Zinnia

Cactus-Flowered Zinnia Mix

Heirloom

Description: 4" flower heads with quilled, slightly twisted petals in scarlet, rose, orange, and yellow.

Blooms in summer

Full sun

Available at http://www.burpee.com/product/annual+flowers/zinnias/zinnia+cactus-flowered+mix++-+1+pkt.+%28100+seeds%29.do

Jewel Nasturtium

Jewel Nasturtium

Description: pleasantly fragrant and a great spice addition to any salad.

Flower in summer

Full Sun

Available at http://www.localharvest.org/nasturtium-seed-jewel-mix-C4828

Tyee Spinach

Tyee Spinach
Hybrid

Description: Semi-savoyed (crinkled) vitamin packed leaves.

42 days to maturity

Full Sun






Available at http://gurneys.com/product.asp?pn=66311&bhcd2=1235867438

Golden Bantam Sweet Corn

Golden Bantam Sweet Corn

Heirloom

Description: Broad, deep golden delicious kernels.

80 days to maturity

Full Sun

Available at http://www.burpee.com/product/vegetables/heirloom+vegetables/corn+golden+bantam+%28heirloom%29+-+1+pkt.+%28200+seeds%29.do

Four Seasons Butterhead Lettuce

Four Seasons Butterhead Lettuce

Heirloom

Description: Red tinged leaves blanch to creamy yellow.

60 days to maturity

Sun to partial shade

Available at http://www.burpee.com/product/vegetables/heirloom+vegetables/lettuce+four+seasons+%28heirloom%29++-+1+pkt.+%28500+seeds%29.do

Green Beans

Triomphe de Farcy Haricots Verts
Heirloom

Description: French style green beans that are slender, shapely, and have wonderful flavor.

48 days to maturity

Full Sun




Available at http://www.frenchgardening.com/item.html?pid=SEVE77

Silver Queen Corn

Silver Queen Corn

Hybrid

Description: Crisp, sweet, tender white kernals.

92 days to maturity

Full sun

Available at http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=5103&cid=ppp000248

Available at

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce
Heirloom

Description: Very tender and delicately flavored lettuce leaves

45 days to maturity

Full Sun

Available at http://www.burpee.com/product/vegetables/lettuce/looseleaf/lettuce+black-seeded+simpson+%28heirloom%29+-+1+pkt.+%281000+seeds%29.do

Carrots

Touchon
Heirloom

Description: Sweet, tender, quick to mature. Free from hard fiber and best for eating out of hand.

65 days to maturity

Full Sun



Available at http://www.burpee.com/product/vegetables/heirloom+vegetables/carrot+touchon+%28heirloom%29+-+1+pkt.+%282000+seeds%29.do

Getting the Garden Spot Ready

As I have explained in an earlier post, when my husband and I started working on our yard, we had a blank slate. Our yard was AWFUL! We've spent many long hours creating flower beds, weeding, watering, and praying for our plants to live. We are on summer number 4 and the little tiny bushes are finally filling out and our preenials are looking quite good.

However, every spring I get this itch in me to move things around! When we started planning our landscaping, we purchased some things that we thought would work. As they have matured, we've realized that they are not quite what we were looking for. So, each spring as plants grow, I get these new ideas. Hmm, what if I moved the lillies from one side of the house to the other? What if I the boxwood bush moved to the other side of the walk? What if we just ripped out that plant (it didn't grow like it said it would on the tag!)? Needless to say, I'm getting really good at moving all these around and my husband just shakes his head. One day he'll understand.

I only mention this because if I am going to have these square foot gardens, I have to move some plants around inorder to have room for the raised beds. In this bed, I currently have a few hosta plants and four large plants that have leaves that look like corabells, but they aren't corabells. These plants have a deep purple, beautiful leaf that create pretty mounds and send up little tiny white flowers.

Anyways, the reason I'm thinking about this is that I have to move these cool flowers to another location. When it's warm, my husband is just going to shake his head again, but he will soon see the big picture.

Ah, the joys of gardening!

Warm Weather Please Come Visit

As I look out the window right now, it's grey and drizzling and about 55 degrees. This is somewhat exciting as it has been an especially cold winter. It is also very depressing as I am SO ready for some warmer weather. I think the extra cold weather is what has me so geeked up about the possibility of a new garden. We still have over 2 months before I can actually put plants in the ground, but that doesn't keep me from dreaming. I've even gone so far as to create a crazy diagram indicating what I'll be growing in each square foot.

My "Square Foot Gardening" book should be in hopefully tomorrow. After I read it I'll post my future garden diagram.

Seeds and Plants

In the past, I have always purchased my tomato and pepper plants as just that plants. I have never started them from seeds inside under lights as most farmers do. I do grow heirloom tomatoes so I always have a TON of volunteer plants that spring up when it starts to get warmer, but I've never actually tried to grow anything from seed.

Well times are a changin' and it's time to grow some seeds. I've seen the seed catalogs that most people get around this time of year. My mouth always waters looking through it thinking about all the delicious opportunities there are. However, I'm a VERY small gardener, so I don't need lots of seeds, really just a few of each veggie I'm going to try to grow. So, that led me to the local garden center to check out their supply.

I've decided that due to space constraints I will probably never be able to start my seeds indoors. So, I made an executive decision yesterday that I will purchase the pepper, squash, zucchini, tomato and herb plants for my garden. Then I will attempt to grow the other contents from seed ( the lady at the garden center assured me this was acceptable, my crop just wouldn't have the "jump start" that others would have by being started inside).

I have had a lot of luck with heirloom tomatoes in the past. I love their misshapen sizes and fun colors. There tastes are unbelievable as well. Last year I grew Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Mr. Stripee, and a yellow version that I can't remember the name. I also grow cherry tomatoes as I love to eat them straight off the vine!

When I went to the garden center to buy seeds, I also bought as many of the heirloom veggies I could. The only non heirloom variety I bought was nasturtium for my salads. So, I'm going to try to grow two kinds of lettuce, spinach, haricot verts, carrots, two varieties of corn, and maybe broccoli from seed. We'll see how it goes. I'm planning on using this blog to track how things are growing and if I had any success with the seeds.

Urban Farming

So, this is totally an experiment. I live in the city. My husband and I have spent the last 3 years landscaping a super cute backyard that we LOVE to relax in during the warm months. When we purchased the property a as "fixer uper" the yard barely had grass. We've since torn down the old nasty chain link fence that was completely ingrown with WILD growth.

We then set new posts and installed a 6' wood plank fence that encloses our yard on two sides, the third side we share a nice chain link fence with our neighbor. Our house makes up the forth side, completely enclosing our yard. The entire back yard is maybe 40'x40'.

We then laid a very rustic looking brick patio with paver stones recycled from a neglected parking spot on the side of our house. So now we have what looks like a real back yard. (The picture above is from 3 years ago, the landscaping has grown in a bit and some of it has even moved around.)

Our yard gets almost full sun, meaning we have lots of opportunites to put the yard to work and grow some veggies.

The back fence in the picture is south facing. the last 2 years I have amazing luck with a fantastic supply of tomatoes. I LOVE TOMATOES. I could eat them everyday of the summer and if they tasted good the rest of the year too! I plant the tomatoes close to the back fence and actually tie them up to the fence. It works great and the neighbor loves it when some of the branches hang over to his side because then he gets some free tomatoes!

Now comes the experiment part of this... This year I want to use the garden on the left side of the picture to start a "Square Foot Garden".

I've done some research on this concept of gardening that was developed by Mel Bartholomew. It sounds completely facinating. I'm waiting to get my copy of the book Square Foot Gardening from my local bookstore, should be here in a few days. Once I get through reading that, I'll post more on the start of my gardening adventure.

The Beginning

In an era of cutting back and watching what we spend, I have become more concious about many things in my life. One of them being the food that my husband and I eat. While I am very frugal, we eat almost no processed foods. This makes grocery shopping more and more expensive as the cost of fresh produce continues to rise and the amount of chemicals used on produce continues to grow. So, here is my solution. Let's grow an organic garden...

Many people have laughed at my idea (which I totally understand, you'll see why soon). But, I'm going to try to see what I can grow myself, and what I can freeze, dry, can, and preserve for the next winter. I did a small (very, very small) amount of this last fall and have loved being about to pull tomatoes out of my freezer to make sauce this winter and they actually taste like tomatoes!

Now most people think that anyone living on a farm, in any type of subdivision, or anyone that has a basic yard can do this. It is true, you're right. However, I don't live in a subdivision, and I don't live on a farm. In fact I live in downtown Columbus, OH. My husband and I share an old Italian style house on a VERY narrow lot. I joke that when most people buy land, they purchase acres, I own FEET. My entire lot is 40 feet wide!

So, here is my challenge. I want to be able to create a back yard garden that will produce enough vegetables to sustain me through the summer and hopefully allow some for the winter. My husband and I often attend the local farmer's market and I hope to continue to do this throughout the summer. I'm going to supplement my growing with produce purchased there and just see what I can have for next winter.