Sunshine

 On the home front, the snow is finally starting to disappear...Today was a beautiful sunny day...

The perfect time to head out to the garden...

The Garlic has finally peaked  their heads up, to greet Spring.

Last October, I decided instead of cleaning the garden out, I would just let the last remains... compost where they lay.

 Here is a couple of shots of the garden before the snow came in October.

and, here is a shot of the garden this afternoon...

 Clean up will be a snap!

Prepping to grow a giant pumkin

The future site of a Goliath pumpkin.....we hope!

This spot was always called play land central.

The boys grew up playing in this part of the yard with their big plastic kid toys, and spent endless hours swinging on the tire swing.

As the boys have grown and time has passed, most of the big plastic play toys are long gone. Play land central hasn't been in use, for quite some time. 

The snow  melts away from this area first and receives plenty of sunshine. Not wanting to sacrifice the amount of garden space it will take to grow a giant pumpkin, this looks like the perfect spot to try.

 I would have liked to have prepped this spot last fall... but, this past Sunday would have to be the day. 

I cut a hole in the weed block fabric, dug a hole, and removed the lifeless sandy soil. 

A wagon full of hot chicken poop,  fresh from under the roost was added  and mixed with a wheel barrow full of  rich garden dirt

with two months to go go until planting time, the poop will have time to compost down, and enrich the soil, in wait of the heavy feeder to come.

Little Sprouts

This week....Little sprouts are popping up here, 

there,

and.....everywhere!

So much so, that we ran out of room under the grow lights. The onion sprouts got booted into the cold frames.

We have been taking extra precautions and covering the tender babies with a sheet at night, for added protection against the hard frosts we have been having...

So far, so good!

Seed Starting 2013

In our not so big house... seed starting 2013 has begun. With only the foundation of the green house in, the living room will have to do for now.

we have started most of our cold weather crops in soil blocks.

 early Spanish onions have sprung up in a flash...the Ailsa craigs were planted on the same day and are showing no signs of breaking the surface.

Early Italian and Ailsa Craig Onions were planted on March 11

Planted On Saturday March 16th....

Kale
Purple Cabbage
Light Blue Delphiniums
Golden Acre Cabbage
Four Seasons Red, Tom Thumb, and Forellenschluss Lettuce
Spinach
Broccoli
Leeks
Basil
Parsley

This past weekend the garden finally melted out and peas should be planted very soon.

Garden Quotes

"My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view."          -H. Fred Dale

Breaking the ice!

Last weekend was all about breaking the ice from my cold North Idaho Garden...well, the frozen crusty snow that was covering my cold frames, anyways!

after 15 minutes of shoveling, I was finally able to open the lids and reveal the sweet earth that patiently lay in waiting for the first sign of Springs arrival.

As you can see they were still filled with last seasons left over garden remains and needed to be cleaned out.

 

 Today, the first cold frame was amended with compost and seeded with the first planting of Scarlet Nantes Carrots

The others will be planted with Lettuce and Spinach in the very near future.



Who says you can't garden in the snow

Sunday was absolutely beautiful....what a difference sunshine makes! It feels like forever, since I've seen the sun shine that brightly across my snowed in garden.

I decided it was high time to tromp my way across the back yard and see what has been sleeping beneath the snow.

diggin' in a blanket of snow.

A buried treasure would be found!

Jerusalem artichokes, also called Sun Roots, Sun Chokes, and earth apples.

a modest, 2 lb. harvest that is a welcomed treat!



May Day

May 1,2011

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful May Day. We seized our opportunity to work in the garden as a family. We started out early in the coolness of morning and eventually had to slap on sunscreen as the sun finally decided to come out to play in the garden with us.


The Onions are in... I planted Copra and Ailsa Craig varieties.

Our Cabbage, Broccoli, Kohlrabi, Green Onions & Leeks starts have been hardened off and planted. The Beets are in too!


Garlic is looks amazing!


The Spinach is growing along quite nicely too!


I love the fresh chives that pop up early in the spring...one of the first goodies we enjoy from our garden.


My weeding partner was sleeping on the job...Some help he is!


The boys worked all day on putting in the new 18 x 24 garden bed, removing all the sod, amending and tilling...

We really needed more room for potatoes, corn and pumpkins...We have never had enough room to really grow a good amount of these garden goodies and now we can.



We finally decided on a spot to put in the Asparagus bed. Patience is a virtue here as waiting 2 years to harvest is torture!



LET THE GROWING BEGIN!

Yes we are April Fools in the Garden

April 1: Finished the demolition project. Garden was tilled and added 25 lbs. of bone meal added to the now 25'x 30' garden.

Transplanted Spinach and lettuce to the cold frames with the addition of watermelon radish's and more lettuce seeds.

We also burned more slash piles, since the rainy weather is permitting it.




April 3: Planted Carrots, Turnips, Parsnips and Peas ( the old-timers say it is way to early to plant...we will see how they fair this next month)I am feeling the need to push the limits of cold weather planting. I will keep you updated on my success and failures

(((perhaps someday we will invest in row covers))).



These short rows are 8.5 ft. long. I am anxious to see how many pounds of produce we will be able to harvest from this small space. It is just to hard to break my square foot gardening ways.


Peas planted after inoculant was added.


Levi and Corbin helped round up branches for the peas.


I love the idea of harvesting peas and then pulling the brush fence out...chickens can devour what is left on the branches and then be added to the burn pile. Should be easy peasy :) we will see!

The garlic is growing along quite nicely!

and just in case you ever wondered why I make soap....



These two grub worms may have something to do with it :)

March garden notes

Just trying to keep it all in perspective :-)

March 26 : Added 50 lbs. Alfalfa Pellets and 50 lbs. Beet Pulp to the garden. Weeded and cleaned herb garden. Began tearing square ft. garden beds out

We just needed more room to GROW!

Saturday was absolutely a beautiful spring day...The boys helped rake up logging debris.



after the rain the pellets swelled up, fall apart and are a breeze to incorporate.




Diggin' in and tearing out the old beds



Corbin doing a fine job!

March 30: Troy finished the cold frames and put them in place.



March 31: Cold frames were amended and filled with garden soil.