Where Did the Summer Go?

Wow! I cannot believe that I haven't posted a thing on my blog since spring! Well, actually I can. I have lots of excuses and reasons, but let me just say that my 87 year old father lived with me from May until September. All I can say is being a caretaker is a lot of work (that I would never even think of NOT doing!).   Here is his picture with my granddaughter after a hard morning work out in the garden!

 

 Okay, I talked about the tree in my garden last spring and yes, I did get it cut down.  Here is all that is left of it.  My nephew, who is a metal artist, decided that he wanted to try his hand at wood art.  So he worked all summer and created a beautiful bench for me.  It is not quite finished, but you can sit on it. 



I did a lot of prep work to my beds this year.  I also added several more beds.  First, I put in all my grass clippings from my yard as well as the leaves left over from the fall.  I also added compost, horse manure, some more peat moss, and shredded paper.  I dug it all in and then covered it with black plastic to get it working faster.  While digging, I did notice there were tons and I mean tons of worms this year.  Very good sign!




You can see in this picture that I added two more beds.  Lucky me, I found one for $5.00 at a garage sale (the dark brown one from Sam's, $39 regular) and then purchased one from Home Depot.  I filled them both with compost, dirt, manure, grass clippings, etc.  You can also see that I put rocks around the new boundaries of my garden area and killed the grass.  I am mulching all of it for ease of keeping it clean.  I had some old carpet that I pulled out of my porch room that I cut up and laid under the mulch for more protection from the weeds. 

One of the things I miss most about my tiny yard (compared to the 5.3 acres I used to have) are the flowering crab apple trees that I planted all over my property.  In the left upper corner, you can see that my neighbor has one and that helps!

 

Spring is early this year. Actually, winter never really arrived. Just snow for a day or two, then rain, then 40 degrees. I have been planning and planning what I am going to do in my backyard this year. First, I had someone come in and cut down the huge maple tree in my backyard. I felt bad for cutting down a tree, but I have so many and I really, really want to expand my garden! So they left about 6 foot of the trunk for my nephew to carve a nice tree bench out of. Can't wait to see it!

I started some broccoli, cauliflower and swiss chard plants this week. I am thinking I will be putting them out in a couple of weeks. I am going to try something new this year, garden sticks. I saw this on Growingyourowngreens channel on you tube. They are pvc pipe with holes drilled in it. Then filled with dirt and plants like cauliflower, strawberries and other put into the holes. The strawberry one was on www.pinterest.com so that gives me a couple of sources that have tried them. There is a company on the web that sells them, runs $100 for a 6 footer. I think I may be able to make my own for about half that. Interesting to try anyway!

I am thinking I may try to start my flowers from seed this year. I know I will be using lots in my new gardening areas front and back this summer, so why not? If I can successfully start tomatoes and green pepper plants, then I should be able to grow marigolds.

Mightier Than Winter

I went outside to walk around my backyard this morning and there in my raised beds, my kale was still growing and producing! Now, we have had day after day of temperatures in the low 20's, we have had sleet and snow. Everything was frozen! I looked at it one day after a heavy snow and it was all crushed under the snow and I was sure that was the end. But not so! I picked a large handful of new leaves of kale and even swiss chard this morning.

Then I wandered over to the other bed and my broccoli is still producing broccoli. Isn't today December 16th?

This has stirred up some thoughts in my early morning brain. After I finish with all my changes to my back yard next spring, I should create a special raised bed up by my patio where I grow some hardy vegetables and even protect them in the early winter with a small hoop greenhouse.

I would imagine that I could plant all the early spring vegetables like sugar snap peas, onions, broccoli, swiss chard, kale, lettuce and other greens. Which also means that I should be able to plant these same vegetables very early in the spring. I saw where Gardengirl (on Youtube.com gardengirltv has lots of info) covers her beds with black plastic to warm the soil before planting. So I may add compost to one of my beds, put black plastic down for a couple of weeks and then build the hoop house and plant! Sounds like a plan to me!

Last year, I started my plants indoors late. They still did well when planted outside, but could have done better if I had used the hoop house more and planted inside earlier. So this year, I am vowing to correct those mistakes and do it all right!

Bugs! Ugh!

Today I sacrificed one of my plants. My green pepper had to go. It really wasn't doing anything. It was looking pretty sad, and the darn thing all of a sudden was covered with tiny bumps that quickly began to crawl. So, I gave up all hope of green peppers off of it this winter and put it out into the cold backyard. If it lives, then great, if not, well natural processes will win. Okay, I know it is going to die, it is winter here in Michigan. At least I think so. I believe I heard on the news tonight that our temp may go up to 50 tomorrow?

My radishes are doing pretty well, they are a little leggy. Now that the green peppers beast is gone, I moved the radish bucket into that spot so maybe the light will be better for them.

At this time I may need to give a disclaimer. Although I have gardened most of my adult life, I consider everything I am doing now and for the last 2 summers as a learning experiment. I have researched some things, but a lot I have just jumped in and what works, works, and what doesn't, doesn't. At least I am learning from my mistakes. And I have made mistakes!

Which brings me to the rest of my story today. I don't know what happened to my spinach. I planted it at the same time as my lettuce, same conditions, same watering, same light, but although my lettuce looks great, my spinach looks pretty sad.

But, as I said, my lettuce is doing fantastic, thick and getting taller. My swiss chard and kale are still hanging in there and I am considering transplanting them into more substantial containers as I know they will get pretty large.

I planted a container of bok choy and another of okra last week. Unfortunately, I didn't label which was which so I am not sure which one this is. But one of them is growing pretty well and so, I will be needing to get my hydroponics system on line within the next few days.

Which brings me to another issue I have. I want to grow all this stuff organically, and that to me means making my own fertilizer for both the hydroponics and the dirt systems. I will confess I have been a slacker and have been fertilizing my dirt plants with Miracle Grow. However, I would really like to use a CHEAP home made fertilizer for the hydroponics.

I thought about running water through my worm bucket since I have so much organic matter in there. I also have buckets of vegetable and fruit compost in my back yard that I thought about. I could run water through them and catch that and use it. But I worry about the smell, mostly. I am about ready to give up and just buy organic fertilizers for the unit. Or use the Miracle Grow for this year until I get a fertilizer figured out.

I have been filling buckets with my kitchen vegetable scraps so by the time spring comes around I should have a bunch of compost to use in my raised beds and buckets. I am also planning on adding more raised beds out there so I need lots of organic matter. If I am at the restaurant during their prep time, I usually grab their lettuce and other vegetable scraps and add them to my buckets. So maybe closer to spring, when my scraps are turning into compost, I could actually make some compost tea for my indoor plants.

moved into the basement

Ok. I gave up. I was hoping that my porch room with new insulated steel doors would make the room habitable during the cold Michigan winter. But when the temps went down into the low 30's I realized that I was heating an entire room just for plants that would actually be warmer in my basement, and closer to water. So I moved some things around in my basement, and created my growing room down there.

I actually have plenty of room to start my hydroponics soon, and lots of counter top for working and plant starts and for my regular plants. I have room also for some big pots. Here are some photos!
My green pepper is still going, although I am thinking about trimming it back a bit. My dog ate the two nice sized green peppers that were hanging on it. But I have 2 little tiny ones that aren't doing much right now. I did fertilize the bucket this week, so maybe it just needed a little kick.

I dug up some worms and put them into a bucket with some leaves and swiss chard. I am hoping that they multiply over the winter and create a bucket of good fertilizer. I am also filling buckets with my raw vegetable kitchen scraps hoping that in the spring, I will have some nice compost. The scrap buckets are outside.

When I lived in the country and had a large garden outside in my yard, I made my grandfather's manure tea. I simply filled a large bucket half full of manure then filled the rest of the way with water. I just let this mess set outside in the middle of the garden and when I needed to water my plants, I scooped some out and poured it on my plants. My neighbor and I both bought tomato plants the same day and from the same place. We planted them in our gardens on the same day. However, it didn't take long for my plants to go bonkers and outgrow hers all over the place. I didn't tell her about my tea until she began to complain about the differences in our gardens.'

I wanted to have some kind of organize fertilizer that I can make for my plants. The Internet has lots of directions for making compost tea so I am probably going to be getting into some of my earlier filled buckets outside and seeing what I can come up with. I don't want to stink up my house with anything, so I will need to work on this outside then bring it in and hope for the best. I would like to try it in my hydroponics system as well. We will see!

From outdoors to indoors

I am moving my garden indoors. Being one that is always up for experimentation, I have turned my porch room into a meditation, art studio, garden. Three things that seem to go well together. And I moved my electric fireplace into the area as well. So total relaxation!

I planted lettuce and spinach in two of the gutters and later will put Swiss chard and kale into the middle. I actually planted the Swiss chard and kale into little peat circles until the are up and then I will plant them in the last gutter.

I like starting my plants in my recycled roasted chicken containers. Black on the bottom and water proof. The top is a nice see through dome with a few little air holes. Makes an excellent mini green house! Plus I can slip in under a cupboard in my kitchen so that it sits next to a furnace vent. Once the plants have grown a bit, I will transplant them into the gutters.

I also have a green pepper plant that I salvaged before the frost in a 5 gallon bucket next to the table. I keep my recycling buckets under the table (I use old pickle buckets for everything I can!) I brought in my potted rosemary and around the room I have herbs (Parsley, Thyme, Oregano) in hanging planters. In a couple of weeks I will be starting my hydroponics system up again. Not sure where as my porch is rather small. Last winter I had it in my basement, but it is kind of cool down there. I would love it on my porch as I can listen to the gurgling water. I will have to think about it a bit.

I am still undecided about my big tree in the back yard. It really takes a bite out of my gardening sunshine. I have a lot of big trees in my yard and the other trees certainly shade my house in the summer. This honker just shades my yard (and my neighbors!). If I took it out, I think I would have a better back yard.. Here are some pictures of the tree. The top of the tree is actually about half full of leaves. The rest are on the ground in my yard!


My garden is located behind the tree. I have two 4x12 raised beds and one 3x6. I also had several buckets that are currently stored behind my house. Looking pretty sad now.

I am still harvesting greens like Kale and Swiss chard from my back smaller bed. I know that last years Swiss chard refused to die until the snow buried it and the temps went way down. And still as soon as spring opened one of its eyes, it was back. I never had to replant one of my beds up by my back door. The stuff just keeps on producing! I chopped up some kale yesterday and made a pita chicken pizza with it. Yummy. I usually put kale in my soups and stews, eggs and also just steam it with chicken or fish. I haven't tried to kale chips that I hear about yet. But maybe soon. I use my Swiss chard the same way only I also use it instead of lettuce in sandwiches. Very tasty!

Working at the Shelter

Our Third Thursday (charity) Group furnished food for our local homeless shelter yesterday.  We brought Sloppy Joe's, chips, fruit cocktail, and chocolate chip cookies.  I served the cookies!  It was a very interesting experience.  There were a lot of kids.  I had brought glittery bags with a coloring book, crayons, and a little year calendar.  I brought 3 more bags than requested and could have given away 5 or 6 more.
The range of people that came for supper was kind of surprising.  Of course, there were people there who looked completely defeated.  They looked down, wouldn't talk and just sat, ate and left.  There were also people there who came in great clothes with their phones, Ipods, and expensive shoes.  Many had cigarettes.

There were old people and young people.  Pregnant and single mothers.  So many attitudes, so many different kinds of people.  Many people thanked us.  Many ignored us, taking their food and getting to a table as quickly as possible.  Some wore many layers of clothing, some smelled, some looked so happy and some looked so sad.

It would be easy to judge them, to say, oh, they can afford cigarettes but not food?  But, I wasn't there for that, and it wouldn't have been fair to only see what they presented.

I read an article yesterday on the Internet.  I am currently following a blog about a man who has decided to simplify his life by living in a  small motor home and traveling around the country.  In a side piece was an article about how to live in your car.  It was all about how to survive.  If you are going to loose your home, this gave you tips on what you needed, should keep, get rid of and be safe as you live in your car.  I was surprised at how many of the diners yesterday could have fit that article.

It made me more aware of the importance of community/personal gardens.  Not that I am the greatest gardener, or know everything.  But I have had gardens of all sorts all my life.  Food and gardens brings so many people together.  And it helps.  Why not turn a weedy or grass covered place into a garden?  Gardens help the soul as well as the body.    According to the Bible, we started in a garden.  So they can't be bad, right?