My 2006 Garden

[Valerie in WA]

I consider myself a moderately experienced fruit and vegetable gardener. So, if there is interest, I would like to share this year's gardening with the Village. During the quiet gardening season - like now - I'll update about twice a month. During the spring, summer and fall, I imagine I'll have updates at least weekly.

My goals are the following:

First and formost, I want to take you through my thought processes, so that less experienced gardeners can learn to apply knowledge to their own gardens. Every garden is different, but we can still glean knowledge from each other.

Secondly, I want to demonstrate that gardening is a year-round activity. Even if you don't extend your season, you still need to be mindful of your soil, even in the dead of winter.

Thirdly, I want to keep myself accountable to journalling more details of the garden. I kept good records last year; but I could do even better this year.

I hope you enjoy this.

[tbs727]

I look forward to reading your gardening posts. I have much to learn, but I am very excited about expanding my garden this year.

[forestdale]

Great idea, Valerie. I'll read it with interest. I'm reviving the frugal food thread today too so that will compliment your thread nicely.

[Dedlered]

Valerie,

I am so looking forward to your posts

Laura

[Valerie in WA]

We live on a half-acre in suburbia near Seattle, WA. We have a mild maritime climate with plenty of moisture from October through May and temperature extremes are rare. Here's a link to more information about Seattle's weather: http://www.beautifulseattle.com/weasea.htm

Our property is on top of a hill, about 500 ft above sea level. We do tend to frost a bit more than our 'low-land' neighbors, but at least flooding is never an issue. Our property is long and narrow about 70 ft wide by 300 ft long (length running from north to south). It slopes downhill about 10 feet as you go north and also downhill about 2 feet as you go east. The house and front yard are at the south end. At the very front of our property, I have a grafted apple tree (several varieties on one trunk & therefore self-fertile). It was planted in 1999.

The septic drain field is immediately behind the house. I cannot plant over it, but the grass there gets 'watered' from it throughout our dry summers. To the west, near the property line (5 feet in), I have two fruit trees, with a row of raspberries separating them. The southern tree is Italian plum (oval, purple) – planted in 2001, which is self-fertile. The raspberries were transplanted here in 2003 from my MIL’s yard in Montana, which she transplanted from my dh’s Grandfather’s ranch in Montana (which is now Forest Service land). The northern tree is a grafted cherry tree (several varieties on one trunk & therefore self-fertile), also planted in 2001. The birds have gotten most of the cherries so far. And to the north of that tree, I have two crowns of rhubarb. I think I put those in in 2003.

About 5 ft north of the rhubarb begins my vegetable garden, placing it just north of the septic drain field area. It is located on the western edge (uphill side) of the property - I have a 5ft buffer between the edge of the property line and the edge of the garden. At this time there is no fence between properties. The neighbor says she is planning to put one in (she has a dog). If it is a board fence, my microclimate could change markedly! Last year, she was talking about chain link (cheaper), which would have less effect on climate. The garden is roughly square, measuring 15ft deep (south to north) and 17ft wide (west to east).

I use the area east of the garden (about 35 wide across the property & 25 deep) to rotate my duck pen – when they are on the lawn. I winter them on the garden.

North of the garden/duck area, is another 20 feet of lawn. Along the western border (5 ft in, of course!), I planted two Rainier cherry trees in 2003. I hope they bear this year!

Then there is a belt of very tall trees. That marks the difference between what we call the ‘back’ and the ‘way back’. The way back was all blackberries and morning glories when we moved here in 1999. Now there is a shed, and a bit of grass. There is also a managed (with a machete) blackberry patch, two blueberry bushes (the third died) – which were planted around 2002, and a strawberry patch – taken from thinnings from an old neighbor in 2003, I think. Among the blackberries, we also found salmon berries. They are a native plant, maturing earlier in the season, but they lack the syrupy sweetness of the blackberries and are, in fact, often quite tart.

Along the north border, there is a 6 foot wooden fence.

I think that's all.

[Valerie in WA]

Vegetable garden area:
The garlic I planted in the fall is doing very little above the ground. There are about 3 or 4 long leaves per bulb planted. They just hang out at this time of year. They will be ready in July or so. I planted 42 bulbs, so hope to harvest 42 heads of garlic. This uses 4x3 foot area of the garden.

I also have a 2x4ft cold frame in which I planted lettuce last fall. It’s grown very slowly. Next time I will think of the cold frame not so much as a place to grow, but more as a place to keep. I might be able to harvest the four heads of lettuce in a month or so. Well, at least it’s not bolting or getting bitter (which is what lettuce does when it’s hot).

Duck manure as fertilizer
My duck pen has been on the remainder of the garden since early November. In the beginning, I threw down about 3 to 4 four inches of straw. Each day, I toss a couple of handfuls of clean straw over the dirty areas. Later I will till the mixture into the soil. Duck manure is very high in nitrogen and can be used for fertilizer in an un-composted state. Chicken manure is very high in ammonia and [i]must[i] be composted before using.

I did this last year on the garden, and had excellent results. First dh ran the mulching blade of the lawn mower over the straw, to break into smaller bits. Then we turned it in by hand (by shovel, really, but not a tiller). I was amazed at the worms! Worms love to eat poop (it’s true!) and come a-runnin’ to manure. They leave behind their manure, called castings. Castings basically are ‘good’ dirt. It is full of nutrients. A healthy garden must have worms.

The straw is helpful to lighten our soil, which tends toward clay, at least seasonally because of rains.

January 4, 2006
Today, I paced off the area I want to expand the garden into. It's about 12x16ft, which will nearly double my space. It will be immediately north of (and connected to) the existing garden. I’m going to go 16ft north, but can only go 12 feet wide (from the eastern edge of the existing garden) because of the Rainier cherry trees on the west.

In going North, I’m heading toward the belt of trees, but staying where lawn easily grows, I’m not going into the area where very little grows beneath the trees. This area of the garden will have a shorter day of sunshine than the southern area. I’m thinking I can tuck cooler vegetables, like lettuce and potatoes back there.

I’m going to talk to my dh, but I think I'm going to till the new area in mid-February and put the ducks on it (to make 'deposits' into the soil). Then I can till in the straw-manure combo in mid April (putting the ducks on the lawn at that time). It can sit & decompose for a month and then be planted in mid-May, which is our usual last frost time.

When I first till the new area in February, I will till in the straw-manure combo on the existing garden. It will then be ready for some early planting - in March if it's dry and April if it's not dry.

[forestdale]

It sounds like a very productive area, Valerie. I like your plan to feed the soil before planting and the ducks will do that nicely for you.

You have a good selection of fruiting trees and berries. I've done this in my own garden. Will you start your own seedlings from seed or do you plan to buy seedlings?

[Valerie in WA]

Originally posted by forestdale
It sounds like a very productive area, Valerie. I like your plan to feed the soil before planting and the ducks will do that nicely for you.

You have a good selection of fruiting trees and berries. I've done this in my own garden. Will you start your own seedlings from seed or do you plan to buy seedlings?

Thanks, Rhonda. One cannot just keep taking from the soil, year after year. It must be renewed. If someone doesn't have access to animal manure, do a search for "green manure". Green manure are easy-to-grow plants that you grow in the off-season and then till into the soil to add nitrogen. Nitrogen is necessary in good amounts for all green growing things. Carrots don't need much nitrogen because you're not looking for green growth as much as you are the growth of the root.

I haven't planned exactly my spring plantings, but I usually buy tomato starts. Most everything else I grow from direct-sewn seed. (Direct-sewn means seed sewn directly into the garden, rather that started indoors (or a greenhouse) and then transplanted.) I am begining to save seeds, a skill that you describe quite well here: Seed saving, first grow the plant. Last year I got good results from saved pumpkin seeds. Then, I saved some bean seeds, and I still have leftover pumpkin seeds.

[ACEHearts]

Very interesting thread Valerie. It sounds like your climate is somewhat similar to ours (we may be a couple weeks behind you in planting, depending on the year).

I wish we could have poultry here, ducks or laying hens, but as wel live on a commercial poultry farm, keeping our own isn't possible. I do have a lot of access to well composted chicken manure though!

I'm looking forward to reading about your garden this coming season!

Cindy

[Valerie in WA]

If I do this right, you'll see below a drawing of my back yard.

[guest32]

Valerie,

I just had to laugh at your comment about managing the blackberries with a machete My sister lives in Kent, and that's about how they are on her property too. And I'm very curiouis about your ducks....what kind do you have? We have a little over 1/2 acre and we have wild ducks (mostly mallards) that visit our pond, but I'd love some to *keep*. Do you use the eggs, or??? How do you keep them penned, etc?

[Valerie in WA]

Cathy, I decribe my duck set-up pretty thoroughly here: duck owners...

I bumped it up. Feel free to post other ducky questions to that thread - or start your own thread.

I'm sure you and your sister understand my blackberry patch quite well. Around here, they're considered weeds - except when they're ripe. Then everyone wishes they had some.

[forestdale]

the drawing gives us a much better idea of your garden. thanks for including it.

[momof42003]

Yes thanks for drawing in the garden.... It will help with the visual in when you write about it more later.

[Valerie in WA]

Well, today I got in some gardening!

It actually wasn't raining! The girls were rough-housing and I thought, "They need some excersize," so we went outside.

I had some duck chores to do (cleaning feeders), so I took care of those. When I got done, the children were very involved in a game of Pocahontas and the Little English Girl, so I found more things to do.

I weeded the cold frame that contains 3 leaf lettuce plants and 4 spinach. It's sooooooo slow. I planted it in September (I think) and the spinach is up to six leaves per plant. The lettuce is coming along fairly well, though.

I also weeded the garlic. I planted the cloves last fall and they're not due to be ready until July, but (like a certain little monkey), I was very curious. So I gently dug around one to see what was going on --- not much. No bountiful cloves. But the clove that the greenery grew from is starting to split, so perhaps many lovely cloves of garlic are forming right now.

I watered my compost barrel (used for food scraps) and added a bit of straw and brown leaves to it. I keep thinking it's time to stop adding to this one, and start another, but... well, for one thing, I don't have another barrel. Because I compost so many food scraps, and because we've seen rats in the "Way Back" (see drawing of property in previous post), I'm not comfortable using an open compost system. Currently my compost is in an "Earth Machine." You can see one here: http://www.composters.com/docs/bins_p2.html. I don't know about this site, as we got ours for $20 when the local utility got a special purchase of them.

- - -

I've spent a lot of time lately working on my garden plans for the spring. I'm very eager to get started! In fact, I even checked the soil temperature today, hoping I might find that it was warm enough to plant SOMETHING! At 42*F, it wasn't.

In past years, I've done some plants in traditional rows, but others, such as carrots and lettuce in 1-foot wide beds. Last year - on the recommendation of approximately 762 people- I read Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening. I recommend this book for begining to intermediate gardeners. I applied his principles and did about 2/3 of my garden in the 4ft x 4ft squares that he recommends. The other 1/3 was a 3ft x 17ft bed of potato plants.

This year, I've read Getting the Most from your Garden - using advanced intensive gardening techniques. It was published by Rodale - known for Organic Gardening magazine & Prevention magazine - in 1980. This book recommends 5ft x 20 foot planting beds and has in-depth information on root systems and companion planting. It also strongly recommends sowing seeds indoors and then transplanting, in order to extend the season. I can't do that (because of my cat, who likes to eat green things), but I am changing my beds, and am working with graph paper to get a plan sketched out. This system is even more efficient (in terms of square footage) than Square Foot Gardening. I was pretty amazed by what I could fit in.

A big advantage to close planting is that very little weeding is necessary. The plants provide a 'living mulch" for each other. What remaining ground is exposed, I cover with straw. I rarely have to weed after that point.

When I get my plan finished, I'll post another drawing for you.