It's Finally Time to Plant the Garden!

As a resident of Central Minnesota in Zone 4, I've been living vicariously through other gardeners whose gardens are actually already producing and watching the cool weather crops establish themselves But, now, it's finally my time!
I started my seeds and they're all looking pretty healthy as I harden them off. I've turned the bed a couple of times and I'm finalizing my garden layout so that come Memorial Day - the day folks in these parts say it's OK to plant - I'll be able to move my plant seedlings into their new home. Here's what I'm planting:
Tomatoes - Grape, Yellow Pear, Roma, and Early Girl
Peppers - Green, Red, Jalapeno and Banana
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Cucumber
Zuccini
Carrotts
Kholarabi
Broccoli
Green Bush Beans
Purple Pole Beans
Sunflowers (for the bees and to harvest the seed)
Edamame (soybeans - I'll roast and snack on these over the long Minnesota Winter)
Peanuts
Potatoes
Peas - Sugar Snap & Snow Peas
Radish
Lettuce
Spinach
Arugula
Corn Mache
A wide variety of herbs

In addition to these, I also have plantings within the landscape, including lettuce, Snow Peas, Strawberries, Swiss Chard, Blueberries, Raspberries, Rhubarb, Apples, Pansies and Nasturtium

I'll be adding photos to the blog as there's something more than dirt to show! The strawberries are in full bloom now and the Apple tree is ready to flower, too.

What are you growing in your garden/landscape?

Turning the Soil or Feeding the Robins?

Even though I do a lot of edibles in our landscape, I'm lucky to have space for an actual garden as well. I spent this morning turning the soil for our vegetable garden since our last frost date is next week (finally).

This is actually the second time I've turned the garden this year. We piled leaves and grass clippings on last fall and they hadn't decomposed enough, so about a month ago, I turned the bed and ran the garden weasel through it. Then I left it alone. Today when i turned it for the second time, just about all of last year's waste had completely composted and I have beautiful rich soil, just waiting to become home to a wonderful garden. It's amazing what happened in just 1 month's time. I credit the quick work to the abundance of worms that a saw in just about every spade full of dirt.

Seems I wasn't the only one who noticed the lowly creatures squirming in the light, working to dive back into the soil. There was also a pair of Robins very much aware of the smorgasbord being turned up. Every time I took a break and walked away for a minute the pair descended on the garden "cherry picking" the tasty morsels. When I came back, they flew to a nearby tree or the roof of the garage and perched, watching me and waiting for me to unearth more food and walk away again.

I wish I could have taken a photo to share. It reminded me how intertwined living things are and how much I truly enjoy every aspect of working in the garden. It's a great opportunity to observe nature at work.

What interactions have you had with nature while in the garden?

It's Not Too Late to Start Your Victory Garden!

It's not too late to start your Victory Garden / Recession Garden or whatever the term du jour is. The Victory Gardener is doing a giveaway to help jump start your project. Click here and good luck!
http://thevictorygardener.blogspot.com/2009/05/great-victory-garden-give-away.html#comment-form

Even if you don't win, you'll find lots of great information about growing edibles from this gardener.

A Fruit-ilicious Landscape

Our landscape is going berries...blue-, rasp- & straw- berries that is. I spent several days this week adding more strawberries for plant bed edging and planting 4 varieties of blueberries in spaces most landscape designers would relegate for Spirea, burning bush, or some sort of evergreen bush.

I'm excited because I'll have beautiful spring flowers, delicious fruit and striking fall color from these newest additions to the front landscape. For now, the strawberry ground cover dwarf the baby blueberries, but that won't last. Soon, the new bushes will tower over the equally delicious ground cover.

To add the blueberries to the landscape, I had to amend the soil, since blueberries love acidic conditions. They were planted in a space where evergreen shrubs once grew and I added some decomposing pine needles as well as a slow release plant food formulated for acid-loving plants.


My generous neighbor provided many raspberry canes for our fence project...actually, she begged us to take some since they were taking over her garden. We've planted them along our fence in both the front and back, knowing that we'll need to keep an eye out lest they take over in our yard as well. But, it's a risk worth taking for the pure joy of fresh picked raspberries we'll enjoy every summer.

The strawberry plants were also a gift from our neighbor. We're not sure what the variety is, but they are very robust and are quickly filling in the empty areas where we want cover.
In addition to all the berries, our apple tree has begun to leaf out this week. We pruned it in February before the sap started running again. Now, we're enjoying a shapelier and healthier tree and are hopeful for a bumper crop of sweet-tart apples this fall.

Now that the fruits are pretty much taken care of, it's time to turn our attention to the vegetables. All I've asked for for Mother's Day is a load of compost. Hopefully they take me seriously so we can finish prepping the garden and landscape beds for this year's vegetable plants next week.

Gloom & Doom for Home Gardeners? I Don't Think So.

Twitter is “all-a-twitter” about a Boston Globe article today that is one-sided and poorly researched at best. Yep, I’m fired up!

The author’s premise is that gardening is uber expensive and that people in general don’t have the skill or knowledge to grow food plants. Give me a break!

Expensive? Well I suppose it is if you’re shopping in some designer plant store and are willing to pay $5 for 1 lettuce plant as the author tells her readers she did! I can’t stop choking and sputtering on that, but I don’t want to attack anyone’s intellect or common sense. Instead, I’m going to take a factual approach to cost and knowledge needed to grow your own food plants.

The Globe article was based upon the following purchases in bold & I’ve added a reality check following each:

9 plants (tomatoes, peppers & red lettuce): $30 All of these plants can easily be grown from seed, and you can purchase seed packet for less than $1 a piece! Way less, if you’re shopping sales, etc. Even if you want to purchase plants, there’s absolutely no reason to this much money.

Tomato cage: $3 Tomato cages can be purchased for less than $1, or you can create your own supports for close to free with sturdy sticks (wind fall from trees), dowels, and even old broom handles that are driven into the soil next to the plant. Then use old cloth (pantyhose works great) to gently tie the plant to the stake. The pantyhose is stretchy and soft so it doesn’t damage the tomato stem as it grows.

Organic potting mix: $9.50 There are definitely less expensive ways to go here as well. You don’t have to purchase name brand, and that will save a few bucks right there. I’ve always had great luck with a mix of basic soil and some peat moss. Check around your area, many towns have free compost sites where residents take their leaves, lawn clippings, etc. to dispose of. After they dump the waste, they pick up fresh compost (made from last year’s yard waste) to enrich their garden (or container) soil.

Organic plant food: $12. I’ve used a slow release food that cost less than $4.99 for a container a couple of years ago. I add it to the soil when planting and it feeds the plant all season long. By the way, I’m still using the food from that $5 container 3 years later and I grow way more than 9 plants each year.

Three 16-inch terra cotta pots: $90. “Holy Moly, Andy” is all I have to say to this expense. There are much more economical pots available. And, while terra cotta looks nice, it adds a new degree of difficulty to keeping your plants happily watered. Moisture evaporates out the sides of terra cotta so the soil dries out much faster than in pots made of other materials.

Which leads me to the last expense our Boston Globe writer called out …

Water bill: $100 Yes, plants need lots of water to thrive, but it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Be smart about how you water. Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening method suggests filling a bucket with water and letting the sun warm it before using it. Then pour a cup of water on each plant at the base. The warm water does not shock the plant’s roots and you have control of how much water you use. As a general rule, using an overhead sprinkler is wasteful because it rains water down on the leaves where it evaporates and only a small portion actually makes it to the plants roots.

Knowledge and Experience? As someone’s Grandma would say, “Poppycock!”

I have a lot of respect for horticulturists, agriculture professionals, botanists and the like, but you don’t need specialized vocational training to have a successful garden as the article suggests using a quote from Bobby Wilson, president of the American Community Gardening Association. According to the article, he told CNN the Chia-pet generation isn’t ready for the Blue Ribbon Prize just yet.

“Many of the people that want to get into the gardening and greening movement right here have never gained the skills,” he said. “Many of them came up in an era where there was no vocational education, so there was no need to learn anything about horticulture or agriculture.”

I really hope that this quote was taken out of context.

Free information and help is yours for the taking…

There is a wealth of information out there. Start at the library for free books. Read the back of seed packets, which have basic growing information and directions. Ask your local extension for advise. Here’s a link to a list of each extension service in the United States. http://www.ediblegardenlandscaping.com/extensionlist

Ask other gardeners in your area what works best for them. Gardeners love to share their knowledge and help others learn from their mistakes. Even if you don’t know anyone near you who gardens, there is an amazing amount of knowledge on the Internet. In addition to the articles and information on my website http://www.ediblegardenlandscaping.com here are just a few other helpful resources:

Joe Lamp'l from the DIY Network has been blogging about how to plant a victory garden for $25 or less: http://joegardener.typepad.com/dailycompost

Mel Bartholomew’s Square Food Gardening Site at www.squarefootgardening.com/

The Growing Food Guide blog at www.growingfoodguide.com/

Great information about victory gardens and growing your own at www.redwhiteandgrew.com/

Better Homes & Gardens gardening information online at www.bhg.com/gardening/

Mother Earth News’ website: www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening.aspx

And, a blog for urban gardeners: http://urbangardencasual.com/

As always, I look forward to your comments and feedback!