Rain, Rain...Grow Away!!!

As soon as it started raining last week, my veggies took off. They have been getting plenty of winter sun, but this is my winter crop, they don't LOVE sun, the LOVE water. So as you can imagine, they are pretty content with the current cloud burst. Here is what the garden is looking like, 5 weeks after laying the seed, with the exception of the artichoke. It came up from last years failed transplant from my ex-neighbors yard that never survived, I guess the roots did!

Totally new to me, Artichokes!

Radishes

Spinach

Kohlrabi!!!!

Growing into Swiss Chard, I missed you last season!

Pea trellis'

Carrots growing between the peas

A whole new crop of Arugula! 

Spinach

Yummy lettuce

Elephant Garlic, started with one of last years bulbs

Red Onions 

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Germinating 5 varieties of heirloom of tomatoes from seed 

The Waiting Game

All the hard work is done. I prepped the beds with worm and chicken poo. Tilled last years mulch under. Cleared out all the old dead plants from last year and thew them into the new hot compost pile. And laid the seed for my winter crop. Planted about 15 different patches of vegetables altogether.

It's been awfully warm around these parts, we have not had a cold or wet winter at all. Although my water bill does not appreciate this, it also makes for rapid seed germination. It's the waiting game at this point.

Ready. Set. Grow.

Most of the seed packs I used for Winter, not including potatoes, onions, peas and beans

Swiss chard

Pea trellis

Pea sprouts

Baby Carrots

Kohlrabi

Stella Bell the Duck

Radish

New gardening station/germination sun table for this warm winter. Germinating tomatoes for March transplant. 

Artichoke

New compost hot pile this year: All food scraps but meat and dairy, Stella's straw soiled bedding and grass clippings

Photobomb.

Side bed, arugula seedlings at base

Back yard raised bed

5 Elephant garlic, used the ones I grew last year to propagate new ones for this season

Red Onions, 60 of 'em

Good 'ol Yukon Potatoes 

Moving a garden - part one

Due to a number of circumstances, we decided to move to a new (bigger) house, very close to where the UrbanHoe all started. Of course I could not abandon my much loved garden, so I took it with me. I was not too sure how this garden transfer would turn out, because I have never done it before. Here were the tips that I listened to:

• Transplant at dusk, or at night when the plants are sleeping - this causes less stress
• Dig very very deep as to not nip off any tap roots
• Remove as little dart from the root ball as possible
• Once you have them in the buckets, water them

Here are the last pics of the garden before we dug it all up. I'll note which plots we took, and which ones we left for the wonderful neighbors to tend to.

Farewell garden cottage

Hybrid Miller/Tammer salad, ate it

Arugula, left it there

Bolted chard, left it there

Green onions/scallions, left them there

Lettuce, took half

Carrots looking great, to bad I had to leave these guys

Elephant garlic, took it!

Heirloom Tomatoes, took them

Took 'em

I also took the fennel, the peas, some Yukon gold potatoes and some beets to see if they would make it.
Here are some of the pics from the transfer

 There were about 2x that many tubs by the time we packed the truck

How can you afford not to? - Week 11

 “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula? I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.” - President Barak Obama

Its amazing how little space you really need to be able to feed yourself a consistent supply of vegetables. Daryl and I are getting a salad a day out of the arugula, and we just started with 3 rows on a 2'.5"x'1.5" plot. As soon as the romaine lettuce starts getting big enough to eat, we are going to be overflowing with fresh veggies. Its only been 2.5 months since I started and laid my first seed and it could potentially last until next winter.

MARKET:
Cost of one bunch of organic arugula @ Whole Foods: $1.99
Cost of bulk baby arugula: $6.99/lb

HOME GROWN:
Cost of certified organic arugula seeds: $1.89
Cost of water: in my case, free
Cost of soil: about 2$ for that plot
Cost of fertilizer: less than $1.00
Cost of pesticides (neem oil): less than a dollar
__________________________________
Grand Total: $6.00/plot MAX for salad every night the rest of the year
(same cost as 3 bunches of arugula at the market)

And that's just the arugula!  How can you afford not to?

Benefits of Home Gardening:

• Save money at the market
• Sense of pride and accomplishment
• Reduce pesticide, herbicide & GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) intake
• Freshest food in town - picked 10 minutes before preparation
  
• Mood enhancer, stress reducer, outdoor activity for the family, educational opportunity
• Burn calories, build muscle, exposure to fresh air and sunlight for Vitamin D
• Low in calories and high in nutrients and disease fighters

Arugula - enough for salad every night

Radishes - already harvested half of them - 2 month cycles

Elephant Garlic

Carrot greens coming up

Brandy-wine Heirloom Tomato I started from seed in January

Pictures below, starting at the top left and then clockwise: beets, sweet peas, romaine lettuce, and garden view.