Welcome March ~ 2 0 1 7

Our goal for March is to continue pulling weeds.  The recent rain we've had this year has brought in oodles of weeds, ALL OVER!

Front yard, green house {explained in a bit} and side yard where the garden is located are just covered.  We've been slowly plugging away at pulling them, it's a vicious circle.  We will also pour boiling water on the weeds, this works just as well as any harmful herbicides that I refuse to use.

After we get the weeds pulled we'll start putting veggie seeds and some starts in the ground.

Can't wait for some fresh veggies.  Our winter garden didn't really take off this year.  I attribute it to the fact that I injured my leg and haven't been able to get out into the garden and fertilize, everything just seems to be growing so slowly.

Our herbs that we potted are doing fabulous, even the strawberries are hanging in there.  We have two peach trees to plant yet, need to figure out placement for them.  Our Border Collie has other ideas for our main backyard so most of our garden will be planted on the side yard where the girls were.  The trees can go in the main part of the back yard, but will need to be Border Collie proof.

Our greenhouse still needs to be completed.  We've decided that since 4 of the seven councilmembers are against chickens we just as well use that space as a greenhouse.  We still own our property, but they get to dictate what we can and can't do on it.  The hen house itself will make a nice storage and potting area.  We can put shelving units in the main area outside of the hen house to start seeds during the cooler months.

We'll also start trying some veggies in the front yard, sort of integrate them into our landscaping, per code, we can do this as it is considered landscaping.

We'll be putting bush beans, cucumbers, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, artichokes, and lots of peppers. Probably some others I can't think of off the top of my head.

Enjoy the weather and gardening, it's going to be a beautiful time to get our gardens going.

M & S
Uptown Grange

Spring Fever

It's been so nice the last few days, a bit of rain, but still nice, low to mid 60's all week.  Normally I'd be freezing, but I can feel spring in the air.  Yes, I know technically there is still two months before spring is officially here, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming and catching the fever.  Even Grangeman has the fever along with Doodles.

We ran to Summer Winds Nursery today.  I like that nursery over the big box hardware stores because they get different plants in that you can't find in the big box stores.  We ran there because I was after some strawberry plants, lemon balm and Thai basil.  I got two out of the three and then some....

We also got a tomato plant that we will plant under the orange tree on the side yard where the girls were.  Right now it is the only place to plant as we have a puppy and he runs through our raised beds, there is no way we would have any plant left if we put in one of those.

Lemon Balm is the top plant AKA Melissa, a very expensive essential oil, the lower plant is Stevia.

Japanese Giant Red Mustard is the top plant, this plant tastes a bit like horseradish/mustard combined, it will get pretty little yellow flowers on it, on the left are Chives & the lower right is Italian Oregano.

Rosemary

Thyme

Basil 
Grangeman just recently planted this basil, we had numerous self seeded basil plants here, but they were getting rangy and more woody than plant so they got replaced.

We decided to put these in pots to determine where there best placement will be once it starts getting hot outside.  We will also be able to move them inside of the house if need be, I'd like to try to keep them rather than replace each year.

I know we will more than likely get a few more cold snaps before spring officially gets here, but I just can't wait.  Spring is my favorite season! 

M & S
Uptown Grange

Garden – January 2 0 1 7

It's been too long....

December was a very eventful month. Not only was it the Christmas, but my father fell and broke his hip. Thank the Lord he is okay, he had surgery and is getting settled into his rehab and a new living situation.

I planted seeds back in late September, well, the broccoli and brussel sprouts came up nicely, we are still waiting for them to produce, hopefully soon. We had one swiss chard, one cauliflower & one kale come up and that was it. A few beets came up, but were a sorry excuse…

Part of the problem was I took a tumble in mid-October and injured one of my knees. I already have OA in both knees, but this compounded the pain and it was very difficult to get out to the garden, walk or even do anything (including laundry). I am doing physical therapy to strengthen my core and legs at home, and am now on some meds (much to my displeasure) for the pain and inflammation. In February, hopefully my insurance will approve it, I will be getting injections to add cushion to my knees.

But I digress…

Anyhow, the meds are working a bit, so I was able to get out into the garden and get some seeds planted this past weekend. I planted carrots, spinach, beets {golden & detroit}, swiss chard, kale, bib lettuce & cabbage. After they were planted I took some of our homemade compost and sprinkled it over the top, this should add extra nutrients to the ground and the plants as well. I also sprinkled it around the veggies that are already up hoping to give them a boost.

Grangeman started some Carolina Reapers & I started some artichokes inside of the house, they are starting to take off as well. It’s always an adventure, sometimes in futility but not always, you don’t know until you try.

Living in Arizona, we are blessed that we can garden pretty much 365 days a year. Some Arizonans baby their plants through the hottest parts of the summer {late June through July} to have fall and even winter crops, we’ve not had much luck with this, but of course, we are still learning the ins and outs of having a backyard farm, what works and doesn’t work and because we both work full time it can be a challenge to stay on top of things, but we do the best that we can.

There is a bit of news regarding legalizing backyard chickens where we live, but will save for another post.

Happy Trails

M & S
Uptown Grange

Spring Garden ~ 2 0 1 6

We've been working on the Spring Garden 2 0 1 6 for a few weeks now.  We've planted Cucumbers, Zucchini, Okra, Bush Beans, Jalapeno, Ghost Chili, Green Chili, Banana Peppers and Tomatoes {yes, we have a ton from the former chicken yard, but the more the merrier}.

We've weeded, weeded, weeded and weeded yet again.  It's like someone sprinkled weed seeds in both of our yards {probably our neighbor who turned us in for having chickens}..lol  There is still more weeding that needs to be done, it's. Never. Ending....

We get all of our vegetable seeds from Baker Creek.  We've been very pleased with the quality of seed and the reliability of them as well.  One of the other perks of ordering from them is they always throw in a free seed packet.  They are also real responsive to any questions or concerns that you may have about your seeds.

Cucumbers {in the back ground is the bane of our existence PURSLANE}

Zucchini
{either Fordhook or Black Beauty, I love zoodles and sauce, we also love zucchini sliced and on the grill}

Bush Bean {we planted these in the Lasagna Planter we did in the fall}

One of our volunteer tomatoes, no idea what type, but looks tasty.

We did buy 3 tomato plants
{the one on the far right is a San Marzano grown from seed last spring, it survived the winter}

We did order some of the cucumbers we grew last year as the ones we planted this year are looking a bit sad, so we have some as a back-up.  We also order Fordhook and Black Beauty Zucchini seeds, I've already put some more in the ground.

Winter Garden 2 0 1 6

This January we took a small chance and decided to try some to grow some veggies from seeds that we've never grown and some things we have been having a hard time growing.  

We planted everything in the former chicken yard on the west side of the house.  We planted brussel sprouts, turnips, butter lettuce, broccoli, napa cabbage and peas.  Everything took it time coming up, at least 2 weeks, but finally about a week ago things started popping up, everything except the brussel sprouts...of course, I can't seem to win with them.  We'll see how well everything does for the next month or so, before we have to pull everything to put in our spring garden.

the swiss chard patch doing well along with some volunteer tomatoes...
looks like I need to do some weeding out though....

the peas

Turnips (we've never grown these before)

the kale and volunteer tomoatoes....

Volunteer tomatoes, thank you girls!

We are zone 9 and have had our share of freezes and freeze warnings the past 2 months.  We knew we were taking a chance, but we really didn't have anything to lose.  With this garden being on west side of the house and between houses we haven't had to cover anything, we've been pretty lucky.  

The cabbage and the spinach that we planted in the fall are growing a bit, but for some reason they never took off and grew into normal size plants.  We'll see if they change their mind before we need to put in the spring garden as well.  

Everything in the ground except the tomatoes will be yanked by the middle of March.  

If you live in the Phoenix Metro area, the city of Tempe is having a free compost day.  See this link for more information.  It's open to all valley residents.  City of Tempe ~ Free Compost

...the feast of the harvest, the fruits of thy labors... Exodus 23:16

M & S

Uptown Grange

First Fall Garden {Former Chicken Yard}

 Back in September we planted beets, swiss chards, carrots, radishes, kale and green beans in the former chicken yard. We were afraid that since this yard was recently vacated by our 8 girls that there might be too much nitrogen in the dirt. 

Well, the radishes, swiss chard and kale and doing wonderful, in fact they exceeded any expectations exceeded any previous time we’ve planted them. Baker Creek seeds really do provide very good seeds, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results of these three crops. 

Kale surrounded by tomato plants

From Left to Right: radishes, carrots, swiss chard and beets

The beets and carrots however, did not fare as well. They did get big beautiful tops, but did not provide much in the form of beets or carrots to eat. We were afraid that this was going to happen with these 2 crops, but it was definitely worth the shot. We did learn a lesson and you can’t learn without trial and error. 

When we pull the garden, we will share what we ended up doing with everything. I believe that they will all be blanched for the most part, but I’ve also heard a lot about kale chips and I wanted to try to make some of those.  {the carrot tops already made it into the composted}

The green beans really did climb well, but they haven't produced any beans to date.

Oh yes, lets not forget about our volunteer tomatoes in the former chicken yard. We have several that have blossoms on them. Once all the other crops are pulled we will put them in tomato cages and cover them so they can be in a sort of greenhouse. Hopefully we won’t need to plant any tomatoes this coming spring, just depends upon if they end up being indeterminate tomatoes or determinate.

Bottom left is our Kale and behind the tomato was our little radish patch.

M & S

Uptown Grange

Baby It's Cold Outside...It's too CoLd For Us...

I know two posts in one day, I am making up for missing a few weeks and I found some motivation last night!

They say the threat of freezing temperatures is over, for now anyway, and we are glad.  We are not equipped for this cold weather in Arizona especially in November; we had to dig out our winter coats long before we put up our Christmas tree.  The weather we are seeing now is our normal January/February weather.   

We're ready for regular fall weather, well actually that’s a lie, we’re ready for spring weather and spring gardening.  However, our basil is going crazy and so are our roses. We decided 4 days too late that it was time to cover the plants at night, so hopefully we don’t lose any due to frost/freezing.  It is only supposed to get down to 41 degrees tonight but given our location sometimes it dips a bit below that, so we will cover again tonight.  We will also water the plants as well as that has helped in the past to keep them from freezing, again 4 days too late.

As I’ve said before, we are not a cold weather family.  We like the heat and warmth of spring and summer.  And of course, we love the spring veggie gardens!  AND hopefully this year we will be able to have some spring chickens! xoxox

Come on SpRiNg!

M & S

Uptown Grange

Bumper Crop ~ Fall 2015!

OMGoodness! So far this fall garden is appearing to be a bumper crop! 

We thought for sure we were going to lose some of our long beans from the hail storm a few weeks ago, but they seem to be thriving. They are to a point where they are starting to climb up the trellis that Hubs made for them.

The radishes are going crazy, we’ve enjoyed a few from the garden already and they are huge we've grown radishes in the past but they have never been this large and they are very tasty.  We will be planting some more here within the next few weeks.  These can be grown most of the winter here in Arizona.

Of course we have to thank our girls as they helped us with their awesome fertilizer for being on the side yard for over 2 years!

The kale, swiss chard, beets and bush beans are coming up nicely, hoping for a crop of each by Thanksgiving.

Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage and spinach are showing signs of coming up, they were planted two weeks ago.

We are so impressed with the seeds that we purchased online. If you think about it, the seeds cost less than they would if you were buying organic seeds in a big box hardware store or other big box store. The average price is $2.25 to $3.00 per package, they are organic GMO free seeds. EVERY seed that we plant has come up without fail, this is a bonus as normally if you buy seeds from one of the above type stores you are guessing if they will come up and how big your crop will be. You do have to pay for shipping but that cost is minimal {$5.00 at most}, also they are such an awesome company, each time we’ve bought seeds from them, they have thrown in a random seed packet for free! We will definitely be purchasing our seeds from them again and again. 

M & S 

Uptown Grange

Garden Lasagna – So Far So Good

It’s been about 2 weeks since we made our garden lasagna in two of our garden beds.

It’s working pretty good only a few spots have Bermuda coming through, we sort of expected this. I’ve poured hot boiling water on them to see if that will stop them in their tracks, this works on the purslane.

If the boiling water doesn’t work I will definitely try using a home made weed killer. The Bermuda is mostly sneaking through the edges. These are spots where we may have missed the garden lasagna or it settled differently than we anticipated and we don’t plant near the edges anyway.

The other slight issue is the straw is growing so we have to stay on top of pulling it out.

Would we do it again? I’m not sure we will have to see what happens over all on how the garden beds look after it finally turns into a garden bed that can be planted in again.

We’ll keep you updated.

M & S
Uptown Grange

2015 Fall Garden & Update

Please excuse my absence.

On to our fall garden update.  The Garden Lasagna is still brewing away, we haven't seen much breakdown yet.  For some reason I don't think we will be able to plant in these beds until it's time for our spring planting.  

The side yard where our girls were has been growing, some plants and doing what they are supposed to be doing, while others are dragging their roots...so to speak.  Everything is up, just not moving at the pace that I wish they would grow.

The Asian Long Beans are doing very well.  The Hubs created a little fence to put between the rows so that the beans have something to climb on.  

We had some plants come up that we know we didn't plant.  We scratched our head one night when we were weeding because we kept seeing these plants.  The Hubs says "How did these get here?" Me: "I don't know".... ding ding ding ....we used to feed our girls tomatoes from the garden that the wild birds got to, so our girls sort of left us something behind for us to enjoy.  There are about 20 tomato plants mixed in our garden, hopefully we will have some fresh tomatoes this winter in addition to our other crops.

Monday will be a busy day planting the cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, green beans, broccoli.  It should be interesting being two planters down, but we will figure it out.

M & S
Uptown Grange

Garden Lasagna

Yes, you have read that correctly....Garden Lasagna, not the kind you eat of course...silly gooses!

Two of our raised garden beds have been infiltrated with bermuda grass for years.  We are over it and ready to really use our garden beds to be as self-sufficient as we can be on our little 7,000 sq. ft. lot. 

We have tried several times flooding the beds and pulling as much as we can with the soil being soaked and it still continues to return....URG

Doing research and asking other members on a few gardening pages I follow on facebook, several people recommended layering the beds.  AKA Garden Lasagna or the Lazy Gardener method by Ruth Stout.  

I weed whacked all the bermuda grass down as close to the soil as I could get so that there is a nice somewhat flat surface.

First layer is cardboard, paper bags, newspaper or other type of barrier you are choosing to use to block the weeds/bermuda from returning.  (we do not recommend the landscape plastic unless you are planning on removing it).

The second layer is straw about 3-5 inches thick.  This breaks off into about 3-5 inch flat plate type chunks this also helps to make sure that you have it tight in the garden bed. (fewer weeds to sneak through)

Third layer is manure, the stinky kind, whats the point of having a garden if you can't enjoy the smell of manure.  Boy oh boy, did my eyes burn layering this down, it also didn't smell real pleasant up close and personal either, but keeping fingers crossed this method works, if it does in the end it is well worth it.

I see one of our dogs photo bombed the picture, silly girl!

Water a little each day, this will help it to start breaking down and turn into a compost. Whatever barrier you used will "hopefully" kill off the bermuda grass, and any other weeds, while providing nutrients back into your soil.  This is a hot compost so make sure you water it daily to keep it hot so it breaks down.

We are only trying this in the two raised beds that have the worst amount of bermuda grass.  Since this is an experiment only at this time, we left the other beds be, that way we can definitely plant our fall garden in them while this breaks down.

We've tried just paper bags in the past, with no straw or manure, just the paper bags seemed to work to control the bermuda grass in the other planters, only purslane (which our girls loved) keeps returning, but it isn't too bad and we can stay on top of it.

Total cost for this reconditioning was about $30, and covered about 120 sq. ft. with a thickness of about 4-5 inches when all was said and done.  We used 2 bails of straw (@ $8.50 each) we bought at our local stock shop and 16 bags of manure ($1.09 each) that we bought at homies.

Here's hoping we can keep the dogs out of the beds now....and that this method works, we promise to keep you updated on the bermuda grass issue in these beds, and hopefully you can try it too!

M & S
Uptown Grange

Fall Garden Time

We decided since our neighbor gave us lemons by turning us into the city for our chickens we would make good use of our "former" chicken run by putting in a garden.

The soil had sand and chicken manure in it so what better place.  We decided to put in beets (I LOVE beets) swiss chard, carrots, radishes, kale and long beans.  We planted some cucumbers back in late July, and only one is left standing (some critter decided they liked them) so hopefully we will also have some fresh cucumbers this fall.

Now is the time to plant, the window of opportunity to have fresh veggies for your Thanksgiving meal is slipping by very quickly.  You can plant really anytime before it starts freezing, yeah right in Arizona, but the farmer's almanac was pushing me and so was the hubs.

We already have some of everything come up, hopefully the soil isn't too rich because then we will only get a pretty greens with no veggies at the bottom...urg...that would be our luck.

We rescued 2 x 4's and sandstone from two of our neighbors who were throwing them away, (not exactly dumpster diving) the hubs made nice flower beds using the 2 x 4's and since I am short and have stubby legs the sandstone steps make it easier for me to get into the garden bed to harvest the veggies.

The trap you see is the try to keep the critter away from our loan cucumber plant that has survived since July.  This is where we have the long beans planted, at some point the hubs will make a trellis for the beans to climb on.

This is the garden bed that has from bottom:  kale, radishes, carrots, swiss chards and beets.

You know we've tried several times to start seeds in those nifty little peat moss pots and even disks and have not been very successful, planting seeds directly into the ground has worked the best for us.