2012 Garden - The Stars of Project 24

My Garden stars the following attractions this year:

CARROTS

(I planted carrots last year but absolutely none grew, this was a pleasant suprise!)

TOMATOES

(I was given a box of tomatoes last fall and saved the seeds. I planted 4 greenhouse plants just in case but now have an overabundance of tomatoes! Looking forward to making spaghetti sauce of some sort.)

Habanero Peppers

(I started these inside and transplanted in mid-July. They have flowers but I'm unsure if they will produce in time for the fall. We've still got time. First time trying peppers in the garden.)

TOMATILLOS

(First time with tomatillos, hoping to make a few jars of salsa.)

MARIGOLDS

(I have read over the years that Marigolds help with certain pests. I normally don't like the flower itself, but enjoy it in my garden.)

HERBS

(Spearmint, Thyme, Basil in the garden. I also have Parsley in a container on the deck.)

ACORN SQUASH

(I love acorn squash, but my husband and son do not. I'll be eating some and making the rest into baby food.)

ZUCCHINI

(We love zucchini so much that when I ran out of room I planted the 2 extra seeds away from the rest near my acorn squash. Didn't want to waste a seed!)

SWEET POTATOES

(Again, my boys do not eat these. I will eat a few, give a few away, but mostly make these into baby food for next spring.)

PUMPKINS

(I saved seeds from last year's 'cooking pumpkin' we bought while at a local pumpkin patch. This was, again, a let's-see-how-it-works-out type situation. Turned out well!)

GREEN BEANS

(Last year I planted 2 packets of seeds, and we got no green beans. So this year I tried again. Seems everything I put in the ground grew! We've harvested 2 gallons so far just off the bush beans. We'll pick the pole beans tomorrow and will have at least the same. Bush beans will have to be harvested again soon too! I'm freezing the beans to use over the winter. Will possibly make some baby food with these when thawed.)

ASPARAGUS

(I was hoping to plant up to 15 asparagus plants. I restrained and bought 2. They were supposed to be ready to produce this year but I only got 2 stalks. I let them grow and will cut them down in the fall in hopes of asparagus next year. Gotta keep trying!)

GARLIC and ONIONS

(I planted fall garlic and onions that have been growing nicely. Haven't been able to harvest as soon as I thought we would but they are going to be a better size than the garlic and onions I planted this spring. Nice to have a little bit of each.)



TURNIPS

(Opps! I planted turnips and had no idea what I was going to do with them... so I'm going to blanch and freeze them with my potatoes and some with carrots for baby food. I will only add a small amount fo the baby food carrots, turnips could make baby gassy!)

POTATOES

(Planted Kenebec and Yukon Gold. Grew well last year, growing well again now that they don't have weeds to compete with!)

Garden 2012

Small Sugar Pumpkins:
Great for baking! I will try 3-5 plants. Pumpkins take up a bit more space than I'd like to give up, so I decided I will try just a couple to see how they will grow in my area.  I'm thinking about growing the pumpkins vertically to save precious gardening space.

I bought 2 small pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch this fall and saved the seeds. They save their seeds from year to year so I'm hoping we get a few good baking pumpkins from these little guys!

Brussel Sprouts:
I love good, fresh brussel sprouts. I am in Zone 3 which may prove to be my downfall with these but I'm going to try. I have a few spots that get the most sunlight and will try these in one spot.

Eggplant:
My sister was lucky enough to grow eggplant this year. I held off just because I didn't know much about eggplant, or whether I wanted to eat it! I'm going to have to start these little guys early to plant as full plants. We don't have the growing season I need to get them up to size in time for the fall frosts. Will be fun to add some color to the garden!

Green String Beans:
I grew beans last  year but it was too shady and too cool right away. Most of my plants curled up and died shortly after sprouting, most about 4-5 inches tall. A few little plants made but not as many as I would have liked. My family eats a lot of beans so I would love to have lots more for next year. I have a different spot in the garden picked out and have cut down a few little trees that were blocking the evening sun. This will keep the ground warmer and give the plants more sunlight after 3 p.m.

Peas:
Here's another veggie that I didn't even attempt this year. I didn't feel like I had the room. I'm hoping to use a vertical system to get more bang for my buck with peas next year. There is really nothing better than eating peas fresh out of the garden! 

Herbs:
This year I tried a few herbs and wasn't overly happy. I used a few pots and one small box planter. Maybe these were too shallow, maybe not enough sun, or soil, or water? I tried Stevia (twice), Sweet Marjoram, basil (twice), and dill (grew wonderful).

Two herbs survived my terrible herb-thumb and lived! I had pineapple sage and spearmint. I used a little bit of the spearmint for Mint Juleps in August (recommended by Tara and very tasty). Pineapple sage, from what I read, is best the second year so I let these grow, pruned them back, and will find a good use for them next summer. 

After doing quick research on herbs I decided for next year I am going to try:
Dill - cooking and to use for use in making pickles.
Thyme - for cooking, possibly tea, and possibly in baths.
Coriander - hoping to use the plant, seeds and roots for cooking.
Chamomile - use for visual appeal in the gardens, and possibly tea.
Lemon Balm - possibly tea, mosquito repellent,
Chives - cooking



My garden is under a light blanket of snow at the moment. Hibernating and rejuvenating for a few months. She will be pretty fun to see in July 2012!



In need of a little help with my dill!

Last night was supposed to be the first frost of the season, which turned out to be a false alarm but that's fine... Of course I didn't get home until dark and had to hastily cover my tomatoes, herbs, lettuce and garlic (not necessary but I had an extra blanket). We also harvested all of the zucchini (large and small) and dill. 

So, about the dill... I have no idea how to preserve it! I was hoping to make cucumbers but none of mine grew. So now I have 15 or so dill plants drying in my basement. From my brief research I know I cannot leave them to dry on a table in the basement, I will end up with moldy-dill. Yuck!

I am in need of any and all advice, ideas, recipes, or crazy suggestions from my gardening friends and family! Thanks in advance!

(tasteforlife.com)

Oh, and for 5 minutes today it snowed. That's right, the 's' word on September 14th.

Gardening Solutions

I was so proud of my vegetable garden a few weeks back, however a few things have already fallen into disarray. I have many very good excuses: baseball games, family visiting, 4th of July, reading, board game playing, etc.

My downfalls: I have really only picked a few smallish weeds since planting. At the moment I have thistle higher than my corn and more weeds sprouting than beans. There's another issue, I don't have anything for the beans to grow up so they are sticking out every which way looking for something to grasp... I decided it would be a great time to purchase 5 small organic herb plants (75% off) from Ace that need to be transferred into the 'herb section' of the garden.  And, my potatoes should have been mounded again last week! So you know what this means?!  New projects!

Project 12 - weed, weed, weed
* Spray down with mosquito spray and prepare to get dirty! The rows between and surrounding garden area all need a good weeding. Unfortunately the weeding of the rows will be of the down-and-dirty variety. I have lots of little weeds and my rows are exactly 'straight'.  The woods behind the garden could use a good raking too, the compost pile is in need of some leafy greens.

Project 13 - beans
* Arrange posts at each end of the bean rows. Add two rows of string along rows, tie tight so the weight of the plants don't pull down the strings.

Project 14 - herbs
* Plant new herbs in small raised bed.

Project 15 - potatoes
* Remound, add compost.

Basil : Part Deux

Tonight we went to Nature Edge Garden Center to get a Mother's Day gift... shhh.  I somehow restrained myself from getting everything I "needed". I didn't even walk out of the front greenhouse because I knew there would be two problems:

1) we would be in the greenhouse for hours

2) I would spending too much money! 

As I mentioned before I had an issue with my thyme and basil. My sad little seedlings didn't make it through a spring Minnesota night. I do have a couple small thyme sprigs shooting up but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them to grow to full size.  However,I had really high hopes for the basil. So I bought a packet of seeds, basil. And planted them right in where the other basil had failed.  They will not be venturing outside for a while though.

Wish me luck this time around!

First Time Sweet Marjoram Grower!

I have never, ever ever, used sweet marjoram. I had to look it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly for the blog !  I started growing it with absolutely no intended purpose. I am hoping it will look beautiful in my kitchen window and taste delicious.  I love cooking more at home and I have a feeling I will do so even more once summer actually reaches Northern Minnesota.

The sweet marjoram will be a great addition!

Day 1: Sweet Marjoram

Fast Forward a few weeks:

Come on lil' sprouts!

Frustrated...

Two thing to vent. Then I'm done.

1) Last night I left out my little herbs, the thyme and basil. I have had problems with these two. The seeds are barely sprouted and I don't have a spot big enough for the box I'm using to grow them in that sits in direct sunlight. I put them in the sun when I got home last night and forgot them, outside. And there was frost this morning so the temp was in the 30's. I brought the herbs inside and it is currently sitting in the bathroom on the sink where it should have had a couple hours of direct sunlight. Frustrated that I forgot them outside...hopefully I didn't kill what had started! Grrrr...

2) Project 5 will take me much longer than previously planned. Started digging out 1... I repeat 1 tree stump/root system last night and I was out there for 1 1/2 hours! The one tree had roots which crossed with more roots which twisted around other roots... The tree and root won last night, I was defeated.  I will get the root out tonight even if it is dark when I finish, ha! I also came across 3 rocks, all pretty small. However, I have only been out one night with the shovel and have so much more to dig!

Must. Learn. Patience.
*Deep breath

Sweet!

SO EXCITED!! Again, yes, but not the point. I'm amazed at how exciting seeds in the mail can be. So either I'm getting old, I'm easily entertained, or both! Today's fun came in the form of Stevia and Spearmint. I can honestly say that the seeds were in my house for hmmmm... 1 hour before I planted them, outside in the rain. (I also planted lavender and marigolds but those are outside.)

The Window Garden
 (Stevia x2, Sweet Marjoram, Spearmint)

So the reasoning behind the Stevia and Spearmint?? I am currently watching my sugar intake for health reasons and have started slowly trying to make things from scratch and organically. This, of course, is a lot more time consuming but so much better for us and tastier. Truvia sells in the grocery for $4-$5 for a small container. This summer instead of making Lipton tea pre-sweetened with sugar or Nutra Sweet/Equal (not good for you) I will have Stevia leaves to add to an organic tea.  Stevia leaves are 30 times sweeter than sugar, and natural-organic! I also have great plans to use the Spearmint for homemade ice cream, but that is a story for another blog! 

My Stevia

My Spearmint

The name tags in these herbs were made from English muffin bag closures.

I just can't stand to throw them away... came in handy!

Basil and Thyme

I decided to start my herb garden this year with basil and thyme (ordered both from Burpee).The funny thing is that I have never in my life used thyme and have only used fresh basil for a few recipes over the years! I am hoping when the herbs are at full growth and ready to use I will be able to find something new and healthy to cook using the little herbs. I am also going to look for ways to preserve (freeze and/or dry) both herbs for future use. I ended up planting way more than we can use.

Coming Soon... dill, sweet marjoram and veggies!

Coming Soon....

My cooking herbs are in the mail, on their way to Laporte!!

I have a little indoor/outdoor system I'll be using to start them.

So very excited to share how it's going to work!