Startin' the Garden...

EIGHTY FIVE DEGREES today, folks. 85. Degrees. In April. In Chicago.

60 and 50s this week.

I'll still take it.

This is what we do when we have 50s and 60s...

So you know I am awful at cleaning up the garden in the fall. EVERY YEAR. And every spring I claim I will not put it off that fall. And then I do put it off.









 I also claim every year that I am going to get grow lights and actually get my act together with growing seedlings in the basement. And then I don't grow anything.

So my garden boxes are a wreck of sorts - patypan squash that are dried out and like little paper lanterns. Holiday yard decorations that normally live behind the garage on top of weeds. 

Yikes.

And the lovely RATS (Yes, Rats) that plagued us last summer prompting me to abandon my love of spending time outside got into and ate a ton of my seeds that I had saved from last year's bounty.

Where was this guy last summer? Maybe he could have been a mouser...er, ratter.

Shaking it off and getting ready for a new, awesome growing season. Planted some lettuce (Black-seeded Simpson and Romaine) and put in some onion sets, then started a bunch of seeds in my homemade cold frame. Hoping for the best on those little guys.

Lettuce...Onions...

Grow, grow, grow!!!

Cherry tree has a few buds, as do the lilac bushes and the raspberries.  

Strawberries are coming out among the weeds that have gone unchecked for months. 

Hoping the sad grape vine will do ok this year...Strawberries here are going to be moved...Once I clear out these weeds...Yikes.

Yowza!

Chives are out and about and growing like crazy, as are my hyacinths. Rhubarb came up!

Buds on everything!

`

As we are hoping to move some time this year (possibly summer) I have been thinking of ways to make the garden somewhat portable in case we move mid-season. I will likely end up just transplanting everything as best I can. However, I have already pulled up 2 of my raised boxes from the back of the garden and may put a plywood base on them and put them up on a stand. In the space in that back corner I may finally put up the sunflower room I have wanted to do for a few years, but never quite got to it... I think a moss floor surrounded by a wall of sunflowers would be fabulous for hiding out in the summertime (For me AND the kids) (And probably the dog, too!)

 What are YOUR garden plans this year? Anything new and exciting?

Back for my usual January update...

After feeling so defeated after last season, I am getting amped up for a new season. I lay much of the credit for this on Baker Creek again, as their catalog leaves me drooling, though I also lean to D. Landreth for inspiration, as well.

Keep moving forward, right?

Anyway, we are in the process of looking for a new house, which may take some time. Of course, I am in a panic because like most gardening folks I know, your plans are laid out and in place by March, and who knows when we may find a place, close, and move? It could be March! It could be July! It could be October! What will I do with my garden???

Thankfully, I have already been doing Square Foot Gardening which I think will work to my benefit. My plan is to put bottoms on the boxes I have already built and perhaps put them up on "tables" made of plywood and horses so that if we end up moving mid-season, we can just hoist the "tables" up on the back of the truck and transfer it to the new yard. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Also, you know how after you spend a few years in the yard/garden, you have some plants and areas that you just adore and can't see leaving behind? Each seems to have  a story to tell.

- The cherry tree from Michael and Charlotte the Mother's Day I was pregnant with Eleanor. It needs to come with us. It's just 4 years old, so I am hoping moving it will not cause any irreparable trauma. (Again, suggestions?)

- The lilac bushes that I had in about 3 locations before finding they work best next to our swing along the driveway?

- The raspberries that felt like they would never grow and thrive, and now are a veritable patch, and so delicious, and that we munch on straight from the plant all summer?

- The strawberries that started with a couple plants and have multiplied like crazy and I hope will continue to grow like crazy?

- My mini-butterfly garden?

So I guess my question is how poor form is it to uproot everything and take it with us when we move? I feel like a total weirdo, but you know you invest so much blood, sweat, tears, time watching some of these little guys grow, cheering for them, crying when they die off, cultivating new spaces for them to thrive...What to do?

I think it helps that in all likelihood, it will either be a family member moving in here who has minimal (no) interest in gardening or the home may come down altogether, so I don't feel like we are baiting and switching anyone who is purchasing it from us, you know?

It will be bittersweet to not look out at the garden and think "that's exactly where my grandfather had his garden when I was a kid!" but that is a mindset I am battling in every aspect when I think of leaving here.

I need recommendations for the tree transplant for sure (we're just outside Chicago, in the near west suburbs), and any thoughts or suggestions for the other stuff would be appreciated, too!

Sad Garden and Seed Saving

Yeah, I crapped out on the garden this year.

The ongoing battle/issue with rats in the yard coming from neighboring properties beat me down. After seeing several in the garden (not snacking, just passing through IN THE DAYLIGHT on their way to chew a hole and nest in our garage) I freaked and broke down and ignored the garden for the rest of the season.

No tomato sauce. No frozen beans. No dehydrated tomatoes. Nothing. Just quit.

Which is pretty depressing, and goes totally against my intentions in the garden. My excitement of eating tomato sauce in March made from OUR garden's tomatoes was palpable. Ditto on the frozen beans and broccoli in January. It's an amazing feeling, and one I wanted to build on, and increase our yield and preservation each year. Our grandparents (OK, maybe our great-grandparents?) wouldn't have had the option to "get freaked out" and eschew their garden work for the season.

Obviously, I'm pretty disappointed in this whole deal. But am looking forward to next year ("KEEP MOVING FORWARD!" right?) and am collecting seeds from some of the fruit that has dried out on the vine or needs to be dried out. I planted a LOT of heirloom and non-genetically-modified vegetables this year, which means that saving the seeds should be a great head start on next year's garden.

SO...how does seed saving/local seed exchange work? Just find a local garden club? look on Craigslist? host a seed exchange myself? Is it in the fall or spring? so much to learn!!!


I'll post some pictures of the charming rat holes leading into their burrows under the yard, and the damage they've done digging up my whole strawberry pyramid. Arrgh. MOVING FORWARD!

Bird Baby!

So one of the most fun things this summer was watching a couple of birds set up camp in our bird feeder to prepare for a little one.

Like March of the Penguins, McCook style - they tag teamed who was watching the egg, we witnessed the way that one would hang on a wire, the sitter would go meet it on the wire and then they'd hang for a couple minutes then make the switch.

And at the end?

A little baby.

(Awww)

Early August Garden

Early July Garden

Where have I been???

I have lots of pictures to get posted up here, but have been a colossal slacker. Plus have had massive issues with internet connectivity lately. And I'm lazy.

Anyway, we will be losing the empty lot next to our driveway due to a library expansion project (much needed expansion project) so in order to reclaim a BIT of our yard space back next year, I will be reconfiguring the garden and moving all the boxes along the fence, clearing up the back third or so of the yard. It'll be interesting!

And in sad, sad, sad news (which actually made me cry real tears of frustration and disappointment) I had to rip down almost ALL of the green that had been growing in the garden.

Let me back up:

Last summer, I had a TON of volunteer cherry tomato plants that grew on the other side of the fence from old tomato plants that just went to seed. Guess what? I made a ton of sauce. And I had tons of tomatoes. And they were tasty and delicious.

So this summer, when cucumber vines started growing all over the place, I didn't take most of them down because I thought "wow! Volunteer cucumbers all over the place! Everyone will get pickles for christmas!" and let the vines grow and grow. Even when they started to shade out some of my tomatoes. Even when they hid some of my peppers.

Until I went out there the other day and saw that THERE WAS NO FRUIT ON THESE VINES. That's right. NO CUCUMBERS. When I get the pictures up, you'll see why I was so shocked and angry with myself for being so stupid. Last year I didn't have the bee in my bonnet about getting all heirloom/organic/non-GM/non-hybrid seeds and plants. Some of them were, sure. But not everything. Not the cucumbers, apparently.

I have deduced that that is what happened here. Because why else wouldn't anything have produced fruit?

So I've torn down all the green. And decided to make some lemonade with this little lemon situation, and am dedicating myself to planting some awesome stuff for a fall garden.

Oh, and in other sad news, my raspberries took a BEATING in a series of summer storms and have been cut down pretty low. Also disappointing and frustrating.

It hasn't been a banner year out in the garden this year. I've had better years in my 7 years of gardening. And I'm sure I'll have worse years as I continue to learn and experiment.

More to come...