tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4521666647683131952024-03-05T07:25:16.326-08:00Los Olivos Garden JournalLearning to Garden all over again in Zone 9.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-6141475266807540312012-08-21T08:01:00.001-07:002012-08-21T08:01:14.005-07:00Plums, fruit leather, and plum wineOne of the things that we have done well here in our new California location on the grounds of a private boarding school, is use the entire campus as our backyard homestead. We regularly harvest walnuts from the trees in the Learning Strategies quad in upper campus. We thank the middle schoolers for their labor every time we harvest cherry tomatoes from their plots near the tennis courts. But our favorite Dunn School harvest is when the Middle School plum tree begins to produce in late July. Oh what a bounty! This tree is no more than 15 feet tall and about 20 around. You can access all the plums with the use of a two step house ladder. Yet this little guy produces. We did two major harvests on that tree this year and we came home with approximately 60 pounds of fruit. Not bad for a couple of hours of work with the boys.<br />
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With that quantity of fruit, we tried a bunch of stuff...<br />
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1. Juicing - wouldn't recommend it. Juicing wastes a ton of fruit pulp and produces very little juice. The juice was fantastic and the pulp we feed to the chickens, which eventually feeds our compost in the form of chicken poop, so I guess it isn't completely wasted. But all the leftovers rubbed me the wrong way.<br />
2. Freezing - Easy and smart. Quarter and freeze, couldn't be easier. We use our frozen plums as ingredients in fruit smoothies. We eat fruit smoothies twice daily in the summer and these plums were a great addition. <br />
3. Canning - We canned some plum sauce last year. I love canning and do it often, but lately I have soured on it to some extent. It uses a lot of energy, and heats up the house during the hottest time of the year. I am also discovering better ways to preserve. One of these new methods is fruit leather... <br />
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<u><b>Fruit Leather</b></u><br />
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Let me start by saying, if you have not made fruit leather before you need to stop reading right now and go do it! It was perhaps the most satisfying preserving experiment that we have ever tried. First and foremost - it was pretty easy. Second - it used a ton of product. Finally - it was delicious! Here is the process...<br />
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1. wash, pit plums. This is the most time consuming part and is typically the first step of preserving no matter what method you are trying. My trick is to pick a large knife and roll the plum under the blade in one direction and then in the opposite direction. That quickly quarters the plum and allows for pretty easy pit extraction. Even my 8 year old son can use this technique with much success.<br />
2. Toss them in the blender (skins and all). We processed our plums in small 3 cup batches. Add approximately 1 tblspoon of sugar to the blender and press start.<br />
3. The result is a reasonably thick fruit mash. Pour this mash onto a sheet of parchment paper, which is supported by a large cookie sheet. Spread it evenly over the sheet. When I was done spreading, I would estimate that my mash was approximately 1/4 inch thick on the sheet.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HPDmSEy8QbVgSjjzPP-_K0g2hfNPDy2wD2wtWgSu1gRlmaje_eUegQYrtMkjkuUtoG9ZIXpHg26-X1N8TvKbL0DVgQmbNrP2GO62mewgovT1HUogLEXn6w8IaQy_oAjYJH4EKC2BJfI/s1600/IMG_2111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HPDmSEy8QbVgSjjzPP-_K0g2hfNPDy2wD2wtWgSu1gRlmaje_eUegQYrtMkjkuUtoG9ZIXpHg26-X1N8TvKbL0DVgQmbNrP2GO62mewgovT1HUogLEXn6w8IaQy_oAjYJH4EKC2BJfI/s320/IMG_2111.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3 cups plums and 1 tablespoon sugar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
4. We are blessed with some serious sun here in the central coast of California, so we have the luxury of sun drying our leather. We laid our cookie sheets onto the black floor of our south west facing deck, and the result was a drying temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the leather dried in one day - approx 6 hours on the deck. A couple sheets we needed to finish a little in the oven or on the deck the next day.<br />
5. That was about it. All you do to finish up is roll the parchment like a burrito and cut it with scissors into little kid-sized strips. Everybody in the family loves it. It disappears magically in about 3 days. It is healthy and fun.<br />
<br />Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-43421219271972318532012-03-31T21:31:00.005-07:002012-04-01T15:04:54.905-07:00Chickens<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi98KJ9cORzpZQYbEvQsBdlcMJirt0Y6Zwg400rKyON8hucpQpwg6WVh81Pr5ceWnGb2awOu9H9ZmFsnUFhRt7l6L7uMxtlpUgEU2bqwZd7oAO6tYZgcpmzFkIxl-r7VoinqF0GHC1Digk/s1600/IMG_2838.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi98KJ9cORzpZQYbEvQsBdlcMJirt0Y6Zwg400rKyON8hucpQpwg6WVh81Pr5ceWnGb2awOu9H9ZmFsnUFhRt7l6L7uMxtlpUgEU2bqwZd7oAO6tYZgcpmzFkIxl-r7VoinqF0GHC1Digk/s200/IMG_2838.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726431939309114962" border="0" /></a>If one were to judge by the activity of this blog, it would appear that gardening has been completely eliminated from our lives over the last couple years. That is not quite the case. But is has been slow and has taken on a whole new style - more fitting for our new climate, occupation and living situation.<br /><br />We now live in the central coast of California in a rural wine and horse valley. Agriculture is all around us. To our west is a large commercial farm that is planted in commercial vegetable crops all year long. Not far down the road are lama, sheep and chickens and just a bit beyond that is a lavender farm. We feed horses on our nightly walks and are never out of sight of a grapes and fruit trees. <br /><br />So how have we been fitting in to this new rural environment? Chickens! We bought four 10 week old chicks back in May 2011 to celebrate Sarah's 39th and Marian and Carter's 2nd and 9th respectively. We bought the coop on-line and the chicks in Lompoc, CA from a place call Dare to Dream farms. We have dreamed of owning chickens for a long, long time. Living in urban and suburban Pittsburgh for the last 10+ years, we have been held back from this dream by neighbor and municipal issues. We left those issues behind and have very much enjoyed our first year as chicken owners.<br /><br />We now have 8 chickens. Four from the fist batch (May 2010) and 4 more purchased from Dare to Dream as 3 week old chicks about 6 weeks ago. Here are our varieties: Easter eggers (2), Wellsummer, Speckled Sussix, Bard Plymouth, White Plymouth, Wyndot, and Brown Plymouth. Our young chicks are not yet laying, but from the older four we get 3.5 eggs per day. They stop laying between Thanksgiving and Mid-February. We got them purely for the eggs and the companionship. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxgxq2rsyRouaB4OiaBq_hefoS2Mx8-AxSwFUj7BFldE0IHOtQwPnhUmlzc2U5kQvwyaAOZdmtg-_DetlERC9WCc3hZkXnSdoEsal8VIXeAx3uJeAZ3m-5esVRPYg4jhk8MPwsLg0j74/s1600/IMG_1827.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxgxq2rsyRouaB4OiaBq_hefoS2Mx8-AxSwFUj7BFldE0IHOtQwPnhUmlzc2U5kQvwyaAOZdmtg-_DetlERC9WCc3hZkXnSdoEsal8VIXeAx3uJeAZ3m-5esVRPYg4jhk8MPwsLg0j74/s200/IMG_1827.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726431790481125058" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The egg production has exceeded my expectations. We get more than we need (even before the other 4 start laying), and we have increased our egg consumption quite a bit because the eggs are free and just so darn good. They are really fun to hand out to co-workers and friends. Who doesn't appreciate fresh, organic eggs? Sarah has gotten into mixing a special feed, which is just beautiful to look at. The recipe includes split peas, peanuts, corn, and flax seed. We also feed them kitchen scraps, arugula and lots of green weeds. Their diet is really good and the eggs they produce are worthy of that nice diet. <br /><br />Chickens are also wonderful companions. While they don't cuddle nor offer emotional support, their mere presence in our back yard is much appreciated. They make cute, quiet little sounds. You can pass hours just watching them scratch the dirt for food. They are just very, very relaxing and pleasant to be around. I often find myself choosing my book reading, refreshment drinking location on the back patio, so I can watch them do their thing. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV8OXUDcnuO0Nj5Mg0K4InX3SygU4oSKYgBySqhHWBLqmLtuyr14l0bYXptLrlQ-Rql9-gIruHwKlEC5RLwE90dnbO699GBuhXGRoQbs7ls6Qau7FJFm4tCOYYI2tEeBy-x06ps_mIogs/s1600/IMG_1300.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV8OXUDcnuO0Nj5Mg0K4InX3SygU4oSKYgBySqhHWBLqmLtuyr14l0bYXptLrlQ-Rql9-gIruHwKlEC5RLwE90dnbO699GBuhXGRoQbs7ls6Qau7FJFm4tCOYYI2tEeBy-x06ps_mIogs/s200/IMG_1300.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726285779343114018" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There are things in life that you dream of someday doing. We spend our lives building these things up into some larger than life glory moments. Often the reality misses rising to the level of the dream. Sarah and I have dreamed of owning chickens. I have to say - that the experience is pretty close to the dream. The pessimist could argue that we need to shoot a little larger for our dreams. I am an optimist. I own chickens.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-73383605544212263142012-03-31T15:55:00.002-07:002012-03-31T16:06:27.629-07:00I missed thisLife has a way of prioritizing things for you. Sometimes gardens and garden blogs just aren't top priority. That has been the case for me for the last couple of years. On July 1st 2010 we picked up our family of 6 and moved from Western Pennsylvania to the Central Coast of California. We traded in our lovely stone house, 16 garden beds, 7 rain barrels, and two ridiculously large compost piles for a rental property with a lot of grass on a high school campus. Who needs 450 pounds of home grown vegetables when you all of a sudden have a school dining hall feeding you every night? How the heck can I learn to garden in a rain resistant zone 9? Where will we find the time? How can I possibly garden without my trusty truck? Why garden at all?<br /><br />Because I love it!<br /><br />The Pittsburgh Garden Journal is now the Los Olivos Garden Journal. The Stacy's are back in the yard again. Talk to you soon.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-48191515187066612212010-07-29T14:29:00.001-07:002010-07-29T14:30:43.821-07:00Moved!We recently moved to Los Olivos, California. I will still be gardening, but it may take me a while before I have the time and the zone 9 confidence to blog about it. <br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />ChadChad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-18104662630158966932010-05-25T03:43:00.000-07:002010-05-25T03:58:18.558-07:00May 25th harvest<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5i9EnblBnHGC1Vhioh_ozb99pXKAUv-BVV6X84vXZJXIYsNk44YtpkyQh1vX1UyfyL6VJg6kdXNOpKhNyo6RqBgARcm_tWVJ1oFgHuv2GBPJma9n3T3ZUbLdS0RDnFkx8E6tBoRNvons/s1600/IMG_3161.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5i9EnblBnHGC1Vhioh_ozb99pXKAUv-BVV6X84vXZJXIYsNk44YtpkyQh1vX1UyfyL6VJg6kdXNOpKhNyo6RqBgARcm_tWVJ1oFgHuv2GBPJma9n3T3ZUbLdS0RDnFkx8E6tBoRNvons/s200/IMG_3161.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475158671128038770" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2mimKBlMQqCFZwmjccE_D6vKWBBhWn9Uftc2m6DIAVybc-4kDuHaWqBgUedi53s_sAtX1bH4F4Gmnlo3MrSxKlu1hb6YoygP4jLKOeFjWhhXR1xReWpch8W8OdzMTkETtmUPVxuqmqs/s1600/IMG_3163.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2mimKBlMQqCFZwmjccE_D6vKWBBhWn9Uftc2m6DIAVybc-4kDuHaWqBgUedi53s_sAtX1bH4F4Gmnlo3MrSxKlu1hb6YoygP4jLKOeFjWhhXR1xReWpch8W8OdzMTkETtmUPVxuqmqs/s200/IMG_3163.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475157877792366354" /></a><br />We are harvesting peas, broccoli, leeks and strawberries regularly. Yesterday we harvested enough strawberries for the whole family to share a nice desert of strawberries mixed with sour cream and sugar. It was delicious. I spent considerable time the last two days removing weeds and vines from the driveway area and converting that into a perennial flower garden. It looks really nice. We have also been having some fun cooking with leeks. This was our first time planting leeks. We have harvested 5 so far. They are really an attractive plant with a nice mild flavor and are easy to use in place of onions in a lot of dishes. We had leeks and roasted potatoes as a side dish with spinach scrambled eggs yesterday. I also made a nice potato, leek, taragon soup, which has been a family favorite. <div><br /></div><div>I planted the lower wall and upper wall gardens last week. In the lower wall garden, I mixed zucchini, corn, and pole beens. Check out this link for an interesting discussion of this interplanting practice http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html. With less than a month remaining here in Pittsburgh, this will be a harvest for someone else to enjoy. But I enjoyed planting it and will gladly watch it grow until the day we move. In the upper wall garden I planted 5 mounds of cantaloupe. <br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-31109784857118092472010-05-14T09:54:00.001-07:002010-05-14T10:02:52.815-07:00Mid May already?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0I3WVvgK2gavflhy3lH-1_YeKju1x84M0bBIFQX2C87APlWveO53RLeCbazP2gbeymTayxK6Q0jG35MfclFbv-nWK-gHQdO8ZwuXv0qEei8T08oDsZlurQw7rFbKmE3rWgSowux3KqkM/s1600/IMG_3057.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0I3WVvgK2gavflhy3lH-1_YeKju1x84M0bBIFQX2C87APlWveO53RLeCbazP2gbeymTayxK6Q0jG35MfclFbv-nWK-gHQdO8ZwuXv0qEei8T08oDsZlurQw7rFbKmE3rWgSowux3KqkM/s200/IMG_3057.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471171623843362034" /></a>Harvesting lettuce, spinach, green onions, radishes, kale, swiss chard daily. The broccoli is heading up with the largest head at 2.5 inches. strawberries are big and white. Wysteria is exactly what we hoped it would be - visual neighbor screen with beautiful blue fragrant flowers - and a cardinals nest buried in the brush. The garden is lush.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5G9tKnp80AzsJtrYDb4nC0vejfCukhO-2KC16s-zFEEWzz0BheZBYum_yUza474zvDEgRgpdvNJeKtFKyJmowoog0QCb7fixNx5GeR0QD-4PSndqB98N5OaGjGi7bqX5oe5EKxs23sS0/s1600/IMG_3060.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5G9tKnp80AzsJtrYDb4nC0vejfCukhO-2KC16s-zFEEWzz0BheZBYum_yUza474zvDEgRgpdvNJeKtFKyJmowoog0QCb7fixNx5GeR0QD-4PSndqB98N5OaGjGi7bqX5oe5EKxs23sS0/s200/IMG_3060.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471171617117990770" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6AWeUgmvXmk0eV6_gUn3mu3HQP7c5zUfsqGi2fQxr5aXdQu8AU2owN2A8ll9j3tDN9kCYdNZq_4f30wxWV2nbshFRhGyYoqNbn_PFdnE8jlUAOiLAX9KxFk-VQQKeq9Jtyl5xueJPv_E/s1600/IMG_3063.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6AWeUgmvXmk0eV6_gUn3mu3HQP7c5zUfsqGi2fQxr5aXdQu8AU2owN2A8ll9j3tDN9kCYdNZq_4f30wxWV2nbshFRhGyYoqNbn_PFdnE8jlUAOiLAX9KxFk-VQQKeq9Jtyl5xueJPv_E/s200/IMG_3063.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471171115445206882" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhWpe8-4-mL8GBDe6NXcSI0zCc20yZhoT0hz4ZgjVoQEMtA48IYs5PYUlE61dBi_UooPwo-HpNd61UsmNLOD-yMpTY9V3GajTg1qXD6wfhnylL0ox07w83lLCow1iM2btkEI4UkEg3N4M/s1600/IMG_3053.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhWpe8-4-mL8GBDe6NXcSI0zCc20yZhoT0hz4ZgjVoQEMtA48IYs5PYUlE61dBi_UooPwo-HpNd61UsmNLOD-yMpTY9V3GajTg1qXD6wfhnylL0ox07w83lLCow1iM2btkEI4UkEg3N4M/s200/IMG_3053.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471171110670733074" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSsFY1WzziFMe5PqxC4ypRSByvuvTpHIeqLmHdirJfQRUPDgBGTAtSWEKx8n0WAVVB6wrPJKTqDB014cN74UYy7jfcXPcu2KooJu2T8zra5jOt_ASG__zSQFuZfQHLwp2wf3yOXpCQ_0/s1600/IMG_3062.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSsFY1WzziFMe5PqxC4ypRSByvuvTpHIeqLmHdirJfQRUPDgBGTAtSWEKx8n0WAVVB6wrPJKTqDB014cN74UYy7jfcXPcu2KooJu2T8zra5jOt_ASG__zSQFuZfQHLwp2wf3yOXpCQ_0/s200/IMG_3062.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471171101331069826" /></a>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-17830321727337578692010-03-22T03:48:00.000-07:002010-03-22T04:33:31.905-07:00Busy weekend<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8nR29gSNJS-W-cZS2-T1iinUrOChBmFspdigt7vCI3zh4G7VDPoUhmtBXV9AXB1vCrFkIEVpDQc6gG_hOrnAfzfiz-ygxx6xoaeSehKj0wBVoW91ccd2-Lj8zznn5BxgMfV3QDBzKwY/s1600-h/IMG_2779.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8nR29gSNJS-W-cZS2-T1iinUrOChBmFspdigt7vCI3zh4G7VDPoUhmtBXV9AXB1vCrFkIEVpDQc6gG_hOrnAfzfiz-ygxx6xoaeSehKj0wBVoW91ccd2-Lj8zznn5BxgMfV3QDBzKwY/s200/IMG_2779.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451419821197702274" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnURm6rBln_CUsVJ1IuZmUO_kuULnKiRz0IoxvqQjPR6shtw9cbMe9hkRFPieQhfv3Trwv5qxtYEiyFoNAgA1dzl4Ta1a9LWJag8zJgV6xiQQ0hkXPvGqHKTL1z7HerHWOxQfPOqsICo/s1600-h/IMG_2782.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnURm6rBln_CUsVJ1IuZmUO_kuULnKiRz0IoxvqQjPR6shtw9cbMe9hkRFPieQhfv3Trwv5qxtYEiyFoNAgA1dzl4Ta1a9LWJag8zJgV6xiQQ0hkXPvGqHKTL1z7HerHWOxQfPOqsICo/s200/IMG_2782.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451419305244057970" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0b_xfw-eJsPqewKUrtu_Y_k4UgKjhcQ9PkJ5Cc30SQ3v1gGcbCLkgQj-PVQ1OikJAEc5D92PjBvpJL4WMfj7YlT1c8CdhH3Equ2d4ivvkPxu7zNRimBM_S1BbbktReK3mwUBFOcgbVQ/s1600-h/IMG_2778.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0b_xfw-eJsPqewKUrtu_Y_k4UgKjhcQ9PkJ5Cc30SQ3v1gGcbCLkgQj-PVQ1OikJAEc5D92PjBvpJL4WMfj7YlT1c8CdhH3Equ2d4ivvkPxu7zNRimBM_S1BbbktReK3mwUBFOcgbVQ/s200/IMG_2778.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451419298984728274" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFgPLAH0S7yPc1o5_fAp3qcKh0pDWX35QPVeYxvmBiKbZScDBuTi0axGzSEiS6OW46glutRPP_7pqUSGMvYkjeNoAye7N6iKCcoiTVji4mAHL5zP6g1QA6jpcJXQjAwZH5VS8j_8OBlLU/s1600-h/IMG_2776.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFgPLAH0S7yPc1o5_fAp3qcKh0pDWX35QPVeYxvmBiKbZScDBuTi0axGzSEiS6OW46glutRPP_7pqUSGMvYkjeNoAye7N6iKCcoiTVji4mAHL5zP6g1QA6jpcJXQjAwZH5VS8j_8OBlLU/s200/IMG_2776.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451419290641092034" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8X7fqOMpkJ4YNEMTsEfgP9COr6qLND6kbFlvR2BmiXAiytfctirEpTdXZF_KKQt_6SO3YXrjwpmoSPn1dGP793dLxKBsREuF2Teg-Mjx-TDbWJOynTVgZ9lBQWzLYir5FqnmBB0yvneg/s1600-h/IMG_2775.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8X7fqOMpkJ4YNEMTsEfgP9COr6qLND6kbFlvR2BmiXAiytfctirEpTdXZF_KKQt_6SO3YXrjwpmoSPn1dGP793dLxKBsREuF2Teg-Mjx-TDbWJOynTVgZ9lBQWzLYir5FqnmBB0yvneg/s200/IMG_2775.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451419288536567970" /></a><br />It was a beautiful weather weekend and a busy garden weekend. I...<div><br /></div><div><ol><li>Planted a 25 foot row of potatoes. These were seed potatoes purchased from Lowes. I planted two varieties: yukon gold and red norland. This is double the quantity of potatoes I planted last year. Last year I did a 13 foot row of red norlands which yielded a 33 pound harvest. This planting is in the northern most raised bed of the sun garden. Our planned move date is 6/10, so if the potatoes follow last year's pattern, we will only enjoy a few stolen potatoes from this planting. The new owners will get the bounty. This row was heavily composted in the fall and was treated with Urea and Sulphur last week. This row grew peas last fall and potatoes last spring.</li><li>Planted 1/2 of a 20 foot row of beets, carrots, green onions, radishes in Sun garden raised bed #2. This row was also treated with Urea and Sulphur last week. This row grew corn and broccoli last summer. 1/2 of it was sown with white clover cover crop in the fall.</li><li>Planted more peas. The peas that were sown in November sprouted a couple weeks ago, but it is clear that there was serious seed loss to this planting. Maybe only one in five seeds sprouted. So I filled in empty spots in this sun garden row #3 with new pea seeds. There are two varieties planted in this row - green arrow (pod peas) and snow peas. This soil was not treated. I also planted more snow peas in the tepee garden.</li><li>Planted yellow onions from 1 pound of sets. These are in the final sun garden row #4. They complete the row that was sown last fall with leeks. Soil treated with compost in the fall, urea and sulpher last week.</li><li>Planted 6 romaine and 6 buttercrunch lettuce seedlings in the cold frame. It is clear that our impending move has made me abandon one of last season's garden goals: not purchase any nursery stock. Indoor seed starting isn't the most attractive thing for prospective home buyers to see, so that goal got tossed for the greater good. Hopefully these seedlings will allow us some late March and early April salads while we wait for the coldframe lettuce patch to mature.</li><li>Planted two small rows of Kale and 12 red cabbage seedlings in the chimney garden. The cabbage I interplanted with a ton of spinach seedlings.</li><li>I also turned and chopped the compost hoping to fire it up. Parts of the pile were plenty hot - other parts were cold and soggy. I am guessing it will be ready for spreading in a couple weeks.</li></ol><div>The strange thing about all this work is that we will not likely enjoy more than 10 pounds of what I planted today. I am essentially gardening this year for three reasons - First - I refuse to turn this beautiful soil back to grass. Second - It looks pretty. Third - I have this hope that the new owner will enjoy both the harvest and the garden. But more than any of those reasons, I continue to garden this season because I absolutely love it. I have reached the point where gardening is one of my favorite things. The journey is the reward.</div><div><br /></div><div>Great news - I just finished my morning garden walk and noticed three asparagus spears sticking up. We also noticed the garlic popping up yesterday when we removed the winter covering of straw.</div><div><br /></div></div>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-77569999267064622282010-03-13T13:10:00.000-08:002010-03-14T05:23:12.268-07:00soil analyses, coldframes and seedlingsThis winter I scooped up two cups of our garden soil and sent it away to Penn State for some testing. They sent it back with some surprising data. Our PH is 7.5. While most PA gardeners are adding lime to their plots, I have been instructed to add sulfur to mine. They also recommended adding Urea for a nitrogen boost. I wonder whether the limestone house is responsible for our higher PH. If you look very closely at our walls you can sometimes even spot little seashells buried in the stone. <div><br /></div><div>Anyway today I did as instructed and added the recommended quantity of both sulphur and Urea. I also built our coldframe in order to use it as a spring seed starter for cold tolerant plants. I planted a mix of lettuce (broadcast), radishes, green onions, onions, brussel sprouts, beets, spinach and carrots. All of this is covered with metal chicken wire and plastic for a cheap and easy cold frame. </div><div><br /></div><div>In one of my main sun garden plots, I planted my broccoli seedlings. They are about 6 inches tall and have been transplanted and hardened off. I hope they make it. A mid-march planting date may have been too aggressive, but I am hoping for an early harvest before we move.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, I stirred the compost. It is a very cold soggy mix right now. Hoping that this stirring will fire it up.</div>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-70880013013915191302010-03-12T03:03:00.001-08:002010-03-12T03:13:03.881-08:00Peas are upMarch 11th and the peas just started poking through the soil in the sun garden. They were planted November 24th of last year and have spent the winter covered under over two feet of snow. In fact there is still some snow on the ground in other parts of the yard. Looking back to last year's journal this is an 8 day improvement over the first pea sprouts from last year.<div><br /></div><div>I also harvested about 3 pounds of carrots. I wasn't sure how these would look after being buried in snow all winter long, but they look pretty good.<br /> <div><br /></div><div>This is going to be a strange garden year as we are moving to California in mid June. We will harvest very little of what we plant this year. Our bounty will be enjoyed by the lucky new owners of this house. I still intend to plant it up full, but I don't think I'll be quite as interested in the process this year. The journal this year will likely take the form of a reference source for the new owners to know just where and when stuff was planted.</div></div>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-26499607448714305672009-11-24T07:24:00.000-08:002009-11-24T11:23:23.532-08:00Broc harvest - Peas planted<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6y7vxIZrCYMeVfn79RuysTeW18u4-ny8FFTb4CbANrwikp75lnzYf2R4JwmgSW8QucLMpIs3ss3Yusp76eyw-5i5nezW4ILM3XQsdft9FKoAAPpZkJNpYCesXIAtGDZENRk9nMycmrXw/s1600/IMG_2133.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407692615865720514" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6y7vxIZrCYMeVfn79RuysTeW18u4-ny8FFTb4CbANrwikp75lnzYf2R4JwmgSW8QucLMpIs3ss3Yusp76eyw-5i5nezW4ILM3XQsdft9FKoAAPpZkJNpYCesXIAtGDZENRk9nMycmrXw/s200/IMG_2133.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTOPkfq3uyeP4WCLSVvwA4YTeuseYbAW8uIT_ftPiN6g51WQDKdHqQqwS5H_WexY8vbqYZX4ol9kuIwRUIhFKQTKVYRlvOHIP43alHjX-bIm4C7ns9Jb1WYsd5iG2b4PHVAUotfoXaM0/s1600/IMG_2129.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407692611904454722" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTOPkfq3uyeP4WCLSVvwA4YTeuseYbAW8uIT_ftPiN6g51WQDKdHqQqwS5H_WexY8vbqYZX4ol9kuIwRUIhFKQTKVYRlvOHIP43alHjX-bIm4C7ns9Jb1WYsd5iG2b4PHVAUotfoXaM0/s200/IMG_2129.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq73jJPR7j9fUVTBKtDiesV9otCMuHDZn3eB6MOrRqU29gno7XIskPbmw7Q_28zjk_REVBeWdGnqRYTXhCjcLdohcB7cnw0t2d3S9yersH6MQj3s3jZIvlBOsQ7S0NpnzYkf9Kc93jifY/s1600/IMG_2128.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407692609448485826" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq73jJPR7j9fUVTBKtDiesV9otCMuHDZn3eB6MOrRqU29gno7XIskPbmw7Q_28zjk_REVBeWdGnqRYTXhCjcLdohcB7cnw0t2d3S9yersH6MQj3s3jZIvlBOsQ7S0NpnzYkf9Kc93jifY/s200/IMG_2128.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div> I am experimenting with my peas. They are always a pretty frustrating veggie for me. They never sprout early enough. They never produce enough. And they don't die off early enough for a variety of follow-up plantings. One of my favorite gardening books (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Crocket's</span> Victory Garden) talks about planting peas in the winter before the ground freezes over. The benefit of a winter sowing is that the peas shoot up at the first opportunity in the spring. No need to wait for the ground to thaw and dry enough to work. So I decided to give it a shot. I also changed the way I configured the pea climbing apparatus. Typically I try to do something natural for the peas to climb - something that looks kind of rustic - some combination of branches and twine. But the branches typically fall over in a spring storm and the twine breaks, and I am left with a big mess. This time I just went ahead and buried wire mesh for support for the peas. It isn't <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">beautiful</span>, but hopefully will be more functional. </div></div><br /><p>As far as crop rotation goes, this planting isn't perfect. These peas were planted in a raised bed which in 2009 was half planted in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">brussel</span> sprouts and green beans. My crop rotation chart says that peas should follow <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">bracias</span>, so the sprouts make sense. But peas and green beans are the same family, so half of this planting was not ideal.</p><p>This planting was approximately 25 linear feet and approximately doubled my spring planting of peas in 2009. I planted two varieties - A snow pea from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Shumway</span> called Goliath and a traditional pod pea from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Shumway</span> called Green Arrow. Both are supposed to be 60 days to harvest. </p><p>I also harvested 1 pound of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">broccoli</span> today. The shoots are small, but very, very tasty. </p>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-62945679350764301672009-11-15T06:43:00.001-08:002009-11-15T07:06:39.378-08:0013 lb Mid-November Harvest<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Eh1HZVde8hok9BJcWkBuZXoRxBLvAPbDqUEVuXVU0kz2xzn00KBnYafiDqwbeIlfGaPD-zG5lvnOJ9s2pgHnvBeYdhasdk0RXJHAYp7VS-CwU9Klv371gNiIFVk6j8ASPhtKHc4gp6U/s1600-h/IMG_2062.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404346243981632594" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Eh1HZVde8hok9BJcWkBuZXoRxBLvAPbDqUEVuXVU0kz2xzn00KBnYafiDqwbeIlfGaPD-zG5lvnOJ9s2pgHnvBeYdhasdk0RXJHAYp7VS-CwU9Klv371gNiIFVk6j8ASPhtKHc4gp6U/s200/IMG_2062.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbalPa0HTr098WziybTVzZUj0i_GUhtSZZkuRU6jzcb6w7gMFsMvNfgNYKg9fSO_bDMvea_NWXEziRU7mDo1DsXCenZvululhWc0Eh71iezH-oXgPaKHKNNWg6I-0efgf5UNXZYDuOK60/s1600-h/IMG_2038.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404346241290290722" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbalPa0HTr098WziybTVzZUj0i_GUhtSZZkuRU6jzcb6w7gMFsMvNfgNYKg9fSO_bDMvea_NWXEziRU7mDo1DsXCenZvululhWc0Eh71iezH-oXgPaKHKNNWg6I-0efgf5UNXZYDuOK60/s200/IMG_2038.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBUUY10XZB_54zYgnYBm3E-dU6Lyu6Lh-btY5ndxygmWTE6Hd1YNk34YD7h8d1VbOLKOEHrPJByQC4uCDxJQq4pJsYf-Yb5wFJ0JzVsX5RB5FUhwn-Snu0zPA5LN3zdyPqqzn9C3SIWQ/s1600-h/IMG_2059.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404346237251756098" style="WIDTH: 151px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBUUY10XZB_54zYgnYBm3E-dU6Lyu6Lh-btY5ndxygmWTE6Hd1YNk34YD7h8d1VbOLKOEHrPJByQC4uCDxJQq4pJsYf-Yb5wFJ0JzVsX5RB5FUhwn-Snu0zPA5LN3zdyPqqzn9C3SIWQ/s200/IMG_2059.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div>We had a beautiful weather weekend on the 14th and 15th of November, so we worked in the yard. We can still harvest a nice salad just about whenever we want. The current staples are lettuce, spinach, mustards, chinese choi, broc, radish, carrots and peas. This weekend we also harvested some quantity as we cleaned out the remaining carrots and beets from the large patio pots. We also harvested a nice 5 pound red cabbage to mix with the beets for some weekend borscht. We had two wonderful harvest surprises as well. I ran across a nice little red norland potato mixed in with the peas and I discovered a huge 3 pound zucchini (our only one this year). It was buried underneath the privite hedge beyond the garden fence. It still looks good, so I am hoping for some fried zucchini for the Steeler game today. All in all it was a 13 pound harvest. Not bad for mid-November. </div><br /><br /><div>The rest of our garden effort this weekend was focused on the compost cycle. We would load up the big huge blue garden bucket (1/2 a rain barrel) with leaves, spent veggies and flowers, and make a green compost deposit. Then we would fill the same bucket with the black gold for garden distribution. All in all we added about 10 huge buckets of compost to various garden plots. I just spread it on top pretty thick, and didn't even bother to till it into the soil. I am slowly moving to a no-till garden approach. I exhausted the black gold supply during this exercise. Now both compost piles are green. One is completely full. The other has 16 inches of fresh add-ins. </div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div>What a nice weekend.</div></div></div>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-4041886089745741822009-10-20T05:32:00.000-07:002009-10-22T04:36:11.993-07:00GarlicWell we had our first frost of the year on Monday the 19th of October. That was right on schedule as our region's average first frost date is October 20th. It wasn't a really hard frost, but it did whack our remaining peas. The lettuce and greens are still doing ok. I still haven't set up the cold frame for the winter. This should put a spur in my side to complete that project and protect my remaining veggies.<br /><br />I planted a garlic bed this week. We ordered a set of garlic from Seed Saver's Exchange. This was our first order from this organization, after enjoying a hand-me down catalog from another gardening friend. They have the most unique, organic, heirloom stuff you are ever going to see. Toss in the fact that they are a non-profit with a unique mission, and you know I am going to be a fan. We ordered a variety called Chrysalis Purple. It is a hardneck - dependable, excellent flavor, large heads, yada, yada - you know how those catalogs make everything sound perfect. Anyway we got 5 bulbs with about 8 cloves per bulb. This order cost us a pricey $24 - $15.50 plus $8.50 for fed-ex shipping. Yikes that is just too much.<br /><br />I planted them with the help of Carter and Quinn in the High wall garden. This garden gets full sun in the spring and then the sun tapers a bit in the summer with some blockage from nearby trees. This bed held green manure in the spring followed by tomatoes in the summer in 2008. My tenative plan for next year is garlic and spinach early followed by heat loving summer veggies - cantaloupe perhaps.<br /><br />To prepare for the planting me and the boys turned the soil, raking out the white clover that I had undersown along with the tomatoes. This soil was still very rough. Not too long ago it held evergreen trees and shrubs and black plastic covered with decorative stones. There are still many stones and tree roots competing for space in this plot. I added to the mess by throwing in 5 or 6 large buckets of not quite broken down compost. My planting instructions said garlic likes lots of organic matter. After planting the cloves about 8 inches apart, we spread a thick layer of straw on top.<br /><br />This is our second attempt at planting garlic. We put some storebought (not seed variety) garlic in the ground last fall. We got some production, but nothing to write home about. What we ended up harvesting were essentially slightly larger versions of the cloves that we planted. None of the garlic produced full bulbs with multiple cloves. The taste was fine, but the quantity and quality was poor.<br /><br />One note: You can buy garlic pretty cheap in the store already minced in a large jar. It is so easy and convenient to throw into food. I can't see us replacing that conveniance even if our garlic production is wonderful. I think these bulbs are destined for roasted garlic appetizers.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-807788792055523482009-10-09T03:59:00.000-07:002009-10-09T04:31:09.134-07:00Garden Goals - Looking BackAt the beginning of the garden season, I made some goals. Now it is time to look back and see how I did at achieving those goals.<br /><br /><ol><li><strong><em>Don't buy nursery stock. Start everything from seed this year.</em></strong> - Well I achieved this goal, but the results weren't perfect. As I reflect, there were two seed starting screw-ups this year. The first was with the peppers and eggplants. I had a lot of trouble getting them started and by the time they sprouted it was later than I wanted. That late start and the cool summer made for a much later and smaller pepper crop than last year. The other seed starting do-over was with some of my fall succession plantings. I tried to get spinach, beets and green beans started many times in July to no avail. I either need to start those fall plantings indoors in a controlled environment or try some outdoor planting tricks (board over row). Those fall planting mistakes are going hurt our four season harvest and early spring spinach production.</li><li><strong><em>Better variety - Last year was marked by too many romas, and hot peppers and not enough of everything else. I want Mellons, rhubarb, beans, zukes, onions, potatoes, brussel sprouts - and much much more this year.</em></strong> - This goal was partially achieved. We had a much larger variety this year than last, but as I revisit this list, there were several vegetables on it that we didn't harvest (zukes, mellons, brussel sprouts). The groundhog took the mellons. A fungus took both zuke plantings. And I planted the brussel sprouts too late and in the wrong spot. We won't be harvesting a single sprout this year. All that being said, I am pleased with our variety this year. We harvested 18 non-leafy, non-herb veggies this year. Add to that the lettuce varieties (approx 5), and you have quite the variety. The best proof of our variety was the fact that we really never go tired of eating any single vegetable. Each night was a different tast. Last year I didn't want to see another darn tomatoe.</li><li><strong><em>Extend the season - I hope to look back on this season and be able to point to some tangible evidence that I successfully extended the season.</em></strong> - Success. We had our first garden salad on a 20 degree day on March 22nd. That is early. Also - my cold frame was not fully functional until early in March, so it didn't have the benefit of a fall planting of spinach, carrots, and winter tolerant kales and lettuces. As of today, our cold frame is filled with just such veggies. I expect that we will be harvesting these for little salads and soup add-ins all winter long. Season extension was not just a modest success - it was a huge success.</li><li><strong><em>Crop rotation/succession planting</em></strong> - Success. The succession planting worked very well, but not in the way I envisioned. I pictured a steady, regular supply of beats all season long because of succession planting. And boy did I try. But once I got past the first spring crop of early veggies (beats, spinach, carrots), I had a hard time getting the second and third plantings to take. Where succession planting really thrived was planting different veggies in the vacated spot of an earlier veggie. The whole garden was producing something the entire year. And green beans and peppers are the perfect veggies for late planting. I'll defer a crop rotation discussion till next year. I need to see if I am able to stick to my rotation plan.</li><li><strong><em>Enough Compost</em></strong> - Super-Success. I can't say enough about compost. If you don't beleive me go back and look at the 17 posts where I mention the stuff. My compost operationg is darn near perfect. The stuff heats up, it doesn't smell, it looks good, and it breaks down fast. To top it all off, we have had enough.</li><li><strong><em>No Hose Watering</em></strong> - Success. Seven rain barrels did the trick. We only watered with the hose for a two week period in the midst of a big drought.</li><li><strong><em>Compost Tea</em></strong> - Not so good. I tried it, but didn't love the results. I didn't get fancy making my compost tea. All I did was put a burlap sack of finished compost in one of my rain barrels. Most experts recommend some sort of aeration technology. Well you know I wasn't going to do that! My tea got smelly and nasty looking after a couple of weeks. The compost worked its way out of the sack and gummed up the watering cans. After one barrel of tea, I abandoned this goal.</li><li><strong><em>Family</em></strong> - The whole family was certainly involved in the garden and in the yard, but a new infant and a flower/veggie segregation of duties meant that Sarah and I were rarely working side by side. This can always be better.</li></ol>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-13754080384824689722009-10-06T03:55:00.001-07:002009-10-06T04:44:56.517-07:00The Brocoli Post<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJz9zGLpBlBz0bjTpqbbbFq0RK19qYkDwV2ka6Y_OxDcogHTrJa4GeaGKjiConRoV8GIUclnQq5Tt_mpmJJ9KlMI5XRZO-0ZcYoh3qSNRoYbl7AhhpQZZFDHpjGk4FB0kl4K_w-0TtXq0/s1600-h/IMG_1632.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389439168814854514" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJz9zGLpBlBz0bjTpqbbbFq0RK19qYkDwV2ka6Y_OxDcogHTrJa4GeaGKjiConRoV8GIUclnQq5Tt_mpmJJ9KlMI5XRZO-0ZcYoh3qSNRoYbl7AhhpQZZFDHpjGk4FB0kl4K_w-0TtXq0/s200/IMG_1632.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Historically - I have had two problems with brocoli. 1. I never am quite sure how to spell it? Is it two c's, two l's? Who knows? Internet be darned - I ain't looking it up. 2. Too little garden production. Well - I still don't know how to spell it, but after this year I am no longer complaining about brocoli's garden vigor.<br /><br />The best I can tell from looking back at my brocoli posts, this year's crop was started from seed indoors on 2/24 and transplanted to the sun garden on 3/17. The brocoli and cabbage shared a row in the sun garden - "the bracias row". My original post mentions 15 brocoli seedlings, but I thinned this original planting down to about 10 mature plants. currently there are 5 plants out in the garden and they are still producing. We planted a variety called Green Goliath. It was from RH Shumway.<br /><br />Our 2009 harvest chart has our brocoli haul at 12 pounds, but I am guessing that is a little light. Brocoli starts out with a huge head. My notes say that the first harvest yielded heads that weighed almost a pound. My chart says the first brocoli harvest was approx 6/5. That was approximately 2.5 months from garden transplant to first harvest. The follow-up side shoots are much smaller and lighter. We have been harvesting side shoots steadily since early July and they are still producing. I am estimating that we harvest sides shoots once per week at about 1 pound total. I didn't begin charting weight by vegetable until very late in the season, so I'm not sure exactly what the haul was this year. The bottom line: We have been harvesting brocoli steadily for 4 months already and I bet it will be one of the last veggies that we harvest this year. It is a long and steady producer.<br /><br />Another great trait about brocoli is the fact that it starts so small, grows slow and ends up big. It is a perfect crop for early season companion planting. This year I interplanted lettuce and spinach with the brocoli. Therefore one brocoli row yields much more than just the broc harvest.<br /><br />Well how does it taste? Delicious. Our primary use has been in salads, although we did get enough for quiches, side dishes, pizzas and some modest freezing.<br /><br />What would I do differently?<br /><br /><ol><li>I would plant more. Why share a row with brocoli and cabbage? Brocoli needs it's own home. This year's 8-10 productive plants should double to 15-20 next year - assuming I can find the space. It is very popular with the kids and adults in our family and is also very versatile in the kitchen (unlike cabbage). It is also extremely healthy.</li><li>Don't worry about succession planting brocoli. Just start the seeds indoors in mid February and plant outdoors in mid-March. It produces well all season, so why bother with succession planting. The only thing succession planting does is stagger the main shoot harvest a little. But if you hope to freeze some brocoli than this is not important. </li><li>Don't be fooled by the July dry period. In the heat of the summer the brocoli production falls way off. I was fooled this year and I actually pulled and composted three plants in late July. I replaced these empty spots with broc transplants that I had in the cold frame, but these guys never reached maturity. No matter how bad the mid-summer brocoli looks, just keep weeding, composting and watering. It should rebound and be producing again soon.</li></ol><p>Bottom Line: Brocoli was definately a Stacy Garden 2009 success story, and has earned a prominent place in our 2010 garden plans.</p>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-9313554295493998292009-09-19T12:29:00.000-07:002009-09-19T12:43:26.502-07:00190 more square feet!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhm376bCD9UFEs0niPtoSWcjfCLMaeGre8blhfHz2c27uy0wN9GXcjVg2YNqcUlFejhHVH-Eq_0-jm-fpdCcdvGMxkzQOqOLuB8DSBsUxhTH2mpDqw-tM4JRvOF8qpnIWVD5HLZzFOwaQ/s1600-h/IMG_1894.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383263986589605186" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhm376bCD9UFEs0niPtoSWcjfCLMaeGre8blhfHz2c27uy0wN9GXcjVg2YNqcUlFejhHVH-Eq_0-jm-fpdCcdvGMxkzQOqOLuB8DSBsUxhTH2mpDqw-tM4JRvOF8qpnIWVD5HLZzFOwaQ/s200/IMG_1894.JPG" border="0" /></a> We attacked a long discussed project this weekend. We converted one of our parking spots to a garden spot. When we moved in three years ago, we inherited a carport large enough for two cars to park. This monstrosity sat just a few feet from our largest living room picture windows and was always quite an eyesore. It also was poorly constructed and very old, so we never felt safe parking or walking underneath it. Last year we tore out the carport, and ever since we have talked about converting the parking spaces into garden. We have taken our time with this project because as annoying as those parking spaces are when we are playing in the yard, they are convienant when we are carrying groceries or infants. So we decided to just tear out one for starters. The photo with the little tike is the "during" photo. I raked out the gravel and about 2-4 inches of soil/rock to make room for the top soil. Then I did my best to loosen the hard scrabble underneath. I added 5 truckloads - 2 1/2 yards of topsoil mix from Sandy Creek Supply. This is a nice mix of topsoil, mushroom manure and sand. Cost me $18 a load for a total cost of $80 for the project. I seeded the garden with some green manure (white clover I think), hoping it will get a start before winter. I expect this will be a summer plot of tomatoes and peppers perhaps. The lower picture is the finished photo of the new plot. 190 sq feet is a significant plot for us. This immediately becomes our second largest planting area. The sun is not so great, so we'll have to be careful how we plant it, but we are eagerly awaiting the planning and planting!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7zjlI6Z1XRQ6qJtdlRZ8iy2Jlff27rKTQLt2_twR3LGKG_zjILCFroxsuvILi77NB-64XYjCwlU_rdz4zZ8lNI9VuLiOq6wI3IiySNTTGvubo8Kj01q-YlK5ncCj_CRCi3zwwTYvgco/s1600-h/IMG_1896.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383263978122813314" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7zjlI6Z1XRQ6qJtdlRZ8iy2Jlff27rKTQLt2_twR3LGKG_zjILCFroxsuvILi77NB-64XYjCwlU_rdz4zZ8lNI9VuLiOq6wI3IiySNTTGvubo8Kj01q-YlK5ncCj_CRCi3zwwTYvgco/s200/IMG_1896.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div></div>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-20848114864063277682009-09-17T03:07:00.000-07:002009-09-17T03:54:04.793-07:00Detailed Green Bean PostOne of the best 2009 garden surprises was Green Beans. Until this year, Green Beans had never had a prominent place in our garden. I always grew pole beans and because they grow vertically, I had always tossed them in somewhere as an afterthought amd/or companian planting. They never really had a space of their own. 2009 was the year where I started treating green beans like the garden staple that they can be.<br /><br />On May 9th I planted our first green beans. It was a bush variety from seed savers exchange called fin de bagnol. I put them in an approx 12 sq foot section of raised bed in the sun garden. The first harvest from this batch was on 7/1, so we are looking at about 50 days from planting to harvest.<br /><br />I did a nice job of succession planting with the green beans and because of that we had an endless supply of green beans throughout the season. The details of the plantings...<br /><br />1. 5/9 Fin de Bagnol - harvest 7/1 - stopped producing and torn out on approx 8/15<br />2. 5/22 early bird garden - planted in sun garden - still producing in mid September<br />3. 6/7 slenderrette - in sun garden - still producing in mid September<br />4. 7/13 early bird garden - planted in sun garden (replanted after potatoe harvest) - still producing in mid September<br />5. 7/19 slenderrette - in sq foot garden #1 (replacement planting) - still producing<br />6. 6/30 (guesstimate) - various pole beans planted in the chimney garden on the tepee<br />7. 7/25 (guesstimate) - early bird garden beans in the sun garden (replacement planting for beets and carrots) - just beginning to produce now.<br /><br />As of 9/15 our green bean harvest for the year has been a quite robust 30 pounds. If we are able to coax 5 more pounds out of this crop (and I think that is possible), green beans will finish the season as our third largest producer behind only tomatoes and onions. This is amazing considering I only dedicated 32 sq feet of sun garden space (1 1/4 rows) to this veggie. All my other planting locations were replacement plantings. This veggie matures fast enough and likes warmer weather, so it is ideal for replacing early spinach, potatoe, lettuce and chard plantings - perhaps even onions. As of 9/15 we have 14 pints of green beans canned in the pantry.<br /><br />The quality of the beans this year were fantastic. We did a great job of harvesting regularly. Bush beans are easy to see and harvest. No ladder is necessary. So I bet we were harvesting on average 2 or 3 times weekly. Even the quality of our pole beans this year was way better than in the past.<br /><br />Although we had several varieties of beans, I didn't find myself liking one variety more than the others. They all tasted about the same to me. I am sure a cooking snob could expouse the virtues of one over the others, but that didn't jump out to me.<br /><br />We discovered a wonderful garden soup called hungarian green bean soup. It uses two veggies that arrive in quantity at exactly the same time (green beans and red potatoes), and it uses a ton of both. It is so tasty and different. It uses paprika and caraway seeds as its main spices. The flavor combinations are unlike anything that we get in any of our staple dishes, so it is a nice change of pace. We made a tom on this soup in July and August and it always impressed kids and guests.<br /><br />There isn't a whole lot I would change about my green bean planting this year. Succession planting was the key to a long consistent harvest. My production was fantastic, so I don't need more garden space. In fact I may not dedicate a full sun garden plot to beans next year. Perhaps I will just do a half plot in late spring and then do my main plantings as replacements for the early spring veggies. The pole beans add a whole bunch of visual interest to the chimney garden and the variety is nice - that will continue also.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-43983165489581203532009-09-16T04:00:00.000-07:002009-09-16T04:36:11.504-07:00Garden updateIt has been a long time since I've posted to my little electronic garden notebook. Certainly there has been some garden activity in the interim - it's just that the late summer activity is all about harvest and weeding and watering - not exactly noteworthy stuff. Anyway - as garden season starts to wind down, I am going to continue the single veggie posts and start some 2010 planning notes. For today - I'll just play a little catch-up...<br /><br />Harvest Weight - 412 pounds - We are still harvesting quite a variety. Yesterday we had a salad made with 11 garden veggies (chard, spinach, beet leaves, romaine, carrots, red onions, grape tomatoes, cukes, peas, green beens,brocoli). It was really tasty. The romas have been the bulk of our recent harvests, but their production is dwindling fast. Two weeks ago I harvested 17 pounds of romas, this morning only yielded 6 pounds. I am really proud of our harvest this year. By the time I put the garden scale away for the winter we will likely be near 450 pounds of home grown organic food. That is a lot. For a frame of reference my entire family of 6 weighs in at 445 pounds. So we grew and ate our weight in food this year. That is fantastic. I am sure we ate more veggies this year than we ever have in our lives. Now that I have a baseline harvest weight established, I can't wait to try to beat this target next year.<br /><br />I have been canning a lot in the evenings. It has been going very well. We have a wide variety in the pantry this winter as opposed to an entire basement of spaghetti sauce last year. More on this process to come in a detailed canning post later.<br /><br /><br />Leek note: Mary Ann - my Verona garden friend who lives down by the river, gave us a bunch of leeks from her garden a couple weeks ago. They were about 4 inches tall. She told me they will be ready to harvest in spring. I am hoping that I can plant a summer crop of peppers or tomatoes in their place after their harvest. I put them in the former onion plot in the sun garden.<br /><br />Asparagus note: I am trying for a small fall harvest of asparagus. I read about this strategy in a book once. This weekend (9/13) I cut the ferns on about 1/2 of our asparagus plot. I snipped them off as close to ground level as I could manage. Then I covered this section with fresh compost. The book said that I can expect a fall harvest of asparagus as these plants send shoots back up. With the cool fall weather these shoots are supposed to be super-tasty. Crossing my fingers.<br /><br />Cooking note: Roasted Beets and Carrots are just about the best darn side dish ever invented. Just toss a bunch of beets and carrots in a big alum foil pack, drizzle them with olive oil and some rosemary and put them in a 400 degree oven. They will take a while to cook. when you take them out you can skin the beets easily and slice the whole pile up. The beets turn the carrots the nicest color and the tastes blend together. It is the bomb. Sarah has been talking about this side dish for days. She wants it to become a Thanksgiving staple.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-61715057822893264592009-08-18T02:24:00.000-07:002009-08-18T03:16:25.833-07:00The Corn Post<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjy6Gr_UTQVjCJ4El80k7eUnifiklBph3Ym3RXl8EwiZMFwQsyq7RavRd12BjK5uqpPDIlDjH_eVd2QL5Ee9yLjw8RR6k6LQhi-NEDOVxHiM7CaqS7Pha7w6KyjlsWk2A1A_KVOj2g00/s1600-h/IMG_1609.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371235311137568738" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjy6Gr_UTQVjCJ4El80k7eUnifiklBph3Ym3RXl8EwiZMFwQsyq7RavRd12BjK5uqpPDIlDjH_eVd2QL5Ee9yLjw8RR6k6LQhi-NEDOVxHiM7CaqS7Pha7w6KyjlsWk2A1A_KVOj2g00/s200/IMG_1609.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUZ_srPqe0z5sLpHxoTCvAa-6xnP3KFeTieuO5AKB4qpNyY1G7OHGEhz5UlO9YYnIXt8UCGT9Ly7GLQwUzVXqvD_qgnLxRc9aa1oQnMOZnsR5IrtRIa1R9Dq9ooE4ZohbZ8UkQq_iX8WY/s1600-h/IMG_1605.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371234952557960754" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUZ_srPqe0z5sLpHxoTCvAa-6xnP3KFeTieuO5AKB4qpNyY1G7OHGEhz5UlO9YYnIXt8UCGT9Ly7GLQwUzVXqvD_qgnLxRc9aa1oQnMOZnsR5IrtRIa1R9Dq9ooE4ZohbZ8UkQq_iX8WY/s200/IMG_1605.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div>It is 5 am on my birthday and I am blogging about corn. Life is good. </div><br /><br /><div>I planted corn in two places this year. One of the main sun garden's raised beds held a small patch of goldam bantam corn. I first planted it on 4/13. That initial planting didn't do much of anything. Only about 5 seeds germinated. I replanted this goldam bantam plot a couple weeks later. Goldam Bantam came highly recommended by Sarah's grandfather. It is an old heirloom variety that is only supposed to get 3 1/2 feet tall. I selected this shorter variety for the main garden so it wouldn't shade the potato crop that I was planting to the north. Well - it got plenty tall. I'd estimate it was at least 5 1/2 feet tall and it did shade those potatos. But the shade didn't do any damage to those red norlands because that crop was well on it's way to harvest when the corn reached mature size. Despite it's height and healthy foilage this corn was a disappointment. The ears were about 1/2 sized. Because they were so small I didn't harvest them in time. I kept thinking they needed "just one more week" to fill out. By the time I did harvest them (after a heavy storm knocked them all over), the corn was old and chewy - not sweet at all. My main garden plot of approximately 20 square feet yielded 8 pounds of migit sized, old, chewy corn. Remove the weight of the ears from this calculation and you likely have just a couple pounds of edible produce. Hardly worth the investment in garden space.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>The other corn plot was planted at the edge of the two high wall and low wall gardens as sort of a visual and phyical fence. They did what I wanted them to do. They got tall and were really nice to look at from the street. Whenever I was down there watering or weeding I always took note of the looks that this plot would get from passersby. I noticed lots of second glances and little smiles. This variety of corn was a freebie from Shumway called early bird garden. I planted it three rows thick running about 25 feet long. The first 13 feet is full sun the last 12 feet is heavily shaded by a stone wall that edges the high wall garden. I made the same mistake with this plot that I did with the bantam. I never harvested it. When I finally got around to picking an ear it was old and wrinkly. This patch also didn't do real well. </div><div> </div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Conclusion: Corn is beautiful to look at. It is wonderful in the compost pile. The stalks make fun swords for the kids and decorations at halloween. But it doesn't do much for my harvest. I think I will always try to find some space for it, but I certainly am done sacrificing main garden space for a corn row. I liked the way it fenced the wall gardens and I may make this approach an annual one. I need to plant later and harvest sooner - and lower my expectations. </div></div>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-82729097541891369062009-08-13T05:47:00.000-07:002009-08-13T06:03:59.492-07:00Replacement, replacement plantingRemember my last post where I said I planted peas, chard, beans and spinach in the main sun garden? It must have been a dream. Nothing has come up. Well almost nothing. The swiss chard is doing well. The former onion, root, and pea beds have done next to nothing. So this morning (almost two weeks later) - I tried again planting the exact same stuff. Green arrow peas, early bird garden beans, and spinach. I also tossed a few rows of winter greens in the cold frame - kale and mustard greens. I used a spot that I had previously filled with kale seeds - again nothing. The only thing I can think about the poor germination of these late July plantings is the the weather must have just been too hot and dry for them to get going. Only 60 days left till first frost (oct 15), so not much time for planting left. This weekend will likely be it.<br /><br />The harvest weight is up to 212 pounds. We had a 23 pound harvest on Monday. About half of the harvest was tomatoes and the rest was corn and beans. A big heavy storm did some major damage to our main corn planting. It knocked all the stalks over. We harvested it all and we are definately dissappointed in the result. The ears were about 1/2-3/4 sized, but despite their kid-sized ears, the kernals tasted chewy and old - not sweet at all. The variety was Goldam Bantam - recommended by Sarah's grandfather. We only yielded 8 pounds of corn - which if you exclude the unedible ear is likely more like 4 edible pounds. This same garden row planted in tomatoes, potatoes or beans would have yielded much, much more. I won't be doing corn in the main garden next year. I love the look of it, and the stalks do wonders for the compost pile, but it just takes up too much space and light for a very small - not so tasty yield. Farmers stands will get my corn business next year.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-11730161859413350532009-07-28T04:17:00.000-07:002009-07-28T04:21:13.882-07:00Replacement PlantingI planted three raised beds in the sun garden this morning. The spring snap pea bed was filled with compost, raked and replanted with some green arrow peas. The spring root crop bed, which never produced like we hoped, was filled with compost, raked and replanted with early bird garden green beans. The spring onion bed was filled with compost, raked and replanted with a variety of greens (spinach, lettuce, chard, radish).Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-4921241872962731742009-07-25T04:08:00.000-07:002009-07-25T04:11:10.306-07:0043 pound harvestOur harvest this morning didn't quite reach the heft of my 7 year old, but narrowly surpassed the weight of my five year old. This was primarily an onion harvest. 18 pounds of red onions started from seed back in mid winter, and 21 pounds of yellows started from sets. I also harvested 4 pounds of carrots from the sun garden. This is our biggest harvest yet and we are over 160 pounds for the year.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-22600345222919211572009-07-24T03:59:00.000-07:002009-07-24T04:55:20.805-07:00Mid summer photos<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0mwvjgykKgTykKL-3J_I2JKC3ABsHXGJevx7zeq2h6Jc2CX6EK7eyeeu_ohMj4d2onA1CFM4R33N6aP2J8N8_M1mbrF8BbI96L30gR3KFZaySOCcbkvYN4LDWAA07wDCk1AdFrOpph4/s1600-h/IMG_1609.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0mwvjgykKgTykKL-3J_I2JKC3ABsHXGJevx7zeq2h6Jc2CX6EK7eyeeu_ohMj4d2onA1CFM4R33N6aP2J8N8_M1mbrF8BbI96L30gR3KFZaySOCcbkvYN4LDWAA07wDCk1AdFrOpph4/s200/IMG_1609.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361992506672851042" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_S4HlughyphenhyphenLSHuIBYlmpb9uNotPb___g6bys-rMi2Ze8c1rzIVki022jJZ-RIrZ4tTT6-owCAeiog9If7dujR05yePiYQglK_QYnGjGIKNa39W5AYcEU6qiZv8uBs4U0Ag3of0veqrtYY/s1600-h/IMG_1605.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_S4HlughyphenhyphenLSHuIBYlmpb9uNotPb___g6bys-rMi2Ze8c1rzIVki022jJZ-RIrZ4tTT6-owCAeiog9If7dujR05yePiYQglK_QYnGjGIKNa39W5AYcEU6qiZv8uBs4U0Ag3of0veqrtYY/s200/IMG_1605.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361992500836234658" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bSdoOb1n2GnSu-AR9XLB7lVJ8LHuLaDbAWXky6Nr5G7qlI8Ll4KxOo1GMfE8FrTvaLtyvKSCZbB8gvjF__IqCo11HLt64wweQaWd9QGXFxARO4e2-VOf4eaaWKMfWww9I4Gj9TAnvAk/s1600-h/IMG_1600.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bSdoOb1n2GnSu-AR9XLB7lVJ8LHuLaDbAWXky6Nr5G7qlI8Ll4KxOo1GMfE8FrTvaLtyvKSCZbB8gvjF__IqCo11HLt64wweQaWd9QGXFxARO4e2-VOf4eaaWKMfWww9I4Gj9TAnvAk/s200/IMG_1600.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361992495353507874" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_upY8lQAb3YJL12Mhp4qycv0QIsD6xrr7eNlX9Wt5YO7tdVd0fnRmKHZaNVfeSCJT7fykjW2bm-6Yc6NlUY1Oso2auxNJKN99gvfLwO80_s2wJmh_kwP4MjBbfwZMPmSyeeu_xCFSNbs/s1600-h/IMG_1578.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_upY8lQAb3YJL12Mhp4qycv0QIsD6xrr7eNlX9Wt5YO7tdVd0fnRmKHZaNVfeSCJT7fykjW2bm-6Yc6NlUY1Oso2auxNJKN99gvfLwO80_s2wJmh_kwP4MjBbfwZMPmSyeeu_xCFSNbs/s200/IMG_1578.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361992489829285906" border="0" /></a>Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-78025121857204808232009-07-22T03:50:00.000-07:002009-07-22T06:18:27.236-07:0090 days till first frostIt is hard to believe given the relatively cool summer we have had, but we are only 90 days away from October 20th - the date known as our average first frost date. Our first hard frost date is scheduled for October 31st. This morning I did some fall/winter seed planning and a little planting. With 90 days to go until the first frost, any of the long season veggies that I hope to harvest need to get in the ground soon. Cabbage, beets, and carrots come to mind. If these have the time to reach full size they can be harvested even after the first frost. Carrots can be harvested well into the winter - and I have heard that their taste sweetens after frost. Peas, and beans have a slightly shorter days to maturity - along with some of the chinese cabbages and kales. The shortest days to maturity veggies are the spinaches, and lettuces.<br /><br />This morning I worked a couple empty spots in the chimney garden. The three spots I worked had previously held garlic, lettuce, and spring snow peas. In that order, I planted early wonder beets, spinach, and green arrow peas. I also tossed in 3 random red cabbage seeds in a little corner of the spinach bed. Before planting, I composted heavily. This section of garden doesn't get a ton of light, so I am skeptical about the beets, but I think the peas and spinach will do just fine. The beets are also suceptible to the ground hog, so there is another strike against them. But my beet crop has been so crummy this year that I just felt I needed to give it one more crack. The spinach I planted inside a fenced area, so they should do fine. The groundhog hasn't eaten my peas yet.<br /><br />Our harvest weight now exceeds 120 lbs and tomatoes are being harvested daily. One of my co-workers has a father who is a big gardener. She has been bringing zukes, cukes, peppers and cabbage in to share with us. Funny but I have harvested exactly zero zukes (groundhog), 3 cukes (groundhog), zero peppers (late start from seed), zero cabbage (still kind of small - waiting till fall), so these veggies actually are quite a welcome addition. I picked our first corn, and it was a dissapointment. It was from the earliest sun garden planting (golden bantam). Either it wasn't ready yet or this is a strange variety. We used it and a bunch of other random veggies to make some veggie stock.<br /><br />The work I did last week on the rain barrels seems to be holding up. Instead of securing the spigots with silicone caulk as I had done previously - this time I used that foam insulating sealant called "Great Stuff". So far so good. The barrels are all full and holding their water with no visible leaks. Some of the barrels fill much faster than others, which I can't quite figure. I guess it has more to do with the roof and downspout placement than it does with the barrels, but I does always surprise me how slowly some fill (including my double-stack).Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-38278056138816470752009-07-19T17:51:00.000-07:002009-07-19T18:02:46.608-07:00Replacement plantingsThis weekend I did a bunch of consolidating and replanting in the sq. foot gardens. The spring plantings in these 48 - 1 ft square mini plots were either harvested or spent. I harvested the two remaining onion plots, which yielded almost 30 medium sized yellow onions. There were a bunch of plots of carrots, lettuce, and beets which the groundhog absolutely decimated, which gave us nothing. I added a bunch of compost, reworked the soil and replanted. Sq foot garden #2 is now all peppers, tomatoes and eggplants - three things which the groundhog does not have a taste for. It also holds one small artichoke plant (a transplant from a neighbor). Sq foot garden #1 was empty except for three squares of climbing cucumbers, which are doing well. I planted the remaining squares as follows:<br /><ul><li>3 sq basil</li><li>2 china choy</li><li>1 slenderrette beans</li><li>1 red mustard</li><li>2 cilantro</li><li>2 green beans</li><li>1 radish</li><li>2 green onion</li><li>2 buttercrunch lettuce</li><li>2 kale</li><li>2 romaine</li></ul>All of this stuff will be tasty for the groundhog, so I am going to need to fence it in or transplant it before too long. Much of it I tossed in the ground thinking that I would eventually transplant it to the cold frame, which is next on my hit list for a remodeling. Not sure whether July was too early for some of these winter veggies to get started, but seems like I always wait too long.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452166664768313195.post-61158883849013068922009-07-18T05:27:00.000-07:002009-07-18T05:42:40.260-07:00First TOMATO post7/17/09 was a big day in the Stacy garden as we harvested our very first red, ripe tomato. Checking last year's notebook I see that we harvested our first red one last year on 7/28. Considering how cool the weather has been this summer - I am sort of surprised we beat last year's mark. The tomato we harvested was from a RH Shumway seed called "early bird garden" and started indoors on 3/9 and planted outside on 4/24. So that makes 4 months and a week from seed to tomato and slightly less than 3 months from planting to tomato.<br /><br />We paired our first tomato with our third cucumber, and our first red onion and Sarah made a nice salad.<br /><br />We have other tomatoes ready to pick any day now, so the harvesting of the salad tomatoes has begun in force. The black plum romas (that we use for canning) are still quite green with no sign of being ready for at least a week.<br /><br />Our annual harvest weight just crossed 100 pounds. That is pretty exciting. I bet we'll get almost another 100 pounds just in tomatoes. It could wind up being quite a season!<br /><br />We finally got rain last night after a nearly two week dry spell. The ground was just rock hard and the corn was showing the wear and tear of the weather.Chad Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08104576525112767448noreply@blogger.com0