Spring tilling and tender mercies

Because we took an amazing vacation to Florence, Oregon and Crescent City,  California for spring break I really got behind on my garden. I kept thinking I would just ask my neighbor to till it while I was gone. Totally forgot. Ugh

So my son is getting baptized this week. We are celebrating his birthday party afterward. My huge lifetime brand table is currently covered with plants that I started indoors. I need that table for the party. 

So as I was driving home today after volunteering at the school I saw a tractor with a sign on it that said "garden tilling" and phone number. I called and he drove right over and tilled up my garden in 10 minutes. His prices are half of what I've heard from other tractor owners. I paid him a tip in addition for being so prompt.

Call it a coincidence if you want but I know it is a tender mercy from a loving Savior who knew I was busy in the service of others and doing the best I could. I was even able to get the organic fertilizer on the garden before he started tilling. (Save time and put it in a fertilizer spreader and run it backwards around the garden). This whole thing couldn't have worked out better.

Now to get some plants in the ground...

Cultivating good soil and Cultivating a good life

Many of you have already figured out that square foot garden soil can be difficult to keep filled with the right nutrients for your plants to be productive. Every year something must be added and in my case, this year, a whole bunch of stuff must be added. I purchased a vegetable and tomato organic fertilizer (please don't ask me to make my own stuff from compost - I haven't progressed that far) and an organic bone meal (it has not been bleached white). I added both to my West garden and some to my South garden. It took me some time to figure out exactly how much I would need but luckily the wonderful soil test kit makes recommendations for very low NPK results. With that in mind, I had to add way more organic fertilizer than I had originally planned. This calls for another trip to the store but I'd rather do the extra work than end up with low production in my garden.

The nice thing about organic fertilizer is that it is slow release so if it's a wet spring, I don't have to worry about it running right out of my garden. Another nice thing is that it's full of other micro-nutrients you don't find in chemical fertilizers. One more thing is that it is filled with beneficial microbes, creating a healthier soil that's a little bit more self sustaining.

Thankfully there is sunshine in addition to soil and water.

I find myself needing to balance the the give and take. You can't give away more than you receive unless you allow the light of the Lord to amplify your efforts. Right now I find myself letting go of things that are draining me. And I am trying to improve my prayers with my Heavenly Father. And I am seeking to be around those who encourage rather than tear down. I'm working to avoid more of the offensive and putting more effort into seeking out the good. Just as I must cultivate good soil, I must also cultivate a good life.

I cleaned up my square foot gardens in February

I cleaned out the weeds and I raked the tops of each of my square foot gardens. I also cleaned out the  remaining carrots (half eaten by voles) from the west square foot garden.  I couldn't turn the soil yet, still frozen about half way down. Probably a good thing. I'm thinking of creating a wire mesh cage of some sort to keep the voles out. Any ideas? I will probably have to also cover the top somehow and let the plants grow through. The voles here don't just eat my plants from underneath.

Kiwi and Mambo joined me and got some much needed vitamin D. I kept them close to the house when I switched to the south garden so they were less likely to be prey for hawks.

Today's Harvest

We've been shelling peas like mad today. I put these in the freezer on a piece of parchment. Did you knowI Love to Cook at Kitchen Kneads has parchment precut for cookie sheets? My husband went and bought us pizza. Maybe that defies the purpose of gardening which is healthy eating. But it made it possible to get more done. We found out Pizza Plus has a gluten free crust so that was nice. The cheese might do me in. It seems like my milk allergy is getting worse. 

I picked a head of broccoli and some green onions today. I can't wait to eat them! And I pruned the tomato plants too. I got rid of all the leaves and branches touching the ground. They are just reaching the tops of the cages and just starting to bloom. 

How to plant peas in your square foot garden...

First of all, It's good to have a nice reference book.  

You can see the back of the book is arranged by vegetable type. 

I flipped open to the peas.

Then I soaked all of the peas.  ALL OF THEM. Duh.  Spring and fall's peas.  I ended up giving the rest to my sister-in-law.  

And then I went out to my square foot garden and placed the seeds in the soil.

And covered them up.

And it's looking pretty good! The rock on the lower right side is covering a vole hole. We added mole/vole bait that will break down into a garden friendly substance and sorry but the name escapes me right now. Those little critters are like mice/moles and they think my garden is their playground, and my lawn, and my window wells -gravel inches deep doesn't even bother them.

The peas are planted and good thing too because I just used the last of them in my parrot's food.

Egg Shells

How is your egg shell stash coming along? I don't have quite as many shells as I did last year.  For those of you new to my blog, I save my egg shells and place them in the ground when I transplant my tomatoes.  If there are shells left over, I add them to the ground with the pepper transplants.  

Maybe you are wondering why I put them in the ground with my tomatoes and peppers.  Well I've found out that it's sometimes difficult to regulate the water throughout the garden without having to build several separate drip line systems.  Some plants need more water than others. And if you live in an area where you rely on rain to water your plants, you know just how unpredictable it can be. Blossom end rot is the result of too much water - it washes away the calcium in the soil.  Because egg shells are high in calcium it takes about a handful per plant to prevent blossom end rot.

It's really simple and it's free! Dig a hole in your garden where you want to add your transplants, after sufficient hardening off, and throw in a handful of egg shells.  Mix the shells in with the loose dirt on the bottom and sides of the hole.  Place your transplant in there and fill in with soil.  

Snow in October

It rained and rained last night.  I think we even got a little hail.  That would be when my children ran downstairs to the theater room between getting home from school and waiting for daddy to get home.   I was in bed with the flu all of yesterday and today until 11:30 a.m.  The severe pain in my throat is gone but I have a cough but a cough is much better than throwing up in my book.  My husband took good care of me with the warm chicken broth and jello water. 

Then at 8:00 a.m. my son came running into my room and said, "Mommy, guess what?" with the excitement only a 6 year old can muster.  "Mommy, it's not even Halloween, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas!"  So I asked, "Did it snow?" And he answered, "It SNOWED! It snowed a whole bunch, " slowing down the words whole and bunch to add emphasis. His excitement was contagious, although not contagious enough to get me out of  bed.  So at 11:30 when I got out of bed for the first time today, I saw the snow.  I was surprised at how much.  It will melt soon, I'm sure, but today while there is snow on the ground - I will be playing Christmas music in my house.  If that annoys you, you are NOT invited over.   Who wants to chance getting the flu anyway...

For those of you not from around here, this snow is an amazing blessing.  It has been a very hot and dry summer.  Usually the reservoir has filled a little by mid-October.  Instead, the water levels were slowly lowering even though they stopped pumping out water in August.  I can see the reservoir from my office window.  Now if the snowy weather will just keep going, we'll all be okay. 

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. 

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.