Look at this beautifully funky broccoli I found in a seed catalog - Broccoli Romanesco:
Isn't that cool looking? I am going to order some seeds soon so we can grow it in the garden this year. I bet the kids will love it!
I was outside the other day watching Rowan play, and took a good look at our existing garden boxes (the ones that were here when we bought the house). They are made from treated wood :( Matthew did some research online, and just like we thought, they have to go. We learned that they leach arsenic into the soil, but only into the 6 inches or so closest to the wood. So I think we will take out that dirt, and put it somewhere out of the way. Then take down the beds, spread the remaining soil around to make the garden patch level, and then get a load or two of compost dumped off that we can spread around back there to help our soil get healthy. We are still debating if we will build more raised beds, leave the ground plain and just plant in rows or bunches, or make small frames (maybe out of 2X4's) to section the plots off without the expense of raised beds. I like things nice and neat, everything in its place, so that option appeals to me. Matthew is more of a plant it and it will grow, doesn't matter if its organized kinda gardener, so we have some chats in our future about this!
I do know we have a lot of things we want to grow this year. I think we are going to try succession planting, where we plant a veggie following the harvest of another veggie. Some things only take a month or two to be ready and our growing season is longer than that, so it makes sense to get as much out of this space as we can. I think we are also going to do repeated plantings of some things, to space them out so we don't end up with something like 100 carrots all ready at the same time.
I think we are going to grow:
Tomatoes - regular, cherry and maybe some orange ones
Bell peppers - red/green and orange or yellow
Sweet Corn - maybe popcorn too!
Broccoli - regular and the romanesco
Cauliflower
Carrots
Potatoes - Red for sure, maybe some fingerlings, maybe some blues (I think the kids would like these) and maybe golds.
Onions - Green and Walla Walla
Cucumbers - Lemon, regular and pickling - I want to try making pickles this year!
Sugar snap peas - Lots of these, the kids love them.
Bush or Pole beans? Not sure yet, we don't eat a lot of these but probably should
Dried beans - Maybe...I think it would be fun to grow our own pinto beans!
Pumpkins - Maybe, not on the list for sure yet because of space
Herbs - Not sure what yet though, this is more Matthews area
Lettuces - Leaf and head
Zucchini - I might sneak one plant in
That's all that comes to mind, we might change a few things while looking through the seed catalogs. I don't really like the idea of starting them all indoors, so I think we will only use seeds for things that can be sown directly into the soil, or for things like the romanesco that we cant find in stores. We have a great little nursery that was close to our old house that sells seedlings for a decent price, and I like the idea of supporting a local company (and having them do all the work)!
Another thing we are pondering is...chickens! We have to get ourselves into gear if we are going to do this, Aimee told me she saw chicks at the feed store yesterday! We are thinking about 4, to keep for eggs, and bug control! I have an idea for a coop and pen in my mind, I just want something very simple for them, that wont cost a lot to make. I found this online, and think with some tweaking (like no bottom floor) the basic idea would work for us:
I am really excited to sit down with Matthew and figure out the cost to see if its something we want to move ahead with. The chicks would be in a tote with a light in the garage for at least a month, so I would have time to get better before we had to build this thing. I don't think it would be too hard, and I think we could reuse some of the garden bed lumber for the frame of the run. The kids would be so excited to have chickens! And the fresh eggs....yummy.
I cant wait for spring to get here!
Isn't that cool looking? I am going to order some seeds soon so we can grow it in the garden this year. I bet the kids will love it!
I was outside the other day watching Rowan play, and took a good look at our existing garden boxes (the ones that were here when we bought the house). They are made from treated wood :( Matthew did some research online, and just like we thought, they have to go. We learned that they leach arsenic into the soil, but only into the 6 inches or so closest to the wood. So I think we will take out that dirt, and put it somewhere out of the way. Then take down the beds, spread the remaining soil around to make the garden patch level, and then get a load or two of compost dumped off that we can spread around back there to help our soil get healthy. We are still debating if we will build more raised beds, leave the ground plain and just plant in rows or bunches, or make small frames (maybe out of 2X4's) to section the plots off without the expense of raised beds. I like things nice and neat, everything in its place, so that option appeals to me. Matthew is more of a plant it and it will grow, doesn't matter if its organized kinda gardener, so we have some chats in our future about this!
I do know we have a lot of things we want to grow this year. I think we are going to try succession planting, where we plant a veggie following the harvest of another veggie. Some things only take a month or two to be ready and our growing season is longer than that, so it makes sense to get as much out of this space as we can. I think we are also going to do repeated plantings of some things, to space them out so we don't end up with something like 100 carrots all ready at the same time.
I think we are going to grow:
Tomatoes - regular, cherry and maybe some orange ones
Bell peppers - red/green and orange or yellow
Sweet Corn - maybe popcorn too!
Broccoli - regular and the romanesco
Cauliflower
Carrots
Potatoes - Red for sure, maybe some fingerlings, maybe some blues (I think the kids would like these) and maybe golds.
Onions - Green and Walla Walla
Cucumbers - Lemon, regular and pickling - I want to try making pickles this year!
Sugar snap peas - Lots of these, the kids love them.
Bush or Pole beans? Not sure yet, we don't eat a lot of these but probably should
Dried beans - Maybe...I think it would be fun to grow our own pinto beans!
Pumpkins - Maybe, not on the list for sure yet because of space
Herbs - Not sure what yet though, this is more Matthews area
Lettuces - Leaf and head
Zucchini - I might sneak one plant in
That's all that comes to mind, we might change a few things while looking through the seed catalogs. I don't really like the idea of starting them all indoors, so I think we will only use seeds for things that can be sown directly into the soil, or for things like the romanesco that we cant find in stores. We have a great little nursery that was close to our old house that sells seedlings for a decent price, and I like the idea of supporting a local company (and having them do all the work)!
Another thing we are pondering is...chickens! We have to get ourselves into gear if we are going to do this, Aimee told me she saw chicks at the feed store yesterday! We are thinking about 4, to keep for eggs, and bug control! I have an idea for a coop and pen in my mind, I just want something very simple for them, that wont cost a lot to make. I found this online, and think with some tweaking (like no bottom floor) the basic idea would work for us:
I am really excited to sit down with Matthew and figure out the cost to see if its something we want to move ahead with. The chicks would be in a tote with a light in the garage for at least a month, so I would have time to get better before we had to build this thing. I don't think it would be too hard, and I think we could reuse some of the garden bed lumber for the frame of the run. The kids would be so excited to have chickens! And the fresh eggs....yummy.
I cant wait for spring to get here!