LibertyBelle's Garden 2012

[LibertyBelle]

It may be only the 2nd day of January, but 2012's garden season is underway! 
So far I have the following seeds planted:

Victoria Rhubarb
Giant Musselburgh Leeks
Precoce d’ Argenteuil Asparagus
Single Italian Plain Leaf Parsley
Italian Giant Parsley
Tendercrisp Celery
Tall Utah Celery
Italian Long Purple Eggplant
Thai Long Purple Eggplant
Evesham Special Brussels Sprouts
Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts
Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli
Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage
Glory of Enkhuizen Cabbage
Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli
Greek Mini Basil
Sweet Basil
Cinnamon Basil
Peter Peppers
California Wonder Peppers
Golden California Wonder Peppers
Variegated Ornamental Peppers

Some of them are already up.


And I lined a cardboard box with perforated waxed paper and filled with potting soil and sowed with a 4 year old pkg of Yellow of Parma Onion seeds just to see if they grow.  I've heard that onion seeds don't keep and rarely grow if the seeds are more than a year old.  But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?   


And I got a pickup and trailer load of straw/aged manure, and compost:

My gardens are going to love this!


While most all of the above is for the yard gardens, I'm also working on a guerrilla garden as well as planning on expanding the natural edible permaculture that's on a bit of raw wooded acreage we own about 15 miles away. We're planning on selling our house and buying one (smaller house is ok) with more property as we're wanting to expand our herd a bit and I don't want to be left without food sources while we're making the transition.

[gg61501]

Fantastic start!  So jealous now -- gotta get to work.

[LibertyBelle]

I pruned my grapes today, and got about 150 or so cuttings from the pruned vines.  The cuttings are now snug in their trench and should be nicely rooted come spring and will then ready for individual planting or potting.
 

Photo of cuttings before they were covered.

[average_joe]

How long have you been growing grapes? How well has your cutting method worked for you? I have some grapevines started and I'm trying to get as much info as possible and can use all the help I can get.

[LibertyBelle]

Only about 4 years for these.  I bought them cheap at the end of the year, then overwintered them in their pot in the hoop house for two winters. I planted them the following spring. The first year they were in the ground they didn't produce much, and I didn't prune them, just trained them to the wires a bit, and left them alone. This past year, however, they produced a bumper crop, even with the birds feasting from sun up til dark. By this winter the vines were 6+ feet long and sticking out in every direction, so it was time to prune. This was the first time I've taken cuttings from them, but I have no doubt as to the success, as we're in wine country here and I'm following the propagation techniques that the vineyard growers use.

What I was taught is that you take the pruned vines and, starting with the thick end, take your cuttings from those.  There are little bumps on the vines, called bud unions.  What you want to do is make a cut right below (but NOT into) a bud union, skip the next bud union, and make a cut above the third bud union about an inch.  When you are finished with the cutting , you should have a stick that has three bud unions on it....bottom, middle, and top. The length of you cuttings will vary depending on how far apart the bud unions are. Remove any curly-Q's from your cutting.   Have a bucket of water to set your cuttings in as you make them.  When you are done making all of your cuttings, go to the garden and dig a trench, placing the cuttings bottom side down, and loosely refill the trench, leaving only about the top two inches or so of the cuttings sticking out.  Finish by putting a light layer of straw over the top.  That's it.  Come late spring, just dig them up and either plant in your vineyard, or put them in individual pots and sell them.

I've propagated soft and hard wood cuttings successfully for years, and grapes are supposed to be one of the easiest. So far they certainly seem to be. 

[average_joe]

Thank you. Mine are not ready to take cuttings from. I have some 3 year and year 2  year old plants and was just wanting to know what to expect. I had to plant mine on the side of the house probably not the best soil but I had to keep them separated from our dogs. I have read they could poison our dogs if they would ever eat some. I have been working on improving the soil over the last few years.

[LibertyBelle]

It's been snowing and in the low teens with 30 mph winds the past couple of days (wind chill was -2 at 9 am this morning), so what better time to do a little pre-gardening.  

Here are a couple of pics of some of today's transplants, which include:

Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli
Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage
Evesham Special Brussels Sprouts
Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts
Single Italian Plain Leaf Parsley
Victoria Rhubarb

[TwoBluesMama]

Nice +1 !

[LibertyBelle]

Here is an update (pic taken today) of the seedlings in the above pic dated Jan 13th. 
They've done some growing these past few days. 

[Nicodemus]

Awesome, LibertyBelle!

I can't wait to see how your garden does.

[LibertyBelle]

I've been busy over the past couple of weeks, so I guess it's time to post an update. 
Here's what was going on in my garden during a brief cold snap we had at the first of the month:


I make sure the birds are taken care of all year round, and in turn they make sure my gardens are fairly free from unwanted bugs.

And here is my garden today, only three weeks later:

The two boxes in the back are ready and waiting for the cabbages and Brussels sprouts to be planted.  The mid box holds Ruby Red and Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard, as well a couple of Tall Utah Celery plants, and the front box holds Tendercrisp Celery.

A box full of Dwarf Siberian Kale


The Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli

A close-up of the broccoli (those aren't white splotches on the leaves, it's just the way the light was hitting it).


Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard


Tendercrisp Celery


Softneck Garlic


The Welsh Onions are up and smell delightful!


The Quince is flowering, so hopefully we will get a nice harvest this year. 


And the plum trees are all budding out.


Here is the garden box I have set aside for compost this year. Each year I pick a different garden box, so that each box has a go at becoming pure compost.   


Not really a garden item, I suppose, but she was out there talking to me as I worked away in my garden today, so I snapped a picture of her...she's one my favorite (and most prolific) layers, a pretty little Welsh Harlequin. They can lay over 300 eggs a year, making them one of the top laying breeds.

Although since her egg shells do make it back into the compost and crushed into the tomato boxes for added calcium, which helps to prevent blossom end rot, I guess technically she could be considered as garden relevant. 

And a little miss who is in confinement, due to going into premature labor (suspect being bumped by another goat).  The labor finally stopped, thank goodness, and we can still feel the kid(s) moving around inside, so I hope all goes well during the remainder of her pregnancy.  And since of course goat manure is excellent fertilizer for the garden, she's a garden essential, too.   

[TwoBluesMama]

Nice pics and beautiful sq foot garden beds. AND I'm so jealous of your goat.  I want goats so bad.  I asked my neighbor the other day if he would watch my chickens if we went to the BOL and he said absolutely.  Then I told him he had to learn to milk a goat since I really want one and he'd have to take care of it for me when we're gone - I think he said no but he was laughing so hard I couldn't really tell. 

Thanks for sharing  - it's inspiring and making me dream of spring here.

[Roundabouts]

oh I just love your duck.  I would love to have ducks.  Since we don't have ponds I am a tad concerned about that.   She is just so adorable and wow so many eggs!

[cohutt]

Good stuff.

You are one of the few people I know who have actually gotten celery to germinate

[LibertyBelle]

Then I told him he had to learn to milk a goat since I really want one and he'd have to take care of it for me when we're gone - I think he said no but he was laughing so hard I couldn't really tell. 

Thanks.  And he may laugh now, but just wait until he actually gets to spend a little time with one....he'll wonder how he manage to live so long without them. 

oh I just love your duck.  I would love to have ducks.  Since we don't have ponds I am a tad concerned about that.   She is just so adorable and wow so many eggs!

Thanks.  And don't worry about no pond.  We raised the Welsh Harlequins in a city backyard.  As long as they have a container of water deep enough to put their entire head in, they'll be fine - but they have to have to be able to get their entire head under in order to clear any dirt or debris that collects in their their nostrils and eyes, otherwise their eyes can get seriously infected.  And if you want to have them breed, a little kiddy pool will do just fine. That's the  thing about Welsh Harlequins, they are only on the water during breeding - the rest of the time they just like to lounge around.  Hubby says they are the cats of the duck world...cat napping all day and prowling around at night as they hunt down slugs, catch the occasional mouse, and eliminate other little undesirables under the cover of darkness.

You are one of the few people I know who have actually gotten celery to germinate

Hmmm. I've never had a problem with them germinating. And these are seeds from 2008.  I planted the seeds on December 16th on a heat mat (which is just an old heating pad set on the lowest setting and covered in a trash bag to protect it in case of a water spill), with the lights just a couple of inches above, and they started sprouting on Dec 27th. They just take a while to grow. 
Hopefully one of these days my gardens will be as nice as yours.   

[LibertyBelle]

Despite it being a beautiful sunny 68°F day yesterday (technically I guess it's the day before, as it's after midnight now), I didn't get one single thing done as I spent most of the day at the hospital with a killer migraine, then came home and slept for the rest of it. 

So I tried making up for it today by planting about a hundred beets (with another couple hundred still left to go) in the garden, and started the following seeds indoors on a heat mat and under lights:
Chinese Cabbage
Aswad Eggplant
White Eggplant
Kerala Amaranth
Elephant Head Amaranth
Blue Hubbard Squash (Winter)
Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck aka Longneck Pumpkin
Lemon Cucumbers
Nimba Zucchini Squash (Summer)
Early Prolific Straightneck Squash (Summer)
White Scallop Squash (Summer)
Borage
Thai Red Roselle
Toothache Plant
Calendula
Red Hibiscus
Lupine
Hollyhocks
Snap Dragons

In the morning (ok, maybe afternoon seeing how late it is right now) I'm planning on transplanting about a hundred or so seedlings into bigger pots. 

[LibertyBelle]

After months of camera/computer issues I'm finally able to do photos again.  So here are some pics that were taken over this summer.  Mind you, this was in the middle of a severe drought, and I do not spray, dust, or use any chemicals of any kind.

Water Butt (aka rain barrel) nestled amidst the lemon balm and day lilies


I put a few minnows from our creek into the water butts to keep down mosquitoes. Not only have the minnows survived on their diet of mosquito larvae, but they have grown quite large...

Another minnow...


These chicks came from eggs that had been in the refrigerator for at least three days. And the fridge is so cold the food in the bottom crisper partially freezes. Out of six eggs, these four hatched...


Purple Podded Pole Beans (from previous year's saved seed)


Very HOT and very prolific little ornamental pepper


Sweet Bell Peppers and French Marigolds (both from saved seed)


Ruby Swiss Chard (reddish coloured stems) and Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard (white stems)


Cherokee Black Tomatoes


Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash (from saved seed)


Two more Pennsylvania Dutch Crooknecks playing hide and seek (they weight about 10# here, so it gives some idea as to how big the leaves are).  And the vines were over 30' long, going across the entire length of the patio garden and up and around the entire length of a 20' deck.  They really love that composted rabbit and goat manure in which they were planted.    


See...they really are growing across the deck. 



A bit of container gardening with Yellow Prolific Straightneck Squash


And another container with Thai Long Purple Eggplant


Custard Marrow (aka Pattypan Squash, Scallop Squash, Granny Squash, etc.)


Custard Marrow again


Spaghetti Squash


Large Speckled Calico Lima (aka Christmas Pole Limas), with vines over 10' in length


Egyptian Onions (aka Walking Onions). 


Burgundy Okra


Chives


Compost square full of volunteer tomato plants.  I shared the plants with friends and neighbors, and everyone ended up with a nice crop of tomatoes.


More compost volunteers...a volunteer tomato and a volunteer pumpkin. Since I toss all of my veg scraps into compost squares, I have no idea what varieties these are, but they are certainly hardy.


Fugi apples - proof that you don't need to spray in order to have fruit


Gala apples...again, no sprays or chems of any kind.  Just au naturel...

[LibertyBelle]

It's only speculation, but could it be I don't have problems with bug pests because of all the plants that attract beneficial insects and birds?   These are planted all around and in my vegetable gardens...


Bee balm in the foreground, calendula behind that, and kale in the background.


Echinacea is in the foreground, with six-plus foot tall Artemisia absinthium (what Absinthe is made with) in the background.


Atemisia absinthium (perennial)


Another patch of bee balm


Common Milkweed...this stuff smells AMAZING! Seriously, it's sweeter than any rose.  And bees love it.



Volunteer sunflowers that came up under the bird feeder.


Echinacea and bees


Hard at work...


However they had no effect on this little pest.   Thankfully the dog always puts them up a tree before they can get into anything.  But then we have to put the dog up for a bit, just until they can get down and run away.

[cohutt]

Nice.

Christmas limas will grow 20 feet if they have something to hold on to.....

[LibertyBelle]

Thanks.  
I've already been planning next year's gardens, and thinking I'll wire two 16' livestock panels together end-to-end and then arch them to make a heavy duty 50" x 32' arbor (although as much as we like the limas, probably do two sets wired together, so as to have a 8.3' x 32' arbor).  In the past I've arched a single panel for the shorter pole beans and it's worked perfectly. Alas I had to use all my panels this summer to move the goats around so the beans had to make do with whatever was available. 
But we finally have some permanent fencing (over the next two weeks will be putting it up around 10 acres), so I get my panels for the gardens again. 

[cohutt]

That's funny, I have some panels up at the BOL (configured as a hog trap right now) that I've considered hauling back for a similar arbor, either for beans or gourds

mrs cohutt might not approve initially though, and "trust me" only goes so far lol

[Saber19]

This entire section of the forum has be all antsy for this year's garden. Yours looks awesome though, excellent job..

[LibertyBelle]

Thanks 
I've already got many of this years cool season veg seeds (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) in flats under lights, with seedings coming up everywhere.