Late summer garden update

I ment to write this a few weeks ago when, but you know how things go around here.

I would say that year one of the 2571 Fratney St Garden was a success! We got a TON of carrots, two meals worth of potatoes, beans, peas, tomatoes, herbs AND even green peppers in the end. All this in two raised beds and a bunch of containers. 

We are already planning for next year by expanding our existing plot and putting in strawberries.  This summers compost should be ready to go after the winter and the plan is to add more beds and use less containers, as most things only did moderately well in a confined space. We are also thinking about trying to utilize vertical space to increase our growing potential.

Needless to say, next season is gonna get crazy!

Mid-July garden update

It's mid-July and things finally look like they are growing and we, or shall I say I since Jeremy is in Nigeria, are having our first yield. Just this week it stopped raining everyday and I started picking peas, kale, beans and a tomato. Thankfully our friend Sam was willing to take the tomato off my hands so I didn't have to deal with not wanting to eat it, ew. Hopefully none of the other tomatoes will ripen until Jeremy returns.

Gardening in raised beds and containers is fun, and I'm thankful to have fresh produce. However, I can't help but want more. We have ten bean plants, three feet of pea plants, we will be lucky to get 20 onions, four potato plants, a row of carrots, a small lettuce box and a handful of pepper plants that may

Scrap-wood table

I love our back yard. It's sunny. It's shady. It's the best. We have hosted a number of backyard parties, which have been great! But they always seemed to be missing something: a table. We folks, my wish came true this afternoon when I noticed that our neighbors across the ally had tosses a set of wooded picnic table legs. Just my luck! I scurried on over and brought them over. I had picked up a number of pallets which have been waiting patiently to be part of my next project, it was not time!

Materials:
- picnic table legs
- pallet
- screws
- my new cordless drill
- (2) burlap coffee bags
- sheet of plastic

New addition to our garden

This spring/summer has been pretty chilly and you can tell just by looking at our garden. I swear our pepper plants haven't grown an inch since I planted them outside. Sure our peas and carrots are taking off, but that's about it. So I decided it was time to finally use those windows I picked up about two months ago. You got it, it's greenhouse time! But I don't want to name my pepper plants, so I made an a-frame style warmth catcher that will also block the wind that rips through our yard, but will also have air flow. I guess we'll see how things turn out!

June garden update

It's mid June and after a long, cold winter/spring our garden is in full swing! Here's what we will expect to harvest later in the summer and into the fall:

Peas
Carrots
Green beans
Bell peppers
Tomatoes
Onions
Zucchini
Potatoes
Kale
Basil
Cilantro
Parsley
Dill
Chives
Lettuce

Potatoes in a bucket

So back in February I was rooting through our pantry for some potatoes only to find that there was only one very lonely forgotten stud that had decided it was time to make something of it's life. I have seen on many occasions potatoes sprouting in our pantry. Generally I cut the growth off and eat the rest. This time was different. I wanted to know how long it would grow for out of soil. So I let Jeremy know that the potato was my experiment and put it next to the sink.

Not much happened with my potato for about a month. Then out of the blue these itty-bitty leaves formed and things really took off.  There where two main clumps of growth, so it was at this point that I cut them a part and stuck them in soil. Small pots at first, and then finally into 5gal buckets when I loved them outside.

Today makes 4.5 months since I found my sprouting red potato, and I got to celebrate by harvesting a few new ones.

Box-o-perennials

So at work there are these three great flower beds filled with perennials. Some natives, some generic flower bed flowers. Regardless, they are beautiful beds, they just need some TLC.

Today, to my horror, I saw compost being dumped on the beds, still filled will flower! I get it, we are a farm, but WHY on earth wouldn't we take the time to remove the perennials, lay down cardboard to cover the weeds AND THEN put down the compost for our plants?! I asked a co-worked if I could dig some up to save, and after getting the "go-ahead" me and other co-worked started digging out any remaining flowers.

Here is what I brought home with me:
- Columbine or Granny's bonnet
- Lemon balm
- Tulips
- unknown plant

There are a number of places I want to plant flowers in our yard, so with this round of free plants I started working on the space between the house and walkway. It is hard to mow vegetation there, plus after a closer look there are already some cool flowers growing. 
The next step will be getting my hands on some woodchip!

Garden update: We have soil!

This past week our down stairs neighbors must have though we had become some weird hoarder people with all the random stuff that was accumulating in our back yard: pots, wood, cardboard, a tarp. But it all came together on Saturday!

We got our soil/compost on Thursday, which we had to move quickly so we could park behind our house again. We built another raised bed and with the help of a friend we were able to get woodchip to mulch around our two bed. I think if we stay in Milwaukee I would like to add atleast one more bed.

On Saturday we also planted our peas, beans and carrots. Today I think I am going to start transplanting our peppers and onions. The bed needs more soil still, but we have plenty of containers that would work for now.

First harvest of the season

Today we had our first harvest! Yay! Sadly, the next one won't be for awhile. With the cold weather, and lack of soil,we haven't put much in the ground. Our lettuce and spinach also fell prey to the mighty lawn bunny or squirrel. I can saw which, but they were definitely a fan of red velvet. Oh well, such is life. I threw down some more seed in the bed, so there will be more soon enough!

Worm bin experiment

Worm bins are great. You can get rid of your veggie waste AND the castings are the perfect fertilizer. Plus you have tons of worms doing their thing: eating, pooping, reproducing - baby worms are super cute!

We check our bin daily to make sure everything is doing alright, and every so offer I'll find something growing. First it was potatoes and more recently peppers. This got me wondering, couldn't I start plants in our worm bin? It's warm, humid and dark, sounds perfect for seed germimation.

So this morning I filled a container with some castings, added some tomato seeds and plopped it back into our bin. I guess we will see what happens. The container will make it easy to remove the seedlings from the bin, since they will need sunlight once they sprout.

Garden update

Today gives me hope that warm weather is finally on the way. The nights are still cool, however today there is a warm breeze and temperatures are predicted to get as high as 72. This all being said, this morning I took the cover off our little greenhouse box so our greens will have a full day uncovered. Fear not, I have been uncovering them for an hour or two a day so they should be hardened up.

The other day we met with Jay, who will be gardening in our yard this year. He has some big plans, so it will be fun to see how things turn out. I hope our landlord knows what he got himself into with giving us the o.k. to garden!

Things we still need/need to do:
- soil/compost
- water meter for hose
- newspaper for bottom of bed
- work on compost bin
- cleanup yard
- native plant seeds from UEC
- window greenhouse

So we have our work cut out for us, but this is going to be an exciting summer!

With a great yard comes great responsibility

It's true, our yard is awesome. We basically have an empty lot as a yard, which we can do whatever we want with.  But with this yard comes the need to have a lawn mower. There is a gas-powered push mover in the basement, but we decided to purchase a foot-powered push mower second-hand.   Sure, it takes longer, and the grass doesn't always get cut evenly, but there is a great sense of accomplishment after every use.  And lets be honest, our yard is big, but not big enough to require anything more. Happy mowing!

Garden box

Tiny greenhouses

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE to make things out of "trash". My latest protect came about because we are growing seedlings indoors and it has been a challenge to get then to germinate since it so chilly in our house.

I was over at a friend's house who was also starting seeds. We had planted our seeds just days apart, but her seeds had germinated way more quickly. She had also bought a seedling tray that came with a clear plastic top to keep heat in. That got me thinking. How can I give my seeds a greenhouse without buying something? The answer was in our recycling bin. Ta-da! A strawberry container makes a wonderful little greenhouse!

Backyard composting

I will be the first to admit that our compost containment (it's hardly a bin) could use a little work, BUT it's a start! I think we will be doing a static pile for the most part so once we get some hardwarecloth to close it off and firm it up a bit I think we will be good to go.

Seedlings update

It has been almost a month (well, 20 days) since we planted our first round of seeds.We have a funny little set up. The seedlings are next to our large south facing window and we have a LED daylight bulb on them as well. The soil wasn't getting very warm, so we started covering our trays with plastic wrap, and then covering them with a towel at night, which seemed to help.

I'm happy to say that as of today, at least one of each kind of seed we planted in the first round has germinated. Hooray!

1. Lettuce (8 days)
2. Spinach (10 days)
3. Onions (13 days)
4. Basil (16 days)
5. Green Peppers (20 days)

Today also marked round 2 of seed planting, however it wasn't was as larger of an event - just dino kale. We were told by a few people that they started too many tomatoes and we were more than welcome to them, so those are covered.

Seeds and Soil

The other day we got seeds. Not all our seeds, but most of them. It's fun picking out seeds, it's like going to the grocery store...but then having to wait two or three months before you get to eat... It is hard not to get carried away though.

Originally we planned on getting:
-- carrots
-- peas
-- beans
-- green peppers (starts)
-- tomato (starts)
-- lettuce

And then I came home with:
-- carrots
-- peas
-- beans
-- red peppers
-- kale
-- basil
-- onions
-- lettuce
-- spinach

And my seed wish list has grown:
-- parsley
-- parsnip

The issue now is getting all these seeds tucked away into soil and germinating. We have a huge south facing window in our kitchen, BUT we also have a cat...who gets into everything. And how many seeds should we plant? We don't even know how many beds we will have. Or if we are going to do containers. More importantly, where are we going to get soil?! Or should we get our soil tested?

Good thing warm weathered is taking it's merry old time getting here....

Big plans for our back yard

One of the reasons we decided to live where we do was the MASSIVE backyard. Seriously, it's huge considering we are in a city. There is a good sized concrete slab just off our pouch, but the rest is open, with a great amount of sun (and shade, if desired).

Upon moving in, we began dreaming up how we could turn this urban lot into a productive and insect friendly space. We both love bees and monarch butterflies, hence the want of insects. Raised beds, perennial natives, compost bin, rain barrel, bird houses - you name it, we want it. But now the time has come, the question becomes, so what first? What is our priority?

-- Raised beds.  We have limited funds, so 6 beds are out of the picture. Maybe 2? And do some containers?
-- Compost bin Sure, we can build one out of found material.
-- Rain barrel. Hmm, maybe next year? Where do you even get one of those?
-- Perennials! I think there are already some planted along the fence, so we'll see what comes up and go from there.
-- Bird boxes. We got one for Christmas, now we just need a spot for it....

Worms!

Jeremy and I FINIALLY got our worm bin up and running. It hasn't diverted too much of our veggie waste yet, as worms can only eat so quickly, but it is a start.
Growing up my family composted. It wasn't the most sophisticated composting system (a heap in a garden plot not being used) but it got the job done. We successfully diverted perfecty good fruit and veggie waste and added nutrients back into our garden.
It wasn't until college that I realized that composting (and recycling) wasn't something everyone did. Nor did I realize how much "trash" one person can make.
At our old place on 17th street we recycled, and I would take out compostables to work with me (a perk of working on a farm). Our new place still has recycling, but sadly nearly all our compostables have gone straight into the trash. We are planning to build a bin as soon as it warms up, but until then we'll keep feeding our worms.