Backyard Grocery Gardening

Suspending This Blog

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 01:56:00 +0000

I just don't have time to work on this blog right now.

Hope to get it back up someday. Meanwhile, please peruse the postings here ... lots of information on how I garden and produce food for my family. Believe me, if **I** can do it, so can you!

Thanks... and enjoy!!

Indoor Garden

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:23:00 +0000

I keep meaning to take pix of my indoor garden. Maybe next week. See, in Colorado, it gets cold in the Winter. Brrrr... very cold! (I know, duh!). So we can't continue to grow food outdoors.

About 3 weeks ago, when the daytime weather started getting in the 50's, I brought in all of my potted plants: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, rhubarb, blueberries, asparagus, etc. I put the pots on drainage trays (to avoid messing our carpet!) and set up plant/grow lights.

We're still getting some great looking veggies. Yum! I even planted more seeds for cucumbers, green beans, lettuce, scallions, summer squash and carrots. Good way to get fresh organic veggies during the winter without paying high prices.

Note: since there are (hopefully) no bees indoors to pollinate, if you do this, be sure to take a q-tip and hand-pollinate your veggie flowers. Tomatoes to tomatoes. Zucchini to zucchini. Etc. I use the same q-tip over and over again, leaving right in front of the appropriate pot. That way, I won't cross pollinate.

Just a thought!

Need evergreen vine to hide animal pen

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:27:00 +0000

We plan to build a second chicken and goat pen along a weird perimeter line. Since we're on the top of a hill, it will be seen for miles, so we want a little privacy, and to hide it. Most of it will be a 6' tall fence, but part of it will be a 6' tall goat house and a 4-6' tall chicken coop/house. We might even put an alpaca here. Will do sometime in early Spring 2011 so we have plenty of time to decide.

There will be about a foot of space between the fence and the "houses". Enough space for a vine to grow but not really enough for a person to walk through. Comfortably.

Located on the eastern plains of Colorado, it gets very windy here, and can often have negative 25 degree temperatures with huge snow drifts. Summers bring blazing heat.

The pen will be along the south-east perimeter of the property, so will get much sun (there's really nothing on the other side except the neighbor's lawn).

We're looking for an evergreen vine that will grow up along the fence and goat/chicken houses to hide them, plus provide a cooling effect during the summer, and help keep in warmth in the Winter. Needs to stay green year-round. It can't be poisonous just in case the critters nibble on it. Thorns would be good too, to provide our animals protection from the foxes and other predators in the area. Needs to be drought tolerant because it will be a little difficult to water.

Suggestions?

Possible Change to Blog

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:03:00 +0000

Posted this on my other blogs, but thought I'd post it here too ...

Keeping up with these blogs is very time consuming ... not that I mind, usually! We're getting ready to embark on an intensive homesteading adventure, and may not be able to work on blogs daily.

So... I'm thinking about combining our blogs (cooking, gardening, homesteading, survival, storage, homeschooling, etc.) into one. I would eventually move posts to the new and combined blog.

We have a lot of readers, and I value your opinion. Thoughts?

Meandering Around...

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:57:00 +0000

Not much to do when the indoor garden has been eaten up by beetles (except for the stevia and aloe), and we're soooo close to getting our homestead. Out looking and hoping that the one we want will be available for the price we can afford.

Meanwhile, yes, I've bought seeds! I usually can't stand to wait, so I've placed my orders for veggies. I've made my list of herb seeds to get in December, and the fruit trees, bushes and vines I plan to order in early Spring, after we close on the property and map out where to plant what.

Dreaming. That's what Winter is for.

We'll have enough room for nut trees, and I've noted how many of what kind I want: heartnut, butternut, almond, pecan, walnut (English and black), chestnuts and whatever else I can find to grow in Zone 5.

Then there's the fruit trees: apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines (the Kid doesn't like the puzzy peaches!), plums. And the cherry trees AND bushes. Then there's the elderberry bushes, blueberry, and brambles of raspberry and blackberry.

Oh my... my mouth is watering!

So... have you started thinking about your next year's garden?

To-Do-List for November and December

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

November - December:

Why not get started early for next year?

Save seeds from your harvested plants.
Spread manure, rotted sawdust and leaves over the garden and plow them under; you'll be surprised at the difference this organic matter will make in the fertility, physical structure and water-holding capacity of the soil.
Take a soil sample to allow plenty of time to get the report back. Lime applied now will be of more benefit next year than if it is applied in the spring before planting. Always apply Dolomitic limestone in order to get both calcium and magnesium.
Save those leaves and pulled/spent vines and plants for the compost heap.
Take an "inventory." Maybe you had too much of some vegetables and not enough of others - or maybe there were some unnecessary "skips" in the supply. Perhaps some insect, disease or nematode problem got the upper hand. Make a note about favorite varieties. Start planning next year's garden now!
You're wise to order flower and vegetable seeds in December or January, while the supply is plentiful. Review the results of last year's garden and order the more successful varieties.
You may have seeds left over from last year. Check their viability by placing some in damp paper towels and observing the germination percentage. If the percentage is low, order new ones.
Before sending your seed order, draw a map of the garden area and decide the direction and length of the rows, how much row spacing is needed for each vegetable, whether or not to plant on raised beds, and other details. That way, you won't order too many seeds. This same advice applied to the flower garden. Try new cultivars, add more color, change the color scheme, layer the colors by having taller and shorter plants - don't do it the same way year after year.
Once you get your seeds, spend the rest of the cold Winter months making seed tapes. Be sure to label, dry well, place in bags, seal against moisture, and stack flat.
Look around for tools you do not have and hint for these for Christmas presents.

Invasion of Beetles

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:55:00 +0000

I guess we brought in some beetles when we moved the outdoor potted tomatoes and cukes indoors, because SOMEBODY has chomped on everything green and it's dead.

Lesson: don't bring outdoor pots indoors unless you're very sure there are no bugs in them!

Task: once the current blizzard abates, I'll be moving the now-dead plants to the patio, and getting some potting soil to start over. Oh well... that's ok.

Sidenote: I just got my order of seeds in, including those Black Aztec corn seeds, herbs, cukes, squashes, beans and more. I think once I have "clean" potting soil in clean pots, I'll start some carrots, onions, lettuce, beans and cukes. Again. Argh. But still... sounds great when I just think about the foot of snow outside my office window.

Hmmmm..... I love winter!

Corn Harvesting

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:14:00 +0000

Here's a wonderful post from a blog I follow: http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/harvest-corn-from-beginning-to-end/

We couldn't do corn this year because of our move. Very sad because it's absolutely delicious, pulling back the husks and chomping on it before even leaving the corn patch.

I should be receiving our corn seeds for Spring.... bought Black Aztec, since it can be used both as a sweet corn, and after it dries on the stalk, as dried corn for feed and cornmeal, etc. Yum!

Potatoes beget potatoes!

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:58:00 +0000

I posted a notice on my cooking blog (http://www.survival-cooking.com/) about a sale that Safeway is having for potatoes ... 10 pounds for just .99 cents! A regular reader commented about a post she'd made about how just one pound of potatoes can grow into 100 pounds of potatoes. Check it out at: http://preparednesspro.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/100-pounds-of-potatoes-for-a-buck

Since Saturday, we now have 10 bags of potatoes, each with 10 pounds. That's 100 pounds right there for ten dollars. (I actually bought 11 but gave one to mother-in-law.) As I bring out a bag of taters to cook with, I'll look through and put aside any that look like they'll sprout. We'll use the un-sprouting taters over winter. Those that sprouted or look like they'll sprout, we'll quarter, sprout and plant in the Spring.

Good way to utilize my money, don't you think?

Used a whopping 4 potatoes to make crockpot potato soup for dinner. Yum!

Tomato Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:36:00 +0000

Even tho we had freezing temps last week, my potted tomatoes on the back patio (which faces South) survived. Obviously, it was the heat of the building. I just harvested 1 really big tomato and 2 amish paste tomatoes. Yum!

Wish I knew where my camera was!

Indoor Containers

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:28:00 +0000

We moved, and in doing so, decided which tomato plant to save by placing indoors. We had room for only one, and several smaller pots. After hubby installed two grow-lights, we also brought in (all in pots) 2 strawberries, a zucchini, a bush cucumber, a banana plant, and the aloe-vera.

When we get a chance, we'll use some smaller pots to fill with potting soil and plant seeds for string beans, garden peas, carrots and greens. Yummy for this Winter!

We had cold temperatures this past week, so what was remaining on our back patio froze. That's ok. I'm ready for Winter.

Green Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Since we are hopefully leaving our current home in the next few days, I'm picking tomatoes! While I do have several ripe or almost-ripe tomatoes, I also have quite a few green tomatoes. Can't leave them behind!

I had lots of green un-ripe tomatoes last year, and didn't know what to do with them, so I sliced and dehydrated them. When I wanted some nutrients with a little tartness, I crushed the dried slices into a powder and sprinkled that powder on whatever I was cooking. Good alternative to green tomato chutney or relish or something similar.

Luckily, we planned ahead and potted most of our tomatoes. Picked a big bowl of ripe red and orange tomatoes yesterday. I'm thinking I'll freeze these. Well, after we've eaten a couple! Yum!

The Victory Garden show on PBS

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:14:00 +0000

I wonder ... I love watching gardening shows, but I'm very much into growing edibles much more than non-edibles. And since the Victory Garden concept was created to provide food for people during World War II ... well, here's the entry from :

During World War I, patriots grew "liberty gardens." In World War II, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard encouraged householders to plant vegetable gardens wherever they could find space. By 1945 there were said to be 20 million victory gardens producing about 40 percent of all American vegetables in many unused scraps of land. Such sites as the strip between a sidewalk and the street, town squares, and the land around Chicago's Cook County jail were used. The term "victory garden" derives from an English book by that title written by Richard Gardner in 1603.

Anyway... almost every time I turn it on, the show is about shade plants or other non-edible plants. What the hell? If we want to see gardening shows about non-edibles, we'll go to a different gardening show, like P Allen Smith, but come on! Somebody from the Victory Garden pbs show needs to understand that people are having troubles feeding ourselves, and that gardening for food is increasing by leaps and bounds.

Give us more practical information about growing our own food, especially on a very tight budget and in small spaces. Ya hear?

Permaculture Crash Course

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:03:00 +0000

This is a 4-minute vid I found on YouTube but it has great information. Discusses a 4-hour crash course but I don't see the link... anyone? This 4-min vid discusses birds, year-round cherry harvest, artichoke, potatoes, etc.

To-Do-List for September and October

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

September - October:

Choose to use this mild weather to plant or transplant the following: beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, collards, lettuce, mustard, onions, radishes, spinach and turnips.
Plant your second planting of fall crops such as collards, turnips, cabbage, mustard and kale.
Save seeds from your favorite plants, especially tomatoes, squashes, eggplant, etc. Let some of the root veggies like carrots go to seed, and collect those.
Refurbish mulch to control weeds, and start adding leaves and other materials for the compost pile. Store your manure under cover to prevent leaching of nutrients.
Water deeply and thoroughly to prevent drought stress. Pay special attention to new transplants.
Harvest mature green peppers and tomatoes before frost gets them -- it may not come until November, but be ready. Preserve 4 for every 5 eaten fresh - or preserve them all!
Harvest herbs and dry them in a cool, dry place.

Picked carrots and squash today!

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:35:00 +0000

When I was watering my garden today, you know, to avoid crispy grass that may turn off a potential buyer (did I mention the contract to sell our house fell through?), I found a massive yellow straightneck squash that I'd somehow overlooked. I picked that one, and one just beside it and am so looking forward to munching them with my family this weekend.

This afternoon we finally got a bit of rain (17 drops, I think, followed 3 hours later by 9 minutes of massive downpour). Afterwards, I checked to make sure the wind hadn't knocked over anything. While I was checking, I picked two carrots. Little orange ones. They weren't supposed to be little, but I hate waiting until they're full grown. Each was about an inch long. But very tender and sweet and yummy.

Sigh.

And I forgot to take a pic before the kid and I munched them down. Sorry.

Companion Planting: Corn

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:19:00 +0000

Here's hoping you already have your corn in the ground, but if not, you can use this info when you plant it the next growing season.

First, remember that corn is wind-pollinated, so plant in blocks instead of rows. I've had success with four rows of 10 each.

Sweet corn likes potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkins and other squash. Peas and beans provide the nitrogen that corn loves and needs so much.

If you plant corn with squash and beans, that's called "Three Sisters". Corn provides shade for the squash and a place for runner/pole beans to climb. Squash shades the ground to keep moisture in, plus the spikey parts of the squash help keep critters (especially raccoons) off the corn. The beans provide the nitrogen for the corn. Together, all three make a great complete-protein meal too (often called "succotash").

Pumpkins and other winding winter squash work well as the "moisture-keeper", but so do melon vines and cucumbers.

Consider planting sunflowers every 4 or 5 rows of corn. This strip of sunflowers will help reduce certain beetles that won't want to cross that strip.

Stay away from planting tomatoes anywhere near corn - the tomato fruitworm and the corn earworm are the same and will make a hasty tasty meal out of both.

I had a lot of earwigs in my cornpatch last year, but I read up on them and they don't eat the plants; they eat the little bugs. We pretty much left them alone, and still had at least 2 ears of corn per stalk.

There are a lot of websites giving detailed information on how to plant Three Sisters. Enjoy!

Companion Planting: Celery

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:08:00 +0000

We grew a LOT of celery last year, especially considering my son and I don't really like celery... Hubby ate it. We didn't have the space this year to grow it, but I'll grow it again next year. I'm pre-diabetic with high blood pressure, and celery is good for a salt-reduced diet. Celery is easy to dehydrate and used in soups, or powdered to add to my special all-vegg powder.

Pic to right taken Aug 10 2008 with my son holding the celery he just harvested. We grew it in that kiddie pool he's standing beside. That's our little Three Sisters (corn, squash, beans, sunflowers) patch in the background.

Celery likes: cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes and leeks, and kinda likes bush beans.

Good idea to grow the celery in a circle so that the lacy roots can weave together and provide a great little home for earthworms. But be prepared - pull one, pull all!

Companion Planting: Cauliflower

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:02:00 +0000

I love cauliflower but I couldn't grow it this year. Shame too because my kid likes it too. Next year, even in a container, we'll plant some yellow cauliflower - yum!

Anyhoo...

Cauliflower can be bothered by the white cabbage butterfly. Plant celery near cauliflower to repel that butterfly.

Don't plant cauliflower near strawberries or tomatoes - doesn't like either one of them.

Companion Planting: Carrots

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:53:00 +0000

Back to discussing companion planting! Today's topic: carrots.

First, to grow sweet-tasting carrots, you need to make sure your soil has sufficient lime, potash and humus. Don't allow too much nitrogen, and make sure they are shaded by larger plants, like tomatoes.

A problem is the carrot fly. Drive it away with onions, leeks, rosemary, wormwood and sage. Sometimes, black salsify (oyster plant) helps too.

To accomplish this, you could interplant rows of carrots with rows onions. I used wormwood last year and our carrots grew beautifully... orange but also purple, white and red.

Note: always store carrots far from apples so that the carrots won't develop a bitter taste.

Garden Delights

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:24:00 +0000

I've picked about 6 tomatoes so far ... from our "Fourth of July" tomato plant that I bought from a store. Can't remember where. Delicious fresh and red all the way through. Yum.

We have 2 little yellow straightneck squashes that will be ready in another 3 or 4 days. And we have several 3-inch zucchini that still have another week or so.

The parsley (flat leafed and curly) is ever so tasty! I pick a stem or so every time I'm back there watering.

Last year we just through our corn cobs and garden trimmings refuse in a big compost heap, enclosed by three big boards. I had to cover over (to make it purty so we can sell this house!) but in the midst of the flowers that I planted to purti-fy-it, here a cluster of corn plants suddenly bursting out! I'm gonna leave them there just to see what happens. Kinda cool!

Anyway... that's a very quick garden update. Our house goes on the market tomorrow, but we're not ready yet. We have been working very hard, and have even more hard work ahead of us very early tomorrow morning. I'll get back to reading blogs and writing on our blogs as soon as I can breathe again. Bear with me!

Vikki

Strawberry Thief Update

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:23:00 +0000

I gave up. Even with all the packing and stuff to get this house ready to sell, I took a break. I dug up all of those strawberry plants, put them in a planter, and sent them with Hubby to mom-in-law on Sunday. They have planted them in her backyard and have already eaten on that survived last week's massacre.

IF we were to stay here, I would have moved them to the back yard and made the fence (perimeter) more secure from intruders and thieves. Just a quick lock on the gate would have worked.

Strawberry Thief

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Our local vandal has struck again. Here's what happened.

In 2008 we planted several strawberry plants in our front yard, north side of our front porch. As it was the first year, we harvested only about 60-70 berries for the entire summer. When Fall came, Hubby buried them in peat moss, to keep them from freezing and to provide a more acidic atmosphere.

They survived, and began to flourish, pushing up through the peat before even the end of March. We were surprised and thrilled to find strawberries growing and getting ripe last week. The above pic was taken on May 19 2009... see the beautiful white strawberry flowers?! We waited anxiously for Hubby to return home on Friday so we could pick the 20 or so, and split them among the three of us. I even checked them Thursday afternoon and found them well ripened and a beautiful red.

Hubby got home Friday afternoon. After unloading the car and unpacking him, we trumped out to pick the berries, bowl in hand. Not a one! Every one had been taken. No, birds didn't get them. It was obviously a human from the way they were harvested.

Here it is Sunday night and I'm still really ticked about it. I've been waiting since last Fall for homegrown fresh strawberries. Ticked really doesn't describe it.

Letter to President Obama Re: Stimulus for Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:46:00 +0000

Dear President Obama:

I understand that the government is creating stimulus packages for all sorts of things. The latest example I heard about was a voucher to purchase an energy efficient car.

Have you considered a voucher for home gardeners?

See, for our little family of three, with all three of us on special diets, our grocery bill could be astronomical. Could. IF we actually bought produce at the grocery. But we haven't in the last year. But it's not just produce.

My almost-13-year-old boy, who has a hollow leg but is a very picky eater, has to avoid gluten products (oat, barley, rye, wheat), anything with chemicals or preservatives, cashews, peanuts, soybeans, and can tolerate only organic milk products.

Hubby is lactose intolerant, so his special cheese is much more expensive than regular cheese.

I'm trying to lose weight, but also can't handle gluten products or anything with chemicals. But getting special food for all three of us is expensive, so, as the mom, I make sure they have what they need, and I just take what I can get.

Good news, though. From our garden last year, my son ate a LOT of everything he loves: blueberries, strawberries, lettuce, green beans, many-colored kinds of carrots (red, purple, yellow, and of course, orange), corn, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and peas. Hubby and I ate those plus lots of tomatoes, peppers, radishes, watermelon, pumpkin, eggplant, okra, cantaloupe, cherries, rhubarb, raspberries, beets, and lots of winter squashes. I dehydrated a lot and we ate them through the Winter, and even have a few winter squashes still to eat.

My point is this, President Obama: growing our garden was expensive to start, but well worth it. We didn't have concerns about contaminants or herbicides on our produce. We had more than enough of many of our items. But it all cost money to start... soil, composter, heirloom seeds, pots, etc. YOU can do something. Encourage people to grow their own "backyard grocery garden" by rewarding people to use their front lawns, backyards, or even their patio or balconey.

Give a subsidy for having chickens, ducks and goats instead of making us microchip and register them. Make a "bank" for heirloom seeds and give them away to all schools and communities who promise to (1) have participants consume the produce, esp the kids and (2) save seeds to "deposit" into the bank after the growing season is over. Give us grants for growing extra produce to give to food banks.

We're moving to a bigger place as soon as we sell this house. We'll have more room for farm animals, bees, bigger crops, fruit and nut trees, berry brambles, and much more. I can control the quality of most of our food that way.

I realize that many people don't want, can't, or don't have the time to garden or grow their own food. That's their choice. But help those of us who do want to and are willing to make the time and expend the energy.

Help the American People.

Thank you.

Note: These pictures were all from our 2008 garden, mostly in containers, except for our small corn patch. Our house sits on a property that is just shy of a quarter of an acre, and we grew most of our produce for the year. It CAN be done. Help us.

Pic 1: Our "Three Sisters" corn path

Pic 2: Our cherry tomatoes

Pic 3: One eggplant

Pic 4: One day's harvest - see the purple carrots? Delicious, sweet and gone within moments.

Pic 5: Another day's harvest - rhubarb with lettuce, our first blueberries, cherries and radishes.

Garden Planner

noreply@blogger.com (ThrtnWmsFam) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:47:00 +0000

I just found this link: http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KitchenGardenDesigner - if you haven't started your garden yet, or want help planning next year's, try this on for size. It's loosely based on Square Foot Gardening, which I kinda use myself.