Flowers and Vegetables Update

I am battling septoria/leaf spot, but hoping these make it. These are the 15 year tomatoes.

The girls enjoying some mac & cheese...

Hydrangea

Marigolds in the garden

Peppers

l-r Gloriosa daisies, Hopi Red amaranth, Black Eyed Susans

Snake skin in the garden

Sunflowers behind the chicken coop

1st Evening Sun sunflower

Tomatoes!

Tomatoes are starting to come in! But, I'm also battling leaf spot. I've had to cut out big chunks of tomato plants and hope it doesn't spread further.

Paul Robeson tomato

Hopi Red Amaranth, Black Eyed Susan and Gloriosa Daisies

Evening Sun sunflowers are getting huge, no blooms yet

1st Harvest!

I harvested these yesterday! 

2 Jaune Flamme tomatoes (salad size) and a handful of Green Arrow peas

Jaune Flamme tomatoes are an orange heirloom from France. They are about 4 oz, salad size, sweet with a bit of a zing. Pretty tasty! 

Garden Layout 2014

Not to scale layout of the garden this year. Bell peppers still have to get a bit bigger, then they will go in yet. Green beans are not in yet. 

Squash plot -

Black Krim       Indigo Rose (purchased

Black Krim       Lemon Balm

Green Arrow Peas

Walkway -

3  Paul Robeson

Pepper Bed - 

Eva's Purple Ball    Sage   Eva's Purple Ball

Eva's Purple Ball              Eva's Purple Ball

Crimson Rhubarb Victoria Rhubarb Victoria Rhubarb

New bed - 

Green beans on east and south border

15 year   15 year   15 year

Blueray Blueberry   Quarter Century   Quarter Century

Bluecrop Blueberry   San Marzano Bush   San Marzano Bush   Bell Pepper   Bell Pepper

Jersey Blueberry   Jaune Flamme   Jaune Flamme   Bell Pepper   Bell Pepper

Total of 19 tomato plants, planted 5/20

Also sowed Evening Sun sunflowers behind chicken coop.

Chickens In The Garden

Yesterday was a beautiful day (today too, but it's windy). I let the girls out in their grazing pen and Jon and I moved them over to the garden to get to work. They had so much fun digging through the straw, leaves and newspaper from last year. I might not even till this section... might just plant right in it. I want to extend this bed, which will have to be tilled, of course. Also, I want to add composted manure. Hmm... might have to till the existing bed after all... 

The bluebirds are back. Well, actually they never left. This is the female of the pair that made their home in the wall of our three-seasons room last year. She sat there nicely while I took pictures. 

15 Year Tomato Seedlings

Planted 3/10/14
Sprouted 3/18/14

Today 3/23/14 (yes, they are leggy)

Winter Sown Container List

Sown 3/21/14 using Schultz potting mix, all marked with numbers in paint/grease pen

1. 15 year tomato (4 seeds) - sprouted 4/14/14
2. Jaune Flamme tomato (4 seeds) - sprouted 4/14/14
3. San Marzano Bush tomato (4 seeds) - sprouted 4/14/14
4. Red, Orange, Yellow Bell Pepper (3 seeds) - sprouted 4/21/14
5. Red, Orange, Yellow Bell Pepper (3 seeds) - sprouted 4/14/14
6. Paul Roberson tomato (4 seeds) - sprouted 4/21/14
7. Quarter Century tomato (4 seeds) - sprouted 4/21/14
8. Eva Purple Ball tomato (4 seeds) - sprouted 4/21/14
9. Slavic Masterpiece tomato (rare) (4 seeds) (did not sprout) One did sprout at the end of June and was planted!
10. Red Pear Abruzzese tomato (4 seeds) (did not sprout)
11. Black Eye Susan - sprouted 4/21/14
12. Black Krim tomato (4 seeds) - sprouted 4/21/14.
13. Bluebonnets - sprouted 4/11/14
14. Hopi Red Dye Amaranth - sprouted 4/11/14
15. Pink Coneflower - sprouted 4/14/14
16. Gloriosa Daisy - sprouted 4/14/14

Tomatoes opened 5/10/14

3/30/14 -

Lett 1 - Lettuce blend - sprouted 4/08/14, harvested 4/6/14
Spin SH 1 - Spinach (space hybrid) - sprouted 4/11/14, harvested 4/6/14
Spin SS 1 - Spinach (salad select) - sprouted 4/10/14

5/8/14

MY - Yellow Marigolds
MO - Orange Marigolds
Z - Zinnias
L - Lettuce blend
C - Columbine

Tomatoes!!

It looks like it will be a tomato overload summer if everything works out well... I just started my uncle's 15 year old tomato seeds. I already had Black Krims to start. And now today, I got my free seeds from WinterSown: Red Pear Abruzzese, Jaune Flamme, Slavic Masterpiece (a very rare Russian), Eva's Purple Ball, San Marzano Bush, Quarter Century and Paul Robeson. I guess this means the garden just got a bit bigger. They also sent mixed red/yellow/orange bell peppers (my luck they will all be red) and parsley. Parsley will go in the butterfly garden. 

I also got seeds for Black-eyed Susan, Evening Sun Sunflowers, Hopi Red Dye Amaranth, Pink Coneflower and Gloriosa Daisy. I see a colorful garden in the pasture this year! The sunflowers can also be chicken treats! I'm thinking maybe the section past the bonfire. It has to be in a place where my husband can easily mow around it... hmm... Wherever it goes, it has to be a place where it can be permanent some most, if not all, are perennials.

I am going to attempt to winter-sow the flowers and maybe the peppers. My rough understanding is you put growing medium in milk jugs (water jugs in my case) and put them outside. It makes like a mini-greenhouse and then you can sew directly. I think if I put them on the one side of the chicken coop, it should be protected enough that they won't blow away (I hope!) and get decent sun. 

Getting The Garden Started!

A year or so ago, my uncle gave me a film canister (remember those? lol) with tomato seeds from 1999 that he had collected and saved. They are from tomatoes that he had grown for a few years. If I remember correctly, they originally came from seeds a co-worker brought back from Italy. I have to confirm that though. Anyway, these tomatoes were good sized, great flavor and very few seeds.

I have about 50-60 seeds. I soaked 16 overnight in plain water. This afternoon, I put them in a mini greenhouse on top of the freezer. So we'll see how this goes. They are 15 years old after all...

I should also be getting seeds from WinterSown as well. If you send a SASE (follow the directions on the page), you will get free tomato seeds in a few weeks. I mailed mine two weeks ago. Honestly, I don't even remember which ones I put down.

I will have to get another seed starting kit too. I have Black Krim seeds to start in a few weeks. It is still a bit too early to start tomatoes here in zone 5, but from what I've been told, the 15 year seeds might take a month or more to sprout...

If everything goes well with the 15 year seeds and the WinterSown ones, I will be bagging certain tomatoes to try to avoid cross-pollination and saving seeds from those plants.

Garden 2014 - Early Plans

First off, the girls have been handling our subzero temps just fine. If it is below 0 f, I don't open the coop door except to put their water dish inside. It stays nice and toasty warm in there. One day, it was 5 f and I wasn't going to let them out, they came bursting out of the door, happy as could be. The next day, it was -5 and not a peep out of them. When I opened the door to put their water in, they actually growled at me!

This picture is from a few weeks ago, and we've gotten more snow since.

I have to dig out the gate after drifting snow.

The drifts are so high inside the pen that when I stand on top, I am a head taller than the coop.

For reference, I am 5 ft 5. My uncle is probably about 6 ft 1 and the highest point of the coop is even with the top of his head. Luckily there is space under and on the side of the coop for them to come out and get some fresh air. 

Ok, so preliminary garden plans... 

Rhubarb (already in)

Black Krim tomatoes

Green beans

Orange bell peppers

Red or yellow bell peppers

Maybe broccoli? Maybe not?

--No need for jalapenos. I still have some in the freezer to make cowboy candy with.

--No zucchini this year