Spring Garden Update

We had a fabulous sunny Sunday last weekend.

I love when that happens.

One thing about living on the Oregon coast is that you learn to really appreciate when sun lands on the weekends in the winter or spring.

Sunday's haul from the garden:

Tons of lettuce. And baby carrots that we planted in the greenhouse as our backups in case the outside stuff didn't work out.  It's almost time to replant our summer stuff in the greenhouse so we've been feasting on the baby carrots.

Beets from last fall.  This was an Autumn Harvest blend so there were white, yellow, and red beets.

And if there's one thing you've learned about me by now it's that I'm all about gardening for visual coolness.

The beets did really well early on in the Fall but as soon as it got cold they kind of came to dead halt and just sat there.

As the spring warmed up they started up again but we decided to pull em and make the beet salad and move on.

Time to get the Chioggia's planted. 

I love me some target beets.

Things are looking good in the garden.

The garlic is right about where it should be.

While I was gone last weekend Rich got the tomoatoes started in the greenhouse.

Good news locals.

Once again I got carried away with my basil planting.

It looks pretty happy so save a space.

That little guy in the lower right is celery.

It'll be my first time trying celery.

And the catalog said it's best not to to do seeds indoors and transplant.

I'm off to a great start don't ya think?

I just can't ever totally follow directions... not sure what that's about, but it's a fact.

Maybe it's a trust issue I should persue in therapy.

Like I said things are looking good in the garden .

Arik's dog, Duke helped out on Sunday too.

He even pulled a few weeds when he saw what Rich was doing.

Now there's a skill Arik should follow up on don't ya think?

I mean really any old Lab can chase ducks....but weeding...

So last year we had a dismal squash crop ... as you may recall from this post.

As I was perusing the Territorial Seed catalog that lives on our kitchen table this time of year I found a product called Green Mulch that said for vining crops it could increase yeilds 20-40%.

It works by heating up the soil...our main problem.

Look no further.

Sign me up.




But then as I was rolling out this 2mm plastic sheet of wonder, I had a rush of guilt.

Here I am...

Miss Organic Gardener

Miss Double Bin Composter

Miss Clean Living

Rolling out 23 feet of (albeit very thin) plastic in my organic garden.

This one will definitely require therapy...maybe I can squeeze in the thing about not following directions at the same time.

I did notice the soil heating up immediately though and...after a thermometer check... went ahead and got my zucchini planted.  The melons will need to wait another week or two for the temps to rise a bit.



To alleviate my guilt I immediately recycled one yogurt container and made some plant markers.

That oughta make up for it huh?

Rich busted out the catalog again and found two possible alternatives for next time so that I wouldn't keep him up all night talking it to death.

There is one called Bio Film that composts into your soil in 90 days....which would give us just about the right amount of time...And one called Planter's Paper that will also biodegrade.

Neither of these have claims quite as lofty but  they do say they heat the soil....and I would sleep better.

BUT while we were searching the mulch section he also spotted the Silver Mulch  which is plastic like the green stuff but claims to drive away certain pests including aphids...which he battled all summer last year on his pepper plants in the greehouse. 

Life is so complicated.

I'll keep ya posted

Thanks for listening.




I got a few new herbs for the garden...

Some English Thyme

This one is a Rosemary variety that they call Barbeque because the stems can be used as kabob skewers...how fun is that?  It's supposed to get to be 4-5 ft tall....I'm hoping it won't get out of control. 

Rich is the pruning master so I'll leave that one in his court.

And some Lavender Grosso.

I've been missing lavender.

My last one got weed wacked several years ago.

It happens.



Here's another crazy adventure we're trying this year.

Shitake Mushrooms

I should have taken pictures before....

They send you little dowel pieces that have been inoculated with spore and a little book of instructions

I think Rich decided to use Tan Oak logs for ours, since we see mushrooms in the forest liking Tan Oak stands.

After you let the logs sit for a few weeks you drill little holes and stick the dowel peices in and then seal in with beeswax.

The spore is supposed to colonize the log and hopefully in a few months we'll start having shitake mushrooms.  The normal mushroom season here is after the first rains of fall ....so late October thru early December.

It'll be fun to watch and see what happens.



In other life events this week.....

We have another funeral to attend tomorrow.

Rich's Grandma Molnar passed away Sunday night.

She was a sweet lady who fed people wherever she could and spread the love via apple strudel...a lost art.

We'll miss her sweet spirit but are happy that she has been able to leave the difficulties of this earth behind and join her Lord and her much missed husband in a peaceful eternity.


Life is short.
Get out there and share the love,

Cath