#garden planning

[fuckithomestead]

Garden Planning Seminar

Hey folks!

Seedtime (who I am affiliated with) is planning a 3-day garden planning seminar/workshop from April 2-4. It is a virtual seminar too, so no worries about having to go anywhere. It is completely free, and even though the webpage for the seminar looks like an early 2000s HTML insanity, they are a great company, and their planning website is really useful. The link to sign up for the seminar is HERE

The seminar is designed to help you build your produce garden from scratch, so is great for people just starting out.

They are live sessions (that will also be recorded for later reference) and have Q&A sessions after each session in case you have specific scenarios you want to discuss.

The seminar will also discuss how to set your garden up for "Perpetual Harvesting" for the Spring, Summer, and Fall, so that you can have fresh produce until the Winter comes.

When you sign up for the link, you'll also get a free account with their garden planning website that tells you when and how to plant different plants depending on where you live, garden planning worksheets, and a task list for your garden.

Once again, the link is HERE if anyone wants to sign up!

[thestudentfarmer]

Smallish post for the moment, to reply to some questions and comments made on prior posts :)

I've been asked a few times over the last couple of months about where I live as well as the grow seasons in my area.

I'm in a fairly populated area of the US, largely in usda grow zone 9-10.

Where I'm at in particular doesn't get snow, but further upstate does. (Those areas can't grow yr round, not without some adjustment such as greenhouses.)

Technically, I can grow almost all yr round. But once the Temps start hitting 100*f regularly it's too hot for us and most plants stop flowering or fruiting (pollen starts getting damaged at 95*f, but multiple 100*f days is bad for both plants and most pollinators) so we end up just letting what can struggle along till its cooler or we take everything up and solarise (Personally i Iet the plants that'll grow grow, keeps the soils covered, where it belongs and gives a fresh food source for my chickens that isnt trucked in everytime.)

In winter, we do get cold, but not too many frost days. When we do have frost days, often I can toss a few thin blankets over most crops at night and be good till the next day. If I only plant winter crops, I don't even need to do that.

I also do not follow a lot of the planting guides available. I often use them as a rough draft (like starting tomatoes in pots/grow cells in November around Thanksgiving. So their ready to be planted around valentines day).

Side note, 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌻🌻🌻 If your looking into starting gardening or farming and are in the USA, I 1000% would say check with your local county extension office or county extension ag office. Some of the larger state collages as well have offices dedicated to answering plant questions. You don't even have to be in the same state

I've asked for help with potatoes through 3 different counties (including the state I live in) each one has given valuable info, advice and several different answers. They are amazing resources if you don't have someone to buddy up with!

Sadly, I cannot give much info for such programs outside the states as im unknowledged in the possible resource shares. I believe most countries do have a similar equivalent though. 🌻🌻🌻🌱🌱🌱

Because I'm in an urban area (surrounded by neighbors and city), it does mess with the microclimate a bit. This means some crops do way better at different times than expected.

For examples, armenian cucumbers do great yr round.

Regular cucumbers? Only winter/fall. I don't grow them much, though cause they've tasted terrible.

Carrots are more a fall crop here and are much tastier and sweeter. Spring/summer carrots are hit or miss. Edible but less enjoyable.

Spinich? Haven't had any luck in either season yet. Either in ground or in raised bed or pots.

Regular potatoes? Soils too hard in the ground and the raised beds I've tried so far get too dry or too wet. :'( next try i intend to try a raised row/straw method.

Sweet potatoes? Vines grew and flourished well throughout the whole summer! I've yet to see what the spud harvest will look like yet, but I've gotten around 10 lbs of greens, plus a few pounds of vines that the chickens demolish quite eagerly. To me, that's a win, plus the vines trellis easily and can double as a nice shade structure when trained on trellis.

@oh-he-grows carrot seeds do smell fantastic! I was quite suprised how nice they smelled! Tbh I've been a little interested in collecting some umbells before they open next time and seeing if I might infuse some olive oil for a soap batch.

@tinyshe Thank you for your encouraging words! I hope as well to encourage more people to look into growing gardens, saving seeds, doing more small scale things to eventually make a positive difference for future and current generations :)

And to wrap up today a lil appearance from two of our lovely gals :)

🌻🌻🌻 Happy Homesteading🌱🌱🌱

10 8 2023

[artificial-condition]

Finished filling the new raised bed!

I mixed compost, peat moss, potting soil, vermiculite, perlite, and zeolite to make the soil. I might top it off with more compost later :)

[leebrontide]

Growing a tea garden?

Full disclosure, I once had an actual Camellia sinensis tree that I loved dearly and flowered for me and was such a joy. But I misunderstood some aspects of taking care of it, and after 2 years, I lost it, which was tragic. I've yet to find another one in an in-person shop near me, so I remain tea-less, technically.

BUT, last summer I found out that there's something called New Jersey Tea. Which, despite the English name, is native to a lot of northern North America, including my own area. And native planting is always a thrilling bonus for me.

Look at it! It's so pretty!

Perfect for a combo native prairie/English cottage garden vibe that's going to go well with all our fruit plants. Being native it's not fussy and I can mostly plant it and forget it, which is ideal. Plus it's a pollinator favorite.

There's a sort of mostly-dug-up garden along the back porch because the previous owners took some apparently massive rhubarbs with them. It's a sunny spot with some decent soil, so a good spot for a garden, and plus then you'd be hanging out with these nice, aromatic plants.

Supposedly, when it's fresh the leaves have an almost wintergreen taste, but when dried it tastes like a spiced black tea. It has no caffeine. It was also supposedly a huge favorite during the US revolution, when tea imports were difficult.

So, then I started thinking about what OTHER plants I can use for making tea that will grow in my frigid home climate.

Canadian Ginger

Just like now New Jersey Tea has no particular relation to Camelia, this is nothing to do with the tropical grown ginger, which is the ginger you probably think of. BUT, it has a deeper ginger taste.

Swamp Mallow Hibiscus

So, again, you think of Hibiscus as being tropical. I only thought to check because one of my neighbors has a bigass deep red hibiscus that's been flowering away every summer for years. Apparently it's some kind of hybrid situation that lets them grow here.

I thought this sort of coloration would look better with the kind of garden I've got going, since I don't want to look tropical.

I adore hibiscus tea. It's tangy, it's colorful. It's refreshing. but I'll be honest, I haven't been able to find any reviews of what the flavor of these hybrids is. If you happen to know, please pass on your knowledge to me.

Fireball Bee Balm

This may shock you, but bee balm is another very pollinator friendly plant. I'm looking to get the fireball type specifically because I like this crimson color. the more common colors are between lavender and hot pink, which are not so much my jam. Plus, it's another native plant to my area!

They have the added bonus of being on the short side, and bunnies don't really like them, so they can form a perimeter around my tea garden to protect the other plants. We have a serious lack of predators in my neighborhood and the rabbits are OUT OF CONTROL. Last winter they ate every one of my cherry shrubs and my entire raspberry bramble down to the ground at the old house. I don't know what we need to do to get some birds of prey over here but we could use them.

Bee balm flavor is a little mint, a little oregano, and a little bit citrus, so that's a natural for tea.

Rose Hips

Apparently you CAN look up which kinds of roses have the tastiest rosehips! Rose hips are the seed of the rose, are in the same botanical family as apples. These are a few of the tastier heirloom varieties I've located. I likely won't plant all three of them. My porch isn't that big and I want to leave a lot of room for the new jersey tea.

Rosehips are lightly floral and tart/citrusy and are a fantastic source of vitamin C. You can of course also eat the flowers, but I don't plan to. My grandma always wore tea-rose perfume and I don't really want to drink a tea that feels like drinking how gramma smelled.

The two lefthand roses are both tree roses (from the middle ages!!), the one on the right is much more low-growing. So I suspect how I end up arranging these will determine which we get.

Anise Hyssop

Proper anise (the flavor for licorice) also doesn't grow here, BUT, anise hyssop has a similar flavor from the mint family. Again, it's usually a purple or pink color, but I CAN find it in an apricot tone, which I love.

Dropmore Scarlet Honeysuckle

Native to IA, not MN but still in the general right biome and so pretty resilient here. I only found out in researching tea gardens that the flowers make for tasty, very sweet, lightly floral tea! I knew you could drink the nectar out of them but this was news to me. And, of course, they make everything around them smell amazing.

I have 16 feet to work with, so plenty of room for plants.

A few other plants that wont be in the garden proper are raspberries, whose leaves have a milder and easy to store version of the fruit flavor, and mint. Both of these though are tremendously prone to conquering any area around them, and so they need some extra containment. We don't really do year-round container gardening here because the roots freeze and kill almost anything. But, the boulevard between the front sidewalk and the street, under the big maple tree, is slated for mint seeding in the spring, and the side garden already has raspberries I'll tell you about on another day.

Chamomile, lavender and echinacea all grow here and are thought to make tasty and healthful tea but...I don't like the flavor of any of them, so they aren't invited.

If you have other plants to suggest, let me know!

[tragic-cottonball]

Next Spring is in the ground! The rock piles will be dahlias, which I haven't bought yet but will soon.

[candles-crystals-cauldrons]

Finally built our herb spiral, which was a lot of lugging of big rocks but definitely worth it, so happy with how it turned out, I still need to get a few more herbs to plant up, and I'm going to eventually have them all in the coco liners (except mint, as it goes crazy) because they rot down but I'm leaving things in pots now so I can move them around to see where they thrive

[tinyshe]

Garden Review 23.07.07

I just about had a heart failure with the grocer bill! Some things are up 300% from a year ago. Real incentive to get those winter garden ideas firmly in the ground! Go! this weekend, there are list being made and goals being set! We are entering desperate times that require desperate measures but with conviction and fortitude that ‘we can do this’.

Most of my rooting/propagation barrel plants can be planted in the earth. I have a few slow poke/secondary rose clippings for the rose tunnel at the farm. Those can be put in smaller pot. In these barrels I will put things that will need some frost protection since they reside on the south side like cut and come again leaf lettuce and maybe peas.

Most everything from the summer garden be struggling except the toms that are lost in the weeds. The potatoes are dying back so there will be a harvest of new potatoes next week (from under the hazel tree row/hedge). Once those are up I will amend the straw and turn. Letting it rest a little before replanting. These potatoes under the hedge grow on the top of a small bed of loose twigs to keep them just a wee bit elevated so they don’t rot and then they grow in the straw bed. Amending the straw lets a slow feeding (in theory) to the plant. Not as productive as the potato barrel but a close contender. I am also trying growing in the shade under the elderberries and alpine strawberries but the night creatures went through a couple of times digging up everything. This was a three tier grow in progress until the night tillers.  The other experiment is worm bin verse hot bed (both just from potato peelings). These I am hoping to get a goodly amount of seed potatoes. My other/last experiment is some seed potatoes that are sitting bare ass in a small pot in partial sun. They are a rich green colour but no ‘eyes’ ... its been almost 4 month!

I’m halfway mortified that my brother is trying to get a visa so see me. It will just be for a 24 hr thing as part of another trip he is on (I’m like a detour). Things are not tiptop and the things are not best ... I bought some plants in a desperate move to have something pretty in case he can swing it... not that a few small plants can hide everything but it was what I did. These poor things need to get in the ground asap! Its another wtf moment. This is why I need pen to hit the paper and stick with the plan or I’ll be flopping all over , not accomplishing anything. Goal. Engage. Execute. GEE

Hens are very displease with me; I’m terrible, the neighbors too loud, there is a shortage of greens, life it intolerable for spoiled chicken-kind so they are showing signs of a strike. If I don’t meet their demands, they will start withholding eggy-kinds for extended periods, not just this small warning strike/face off we are experiencing. Both Bronte and Rossetti come into the coop to scold me when I’m scraping their bounce board. ‘eeEEEErrrRRR! mmmEEErrrrrr? cluck-bockbock!’ (like ‘wtf! get out of our bedroom and fetch the greens, nitwit!). Guilty as charged. I’m a bad chicken mother.

So in closing (because I am now stalling), I wish you all an awesome weekend -- get out and garden or at least be outside and enjoy!

[yardenercom]

How to grow vegetables in 6 simple steps?

Don't know where to start with your own vegetable garden? Check out our new infographic on How to grow vegetables in 6 simple steps! From selecting the right seeds to harvesting your bounty, our easy-to-follow guide will have you growing your own fresh produce in no time.

Visit www.yardener.com for more gardening resources.

Want more gardening resources? Check here

[bumblebeeappletree]

In a garden there are different types of shade - you can make the most of it by clever plant selection. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe

At the height of summer, plants can soon become stressed in full sun but shade needs to be considered all year round as all plants, to some degree, need light to grow.

Deciduous trees provide seasonal shade - filtered light in summer and more sun in winter. Under the canopy there are also areas that get angled morning and afternoon sun, which can be intense, so you need to choose plants that can tolerate those extremes.

Josh has succulents – Aloe and Pig’s Ear – in this position under his Gleditsia tree and they are tough enough to cope. Other options are Lomandra and Neoregelia Bromeliads, although different varieties have different sun tolerance; if the leaves are bleaching that’s a sure sign a bromeliad is getting too much sun, but Josh’s are doing well so he adds another for colour contrast.

Evergreen Sugar Gums provide dappled light on the eastern side of Josh’s house. They provide year-round dry shade and a number of native grasses thrive in this: lomandra, sword-sedge and dianellas.

A bare patch at the back will be filled with other tried-and-tested species: Correa ‘Bicheno Bells’, Acacia cognata ‘Limelight’ and Dianella ‘Cassa Blue’.

Using small plants means you only need to dig small holes, which minimizes disturbance to the tree roots.

Controllable Shade such as removable shade sails are good for areas near the house where you want summer protection but winter light. Another option is to grow a deciduous tree or vine. Josh has trained a grapevine over his pergola, which provides summer shade, autumn colour, fruit and still allows in winter sun! It can be trimmed to provide exactly the right level of shade to grow a range of productive plants underneath, such as herbs, a makrut lime and blueberry. These will take full sun but thrive in light shade and need less watering in the hotter months.

Featured Plants:

HONEY LOCUST - Gleditsia triacanthos *

ALOE - Aloe ‘Gemini’

PIG’S EAR - Cotyledon orbiculata ‘Silver Waves’ *

SPINY-HEADED MAT-RUSH - Lomandra longifolia cv.

BROMELIAD - Neoregelia cv.

DWARF SUGAR GUM - Eucalyptus cladocalyx ‘Nana’

COASTAL SWORD-SEDGE - Lepidosperma gladiatum

BLACK-ANTHER FLAX-LILY - Dianella revoluta

NATIVE FUCHSIA - Correa pulchella‘Bicheno Bells’

- Acacia cognata ‘Limelight’

BLUE FLAX-LILY - Dianella caerulea ‘Cassa Blue’

GRAPE ‘PERLETTE’ - Vitis vinifera cv.

MAKRUT LIME - Citrus hystrix

* Check before planting: this may be an environmental weed in your area

Filmed on Whadjuk Country | Perth, WA

[shireland-farm]

Don't forget to get your free garden planning page from Seedtime

https://seedtime.us/jkmel4ukl4tonac09iap-5fs-sab?ref=abi77

I've used their garden planning dashboard since it came out and it's absolutely wonderful.

[dunsterhouseblogs]

Small Garden Ideas. Need some help with designing your garden and making the most of your outdoor space? Reading our blog is a good place to start.

[fuckithomestead]

So, progress of today (all while working on steps of bread baking in between working): Saw instagram video about airlayering trees to get mature cuttings Went on rabbit hole of researching airlayering Airlayering mentions putting a topping of compost over newly planted cuttings Start researching compost bins Join several local gardening groups on Facebook Continue researching compost bins Find an organic compost and soil amendment company nearby Research their products They mention bokashi as a composting additive Research bokashi Start comparing bokashi composting to worm composting Order a metric ton of seed catalogs Sign up for soil building class next month Start pondering whether I have room/time/energy to do bokashi, worm, AND traditional composting all at the same time Shake fist at Freyr because I know this hyperfixation is all his fault

[leebrontide]

Eventually, the front yard will be largely consumed by the dwarf cherry shrubs (Juliete, Romeo and Carmine Jewel, two of each) and a retaining wall (hopefully with planting between stones.)

But, that's several years off. And around that, the main plan is to replace the rather sad grass with some lovely, furry, no-mow fescue

Isn't that lovely? And they're so fine that they ripple in just the faintest bridge, like a Miyazaki landscape. We'll be planting that in the spring, which sadly means I couldn't plant spring bulbs last fall, because the cardboard layering we'll be using to suppress the old grass would have murdered them.

I have some hope of getting poppies in this spring, but we'll see. I dream of a summer yard full of developing cherries and poppies and fescue blowing in the breeze.

Still, I'm dreaming of spring, and so considering what spring bulbs I can plant in the fall, for next spring.

I had bulbs in the old garden, but was never quite satisfied with them. Because I just bought things on impulse because I fancied them. Which is fine! And we had a very casual, mostly-tall-grass-and-wildflowers front yard at the old place, so the colors were all over the place anyways.

This time, I'm aiming for a mix of crimson, deep peach, yellow and a bit of white in the summer, in both the front and back yards, but a more narrowly edited pallet for the spring.

That's because, in the spring, the garden will be visually dominated by cherry, apple, plum and apricot blossoms. Which are all a mix of pink and white.

I don't generally like pink very much. But

I mean, hard to be mad at that after months on end of grey and snow.

So, for my spring bulbs, in the front, I'm working off of a mixture of pink, white, and pale yellow (the house is pale yellow), to offset and work in harmony with my trees blooming.

In order, these are Creme Upstar tulip, Anneline tulip, Charming Lady tulip, Butter and Sugar iris siberica, White Lion daffodil, Cream Beauty Crocus, and Pink Festival hyacinth.

So It’s a little bit precious, a little bit twee, but it will be undeniably dreamy and sweet and fragrant before the summer jewel tones take over. With my primrose lilacs to ease us from one into the other.

Gotta bring as many pollinators to the garden as possible if I want a bumper fruit crop and to support our little creature friends!

[tragic-cottonball]

Front flower border: spring phase

[artificial-condition]

Raised bed #2- done ✅

[julochka365]

23/2.2023 - getting ready for the garden