Stealth Blogger

I've, uh been hiding and, um my blogs have all been stealth blogs. Yup, that's it. Well it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Someday I'm going to learn not to plant so much stuff in my vegetable beds. Although it's not as bad as last year, I have some beds that are pretty crowded. My tomatoes aren't producing like they should. And squash is a disaster again. Sigh.

I planted clover in one bed as an experiment. Some of the plants in that bed are very robust. That is the ones not crowded out by the clover and sunflowers.

So next year - stick to the planting plan! Less is more! And amend, amend, amend. Add organic fertilize maybe. I think I will plant clover in all the beds -BUT - It gets dug in in the spring.

No corn (I mean it this time) - all I get is smut. No winter squash. I got three spaghetti squash for my trouble and a nice infestation of squash bugs. Only squash will be summer type. Four plants in one 4X8 bed, with beans on the ends. AND NOTHING ELSE IN THE BED!

And NO sunflowers in the vegetable beds. Or cosmos.

The beans have been producing like mad! And I have been picking carrots all spring and summer. And beets. Yum. Had tasty peas in the spring. And lots of salad greens. I planted some lettuces yesterday, so hopefully we will have some nice fall greens. I just wish the tomatoes and squash would do a little better. We are getting tomatoes, just not the bumper crop like last year. And I think I've picked 3-4 zucchini.

The apple trees produced a few apples this year - look at these beauties:
















I thinned them and bagged them last spring and the are nice and bug free. Here are a couple still hanging on the tree. I wasn't sure how it would work - I was afraid they would cook in the heat we get, but they turned out perfect!



















Well, now I need to go update the other blog. Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger.

Whats Growing in the Garden?

Things are really beginning to take off now.

These Bleeding Hearts are so pretty! They are unfortunately a bit hidden in the back corner behind the pergola. I bought it last year from a package from a box store. I planted it in a pot and put it outside weather permitting. I drug it (and several other plants) in and out for several weeks. When the weather warmed enough, I put it in the ground. I can't believe how big it is this year!





Our Black Tartarin cherry tree has a several blossoms on it this year, but the Rainer only has two. So pretty, even if we don't get any cherries. All our fruit trees are all very young - we planted them last spring. So I don't expect any fruit yet, but I am enjoying the flowers. :)






















I finally got all the Tri-Star (day neutral) strawberries moved last week. The little path has creeping thyme and some other random plants.

The strawberries look better already even though they still look puny. Now they don't get stomped on as much by the garden dog, so maybe they will be happier in this bed. I also amended it pretty heavily. Their prior spot was barely amended.

In another 4-6 weeks I'm going to plant some peppers in this bed as well.

















And the Shuksans (June bearing) are growing like crazy. Oh boy, I can taste the strawberry pie already.

















And how about some happy little Johnny-jump-ups? I started these from seed last year. They were pretty small when I planted them They survived last summer and winter. I cut them back early spring, and now they are blooming.


















One, last note - we (Jim mostly) got a lot of work done on the greenhouse. There is a little bit more to do on it and it will be done!

Been Out in the Garden

The garden has been a flurry of activity!


Things have been growing like crazy! And all sorts of things starting to bloom! These daffodil and hyacinth pictures are from a week ago. Some of the daffodils are now fading, but new ones are blooming. The hyacinths are done now, but they were pretty and sooooo fragrant. Tulips are starting to open, and lilacs are getting ready to bloom. I guess I really need to go take more pictures.













Some of my fruit trees have been blooming. These are apricots blooming from a week or so ago. My peach tree spat out 2-3 pathetic blooms. The plum tree had one bloom. No apple blooms yet. One of my cherry trees has quite a few blooms. I'll have to get a picture of it later.

I got the rest of my spring veggies planted a couple of weeks ago. I got my tri-star strawberries moved. And I've been moving plants left and right! I'm sure the neighbors are thinking "It must be spring, because the crazy lady with the red house is moving plants again!

Most of the seeds I planted have sprouted. Sometimes it feels like the carrots and onions take forever!

I planted lettuce last fall, but I planted it to late for a fall harvest. But, it overwintered with no protection. It looked pathetic most of the winter. But now that it's warmed up, it's growing nicely.

We have been getting a few leaves for sandwiches and burritos and things. The newly planted lettuce and greens are sprouting nicely, so hopefully soon we will have some nice salads.




















The "Purple Passion"asparagus is beginning to grow. Although, something (besides hubby and me) has been munching on a few of the spears. It was planted last year, so we won't be harvesting much of it. We have eaten a few raw spears - THEY ARE SOOOOO GOOD!

And there is the greenhouse. Well, basically we need 2 days where we aren't running around like crazy or driving to Vancouver WA. And we need the wind to NOT blow. And for the moon and stars to align . . .

Well we are off to walk garden dog and then do some gardening. And I'll post some new garden pictures later (this evening or tomorrow, hopefully not waiting until next month).

I'm so behind!

I still haven't planted all my spring veggies. And my poor tomatoes need potting up so bad. We were out of town a few days and I haven't quit caught up yet.

Before we left I planted potatoes - Yukon Gold and Norland Red. One half of a 4 X 8 bed of each. I decided to wait to plant seeds in the garden until we got back.

We got back Saturday and yesterday I got some things planted. Set out plants for Walla Walla onions and burgundy onions.

I planted seeds for:

• carrots - Danvers #126, Rainbow Blend, Purple Haze
  
• radishes - Cherry Belle, Salad Rose, Sparkler, Watermelon
  
• beets - Cylindrical, Tall Top Early Wonder
  
• peas - Little Marvel, Tall Telephone.

Most of these are left over from last year. Some of them I'm using up and don't plan to buy again.

I still need to plant snap peas, scallion seeds and greens. I still have some random stuff in a couple of the beds. There is half a bed of onions and itty bitty parsnips from last year. The parsnips had pretty much got crowded out by the tomato jungle. I keep debating if I should try growing them again or not. . .

Hopefully I will get the rest of the seeds planted today (even though the wind is blowing). I also want to work on planting veggie and flower seeds in my moon garden. But, the first thing I really need to do today is pot up my tomato seedlings.

And once I get all that done, there are plants to move, flower seeds to plant, roses to baby. . . Oh, and a greenhouse to finish. :)

Spring!

Monday I planted most of the rest of seeds that I need to start inside - tomato, peppers and tomatillos. The only thing I didn't start were the alpine strawberries. From what I read, they need to be chilled first. I put them in the freezer and will plant them in a couple of weeks. The first bunch of tomatoes that I started in February are starting to get their first set of true leaves and should be ready to pot up soon.

The weather has been much nicer the last couple of days - after a few days of some hideous wind. I've been able to get outside and start to get things done. I got all the roses pruned! YAY! I planted some onion bulbs and have another package to go. More expensive that planting seeds, but I'm hoping for quick scallions. I also planted a couple of packaged daylilies that jumped into my cart at Walmart. Plants and seeds sure do seem to jump into my cart a lot this time a year. Hehehehe. . .

One thing I want to try to do is incorporate some veggies into the flower beds. This is a section of my "Moon Garden". In the foreground is a young peach tree (Ok, so the flowers are pink not white, I didn't know where to put it at the time.) I planted white onion bulbs in front of it.

In the area behind the tree in the photo, I also worked on moving some plants. The three shurbby things should help to hide the foundation. *Goes outside to remove tag from plant.* And, I made some room in that area to plant seeds. I'm thinking "Silverado" Chard, "Dwarf Blue Curled" Kale, "White Icicle" radishes(let some of them flower), carrots (to eventually flower), cilantro (to eventually flower), lettuce and some random flowers.

This bed is at the other side of the back of the house. It is sort of a herb garden, but it isn't really working that well. I'm going to move some of the stuff out of here, amend it like crazy. I'll leave the boxwoods, the rose in the right corner, the lilac in the middle of the bed (hard to see in the picture), a couple more roses and some lavender (the living ones).

I have some "Tri-Star" strawberries I plan to move to this bed. In their current bed, they get trampled a lot by the Garden Dog. I also plan to plant some veggies and annual flower in there as well.

The last picture is of my "Shuksan" strawberry path. I need to keep a closer eye on these babies at the end of summer. They sent runners everywhere! What a mess. I cleaned them up, moved the creeping thyme that was between the stones and threw down some compost. Hopefully I get a nice batch of berries this year. Mmmmm, strawberry pie.



I need to get my potatoes and the last package of onion bulbs planted in the next day or so. Then, I need to go find some plants for "Walla Walla" onions. And I have more plants to move, seeds to plant, and a greenhouse still to finish.

Jim, had some things he needed to get done, so we haven't worked on the greenhouse (and the high winds didn't help). Next weekend we should be able to work on it and get it finished.

So much gardening to do all of a sudden! It must be spring!

*Note, I started this post on Monday so it's dated Monday. I actually posted it today, Friday 3/20/09.

Seeds Are Sprouting

On Feb. 24 I started tomatoes, parsley and celery. They are all sprouting!

The parsley and celery are in the larger containers in the middle of the picture and are a little hard to see. They took forever but have started showing green the last couple of days.

I still need to start peppers, tomatillos and the alpine strawberries I just bought mere moments ago. Oh, and Green Zebra tomatoes as well. I'll buy plants for bulb onions. For everything else, I will plant the seeds out side (I think) .

And speaking of buying more seeds... I just can't seem to help myself. In the past few days I bought:

• Purple Tomatillos (like the green ones I had aren't good enough.)
  
• Green Zebra tomatoes (Been looking for "Aunt Ruby's Green German", but I'll give these a try.)
• Alpine strawberries (Been looking for these for a while.)
  
• Swiss Chard - Neon Lights (How many kinds of chard does a gardener need?)
• Blue Flax (What I meant to buy when I bought Forget-me-nots.)
• Radish - Salad Rose (Because every garden needs a hundred kind of radishes. Okay, 5 kinds.)
• Onion - Evergreen bunching (Because I keep forgetting I already have seeds for these - this makes 4 packages.)
• Watermelon - Moon & Stars (Never mind, that I don't have room for these. And, If I actually get a crop how am I going to get a 40 lb watermelon into my fridge?)

I also bought some onion bulbs to use as scallions. I'll plant them in the flower beds . I bought my seed potatoes - Yukon Gold and Red Norland.

All I need now is for us to quit having record cold temperatures and I can start gardening!

Rosie's Afternoon Walk

We walk Rosie the Garden Dog twice a day. Failure to get her enough exercise makes for a naughty Garden Dog. And her humans need the walk as well.

I didn't think we would make it for the second walk, because the weather turned nasty and started hailing. But, it did clear, the hail melted and the sun came back out. And for once I remembered to take the camera with me on our walk.

Looking across the farm fields towards Rattlesnake mountain. There were some impressive clouds yesterday!


Dark sky looking towards the Pasco water towers.



Vacant land, new houses and I think the mountain in the distance is Jump off Joe.



A little while after we got back from our walk, it hailed again. This time the hail was the size of marbles and looked like Styrofoam.


Unfortunately, the weather for the next couple of days is going to be cold. According to yahoo it's supposed to get down to 18 degrees tonight. Ugh. But, by the end of the week it looks like it should be warmer. I hope so, I have lots of garden things to do - prune roses, plant fruit trees, and start planting veggie and flower seeds outside.

Not to mention we would like to finish the greenhouse. All we need are a couple of days of nice weather.

Flowers! It must be spring!

Crocus are beginning to bloom in my yard! Woo-hoo! Spring! Well, almost. The weather is still a bit iffy. We've been getting a fair amount of rain the last few days.



We had a little sunshine today - here is the Rosie the Garden Dog enjoying it.

Still waiting for spring. . .

We (mostly hubby) are still plugging away at the greenhouse. The weather has not been helpful. Cloudy, windy, rainy. Although, right now it looks like we may have sunshine today.

I started some of my seeds this week - tomatoes, parsley and celery. I still need to start peppers. Anything else will get direct sewn or bought as nursery plants. I just don't have enough room right now.

And speaking of seeds, I just keep buying more:

• Acorn Squash - Table King
• Bok Choy
• Marigold - Snowdrift
• Alyssum - Royal Carpet
• Love-in-a-Mist - Persian Jewels
• Linaria - Dwarf Fairy Bouquet
• Marigold - Starfire Signet Mix
• Forget-me-not

And the last one was a mistake - I thought I picked up blue flax. Well, I guess I have to go seed shopping again. :)

Is it Spring yet?

I'm starting to feel like Bart Simpson - Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Come on spring!

The sun keeps teasing me. Yesterday was sunny, today is gloomy and overcast. We get freezing fog off and on. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago of one of my Rugosa roses:



This last week I did manage to prune my fruit trees. I know, they are itty bitty still so it wasn't much of a project. I've done a little spring clean up, weather permitting. And we have worked on the greenhouse.



We put the frame together in the garage. We will carry it out back when we have the wood base ready. It's setting on some temporary wood bits so Jim could take some measurements. We bought the wood and he cut it yesterday and now it's too cold to work on it. Sigh.

The next step is to cut wood for the benches and then seal all the wood. Once we have nice weather again. (Strange, before moving here I never thought of "nice weather" being anything above 40 degrees)

Waiting for Spring

Mostly what I'm doing right now is waiting for spring. I have the veggie garden planted. I need to prune the fruit trees, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. Yesterday was fairly nice, but I had jury duty all day.

wait - whats that glare on my monitor? It can't be! THE SUN IS OUT!

We have a greenhouse kit we bought a year ago from Harbor Freight. It's the 6' x 8' model. There is quite a bit of info about these greenhouses (HFGH) at Garden Web in the greenhouse forums. We've been checking all that info out on how to put it together. Here is what we've done so far (and it's only been a year).

We put down the floor for the greenhouse:



I opened the box and made sure all the parts were there:



We need to buy wood for the base. The problem is we need to stain/seal the wood and it is too cold to do that. We may be able to warm the garage up enough, but we will see. Or we may wait for it to be warmer outside.

Come on spring!

Bought More Seeds

I keep telling myself I don't need that many more seeds. All I needed are Juliet tomatoes and acorn squash. I was at Lowes yesterday and they had the Juliet seeds, but no acorn squash. Did I just buy Juliet tomatoes? HAH! Of course not, lol.

Here's the complete list:

• Juliet tomatoes
• Rutgers tomatoes
• Marigolds - petite mixed colors
• Butterfly flower
• Larkspur
• Cleome
• Bachelor Buttons
• Zinnia

And so I only "need" a few more seeds. Larger marigolds and acorn squash are about it. And Calendula, delphinium, toadflax, poppies, pincushion flower. . .

Fruits and I'm a Little Bit Nuts

I've been debating what fruits to plant. I had thought about planting a couple of Asian pears, but I'm afraid they would add more to the high maintenance I already have. I have 4 apple and 3 cherry trees - and in this part of the world they have to be kept bug free. So, I don't think I need to add more bug worries to my list. I thought about a nectarine and finally came to the conclusion we have enough fruit trees. The list:

Apple:

• Akane
• Liberty
• Honeycrisp
• Fiesta

I bought them from Raintree Nursery last year. They are dwarf trees that are only supposed to get six feet tall. It should be easier to keep bug free that a 25 foot tree. They are planted next to the west fence where my veggie garden is. I plan to espalier them, but in a natural form not formal. I plan to use some sort of method to bag the apples so I can minimize spraying.

Cherries:

• Rainier (Sweet)
• Black Tartarian (Sweet)
• Meteor (sour/pie)

These I bought at Lowes last year on a whim. I try to plan things, but sometimes (okay a lot of the time) things just go astray. I plan to prune them heavily so I can keep them maintained. I think I will probably have no choice and will have to spray them. Hopefully, something not to horribly toxic.

The remainder:

• Plum - Santa Rosa
• Peach - Red Haven
• Apricot - Wenatchee-Moorpark

The peach came from a local nursery, Mac's Garden Center. The plum and apricot came from Lowes. I might plant another plum (Satsuma) and apricot (Tilton) - sort of in the same hole kind of thing. It's explained here: Dave Wilson Backyard Orchard Only thing is, I should have planted them all at once.

I planted 2 types of strawberries last year - Tri Star(Everbearing) and Shuksan (June bearing). These came free with my order from Raintree. :) The Shuksan are running rampant and I need to take care of when the ground thaws out. I might try adding Alpine strawberries as well.

I also want to plant blueberries and blackberries. Some serious challenge there. I think 3 blueberries, against the east fence. I had thought about putting them in half barrels, but the dang things are $30.00 a pop at Lowes. For 3 that would be $100.00 not including potting soil and plant. So I have some hydrangeas to move and the blueberries should work nicely in this spot. Will have to add some more acidifying amendments.

And then there are blackberries. The biggest requirement is that they be thornless. ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, NO BLACKBERRIES THAT ARE THORNY. I'm thinking of one of the thornless upright varieties from the University of Arkansas, probably Ouachita. Theortically, you can plant them without have a support structure.

I would think that would be enough fruit for 3 people. We will see what happens.

New Mistakes

John Hammond: Don't worry, I'm not making the same mistakes again.
Dr. Ian Malcolm:No, you're making all new ones.

That was from the movie, Jurassic Park II. Not a great movie, but I love the quote. And I'm quite sure it will apply to this years veggie garden. . .

And with that in mind, I'm working on planning this years veggie garden. Here is the list of what I'm currently thinking of planting:

Spring

• beets
• carrots
• scallions
• onions
• celery
• lettuce
• spinach
• radishes
• kohlrabi
• peas
• turnips
• potatoes
  

Summer

• beans
• cucumbers
• watermelon
• cantaloupe
• summer squash
• winter squash
• tomatoes
• sweet peppers
• hot peppers
• sweet potatoes
• tomatillos

Fall

• beets
• carrots
• scallions
• onions
• lettuce
• spinach
• radishes
• kohlrabi
• peas
• turnips
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• Brussels sprouts
• garlic

Herbs (annual)

• parsley
  
• cilantro
• dill
• basil
  

Yikes, that's a big list! There is no way it will all fit in the square foot garden beds. The summer squash has to go somewhere else. The sweet potatoes may have to as well. And the annual herbs may have to go in the bed with the perennial herbs.

I may find there are some things that just won't fit. (Can I dig up the front lawn?)

Cherokee Purple Tomato Seeds!

Finally made it to Fred Meyer today. They have their seeds in and they are 40% off. I am so thrilled that they have Cherokee Purple tomato seeds. YUM, YUM, YUM! I can taste them already!

The complete list of seeds I bought:

• Tomato - Cherokee Purple
• Onion - Walla Walla Sweet
• Onion - White Bunching
• Lima Beans - Burpee Bush (2 packages)
• Corn Salad/Mache/Winter Lettuce - Dark Green Full Heart
• Peas - Tall Telephone
• Cucumber - Armenian
• Squash - Waltham Butternut

I don't plan on buying many more seeds, I have a lot left from last year. I want seeds for Juliet tomatoes. And I may or may not get seeds for parsnips and acorn squash. That depends if I can find a spot to plant them. I've been working on planning my beds and there are some things that just won't fit.

Any winter squash will have to be somewhere else. I think I can come up with 3-4 spots for hills, but beyond that I don't think so.

The onions I bought for fall. I'm going to experiment with planting them and see what happens. The peas and mache/corn salad are also for fall planting.

And boy am I ready for spring. It's been 30ish, cloudy and attempting to snow for 3 days now. I would just settle for a little sunshine if I can't have warm weather.

What the yard looked like yesterday

Here is the last set of pictures for now. Some of the trees and things are a little hard to see since they are so small still and have no leaves right now.

This is to the left side of the back patio (east). The grass in the path is going to get replaced with pavers. This was a quick temporary fix. In the far left about center is a Red Haven Peach tree. Back against the fence, where the little obelisk is, I'm thinking of planting two Asian pears. I'll plant them in two holes and keep them pruned under 6 feet. The method is explained at this web site: http://www.davewilson.com/homegrown/BOC_explained.html

The pergola is in the southeast corner. There are two grape vines planted by the back pillars (to itty-bitty to be seen in this picture). There are two climbing Joesph's Coat roses on the front of the pergola. In the planter to the left there is a Santa Rosa plum tree. I'm thinking of adding a Satsuma plum there as well. Also note, Garden Dog's jolly ball prominently displayed as a lawn ornament.


Back fence (south). The large tree is an Amur maple, it's actually dead center off the patio. It's only supposed to get to be 15-20 feet or so. In the far left are two sweet cherry trees - Black Tartarian and Rainier. Note bird feed strategically located next to cherry trees. . .


Looking along the right of the back fence and a little into the veggie garden (southwest). The little section in the middle outlined with small rocks is the asparagus patch. To the left of it is a Meteor pie/sour cherry. Also against the West fence, on the other side of the veggie garden are 4 apple trees - Akane, Liberty, Honeycrsip and Fiesta.


The right side of the patio (west). In the center planter, the little tree is a Wenatchee-Moorpark Apricot. I think I'm going to plant a second one, probably Tilton. The Planter against the house has some of my perennial herbs. There is a row of boxwood to hide the foundation. I don't care much for things that need to be pruned into boxes or circles, but it was the best way I could think of to hide the ugly foundation. And they are actually begining to grow and do their job.

Pictures from spring/summer '08

I'm still doing a little blog catch-up with all these pictures. I have quite a few things to post, and then it will settle down. And probably stop when I can actually go outside, lol.

Spring flowers.


Close-up of a lilac.

Here's Rosie the Garden Dog checking out the flowers. "Hey Mom, there's a couple of weeds over here ya need to pick."


And here is the Garden Dog making sure the pergola area is safe for her humans.


Here's a picture of the veggie garden. It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but it got so I couldn't walk the paths between the beds.

Pictures of the yard "before" :)

This is the vacant lot. There is actually a house being built on the left that isn't in the picture. But no other houses when this picture was take during the summer of 2006.

This picture was take on move-in day, Jan 17, 2007. We had been living in our motorhome and it was darn cold. We took our sleeping bags and dog and slept on the floor before the movers brought our stuff. And because the roads were icy, that was delayed several days. . .

Here is the back yard sometime during spring/summer 2007. Note to self: I don't ever want to trench for sprinklers or lay down sod ever again.

Here is Rosie, our official "garden dog".

Review of Last Year's Veggie Garden (Part 3)

Getting into the home stretch!
1/18 - 12:13 pm Edited to add parsley

Potatoes (Yukon Gold) - I can't believe how productive these were! I planted 1/2 a bed worth and they took over! Well, I planted them stupidly - half on one long side, half on the other, and peppers down the middle. Can we say FAIL? So one whole bed this year, just taters.

Sweet Potatoes - Total crop failure. I tried starting slips but I didn't start soon enough. I bought some at the farmers market. They sulked the entire summer. Again, they were crowded by other plants. Going to try planting again this year.

Winter squash(Spaghetti Squash, Burpee's Butterbush) - Both were victims of overcrowding. I really want to try spaghetti squash again. We usually eat it quite a bit, although it's too expensive to buy right now (but then, all produce seems to be too expensive now). Apparently the Butterbush squash are pretty itty-bity. If I decide to grow butternut squash, I'll pick another variety.

Summer squash (Grey Zucchini, White Patty Pan, Rond de Nice) - Planted to close to each other and too close to the bush beans. Also had squash bug problems. I got a few squash, but not a lot.

Peppers - I failed at my seed starting with the peppers. I started hardening them off too early. Also didn't water enough when I started hardening them off. Ended up buying pepper plants from various stores and nurseries. Bell peppers did okay considering they were crowded by potatoes. Cayenne peppers did well. Also had a mystery pepper that did okay (I think it was a serrano). The rest failed - Anaheim, Habanero, Jalapeno and whatever else I planted. Crowding issues for some; locations issues (not in raised planters) for others.

Tomatoes - At, last the queen of the vegetable garden! Some of these were started from seeds and some were bought as plants. Most of my productivity issues were from overcrowding. Except for Brandywine, I think that plant hated me.

Brandywine (Bought plant at farmers market) - This is a tasty tomato, but I only got 3 off of one plant. It refused to set fruit. I've had trouble trying to grow it in California as well.

Amish Paste (Bought plant at farmers market) - This one might have produced better if I had trained it. I put it in the ground and intended to cage it, or something. . . I think it would be good for canning, but I didn't care for it fresh.

Stupice (started from seeds) - Tasty little tomato, but it wasn't productive as some of the other tomatoes I grew this year.

Beefsteak (started from seeds) - Tasty, but not terribly productive.

Sweetie - (started from seeds) - These were sooooo good. And very productive. I planted 3 and they were very productive, and tasty. Did I mention that they were very productive?

Chocolate Cherry (Bought plant at farmers market) - Was an okay tomato, but Sweetie was much tastier, and productive.

Oregon Spring (started from seeds) - Some of these were huge and some weren't. It was like there might have been more than one variety involved? Was hard to tell because everything was a mess!

Juliet (Bought somewhere. . .) Very tasty and very productive. Roma shaped, and a little larger than a cherry tomato. The vine itself was all over the garden!

San Marzano (started from seeds)- Small paste tomato. Very productive bushes! Didn't care for them for eating fresh. Pretty good dried. Because they are so small, they would be a pain to peal for canning. But I suspect they would be could for sauce or ketchup or something that would be run through a strainer?

Roma (started from seeds) - Last year was the best luck I've ever had these! Good for drying, canning (ok, the only tomato canning was salsa and it was with whatever tomatoes I could find at the moment), pizza. Mmmmm, pizza.

A few more random odds and ends.

Asparagus (Purple something or other) - Planted 24 crowns. They took so long to start growing I thought they were dead. But slowly, they came up one by one and all sprouted. Hopefully we will get a couple of tastes this spring.

Basil (Sweet, Dark Opal Purple) - I interplanted with the San Marzano tomatoes. They were doing well until the San Marzano's took over (think: Little Shop of Horrors)

Cilantro - Easy to grow in cool weather. I think its one of those love it or hate herbs. I love it! A lot of it went to seed and there are seedlings out there now!

Dill - Also easy to grow in cool weather. And like the cilantro, I have a lot of seedlings out there now. I can't seem to have dill to go with the cukes and cilantro with the peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos.

Parsley - Grew really well. I lost one plant, but I think Rosie the Garden Dog had something to do with it. The plants are still out there, and I'm guessing the will bounce back in the spring and then flower?

My biggest problem with last years garden was planting too much too close. A lot of my failures were from overcrowding. Although, don't think I could have done anything to get a corn crop. I planted a lot of tomatoes very close. They crowded out a lot of plants including the basil, parsnips, spaghetti squash, etc. Also, I lost a lot of tomatoes because I couldn't get to them to harvest them. I couldn't get to the lemon cukes because they were tangled in the tomatoes.

The bush beans smothered some of the summer squash. And the summer squash were too close to each other to begin with. And that made it impossible to battle the squash bugs.

One thing I seriously miscalculated was how long it would take from seed to harvest for carrots, beets and turnips. I harvested some of them pretty small so I could plant summer crops. And the ones I didn't, got over ran.

So now what? I'm working on what to plant (and almost as important, not what to plant) for this years vegetable garden. I have 6 raised beds that are 4X8 and I can only plant so much! I need to make some decisions based on what we eat or don't eat and what is the best productive use of the space. Do I try growing parsnips again which have to be in the ground for next to forever? Or do I plant more beets? And how do I deal with tomatoes? These are the kinds of things I'm trying to work out in terms of the vegetable garden. But, I can't let it turn into the jungle I did last year. It got pretty frustrating. So much so that I did not want to deal with it by fall.

So, its a new year and a new veggie garden.

Review of Last Year's Veggie Garden (Part 2)

Parsnips - These were a total flop. They didn't germinate well and they were overrun by tomato plants. Still debating whether or not to try to growing them again.

Onions (Walla Walla, unknown red) - I started seeds for these inside. The never got very big. I plan to try again from nursery plants for this year. I may experiment with starting seeds in the fall for next year. I actually still have a few in the garden, will see what they do.

Turnips (Purple Top White Globe) - Another crop I need to give a little more time to grow and not have to remove for summer crops. I want to plant some for fall as well.

Rutabagas (American Purple Top) - I think I left them in the ground to long. I was saving them for fall, and they got HUGE. May try again, then again I may not.

Kohlrabi (Early White Vienna) - These took forever! Anyway, plant more. I also have some Purple Vienna to try. Want to plant for fall as well.

Peas (Little Marvel, Sugar Snap) - Sugar Snap were tasty and productive. I think they would have lasted longer in the season if I would have kept picking them. Little Marvel are a bush type pea and produced so-so. For garden peas, I think I plant a taller pea.

That was all the cool weather crops. Now on to warm weather crops.

Beans - (Bush Blue Lake 274, Kentucky Wonder - Pole, Pencil Pod Wax Bush, Royal Burgundy Bush, Anasazi, Lima) - The Royal Burgundy were amazing producers. They out produced the other bush beans by a mile. The Blue Lake and Pencil Pod were okay, but I doubt that I will plant them. They rivaled the pole beans! And the poor pole beans, I was so overwhelmed by the time they started producing I didn't keep up with them very well. I only got a few lima beans, they were a victim of overcrowding. The Anasazi beans were a bit of an experiment. I had some in the pantry and threw a few in the garden to see if they would grow. If I'm really going to grow and harvest them, I need to plant earlier.

Corn - Too much room, corn smut, failed crop. I'll buy it at the farmer's market.

Eggplant - Bought 2 plants of different varieties. They grew well, but we don't like them well enough to plant in the garden. Also, had an occasional bitter one.

Melon (Cantaloupe -Heart of Gold, Watermelon - Sugar Baby) - Total failure. Victim of crowding. Also, the cantaloupe was planted in a section of bed where nothing grew well. This particular section was not dug and amended properly. It has since been corrected.

Cucumber (Lemon, Spacemaster, Boston Pickling) - The lemon cuke grew really well, but was tangled with tomatoes and I couldn't harvest them like I needed to. The pickling cukes just didn't grow well. They had room, but I don't know what went wrong. Doubt I will plant them again. I discovered other things to pickle (lemon cukes, beets, green tomatoes). The spacemaster needed a trellis. I think I may try an Armenian cuke instead. Just don't want to plant that many of any cukes - we eat a few, but not a lot.

Tomatillo - My seed starting for these failed. Bought plants from a local nursery. And they grew and produced and sprawled and grew and produced and grew and sprawled and . . . I'll attempt to grow them on one of the trellises this year.

Okay, we need to go walk Rosie. I still have sweet potatoes, peppers, squash, potatoes, asparagus and TOMATOES to jibber about. And a little about herbs, flowers, strawberries, fruit trees and some general random thoughts.

Review of Last Years Veggie Garden (Part 1)

This is what my veggie garden looks like today. The beds are 2X6 fir. They probably won't last long, but they were relatively cheap (compared to redwood or cedar). The cement paving stone pad is for the green house. We have been working off and on as weather permits.

I've been working on what veggies I want to plant this year. I think I need to do a bit of review of what I planted last year. Tragically, a lot of the info I had from last year is on a dead laptop. I went through my seeds and compiled a new list of what I have. I finally found my green garden notebook which had some printouts of last years veggie layout. I have moments of organization and then it all falls apart, lol.

Okay now to the review of last years plantings:

Beets (Tall Top Early Wonder and Cylindrical) - These were so yummy! I need to plant more this year. I also need to give them more time to grow - I had to pull them all when there were real little to make room for summer crops. There are good as babies, but I would have liked some larger ones for pickling.

Carrots (Red Core Chantenay, Purple Haze, Rainbow Blend) - Purple Haze is only purple on the outside so if you peal it, it's orange! No more purple carrots or rainbow things, just plain orange carrots. And like the beets, I need let them have time to grow and not have to pull for summer stuff.

Radishes (Cherry Belle, Sparkler, Watermelon, Icicle) - Cherry belle grew the best and Watermelon was the worst. I won't bother with that one again. Sparkler, I don't remember, lol. And Icicle I would like to plant in a spot to give a little more time to get a little bigger. They are supposed to get 5", but I didn't have any that long. I wonder about the quality if they are that size?

Greens (Mescalin, kale, spinach, chard) - I planted greens from a package of mixed greens. They worked better being directly planted than from starting inside. I did start some other lettuces for a second crop but they got crowded by tomatoes and eaten by bugs. I'll use up the mix, but after that, I'll plant separate. The mix included some kale that bugs destroyed later in the season. I need to keep a closer watch on it. Spinach was a dud - I'll try direct sewing instead of starting inside. I've never had much luck growing spinach. And chard is as about as easy as it gets to grow. Only need a few plants - I would rather plant more beets.

Cabbage - Not going to bother again. We don't eat it that much, however the bugs loved it.

Broccoli, Broccoli-raab, Brussels Sprouts - I'm willing to try these again for a fall crop, but not for spring. The broccoli-raab was pretty bitter. I've grown it in So. Cal. in the winter, but I don't remember it being that bitter.

Well, I'll have to finish this later. Rosie has to go to the doggie doctor for a check-up and rabies shot.

Starting my Garden Journal

This is what the backyard looked like around Christmas. Snowy and unbelievably cold. And of course Jim and I were both sick and we didn't finish Christmas shopping.

But, now the snow has all melted and it is substantially warmer. Ok, 30 degrees is substantially warmer than 0 degrees. But we did have a 60 degree day a couple of days ago.

So this "warm" weather has got me to thinking of spring and GARDENING!!! I've been planning my vegetable garden for the year. I'm using the "Square Foot Gardening" method (Unofficially - I never did lay out the grids).

Last year my garden was overgrown by tomatoes. Planting one foot apart and training up a trellis failed for me. I just seemed to be unable to keep them pruned properly. And Some of the indeterminate type tomatoes weren't. So, I have to rethink the tomato plantings. But I did have lots and lots of tomatoes. Unfortunately a lot went to waste in the yard because of the mess.

Oh, but I had a lot of green tomatoes for the first time. Green tomato cake, baked "fried" green tomatoes. Pickled green tomatoes. I never realized the yummyness potential for green tomatoes.

Potatoes were a big success as well. Planted yukon golds and boy are they productive! This year I will dedicate a whole bed to them.

Corn was a total failure. Corn, smut, ewwww. Some places it's a delicacy, but ewwww. No corn this year. And no eggplant, rutabagas, pickling cukes, or bush cukes.

Although "Square Foot" is an instensive gardening method, I plainly planted things too close. Bush beans overran the summer squash, and the spagetti squash got buried by tomatoes. Flowers are going elsewhere - I just don't have enough room for them.

Ok, so I'm off to ponder this some more. Also on the pondering list are Asian pears (where?), Blackberries (where?), (Upright blackberries, hmmmm) and blueberries (the soil here is way to alkaline).