Planting the garden

Today I spent quite a while in the garden planting. I planted Optimum Corn, space miser zucchini, lemon cucumbers, romaine lettuce, summertime lettuce, and crook neck squash. I transplanted the celery into the south square foot garden and put the shade cloth over it. It's really in need of the shade right now while its getting established. I also spent some time texting back and forth with my sister who is gardening in a row garden for the first time. She needed to know how far apart to plant onions. Where to plant things - I always plant my tallest items on the east since my rows run north and south. I'm just glad she is willing to ask questions - it makes for a better crop and then she won't have to waste as much time with trial and error, cause I know I did. What are your gardening questions?

Garden update

My friend April - she is one of the smartest people in the world.  She started a magazine all on her own. Her oldest just got a perfect score on his ACT.  And April is also the best stay at home mom I know.  She was getting ready to grind some wheat yesterday when the neighbor said to her son, "WHAT is that?" To which her youngest son replied,  

"It's like a super hero cape - but for girls."

 If that doesn't give you a whole new appreciation for motherhood, I don't know what will. 

My morning started off in the fog.  I decided to go running anyway (I attract accidents and so I get nervous about anything that would impair visibility).  There was just enough visibility to make me feel like I would survive the run.  I saw my neighbor Babette out running too.  She was on her way home and I still hadn't reached my half way point. The fog started to burn off as I reached the top of the hill near my home.  I  love it when it looks like clouds. I can honestly say I never thought I'd ever run.  EVER! But I'm really enjoying myself.

And when I returned home I decided to work on the square foot garden.  I had to cut a piece off the 10x12 row cover and make it 8x14.  I also cut some of the extra pieces of the black pipe I used for the hoops and made clips.  

I planted Correnta Spinach and Little Finger Carrots today in this little garden.  During the week I transplanted 81 Big Daddy Onions, 4 Dutch Cabbage, and 5 Chinese Cabbage (Michihili) into this garden too. 

You can see my youngest in the background here. All 12 jalapenos are sprouting. 

All 4 Summertime Lettuce are doing well.  They'll go outside soon.  I decided to try and see if the spinach would sprout better in the 3" pots rather than the small window peat starters.  3"peat pots win!

If you look closely in the middle of the peat pot on the right you can see the first of the bell pepper sprouts.  I really hope that all of them sprout.  I love bell peppers. 2 cayenne peppers are just starting to sprout as well.

These are my Baby Bok Choy starts. Once they get a few more leaves I can harden them off.  I am hoping these crazy Utah springtimes don't send them bolting to seed.  My parents lived in Korea (my Dad is a medivac pilot) for a while and we love Asian greens. 

And my Utah Celery plants are looking pretty.  I can hardly wait to see if I can get these to grow once I move them outside.  Any tips?

All of my heirloom tomatoes are growing well. I can't believe that in 6 weeks they will be going outside and into the walls of water.  A couple I go to church with has this cool idea for using bolt cutters to turn cattle panels into the best tomato cages - perfect for indeterminate heirlooms that seem to grow super tall. Cattle panels are about $25 and you can make 3 cages from 1 panel.  I will definitely be making 3 - hopefully 6. And they store flat. Extra cool. 

And as you can see, these are getting out of control.  I may just have to break a piece off and start them over from a cutting or they might be too leggy.  I've never started heirlooms from seed I collected and I was worried about how long they'd take to sprout and grow but I can't bear to just toss them out.

All the bulbs and lilies seem to be poking out of the ground.  I am most excited about the purple Alliums.  Those on the west side of the house are really looking good. 

I also planted 18 basil plants this year to mix in between the tomato plants. I hear it helps deter those pesky tomato horn worms - we'll see.  

And then later today I planted 8 Early Girl tomatoes. If the ground would dry out a little I could get my garden tilled and plant all the peas - the bird on the mountain melted oh so long ago.

Cell phone pictures - sorry!

Harvest Monday - March 19, 2012

On Tuesday we went to the grocery store, not the one we typically go to. And there was fresh chicken breast for sale at 1.47/lb in 40 lb cases.  We purchased two cases. 

So far I've canned 

21 quarts of chicken breast 

AND

6 jars of chicken stock

 from the trimmings.  I also have a stock pot in the fridge just waiting to be skimmed and canned. I put 7 lbs of chicken in freezer bags and put them in the deep freeze.  And I have about a dozen pints of chicken breast I need to finish up.  I love having a pressure canner and I love canning my own chicken at a fraction of the cost.  What will we use all this chicken for over the next year - chicken salad sandwiches, chicken enchiladas, hawaiian haystacks, and I could go on and on. And the chicken stock is great for chicken noodle soup, and a million other things like making a low fat gluten free condensed creamy chicken soup (I'm allergic to wheat).

Here's our landscape plan.  I asked for plants that they'd find around homes in Park City Utah.  Uhm, they really didn't know what they were doing.  But the bones are good.  So I have been busy making changes and having fun.

Can you see the green line?  Just click on it to see it larger if you need. I am going to add a low wall by stacking flat rock.  That corner set up isn't going to work.  I'm just starting the leg work - measuring, finding how much sand I'll need.  How much the rock with cost. ETC

 I've started some Summertime Lettuce.

 My red beef steak tomato plant is doing well.

 I started some spinach in 3" pots.  It like the extra space for the roots.  NOTE TO SELF: Plant spinach in 3" peat pots if you want success.

 Because they don't seem to be doing very well in the small jump start containers.

 The baby bok choy is looking good. I think I should have started it a few weeks earlier.  Live and learn. The ice on the lake is already gone - the earliest in 5 years by weeks. I can always put it in the shade.

And here are the other heirloom tomato starts in 6" pots -

Cherokee Purple

Pink Brandywine

Red Beefsteak

The celery is looking great.

Red beef steak I need to separate the one and put it in another pot.

And the pink brandywine with it's potato like leaves. I can hardly wait to munch on these most delicious tomatoes.

It snowed 3" last night.  But it will be 67 degrees Friday. Nice! And I've taken up walking.  I go between 2 miles and 3 miles a day except not on Sunday. But today I choose the elliptical because the road is so icy.  See ya!

Check out Daphne's Dandelions 

Harvest Monday - February 20, 2012 - vegetable gardening in Utah

Outside my garden looks like this:

Inside my garden looks like this:

I love that my children keep referring to the lights as stairs.

And since I can't spend anytime outside I am slowly but surely getting everything ready inside.  These are the domes I purchased at Anderson's Seed and Garden a few years ago.  They are still in fantastic shape. 

If you happen to Like their facebook page just let them know that I sent you in a comment.  They are giving away a something free on Fridays (to anywhere in the USA).

The peat pots are actually Jiffy Brand but the seed trays are from Andersons

I labelled all of the popsicle sticks and placed the corresponding seed packets with them.

Next year I think I will move them into the spare bedroom. This year they are out where I can see even if it is the basement. How many of you have basements?

This is the Michihili Cabbage - a type of chinese cabbage.  I purchased the seeds at Andersons but not in the bulk seed section.  I love stir fry and kimchee.  We ate a lot of it as kids because my Dad was stationed in Korea right before I was born.

This is the Dutch Ball Head cabbage.  I need to thin soon.

All of my Pink Brandywine and Red Beefsteak tomatoes are doing well.  I thinned them a lot.  I'm just glad to see the seeds I gathered actually sprouted. Lovely heirlooms.  I love them!

And my Utah Celery:  

This will be interesting but I think that because I have a drip irrigation system on a timer that they will do well. You can't ever let it dry out and you can't overwater (black heart).

 I'm not sure how the blanching part will go. But I love trying new things in the garden.

And I finally got a few sprouts from my Correnta Spinach.

I love this Big Daddy Onions.  They are doing well - including those in storage.

And the green onions from seed I collected are in serious need of being thinned.  I just dumped the bag in the pot.  Next time I will put a 1/3 of the seeds in a pot this size. 

Here is the link to my gardening board at Pinterest.

And here is the link to the Pinterest Gardening Board.