The Funny Farmer

Sunday, May 23, 2010

2010 Vegetable Garden Inventory

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Community Garden Planting Day with Matilda

Friday, May 21, 2010

Recession Garden Garden Plan

An article thieved from The Gardener's Rake...
(The pic, however, is my own :D)

http://thegardenersrake.com/recession-garden-garden-plan

xo

transitive verb
1 : to handle or direct with a degree of skill: as a : to make and keep compliant b : to treat with care : husband c : to exercise executive, administrative, and supervisory direction of
2 : to work upon or try to alter for a purpose
3 : to succeed in accomplishing : contrive
4 : to direct the professional career of

Soooooo I think that my first error occurred many weeks ago on the Johnny's Selected Seeds website http://www.johnnyseeds.com/. Influenced by red wine, weeks of cold weather, and very short days, I was dreaming of lush green gardens, bountiful vegetables, and filling my flower vase daily with freshly picked flowers. I vowed to start my flowers and vegetables from seed for the first time (I also vowed to run the Mother's Day 5K, but that's a different story). I finally made decisions on a heating mat, a soil block maker, cell flats and biodegradble pots. I clicked "add to cart" more times than I can count. I justified my purchases with receipts from the grocery store, the benefits of organically grown produce, teaching the kids about gardening, and the satisfaction that comes from putting my hands in the soil.

At this point the word MANAGE may be part of my vocabulary, but not my life. I have spent many a late night germinating and potting up. Every morning I carry 23 trays of seedlings to the deck, then back inside at night. Of course a day surgery that I had last week did not help. This all on top of a 2 year old, a 6 year old, 2 cats, a hubby... you know the drill.

I had some FB correspondence with some friends yesterday about the weather forecast, the date of the next full moon, the actual temperature of a "frost", and ultimately when to actually plant our seedlings. There were opinions ranging from daring to cautious, but one friend summed up my situation quite succinctly. She wrote that she planted most of her seedlings already and that "Some of my seedlings did die when we got that cold snap, but they would have died in the house too because I couldn't stand them anymore and would have refused to care for them!"

Very well said! One of my four followers (yes, I'm up to four! Wohoo!) commented on my last post that my pic of out of control seedlings looked like her house. So I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one out there.

So here is my plan for MANAGEABILITY NOW:

1) Get as many seedlings into the ground as possible so I'm not schlepping them back and forth. I HAVE DECIDED TO PLANT THIS WEEKEND!!! WOHOOOO!!!
2) Extra plants go to friends, family, and donated to the Plant-A-Row program and my town's Garden Club Plant Sale on Memorial Day Weekend.

And here is my plan for FUTURE MANAGEABILITY:
1) Re-read this post in January of 2011, BEFORE purchasing seeds
2) Do some cost comparisons between growing from seed versus purchasing seedlings (Yes, I will post my thorough analysis)
3) Evaluate my success rate between which seeds I purchased and which were succuessful
4) Purchase all of my needs ahead of time so that I am not constantly running to the garden shop for more soil, bio-degradable pots, etc.

Wish me luck!!!!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Discouraged

I have no patience for narrtive right now, so I'll just lay it all out:

GARDENING

* Overwhelmed by seedlings overtaking my home

* Exhausted by the seemingly constant need for potting-up, hardening-off-schlepping, and watering

* Got some sort of white patches on many of my tomato plant leaves. I assume I was not gradual enough in my introduction to the outdoor elements?

* I keep dropping cash on additional pots, trays, and soil, thus reducing my "cost effectiveness" theory about growing seeedlings

* Many of my seedlings are not particularly thriving

LIFE:

* I'm just not into being a responsible wife and mother this week

* My post-surgery healing is slow

* I am absolutely exhausted

* Laundry

* Phone calls to make

* Bills to pay

* I am not eating healthfully

* My surgery recovery is slowing my already-weak exercise routine

ON THE UP SIDE:

* I spent many hours potting up my seedlings last night and they are looking a lot perkier today

* It's almost time for the seedlings to MOVE OUT! so I can re-claim my office (I'm blogging from my sofa right now)

* The sun is out

* My husband is going to attend marriage counseling soon, he just doesn't know it yet

* I don't pee everytime I sneeze or cough anymore

* I have spent a lot of time with my girlfriends the past couple days and that makes me very, very happy

* My two-legged seedlings. Ahhhh yes, my children.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

First Harvest

Now seriously, can you think of a more facile, more space efficient planting than salad greens? I know there will be more competition in the coming months, but I am so pleased with my first harvest for so many reasons!

The first advantage is how easy it is to grow greens, lettuce,spinach, swiss chard, and so on. You can use them if you want to, but threre is no real need for cell packs, heating pads, or grow lights. Just toss those seeds right into the ground, water, and wait. Now how easy is that? Seriously?

The planting requirements of salad greens, greens, and lettuce are relatively simple. They are shade tolerant, so there are many places in my small yard/garden where they will thrive. They are compact, so the yield per square footage is quite high. You can plant them in containers on your deck. I have even planted some in a flower box on my deck so I can just step outside for a few clippings when needed. Though growing lettuce is very easy, Edward C. Smith in the Vegetable Gardener's Bible states that rapid growth is the tip to tastier lettuce. This can be accomplished by adding compost to the bed a week before planting the seeds and again to the surrounding soil about a week after germination. Simple enough.

Another factor that pleases me about lettuce and greens is the cost benefit. When you purchase these from the grocery store, you are not only paying for the commodity, but the picking, packaging, storing, and transporting as well. However if I continue sow every couple of weeks (aka succession planting), I will not purchase any greens at the grocery store until October. At roughly $8 per pound for organic lettuce, spinach, and greens, it's truly a no brainer. At about $4 a packet, my growing plans this year include: two types of lettuce mixes for salads, swiss chard, baby spinach, and a mix than can be used for both salads and braising. That's a total of $20 in seeds for a variety of greens that will feed our family, gift to friends, and appear at pot-lucks for six months. The other 26 weeks I typically purchase lettuce or greens every week, so during those months I will probably spend at least a couple hundred dollars. One day I will build a cold-frame which will extend my season even more.

The environmental impact of purchasing your lettuce and greens from the grocery store also bears mention. Although the plastic boxes used for purchased lettuce makes the produce last longer, plastic is still plastic. and whatever I can do to minimize its use makes me very happy. I have saved a few of these boxes to store my own greens as well as to fill and give away when I have too much. There is also adverse environmntal impact through things like transportation, the manufuacturing of trucks, the building and maintenance of warehouses and grocery stores, and the use of fossil fuels. Growing your own lettuce alone will not put an end to these problems, but the more one can do to lessen your environmental footprint, the better. From a broader socio-political perspective, one might also consider the use of immigrant workers as well as US dependence of foreign oil.

Health considerations are very noteworthy. Aside from the beneficial nutrients found in lettuce and greens, they are very easy to grow orgranically so you are can be sure that you are not consuming pesticides. Because there is less time from garden to table, fewer nutrients are lost durng storage and transportation. And once again, there has been another E-Coli outbreak reported in four states: Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee. As of a couple of days ago, there were 23 confirmed illnesses, 12 hospitalizations, and 3 instancs of kidney failure.

On a more pleasant note, people are unnecessarily impressed when you host a meal and serve a salad made from your own greens. Or you show up to a pot-luck with a salad and casually mention that you just picked it from your garden. There is definitely a feel-good component to growing your own and feeding your friends and family. If plant in succession, you never have to run to the store at the last minute for some salad greens. You will always have a supply on hand to snip from.

Here are my first snippings of the season!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Planting Ponderings

I'm still post-op-sitting and haven't required the heavy-hitting-street-value-medications since last night. The hubby and the kids are off to a TBall game, and I am wondering how I can schlep my seedlings from their current inside location to the deck for the day. I pulled a laundry hamper across two rooms this morning, so I guess where there is a will....

Weather.com's 10 day forecast, which I visit frequently as of late, predicts the following night time lows for my location: Sat 46, Sun 45, Mon 49, Tues 51, Wed 49, Thurs 57, Fri 53, Sat 53, Sun 52, and Mon 54. I think I recall reading that I don't want night time temps lower than 45 degrees before planting my babies outside. With this forecast, I'm inclined to plant by on Tuesday if I am feeling well enough. Of course, next full moon is not until a week fter that, the 27th, which could bring some colder temps. Curve ball.

So I'll keep schlepping (pushing, pulling, dragging) my babies to the deck for marching practice in anticipation of graduation ceremonies, the date which still is yet to be determined. While I am sitting, sitting, sitting... I will consult my gardening books (housewife porn, as my hubby calls it) for more clues about the big day. And when that day comes, my brand new $5 clearance gardening boots will be ready, too :D

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