Spring Fever....I've Got it Bad

January feels like the longest month of the year to me.  And the weather outside is a chilly -2 degrees this morning.  Miserable.  Somehow I have to survive the winter and hopefully come March, things will start warming up a bit.  Until then all I can do is dream about sunshine and Spring....



My plants survived the winter!!

My growing iris patch- to remind me of my mom.

My absolute favorite garden treat-
 sugar snap peas.

Baby Leaves- A sight for sore eyes!

Look at the smattering of colors
with this climbing clematis front and center

Sweet, baby tulips and adorable, little grape hyacinth.  And I don't
even mind the pretty, yellow dandelions.... for now.

Crocus- usually the first evidence of life in the Spring

Such cheerful narcissus and wonderfully fragrant hyacinth flowers



I really am not a big flower person.  But I sure do enjoy spring flowers.  Maybe its because I don't have to water or care for them.  Two more months.  I can wait.  And I'm sure it will all be worth it.











Growing Kids

Today we got our first snow fall of the year.  I guess I can tolerate snow in November.  Summer just went by so fast.  I feel like I did not get to enjoy it to the fullest.  I definitely did not get to garden to my heart's content.  And I find myself already longing for warm weather to come back.  This is not good since winter has just begun to show its ugly face.  (Man! That's harsh.)

Shaylee Mae, cute little bug

The reason I had an off year for gardening was because I had a sweet little baby in June.  She is our sixth and last child.  And although I am thoroughly enjoying her and love her to pieces, I did not get out to garden much this year. 





Todd, counting peppers

I grew weeds taller than the corn, which, by the way, blew over in a storm because I didn't get out there to hill it up in time.  The only things I did grow successfully were peppers and pumpkins, which ended up taking over most of the garden.  I got a few tomatoes too, enough for a couple of batches of salsa, which is mandatory.  I did also can some peaches and a few beans- all done with the help of either my mom or some very good friends.

My mom recites a poem by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton about taking care of your baby because she is top priority. I have taken the liberty to change it up a bit.....

Gardening and canning can wait til tomorrow
For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down garden. Weeds go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby. And babies don't keep.

There is always next year.  And I am anxiously looking forward to it already. 



Growing like weeds

Windowsill Tomatoes

There is a huge difference between a store bought tomato, which tastes almost artificial, and a delicious, home grown garden tomato.

I consider tomatoes to be one of the most important things that I grow in my garden.  We eat them fresh on sandwiches, they are delicious in salads, and we definitely enjoy them sliced on barbecued hamburgers.  I love to eat them warm, right out of the garden, juice dripping down my chin, salt shaker in hand.  And just as important we use them to can tomato salsa, which is a staple for my family.  We eat it a lot.

Sadly, tomato season, along with summer, must come to an end.  In our area in Utah county, the first fall freeze comes around the 15th of October.  I pay attention to the weather reports to see when a hard freeze (32 degrees Farenheit or below) is in the forcast.  And sometime before then I will pick all of the big tomatoes in my garden, whether they are green or red.  The red ones we gobble up as quick as we can so as not to waste any precious fruit.  And the green ones we set out on the kitchen windowsill so that when they ripen we can eat them too.  Now of course they will not be as flavorful as the tomatoes picked red ripe, but they will still be ten times better than anything that you can buy at the store.

And now the long wait for spring.  Then I can plan, prepare, and plant for next summer's garden.

ASPARAGUS....An Investment of Time, But Well Worth It

Today has been the perfect Spring day- 70 degree weather, sunshine, and a slight cool breeze- so nice!!  A good friend of mine put a little bug in my ear and encouraged me to plant asparagus in my garden.  So about a week ago I found some bare roots at WalMart, eight plants for around six dollars.  And I have been waiting for a warm spring day to get out into the garden and plant asparagus.

The variety I purchased is called Jersey Hybrid, which comes highly recommended.  It is supposed to be quite disease resistant and also produce lots of spears come harvest time. 

Springtime is the right time to plant asparagus.  Now you can plant from seed.  However, it will take an additional two years to be able to get any results.  If you choose to plant bare roots, you may be able to have a small harvest that next spring, but for sure you will be eating asparagus two years from the time you planted.  It is a investment of time, but the rewards will surely be worth it.

First, you need to find a good spot in your garden or yard, somewhere that can go undisturbed for years to come.  Asparagus is a perennial which means that it will grow back year after year with proper cultivation.  So pick a place that will not be bothered as you till the rest of the garden.  This also needs to be a sunny location that is watered well, which means for an hour or more once a week throughtout the growing season.

Dig a trench, keeping the soil close by to backfill with.

Once you have determined where to plant the asparagus, dig a trench around twelve inches deep, twelve inches wide.  Some sources say eight inches deep, eight inches wide.  Others say eighteen inches deep and eighteen inches wide.  I chose the middle ground.  As you dig, keep the dirt in a pile close by as you will backfill the trenches with it as spears begin to grow.  Mix this soil with lots of good humus (like leaves, compost, and peat moss) as well as a good commercial fertilizer (16-16-8).  This will make the soil light and fluffy for the spears to poke up through as they grow. 

After I made the trenches, I dug a little deeper loosening the soil in the bottom and also mixing in lots of rich compost from my compost bin.  Then I formed little four inch mounds of soil about six inches apart and spread the roots out so they look like a spider spreading its legs out over the mound. 

Spread out the roots in the trench so they look like spiders.

After placing the asparagus roots in the trench, cover them with the composted, fertilized soil until the crowns of each plant are just barely covered.  Thoroughly soak the trenches and continue to water them each day for two weeks, keeping the roots damp.  The spears will start to grow up through the soil.  Wait until they are about three inches up out of the soil and then once again cover them with the soil/compost/fertilizer mixture.  Continue burying the spears as they grow until the soil is up to ground level.  Then let the spears keep growing into tall ferns this first year.  After the spears are established, water them deeply for at least an hour once a week.

Keep the trench watered well each day for two weeks, and then
continue watering deeply once a week.

It is important to fertilize the asparagus each spring when you stop harvesting the spears to encourage vigorous growth of the ferns.  They can grow three to five feet tall throughout the hot summer months, which provides food and energy for the plants enabling them to give you a great harvest the following spring.

In the fall, the ferns will turn yellow and die off completely.  Feel free to cut them down to the ground and till them into the soil, along with lots of organic matter like leaves and grass clippings for good nutrients and tilth.  While tilling be careful to stay on the top two or three inches of soil so the roots are not disturbed.

The following spring should bring a mild harvest for two weeks, then be sure to let some spears grow into healthy ferns throughout the summer.  The next year harvest spears for 4-6 weeks, and the third year and all subsequent years harvest for 8-10 weeks throughout the spring. 

To harvest the asparagus spears, let them grow until they are about four or five inches tall.  Then cut them off right down to the ground.  If the spears get much bigger than this they get tough and stringy. 

One last bit of advice is to keep weeds, and especially grass, clear of this area if at all possible.  You may want to mulch the filled trenches or cover them with black landscape fabric to keep the weeds at bay. 

Asparagus is definitely one of my favoirte vegetables, right up there with fresh garden peas.  And I cannot wait to reap the rewards of today's spring project.

That Darn Grass!!!



This is what is supposed to be my strawberry patch.
You can hardly even see the rock border for all the grass.



One of the biggest projects I have been working on this spring is something I call 'border control'.  All around my yard are rocks or curbing, bordering different flower beds or berry patches.  When I am able to keep the weeds out of the beds, these borders look so beautiful and tidy.  But this spring there is grass everywhere- invading all of my borders and plaguing my life.  Grass is so hard to pull out, and even after you work your fingers to the bone to get it out, it still grows back, mocking you and tormenting you.   The darn grass thrives in places where it is not meant to be, but then is patchy in the lawn where it is supposed to be.



Starting to pull the grass out of the euonymous and berry patch.
Newspaper is laid down, then bark mulch.



So I have been working my guts out pulling grass out of what should be my strawberry patch.  I am tempted to dig it all up and start from scratch.  But I will try one last resort.  I am pulling as much of the grass out that I can stand to.  Then I lay either paper grocery bags or newspaper or cardboard down on top of the soil.  (These will eventually decompose into the soil.)  Then I will cover the paper with four or five inches of bark mulch.  This will hopefully smother out the grass and weeds that grow there uninvited. I am also removing the rocks that border my strawberry patch replacing them with bigger rocks that I bury deeper and that also stand taller out of the ground.  Grass roots grow down about 3 or 4 inches and so I am placing the rocks down deeper than that, about 5 or 6 inches, so as to block the roots from spreading into the berry patch.  Now I will be more diligent in keeping the grass trimmed so that it does not spread above ground too.



I will still plant at least a dozen new plants in the patch this year to keep the berries coming.  I will also add compost to the soil as well as fertilizing with the special berry mix (1/3 ammonium sulfate, 1/3 Miracle Grow Azalea Food, and 1/3 Ironite) before I cover with paper and mulch. 



Finally, the euonymous is revealed.  The bark mulch dresses up
the bed making it look much nicer.  To the left begins
the strawberry patch.  So much work!!



I hope and pray that this works or I will have to take more drastic measures- like starting all over, which I really do not want to do.  I hate that dang, pesky, bothersome grass.  If my husband, Mike would let me I would get rid of the lawn in the back yard all together.  But he is not easy to convince.  Grass is definitely a good choice of turf when children are afoot for picnics or baseball or tag.  So it stays for now, or at least until I can find a better option.



My Traditional Garden 2011: What I Learned....

1.  DOUBLE PLANTING THE ROWS of veggies worked great and almost doubled my harvest.  Tomatoes didn't do too well for anyone this year, but I still had plenty for all the salsa I wanted with the 28 plants I had.  And I plenty of beans too.

Corn Crop after the Wind Storm

2.  After CORN comes up, pile dirt around the bottom couple of inches to create BRACE OR PROP ROOTS so stalks won't blow over in the wind.  (I lost half my crop.)  Kmetzsch's corn fell over too, but they propped it up asap and staked it and they preserved their harvest by doing so.

3. I planted two CORN varieties, Serendipity and Ambrosia, but the SERENDIPITY did best, with the longest, fullest ears at harvest.

4.  The Kentucky Wonder POLE BEANS were much better than last years, but still a bit stringy.  If I plant pole beans again, I should find a way to extend the fence up another 3 to 5 feet and try an even better variety.  I could put rebar down the fence posts and run four inch chicken wire between posts.

5.  I need to plant double or triple the GREEN PEPPERS for eating and salsa.  There is never enough.  i had enough of the other peppers, but should plant more of those too so that I will be able to share.

6.  American Fork neighbor, John Cox told us that he dumped a pile of sand and a pile of COMPOST from the GREEN WASTE PLANT into his pasture.   Over the next couple of years, he said, weeds grew like crazy out of the sand pile, but nothing grew in the Green Waste compost, which means it has no nutritional value.  It is good for TILTH or as a GROUND COVER MULCH, but that's about it.

7.  Plant three or four SUCCESSIONS OF CORN so we can enjoy the harvest well into the fall.

8.  PICKLING CUCUMBERS did next to nothing.  Aunt LuAnn supposedly planted a different variety of cucumber that was long and skinny, good for slicing and pickling.  I need to find out the variety and give it a try.

9.  July is too late for planting PUMPKINS.  Got some nice vines though.

10.  Putting LANDSCAPE FABRIC down right after planting eliminated a lot of extra weeding.  Just make sure the seeds or seedlings are not covered.

2011: What I Learned from my new Square Foot Garden This Year

1.  Plant PEAS in the back row, next to the rose hedge.  They are the tallest thing in the garden and I never make it around to the backside to check on other things growing.  It would also be easier to water if the peas were in the back.

2.  WATER FREQUENTLY- every other day.  (It is a spring garden.)  It dries up quickly.  And don't run over the brand new metal watering attachment that you paid big bucks for so that it would last forever either.

3.  The TOMATOES did next to nothing in the SFG- maybe 5 or 6 off of each plant for the whole season.  And they had squash bugs all over them.  Gross.  The tomatoes did better in the traditional garden, although it was an off year overall for tomatoes.  (The cherry tomatoes took off however.)

4.  One square foot of SWISS CHARD is enough.

5.  Plant lots more BEETS, PEAS, AND CARROTS.

6. I only got one head of BROCCOLI off of each plant.  Seems like a waste of time and space.

7.  We love the RADISHES, Parker and I.  Do a few successive plantings in the spring.  They didn't do so well being planted in the fall garden.

8.  The soil measurments I figured out when filling the garden were all wrong.  In 2012 I will remove some of the soil and add a lot more COMPOST.  It needs more living matter.

9.  The SFG METHOD promises the same yield in 20% of the space.  I think getting started was rough.  I think because of my incorrect soil measurments that things didn't grow as well as promised.  I am hoping this next year will be better.  I did love having more room for my Spring Garden, which also freed up space in the traditional garden.  I loved having it out in my front yard where I could tend it and watch it grow each day, and where neighbors could see it and learn from it too.