Garden Vigilence

What's happening down on the "farm?" Let's begin with some pictures from last month. Pictured above is the second garden box that I built--the supplies and materials were an early birthday present from my love. In a soiless mixture of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost, I planted some already started broccoli (front right of box--notice the nice big uneaten leaves), sage thyme Italian parsley and three kinds of basil (front left in box), and three tomato plants across the back of the box. I also tried to start some seeds in the first box I built (pictured below), and I planted some seed potatoes in my build-as-you-grow potato bins, I first read about them here (pictured on the right).

Jump forward a couple of weeks and for my birthday I was treated by family and friends (again, thank you SO much!) to many gardening delights including jiffy greenhouses, some great books, a course in organic gardening at a local community college, and a field trip and spree at a beautiful local nursery/farm. At this point, the broccoli and tomatoes were progressing nicely although, I began to notice a few cabbage worms and some nibbled leaves. We removed the worms that we spotted and hoped that would be enough. Only two of the seeds I planted in my first box (pictured left) actually germinated but they quickly disappeared... And to my utter excitement, the papas had begun to sprout. Here they are on the right--aren't they cute? :)

I've since discovered that I can't start seeds outside because the birdies nab them as soon as their tiny green heads begin to peek out of the ground (that's why I thought none of my seeds had germinated!). Also, they will eat seedlings that are less than an inch tall. I'm also incredibly aware that cabbage worms get around! In about a week, I went from happy healthy broccoli, to where'd my broc go? Those little buggers also started in on my tomatoes and ate almost all my basil before I realized that there were so many of them! Good thing I have such great resources at hand! A trip to another fabulous local nursery and I came home armed for battle. I must insert here, that I am a pacifist and until now, I wasn't even willing to kill a poisonous spider in my home. But, I am realizing that the bugs and I are competing for food now, and my family needs the food more! There are plenty of other non fruit and veggie plants to munch on in my neighborhood. That said, I chose an organic bacterium specifically designed to combat caterpillars and worms--safe for beneficial bugs, birds, and humans. I'll update later on it's effectiveness...

Bounty from my birthday fun: Seeds: Sweet Peas (two varieties), love lies bleeding (I couldn't resist it for the name), rainbow Swiss chard, two varieties of artichoke, an heirloom variety of butter lettuce specifically for container gardens. Plants: two small sweet potato vines, a giant coleus called Kong Rose with delicious green and purple variegated leaves, a lemon scented geranium, and a rose scented geranium for momma.

I started the seedlings in the jiffy greenhouses and they shot right up--much faster than the packages of seeds said they would! I decided that I would plant the sweet peas and the love lies bleeding in the front yard on the side of the porch and acquired some bamboo and jute to make a homemade trellis (a project in You Grow Girl).

Pictured above: Left--the space beside the porch where my baby dug out the old soil to be replaced with new soil and the baby sweet peas and love lies bleeding. Center-- my bamboo lattice project. Right--the babies in their new home. :)

Next post: You won't believe the progress of the potatoes! Plus flowers, seeds, recycling, etc. Thanks for tuning in!

Beginnings

Since most of the folks that will be reading this blog are my family and friends, I will skip the "introduce yourself" part and jump right into what's happening on the home-front.

A few months ago, my friend showed me one of her favorite blogs about urban sustainable living--www.gardengirltv.com--and I was instantly inspired to learn as much as possible about this concept. Since that first introduction, I have found oodles of amazing websites and blogs with step-by-steps, videos, forums, and tons of fabulousness for my brain; I've read excellent magazine articles and enlightening books (check out: Animal Vegetable Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver and kin); and I've since set goals for my household to reduce our consumption, limit our waste, recycle as much as possible, grow some of our own food, and purchase as much locally produced foods as we can. Taking into consideration that we are a household of four in one of the most expensive to live in cities in the US, and we have a brand new mortgage to consider with the looming specter of an economic crisis in our country--what I've been learning has given me some comfort, a sense of purpose, and a very enjoyable hobby that's beneficial and great fun. :)

My intro to USL just happened to coincide with purchasing my first home. For the first time in the 13 years that I've lived in this city, I finally have a few precious slivers of land and space to work with, and not just merely a small balcony or doorstep. My partner and I dabbled with growing some plants and veggies over the years with little success due to over or under exposure to light, fumes from passing vehicles, stray cats using our planters for potties, etc. We actually have a few faithful plants that haven't keeled over in those uncertain conditions. Now our faithful old friends (that were on the brink just a few short months ago) are thriving and I finally get to learn how to grow veggies!

Here's a little synopsis of my household's current projects:

1. I have built two raised beds and a build-as-you-grow potato bin and am currently learning how to care for potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, lots of herbs, and some other various flower and veggie seedlings (more on the garden's progress in subsequent posts)

2. Started to purchase as much of our foods from local farmer's markets as possible or from grocery stores who carry some local foods.

3. Started to make my household's bread and pasta and have dabbled in some cheese making. I'm currently growing a sourdough starter in hopes that I won't have to purchase yeast anymore...

4. Joined our first CSA and are currently receiving one (25 lb?) box with a plethora of fresh local organic heirloom veggies every other week. When our trial subscription is up, we plan on going to one box per week!

5. Stopped using plastic produce bags and purchased some mesh reusable bags for veggie gathering.

6. Stopped using napkins, paper towels and dish-sponges. We now use cloth napkins, kitchen towels, and dish-cloths.

7. Stopped using plastic and paper bags for groceries--now we use the oodles of reusable bags that we have purchased (we made a pact that we would have to buy new reusable bags if we forgot to bring ours--this has led to quite a collection of them--but we always remember to bring them now. :)

8. We walk to as many places as we can, and when our bikes receive a little maintenance, we will ride our bikes more too.

This is just the beginning... It's all new to me--so whatever I type here will be my trials and errors and successes. I'll post beautiful pictures of my projects taken by my lovely partner and garden assistant extraordinaire. This is an adventure that is sure to have nothing but excellent effects on my family, our community, and the Earth, and I'm excited to share it with you!


Next post will be pics and progress from the garden! :)