Barefoot Kitchen Witch - In the Garden

Continuing to Summon Spring

Our squash plants are thriving, and if they can just hang on a little longer, we can move them outside to one of the winter/protected gardens.  The round pot has marigold seeds in it.  Julia’s growing those.  Flowers take longer, so we’re not concerned that nothing’s up there yet.

Our leeks and onions are up and looking good…

I’m so excited that we’re growing leeks.  SO excited!

And over the weekend, Bill planted an assortment of tomatoes and peppers.

We’ve got them all stowed under the latest incarnation of our indoor greenhouse:

The previous versions were partial boxes with wire cages and bird netting protecting the seedlings from the cats, but getting at the plants was always a huge pain, because we’d have to untangle the bird netting from the wire in order to get at the plants for any reason.

With this version we’ve got the plants and their lights draped with plain old 5 mil plastic, which is anchored in place with empty paint cans, clamps, and a piece of firewood.  No danger of any wire scratching our hands, and it’s much easier to get at the plants when we need to.

Yay!

Planting Onions and Leeks

We’re jump-starting spring around here!

The other day we (and, of course, I mean “we” in the royal sense, not in the sense that I participated in any way other than by taking pictures) planted some of our onions and our leeks.

We grew the Bianca Di Maggio last year and loved them.  Flat, medium-small Cippolini-type onions.  They grew happily in several of our raised beds and provided us with lots of onions and no problems.  I think we’re planting around fifty of these, and then another variety or two in addition. 

We’re seriously growing leeks this year, too.  I emphasize the word “seriously” because Bill planted them last year, but they weren’t in a great spot and didn’t do well.  He didn’t plant a lot.  But I adore leeks, and have been using them more often lately, so we’re giving them more space and a better shot at survival.

I hope they like our gardens!

 

I’m so happy we’ve started seeds.  I’m ready for Spring.  Granted, we’ve had a relatively mild winter thus far, so it’s not like we’ve been huddled around the fireplace every night, teeth chattering, hands outstretched in an effort to regain our body temperatures before heading off to bed. 

But still. 

I want Spring. 

So we’re creating it for ourselves, until Mother Nature catches up.

How about you?  Have you started seeds?  What are you growing this year?

Houston, We Have a Broccoli!

Actually, we’ll have ten of them if all goes well.

They’re doing really well.  Big and leafy and healthy.

It’s funny, our kids eat lots of vegetables that other kids don’t necessarily like…and I think it’s because we grow so many of them.  The kids get to see them start out as little seedlings, and then grow into plants and produce, in one form or another, something edible.  It’s kind of magical.  And special, because we grew them in our own gardens.

So I’m figuring I’ll feel that way about these broccoli plants.  It’s not my favorite vegetable…but since we grew them in our very own garden, I think I might like them just a little bit.

More Planting – Beans and Beets

Yes, we like to schedule our planting based on whether or not the names of the vegetables rhyme.

Or almost rhyme.

Not really. 

That’s just the way it worked out this time.

Building and Planting

We’ve had great success with these two raised beds – not only in the regular growing season, but through this past winter as well.

And last summer after we (well, Bill and Alex) cut down the cherry tree that used to be behind those beds, we decided to use that space for two more 4x4 raised beds.

Bill’s been getting the new spots ready, digging down into the dirt, getting rid of sod, and loosening the earth.

And yesterday – a warm, sunny, gorgeous example of a Spring day – Bill (with help) built the frames for the two raised beds, set them in place, filled them with compost, peat, garden lyme, manure and organic fertilizer, and transplanted the broccoli.

Now, while this was going on, I was inside baking a few things, so some of my pictures were taken through the kitchen windows and others were done when I went outside to get a better view.

Here’s a look…

First, Bill put together one frame, and then he let the kids use the electric sander to smooth the sides.  They love helping.

Then it was time to set the frame into the ground.

Bill showed them all (my two and a friend from across the street) how to use the rubber mallet, and then they all got a turn.

Once the frame was firmly set in the ground and level, it was time to add the compost.

They had even more help for this, as another of the little boys across the street showed up.  They had two wheelbarrows going – the big one and the little red plastic one – with the kids working in teams to fill, deliver, dump the compost.

Teamwork!

After all that, they put the other frame together and repeated the whole process.

By mid afternoon, both new raised beds were ready to go.

The last garden project yesterday was to move the broccoli to their permanent growing location.  Third bed from the front.

First, though – lyme and fertilizer.

Next, replanting the plantlings.

We had ten plants in total.

And even though I don’t LOVE broccoli…I’m excited that we’re growing it…and I’m sure it will be quite delicious.

February Thaw in the Winter Garden

It’s an amazing 45 degrees outside right now – in the shade – so Bill and Alex dug through the melting snow so that they could peek inside one of the winter gardens and see how everything has fared during these weekly burials under ever more snow for the past month or more.

After the digging was done, I headed outside at Bill’s urging to see just how warm it was inside the garden.

Almost barefoot.

We’re going to have to get new plastic for next winter – this stuff has had it.  Lots of holes.

Below is a weird picture I took – I must have been bent over sideways like an upside-down capital L or something because I don’t know how else my whole leg could be way over there on that side of the frame.  But anyway, near my dainty foot is the corner of one of the two raised beds.

I had to sort of crawl into the garden, and when I did, look what I found!

An Alex!  He was just hanging out in there, enjoying the balmy temperatures – Bill estimates it was in the fifties inside, maybe even low sixties.

I brought Alex a snack, which he declined.  “My hands are all dirty.”  He’s remarkably tidy, though you’d never know it to look at his hair.

Anyway, in this garden you can see some GREEN stuff – tatsoi and, somewhere in there, spinach.

The oregano is doing well…

And (below) a tiny little cilantro plant over to the right.  Brave little cilantro!

Apparently Bill and Alex used bits of snow to water the plants.  It will melt in the warmth.

Over here we’ve got mint (the black planters) and rosemary.

And then Alex directed me back to the left so I could see a dead earwig (on the purplish leaf slightly right of center, below).

I had to get back inside to check on the pound cake in the oven, but Alex decided to stay a little longer.

“If I was a plant, I’d like to live in here!”

Winter Garden - Still Green Under There

These were taken on Saturday.  Bill went out to pick some things to go along with our dinner, and I came out to take pictures.

Really quick pictures.  It's cold outside.  Cold under the plastic, too, but not as cold as outside it, and not at all windy. 

Things aren't growing quickly any more, but they're there, and they're green, and that's all we've asked for this year.

Next year we're going to set the winter gardens back farther in our yard.  We won't physically move these raised beds - we'll be putting in some more.  The current beds are a bit too close to the house - great for us when we want to run out and pick something, but the house blocks some of the winter sunlight, so if we set them up farther back next year, they'll get more sun, more warmth, and we'll get more produce.

Still, we can't complain.  Fresh produce from our back yard in December?  In New England?  Thank you very much!

A Peek at the Winter Garden

Salad, anyone?

Preparing the Winter Garden

I’m a leeeeeeeeetle bit late posting this, but we’re having a bit of a warm spell so I’ll just pretend it doesn’t matter.  Did that make sense?

No matter.  Here’s what we’ve done…

Oooh, a Giveaway!

Click here to find out allllllllllllllllllllllll about it!