Fall Clean-up

The gopher went to town after I neglected my garden. He got the mature artichoke plant and got brazen enough to just come up and gnaw on actual zucchini above the ground. The tomatoes were still growing and appeared to be starting some new growth, but I yanked them out along with the butternut squash and 2 zucchini plants.


Here's one of the zucchinis I found:

It's almost 5 inches wide and over a foot long and over 13" in circumferance. Crazy big.

Week ???

I think we finally picked the last zucchini last week.

I pulled up the pear tomato plant and all the rouge tomato plants. I also moved the wire ring and dug where I planted the red potatoes, but there weren't any there.

There is a tiny tiny butternut growing on the last butternut vine, but I think it will get too cold before it has a chance to completely mature.

When we went on vacation in August something happened in our garden...the drippers were moved, so the second batch of carrots I planted didn't get any water.

I think it's a bit late to plant any winter things, but I am still a little bitter about the stupid gopher, so I wasn't planning to plant anything else anyway.

I'm not sure what to do about that gopher..........

Happy Winter.

Week 23

Still have zucchini coming out our ears. Today I decided to dig and see if there were any potatoes and we found a few.

Week 21

The gopher got my three pumpkin vines (2 good pumpkins starting to grow). Gggrrrrr. Tomatoes aren't coming as often anymore. I think the gopher may have gotten to my beans as well - they are dying.

Week 19

Yesterday I grated a bunch of zucchini and yellow squash and froze it. I also pureed some yellow squash and froze it (to use in the Deceptively Delicious recipe). I had 2 that had grown so huge that I got about 6 cups out of just one squash!

Both my pumpkins turned bad and died. Ugh.

I pulled up all the carrots and planted some more. We'll see if they work.

The tomatoes are really coming on strong. Yay!

Week 18

The gopher got the second butternut squash plant, so just one left.

I quit watering the corn - it was never going to produce, so I quit wasting my time watering it.

I planted more carrots today (2 kinds).

I have to say that I was pretty hard on Jessica Seinfeld and her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, but I found one the whole family loved, so I need to share it. (I was running out of things to do w/ my yellow squash...I've given it to every neighbor and friend and still have it coming out my ears.)

"Buttered" Noodles
8 oz. whole wheat pasta
1/2 cup yellow squash puree
1/4 cup nonfat (skim) milk
2 Tbsp. trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
1/4 tsp. salt

Cook pasta as directed. Drain, return to warm pot, and stir in the squash puree (make sure the puree is very creamy), milk, margarine, Parmesan, and salt.

Personal note: I edited the above instructions from the original. I also made this with regular (non-wheat) bow tie pasta, used a heaping 1/2 cup of squash, halved the milk, used a Parmesan-Romano blend cheese, and I added peas to it. Oh, and I used Heart Smart spread, which I think is actually half real butter. So maybe I didn't actually try the recipe above? haha

Week 17

We harvested a whole second bunch of carrots and I'm really pleased with them.

My husband cut the blackberry bush back and picked a ton of blackberries; for some reason they go from big, plump, and sour, to mushy and sweet. They are weird. He made them into a blackberry mush, so I'm not quite sure what to do with it now. I might try a cobbler and some syrup.

The tomatoes are finally turning red. The cherry variety are as sweet as candy - I love them! The jelly bean are pretty nice also. I wasn't completely in love with the little yellow pear one I picked, but it needs a second chance.

We average about a squash a day and a zucchini every 3 days. The one butternut squash vine produced a fairly nice sized squash before it got eaten by the gopher. It isn't quite the right color yet, but I'm hoping with time it will be a good one. The other butternut vines are looking hopeful.

There are 2 little pumpkins on the pumpkin vines...I am crossing my fingers they don't get eaten by the gopher too.

The corn is sickly looking. We won't be getting any corn.

Week 16

The squash and zucchini are doing great. The blackberries look nice and ripe, but are still sour. I lost 2 corn stalks to the gopher last night. I picked a bunch of the garlic early this week and used some in a marinade and let the rest dry. We also picked a bunch of carrots, but not many were sweet. I sprinkled a bit more Miracle Grow this morning too. I picked some more carrots and garlic this morning:

Week 15

Knock on wood - we haven't lost anything else to the gopher (unless that's what's killing off my potatoes).

We have had several summer squash and I'm going to try a couple of new recipes with them soon.

We picked some carrots the other day and they were twisted around each other. They are a baby carrot variety, so they won't get huge, but the ones we've picked aren't very sweet. So I'm not sure they are ripe (do you call carrots ripe?) yet.

I picked my first beet today. I also think the garlic is ready, but I'm not sure... The pole beans haven't produced yet, but the bush bean is full of beans. I've picked a couple, but I'm going to try and get a whole batch at once so I can serve them at dinner.

There is at least one nice looking (but baby-sized at this point) butternut squash on the one vine. I have 2 other vines - and the one that I'm growing up our pole is vining up the pole really well. I think butternuts are one of the easiest to train up a pole. I have 2 other squashes that I was planning to train up the pole, but they are too tiny and aren't doing much; I think they are cramped.

Here's a pic of what we picked today (hmm..zucchini might have been picked yesterday?). Anyway, the one carrot top had a nicer carrot on it, but it got eaten before the camera came out.

Week 14 Cont.

Down another pepper and my cantaloupe. Ugh.

Total lost so far:
4 peppers (that was all of them...guess we won't be getting any peppers this year)
1 cantaloupe (same thing - won't be getting any cantaloupe either)
2 peas
2 bush beans (just one more left)

Aaaaaa! I'm crossing my fingers that we get to keep everything else we have...

Week 14

I'm now down 3 pepper plants and 2 bush beans. I am so bothered! With the peppers there is absolutely no sign of a gopher, but with the bush beans there are piles of dirt (see center of picture with the big weed growing out of it). And this time he left a stub of the plant (see bottom right of picture).


My potato plants look horrid...I thought potatoes were a "no fail" crop - ha.


And who knew that onions flower? Does this mean I should have picked them earlier?

Week 13

We picked a couple of squash and ate them on Sunday, but they didn't have a lot of flavor. I picked another yesterday.

I did a poor job of thinning the carrots and beets. I think I pulled up about 5 of each.

I think the garlic is about ready to harvest.

Week 12

I counted 12 "rogue" tomato plants as we were weeding the garden this week! They must have gone to seed and then I spread them out a bit more via my tilling. I left them just to see what happens with them. We might have tomatoes growing out our ears.

That pesky gopher got my 2 best pea plants. Ggrrr.

I feel so bad about thinning. Doesn't that seem like such a waste? I am really trying to justify not doing it.

I think my garlic is almost ready to pick.

Guess what? I took pictures!! I forgot the hydrangeas in the front yard though - they are looking the best they've ever looked! I love them! But what's up with the droopy zucchini?? Is the gopher slowly eating it? Did it get too much water? I'm concerned.

Week 11

I showered the garden with Miracle Grow again yesterday. Everything seems to be doing really well. The artichoke is finished - I need to cut it down completely. I have 3 tomatoes growing up in random places (close to where they were planted last year). And I think the gopher got one of my pea plants too. But he hasn't appeared again since I planted my hair where the old bean and some loose dirt was. (I didn't have enough to donate to Locks of Love, but I think it's coming in handy in my garden!) I still haven't thinned anything. The tomatoes are looking tons better - they have these long stems from the ground, then appear to start over...it's weird. If my husband ever brings my camera back home maybe I'll take pictures. I think I'm a Miracle Grow fan, for sure. Oh - I also put some pie tins on our fence posts to see if that might deter the birds. Jared is skeptical, but I have hope.

Week 10

The stinkin' gopher got one of my bean plants last night! Ugh.

Week 9

The artichoke revived the next day...not sure what the deal was. My beets have poked through. The carrots are growing up well too. Both the beets and carrots will need to be thinned - anyone have any good advice on thinning them? The potatoes in the straw have brown spots on the leaves and the straw is still wet from the rain - I think they're getting moldy; but what do you do if it rains for 3 days, really?? I have what I think are 2 tomatoes growing up from last year over by the beets too. Must be from the one the gopher stole.

Week 8 Cont.

I bought a tomato plant yesterday and planted it today; I think I might buy one more...my tomatoes are looking pretty sorry. I also bought some Miracle Grow that I used on the corn today and will use on the rest of the garden tomorrow. Today I picked a couple of artichokes - the whole plant laid down and looks very limp; I'm not sure exactly what happened to it.

Week 8

It has been rainy for the past few days, so I hadn't been checking the garden as much. So today when we went out there, we were so excited to find so many wonderful strawberries! We also have a couple of artichokes that need to be picked. Mmm!

Week 7

It's already been 7 weeks?! I can't believe it. My tomatoes look like they are still deciding whether to live or die, and so do my peppers. My beets and pole beans haven't shown up at all. But my zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, pumpkin, bush beans, and corn - and even a few carrots - have come up. Yay! I think I'll need to buy some tomato plants so we will actually have tomatoes this year. It's going to rain this weekend, so I'll probably wait until next week.
Oh, and I have no idea about the potatoes growing up through the straw - I'm so afraid of mold, yet don't want to leave them too dry. I read on one site that I should use a moisture monitor, but the only ones I could find were for cement and paint and stuff. So I don't know what I should even be looking for there. So I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that they do well and we get some potatoes out of this little "experiment." :)
And btw, my lilacs got burned to a crisp during a 2.5 day hot weather spell. I hate that.

Week 6 Continued

Today my yellow pear tomatoes looked like they might pull through; if they do, I think they might just be smaller, but I'll be so proud of them. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and didn't plant any more.

I planted another jelly bean tomato from seed outside today. I also added the straw to the potatoes. Has anyone out there ever tried this method of growing potatoes?? I have no idea what I'm doing. I hope it works out. :)



Did I mention that my lilacs are in full bloom and look and smell fabulous?!?!?

Week 6

I made a schedule and then didn't follow it!! I was thinking I needed to transplant this weekend, so I rushed my plants outside and they didn't get a real chance at getting used to being outdoors. That, in combination with the fact that I completely over-watered all my indoor plants, meant a sad death for many. My hearty butternut squash died and so did my 2 yellow pear tomatoes. I am still hopeful that the basil will survive, but they aren't looking great. The tomatoes are looking sad and so is the cantaloupe. I transplanted everything but the marigolds. I planted corn, beets (I think we're a bit too late for them to work), beans, carrots, zucchini, summer squash, pumpkin, and a new butternut from seed. I guess we'll cross our fingers and hope they work. I am thinking I might try some more pear tomatoes from seed and possibly just buy some good/hearty pots of tomatoes. We'll see. My peppers seem to be doing okay, but they are extremely small...I am not expecting much from them. My potatoes are looking good; Jared picked me up some straw, but I didn't get around to putting it on my potatoes yet. They are getting tall, so I hope it's not too late to get the straw on them. And I'm a bit concerned that they might not get enough sun because I planted them under the poles for the beans and squash...

Week 5

My potatoes are getting bigger and really need the straw on them, but I went to town too late to get straw - they were closed at 4pm and we got there at 4:20pm. Ugh. I set the indoor pots outside and didn't realize how windy it was and my tomatoes are now basically laying down...oops. Next Saturday is supposed to be nice and warm, so I'm excited to get everything planted in the garden. Yay!

Week 4

The indoor plants have been "growing like weeds" as they say:


The onions outside look fabulous too (I'm just concerned that I planted them a bit too close together):


The potatoes have come up (I'm trying the method of having them grow above ground in the wire "cage" thing on these red potatoes, so I need to go get me some straw - they say to pack it on before the potato plants are 6" tall):


And the garlic has come up too (well, 2 of them anyway):

Week 3 Continued

This morning I went to water the garden and found that the garlic and red potatoes have sprouted! Yay! I'm so excited!!

(And technically, today begins week 4, but I'll go w/ the blog dates and call this a continuation of week 3. :) )

Week 3

I love the smell of the wet dirt when I water my indoor plants.


I have all of my indoor plants on 2 cookie sheets on our kitchen table. They move to the office and living room when we have guests for dinner. I'm so excited that so many of them look so nice. It's amazing to me that they sprout so fast. The butternut squash looks the heartiest. The broccoli hasn't sprouted, and I fear it never will; it's just too late in the season.


Onions


Strawberries

Of the things I planted directly in the garden, the onions are looking the best. There are about 1/4th of the peas actually growing, but I think I buried most of them when I tilled the day after I planted them. No sign of the garlic, spinach (did I mention I planted spinach?), or potatoes. The strawberries (some planted 2 seasons ago, some planted last year) are blossoming nicely too...mmm!

Here's a picture of the lilac we planted a couple of years ago; are these the actual flowers?? Will they be nice big bunches of purple lilacs?? If so, it will be the first blossoms on it. Yay!

Week 2

I guess I was officially on week 2 yesterday since I started on a Saturday...

Yesterday I planted cantaloupe indoors and onion sets and spinach (from seed) in the garden.

I gave up the idea of a raised bed "true" square foot garden this year. Maybe another year.

I wish I would have read a bit about companion planting before I mapped out my garden - I would have moved some things around a bit. Oh well.

Here's the layout of my garden:


And here are my planting dates:

Week 1 Continued

On Wednesday I planted tomatoes and peppers in pots indoors and planted white potatoes, red potatoes, and garlic outside in the garden.

I'm having second thoughts about the real deal square foot garden. It will be expense and time to build it and I'm really running out of time for planting the stuff I bought. I need to get my onion sets, spinach and carrots planted. I'll have to find out if Jared has some time this weekend to help me build the raised bed; if not, I think I'll just put them in the ground with the rest of the garden.

I am going to try my red potatoes up into a round wire thing and see if that works, so I need to get some straw.

Week 1

I was so impressed with Catherine's documentation (and success!!) of her garden and seeing Kristen's blog and the square foot garden blog, I decided I should document my garden this year too. So here goes!

On Saturday I tilled the garden. It was a bit muddy, but it was a good workout. It was my first time using my tiller (Jared had done it for me before). Jared and Kailey helped me get a few wheelbarrow loads of compost from the front yard to spread in the garden. Then I planted peas all along the outside of about a quarter of the garden.

On Sunday I completed the garden plan. I think I am going to try square foot gardening in a corner and put some of its practices into use in other parts of the garden as well. We'll see. I measured the garden on Saturday and put the layout into an Excel spreadsheet with the things I want to plant.

On Monday I tilled in the compost (my first time starting the tiller successfully on my own or that part would have been done on Saturday while Jared was taking Kailey to a birthday party and Taden was sleeping). And Kailey helped me fill some pots for starting seeds inside. We planted broccoli (much too late, but thought we'd give it a shot anyway...along with the peas that are too late too...), onions, basil, butternut squash & marigolds. I also made a call to the Master Gardeners to ask about the bitter cucumbers and yucky beans as well as gofers; they were nice and are sending me some articles. I am very worried about that stupid gofer because I think he got to my artichoke! And I noticed some mounds out by the swing set. Gggrrrrr. The Master Gardener (whose name I have now forgotten) told me some ways to poison it and also suggested trying the wire baskets around the root ball (she didn't say root ball, but I can't remember what it's really called). But also said a raised bed is good...another point for square foot gardening I guess.

Today we bought all kinds of seeds. I figure I can start a few things indoors with seeds and if they aren't looking very good I can get some starter plants instead. We got corn, carrots, beets, spinach, tomatoes, onion sets, red potatoes, garlic, cantaloupe, bush beans & white potatoes. Some I will start indoors and others I will plant directly into the garden.

I signed up for the newsletter that the girl, Emily, of the My Square Foot Garden site does, but I am thinking I signed up for the wrong zone. Last year just after I set out all the plants I had started indoors, it froze. So I think I will follow her orange plans instead. And fudge a little where I'm behind. :)