Harvest Monday - 18 June 2012

We arrived home after a last minute trip for Father's Day weekend.  A friend let us borrow their raft and so we took our children for a 7 mile float trip down the Green River on Saturday. And we also ran up to Dinosaur National Monument on Friday since we were already there. 

When we got home Sunday afternoon I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner.

One of the things we don't do is go shopping on Sunday.  We also don't do big chores on Sunday.  We do make beds and wash dishes but no scrubbing or washing clothes, etc. 

So I ran up to the garden and grabbed some snow peas which took 3 minutes.  

Then I peaked in the square foot garden and some of the Little Finger carrots were ready and they were delicious. No more trying to grow carrots in the clay.  These were ready faster and less bitter.  I will be planting more of those now.

I love the taste of fresh snow peas.  I pounded out 2 chicken breasts and cut them and made stir fry with all these veggies over glass noodles.  

And some tiny green bunching onions. I just never transplanted them.

And the last baby bok choy. I think next time I will grow the real stuff. Probably starting August 1st for a fall crop. 

June 2, 2012 Garden Harvest

First of all I transplanted all of the Genovese Basil to the garden.  There are 14 in the row garden. I placed them between the tomatoes.  It's supposed to help ward off tomato horn worms.  It worked last year in the square foot garden. We'll see how it goes this year.  I started the basil from seed. 

I also brought the pepper plants outside to sit on the porch and start to harden them off before transplanting.  Serrano, Jalapeno, and Bell. I started them from seed as well (except for 4 of the Serrano).  The Jalapenos did the best.  They sure are pretty and dark green.  Grow lights are wonderful! They are in the shade today but they'll get a little sun in the morning an then back to shade.  

I harvested a few strawberries.  We have a tiny patch and it looks like the voles are back.  I bated around the big square foot garden and need to get more.  It's an organic variety but it works amazingly well.  

And my husband, daughter, and son all loved them.  My husband even encouraged me to buy more and grow a bigger patch.  I wish I remembered which type they were but my mom gave them to me and I have no idea. 

This is Summer Time lettuce that I spread on my plate and added a little LiteHouse Ranch (soy free). And this is the first time growing Summer Time.  It's a head lettuce and it handles the summer heat very well.  It is delicious and pretty.  I can't have wheat (hives) so I use a bed of lettuce instead of a bun with my burgers.

And the Correnta Spinach looks yummy.  Can't wait to eat some of that tonight.

Memorial Day hike

We spent Memorial Day hiking up in the mountains.  There was fresh snow and it was beautiful but a lot of work.  We didn't make it all the way to White Pine but the view of the mountains and the snow was pretty enough. 

Just before we reached this spot we came around the corner and spotted a couple hugging and kissing and she was crying.  And then I spotted a beautiful shiny new diamond ring on her hand. The guy asked us if we'd take a photo of them for him.  She was a beautiful girl and he was athletic and outdoorsy.  My daughter thought it was the coolest thing ever and even prayed that they would be happy. We walked farther down the trail and around the next bend to give them some privacy.  I hope the photos turned out nice.

Here we are taking a break.  It took one and a half hours to get to the big rock and a half hour to get back.

Flowers and fruit trees

My rose columbine is probably my favorite flower.  It is compact for a columbine.  And there are plenty of flowers in this beautiful mauve color. Mauve. Do people even use that word anymore?  I just remember towels and wallpaper with mauve on it in the 80's.

My chives handled the transplant okay and the blooms are so pretty.  I might have to grow more of it and add it to other parts of my garden.  There is plenty of room!

Yellow columbine

A few tulips and purple alliums are hanging on.  

And I have one last daffodil. Must be the coldest part of the yard.

Globe Master allium - smaller than last year. hmmm 

The purple columbine is taking off.  I love it. 

And my little helped in the garden.  He is watering the Braeburn Apple tree.

And then the Gala Apple Tree.

Yesterday I shared a photo from the South East corner of my lot where my 16x40 foot garden is.  This photo is from the South West corner of the lot. 

And the peach tree is looking good.  I'm going to have to cut a bunch of branches off the top and the left side next spring.  I just didn't want to kill it. And as you can see, I must have done just the right amount of pruning. I am going to add some bushes, perennials, and the river rock around this tree. 

You know one of the things that has impressed me with this valley coming from the view that I grew up in a military home, is that most people here have fruit trees, grape vines, and vegetable gardens.  Those who don't grow a few veggies mixed in with their flower beds.  But for the most part people here grow and store a lot of their own food.  It's been a great lesson on PROVIDENT LIVING.

Harvest Monday

Kiwi helped my in the garden tonight. We took off the walls of water and placed them under the drip line for quick access if needed.

And he kept me going.  Not a great photo of me but the scenery and Kiwi are great.  We spent Memorial Day hiking up to White Pine Lake in 6 inches of new snow with both kids in tow.  No makeup, man t-shirt on, ponytail, and then covered in dirt from working in the yard.  Well, you understand.  I feel it's okay to be very real when I blog about my garden. And this was just what I looked like tonight - I didn't even retouch the photo or enhance the colors.

We finally got the mix for the square foot garden.  It's call the Garden Box Mix from Millers in Hyrum. Buy it in bulk not the bags. On Saturday's in the spring it's on sale for $80 a yard otherwise it's about $105 which is still a bargain because you don't have to mix anything - it's already done for you.  The pH is checked and all the nutrients and micronutrients. This was half full and it took a yard to fill it the rest of the way.  It is 4 feet by 16 feet by 10 inches.  

It has coconut husk instead of peat moss (Utah peat moss is full of salt because of old Lake Bonneville). And it has pearlite to increase the water holding capacity since we live in the desert instead of vermiculite which helps with drainage. It rained yesterday which brought the perlite to the top and I smoothed out part of it today which is the darker part.

You can see my other square foot garden here:

I love the rock around it and plan to add it to all of my flower beds. It's $59 a yard and so that is probably going to be a fall thing and only part of the flower beds at that. Slowly but surely things are taking shape. Need to edge again. 

My Summertime lettuce which is a head lettuce is taking shape.  I can't wait to try it.  And my romaine lettuce is starting to look good too.  

And my spinach is starting to grow.  I need to harvest some of it soon. Maybe I'll put some on my homemade gluten free pizza with alfredo sauce, chicken,  and chopped tomatoes.

See that weed at the very bottom of the photo below.  It's called Morning Glory by most people in Utah except this is really Bind Weed.  Terrible stuff and it will kill anything it gets its tendrils on. It's gone now, sort of, stinkin' rhizomes. 

My Big Daddy onions are doing well, and those in the back are from last year and are going to seed - which is what I want. It is pretty and it will give me plenty of seeds to share.

This is my hard neck and soft neck garlic row.  

I planted a row of Jade Bush green beans.  Hands down my favorite green bean ever.  I will be planting some in the big square foot garden along with yellow wax beans.

My tomato plants are starting to get a little bigger.  I have 2 Cherokee Purple, a few pink brandywine and red beefsteak, and 6 early girls, oh and not pictured are the 3 romas next to the house -they do much better on the hot side of the house. I need 4 more cages - still ...

And my snow peas.  I can hardly wait.

Another view of the Early Girls.  I did buy the plants. I just had a terrible time trying to grow them from seed this year.  I am going to throw out the seeds and start over with something new next year. I put collars on a few.  They help keep out the tomato horn worms.  I just cut two toilet paper rolls and put them around the base of the plant and put a little dirt around them.

You can see here that last year I planting the garlic and the onions before I knew where the NEW drip line would go.  These are the only two rows that are off.  I am going to have to move the onions next to the line - just the small ones.

My Spirit Bush pumpkins have all sprouted.  

Here is a view of the garden from the back south east corner of our 1/2 acre lot.

As you can see we are surrounded by alfalfa.

And here is our lonely little trex deck that is not shoveled in the winter and in the dead of summer it is just too hot to step on.  One day it will have a pergola that will be beautiful and shade the south side of my house.  In the meantime I am pinning every cool pergola on Pinterest that I can possibly find. It's under my Landscape Architecture board if you want to see what I've pinned so far.

And let me tell you I love Natural Guard.  Anderson's Seed and Garden recommended it because this upper tier was so dry all of the time and looked awful.  One treatment along with a serious dose of fertilizer made all the difference. 

See, gorgeous green - oh and that lonely ash tree will get some friends eventually.  We need to put in about 6 more trees along the upper side of the rocks. Which will also help shade the south side of the house.

Can you see why we finally got trees on the west side of our house? Shade.  And that got the ball rolling for us.  Thankfully.  The bushes you see here are Honey Suckle compact bush and Dwarf Burning Bush which will turn bright red in the fall. They are growing quickly and it's already helping a little. The trees on the west side of the yard are Improved Canadian Choke Cherry and the branches are already starting to grow after 1 year. 

So thankful.  Do you see that massive air conditioner? 4200 square feet of house is expensive to cool.  Although I must say that it's a good thing that 2600 of it is in the basement. 

I remember my landscape architect teacher telling me that one well placed tree can take reduce the need for air conditioning by 1 hour a day. So I hope that 3 well placed trees will make a big dent in the air conditioning bill in a few years when they get big enough.

I love Columbine and Clematis

I purchased two of these last year and they didn't look like they'd make it. They look fabulous this year!

And this Rose colored Columbine is looking spectacular. 

The yellow columbine my neighbor gave me will bloom later this summer.

And my gorgeous Clematis has over 90 blooms on it.