Pumpkins and Carrots

The little container garden we've started is in full swing! We have blooms on every pumpkin plant we have! If this is any indication of how well these guys are going to produce I'm certain our first year with a fresh veggie/fruit stand will do quite nicely.

We do pumpkin decorating contests where I work and my boss offered to purchase my pumpkins instead of going to the store when I went into work babbling about the lush green that is coming out of these guys. Not a single pumpkin on the vine yet and we've already got some business.

The carrots finally have true leaves. I'm thrilled about the success we're having. Its a good feeling to do this. I know exactly what is going into the soil because I'm the one putting it in. My children are excited to be involved in this. Seth, my oldest, is the one who sparked this by asking me what I did when I was his age. I told him I grew up on a farm and that was when the barrage of questioning came. I think its really awesome that my 6 year old wants to have a garden and is the one that makes sure to always remind that we need to water and asks if it is time for the kelp fertilizer. My youngest doesn't get as vocally involved, but he knows automatically that he needs to hunt down the water can so we can get it filled up. I know this will sound strange, but they argue who gets to do the work.. and that is certainly fine by me! I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Unopened blooms, true leaves on the carrots, I've got bell peppers ready to start hardening off. We're just moving right along with seeds in the freezer for a spring planting.

I'm trying to start off small and slowly work our way up. With the help of the kids, we make sure to take notes on our garden, to see what reactions we get in container gardening. Next year, pumpkins, carrots, bell pepper and tomatoes will be a breeze and we'll tackle new additions and start all over again.

I really think this is a plan that more newbies to gardening should take. While I grew up on a farm and we grew most of our food on that farm, I know some things about gardening already but I didn't want to overwhelm us with all these plants either. This is a mistake that a lot of new gardeners take and its why some of them fail. They take on too much at once and can't keep up with multiple issues because they just don't know how and it takes so long to solve some problems by the time the problem is solved, the plants have sustained too much damage or are already dead.

Everything in moderation, right?

Saving Private Benjamin

It's all about the Benjamins and keeping his face firmly planted in my pocket. Gas prices, food supply costs going up, everything is getting much more expensive. It's frightening. For those of us that are cattle owners and chicken raisers with fresh eggs aren't safe anymore. Now they have to contend with the destruction of their property and the theft of their only ripened foods with every thing that hasn't ripened yet torn off the vine so that it never will. These types of sabotage are beginning everywhere. My father was going off on this very subject the last time I talked with him. Then another friend in a different state on the other side of the country complained of something similar.

We're already feeling the heat. I know in my own household we have a side of beef, enough chicken to feed a small country... twice and canned and dried foods hanging out in another room other than the kitchen (my kitchen is barely large enough to handle what we eat in a week. Virtually enough to get us through a year without having to pay higher and higher prices. And also being close with a community of people that have a cannery that we can use and purchase what we want to fill those cans with here. (Did I mention that networking is the key? I don't think I did, network, network, network!)

Point being that not everyone magically knows that there are systems out there that aren't government driven and thus don't need a list a mile long of things that prove you're you after you've been sitting in an office that doesn't have air conditioning waiting to give your story to someone that doesn't really care they just plug in some numbers and tell you that making $9.00 an hour is too much to get day care aid and its too much for full benefits, but they'd be more than willing to give you the whopping $35 for a month. Of course you took it because it would mean that is one more meal on the table and one night less that you had to worry about if you could serve anything more than just smoother fried potatoes.

But there are places out there that can help out!

http://www.angelfoodministries.com/ I've personally done this one and still do it. I have a friend that is a high class lawyer and she gets two. The idea here is that you spend $25 for a box of food that changes from month to month. The box has pasta, canned veggies/fruit, frozen pizzas, meatballs, breakfast stuffs. They have side boxes that are $17 to $18 a piece that are grill packs during the winter months and alternate stuff like 15 lbs of breaded chicken nuggets and a 5 pound bag of chicken. Steak. The list is long, so go look at their site to find out which church is handing it in your area. The $25 spent would be doubled for the same items at a normal grocery store. And if you need help to the car, that have handsome little boys and girls push the dolly out to your car. There is no obligation to do this service other than the funds. The only drawback on this is you have a small window to pay and then you have to wait for 3 weeks before you get it. So look it up, and get some help, and be happy!

Another program is called SHARE is similar to Angel Food. Angel Food is hosted by the Baptist community here, Share is done by Catholic Charities. I found a site that has them listed.

Support your local farmers! The Farmer's Market is something to be praised and cherished. Without those wonderful souls toiling away for several months growing the food they wish to share with others, we would always be stuck with getting foods that are solely stored at the grocery store. I certainly don't want that!

Buy in bulk. You can buy a pound of this or 10 pounds of that, invest in a seal a meal and vacuum them up and tuck them away in your freezer. I buy all my culinary herbs in bulk. I have pounds and pounds and pounds of this stuff separated out in more manageable sizes because we cook with herbs and spices so much that it didn't seem feasible buying a tiny jar of it at the store when I could order it by the pound for the same price or less for a pound a piece.

Buy a freezer. Please. Buy one. They aren't that expensive. I have a 5 cubic foot one that ran me less than $135. I bought another one a 7 cubic foot and I spent $180-ish. I make fewer trips to the store, spend less money on full priced items and more on sale items because I can afford the luxury of not purchasing it if it isn't on sale because I have dinner sitting in the freezer at home. But to keep it filled, I have to buy. I just make the choice to go only when I know the sales are going on.

Having said that, buy a side of beef. Mine came pre-vacuum sealed so all I had to do was load it into the freezer. It will take a family of 4 (with several large bbq's going on) about 9 months to eat one 12 depending on the size of the beef. I immediately thawed out the a bunch of hamburger and started making meatballs as my first set of prepare ahead meals.

Buy on sale: I buy 16 ounce bags of frozen vegetables when they are on sale like that, I can't pass it up. I cook up several bags at a time and can what we don't eat (or just vacuum seal it and drop it back into the freezer in family serving sizes).

Plan your meals before you shop. If you do this, you will buy what you need instead of just tossing stuff in the buggy that looks good. Planning gives you a game plan. Your in, your out and you spent only what you needed to spend.

Check out the farms in your area. If any of them are apart of a co-operative, buy into it. It will enable you to get the freshest foods during the growing season and most of these will have more than just fruit and vegetables. Eggs, honey, milk... it just depends on the farms in your area. Once you've researched and picked out one, talk to them about your needs so that you can come up with a way to make not only you happy, but the man that is toiling away in the hot sun, too. He gets capital you get fresh food. Not a bad way of buying locally and helping to keep a farmer on his farm.

Check with your local extension. They will usually have information on farms and such around your area. Check with your local government who probably fund such things so they would be able to point you in the right direction.

And still there is growing it yourself. It is not as expensive as some people think. Dwarf citrus trees go for about $12.99 a piece with breaks if you buy two or more. I've seen all sorts of dwarf varieties: Blueberries, orange, lime, lemon, tangerine, pomegranate, fig, banana, cherry, apple, etc. None of the dwarf varieties I list here get above 6 feet tall and can remain in their planter. Container gardening in general is fairly easy to do and with some trial and error, can yield immense crops in small spaces. If you're pressed for space, grow your favorite ones or perhaps the ones that are most expensive so you are paying that much less every month your garden produces.

Happy living!

Garden Outlook

It is amazing to me how a tiny seed can just sprout a plant. My pumpkins have a wild will of their own. We planted them in this one 15 gallon container knowing that we'd get a good yield. They have just excelled in their growth so much. We're going to have a great time when these guys yield some pumpkins. Pumpkin pie for us is an autumn tradition. I start making it as soon as the pumpkins come on the market and put up enough to get us through the holidays making many many many pumpkin pies, most of which never go used for their original intent due to the fact that I have little dervishes tearing silently through the house when everyone thinks I'm not watching. They devour the pie in two seconds flat and hum a tune as they stroll away reeking of my pumpkin pie spice. Kinda makes me feel good that my pie is so loved.

On the other hand, I'm glad I have plenty of kelp. These guys are just moving right along. I'm hoping the other blooms will give some berries soon. Having two at a time would not do very much around here. We're excited none-the-less!

Tiny as they are, they are still going strong. We have true leaves! At last count we had about 38. We're jabbing our fingers at them and counting. It's a family event, you know.

And everyone got a hefty dose of DE.

The bell peppers sprouted. We're looking forward to getting them planted as soon as they have grown a tad bit more. We're just moving right along. No major pest problems, unless you consider the dog trying to chomp down on anything my hand touches a problem. It is. But he hasn't yanked my plants out so we're good there.

Having Faith

You know that tomato plant I was really starting to fear wouldn't do anything? Well, he has friends! We have tomatoes! Those little suckers sneaked up on me and man we're just proud of them. I called my father almost immediately and told him and he boasted that he'd picked five today. Well, I'll see his five with my two organically grown any day!

This little guy was getting a spray down with kelp and DE when we noticed he managed to hide the fact that his blooms turned tomatoes sometimes last week.

I'm pleased as punch. I should have never doubted my poor tomato plant. Now if only I could get the bell pepper to do more than look like a tiny blade of grass.

Go Go Gadget Carrots

Ten more sprouted! I know its silly to keep up with exact numbers but we were all out there surrounding the container jabbing our fingers at the tiny leaves and contradicting each other on how many there were really in there. At least it was a family event.



It's amazing, though. I was worried that my green thumb had truly turned black, but the carrots have sprouted, now we'll see if we get nice straight carrots. I'm certainly keeping my fingers crossed.



Something I've learned from container gardening is that it is limitless. If the place I've chosen to put my crop turns out to be less than ideal after the plant is actually put there, I can move it. If there is a threat of extreme weather, I can bring them onto the covered deck until the threat has past. There are a few disadvantages, however. More attention must be given. Ants tried to move into the nice loose, moist soil that my carrots were planted in. I had to stop that, they killed my mums last year that I had set out front by moving in. I wasn't paying enough attention.



The pumpkins are taking over my kitchen! We had a severe thunderstorm today so I couldn't put them out or else the wind would have pulled a Wizard of Oz on my plants. I was mildly disappointed, but the cooler weather when the storm first rolled up more than made up for it. It was hot out there today until the storm showed cooling everything down. We lost power. Again. For the hundredth time. This time it wasn't for hours so that was pleasing. But once again, it came while I was washing dishes and dealing with food on the stove and in the oven. It didn't happen when the worse of the storm rolled in, oh no, it waited until after the major chaos was over and it was merely sprinkling.



But I will run off on that tangent for page after page. I'm going to get off that soap box now before I get out of control.

We finished our shopping today. It was so bright out, the sky clear but we could see the black on the horizon and just wished for the relief that we knew was coming. But before we got that, we all stopped and bought sunglasses. It's funny to watch kids fuss over which ones look the coolest. We all preened over our chosen sunglasses and then the serious shopping started. I was out of spray bottles for my kelp solution so we hunted everywhere and walked by them twice before we realized. So we got some nice big spray bottles for the kitchen and the garden. I made up a batch of the kelp solution and got to work on the plants and the kids felt pretty good about helping out with that.



I got the rice all sealed up with no major disasters. I'm looking forward to getting my meatballs made tomorrow and probably some stew, too. I'm worn out so the rest may have to wait until a little later in the week. I have back problems so I'm battling some pretty serious pain at the moment. That is what I get for stomping around on concrete for the evening Friday. I've had just the worst leg cramps, too. So my husband has demanded that I relax, even going so far as to massage the knotted muscles into submission, something he rarely does. So my hopes of mass meal preparation have been thwarted by a man that will physically pick me up, put me in bed, then tie me to it without thinking twice. He has threatened to do this in the past and feed me through a straw that runs from the kitchen so he doesn't have to listen to me whine. I believe him.

Container Garden Mistakes and Solutions

From Kerry Michaels wrote this article: Container Garden Mistakes and Solutions I did have it posted here originally but she wrote to me and asked me to change it to a link. Sorry Kerry!

Growing Vegetables in Containers

I found a really cool article from the Ohio Extension. It gives container measurements for different plants.



Peppers, chard and dwarf tomatoes: soil volume of 1-2 gallons per plant
Full-sized tomato plants, cucumbers: soil volume of 4-5 gallons per plant
Lettuce, radish, onions, and beets: 6"-10" diameter pots
Most herbs: 4"-6" diameter pots


Estimating soil mix to use:
4" pot: 1 pint soil
6" pot: 3 pints soil
8" pot: 11/2 gallons soil
10" pot: 21/2 gallons soil
12" pot: 31/2 gallons soil
14" pot: 41/2 gallons soil
16" pot: 51/2 gallons soil
20" pot: 61/2 gallons soil


Beans, Lima Bush Baby, Fordhook Bush Lima, Fordhook 242 12" wide, 8-10" deep

Beans, Snap Bush Romano, Contender, Provider, Tendercrop Stringless, Bush Blue Lake 8" wide, 8-10" deep

Beets Baby Canning, Spinel Little Ball, Red Ace Hybrid, Burpee Golden 6"-12" deep

Broccoli Any variety but Crusader 20" deep

Brussels Sprouts All varieties 12" wide, 12" deep

Cabbage Baby Head, Dwarf Morden, Minicole, Fast Ball, Flash 8"-10" wide, 12" deep

Carrots Short root or round, Nantes, Gold Nugget, Best of the Bunch, Little Finger, Baby Spike, Short & Sweet, Thumbelina 10" wide, 10" deep

Chard Any variety 8-12" deep

Chinese Cabbage Bok Choy, Michihli, Wong Bok 20" deep

Collards Any variety 12" deep

Corn Space saving varieties, F-M Cross, Golden Bantam, Kandy Korn, Precocious 21" wide, 8" deep. Need 3 plants per container to assure pollination.

Cucumber Salad Bush, Burpee Hybrid II, Bush Crop, Spacemaster, Burpee Pickler, Bush Champion, Fanfare, Pickalot, Picklebush, Pot Luck 20" wide, 16" deep

Eggplant Dusky, Morden Midget, Bambino, Millionaire 16" deep

Horseradish Maliner Kren 5 gallon or larger

Kale Any variety 8" wide, 8" deep

Kohlrabi Grand Duke 12" deep

Lettuce Black-seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Salad Bowl, Tom Thumb, Green Ice, Little Gem 8" wide, 6-8" deep

Onion Bunching types work best: White Pear, Japanese Bunching, Beltsville Bunching, Crystal Wax Pickling PBR 10-12" deep

Peas Little Marvel, Sugar Bon, Sugar Mel, Laxton’s Progress, Sugar Rae, Melting Sugar, Burpee’s Blue Bantam, Early Patio, Snowbird 12" deep

Peppers Any variety 16" deep

Potatoes Charlotte, Kennebec, Red Pontiac, Irish Cobbler, Epicure 1-20 gallon containers

Pumpkins Autumn Gold Hybrid, Bushkin, Jack Be Little, Small Sugar, Baby Boo 5 gallon tub

Radish Cherry Belle, Early Scarlet, French Breakfast, Sparkler, Burpee White, Comet. Avoid winter radishes.4-6" deep

Spinach Any variety 4-6" deep

Squash, Summer Early Yellow Summer, Crookneck, Goldbar, Park’s Creamy Hybrid, Scallopine, Peter Pan, Gold Rush, Pic-N-Pic Hybrid, Richgreen Hybrid, SunburstStraightneck, 24" deep

Squash, Winter Butterbush, Bush Acorn, Table King, Cream of the Crop 24" deep

Tomatoes Patio VF, Pixie, Small Fry VFN, Yellow Pear, Sweet 100, Tumbling Tom, Container Choice, Rutgers, Tiny Tim, Husky Red, Husky Gold, Yellow Canary, Whippersnapper, Basket Pak, Red Cherry, Gardener’s Delight, Sundrop Dwarf—12" deep Standard—24" deep

Turnips Any variety 10-12" deep