Fall cleanup and setting up for next year.

Doing my fall cleanup while the weather is nice. Middle of November and still 63 outside.....next year building a hoop house...should be able to harvest through mid November.

Big changes for next year, adding 33 more growing squares and moving the tomatoes and zucchini to a location outside of the garden.  Also raising the beds up by one more 2x4, in hopes of getting a better soil mix and drainage.

Still need to finish raising the beds and getting more compost and soil in the beds before snow falls. Not to mention fix the deer fence....we have a strat cat that has chewed a hole through the fence to dig in the garden.

Till next time!

Season has come to a close for 2015

Didnt have a chance to really update the blog much this year, between chasing my oldest and trying to keep up with the twins, I didn't have much free time.  Work has been crazy with the bank merger and our move into our temporary location, the stress levels have been sky high... Thank goodness for the garden-it was one way for me to relax and spend some quality time with my oldest son.  I will apologize now for the number of pictures that will be posted!!


This was by far my most successful year of vegetable gardening ever. I had 153 growing days this year. I have never had a harvest go past the middle of September and this year I pulled my last set of carrots on October 25th 2015. The new layout worked wonders this year and I am already tweaking it next year (going to gain about 15 more sq foot boxes to grow in . Wasn't my best year for Lettuce, Spinach or Bush Beans...more than likely due to the wet spring we had and the early hot weather shortly after it too. Total pounds of Produce this year was 86 lbs 7.41 ounces, just shy of my 100 lb goal. Here is a breakdown of what I harvested for the year:

Cherry Belle Radishes : 9.4oz
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce : 3.5oz (Heat killed this one)
Mesclun Mix : 2.4oz (Flooded during a hail storm...never recovered)
Salad Select Spinach : .91oz (First year planting and too late in season)
Simpson Elite Lettuce : 2.4oz (Heat killed this as well)
DiCiccio Broccoli : 2.5oz (2 plants)(First year growing, need to start earlier next year)
Carnival Blend Sweet Pepper : 8lbs 9.6oz (3 plants)(first year growing)
Italian Pepperoncini : 9lbs 3.2 oz (3 plants) (first year growing)
Fordhook Zuchini : 3lbs 4.5oz (3 plants)(Hail Storm wiped these out early)(first year growing)
Early Pride Cucumber : 6lbs 11.2 oz (4 plants)
Pickle Barrel Hybrid Cucumber : 12lbs 7.5oz (3 plants)(kids ate them so fast=no pickles)
KY Wonder Pole Beans : 3lbs .3 oz (12 plants)(Japanese Beetles hit hard overnight)(first yr growing)
Danver 1/2 Long Carrots : 11lbs 2.5oz (first year growing)
Jupiter Beets : 14oz (first year growing)
Golden Grande Onions : 5.5oz (first year growing)(didnt plant till late July)
Walla Walla Onions : 7 oz (first year growing) (didnt plant till late July)
Iceburg A Head Lettuce : 0-bolted in early heat, 2nd plantings didnt take
Snack Attack Cherry Tomatoes : 20lbs 11.5 oz (2 plants)
Better Boy Hybrid Tomato : 10lbs 5.8oz (1 plant)
Goldrush Bush Bean : 1lb 2.1oz (12 plants)(Beetles got & hail storm)


Overall was a great year.  Already tweaking my beds for next year and making a few changes that will gain me some more planting space without really expanding the area! (should make the wife happy)

Thanks for following and Enjoy the Holiday Season.

First critters and first harvest.

Noticed some damage to my broccoli and a Big Boy Tomato has some stink bug eggs and damage on it...not too thrilled, but hopefully I have it under control! Now if the rain would stop it would be a great help too.

Picked the first 7 radishes tonight. These guys are bigger than last year. 1.6 oz in weight. (Last yrs total was 4.6 oz)

Been a busy couple if months.

Between extremely wet weather and a freak hailstorm, everything is coming along decently. Lost a few broccoli to the hail and some seeds due to 4"+ of rain we had in less than 1 week on top of highs in the mid 80's. Here are some progress pics.

This years plantings

Decided to try a lot of new things this year and expand what we have to eat.  I figure with crop rotations/2nd plantings we should have plenty of fresh veggies all summer long!  Here is the list so far, may add some different items for fall crops.

Mesclun Sweet Salad Mix
Spinach Salad Select
Iceburg A Lettuce
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
Simpson Elite Lettuce
Di Ciccio Broccoli
Early Pride Cucumber Hybrid
Pickle Barrel Cucumber Hybrid
Sure Thing Summer Squash Hybrid
Carnival Blend Sweet Pepper
Pepperoncini Hot Pepper
Danvers 126 Half Long Carrots
Golden Grande Onion
Walla Walla Onion
Burpees Big Boy Hybrid Tomato
Snack Attack Hybrid Tomato
Better Boy Hybrid Tomato
Cherry Belle Radish
Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean
Tender Bounty Bush Bean
Goldrush Garden Bush Bean
Juniper Beets

Might do some Beets in the fall along with celery, but we will see!  I already have everything planted, now just playing the waiting game.  Got a later start than I wanted to this year, but between the cool weather, rain and family obligations there is never enough time.  I will post some pics of what is already coming up shortly.  

New Year, New Plans for 2015!

Decided to redo the blog for this year. I do apologize ahead of time for the length of this first post, but there are lots to catch up on.  I decided to expand the garden this year and to use a semi square foot method.  I really wanted a layout that would maximize the space I had, but more importantly allow my 3 boys easy access to help out.

Here is the new layout, you can see last years garden inside the new layout.

I created 3 different beds to house my square foot beds.  I used 2x4's to frame everything in.  It is not a full raised bed, but kind of a hybrid.  Last fall I mixed in some leaves and grass clippings to add some bio mass to the clay that was there before.  None of my boxes are permanently fixed to the frame.  My thoughts are that at the end of this season, I will pull them out and spread the topsoil evenly over the whole area, add some more compost and till it all under for next year.  Should lead to some pretty decent soil in a few years in this location.

The front boxes will be for my tomatoes and on the left side will be my cucumbers and zucchini this year.  Decided to plant some Pole Beans for the first time.  Here is a picture of the pole I made from PVC Pipe.

Here are a couple of pics of the stings installed almost ready for planting!

My trellises from last year were pretty shot, so I decided to build my own this year. Came out pretty good I think, now lets see how well they work! Built 3 of them, here is the first one, it stands right at 5' tall.

That is all for today, Next up will be a list of everything that we are planning to grow on our urban farm.  For now, here are some pics of the kids helping dad get it set up!