Sovereignty Farms

Veggie Garden Plan

I have not yet begun to follow this, but found it in the Encyclo of Country Living and intend to adapt to it.  it is a seasonal planting plan for veggies.  The number next to each crop is the suggested number of plants per adult eater in your home....

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Lovin' Broccoli

 We harvested our first broccoli head this season.� Actually, it is the first ever.� Other years that I have tried to grow it, the rabbits got to it first.� I am amazed at how large it is!! And it is oh-so-good. Here is Dan modeling the yumminess.

 

Tomatoes

I have never pruned my tomatoes before but I want to do that this year - here are some tips I read off various sites

• keep tomatoes free of side stems below the first fruit cluster (indeterm. and determ)
• encourage a strong stem - remove all suckers and don't tie plants to their supports until the first flowers appear
• only prune indeterminates such as beefsteak, brandywine, celebrity, early girl, big boy
• for a multi-stemmed plant, let a second stem grow from the first node above the first fruit. allow a third stem to develop from the second node above the first set fruit, and so forth.4 max

A Stretch of Un-Luck

I put out some seeds and plants, as I mentioned in previous posts.  All was good because of the rain we had.  THEN....rabbits ate my chives and bunching onions...and pulled out my broccoli plants....

then...

I decided to try and reuse to irrigation from prior to the tornado.  I stretched it out, etc, etc...only to learn that the water faucet it uses is not working...

Dan dug up the water for the barn and noticed the pipe is busted, so we have to get a plumber to fix it.  Goodness know how much that will cost.  In the meantime, I have no way to water those plants and I am leaving for a week....

I feel like everything in there is not going to make it.  It makes me sad.  This is not the most encouraging way to pick back up on the gardening.

Planting More Veggies

It has been raining over the past several days, so I am a little behind in planting.  Cooper let me work in the yard for about 20 minutes today.  And, I used a new hoe which helped speed things along.  Here is the progress:

• Sowed dill seeds and red onion seeds outside (red onion seeds may not work but I am giving it a try) as well as Super Snappy peas
• Sowed lettuce and okra seeds indoors
• It is time to transplant broccoli, onion and parsley but I did not sow them in time.  So, I planted plants from Home Depot - 2 broccoli, sweet onion slips and red onion slips.  I have parsley growing under the lights so I will transplant it later.

I was not able to plant another set of radishes or greens (ran out of time).  Also, it is time to plant potatoes, but I am not ready yet.  I am still growing the eyes on some potatoes indoors. And, I all of that is work t=for LAST week.  I still need to do this weeks work. Whew. But the weather is supposed to cooperate - yeah.

Let the gardening begin!

I have started some seeds upstairs under the lights based on the plans of my little gardening notebook from my last post.  They include Oregano, Basil (multiple kinds), Chives (regular and garlic), Parsley (flat and curly), Tomatoes (5 types including Rutgers and Roma), Peppers (hot and sweet) and lettuce (multiple kinds).  Today Cooper and I planted 2 kinds of mustard greens and 2 kinds of radishes.  They were sewed directly outside.  It is my first time for growing both of those.  I am excited about the radishes.  I need to get Dan to teach me how to use the rabbit gun.  I am determined to win this year!!

I desperately need to get some mulch down. In the veggie garden and in the flower beds.  I am thinking we will move to pinestraw - it is cheaper.  I am still trying to figure out how to consolidate the beds.  I need to do it quickly.  The sun is already killing the ajuga.

We did not get the snow that everyone else did this week.  It was so disappointing. We got lots of rain but pretty much nothing else - however, here is a picture of my Dad's house not too far away:

Back from nowhere

I'm back! I can't believe how long it has been since I posted.  Since then, I have lived through a tornado that destroyed our property, been on bed rest while pregnant, and had my son.  Having a newborn is much more work than I ever dreamed of.  I was able to hire someone to come and clear the weeds from my garden while he was very young - the tornado brought in weeds by the droves - and the natural course of not being able to care for the yard while on bed rest just made it worse.  Now Cooper is 6 months ( you can see him here: Cooper's Blog).

Last weekend I was able to till up the veggie garden.  It was a very difficult job; the soil was very compact because of all the trucks rolling over it to fix the damage of the storm.  The soil looks very good, though.  Two years prior I had laid tons of newspaper and pinestraw down. I still need to lay the irrigation system back down. I think I want to change out the T-tape, but I am not sure if there is any left since it was stored in the out-building that the  tornado took out. Hope to do all of that this coming weekend.

We had people come the same weekend of my tilling - they cleaned up the tree damage on the surviving trees - all but one.  The one by the road is very dangerous and they couldn't do it.  We have to get it done soon before the whole thing falls on a passing car. 

I met a woman the other day who has some shade.  We are going to swap shade plants for sun plants since I am lacking shade nowadays.  Right when I had learned to love shade plants.  In fact, I really know nothing about sun plants.  Need to study those.  I can't think of anything to plant which is just ridiculous.  First priority is consolidating my beds, though.  They are too spread out now for caring for them with a child.

Just ordered seeds for the veggie garden.  I am a little behind on some, but it will be ok. Pictures soon, I hope.

Fall Veggies

This weekend I planted a row each of Broccoli, Collards, Spinach, Romain, Iceberg and Onions. In October I will also plant some Garlic and we will be able to harvest most of the sweet potatoes in November.

I am really concerned about the rabbits eating the newly planted veggies - they are more tastey for them than previous plantings.

OUCH!

Tonight I thought I was being so good and cleaning out the garden a little before the sun went down. Well, as I was pulling out an old okra plant - BAM! I was stung by a saddleback caterpiller. Crazy thing is, I just learned about it yesterday in my Master Gardener class. Someone brought one in and we talked about it. And then I got stung tonight, looked on the ground, and there was the little bugger. It hurts really bad!

"The poisonous hairs or spins are hollow and connected to underlying poison glands. Contact with them causes a burning sensation and inflammation that can be as painful as a bee sting. The irritation can last for a day or two and may be accompanied by nausea during the first few hours. Usually the site of contact reddens and swells much like a bee sting."

Changing Attitudes

Last night I was anxious. We have a lot of vegetables in the kitchen that have not been 'processed' in any way and may even have gone bad. And in the garden there is tons more peppers, tomatoes, okra, squash and cucmber. And I feel anxious letting them potentially go bad on the vine, but otherwise they would go bad in the kitchen.

So Dan pointed out something to me. He said it is ok if we don't harvest everything, and some things go bad. This is our first year experimental garden. The world will keep turning if we don't harvest or preserve everything. And next year, we execute on lessons learned (like planting fewer plants and making them further apart). Whew! I know all that may seem obvious to you, the reader. But what an epiphany for me. What a load off my shoulders.

Now, this doesn't mean I am going to let the whole thing got to hell in a hand basket. BUT, I can if I want to. hehe. Sometimes, I feel like I have so much to do that it literally paralyzes me and I do none of it. This is why the pinestraw is not on the whole bed yet (the new one).