Welcome Saturday June Gardening class

Wow!

That 45minute class sure zipped by.

For the beginning square foot gardeners I have this step by step list.

See the rest of my blog for other helpful helps, like how to mix your soil.

1.  Find a location that will provide the most warmth.  

     Warmth comes from the South, from protected areas, from good airflow

from other warm areas, 

Cold comes from areas that drop lower than the air flow, from areas

that are deeply shaded, from air patterns that travel North and then to your

garden. 

2. Collect the materials to hold your square foot garden. NO TREATED Lumber.  

Free materials are GR-REAT. Watch Craigs list.  I only had

to drive into woodinville for cardboard but got all the wood for a box

by picking up a shipping crate on Queen Ann.  

3. Collect your soil, 1/3 peat moss (caution it is compressed) 1/3 vermiculite (if you can't find it

    add it when you get it one square at a time)  1/3 compost 5 different materials included.  

    Use a volume measurement not a weight

4. Mix your soil on a tarp, you need something to push the soil around and some way to get the       finished soil into your boxes.

 I use a rake upside down to evenly spread my ingredients.

Check the blog for step by step mixing

5. Put your soil in your box and put your square markers on.  Use what you have or go for the

    pretty look of white painted boards. 

6. Check the chart I gave you, see what's good to plant in June and July. 

 Plant the square foot way

 X-Large plants 1 per 12" square

Broccoli, cabbage, peppers, egg plant, tomato

some are so large they take 2 to 4 squares,

Zucchini and any non vine squash

You can grow the vine squash upward!

Large plants, 4 per square

Leaf lettuce, Swiss chard, parsley, flowers, Basil

Medium plants 9 per square

bush beans (love them!), spinach, beets, garlic, spinach, 

Small 16 plants per square

radishes, carrots, green onions, chives

Growing upward per square

1 tomato 2 cucumbers, 8 pole beans, 4 potato

So go start these steps and check back for heat units, and seeds that fit

the seasons of the northwest 

Thoughts about our gardening group

I am still growing my own food as much as possible. 

I am still learning tons about how 40 years of doing 

something changes it and you.

  The Gourmet Gardening Group

 has disbanded.

This seems to be a very in-active blog.

YES

It's 2014 and there are now millions of blogs

I have no desire to compete 

I am just a grower of food with only the desire to keep 

doing that very thing.  

So what do you think...shall I keep this blog going?

I was in Harare, Zimbabwe In November/Dec.

It was once the bread basket of Africa.

There are many farmers in the population

but because of an unwise (I'm being careful)

leader there are no longer farms. 

 There are now little vegetable plots.  

They sell their product on the side of the road

or walk between cars

 (lots of broken lights

mean lots of time in traffic)

You can smell the peaches as they walk by your window

Yes we bought some!

I bring this up because food made a big impression on me

as I traveled around Africa.  

If you can't grow your own food and big companies take the rights

to your seeds and only momocrops are grown one day we could be

in just as serious a condition as those wonderful people of Zimbabwe.

And I'm now talking about the good ole U.S.A

Shouldn't we each know how to grow a little fresh food for ourselves?

Bartlett Pears

I'm watching my pears trees,
 my mouth is watering but it is
 an act of patience.

Bartlett pears have to be taken off the tree and ripened in a cool place.  

The perfect time approaches.  Here in the Bothell/Woodinville area

it is sometime between the last week of Aug and the first week of Sept. 

People walk by my trees and ask why I'm not picking anything.

I have to tell them there is a time for each tree.  Apples in the fall and 

pears late summer.  They don't always believe me and will pick something

I hope they find it very sour indeed.  

So watch for loose stems when you lift up on a pear and if anything is falling

 now you might be too late 

so harvest that whole tree RIGHT NOW

 I'll be picking mine in a couple of days

Did you plant some seeds?

The last two weeks were warm!

We broke records for May.

After our classes did you remember how warmth 

cuts down on the time of a seed to sprout?

I planted my beans earlier than I usually do

It was warm and they won't be sitting in the cold wet ground

Beans won't sprout even at 50 degrees but give them

68 degrees and they will sprout in Eleven days

Give a bean seed 77 degrees and they sprout in eight days.

Can you see why I don't plant them in May usually?

Now is a choice time.  Plant like crazy.

Put a scoop of compost in the spot and plant a seed today!

It will rain this week-end and then warm up again.

Think I'll go put some cucumber seeds in!

Getting you started on a new fruit tree

Now is the time!

Buy a couple of fruit trees and grow them

along a fence, a building, a wall. 

  It's not hard to do but MUST 

be started in a young tree.

It's not a big project

prepare the supports and 

Just do the follow up trimming and tying 

and you will have fruit in not too many years.

 Click to enlarge and save

This is not a new way to grow fruit trees

In fact it is very old 

and these directions came out

of 

a very old sunset book. 

Apples trees usually are trimmed with only 5 main branches

so this is a logical use for apples.  

Consider plum, and pears also, though

any fruit tree can be trained this way.

You need to buy your tree in it's first or early second year in order

to start with a pliable tree.

Start with a sturdy support, all ready to go.  

You will not want to be building around the training plant.

Yes this takes 5 to 10 years to get smoothly trained but so 

do the big trees!

So with a couple of fruit trees, a couple of blue berry

plants and a few pots of veggies you have an

instant start to gardening.

Blue berries need another bush that blooms when it does,

Early with Early

Mid season with Mid season

Late with Late season.

There can be some cross over of seasons with success.

Pears need another pear tree to produce. 

Enjoy

growing potatoes in cans and having problems

It was time for more potato cans... 

We have been growing potatoes in 2 very old plastic trash 

cans for so many years they are 

falling apart. 

This spring I bought several new plastic cans.

Cheap ones (by today's standards).

They were deeper, heavier and as I thought built to 

last many potato harvests down the road.

WHAT A SHOCK!

Look at what is happening.

The light blue/gray can is an old one, it is thin and lots of light comes through it.

 The potatoes are growing as they should be.

The black or very dark green can in the back ground was planted the same day as 

all three cans were.  It was perhaps warmer being black.  However it is not

growing well at all.  The wall are thick and didn't allow the sun through in the early 

growing of the potatoes.

The lighter green can is new also, in the foreground, the plants are so small

they are still not growing well. 

 Thick plastic not good I'm thinking. 

This is the can that is not growing well they are barely 1/3 the way up the can. Sad!

Oh look at this gray can, my very oldest one. 

it is growing so very well!  Oh to have more old cans.  

All potatoes were planted the same day and in the same way!

My suggestion, keep them in a warm place.  I've moved all the

cans to the cement patio in the sun.. They still won't grow as well.

Maybe if you beat me to the local garage sells you'll find 

some old thin plastic cans.  

Once again  SAD

OCT 2012 UPDATE

All the potatoes are harvested.  Some very nice ones but clearly 
the heavy trash cans had much smaller potatoes.   It's good to hear
Kevin has had success near warm stones and metal containers.

My Helpers

How to eat from a home garden

When you consider price, work, weather, bugs etc

 gardening can seem very un-necessary.

Why would I be so driven to grow my own food when I can buy it in the store?

1) The taste of home grown food can not in any way compare to the store bought

2) When it comes to variety home grown can beat store bought hands down

3) fresh, nothing can be fresher than a pre-dinner walk to gather your supplies for dinner.

4) harvest when the food is perfectly ripe has to be my favorite reason home gardens are wonderful.

In thinking about the above list let me add some things for you to consider.  

We do not need to let our home grown plants
 get the size of store bought. 

 We are so lucky to be able to harvest our food when it is young and tasty.

If you wait for your produce to get as large as store bought

 you'll miss out on the yummy taste that is possible.

Here are some examples:

Peas as soon as formed are better than large peas

lettuce cut from the outside of a plant, leaving the plant to keep growing is tender and sweet

Bush beans are wonderful when only 4 inches long

Carrots are sweet and tasty when not too old

Spinach collected a few small leaves at a time make perfectly heavenly salads

Beet greens taken young are very tender as is kale and chard leaves.

Zucchini is perfect at 6 inches long

beets that are the size of golf ball roast in the oven so nicely

Some plants that do need more time to be fully grown are

Potatoes

Tomatoes,

Peppers

winter squash

eggplant

Garlic

storing onions

They each have signs that show they are ready to eat.

Potatoes need to bloom and die down

Garlic needs to have some warmth to form a bulb 

and then they will dry to about 4 leaves left before harvest

Peppers can get bigger before harvest and be wonderful and juicy

Eggplant need some bulk to be good

Onions can be harvested small, med or large.  They need some dry weather and

the greens to die back....press them over when the onions decide to flower.  

I think we all agree that tomatoes are better when they get red, 

or orange or yellow, anything

except green!

A very good habit to make is to walk through the garden every 

day when planning your evening meal.  

You will learn to eat from all that is in your home garden and become a garden Gourmet.