It Has Begun

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to not only watch an afternoon baseball game but to also get in a good couple hours of garden/yard work with my wife and boy. A big project was clearing out and taking down as many of the vines that grow on the fences surrounding our back yard. We were able to fill up about 8 lawn bags worth of vines and debris. No matter how much you try to clear them out, they keep coming back so each year involves cutting back and yanking out of as much as we can.

I was able to get 3 raspberry plants in the ground as well. I ordered Mammoth Red Raspberries over the winter. They were shipped out a bit earlier than I had anticipated so they had an extended stay in my refrigerator. It was nice to be able to work the soil, finally. I am really hoping these raspberries take and mature. Time will tell.

My bulbs that I planted this past fall are starting to make their presence known by pushing their way through the early spring soil. One even has a small, colorful bud on it already. Just as a reminder of what I ordered and planted: Drumstick Allium, Royal Tulip, Wildflower bulb mix, Border Daffodils, Mountain Bells Mixture, and Wood Hyacinths mix. You can see their beginning growth below.

I was also able to get some actual seeds into the ground in my yard. Below is a series of pictures showing where things are planted. It is just dirt right now but it is exciting to know that I have seeds out there just waiting to come alive.

This is a row of spinach, two different kinds. Foreground is a smooth leaf Emu Spinach from Johnny's Selected Seeds. Planted further back (top of screen) is Bloomsdale long standing crinkled leaf spinach

My trusty homemade pea trellis. This may be it's last year. Under it I planted two rows of Sugar Snap peas (same as I had growing on it last year). In three double rows in front of it, I have planted Little Marvel (Dwarf) peas. They grow to only 18 inches and can be self supporting, especially when allowed to grow up and against each other (hence the double rows). I am trying these out to see if I can maximize my pea harvest without as much need for trellising. We shall see

Here I have four rows of radish seeds planted. In the first row closest to us is a French Breakfast radish. The second row is Champion Radish. The back two rows are small tri-colored Easter Egg radishes. 

This is my wildflower "bed." Really, it is just one part of my front lawn that has been used to grow flowers. I raked back all of the left over debris and planted down a wildflower mix, some Poppy double mixed seeds and a tall mix of Rocket Larkspur. I'll continue to plant out flower seeds as the season calls for it.

Not bad for a couple hours work. More work will surely follow as it warms up. I'm looking forward to it. I hope you are as well.

What a Difference a Year Makes: Musings On Soil

I just finished reading through a few entries I made in this blog a year ago. One was exactly a year ago, on the 30th. A few more were scattered on either side of this date. From what I can tell from the little hints I gave about the temperatures (one entry mentioned a few days of freezing temps still on the horizon) and some of the pictures of me working in the garden, I have concluded something. While the temperatures at this current time might not be all that different (we are in the midst of a warm up. 60 degrees tomorrow!), our winters that came before each date were vastly different.

By now, all of you reading and especially those of you living in Michigan know what a near record breaking winter we had. Those long bouts of extremely cold temperature has made the ground near impossible to work in further than a half an inch down. An almost permafrost type scenario. Last year at this time, the soil was workable. I was turning soil over and putting seeds into the ground. While the temperatures seemed to be similar, the deciding factor was that our winter last year was decidedly mild, especially in comparison. The soil just wasn't frozen that far down so it was quicker to warm up and become workable.

This doesn't become that big of an issue when you are talking about normal planting schedule. You just push some dates back a bit, keep seedlings inside for a bit longer. However, for myself, this is the year I decided to order raspberry plants to put in this spring. Now, a smarter man would have tilled the soil and gotten the beds ready in the fall. That smarter man didn't live here this past fall.

No, instead I decided to stop hemming and hawing over the winter and I put in orders for 3 different kinds of raspberry plants from two different companies. Apparently one of the companies mails out their plants based on planting zone dates and not the actual weather conditions on the ground. So, despite most of Michigan's ground still being frozen, they decided to send me 4 red raspberry plants this past Thursday. Per the recommendations of both the company and a fellow gardener, I have kept them in my fridge with the hopes that the ground would thaw enough for me to rent a walk behind tiller today and get those plants in the ground.

No such luck. I found out that places (smartly so) are not renting out their tillers for another week or so because the ground is "still too frozen and hard to till without breaking the machines." So, again, what is a gardener to do? I think that my solution, in a last ditched attempt to save these raspberries is to get a very large planter, fill it with soil and temporarily plant the raspberries in there until I can transfer them to the ground. I do not know if this is better or worse than keeping them in the fridge. It seems like it would be better for them to be in soil, aside from the whole disturbing their roots twice in a short span thing. This is what I am facing. It may work, it may not. But damn it, I am trying something.

In other news, my onions are still growing well despite our new curious kitten pulling out a few. She has been warned. Her life hangs in the balance. (I should say for legal purposes, I would never really kill my, or any, cat) Also, I have two different types of cabbage seed in the garden window. One is an early season Copenhagen and the other is a late season Mammoth Red Rock cabbage. I also have planted Serrano pepper seeds and Bell Pepper seeds. Pepper seeds are difficult as they need the soil to stay at least 70 degrees but prefer 80's while sprouting. I've been trying to keep them in my garden window during the day to let the sun heat them up but moving them to a spot close to a heater vent during the night. The window gets too cold at night for their tastes. My garlic sprouts are up outside, just waiting for the warm sun to let them perk up and continue their new growth.

That is where my garden year stands. I have tons of seeds and packets waiting on stand by. Things like this make me think about our ancestors and how they did not have things such as forecasts and radar to help them know when the weather would break or when a devastating frost would sweep through. It is amazing that they were so innovative and hardy in their survival.

Until next time, I will gladly hear any advice or questions you have to give. Happy permafrost-ing!

Break On Through (The Surface of the Soil)

Spring has been slow to come, giving us quick glimpses of it's warmth and promise. After such a long, harsh winter, it is easy to get anxious for it to finally stay. However, this year especially, it is a blessing that it has been such a mild and gradual warm up. With as much snow as we have had (just mere inches off of the record books), a quick and rapid warm up would have been the worst possible scenario in terms of spring melt flooding. Luckily, that has not been the case thus far. Flooding has been at a minimal (at least in the areas that I have been dealing with).

The good news is that even though the warm up is slow, the signs of spring are there. Located just beneath that scattering of soggy brown leaves are sprouts poking through the soil to say hello to any who are taking the time to pay attention and look a little closer. Almost as if by a calendar hidden deep within the DNA of certain early spring plants, they know the first day of spring like a mother knows her babies cries. And Spring calls to them by name. 

Another sign of the season is my first meeting with the community garden gardeners today. I have been in the process of getting in touch with and recruiting gardeners over the last month or two and today I finally get to be face to face with most of them all at once. I am very excited to be able to talk gardening with so many like minded and interested people. 

And what would a gardening blog be without some pictures? Here are just a few pictures that show the very beginnings of the gardening season. 

Here is my pile of seeds. I have a problem. As my friend and gardening partner Cassie put it, "There are worse problems to have." So anyway, if you are looking for seeds, chances are that I have some. 

Oh this might look like a random picture of dirt but that is where you would be wrong! Those are my garlic sprouts shooting up from the spring ground. I think they may have started sprouting in the fall and because of this, some of them look a little worse for wear from the weather we had. I am hoping that most of them pull through and give me a decent crop. 

Look at my onions go! Started from seed, they were just tiny little sprouts not so long ago. I need to trim off the tops so they don't get too top heavy and floppy before I can set them out but they are certainly growing at a healthy rate. Part of this is thanks to Cathie Blumer. She gave me worm poo compost and I put some on my onions. Their color and size improved noticeably after about a week. 

It is early yet and there will be more things to come. I am hoping that my shared experiences will help to motivate you and even possibly help give you a timeline of when things can/should be happening when it comes to your garden. As always, I love questions and welcome the chance to help anyone who might want it. 

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body but the soul." -Alfred Austin

What is sprouting in my window?

What I have here is a mystery (to you) plant already sprouting in my garden window. I started them underneath a lid (to keep in the moisture/humidity) on the top of my refrigerator (for added warmth) until the sprouts started coming up. Now I am keeping them in the garden window and, as you can see, they are popping up like crazy.

So, my fellow gardeners and interested enthusiasts, Name That Sprout! 50 points to those who get it right. While you are naming that sprout, you might as well tell me what the first thing you plan on starting for your garden will be this year.

What's a Community Without a Garden?

Thanks to my parents, I was exposed to growing food in a garden at a young age. Some of my earlier memories include helping my dad pick beans and going out to cut some chives at my mom's request. Even picking black raspberries that grew wild along a hill behind our home sticks out as being such an important and happy thing etched on the grooves of my mind. And while through my early adult life I was not actively gardening, the memory and passion lay dormant inside me, much like a seed. But even if that was not your experience, it still can be. Intimidating as it may seem, getting out in the garden and growing your own food can help create better health and memories. But before I get into a dissertation on the joys and benefits inherent in gardening, I should point out that I know all too well that it is not always easy to have a space to grow your own food especially when you start looking to branch out beyond containers. 

I think I've mentioned to a handful of people out there, especially the ones in my close gardening circle, that I have recently taken on the shared responsibility of helping run and maintain the MLK Community Garden with fellow plant lovers, Cassie and Carol with some assists from John who is the Garden Program Coordinator at Ingham County Land Bank Garden Program. I am excited for the opportunity to help with not only an important community function but also to continue to share, talk and learn with other people who are both knowledgeable and seeking knowledge about growing food and flowers. 

When people are afforded resources and knowledge, they are able to take that dream and make it a little bigger. So for you dreamers out there, if you had enough land to plant whatever you wanted in mass quantities but it could only be one thing and one thing only... what would you choose? And why? 

Happy Dreaming

Early Organization of the Garden

In one of my last posts discussing getting your garden prepared in the winter, I spoke on the importance of planning your garden early. I truly believe that the early planning of a garden is one of the most critical steps to having a successful harvest in the summer months.

If you are like me (read: procrastinator) than planning something 4 months in advanced seems a bit daunting. But the good news is that it can be broken down into multiple steps and it really doesn't have to be super complicated as evidenced by my hand drawings of my future garden.

And there it is. Proof of my walking the walk. As you can see, I clearly did not go to great lengths to make this a complicated venture. Just a pencil, notebook paper and some foresight as to what I might want to plant where. I do not have a very large city lot and this drawing is certainly not to scale but I try to make the best use of the space that I do have. Other things that I keep in mind are my own crop rotation cycle as well as what kind of sun each area gets. There are some sites on my property that only get partial sun and remain in the shade for the better part of the afternoon. I am able to grow things in these spots but only certain crops will work. For instance, some crops such as lettuce, spinach, green onions and cilantro have all done really well in partial sun but things like tomatoes and peppers would almost surely fail. If anyone has any questions about crop rotation or the difference between full sun and partial sun/shade crops, please let me know so I can perhaps write a post addressing these issues.

The other thing I addressed while doing this planning is making an itemized list of all of the viable seeds, vegetable and flower, that I had in my stock. I checked the dates on all of the seeds and determined if they might still be good by checking this site on the potential seed expirations. After gathering a list of what I already have, I made a list of what seeds I would need to purchase. You may even want to do this step first if you are not sure of what you are going to plant.

Hopefully by showing you one of the first steps I take in getting my garden prepped in January, it will inspire you to do the same. I promise you that when you plan ahead for your garden in this manner, your garden will be in much better shape to succeed before you even put a seed in the ground.

Inspiration for a "Four Season Harvest"

"Four season harvest is based on a simple premise. Whereas the growing season may be chiefly limited to the warmer months, the harvest season has no such limits. We enjoy a year round harvest by following two practices: succession planting and crop protection." 

I have to start out this entry by thanking my in-laws, Mike Stratton and Cathie Blumer. They gave me a book for Christmas titled Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman. I have just recently picked it up but I am most certainly already inspired. Most of the ideas in this post will have come from or been inspired by that book.

Under this blanket of snow and ice that is called Michigan right now (not a complaint, merely an observation), I am starting to get antsy in anticipation for spring and the new dawn of the gardening season. This book is teaching me that I don't have to be mercy to the elements in order to garden. Part of me has already known these things. I am and have been very much aware of green houses and cold frames. I just have not been motivated enough to really invest the time into really making these things a reality. No more. The motivation has kicked in.

There are too many ways to create spaces that will grow cold hardy and tolerant vegetables to ignore it any longer. There are also many beneficial reasons to do so as well. Freshness, variety, quality and simplicity are all reasons to make a four season harvest happen.

As I read through this book and obtain even more inspirations, I will no doubt be sharing them with you. Until then, I will share this quote which struck a note within myself as a truth not to be denied.

"In our grandfathers' day, people celebrated the seasonality and variety of the home garden. They knew that one cabbage tasted best fresh in June and that another made the best sauerkraut. This was the pea for eating fresh and that one for drying. They were familiar with fifty different apples and twenty kinds of pears. They knew when these were ripe and which blended best for cider or complemented the flavor of this or that cheese. We can recover such civilized living again."