It's A Brand New Year

I can't believe that it is already 2010! Two more years before the end of the world, you know; and only two more months before the new growing season. So I'd better get going on all these unfinished projects!

I haven't even ordered my seeds for the up-coming season. Luckily I have leftovers from seasons' past, and the seeds have hit the shelves in all the big local stores. You would be so proud of me! I looked for a whole fifteen minutes and didn't buy even one packet! I didn't have my seed-need list, and didn't want to end up with even more of what I already have.

It's been a very busy time for me. Right before Thanksgiving I was asked by a past employer to interim for a position that had suddenly gone vacant. I knew that this was going to happen since a good friend of mine had held the position and had told me he was moving suddenly out of state to be with his girlfriend who had gone to grad school. I accepted the interim position and have been working my full-time business manager job during the day and serving as library supervisor at night (as well as running around trying to find renters for two vacant apartments!!).

Well, of course the job was open, and they really wanted me to take it. In fact I had been offered the position two years ago, but ended up turning it down due to some major commitments I had made at my current job (switching wholesalers and getting Medicare accreditation); among other things going on in my life). But I wasn't going to turn it down twice. I've worked there on and off since 2001 and love all the people. So, I will be switching jobs soon. I go in on Tuesday to take care of the paperwork. I already do the job so there's not much in the way of training to take care of. So, yay for me! This new job will leave my mornings free for gardening which suits me just fine!

Winter Landscape

I don't cut back a lot of my plants at the end of the season, for a few reasons: 1) I can be a bit lazy in the garden, 2) the plants provide food and shelter for wildlife, and 3) they just look so pretty with all that snow.
		You can see all the bunny tracks in this picture; maybe not the wildlife I would like to be sheltering in my garden. But what you can't see is the several dozen chickadees and various other winter birds that dart around the garden picking food from the remaining vegetation. Nature's bird feeders.
		They are especially good at getting the remaining seeds from the prickly echinacea. I love the contrast of the almost lethal looking spikes sticking from the soft, sparkly snow.

Winter Wind-down

We still haven't gotten any snow save for that little bit in October that melted rather quickly.

I have been working on my vegetable garden planting layout for next year and my seed order. I am hoping to find space to plant a little of all the seeds that I currently have now and will be ordering.

There are a lot of plastic containers in my basement ready for winter sowing -- my first attempt. Please leave me any advice and links to info!

I am also drawing up plans for a window greenhouse. I have a good sized window in my mud room that tends to get things piled in front of it (my son is the culprit) making it look really bad on the outside. It gets a lot of morning sun, so I thought it might be a nice place to set up some greens and herbs for winter use. I think that they will look much better through the window than piles of books and gym clothes!

I still haven't brought in my rosemary as it is holding it's own in the cold weather. It will come in this weekend. If you are a cold climate gardener - rosemary does just fine in a container and overwinters great in the house in a sunny window. In fact, the rosemary gets really tender in the winter and is even better!

I am continuing to research hoop houses looking for the best design for my uses. When I do build mine, you can be assured that there will be a step-by-step post. And I will be that much closer to year-round gardening!

Until then... I usually turn my attentions toward the kitchen in the winter, where I cook obsessively; much to the delight of anyone who knows me and lives near me as they get tons of great food (I cook way more than I could, or should, eat!). So, be sure to check out The Obsessive Gardener companion blog: The Obsessive Chef.

Who Ordered All This Damn Spinach?

I know it may be hard for a lot of people to believe, but when it comes to some things, I am not the best planner. Like my vegetable garden. I usually wait til the last minute and run out to the big box to buy plants and seeds, usually getting everything into the ground around, oh, mid-June. And as I'm planting I realize that I bought seeds that I already have 4 full packs of - like Bloomsdale spinach.

I am determined to change my ways! Who can eat all that spinach?

This weekend I spent some time inventorying my left over seeds. I have them listed by their plant types, variety names, amounts and age. Although many seeds remain viable for years, some have a shorter lifespan; I kept that in mind as I planned for which seeds I still need. I was surprised to see that I had most of the seed that I would need for next year.

Turns out, I have over 30 different kinds of vegetable seeds in hand right now:

Maxibel beans, edamame, jalepenos, sweet onion, AmericanFlag leek, Brandywine Pink tomato, Wayahead tomato, sweet basil, Romanesco broccoli, Listada de Gandia eggplant, Triple Treat pumpkin, Sweet Pie pumpkin, Black Beauty zucchini, buttercup squash, Table Queen squash, cantaloupe, SugarBaby watermelon, Blue Vates kale, Bloomsdale spinach, kohlrabi, turnip, mustard spinach, salad blend, Sweetness carrot, Baby Star lettuce, Buttercrunch lettuce, Ruby lettuce, Caesar Salad blend, Early Prolific straightneck summer squash, Waltham butternut squash, Packman broccoli, Swiss chard, and snow peas.

I just need:

beet, carrot, sweet pepper, parsnip, black eye peas, shallots, sweet peas, potatoes, rutabaga, brussels sprouts, pak choi, corn salad, arugula, and cucumbers.

I have been looking at the R.H. Shumway catalog (since they are now owned by Jung - a Wisconsin company). I have read some great things about them, and some not so great things. Generally the reviewers said that they have fantastic product, trouble is they may not ship it in time. I figure though with seed I should be safe, because if I do not get the seed when I need it, the stores should be stocked by then and I can just purchase from them. And seed will hold until the following season if necessary.

I'm trying to pace myself, but who knows... if I get the seeds early enough, I might even start some plants indoors!

November Overhead

It was a beautiful day today and I got a lot done, but mostly I spent time in my garden (and a little time on my roof:). When I get enough money, I am going to get this power line underground. It is a nuisance for over head shots and when we want to sit outside and enjoy the stars.
This last week I even finished filling the new vegetable beds with compost. I also planted about 60 garlic cloves and the ten raspberry plants I got from a coworker. I still have rutabaga, Swiss chard, broccoli, kale, leeks, spinach and Brussel sprouts growing.

I know it seems a little weird to be thinking of this when we haven't even started winter yet, but I am feeling really good about next year.

Garlic Planting

I love garlic! And I was reading about garlic planting on so many blogs that I just had to find a way to get it done this fall in my garden. I hadn't purchased any specialty garlic for planting, instead, I just headed to the grocery store and bought 8 bulk garlic bulbs. I did this a couple of years ago with great success. The garlic doesn't taste the same after it grows in your garden - it's BETTER!

I tore the bulbs apart to get the cloves I would need for planting. I just plant the cloves, just as you see them in the picture above, in 2-3 inch deep holes about 2-3 inches apart. No fertilizer or protection necessary. They are very hardy and will sprout in spring giving me usable bulbs around mid-June. A lot of people take the biggest for planting, I take the smallest and save the biggest for kitchen use.

After planting all the small cloves, I chopped up the bigger cloves and put them in a sterilized jar with oil for storage in my refrigerator for later use. I find that the grocery store garlic does not store well in my kitchen, so I thought I would give this technique a try*.

What is really strange is that once this garlic has had a while to grow in my garden, it not only improves greatly in flavor, it also improves in storage quality. It easily keeps right on my kitchen counter for the entire winter!

*I have been reading that even if storing in the refrigerator this may not be safe to eat raw due to potential botulism - however, I will only be using this for cooking so this will be fine for me as high heat for ten minutes will destroy any toxins that may be present according to the FDA.

What Makes A Good Blog (and what doesn't)

The Crafty Gardener was asking what his readers look for in a blog and what added gadgets they actually use and Nell Jean at Secrets of Seed Scatterer was telling her readers what she liked and disliked about blogs. And as opinionated as I am, I just felt a post a-brewin!

For choosing a blog to read I go through the following process:
(pause cursor on sentences for hover text)

1. Intriguing blog title.
2. A great blog header will keep me there for a look-see.
3. Clutter is a big turn off.
4. Newest post either visible upon entry or not too far a scroll away is a MUST!
5. Author info at the top is definitely the way to go.
   
6. A well thought out, well written post is also a MUST.
   
7. I LOVE humor!
   
8. Pictures aren't necessary for every post, but do add to the experience.
9. I prefer blogs that allow comments.
   
10. I HATE word verification!
11. No pitch black backgrounds with bright white text - Headache City!!
    

Bonuses:

1. Fabulous photos
   
2. Post labels
3. Authors who read and respond to comments
   
4. Blogrolls.
5. Hyperlink references in posts
6. Posts that teach me something.
7. A passionate, funny writer that isn't afraid to go off on a good rant now and then ;)

Specifically for garden blogs:

1. Wide shots of the garden
2. Pictures that include the whole plant
   
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Names of plants in the pictures
5. Your planting zone and soil type

Now I'm not saying that mine is a perfect example of a perfect blog. In fact I have seen so many blogs that I feel mine can only aspire to be like. But, I found it useful to see other blog readers' ideas of a great blog and thought you might too.

Tell me what you like (and dislike) about blogs!

Veggie Bed Overhead

Here is an overhead view of my vegetable garden with the newest bed installed and two other "possible" beds laid out. The small bed will be for raspberries and the big bed is for pumpkins. The other bed will be a general bed. If everything goes well tomorrow I will be finishing all these and hopefully get them filled with compost before the end of the day.

Update (Saturday 2:18pm): I got called in to work, so I didn't make very great progress on this project. I will post a picture of my progress most likely tomorrow.

Update (Saturday 5:56pm):

I don't have the rebar in or the beds filled with compost, but I do have them leveled and ready to go whenever it quits raining...

Update (Sunday 5:32pm): It didn't rain like it was supposed to so I got the rebar installed on all the beds. Yay for me! I got an abrasive saw disc to cut the rebar to shorter pieces (1' instead of 2'); and I got an auger bit big enough to get through all three stacked pieces of landscape timbers which really sped things up! The disc cost $6 (but you can get them at the Big Boxes for $3) and the auger bit cost me $8 (and boy was it hard to find! Got it at Menards). Both were definitely worth their prices!

I Have Leeks!

I started leeks from seed three years ago. I didn't get any that first year that were big enough to eat, but I was very glad that I didn't pull them out in the fall as they overwintered just fine, much to my surprise.

The second year the leeks didn't get big enough either, but one of them did bloom. Again, I left them over the winter. And again they did just fine.

This year I found new leek seedlings from the seeds that blooming leek produced. Back in September I reported that the leeks had yet again failed to produce stalks big enough to use, so imagine my surprise when I pulled one that had seeded in an inconvenient place as I was cleaning the beds for winter and found that it was indeed big enough to use! In fact I found enough that were big enough that I could make my yummy leek and potato soup!

So it only took three years. I'm patient, because it's no work at all just waiting. I had 5 blooms this year, which means even more leeklings next year. I will just keep letting them do all the work and enjoying the results :)

Weather Reprive

After snowing/sleeting much of the week, it warmed up for the weekend allowing me to get some things done:

• Weeded all the main garden paths
  
• Raked the yard and mowed the leaves for mulch
• Pulled all the dead plants and weeds from the veggie beds
• Emptied the rain barrels for winter storage
• Weeded some of the main garden for planting
• Weeded the whole front bed for planting
• Planted all but one of the 99cent plants I got from Home Depot
• Laid out a new raised bed (to be finished later this week, hopefully)
• Planted about half of the remaining spring bulbs
• Harvested the rest of the beets, black-eyed peas, the shallots and the carrots
  

I was really surprised to see the carrots. I grow them in small pots because I have a nematode problem in my vegetable garden. Usually they never make a nice root. I was pulling them up to store the pots for the winter and there they were, chunky little carrots :) Not enough to make pickled carrots like I would like, but great for snacking. Garden fresh carrots are the best!

Speaking of canning, here is a picture of some of my harvest preservation efforts so far. I have canned lots of applesauce, tomato sauce, salsa, pickled beets, strawberry jam, grape jam, zucchini dill pickles, and zucchini sweet pickles. I have also dried mullein, black eye peas, apple wedges and made apple chips. Then there is all the vegetables I froze. A couple of days ago I used some of the broccoli that I froze earlier in the season - it was so GREEN! Even after cooking it!

Here are all the spring bulbs that I needed to get planted. Notice that there are bulbs here that weren't in the picture I took last week? I told you they follow me home!

I planted all the species tulips, one bag of the Princess Irenes, the Mr. Fokker anemones, The irises, and the bleeding heart. I still have almost 300 bulbs to plant! I'm going to love it in the spring, but right now - UGH!


UPDATE 10/19/09: It's 1:30pm and I am done planting ALL the bulbs! WHEW! Now I have to tackle the raised bed...