Are you a Garden Putz?

I consider myself a Garden Putz. Some think that putz’s are idiots or is a worthless person. I am neither. I rather believe that a Garden Putz is someone who is bit like Puck, a mythological mischievous nature sprite. We laugh loudly in our gardens. We putter around moving at pace that lets us enjoy the song of the birds. We notice the hum of the dragon flies and the buzz of the bees. A dewy spider’s web is always left undisturbed as we know its value. We shrug our shoulders at our mistakes and reveille in a blossom blooming. We get quite a bit done at a putter or rather nature’s pace.

The Winter Sowing Method

While this is a method I have used and highly recomend I cannot take credit for the logistics of how it works or creating the method. A kindred spirit named Trudi and her web site are how I discovered how to do this. It seems crazzy at times but it WORKS. I encourage you to try it. You can use the method for fall crops as well.Winter Sowing

Self watering container tomato update

This growth is 20 days from planting, May 27th to June 16th. We added a stake to support the vine. 
The tomato grew faster after I suckered the branches. The bottom frame is when it was planted. The two pepper plants are not growing as fast and I blame that on the cool temperatures we have been having.

Marigold? Nope more Tomatoes!

Gardening is always a learning experience.  Gardeners are adventurous and always looking for something better while hedging their bets on the stuff they know will work.  Well this winter I decided to try Winter Sowing with a lot of encouragement from Meredith Sow Digging it.  However, if my tomatoes don't produce and everything else was a bumper crop, I consider the year a failure.  So I hedged my bets and started some inside as well.  Just to be clear I planted 15 different varieties, and I used ALL my seeds.  

Well, once Jim had my raised beds done he started gripping about the number of milk jugs.  He's most common a comment was "Are you growing a garden or milk jugs?"  So I started thinning jugs.  As most gardeners know thinning is when you go through and pull the little stuff to give room for the healthier plants.  Several of the tomato jugs did not sprout.  So I dumped them in the beds.  I'm not going to waste that good dirt either.  :) 

Fast forward to about a week ago, everything is planted, and the sun came out....Well, it did twice for a couple of minutes.  I'm out putzing in the garden and notice a clump of Marigolds.  Now, I have a gallon bag of Marigold seeds and thought, "Oh, the bag must have spilled."  Now Marigolds are golden flowers that keep bugs away and grow like weeds.  So, I just plucked them out the middle of the garden.  Then I used my handy dandy planting tool, my index finger and made a hole for the seedlings along a border and to fill in a blank spot.  In my opinion the black dirt is a background color for different shades of green that are in your garden.

Now, fast forward a week later and the sun isn't actually shining but it the best we had the last couple of days so I'm out in the garden putzing again.  I was fussing around the Marigolds and am thinking... "Wow, they really took off.  They must have been a tall variety."  I pull up the leaves and look down at the stem and immediately realize....Those are not Marigolds they are more Tomatoes!" Now I still have 48 potted tomatoes on a table that I've been kind of trying to selling.  Ok, that's what I'm telling Jim at least.  Let's be honest, I'm giving those babies away.  I was so proud of myself that I had gotten down to just 48 left.  Well, I couldn't just pull those Marigold Tomatoes and put them in the compost heap.  Nope, I potted them up too.  Not all of them.  But I'm back up to about 60 Tomatoes.  I have Surprise Tomatoes (I haven't a clue as to what type they are) and now Marigold Tomatoes.  If you need tomatoes come see me!  In the meantime after I laugh at myself about the Tomatoes I thought were Marigolds, I'm thinking I shouldn't start so many next year.  And I need to label better!  

Finders Keepers or Another Man's Trash....

Finders Keepers

It started with a need to be frugal and hasn't yet ended. I have found that not only is using things you find or reclaim cost efficient it is creative and usually gives a unique or unpredictable look to your garden and yard. Because you don't know when you will find something you can use your garden becomes a never ending canvas mural. Below you will see some of the things I found and converted to useful and sometimes very attractive features in our yard and garden. I have a favorite motto "Free is cheap" and "I'll buy that for a dollar." My partner Serial tiller Pat shares my love of a good find and will be constructing a greenhouse from free windows she found on "Craig's List". I too found free windows today and I am hoping Pat and my husband will collaborate on designs and create wonderful greenhouses for both of us. Of course I haven't told them this yet. I digress. Lets get to the meat of the subject. The items above were free for the taking so I did. The pond is in progress and all the big and medium sized rocks have sentimental value. They represent camping and hiking trips where we waded or hiked our way back to center so to speak. Some we acquired on the way to events like fairs and some are special because of how we got them. Not one was purchased. Even the river rock was donated to us by our neighbors. When we look at them it reminds us of our journey and the people in it who made it or are making it special. Yup if you haven't figured it out by now...I'm the corny sappy one. I hope I have inspired you to collect and use items you find in your garden.

Straw Bales are planted....Everything is in!

Pepper, Leeks, Onions and Tomatillo's with a top dressing of trailing flowers! 

The bales are done with their twelve day process of conditioning.  I mostly followed Joel Karsten directions (screwed up days 3, 4, 5 and added more fertilizer than I should have) however this is a pretty forgiving process and the bales where cooking away come day 12.  

Now this whole garden is new, the raised beds, the squash arch, and even the placement of the bales.  Strangely enough winter sunlight seems to be different than summer sunlight, in other words those darn leaves on the trees changed a lot of my sunlight to shade.  Now, it also preferable to run your bales north to south, but Jim, my husband, wasn't having any of it.  So our compromise was putting the bales on the end of the raised beds running east to west.  The problem with this configuration is if I put my larger tomatoes in the bale's (which was the plan) it will shade two of my beds.  So where in the past I've done all my tomatoes in the bales and eliminated blight issue's, that was not options for these bales.  So the bales on the south side of my raised beds, which get about 8-10 hours of sun have in them; eight pepper plants, one California Wonder, two Habanero’s, two Picante, three Jalapeno’s.  There are twenty six leeks and ten red onions as well as three Verde Tomatillo plants.  The leeks and onions I purchased as sets, the Pepper's I grew indoor under my lights and the Tomatillo's are Winter Sowed.  After reading Joel Karsten book on Straw Bale Gardening I took the challenge of trying to make my bales "pretty".  So right on the edges are Red Wave Petunia's and Blue Lobelia.  I have some trailing Nasturtium that I've started by seed as well.  As stuff fill in I keep everyone updated with pictures.  The four bales on the other side get 6-10 hours of sunlight so I planted them a bit differently.  The back two bales have Johnny Seeds Gonzales Cabbage I grew from Winters Sowing.  These are mini cabbage that are about 4-6" in diameter.  So I planted them a bit closer than what Joel Karsten recommended.  Ok so instead of 4-5 I put in 10 and then mixed a dill and Calendula to act as a buffer to the four peppers and 10 onions I put in.  I finished that last bale with three Purple Tomatillo plants.  Now I didn't plant any flowers over there as there is still a lot of garden construction going on (removal of a stupid ornamental tree).

With a bad back and arthritis in my knees raised beds were essential for me.  The six 12" deep beds with the squash arch and the soil (compost) ran a total of $350.  The eight straw bales ran $4 a piece for a total of $16.  It hard to compare the two as my raised beds are 3'X8' and a straw bale is 2'X3', but I suppose if you do it by square foot, the straw bale method for a 24 square feet is $16 and for the 3'X8' raised bed without the squash arch was $50.  However you will need to buy new bales so in four years’ time it's a bit of a wash in factoring the cost.  Now which is more productive we will see.  That is if the temperature every gets above 50 degree here! 

Container planting follow up

It's June 2nd and finally the weather is cooperating long enough for us to get all of our plants in. with the seasons clock ticking I ended up with what I can only refer to as Gardeners block. It's like writers block you can't decide where to plant anything or when to plant anything or what to plant. So you stand in the center of your garden scratching your head  turning circles and getting absolutely nothing accomplished. The Garden map app I used to map out my garden, in the dead of winter is worthless now because you see I have way more plants than I actually drew  on those maps. To make matters worse my companion planting guides are making me wonder how anybody ever decides what to plant next to what. So what's the cure? Container planting. it's a lot less intimidating to plant a pot with a couple of plants and if you change your mind about what plants to plant its not a big deal to remove them and start over. the real benefit comes in that you did actually begin. You will notice that the self watering containers have an additional benefit. they are on a platform that has wheels. my husband constructed these for me and used much better wheels than you find on the other plant stands. They came in handy since after planting, we've had at least 3 storms and high winds that would have destroyed my plants had I not been able to roll them to safety. He used heavy duty salvaged wood free and purchased  the wheels at Harbor Freight. the wheels were about $4 for a set of 4.

Planted May 27th

Once I got started I was on a roll. Speaking of rolls how easy is it to plant potatoes? So easy I got carried away and planted the extra into these very chic and very cheap coffee bean sacks. Purchased at Dunns Bros. Coffee in Apple Valley for the over the top price of $1.00. No really only $1 each when one of the local feed and garden stores in my area was asking $3.75 a sack. Granted they were about twice the size but not nearly as attractive. Remember I'm the one who believes container gardening for veggies can and should be attractive when possible. My sacks have colorful prints on them of where the beans came from. Some have flowers or lizards painted on them with a silhouette of the country. When the potatoes have been harvested the sacks can be used to store them.

The advantage of using these sacks is that they drain easily and you don't have to dig to harvest the potatoes.

What medium you use is a matter of preference. Fickle person that I can be I choose to combine schools of thought. Sort of hedging my bets. Most people use compost. Some people use straw. As you can see I used both in combination. I begin by putting compost then I plant the potatoes eyes up and cover with a blend of straw and compost add a sprinkle of organic fertelizer 4-4-4 and I sprinkle 1/4 cup of bone meal. You have to water thoroughly and maintain a moist but not water logged sack. So check often. After the potatoes grow apx 5 inches above the layer of straw add more straw compost (I mix equal amounts) until only an inch of plant is showing, Let it grow above again and repeat the grow and cover process until there is no more room to add compost or straw. The potatoes are ready to harvest after the plant dies back. I will repost later at harvest time. Some of the potatoes should be ready in Sept some in late October.

Below is a planter box bench my husband built for me out of salvage heat treated wood last year. I made it my own by adding branches from one of the many storms we have had this spring and a string of solar lights. I have planted moon flower vines, nasturtium, fish pepper and alyssum in each side. I will post the results. So dig it!