My Kitchen Window

Rosemary cuttings being rooted in simple recycled planter.

January 31st - Rooted Rosemary
     I had a bunch leftover in a pack I bought from the store so I dipped it in rooting hormone and stuck it in a recycled planter I made myself.

Garlic Cloves Sprouting in a Self Watering Planter.

 February 9th - Planted Garlic
     Some of my garlic cloves started sprouting. Instead of throwing them out I buried them 3/4 in soil. They are also in a recycled bottle planter.




February 13th - Started Stevia
     Stevia is a plant with sweet leaves. My seeds are really old (2001) but I thought I would give them a chance. They are in recycled Bowl of Noodles containers that I poked holes in the bottom of with a toothpick. I covered the top of the planters lightly with kitchen plastic wrap to keep moisture in but not tight enough to restrict air flow.




February 15th - Started Basil
     I had the hankering to plant something. I decided on Sweet Basil since pesto is so amazing.

Left to Right: Rosemary Garlic and Basil in the back, Stevia in front

Check back soon for a picture tutorial on how I made my self watering planters. If your bored check out the new post on the Tiny Tipis Blog.

Turning Soil - Day 1

 Composting: My Winter Workout

It can really hurt when a shovel breaks!

  I decided to completely turn my compost yesterday. It was a lovely 56 degrees out and I knew it needed to be done. I've gotten away with minimal work on it this winter but with Spring quickly approaching I wanted to make sure it was on track for starting my grass. I also knew I was overdue for some photos.

Above is the shovel I have been using since I moved into this house. It is old, heavily used, and has many memories. Since I've been lazy and only shifted my pile this winter (instead of fully turning) it was sort of packed down and heavy. This meant I got to use the pitch fork to loosen and the shovel to lever out the contents. In the process of using the shovel as a lever it snapped. My suggestion: don't put all your weight on an old shovel handle. My ribs took the punch like a champ but I still won't be doing that again soon.

Below is what I call Compost Corner. It's the spot I sunk my old plywood box (that would have otherwise been tossed out) into the ground. It is far enough away from my house that it won't offend my nose even if it gets kinda funky. So far so good - no crazy smells even close up. The box did have 4 sides but I got tired of trying to dig out the contents that were down deep. I went ninja on it. Now it has 3 sides and a detached lid!

I call this "compost corner" - as if my yard is big enough I could map locations on it.

You can see the pile I dug out in the upper left corner of the picture. Up close the darker color (and lovely earth smell) are more obvious as well as the large chunks of hard dirt from my yard. The white in the pile is all my shredded junk mail.


I learned a lot in the process of doing this.
    - My pile needs to be watered more often. It was just a bit dry to work at optimum levels.
    - I need less brown waste (the tan weeds you see piled in the lower left corner of the pic) and more kitchen scraps. The areas where kitchen scraps had been buried were better composted and had a richer looking soil leftover than areas where the weeds were. Also the weeds are taking way longer to break down than anything else. Part of me thinks I should call them weed trees since they were over 6 foot tall when we moved in.
    - I need to make myself flip this pile more often. The parts near the top that get shifted more frequently are already a useable dark compost. The bottom of the pile didn't get enough air circulation and almost nothing broke down at all.
    - I need to mulch the giant weed trees before I put them in. The smaller branches were decomposed but the thumb width and thicker trunks were hardly touched.

I largely consider my first attempt at true outdoor - in the winter - composting to be a success. Sure, I'll do even better from now on but at least I didn't fail!

More updates to come later. In the meantime if your bored hop on over to my other blog and see what it's all about!

OCD Garden Planning

I pulled out a massive pile of seed envelopes today. They all came from Grandpa. Even at 80 he kept a garden. I'm spending the better part of this week planning my garden now. No more tossing seeds at some random dirt for this girl!

This year I have several goals for my garden:
  - Use more space since I have it.
  - Spend as little money as possible.
  - Over plan so I know exactly what to do each week.
  - Grow enough to serve several meals from my produce.
  - Teach my son about gardening.

My first goal will be the easiest to accomplish. I have nearly half an acre which is considered a lot in the city. Even though I am planning a large garden I should have a bunch of extra space.

The second goal will be accomplished by not buying seeds, soil, or pots. Since I have "inherited" seeds their quality is unknown but the price is right. I will be using my own compost to mix with soil I have on hand and recycling plastic containers again for seed starting pots. The only price I anticipate at this time is water.

My OCD planning is in progress. Once I finish the calendar I will upload it along with my scribbles and notes. Don't expect my notes to be organized - they aren't. The calendar will be color coded and take into account room for sudden changes in my busy schedule. It will cover Frost Dates, Planting Days, Transplanting, and Harvesting Times along with big picture events I have to work around.

Last year I was able to eat chives and garlic greens for all my effort. I blame factors such as lack of light, almost zero planning, and horrible care as I was in the middle of moving. This year I have a greenhouse on my side and a large unshaded yard. I'm also not planning on moving so I should face fewer problems in general.

I want my son to learn about the life cycle at an early age. He will be two and a half this summer - the perfect age to play in the dirt with mom. I will take this as a chance to educate him on growing, tending to, harvesting, cooking and eating, as well as composting the waste back into useable material.

What I am growing, you ask? A lot. Here is the outdoor list:
    ~ Tomatoes: 4 Types
    ~ Lettuce: 5 Types
    ~ Spinach: 2 Types
    ~ Radishes: 3 Types
    ~ Squash: 2 Types
    ~ Onions: 2-3 Types
    ~ Carrots
    ~ Corn
    ~ Cucumbers
    ~ Swiss Chard
    ~ Sweet Peas
    ~ Watermelons
    ~ Cantaloupe
    ~ Grapes from Concord Seeds
    ~ Loofah Gourds
    
As for inside:
    ~ Rosemary (already rooting extra from a "live herb" container bought at the grocery store)
    ~ Stevia
    ~ Marjoram
    ~ Savory
    ~ Thyme
    ~ Sweet Basil
    ~ Chamomile
    ~ Cilantro
    ~ Licorice

More details to come soon. I feel much more prepared this year. :)

The Cold Dead of Winter

It is the coldest part of the year in Colorado. Today I woke up to see 2" of snow on my porch. The fluffy white continues to fall as I contemplate projects for this summer. Composting, of course, is one of the items most prevalent in my thoughts.

I tended my outdoor compost yesterday. It was around 65 degrees in the middle of the day and knowing that a storm was fixing to blow in made me want to check on it. The plywood compost box is doing well. I noted the fresh soil smell as I turned it despite having small bits of food waste still in it. Even with below freezing temperatures occurring on and off for the past 2 months my efforts are being rewarded. I worried a bit when I was setting up the pile that it wouldn't hold enough heat to continue to compost after winter set in - I'm too lazy to try to cover it with a tarp to hold in heat. It has held up though and with VERY little attention.

Since the cold weather I have only been forcing myself to turn and add to the compost pile maybe twice a month. It has fallen into a nice routine when I do add to it though. I carry out my containers of green waste and dig out one of the four corners in the box to a depth of maybe 12 inches below the rest of the contents. I pour my composting matter into the hole and spread it around with the shovel. On top of that I add my most recent collection of shredded junk mail. I add a few inches of dirt (not soil - this is the crappy clay filled stuff that plagues my backyard) on top of the shredded paper until I think there is enough to keep the paper from blowing away. My last step is to half-way dig out the corner where I will put my next batch of compost by shifting everything counter-clockwise. I add to it in a clockwise fashion just sort of pushing everything out of the way. This makes my compost box have a perpetual slope to it.

I am worried about how it will work this summer though. Even in the cold dead of winter the plywood box keeps up with my family's vegetable waste production. This summer as it heats up I may have to start bumming compost from the neighbors (oh darn!) to keep up with it. My husband and I discussed adding a second box this summer too. That way we will have a box that is "in use" (being used to fertilize the grass we plan to start) and a box that is "in production" (being added to).

We plan to use our outdoor compost for the yard while my worm box will supply even richer fertilizer for our garden. The reason for this is that our outdoor compost MAY have traces of old chemicals in it from the weeds that got sprayed when we moved in. My worm box on the other hand has been kept pure and clean (if you can call worm poo clean) so I don't have to worry about chemicals getting into the food we grow.

Other projects I have been pondering include a private outdoor shower area, a root cellar, and automating my greenhouse with an arduino based setup. I blame Pinterest for most of these obsessions.

Things I noticed I really like in a luxury shower: outdoors, river rock drainage under the tub, a waterfall type shower head, plants that get watered as you bathe, simple colors, grey water collection abilities... it almost makes me weak in the knees! You can see some of the pictures I'm using as inspiration on my Pinterest board. It's still a dream in progress.

As for the automated greenhouse I've been reading up on nerd blogs for the best tips to do it with an Arduino board. I want it to measure temperature and humidity as well as being able to open/close windows to maintain the environment. Yes, it will take some hardware knowledge and a bit of programming... that's why I married a nerd! Really though, I imagine I can do it myself with minimal troubleshooting from the hubby. Programming, I learned the other day, is a lot simpler than people make it sound in most cases. For all you computer geeks that read this: my first program was nested If Then statements to light LEDs corresponding to distance read-outs from an ultrasonic sensor. Not bad for a newb!

Ok, end random rant.

Genetic Gaurding or Growers Grave - You Decide

A Patent is the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years. People often apply for a patent to protect their creations and inventions from others who would copy it to make money. How does this apply to plants though?

Plants have been here since man can remember. Plants were not created by man. In the United States a grower can apply for a patent on any number of unique genetic lines that they helped start. Does this mean they "invented" that genetic line or simply that they were lucky enough to combine the right genetics to make something new and desirable?

After scouring the web to learn about roses I discovered something frightening. Many rose varieties being sold have patents on them. This means you can't reproduce that variety in any way even if you don't intend to sell it. The repercussions of doing so can be very harsh and will most likely get you sued.

To scare you even more is the fact that many large plant distributors sell roses with patents on them. In 2003 Lowe's Stores started selling patent roses from a large company called Jackson and Perkins. Often these rose varieties aren't clearly labeled that they are under patent making it difficult for would be rose enthusiasts to feel safe trying to grow them.

The first plant patent was given to Henry F. Bosenberg in 1930 for the Climbing or Trailing Rose. Since then many roses have been placed under patent. These roses are then protected from DIY gardeners for a period of 20 years. After the patent expires it is then safe to propagate, clone, root, and reproduce that variety.

My front yard is practically a maze of rose bushes of every type. My grandmother started her rose garden before I was born and cared for it meticulously until the day she died. Even after her death most of the root systems were strong enough to survive an 8 year period of no care. I have been working hard since moving into her house to return the yard to it's former glory. Included in this was a goal of starting my own roses the way she did so many of them. Now I am facing the fact that I may need to grow from seed so that I know for a fact that my plants are not "illegal."

The problem with starting roses from seed is that the odds are against the average gardener. Many of the seeds will not grow. The ones that do are rarely a variety so pretty you can't let it go. Then there are the genetic concerns of root health, resilience to pests, cold tolerance and the list goes on.

Grandma's roses are old enough I feel confident that my yard is "safe" from legal action but I still have to wonder where each one came from. My mystery rose garden...

There is no such thing as a "true blue rose"

Yard Work is Hard Work

It's been far too long since I've posted. I spent the better part of 2 months with no internet (unless you count a "smart" phone which I don't) which makes it very hard to blog. On the upside I've gotten more done in my newly acquired large yard than I would have if I did have the distraction of millions of people to socialize with.

So, how is my garden doing you ask? Meh. When I attempted to move all my lovely herbs from the former living space the few that survived the rough truck ride died shortly after arriving here. My chives hung on the longest but in the end they too slowly withered and had to be tossed. No worries though! I started new projects and my hubby thinks I'm even more crazy now... don't tell him he's probably right.

I ventured into my greenhouse the other day and was pleasantly surprised. It was relatively clean and free of bugs. Come spring it will be minimal work to clear it out and start my seedlings in it. The downside is the panels that make the walls need to be washed and the plastic seals holding them in have to be pushed back in constantly. Kinda cheesy design but very good for the price (FREE)!

I threw a few peach pits in some water to see what they would do. That was almost 3 weeks ago. They have long hairy roots coming out of everywhere now and I must transplant them into soil in the next week or so. Leaving fragile roots like that in water is never good for too long as it causes rot and roots don't like seeing the sun. Luckily I still have potting soil and LOTS of worm goo.

That brings me to my worms. I thought they were dead. I looked all over for them in the drawer and couldn't find one. I just left the bin sitting there for months until we moved thinking there was no point in feeding imaginary worms. When I finally threw it in my truck I saw that there were little red things slowly oozing through the soil and so I rejoiced! "They live, they live!" I texted my hubby. The wrigglers currently thrive in their same bin in my garage and I feed them about 2-3 lbs of vegetation each week. The bin gets heavier as time goes on and soon I will have to migrate them into a new one so the plastic doesn't crack under the pressure. My plants will love me this spring!

Onto my roses... a bit of a painful topic to be honest. My grandfather passed recently. I took a rose from his funeral and decided to try my best to keep it around somehow. My propagation may or may not work. Even if it doesn't though I pollinated one of my well established roses with it. The rose (on the bush) quickly started forming a hip (what rose seed pods are called) and I am monitoring it daily so I don't miss harvesting it at peak ripeness. I will harvest many rose hips this year as I rarely had time to prune the dead flowers. I will try to post more on this later with some photos. Of the over 50 bushes that were here at one point only 9 survived the mower. 2 are threatening to come back since I started watering them daily - thankfully the well established root systems of roses give them a good fighting change even after years of laying dormant.

My tomatoes are still growing and blooming. A few branches suffered from frost during the first freeze of the year but I'm amazed at how well they are doing this late in the year. Being against my house helps keep them warmer I think.

I started an outdoor compost with husband. That was a bit of an adventure... As we cleaned our yard up we spotted a plywood box that had been covered with plastic and overgrown with weeds for several years. We thought it would make a great compost container and started digging a 12" deep spot for it in a far corner of our yard. When we went to move the box to its new home though we quickly discovered yet another wasp nest - a very large one! I bolted as quickly as I could for the back door and even contemplated jumping the railing to get on the deck quicker. My husband climbed the fence on the other side of our property as they came after him and soon knocked at the front for me to let him in. We waited till this morning to spray them and plan to finally move the box to its hole tonight where I will layer grass clippings, fall leaves, dirt from the hole, and eventually some kitchen scraps. Should be god for the yard next year.

My oak tree turned colors the other day. Crazy how one day the tree is every color of red, orange, yellow, and green and the next day it looks bald. Nature had to give one last colorful show before winter set in. I wish my phone would let me transfer it to the computer so I could post... :(

No lovely photos for you today, sorry. I'll get on that for my next post.  ;)

Thanks for reading!

Feels Like Home Grown Tomatoes

     It's done! I'm finally moved. Might have been the hardest move I've had yet but it was worth it. Every aching muscle and sore joint was quickly forgotten the moment I tasted my first fresh tomato. Store bought tomatoes have nothing on these - NOTHING! I used to hate tomatoes. I avoided eating them at all costs. The texture of store bought tomatoes was all wrong - slimy and mushy. The taste of store bought tomatoes was... well, not there.



Juicy little round tomatoes from my planter box.

     Now these... Beautiful, freshly picked, all organic, and raised with love and care. These tomatoes are freakin' fabulous! They are tangy and bright with a firm texture that  yields nicely when you bite. I never knew that this is what tomatoes really are. I could live on them!

     Just last night my husband complimented my chicken tomato soup saying it was, "the best he had ever had." I blame the home grown tomatoes.  :)

If ever there was a plant to grow yourself... it is a tomato plant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a lovely picture to close on. One of the remaining rose varieties around my grandparents house. When Grandma was alive she had more than 50 types. Now there are only 7 or 8 types but they are still beautiful.



Rose from Grandma's House. Grandma has been gone for years but her roses live on.

 

Keep checking for more garden updates!