One of the ideas in the garden this year is to develop perennial berry patches. My brother is actually going to build raised bed enclosures for blueberries, blackberries, and hazelnuts. The east side of the enclosures I figure will be an excellent place to grow spring peas and then later tie up the tomatoes and some Asian yard-long pole beans.
My brother is also going to build a number of raised beds. The raised beds are going to grow the salad bowl veggies and herbs. These beds are going to be the source of the very intensive garden and hopefully the only spots we will be intensively weeding as well.
My plan is to plant into thin black landscaping fabric tomatoes, zuchinni, squash, melons,and peppers. The garden is going to be laid out so that it can be cultivated with a tractor for the crops of which we will be growing significant amounts of potatoes, corn, cukes, carrots, and parsnips.
The perennial part of the garden is clustered on one side. There will be a Mount Royal plum, rhubarb, June-bearing and ever-bearing strawberry beds, July-bearing and fall-bearing raspberries, blackberies, hazelnuts, Northland and Blueray blueberries, Frontenac and Reliance grapes. I have a Lapin cherry, Honeycrisp apple, and Moorpark apricot in my own yard. My brother has a very old apple orchard he has been attempting to renovate. This is why I will not be spending a lot of time on the orchard part of our "Food Security Plan".
In the herb bed we will have chives, garlic chives, parsley, thyme, oregano, tarragon. I really like dill and the seed and vegetable producing Florence fennel. I already have chives to be moved into the garden, I have Italian flat-leaved parsley and Florence fennel starts growing in my grow light set up.
Transplants! I have Cayenne peppers and sweet red Carmen peppers. Tomatoes: Olpalka, Sweet 100, Super Beefsteak, Roma, Siberian, and Bloody Butcher. I really like Chocolate Cherry tomatoes and as they are an heirloom, I save seed each year. This year, I have not yet found my seed from last year, so I am a little worried I am not going to get those started this year.
I have spinach. I figure I could start them in the garden, but I can start haarvesting earlier if I have some starts. I also have the pointed Wakefield cabbage, Swiss Chard Primo Rossa. I will direct sow the Bright Lights variety. Also I have kale, savoy-type cabbages, Calabrese broccoli, and golden tomatillos.
Showing posts with label berries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label berries. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Order Among Chaos
Living in Wisconsin amid all the heated debate and protests over budgets and union issues, it is easy to see the world as possibly spinning out of control. Libya, Iraq, Bahrain, all seem distant. Their woes, though, seem capable of directly influencing lives here on a very local level. When I see the price of gas at the pump spike 16 cents in two days, I have to wonder where this is all going.
The answer is control what you can. So, plant a garden, or plant several!
Planting a garden to ensure a source of those perennial fruits and berries that might become expensively dear in the coming months and years just seems to make good sense. Good gardens all start with a plan. Start first with your goals for your garden. Make a list of those foods you really enjoy. Get real and include only those that grow well in your zone. Consider those that grow well for you and could make up a large part of your diet. Consider how many people you intend to feed.
Good gardens also include a plan. There are excellent planning tools available at www.Jungseed.com.
I already have included several perennial edibles into my yard landscaping. I have a Honeycrisp apple, a Moorpark apricot, a Seckl pear, blackberry canes, rhubarb, and blueberries. I have chives growing everywhere, and a number of other herbs including lavender as well. I bedded our two types of garlic last fall. I picked 20 quarts of strawberries off a 5' x 8' bed growing around my grape fencing which yielded approximately 20 pounds of grapes last fall.
This year, I am starting a co-op garden with my brother and sister-in-law. I think we all have the same goals. We want to control our food sources, what goes on those foods during the growing cycle, and possibly save some money in the process. We are dividing out the work and cost depending on what each of us can bring to the project. Having the knowledge and two 5-foot tall light racks, which I built myself, I am starting the seed for our transplants. They are supplying the garden space, because I have a tiny yard. My brother, being the "chain-saw carpenter" will, with my son's assistance, build some raised beds and enclosed garden areas to defend our labors from critters.
I have already planted seeds for many of our cool season transplants. They are up and growing. We are big on tomatoes, so they are next to be planted.
Seeing those tiny plant babies has given me a sense of some sort of control over some of the bigger issues facing our world. It starts on a very local level.
Plant a seed.
The answer is control what you can. So, plant a garden, or plant several!
Planting a garden to ensure a source of those perennial fruits and berries that might become expensively dear in the coming months and years just seems to make good sense. Good gardens all start with a plan. Start first with your goals for your garden. Make a list of those foods you really enjoy. Get real and include only those that grow well in your zone. Consider those that grow well for you and could make up a large part of your diet. Consider how many people you intend to feed.
Good gardens also include a plan. There are excellent planning tools available at www.Jungseed.com.
I already have included several perennial edibles into my yard landscaping. I have a Honeycrisp apple, a Moorpark apricot, a Seckl pear, blackberry canes, rhubarb, and blueberries. I have chives growing everywhere, and a number of other herbs including lavender as well. I bedded our two types of garlic last fall. I picked 20 quarts of strawberries off a 5' x 8' bed growing around my grape fencing which yielded approximately 20 pounds of grapes last fall.
This year, I am starting a co-op garden with my brother and sister-in-law. I think we all have the same goals. We want to control our food sources, what goes on those foods during the growing cycle, and possibly save some money in the process. We are dividing out the work and cost depending on what each of us can bring to the project. Having the knowledge and two 5-foot tall light racks, which I built myself, I am starting the seed for our transplants. They are supplying the garden space, because I have a tiny yard. My brother, being the "chain-saw carpenter" will, with my son's assistance, build some raised beds and enclosed garden areas to defend our labors from critters.
I have already planted seeds for many of our cool season transplants. They are up and growing. We are big on tomatoes, so they are next to be planted.
Seeing those tiny plant babies has given me a sense of some sort of control over some of the bigger issues facing our world. It starts on a very local level.
Plant a seed.
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