be inside fences rather than out, which led us to increase our fencing a little. We added more branches and secured all of the poultry fencing around the base, since apparently our dogs like to enter the garden through the gate- even if that means to tear down the fence. :) But, have no fear- we have reconstructed and perfected the fencing.

So far, we have quite a few plants popping up in the garden. All our lettuce plants have sprouted, along with our carrots, brussell sprouts, radishes, swiss chard, peas, dill, spinach and cilantro. We're happy with the progress, thus far, and hope to see more and more plants coming up due to all this natural watering! We also started some flats with plants to transplant once the roots are established. This is where some of our disappointing news comes into play.



It turns out, those trays get REALLY hot, really fast. This unfortunately led to the demise of some of the seeds we started...We lost: broccoli raab, broccoli romanesco, cabbage and quinoa. We are still hoping for the best with our celery, strawberries and melons- Josh just informed me that one cantaloupe sprouted today! Wahoo- celebration here at the Heald household... We do have some nice looking seedlings of cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, zucchini, spaghetti squash, asian greens and thyme. The picture up top is of some of the seed trays, pre-sprout. I'll update the picture ASAP. We did just put in another seed order, since we obviously don't have enough to do. So, arriving sometime between Friday and Tuesday are: red and green cabbage, romanesco and rapini, okra , rhubarb and tropical (warm weather) lettuce for planting during the summer months. I'm sure we forgot something else- I don't doubt we'll either be placing another order soon or running down to Pickering Feed and Farm to browse the supply.

I think that is all for now- we will try and be more regular with postings- especially since this one was so long! I guess it really is excited to watch things like grass grow....Happy belated Earth Day everyone and happy gardening!

Getting Started!

So here we are!...First post- kinda nervous...oh, where shall I start??

Hoping to upload some more pictures, but here it is- our mini-farm. It has come a LONG way. So, I guess we should start with some background information. This will be our fourth year managing our own vegetable garden. Josh and I (Lauren) both share a feeling of respect for the earth and take full responsibility for our impact to it. So, in our continuous quest towards eventually living our dream of getting 'off the grid', we'll be taking small incremental steps, including producing our own grub!

So far, we have already stocked our far garden (in the picture) to the max. We have directly sowed arugula, miners lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, salad bowl mix, cilantro, carrots, beets, swiss chard, iceberg, radishes, scallions, lentils, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and dill. I must mention, of course, that we already have onions, parsley, oregano, leeks, chives and sage coming up- which you may be able to see from the picture. I know it sounds like a lot already, but just wait until we start planting into the other gardens!...

I guess it's worth mentioning that we are planting all organic, self pollinated seeds and we are using no fertilizer or pesticides on our vegetables or plants. It makes for a lot more weeding, for sure, but I'll take a little dandelion or clover over arsenic any day :)

So, why, you may ask, are we making this totally, boring blog?? Well, our goal is NOT to bore you, of course, but instead to reach out to our families and friends who want to know what is going on in our lives and also to teach a little something to everyone. We hope to share tips and tricks we have learned for not only organic gardening but for living greener, reducing energy and water consumption, and other ways to 'green' up your lives! Hope you all enjoy reading and please feel free to comment! More pictures to come soon- so check back!