Grow, Grow, Grow, Grow!!

The garden is 99.9% planted. Out of my 7 garden boxes (and the 2 little boxes that the girls planted. And then dug up. And then threw mulch on. And then covered with picked weeds, and then demanded to know why nothing is growing yet...), each with 16 square foot squares, I only have about 6 or 8 squares available for planting.

I had bunches of seeds, seedlings, and plants that I had been stashing under my homemade rickety cold frame while waiting for the last frost date. May First! IN!

I've used seeds and transplants from a number of different sources. Hometown Seeds generously provided a seed sampler for me, and some I planted and then I saved many of them for next season to test their storage longevity. I also ordered from D. Landreth, and a couple things from Baker Creek. And then my standard browse-and-grab Burpee seeds from the local big box, and seedlings from my fave local little garden centers (Clover's, a couple little joints in Bridgeview, and some folks giving away seedlings on Craigslist).

I'm hoping to get some pictures up, but cannot find Char's camera, which is what i used to take pictures. I'm really really really trying to document everything  this year, loved being able to do a time-lapse overview of how things changed last year.

Here's what's planted, box by box:
Box 1:
Black Simpson Lettuce
Little Caesar Lettuce
Romaine Lettuce
Radishes

Box 2:
Endive
Spinach
Black Krim Tomatoes
Pineapple Hybrid Tomatoes

Box 3:
Zucchini
Scallop Squash (White, Green, Yellow)
Bush Beans (Two Varieties)

Box 4:
Yellow onions
Beets

Box 5:
Peas
Broccoli

Box 6:
Bell Pepper
Hot Pepper
Sugar Snap Peas
Banana Pepper
San Marzano Tomatoes
Mamma Mia Tomatoes
Valencia Heirloom Tomatoes

Box 7:
Edamame
Pickling Cucumbers
Burpless Cucumbers
Jalapeno Peppers
Asparagus Beans (Which was from a Burpee Heirloom packet, and had less than 25 seeds. Just saying, seemed stingy...)

I moved my herb pots to the other side of the fence from the raspberry jungle on a bench I garbage picked a few years ago. Basil, thai basil, rosemary, parsley, chives, dill. I have a ton of random lumber and was planning on making a large planter box for the driveway - instead of having to go in the garden, through the fence to access them, they are right there. My husband is pretty sure I just can't leave things how they are. Ever. And that I obsessively need to move things around. He MAY have a point.

I'm also expanding my "butterfly garden" which seemingly gets a dump of whatever I find attractive while wandering around garden centers or the internet.

Cherry tree is ROCKING and we're going to have fruit this year...there are little baby green cherries on there, cannot wait! Little green strawberries are sprouting up all over, too.

Love love love this time of year!

Inventory

OK, so I just went through all my seeds last night - between the Survival Kit I received from Hometown Seeds and some randoms I picked up at Menards, I am already at about 35 different crops/vegetables/plants. WOWZER.

And I still have about 5 or 6 things that I still want to order.

I guess this will be the year I really try to focus on continuous planting and staying on top of things, which I've always slacked on. No empty spots, continuous harvest, it should be great!

One of the things that I want to really plant lots and lots of is lavender. I love the smell, and after my friend Sara posted a beautiful picture of a field of lavender, I would love to just have a whole yard full of it. Or a nice patch of it. I am trying to figure out a spot where I can have a lavender patch, but I feel like my lavender never really comes up that well.

Awww, memories

I'm on spring break next week, and am unable to sleep, and am trying to get some stuff done around the house that is no big whip, but that I need to do. So I'm on Shutterfly and Snapfish going through pictures back to when Char was little, and I'm coming across some old garden pics through the years.

Enjoy!

2005 - It looks so little in retrospect...

Then in 2006, we had 2 raised bed boxes...

Still rockin' the 2 boxes in 2008...hadn't yet heard of Square Foot Gardening...

Ahh, Built all my boxes and later the supports for tomatoes, etc...2009 was the garden space explosion!

 (and apparently I didn't take any pictures when it was lush mid-summer? Just the creepy shot after the first surprise frost made it look like a haunted house garden? WEIRD)

I need to find pics from 2003, 2004, 2007...

What? Where? Huh?

Where are you all ordering your seeds from?

I am behind the eight ball on ordering for this season, but I'm okay with it. I was super excited to order a bunch from Baker Creek, but I'm having issues with their online ordering system. Keeps dumping my cart after each item I add to it.


Anyway...

What're you growing? I've got my list ready...but it is always changing and evolving...

Here goes!

Edemame - Envy

Chinese Red Noodle Beans

Bush Beans or these guys

Pole Beans

Sugar Snap Peas

Tomatoes - Yikes - where to start??

Lettuce/Greens/Salad!

Broccoli/Broccolini

Zucchini

PattyPan Squash YUM!

Onions

Potatoes

Cu-Cu-Cucumbers




OH! And Grapes!! I am completely clueless on this. My grandfather used to grow grapes here, but in the front yard, 60 some years ago. This sweet little picture is from, oh, let's say 64 years ago or so? And there's the grape arbor in the front of our house. Now there is a great big tree, so that space isn't feasible. But I have a couple little corners in mind.



AND I finally purchased a rain barrel, something I fully intended to do last year and just didn't get around to doing. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Great Chicago has a rain barrel purchase program for (I think) Cook County residents. $50 each, 2 barrel limit per family. SUPER excited to get that hooked up. We have visions of getting a second one and installing a gutter on one end of the garage (close to the garden boxes) and setting up a drip system from the rain barrel...

Oh well. It's 1am. I'm going to place my orders and then get some rest. Ellie and I are going to be working in the garden tomorrow, or possibly just building and staining some supports. I am still having visions of TONS of vertical plantings, and possibly some canopied crops (cukes or tomatoes growing from a support in one box to a support in another box, providing a canopy over the walkway/aisle).

OH! Sidenote: I am also fascinated by  the survival seed movement that has popped up here and there in my internet garden reading. It's pretty much what it sounds like: In case of crisis or food shortage, you'd have this stockpile of seeds with proven high germination rates that you could plant to sustain yourself/your family. Seeds are all non-hybrid/GMO so you would be able to save the seeds to plant again the next season.

Now. I am not saying that I think the end is upon us. However, I am the first to admit that growing your own food is an amazing feeling that, for me, brings about a real sense of self-sufficiency and security. The fact that we are JUST running out of beans and broccoli now, in March, from last summer? It's pretty incredible to me.   It's a really capable feeling, I feel very accomplished, a very sustainable goal achieved.

That said, I've checked out a group called Hometown Seeds. They offer survival seed packages with a wide variety of plants and a long seed shelf life. They have graciously offered to send me a sample packet of their survival seed kit, and I'm going to plant a selection from it and track the progress and growth here. 

Dedication

Maybe now that I've told a friend of mine that I have a garden blog, perhaps I'll be more inclined to diligently post on it. Obviously not much is shaking in the wintertime, but the planning is beginning. Oh, the planning. Bwa ha ha!

Anyway, I think I'm going to start thinking aloud here as I plan...

Anyone in the Chicago area grow grapes or edible soybeans/edamame? I want to do both this year, but am nervous on the grapes.

Definitely still planning on vertical stuff, and less tomatoes as our tomato space is RIDICULOUS. And I'm going to do potatoes, for sure.

So far the only catalogs I have are Burpee and Gurney's, and I'm waiting for my Baker Creek to come in, as that catalog, as I think I said last year, is like garden porn. I'm drooling thinking about it right now.

I also want to try a seed exchange group, but have never done that before.

Oops

I started to incorporate my garden stuff into my other, family-ish blog.

BUT now that the seed catalogs have started coming in, I'm all excited anew to get cracking on planning my 2010 garden!!!

I'm planning to do a lot more vertical planting, and definitely want to try to grow grapes, too. I want to put a playhouse for my girls in the back corner of the garden (I use planter boxes for square foot gardening) so we'll see how that goes, too.

What are you going to grow next year?

September already?!

How can it be September?

If you're in the Chicago area, you know that our summer was, well, let's say atypical at best. Some of my plants that really love the hot suffered as we had some nice 90 degree days in June, and then spent most of July below 83 degrees. And rainy. Blech.

I have not planted some of the things I wanted to get going for fall, but I'm going to give it a whirl anyway, even though it is kind of late, and hope that we'll just get some late summer weather that'll be conducive to a longer growing season.

Here's some random items from the garden - I've been super neglectful on posting on here this summer.

The onions:

Onions came up a little on the small side. A friend told me that if you step on the green as it comes up, they'll get bigger (energy will go to growing the bulb instead of the greens). Any thoughts on this? Makes sense to me, and I'm going to try it with the ones that I planted for fall
Onions drying in the garage

In other news, we had a pretty phallic summer over here, too. It was our first year growing zucchini, and man, I GET THE JOKES NOW about having too much. Good grief. I have bags of shredded/grated zucchini in the freezer so I can use it off-season to make zucchini bread, etc. Cucumbers started off strong, and I am not sure if it is the weather or how I had them set to grow that failed me, but they've not been producing - tons of leaves and vines, but very very few cucumbers.
I grew them vertically up a trellis of chicken wire, and put a "roof" on top for them to grow on, too. I had visions of cucumbers growing off that and just dangling from the roof for us to grab. That has not panned out. Dang. Making me rethink my idea for next year which involved growing cukes in two separate boxes and putting a canopy like that between two trellises to make a covered walkway between the garden boxes.

One day, my older daughter Charlotte and I looked over the fence and saw this: Yep, volunteer cherry tomato plants. I will admit to occasionally tossing overripe tomatoes over the fence. It's not very mature, or, I guess, neighborly, but it is the library's property and I certainly didn't think anything would grow (the terrain is rocky. Like landscaping rocks.) but I WAS WRONG. The nice thing is, we are getting a kick out of having these extra plants to harvest from (there's some on the side of the house, too, where I have never tossed a tomato, so we know that birds and the like are involved in this, too.) and my girls get to learn how nature really works - plants growing because of animals bringing seeds to different locations, etc.

Corn! I agree with people that corn is not worth the space it takes up. And with the abundance of local growers at roadside stands and farmers markets, there is no reason to grow corn. EXCEPT that it is fun to watch grow, to see if it is really going to be "knee high by July," and to finally harvest it. Plus we have the stalks ready to go for fall/Hallowe'en decorating. So I think it'll make an appearance in coming years.

Bush beans have continued to ROCK in our garden. I have so many in the freezer right now, it isn't even funny. Plus we've been enjoying them at meals every couple days. My brother, raised on canned green beans (soggy, metallic flavor tinge, etc.), has hated green beans with a passion. He gave our crisp, fresh, delicious garden fresh beans a try, and he's a convert! Amazing!


My first batch of peppers tanked. I didn't water enough (I rarely water, I like to see what Nature can do for us. Oh, and I'm awfully lazy) and the cool weather sucked the life out of them. In July or August, I purchased more pepper plants to toss into the garden, and coddled them a bit...we had some hot weather, and BOOM goes the peppers. Hurrah! (FINALLY!)

Finally, the carrots. Oh dear God, the carrots. Every couple years I get a wild hair to grow carrots. We love them! We all eat them! Let's grow 'em!
But the vigilance to make them grow up right...I can only commit that kind of dedication to raising my kids. Thinning them out to prevent overcrowding is not my thing (um, that's why we only have 2 kids, too) so I end up with this gnarled insane gross mess:

I put one in Char's lunchbox to freak her out at lunchtime. She came home and said it was really weird and no, no one liked it in there at all. Kids have no sense of humor.
Anyway, they were still tasty enough, so I grated 'em and froze em for off-season use.

I don't know why my pictures are all tiny, so sorry about that. That's kind of the summary of summer stuff. I've been canning tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes for the past few weeks and have about 7 pints in the pantry now. Making it with the cherry tomatoes has been a colossal pain in the ass, but what're you going to do? I've been adding in our little yellow pear tomatoes and they make for a really nice sauce.

Happy growing!