Cold weather transplants

My cold weather transplants are doing well.  The bok choy is looking great but I'm starting to think I started it way to early. Last year I grew the mini bok choy and it didn't do well at all.  So this was just an experiment.  It already looks better than the other did. I only grew one pot because I am thinking that  fall is going to be the best time to plant these.

I'm also growing broccoli for the second time.  The first time I grew it from some transplants my mom gave me. She didn't even know what kind they were. And the heads of broccoli were full of caterpillars, little green caterpillars.  I couldn't even eat them because I wasn't sure I had found them all. So this year I will be growing broccoli under a net covered hoop.

From Anderson's Seed and Garden:

Super Dome hybrid is a tremendous yielder of very large, extra fine quality heads on nice compact plants. More broccoli, larger heads, more weight - these features add up to more goodness, flavor, and nutrition for everyone who enjoys broccoli. It will do well in the late fall, winter, and early spring. Super Dome is resistant to downy mildew. 58-60 days to harvest.

This variety is early to mature and has a mild flavor. Large buds cover dark green domes that average 8” in diameter. Packman is a heavy yielder that withstands the heat unlike many other varieties. This allows it to be planted later in the season if needed. 57 days to harvest.

They also have a nice selection of organic seeds.

Published again

I submitted this photo so long ago that I almost completely forgot about it. That is until I received the email today. I can't wait to receive a copy of the issue in the mail. You'll just have to get a copy of the magazine to see my photo - you'll know it's mine by the red helmet.

Yellowstone in 3 days ...

We spent three days visiting Yellowstone National Park and just got home tonight. In fact we picked up dinner on the way home and purchased some extra for the in-laws for watching our parrot Kiwi while we were gone.  

It's the first time our children have been to Yellowstone.  I was pregnant with my daughter the last time we came. The Artist Viewpoint is significant for us because that is where Tyler and I had our engagement photo taken almost 14 years ago.

What's your favorite place to visit in Yellowstone? 

What's your favorite trail to hike?  We finally went on Uncle Tom's trail and it is breathtaking - and our new favorite trail.

Since we've been home we've been busy unpacking, ironing church clothes, and playing games with Kiwi.

We had a great time and I'll be sharing more photos very soon! 

The first Harvest of 2012

This is the very first thing I have harvested this year. Correnta Spinach

 I'm getting used to the floating row cover and my veggies are doing well shaded under it.  The black PVC hoops are the perfect height.  And with the amazing amount of butterflies I am glad that my cabbages and such are protected. Anything that doesn't need to pollinate to grow can go under it.

And here is my second harvest of the year.  It is the first time I've grown baby bok choy. And you can see that the stalks are pretty skinny but it was starting to bolt.  Maybe now that I'm not having to baby a lot of the stuff under my grow lights I can dedicate a little time to studying up on how to do a better job at growing these. 

Today I weeded between my tomatoes with my parrot on my shoulder.   Once he decided to climb on my head it was time to send him inside with my children. We got 3/4 of an inch of rain on Friday in just a few hours which is rare around here in the high desert so I didn't get the rows tilled that are full of weeds and haven't been planted.  I did put some nitrogen on the corn patch.  I'll till before it rains again next week and then plant the corn - popcorn - and if it doesn't grow, I will not plant corn again. If you live nearby please tell me who to buy sweet corn from this summer.

Spring Color

My alliums are just starting to bloom on the west side of the house.  I can't wait to see them in full bloom.  The colors are just gorgeous and if I leave them to dry it will seed and there will be plenty more alliums in the future.  You can get the bulbs and plant them in the spring.

And last fall I planted daffodils for the first time.  I am glad I did.  The deer don't like alliums or daffodils so they are a safe choice in my yard.

I think I will plant more this fall, maybe some that come up earlier.

Tomato Cages - inexpensive and long lasting

This is the tomato cage created by a friend of my father-in-law. His name is Rick.  He used Galvanized Steel Cattle Panels (sometimes called wire panels).  Each panel is big enough to make 3 of these.  You will also need wire cutters.  Can you see how the wire is about 4 inches apart (height wise) and the top two are not as far apart.  You will want to cut them this way because you will cut the bottom horizontal wire off and then stick them into the ground with what is left. These are 4 ft tall tomato cages which are much taller than what you can buy and these certainly are very sturdy.

 You can see here how he wrapped the wire around.  In the fall you un-do one side and they fold flat.  

 See, the bottom wire is gone, leaving these nice ends to stick in the ground.

Harvest Monday - 2012 Garden Plans

I've never been good at planning my garden ahead of time but this year I want things to be different.  I have found this great site thanks to another awesome gardener.  It's called Gardeners.com and here is the Kitchen Garden planning area of the site.

3x10

Here it is when we first put it together

This is my small west garden - just a few steps from the master bedroom.  I am planting Baby Bok Choi, Green Onions, Big Daddy Onions, Little Finger Carrots, Michihili Chinese Cabbage, Dutch Round Cabbage, Romaine Lettuce, Summertime Lettuce, and Spinach. Everything can be secured under a row cover because none of it needs to pollinate or go to seed and I desperately need to keep out the grasshoppers and cabbage loopers and shade it for a longer growing season. Now to figure out an economical way to keep out the slugs.

And here is the 4x16 foot garden

In it will be red potato, victory freezer pea (a bush pea), Utah celery, cilantro, cayenne pepper, serrano pepper, jalapeno, keystone bell, and jade bush green bean.

And this is my 16 x 40 foot row garden with the 4x16 foot square foot garden you just saw. I placed the square foot garden at the very end. 

#3 and #4 are Snow Peas and they back up to the property line.

5,6,7,8,9,10 is going to be popcorn.  I haven't had any luck with sweet corn.  So this is the last chance to see if I can be successful with corn. 

13,14, 15, 16, 19, 20 are tomatoes.  Right now the plans are for Cherokee Purple -1 , Red Beefsteak -3, Pink Brandywine - 4, and Early Girl - 8.

And row 17 & 18 is my garlic row which I planted in the fall.

Pumpkins will be added as a filler in the upper tier of the backyard flower bed.  I can't do too much with that spot this year since we are wanting to add several trees back there.  We are located on what used to be an alfalfa field and before that, sage brush and scrub maple. I might be able to tuck some of the extra cabbage I've got sprouted into the entry way flower beds. And last of all I am not sure where I want to plant the zucchini and yellow crook neck. Really, I just need to double the garden so that it's 32 feet wide and 40 feet long instead of 16 feet wide.  I dream about putting a sort of ground level cement wall around it since it is on a slope and then a fence above that.  I would convert it all to raised beds at that point.  The nice thing is that right now it's easy to just plow the row garden with a tractor.

Valentine Tulips from Tyler

My sweet husband surprised me with tulips for Valentine's day a day early.

I love tulips and I love that he thought of me.  It really is the simple things in life that add to our joy. 

My birthday

I recently had a birthday.  And my sweet husband had these sitting on the breakfast table when I got up in the morning.  Isn't he the sweetest thing! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope that you are having a wonderful time this Christmas season.  

Here are a few photos with what we are up to:

Fall leaves and General Conference

During the afternoon session of General Conference we decided to take another drive.  IT WAS A GORGEOUS DAY! And can I just start out by saying that it was just like this photo below.  Sometimes we struggle to get the eye to see what we see. When we saw what you see in this first photo we were speechless and Tyler stopped the car and got out the camera.  I added a tiny vignette but other than that I didn't do anything to the photo.  How did it turn out so great?  It's called a circular polarizer.  It allows you to cut the glare and get the sky to remain it's amazing blue color. Click on the photo to see it larger. 

Tyler took this photo.

And this one was just off the peak.  I took this photo. Gorgeous wild flowers!

We were shocked how much snow was up there.  It's amazing how much more than what we saw July 2010 and you'd think it being Oct 2011 there'd be less by now.

And Tyler took this photo too. Beautiful!

Harvest Monday - October 3rd

I planted this bare root peach tree last year in the spring.  It took forever for it to sprout a single leaf but it finally did.  This year it had gorgeous blooms all over it but I honestly wasn't expecting anything else to happen. Maybe you remember this photo? Or this photo? They were about the size of golf balls and I had no idea how much they would grow.  Now that I know, I will remove buds that grow too close.  

The two smaller peaches really aren't that big but they'll be yummy on vanilla ice cream as our treat for Family Home Evening tonight.

My daughter picked the first peach.

My son picked the next peach - his was the one that was up top but he got it. 

I picked the last and largest peach.  My daughter wanted to know why.  I told her it was because I bought the tree, planted the tree, watered the tree, added fertilizer around the tree, and gave it its first pruning.  It's nice to add some fruit to all the veggies around here. And my children are excited about eating fresh fruit tonight.

This peach is considered the ultimate canning peach.  The skins slip off easily when blanched. And you can store them for up to 7 years! Not that ours ever last that long - maybe 10 months.

Check out this week's harvest at Daphne's Dandelions.

Monkey Birthday scrapbook pages

My son loves monkeys.  Maybe it's because everyday after Dad walks in the door he rushes to change out of his 'monkey suit' into something comfy.  Maybe it's the cute monkey he earned the money to buy from Build a Bear.  Maybe it's the fact that the neighbor boy bought one just like it so they could play together.  Maybe it's the monkey blanket I made him from fleece I purchased at JoAnn's.  

He asked for a monkey party and he got one.  I finally made the paper to go with it so that I could finally scrapbook it. I'm funny that way, I like things custom.  Apparently so do my children.

Go check out the Monkey kit at CottageArts.  It's on sale during it's introduction stage.

By Laura Vanderbeek

Cottage Arts Design Team member

 Tonya Regular

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