Morgan Plays In The Dirt

The Garden Calander

2011-09-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

The use of BC and AD for numbering calendar years was invented by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 AD. His purpose was to determine the correct date for Easter under the direction of Pope St. John I. While most people recognize the terms B.C. and A.D. to mean, "Anno Domini" (or Year of our Lord referring to the year of Christ’s birth) and "BC" as Before Christ, I've devised a new system, specifically for my garden.

B.C. = Before Chael

A.D. = After Dog

Sweet little Chael discovered this week that he's big enough to climb into my raised bed. One day after work, I noticed leafy plant limbs strewn all about our patio. "We don't have anything leafy or green in our back yard." I thought. And then, light bulb!

It was my broccoli! Chael LOVES broccoli... and bell peppers... and lettuce, and green beans, and tomatoes!

I saw my poor little garden, and it was destroyed. I couldn't get mad at little Chael, because most of my crops didn't make it though the scortching summer heat, and at least he was eating his vegetables, right? Since there was nothing I could do, I allowed him to finish up digging (his favorite part), and rolling in the sweet smelling soil. And, rather than compost my now-vegetable-waste, I allowed him to eat all of it.

It's a darn good thing that fall planting for Las Vegas starts this week. Note to self: purchase large quantities of chicken wire.

Rock Dust Minerals

2011-06-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine a world where you only ate apples? What's for breakfast? Apples. What's for lunch? Apples. What's for dinner? Apples. And snacks? You guessed it, apples. Sounds awful doesn't it? Many people don't understand that the same concept applies to plants in your garden. Plants need a variety of vitamins and minerals in order to grow and produce fruit.

Basic plant fertilizers can be purchased at almost any home or garden store or nursery, but the problem with fertilizers is that they really only contain three minerals plants need to survive: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. Fertilizers are the "apples" of the plant food pyramid. What about all of the other "foods" a plant needs? Most of them will initially exist in the soil, but once the plants have consumed them, they will need more. So if not for fertilizer, where do these micronutrients come from? No, not your Flintstones vitamins, they come from rock dust minerals!

What Will Rock Dust Do For My Garden?

Using rock dust minerals in your garden is a process known as "Full Spectrum Mineralization" or simply "remineralization." When used in your garden, rock dust will:

Provide slow release of trace minerals
Increase microorganism growth
Build more soil
Increase nutrition in plants and crops
Cut the need for chemical fertilizers
Increase water retention in the soil
Increase pest resistance
Increase crop yield
Better tasting crop
There are also reports of increased winter hardiness

I've Never Heard of Rock Dust, Is It New?

While the use of rock dust in agriculture has been going on naturally since the beginning of time, it hasn't been used in modern agriculture for very long. Even though it has "been around" for 30+ years, not many people are talking about it because not many people know about it!

I first heard about this stuff from my good friend and garden guru, John over at Growing Your Greens. Check out his videos about Rock Dust Minerals for more information.

Where Can I Get Some?

Rock dust minerals are surprisingly extremely difficult to find. If only large garden chains knew how much money they could make on this product, their shelves would always be stocked! Until then, here are my suggestions on where to get it.

You could try going to a local gravel yard or rock nursery (where they sell rocks for landscaping) and ask for "gravel dust" or "rock dust" (or ask for the closest things they have to those products). You might get it for free, or relatively inexpensive.

If you can't find any in your area, you can always order online. While the following places sell the product for a relatively inexpensive price, they make up for it in shipping! Please note however, that it is worth the money!

Agrowinn Fertilizers: This is an online store where you can purchase rock dust minerals, however it can get expensive. I purchased a 50 lb bag for $46.00, and spent $20.00 in shipping costs.
Azomite: Has locations all over the United States. If they don't have a store in your area, they are willing to ship their product to you.

❀ Journal Ideas! ❀

Did you decide use rock dust minerals in your garden?
Why or why not?
Where did you purchase your rock dust?
What brand did you purchase?
How much did you buy?
How much did you use on your garden?
Are you planting some plants without the use of rock dust minerals for comparison purposes?
Take pictures!

Garden Update: A Lovely Surprise!

2011-06-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

After being out of town for the weekend, I was really anxious to get back and check on my garden. Did my brother remember to water my seedlings? Did anything succumb to the heat? Did anything change? Once I got home, I decided to wait until sundown to go take a look at things - 114° is not my ideal "play in the dirt" temperature. I grabbed a blank growth chart, a measuring tape and my camera. While digging through the leaves of each plant to measure their heights, I noticed something on one of my green bean plants...

A green bean pod!!!

It was huge! I couldn't believe that this little plant (only about 4" tall) had a green bean pod just as big dangling from one of its limbs! I wasn't sure if I should leave it or harvest it. After taking pictures, BF convinced me to pluck it, after all "the point of planting a vegetable garden is to be able to eat the vegetables." So I pulled it off the plant. My family was really excited; between the radishes and now the solitary green bean, I really was beginning to look like a real gardener! I decided to share my spoils and cut the bean in to four pieces. It was delicious! It was crisp, and full of flavor. I bet I couldn't buy that kind of freshness anywhere, no matter how "organic" or "fresh" the store claims to be.

My mom and Grif didn't get a bite, but I promised them the first of whatever I harvested next. Griffin then started asking about the carrots, "that one plant is about 20" tall, do you think it's ready?" Only one way to find out... My heart broke a little. The carrots took for.ev.er to sprout and begin to grow, and now I was actually going to pull my tallest one. but, I did, and whatdaya know? There were three baby orange surprises! We washed them off, and again shared them. Holy cow, they were so tasty!

I am so excited that I am learning (yes still learning) this skill, and that after a few months of constant attention, I am seeing my work start to pay off. I am also learning that I can wait longer for crops to mature, and that I need to be constantly planting root/tuber crops. Now that I've pulled a carrot, it would be nice to have another seedling to put in its place. I think I need to invest in some indoor growing equipment, so that I can germinate and sprout year round.

In other news...

I have about seven bell pepper plants still in peat pots. Yesterday, they looked about ready to get into the ground. Since I only had five squares available, I transplanted the biggest five into my bed, and gave BF the other two to plant on his balcony garden. I also transplanted three more lettuce plants to an empty square. The rest are still too small, but I'm hoping that with the shade of the green bean plants, they will make it through the summer without going to bolt.

Bell Pepper seedlings ready to be transplanted

A look at their new home

I added about 1 tsp of rock dust minerals to each hole

Next I added about 1/4 tsp of mycorrhizae to each hole

The finished product of a transplant!

Speaking of bolting... I lost my spinach this weekend. All of it. Including the seedlings still in the peat cups. I'm a little sad, but I know that spinach is a cold weather crop, and I didn't really expect it to make it through the summer. So, I pulled up all 10 spinach plants and threw them into the compost bin.

See how the once large-fluffy-normal spinach leaves (now yellow) have been replaced by smaller-thinner-pointy leaves? Also notice the hard stalks growing up the center of each plant? Sad.

Fails 2: Successes 3

Mycorrhizae

2011-06-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

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Have you heard of mycorrhizae (mi-coh-ri-zee)? My brother and I first learned about this amazing stuff in Biology 186 a few years ago. As soon as I mentioned that I wanted to plant a garden, he began calling nurseries and scouring the Internet to find some.

Mycorrhizae is what gardener's like to call "a grower's best friend." Naturally occurring in nature, it one of Mother Natures magic tools that enable plants in the rainforest are able to grow so big, so lush, and so dense without any fertilizer or pesticides. In fact, mycorrhizae has become essential to the survival of some plant species that have problems developing their root systems.

So What Is Mycorrhizae?

Mycorrhizae is a fungus. Yup, eww. I hate the thought of fungi and to this day can't eat mushrooms because it makes me think of warts and athlete's foot. I know, it's weird... Moving on...

Mycorrhizae gets its name from the Greek root words "mycos" meaning fungus, and "rhiza" which means "root." This wonder microbe is literally just that, a plant root fungus! Unlike Fusariam Wilt, Southern Blight, and Powdery Mildew (common vegetable fungi that are detrimental to the plant), mycorrhizae is involved in what as known as a symbiotic relationship with the plant. In biology, there are three common types of symbiotic relationships, mycorrhizae forms a mutually symbiotic relationship between the fungus and the plant's roots. What this means is that relationship is advantageous to both parties.

How does it work?

In a Mycorrhizal relationship, the fungi colonize the plants' roots increasing their surface area by up to 1,000 times! Several miles of fungal mycelium and hyphae (fungal filaments and "fingers") can be present in less than a thimbleful of soil. Because of this increased surface area, mycorrhizae assist their host plants by increasing the plants' ability to capture water and essential nutrients from the soil, and transfer them into the plant's roots. Mycorrhizal fungi enhance nutrient uptake not only by increasing the surface absorbing area of roots, they also release powerful chemicals into the soil that dissolve hard-to-capture nutrients, such as phosphorous, iron and other complex soil nutrients. The fungi also provide protection against pathogens and nematodes.

Plant root systems with and without mutually symbiotic mycorrhizae.

In return the mycorrhizal fungi feed on the carbohydrates (sugars), amino acids and other waste elements excreted by the plant roots. It’s a symbiotic system that ensures vigorous plant growth. And get this: the mycorrhizae-plant relationship is the rule in nature rather than the exception. 95% of all known plant species—trees, vegetables, grass, ornamentals—have at least one kind of mycorrhizal fungi colonizing its roots!

{Image Source} This picture shows the microscopic detail of the fungal hyphae (thin white strings) as they attach to a plants roots (in yellow)

Why Should I Use Mycorrhizae?

In case you haven't been paying attention, here are some more reasons why using mycorrhizae in your garden is completely beneficial:

100% Natural and organic treatment (Mycorrhizae is a living organism)
Tried and tested by nature over more than 400 million years
One treatment lasts the duration of a plants' lifetime (when transplanting in final position)
Easy and safe to apply
Increased drought resistance and immunity to heat stress
Decreased requirement for chemical Fertilizers and pesticides
Faster growth due to increased uptake of soil nutrients
Increased resistance to root diseases
Helps limit weed invasion (through improved soil structure)
Increased root area, flowering & fruiting
Increased survival rates of transplants and seedlings
Can be applied to mature plants and trees
Mycorrhizal roots take hold faster in newly planted plants

Mycorrhizae v. Fertilizer

While fertilizers can be extremely beneficial in replacing nutrients to the soil, many fertilizers encourage top growth (flowering and fruiting) at the expense of root development. Because of the unbalanced root-to-shoot ratio, many plants are vulnerable to stressful environments. Mycorrhizae not only stimulates root growth and increases root surface area, but because the plant has a better developed root system, it is able to flower and fruit faster and larger than plants given traditional fertilizer.

Mycorrhizae also improves soil structure and prevents root disease, while fertilizer cannot; and over fertilizing will kill the plant.

Application of Mycorrhizae

Micorrhizal innoculants come in powder form and are quick and easy to apply. The only precursor to getting it right is to make sure the mycorrhizae comes in contact with the plants' roots. To inoculate the soil, simply sprinkle the instructed amount into the hole where the transplant will be placed.

❀ Journal Ideas! ❀

Writing in your garden journal is so important to future success and failures of your crops.

Did you decide use mycorrhizae in your garden?
Why or why not?
Where did you purchase your mycorrhizae?
What brand did you purchase?
How much did you use per plant?
Are you planting some plants without the use of mycorrhizae for comparison purposes?
Take before and after pictures

30 Minutes Every Day

2011-06-21T09:00:00.001-07:00

Since I started my little garden, I have spent between 15-30 minutes with it almost every day! It seriously is like a child that never grows up... or a puppy. It needs attention and care or else it will die. Some people might ask what it is I'm doing out there for that long everyday. They also might wonder what they should be doing in their gardens everyday, or how much time they should be spending with their baby.

When I first started my seeds, I watered them twice a day. They were in little cups and the drainage was crazy amazing, but coupled with our warm temperatures, the soil would completely dry up in about 10 hours. So, every morning before work I would deeply water them for about 5 minutes. And as soon as I got home from work, I would water them again. I did this until just 2 weeks ago. I noticed that a few of my plants were starting to look really bad, and realized it is because they were getting over watered: twice a day, plus our sprinkler system that runs three-times every other day, was too much. So I stopped watering.

Now, I just let the sprinklers do their thing, and it is really working out well. This is the reason I haven't installed an irrigation system, with the sprinklers, I just don't need one. Even without watering I am spending about 15-30 minutes tending my garden. Below are some things I do, and things you can do to ensure your garden stays healthy and works for you.

I check the soil moisture around every.single.plant with a moisture meter every two days
I add any compost from the kitchen compost bin to my big daddy-o compost bin every day

I mix and water my compost every 2-3 days
I inspect every.single.plant everyday. I really get in and look, and move things around, Inspector Gadget style. What do I look for?

I make sure the plant looks like it's growing. If it isn't I need to figure out why
I check for holes in the leaves- if there are holes, bugs are eating my plants and I need to stop and prevent it from happening again
I check underneath the leaves to see if there any aphids or insect egg sacs that will eventually damage my plants
I check the condition and color of leaves, again to see if the plant is diseased or needs more nutrition
I talk to them and tell them I love them and tell them how big they're getting (so creepy, but that's what you do with babies & puppies... and plants)
I look for fruit or flowers

I take pictures of each plant and the whole garden bed about once a week
I log my plants measurements on a custom growth chart once a week
I ammend the soil as necessary about once every 2 weeks
I log important stuff in my garden journal (i.e. this blog)

Keeping a Garden Journal

2011-06-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

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Keeping a garden journal can add to your gardening success and enhance your enjoyment of your gardening activities. Depending on how much effort you want to spend on the journal, it can be a fancy scrapbook kind of garden journal, or a plain composition noteboko. It can record as little as what you planted and when. At the other extreme, it can record every minute activity you perform in your garden, such as trimming, fertilizing, watering, and recording rainfall, temperature and hours of sunlight. It's up to you, how much information, or how little, you keep. It also depends on what you expect to do with the information later.

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Journal Style

There are many different ways to keep a garden journal, and you should consider which one will likely meet your needs the best. Below is an example of many ways people record the things growings on in their garden.

Shoebox: This broad category includes everything from kept in a shoebox, bag, storage box, or any other format where retrieval is on a 'dive-in' basis. This type of journal works best for people who want to save 'stuff', just in case, but have no idea what they'll do with it.
Garden Planner: This type of garden journal includes current gardening information and planning tools such as garden layouts, visual references such as pictures, and detailed information about bloom time, requirements, color, and design issues as well as gardening activities and observations. I offer a Custom Garden Guide here my site!
Garden Organizer: The garden organizer journal is grouped by plant type or location, by color or season, or in another way that makes sense to you. Contents are organized in the chosen order, rather than recorded sequentially in date order.
Chronological Journal: The best example of this a personal diary. For each day that you choose to make an entry, you start a new line right after your last entry. You make entries daily, weekly, or as you get to them. Usually, pictures and additional information is not included.
Photo Album: For avid photographers or gardeners who want to look at their garden even in the winter, this form of garden journal lets you store garden pictures, plant details and activities. A popular use of this style of journal is to take digital photos of your plants through each stage of their growth, inserting new pages as required. This can provide you with a visual image of what your perennials look like when they emerge from the spring soil, vs. what weeds look like, so that you remove the weeds only.
Record Keeper: The record keeper format permits the most detail to be kept on each and every plant in your garden. It will likely include complete plant details, all activities, and permit as much detail as you want to enter. This style need not be in a binder, but could be index cards in a shoebox, in alphabetical order, for example. It could also utilize an address-card filing system.

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Journal Types

Now that you know how you want to journal, it's time to choose a vessel in which to keep all of your information and research. There are many different types of journals. Some are fancy and expensive, some are homemade and simple, and others are online, like mine!

Diary Style Garden Journal: The diary style follows the format of a regular bound diary. The pages are usually un-formatted so that you can write as much, or as little as you wish for each day, or skip days without skipping pages. Your notes are written in chronological order. You can tape seed packets and pictures into this style journal and it will have a scrapbook feel (when it overfills it's time to get a new volume). This style is best if you want to simply record your activities and observations.
Formatted, Bound Style Garden Journal: This style garden journal may be formatted with a space allowed for each day, grouped by plant, with specific contents related to gardening, or in other ways. It is bound so that you cannot insert pages afterwards. Notes are in chronological order. Again, addition of enough seed packets and pictures will make the book very bulky.
Loose-leaf Style Garden Journal: This format of garden journal utilizes lined or unlined loose-leaf paper as its base. Its main advantage is that you can insert pages at a later time. Why would this matter? Well, if you want to keep all entries regarding a specific plant together, as some gardeners do, you will need to either insert pages as required, or leave a lot of room after the initial entry, which looks really silly until it fills up. This is also a nice cheap method to create a do-it-yourself garden journal. See our instructions for a sample homemade garden journal. You can also use your word-processing software to create and maintain your garden journal.
Online Style Garden Journal: There are numerous services for creating and maintaining a garden journal on the Internet. With these services, your journal is readily available online to you at any time, and many services are free. A selection of templates is usually provided by the service, for you to customize your entries to suit your taste and needs, and you can choose to share your journal with others, or keep it private. The advantages of this type of journal include your participation in an online community, and the ease of use, once you get used to them. The disadvantages include the need to be on the Internet to make your garden entries or refer to past entries. Most services do allow printing of your journal. I also want to mention that there are tons of phone apps which are catered to gardeners either for free, or for a small fee. Below I have listed two of my favorite garden journal websites, as well as the two apps I have on my phone..

My Folia
Green Thumb Journal
Gardening (Jeff Hale) $0.99
Garden Log $0.9

Computer Program Garden Journal: This style of journal is useful for the gardener who wants to look at gardening activities in a variety of different ways. For example, to see all activities for a specific plant, or all activities of a specific nature (eg. fertilizing), as well as activities by date. Most computer garden journals also include a section for detailed plant records, as well. You will usually be able to print all plant records and journal entries in a variety of different sort orders, depending on how you will use your journal. You can also add entries out of date order. The Garden Management System gardening software ($30) includes a garden journal. With this program, you can view journal entries for with each plant, in date order, and in a variety of other sort orders. You can also print a page for each plant that includes plant characteristics and details, as well as all journal entries for that plant, as shown in the sample plant report.

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Now, Get Started

Now that you have your journal, and know the style you'd like to keep, it's time to get started. If you're not purchasing my Custom Garden Guide, use my Planning menu to help you out.

Your Garden Plan will help you draw out you plans. Keep copies of your drawings in the front of your journal.
What to Grow will teach you about what plants will grow in your area, as well as what plants are easy to grow. This will help you purchase your seeds/transplants. Be sure to save you seed packets!
Your Garden Design will teach you all about companion planting, and where each crop should go in your garden. It's important to log your garden design so you can reference it when sowing your seeds or transplanting. It will also be helpful to reference next year for you crop rotation.

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If you're not a gardening newbie and have an existing garden, it may seem overwhelming to begin keeping records, now. Where to start?!? I don't expect you to back track three months or more of garden activity, but start recording now. It will be well worth it in the end! Here are some things you can start doing today.

Take pictures of your plants. If you're short on time, use a digital camera. You can take pictures willy-nilly, then upload them later. Just be sure to use the date stamp function on your camera for accurate journaling later.
Begin recording your activities, including creation of the journal.
As a general rule, it's a lot easier to get started and keep motivated as you begin your journal, if you split big tasks into a lot of manageable little tasks.

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What to Record

Sowing dates
Transplanting dates
Source and cost for plants and seeds as well as date purchased
Weather particulars such as rainfall, high temperatures, and frost dates
Plant characteristics, date of germination, date they emerge in spring, appearance of blooms
Date of harvest (for vegetables) or cut flowers taken
Date and type of fertilizer or other chemicals applied, and to which plants
Observations

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I hope you do take the time to create and keep a garden journal.

What is Bolting?

2011-06-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

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Bolting is a term that refers to a plant that has "gone to flower." Typically, the plant will grow an elongated stalk with flowers from within the main stem of the plant. The condition most often occurs in plants that are grown for their leaves such as lettuce, spinach, cilantro and other leafy greens.

A very basic over view of the plant life cycle looks something like this:

Seed → Seedling → Fruit→ Flower → (back to) Seed

Notice that once the plant gets to the flower stage, it doesn't go back to the fruit stage, it's life cycle starts all over. When a plant is in its fruiting stage, it produces fruit, or vegetables, and most of the parts of the plant are edible (the leaves often taste like the vegetable, like broccoli leaves!) When plants begin to flower, or blot, the entire plant changes. It will no longer produce fruit, the leaves change in appearance and in flavor, and the plant will produce flowers.

Plants can also bolt prematurely. This is often due to temperatures that are too warm for the plant's liking. This process is common among annuals, and usually signals the coming end of the plant's life.

When a plant begins to bolt, there is nothing you can do to stop it. Pinching off the flowers will not turn back time, or stop the process. It's time to pull the crop, throw it in the compost pile, and sow again. However it is possible to prevent crops from bolting simply by following instructions. Be sure to read the labels on the seed packets, and stick to the plant's proper growing season as well as hardiness zone. Leafy greens don't often require full sun, and do rather well in partial shade, so plant in a semi-shady place, or next to a taller crop that will block a good amount of sun.

Below is a video from my favorite garden-guru John Kohler over at Growing Your Greens with some great tips on how to prevent bolting, and what you can do with bolted crops instead of sending them to the compost heap.

❀ Journal Ideas! ❀

Having your crops bolt prematurely can be hard, especially on a first time gardener. If you're experiencing this process, be sure to write about it in your garden journal!

Have you had any plants go to flower?
Is it the end of the growing season, or did they bolt prematurely?
Which crops bolted?
How do you feel?
What is the temperature like?
What season is it?
Is your crop a warm season or cool season crop?
Take Pictures!

Annuals, Perennials & Biennials

2011-06-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

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Annuals

An Annual plant is plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. Many food plants are, or are grown as, annuals, including virtually all domesticated grains. Annuals produce seeds to continue the species as a new generation while the growing season is suitable, and the seeds survive over the cold or dry period to begin growth when the conditions are again suitable. One seed-to-seed life cycle for an annual can occur in as little as a month in some species, though most last several months.

Summer annuals sprout, flower, produce seed, and die during the warmer months of the year. The lawn weed crabgrass is an example of a summer annual.

Winter annuals germinate in autumn or winter, live through the winter, then bloom in winter or spring. The plants grow and bloom during the cool season when most other plants are dormant or other annuals are in seed form waiting for warmer weather to germinate. Winter annuals die after flowering and setting seed. The seeds germinate in the fall or winter when the soil temperature is cool. Winter annuals typically grow low to the ground, where they are usually sheltered from the coldest nights by snow cover, and make use of warm periods in winter for growth when the snow melts.

Some common true annuals are:

Corn
Wheat
Rice
Lettuce
Peas
Watermelon
Beans

Perennials

A Perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. When used by gardeners, perennial applies specifically to winter hardy herbaceous plants. Scientifically, woody plants like shrubs and trees are also perennial in their habit.

Perennials, especially small flowering plants, grow and bloom over the spring and summer and then die back every autumn and winter, then return in the spring from their root-stock rather than seeding themselves as an annual plant does. These are known as herbaceous perennials.

Perennial plants can be short-lived (only a few years) or they can be long-lived, as are some woody plants like trees which can live for over 4,000 years. Perennials typically grow structures that allow them to adapt to living from one year to the next through a form of vegetative reproduction rather than seeding. These structures include bulbs, tubers, woody crowns, rhizomes plus others. They might have specialized stems or crowns that allow them to survive periods of dormancy over cold or dry seasons during the year. Many perennials, in contrast, have specialized to survive under extreme environmental conditions: some have adapted to survive hot and dry conditions, or to survive under cold temperatures. Those plants tend to invest a lot of resource into their adaptations and often do not flower and set seed until after a few years of growth. Many perennials produce relatively large seeds, which can have an advantage, with larger seedlings produced after germination that can better compete with other plants or more quickly develop leaves.

Perennial Fruits:

Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana
Blackcurrant
Blueberry
Currant
Grape
Kiwi
Pear
Persimmon
Pineapple
Plum
Raspberry
Strawberry
Wineberry (Japanese)

Perennial Herbs:

Alfalfa
Basil
Black Pepper
Chives
Dill
Fennel
Garlic
Ginger
Hops
Horseradish
Lavender
Lemon Balm
Mint
Onions
Oregano
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Valerian
White Horehound
Yarrow

Perennial Vegetables:

Asparagus
Broccoli
Chicory
Chives
Eggplant
Globe Artichoke
Ground Nut
Jerusalem Artichoke
Lamb's Quarter
Leek
Milkweed
Okra
Potato
Radicchio
Rhubarb
Sea Kale
Spinach
Sweet Potato
Taro
Watercress

Biennials:

A biennial plant is a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its biological life cycle. In the first year the plant grows leaves, stems, and roots (vegetative structures), then it enters a period of dormancy over the colder months. Usually the stem remains very short and the leaves are low to the ground, forming a rosette. During the next spring or summer, the stem of the biennial plant elongates greatly, or "bolts." The plant then flowers, producing fruits and seeds before it finally dies. There are far fewer biennials than either perennial plants or annual plants.

Biennials that are grown for edible leaves or roots are grown as annuals. If a normally biennial plant is grown in extremely harsh conditions, it is likely to be treated as an annual because it will not survive the winter cold. Conversely, an annual grown under extremely favorable conditions may have highly successful seed propagation, giving it the appearance of being biennial or perennial.

Some examples of biennial crops are:

Beets
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Lettuce
Parsley
Swiss Chard

Garden Update: What's Growing On

2011-06-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

My little garden bed sure has a lot of green in it! I took some pictures of it this afternoon, and just thought I would share the progress. I'm really surprised by how well everything is doing considering the 105 temperatures we've been having! Despite the heat, the raised bed is really great at holding water!

Since I sowed my first set of seeds, I have watered twice a day. Once I put the plants into the soil, I was still watering twice a day. When the peas started to go sour, I noticed the Spinach as well as the Tomatoes didn't look too good. The Spinach leaves were turning yellow and drying out, and the Tomato leaves were curling upwards and drying out. Both were sure signs of over-watering. So I completely stopped watering and have just let the sprinklers handle it. I keep considering installing a drip irrigation system, but I'm not sure I'll actually need it.

The smaller containers in the bed are holding more seedlings. There are remaining 5 bell pepper seedlings, 8 more spinach plants, 9 more lettuce plants and 16 more radish starts.

How's your garden doing?

First Fruits

2011-06-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

All of my hard work has paid off! Today I harvested my first crop! Radishes are really easy to grow, and they grow really fast; like seed to eat in 60 days! I could have plucked them all about a month ago, but I got busy, and sort of forgot...

They are crunchy and spicy and taste delicious! I only harvested about 1/2 of the crop, because I don't think the others are ready to come out. It's so rewarding to see "the fruits of my labor!"

You Are Going to Fail

2011-06-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

{Peas in May}

Starting a garden has been a learning experience to say the least. I've never gardened before, and I am certainly no expert. Before I planted my seeds, I spent quite a lot of time researching garden topics: gardening in the desert, how to make raised beds, irrigation systems, etc. I even typed my notes as I went, and now have them printed out into a 100 page manual!

{My first pea seedling}

I wanted a garden, so I decided to try it, knowing full well that it wouldn't be perfect, and that I would probably fail. I was really surprised when my seeds started to sprout. I was even more surprised when they actually grew! When I built my garden bed, it turned out better than I imagined... Maybe I wouldn't fail... Maybe my garden would be perfect...

{06.01.11}

Nope, I was wrong. When I planted my garden, I knew that some of my crop choices are "cool weather crops." They will grow well in colder climates, and in the desert, they would be viable in winter, but they are not tolerant of our extreme heat. I also knew that some of the crops I chose, would require a lot of attention, and skills that I didn't have. I also knew that watering would be a challenge because some of the crops in my bed require lots of water, and others require only a little.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my pea leaves were beginning to turn yellow and shrivel. I researched possible causes. One possibility was a fungus! My heart broke. If it were a fungus, it would have surely spread throughout the soil, and all of my crops would soon die as well. I read another cause might be "root rot." A condition caused when certain crops get too much water. This happens to plants in containers with poor drainage. Their roots decay because they are flooded and not able to get air. Again I was crushed, but decided that I would try to fix the problem before it got worse...

I scoured my garage for plastic containers. I covered the peas so that they wouldn't get any water, unless I manually watered them, but they would still be able to get sunlight. This had to work.

It didn't, and yesterday, I decided enough was enough. I knew from the beginning that peas are a cool weather crop, and can't grow in temperatures over 80°. The past few days we've been in the 100°-105° range. My poor peas didn't stand a chance. Lesson learned, and I'll try again in September.

{06.10.11}

If you're trying gardening for the first time, don't let failure deter you. Instead, try something new, and keep going! I pulled out all of my pea plants, and threw them in the compost bin, and planted my watermelon plants in their spot.

Planting Day

2011-05-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

Today is the day I've been waiting for... planting day! My little vegetables plants have sprouted and begun to get too big for the little containers I started the seeds in! Now that my garden bed is built, and filled my little crops are ready for their new home! Because I am using the Square Foot Gardening Method, I used garden tape to mark off each square foot in the bed. My bed is 4'x8' so I have 32 squares to plant in.

I used the garden plan I created at GrowVeg.com as a guide so that I would know where each plant would go, and how many would go in each square. Most of my transplants had developed four sets of true leaves, but some had not, so they weren't ready to be put in the ground.

When transplanting, it's important to wait until the evening, that way, the soil is cooler and can retain moisture for the newly planted roots. My brother and my boyfriend helped me plant until way after dark, but we got it done, and I am so pleased! I think my little bed is just beautiful!

This is how my bed looks now that it's got some green in it.

In the top 8 squares, I planned on planting Bell Peppers, but I am having the hardest time getting them to sprout/grow, they are taking forever, so those squares will stay empty for now. 

This was a big step in the whole gardening process, and I'm glad to have it done. Now, my job is fairly easy, just sit back and let them grow!

** Update **

Remember the 4th grade petri dish (aka wet paper towels in a Ziploc container) method I tried? It didn't work. After about two weeks, the only thing that grew was tons of slimey green mold, and the smell was horrible! Tonight I sowed Bell Pepper seeds for the third time... Let's hope something happens!

How to Build a Raised Garden Bed

2011-05-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

If you decided to build a Raised Garden bed, rather than buy one, here are the directions I used to build my bed. You don't need to be a master craftsman to do this, and I think these instructions are for the super-beginners. (I did it, and I can't even build a Popsicle stick bird house). Good luck!

Step 1 Purchase Materials Needed

(1) 8 foot long 4"x4" or (1) 6 foot long 4"x4"
(6) 8 foot long 2"x6"s**
(2) 10 foot long ½" diameter PVC pipe (optional*)
(4) 12" long or (1) 4 foot long 1" diameter PVC pipe (optional*)
(32) 3 ½" wood nails
(16) ½" wood screws (optional*)
(8) 1" metal tube straps (semi-circular brackets) (optional*)

* The PVC pipe and ½" wood screws add versatility to your bed. By mounting the PVC pipes inside your bed, you can add bird netting or shade cloth to your bed.

** If you want a bed that is 18" deep, you will need to purchase (9) 8 foot long 2"x6"s.

Step 2 Cut

For a bed that is 18" above ground: cut the 8 foot long 4"x4" into four equal pieces. You should end up with (4) posts that are 24" long.

For a bed that is 12" above ground: cut the 6 foot long 4"x4" into four equal pieces. You should end up with (4) posts that are 18" long.

You will need an extra 6" at each end to anchor the bed into the ground,

Next, take (4) of the 8 foot long 2"x6"s and set them aside. These will become the walls of the length (the 8 foot side) of the bed. Cut the remaining (2) 8 foot long 2"x6"s in half giving you (4) 4 foot long 2"x6"s. These will form the walls of the width of your bed (4 foot side). (If you are building an 18" raided bed, you will need to cut (1) more 2"x6" in half.)

If you bought (1) 4 foot long 1" diameter PVC pipe, cut it into 4 equal pieces, giving you (4) 12" long pieces.

Step 3 Assembly

For easier assembly, build your bed upside down. Set one of the 4 foot long 2"x6" boards on its side (the thin side) on a flat surface (like the pavement or your garage floor). Place one of your 24" posts at one end. Using a vice to tightly hold the pieces together, secure using (2) of the 3 ½" wood nails. Repeat at the other end of the board. Repeat the whole process with another 4 foot long 2"x6".

Using the vice, join the sides with one of the 8 foot long 2"x6" boards and again secure with (2) of the 3 ½" wood nails. Add the another long side. You now have one layer finished! Using the same techniques, add the second (and third) layer of 2"x6"s.

Step 4 Position

With help from a friend or family member, flip the bed right side up and move it to your desired location in the yard. With spray paint, or some other marker, mark where each of the four corner posts will go. Move the bed aside, and dig each post hole 6" deep. Put the bed back into place with each post in its proper hole. Fill each hole with soil to secure and anchor the bed.

If you're not adding the PVC option, your bed is finished! Congratulations!

Step 5 Lining (Optional)

Rake the existing soil, grass, weeds, or whatever is at the bottom of the bed to level it out. If you live in an area that is prone to gophers, moles, etc., line the bed with a 4'x8' piece of hardware cloth that is resistant to rust. Rust resistance is key. If rust gets into your soil, your vegetables are going to taste rusty, eww. Trim the cloth with shears to fit around the posts.

If moles and gophers aren't a problem you may choose to line the bottom of your bed with weed cloth or newspaper keep out weeds. If you're using newspaper, be sure to use about 10 layers.

Step 6 Attaching Pipe

To attach the PVC pipe for bird netting or row covers, attach (4) 12" pieces of PVC pipe inside the bed. On the long sides, right next to each post, screw on (2) tube straps to secure each pipe in place. Insert one end of the 10 foot long ½" diameter PVC pipe into one of the 1" pipes attached to the bed. Bend the pipe and insert the other end into the 1" pipe across the bed, creating an arch. Repeat with the other end. If and when you decide to add bird netting or shade cloth, drape it over the arch and attach with wires.

Well, how does it look? Feel free to send me photos!

❀ Journal Ideas! ❀

Now that your bed is made, here is some information you can record in your journal:

Your garden bed's dimensions
Building material used (redwood, cedar, vinyl, metal, stone)
How much it cost to build?
Include copies of your garden plan and any drawings you made of your bed
Any instructions you followed
Photos!

All Images c/o Sunset.com

Small Space Gardening

2011-05-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have gotten some comments and e-mails from discouraged followers who would like to start a garden, but have little or no garden space. To them I say, "despair not, for I have answers!" A garden does not have to be an entire backyard setup, it doesn't have to be big, fancy, or look amazing. Essentially, all anyone needs to garden is some dirt, water and seeds. Yep, that's it. In this post I'm going to talk about gardening in small spaces. After reading, everyone will be so determined to go out and start their own little garden!

Where Can I grow?

I dont' know why people thing they need a five acre spread to plant a garden. I think, if there's space to walk, there's space to garden. I'm lucky that I have a backyard, but BF doesn't, he's always wanted a garden but felt discouraged because all he has is a teeny-tiny balcony. I showed him a few tricks, and now, we may as well call him Farmer John. I've read of people in New York City starting gardens on their fire escapes (like Mike), or in window boxes as well. The bottom line is that if you have any space where you can get 6"-18" {deep} of dirt, you're already on your way to success.

Mike from UrbanOrganicGardener.com grew a garden on his 2'x3' fire escape!

Whether you decide to plant on your balcony, in a window box or even on your welcome mat you need to make sure your garden will get enough sunlight for the "crops" you want to grow. Most fruits and vegetables require full sun, but there are some like lettuce, carrots, and raspberries that can get away with a little more shade. South facing areas are best, then comes east and west facing ones. Do you ever notice that the north sides of mountains stay covered with snow long into spring time? Since there isn't enough sunlight to melt the snow on a mountain, try to avoid planting on a north facing area. If it's all you have, well it will do. If you need to, you can go to a home store and pick up some growing lights for about $30.

Old dresser drawers, baskets and miscellaneous boxes and containers help this balcony garden

What can I grow?

Regardless of what people say, everyone everywhere can grow everything. However, depending on where you live, some crops may grow more slowly than others and some may produce more fruit than others. I live in a desert. We have two extremes really hot or really cold. I didn't think it would be possible to grow much, especially in the summer months when temperatures reach 120+ F, but to my surprise, there is a lot that does well here.

To get started, the most important things to know are your Hardiness Zone, as well as your zone's First Frost and Last Frosts dates. Based on these dates, you can figure out when to sow (put the seed in a planting cup), and when to transplant (put the seedling into the ground/dirt). Once you know when to plant, deciding what to plant, won't be difficult.

If you're just wanting to know, "Morgan, what are going to be the easiest, most-fool-proof crops I can plant?" Well, I'll tell you.

Leafy greens: Salad staples like Lettuce, Cabbage and Mustard Greens grow quickly, and you can harvest the outer leaves while the inside leaves are still growing. These greens prefer cooler weather, and will do well with partial sun and a little bit of shade.
Bush Beans and Peas: such as Green Beans grow very well once they emerge as a seedling. Although they don't tolerate cold weather very well, they require little attention.
Green Onions: these babies tolerate a wide range of cool to warm temperatures making them ideal for any planting season/location.
Zucchini and Summer Squash: These guys are from the same family and are probably the easiest crops to grow. Once they sprout, they grow like weeds, and one plant is enough to feed an entire family, however they need a little bit of room to grow, at least 12" per plant.
Cucumbers: Cucumbers are fairly easy to grow, but they spread out and take up a lot of space. Using a trellis is a good idea to grow them vertically, saving space.
Blackberries: Blackberries grow like weeds, and because they are a perennial, once you plant them, you'll never have to re-plant them. They grow in almost all weather conditions, and as long as they get adequate sunlight you'll have to work to keep them under control!
Radishes: radishes grow from seed to plate in just over two months! As long as they have warm weather, and full sun, these are easy-peasy to grow.
Carrots: Small spaces are ideal for growing carrots. There is usually more shade than sun, and these babies aren't fussy. While they take a while to grow, once planted, very little needs to be done with them.
Raspberries: These berries can grow on a trellis and do well in shady areas.

But what about tomatoes? Tomatoes, although a staple in every garden, aren't that easy to grow. They require some care, full sun, and warm temperatures. In fact, if nighttime temperatures get too cool, the plants will bolt (flower) and they will stop producing fruit. However, for any small space garden, I recommend a small variety of tomato like grape or cherry tomatoes!

Get Creative with Themed Gardens

Since beginning gardening, one of the cutest ideas I've heard about has been themed container gardens. Do you like salad? Great! Plant some lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, and radish seeds all in the same container! Once it grows, there you have it, a salad garden! For fun, add some edible flowers. They make a tasty and colorful contribution to any summer salad. My favorite edible flowers are violas, marigolds and nasturtiums!

Another themed container garden idea is a Spaghetti garden. Grow a single tomato plant, as well as basil, garlic chives, oregano and parsley. Come harvest time, all you'll need is the pasta! Still in the mood for Italian? How about a Pizza Garden? Tomatoes, peppers, and basil. The simplest of all is an herb garden. These will grow inside or out and don't require much sunlight. I have an herb garden separate from my "big" garden where I grow Cilantro, Oregano, Basil, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, and Parsley.

Growing Herbs in small spaces can be so cute!

What do I put it in?

"But Morgan, I don't have anywhere to put a bunch of dirt on my balcony/fire escape/window box..."

Small space gardening is often referred to as "Container Gardening." Yea, it's that easy, get a container- 5 gallon buckets are only $2.00 at Home Depot- put some dirt in it and get growing! Containers come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Obviously, flower pots are a good choice, but remember they need to be at least 12" in diameter for most crops. I recently found these at home depot, and of course bought the raspberry and lime ones for my two watermelon plants!

Other common options include, wine barrels, plastic trash cans or storage bins (like the ones from Target in your garage), or planter boxes.

Check out this video from my favorite garden guru at GrowingYourGreens.com

Window boxes are another good option. They can be found at any home or home improvement store and have been good garden homes for centuries.

The Topsy Turvey! While they are a bit gimmicky and a bit cheesy, these work so well for small space gardening. They hang from the ceiling, so as long as there is sun, you dont' need much else. Not only do they grow tomatoes, they grow just about anything (that isn't a bulb, like onions and radishes, or a root crop, like potatoes and carrots) with a strong stalk, such as peppers, bush beans, pole beans, strawberries, zucchinis, squash, cucumbers, etc. If it grows on a vine, you can grow it in a topsy turvey! Another amazing reason to buy a Topsy Turvey, it is IMPOSSIBLE to over-water the plant inside it!

While writing this post, I discovered another one of John's videos about the Phytopod! This thing is about $65.00, but holy cow, it is amazing. Watch and learn!

Get Creative with Containers

Just for fun, I google image searched "creative small space gardening." Below is just a sample of the glorious-ness I found, and all I have to say is that if they can do it, anyone can do it!

How do I plant the seeds?

Uhh, you put in the dirt and then water it.... I'm just kidding. To be honest when I started my garden, I was a little nervous about this one. Do I just put one seed in each hole, or can I put in more than one? I started all of my seeds in peat cups and put about 2-5 seeds in each one, depending on the size of the seed. Once they sprout, and grow four sets of true leaves, it's time to put them in the dirt... the real dirt, like your container.

I have been using a method called Square Foot Gardening. Established in the 1980's, it was developed to get maximum crops from minimum planting space. Square foot gardening focuses on organic methods including compost, closely planted raised beds/containers, and a small clearly defined garden area. Essentially, the theory is to divide your container into square feet. The size of each crop will then determine how many plants/seedlings you can put in each square foot. For example, one square foot will hold one tomato plant, but another square foot might hold 16 carrot plants.

My 2012 Garden plan with black beans, peas, edamame, green beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes, strawberries, celery, green onions, onions, garlic, chives, asparagus, endive, New Zealand spinach, artichoke, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, arugula, kale, leaf lettuce, crisphead lettuce, radicchio, Malabar spinach, swiss chard and spinach

When gardening in containers or small spaces, there is a loophole to planting more per square foot than you would think. For example, peas can be grown vertically on a trellis in a container, but you could also plant carrots in the same container, which don't take up much "air space" as they are a root vegetable.

For a list of plant spacing, click this link.

Now, You're Ready

But wait! I have a few side notes you may want to read.

When you purchase your containers, be sure to drill a few drainage holes in the bottom. Otherwise you plants may get waterlogged or grow a fungus.

Because you're growing in a small container as opposed to the large ground, you'll need to water and fertilize your plants more often. Since my plants are still in their growing cups, I'm giving them a decent watering twice daily. Once they go into the ground, they won't need so much. Fertilizing is usually done ever 3-4 weeks. With container gardens I would go every 2-3.

The most important thing in starting any garden is to use good soil. Ideal soil is made of 100% compost or worm castings (poop) with rock dust minerals. Many people are grossed out by the though of making their own compost, so luckily is sold fairly cheap at most nursery's. If full compost is not an option, get a good mix of 30% compost, 30% Vermiculite or Perlite (available at Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe's) and 30% Peat moss. Ready made planting soils are often a waste of money because they lack necessary plant nutrition, and you end up spending a fortune in fertilizers and soil amenders.

If you want to start a garden but don't want to fuss with watering, or if you are a little forgetful, you could try building a self-watering container. For a variety of different video tutorials, check out Mike over at Urban Organic Gardener. These containers are incredible and so convenient for our super-heated desert climate!

❀ Journal Ideas! ❀

Don't forget to write in your garden journal!

Do you have a small space but still want to plant a garden?
Where will you put your containers? On your balcony or a porch or somewhere else?
Write about what kind of containers you're going to use. Are you using 5 gallon buckets or garden pots?
What did you decide to plant?
Are you creating a theme garden? What's the theme?
Take some pictures!

Saving Money

2011-05-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

Lately I have really come to enjoy gardening and all of things that go along with it. So what "goes along with it?" To be honest, one of the major benefits, and reasons I started gardening is to save money. I love saving money at the grocery store, but I love getting stuff for free even more. My diet consists mainly of produce, and cereal, with a few rice/chicken/beef/pasta themed dinners thrown in somewhere. Because I eat a lot of produce, I was shopping for it once or twice a week, and spending a fair amount of money.

For example, I eat a salad with at least one meal every day. Typically I buy the pre-cut, pre-bagged stuff. Why? Because If I were to just buy a head of ice berg lettuce, I'm substituting cost for nutrition. Since I'm not willing to do that, I buy the more expensive, ready-to-go, healthier stuff. These bags of lettuce/spinach/mixed greens, etc. cost me close to $3.00 a bag (and I can eat the whole bag in one setting). Even if I don't have a salad every day of the week, and cut out a few days $3.00 x 5 days is $15.00 per week... just in salad! However, I bought a pack of lettuce seeds with 5 different varieties, as well as a pack of iceberg lettuce seeds for $0.75 each. That's $1.50 for a whole bunch of lettuce. It converts to the price of one head of lettuce, plus much more for FREE!

I realize that it takes a few months to grow lettuce from seed to harvest, but lettuce can be grown year round, so once started I'm not missing my salads during the overlap periods. Also, it is important to know a few things about lettuce in particular.

Stagger planting times. I planted 8 plants right at the start, and then planted 8 more about 3 weeks later. This means the plants will all come to maturity at different times, so that when I harvest one crop, I will have more lettuce ready in just a few weeks.
With lettuce, it is smarter to practice "sustainable harvesting." What is this? When it comes time to eat the lettuce, I have one of two options. First, I could cut the entire head of lettuce out of the ground, chop it up, and make a salad. Easy enough, but this leaves me in a pickle for future eating. If I cut the whole plant out of the ground, it won't grow back. It won't produce more lettuce for me to eat in a few weeks. I basically have to start completely over from a seed - which takes months. My second option is to go around each my 8-16 plants and pick 1-2 leaves from the outside of the plant. This will give me 8-32 huge lettuce leaves, plenty to chop up and put into a salad.

** I Challenge You to Save Money **

I know that many people don't have a garden, or an interest in gardening. But like I said, gardening has opened my eyes to other money saving lifestyle changes- like reducing my power bill by 75% ever year. Over the next few months, I will post an easy, inexpensive idea people can do to help them save money. Notice the key words EASY and INEXPENSIVE. The great thing is that I'm allowing an entire month to complete a task. After all the steps are complete, your cost of living will be dramatically reduced! So, if you're interested in saving some serious dough, stay tuned for more!

My Raised Garden Bed

2011-05-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

I quickly decided that trying to plant anything in the rocky-clay-like-Las Vegas dirt wouldn't get me very far in terms of crop yeild, so I decided to build a raised garden bed. I have never built anything in my life, but have always dreamed of acquiring carpentry skills. How hard could nailing some wood together be? After a lot of Internet research, I found that most raised garden beds are about 4 feet wide. This width allows ample growth space, and is a convenient distance for harvesting. At only four feet, most people can pick the vegetables in the middle from either side of the bed without having to reach or strain.

I then surveyed my backyard, and the location I was going to put the bed. Again, most raised beds are between 4-8 feet in length. I had a good amount of space so I decided go with 8 feet. For most vine vegetables (tomatoes, peas, etc.) and other short root vegetables, the raised garden bed only needs to be about 6" tall, but for other vegetables such as medum-long root vegetables and bulbs and tubers (potatoes, onions), your raised bed should be 12" above the ground.

With my city's tough desert soil, I knew that if the roots of my vegetables stretched the depth of my bed, once they got to the bottom, the would have a tough time breaking through, so I really wanted a bed that was 18" high. After council from my parents I decided to start with a 12" high bed, to save money, and to work from there. If I still needed more height, I could always add on. Tada! I now had dimensions!

Next, I drew out my plan and made a list of all the supplies I needed to purchase.

{Click to see the actual write up!}

When building a raised bed it is important to use redwood or cedar because these woods are rot resistant. I used redwood for no other reason than I couldn't find cedar wood anywhere in my city. At my home supply store I noticed that Douglass fir was much less expensive, but if I had gone this route, I would have had to replace my bed every 3-5 years due to the wood rot caused by watering.

Originally I purchased wood screws for my bed, however they were so long, and the wood was so strong, that I quickly realized this was a mistake. The screw heads were being stripped by my power drill before they could get more than an inch into the tough wood. After "screwing" up two screws, I returned them and purchased old fashioned nails. The process was much quicker and easier too.

My brother also convinced me to buy "One of those things the mob guys use to break people's jaws." Surprisingly the man helping us knew exactly what he was talking about, "Oh a vice! Those are in isle 6." We bought a small one that cost about $11, and let me just say, it was the best thing we could have done!

My carpentry skills are still slim to none, and my bed may not look so great to someone with wood-working-experience, but to me it's perfect!

** Update **

After filling my bed with my soil mixture, I decided I did want it to be 18" above ground. So I went back to the home supply store and bought (3) more 8 foot long 2"x6"'s.

Lazy Daises

2011-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yep, they sure are lazy, so I decided to go with Petunias instead. Don't get me wrong, I like daises and all, but they were $3.50 per flower, and the petunias were on sale for $0.88. I figured I'd go for the cheap ones just in case it turns out I really don't have a clue what I'm doing, then at least I wouldn't be out too much money.

I L♥VE how my trees look now. They look cheerful, and happy. I've always loved flowers, and wanted to plant some around my trees for years. When I see all these colorful flowers, I can't help but think of that song from Disney's Alice and Wonderland, Golden Afternoon. It has such clever lyrics, especially the part about the Dandilions kissing the Tigerlillies. Precious.

It definitely feels more like spring around here now!

Garden Update: I've Got Sprouts!

2011-04-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

I am a proud mama! It's funny to see how excited I get when I notice my little veggies growing so big and tall! I have had a few bumps in the road:

A few of my "crops" have sprouted, grown really big, then out of nowhere, shriveled up and died! I don't know what happend to them, but it happened to 4 broccoli plants, 2 lettuce plants, 3 spinach plants, and 2 pea plants! If anyone is a plant doctor, please diagnose my problem?

Some of my plants still aren't sprouting... *Ahem* Bell Peppers *ahem...*

A few weeks ago, I did a little plant surgery on those that hadn't started sprouting yet. I basically knocked each plant out of it's peat pot and opened up the soil ball to see if there was anything growing in there. Nope. So I replanted a few new seeds in each pot. Today, most of my veggies have at least broken the surface of the soil, and others, like the radishes are succeeding all other crops!

Seriously though, my bell peppers also are giving me grief. I googled it, and apparently they are REALLY hard to grow from seeds. So I did surgery on them as well. Four of the plants had sprouts in the soil, so I decided to keep them, but I'm growing 8 new plants from seeds. I decided this time that rather than sow the seeds directly into the soil, I was going to practice the 4th grade petri dish (i.e. Ziploc storage container) method. Basically I put a wet paper towel in a clear container, put my seeds on top, and am now waiting for them to germinate.

I'm planning on doing extensive surgery on my carrots today. Hopefully they are just late bloomers... because I'm getting hungry and don't want to keep having to start these things over.

In the mean time, here's a quick look at everything that IS growing... Pretty soon, they will all be ready to go into their new home - my lovely garden bed!

Lettuce

Spinach

Peas

Tomato

My Garden Design

2011-04-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Remember how I planted some vegetable seeds a few weeks ago? I have always loved the idea of gardening, and always planned on growing my own fruit and vegetables. I think it's a very responsible thing to be self sufficient, not to mention it saves a TON on grocery shopping. Last week, most of my little plants began to sprout, and I have to say the satisfaction of working on something and seeing it come to fruition is a really incredible feeling.

I planted seeds in individual peat cups, and placed the cups, organized by crop, into larger containers. However, they are not going to stay this way. Mostly because they are (hopefully) going to get much bigger. I've done a lot of research, reading, planning, and even joined a Garden Club at church. I don't want to give away any surprises, but I am really excited about "the plan" and decided I would show off what I worked on last night.

Behold, my soon to be backyard:

Currently, my backyard consists of a patio, a basketball court, mostly dead grass, a 5' tall raised planter along the back wall (full of weeds and rocks and a few rose bushes), and two side planters full of rocks and weeds, and some kind of fruit tree (no one remembers what it is... figs maybe? Or dates?). Above, is what I worked out tonight on the easiest gardening software program ever!

Along the back planter, I have planted some climbing ivy's. Hopefully, they will grow grow grow, and bring more green to the space.

This is a small representation of the herb garden I will have. I bought a few 14" flower pots and in them have planted Cilantro, Oregano, Basil, Rosemary, Sage, Chives, Parsley and Garlic.

The primary purpose for using my green thumb is my raised garden bed. It measures four feet by eight feet and will hold a plethora of fruits and veggies! In order to plan out my garden, I decided to use "Square Foot" gardening techniques. This method was created in the 1970's and was designed to get maximum results from small spaces. Because so many crops are growing in each "block," weeds don't have room to grow. Essentially I split my space into 32 1'x 1' sections and planted one crop per section. The number next to the crop represents how many of those plants will successfully grow in each square foot section. (I have planted Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, Green Beans, Lettuce, Onions, Carrots, Spinach, Peas, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, Radishes and Strawberries).

I also considered "Companion" planting techniques. Different plants use and produce different chemicals and nutrients. Each plant has different :companions: that produce the chemicals & nutrients it uses; conversely it produces the chemicals and nutrients the neighboring plants use. If done right, planting this way produces higher yields of crops which are more vigorous against disease and insects! However, each plant also has "enemies," which are incompatible with it. If planted next to each other, the incompatible plants will actually hinder each others growth, and even hinder production of fruits/vegetables.

Lastly, I used common sense and planned according to height. Taller plants should be placed on the Northeast end of any garden and shorter plants should be planted on the Southwest end. This is so the taller plants don't create shade for the shorter ones and block their sunlight. Bell peppers, tomatoes and peas are all tall plants so they will be around the northern and eastern perimeters. The other plants are relatively short (except for the green beans) and will be on the southern and western perimeters. I sowed bush green beans (as opposed to pole green beans) so they won't be tall, but they will be tall enough to provide some shade to the lettuce, which will wilt in too much sun.

Planning has, by far, been the most complicated process of planting my garden. But at least it's over... for now.

In the planter against the left (west) wall, I have planted three grape vines - 2 green and 1 red, all of which are seedless. These plants needed a "sunny spot" to grow, but not full sun, so this side was perfect for them.

Lastly, I planted my berries (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries) against the right (east) wall. All of these plants are vines, except the blueberries which are more of a true bush.

I am so excited to have an official plan, so that when I am ready to stick everything in the ground, I'll know right where they go! I am so excited to find that I have a new hobby that I love, and I can't wait until everything is ready to eat! Yum!

I Started A Garden

2011-03-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

I was at CVS this morning and saw that they have an entire isle dedicated to garden supplies. It must be spring because the weather right now is so beautiful! I decided to pick up some seeds and some Jiffy pots - small cups made out of peat moss that are great for seed starting. I then went to the dollar store and got some containers to hold my pots.

I got so excited that I went to my local nursery to purchase some seed starting soil. I spent almost two hours at the nursery just "browsing" and enjoying the so-warm-I'm-wearing-a-t-shirt-and-shorts sunshine. I believe gardening is an excuse for grownups to play in the dir), and I imagined what my future front and back yards would look like. There will be lots of green, lots of trees, and lots of beautiful, colorful flowers. As well as cobblestone walkways, and climbing ivy's.

So I got started, and mission accomplished! I sowed my very own vegetable garden! I'm planting a few weeks late, but the thought of fresh vegetables was too good to pass up. So there "well-if-I'm-late-I-don't-even-want-to-do-it" attitude! I took charge and hopefully won't get docked to harshly for my tardiness. It will takes a few weeks to get some sprouts, so in the meantime I'm working on building a big planter, so I can add some fruit plants... Yum!

My Grandpa's Garden

2011-03-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

When I was little, my grandparents lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My grandparent's house was amazing. For kids who grew up in apartments, in the desert, it was like a dream. The backyard rested on about 1/2 acre of land. There was grass, hills, big trees to climb, and tons of bushes and shrubberies to play in and hide behind! On one side of the house, the side with the big red wooden gate, my grandparents kept ample amounts of firewood, a wheelbarrow, and a table to clean the fish we would catch on our camping trips. On the other side, my grandpa had a vegetable garden.

I don't remember everything he grew, but I remember there were tomatoes and radishes. Like most kids, I didn't like tomatoes, so I never ate them, but I loved the radishes! They were small and crunchy and spicy, and the perfect treat after running through the sprinklers. What do I remember most about this garden? The way it smelled. Nestled between large pine trees and the house, my grandpa would use fallen pine needles and grass clippings as mulch. I remember the way it smelled after a good watering. To this day I can smell it.

***

Garden Design

2011-02-20T18:19:00.000-08:00

...Coming Soon...

What to Grow

2011-02-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

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A lot of times when people begin a vegetable garden, they ask, "What should I grow?" The answer to this question is simple... kind of.

What do you like to eat?

If you don't like brussel sprouts, don't plant brussel sprouts. If you love broccoli, plant broccoli. It literally is that simple. With that being said, there are some things to consider, such as the climate, and where you live.

I live in a desert where we experience about 4" of rainfall every year; this does not mean that certain things won't grow for me but if I want to plant a citrus tree, I'm really going to have to work at it. As a general rule of thumb, almost everything you plant will grow if given the right care and nutrients.

Hardiness & Heat Zones

When planting, there are two things to consider, the hardiness zone and the heat zone for your area. In 1960 the US Department of Agriculture created what is known as the Plant Hardiness Zone Map. The hardiness zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the average minimum temperatures of the zone. By locating where you live on the map, you can easily determine which of the 11 major zones you live in. Knowing your planting zone is helpful in knowing what will grow best in your area. Most seed catalogues, or my Veggie Index will inform you of each plant's Zone hardiness.

{Click Photo to go to UDSA Zone Map}

While knowing your region's hardiness zone is informative, it is not always helpful. Knowing your area's average minimum temperatures is only half the battle. What about the maximum summer temperatures? The effects of heat damage are more subtle than those of extreme cold, which will kill a plant instantly. Heat damage can first appear in many different parts of the plant: Flower buds may wither, leaves may droop or become more attractive to insects, chlorophyll may disappear so that leaves appear white or brown, or roots may cease growing. Plant death from heat is slow and lingering. This is where knowing your heat zones comes into play.

The American Horticulture society developed a Heat Zone Map. The 12 zones of the map indicate the average number of days each year that a given region experiences "heat days"- temperatures over 86°F; the point at which the plant begins to suffer physiological damage. Zone 1 consists of areas with less than 1 heat day per year, and Zone 12 areas experience more than 210 heat days.

{Click Photo To Enlarge}

Since heat zone ratings are fairly new, they are not listed as regularly in references, catalogs and plant labels as hardiness zones. However, as time progresses, you will see heat zone designations joining the hardiness zone designations. Each plant will have four numbers. For example, a plant might have the designation 3-10, 11-1. The first two numbers refer to hardiness zones and the second two numbers refer to heat zones. So, the plant is cold hardy in zones 3 through 10, and heat tolerant in heat zones 11 through 1.

The Easy Approach

If you're just wanting to know, "Morgan, what are going to be the easiest, most-fool-proof crops I can plant?" Well, I'll tell you.

Leafy greens: Salad staples like Lettuce, Cabbage and Mustard Greens grow quickly, and you can harvest the outer leaves while the inside leaves are still growing. These greens prefer cooler weather, and will do well with partial sun and a little bit of shade.
Bush Beans and Peas: such as Green Beans grow very well once they emerge as a seedling. Although they don't tolerate cold weather very well, they require little attention.
Green Onions: these babies tolerate a wide range of cool to warm temperatures making them ideal for any planting season/location.
Zucchini and Summer Squash: These guys are from the same family and are probably the easiest crops to grow. Once they sprout, they grow like weeds, and one plant is enough to feed an entire family, however they need a little bit of room to grow, at least 12" per plant.
Cucumbers: Cucumbers are fairly easy to grow, but they spread out and take up a lot of space. Using a trellis is a good idea to grow them vertically, saving space.
Blackberries: Blackberries grow like weeds, and because they are a perennial, once you plant them, you'll never have to re-plant them. They grow in almost all weather conditions, and as long as they get adequate sunlight you'll have to work to keep them under control!
Radishes: radishes grow from seed to plate in just over two months! As long as they have warm weather, and full sun, these are easy-peasy to grow.
Carrots: Small spaces are ideal for growing carrots. There is usually more shade than sun, and these babies aren't fussy. While they take a while to grow, once planted, very little needs to be done with them.
Raspberries: These berries can grow on a trellis and do well in shady areas.

But what about tomatoes? Tomatoes, although a staple in every garden, aren't that easy to grow. They require some care, full sun, and warm temperatures. In fact, if nighttime temperatures get too cool, the plants will bolt (flower) and they will stop producing fruit. However, for any small space garden, I recommend a small variety of tomato like grape or cherry tomatoes!

When you find yourself asking, "What should I grow?" the answer is simple. Grow what you like. If you're a stickler for rules, by all means, follow the Zone Hardiness and Heat Zone maps. However if you like something that isn't congruent with your zones, plant it and see what happens. That is, afterall, what beginner gardening is all about. Try it and see what happens, then if necessary, make adjustments next year.

❀ Journal Ideas! ❀

What is your area's hardiness zone?
What is your area's heat zone?
What crops did you decide to plant?
Why are you planting them? Because they'll grow, or because you like them?
Are you going to experiment and plant anything that falls outsize of your H-Zones?

Sowing Seeds

2011-02-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

I think when most people think about starting a garden, their thought process is simple, "Grab some seeds, put them in the ground, and let them grow." The process of planting seeds in soil is technically called sowing.

There are two different methods of sowing. Open field sowing refers to the form of sowing used historically in agriculture where fields are prepared, and then directly sown with seeds. Because I don't have a field, and this blog is geared mostly towards people with "backyard" gardens, I won't be dealing much with open field sowing, or large scale gardening.

The second method of sowing seeds is called Hand sowing. Traditionally, hand sowing refers to the process of casting hand fulls of seeds into prepared ground. We are going to talk more about hand sowing, but on a smaller scale.

If you are starting a garden without seeds and have starts, or transplants, please click here to visit that page.

Most home gardeners start their fruits and vegetables from seeds. This method is much less expensive than buying transplants, and can be very rewarding. Typically, depending on your area's last frost date, you will want to start your seedlings by sowing them indoors or in a greenhouse.

Materials Needed:

Peat pots or other seed starting trays or your garden bed
Your Garden Design
Seed starting mix or homemade soil
Seeds
Plant markers
Spray bottle

There are such items like seed depositors, heat mats, or grow lights that you can also purchase, but they aren't necessary. Unless you are a serious gardener, I wouldn't suggest spending more money than you have to, and even then I would only recommend the grow lights.

Seed Starting Indoors

To start your seeds indoors, fill your peat pots, or other small containers with seed starting mix or homemade soil.

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Check the back of the the seed packet for each crops "seed sowing depth." This is how deep you will need to plant your seed. Typically these depths range from about ¼" to ½". Using your pinky finger, poke a whole in the soil the length of your pinky nail for a ¼" hole. For ½", go up to the knuckle closest to your pinky nail.

Drop between 2-3 seeds in each hole.

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Spray the seeds a few times with the spray bottle.

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Cover the hole with some more soil, and gently pat it down.
Gently water being careful not to wash your seeds away
Place next to a sunny window, or under fluorescent lights

Direct Sowing

Depending on what you are sowing, and where you live, you may be able to sow your seeds directly into your garden bed. For our backyard gardens, I strongly recommend using the Square Foot Gardening Method. Here is where your garden design plan will come in handy.

Check your Square Foot Spacing Chart to see how many plants will fit into each square foot (hopefully you tied these off when you built your bed). If your crop is not listed, follow these guidelines found on the back of your seed packet:

12" spacing - 1 per square
6" spacing - 4 per square
4" spacing - 9 per square
3" or less - 16 per square

Now that you'll know how many you need, poke holes about 1" deep into the soil
Drop 2-3 seeds in each hole
Spray the seeds with a spray bottle
Cover the hole with some more soil, and gently pat it down
Gently water each square, being careful not to wash away any seeds!

Put the rest of your seed packet into a Ziploc bag, and label it with a permanent marker. Store it in a cool, dry place. Also, don't forget to mark your newly planted seeds with garden markers! They all look the same in the cups, covered with soil, and it can be easy to loose track of what is what. You can buy garden markers at the store, but I was surprised at how expensive they can be. I'd suggest using Popsicle sticks, or even using the seed packet stapled to a Popsicle stick (be sure to cover this with a Ziploc bag, the sun and water will remove the ink from the packet).

Keep in mind that as your seedlings come in and begin to grow, you may need to thin out the seedlings. The process of thinning is essentially cutting out certain plants to ensure the survival of others. This is tough on some gardeners- they work so hard to grow their plants only to cut them down- but it is necessary. Because you plant 2-3 seeds in each hole, there is a chance that more than just one will sprout and grow. Without thinning, these plants will fight for water, nutrients and space, and they may not survive. Wherever there are seedlings that are really close together, just some scissors and cut their stems as close to the soil a possible.

❀ Journal Ideas! ❀

Lastly, if you haven't done it already, now is a good time to start your garden journal! Decide if you're going to record things chronologically or by plant. Some things to include in today's journal entry are:

The date
What you sowed
Why you planted that particular crop
A history or fun facts about it
Information from the seed packet or just put the seed packet in your journal
What you put the seeds in (direct sow or small pots)
What kind soil you used (brand, home made, or mixture)
The weather/temperature
Take some pictures using your date stamp function in case you don't upload them right away
Draw pictures

If you have any seeds that haven't sprouted after about 15 days, you should probably re-plant them.

My 2011 Garden

2011-02-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of information on this blog, and I encourage everyone to read and learn as much as they can. I know there are some readers out there who aren't newbie gardeners and so for them, I have created this page. This is my quick reference link to everything that is growing on in my garden. My triumphs, my fails, and basically just a look into my garden journal. Enjoy!

The Sequence of Events

I Started a Garden
My Garden Design
4.18.11 Update: I've Got Sprouts!
My Raised Garden Bed
Planting Day
You Are Going to Fail
The First Fruits (of my labor)
6.17.11 Update: What's Growing On
30 Minutes Every Day
6.26.11 Update: A Lovely Surprise

Growth Charts (Click photo to enlarge)

6.7.11

6.14.11

6.21.11