checklists

i planted a lot of things this weekend.
a lot of things.

i'll tell you all by section... because the section planning itself is hopefully going to aid in the way it all grows later on this spring.

first section:

gutters on the fence.  we had a friend who had HUGE success with her strawberries when she planted them in gutters. so the middle gutter is going to be for strawberries. i have TONS of strawberry seedlings so we may add a fourth gutter on the bottom for more.  strawberry plants take about two years to come to full fruit bearing capacity. hopefully this year, they will just fill out the gutters nicely and then next year we will have full yield.  

on the top gutter i planted spinach, bunching onions, 2 inch carrots and mini radishes. 

bottom gutter has red lettuce, gold lettuce, butterhead lettuce and... oh my. i forgot what the last thing is.  something leafy.

the cool thing about these gutters is that it will be really easy to hang shade cloth for them in the event that they get too hot.  also they are space saving... everything planted in the gutters has a very small root system and does not need depth, they like to be slightly crowded and they love the the same levels of light.  oh! pak choy was the last green in the gutters.

second section:

along one side of the house is the bean/pea section. one of my good friends did a seed swap with me so i got like 3 more types of beans/ peas then i already had.  i hope that they go crazy.  all in all i have like ten species of beans and peas.  last year our legumes did not thrive, but their soil was not good... not tilled correctly or farmed the right way.  this year i tried to rectify that and amended the soil with lots of nitrogen for them. this pic doesn't do the section justice. it goes more than halfway down the length of the house.  as the plants climb, i have plans to add more trellis that extends upwards.

third section:

first half of the giant raised bed we have is dedicated to corn and onions. two types of corn and four types of onions. onions like to be cramped, they do not like a lot of space, and i hear that they are good at weeding themselves out. we will see... i will probably help them space themselves.

to the right of the raised bed is where the kohlrabi and the rat tailed radish went.  like the mustards, they are ok with a little bit of shade. so they are right by the walnut tree.  lots of sun for now, but natural shade as soon as the walnut tree fills out during the summer as it gets scorching hot here.

fourth section:

cylinders of hay? why you ask?

potatos i say!!!

each round has a different type of potato: purple majesties, two different reds and then some russets.  

i really, really, really hope that they work. if i pay attention to the moisture levels in the hay, all should go well.

augh!!!!!!!!!

on saturday as i was planting all of this stuff, i had my planner out right along side me, just checking things off as i went.  each check mark was a new and heightened sense of accomplishment.  then the anxiety set in when i was done planting and had some time on my hands.  what if none of them sprout? what if they don't like the settings that i picked for them? ugh. then i gave my worries to the earth because what else can i do? then i went to a bbq and made smores.  so there.   

in closing: the tomato babies are about a foot tall and in the process of being hardened off. this means that they spend a little time outside every day to get used to the weather. they need to do this for about a week and a half to two weeks. then. they go to their new home next to the corn. the peppers don't go out until april. the eggplants will go out also around that time, plus the ground cherries. 

soon i will give you some updates on all of the seed babies that are already sprouted and i will also show you the planning calendar that i made, so that the method to my madness is clear.

storytelling

i have stories to tell.  not good stories.

first off:  one of the cats ate all of my tomatillo seedlings except for one, all of my gypsy tomato seedlings as well as ALL of the blue hungarian seedlings.  so.  matt helped me build a window box for the seedlings that the cats can't get into.  i was still super depressed about it. cried a lot actually. my lime tree also died.  my mistake.  i bought a new one and planted it properly this time... i hope.

so now i started new tomatillos.  new gypsy tomato seedlings.  gonna have to buy starters for some kind of jalapeño peppers because although i'm restarting some of the seeds, it may be too late for them to get fruit going in time.

                                                                    window box



i have stories to tell.  good stories.

check out this list of seeds that sprouted out in their beds:  poppies/all kinds, cabbage, pepinos, blue statica, dill, sweet peas, starlight.
bulbs with shoots: platycodon, dahlias, PEONIES!
plants planted: rosemary, parsley, oregano, new lime tree, tiny broccoli seedlings
new seeds planted:  mustard greens/two kinds, carrots, new peppers, oriental poppies
flowers bloomed: tulips, irises, nectarine tree, anemones and im counting the early rosebuds too just cause i can... wink wink

the moral of this story is that even when things die, or get killed... or just maimed; other things will still grow and thrive. these little plants are so precious and fragile but they are also resilient and much tougher than i am.

besides watching the circle of life around here, i've also been interfering.  heeheeheehee...  i built potato cages. chicken wire zip tied into drum shapes about 3 ft wide.  got our potato starters, got our hay.  forecasts say that st. paddy's day is the time to set them.  i'm all kinds of excited.

the concept of these cages is safety.  potatoes grow really well in hay.  however, cats like to poop in hay and birds like to steal it, dogs like to run through it and it doesn't hold shape.  so we set the potato pieces under a small layer of straw.  when the potato vines start to peek through, we layer more straw on top and so on and so on.  then when your potato vines are ready for harvesting, you un pin your cages, releasing them from their shape, and harvest your potatoes by simply sifting through your hay for them.  i got a lot of great information from: http://www.hillgardens.com/potatoes.htm

it's a cool website with all the free info you need about growing potatoes.  they use dirt instead of hay but i think that either way will work. the concept also is cool because you wont be digging through huge random piles in order to find your potatoes, instead, you will just be gleaning them from the dirt/hay.  lets see how this goes!

so, my friends... it's the beginning of the week.  i've got my feelers out on other impending projects.  hopefully i will get the gutters up for the strawberries, lettuce, radishes and bunching onions.  pictures to follow if all goes well!!!  have a great week!!!

survival of the fittest?

this week i've been thinking a lot about evolution. this stems from several different things, but mostly, as i'm planting all of these little seed babies i'm just thinking of how to protect them from all the predators that may come along to steal their little thunder...

i got up first thing this morning and went to prep my seeds for sowing:  today was flower day.  many of my herbal flowers and some of my "just for show" flowers were ready to go in.  our problem this week since we've tilled up the soil is that all of the neighborhood cats seem to think that the kitty night spa is in our backyard.  feel free to NOT poop wherever you want to kitties... as i planted my very precious flower seeds, i knew that i had to do something to keep them safe from getting dug through.  enter black netting... laid ever so gently across the ground so that the seeds can sprout through and as they do, the netting will get lifted up and staked until there is less and less free space for the kitties to dig through.  i love cats.  i do not love the cat owners out there who's idea of having a cat is to let it prowl all through the neighborhood day and night, sowing their wild oats all over the place.  here is my herbal/floral bed with all of its seeds set in:

the trees, remember, were all there already when we moved in.  there were tons of rocks in this bed before, stifling these tress. in fact, i have a beautiful nectarine tree that is getting too much moisture and therefore producing mutated fruit. exit all rocks, enter amazing flowers and healing plants: lavender, echinacea, dill, achillea (yarrow), daisy's and a few other assorted things... many of the other herbs can be set in another couple of weeks.  it's still too cold for all of them.

another part of evolution that just purely flattens me is this idea of sister plants.  how some of them act like a "big brother" protecting others from predators of different kinds. naturally.  so today, i planted some of those heroes:  marigolds and nasturtiums. there are many predator bugs that simply hate these beautiful flowers so planting them next to some of your fruit producers helps to keep them safe.  i am also planting some sacrificial radish clusters which are essential.  one thing that keeps me coming back to this idea of evolution is that i never want any of my babies to die, but some of them are ok with it.  so what if i don't have tons of beautiful radish leaves? the radishes will still grow underground while their delicious greens are eaten by the bugs, because somehow the radish plant found itself a job... and with it job security; by allowing itself to be loved by the predators first and it's thankful brother and sister plants second, and then by me last... 'cause i find them absolutely delicious and irresistible. anyway these ecosystems that build each other up are really amazing to me.  i first learned about them from Orson Scott Card in the Ender's Game series, and then more from Michael Pollan when i read The Omnivore's Dilemma, but mostly that was all in a bigger, broader scope than just a little farm. finally though, i read this beautiful book called The Wisdom of the Radish by Lynda Hamilton, who just happens to be a farmer from here in sonoma county.  i would recommend this book to anyone, but especially to anyone starting a little farm... it's absolutely beautiful, funny and wise. it took all of these vast notions that i had been contemplating for years and put them in a close knit context for me that i could actually take and use every day.

here are the marigold seeds just waiting for me to cover them ever so slightly.  they like light on them, so you can't cover them very much which will be the same for most of your flower/herb seeds. remember to read the directions.  they matter a lot! some of your flower or herb seeds won't want to be covered at all, just kind of stamped into the ground (achillea/yarrow) and it's just plain rude not to respect their wishes!

an update on the bigger seedlings:

yup! those are all tomato seedlings that got separated and thinned out this week from their original containers.  this pic was taken right after i moved them so they are a little wilty, but now several days later, they are perked up and much more hardy.  we've only lost four of them from the moving process. those ones lost their stem density after their transplant so they didn't make it and of course, i purposely weeded out about ten or so of the smaller, runts or super new ones that i couldn't sustain.  evolution again.  the strongest ones got picked to move onto the next challenge.  they are especially happy in the southern facing window that we have in the house... which just happens to be my bedroom.  this way, they see sun rays all day long. so after your seedlings get started, put them in a south faced window. surprisingly, so far, the cats haven't picked on them at all, although they did pick on some of the babies in the living room window. they got in trouble and haven't done it since, but there were a few tomatillo casualties in the process.  now mother has them protected with the blind so that no more mischief can be made...

it's official!  we have a choco baby bell pepper sprout, which means that all of the pepper types we've planted have sprouted!!  YAYAYAYAY!  on monday, i will separate those guys, as well as the eggplants and the broccoli is actually almost ready to just get planted in the ground so that may happen realllllllllly soon.  monday is also mapped out as gutter day, so you will get some pics then.  three gutters are getting purchased and hung on the fence.  then we will plant lettuces, strawberries, baby carrots, chives, little radishes and some other things that will grow in shallow dirt.  it's surprising how much can actually grow in a gutter!  we have a friend who planted all of their strawberries in gutters last year with the best success, so we are going for it!  more in a couple of days, after all of that has gotten under way and there is more adventure to report...