Wet weather, new predators & 3 kiddos running around.

Haven't done the best job updating my blog this year,  but here is a little update.  Had a great start to planting, thought I was behind but according to my journal last year I am 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Which brings me to my next frustration...noticed my sweet pepper plants had been eaten on and I was missing some cucumbers, Carrots and my radishes were ripped out of the ground. Did a quick check of the fence and found no holes or other damage to it. Figured my vole was back from last year or the Chipmunks had found a way in the garden again. Did a quick check to see what I needed to replant and started right in.

Fast forward to the next morning, come out and to my suprise all my pole bean seeds and bush bean seeds have all been dug up and eaten. At this point I'm pretty irate and still can't figure out what is eaten things!  Had to leave for a family cookout, left things as they were till I could return. Upon returning that evening,  I decided to go around the house and quietly approach the gate to the garden to see what I could see.  Much to my suprise there were about 12 birds ago in the beds,  just going to town on the seedlings and the freshly planted seeds.  Looks like my owl of the last 3 years has worn off its effectiveness. ..first time I've ever had birds in my garden.

On a side note,  I'm might have angered some birds we have living in our vent on the side of the house that is right above the garden. I have been spraying water at them in an attempt to get them to leave,  but the other day I heard baby birds in the vent,  so I fear I'm stuck with them for a little while longer. Makes me wonder if they called all their friends over to reek havoc in my garden as payback....

Installed some pie pans on strings and it seems to have worked.   The birds occasionally chew the pans off the string almost as if they are reminding me that they are still watching me closely.  Aside from that, things are looking good. Radishes are almost ready to be picked.  The Sugar Snap Peas have really taken off along with the Pole Beans and Tomatoes. Cucumbers have been a disaster, resulting in having to replant almost all of them this past week. Lettuce has been slow, but this 80°+ weather hasn't helped either along with the spinach too. Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts are slowly coming up, hopefully the heat doesn't affect them too much.

Overall, things are moving along. Really can't wait to harvest some stuff for the dinner table!  Enjoy the pics and till next time!

Things are starting to get moving in the garden!

Since my first set of seedlings did'nt quite take off as planned, (thats what I get for rushing things...) I re-started things about 3 weeks ago.  With work, spring break with my oldest and a little bit of me just being a little lazy I am finally posting some updates on the garden.  I have gotten a much better start now that I have my grow light up and running (another freebie from my Aunt Joyce). The one thing I have learned is that the homemade seed pots do 2 things really well...retain water & inhibit some mold around the bottoms of them.  Not sure how this will effect things, but so far I don't think it will impact it too much.  Here is list of what I have started indoors so far (will probably be all I start due to warm weather approaching fast for direct sowing)

Better Boy Hybrid Tomato
Big Boy Hybrid Tomato
Snack Attack Cherry Tomato
Sugar Snap Pea
Broccoli
Brussell Sprouts
Salad Slicer Cucumbers
Pickle Bush Cucumbers
Carnival Blend Sweet Peppers
Italian Pepperoncini Peppers


I decided to do the onions as direct sow this year again, just getting a much earlier start to it. Should have the beds ready in a few days, but that is for another post!  As usual my oldest, Farmer Elijah has been begging me to get started in the garden this year. So excited to see his excitement for growing some food! We are already almost a month ahead of last year, so hoping we can hit the 100lb mark for harvested produce.

Till next time,

Jon

 

All 3 boys helping out.

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.

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!