Hope Springs Eternal

This pastoral setting is right next to the country garden.

Last Friday my Mom and I had a wonderfully sunny and productive day in the country garden. It brought us hope for this year's gardening season and hope for the future in general. Here's the latest from both gardens:

Country Garden:

Last Friday since it was a nice, sunny day (it was in the mid-seventies by late afternoon) we did a lot of weeding, hoeing and planting of our cooler weather crops. We started out weeding and preparing the soil in the corner where there are 4-5 rhubarb plants that are really thriving this year! It'll be nice to make our first pie from our own rhubarb soon!

A lovely, healthy patch of rhubarb in the country garden.

There, we decided to create wide rows of cabbage and broccoli. Next to the fence we planted some more peas. Later on we planted some onions in this area as well. The varieties we planted include: Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage, Danish Ballhead Cabbage, Yellow of Parma Onions and Thompson Broccoli.

A view of the wonderfully prepared country garden this spring.

As my Mom planted seeds I worked on weeding and hoeing other areas including areas around the boysenberries. Sometimes I would give large clods of dirt to the chickens because they contained worms that they were more than happy to eat!

Adam in the garden near his tractor- wrapped up in towels.

While we were busy working in the garden Adam busied himself with a solar radio! He had the best time and sat in the sun very contented! Later in the afternoon he had fun wrapping himself in beach towels and then checking out the tiller, etc.

One of the very healthy raspberry plants.

Also, we checked out the progress on the raspberries, boysenberries and blueberries and it looks like they are going to have lots of berries this year!

A view of one of the blueberry bushes.

Delicious! I'm sure Adam will enjoy eating them straight off of the vines and bushes!

The boysenberries.

Later on in the weekend here's the report my Mom gave of their progress in the garden and yard:

"I put some kale and chard over by the peas and garden fence, where you did that weeding on Friday.

I did go ahead and plant carrots, parsnips, and radishes in the space between the boysenberries and the raspberries. That was the best place it seemed, as the soil is loose with no clumps at all. The parsnips in particular need that.

I made some short rows where Adam was sitting and playing with the radio on Friday. I planted a wide row of beets there, and then as I had some seeds of Brussels sprouts and cauliflower left from last year, I put those in a row alongside the beets. I also added some rows of turnips, rutabagas, and lettuce there.

I also chopped weeds among the raspberries and gooseberries, and got the blackberries out of the fence area on both sides of the fence on the end where the gooseberries are. There is still more to be done on weeding next to the fence, but the thistles and blackberries are at least chopped out of that area.

Dad worked down in the gully just north of the orchard. He burned a pile of branches, and also burned Scotch Broom and blackberries that he removed. He is continuing some of that today.

While I have been walking around between the garden and the gully, I noticed some wildflowers - bunch berry - that I have not seen here for years. They aren't in bloom and are rather sparse, but they are there. I am going to put little sticks by them to help Dad and Stuart see where to avoid mowing. I think they got overwhelmed with all of the blackberries, so maybe now some of the native plants can come back. It is my cherished hope. "

As you can see by my Mom's progress a lot has been done! It is a constant battle between the blackberries and the wildflowers and native plants- but by mowing and keeping after the blackberries many lovely native plants are coming back! It is wonderful! My Mom let me know that she has finished planting all of the cool weather crops so we will be ready in 3 weeks or so to plant the warmer weather crops such as tomatoes, basil, peppers and corn.

Suburban Garden:

My husband Paul and I did some yard work on Saturday before it started raining again. It seems like in the spring there is never more than one sunny day in a row, so if it isn't raining, it's time to hurry up and do yard work!

So, Paul trimmed back the rhododendrens close to the house, put more paving stones around the edge of the lawn, and hauled a lot of mulch to the back yard to put into the flower beds. He also mowed the front lawn. It looks really nice out front now! I also was able to edge and mulch the rhododendren/hydrangea bed in the front yard late last week.

Another view of the side yard garden with a few more flowers.

Also, on Saturday I planted a few more flowers in the side yard because it looked a bit sparse. I planted some more begonias and a few dwarf dahlias as well. I love the way it looks- so bright and cheery! I still hope someday soon the neighbors will chop up the wood next to the side yard and put it away- it would really make the yard look much nicer.

I bought 2 new herb plants at the Beaverton Farmer's Market to put in my garden. I bought a "perpetual basil" and a sage plant. They go nicely in the garden and will add to my kitchen garden. I also got my Walla Walla onions and lettuce seeds planted in my raised bed garden.

A view of our raised bed garden and back yard. We've made a lot of progress mulching the flower beds and edging the lawn with the paving stones.

Today I continued to spread mulch on the flower beds in the back yard. I had to run inside because it started to rain. However, there is only a small pile left and I am nearly finished with that job! Hooray!

In closing I'd like to leave you with a quote I thought was very important that I read in a speech by Pat Mooney- the co-founder of ETC Group in Ottowa Canada that he made to a group of Seed Savers Exchange members:

"Who's going to help us survive climate change? It's going to be the peasants, the heirloom breeders, the ones like you, who are taking care of the plant. The companies can't do it, they can't even imagine doing it, and they don't know how to do it.......So who is going to save us? Who is going to feed us? It's the peasant system. The people who love gardens, who love their land, who love their neighbors. "- Pat Mooney

I love this quote because it is so full of hope. When all is changing around us- we can do something positive by planting a garden, a flower bed, a pot on a balcony. I think that all of the people put together who work to preserve heirloom varieties and work to save plants that are important to them and that they love to grow, eat and share will help us in the coming years. I know that I love the land, my garden and my family, friends and neighbors. I want to do my part by having my suburban garden and also helping out in the country garden to make this land healthy and a better place for all.

Small Victories

Today Trista and I went out to the garden, the first time we had since last week. In fact, on Thursday of last week, September 16, I picked some lettuce to take to the beach, and that was it. The last picking before that was on Monday of that week. The weather has been difficult, which goes with the rest of the season. It was muggy and wet, and around 70 degrees. This week it will continue to be wet and even foggy, and in the 60s for highs, and 40s for low. As you know from your own experience, not much growth can be expected with weather like that.


We were pleasantly surprised to find our first zucchini (pictured above on a pile of our beans), and another small one beside it. Usually by this time we are heartily tired of that vegetable, but we count it as a small victory for this difficult season. Trista began lifting the cucumber vines, and we noticed many tiny "beginner" cukes, and a few that were pickling size. Another small victory.


Our purple-striped wax beans had a decent crop, and we noticed a few blooms still on them. So, victory number three. We're on a roll!

Next we noticed our tomatoes. Hooray! Our pet tomato, the purple calabash, had a beauty ready to pick. The Federle tomato finally gave us some partially ripe ones. The Italian Heirloom and Jaune Flamme also gave up some partially ripe tomatoes.


Next, on to the green snap beans. Yay! we have enough for each of us for dinner tonight. A tiny victory indeed.

Winter squash were surveyed, and found, well, small. For this year, that will have to count for a victory.
Two more small victories - sunflowers and grapes. The grapes are miniscule but ripening nicely, just enough for eating fresh. This is the first year, so we are okay with that. The sunflowers are blooming and pretty, but small. Enough for a bouquet, but probably no seeds, or very few anyway.
While harvesting, we talked about our expectations at the beginning of this season, and compared the harvest to last year. On both counts we came up short. At nearly 500 pounds of tomatoes on half as many plants last year, we don't think we'll get anywhere close this year. in 2009, beans were plentiful and corn grew well so we were able to freeze a lot. Cucumbers also gave us enough to make about 40 pints last year of pickles and 5 quarts of relish. The picture of the tiny pile of veggies below was our harvest for today....


This year we can count 12 pints of pickles on the shelf, and about 1 1/2 gallons of frozen wax beans. Tomatoes and green beans have only produced enough to have for fresh so far, but we should get enough to can some tomatoes, and freeze some beans.

The peppers, brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower are - as Trista says - a big pile of nothing. We'll be able to harvest beets, carrots, basil, and dry beans , though, so still some victory there. Also, potatoes produced less than expected, but we are not disappointed - it is our first effort, and we'll do better next time even if the weather conditions are as bad.

Trista had some news to share about her suburban garden, which fared a bit better. She does have Halloween pumpkins ready to be carved in time for that holiday. She had lots of rhubarb, and was able to put about half a gallon of chopped rhubarb in her freezer. Strawberries produced all season, enough to keep Adam happy finding and eating them. She also harvested some unexpected and delicious huckleberries. Trista also had some apples from her young apple tree, and combined them with a couple of apples from the farmer's market for an apple crisp.

The sweet potatoes didn't even put out a vine, and may join the above-mentioned "big pile of nothing" vegetables. We haven't dug them up to see yet, but you'll be the first to know. Her "mystery" volunteer squash may turn out to be a white pumpkin. It is round and very white, so we shall see. It is, at least, providing some entertainment, something the rest of our efforts is sorely lacking.

All the time during our disappointing harvest, we have been discussing what we might do to be successful next year. To be sure, we may not have the same difficult weather, but then again, we might. We decided to plan for the worst and hope for the best. So, we're looking for short-season tomatoes, investigating ways to make all of those "big pile of nothing" crops do better, and figuring out ways to increase the warmth of our soil for all of our crops. One idea I saw was to dig a deep trench or bed, lay in some fresh manure and cover it with soil, then plant seeds. The fresh manure will warm the soil and the seeds, so they will germinate and grow better, then as the manure decomposes, the plant's roots will have grown enough to tap into the rich nutrients it provides at that stage. It sounds good anyway, so if we can figure out how to get some fresh manure we just might do it. We are looking for other ideas too. Do you have any for us? We're listening!

Boys 'N Berries

Today we worked more on weeding and watering in the garden this afternoon. It was fairly cool in the morning- in the 60's but it sure warmed up in the afternoon. Since Adam takes a nap in the afternoon this is the time that we have to do most of our gardening work, so we have to work in the hot sun.


In the morning we picked quite a few boysenberries much to Adam's delight. He loved picking a lot of his own berries. Sometimes he would pick one that wasn't very ripe and take a bite or two and then ask me to "hold this." So cute! He sure loves berries! We also picked a few of the snap peas still on the vines.


Later in the afternoon we went out to work in the garden and I noticed the echinacea was blooming in one corner of the garden. It looks so pretty!


Our grapes (pictured above) are also doing quite well and are getting much bigger. We also saw some lettuce and beets (pictured below) growing quite nicely.




We went to work weeding two rows of carrots. This was hard work because the carrot plants are so tiny and delicate and it was hard to spot them among the grasses and weeds that were much bigger. But, we were able to uncover many carrots. Also, we worked on weeding the rows of beans. We haven't gotten the bean poles up yet but we noticed that the beans are starting to put out tendrils and wanting to climb up something so that is a project we need to tackle soon.


My Mom also watered all of the plants. Right now we just have hoses out there so it is a big job to water everything so maybe next year we'll put in some type of drip irrigation system in. While my Mom was watering the potatoes she noticed a potato sticking out of the ground! It was such a great discovery! We were very excited but then quickly covered it up so that it could grow some more. We have decided to harvest our potatoes at the very end of the season so that they have more time to grow.

Since our melon plants are so small right now we have doubts that we will get any melons this season. Our corn is still very spotty but there are a few more stalks that have come up in some areas so we made sure to water them in case there is a small chance of getting a few ears of corn.

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine!

Succotash Row

Summer's here at last!! We finally finished up our planting today after many fits and starts. We were so excited today to have a chance to get everything in the ground and get the garden off to a good start. Since so many of the plants take a while to mature, we wanted to be as quick as we could to get everything planted. In the weeks to come we can weed, clean up some areas and do some general maintenance as well.

Here is our report about what we have planted over the last couple of weeks:

On June 18, 2010 my Mom (Serena) planted some sunflowers and melons. Here are the details of what she planted:

1. 2 1/2 rows of Tarahumara Sunflowers.

2. 4 Noir des Carmes plants

3. 3 Sweet Granite Melon plants

4. 1 1/2 rows of Mongolian Giant Sunflowers

5. 1 Siberian Watermelon Plant

6. 2 rows of Titan Sunflowers

7. 3 Charentaise melon plants

Later on June 23, 2010 my Mom was able to plant a few more things to get a head start since it has been dry and warmer for a few days now. She planted:

1. 1 row of Lettuce Mixture- 45 days to maturity

2. 1/4 row of Lettuce- Pot and Patio Blend- 45 days to maturity

3. 3/4 row of Royal Burgandy Bush Beans- 52 days to maturity

4. 1 row of Pak Choi- unknown days to maturity

5. 1/3 row of Pak Choi and 2/3 row of Dragon's Tongue Beans- 55-60 days to maturity

6. 1 row of Red Russian Kale- 50 to 60 days to maturity.


Then, today- June 25, 2010 it was a dry and overcast day in the upper 60's but a fine day to finish up our planting. We planted many rows of seeds including:

1. Sweet Genovese Basil- 55 days to maturity

2. Bulls Blood Beets- 55 days to maturity

3. Danver's Carrots: 65-87 days to maturity

4. Nelson's Carrots: 65-87 days to maturity

5. Black Coco Bush Beans for snap and drying: 95 days to maturity

6. Tongues of Fire Cranberry Bush Beans for drying: 75 days to maturity

7. Calypso or Yin Yang Bush Beans for drying: 70-90 days to maturity

8. Swedish Brown Beans for drying: 82-95 days to maturity

9. Hutterite Soup Bush Bean for drying: 80-85 days to maturity

10. Santa Maria Pinquito Bean for drying: unknown days to maturity

11. Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean: 75 days to maturity

12. 1/2 a row of Blue Lake Pole Beans

13. Christmas Lima Beans: 71 to 80 days to maturity

14. Scarlet Runner Pole Beans: 70 to 75 days to maturity

15. True Red Cranberry Pole Beans: 70 to 75 days to maturity. These adapt well to the cold.

16. Bantam Corn

We planted some rows of corn during the time that it was cold and wet but none of it has come up. Since the sunflower seeds that we planted around the same time came up and the corn has not, we guess that it won't. That is why we planted more corn over by the pole beans. By now you are probably wondering why we titled this post "succotash row", well it is because we did part of a row of corn along with a row of beans and it is one of our favorite vegetable dishes!

In other news, the potato plants are looking really nice and getting tall. Also, we were able to harvest and eat a few of the peas. The tomato plants are looking good and getting much bigger as well. The raspberries are ripening but the plants are looking a bit on the yellow side, so we need to figure out what is ailing them.


Suburban Garden Report:

Over on the other side of town, things are mostly going very well in my garden. My rhubarb is getting big enough now where I am going to harvest some this Saturday to make a strawberry rhubarb pie. I will post the recipe later on with some photos! Also, it has been fun to go into the garden every morning with Adam and help him pick strawberries. He loves to sit down and pick the tops off and eat them. It's a joy to see him relish the strawberries this time of year!

In the other bed I have bad news! The squirrels dug up all of the seed peanuts and took off with them. Also, in the process they dug up two of my sweet potato plants and they are now gone. But, at least the rest of my sweet potato plants are doing well. Our "sharecropper" pumpkin plant is really thriving and has even bloomed and has many buds on it.

That's our gardening news for this week!