Latest garden scoop

I've harvested and eaten and given away a whole bunch of tomatoes. I won't be getting as many as I had originally thought because the mites really got my plants. A couple of plants just died but the rest are hanging in there and I seem to have gotten the mites sort of under control. The cucumber plants only ended up producing a few. I think it got to hot for them. They keep wilting.

The melons (cantelope and watermelon) aren't going to produce anything edible. The cantelope kept getting eaten by the cucumber beetles and I think got a fungus as well as being crowded out by a zucchini plant. The watermelon's leaves suddenly started curling up and turning yellow and looking wilty. I think it might be bacterial wilt or something else. Either way it is quite sad since I did have a few baby watermelons. One of they appears like it might be getting bigger but it could all be in my head. The plants aren't dead yet but struggling for sure.

The green beans were and are delicious. They appear to be flowering again so I might get some more before it freezes!!! Oh and most exiciting I have corn. I unfortunately picked two of them too early, but there are still 6 or so still out there. I'll let you know how it tastes. Second most exiciting thing is my green peppers appear to be starting to turn!!! My thai hots have been turning for a little while now. In fact I need to go out there and harvest some of them. I wonder how spicy they will be.

I made salsa tonight from all my different types of tomatoes. I got a hot pepper from my CSA and decided to add some of it because Sean thought it was a little bland. It is good thing that I only chopped up half of the pepper (serrano I think) and then only put half of the chopped up portion into the salsa. Now it has a bit of a kick. I think I got a seed during one of my tasting because it burned the back of my throat. It is melding in the refridgerator until tomorrow. Hopefully it won't get too much spicier or I will have to add more tomatoes or something.

I'm going to try and make pasta sauce later in the week and maybe can some chopped tomatoes. I got quart sized canning jars from my next door neighbor. Tomorrow I'm going to look at good will for some pint sized ones. I want the smaller ones for canning jam. I've got a whole bunch of blackberries that I want to turning into jam. Apparently you can make small batches of jam in your bread machine (if it has a jam setting). We'll see how it goes!

Garden: Update

So far I have harvested:
Tomatoes: 7 pear, 4 zebra
Zucchini: 1 huge one (I have no idea how that happened)

Unripe but coming:
tomatoes: a billion (way too many to count)
Zucchini: a few (however they are sneaky, so it could be more)
Cucumber: 3-4 (although I'm still trying to figure out when you harvest them)
Bell Pepper: 10-12 green ones (I'm debating whether to pick some of the green ones. Supposedly if you pick you first batch of peppers green it will cause the plant to produce more pepper overall. The problem is that Sean and I don't like them green!)
Beans: A whole bunch (It would be way to hard to count. I've got to go out and check them today to see if any are ready to harvest cause they are certainly getting bigger)

Flowering or still growing:
Corn: getting bigger but no silk yet
Watermelon: tons of flowers
Cantaloupe: tons of flowers (the cucumber beetles have been really attacking these, so we'll see what we get)

picture of completed bed

Here are some pics of the finished bed. It has tomatoes and beet and carrot seed in it already so more pictures to follow.

raised bed progress

Well I still don't have my raised bed in the ground the 4x4 didn't come in time for the weekend before this last one and this one was mostly a rainy mess. However Saturday I was able to level out the ground for where the box is going to go. Tomorrow is suppose to be the day for installation so keep your fingers crossed. The weather is suppose to be nice. I've got to pick up wire mesh and landscaping fabric for the bottom. You may be thinking why mesh? Well moles are why! I don't want them tunneling up into my bed. I'm going to take some before and after pictures so be on the look out.

Oh and my tomatoes are huge (6+ ") so as soon as the bed is ready some will go in there and the rest will go in the unraised section. I have somewhere around 20+ plants all going strong so I think I will probably give a few away. Now the only problem with that scheme is I have no idea which plants are which at this point. My bad for not being more careful with the label when I transplanted them to bigger pots. So it could be a bit interesting. I started three varieties (red zebra, moonglow, and yellow pear) oh and some hybrid brush like ones that I got seed from my co-worker.

Last bit of garden news: I had 2 whiskey barrel planter out front that weren't being used. I kept thinking I would get flowers to put in there but I didn't want to spend the money on actual plants. So one has leaf lettuce and one has peas. I started the peas a little late so we'll see how they go. Oh and I had another ugly pot I inherited that I put more leaf lettuce in. It was quite a bit of work taking out most of the old soil and mixing in new top soil and compost so keep your fingers crossed.

Actually I lied.... even after I get the raised bed in I'm putting paver stones back by the fence to make a walkway. I started the trench but then filled partially back in while leveling the space for my raised bed. And I've got to get rest of the patch in shape for the rest of my veggies. I want to raise it up party as well but I'm not sure I will have time. I managed to acquired 37 8" paver stones like you would use for a tree ring (the smaller ones) from craig's list for 25$!!! Quite the steal however I'm not sure if that will be enough or I will have enough time to get them put in before I really need plant the rest of my seeds. I'll keep you guys posted. Pictures I swear will follow.

Garden progress

I started my tomato and pepper plants about a month ago. They are growing like crazy. The tomatoes are at least 6 inches. The pepper are progressing a little slower but they are still doing well. It has been so fun to see how much they grow from day to day. It was a stressful when I was waiting for them to sprout. I kept checking and checking to see if anything was coming up. Finally the tomatoes sprouted and then about 4 days later peppers started coming up. I can't wait until it gets a little warmer during the day so I can start putting them outside for part of the day.

I'm about half way done with my 1st raised bed frame. My co-worker has been instrumental in this effort. Basically, I bank rolled the project and I help when I can with the construction. I "supervise" so to speak. I am however working hard to cleanup and prepare the space it is going to go. The plan is to finish assembly and put it in the ground this weekend if we get the 4X4. I had to special order untreated cedar 4x4's because they generally only carry treated ones. However treated wood can leach harmful chemical like arsenic into your soil so I steered clear of that. I can't wait to see it completed. It is going to look super fancy and nice. And hopefully grow awesome veggies!

finally they started coming....

What am I talking about? My seed catalogs!!! I requested at least 5 or 6 and had until this week only received 2. First I got the Burpee catalog. Plenty of pretty picture but they mainly carry hybrid and non open pollinated varieties. While I haven't completely made up my mind about hybrids I'm not sure I like the idea of messing with plant genetics. I sort of feel like we should let evolution run it course to make heartier, healthier, and better varieties.

Second catalog I received was seed savers. Seriously an awesome catalog with tons of information and pictures. Each variety has a short informative description about origin and characteristics. Never I have a seen some many types of tomatoes or melon or other veggies. So cool. I highly recommend requesting this one or at least browsing it online.

This week I have gotten 3 more catalogs. First Totally tomatoes, second seymour's selected seeds, and last baker creek heirloom seeds. Totally Tomatoes is basically all tomatoes and pepper. So awesome for a tomato lover like me....except eventually I will have to chose a few varieties. Seymour's is a flower seed catalog with beautiful flowers. Baker Creek is a smaller seed company out of Missouri that is family owned. They have an extremely thick catalog with tons of different types of heirloom plants.

Also I should note that seed catalogs can be quite amusing. The types often have crazy names like: mammoth melting sugar (sweet pea), sweet chocolate (brown sweet pepper), green zebra (tomato), mortgage lifter (tomato), and many many more.

For fun here are a few guess what type of veggie they are:

1. Arkansas traveler
2. Small shining light
3. Ram's Horn (Just for you Chris!)
4. Cosmic Purple

No cheating by looking them up on the internet. Oh and a hint is they are all common summer produce. Nothing weird like parsnips or rutabaga. Have fun!

Garden: Initial thoughts and rambling

I'm determined to have a vegetable garden this year. Last year started out with herbs and tomatoes in pots. They did pretty well while in my care. I gave them to Shari and a neighbor when we moved. I inherited a wild mess of tomatoes once we arrived. I can't remember if I posted on them before but it was a vining crazy super producing mess. Needless to say I really didn't do anything to keep them alive they just grew.

So with both of those facts combined I think there is hope that I might be somewhat successful. Also I think some of Sean's research maddess has rubbed off. I have requested at least 5 different seed catalogs from various source, bought one book, and checked out two from the library. I would have checkout more but there is a 2 book limit when you get your card and then they mail it too you. (side note: I think that is the strangest library policy I have come across yet. The only thing I can figure is that they had trouble with people putting down wrong addresses and loosing books.) I plan on checking out more book once I received my card in the mail. (hopefully it will come tomorrow)

I have received two seed catalogs so far. One from Burpee and one from Seed Savers. The Burpee one had plenty of pretty pictures but not as much information as I was looking for and also I'm not sure I want to grow any hybrid plants and non open pollinated plants. The Seed savers catalog is awesome. Tons of helpful information about favor and quality, plus all of their seeds are heirloom varieties. I also like the idea of supporting their cause of saving seeds to make sure certain varieties don't die out.

Anyways I think I have rambled enough for today! Any one else have any garden plans or resources they want to share?

your demands answered!

At least the two of you who apparently still check my blog! Guys I seriously just read your 23 comments today at 9:09 pm. I felt so love and needed, oh and laughed my butt off....I mean who knew I had such dedicated reader that they would post me a comment everyday.

Now on to a more serious topic. Part of the reason I have not been posting is that I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder) Some days it was hard to motivate myself to do much of anything besides go to work. However the good news is that I'm getting help and treatment. I can't wait for my new sunrise alarm clock to come and I'm in the process of ordering a light visor.

To fill those of you in that aren't familar with SAD, it is a sub category of depression. Doctors believe that is has to do with not getting enough sunshine because is usually affects people in the winter. Although apparently there are some cases of people having depression in the summer. For the past three winters I've been down in the dumps. Last winter I went on a low dose of anti-depressants. At the time I didn't realize it was SAD. I just thought it had to with the prospect of moving again. However this winter when I was still on the anti-depressants and feeling crappy still I began to wonder. I was so happy all spring, summer, and fall and there is nothing wrong in my life. My job is good and furry babies are good, sean and I are good, so seriously what gives!

I blame it on all the Colorado sunshine. I mean its cold and it snows but it hardly ever stays gray for more than a day or two. This is definately not the case in Dayton and wasn't the case in Boston either.

So for now I will continue the meds, light therapy, and exercise. I'm also starting to plan my garden for the summer. Stay posted for reviews on the new alarm clock and garden plans.

Tomato Tomado

I love tomatos!!! So this year I planted 3 different varietes of tomato plants in big pots. I wasn't sure how well they would do but they are growing gang busters. They are huge! The cherry tomato plant already has some little green guys on it! I'm so excited I can't wait for them to rippen. So this year tomatos, next year maybe lots of other veggies....or maybe just tons of tomatos!

Where am I going to buy my produce?

One of my biggest concerns about moving to Ohio is the lack of a whole foods or other natural grocery store in Dayton. I'm extremely picky about my meat and produce items. I also buy a number of natural or organic items on a regular basis.

Today I did some research and discovered that Krogers has stores in Ohio. Better know to most Colorado folks as King Soopers. That is a definite plus since they tend to have a large section and good stores. I also discovered today "Dorothy Lane Markets." They appear to be a more natural type grocery store. They sell natural meat and organic produce. They only have three locations but depending on where we end up living it shouldn't be more than a 20 minutes drive. I also discovered a Trader Joe's. So things are definitely looking up.

My sister also introduced me to CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture). Using Local Harvest, I did some research and discovered that there are several close by (Dayton that is). Their prices seem fairly reasonable. Some were around 350$ for the year (June - October, once a week, 19 total). That is around 18.50 a week. I definitely spend at least that much on produce every week. Probably more. We won't be able to start in August, but we could do it the following year. The website also lets you search for farmers markets and other natural type stuff.

I also currently have a bunch of books from the library on organic gardening, compost, vegetable gardens, worm buckets, etc. I think one of my projects for the new house will be a garden. My herbs that I planted in a regular pot are going gung-ho, so perhaps my thumb is more of a brown color instead of black! I'll try to post a picture later of my herbs. (Should finally have some time tonight!)

I'm continually adding to and updating my pro list in an effort to be more okay with the move.

Beautiful Weather Today!

Today is absolutely beautiful in Boston! I just got back from a walk at lunch time. There was a nice breeze and it wasn't as hot as yesterday. Just perfect. For those living in Mass try to get out and enjoy some sun shine and warmth today! Perfect weather for the Sox's game tonight....for those going enjoy!

On a sort of weather related note...I've taken and interesting in gardening lately. So expect some garden related posts in the future. After work I'm picking up some books I reserved about gardening at the library and I've been slowly collecting possibly helpful website on my del.icio.us account. I also offered my help to my neighbor across the street to help with his garden this year. Last year and the year before he would leave us vegetable deliveries when he had an over flow. I made some awesome zucchini bread with one of his delivers and Jenn made some good pesto when she, Josh, and Max were visiting from the overflow of basil he had last year.