Keeper of the Home » Gardening

Gardening Season Has Officially Begun!

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:00:08 +0000

Just a couple of weeks behind schedule, all of my garden seedlings have been planted! It doesn't look like much, but yesterday morning I planted 7 heirloom tomato varieties, Purple Beauty peppers, 3 winter squashes (Sugar Pie Pumpkin, Butternut, Delicata) Sugar Baby watermelons, Far North melons, Couer de Boeuf des Vertus cabbag, Green Sprouting broccoli, Purple of Sicily cauliflower and too many herbs to name.

Spring snuck up on us all this year and my outdoor garden is actually ready for planting my frost-hardy and early spring veggies already! I can hardly believe it, but I'm eager to get out there and start getting all of my direct-seed crops into the ground. I'm dreaming of snap peas and baby lettuce and fresh radishes...

Speaking of gardening season, you can find me over at Simple Organic today, talking about 5 Gardening Basics for Beginners. You might also want to take a look at some of the other recent gardening posts by the wonderful ladies of Simple Organic, including Gardening 101: Three Options for Creating New Vegetable Gardens, and Starting a Garden With Repurposed Materials.

How are your garden preparations going? What do you have in store for your garden thing year?

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Heirloom Seeds: A Frugal and Healthier Option for Gardening

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:00:51 +0000

Today's guest post from Phoebe of Getting Freedom is on a topic near and dear to my gardener's heart. I am a huge advocate of heirloom seeds, for so many of the reasons that she talks about in this excellent post!

______________________________________

When we started our debt freedom journey, one thing I noticed rather quickly was our grocery budget was one of the only areas I had the freedom to cut. I didn’t want to sacrifice what we were eating, so I knew I had to be creative in my spending. My husband decided that it was only logical for us to grow as much of our own food as we possibly could, and for as little as possible.

I quickly began researching everything garden related. It didn’t take long for me to realize that seeds cost a lot less than buying plants. When I began looking through seed catalogs, and reading information online about seeds, I found that there was a lot to learn. While I have come a long way, I’m still no where near being an expert.

After many hours of research and catalog reading, we decided that Heirloom Seeds were our most cost effective option. You are able to plant a seed that you purchased one year, grow the plant, consume the fruit, and save the seeds to be planted next year. You have an investment that keeps on giving. This is because an heirloom seed, also known as an open-pollinated seed, has been passed on through the years, unaltered by man. They are a pure form of the original plant.

Before looking into seeds, I always thought a seed was a seed. I had no idea some seeds were genetically altered. Scientists have went into the DNA of seeds and altered them to resist certain diseases and to “enhance” flavor. While that may not sound bad right off the bat, think of it this way. There are certain varieties of tomato that’s DNA has been spliced with a cold water fish gene in order to resist frost. Personally, I’d rather take it the way God intended. Additionally, many heirloom plants are rich in flavor, as the best-tasting seeds were the ones saved. Modern seeds focus more on yield than flavor.

Amazingly, there are endless options when it comes to heirloom seeds. You can grow your average orange carrot, or you can choose a white or purple variety! Last year in our garden, I went with Black Krim Tomatoes, as well as Reverend Morrow LongKeeper Tomatoes which are more of a pink variety. Before finding heirloom seeds, I thought all tomatoes were either yellow, green, or red. While there may be a little more work involved in starting your seeds, and saving them later, the end result is far more rewarding and frugal. I also like knowing that I’m doing my part in preserving the plants of the past.

There are many different places to buy heirloom seeds. Last year we bought ours exclusively from Baker Creek Seed Company, you can see their online catalog here.

Phoebe is an expecting, stay at home mom to 3 children. She chronicles her family’s love for the unconventional life and their journey to debt freedom on her blog, Getting Freedom.

Do you use seeds or plants for your garden? What factors motivate your choice of what you grow, and the source that you get it from?

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A Tale of Rhubarb

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:00:39 +0000

Guest Post by LaManda of The Yarden

Rhubarb. Usually there are three responses when I ask the question “Do you like rhubarb?” They are reliably accompanied by facial expressions:

1. Facial expression: puzzlement and slight trepidation

Accompanying answer “I’ve heard of it but never tried it”

2. Facial expression: I just sucked on the most vile thing ever

Accompanying answer (emphatically) “NO” (sometimes “eww” or “yuck”)

3. Facial expression: “heavenly rapture remembering the most delicious flavor ever”

Accompanying answer “I LOVE rhubarb but I never get to eat it!”

I am firmly in the #3 camp or at least I was. Prior to 2007 the last time I had eaten rhubarb (and gotten that facial expression) was during a road trip we took to central Indiana in 2003 to attend an Amish auction. I don’t know which I was more excited about – the Amish food or the auction. Both turned out to be winners that day. At the auction I got, among other things, a glass circa 1920s chicken watering device that I display as sculpture. After that we went to the restaurant and had not only pure rhubarb pie (not ruined by the presence of strawberries) but “white” (green) rhubarb pie. I had two pieces.

So the first thing we did when we got The Yarden built was tromp out and find two rhubarb plants. One typical red (Valentine) and one “white/green” (Victoria) and put them in.

Here I must note, as all good rhubarb storytellers are obliged to do, these plants get big and don’t like to be moved. We, in our enthusiasm, chose to ignore this information and put them somewhere where, two years later, they needed to be moved from. Luckily they survived and are now flourishing in their new spots where they are playing dual role of food and landscape plant. Their big, Jurassic looking leaves are a nice feature in a Zone 5 garden where nothing truly tropical can survive the winter.

Rhubarb is called “Pie Plant” and I have also heard it called “Grandma Plant” because it is often associated with old lady gardens and has somewhat fallen out of favor. This is a sad, sad state of affairs because rhubarb is a versatile plant that imaginative cooks can do a lot with.

Personally I am very attached to rhubarb for sentimental reasons. When my family moved to an even more rural location in Oregon in 1970, my mother put in a rhubarb plant. Per the above – long living and huge – the plant is still there. Ginormous. It provides enough stalks for more rhubarb goodness than my parents, their church friends and neighbors can eat. By the end of the summer my dad rides over it with the lawnmower. As much as we all love rhubarb, I think he enjoys this end of season ritual because, even as true enthusiasts, you can only eat so much of anything.

My mother is an excellent cook and, luckily, I liked cooking from an early age. She jokes that I showed my cooking enthusiasm from the get go because my favorite occupation as a tiny girl was sitting on the kitchen floor and banging on a pot with a wooden spoon. Rhubarb compote or “melted rhubarb” was one of the first things I learned to make. It is good for kids because you can use a plastic knife to cut it.

The below is more instructions than a recipe but you can’t go wrong with it so give it a try with any quantity you have.

Take a big armful of rhubarb and cut the leaves and the stems off. Chop it into 1” pieces.

Get a big stock pot ready. Wash the rhubarb and with the water still clinging to it, put it in the stockpot on medium heat. Once the rhubarb starts melting it is very juicy so it is better to add less water at the beginning. Start with a ½ - 1 cup of sugar. [We always liked to use brown sugar because it gave it a deeper flavor but white sugar is good too.] Stir it all together and let it cook. It will begin to cook down. Stir it often. It will begin to get stringy and become a deep, beautiful reddish/brown color. Taste it and add more sugar as necessary. It is done when the individual chunks have disappeared and it is a thick liquid mass.

To me a pot of melted rhubarb on the stove, cooled to room temperature or still slightly warm is heaven. You can serve it on ice cream or with vanilla pudding or over pound cake. Or just eat it plain.

This is the first thing we did with the rhubarb in The Yarden and it was a taste of heaven. Just like I remembered it…

So tell the truth... do you like rhubarb? How do you like to eat it?

Awarded honorable mention in Mayor Daley’s Landscape Competition for 2009, LaManda Joy’s 1,700 square foot, heirloom organic garden in Chicago’s 40th Ward is a laboratory and teaching ground for friends and neighbors. Her blog, theyarden.com chronicles the joys and challenges of urban gardening, entertaining, cooking and food preservation and reflects the skills and passion of its veteran creator.

LaManda is a member of the Garden Writer's Association, the Culinary Historians of Chicago and, after 20 years of experience, is finally studying to be a Master Gardener. You may follow The Yarden on Facebook, Twitter or theyarden.com

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Getting Organized in the Garden: Seed Starting and Planting Schedule

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:00:51 +0000

One step to ensuring a really good gardening season is knowing in advance what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. This will help you to avoid planting things too late because you weren't ready or didn't have the right supplies on hand at the right time.

This year I found a really simple tool to help me make my garden plans:

This is my seed starting schedule from my ListPlanIt membership. It's simple as can be, but it forced me to take a bit of time to think through what I need to do this winter and spring to have everything ready for the garden when I need it to be ready. It took me about 45 minutes to do the quick but necessary research to complete mine.

Here are some steps for making your own seed starting and planting schedule:

Figure out which plants are going to need to be started or prepared early. You can see my list above. The only one I may not actually start early indoors is cucumbers, as I have good success with them straight in the ground, though getting a slightly earlier harvest would be really nice. We'll see.
Determine your last Spring frost date and your first Fall frost date. Here's a good site for Americans. Canadians, try this one. I just wrote both dates at the top of my seed starting page for easy reference (and you can see that I wrote the wrong ones first and crossed them out- this doesn't have to be perfect or polished!).
Figure out how long each type of seedling should be started before being transplanted out to the garden. I found this page at Victory Seeds helpful, as well as this one at the Old Farmer's Almanac. I looked up the number of weeks that each type of seedling needed and wrote it in the upper left corner of the Sowing Date box.
Figure out when those seedlings can be transplanted to the garden. I didn't write exact dates, but just a general time (ie early April or mid May). Again, I got these off of the links in #3 and partly from my experience from past years of what worked well.
Get out a calendar and count backwards. Take your transplanting/outdoor planting dates and go back however many weeks you've specified that each seedling needs, and that will give you your Sowing Date (the day you start your seedlings). For example, my broccoli and cauliflower seedlings can go outside as soon as it begins warming up and nearing my last frost date, around late March or early April at the latest. They need 6 weeks to grow indoors, so that brings me back to late February to have them started.
Write any other notes that feel relevant to you. I noted how many of each seedling I would like to start and put that number in my Notes box. I would like to start 12 each of cauliflower and broccoli, so you'll note the 12 there. For my tomatoes, I want to start 3 seedlings of each type I'm planting (one cherry and 5 other tomato varieties). The plan is to actually plant 2 of each variety, but I want to start 3 of each just in case I have one that doesn't do well for some reason.

That's it! A little bit of research and effort, and now you have a blueprint for your seed starting and transplanting. This page could also easily be used for all of your other seeds that will go straight into the ground. Just skip the Sowing Date column and only write down the approximate time that you will plant these seeds directly into your garden.

To get ready for your garden even more, a next step would be to draw yourself a garden layout plan. You can see some examples of mine from last year in this post on succession planting. I haven't yet made mine for this year, although it is in the works. This is a very helpful tool to make sure that you have room for all that you want to plant and to start thinking strategically about which vegetables will go where (and why). One excellent book that I am referencing as I make my layout this season is Carrots Love Tomatoes, a book on companion planting.

How do you plan out your garden seedlings and planting? Have you started to make your plans for this gardening season yet?

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Organization in the Garden: Evaluating What You Have and What You Need

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:00:36 +0000

January tends to find me just a little bit giddy. Throughout the fall and early winter, I am just pooped from gardening and preserving season. I don't really want to see another canning jar, or hardly even another fresh tomato, and going out to get the garden prepped for over the winter is the last thing I feel like doing.

And then comes January. Christmas is finished. Plans for the new year have begun. Seed catalogues begin to look oh-so-appealing once again. Suddenly I am smitten with my love for all things glorious and green and growing. I can't stop thinking about what I will plant in the spring or how early I can work my soil. Planning out my seed shopping list is a deliciously fun and inspiring task, as I sort through what new and unique plants I will add to my repertoire this year!

So how exactly does one prepare for the coming spring and summer of gardening?

There are two major areas that I look at when I begin to plan and scheme for the upcoming season:

Seeds- what I already have, what I need, new things I want to try, placing my order as quickly as possible
Garden Planning- a seed starting schedule, outdoor planting dates, drawing up my garden layout of what will be planted where

Today, let's talk seeds. Later in the week we'll look at garden planning.

I've spent a lot of time over the past week or two sorting through my seeds and determining what to buy for this upcoming season. To get ready and make my decisions, here's what I did:

Sorted through all of my remaining seeds from other years and made a list of exactly what I have- which varieties and how much of each seed
Made a list of what I want to plant this year, and a basic garden layout sketch to ensure that it's actually feasible
Dreamily read through my Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog and highlighted everything that looked good or interesting to me. So yes, I highlighted approximately 3/4 of the book. Just kidding. Sort of.
Went back through the catalog with my list of what I actually need to buy, narrowed down my choices to what I thought were the best or most intriguing varieties
Made my order as quickly as I could, because I want to be sure that I have plenty of time to receive my seeds, get my seedlings started and growing well in time to harden them off and have them out in the garden even earlier than last year.

I almost wrote a post describing how to choose seeds, and then I realized that I had already written a fairly thorough one last year, so why reinvent the wheel?

For more seed-buying tips, see my post from last year: Buying Seeds for your Garden

I have learned a few things over my 3 years of gardening and my seed selecting criteria is growing a bit more refined. Here are a few tips that I would add to the above post, knowing what I know now. When selecting your particular varieties of each plant (ie. which tomato out of the hundreds of options you could choose from), these are some things that I've learned to look closely at:

Days to maturity. Where I live we have a pretty good spring and fall growing season, but the actual part of summer that is really warm and sunny is a bit shorter. When I look for something like a melon or pepper to attempt, I'm aiming for something in the 60-75 day range if possible, rather than 80-90. Consider the length of your season, how long it's truly hot for, etc.
Characteristics of a variety. Do I want a soft leaf lettuce or a crisp romaine style? Do I want really large, juicy tomatoes or smaller, firmer ones? Am I really cool with (and will my family willingly eat) something that looks a bit different, like a brown bell pepper or a yellow carrot or purple broccoli?
Specialty features. Among heirlooms, sometimes you can look for specific things, like the insect-resistant purple cauliflower I grew last year. Or the slow-bolt cilantro I discovered this year, since my cilantro bolted last year before my first tomato ever ripened. So much for salsa!
Early and Late varieties. With my tomatoes, it's nice to have both. This year I'll have some early, some mid-season, and I'm adding one called Long Keeper for toms that I can pick unripened and will slowly ripen up until Christmas!
Yields. Many garden catalogs will tell you if a particular variety is heavier yielding (or if its lower), whether it yielded for a longer season than other varieties, etc. When you're growing in a relatively small garden and want to maximize your space, it helps to keep your eyes out for types of vegetables or fruits that have more abundant yields. Because who doesn't want to get more for their efforts?

Have you bought your garden seeds yet? How do you choose which seeds to buy?

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The Annual Organic Gardening Carnival 2009

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:38:09 +0000

I know of very few gardeners for whom everything comes easily. Certainly it didn't for me. Gardening, though something I've become passionate about and have learned to truly love, has required a lot of work, study, experimentation (and yes, both failure and success), and learning from others.

I don't think I'm alone in that. For most of us, we grow in our gardening skills the longer we garden, making mistakes and learning from them. Year after year, I learn a little bit more as I try new things and discuss what I am doing with those other brave souls who love to get their hands dirty as I do.

I started this carnival last year in the hopes that we could further our own learning by sharing with one another our unique experiences. We all have somewhat different (or very different) gardening situations-- climates, garden size, budget, age and number of family members, vegetable preferences, types of pests or problems, etc. No two gardens (or gardeners) are the same. And yet, the principles of gardening don't change. Love and pamper your soil. Grow what you eat. Tend to it faithfully. Rotate your crops. Enjoy the process.

I value having to write down my observations from each year. It creates a record for me of how the year went, what I was happy (and not so happy) with, when I did what, what I won't try again, what little techniques worked. I've often gone back to my post from last year, to be reminded of what I grew, or when, or what was the problem I had with such-and-such. I also highly valued being able to read the observations of others, to see photos of their gardens, to learn what they were learning.

(Sadly, last year's posts have all disappeared from the Mr. Linky for some unknown reason, otherwise I would link to it for you. This year that won't happen again as I will be adding each and every entry to this post myself)

So ladies (and hey, men if you're reading this!), let's share about this past year of gardening! I'm eager to read your posts! :)

How it works:

1) Write your post with an overview and/or details of your garden this past year and publish it on your blog (for more ideas on what to write about, see this post and see my post from last year- and note that yours doesn't have to be nearly so long!).

2) Come back here and leave a comment with your post url, and a very brief (1 sentence) description of what your post is about.

3) I'll go through the comments as often as I can and get your link added to this post!

4) If you're not a blogger, we would love, love, love to have your thoughts in the comment section! Please share with us anyways!

Let the carnival begin:

Reflections on Another Year of Gardening @ Keeper of the Home

How I felt about gardening while very pregnant and with a newborn, new things I tried and loved, a new method that works for me, and my overall thoughts on my 3rd year of organic gardening!

Organic Garden Carnival @ One Blessed Mama of Boys

My post is a quick what I learned this year in my garden with a few pictures.

Reflections On My Garden @ Tales of a Perfectionist

My post is the reflection and lessons learned from a first year gardener.

Organic Gardening Carnival Reflection @ Modern Alternative Mama

Experimenting with Growing Food Indoors @ Nourishing Days

My post is about my experimentations with growing food indoors this winter.

Gardening Year in Review 2009 @ Home Joys

Our seventh year of gardening was an exciting time to try new things, including a great tomato, a children's garden, and new compost pile!

Looking back at the garden @ Proverbs 31 Living

Even through neglect and cold weather, God blessed abundantly!

Garden Journal 2009 @ Joy Comes From Within

A quick look at my last 3 year of gardening. This year has proved to be the best!

You're next!!!

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Reflections on Another Year of Gardening

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:04:15 +0000

I love gardening, I really do.

This was a bit of a different year for me, though. I went into the spring already late in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy, and finished up the summer with a newborn baby (plus two other children under 5). Ambitious as I am, this proved a challenge for me!

I considered the season that I was heading into as I planned and planted my garden. I opted for 8 tomato plants instead of 12 (and only 6 really produced anyways) and very little re-planting for the fall. I chose not to stress out about filling each and every space as something in the garden finished up. I decided to be okay with the natural look (aka weeds) and focus on harvesting just to keep plants producing and doing the bare minimum of work once I hit mid-summer and started really slowing down.

My poor garden was ignored for a good, solid 6 weeks after Johanna was born August 12. All I did was walk out there to pick what needed to be picked, and walk back inside. I think I might have picked a few weeds that happened to just be in my face, but really, that was it. Even after that, I did the minimum amount of work necessary to finish up with the harvest and clear out the garden to get it ready for the winter. Currently, it still has some kale, lettuce and carrots growing. I haven't dealt with the very last plants, the tomatoes and squash which are dead but still sitting there. The rest has been tilled and had some annual rye grass planted, and the garlic has gone in. And that's all, folks!

Honestly, it was harder than I thought it would be. I did pretty well with the gardening while pregnant, though I definitely slowed down a lot in the final weeks. It was summer and the kids enjoyed being outside, as did I, and I just let myself work at a slower and easier pace. I'm glad I still did a really good spring/summer planting and we ate (and I preserved) a lot of amazing veggies before baby came along. The tough part came with a newborn, and a midwife (and husband) who kept telling me to slow down and rest. I had to choose to basically ignore the garden and that was hard for me. The reality was, I just didn't have time or energy for it (see my post on 5 Steps to Being a Lazy Gardener!).

The good thing is that gardens can be forgiving creatures. Even with the weeds taking over, almost everything kept on producing pretty decently. Yes, some things would have done better with more weeding, more fertilizing, more careful staking and tying up, and even some hand pollinating. Nonetheless, all was not lost. We still continued to eat from that garden until, well, we're still eating from it! The work I had done earlier paid off in many regards.

I've considered many times how I would do it again with a summer due date, and I think I would do it almost exactly the same. I'd plant heavily for the spring and early summer and just get everything out of it that I could. From then on, I would plant more lightly for the late summer/early fall, but I would still plant some things. I would feel free to let the garden go as I needed to, and just relish in the fact that it would still produce something and something is better than nothing! I can't tell you how many times I was so thankful that despite my neglect, I could still go outside and harvest food for dinner, to put up for the winter, and even some to give to others. Truly, my garden blessed me this year.

A New Method

I discovered a great book last winter as I was thinking about the upcoming gardening season and that book is Joy of Gardeningby Dick Raymond. It is such a clear, explanatory book. The photos are fantastic. He clearly loves gardening and his passion comes through. His aim is to help you grow the best vegetables possible, with less work. Definitely up my alley! The focus is not on organic growing, though many of his methods are definitely in line with organic methods.

One of the best things I picked up from the book was using a wide-row planting technique. The idea is that rather than making rows and little holes and planting seeds individually, you plant an entire area (usually a wide row or else a large square patch) by spreading seed as evenly as possible over the whole area (there's a bit more to it, but that's the gist of it). It means that you will have to do some thinning, but it allows you to grow a very significant amount of food in a smaller space, and the thinning will let you start eating young baby veggies just as soon as they're ready to be picked, leaving room for the others to grow more before picking. It helps to control weeds and definitely makes planting faster and easier. My only complaints were that the germination was a bit uneven and some things didn't grow as big because I didn't keep up on thinning enough, so I would rather just plant them in a purposeful grid next time (like turnips and beets).

New Foods I Grew

I definitely branched out into a few new areas this year. I tried garlic starting last fall and harvested it in July. It was far, far easier than I thought it would be and my yield was enormous- probably enough for the whole year (and to give away a bit), plus some for planting again. I also added in kale this year, a dark blue Tuscan variety which grew very slowly through the spring/summer but has really shot up through the late summer/fall.

I did my first attempt at pole beans (though I've done bush beans before) and they were really fun to grow. I made a simple teepee, which turned out to be too short so the beans attached themselves to the wild rose bush and the fence! :) We loved the fresh beans and also the beans I blanched and froze. I used a tri-color heirloom mix- purple, yellow and green. I also added to my squash repertoire with Delicata, a squash that I love to buy. It's smaller and grows on a bush rather than a long vine, so it's an ideal winter squash for those with less space. It was definitely less all-consuming than the pumpkins, butternut and spaghetti squash I grew last year! I didn't get a huge yield (should have hand pollinated) but what I did get is really nice.

One of my favorite things I tried this year was cauliflower. I did try a broccoli called DeCicco (an Italian heirloom) and I wasn't too impressed. It didn't seem hardy enough to handle being put out in the cool, late spring weather. Most of my seedlings didn't make it. The heads didn't get too big, though I did love that the plants continued to produce small sideshoots for weeks and weeks after. But I really loved the cauliflower! I used a variety called Purple of Sicily. It really was purple, though it turned green (looked like broccoli) once cooked. It seemed very hardy and actually perked up a bit when I brought the seedlings outside and got them planted in mid-April. All but one plant survived (out of 12) and I got a head from each of them. Some bolted too quickly because our summer warmed up quicker than I expected, but it was still great!

Lastly, I tried potatoes this year. I experimented with growing them both in the garden and in a garbage can. The ones in the garden definitely produced way more potatoes. I think this might have been because I wasn't careful enough about keeping the soil level high as the plants grew in the garbage can. I'll try both ways again next year. I grew two varieties, Blue Russian (yes, they're really blueish-purple) and Sieglinde (a yellow potato). Both were good, though we preferred the yellow. Can't wait to grow more next year! I just need to be more on the ball with hilling up the dirt as the plants grow, because I think that's what really makes a difference in the harvest that you yield.

Seed Choices (How I Love my Heirlooms!)

There's not too much different to say than last year. I've decided I don't love Monstreux de Viroflay spinach and will choose something new next year. I enjoyed the addition of Black Seeded Simpson to my lettuce patch. I'm looking for a new broccoli to try next year, because the DeCicco didn't do well for me. I still love Nantes carrots but will also add something more interesting next time. I'm bored with French Breakfast Radishes, and my hubby wants me to grow White Icicle Radishes instead. I've given up on corn altogether, because my corn utterly failed both times in 2 years, regardless of what seeds I tried. I love Bull's Blood Beets. Still haven't found the tomato that really makes me go "wow", but enjoyed trying Tigerella (small but pretty and flavorful) and Pink German (a bit firmer and deep reddy-pink), and decided that Marvel Striped might be my favorite so far (larger, yellow with orangey-pink stripes and very juicy).

Pests and Problems

I had some of the same issues with powdery mildew this year, but it was after Johanna was born, so I didn't do too much about it. Tried to cut off the leaves before they infected others, but it still spread to all my squash plants, though thankfully they still produced. I really noticed the lack of bees again this year, with poor pollination and next year I will be particularly vigilant to hand pollinate my cucumbers, squash and zucchini. Weeds were a large problem again this year, as I think I added weed seeds through some hay I used for mulching last year (oops!). I just worked with them the best I could... sigh. Hoping the annual rye grass helps with the problem at least a little.

My Apple Tree

It's not quite part of my vegetable garden, but I bought an apple tree this year. It's a potted one, as we don't own the house we're currently living in. At one point in the summer it seemed to have been shocked (by a brief cold, rainy snap I'm guessing). All the leaves blackened and fell off, and I thought it was dead. But new leaves started to grow back a few weeks later! This fall I replanted it in a bigger pot, put some manure and the placenta under it (I saved it from my birth- I know it's gross to some, but many gardeners swear by doing this for all the nutrients), pruned it well, mulched it and added a weight to one branch to help improve the tree's shape. We'll see how it does next year! We didn't get any apples off it this year, but I'm hopeful it will produce for us soon.

My Conclusions

It was a good year. Really. Pregnancy, new baby, weeds, mold, corn failure and all. :)

This was my 3rd year of real gardening and I definitely produced more food than ever before. I only had one crop that was a total failure and everything else produced at least something, if it didn't do really well. I was amazed at how much I could get out of my small, suburban backyard plot, and that was without pushing my garden to it's maximum capacity for the late summer and fall. I could have grown more if I tried to, and that just thrills me.

Hopefully that encourages those of you just starting out, that the longer you do this, the better you will get at it and the more that your garden will produce for you! It gets a bit easier every year (even though it's still hard work), and I learn to love it more all the time.

Want to hear from other gardeners about how their year of gardening went? Check out the Annual Organic Gardening Carnival!

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The Carnival I Almost Missed and Other Important News

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:01:50 +0000

Well, I may be able to pull off a mean baking day but I'm still forgetful at heart. :)

In the midst of preparing for baking day and then spending all day yesterday actually doing it, guess who completely forgot that it was supposed to be the Organic Gardening Carnival today? Oh wait, that would be me!

Because I always prefer to give everyone a heads up about an upcoming carnival the day before it actually happens (just to give you time to prepare your own post if you're participating), I decided late last night not to run the carnival today. Instead, I took this morning to sleep in (much needed!) and enjoy a sweet and leisurely family time over breakfast (fancy scrambled eggs, sprouted grain toast and OJ- yummy!).

So consider this your one day reminder that the carnival is coming up! Tomorrow, to be exact! In fact, I'll likely have it up by later tonight, for any early birds who want to get their posts up first.

Can't remember what the Organic Gardening Carnival is all about? See this post.

In other news...

Tomorrow will be a busy day for me, because not only am I running the carnival but I will be participating in the first every Real Food Twitter Party! Thursday night from 9-11 pm EST (that's 6-8 pm for us Westcoasters) you will find myself, as well as many other fabulous nourishing bloggers (Cheeseslave, Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Naturally Knocked Up, Kitchen Stewardship, etc.) discussing (what else?) REAL FOOD! We'll be discussing how we all got started and why we eat the way we do. We'll definitely be taking questions and doing our best to answer them! If you're just curious about eating more traditional, nourishing foods or starting out and would like to hear more about how others do it, then definitely join us! There will even be a chance for someone to win a copy of Nourishing Traditions!

If you don't already, you can follow me on Twitter (@keeperhome). To join in the party, look for the hashtag #realfood, so that you can keep track of the conversation that's going on. See you there!

Wanna know who won some of the giveaways?

Awesome Stainless Steel Food Storage goes to: Sarah M (@ssmast)

Gorgeous Silver Jewelry goes to: MelodyJ (melodyj@)

Please email me at stephanie (at) keeperofthehome (dot) org, and if I don't hear from you I will be in touch.

Remember that you only have 2 more days to get your entry in for the incredible dehydrator giveaway, and that means my book sale only lasts 2 more days as well!

I hope that this little post is a good reminder that yet again, I do not have it all together. I get caught up in what I'm doing (and just the general chaos of life) and forget all about other important things. I get too busy and too tired. I sleep in. I'm a real mom, just like all of you! :)

So just to make me feel better, why don't you all share with me some of your "finer" moments where you completely forgot about something important!

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Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

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Upcoming: The Annual Organic Gardening Carnival!

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

It's time again for the Annual Organic Gardening Carnival!

About this time last year, I realized just how helpful it might to be able to purposefully reflect on the past gardening season, write down our observations and lessons learned and then share them with one another. For more about the vision of the carnival, see what I wrote last year (and just ignore the dates because they're slightly different this year).

I would love to make the carnival much bigger than last year, with more people sharing about their gardening experience! Whether you garden on 1/2 an acre with your 8 children or in boxes on your apartment patio with your toddler, anything you have to contribute would be valuable. We all have unique experiences and skills, and each perspective adds something valuable!

And please, don't be intimidated by the fact that it's called the "organic" gardening carnival. I know that many of you are in the process of learning to garden more organically and naturally, and most of us don't do it perfectly by any means. I just want to avoid things like tips on which commercial insecticide to use, for example, and focus instead on the more natural ways that we can tend to our gardens and deal with the issues that arise (bugs, mildew, blight, challenging weather, fertilizing, etc.).

How to get ready for the carnival:

1) Take some time to reflect on what you did this year, what went well (and what didn't go so well), what you tried, what you learned, what you'd do differently next time, which varieties of plants and seeds you used (and what you thought of them), etc.

2) Put together a blog post detailing your thoughts on this past year of gardening. For some ideas, you can check out my post from last year (and please know that mine was particularly long, and yours doesn't need to be nearly so detailed!).

3) Be ready to get your post up on Wednesday, November 5, and then come by and leave me a comment with your post url to join in!

(And just to let you know, last year's carnival unfortunately know
longer shows the links of participating bloggers, due to Mr. Linky
issues. For the simple reason that Mr. Linky does have issues like
this, and also because I would rather give your sites a genuine link
that is recognized by google, I will be posting up each entry manually.)

That's it! I'm really looking forward to it! Are you with me?

Our Sponsors:

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Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

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A Wormy Update

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Seeing as we've just been talking about composting, I thought I might as well continue on with the topic!

Today I did my weekly maintenance of my worm composting bin, and was so impressed with how it's doing that I just felt like I had to show you all the contents of my box (alright, I know it's a bit yucky, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, whether it's a lovely image or not):

After only one month, you can see that my food and paper scraps are quickly being turned into genuine compost (at least, I hope you can tell that in the picture- if you can't, it's true and you'll just have to take my word for it)! Go, wormies, go!

I was briefly having some issues with fruit flies and smell, but quickly dealt with those by re-reading Rachel's helpful post on worm box maintenance.

My weekly routine has now developed as such: open up the box and give it a good stir, add the contents of my compost bucket from under the sink, spread a layer of recycled paper strips over the top, and replace the sheet of cardboard that rests on top of my pile. Takes about 3 minutes, and now there is no smell, many more worms than before, lovely compost developing and no annoying fruit flies.

Kind of makes a girl wish she had more worms (of the composting variety, that is). All this successful composting business has got me dreaming of having a system of multiple, large worm bins down in my garage... one day, my wormy friends. You'll fill a veritable mansion, and oh, the composting fun we will have.

(Did I mention that it's very late at night? And that I'm functioning on extreme lack of sleep due to having a newborn? I'm not quite sure where the sudden affection for any sort of creepy crawly creature has come from, but perhaps all this gardening and composting I've been doing these past few years is starting to go to my head. Tell me that there are others out there that speak to their worms! Or, at least tell me how your composting is working for you.)

Our Sponsors:

Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

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