Tending to the garden

We all know gardening is both a joy and hard work. One thing that I have struggled with lately is getting my garden watered properly while I have been sick with a cold.
My husband will help me water it from time to time, but not always.

Since the hose burst, it has to be done by hand, which means many trips to the spigot. It is a bit harder on my body while I am not feeling well than using a hose would be. Being so close to the end of the season, I had decided not to buy a new hose until next year.

I am still watering my garden, just not as often as I would like. I had hoped the rainy days would continue but of course during this time the temperature decided to heat back up again.

I would have put wine bottles into the ground but the water would have dried up within a day I am sure, and I would not have been able to refill them so easily without the bottom being cut off. Usually it is a battle of spraying the dirt out of the neck before refilling. Seems like more of a hassle to refill bottles that are not cut, than watering the garden by hand.

Sadly I do not have a self watering system in place for my current garden, but I do hope to implement one next year if possible. Doing so with a larger garden would make things a lot easier. Even if only part of it  is self watering through watering wells, pots, etc, it would help take off the load.

I have a sprinkler system in my back yard, though it does not reach the slope. I do not see a drip system being possible for next years plans so I am coming up with other ideas like wicking beds and such.

Some of the tomato plants look a little wilted but are otherwise fine. I see a little acorn squash growing, though no others for pumpkin or butternut yet. The zucchinis are doing great. Most of the beets are growing wonderfully. Peas/beans are flowering.
All in all my garden is doing just fine despite lack of the proper watering.

I have still been able to water my indoor plants. My ginger is really taking off. Lettuce seems a bit hard to grow indoors. I wonder if the temperatures fluctuate too much for the little lettuce heads. Either the heads die off or start to bolt. I think it just gets too warm and our AC unit has problems keeping the place cool even with the fans going.

Watercress has died off but I do believe I was able to get a few seeds that will hopefully germinate later.

I started a mushroom growing experiment. I took the stems of two types of mushrooms, button and the brown topped ones I can never remember the names of, and put them in some moist soil. I have them in my crafting room on the windowsill in 2 liter plastic bottles with a big hole in them.

They appear to be decomposing, which I am not sure if that is part of the re-growing process or if this is a failed experiment. I read somewhere that you could grow them that way but I am not so sure as of yet.
I wanted to try growing shiitake mushrooms but those are hard wood mushrooms I believe, which means they grow on decomposing logs, not in soil.

In any rate if it does not work I will most likely get a mushroom growing kit in the future.

As for the outdoor garden area, I will give it lots of love via coffee, tea, and other yummy things as a thanks for their patience with me while I am ill. I have already put a little coffee out there for the squash.

Whenever I make coffee I make just a little extra that goes into a cup that I put into my garden later. I also save the grounds as well as you already know.

Thankfully even with as bad as I have felt with this cold, I can tell it will not last as long as others have. A testament to what good herbal remedies can do for ones body.

Gardening and baby humming birds

This is what I have in my kitchen near my espresso machine. I have an open container to store coffee grounds in as I use them, and a old ziplock lunchbag that I put dried used tea leaves in. It is not a lot right now, but over time it will be very useful.



I have also started saving eggshells again that I will later grind up.


My little kitchen garden is doing fantastic. Avocado tree, ginger, bok choy, watercress, onion, and romaine. All but the watercress were propagated from fruit stand or grocery store scraps.


This yellow crookneck is getting so big! Now everything I read says to harvest when the skin is still soft… But mine has never really been soft, so to be honest I am not sure when it needs to be harvested. I will most likely be picking it tomorrow after getting some feedback.


The beginnings of my compost pile! The boys mowed the grass and piled it up for me on top of a box that is laid flat. It towers closer to 4 ft tall… I will most likely be scattering it a bit more as I add more things to the pike so the pile is not too high.


Look at these two incredibly cute baby hummingbirds! They are quite the delight to have on the little urban homestead.

Look at those beans grow! I love vined plants. Now if only the bugs would stop chewing on the leaves I would be happy.
Beets are all sprouting up as well though it is too bright to get a photo of that until they are larger.
Carrots are not looking promising. I think the bugs may have gotten to the seeds. We shall see.

Being that I am pagan I wanted to go into a little more depth as to why I have been posting about fertilizer so much. For me, it is respectful to give offerings to the Gods, and the spirits of the land. In my past garden this was usually done by putting out seed for the wild animals to eat. I do not want the seed I have to sprout here as I did in the last house, so I have not put seed out until I can get the non-sprouting kind.
My bird can be a semi picky eater and I would put out what was not eaten. Waste not basically.

To me fertilizing and nourishing the plants is also an offering. A  show that I am here to care for the plants, for the land, and to be a steward. I am giving back to the earth and helping it grow healthy just as it helps me.

Now while I do give offerings other than this, I do feel that the act of taking care of your garden, the act of making your own fertilizer, and showing dedication to your plants is something that speaks volumes to the genius loci. The spirits of the land.
I help them and they help me. It is a working relationship. As I get to know my new land better, they will get to know me and may even teach me a thing or two about the secrets of the land.

I work with them rather than against them. I very much enjoy getting to know the plant spirits, animal spirits, and in general the local spirits as I enter a new territory. There is so much one can learn if only they are willing to listen and be patient.

The grand old silver maple in my yard has to have the most personality of all my trees. I picture her as a happy old woman, who much likes to tickle my cheeks with her leaves and give me encouraging pats on the head as I water the garden. She seems quite delighted with me. While it may seem strange to notice the personality of a tree, I assure you it is actually quite a normal practice for myself and many others.
It has already been proven that plants do in fact speak with each other. Just because we do not always regularly speak with them, does not mean they do not talk in their own way, and are not listening.

It has also been proven that talking to your plants does in fact help them grow. I know this to be true personally myself. Music is another thing that helps plants grow.

The biggest thing with communication would be patience and the knowledge that communication will not happen as I am talking to you now. It will happen in other ways. An impression, a dream, a sway in the breeze. If you are keen at picking up these signs you will know what they mean.

I had two deaf friends growing up. I did not speak sign language myself but I still understood what they were saying. I eventually learned some signs and we could communicate a little better through their teaching me. I think this is no different than that. You are learning the communication style of something that does not speak like you, but that does not mean you cannot communicate with it. I would not change some of the wonderful experiences and conversations I have had with some of the plants I have grown for anything.

I feel very blessed to have my new plants so happy to have me living here. I feel very welcomed in my new home. Some may take a little more time to warm up to me, but the welcome I have had is already quite heartwarming.

Garden plants to get list

While my seed bank is growing, there are many seeds I want to plant and want to experiment with.

I figured it might not be a bad idea to make a list of those seeds or plants so I can share some of my plans with you all.

This blog will basically just be a list of those seeds/plants that are on my list of “to gets” for my garden.


*Warning the list is long and ever growing* I do plan to rotate crops that will not fit all at once of course.

Fruits:
Thornless raspberry
Wineberry
Salmonberry
Plum
Rainier Cherry
Golden Delicious Apple
Another apple type (Something like fuji or gala that would do well in zone 6)
Muskmelon (Like cantaloupe)
Honeydew
*Other melons I have yet to discover
More grape varieties. I have 3 now, I want a few more types possibly.
Orange
Service berries
Dew berry
Salal
Porcelain gem vine *Edibility still questionable*
Peach
Nectarine
Asian Pear
Huckleberry
Blueberry (3 varieties)
Elderberry
Honeyberry
Wonderberry aka sunberry
Jostaberry
Mouse melons aka Mexican Gherkins



Veggies:
Artichoke
Miners lettuce
Snap Peas
Brussels
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Spinach
Potatoes- Brown, red, gold, yams/sweet potatoes
Garlic (Has to come from a certified nursery here or it could cause white mold soil rot)
Cabbage
Kale
Sorrel
Celery
Banana peppers
Jalapeno
More winter squash varieties
Rhubarb
Horseradish
Sweet onions
Glass gem corn


Herbs/Plants/Flowers:
Cleavers
Pineapple weed
Lemongrass
Bee balm aka bergamot
Red clover
Aloe Vera
Burdock
Ginseng
Comfrey
Wood Betony
Goldenrod
Vervain
Tea, Camellia sinensis
Passionflower
Damiana
Gardenia
Goldenseal
Jasmine
Day lily
Watercress



That is the list so far.  I am always looking for new things to add to the list of things to try in my garden.
Now keep in mind some of these are experiments to see if they will grow in my zone and elevation. Just because they normally don’t grow here, does not mean they won’t… At least that is how I see it. Lots of people grow tropical plants in green houses. If I can get certain plants to do well enough, I can save seeds and replant. When I replant them they should be a little stronger with each season. Basically acclimating the plant to the land as much as you can. Kind of like domesticating a wolf… If you want to think of it that way.

Late season seed haul

So I did not get all the seeds I need for next year but I managed to get in a end of season seed haul. Let me tell you how I got 24 seed packets for $9.34

I started my quest for seeds a little late. I would be kicking myself if I did not find what I had.

So originally I was out to find seeds that you see in the dollar store, winco, walmart, etc… by American Seed, which is actually Plantation Seed, but moving on.. Everyone knows these little plain packets that are around .20-.30ea. Since I do not have a whole lot of money for seeds at the moment I thought this would be great for adding a few varieties, heirloom or not, to the garden.

Now one thing that is a downside about the seeds is they have a limited variety, but it works for creating a small edible garden.

After calling about 8 different stores I found Walgreens still had some seed packets left. When I got there I expected to find the normal american seed company packets but instead I found Burpee seeds on sale for .29-.34 cents! Yes, I pay a few cents more, but I know they are a reputable company.

I could have spent $37 for all of the seeds I got… It is amazing the deals you can find when you are in the right place at the right time. I am happy I can buy seeds out of season for next years planting.

So I snagged up 22 packets of seeds, and then 2 packets of lettuce tape that was normally $6.59ea for $0.98 each.



I have not used seed tape before but it seems really nifty. There is 22ft per pack.


This is my little seed storage chest. I moved my seeds to this when they were getting too big for their old container. Now having something that is air tight would be best, but this will work for me for now. Not all my seeds are in this chest; mainly the ones I printed out myself and saved.

I did not buy all the seeds they had left though I was very tempted to… And may even go back another time to see if there are any left.

They also had bell peppers, sunflowers, 2 other kinds of flowers, and anything else they were out of by that time.

Here is what I ended up with:

3pks of Peas “Cascadia”
2pks of Carrots “Scarlet Nantes”
2pks of Carrots “Little finger”
1pk of Radish “Crimson Giant”
1pk of Beets “Detroit Dark Red”
1pk of Garden Beans “Green Crop”
3pk of Cucumber “Space Master”
2pk of Watermelon “Sugar Baby”
2pk of Summer Squash “Early golden crookneck”
1pk of Summer Squash “Black Beauty”
1pk of Tomato “Super Beefsteak”
1pk of Tomato ‘'Super Sweet 100 Hybrid”
1pk of Marigold “Sunset Giant Mix”
1pk of Basil “Mammoth”
2pk of Lettuce (Tape) “Black Seeded Simpson”

The great thing about the seeds I got is that I believe all but one or two are open pollinated varieties and I can save seed from them. I am not certain, but at lest I believe they are mostly all able to be used to save seed if I wanted to.

I have not saved seeds from carrots or other root veggies before. I may still have to buy those until I get the hang of it, but the rest I should not have to buy again.

My husband is not sure I can fit everything I want into my garden. I will be using polyculture and intercropping techniques along with permaculture to use every inch of space I can in a way they does not hurt the plants. People waist so much useable gardening space by only growing one crop type in one area. You can improve the plant growth and harvest when you plant the right plants next to each other.

I am so excited to see my little seed bank growing!

Carrots and squash in the garden

Today was a day of planting carnival carrots. For those of you who do not know what those are, aside from obviously being carrots; Carnival carrots are red, purple, orange, and white. Yes, not all carrots are orange.

I planted four rows total. Two rows between each row of my sweet corn that are growing. I planted them 4.5 in apart and 1 foot row spacing. I basically planted approx 80 carrots. Some spots got more than one seed, but I tried to keep it to one seed each hole. 
Normally people plant them 1-2in apart, a few seeds a hole, and then thin them to 1 plant per 4 in… I don’t like thinning. I think it is wasteful. I would rather risk not all the seeds germinating then throw out half my harvest basically.
I tried doing it once with beets. Every single seed germinated. I advise never over planting beets.

In other news. My tomatoes are bouncing back for the most part. I harvested two gardeners delights from my garden and soon will have saved seeds from them. Super tasty by the way as well as very easy to save seeds from.
I have a few more gold nugget tomatoes I need to pick from the vine soon. 


After this photo I added more soil to the tops of the onions as they were pushing out of the ground.


Don’t remember which this one is.                Gold nugget.

Speckled roma.                    Mint julep                           Green Zebra
The above are the close ups. Speckled roma is finally reddening up. There is only one of them on the plant. While the plants are looking better, I am not sure they will produce anything more than what is already ripening.


Above is my yellow squash plant. It is doing great. I am seeing squash forming on it.

Below is my zucchini plant which is also forming squash.


The ones in the containers are doing better than the ones in the ground due to pill bug, ant, box elder bug, and earwigs… We have a lot of these and I will be tackling them early next year.
I am still not sure if the ones in the ground will make it till harvest time, but we will see.

This was right before I trimmed off some of the dying leaves on these ones.

I also have some lambs quarters in the yard I had not gotten to picking and now have seed heads forming. I will try and save seeds from those as well.
Lambs quarters are a good wild edible.

I was in the garden for about an hour and a half or two hours just tilling, planting, watering. I very much enjoy my time spent in the garden.

My husband says for next year we will most likely end up renting a rototiller for the part of the yard that is overgrown with cheat grass right now. We have rocks in our soil, so it will help to break up the soil so we can rake them out.
I will probably pile the rocks up and use them in other garden projects.

I may have lost my container garden during the construction at the old place we were at, then also lost containers during the move, but my garden is well worth any small loss I have made from my previous one. My old garden was so destroyed nothing came back this year, so I am not sad over losing any plants. My new plants are keeping me quite happy.

Next year I will most likely be getting mostly heirloom seeds to replace the plants that will not return. Pretty much everything in my garden save for the grapes are not a returning crop type. I am ok with having some heirloom and some hybrid tomatoes, though I will be replanting the saved heirloom seeds I do get from the ones I have.
I would like to save seeds from my squash plants but they are not heirloom. I will replant an heirloom variety next year that I can save seeds from.
I have been hand pollinating the squash flowers using a q-tip in hopes of a fruitful harvest.

I have mostly herb seeds, carrot, broccoli, beet, and that is mostly it. I will need to set up a grow station with shelving and grow lights in addition to getting other seeds I need.

On the food preservation side of things I have pitted (using a chop stick. Don’t judge) about 1/3 of a gallon of cherries and have frozen them for later use. I could make pie, cobbler, smoothies, and a million other things with the cherries later.

I am slowly adding bits of frozen fruits and veggies to the freezer here and there. It will certainly make cooking meals that much easier later.

I am focusing on freezing things for now until I get my canning set up complete next year.

Closer to the end of the month I will be direct sowing some beets in the garden. I will have at least a little harvest this year with the start of my garden.