Krista's Garden

Today in the Garden

2009-06-08T10:02:00.001-07:00

Mommy's Garden Helper

This is my new solution to fighting weeds. I read in my Organic Gardening magazine that you can lay newspaper down to create a physical barrier....kind of the same idea as when you leave something in the yard and when you finally pick it up all the grass has died under it.

My basil plant is growing slowly but steadily. I'll need to prune it pretty soon. You can also see the corner of my lavendar in the top left and my itty bitty kale in the top right corner.

The thyme got a haircut today....it was flowering all over and needed a little trim.

Some recently sprouted Italian parsley (left) and three small lettuce plants (center and right).

I've been playing "is it a weed, grass or plant" for a couple of weeks now (highly frustrating time!) and I feel good that now my plants are getting just slightly larger than the weeds making them easier to spot (and not get accidently pulled!). Here are my sweet corn plants (which for quite some time looked just like grass).

My zucchini finally sprouted! I had given up on this little guy....I assumed between the cats and kids digging in the dirt, this seed had been lost, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that this one had come up.

Green Beans are supposed to be easy to grow, so I don't know why I'm having such a difficult time with mine this year. I planted two seeds at the base of each pole and this is the only plant that has actually come up so far. I may try to start some seeds in a yogurt cup and transplant, which seems silly since the beans have always been so easy in the past.

Here you can see why I need the newspaper. The weeds get out of control and it makes it harder to actually see where the plants are. Can you spot the pumpkin plant?

We have a couple of mini rose bushes in the front of our house and Alayna kept pulling the buds off, so I was afraid we'd have no roses this year, but some of them got passed Alayna's grabby hands and they look quite pretty.

These Hydrangea's were planted the year Alayna was born (one was actually a present instead of cut flowers....smart!) and I planted two tomato plants in front of them. I separated the tomatoes from the rest of the garden this year in an attempt to keep Alayna out of them since we now know she is allergic to tomatoes. The cherry tomato plant is doing very well, but the celebrity (great big tomatoes that we loved last year) isn't fairing as well. I put the tomato cage around the celebrity thinking it would need the extra support for the big tomatoes and I put a small support stake around the cherry tomatoes....I may have to switch them!

I'm growing sweet peas in a pot this year and I noticed in the last week the entire plant is turning yellow. Its been watered plenty.....possibly overwatered? I'm nervous that we won't get any peas, which I hope isn't the case as we love eating them! You can also see all the other little pots that I started seeds in. I'll transplant them all eventually into the garden.

The mesculin lettuce mix is doing fabulously well. I've already picked some larger leaves to mix in with store-bought lettuce for some great salads!

I see a strawberry!

Another strawberry plant that I planted in a pot.

Mother's Day in the Garden

2009-05-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Cade having a great time playing in the dirt!

(And somehow lost his shoes!)

Alayna watering the green bean seeds we just planted. Do you like our green bean tepee? You can also see that I still have quite a bit of weeding to get done!

Our Topsy-Turvy Strawberry Planter
Thanks, Melissa, for supplying the strawberry plants!

~Progress with the potted plants~

The Plants Are Taking Over....

2009-03-31T23:37:00.000-07:00

....my kitchen, that is! It doesn't feel like much has happened in that last week, but looking at the pics I took a week ago, it is apparent they are definitely growing! As you can see, I added a planter filled with lettuce plants. Each time I pick up lettuce at the grocery store I think "maybe this will be the last lettuce I buy for the rest of the summer".....let's hope! I love fresh lettuce from the garden! I'm a little concerned about the cucumber plant (in the gray/brown planter.....yes, the runt plant!) I planted 4 seeds and only one took and its been a slow go. Hopefully it makes it......I also love garden fresh cucumbers!

It's That Time Again!

2009-03-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Its the end of March and I'm **so ready** for spring! We've been having a lot of rain recently (completely normal for late winter/early spring in Portland), but in the small breaks between rain showers, I've started to do a little "spring cleaning" in the garden. Its always such a chore to clear away the old dead leaves, pine cones, stray branches and, of course, the weeds! But its also neat to see what you find under all of the debris. Above is a little pansy that Gavin gave me as a mother's day present last spring. It almost died shortly after I planted it, but it slowly came back to life. I assumed it was an annual and wouldn't come back, but what a nice surprise I had as I cleared away the leaves and found this pretty purple flower!

I started seeds a couple of weeks ago in an egg carton and within about 2 weeks I needed to transplant them into something larger. I had hoped to time it right to be able to transplant into the garden, but since its not the right time yet, I just moved them into some bigger pots. I stuck my tomato cage in the pot with the peas as they are already trying to climb! Maybe I'll just put these on the porch and direct seed some more for the garden. That way we'll have twice the peas and an earlier crop. I'm looking forward to moving them as they are already taking over my kitchen!

This is my new setup this year. Last year I had such a hard time starting the seeds and I couldn't understand why. I watered them every day and gave them as much light as one gets on our gray Portland days. This year I decided to add a flourescent light and that has made all the difference! Its hard to see the seedlings in this picture, but I have basil in the terra cotta pot, marigolds (which I learned are a great natural pest deterent) in the square plastics and zinnias and snapdragons in the yogurt containers.

Fall Garden

2008-09-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

As summer comes to an end, the garden is definitely changing. The yellow squash and zucchini are still producing, but my focus will definitely be changing to the "greens" over the next couple of months. Above, I planted this Mesclun mix (Gourmet Greens Mixture) and it looks ready for some pretty salads.
The basil plant never got super huge, but it has given me a modest amount of leaves that I've enjoyed cooking with.

A couple of weeks ago, I planted some more Sugar Snap Peas for a fall harvest. Alayna and Gavin both loved picking and eating them right off the vine!
I was very pleased with my tomatoes! This was my first shot at growing them. I hoped to get maybe a half dozen red tomatoes and I got way more than I bargained for. I've picked at least 20 red tomatoes and as you can see, there's still more on the bush!
My Sage (top, closest to fence) and Oregano are taking over my herb garden area!
I planted some Spinach in this little spot and cut out one of those plastic containers that plants are sold in. I did this so that I wouldn't forget where I planted the seeds. I did this with my Greens Mix and then removed the plastic marker when the sprouts were large enough to see and I'd know not to step on them. However, these seeds don't seem to be taking. There are a couple tiny sprouts (if you squint, maybe you can see them) but I'm thinking those might be weeds! I'm wondering if the mulch I covered the soil with is too big for the sprouts to come through. Anyway, I re-planted a few more seeds today in hopes that I'll have some Spinach for salads and cooking.
This is a tiny Kale sprout. I planted this at the same time as the Spinach....it seems to be faring a bit better. I planted four Kale seeds in about a one foot cube area and three of them sprouted.

The corn is just about ready for harvest. Even the little plants got a tiny ear of corn on them. Probably won't have many kernels, I'm guessing....we'll see....I'm looking forward to using the stalks as Halloween decorations for the front of the house!
Here's some yellow crookneck squash......it got a late start, but its been producing very well recently.
.....and some more squash!
Zucchini ready for harvest
The green beans are pretty much done. It looks pretty ugly, but I just haven't gotten a chance to cut all of the dead vines out.

Bountiful Harvest

2008-09-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here is what I was able to pick out of the garden today. Of course, Alayna decided to pick some of the green tomatoes as well!

Alayna Picked a Pepper

2008-08-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Gardening with a two-year-old certainly has its challenges. The main one is letting her "help" without completely ruining the plants. I was a bit sad when Alayna picked this little pepper, but I know she was only trying to help mommy. I ended up cutting it up and putting it in a pasta salad. It was pretty good..... a bit bitter, so maybe it was better that it was eaten while it was small.

Can you spot the corn? (hint: there are two ears!)

I have Peppers!

2008-08-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

I didn't have much hope for my green and red bell pepper plants. With the unusually cool weather we had this year I didn't think I'd actually have any. But, the past week has been unseasonably hot and I just noticed these small peppers growing. It seems funny to me because the entire plant isn't much more than a foot tall. If the peppers grow to full size, it'll look very lopsided. Its hard to tell size in the picture, but both peppers (I have one per plant at the moment) are slightly smaller than a ping pong ball.

The corn is really starting to grow now.....well at least the stalk is. I haven't seen any corn yet, but Gavin has been oohing and aahing over the stalk that is shooting into the air. Its weird how they are not growing uniformly. The one is quite taller than the others. Not sure if that one is just getting more water or has a little better soil around it or what. Kind of weird! Oh, and that bushy plant next to the corn is my yellow squash. It, too, is off to a slow start, but I finally saw one small squash growing just the other day. Last year I had so much squash we didn't know what to do with it all. Its just been a rough year for produce!

Cooking from the Garden

2008-08-16T20:20:00.001-07:00

This is just how I imagined it would be to have a vegetable garden. I went out in the morning and picked some zucchinis (see below). I shredded about half of them for freezing (to make zucchini bread some time later in the year) and made this great saute with the rest of it. The tomatoes are also from the garden and, oh, they taste like heaven. Now, you have to understand that I'm not a tomato-loving person. I normally don't buy tomatoes because I've never really cared for them. Then, one time while my mom was visiting, she asked if I've ever eaten tomatoes right off the vine. I admitted I hadn't and that got me to thinking that maybe I'd try to grow tomatoes this year. Well, that was about the best decision ever because these tomatoes are just delicious!

So, for you cooking-types out there, this is how I made the above yumminess: Saute a small amount of chopped onions (like maybe an 1/8 to 1/4 cup, if you want a measurement) with some garlic (I think I used 2 small cloves) in some butter. Add the zucchini (I used 2 small ones from the garden, thinly sliced) and saute for 3 or 4 minutes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes and sliced olives. Turn heat off but leave on burner and cover until cheese is melted (about a minute or two). This makes two good-sized servings, so you'd want to double it to feed a normal-sized family. I made this small serving because Chad was out of town and I wasn't sure if the kiddos would eat it (however, let me just say Gavin LOVED it!....Alayna didn't but what can I say....typical 2-yr-old!). Plus, I didn't want leftovers because it didn't look like it would reheat well.

Today in the Garden

2008-07-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

The permanent locations for the two bell pepper plants and the watermelon plant. My tomato plant has grown greatly over the last couple of weeks...and yes, that is Alayna's arm in the picture.

The Romaine Lettuce has formed heads. I harvested one the other day and it was delicious! I've been planting lettuce about every 2 to 3 weeks and I'm set for a continuous supply for the entire season.

Lots of little green tomatoes

Pea-sized tomatoes

I think this is zucchini, but if not its cucumber. I planted the two types of seeds next to each other and forgot which was which.

Better Late than Never

2008-06-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

(clockwise from the top) My sage & oregano plants came back in full force this year; I bought two bell pepper plants and a watermelon plant the other day...hopefully, I'll be planting them in the next day or two...its on my garden "to do" list; I planted two types of lettuce this year... mint green romaine on top and lighter green salad bowl lettuce on bottom.

As you can see, I've enlarged my garden this year. This picture is probably only a third of it. The sugar snap peas are climbing the vine in the back. The stake (to the left) is marking the yellow summer squash I planted and the clusters in front (there are actually two, although the one on the left is much bigger) are zucchini and cucumbers.

My little corn plants. I planted five, so we'll see how it goes. I figured it would be fun to try to grow it and best case scenario is we get lots of fresh corn on the cob (yum!) and worse case scenario is we still get corn stalks to decorate our porch on halloween!

Sugar Snap Peas ~ They seemed to have appeared overnight!

I have two tomatoes growing... yay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We added a new member to our family this spring! Cade Thomas was born May 20, 2008. Suffice it to say, the garden took a bit of a back seat. I tried to compensate ahead of time by making sure my seeds were planted well before my due date, however the weather decided not to cooperate. I'm still a novice gardener and learning new things all the time. What I learned this year is that planting early only helps if the sun is shining. Out here in the Pacific Northwest, that seems to be our biggest obstacle. This year was especially difficult because while the rest of the country had record high temperatures, we had record lows. I even heard a local farmer comment on tv (he was being interviewed by the local news) that his wife had nicknamed the month of June "June-uary".

However, now that the garden finally seems to be taking off, I'm getting very excited about it. I tried some new vegetables this year: sugar snap peas, tomatoes, zucchini, corn and bell peppers. Actually, I thought I was trying bell peppers last year, but the plants that came up were not pepper plants. Not sure if there was a mix-up at the seed packaging factory or what.... we never did determine what on earth those plants were. I also just picked up a watermelon plant. Not sure if I'll actually be able to grow a watermelon, but thought it would be fun to try and Gavin is extremely excited about it! Back by popular demand (my family's, that is) are cucumbers (oh those were so good last year!), green beans, yellow summer squash and lots and lots of herbs!

Harvest!

2007-08-22T17:22:00.001-07:00

Hello to all my gardening friends! Sorry its been so long since I've posted. I was gone for three weeks to visit my family in Michigan. I returned home to some hugely overgrown yellow squash and cucumbers and many, many green beans. Today I went out to pick some beans for dinner tonight and as I moved the leaves, I found this nice cucumber! I was very surprised....most of my cucumbers are pretty small and somewhat deformed (curved, like pickles or oddly shaped). Anyway, I love having veggies to go out and pick every few days.

~Progress~

2007-07-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

I see squashes!!!

Look at those squash blossoms!

The tiniest cucumber you'll ever see.

I'm very excited to finally start seeing progress on my cucumbers, squash and beans. The vines on this bean plant are getting a little out of control though. I think I'll use more garden twine next year.

Mommy's Helper

2007-07-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Alayna was a big helper digging in the pea gravel as I pulled out my green onions and shallots. I think I may have pulled the shallots out a bit early. Oh well, I'm sure they'll still taste great and I'll know better for next year.

Cucumbers & Beans

2007-07-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

I admit, I'm getting impatient waiting for my vegetables plants to produce. Today I just noticed these little vines coming off the main plant. Does this mean cucumbers are on their way? (hoping, hoping) My bean plants are getting full and a few of the vines have made their way to the top of my tepee....I'm slightly afraid they are going to attach themselves to my fence, so I keep redirecting the vines back to the pole. I have much more of an appreciation for the fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk!

What IS that?

2007-07-04T07:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, my expert gardener friends, I need your help. When I walked out to my garden this morning, this is what I saw at the top of one of my shallot stalks. Is this "seed"? What do I do with it? Does this mean that the shallots need to be harvested? Thanks in advance for your help on this.

Ok, I admit it...... I'm a cilantro-neglecter. I've had it flower before, but this is ridiculous, I know. To be honest, I'm not sure why I chose to grow cilantro. I never use it. Now I'll just have to find uses for it.

Today in My Garden

2007-07-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

How Exciting! Are those little squashettes? They are so small its still hard to tell whether those are the squashes or leaf buds.

Climbing Pole Beans

Sweet Basil

Grand Bell Peppers
Have you ever seen them look like this? I'm kind of wondering because every time I see pictures of bell pepper plants, the leaves are totally different.

aaa

Lessons of a 1st Year Gardener

2007-07-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is my very first year of gardening and I am just LOVING it! I have made plenty of mistakes and have learned many lessons along the way and I am sure there is a whole lot more to learn.

Lesson #1: Do not attempt to grow cauliflower. My great friend and more experienced gardener Melissa tried cauliflower last year with weak results....I don't know what made me cocky enough to think that mine would be any better. In all the reading I have done since I bought my initial stash of seedlings, everyone says that cauliflower is one of the hardest vegetables to grow. It is very picky. If the conditions aren't just perfect, the crop will most likely fail. Well, I planted in April and by June the plants either just died on their own or were eaten by ants. So, next year, I'm not even going to attempt to grow cauliflower.

Lesson #2: Spiders are your friends. I'll be honest, I really don't like spiders. I even cringe a little watching my son's Charlotte's Web movie (although I admit the movie has helped me accept spiders for who they are). However, in the garden, spiders help keep away (meaning, they eat) all the other little insects that might otherwise attack my plants. I have noticed many spiders in and around my plants and after an initial surprise, I try to see them as my little security guards, keeping other insects away.

Lesson #3: Lettuce is fast and fun. I have had so much fun growing lettuce. It is so easy and it grows so fast. I've had to learn to be patient with all my other vegetables, but lettuce grows very quickly and will go from seed to harvest-ready in just 6 to 8 weeks.