Dog House Update

This just in....

The dirt around the dog house has been turned over and seed has been scattered.  If you remember from the last blog, I had old seed from last year that I dumped into a ziploc.

I sprinkled the fresh dirt with all the old seed and added a sunflower mixture of new seed. To cover the seeds, I lightly raked the area.

 Again...this is an experiment.  :)

Dog House

In the back corner of the yard, sits a dog house.  It's cute, but the area is usually overrun by weeds by mid May.

As I started cleaning out my seeds from last year, I thought it was a shame that so many seeds did not get planted. 

Hmmm....


Why not try to plant them?  Milk is good for several days past the expiration and eggs for several weeks.  Could these seeds grow?


Instead of the dog house corner being overrun by weeds, wouldn't it be a sight to see sunflowers, arugula, carrots, peas, radishes, onions, yellow tomatoes and zucchini overrunning the area instead?


Who knows.  I may spend hours turning the dirt, loosening it and then adding nutrients only to have the weeds grow even taller this year.


As I sit dumping each expired seed pack into a Ziploc bag, I couldn't help but wonder - what if the seeds grow?

Cold weather = dead greens.

I can hardly believe it.  The temperature dropped this week and the lettuce and collards are looking mighty sick.  Also, the parsley and cilantro are not looking much better. 

Guess I will wait and see...or we all will wait and see.

Staggered Greens

Something I did not try last year that I will definitely do this year is stagger the planting of the greens. The Square Foot Gardening book describes a process where planting is done in intervals so the result is being able to harvest a usable amount of greens.

I don't want to plant 12 lettuce plants and 8 spinach plants all at once. I would never be able to use that amount of food at the time of harvest. But, if I plant a couple greens this week and then a couple more next week and then a couple more the next week, I get a constant harvest and will be able to have fresh greens regularly from my garden throughout the summer.

I got a little ambitious with the first planting, but with an early harvest and a late harvest, these greens will be able to be harvest and eaten over 3 weeks.


The next lettuce/spinach/collards will be planted in front of the existing plants and will be done soon.

Herbal leftovers

They lasted throughout the winter without a problem. The chives, oregano, tarragon, and thyme were all covered with straw and I guess it was enough to keep them alive and healthy.


The tarragon was originally grown in deck pots, but since the peppermint, pineapple mint and Moroccan mint all died, I transplanted the tarragon into the herb box where the mint use to be. Wait...I take that back. Not all the mint died. Notice what is growing out of a crack in the side of the herb box:

In the backyard, cilantro and parsley was planted next to the trimmed rosemary bush.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."

I know that lyric is from a Christmas carol, but right now it's all about the dirt. It's time to garden. This morning I built a 1'x4' box that will sit on top of my 2'x5' box in the backyard. I wanted to add a second tier to the existing box to grow strawberries.

The landlord cut back the tall evergreen tree which resulted in more light for that box. I'm not replanting the squash/zucchini in that area this year as it was taken over by legions of mold armies.

Strawberries it is...and the strawberries that have been growing in the front yard flower bed have been transplanted to the box and several brand new strawberry plants have been added.

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.