At Least The Bugs Find My Plants Tasty

Things have been pretty busy around these parts. I took a trip with my dad to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during Memorial Day weekend to visit family and attend a memorial service for my Great Grandma. It was a sad occasion but nice to see so much family. But it was hard to leave my wife, kids and even my garden. I knew that there would be some damage control to be had when I returned.

After driving most of Sunday night, we got in to Lansing around 2:30 AM Monday morning. Dad had promised to stay and help me in the garden on Memorial day (May 27th). His help with weeding around established crops was huge. While he did that I was able to finally get my warm weather crops going in the garden. That means tomatoes (Black cherry and Italian heirloom), basil (Italian and lime), peppers (red bell, cayenne, Serrano, and Ghost), beans (pole and bush), zucchini and summer squash were all put into the dirt either as transplants or direct seeded. Here are some pictures of the new crops and some of the old.

Broccoli with flower ground cover acting as a living mulch. I'm keeping a decent radius around the stem clear so it doesn't have to compete as much for water and food sources. 

Carrot rows

Chioggia Beets

Mini Purplette bulbing onions

More carrots

Golden Beets

Romaine and Simpson lettuce

Spinach

More spinach and radishes

Peas

Spinach and radishes

Peppers, tomatoes and basil. Hard to see all of it but it's in there! 

Poles. For Pole beans. Boom. 

Squash and Zucchini plants

And then yesterday, the 30th of May, I direct seeded a row each of cucumbers, melon and acorn squash starting just to the right of the squash and zucchini you see pictures above. We'll see how they are sprouting in a week or so.

Also, not pictured, is the fact that I had about 3 broccoli and cauliflower plants just stripped to the stem. Leaves pretty much all gone. This is off on a side bed and amongst some beets, spinach and radishes. The other plants do not seem to be suffering any ill effects. I knew this was coming as I'd see some holes here and there the last week or two but every time I looked at the plant and under the leaves, I could not spot any signs of bugs or caterpillars or anything really. I guess I'll go to one of the nurseries and see what they recommend for organic ways to kill off a mystery bug. It could be beetles too I suppose. What a bummer. Any suggestions are welcome.

I've got a few bare patches where I've been harvesting my radishes and I believe I am going to put in some bush beans. They are a nice filler crop as they generally mature in about 60 days and are fairly compact. Plus, who doesn't like fresh garden beans??

On another note, we have Peony's on the side of our driveway that are so beautiful and just getting ready to pop open.

One of my favorite flowers. I'll take some more pictures when they are fully in bloom. 

Until then! 

Just A Trim

I'm going to be headed up north this Memorial Day weekend to see family and do some trout fishing. With this in mind I'm a little worried about the garden just in terms of weed growth. I've weeded some almost every day and its getting harder to keep up with the growth seemingly booming exponentially especially where weeds are concerned.

I also noticed some of my leafy greens getting larger and in need of some thinning. So that is exactly what I did just now.

That there is a mix of spinach, romaine and Simpson lettuce straight from the garden. A lot of baby leaves in there. Tender and delicious. 

Ill see what shape the garden and weeds are in when I return. Until then!

And Away We Go!

I was poking around in the garden this morning and I noticed that some of the radish roots had swollen visibly since I last looked closely at them a few days ago. So I decided to pluck a few of them out.

And tada! A few nice Easter Egg radishes. I haven't eaten any yet as I am saving them for the family for supper. I think I will incorporate their greens into my daily salad at dinner. This got me poking around at my other crops. I lifted one of my Mini Purplette onions to see if they had started to bulb. No luck but I think they are on their way as the root at the bottom is starting to thicken up a little more.

Actually, I am a little surprised. The bunching onions, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beets and peas are all taking a little longer to mature than I would have thought. I think part of this is due to some of the cold spells we've had the last few weeks. And the other part is just that I am not patient. But at the beginning of the season when I was planning out all of my crops, I wrote down all the plant dates and the general harvest date depending on the particular crops Days to Maturity. Maybe I need to re-look at it to remind myself. And to keep even better notes next year.

While we are on reminders for next year, I should probably remind myself to just do traditional rows next time. I tried doing a double wide bed which is like two rows right next to each other with no walkway between. The theory is that you can plant more things since you aren't using earth to walk on. The reality is, at least for me, that it just makes it harder to reach certain spots for weeding without stepping on my crops. You live and you learn I suppose.

Things I still need to do? I need to finish cleaning out my full sun back bed in order to get the warm weather crops (tomatoes, basil, peppers, cucumbers, etc) put in. There is still a layer of leaves on it and some weeds are starting to get more prominent. Time to "dig in" and get it taken care of I suppose.

Until next time, I will leave you with a few pictures of my crops so you can see where they are at in their development.

Paris Market Carrots. They are the small round type

Mini purple onions

Ditto from above

Some of my lettuce. No worries. The stuff in the middle and to the right will be thinned soon. 

And here you will find some spinach which will also be thinned soon for my eating and their growing pleasure. 

This is some radishes with the newer ones coming up between them. They are also flanked by new spinach sprouts. 

Peas with lettuce growing between them. 

Same as above with a different angle. 

This would be more spinach and radishes. 

Cauliflower, broccoli, peas and a living mulch ground cover coming in.

My Chioggia beets coming in. I also have Golden beets growing as well but really the only difference is the stem is more yellow than red. Limited the repetitive nature, says the guy who has multiple pics of spinach and radishes. 

Oh look, more broccoli and cauliflower surrounded by spinach sprouts. 

First (little) Harvest of the Year!!

While I was out weeding I noticed that my radish plants had really started to take off with their greens. I know it's been close to a month since they sprouted and they are supposed to officially take 30 days to reach maturity. I pulled one up just to see where we are in the development and guess what!

Easter Egg Radish

Yes indeed! That right there is a radish. A bit small yet so the rest of them probably have another 5 or so days to reach full maturity but I am excited. And let me tell you, the flavor! Wow! Unlike any radish I've ever eaten. I bit into it expecting that familiar spicy bite but no. It was tender, soft and almost buttery. I ate the leaves as well (they are very edible) and those had some of that spicy bite you think of when you hear radish.  I obviously am beyond excited. More of this to come soon!!!

Go Away Jack Frost. Go Away.

Raise your hand if we can all agree that we are entering into what is considered the middle of the month we call "May." Ok. Great. Now keep your hand raised if you think that going from 80 degrees to literally freezing in a matter of days is some major B.S.

Looks like we are mostly in agreement. Hey, look. I know I live in Michigan. This is the kind of thing we are famous for. "You don't like the weather, wait a few minutes," is a fun and popular phrase that most Michiganders are familiar with. And normally I am the one beating the "deal with it" drum. But this time it actually effects me! So, you know, it matters more. Or something.

Generally when you are in the middle of May and you have a week and a half of 70-80 degree high temps, one doesn't expect it to revert back to freezing. You think those days are behind you and you can buy and plant flowers and not worry about your semi hardy plants that have been in the ground for a while. Apparently you would be wrong. Tonight, we are expecting a hard freeze here in Lansing, Michigan. As a kind of first time Urban Farmer, I have not bought floating row covers or anything else of that nature. I have thought about it. I thought about it all the way back in March. I decided to go this year without the expense and see how I fare with weather and pests without the row covers. Because of this, my wife and I had to scramble with sheets, blankets and tarps. I covered as many of my sprouts/vegetables as I could and my wife brought in as many of her flowers and hanging baskets as she could. Some of the flowers in the ground may have to deal with the frost. There are just too many to cover.

So that is what a make shift backyard frost protection looks like. Not pretty. I can only hope my peas bounce back as they were tall enough that they were climbing but had to be laid down to be covered. I'll keep you all updated on what the damage is tomorrow when I remove the sheets. Here's to hoping!

The Beauty of My Neighbourhood (Spring Version)

This will be a bit of a different post. It will not feature anything from or about my garden. It will still feature plants. Just not mine. All spring long I've been inspired and motivated by the beautiful trees and flowers I've seen while walking through my neighbourhood in the West side of Lansing. So I decided to get up early this morning with camera in hand and take a walk in order to get some pictures of what I've been able to see every day.

At 6:30 in the morning, I was generally one of the only people out. There was a car here and there but mostly I was on the streets alone. By 7 or 7:30, this wasn't as true. And I kind of started to feel a little like a stalker/intruder by snapping all of these pictures with people starting to come out and possibly notice me. For that reason, I didn't get a complete and comprehensive sampling of the neighbourhood but I did my best. I also tried to leave out as many identifying information or markers as I could out of respect for my fellow neighbours. Also, these may seem a bit repetitive and probably are. But when I came across a sight that I deemed beautiful, I took a picture. This will mean there are a lot of repeats of the same tree or flowers but that is OK. Is a Tiger any less beautiful because you saw one at the zoo last week? I think no.

I present to you my neighbourhood.