What I'm Learning From BBC TV

When Erin over at The Impatient Gardener made a YouTube channel with all kinds of gardening shows linked, I decided to just take a look.

I'm addicted already and it's only been a week!

What I like most about it is the practical tips. Like most gardeners, I'm learning by trial and error as I go, and I've read all kinds of books. Sometimes, though, just having a person show me how to do a task while explaining why sinks in and makes so much more sense.

 

So without further ado, what I've learned so far from Monty Don and others on the Gardener's World 2014 series:

 

1. Pruning Roses

 

Winter pruning stimulates growth, therefore prune back the weakest shoots the hardest.  My 'Yellow Topaz' rose in back (pictured) is very vigorous, but an odd shape. I'm looking forward to March for a good pruning!

My 'Watercolors' rose and my burgundy iceberg rose will also get pruned based on this advice.

 

Summer pruning inhibits growth. 

 

2. Growing potatoes

 

potatoes planted last year with the square foot gardening method

 

I've been doing the square foot gardening method where you dig a hole, then fill it in as the plant grows up.  Also, I have cut up the seed potatoes and put 4 or 5 pieces in each hole.

I'm going to try Monty's method this year: chit the potatoes first (put it in a sunny place for the eyes to grow), then plant whole potatoes, small end down, 6 inches deep. One potato per hill. Done.

The closer together, the smaller the potatoes you'll get. I didn't know that.

So I'll plant them 12-18 inches apart.

It sound so much easier than the method I've been doing.

Also, harvest them with a fork rather than a shovel!

So many of them last year were sliced in half with the shovel inadvertently.

 

3. For fruit trees, strength and vigor of the tree make it want to grow upwards, but more fruit forms on the horizontal branches. It makes a lot of sense.  Apparently roses are this way as well.

So, for anything you want fruit/lots of blooms from, or that you're training to a trellis, fan the branches out horizontally or at a 45 degree angle for maximum fruit or flowers.

I just bought a climbing rose for the back flowerbed, so I will definitely keep that in mind.

 

Apple tree behind the shed, the first summer after planting.

It has not blossomed since and now doesn't even get that much sun with the completion of the shed.

 

4. This is more of just a mindset, but if it's not working, take it out or move it.

This is inspiring me to move my lilac bush off the slope. It has maybe grown 6 inches in the last 4 years. Obviously, it is not getting what it needs on the slope. It has never flowered, either.

If the roots look fine, I'll transplant it over to our East side terrace.

Also, the apple tree behind the shed needs to move.

Looking at it with what I know now, almost every branch is vertical, no doubt reaching for the light.

It just gets too much shade back there. No wonder it hasn't blossomed since the first year.

So that will be moved as well, probably to the East side terraces, although I'm toying with the idea of trying espalier on the west side of the house.

 

I would love to add a Japanese maple back there, if there is one that would cope with the clay soil.

 

 

Similarly, the blueberry bushes that have struggled for so long need to go. I either need to move the strawberries away from them, refresh the bed's soil and plant new ones, or just take out the acidic soil, replace it with regular stuff, and make it part of the garden.

 

5. With trees, don't add compost to the hole. Make it wide and fairly shallow. The tree's roots need to spread out into the surrounding soil as quickly as possible, so if it's a lot different than what you've put in the hole, the roots won't want to leave and the tree will be weaker. 

 

6. Repetition is what turns a random collection of plants into a garden.

I've been thinking about my front, top terrace.

 

The top terrace.

Daphne at the bottom front of the picture, with hardy hydrangea, boxwood, snowball bush, and elderberry as you move around towards the top.

 

The other 2 terraces have all kinds of lovely repetition going on.

That one I just plunked down 5 different shrubs and it has always bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on why. Now I know. So I'm going to move the tiny little daphne on the end and plant another boxwood there, to add a little more repetition and continuity.

I'm debating moving the snowball bush as well, but haven't decided on that yet.

 

7. Plants I want to add after watching:

buddleia (butterfly bush): my front flowerbeds are supposed to attract bees/butterflies and I have quite a few plants that do that, but I need a buddleia. I don't have room for one unless something comes out, or I can put some in on the east side terraces.

 

ornamental grasses: I had this thought as I was watching last night--if weedy grass does really well on my back slope, there must be some ornamental grasses that would do well, right? I'm going to do a little research and see what I can find out.

Also, research "clay slope wildflower mix" and see what I can come up with.

The mix I tried a few years ago did absolutely nothing, but then, it had all that weedy grass to compete with.

 

dahlias: I've always avoided these, beautiful as they are, because I didn't want the bother of digging them up every fall, storing them, and replanting in the spring. So the brilliant (ha! see, the lingo is sinking in as well) thing to do is to plant them in pots. Then the whole pot can be put in, or at the very least, they will be easy to dig back up and take care of, as you will be emptying the pot in the fall anyway.

 

 

I was going to start taking notes then I thought--oh yeah, that's why I have a blog. Cracking!

This year I'll be filling in the rest of the east-side terrace, so I'm busy thinking about what I want over there. I also just bought some roses to plant down in front on the west side of the driveway, to begin changing that blank landscape into something worth looking at.

I'm excited to get started on some of these changes!

Only 2 more months to go!

 



A Few Gardening Goals for 2014

Rather than add these to my (ahem) already lengthy list of personal resolutions, I decided to list them here, where maybe I will actually remember to do them.


1. Baby the blueberries.
    Has a nice ring to it, right? What I'm saying is--actually use the lovely soil ph tester kit I bought last summer and figure out how far I need to go. Add sulphur or ammonium sulfate, mulch with pine needles, think blue thoughts. Something. Going into year 3 with the blueberries, we have gotten a total of 6 berries. **BONUS! A whole blue spruce former Christmas tree just loaded with needles has now taken up residence along the side fence. Get 'em while the getting's good!
    
     1a. Move the strawberries away into their own side of the terrace, once the newly expanded top is complete. The ones that did the best were on the end without the special acidic soil anyway.

2.  Buy or make a birdbath.
     I look and I sigh and I shudder at the prices, but this is the year. Time to just do it. Something solid that the kiddos can't pull over onto themselves would be good.

3.  Add a few more kid-friendly garden features.
     I'm thinking a mud-pie kitchen would super fun, or a water-wall, or a sandbox, or some whirligigs, or even marbles set into the fence. (Except that it's technically the neighbor's fence...darn! Maybe they would give permission?) My Pinterest board "A Child's Garden" is chock full of good ideas. Now to get on it!

4. Assuming the garden extension project is completed--grow corn, squash, and maybe even pumpkins.  All those crops I haven't had room for. Oh yes, and at least a few complete sections of flowers--sunflowers, cosmos, or even sweet peas. Just because flowers make everything better--even the vegetable garden.

5. Pick flowers/plants to bring inside for an arrangement at least once a week.
    It's fun. It's addicting. Kids love it, too. Let's do it.

6.  Keep a hanging planter filled with flowers alive on the hook in front of the shed.
    The Topsy-Turvy tomato plant didn't fare so well in that location. Perhaps some pretty flowers will help me remember to actually water it.

7.  Make and can tomato sauce from my own tomatoes this fall.

I could keep going, but this will do for now.  You'll notice "weed regularly" or even "kill every thistle in the yard" didn't make the list. I'm shooting for achievable goals this year, people.

Front Landscaping Renovations: Overview

We have really been working hard on our front flowerbeds the past few weeks.

 

Thanks so much to VaLynn from VW Garden! She's another East-side gardener like me, and offered to share some plants with me.

Well, I was like a kid in a candy shop!

It was such fun to talk plants and gardens with another like-minded person for most of an afternoon! And I could hardly believe the bounty she loaded me up with!

It was the most fun I've had in ages. :)

 

I can't believe I didn't get one single picture with her, or of the plants.

[sigh] And I call myself a garden blogger!

Next time. For sure.

 

My husband, meanwhile, got the low wall closest to the road finished, as well as filling it and the new top bed with dirt and rototilling everything.

I also bought several shrubs to fill in the space with, as well.

Cue the planting marathon!

 

Top Bed, Before:

 

 

Top Bed, After:

I'll do a separate post detailing the shrubs and what plants went where.

 

Lower Terrace, Driveway Side

Before:

 

 

Lower Terrace, After:

 



Again, the details of what I planted will be the next post!

 

Front Landscaping

Terraces Filled in!

 

Left-side corner

The plank terraces, trees, and corn you see in the background all belong to our awesome next-door neighbors.

Middle

Right-side

Thoughts and Plans:

 

My idea here overall was to have most of the color and blooming perennials in the middle terrace, with the top and bottom being more evergreen, non-competing, background-type plants.

 

The top is all shrubs: taller-growing varieties that will help bridge the gap between the flat ground and our very tall house, and also give us some privacy in the basement.

(The window in these pictures is our basement window. I should include a shot of the whole house sometime, so you can see what I mean by the height difference. It's significant.)

I may add a few crocuses to this bed, or I may just leave it as is.

 

The bottom is a mix of shrubs and perennials. I chose varieties that should get almost to the top of the wall behind them, but not cover it completely. I used a lot of repetition in this terrace, to avoid competing with the busyness up above, so I've got a couple of sections of shrubs, with similar plantings between them.

 

We keep waffling between putting in a sidewalk in the very front vs. planting grass.

My husband made sure the wall left room for either.

Now I just have to keep everything alive through this heat wave!

Nearly everything I planted should do fine without much water, once established.

Here's hoping our water bill isn't sky-high! 



Berry Bliss

We love berries around here.

Raspberries? Check.

Blackberries? 1 wild vine with more planned.

Plus, friendly neighbors with a big patch and an open invitation to pick.

Let's call that a check.

Blueberries? 3 shrubs put in on the slope, 2 surviving.

No berries produced last year. Hmmm.

Strawberries? No. Haven't found a space for them yet.

 

It's time for:

Plan B: Bring on the Berries

 

Exhibit A

As you can see, 'Patriot' here is nearly being overtaken by the weed grass.

Still kicking, but not thriving.

Hasn't grown much since planted, at all.

 

Exhibit B

Over on the left side, 'Blue Ray' is having similar issues: very slow growth rate, and abundant weed competition.

 

But what have we here?

Enter, the hero of our story!

Yes you, top terrace.

(Oh, unassuming little top terrace. Have I got big plans for you!)

What if....I pull the 2 remaining blueberry bushes out of their dead-end spots on the slope, and plunk them down for good right in my top terrace?

I think I will even have room to add one more, to replace the one that died.

 

By transplanting the blueberries to the top terrace I will be able to:

A) amend the soil more to their liking without it all washing down the slope

B) Make sure they get watered all through the summer.

C) purchase and plant strawberries to fill in around them (2 birds down!)

D) speaking of birds, add bird netting as needed, when all those delicious berries start being produced.

 

I worried a little about losing the space for vegetables, but soon talked myself out of that. 

My husband is planning to expand the bottom two terraces this year, so I should have almost as much room as I would be losing. Besides, I'd rather have my own berry bushes producing and run to the store for some vegetables if I need to. Berries are expensive!

 

I even ran this brilliant brainstorm past my husband. He approved.

So, next step is to get some acid-lover's soil amendment and get to work!

I'm really excited.

Bring on the berry bliss!

 

The Back Slope: Facing Facts

This post is linked up to Lessons Learned, over at PlantPostings.

 

With ice and snow still sticking around outside, I've taken to reading gardening books lately. Somewhere in the stack I pulled out a gem that's going to change my whole approach to the back slope, aka "Ladybug Hill."

Here's what I learned:

In gardening, you figure out what works. Then you repeat that. Success. Repeat. Success. Repeat.

In other words, when you hit on something that works in one location, plant more of that. 

Sounds simple, doesn't it?  I think the first part is the most important (and what I have not done very well.)

OBSERVE what is working, and what is not.

It's one thing to plant a flowerbed with carefully amended soil. When it's an area running the entire length of my yard, sloping up steeply to the neighbor's yard, amending just isn't an option: don't have the time, money, or desire.

I would say it is high time for a little observation.

Meet: The Back Slope

So, what do I have to work with? The soil is pretty much straight clay. 2/3 of it gets full sun, the other 1/3 is shaded. Prevailing winds blow right across it. Basically nothing was done with it for a good 10 years, at least, before we bought the place. It was one great big weed patch.

I imagined a terraced garden, with blossoms and pretty plants filling in the rest. Perhaps a few rock trails up to the top.  Thanks to the hard work of my husband, I've got 3 lovely terraces for vegetables.

But other than that, let's face it. Most of what I've planted on the back slope, outside the terraces of our vegetable garden, has died. Roses, hollyhocks, blueberry bushes (well, 1 has died & the other 2 look diseased), daylilies, hydrangeas, wildflower mix (seeds). 

Dead and gone.

Plus, there are several things that are still hanging on, but not necessarily thriving. Such as:

1. spring bulbs: alliums, tulips, daffodils, and crocuses

2. apple trees (2)

3. lilac bush

4. hostas

5. heuchera

Here is what thrives on my back slope, of its own free will:

 

1. Weedy grass

2. Dandelions, vetch, clover, thistles, other weeds

3. Aspens

4. Wild lupines

5. Wild daisies

6. Wild blackberry

7. staghorn sumac

While it hasn't shaped up quite like I had hoped, it does have some good points. My children love to slide down the grass and make hideouts in it (yes, it gets tall enough to do that in the summer).  We pick the daisies and lupines for bouquets. There have been a handful of blackberries each summer to share. Ladybugs really seem to like the weedy grass.

Now Presenting:

The Back Slope Game Plan # 57

Plant more of what already works.

How's that for anti-climatic?

So this spring, I'm heading to the nursery to buy:

1. lupines

2. daisies & daisy-like flowers (possibly coreopsis, black-eyed susan, or echinacea?)

3. blackberry vines (preferrably thornless)

The weeds, grass, and aspens can fend for themselves.

The Great Bulb Countdown 2012

10/26: Bulb order came yesterday!! From: www.vanengelen.com

They all looked great and smelled so good when I opened the box. Now to get them in the ground ASAP, as we had our first snowfall today. Didn't stick, but it's only a matter of time.  Go, go, go!

Thought it might be helpful to start keeping track. Also, to help myself remember where I've put things!

More info about each one at the bottom.

# received / planted :: type of bulb:: where planted ::

100 / 100 :: Tulip Mariette :: front flowerbed, behind peonies; also a few other clumps scattered along back wall in front; back flowerbed, both sides of yellow topaz rose, plus a clump by other rose bush; scattered on the slope
5 / 5 :: Asiatic daylily, 'Elodie' :: 4 clumps, back flowerbed, close to house
5 / 5 :: Asiatic daylily, 'Rosella's Dream' :: 4 clumps, back flowerbed, close to house
5 / 5 :: Asiatic daylily, 'White Heaven' :: 4 clumps, back flowerbed, close to house
100 / 100 :: Narcissus Miniature mixture :: small clumps dispersed throughout front flowerbed; also, back flowerbed, both sides and in front of yellow topaz rose, either side of dogwood in shade bed
15 / 15 :: Anemone Blanda Mix :: front flowerbed, in place of bacopa
5 / 5 :: Blue Dutch iris :: front flowerbed, driveway side, between phlox and salvia next to wall
10 / 10 :: Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) :: front flowerbed, to the left of peonies, in front of coneflowers
10 / 10 :: Purple Crocus :: back flowerbed, in front of mockorange
10 / 10 :: Striped Squills :: front flowerbed, driveway side, all the way to the end; tulips underneath, these scattered on top
20 / 20 :: Drumstick Alliums :: behind big salvia (between coneflowers and phlox), next to wall
_________________
285 / 285  DONE!!

10/31: Today's weather was gorgeous! I planted most of them on Saturday, in the cold drizzly rain, but today was sunny and in the 50's. I just had on a sweatshirt.

=============================================================================
Info:
Tulip 'Mariette': lily-flowering tulip. Blooms May, 22" tall. Rosy pink.
Lily 'Elodie': Asiatic hybrid lily. Blooms June/July, 3-4' tall. Pale pink.
Lily 'Rosella's Dream': Asiatic hybid lily. Blooms June/July, 3-4' tall. Blush pink & white.
Lily 'White Heaven': Longiflorum hybrid lily. Blooms June/July, 2-3 1/2' tall. Bright white.
Narcissus miniature mix: Blooms April. 6-11" tall. Mixed colors.
Anemone Blanda Mix: spring flowering, 3-4" tall. Mix of purple, white, pink.
Blue Dutch iris: Late spring flowering, 20-24" tall. Deep blue/purple.
Blue Grape Hyacinths: Muscari Armeniacum. Mid-spring flowering, 6-8" tall.
    "Spikes of tiny, fragrant, cobalt-blue, bell-shaped flowers."
Purple Crocus: Blooms late winter to early spring, 4-6" tall.
Striped Squills: Puschkinia libanotica. Blooms late winter to early spring, 4-6" tall.
     "An early spring bloomer with loose clusters of pale blue flowers."
Drumstick Alliums: Blooms early summer, 30" tall.

Extending the retaining wall, phase 1

Scooping out the dirt.

The plan is to extend both wall all the way along the side to the back and put in a new fence along the top of the top wall. We'll need some kind of gate in it as well to provide access to the front from that side of the house.

 Jason had to fill in the hillside with a bunch of dirt in order to make a path over to where the wall will end. (To show about the level of the yard that we want to have.)

When this project is done, we should have a good 10 feet of extra backyard to use.

Sweetness! 

Top row dug out and gravel put down.

Tour of Front & Side Yards

While we have made some progress, we obviously still have a long way to go to make the front and sides of our house look good.  I hope our neighbors will continue to be patient!

First up: West Side Yard

So this view hasn't changed much since last fall, except the huge debris pile has been taken to the dump(all the cut-down trees, pulled out juniper/cottoneaster bushes, and wood pallets).

We really want to finish the siding, for one thing.

Also, I think we'll probably plant grass and have a long flowerbed close to the house, hopefully with some tall-growing shrubs/small trees to break that big blue expanse a little.

We still plan to level off the dirt pile with the neighbor's yard down below, then perhaps put in either retaining wall (or something) up higher where ours slopes up to meet the gate.

We've even considered putting 1-2 extra windows in the master bedroom and playroom to make it look better on this side of the house, but that would be awhile down the road.

These raspberry canes will all be moved to the backyard when we transplant the others.

I would occasionally remember to give them a little spray of water through the fence, but not very often. And the berries got pretty dusty right here. Plus, they just don't look very good right here all by themselves. And they would get in the way of the new bed/shrubs.

Front yard

 I realized I had never taken a picture of our new retaining wall, built last fall.

So here it is, from across the street.

This is where we've seen the most progress.

Also, between these two walls is the flower bed mentioned in my chore list, that needs to be filled-in with dirt, then planted. I want to put a couple of peonies in, some purple coneflowers, perhaps some daisies, and I haven't decided what else. Maybe the lavender from over by the front steps.

I also want to plant some that will trail over the sides of the bottom wall.

We are planning to put in a sidewalk in front of the walls, and widen the driveway.

Which means I'll need to move the bulbs I planted around the mailbox, unless we leave a little planter box square around it, or something.

The ground that is left after sidewalk/driveway go in will also be for shrubs/flowers.

I'm thinking of doing something very shallowly-rooted, like irises from my back flowerbed, since all the power/utility lines run underground right there.

I probably need to wait until the hardscaping is done, though, so my plants don't get trampled in the process.

 These rose bushes really need pruning back.

Maybe I'll get to them before baby?

Then I want to move them, as well. We will probably be changing this entryway at some point--tearing out the stairs and putting in rock steps up to a wider porch...or something. In any case, the rose bushes would have to be moved at that point, anyway. I've thought about putting them in front of our retaining walls, where they start to curve back toward the house.

Only problem is--the water meter is right there in the middle of everything.

These next pictures are from the flowerbed under the eaves in front.

I think all three of these scraggly little shrubs need to be torn out.

Looking back up top at the view from across the street, it looks really strange and unbalanced to have the big bushy evergreen next to the steps, then these three small shrubs, which barely come up to the window.

 I think for anything to really live and do well right here, the bed will need to be extended out by another 1-2 feet, so whatever I plant will not be hidden under the eaves.

Right now I'm thinking either evergreen shrub needs to come out, or I need to put one bigger shrub in on the other side of the window (or small tree, perhaps) that will balance it out. It would need to be roughly the same size and visual heft, which could be hard to do.

If we pulled out the evergreen shrub, or transplanted it elsewhere (maybe a good candidate for the west-side yard?I would still probably put one larger something to the left of the windows.

At the moment I'm thinking of maybe a Japanese maple, or smaller tree like that.

East yard

I didn't take a picture of the main part of this side. It's a bit depressing.

Our current thoughts are one retaining wall running back to the fence.

Grassy slope from house down to wall, with 2-3 half-circle planting beds filled with shrubs/small perennials. Grass or gravel for the flat part as alternative parking pad.

Until all or any of that gets going, here's what's growing right up next to the house:

About the same assortment as last year: irises, tulips, with some wild daisies thrown in.

These will all be transplanted--probably to one of the new planter beds, once those get put in.

With our garden beds done, we're hoping to make some good progress on the rest this year.

Some decent curb appeal would be nice, as would a finished look.

Bulbs for the slope

Bad picture, because I was too lazy to write them all down.

Oh well.

I just got them from Ace Hardware. Once I get all of these planted, we'll see if I have time and energy before frost to do any others.

So a quick rundown: Snow crocus, Glory of the Snow (Chinodoxa), Tulips (Easter Joy mix), Daffodil (trumpet mix), Wood Hyacinths (also called Spanish bluebells),  Allium, and Allium 'Persian Blue'. 

I just read that some gardeners on the west-side (Seattle/Portland) have found the wood hyacinths to be invasive. I'm hoping our climate over here is different enough that it won't be a problem. They would have to compete with the lupines, which are pretty well established, and all that poky grass, so maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing.

The first two are supposed to be very early bloomers, on to mid-spring, then the alliums in late spring.

I plan to put the early, shorter bulbs in front--perhaps close to the front apple tree or lilac bush. Daffodils and tulips only came with 5 in a package, so I guess I'll clump them. I may put daffodils in the flower bed where I had some annuals this year.

 Alliums not sure of yet--I think they're full sun, so I may plant them somewhere above the garden, or in the top-left corner. Something to brighten up those dead, weedy spaces. I can imagine a beautiful contrast in shape with the tall purple lupines up there.

It wouldn't hurt to get a few more tulips and daffodils, but I've been so busy canning and such this fall, that my flowerbeds and gardening--other than the vegetables--have gotten neglected.

I still want to clear out the back flowerbed and essentially start over, but they may have to wait until spring at this point. Maybe if I can get a good shrub in before winter to replace the oakleaf hydrangea, then work on the rest next year.

Slope Dreams

Lately I've been dreaming up what I want to do with our back slope, in addition to the three garden-bed terraces for vegetables. It really needs some shrubs for wind-break for the terraces, and something other than that course grass to hold up the slope would be nice, too.

My current plan is to do at least one lilac bush to help with wind break, up between the aspens, maybe.  Some shrub roses would be nice, as well, to help filter the wind. Violas around the base of the apple trees (coming in seed order).  At the top of the slope I'm thinking about doing either a hedge of some sort to help with privacy (all we currently have is a chain-link fence), or possibly a planting of sunflowers all the way across.

I want to leave the small mountain ash that's to the side of the garden.

Starting next fall, I'm going to plant little pockets of daffodils, crocuses, and other spring bulbs scattered across the "wild" part of the slope. I think it would be so cheering to look out and see little patches of color here and there amidst the drab brown late-winter grass.  Before I do that, though, the whole slope needs some serious pooper-scooping. {sigh} At least it's not on the lawn as much, right?

I need to find a place for some grape vines and more raspberries, but haven't decided where the best placement of those would be. Blueberries would be a bonus too, but they might have to wait a year.

Backyard Progress

  Garden Spot

Doing some digging--straight into clay! Jason has had to use the pick-axe to break some of the dirt loose.

This will be the bottom level of our terraced garden, eventually to have keystone of some kind make a short wall all around it.  We put a hold on this digging project in favor of the shed--seeing as how it will be MUCH easier to work on the garden if we don't have to carry our tools back and forth to the garage each time.

The Shed

Jason hasn't had a whole lot of time to work on this project, but he has managed to get all the blocks in and levelled for the foundation.  Tuesday he built the floor, shown here. It's not nailed together yet.

As you can see, it will step down in the middle. We'll put two doors on it, one over where Diamond is,

and the other directly opposite on the bottom level.

Top level will be for equipment storage, mostly.

Bottom level will be a potting shed for me! Woohoo!

I've got a design drawn up with a potting bench, 2 windows, a pegboard for hand tools, and lots of shelving and cupboards.  Plus, Jason plans to put in skylights. 

I'm excited to see this taking shape!

Spring Planting Prep

I'm getting ready to put in the cold-weather vegetables. It turns out we will be here through the end of July, so I am going to go ahead and plant potatoes, onions, and peas again. I would also like to try carrots and beets in the later spring.

Box 1: All potatoes--2 varieties
Yukon Gold + ?

Box 2: 4 squares peas--Super Snappy + use up the rest of others
4 squares onion
3 squares beets
3 squares carrots
2 squares flowers

To get ready to plant:
1. Pooper scoop!
2. Rake up leaves from boxes that haven't decomposed and add to compost pile.
3. Add dirt & compost as needed to fill up boxes.
4. Replace string for measuring squares, as needed.
5. Purchase potatoes, onion sets, check number of seeds and buy if needed.
6. Plant potatoes, onions, and peas some time around March 17!

Tomatoes: Thoughts & Plans

I made and canned spaghetti sauce this weekend. About the same amount of work as doing salsa, but with fewer types of vegetables added in, the yield amounted to 3 quarts. It is work I enjoy, for the most part, because the end result is so rewarding: preserving the harvest so it doesn't go to waste, and having delicious home-canned food in the pantry. However, taking a whole day to can tomatoes for 3 quarts of tomato sauce seems like a lot of effort for not very much payback.

Here's what I've decided would make it better and more efficient:

1. Find a friend! This would go so much faster with 2 people doing it! Obviously, the cooking and hot-water bath times would remain the same, but the prep time would be cut way down. And perhaps we could even get a second batch going while the first was cooking, or something.
I think I need to move closer to mom, so we can be canning buddies. :) I just know she would be up for it.

2. Do more than one batch at a time, which leads to...

3. Grow more tomatoes of different varieties.
One thing I have found out about us this year is that we don't eat very many fresh tomatoes: 2-3 full-size per week, if we're in a salad or sandwich mode. However, we do eat tacos and/or spaghetti at least once a week it seems. So we would use home-canned salsa and spaghetti sauce if it was available.
Both times I made salsa, I ended up buying at least 5 pounds more tomatoes from the Farmer's Market in order to have enough to make up the recipe. I probably should have done the same for the spaghetti sauce. So the yield from our 4 Better Boy plants-somewhere between 40 and 50 tomatoes so far--is far too many to eat fresh, but still not quite enough to can.
Also, the roma or paste tomatoes are supposed to be better for canning, which makes sense, because they have meatier walls and fewer seeds, equalling less juice to boil down. However, they are smaller, so it would take more of them. Not sure if they are determinate or not.

Bottom line: Next time plant 4-8 roma, preferably with different harvesting times, to use primarily for canning. Plant 1-2 "Better Boy" or similar indeterminate variety for eating fresh and to supplement yields for canning. Perhaps 1-2 experimental types would also be fun--yellow, or green zebras--to add some variety.

Plans for cherry tomatoes:

I have not been as good about giving these away or finding recipes to use them in. The thought of skinning them all made adding them to salsa recipes a little daunting, but perhaps there would be an efficient way to do this--if so, that would be awesome.

Once again, we prefer the "Sun Sugar" yellow-orange variety to the classic red "Sweet 100." With just one plant of each variety, we have still had way more cherry tomatoes than we can eat fresh. The "Sun Sugar" hasn't yielded nearly as many as the "Sweet 100" this year, so for cherry tomatoes, I want to try planting 2 Sun Sugars next year (or similar variety) and not plant the red ones at all.

That adds up to a whole lot of tomatoes!
Square-foot garden translation:

I've already decided that it would be better to give the tomatoes the 9-squares each away from the trellis, and put a tall sturdy cage around them, rather than trying to contain them in one square each and train them up a trellis. The containment and training components just didn't happen.

However, with 4x4 beds, that means only 1 tomato plant per bed. This needs more thought, because that would still take most of the available space in just tomatoes, when the other space-hogs, like squash, would need their own room.