Mud and rain and such

Well, since the weather seems to think we need even more rain, I went out between showers today and planted. Yep, in the mud. By the time I was finished up, the soles of my shoes were about an inch thicker from the mud (and that's even after scraping them off a few times). So, recently planted are some squash plants and more squash (seed-form) in hills: Burgess Buttercup, Eastern Rise, and a mystery squash ("Gold" or "Sweet Dumpling" or both--a donation from a high school ag department).

The potatoes also went in today. I know... I know... everyone says they should be planted on Good Friday. And this year it was even warm enough on Good Friday to do that! Well, this is one of those unconventional things that I'm doing since it worked before. Two years ago I was a good girl who put in a mountain of potatoes as close to Good Friday as possible. Nothing. I think I got out 20 pounds of spuds from the 20 pounds of seed potatoes I planted. Not a great return. Last year, I bought the seed potatoes, cut them and promptly forgot about them until almost everything else was planted! I threw the 5 pounds or so in the ground (didn't want to spend more on seed potatoes than I spent on store potatoes if they weren't going to do anything!) and HOLY COW--I had tons of taters! Ok, maybe not tons... but harvested at least 20 pounds or more. So, this year I wasn't sure if I was going to plant any or not. (I tend to like planting reliable crops.) Last week decided to go for it. Farmers Seed and Nursery in Faribault still had seed potatoes so had the kids pick up 20 pounds--mix of Red Norland and Red Pontiac.  So, let's hope for the best.

Let's also hope we get some drier and warmer weather. It's too wet to try to weed, so the weeds are really starting to get crazy. Two good days with the scuffle hoe would do some amazing things! 

Strawberries!

This is the first year we've been able to reap the benefits of the hundreds of strawberries plants we've attempted to get started through the last 6 years or so! The reason is because we finally are able to deter the marauding deer that have (up until last summer) eaten every last plant down to nothing. A gardener can fall into the depths of despair when faced with a bed full of stems with no leaves. But, since we put the fence around the garden, and then covered the plants with Agribon spun fabric and straw over winter (further protection since the deer DID jump the fence--in multitudes--over the winter) we are finally getting the first tastes of what seems like 6 years of hard work! :-) This is supposed to be the time before one can expect apples off of new trees, not strawberries off of plants! haha! But seriously, the plants we put in last year are doing quite well and we even planted about 200 more this year so that next year I'm hoping we're swimming in berries!

Our CSA members will be enjoying a taste of these little gems this week, and hopefully next week. We only have 4 good rows producing right now (some are earlier than the others), so we'll see what we can do.

Wow! I LOVE summer!

CSA nights start next week! WHEEEEEEE!!!

This is some of the amazing lettuce that is coming out of the garden right now!

My family and I spent a lot of fun and satisfying time in the garden this weekend. We are continuing to plant more and more crops as the weather keeps warming up, and getting to harvest some things, too!!! The first crop (as usual) is lettuce--the photo above is actually of THINNINGS we took out of the lettuce beds! That's right--this is just the beginning. The heads of romaine and buttercrunch won't be ready for a few weeks yet. By then we'll be planting more lettuce for lettuce blends. YUM YUM YUM.

We also discovered that some of the strawberries are starting to ripen! The kids and I picked the dozen or so that were completely ripe and promptly ate them (gardeners' prerogative, you know!) We will be sharing with our CSA members, though... don't you worry! This year we planted enough new berry plants to DOUBLE the strawberry patch. I'm so excited to finally have a strawberry patch--this is the first time we've been able to thwart the deer and keep the plants going to harvest. 

I am so excited with how well the garden is coming along this year. It promises to be a bountiful summer!

Dream gardening!

I have seen my dream garden--and it is BEAUTIFUL! This week I had the opportunity to travel to Heritage Farm, home of Seed Savers Exchange, in Decorah, IA, with my best friend. Our morning trip was undertaken for the purpose of purchasing pepper and tomato plants to round out our gardens. What we discovered was our "perfect farm." Heritage Farm is nestled in the idyllic setting among the rolling hills of northern Iowa. In mid-May the hills are bright green with freshness and life. We saw some of the Farm's herd of White Park cattle, including some of the most precious calves I have ever seen. The photo above was taken from the barn, looking over this beautiful garden and the Visitors Center/Store.

 Hannah and Emily at Heritage Farm

If we had had the time, we could've spent the entire day wandering around. As it was, we were on a time crunch--both of us being busy moms with duties to tend to at home. We brought our younger daughters and Kris' baby with us. The girls had fun exploring the chicken coop. Both of them are familiar with chickens and recognized some of the breeds, since we both have flocks that they help tend. After choosing our plants and a few packets of seeds that we couldn't pass up, we had a quick picnic lunch near the stream before heading back north. It was a wonderful day--enjoying time to chat on the drive, passing a few horses and buggies as we traveled through Amish country, and getting a glimpse of the "perfect farm" that we wish our small holdings could someday emulate.

So, what did I purchase??? Well, I was looking for more Carmen sweet peppers since I didn't end up with as many plants as I'd like from my planting. They didn't have any Carmen, but I decided to try Tolli's Sweet Italian--"This sweet red Italian heirloom is one of our all-around favorites for fresh eating and canning recipes. Great added to tomato sauces. Large, dependable yields of 4–5" long tapered fruits." I also picked up some King of the North bell peppers, a dependable large bell pepper that I wasn't able to order seed for this year. Then for fun, I picked out Sweet Chocolate and Purple Beauty peppers, and Purple Tomatillos (just imagine the colorful salsa or pico de gallo!). Emily picked out some sunflower and nasturtium seeds plus a pack of petunias to plant in her garden.


What a fun day!

Spring cleanup!

Some people would call this free help (or slave labor! haha!) We prefer to say "character building." :-) Here Mikey and Greg, my garden cleanup crew, are getting ready to burn off the vines from the tomato cages. I don't want them burning up all the mulch left over from last year, so they are removing any big chunky debris to burn, and making a firebreak so the fire from the tomato cages doesn't cage on the mulch. That old decaying mulch is a big part of our fertilization plan--after it has done it's job as a weed barrier, we till it in the following spring to add organic matter to the soil. We've been doing this for about 6 years now, and the fertility shows in our gargantuan tomato plants and pepper "bushes."

I've already been able to plant a few rows of lettuce and peas in the garden. This is definitely the earliest that I've ever done any direct-seeding! I'm so excited to have our own greens and peas! YUM!

Time to plant OUTSIDE?!

It is so hard to believe that it is already the beginning of April. It's even harder to believe this amazingly warm weather we've been having! We had no snowfall in March, the snow drifts and piles are GONE, and the temps have been hovering in the 60's and 70's--we even hit 80 two days this week! So far I've uncovered the strawberries and checked out the buds on the raspberries. Both look like they survived the winter well. The rhubarb is also making a good showing. So far, I haven't seen any asparagus tips, but hopefully they will be popping up soon, too. (Although I noticed some gopher or mole damage in the new asparagus bed--I just hope they didn't bother the plants!)

The photo above is some of last fall's rainbow carrots. I'll be planting these again this year. They are fun to grow--so colorful and tasty! This weekend or early next week, I'm planning on seeding the first plantings of carrots, lettuces, spinach, and broccoli. With this early spring, is it possible we will be enjoying the bounty of the garden earlier than usual?! We can hope!!!

It's planting time!

This week I started getting some of the seeds planted. I was a little late getting those onions in the dirt, but the peppers and tomatoes are right on schedule. Planted so far are:

• Red Zeppelin Onions (gotta love the name! haha!)
• Candy Onions (in place of my favorite Expression which were "out of stock")
• Red Marble Onions
• Hardy Scallions (the first planting... these will continue every few weeks)
• Peppers: Peacework, Revolution, New Ace, Carmen, Jalapeno, Valencia, and Flavorburst
• Tomatoes: Brandywine, Green Zebra, Oregon Spring, Pruden's Purple, Amish Paste, Juliet, and Sun Gold Cherry

I'm very excited about the new peppers and tomatoes I'm trying this year. Those would be Peacework, Revolution, and Flavorburst peppers; Green Zebra, Oregon Spring, and Pruden's Purple tomatoes. I've discovered that tomatoes and peppers are my favorite vegetables to grow. I enjoy starting them in the house and watching them come up, transplanting them, turning the house into a jungle, moving the plants out to the cold frames and greenhouse, and then planting them in the garden. Then comes the REALLY great part--watching the plants really take off in the garden soil and produce their fruit. I really enjoy the challenge of coaxing early tomatoes and peppers in short Minnesota growing season.

I am hoping to put up a hoophouse for my tomatoes and peppers this year. I would love to extend our harvest season another month or two. I've been doing some research on these things, and currently am trying to decide if we have the know-how to build one from scratch or if we'd be better off with a kit. Cost will most likely be the deciding factor. So, most likely we will be building one without the assistance of a kit. Thankfully I have been able to find a few different websites and books with very good instructions. Of course, that won't happen for a few more months--we have to wait for the snow to melt first!!!

In the meantime I can create my little jungle inside the house. I'll be posting photos as everything starts getting green. Spring is just around the corner!