January 15, 2009: What's a Granny to Do?

What's a Granny to do when....

The sun is shining,
The temperature is 75F,
She has a bunch of 3' lengths of 2x4 lumber,
Half a bag of potting soil,
Half a bag of composted manure, and
She's not really happy with container gardening

Well, she does what any red blooded gardening granny would do. She plans a square foot garden!

And then she builds it!

Then she fills it with the little plants from the container garden!

And she fences it to keep all the little bunnies from eating everything!

Then she checks the temperature and sees that it is perfect for making her new garden grow.

*And begins to plan another little garden to build tomorrow.

*Granny has a lot of room for building gardens, but only about 60 days left in Arizona. That severely limits what can be grown and harvested.

January 10, 2009: The Container Garden

Back in November I started a little container garden. This is what it looked like on November 13th. The clear plastic containers on the plant ladder, and the planter on the far left were greens I potted up and brought down from the garden up north. The other pots contain spinach, lettuce, onions (green ones from the grocery store), beets, parsley and a couple of cucumbers.

This is a garden?

Since then, I've used all the older greens except those on the far left. One looks suspiciously like a cabbage, so I'm going to let it mature. Most of the other seeds germinated and are finally showing some growth, having done almost nothing for over a month. Others, more recently planted, have nearly caught up to the earlier seeded plants.

Rather pitiful when compared to my home garden, isn't it?

It looks as though January 1 might be the optimum date for starting these cool weather crops. Nothing was gained by planting two months earlier. In fact, I had dumped out the contents of a planter of lettuce seedlings last spring when we were ready to head north. Last week I noticed some tiny lettuce plants sprouting in the dirt where I'd emptied the container! They had laid dormant through the hot summer, fall and most of the winter. They must have sprouted around January 1. I moved them into one of the containers, and they're looking quite happy! Maybe when I'm ready to go back home I should sprinkle some of my leftover lettuce seed out in the back and just see if it sprouts and grows in January of 2010.

January 6, 2009: Alicyn Reacts to "Grandma"!

My grandchildren love me. Really, they do.




Just look at how 11-week-old Alicyn reacts when she hears "Grandma"!

Nevermind.

January 5, 2009: Master Garden Plan

I've finished making my garden plans for 2009. Along with the two beds I showed in my post from January 1, I will also be planting the dog kennel area.

I'll tell you all how to get a really big, sturdy trellis. One that is big enough and tall enough for anything you might want to grow.

First you buy two puppies. Then you spend $200 on a 7'x13' chain link kennel to keep said puppies safe. Then you spoil said puppies so they will NOT use said kennel. Move said kennel to corner of vegetable garden, remove 1 1/2 sides for access to existing gardens and use remainder for trellises.




Next to the dog kennel garden is the north garden. As of now, I think I might plant corn in one of the 4'x8' beds. I wasn't going to fool with it, as we do get very good local corn, but I just might talk myself into it. I think it depends on just how many broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage seeds germinate for me. If I have a lot that grow into sturdy plants I may bag the corn idea.




So here is the complete garden (not shown is a small plot for cucumbers along the west fence).





This still gives me room for a few containers, and I might want more pepper plants and maybe some shade loving flowers behind the dog kennel.

January 4, 2009: A Spring Planting Schedule

Since most of my seeds have already been purchased, and I know what plants I will be buying, it's time to figure out a planting schedule that will take full advantage of my growing season. Again, as in my past 32 years of gardening, I depend on my old standby Crockett's Victory Garden. Not only does it have planting schedules for all the zones, I happen to be in the same zone as the Victory Garden so the entire book can be followed, month by month, as written.

Following is my possible planting schedule. It's quite probable not everything on the list will be planted as planned here, either due to lack of need or lack of space, but it does give me an idea of what can be planted if the need arises.

March 15 Cabbage, Golden Acre (start seedlings)
March 15 Cauliflower, Early Snowball (start seedlings)
March 15 Radishes, Gourmet Blend (1st. planting)
March 15 Broccoli, De Cicco (start seedlings)
March 15 Onions, Walla Walla Sweet (plants)
March 15 Onions, Yellow (sets)
March 15 Potatoes (1st. planting)
April 02 Mesclun, Mixed Salad Greens (1st. planting)
April 02 Beet, Detroit Supreme (1st. planting)
April 02 Lettuce, Prizehead (1st. planting)
April 02 Parsnip, Andover (1st. planting)
April 02 Peas, Super Sugar Snap (1st. planting)
April 02 Peas, Tall Telephone (1st. planting)
April 02 Spinach, Tyee Hybrid (1st. planting)
April 02 Radishes, Gourmet Blend (2nd. planting)
April 02 Lettuce, Buttercrunch (1st. planting)
April 15 Parsley, Moss Curled
April 15 Carrot, Chantenay (1st. planting)
April 15 Carrot, Imperator (1st. planting)
April 15 Carrot, Rainbow Blend (1st. planting)
April 15 Peppers, Green Bell (start seedlings)
April 15 Peppers, Jalapeno (start seedlings)
April 15 Broccoli, De Cicco (plant transplants)
April 15 Cabbage, Golden Acre (plant transplants)
April 15 Cauliflower, Early Snowball (plant transplants)
April 15 Spinach, Tyee Hybrid (2nd. planting)
May 03 Godetia, Double Azalea Flowered Mix
May 03 Basil, Italian Large Leaf
May 03 Beans, Contender bush (1st. planting)
May 03 Beans, Kentucky Blue pole (1st. planting)
May 03 Beans, Royal Burgundy bush (1st. planting)
May 03 Cucumber, Spacemaster (1st. planting)
May 03 Nasturtium, Dwarf Jewel Mix
May 03 Nasturtium, Glorious Gleam Mix (trailing)
May 03 Marigolds
May 03 Lettuce, Prizehead (2nd. planting)
May 03 Mesclun, Mixed Salad Greens (2nd. planting)
May 03 Radishes, Gourmet Blend (3rd. planting)
May 03 Sunflowers, Vanilla Ice
May 03 Squash, Burpee's Fordhook Zucchini (1st. planting)
May 03 Squash, Early Golden Summer Crookneck (1st. planting)
May 15 Beans, Royal Burgundy bush (2nd. planting)
May 15 Beet, Detroit Supreme (2nd.. planting)
May 15 Carrots, leftover mix (2nd. planting)
May 15 Peppers, Green Bell (plant transplants)
May 15 Peppers, Jalapeno (plant transplants)
May 15 Sweet Potatoes (1st. planting)
May 15 Tomatoes
June 02 Squash, Watham Butternut (winter)
June 02 Squash, Acorn (winter)
June 02 Beans, Contender bush (3rd. planting)
June 02 Beans, Kentucky Blue pole (2nd. planting)
June 02 Broccoli (direct seed)
June 02 Cabbage (direct seed)
June 02 Carrots, leftover mix (3rd. planting)
June 02 Cauliflower (direct seed)
June 02 Parsnip, Andover (2nd. planting)
June 02 Squash, Burpee's Fordhook Zucchini (2nd. planting)
June 02 Squash, Early Golden Summer Crookneck (2nd. planting)
June 10 Sweet Potatoes (2nd. planting)
June 15 "Beans, Royal Burgundy bush (2nd..planting)
June 15 Beet, Detroit Supreme (3rd. planting)
June 15 Carrots, leftover mix (4th. planting)
June 15 Potatoes (2nd. planting)
July 01 Beans, Kentucky Blue pole (3rd. planting)
July 01 Beans, Contender bush (3rd. planting)
July 01 Cucumber, Spacemaster (2nd. planting)
July 01 Squash, Burpee's Fordhook Zucchini (3rd. planting
July 01 Squash, Early Golden Summer Crookneck (3rd. planting)
July 16 Beet, Detroit Supreme (4th. planting)
July 16 Carrots, leftover mix (5th. planting)
July 16 Lettuce, Prizehead (3rd. planting)
July 16 Mesclun, Mixed Salad Greens (3rd. planting)
August 02 Peas, Super Sugar Snap (2nd. planting)
August 02 Peas, Tall Telephone (2nd. planting)
August 02 Radishes, Gourmet Blend (4th. planting)
August 02 Spinach, Tyee Hybrid (3rd. planting)
August 16 Lettuce, Buttercrunch (2nd. planting)
August 16 Lettuce, Prizehead (4th. planting)
August 16 Mesclun, Mixed Salad Greens (4th. planting)
September 03 Lettuce, Prizehead (5th. planting)
September 03 Radishes, Gourmet Blend (5th. planting)
September 03 Spinach, Tyee Hybrid (4th. planting)

The odd planting dates (normally I'd plant on the 1st. or 15th. of each month) are from using a fun (and free) little program I found on the Ed Hume Seeds website. It's called Moonbook, and it is a calendar of best dates to plant according to the moon. Now....I'm not saying there is anything to that, but my grandmother always planted according to the phases of the moon and she had lovely gardens. On the other hand, I never have paid any attention to the moon, and I have lovely gardens too. But I figured I'd give it a try, why not?

All tomatoes and my main crop of peppers will have to be purchased from a nursery, as I don't return to my home in Washington early enough to start them myself. This will also be the year to purchase strawberry and raspberry plants. I'm hoping my daughter kept my sweet potato plant alive through the winter so I can cut slips from it in the spring.

January 1, 2009: A Garden Journal for 2009 and Beyond

I've been drooling over gardening journals today. I keep pretty good records on my computer, but sometimes I'd like to write things down where I can sit back and read and compare what I've done through the years. Most journals just cover one year. Some are so extensive they have room for ten years of records. I thought 3-4 years to a page would be perfect for keeping track of my successes and failures, so I designed a simple page (actually a series of pages) that would cover my gardening season from March 1 through October 30, with four years of records to a page. I'll print out these pages and keep them in a three ring binder at my desk.

***Click the photos to enlarge***

I also have pages for seed/plant inventories. Go ahead and drool over my seed expenses for the year.....you know you want to. I'd like to have $41.94 worth of seeds for $5.16 every year!




My third page is similar to the above, only it's for miscellaneous garden expenses (compost, tools, wood for garden beds, etc).

I'll also include plans, on graph paper, for each year's garden. Here is what I've decided to put in my east (#1 fence line) garden this spring (one square = 1 foot, MG = marigolds):




And here are the plans for my east (#2) gardens. The brown strips are where I'll lay the soaker hoses:




Not shown are the sugar snap peas that will cover 12' of the south fence, and cucumbers that will be planted along the fence on the west side of the yard.

I still have the north gardens, and the dog pen/arbor gardens to finish planning. I think I'm going to have to convince Mr. H to move that new fence about 8 feet closer to the house so I can make room for three more 4'x 8' (or longer) beds!

Happy New Year....let's make 2009 the "Year of the Garden"!

December 31, 2008: A Gardener's Resolution

I've been reading a few other blogs today and some, like Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions, have made a resolution to keep track of their garden expenses versus yield. I've basically made the same resolution. My problem this year was that I forgot to weigh a lot of my produce, or it was handed over to a neighbor across the fence before it could get weighed. I wish I had a produce scale that could hang in my garden!

Daphne was wondering how to estimate the value of her produce. I rounded off the amount I felt my produce was worth to $2 a pound. I don't know how close that was, but I went by the prices charged at the local farm markets. I raised mesclun for a pet rabbit, and that was costing $6 for 10 ounces (a one week supply) in the store, so that harvest from one packet of seeds was a tremendous saving! My garden was small, and I usually picked about 7 pounds of assorted vegetables two or three times a week. At $2 a pound, that was quite a savings.....assuming I would have actually purchased that much to begin with, which I wouldn't. Mr. H got quite sick of eating green beans every day.

In 2008 I had the expense of building all new garden boxes. This cost was kept quite reasonable because I reused wood from a deck we had removed from our house for most of the project. I also used a lot of leftover seed from previous years. My main expenses were for compost to fill the boxes and for fencing to keep the new puppies out of my new garden. My total expenses were $380.80. That was some expensive produce, but most of that was a one time expense. Now that the boxes are built, filled and fenced off, there should be minimum cost for 2009.

I already have almost all of my seeds for 2009, which came to $0. My daughter bought them for me for Christmas, plus I have a few left from the 2008 season. All I need is one packet of broccoli seeds, as Ed Hume Seeds didn't have the variety I wanted.

I want to buy a few boards to join my 4'x4' beds together to make one long bed. And I'll probably add some boards to last season's mesclun bed to make it deeper, as I want to plant potatoes there in 2009.

I'd like to buy 4 raspberry bushes, 64 strawberry plants and one or two blueberry bushes. I lost one of my three blueberries a couple of years ago, and it must have been my pollinator, as I only got a cup of tiny berries last summer. Since I have no idea what kind the other two are, I may buy two varieties and replace one original that isn't looking terribly healthy. I will also buy tomato and pepper plants, as I won't be back home early enough to start my own.

I would like to begin the installation of a drip watering system. I currently have large Rainbird impulse sprinklers that do a good job, but keep the foliage wet on the tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. Those plants would do much better with drip irrigation.

I want to start my own "real" compost pile. The ugly black composter is a joke, and the bottom of it will be turned into a planter for some sweet potatoes in 2009. I'll definitely buy one more load of compost to top off the new beds, as there has been some settling, but my neighbor has saved her leaves for me, so I can start my own compost pile next spring. That should end my need for purchased compost in the future.

So those are my garden resolutions for 2009. I can't hardly wait!

December 27, 2008: I'm NOT Old! I'm Not!

Next month I'm going to be an OLD LADY. At sixty-nine, I'm just a young chick, but in January I'll turn *shudder* SEVENTY *shudder*.

I don't feel old. In fact, I think I'm in pretty good shape for my age. Mr. H, who is almost seventy-four, recently joined me in this little routine. Don't you think we're quite agile for our ages?

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