Leave No Plant Behind

I like to think that I have a green thumb, and I like for all of you to think that as well.  I walk around, replanting baby plants, and growing seeds and showing off pictures of green leafy things, but sometimes, even I let a few things slide, and suddenly I find myself having to back peddle.  Case in point.

I acquired a few plants when the library had their foyer redone.  The Master Gardener's of Oxford came in and repotted things, fixed things, watered things, and suddenly things were looking great!  Plus, me and several other library assistants got a few things out of the deal as well.  I brought home one of these:

Actually, that is a weird branch that I cut off a mother plant.  The mother was huge and very branchy, so last summer I just sawed off a branch, stuck it in a milk jug of water and let it grow roots.  Low and behold, a few weeks later I had a plant- so I planted it.

Then winter came and most of our plants were moved inside.  Sadly, the mother plant was not moved inside fast enough... and when it did, it came in looking like this:

Please note that the first and second picture were taken on the same day.  This is not a "and several months later" kinda deal.  Sad isn't it?  It gets worse.

Because then I did this to it:

I know!  I just cut it all off! You see, the plant has frost damage.  Frost is a four letter word in this house, unless we're talking about kale or cabbage which both like the frost.  It had tried very, very hard to kill this plant, but I am trying very, very, very hard to not let that happen.

In fact, when I chopped off the major parts of the damage, I noticed the insides of the stems looked like this:

That black on on the left is the frost damage, the middle is too, but the one all the way on the right is the new, still damp and smelling fresh inside of the newly cut parts.  Looking good right??

But I still had this to work around as well:

The plant is majorly root bound.  See that crazy piece leaning to the right?  That's a whole new plant that should have been removed years ago.  And the Y shape on the left?  That's two separate plants that have fused together.  So I'm planning to take my hand saw back at it and get these guys good and separated.  I have been soaking the roots for a few days to help loosen up the dirt and try to unweave some of the damage by hand, but there are no promises with this one.

Anyone else ever bring a plant back to life after frost?  Have you ever sawed a plant into pieces and then had all of them regrow??  Most importantly, if this works... who wants a free house plant?!

New Garden Bed

On Monday, I disclosed the looong laundry list of things we plan to plant this year.  Of course I have known for months just how lofty our 2013 goal would be, so about the same time the seeds catalogs arrived in the mail, I started planning new places to put those seeds as well.

Some things, like our potatoes, were easy to place because they get their own planters (if you can call a circle of covered wire a container), and some were fit into our raised garden bed from last year.  But even with those two huge areas I knew we'd need more space.  So I waited until Marco was out of town for work and I struck out to find us some more vegetable room.

I was/am mostly worried about our vegetables that grow "up."  Beans, peas, cucumbers, corn, these all need to grow up on a trellis (or each other in the case of corn/beans), and that could potentially cause a problem for our garden because it is on the southern most part of our property.  If tall plants such as corn or beans were planted at the "top" of the garden, they could shadow other plants and the other plants wouldn't get as much sun as they needed.  So I looked and looked for a wasted space with plenty of bright sunshine.

Bingo.

Actually, this is a during picture.  *Note to self, get better at taking true before pictures.*

Imagine this, the back of the house, full of junk and weeds and piles of clay.  Frankly, it didn't have too much going for it, except that it was a wasted space and it gets full sun all day- perfect for growing veggies that can be potted and trellised.

The area is actually about 4 feet deep at it's widest, and this section is roughly 18 feet long.  I had to create a "break" at that point to allow an opening for the crawl space door, but don't worry, I already have plenty of ideas for the other side too.

The process was fairly easy, I gathered up a few cardboard boxes that I cut into pieces and layed them along the area I wanted to make my new potted garden.  I quickly realized that the ground in this area was really unlevel and the cardboard was too thick.  So I removed parts of it, and laid out several (maybe 4 or 5) layers of newspaper instead. Then I started to arrange my pots to fill the space.

This was a great chance to figure out exactly what would go into each pot.  I tried to keep things that climb separated so that nothing would get too tangled.  Plus I wanted to make sure that nothing in the front would grow too high so I would be able to reach things in the back.  Add on top of that I wanted the planters to look nice and even, not too many "extra large" on one side and filling in the spaces with smaller planters too.  It took a little over three hours but eventually I got everything nice and settled in.

I have plants to go back and add mulch around all of the planters.  This will help break down the weeds under the newspaper and cardboard and be much more attractive than the newspaper as well...

Other perks of adding this new garden bed to the back yard?

It will cut down on the amount of lawn we have to mow- saving time and money.

It motivated me to clean up a part of the yard that was full of junk (wooden pallets, scrap wood, unused yard tools) and three foot weeds.

It will make sure that all of our potted plants get watered.  Potted plants need to be watered daily in our Mississippi heat and before, when they were scattered all over the yard, a few of them would get missed.  Now we know where all of the pots are and we can make sure they are watered each day while also saving time.

Gathering the potted plants in one place also clears up space in the yard/flower beds for a cleaner, more streamlined look and more flowers.

And finally, I get the satisfaction of knowing I helped find a place for all of my new seeds.

Don't forget, I set our family a goal of growing 750 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables this year, so finding room is a top priority.  I know this will help us get there, but if anyone else has any other ideas, I'd love to hear about them too.

Do you have a garden goal?  What's the heaviest produce you produce??

How Much is This Gonna Cost Us?

People want to know.  How much are we planting, what is it, and how much is that gonna set us back?  So I'm here to spill it.  You may want to put the kettle on and settle in though, because this is going to be one heck of a list of lists.

First a key to use and help peruse:
SS means that we ordered this item from SeedSavers.com
B means that we ordered this item from Burpee.com
ZG means that I ordered these seeds from ZZiggysGal on Etsy.
BB means that we plan to purchase this item from my Dad's friend Mrs. Barbara who I have known 98% of my life.  She is a wonderful woman who first showed me what wonder plants/creeks/outdoors can bring into one's life.
Other places where we purchased/found things are listed.

What We Plant to Plant:
In our 2 backyard and partial front yard veggie gardens:

1. Cucumbers
-Japanese Climbing.  Seeds purchased new this year.  A new variety for us, but apparently great for pickles. SS
-A&C Pickling.  Left over seeds from last year.  They were huge and made great bread and butter pickles.  SS
- True Lemon.  Left over seeds from last year too.  We planted these in pots last year and I don't think they got enough consistent water.  We're relocating them in the garden so hopefully they will do better this time.SS

2.  Soybeans
- Envy.  These are new seeds we ordered this year.  I have never grown soybeans but they freeze easily and are loaded with protein so we're going to give them a try.  This variety does well in pots and small spaces so they may be potted if we can't find room. SS

3.  Beans
- Provider.  Both beans are new seeds this year.  I am looking to use more vertical gardening plants along a new bed that I am building. These are a bush, snap variety.SS
- Valentine.  A black bush bean that has rave reviews for drying.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained. SS

4.  Tomatoes
- Yellow Tomatoes   An obscure heirloom variety that I have lost the paperwork to... these are seeds left over from last year that we started a few weeks ago in our tiny greenhouse. ZG
- Cherry Tomatoes.  Again, lost paperwork left overs from last year.  They are doing great so far. ZG
- Other Heirlooms.  We will be picking up several plants from my Dad's friend Mrs. Barbara.  Her plants did so well here last year that we are saving our greenhouse room for other things and just spending the money on plants. BB

5.  Peppers
-Aji.  A left over from last year.  Really hot and dried really well.  We used plenty in our salsa and sauces, they have been slow to germinate in our greenhouse, but are starting to come around. SS
-Red Bell.  Left overs again.  Also slow to germinate, but moving along now. ZG
-Variety from Mrs. Barbara.  She always has interesting plants that are full of surprises.  One of her best are her peppers.

6.  Eggplant
- Long Purple.  An heirloom that takes forever to germinate.  We tried these last year, but only had a few tiny eggplants to show for the effort.  We started them earlier this year in hopes that will speed up production.  ZG

7. Squash/Zuchinni
- Yellow Longnecks.  We have some seeds left over from last year but I do not have much hope for the plants this year.  Squash bugs ate everything in sight over night last year.  We may just skip the squash and buy them from the farmers market.  I can think of other ways to use the space.  ZG
-Black Beauty.  Again with the squash bugs.  We will see. ZG

8.  Okra
- Hill Country Red.  I bought these last year, forgot about them and when I found them again it was like Christmas.  I cannot wait to see these babies grow.  SS  **We will be planting these in our flower beds and faking like they're flowers until they grow veggies on them.**

9.  Lettace/Arugula/Spinach/Kale
-Mixed Beds.  I have a few small mixed lettuce beds from Seed Savers and ZZiggysGal.  They are cut and come again, heirloom varieties.
-Buttercrunch.  Last year's lettuce that we didn't finish but did well.  ZG
-Spinach- Did well, but the rabbits got it.  I'm moving them in the bed, and hopefully the new fence will help as well.  SS
-Blue Kale.  Left over, easy to grow, super easy to freeze and use later.  SS

10.  Watermelon.
- Blacktail Mountain.  A great variety that produces small but tasty fruit.  We picked this because the fruit actually fit into our fridge whole.  They all ripened in one week though and we gave most of them away.  Left overs from last year.  SS

11.  Broccoli
-Waltham 29.  Heirloom left over from last year.  We ran out of room and only tried to seed 3 seeds, then forgot about them.  Better planning this year.  ZG
-Calabrese.  Unopened from last year.  SS

12.  Blue Berries.  New this year, I planted them in the front like shrubs.  They are fairly old (3+ years) but need time to settle before they really produce.  I hope for a few this year, but expect more next year.  From The Barn Trading Company here in Oxford.

13.  Strawberries.  New.  I am retro fitting a rain barrel to hold them.  I cannot wait!  B

14.  Corn.
-On Deck Hybrid.  These are the reason for my new garden bed in the back.  This is supposed to be corn you can grow in a 2 foot planter.  We will see because I am ready.  B

15.  Birdhouse Gourds.  Not a vegetable, but this vine did really well in our shady front bed.  It looked nice growing up the porch and we got a few gourds from it.  SS

16.  Luffa.  New as well.  Just couldn't pass up the opportunity to grow a luffa.  B

17.  Potatoes.
-Red.  Red seed potatoes.  I have already shared how I built their cages, but I may have to move them... From The Barn Trading Company
-Yellow From The Barn Trading Company

And I think that is it for seeds and plants.  We did order a few herbs (basil, thyme, dill) but we still have plenty of those seeds left from last year too.  It's just that they tend to be more delicate and can rot so easily, I thought better safe than sorry.  Oh, and there are herbs that came back from last year too!  Chives, mint, spearmint, rosemary, and thyme.  Plus I planted a few garlic cloves that had started to sprout and a couple of onions that went green in the pantry.  But I don't count those because they are "grocery store" variety and I do not expect them to actually reproduce.

So how much did we spend??  Luckily, we were able to pull most of our wants from last years supplies, and that makes sense because last year we spent over $120 just on seeds. That doesn't count soil, compost, building materials or the watering systems.  This year our new seeds cost us just $25.00 (ish) with plants (strawberries, blueberries, potatoes) setting us back $55.00.  Plus I bought fencing to build our potato cages which was about $20.00 from Home Depot.  And our new seedling containers- which were 4 @ roughly $3.00.  So $12.00 on them.  Another $12.00 on coconut conifer seed starter (ordered from Amazon) and we are just about there.  We are building the new beds out of scrap lumber salvaged from friends and kudzu vines.  There are still plenty of  big planters left over from last year as well.  I am planning on building a few trellises from scrap trimmings and kudzu vines, but I would love to find a nice willow patch as well.

The rain barrels were given to us by a company that no longer needed them, but we are going to convert them into rain barrels for around $20.00 a piece ($40 total), but an extra one will hold our strawberries.  We have been wonderfully lucky to find a great place with free topsoil and mulch to help fill our garden beds and our 18 months of composting are finally paying off as well.  Add to that the worm compost (I guess you can add in that $25.00 to our garden fund) and we're looking at a nice grand total.

In fact, let's add it up shall we?

Last year we spent over $600 in materials, dirt and watering system stuff and another $120 in seeds.  That was a grand total of about $720 for roughly 300 lbs of vegetables.

This year, with all of those numbers up there added up, we're looking at about $169 total.  Whew that is much better but hopefully next year it will be even smaller.  We're adding another element to our compost/pest control and our soil should be top notch.  Plus the worms will have paid for themselves and the rain barrels will be complete.  The same goes with the blue berry bushes and the potatoes.  Plus we will finally start working out which veggies give us the most bang for our buck.  We have a lofty goal of producing 750 lbs of produce out of our garden this year, but we are also trying to make sure we are growing things we will actually eat and use.

There is a lot of growing with gardens, emotionally, physically  spiritually- all of which we find to be ultimately priceless.

Pea Prep

Yesterday I spent the whole day with the windows open saying to myself "What a wonderful day it is today!" and then today I have spent back in my sweaters with socks and house shoes cursing the wind and rain and cold.  There has been a lot of hot tea today, and much more dreaming about spring planting.

We are really moving along with all of our seedlings that we have already started.  This weekend I will be seeding a few summer cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower.  But tomorrow I am going to put out a few of our pea seeds.  Peas are really easy to grow.  They are super fast, plant early and die back rather quickly.  Because of this though, it is best to plant peas every few weeks so you always have a batch preparing for harvest.  We only planted one round last year and I was really sorry because the ones we were able to harvest were great.  This year though, we've moved them to the front yard to act like a trellis in the back of the new beds I have been imagining.

But before I put them in our vegetable planters, I thought I'd share a quick tip I picked up last year.

First, these are the peas I am planting.  There are more of the same coming next week(ish), so I thought I would go ahead and get these started.

These are "Green Arrow" peas.  They are an heirloom variety and I bought them along with several other heirloom seeds from ZZiggysGal Etsy shop last year.  I bought the variety pack so I could try out a few different things other than what I had purchased from Seed Savers.  This year I bought a larger batch from Seed Savers only.  Anyway, notice how shriveled and dry they are?  Technically, if you water them enough, they will sprout anyway, but I do not like to chance things when my 750 lb goal could be in jeopardy.  So I did this:

I took a ziplock bag (one that I had used, washed, and reused), filled it with about a half an inch of water, and tossed a few seeds inside.

And by the next morning they were plump as, well, peas.  I put a few in our indoor seed boxes (where other seeds hadn't sprouted) and tomorrow I will put a few outside to begin our garden perimeter.

Just a quick step to jump start seeds and an easy way to weed out any dead ones before you put them in the ground.  And instant gratification for those of you, who like me, can't wait to see stuff growing already.

Prepping Potatoes

Last week I mentioned how I started our potato beds.  Well, honestly, I am experimenting with our potato beds.  What I've read about potatoes is that once they get going, they are pretty easy, especially with the raised round beds I built, but it's the getting them there that seems the hard part.  So I took an experimental approach.  

The beds that are in now have pieces of potato (with 2-3 eyes each) that I just buried like seeds and have kept watered.  I don't see any signs of life yet, but that is to be expected.  However, I also took a few pieces and started them indoors as well.  One of the problems with just planting the pieces directly into the ground is that they can sometimes rot.  So some people suggest starting them inside first.  Basically you cut pieces with 2-3 eyes like the ones I planted outside, but you keep them watered and let the plants develop a little before transplanting them.  

Honestly, this was an experiment on so many levels because I was pretty sure there were no eyes at all on these pieces, so I thought "Hey, I'll try that grow in water thing first, see if eyes develop, and then we'll move'em outside."  Potatoes are one of those plants you want to stagger anyway to increase your yield and keep'em coming over a long period of time.

And what'ya know?  There are eyes on all the pieces.  You can just make out the tiny green buds on that middle piece there, but trust me there are plenty on all of my "wasted" pieces.  

So far, so good if you ask me.  Now if I can just get'em to grow once they get outside.