July Gardens - St. Paul, MN

As I've been allowing things to grow, I've noticed one thing in particular. Stuff doesn't really happen very often in a garden.

This is the point, I guess

So, the two Gardens, community and home, are shaping up VERY nicely, here's an idea of how far they've come:

Early June:

 Late July:

Note the RIDICULOUS growth of the Purple Potatoes in the center, dwarfing the pole beans. The squash and tomatoes are gigantor, however all these large plants are keeping the four various pepper plants from leaping. Consequentially I've got 5-10 inch tall pepper plants in a time when they should be 1-2 feet tall.

 The first of a blue squash, with MANY more blossoms posed to blow up. 

 The first of the red squash.

 Mulberries on the outside of the community garden. My parent's had a mulberry tree in our backyard in Inver Grove Heights while I was growing up. Their taste is fleeting and sweet as the fruit is small, but I'm a fiend with them and was delighted to find a tree.

 The first of the turnips from the home garden. I bought the seeds for radishes, turnips, and carrots from a stand at the Maxwell Street Flea Market in Chicago. The turnips are the only ones that are actually taking off.

 Herbs hung to dry. From Left to right: Thyme, Sage, Triple-curled Parsley, Thai Basil, Rosemary, and Chocolate Mint.

Salad made with greens from the home garden, as well as homemade Falafel balls. 

And a crispy Stella.

Nom.

July Update - NE MPLS

So the hot weather is upon us. All of the mustard and arugula have bolted, as well as the fennel I so desperately wanted to eat.
Here's a little update on what's happening in the sweltering heat and humidity.

BURRIES!

The best part of gardening is the berries. They are so low maintenance except they just want to spread everywhere. The photo above was the first significant 1-day harvest of the season. That is about 1lb 2oz. worth and they were promptly washed, dried and put in the freezer. If you want to know how to freeze them properly, see here.
I think we are going to make a dark chocolate raspberry stout that would be ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We'll post a recipe if that is their final use.

We started getting Jalapenos a few weeks ago, just a few at a time. The rest of the peppers are a little slow moving at this point, but all have either flowered or started producing fruit by now. More photos of those ones later.

We planted fava beans (right photo) next to the peppers, tomatoes and cucumber to experiment with some nitrogen fixing. Basically these guys grow straight up and once they start to flower, you cut off the tops and they release nitrogen into the soil. I didn't get enough seeds to start with so next year these guys will be in higher concentrations all over the garden. I'll probably dedicate a whole blog post to natural fertilizer techniques next year because we plan to do more experimenting.

 Green beans took a while to sprout this year but we will soon be harvesting! Thankfully the bunnies left these guys alone so hopefully we'll have handfuls of very flavorful beans daily in the near future.

Snap peas came and went quickly. We only had about 3 surviving plants after the bunnies did their damage but we've been just eating them as snacks because there really isn't enough to pick daily to have a stir fry. I re-sowed some more seeds about 3 weeks ago so we'll have another round coming up soon! The red romaine seen in the photo on the right was actually a free seed packet I received this year. We've been doing the cut-and-come-again method and have had plenty of greens so far for salads and sandwiches. They are a bit delicate when they are cut during the hot weather, but they haven't bolted yet so I am a big fan.

Bunnies love chard so we had these hidden among other plants to keep them out of view. I am not a huge fan of sauteed chard but they are just too dang beautiful to leave out of the garden. Out of the 6 or so spots we planted chard only a few remain.

We got our first cucumber and immediately after we had 4 more flowers pop up. The fava plants are nestled in there and provided a bit of shade and protection from the hot sun after the cuke plant was being attacked by something after being planted. This bed receives the least amount of sunlight but the kale and leeks don't seem to mind. As you can probably see, we have a problem with weeds outside of our raised beds.

The rest of the leeks and fennel are planted in a sunnier spot in the garden. Unfortunately all of the fennel has gone to seed but we'll figure out something to do with them. They're pretty, so at least we have that going for us. We've been hilling up the soil around the leeks about every 3 weeks or so to ensure that we have a nice white stalk.

The tomatoes on the trellis netting has been a bit difficult. The leaves get tangled and they are getting very bushy but producing a lot of fruit. At this point we've just let the roma tomatoes grow out instead of up because every branch seems to be growing fruit. The coneflowers that I planted last year are HUGE and will be moved at the end of the season to provide better sunlight. The cherry tomatoes have been using the coneflowers on the right as an alternative support.
**PLEASE SHARE IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR TOMATOES** We have run in to over-pruning, not pruning enough, over watering, under watering and we can never seem to make them manageable AND productive at the same time. We are KIND of greenthumbs after all.

So that's all for now! If there is something you'd like us to write about in more detail, let us know in the comments!

Seeds and Seedlings - NE MPLS

Hello all you beautiful Green Thumb readers! 

Nice weather we've been having, right? 

As any fellow gardener knows, it's been a bit difficult to get out there due to this constant rain, but luckily we snuck in some quick planting sessions to get the season started.

This one is going to be quite long, but there are lots of pictures to keep you happy :)

If you read our last post you would know that we had some seeds in the dirt prior to Mexico and those have been coming along nicely:

Fresh garden salads are a highlight of the spring. This part of the bed has both a mesculin and lettuce blend of seeds and another bed has arugula, spinach (not ready yet) and red romaine. I could probably thin them out a bit to encourage growth but they are just so delicious when small and compact. We tried the "Cut and Come again" method the other evening. Basically you just snip off the greens about an inch from the dirt and more baby greens will grow from the roots!  Bounty from about 5 sq.ft:

These are all baby sized except for the arugula but they are better than any salad you'll get at the grocery store. Those two bowls are enough for about 6 side salads. If you let them grow to full size you will obviously have a lot more in the same amount of space, but the late snows prevented any seed planting early on. Because we are bound to get some hot weather one of these days, we decided to snip them while it was still cool so they store better in the fridge and because they taste better. We'll update later in the season and let you know how well this cutting method worked. The seeds we purchased are from High Mowing seeds. 

 These are Japanese Giant Red Mustard plants. I remembered seeing some of them sprout up in the mesculin mix last year and loved their color and spiciness and decided to purchase a packet of just these seeds. BUT, apparently we let one of those plants go to seed last year and they are already EVERYWHERE. They are even growing in the ashes of the fire pit. These plants were intentionally planted, but you'll see in later photos that they are taking over the garden. We will never need to buy seeds again as long as we just shake out some seeded plants at the the end of the season. They can be eaten raw as babies and are usually cooked when bigger due to their extreme horseradish/mustard taste. We'll eat the thinnings and see how big these guys get! You can buy seeds here.

Radishes are extremely happy this year. They love the cool weather and all this rain has helped them grow fast. I don't think we're really growing them in the most ideal soil (it is not sandy enough and has some rocks) but we will probably do that next year and see if the results are better. This variety is the French Breakfast and they are pretty mild. We didn't eat the greens but maybe the 3rd sowing we'll sautee some. We staggered the sowings about 2 weeks apart so that we'll have our third batch of spring radishes in a few weeks. Then they'll be on hiatus until the end of summer so that they can be happy in the cool fall weather. Seeds can be found here. 

We also have some beets in the same bed, but we'll save that for later in the season. 

Snap peas have sprouted but the bunnies have taken at least two so far. We did not have rabbit problems on the beans and peas last year but they seem extra hungry this year. We plan to get some poultry wire up very soon as THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. You'd think all the kitty smells in the area would keep them away but they seem extra hungry this year. I planted a bunch of green bean seeds as well but they don't seem to want to pop up. The birds have been a big problem in this bed (see next photo) and they stole the first round but left the 2nd sowing alone so we are crossing our fingers. We do not use innoculant but will probably use it next year because hey why not.

This is the same bed (my lonely bean plant shown in top right corner)

Birds love to snatch up freshly sown seeds (and seedlings) in the early spring, as shown in this photo. The bald patches were filled with seeds like the other parts of the bed but were cleaned out soon after sowing. I was able to get some new seeds sprouting last week so hopefully they will leave them be and let them grow to full size. As for preventing this problem:

We wanted Lacinato Kale without having to start them in the cold frame and the birds LOVE the seeds and the seedlings when they pop up. They don't care much for the Chard or the Red Kale seeds or seedlings but they managed to clear out a HUGE patch of the Lacinato (AKA Dino) Kale last year when we grew them later in the season for baby greens. Our solution was bird netting, shown above. We used some plant supports to hold the netting high enough and rocks and smaller supports to keep the tension tight. Once the plants start to touch the netting, I'll remove it. It's hard to tell the size of all of this but once we get some growth, we'll provide some photos.

As you can see, there is a nasturtium in there, which means...

IT'S ON TO THE PRE-BOUGHT SEEDLINGS!

This is the new support trellis that Chris and I made this year. 

Super easy, super cheap. Maybe we'll post step by step instructions next year if we build another one. 

Seen there are two roma tomatoes on the right and a golden cherry on the left. The coneflowers/echinacea I planted last year are obscuring the view but they'll provide a bit of shade for the roots later in the summer. 

 Here is our cucumber plant that is looking very sad. I believe it has worms but hopefully not. We'll wait a while before removing it to see if we can find out what it is. Also shown is some fava beans. I was told by our wonderful friend Emily that all bean plants convert nitrogen from the air and bring it down into the root system which benefits almost any flowering plant. So we planted them next to the tomatoes, cucumber and peppers and hopefully we see some positive results!

That's a pretty yucky picture but as you can see we are going to be growing a lot of peppers this year. I stopped by the farmers market and paid almost nothing for a total of 12 plants. Once they start producing fruit we'll provide an update on the variety.

The fencing is necessary because DAMMIT BUNNIES GET OFF MY LAWN!

In the middle of the photo you can see the fava plants sprouting. 

We probably don't have enough planted but I ran out of seeds.

See the red mustard on the left? We picked the majority of the patch before planting these and there are still that many left. We'll have to pick the rest before they get too big because peppers love hot soil and will not tolerate shade. 

They also had some issues with a very sunny day and some of the leaves are sunburnt (center top of photo). The leaves turn silvery and translucent and some of them have brown splotches on them. Apparently it is not too harmful to the plant, but it is not ideal. Avoiding sunburn is achieved by gradually introducing them to direct sunlight in the cold frame for about a week. We didn't have time to do that for the peppers but they will be fine, just a bit stunted for a little bit. 

Wooly Thyme will be gradually added to the walkway areas of the newly mulched area. It doesn't mind being stepped on, spreads and re-roots itself and will keep weeds down. Once we get pavers in the new garden we'll show the results. Basil, cilantro and rosemary are planted nearby and photos are coming soon.

We also purchased some fennel and leeks for the new part of the garden but we'll post photos on those later. They are currently a work in progress (guess why.... BUNNIES).

And now for some existing plant updates!

Chives are huge as usual, flowering like crazy. I believe a compound butter is in order.

The original oregano plant inside the raised bed has passed away and son of oregano has moved out on his own into the rocky wilderness. There's a little thyme plant nestled in between the two and has also sprouted a few new offsprings each year which I have been giving away in small pots to whomever will take them. Dill is still showing up every year uninvited but it is surprisingly delicious mixed into a salad.

A new sage and french lavender plant have taken the spot of the old oregano patch.

Strawberries are moments from being ripe. My guess is 1 week at the most. We won't be documenting the berry harvest as much this year because we covered it last year, but maybe we'll actually can some preserves instead of using the fruit on smoothies. More on that later. 

We just harvested this rhubarb last night. We are making a pie with some frozen berries from last year, but we'll still have about 2 pounds left. Leave your favorite (sweet or savory) recipe in the comments below!

Raspberries did not show up to the photoshoot because she was being a diva. Let's just say she's back and bigger than ever.

Anyways. That is it for now. 

Expect some more posts in the coming weeks for updates and, of course, lots of photos! 

May 2013 - NE MPLS

Garden Update:

Two weeks ago it was snowing... Then Kate and I went out of town for a week.  We come home to a lawn that needs to be mowed and a ton of yard work.  

First of all, RASPBERRIES! 

I hate raspberries.  That is why I love to eat their unborn raspberry seed children.  Also they taste good.

 

The cold frame's first winter saw most of the paint chip off.    We'll probably have to repaint the windows.  The lawn is over grown, but inside the cold frame you can see the grass is almost touching the glass.

It's time to fire up the lawn mower again.  We might get some kale or chard starters going this weekend.  We planted some other leafy/hearty greens outside already and they've already sprouted.  

Strawberries (center box) are going strong, as usual!  I think they start fruiting in June.  The left box has chives, oregano, thyme that have been growing and reseeding themselves for years.  There's also a large selection of salad greens that we'll probably eat as micro greens.  The back box has some pea sprouts (the birds didn't eat) and some heartier greens.  There's only asparagus in the far left box. 

Speaking of asparagus, here am they, for your viewing pleasure.  I hope me old english teachers no read this.

We planted these in 2009, but we still don't get much asparagus.  Where they are, I don't think they get enough sun.  That bed is the last to unfreeze and the neighbors garage blocks most of the afternoon sun.  We might move them and put something else in it's place.  

Last year we sheet mulched with cardboard and old jeans by the rocks.  The cardboard is gone, and this is all that's left of one of the pairs of jeans.  Science lesson of the day:  Heat and bacteria will destroy your clothes.

Catnip sprouts are still all over the place.  I pulled a sprout and gave it to the kittehs.   Om nom nom nom nom.

I know people are reading this, because I got this fortune from Duc's today.  Duc never lies.

Community Garden

This was St. Paul, MN one week ago.

This week, we're building a garden. Bright and early Saturday, May the 4th a bunch of bleary neighbors in the Summit Hill neighborhood gathered at Linwood park for coffee, bagels, and HOURS OF MANUAL LABOR. After a sedentary winter, a day like this is particularly rough.

Anyways, I heard about the Summit Hill Community Garden through my downstairs neighbor, DeeAnn, and we subsequently put our names down for garden plots on a snow day filled with bloody marys and a spectacular walk down Grand ave.

On May the 4th, we made the thing.

The garden is set up in two "Mandala" shapes. To me, they look like circles, but I've been assured they are, in fact, "Mandalas". 

The day was spent hauling 50/50 compost/dirt, hauling mulch, weaving wattle fencing, keeping boy scouts in line, and chugging coffee.

The larger "Mandala" or "Circle"

 The smaller "Mandala"

 Marking separations between the plots, these lines were later filled with mulch to delineate who's plot is where.

And finally, here's our keyhole plots, mine on the right and DeeAnn's on the left.

What I haven't gotten across here is how much shoveling was required throughout the day. All I could think of during the day was Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" .

Anyways, Check back for exciting updates! Oh, and if anyone knows how I can get my hands on some ridiculously hot peppers, I'd love to give 'em a shot.

Toodles,

-Daniel Quinn

Catnip!

The kitties get the first bounty of the garden.