Showing off to Dad

Today I got to show off my garden to my Dad. It's August 4th and the garden, and yard is in full bloom!

July 4th!

July is when you really take a look at the progress of the garden. All of the rows are established. You can see where some plants may crowd other rows, especially for us because we densely plant our rows, to get the most out of our garden. Really important to thin out, if you haven't already because throughout July and August the garden will be its biggest yet! We start harvesting greens at this point, kale in the lower right and collards above (see pictures below). Everything else needs time.

RIP 2016 Garden

Daniel and I have a contingency plan for hail storms, including hard hats and tarps to cover our garden in the case there is a storm. We have, in the past, been able to save our garden by covering our garden before the storm hits. One year we could hear the hail coming, it sounded like a train and had fair warning! But this year we didn't see the warning in time.

After it was over I went out to salvage what I could by removing the ice from the seedlings. The tomatoes and peppers took the biggest beating. We had purchased these as seedlings so the good news was that they could be replaced with a visit to the local nursery. Everything else was green but had few leaves, so the verdict was out.

Update: We replaced the tomato and pepper plants and everything else recovered. The hail storm put our growing season behind a few weeks. However, it is October now and we are still harvesting tomatoes, collards, Swiss chard, kale and cabbage.

Asparagus and Artichokes

I love to plant perennials that come back every year. It is only our third year for asparagus and artichoke but they are peaking up early this year. We also have blue berries, black berries, raspberries an cherry and apricot tree. The neighborhood used to be an apple orchard so we always get a share of apples from our neighbors as well.

Artichoke

Asparagus

Blue Berries

Sprouts!

Within just a couple of weeks seeds are sprouting all over the garden! Spinach, Kale, Collard Greens and radishes are peaking up. This is when you start envisioning your garden in full bloom,






 

Mark your rows when drinking!

Most important, especially if you mix alcohol with seed planting, mark your rows with labels, I can't tell you how many times we have been like "did we plant that there?".

Planting Begins!

 This is one of my favorite times of the year, when we start planting our seeds! I will tell you that we try direct seed most of our garden. There are a few crops we will either start indoors or buy seedlings for including peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant. But the real fun is watching the sprouts push up out of the ground. The possibilities of the garden are then evident.

Planting seeds...

 We are planting a variety of seeds this spring we always mark our calendar as to what we have planted and when.  I recommend that you keep your calendars from year to year, at least a five year rotation of calendars. You can then start to see patterns in the weather and  and improve or adjust just when you plant your seeds and seedlings.

We also update our calendar when we harvest or transplant seedlings as it helps us plan the next year planting cycle. For example if I know that my cauliflower is going to take all summer to mature I could plant, perhaps, some radishes in that area before the cauliflower blocks the sun. When  you have a small space you want to take advantage of some slow growing crops.

New Composter

This year we were able to upgrade our compost process to a more eye appealing barrel system that rotates. We are finding that we have rich soil to use every 4-6 weeks. We bought it from Costco.                                                                                            

Before the seeds...

The garden has been had compost added and it has been tilled. We have marked the areas in which, we think, our seeds will be planted. It is a work in progress and there is quite a bit of a banter between Daniel's wants and mine. He prefers more room for peppers. I want my kale, Swiss chard and most important collard greens. I love peppers but want long lasting greens that will take us into the fall. We will both win at the end as we compromise and pick the best sun and soil in the garden for our favorites.

2016 First Direct Seed Planting

A consistent practice is that we mark what we plant and when. If you keep your calendars and note planting, successes and failures it is great way to improve on the process.

On April 6th we planted spinach, cabbage kohlrabi, bok choy, kale and collard greens.

Spring!!

This was captured on a beautiful day. We got walloped with snow a few days later.

2014 Garden Pictures

Pbalanos, eggplant, broccoli and Swiss chard

Squash

Garden Overview

Summer Peak Growth

Topsy Turveys for Tomatoes 

2014 Kale!

Yes, Kale! It's not the most glamorous of the veggies but it is easy to grow, versatile and nutritious. Our 2014 garden was overwhelmed with kale. I wanted two rows of 2 varieties, traditional and dino kale.

We received more than we thought we could use! However, it was an opportunity to find new recipes with our wealth of kale. I used kale in soups, for juicing, salads and stir-fry and was never disappointed. It is absolute essential for a white bean soup with leeks and mushrooms. Further, we had Kale all through the summer and into the fall. It wasn't until a hard freeze that our kale frenzy was over.

Kale

Tips for growing Kale: Plant from seed directly into garden plot early in the spring after the last frost. Once mature plants are establish harvest the leaves instead of the whole plant. You will then have kale into the fall.

2014 Garden Recap!

2014 was a much better year than 2013 for gardening. We had compost for a year and added all of those nutrients into the soil. We also changed the design of the garden for better access. We decided that a path through the middle would work better than last year. As you can see below the soil is looking much more rich, in comparison to the previous year.

Happy Planting!

New Garden Design

2013 Humble Beginnings at New Home

In 2013 we moved a few miles west. We love our new home and started our project outside first. We moved in June, so we left our newly sprouted garden behind.

Daniel and I cannot imagine going through a summer without a garden. We got to work quickly after moving in. The backyard is smaller so we had to get creative.But for starters we concentrated on our new defined plot with fencing from Home Depot.

With any new plot it takes time for the nutrients to increase. Not even grass grew in this back yard so we knew we had our work cut out for us. We set up our compost bin and worked the soil with purchased organic compost (BOSS) and peat moss.

We cheated and bought many seedlings from the local nursery.

Working in BOSS

BOSS

Compost Bin

Garden Plot Fenced Off

2016 Dirty Girl Organic Gardening!

Happy 2016!! It is January and the best time to start thinking about your garden..whether you are container gardening or in your garden plot!

2016 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the Dirty Girl Organic Gardening blog so stay tuned!

Thank you for your interest!!

Suzanne Hassler
The Dirty Girl