The Big Surprise

Everything must come to an end. The tomato plants are turning brown...the tall dill plant is bent over...the flowers have lost their petals...the out of reach apricots are falling...it is time to pull up all that has turned brown and is drooping.

As I started weeding through the dying tomato forest in the front garden box, I noticed a few forgotten plants that had been, until now, swallowed by the tall tomatoes. It was the potatoes. Darn.

As I grasped the dead potato plant and pulled, there was a little resistance. I pulled harder. Weird. Pulling even harder, the plant finally gave up and came out of the ground. And then, I could hardly believe my eyes. Attached to the end of a very brown stalk was three small red potatoes.

I looked into the hole and found a couple more potatoes. Sensing a little hope, I plunged my hand into the 12"x12" square only to feel a TON of potatoes.

I dug with my fingers in that box and the one next to it. When I was sure there were no more potatoes to be found, I went inside and weighed my harvest. The scale told me I had almost 4 lbs of baby red and small yellow potatoes.

Needless to say...they didn't last long. I roasted them in olive oil and garlic. Mmmmmm.

Seattle Tomato Saga

Seattle is not known for tomatoes.

Our summers are mild and wet with little or no humidity. When planning the tomato section of the garden, smaller tomato varieties were chosen, but a few bigger varities were thrown in to see how well they would actually grow. To refresh your memory, here are the seedlings:

This is only part of the successful seedlings. Several were given away.

And then came the Wall-O-Water, or Aqua Shields. Their purpose was to insulate the plant against any cooler weather Seattle might experience AND trick the plant into thinking it was getting more sunlight.

In May and June, the Aqua Shields were great.

By mid June, I thought that I would have a few tomatoes to enjoy. But, I also knew that they still would not taste the same as those I had grown up eating in Indiana. Seattle just did not have the hot temperatures or humidity to produce the rich tomatoes.

But...here is where the story takes an almost Twilght Zone Twist...

This is the front yard area in at the end of June.

(Notice the height of all the plants based on the trellis)

After weeks of abnormally high heat and humidity,

(temperatures in the upper 90's and as high as 104),

the front yard area looks like this:

It was an amazing transformation and hopefully not one to be repeated next summer. Seattle has never known heat like that. As the tomatoes are ripening, I'm wondering...

will it taste more like an Indiana tomato?

Got Carrots?

Checkin' in with the carrots

Whenever visitors come to the house, I give a tour of the garden sections of the yard. At the end of the "tour", I always pick a carrot and give it to the visitors.

It's really a way for me to check on the growth of the carrots, but let's keep that a secret! :D

Here are the carrots today:

I really think these are the small carrots.

But I'll wait a little longer before harvesting.

The Emerald City

Wow. If Seattle wasn't green enough already...

Tomatoes Take Over the World

Romaine & Green Leaf

Tallest Dill Plant EVER

My Favorite: Basil

Sweet, Sweet Peas

Swiss Chard

Snapshots of How It's Growin'

Overview

Elijah's Carrots

Cabbage


Salad Lettuce (looks like lunch for tomorrow!)


Green Beans

Peas Appease

Well friends, I am not going to be harvesting any broccoli.

No raw broccoli for my three year old (he doesn't understand what happened, but neither does anyone).
No fresh cream of broccoli soup.
No broccoli for my freezer.
The plants are large and healthy, but no stalks are growing. Nada. Nothing. Just leaves, leaves, and more new leaves in the center of every single plant!

I do want to show off my whopper broccoli, though (it almost covers a 4 square foot area). Here is one of nine gigantic leafed plants that's going in the composter tomorrow...



However, the peas are a-coming, and so it makes me forget my broccoli woes (momentarily). Very soon I will be popping fresh sugar snaps in my mouth. Maybe my three year old can be appeased with peas.

Got Turnips?

Looks like Lisa's got ladybugs, but I have turnips! :)

They aren't huge, but they are big enough to do something with.

The Ladybug Neighborhood

It has only been recently that I learned my great grandfather was an organic gardener. And honestly, when the big beautiful leaves of salad greens and zuchinni plants start to show signs of buggy diners, it is very tempting to try and find a "mild" pesticide.

Instead, I'm using ladybugs to fight my battle. I'm not sure how many lady bugs were in each container, but there were a TON! The store estimates 500 per container and 4 containers were released.

A friend jokingly told me the perferred method of releasing the bug: "On a windy day, walk three to four houses down and release them." I guess when enlisting lady bugs to combat the pest problem, the whole neighborhood can benefit. Lady bugs like to fly during the day. To keep my lady bugs in MY garden, I needed a few helpful hints:

1. Lightly water your garden area just before dusk.

2. At dusk, release the ladybugs.

The lady bugs wil not fly at night and are more likely to find food and decide that your plants are the perfect neighborhood to move in to and have children. :)

I went and checked the next day...sure enough. The ladybugs have found a new home in my garden!!!

Beautiful Bouquet of Spinach

My first harvest!

I think it's good enough to eat...

Wall O What?

Wall O Water.

It was almost as if I was speaking another language. I had just mustered up enough courage to approach the West Seattle Nursery Employee but when I asked my question, "Where are your Wall O Waters?", she just blankly stared before wrinkling her nose and asking, "Wall O What?"

"W-a-l-l Ooooo W-a-t-e-r. " I repeated.

"Never heard of them." She replied.

Great. My next door neighbor, who is also my landlord, brought over three b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l tomato plants that made my starts look like Jack next to the Giant. She started these plants from seed. She strongly encouraged buying a product called Wall O Water from the West Seattle Nursery.

Great. I have no idea where to get these. The garden expert thought I was speaking another language when I asked for them. And my land lord will evict me if I don't find Wall O Waters and the Giants die. Not really.

The internet search began. Oh great Google, tell me where and how fast they can get here. Found 'em and for a great price.

I guess they are also known as Aqua Shields. The shields trick the plant into thinking it's getting more sun than it is and it also keeps the air surrounding the tomato plant warmer.

Potage St Germain

I was looking forward to coming home yesterday because I had a recipe in mind to make. It was Potage St Germain, a French peasant soup:


2 T. butter
3 leeks, chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 head of butter lettuce, chopped
30 oz. frozen peas
1/2 cup mint, minced

Sautee the leeks in butter over low heat until the leeks are wilted. Raise to medium heat and add the broth and water. Bring to a gentle boil. Add lettuce and peas. Cook until peas are tender. Add mint.

Either with a hand immersion blender or a food processer, blend the soup. If you find the soup is too thick, add water. Garnish with fromage blanc (soft white cheese) or sour cream. Serve hot or chilled.

My garden is only yielding radish at the present time. I had to buy all the ingredients except the mint. But as I started preparing this recipe, I realized that in a few months, I would be able to use peas, lettuce, mint and leeks from my own garden. I could make vegetable broth with leftover scraps of vegetables. The only thing I would have to buy is the butter...unless...I got a cow. Right.

The soup was ready to be served. I had even made bread the night before to go with the Potage, but then I heard a sound. I could NOT believe what I was hearing. Standing at the window, I finally had to face reality.

It was hailing.

Hail. It's May. It's Seattle. Thunder roared and lightening illuminated the yard just enough for me to see my vegetables covered in white.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.

Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain

Okay. So my trellis are not mountains, but surprisingly enough my idea worked. The Square Foot Gardening book suggested I use electrical conduit, rebar and trellis netting to construct the trellis I need for peas and beans.




Instead, I bought a package of 5' bamboo. There were 10 - 5' pieces in the package and it cost all of $6.00. Each trellis netting cost $4.00 and the twine? I already had it. I simply overlap the bamboo poles and secured with black electrical tape. I then tied the trellis netting to the poles. (I want to cover the black electrical tape with twine, but haven't done it yet. I think the electrical tape looks a little trashy. But at least I didn't use duct tape!)

After pushing the poles into the ground, I wrapped the pea vines around the bottom row of the treelis netting.

So, I guess I should change the lyrics of my song to: Grow, Grow Up Trellis Netting!

Herbal Addiction

I love to cook. And if I could only do one thing for the rest of my life, I would cook. I love to explore different foods from different cultures and sometimes that requires fresh herbs for recipes. In Seattle, I'm lucky that I can find an insane variety of fresh herbs. The problem lies in the cost of these fresh herbs. So, begins my herb garden.

Basil. Lavendar. Chives.

Thai Basil. Peppermint. Dill.

Morrocan Mint. Thyme.

Pineapple Mint. Oregano.

Tarragon. Garlic Chives. Parsley.

Chamomile. Savory. Cilantro. Rosemary.

Pea Update

They are growing! After blogging about the rain washing the seeds right out of the dirt (Please, Please, Peas Please), the peas are growing. I need to make a trellis for them to climb on, and I need to do it very soon.

I'm a little intimidated about using the material in the square foot gardening book (electrical conduit and rebar). This weekend I'll attempt to make trellis out of bamboo poles and trellis netting. Wish me luck! Of course, pictures will follow.

First Harvest

A radish.

Life is good.

And Don't Forget the Squash!

One of my favorite things to eat right out of the garden is summer squash and zucchini! Since most of the squares in both boxes were already taken, I built another box. This one is 2'x 5' and there is plenty of room around the box for the plants to grow in any direction.

The seeds were started indoor and I could hardly wait to take them outside and into the dirt! Half the box is for summer squash and the other half for zucchini.

Oddly enough the dogs have not bothered this box. No digging. No snacking. I can hardly wait to pull the first squash off the vine!

All My Children..uh...Tomatoes

Drama. Drama. Drama. What was I thinking? Trying to grow tomatoes outside Indiana. Seattle does not have the heat or humidity for a tomato to develop into that rich, almost sweet tasting fruit I grew up with. But none the less, I am attempting to grow tomatoes. Here is my story:

Knowing that I probably wouldn't have much success at a big red variety of tomato, I chose smaller plants that yield smaller fruit: yellow pear and red roma. I started the seeds indoor in the Jiffy soil pods and slowly watched the seeds sprout into tiny starts.

Thinking the middle of April would be the start of warmer weather, I planted them in the frontyard square foot box that gets more sunlight. And, to my surprise, my neighbor decided to cut down their very tall pine tree. This was great! Now my little starts would have the potential of getting even more sun. Maybe, I would have decent tomatoes after all.

(play villianous music - ha ha ha)

The temperature dropped and my healthy little starts soon started looking not so healthy. They are still alive, but I don't think they have grown in height in the past few weeks. I'm still waiting to see if they survive, let alone bear fruit. Just in case, more seeds have been started indoors.

Bad Bird!

Okay, I have a bird with a twisted sense of humor.

Every morning when I go out to my garden, I find one more turnip that has been uprooted and dropped in some random square. I wasn't too terribly upset about it until this morning when I found the casualties-- a turnip and two of my cantaloupe plants.

Someone told me that the bird is just looking for something to make a nest with and once it pulls the veggie, it decides that it doesn't want it.

Well, I like birds, but not enough to let this carry on. I have a plan.

I am going to hang pie-pan noise makers all around, and I am going to make some homemade pest spray (I was told that birds DO not like this...and neither do beetles...or slugs).

Pest Spray

Ingredients:
one small onion, chopped
one garlic bulb, chopped
one teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
one quart water
one tablespoon liquid dish soap

Blend onion and garlic together, add cayenne pepper and water. Stir gently and let stand for one hour. Strain the mixture, add liquid dish soap, and mix. Use the spray on both sides of the plant leaves. Leftover spray can be refrigerated.

Terrible Tale of Trimming the Tomato Plants

They now look like trees. Terrible trees.

Mel made me do it.

Seriously, this is what the book says to do to your vine climbing tomato plants. I really hope it's for the best because it sure does make for ugly tomato plants.

Planting- Round 2

Once my spinach, turnips, and other early crops are ready for eating, I am going to be planting again for a fall harvest! I sat down today to make up a planting plan (#2). I don’t know exactly what will go where, but I did jot down the days I need to be doing something.

[end of May]
Harvest turnips and plant BEANS! I am going to plant fun beans this time around: Calypso, Jacob’s Cattle, and Tiger’s Eye. These will have to be shelled, but that’s why I have children. I have 9 turnip squares, so I’m going to plant three squares/24 bushes of each kind of bean.

[June 1st]
Broccoli- start indoors (8 plants)
Cabbage- start indoors (6 plants)

[mid-June]
Harvest sugar snap peas and plant the following trellis climbers:
~Purple Pod Pole Beans (24 plants in 3 squares)
~More Cucumbers! (2 plants in 1 square)
~Zucchini (2 plants in 2 squares/this will take the entire trellis)

[mid-July]
Harvest carrots (which are coming up!) and replant with CARROTS!

[August 1st]
~Plant Broccoli and Cabbage transplants.
~Plant Kohlrabi (6 in 1 square)
~Plant Spinach (9 in 1 square)
~Plant Turnips (9 in 1 square)
I don’t know how many squares of each, but I need LOTS more spinach. My spinach has been plucked by children, eaten by animals, and some seeds just didn’t come up.

[August 8th]
Plant more spinach!

[August 15th]
Plant lettuce.

[August 22nd]
Plant more lettuce.

[August 29th]
Plant last batch of lettuce. I realize these plants may not get full-sized in time (before the first Indiana snow of the year). That’s okay. I will still eat them!

Growing Green!

Here are some updated pictures of my garden. Please comment on this post if you think Lisa needs to add some updated pictures of her garden.





Onions

Cabbage

Spinach

Peas

Lemon Verbena


Turnips

Cucumbers (transplants that I started inside about 2 weeks before taking outside)