Backyard Make Over - Heading for that Edible Landscape

Do you ever feel like you are pouring money down the drain as you water bushes in your yard that give you nothing but a bit of greenery?  I do. 

And so I finally called it quits with the last monster water bill. 

 

Why am I doing this? 

 

So I saw in my last SJ Master Gardeners newsletter that a class was coming up on planting edibles in your landscaping, hmmmm, sounds interesting. 

If it must be green then why not make it pay for it's water with some food.  I like it. 

 

So with a little convincing of my chief destroyer, Jeffery, we started the transformation. 

 

First out - our roses :(  First the peace rose that had been there for 20 + years (gave it to a freecycler in town) and then the Mr. Lincoln (which I potted and put back in later in a different spot, I mean you can only push me so far besides roses have vitamin C) then went the weird purple rose which really didn't do anything for my yard and always looked a bit leggy (gave that to a garden club member).  

 

 

And for the final assault, the monster, The Bird of Paradise, which had grown sooooo large that you could no longer put your arms around the base. We planned on pulling it out in a large hunk and then dividing in amongst friends. Four hours later we were using power tools.

 

 

We put a large piece of plywood over the pond and a tarp to keep out the dirt.

See the arbor over his head - that holds our grapes and gives us a screen from neighbors.
 

 

My Honey with one of his favorite tools. A real GQ pose :)

and wearing his Relay Shirt (oooh, that's going to take some serious cleaning to be white again).

 

So out with the bad stuff and in with the good.

 

In the roses place we put a pomegranate, my husband's a Vitamix, smoothie lover so he really wanted one.  Check.  Got it.

 

Next blueberries - in pots.  I had seen this on Pinterest and really loved the idea of growing blueberries in pots.  That way I would be able to get something with a flash of color (the pots) and food too.  You have to have 2 - something about cross pollination.

  

 

Then a sink. You read right - a flippin' kitchen sink. With dual bowls :)  One of the problems when you are a crazy, recycler gardener is that people call you up with the weirdest items that they are getting rid of. 

 

In case you aren't aware of it Mint is invasive and what better way to corral it than in a sink.  I planted regular mint in one side and chocolate mint and parsley on the other side.  Out looking for plates now.  Wait for it :)  Since it is a sink we definitely need plates.

The fence was up to make sure that Pippa didn't trample things until they were established.  Nothing like a dog to wreak destruction after all your hard work.

Happy Gardening

 

Yard Tweaking Going On

 

Just thought I'd throw a couple of things that I have been working on in here. 

 

 

No, It's not finished.  That's why there are spaces.  My Son finally gave me his contribution the other night so I am working on it.  Freedonia (you have to be a Marx Bros fan to understand that one) and I'm doing Yosemite since when I escape that is usually where I end up.  I think there will be space for one more sign after that.  Still no clue as to what that will be.

 

I bought the boards at Home Depot.  They have hardwood boards in 4" x whatever length you like sizes. Then I used my wood burner and burnt them.  The lettering came from my MS Word program -I just printed them as huge as I could.   Used an old method on transfer -  rubbed my pencil on the back of the paper and then traced the words with a pen.  Leaves an impression and a bit of the carbon from the pencil behind.  When I was done I had my Husband cut the arrow points in then I washed the signs with different colors (a bit of water and paint) and sprayed them with a sealer after I put them up. 

 

Put only one screw in the sign into the pole so I could tweak them on different slants.  I may have to add an additional screw later as the birds who land on the signs, so they can get in the bird bath in front, are a bit on the plump side and some of the signs end up facing the ground by the end of the day.  Seriously need diets for the birds.

 

Just a note here on the bird bath in front of the sign - I found a HUGE pot and put that by the sign, filled it with dirt and then put another pot inside that was the exact size of my bird bath topper.  Filled around it with dirt and put in some 'tunias.    The pot that holds the bird bath is higher than the original pot so that when I lift off the bird bath to clean it (which I obviously didn't do before this picture) I don't damage the flowers around it.

 

I wish I'd saved the before picture for the chair.  It had yellow and orange plaid on the seat and on the back.   I paid a whole $5 for it at a local garage sale. The rectangle that has the flowers painted on it was the original back and was stapled under the fabric.  I just cleaned it up and painted some bright white daisies on it.  Originally I took the whole puppy apart, had my husband put a screen from the front to the back to hold the cocoa form and sprayed it blue (black was too strong).  

I bought two of the cocoa forms since there wasn't one that would fit my strange shape and kind of mushed (a gardening term :P ) into place .  Since I knew that this would spend a lot of time in the shade I put in coleus, a red one and a variegated one.  The only thing I would have done differently would be to add the additional lining of plastic inside to help retain the water. 

 

Happy Gardening

Beans

I have never had great success with beans.  I don't know why.  I have tried but what I have gotten from my efforts wouldn't even serve my family of 4 one meal. 
Stupid.
I hate putting major effort into something (not to mention money and water) and not get something out of it.

 

 

So this year I decided to over kill on the beans.

 I started back in April and put beans in my garden window to get an early start. I used last years empty containers from my annuals, a simple planting mix and

Kentucky Pole Beans seeds, um, beans, um, seeds, you get the idea.

Anyway they came up so fast that I was concerned that it wouldn't be warm enough in the garden for them before they out grew the containers. You can see next to them by comparison my heirloom tomatoes that were barely up.

 

 

On to garden prep. I am a 'square footer'. Maybe there is a club for people like me or an institution :) But because I am a 'square footer' my prep is easier that it has been for years. I used to be dragging out the rototiller at this point. But this year I started with putting new compost over the entire bed and working it in. Added a couple of extra squares (planting potatoes in those) and an old garden swing to use for my stringing up the beans.

I love recycling stuff.

 And yup, that's me in the picture

(shades of peter pan, just wish I could lose my shadow for the pictures).

 

 

More of me in the picture - Also cleaned up the planting bed and put in the beans. I planted them with a mix of bone meal/Epsom salts/crushed aspirin/egg shells to give them a boost right off the bat. This was their first day out in the garden by themselves.

'Sleep well little beans'  

See in the back my lettuce/spinach/chard box still going strong.

Just a note here that the box that the beans are going in is one of my part shade boxes. I have a huge apricot tree in the middle of my garden (poor planning but really no where else I could put the planting boxes). So this area of the garden gets only 4 - 5 hours of sun per day. The corner box where the lettuce/spinach/chard is gets maybe 3 hours which is great for them.

They are totally not sun worshipers.

 

 

 

 

Okay so not so good of a shot but you can see the progress. I ran the string around the back bar of the swing and then over the top and then looped it under the grid work for the square foot garden. That's Pippa butt in the picture. My Lab-Hound mix. She's barking at Taco, the chi-weiner, next door.

Are you allowed to say butt on a blog? Butt.

 

 

 More beans. And yes I did put more bean seeds in the front about 2 weeks ago once the one's in the back got rolling. Some 'purple beans' and a breed called 'rattlesnakes'. I'm experimenting.

If I don't get beans this year then I'm going to shoot myself.

Maybe.

The old swing works pretty darn good.  See in the upper left hand corner that blue bottle hanging there.  That's bug spray.  When the little buggers are eating my beans I have recourse at hand. 

'Die you bugs'.

So far I haven't had any bug problems but I am prepared :)

 

I've been fertilizing every two weeks with fish emulsion.

Makes everything stink but doesn't burn my plants.  They seem to be loving it. 

Biggest challenge is Pippa thinks it smells wonderful and tries to eat my dirt or roll in the plants. 

She is now exiled from the garden.

 

 

Just a couple of shots of my potato box hiding in the back.

 

 

Happy Gardening

 

Planting a Herb garden

Okay, you know those wonderful things you see on Pinterest where they make old used stuff look amazing by just planting something lovely in it.  Well we're putting that to the test.  I bought this used something or other (have no idea what it was for) at a garage sale.  I love the fact that it has wheels, is two tiered and is black metal.  And have decided to make it my herb extravaganza on the top and put beets on the bottom. 

 

 

Next stop our local Home Depot and a roll of burlap. I decided not to by those bird nest things made of Cocoa strands they sell since my size needed to be customized. Normally I think I would do the bottom tier first and then the top. But I'm showing pictures of only the top process since it's easier to photograph. Anyway I put the burlap in first and then (because it gets heck-a [yes, I said heck-a] hot here).

 

 

Yes, that picture is fuzzy.  It's not your eyes.

 

 

I am lining it with a heavy plastic that I had in the garage that I use for painting. I try to buy everything in rolls since I end up using it all at some point anyway. After lining it with the plastic I carefully cut the plastic in several spots so that there will be drainage from the 'Pot' I am creating. Then I flip the burlap over into the 'Pot' to line it and make it look nice.

 

 

 

Now I fill that puppy with potting soil. I avoid the name brands but this time I picked up a bag at OSH usually I go for something basic since I do my own fertilizing. Then I add my own mix of planting medium. I found this on Pinterest and am giving it a go this year. I use 2 cups of bone meal, 1 cup Epsom salts, 17 crushed aspirin with no coating and a couple dozen egg shells (that have been washed, vitamixed small and then dried). About a 1/4 cup of the mix is added to the bottom of each hole for the plants. This should give them the vitamin burst for their new growth.

 

 

 

 

Then from my kitchen window where I have been experimenting with growing from seeds.  My herbs.  I have just Basil, oregano and rosemary.  I already have mint in it's own pot and it's so invasive that I didn't want to include it in the 'Pot'.  I finally decided a needed a few more and added Thyme and Sage.

 

Update:  So after a month it's doing really well.  The lining idea was a plus and it doesn't dry out to quickly.  But I left the bottom open still.  I will probably still put beets in it later.

 

Happy Gardening!

Potato Box Time

So I love potatoes.  In every form.  And thought I'd just go ahead and plant a few in my garden.  So the first year I dropped a couple of red potatoes into the front square foot garden area and got potatoes.  Wonderful, crunchy, flavorful, red potatoes.  The next year I was over joyed to find that I had volunteers coming up.  Obviously I missed a couple of small ones when pulling them out the year before.  Well I'm into my 3rd season and once again I have volunteers.  Enough.  Time for them to move out and get their own place. 

Welcome to my potato box.  A simple square unit that stacks on top of it's self to create a space for all my potatoes to grow.   I found this idea on another website and then created my own.

Potato Box!

The first year started really well.  Created box, check.  Get soil, check.  Buy and plant Yukon gold potatoes, check.  Marvelous growing commences and then they die.  What?  What do you mean they are the wrong variety for a potato box?  Really.  Crap.  So back to step 3 this year.  Created box (yeah, I already have that).  Get soil (well I just re-composted what I already had).  Buy and plant red potatoes, check.  Marvelous growing has already started.  Now we wait.

When I was cleaning the box out from last years catastrophe I found a couple of Yukon gold babies so I am trying them in another experiment in another part of the garden.  Stacking boxes on my existing square foot garden.  We have to wait on this one too.  Don't you just love my shadow :)  And yes that weird green thing around the box is my old swing from last year.  Rather than dumping it we are recycling.  This year it will be the support for my beans.

 

 

In the mean time - how to make a potato box. 

 

 

Your going to need 6 2"x6" 8' boards

I used redwood so that it would be with us for a lot of years

Your also going to need 2 6' 1"x1" boards

These are the corners that your seeing above. 

These are also redwood

A bunch of 3" deck screws

A saw (obviously)

A drill

You'll note too that my top box in the picture has a clasp on it.

This is so I can access the box bottom when the rest of the box has been stacked. 

It's a cheater way of getting to the potatoes sooner.

 

 

You are going to make 6 squares.  Cut your 8' boards into 4 equal parts.  I won't give you an exact measurement since all boards are not created equally.  Measure your board and kick in your 5th grade math and divide into 4.

 

Now drill all the boards before trying to assemble.  Pilot holes will keep your boards from splitting open.   We lined the boards up so that the end of each board went up flush against the side of the board that it was to be attached too.  So our boards made as perfect a square as possible.  We made 6 of these boxes.  Note here!  One of our boxes has a clasp.  You can easily get a hinge and clasp and install on one of yours if you wish.

 

Now to get this stacking thing rolling you are going to take those 2 - 1" x 1" board and cut them in half - giving you 4 - 36" boards.  In the corners of the two bottom squares you are going to (again with pilot holes) attached the uprights.  We attached them to the bottom square first then stacked the next on top (the one with the clasps) and then screwed that one on too.  Note* the other 4 boxes behind the box.  Those are for adding later as the growing continues.

Once the potatoes are about a foot tall then you are to put on another box and add mulch, straw or whatever to the top.  Only covering 1/2 of the plant.  Then wait - it will continue to grow and you will continue to stack and add more mulch, straw or whatever till you reach the top.

Keep the watering consistent.  Harvesting begins when it starts to die.

Happy Gardening!

My February and March Spreadsheets

So February skipped by me.  Actually it drug by . . . literally, antibiotic city.  Hate sinus infections and hate even more that my old body takes way too long to recover from things.  I'm not that old but I am a 2 time cancer survivor (see my other blog about that story 'The Joy is in the Journey Home') so I don't heal as quickly as I used too.  So here is my belated Spreadsheets for those that are using them.   March First :)   Mostly because I can't figure out how to flip them.  Gonna be a long day.

March
Week		Location	Garden Event
First Week		Inside	Seeds - Bell Pepper
Second Week
Third Week		Inside	Seeds - Tomato
Fourth Week
Monthly Goal			Check Drip Irrigation System
			Spray Fruit Trees for Curl
			Divide Crowded Plants (day lilies, Agapanthus)
Fertilizing		*5-10-5	Flowers, Roses
		*8-4-4	Ground Covers, Shade Trees, Shrubs in Sunny Areas
		*0-10-10	Shrubs in Shade, Azaleas, Camellias, Gardenias
		*12-8-4	Citrus
		*12-12-12	Fruit Trees and Grapes
		*5-10-10	Vegetables
Freezing			Watch - Citrus
			Watch - Hibiscus

February
Week		Location	Garden Event
First Week		Outside	Seeds - Mint
		Outside	Seeds - Parsley
		Outside	Seeds - Garlic
		Outside	Seeds - Artichoke
Second Week
Third Week
Fourth Week
Monthly Goal			Bare Root Planting Season - Lilacs and Roses
			Cut Back - Lantana
			Remove all Garden Debris
			Remove all standing water
Fertilizing		*5-10-5	Flowers
		*0-10-10	Azaleas, Camellias, Gardenias, Citrus,
		Systemic	Roses
		*5-10-10	Vegetables
Freezing			Watch - Citrus
			Watch - Hibiscus

January and my spreadsheet

I don't know how the rest of you keep track of everything you are supposed to do in a garden.  I thought gardening is supposed to be easy, relaxing, fun and a welcome stress reliever.  Yah, not my garden.  I am so busy trying not to forget everything I am supposed to be doing I usually forget something essential that I was supposed to do last month which ends up throwing the whole season off.  So done with that.  I can't tell you. 

 

 

So since I have now officially qualified for AARP and my memory sometimes takes a dump I try to write things down.  Lists are my life.  So I started taking all the tons of information that I have been collecting over the years and put it into a spreadsheet.  One page for each month.  Wooohoo.  Success.  Or at least more success that in the past :)  So for January . . . I hope this makes sense to you all :)

January
Week		Location	Garden Event
First Week		Inside	Seeds - Alyssum
		Inside	Seeds - Basil
		Inside	Seeds - Oregano
Second Week		Outside	Seeds -  Green Onions, Onions
		Outside	Seeds - Chives
Third Week		Outside	Transplant - Pansy
		Outside	Transplant - Snapdragon
		Outside	Transplant - Dianthus
		Outside	Transplant - Carnation
Fourth Week		Outside	Seeds - Dill
Monthly Goal			Pruning - Trees except the Apricot
			Pruning - Grapes
			Pruning - Berries
			Pruning - Roses
			Prune - Wisteria
			Spray - Fruit Trees for Curl
Fertilizing		*0-10-10	Roses, Shrubs in Shade, Azaleas, Gardenias, Camellias, Fruit Trees,
			Grapes and Citrus
		*5-10-5	Flowers
		*5-10-10	Vegetables
Freezing			Watch - Citrus
			Watch - Hibiscus

 

Just thought I'd throw in here one more 'to do' or at least to keep on doing.  This is the time to keep your composting rolling (literally in my particular case since I have a barrel composter) so that it is ready for the new year.  With the chill of winter most of us would rather not think about our compost piles but they still need tending.  Love my little green ceramic composter for the kitchen.  I used to have a red one (looked like a fire hydrant) but it got busted.  This gives me a place for my kitchen scraps.

 

 

Happy Gardening!