First shot at growing garlic

As I studied my gardening books I came across instructions for growing garlic. We eat alot of garlic in this house and having my own supply right in our back yard really appealed to me. How hard could it be? Well the first thing I found out is that you have to plant it in the fall so it can get a head start. Kinda put a dent in my plans for the spring of 2011, but I waited patiently and that fall I got my chance. By default I had to plant it somewhere that was done growing for the season, so it went where I grew an herb patch that summer.

 

 

 

Garlic bed covered with thick layer of straw

 

 The chickens would have a field day in this straw if I left it uncovered in the winter so I had to build a small hoop house for protection.

 

 

The next spring the garlic poked through the straw and grew

 

 

and grew

 

 

and grew some more

 

 

looks like alot doesn't it?

 

 

 

It only lasted us about 3 months.  As nice as some of the heads look, I think we harvested too early.  We also had some rainy weather about the same time that I was trying to cure them, so I think they spent too much time under a damp tarp.  Many of the smaller cloves turned a funky translucent yellow and were soft so we had to toss them.  Hopefully next round things work out a little better.

 

 

Chicken Gifts

When we started our little flock of chickens we really had no idea what to expect.  We got as prepared as we could and then we just took the plunge.  They seemed to take forever to grow up, except for the roosters.  They grew plenty fast.  We ended up with two roosters out of the origianl six chicks and had wanted to let chickens do what chickens do - which is to make more chickens.  Problem is when you have two roosters crowing at the crack of 3:00 am every morning you get a little annoyed.  Not to mention that one was getting a little rough with everyone.  So roosty number one became stew.  Now we were down to five chickens. 

The other thing about raising chickens from chicks it that it feels like you are just feeding them and they keep growing, but they never lay any eggs.  I kept counting the months since we got them trying to estimate how old they were and when they should start laying.  I've read that chickens will start laying anywhere from 4-7 months.  Our chickens were at least 6 months old when they finally started laying.  You couldn't imagine the amount of feed 5 growing chickens can consume in 6 months! 

I remember cracking the last carton of store bought eggs next to my homegrown eggs in a frying pan.  Once I saw the difference in the eggs I knew I could never go back to not having chickens.  Storebought yolk are pale and runny and they lie flat in the pan.  Homegrown eggs have a rich orange yolk that stands up tall and cooks up firm.  Nothing beats the taste of a fresh homegrown egg!

Now when I can't keep up with eating the eggs I also have the option of selling the extras (though with only 4 chickens there aren't many extras).  Finally my chickens were earning their keep.  Who knew that poultry could be the pet that actually earns it's keep?

Harvests of gardens past

As I wait for winter to end I always like to remind myself of the abundance of the seasons to come, by looking at the harvests of seasons past.  2011 was our first attempt at gardening in any meaningful way and you can imagine our surprise when we picked our harvests.  This garden outgrew all of our expectations!

A small display of pretty produce

 

Freshly dug potatoes and onions

 

Most of that harvest only lasted us until February and the goal for the following year was to make it last even longer.  We canned tomato sauce, pickles and beans.  We dehydrated more zucchini than you would ever want to eat and froze so many beans that we still haven't run out.  It's amazing how much food a little work can get you.



Seed starting set up

My seed starting set up began very small due to budget last year. I bought one grow light and one small 3 tiered wire shelf. I had it set up in front of the sunniest window in the house in the hopes that the additional sunlight would help the seedlings along.

 

 

Once it got warm enought out during the day I would do the seedling shuffle to and from the back deck twice a day so they could get used to being outside.

 

 

 

It always amazes me how small plants are when they start out and how fast they grow even though they don't seem to change much from day to day.

 

This year I was able to afford two more grow lights, so hopefully my seedlings don't get off to a leggy start.  All I need now is another shelf and more windows and I could have my own mini-nursery.  All things will come in due time I suppose.

Hiking in the mountains

I am blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful place.  Just a short drive from our house we can hike in a place that resembles a moonscape:

 

 

Last summer we hiked south of town to visit Box Canyon Falls:

 

 

 

 

This is the view from a high point on the Perimeter Trail

 

 

All are just a taste of whats yet to come.  There are so many places to see around here it would take a lifetime to hike them all.



Onion seedlings

This is my first attempt at growing onions from seed.

The last 2 years I have planted sets in my garden with mixed results.  Last years sets didn't produce as well as the previous year and both times the storage life of the onions left us wanting.  From what I've read onions tend to keep better when grown from seed so I thought I'd try it to see if it's true.  I figure if the seedlings don't make it I can always fill in the gaps with sets anyways since they get planted out later. 

Here are some pictures from onion beds past:

onions interplanted with potatoes

 

 

onions interplanted with broccoli

 



onions planted alone



I think the onions that were intercropped did better than ones planted by themselves.  They probably had less competition from weeds when they lived in the shade of other things.  This year I am going to plant them both ways and see which one wins out in the end.

Seed starting containers

Seed staring containers can be expensive if you buy the kind they use in garden centers.  I've had good luck re-purposing a variety of containers for seedlings.  My biggest challenge has been making sure the container is big enough for the seedling to grow in until I can plant it out in my garden because I don't have the time or the patience for multiple transplants.  In the past I have found small yogurt cups work well for smaller seedlings like celery, broccoli, and peppers.  Larger containers are more useful for things like tomatoes that need room to get big and healthy enough to plant out when the time is right.  This year I am trying out used paper towel and toilet paper rolls to see how they hold up to watering and how easy they are to handle when it comes time to transplant.  I have also heard that eggshells can be used for small seedlings, but I'm still on the fence about whether or not I am going to use them.  They just seem too small for me, but still a good idea.

My collection of seed starting containers