Garden in May

Here are the new pictures of the garden May 15th 2012

this is taken from the end

This is the top view at the end ~ turnips, leeks, peppers and tomatoes

this is going down the first planter ~ tomatoes, swiss chard, little eggplants

on left the baby eggplants, tomatillos, brussel sprouts

garlic

cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and just barely can see the radishes bottom right

carrots, arugula at the bottom, celery and big chinese cabbage 

chinese cabbage and top right cucumber

corn

So here are the pictures of the garden with the plants I started from seeds

If you click on the first picture you can read what is planted so far









Close up picture of my lady bugs. I got these at a garage sale and they were all rusty. I cleaned them up and repainted  them

Close up of the garden here you can see the sprouts from the seeds I planted directly into the garden ~ raddishes, spinach, carrots, lettuce.


The plants with the straw around them is the garlic we planted in November. It should be ready in July.
Next to that are the brussel sprouts I started under lights in the garage and then a row of early girl tomatoes, a row of Roma, tomatoes and a row of Big boy tomatoes all started in the garage. Notice also the pink string making this a square foot garden

This is what my garden plants look like now

So today we are going to get garden soil for the new planter box because as you can see the tomatoes and turnips need to be planted asap!!

Here is a few updated pictures of my seeds, now little sprouts

Adding to the garden

These are pictures of us expanding the garden (yes I helped). We added another 12x4 foot section and will be adding a 12x 1 foot section along the fence for the peas and beans on the next sunny Oregon day!! The area with the chicken wire is where we planted the garlic last November before we decided to try the square foot gardening. We let the chickens into this part of the yard during the winter that is why it is covered with the wire. 

Planning the garden

 So I have mapped out our garden into 1 foot sections we will have 3 12 x 4 foot raised beds this year and I am adding 24x1 foot raised bed along the fence for the peas and beans to grow. Sorry for some reason the grids did not copy over. Today I started seeds for the cold weather plants - Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, celery, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, leeks, turnips. I took these pictures after I planted them.

garlic	garlic	garlic	garlic	1 broccoli	1 broccoli	1 caulif	1  caulif	4 celery	4 celery	1 collard greens	1 collard greens
garlic	garlic	garlic	garlic	1 broccoli	1 broccoli	1 caulif	1   caulif	4  celery	4 celery	4 Chinese cabbage	4 swiss chard
garlic	garlic	garlic	garlic	1 cabbage	1 cabbage	16 carrots	16 carrots	iceburg	iceburg	9 spinach	9 spinach
garlic	garlic	garlic	garlic	1 cabbage	1 cabbage	16 raddishes	16 raddishes	Arugula	Arugula	Salad greens	Salad greens

            

				y	y	y		corn	corn	corn	corn
	z	z	z	y	Yellow squash	y		corn	corn	corn	corn
	z	zuchini	z	y	y	y		corn	corn	corn	corn
	z	z	z					corn	corn	corn	corn
Basal	Basal	Basal	Basal	1 pepper	1 pepper	1 pepper	1 tomatillo	1 tomatillo	9  leeks  l	1 brussel sprouts	1 brussel sprouts
tomato	tomato	tomato	tomato	1 pepper	1 pepper	1 pepper	1   egg  plant	1    egg   plant	9 leeks	1 brussel sprouts	1 brussel sprouts
tomato	tomato	tomato	tomato	1 pepper	1 pepper	1 pepper	9   beets	9   beets	9   leeks	1 brussel sprouts	1 brussel sprouts
Basal	Basal	Basal	Basal	1 pepper	1 pepper	1 pepper	9 turnips	9  turnips	9 turnips	1 brussel sprouts	1  brusse sprouts

Peas

Peas

Peas

Peas

Peas

Peas

beans

beans

beans

beans

beans

beans

the 4 R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Respect

Over the years, in the back of my head a small voice has whispered to me to do my part, how small it might be, to help reduce the pollution I generate!! I have done small things, like refusing to buy water in plastic bottles and opting for reusable water containers instead and switching out all my traditional light bulbs for compact florescent. I am not sure if it is because I live in Oregon and there are a lot of people here aware of these things or if it is just because I am getting older and wiser or maybe a desire to reduce my bills, but I have decided to cancel our trash service!!! We are opting to just have the recycle bin which will save us $45 a month!! How are we going to do this you ask!!! well, here is a list of easy things we are going to do to to reduce our garbage to less than a grocery bag a week!!
1. Use cloth washable grocery bags
2. Use small paper bags (found near the mushrooms) for all the produce we buy, instead of the plastic ones because these are recyclable
3. I went to yellowpagesoptout.com and opted to not have any books delivered, but if they do they are recyclable.
4. We are starting a compost for all kitchen food waste and garden waste. 
5. recycle all paper, plastic containers, glass and metal did you know that even aerosol cans are recyclable?? 
6. Leaving mainly only plastic food wrappers in my trash container! 
Other things that we do to respect our earth that are just fun!!
1. buying from garage sales!!
2. reduce the size of our lawn and plant more edible plants!!
So, if you are thinking of doing the same I encourage you to visit your waste disposal company and print out their recycle chart. I think you will be shocked, as I was, how much can be recycled instead of being thrown away. You may find by making small changes you will be able to do the same thing!!

My garden this year

I have decided to try this planting style called square foot gardening. You lay out a grid to make square foot sections and plant different plants in each square. This is suppose to maximize the space and therefore give you a bigger yield. So far I have planned the garden out on paper and it does look like I will be able to grow more. Has anyone tried this?? Please comment on what you think. I will post pictures through the season so you all can see the progress

garden products!!

The first picture is of the tomatilloes we grew. I took the fine paper covering off, washed and quartered them and mixed them with onions, chopped garlic, cilantro, chopped roasted Anaheim chiles and tossed everything with some olive oil. I then baked in 450 degree oven for an hour tossing again after a 1/2 hour. When done cool and then I blended them with my stick blender poured into jars and then canned them with my pressure cooker for 15 minutes. This sauce is great when making chili verde pour - over pork in a crockpot and cook on low for the day. I also use this sauce when I make enchiladas 
The next picture is of my roasted tomatoes - I did the same thing here cut up tomatoes, peppers onions and garlic mixed with oregano and basal from my herb garden and some olive oil roast at 450 for an hour. Then I filled jars and pressure cooked for 15 minutes at 11 psi
The third picture is of my tomato sauce - I cut the tomatoes in half and squeezed out the seeds then blended them in my food processor in batches. I then transferred the tomatoes to a large stock pot and simmered a few hours then used my stick blender to puree them even more for a nice smooth tomato sauce then I filled the clean hot jars (use  your dishwasher) sealed and pressure cooked for 15 minutes at 11 psi. I use this in everything - stews, soups, meatloaf  

Our Gardens

These are our garden pictures from last summer. The first picture is the newly planted plants we got here from a local gardener who sells plants from her home. She makes her own compost to grow the seedlings and she grows organically. We grew sunflowers, zucchini, yellow squash and spaghetti squash in the first planter and carrots, radishes, Brussel sprouts, tomatillos, celery and peas in the back planter. We decided to move the sunflowers this year because I think the shade they made caused our zucchini and yellow squash yield to go down. We have also decided to double the size of the back planter for more growing space. I also decided to plant garlic this year so in Nov. we planted a third of the back planter with garlic.
The next picture is a close up of the tomatillo plants. I think they are so pretty and look like little oriental lanterns. Remember if you are going to grow these they need a second plant to enhance pollination and guarantee fruit set.
The next picture is of our beautiful sunflowers, we planted these for their beauty and for seeds for the birds. We love to bird watch and have multiple type of bird feeders in our yard
The next picture is of one of the spaghetti squashes we grew. I think we got about 8 from one plant, which was just right for our family. This year I think I might add some other types of squash as well.
The next picture is of my herb garden that is on my patio right outside my kitchen. I love having it so close and I just go right out and cut what I need for whatever I am cooking. I painted the little signs to label my herbs, which is very important because some of them can look very similar.
You can always have a little space of a garden, even if you live in an apartment. Container gardening is really easy and rewards you with fresh vegies all summer long.