DIY Rain Chain

Last weekend we put up gutters on the house and I wanted a creative and beautiful way to get the water from the downspout into the water barrel in my vegetable garden. What better than a rain chain? A rain chain is a decorative chain that directs the water down without too much splashing. Rain chains can be very expensive, but I'm bot inclined to spend much money garden decor... or anything really. So I began scrounging around the house for something that I could turn into a rain chain, and I found the perfect thing! 

Shower curtain hooks! 

I just happened to have two extra sets of shower curtain hooks in the back of a drawer. I think I got them at goodwill for $2 per set. You never know when you will need a set of shower curtain hooks, and it turns out that I needed them for this project!

They are perfect because they are metal, which means they are heavy enough to keep from blowing in the wind, they are made to go in the shower, which means they won't rust when wet, and they are hooks, which means it is really easy to link them together to make a chain.

This was really easy to make- it literally took about 15 minutes. I simply linked the shower curtain hooks together and used some wire to secure each connection so that they don't become disconnected in the wind (we do get hurricanes).  We hung it from the downspout and lined it up with the grate on the rain barrel.

I couldn't happier with the result! Not only is it beautiful and functional, but it also cost less than it would have to buy that ugly plastic down spout. Can't beat that!

How to Freeze Fresh Garden Shell Peas

The rain let up just long enough this week for me to rush to the garden and pick all the shell peas. While snap peas have edible pods, shell peas take longer to process into what you find in the freezer section at the grocery store. While we will eat some fresh, I always want to freeze some to enjoy later!

The first, and most time consuming part of the process, is to actually shell the peas. That's right, open up all those long green pods and scrape all the peas inside into a nice pile. It may sound tedious, but its not so bad to do on the back porch on a rainy day or while watching some TV in the evening. After all, I have to come in from the garden sometime...

Next, you are going to blanch the peas. This is a fancy word for what DH calls "flash boiling". You bring water to a boil on the stove, dump in the peas, and bring it back to a boil for two minutes. This process actually locks in the nutrients and taste so that they don't deteriorate during their time in the freezer.

After two minutes, drain the peas into a strainer.

Plunge the strainer into a bowl of ice water for about a minute to cool them quickly.

Lay the peas out in a single layer on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 24 hours. 

The next day store the peas in a labeled freezer ziplock bag, and use it whenever you want for almost just as delicious as fresh peas off the vine!

Garden Insects: Good Guys or Bad Guys?

You know the dilemma. You're playing in the garden, and there it is...a new bug. Is it a friend or foe? You don't have time to research it or look it up. You must decide- to squish or not to squish? 

There are no sure ways to tell whether a mystery insect is beneficial or a garden pest just by looking at it, but there are some general indications that can help you figure it out most of the time. Hopefully this chart with some general guidelines will help you know which bugs to squish and which ones to leave alone :)

Characteristics of Garden Pests

Good Bugs

1. They are Hunters

Usually good bugs are good because they eat other bugs, specifically the bad bugs. As hunters they will usually be sitting on a leaf, poised for attack. Their movement will be sly like a ninja with a swift attack on prey that comes near.

2. They are Loners

Usually hunters will hunt alone, not in big packs. They will be hiding most of the time, so they are sometimes difficult to spot in the garden.

3. They do not Play Favorites with Plants

SInce these bugs are after bugs and not after plants, you can find them on almost any and every plant in your garden. The wider their range of placement, the more likely they are to be good.

4. There is no Damage Left Behind

If you observe them closely, you should not see their mouth attached to your plant in any way. You also shouldn’t see any damage to the plants around them (unless it is left from the bug they just ate)

Bad Bugs

1. They are Gatherers

Bad bugs are there for the free salad bar. You have done a wonderful job growing something tasty and they thank you for the meal. They will eat and eat until they have enjoyed all the wonderful food that you grew for yourself. Free loaders!

2. They Come in Hoards

Most bad bugs flock together in huge groups, devouring an entire crop in record time, laying eggs and increasing in numbers until there is nothing left to ravage.

3. They are Usually Attracted to One Plant

Bad bugs often target a single type of plant. If all of the bugs in question are found only on any particular plant or family of plants, it is most likely a pest.

4. The Evidence is Clear

There are holes in leaves, droppings from the meal they gorged on your plants, wilted leaves, or vegetables with damage on them. Usually you will see the evidence of a bad bug long before you find the bug!

Hope this helps solve the mystery of that new bug in your garden!

Small Space Vegetable Garden Techniques: Intensive Gardening

If you are like me and have a small space for your vegetable garden, or just want to get more out of the space that you have, an easy way to fit more plants in less space is to change the arrangement. When it comes to the vegetable garden, it becomes a game to see if I can increase production each year by learning new techniques, and I can get a little obsessed with getting the most I can out of the area. That's when the diagrams come out to find the most strategic plant arrangement possible...

Traditional gardens use rows with unused garden space between each row of plants for walking. Unless you have a large garden area, the rows in between the plants wastes a lot of gardening area. An average 3x6 foot garden planted with the traditional row arrangement will fit only ten plants that all for 12 inch spacing.

Another method commonly used in raised beds and backyard vegetable gardens is the square foot gardening method. In this method, the gardener lays out a grid in the garden with each square in the grid measuring one square foot. Therefore, in a 3x6 foot garden, you would be able to fit 18 plants. While this arrangement is a much better use of space, there are still unused areas in the corners of each of the squares that are not utilized.

Intensive gardening still follows the suggested plant spacing of 12 inches, but staggers the rows of plants to make use of the lost corner space in square foot gardening. The spacing for plants in this arrangement are measured at an angle, allowing even more plants to fit in the area. This 3x6 garden will hold 23 plants that require 12 inch spacing! 

More plants means more produce, and more produce means more yield from the space that you have. This is just one of many ways to increase your yields, but it is a very simple technique to implement in the backyard vegetable garden. I hope you have a very productive vegetable garden this year!

Spring into Fruit Trees!

I love spring! First of all, the weather is so nice and warm- all of nature is bursting with new growth and energy and you can't help but join in by rolling up your sleeves to dig in the dirt. My vegetable plants go in the ground early, but the first signs of spring are in the fruit department. This always gets me excited, because every flower equals one fruit that I will get to harvest and eat later! 

Fruit is so expensive to buy, but so good for you! We go through a lot of fruit at our house. One of the best investments in our yard has been putting in fruit trees. They easily pay back your investment after just a couple of harvests but will keep producing for years and years. Currently in our yard we have 5 blueberry bushes, Crabapple, Fuji apple, Baldwin pear, Hood pear, grapevine, blackberry vines, Meyer lemon, satsuma, grapefruit, kumquat, and pomegranate. I know it sounds like a lot, but we enjoy them so much that we just ordered 3 more dwarf trees! Here are a few of my favorite sights in spring...

Our Balwin pear bloomed for the first time this year, which means we will get our very first harvest of pears in late summer/ early fall. Some little pears are already forming!

The mulberry was our first fruit tree. Here are some little berries on our mulberry tree. Mulberries don't technically bloom- they have little curly hairs on them for pollination purposes. I don't mind as long as the tree is covered!

Blackberries everywhere! So many little flowers with bees buzzing all around to pollinate each one. I have let the vines take over the entire back fence and we will probably get about 8 lb. of berries this year. I can already taste the summer berry smoothies :)

Satsumas (a kind of citrus) will have a heavy production year followed by a light one. This is our heavy year, and the tree is absolutely loaded with blooms.

I just love the little purple flowers on the lemon tree. So dainty and cute! And they smell like honeysuckle :)

Blueberry bushes don't have very showy blooms, but look like little white bells. Our bushes are still young, but put out a good amount of berries.

These pink Fuji apple blossoms make me smile. This is another tree that we will get our first fruit from this year. So exciting!

What is blooming in your garden right now? Anything promising some delicious treats later? I just love that I'll already be enjoying fresh fruit while my vegetables plants are just getting rolling. Hello, spring! It's been a while...

Top Ten Gardening and Homesteading Hacks

Here are my top ten all time favorite gardening and homesteading hacks! These simple tricks are too good not to share :) For more detailed info on any of these ideas, click on the links provided.

1. Add a goldfish to your rain barrel to keep mosquitoes from breeding. For ten cents it will eat all of the mosquito larvae and you never have to feed your goldfish!

2. When buying wood for homesteading projects, check the damaged and returned wood at Lowe's and Home Depot to get up to 90% off the sticker price.

3. Lay down decorative metal garden edging or cucumber trellises to keep cats and other animals from digging up seeds in freshly planted soil.

4. Put cardboard down in the bottom of raised beds to kill weeds and grass and then add the dirt on top. The cardboard will decompose allowing plants to root deep in the ground, but only after it has suffocated all of the weeds and grass beneath it.

5. Put a layer of heavy duty chicken wire a few inches off the ground as the base of a chicken run floor to allow chickens to "free range" without pecking the ground bare.

6. Take a 2 liter bottle with a small hole in the top and flip it upside down into the dirt to water plant roots directly and avoid losing water through evaporation in the heat of the summer.

7. Use a spray bottle filled with water to train chickens to BE QUIET!

8. Use a spray bottle with a mixture of skim milk and water to naturally get rid of powdery mildew on plant leaves.

9. For carrots and other small seeds that need to stay consistently moist for germination, plant the seeds, water them in, and then lay a wooden board over the area to keep the moisture from evaporating. Check under the board each day and remove once the seedlings sprout.

10. Use oatmeal, cayenne pepper, and garlic as a natural chicken dewormer.

I hope you enjoy these tips and tricks! Feel free to add your own in the comments!

How to Keep Mosquitoes from Breeding in Your Rain Barrel

We live in South Louisiana. I am convinced that sometimes it is humid enough here for mosquitoes to breed in the air! Ok, so it may not be that bad, but they definitely don't need much water to multiply quickly. We use several rain barrels around the yard for refilling the watering systems for the rabbits and chickens as well as watering our fruit trees and vegetable garden. While there are many fancy (and expensive) rain barrels that have mesh on top to keep mosquitoes out (and I'm not convinced that always works), we use mostly old trash cans with open tops to collect and redistribute water. This creates a huge problem for mosquito breeding! 

Thankfully we found a simple and inexpensive solution that has worked AMAZING! This will set your bank account back by around 10 cents. That's right, less than a quarter! Go to your local pet store and buy a goldfish or two and drop them in your rain barrel. The fish will eat all of the mosquito larvae, taking care of the mosquito problem as well as feeding the fish. We have had our fish in the rain barrels for over a year now. We have never fed them, and they have lived through even the coldest temperatures when the rain barrels were completely frozen over! If you want to get even cheaper, you can always catch some minnows and put them in there, just be careful that you don't scoop them out when you are getting water- they blend in a lot better than goldfish do!

10 Tips for Starting Seeds Indoors

I have tried starting seeds inside, outside, in the greenhouse, in six packs, in 4 inch pots, in peat pots, spray watering, hand watering, flood trays, grow lights, windowsill, potting soil, seed starter, store bought seed, catalogue seed, saved seed, and every plant you can imagine. Here is what I have learned about what matters and what doesn't.

1. Get the right light
Lighting is the MOST IMPORTANT factor to get right. You don't need to spend money on fancy grow lights specifically for plants, but you do need to get an abundant amount of light directly over your seedlings. After trying lots of different things, what I find works the best for a budget is to get shop lights from the hardware store at $12 a piece and use the daylight fluorescent bulbs in them. Suspend the lights from chains so that they hang only an inch or two above the tops of the plants and incrementally raise them as the plants grow. A sunny windowsill of well lighted area that isn't specifically designed for starting seeds will still grow plants, but the difference is HUGE! If you spend any time and money on starting seeds, get this right!

2. Dirt cheap
Getting the right soil is important...sometimes. I don't mean to be confusing, but I have found that some seeds need true seed starting mix while others get along fine or even better in regular potting soil. For seed starting mix I use the $5/ bag Jiffy Organic seed starter and it works great. For potting soil I use the $1/bag generic from the local garden center. So which seeds get which dirt? Most small seeds need the starter soil to keep them from drying out in order to germinate, while larger seeds need potting soil so that they don't get too much moisture and rot in the dirt before germinating. Here is how I break down the common seeds: In seed starter mix- peppers, tomatoes, most herbs, eggplant, spinach, lettuce, greens, etc. In potting soil- peas, beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, squash, okra, artichoke, etc.

3. Water from the bottom
What is the best way to water seeds? Watering from the top can water log seeds, dislodge them while first germinating, or spread diseases. While some people spend lots of time misting their seeds to gently water them, it is much easier and more beneficial for the plants to water from below. In order to do this, place all of the seed containers in a tray that has a lip at least half an inch high. You can use special seed starting trays or, like I do, use plastic serving trays or cookie sheets from the dollar store. Pour water into the tray and let the soil soak the water up to the roots from the bottom. Not only does this keep the leaves dry and disease free and not disturb the seeds in the soil, but it also encourages strong root growth by directing the roots to grow deep into the pots rather than that staying at the surface.

4. Add liquid sunshine
What kind of water is best for seeds? Using tap water is okay, but not best since it has added minerals and is purified. Well water can very hard and have too many hard minerals in it. The best water to give your new seedlings is rain water. You can collect it in a rain barrel or just set a 5 gallon bucket at the eave of the house to collect it. This isn't a huge deal breaker at all, but if you want the optimum conditions for the seedlings, give them liquid sunshine!

5. Temperature
Different seeds require different temperatures to germinate. Most seeds will germinate at the comfortable temperature that you keep your home (65F-73F). There are some seeds that prefer warmer temperatures, specifically eggplant and peppers. These like to germinate at 80F. If you keep them at regular room temperature, some will still germinate, but if you are planning on a bumper crop of peppers, you may consider getting a heating pad for the peppers seeds.

6. Seeds are seeds
I have bought very expensive seeds and very cheap seeds, and I have found that all seeds do the same thing- they grow into plants. Unless you are looking for a rare or specific variety of plant, I suggest getting the least expensive seeds you can get your hands on. I personally prefer heirloom varieties so that I can save my own seed from strong plants to replant the following year. SOme of my favorite places to get seed is dollarseed.com (all heirloom, non-GMO seeds for $1 per packet) and the dollar store (their packets are just $.25/each!). Finding cheaper seeds or saving your own really cuts down on the cost per plant to start your own vegetable transplants.

7. A container is just a container
What do I put the plants in? Whatever you want! The container doesn't make that much of a difference on its growth, but there are some considerations. If you are using flood trays to water, don't fold your own containers out of newspaper because they won't hold up. A few container options include paper egg cartons, cups with holes in the bottom, old plastic 6 packs or 4 inch pots, peat pots, etc. The possibilities are endless so buy something new or recycle something you already have!

8. Give them some leg room
Some plants like lettuce can be put into tiny containers like the 32 plants per tray, while other plants like tomatoes need more space. If you put them in a container too small, you will have to transplant several times before putting them out into the garden. My container of choice are reused 6 packs from last season's annual flowers. I disinfect them to get rid of any possible disease, and reuse them time and again. I will only have to transplant my tomatoes one time into 4 inch pots before putting them right into the garden.

9. When to begin
When to start your seeds inside is dependent on several factors. Base all of your start dates based on the average last frost date for your area. Check for your zone and that will determine your last frost date. Then, research each seed type from there. Some plants are long growing and will need to be started as early as 8-10 weeks before the last frost date. Do your research and get the timing right because you don't want to start your plants so early that they are huge when you put them in the ground, but you also want to get in enough growth to make starting them indoors worth your time.

10. Making the jump outside
You have given your plants such a controlled and wonderful environment for growing that they have now become spoiled rotten! In order to get them ready to go outside into the real world of temperature, light, and water variations they will need to be "hardened off". In order to do this, set the plants out in a shady spot for a few hours each day once the weather warms up. Slowly keep them outside longer, exposing them to more and more direct sunlight over the course of a week or two. Then your plants will be ready to put in the garden. Once you put them in the ground, be sure to give them a long deep watering to get them all tucked in.

I hope these tips help you have the most successful vegetable this year yet!

DIY Seed Starter Shelves

Two years ago I began starting my vegetable plants by seed. This has significantly cut my gardening costs even while increasing the number of plants each year, so there is no going back to buying seedlings from the home and garden center.

This first year I kept the seed trays outside. I kept them on the shelves of some old rolling TV carts (the ones they used in public schools when I was little) and I rolled them into the sun each morning and back under the carport each night. We live in Louisiana and we had an unusually mild winter, so most of the seedlings did okay. 

Last year I decided to keep them all inside as it was an unusually cold winter. It was an impromptu set up to say the least. I put a vinyl tablecloth over the dining room table and covered the whole thing with six packs in flood trays to catch the water. Then I positioned every lamp in the house between the flood trays to get as much light to them as possible. After not using the dining room or any lamps for two months, we had a little better success with the seedlings, but still not phenomenal. 

This year I decided to bite the bullet and invest the money in actually build a seed starting system that gives the seeds everything they need for the strongest start possible. I look forward to seeing how this new set up affects the yields once the vegetables start coming in. 

All things considered it wasn't a very expensive endeavor. I used some plastic stackable shelves that I had in the greenhouse, so the frame was already there. If you don't have shelves already and don't want to buy a new set, you can always create a custom frame out of 2x4's. Since this is going in the spare room that has carpet, I put down a vinyl tablecloth for easy clean up in case there are any leaks.

I then bought three hanging fluorescent work light fixtures for $12 a piece and six daylight fluorescent bulbs for $5 a piece. The fixtures already came with chains, but I had to add S hooks. Instead of running back to the hardware store, I just made my own out of a metal clothes hanger. I hung the lights as low as they will go to start off with and plugged them all in to a power strip so that I can turn them all on and off at the same time. Now all I need are the plants!

I bought these barbeque trays from the dollar store last year to use as flood trays, and they work great, especially for the price! I can fit 5 six packs on each one, and this allows me to water the plants from the bottom rather than the top.

I used seed starting mix to put in the six packs. The Jiffy Organic is awesome and not very expensive (about $5 per bag). For the six packs, I used some old ones that I had kept from last year and disinfected them.

Lower the lights all the way so that they are close to the plants! And I'm not sure if you can see in the picture, but I label each six pack with a plastic knife and a Sharpie. For some reason I always have the knives left in those mixed boxes of plastic utensils and they work perfect for this!

This set up has worked so amazingly, I just have to share the progress! I will show you the progress of just one of the six packs to give you an idea- I planted the Roma tomato seeds on Jan. 10, and the first ones sprouted after only 6 days. Here is the growth over the first few weeks.

Jan. 18

Jan. 19

Jan. 21

Jan. 28

By Jan. 31 I had to transplant them into 4 inch pots after only 3 weeks! At this point, I am hoping the weather warms up soon or I'm afraid I'll have a full container garden inside my house! 

Vegetable Gardening Tips for the Deep South

Alright, this is a post for all of my vegetable gardeners in the south! If you have ever read the back of a seed packet that says "direct sow as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring" and thought to yourself "what does that mean?" then this post is for you! There is a beautiful area of the United States where the temperatures rarely drop below 30 degrees F, where January can feel like a mid-spring day, where the soil never freezes, and most importantly, vegetables can truly be grown year-round without much extra effort. But seed packets and gardening books are not generally made with the deep south in mind, so here are a few changes to make when planning your vegetable garden for zones 8-10 :)

1. Don't plant cool weather crops in the spring.
There are many early spring crops that just don't have a long enough growing period before the hot weather sets in if they are planted in the fall. My suggestion is to put out cool weather plants such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, brussel sprouts, lettuce, etc. into the vegetable garden in September so that they can mature and be harvested in early winter (December- January). There is just no way that you will be able to keep these plants from bolting of wilting before harvesting in June if you garden in the deep south. Besides, now that you can plant all of these vegetables in the fall, think of all of the garden space that frees up in the spring!

2. Plant fruit trees and perennial garden plants in the fall.
Most garden books will tell you to plant new fruit trees or perennial fruit, vegetable, and herb plants in the spring so that they can be well established before their first cold winter. In the deep south we have a bigger threat to new plants- the summer heat! Plant citrus trees, blackberry and blueberry bushes, asparagus, rosemary, etc. in the fall so that they have all winter to establish before the blistering summer comes.

3. Make adjustments to shade recommendations.
Many plants will be marked as needing full sun, but full sun really means 8 hours of sunlight. Even your full sun plants will find it difficult to hold their leaves up if you have them in direct summer sun for 12 hours. Move plants into areas where they will get part shade if you live in a hot climate, and plants requiring part shade can easily get away with almost full shade. Most leafy greens will thank you for the shady spot in the garden and will be slower to bolt. Also, cool season herbs can be treated as perennials if given shade in the summer.

Make good use of that shady corner of the garden!

4. Get creative with watering solutions.
Plants in hot climates need more to drink. Thankfully in Louisiana we also have a tropical climate with a lot of rain and humidity. Humid climate areas should water their plants in the morning so that the water evaporates off of the leaves and keeps diseases from spreading as easily. Hot and dry climates, on the other hand, should be watered in the evening so that less of the water evaporates during the sunlight throughout the day. Watering can be kept to a minimum if you use  drip irrigation systems connected to rain barrels (or the cheaper version, 2 liter bottles flipped upside down in the dirt with a small hole in the top). Whatever the method, make sure your plants stay well hydrated to make it through the heat wave.

5. Plan your winter break in July and August.
In the same way that many climates are too cold to plant in the most extreme part of the season, the same is true with heat in the south. Some plants thrive in the long, hot summer days, such as eggplant, peppers, okra, and some tomatoes, but most plants just can't handle the heat. Some plants, such as beans, will actually become infertile past 90 degrees F and no longer produce fruit. My lowest garden production isn't in January of February, but in July and August. Plan to take a break during these months and plan for you fall garden, starting seeds inside in the same way that gardeners up north would do in the winter. Besides, if it's too hot for the plants, it's too hot for me...

Pepper plants love the long hot days of southern summers.

6. Start your spring garden seeds super early!
While other areas are waiting for their soil to be "workable", ours plants haven't even stopped growing. I have found that the perfect time to start my new seeds indoors is new year's day. This sounds crazy early for most places, but in the deep south, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and more can be started in January, followed by watermelon, cantaloupe, and others in February. One year I was able to start all of my seeds outside in January with no problems, but you will get much better germination results if you start your plants indoors under lights for the first 6 weeks or so.

My tomato plants on January 15.

7. Direct sow more plants than usual.
Plants will grow stronger, healthier, and more hardy if they are direct seeded than if they are started indoors. Many places with short growing seasons don't have the luxury of direct seeding, though. However, since the soil temperature is what determines success in germination, there are a lot plants that will start just fine and develop better when direct seeded in southern vegetable gardens. Some of these plants include peas, beans, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, lettuce, kale, mustard greens, collards, and many more. Do a few tests starting some seeds indoors and then direct seeding more seed at the same time that you put your transplants into the ground. You will be surprised how fast the new seeds catch up to and even surpass your pre-started plants.

Lettuce mix

8. Plant long season crops in the fall.
There are many crops that will take up to 6 months or more to fully develop. Some of these include garlic, onions, and potatoes. These will have a much longer period to develop before the heat takes them out if they are planted in the fall instead of the traditional spring timeline. Don't worry, they will overwinter just fine! Besides, it leaves more room in your spring garden for other plants!

Onions

9. Treat some annuals as perennials.
There are many plants that are considered annuals in many areas that will act as perennials in the deep south. Some of these include green onions, collards, kale, and many varieties of herbs such as oregano, sage, and parsley. Other plants, while not perennials in the sense that you plant them once and they grow forevermore, will still grow year round. Some plants that you can plant at almost any time of year (except the extreme summer) include lettuce, carrots, arugula, mustard, beets, turnips, radishes, spinach, and many types of beans. I am continually surprised when I have some extra seeds and an open spot in the garden and decide to give it a shot even though it doesn't match the seed packet timing at all, and it turns out to be a wonderful harvest! You won't know unless you try :)

My parsley plant thriving in the middle of winter.

10. Be prepared for bugs.
The longer the growing season is and the more mild the winters, the more things survive- "things" being both plants and their pests. Bugs will abound in the southern garden, and the farther into the growing season you are, the worse it gets. This is another reason why you should plant as many of your vegetables as possible in September for a fall garden as the cooler weather will cut down on the pests. Each garden pest brings its own set of challenges, but a southern gardener must be determined and vigilant to stay on top of the many bugs that will come to visit.

Squash vine borers- PURE EVIL!

11. Plant your favorites twice.
We have such a long growing season in the south that many vegetables can be planted twice if you plan it right. You can start any of the following in both spring and fall: tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, beans, summer squash, zucchini, kale, lettuce, carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, arugula, cabbage, and much more. I wouldn't recommend planting everything twice, as they will really complicate your crop rotation plans and limit your space. However, if there is a certain vegetable that you just love (for me, bush beans!), then go ahead- plant it twice!

These are just a few things that come to mind, but I'm sure there are many more. 

What else would you add to the list?

How to Build and Maintain Rich Garden Soil Naturally

As a gardener, I get really excited about dirt. I love playing in the dirt, and I really love seeing rich dirt, full of little composted pieces of nutrient filled particles. There is just nothing as wonderful as tilling up loose rich soil to plant in the spring. I have always heard stories of people who started growing vegetables on land with terrible soil and were able to slowly build it up over time to become very rich, well composted soil. I always wondered, how is that possible? Wouldn't growing vegetables further deplete the soil of nutrients? Is it really possible to build bad soil back up to awesome, rich soil without just pumping it full of synthetic fertilizers? 

After doing a lot of experimenting with self-sustaining backyard homesteading, I have discovered how simple it is to build up the soil and keep a highly productive garden while not stripping the soil of necessary nutrients in a natural way. Here's how it works!

Think of your yard like a bank account. Everything that you do either counts as a deposit or a withdrawal in terms of nutrients. In nature, all of the deposits and withdrawals balance at the end. A tree grows leaves in spring using the nutrients in the soil, then drops its leaves in the fall which decompose back into the soil, replacing the nutrients that then go back into growing new leaves. God created a beautiful system! In your yard and garden, there is a lot of human intervention which can sway the balance to your advantage or disadvantage, depending on how you interact with the nutrients you have.

Let's look at some withdrawals that we make on our yards and think of ways to limit those withdrawals or not make them at all.

Nutrient Withdrawals

1. Mowing the grass

Grass grows using the nutrients in the soil. If you have a lawnmower that spits the grass back out, then those nutrients go back into the soil and you're fine. If you have a mower that bags the grass and then you leave it at the street to be picked up, you are gathering up your nutrients and throwing them away! Bagging the grass is still fine (we bag our grass) but don't let it go to waste! Use it as mulch around garden plants or put it in your compost pile to be used in the garden later.

2.  Bagging leaves

This is the same idea as the last one. When you rake up leaves, don't bag them and leave them at the street- use them as mulch around plants or compost them. If you don't care what your yard looks like, you could always leave them on the ground and let them decompose right where they are. Consider mowing the leaves to mulch them into little pieces so that they decompose even faster.

3. Growing vegetables

When you grow vegetables in the garden and then eat them, you are making a withdrawal. Since this particular withdrawal is the reason we even care about nutrients in the first place, it is the most necessary one we make. By all means, eat all the vegetables! There are other nutrient-consuming parts of growing vegetables that we don't eat, though. What about all of the plants that you pull up at the end of each season?

4. Prunings, Branches, and Sticks

At the end of each season when cutting back bushes, trees, and perennials, chop up all of that stuff and put it in your compost rather than putting it out at the street. If you trim trees or end up with a lot of sticks and branches, the easiest way to keep some of the nutrients is to have a bonfire and add the ashes to your compost. If you want to keep even more of the organic matter in your yard, buy a mulcher and run all of your branches through it (leaves and all!) to add to your compost pile. The mulcher we bought on craigslist gets a surprising amount of use at our house.

Basically anything that grows in your yard and then goes somewhere else is a withdrawal, including the fruits and vegetables that you eat. Now let's look at ways to make deposits back into the yard.

Nutrient Deposits

1. Composting

Instead of throwing away organic matter, keep a small compost pail by the trash can to collect your kitchen waste- fruit peelings, vegetable ends, and egg shells- and put them into your compost pile. There are nutrients all around you that other people are throwing away that can be yours, too! When your neighbor puts out their grass clippings or leaves, drag it to your compost pile and dump it in there! My neighbor, after seeing us do this several times, now puts his bags over the fence into our back yard instead of at the street. After we have dumped them in the compost, we put the empty bags back over the fence until next time. If my neighbor wants to make a withdrawal from his yard and put a deposit into mine, I won't stop him :) You can also get compostable material from stores. Most coffee shops collect and save their coffee grinds for individuals to pick up for free. Some grocery stores throw away old produce, but will keep some aside if you ask them. All of this is great to toss into your compost pile. Check around your area- you will be surprised how much organic matter is thrown away that can be yours!

2.  Mulch

Many places have free mulch available through the city. The city picks up all of the branches, leaves, and grass clippings, mulches them into huge compost mountains, and then offer free truckloads of mulch to anyone living within the city limits. We have gotten LOTS of free mulch over the last few years to build up our soil. So if you got excited about taking your neighbor's leaves, you should be thrilled to know that you can now have a helping of the whole city's leftovers!

3. Store bought dirt

I rarely buy bags of dirt. If you compost a lot then it may not ever be necessary, but every now and then the garden expands faster than the compost pile can support and we have to buy a few bags of dirt. Store bought dirt doesn't have a high content of organic matter in it, but adding it is still better than nothing.

4. Manure
Animal poop is great for the garden! Why? Think about it- they eat up all the organic matter and then spit it back out into a compact form of nutrients that are already broken down! If you have a friend with a horse, cow, goats, etc. see if they will give you their manure. Most people with large animals have more than they know what to do with, and will give it to you free if you offer to get it yourself. Just remember to compost new manure for around six months before using it in the garden. This natural fertilizer is so hot it will burn your plants!

5. Fertilizer
I try to avoid this at all costs! As long as you know and understand the deposit/withdrawal cycle and make good use of what's around you, you may avoid this altogether. If the soil is so depleted that you must bring in fertilizers to give it a jump start on the road to recovery while your compost matures, look into organic fertilizers. I like my dirt as natural as possible.

Creating a Self-Sufficient and 

Highly Productive Nutrient System

Now that you know which things are withdrawals and deposits, let's look at creating a cycle that can repurpose as many nutrients as possible to get the most out of them and wasting as little as possible. There are ways to introduce other components into your yard that will create systems of nutrient self-sufficiency!

1. Chickens

A great way to give nutrients back to your lawn naturally is to free range chickens. Chickens will eat the weeds and some of the grass, as well as bugs and insects, and in turn deposit those nutrients (in the form of poop) all over your yard. While free range chickens eat a lot less feed, it is still important to buy some high protein laying feed for eggs or regular feed for meat chickens. The feed you buy and add into the system counts as the deposit that will balance out the withdrawal of you eating the eggs or meat. You will also buy some hay to put in the bottom of the coop, and when you clean that out it all goes in the compost for another deposit. Chickens play a role in transferring matter efficiently while also producing more food for you!

Withdrawals- eating grass, eating bugs, laying eggs for you to eat, becoming meat for you to eat
Deposits-  feed that you buy for them, poop in the yard, hay bought to put in the coop

2. Rabbits
Rabbits are amazing little composting machines! And an added bonus is that rabbits are one of the few animals whose manure you can put into the garden immediately- no composting or waiting necessary. While you can put your green plants in the compost to break down, a much faster way is to feed it to a rabbit. When I pull up old plants in the garden (broccoli, tomatoes, beans, you name it!) I feed it to my rabbits. Then I scoop out that manure from under the cage the next day and till it back into the garden where I pulled up the plants. That's a one day turnaround of green plant to nutrients in the soil for the next season of planting! On top of that you will buy rabbit feed as another deposit into the system. We grow our rabbits for meat (an added level of productivity), but if you don't want to go that far rabbits make great pets and will do the same job.

Withdrawals- Meat that you eat, eating garden greens
Deposits- Best poop for gardens, rabbit feed

3. Aquaponics
I won't go into all the details of aquaponics here, but aquaponics is a system of using container raised fish (more specifically their poop) to fertilize plants growing in water rather than dirt. The plants clean the water which cycles back to the fish in a completely self-sustaining system that grows fish and vegetables with the only input of fish food! If you have never heard of it, do a little research- it's awesome!

Withdrawal- Fish to eat, vegetables
Deposits- fish food

4. Bees
Bees are sneaky little nutrient ninjas! They fly around and take all of your neighbor's pollen (I don't think they will miss it- besides, they do them a favor by pollinating everything) and then bring all of the bounty back to your house where they turn it into honey and beeswax. This system creates a lot of output for a little input while increasing the productivity of all of your plants by pollinating them.

Withdrawal- honey, beeswax
Deposit- your neighbor's pollen

5. Goats
Backyard dairy goats can also play a role in nutrient making. They will be a fats composter for leaves and tree branches in the same way that rabbits are for all things green. The food you buy is a deposit for the manure they create as well as the milk and/or meat that you will get out of the system.

Withdrawals- Making milk, meat, eating leaves
Deposits- Feed, poop

Each time you add a new animal or system to your yard, the cycle becomes more complex, but also more complete. You will be amazed how adding just one animal to your yard will transform the way to use and recycle the organic matter to create even more output for the input while keeping your nutrient balance stable.

Do you have any other ideas to add to the list of deposits and withdrawals? What creative ways do you use to build up your soil?

How to Harvest and Make Ground Ginger

As I was cutting back all of the dead summer plants in my garden this winter, I had Christmas on the brain. Cutting my ginger plants, which have such lovely and potently fragrant white blooms during the summer, got me wondering if ground ginger (and gingerbread cookies!) could somehow be derived from my ginger plants. A little research soon uncovered that ginger root and ground ginger do come from the beautiful flower that I happened to have as a decorative plant in my garden!

It turns out to be a simple process, so I decided to share! Also, I got to use three of my Christmas presents in the process (mandoline, dehydrator, and electric food mill). Love, love, love new kitchen gadgets!

In case you are wondering if you have it in your garden as well, there are several different varieties, but my plants look like this:

After the ginger plants die back in the winter, it is the perfect time to harvest the root, which is actually a rhizome, to use as a spice for different recipes. You will want to dig up a few of the rhizomes that are from the previous year's growth rather than the new growth that just started in the past spring. Either will work, but the older the rhizome, the stronger the flavor will be. I had a few rhizomes growing out of the garden into the yard, so I started with those.

After digging up a few and rinsing them off, I was ready to get started on the experiment! As you can see, these rhizomes still have some green on them as they are younger, but the older ones will have a completely brown skin.

 Peel off the skin off with a vegetable peeler. The inside will have a thick, white, fibrous texture. Some recipes call for ginger root, and you would use the ginger at this point for those recipes. But for recipes calling for ground ginger, we continue the process.

 Use a mandoline slicer to create thin slices. Side note- mandolines are amazing!

Put the slices in a dehydrator on medium for about an hour. I was surprised at how fast the ginger dried! It ends up looking like paper thin sawdust curls.

 Put the completely dehydrated ginger flakes in a food mill or coffee bean grinder.

 Grind for a minute or so until most of the ginger is a powder.

Shake the powder through a fine strainer or sifter to separate out any pieces that didn't chop up fine enough.

And what you have left is ground ginger! You can store it in an airtight glass container or spice jar. I can't believe the price I have been paying for ground ginger and ginger root while I had it growing in my backyard all along! Go figure.

What about you? Do you have any ginger in your yard???

My First Year of Homesteading

So this week marks the end of what I would consider my first year of homesteading. While I had a small vegetable garden and got my first few chickens last year, the chickens didn't really start laying until this year, and we have expanded a lot in the last 12 months, so I would consider 2014 our first year of true urban homesteading.

I know what you may be thinking- I wish I could have a "homestead"! I wish I could have some land and grow some food and get some animals and be self-sufficient! Let me clarify our situation to encourage you. We do not have land (well, unless you count the 0.2 acre lot our house is on), and we do not live in the country (the exact opposite- we are smack dab in the middle of a city), and we are not self-sufficient (although more so than we were last year!). You can be a homesteader no matter what your living situation is. Don't wait until you buy a farm, start where you are with what you have.

To give you a little inspiration and celebrate how far we've come, I would like to share a little of our journey this year with you- how we started small and grew little by little, and how we can't wait to continue growing next year.

Our progression into homesteading has been slow but steady. Some of the things that we are doing are things I never thought I would consider a part of my daily life. Here is how it happened...

Vegetable Gardening
First I started a small raised vegetable garden a few years ago just to grow a few tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers- it's just sort of something you do in the south. It was 5' x 10', and later I expanded it to 5' x 15'. It was small, but manageable. I bought plants at Lowe's or Home Depot for $3 each. Some years we harvested a lot and other years we didn't get much at all. Monetarily speaking we usually broke even or ended up a little ahead.

Starting Seeds
I then decided to branch out and try a few plants from seeds- I was pretty intimidated by starting my own seeds! Carrots worked out, and beans and peas were so easy and produced a ton! I started experimenting with more and more plants from seeds until almost every plant in my garden was started by seed. Now the gains were much higher, because seeds produce many plants for a fraction of the cost of plants from the nursery. Plus, I now had a much wider range of plants to choose from! Click here for a handy vegetable starting guide.

Composting
One of the most expensive parts of gardening is the dirt! We starting composting all of our kitchen scraps and yard waste to make our own compost, and haven't bought any dirt since! I wish I could tell you how many pounds of nutrient rich "waste" I have composted instead of put in a landfill this year, but I know how much dirt we have made and used, and it has been significant! Composting is too beneficial and too easy not to do :)

Laying Chickens
I had been reading a lot about backyard chickens, and we decided to get a few to experiment. We talked about getting 3-4, but knew they wouldn't all make it so decided to get 5, and then somehow came home with 7 :) We built a coop ourselves from pieces leftover from other projects for pretty cheap. The chickens free ranged in our fenced in backyard which cut on feeding costs and make for a happy flock.

Fruit trees 
In the fall of 2013 we put in several fruit trees around the edges of the backyard. There was a mulberry tree there when we moved in, but we have added a satsuma, kumquat, lemon, grapefruit, pomegranate, grapevine, 5 blueberry bushes, 2 apples, and 2 pears over the last year. While this sounds like a lot of trees, placing them strategically around the edge of the yard or as a part of existing gardens and landscaping has made up hardly notice them at all! The price of fruit in the store is crazy, and we are loving the addition of fruit in our yard!

Raised Beds and Square Foot Gardening
Around this time, we discovered something terrible. All of the vegetables that were our favorites, were also the chickens favorites, and the garden was the perfect place for them to dust bathe. Suddenly almost any gardening became impossible, and we rigged up some netting to keep them out.
This system worked for the rest of the season, but I wanted to make a significant expansion to the vegetable garden, and fence it in to keep out the chickens. We worked all fall of 2013 and were able to put in the first plants in March 2014. We made the new garden all raised beds and planted using the Square Foot Method.

Meat Chickens
After an unfortunate accident involving our flock of chickens and the neighbor's dog, we had to start a new flock. As it turned out, some of our hens in this bunch turned out to be roosters. We knew that crowing in the suburban neighborhood wouldn't go over well, and needed to get rid of the offenders quickly. That is how we happened upon our first meat chicken. Of our 12 chickens, 5 turned out to be roosters, and we quickly learned how to deal with the queasiness and process our own chickens. They turned out to be really delicious! At the same time, we began researching the inhumane treatment of chickens in meat processing plants. We decided not to buy anymore chicken from the grocery store and added meat chickens to our flock. While many people we know consider us raising our own meat to be mean, anyone who eats meat gets it from an animal somewhere! At least this way, we know that our animals had a happy, free ranging life before they had a second purpose of becoming nourishment.

Canning, Drying, and Preserving
With the expansion of our garden, we started really getting a lot of fresh produce. In some cases there was more than we could eat or give away, so I started learning how to preserve food for later. Drying herbs, canning, pickling, and freezing vegetables, and making jams and jellies quickly became normal, and our pantry was well stocked. You can read the review of our harvest from the spring season.

DIY Household Items
As soon as you figure out you can make your own food, you begin to look at everything differently. When I run out of something around the house, before I put it on the shopping list I ask myself, is this something we can make ourselves? We experimented with a lot of diy household items this year. Some have turned out great, like laundry detergent, and others not so much, like shaving cream. But slowly, we are buying less household products and making more of our own.

Rabbits
My husband had been researching other meat options, and started looking into raising meat rabbits. I dragged my feet for months before starting this project, because rabbits are so cute! It seemed strange to raise them to eat, but they were a lot more practical than starting a new flock of meat chickens every few months. We got two rabbits, and by the time they had grown to mating age, mated, gave birth, and raised the babies to eating age, I was ready to give the rabbits a try. Best decision on the homestead yet! We have now replaced all of the chicken in our diet with rabbit, and gone back to only laying hens.

Selling the Extras
At the end of 2014, I was a part of a few craft shows, and decided to sell some of the extras that I had from our gardening adventures. These were things that I knew we would never get around to eating because we already had so much. I sold dried herbs, pickles, pepper jelly, etc. I was surprised how much people jumped all over locally grown food items that hadn't been grown with any pesticides or fertilizers! I made $63 in profit from just those few extras, and then I realized- now we are homesteaders for real! I already have people asking for more of certain items, so I will be ready with some more farm fresh products next year!

The Year in Review
While we still aren't self-sufficient, and are a long way from it, here are some things that were staples on our grocery shopping list last year, that we haven't bought at all this year!
- eggs
- chicken
- chicken broth
- laundry detergent
- most herbs (there is the random one or two that I don't grow)
- green onions, green beans, cucumbers, pickles (all of the other vegetables I still had to supplement throughout the year)
- bread (that's right, all homemade for one year now- woo hoo!)

This year we produced...
- 22lbs. meat (valued at $88)
- 87 dozen eggs (valued at $348)
- 12 lbs. fruit (not bad for the first year on our trees) (valued at $33)
- 85lbs. vegetables (valued at $226)

That's a total of $695 worth of food that we grew in our own yard with minimal effort and experience! (I'm basing these prices on regular grocery store prices, NOT what you would pay at a local farmer's market, which would be much more expensive.) Plus, add in the $63 we made from selling finished products and our total comes to $758. We spent $225 on feed, so our final profit value was $533.

Our average grocery bill last year was $50/week. So this adds up to almost 3 MONTHS of free groceries! We used what we had to make more of what we needed- that's homesteading!

What next?
We are looking forward to continuing to grow our homestead next year with new projects already in mind.
- We want to build an aquaponics system in the greenhouse to grow fish and vegetables in a coexistent relationship
- We are thinking about expanding from one female breeding rabbit to two for double the meat production
- I am getting a dehydrator to begin learning how to preserve fresh foods in a new way
- Not sure if this will happen this year, but our area recently made it legal to have bees within the city limits, so that is on the list for the future as well!

What about your homestead?
So what steps are you going to take this year to be a little more self-sustaining? Think about what you have and what you can do with it- you will be surprised at how much can come from just a little!

How to Freeze Fresh Green Beans

We just had our first freeze last week, which in south Louisiana is unheard of! I am so upset that I had to pick all of the green beans, tomatoes, and peppers and say goodbye to my late summer plants. We usually have at least three more weeks! I realize our growing season is months longer than most places in the country, but I'm still sad it had to end so soon! 

Due to this massive last minute harvest, I need to freeze some of my green beans for later, so in case you are in the same situation, here's how!

In order to freeze green beans without having them lose any nutritional value, they must be blanched first, which is a really simple process. First wash the beans and snip off all of the stem ends.

 Next, bring put them in a pot on the stove and cover them with water. 

Cook on high until you have a rolling boil for three minutes. At this point the beans should be bright in color and tender crisp.

Remove the beans from the hot water and immediately place into a bowl of ice water until chilled, usually about 3-4 minutes.

 Now all you have to do is let them dry and then put them in a freezer ziplock bag. When you take them out later they will be ready to cook in whatever way you choose and enjoy year-round with the added bonus of still maintaining almost all of the nutritional value of fresh picked green beans!

How to Harvest and Cure Sweet Potatoes

It's sweet potato time in South Louisiana! I love harvesting root vegetables because it's always a surprise. You know there is something under that dirt, but how big and how many??? It's time to excavate! My sweet potato bed this year was a 4x8 raised bed. This works great because it is easier to keep the vines contained (they will take over everything if you let them) but at the same time gives them plenty of space to produce a good crop.

 As you can see, my vines are still nice and green when I am harvesting. Some places will tell you to wait until the vines die down, which may be true up north, but here in the south that may not happen until January! For my area harvesting takes place a minimum of 120 days after planting. (To learn how to start your own sweet potato slips for planting, click here.)

 It's hard to tell in the picture, but you will start to notice the dirt at the base of each stem beginning to mound up in a little hill. This is because there are potatoes under there!

 To check and see if your sweet potatoes are ready, gently brush away some of the soil around the base of the plant and you should be able to see the tops of a few sweet potatoes. You can roughly judge their size and decide if it is time to harvest.

 Gently dig around the base of the plants to get the tubers out of the ground. I usually end up using my hands more than a shovel so that I don't knick the potatoes or accidentally break off the ends.

If you are lucky and have loose soil, you may be able to pull up an entire group all at once! After you have all of the plants pulled up, be sure to turn the soil throughout the garden really well. You will be surprised how many rogue sweet potatoes you will find hiding out! My garden will yield 15-20 pounds of sweet potatoes this year.

 Lay the sweet potatoes out on the dirt or path to dry for a few hours in the sun allowing any injuries to heal before brushing off the dirt and storing them. Once they are completely dry, they must be cured in order to have that sweet taste that we are all looking forward to.

Next, cure the sweet potatoes by storing them in a warm humid place for 7-10 days. It should be at least 80 degrees F. This isn't too hard to come by in Louisiana even in October- I just put them in a paper bag in the shed, greenhouse, or attic. Next, keep them at 55 degrees F for 4-6 weeks. While this may be easier up north, I will be keeping them in a mini fridge set to that temperature. The curing process helps trigger the sugar creating enzymes in order to have that sweet taste we are all looking forward to. After the potatoes have been cured, sweet potatoes will keep for several months without losing any nutritional value. Now its time to start collecting recipes!!!

Vegetable Starting Guide: Seeds or Plants?

So you're ready to begin a vegetable garden or try a new plant for the first time, but you aren't sure how to begin. Start seed indoors, direct sow, or buy transplants?

After years of experimenting with seeds and transplants, I have decided to make a handy chart to keep track of the vegetables that start out better with seeds started indoors, seeds directly sown in the ground, or bought from the store in a pot. Here is a little bit more on each of the options.

Direct Sow
I used to be completely intimidated by starting seeds directly in the ground. I'm way to much of a control freak to believe that sticking a seed in some dirt outside and walking away could ever produce anything edible, but after lots of trusting and trying, it has become one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways that I have found to begin most vegetables. Without direct sowing in the garden, you will greatly limit the number of different vegetable types that you can grow. It is much easier than you think, and at $1 per pack for most seed, the price is unbeatable for gardening on any larger scale.

All varieties of beans are a great seed to start with if direct sowing intimidates you. These seeds will come up fast and grow strong every time!

Seeds Started Indoors
Some plants need the extra time to grow before the weather warms up enough to go outside, especially in areas of the country with short growing seasons. Starting seeds indoors is a great way to give those plants a jump start. Simply plant your seeds in six packs or peat pots with potting soil. Some gardeners use a soil-less seed starting mix, but I find that a good potting soil almost always does the trick. Keep the soil moist, (the best way is by watering from the bottom) and keep them under LOTS of light. You don't want your seedlings to get long and lanky stretching for sunlight. Put them out in the sun as soon as possible.

Transplants
Some plants simply take too long to grow from seed to maturity in a single planting season, especially in colder zones where the growing season is short. There are also some plants that can be grown from seed, but with the amount of care and attention they need, it is just not worth it. In those cases, you will want to buy plants from your local nursery. When choosing plants, buy the smallest ones possible to keep your budget under control. Don't worry, they will be big soon! Look for plants that are low and bushy rather than tall and lanky.

Other
Other vegetables have special beginnings, such as potatoes, onions, garlic, and asparagus. They may be started from bulbs, seed potatoes, slips, leftovers from the kitchen, mature root stock, or sets that you buy from the store or order from a catalog. Do some research on these individual plants to find the best way to get the growing.

Sweet potatoes are grown from slips started from a seed potato.

And now for the handy chart! I hope this helps you as you expand your gardening horizons and try new plants. Some plants may have links that you can click on for more information on starting that particular plant.

Download: click here

Spring 2014 Garden Produce Review

Now that we have our new vegetable garden, we are trying a lot of new plants, experimenting with different ways to grow things, and have more space to play with producing our own food! We use growveg to do all of our garden planning and LOVE IT! If you haven't tried it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out, seriously.

Here was our spring garden layout:

We'll let you know how each plant did, any trouble shooting we had to do, and any changes we plan on making for next time. Just FYI, we are in south central Louisiana, which is a hot and humid Zone 9a. Our advice may not apply to your area!

Turnips:
# of Plants/Area: 2 sq. ft.
Produce: 1lb4oz
Prepared: Roasted and delicious!
Notes: This was our first time planting turnips, and I wasn't expecting much to happen. But we planted seeds on Feb. 1, and they did great!

Basil:

# of Plants/Area: 4 plants
Produce: 15 oz. dried and 7 cups fresh, More than we could handle!
Prepared: Basil Mint Pesto, Basil Parsley Pesto, Dried Basil
Notes: I started these plants from seed in pots. I spent most of the summer trying to figure out how to use our HUGE amounts of basil. I couldn't think of enough ideas to handle the volume!

Green Onions:
# of Plants/Area: 10 plants
Produce: Used all season without running out!
Prepared: Gumbo, baked potatoes, fresh veggie dip
Notes: We started these from leftovers we bought at the grocery store, and they have produced for us all season without running out. Find out how to start your own here. So simple!

 Parsley:
# of Plants/Area: 4 plants
Produce: 2 cups fresh
Prepared: Basil Parsley Pesto, Dried Parsley, Gumbo
Notes: I started these plants from seeds in pots. The parsley doesn't produce as much per plant as we use, so I will plant more next year!

Sunflowers:
# of Plants/Area: 5 plants
Produce: 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Prepared: Basil Mint Pesto
Notes: I direct seeded these in the bed. They were more for attracting bees and giving the birds a snack than anything else. But it doesn't hurt to get a little produce from them as well!

Zucchini and Summer Squash:
# of Plants/Area: 5 plants
Produce: Yellow summer squash 15oz, Zucchini 7lb 13oz
Prepared: Zucchini lasagna, Carrot Zucchini bread, Zucchini Blueberry bread, Pickled zucchini, and sauteed Squash
Notes: I direct seeded these in the raised bed, and they all sprouted. If you have trouble with squash vine borers or powdery mildew on your summer squash plants, check out the posts we have for those issues.

Garlic:
# of Plants/Area: 8 plants
Produce: 3oz
Prepared: Minced
Notes: I started this garlic from grocery story leftovers. Find out how to start your own here. I was surprised what a good harvest I got from the spring, when garlic grows best when started in the fall. I will be growing this again!

Beans:
# of Plants/Area: Bush beans- 20, Pole Beans- 10, Soy beans- 12, Lima beans- 6
Produce: Bush beans- 8lb 3oz, Pole Beans- 4lb 3oz, Soy Beans- 2lb 6oz, Lima beans- 2oz
Prepared: Steamed, Pickled, Relish, Raw :)
Notes: The bush beans, pole beans, and soy beans had huge produce, but the lima beans must have not liked their spot. They never did get going, but I had more than enough beans from my other plants!

Radishes:

# of Plants/Area: 2 sq. ft.
Produce: 2 oz.
Prepared: Chopped up raw in salads
Notes: We aren't big radish eaters, but they are fun to grow because they mature so quickly. Besides, the rabbits LOVE the greens, so it's worth it to give them a treat.

Carrots:
# of Plants/Area: 4 sq. ft.
Produce: 3lb. 2oz.
Prepared: Steamed, Pot Roast Stew, Carrot Zucchini bread, Raw in salads
Notes: I will definitely plant more carrots next year! These were easy to grow and we eat a lot of carrots!

Mint:
# of Plants/Area: 6 plants
Produce: 2 cups fresh was all I used!
Prepared: Basil Mint Pesto
Notes: I was warned to plant this in a area where it could take over, and they were not kidding! We have more mint than we know what to do with, and I will be digging up a bunch to feed to the rabbits at the end of the season. I definitely won't plant more than one pot of this next year!

Blackberries:
# of Plants/Area: 20ft. row wild blackberry vines along the back fence
Produce: 7lb
Prepared: Blackberry lemonade, Summer Fruit Smoothies
Notes: We freeze gallon size bags of blackberries every spring, and they never make it through the year. They grow wild, and we love our blackberries!

Blueberries:
# of Plants/Area: 5 small bushes
Produce: 8oz.
Prepared: Blueberry pancakes, Blueberry Zucchini bread, Summer fruit Smoothies, Blueberry Jelly
Notes: We use about 20 lb. of blueberries a year and we usually pick them at a local blueberry farm. This was our first year to start a few bushes of our own, and we are looking forward to production picking up as they grow! Not bad for a first year though.

Cucumbers:

# of Plants/Area: 10 plants
Produce: 22lb. 11oz.
Prepared: Raw, In salads
Notes: More cucumbers than we could eat and give away! And they were so fresh :)

Tomatoes:
# of Plants/Area: 10 plants
Produce: 6oz
Prepared: Sun Dried Tomatoes
Notes: Out tomato plants did awful! Out of ten plants we only picked 5 tomatoes! I'm not sure what went wrong, but the flowers kept falling off before setting fruit. It's the first time I've ever had that problem. I'm disappointed, but will try again next year.

Beets:
# of Plants/Area: 1 sq. ft.
Produce: 1lb.
Prepared: Caramelized beets
Notes: This was our first time growing beets, and I was not sure what to expect, but was pleased with the produce and the taste.

Corn:
# of Plants/Area: 20 plants
Produce: 8oz
Prepared: steamed
Notes: The corn did not do well. I'm not sure if I planted too late, or if the soil wasn't deep enough, but it just never took off.

Peas:
# of Plants/Area: 4 sq. ft.
Produce: 1lb. 8oz.
Prepared: None of them made it out of the yard, we ate them all raw right in the garden!
Notes: There is nothing like fresh peas- they taste like candy!

My goal for the spring was 50lbs of produce, but our total came to 64.7lb! When we calculated the value (based on local grocery store prices) the total came out to $165.00 worth of produce we grew in our own backyard over the course of seven months!

How was your produce this past season? Any tips for getting more out of the area?

Perfect Backyard Vegetable Garden Plan: Feed Your Family Fresh!

Last year my vegetable garden was a 6" high raised bed that was 5' x 15'. It worked for a while, but the soil wasn't very deep since the bed wasn't as raised as much as I would have liked, and a nearby tree had grown so quickly that it blocked the afternoon sun to half of the garden which simply won't work for growing a harvest of summer vegetables. So last year I began designing my dream garden on paper, not really sure if it would ever become a reality. We dreamed big, but wanted to keep it as budget friendly as possible.

I used growveg to make my original garden design. I am absolutely in love with this software! It has made my gardening SO MUCH EASIER! As much as I like researching and charting, this makes the planning a dream! (try the 30 day free trial, and you'll know what I mean!) 

This was the plan for the spring 2014 layout. 28' x 20' with five raised beds in the center and a raised bed bordering the entire garden with 2ft. wide walkways except by the gate (3ft. to accommodate a garden cart for hauling mulch, etc.) for a total of 380 sq. ft. of gardening space.

To be ready for planting in the spring of 2014, we started working on the project during the late summer of 2013.

As always with gardening, the beginning is the most difficult part- so much work with not much to show for it. The first step was marking off the area and digging up the grass. We rented a sod cutter from Home Depot for $65. Worth. Every. Penny. It was still a lot of work, but nothing compared to doing an area of that size by hand.

Next we laid a thick layer of cardboard over the entire area. This is an inexpensive way to keep down weeds and keep the grass from growing back.

We framed up our five center raised beds using lumber we had gathered over time from the 90% off section at Home Depot. For the center beds we used cedar fence boards and for the outer edge beds we used a combination of landscape timbers and 2x4's. We ended up spending only about $30 for all of the wood needed.

Once the raised beds were framed up, we placed them in the layout and spaced them to accommodate walking space between each.

The chickens are very curious about what we are doing!

  Next we started filling the raised beds with compost and mulch. We wanted to avoid buying any dirt if at all possible, but it is difficult to fill over 500 cubic feet of area with your own backyard compost. We had been building up our compost pile for almost a year in anticipation and were able to fill the five center beds at once. 

You can see what used to be my vegetable garden in the foreground, and the new garden in the back.

Next we build a fence around the garden area to keep out the chickens. Very important! Chickens will eat up a vegetable garden as fast as it can grow! We used the pre-assembled picket fence panel from Lowe's. They cost $30 for an 8ft. piece. Instead of using concrete for the posts, we used the packed earth method around 4x4's and were really pleased with the stability of the outcome. We could have saved more money by going with a more rustic fence made of palettes, but I just like the look of a picket fence! We only needed 6 fence panels since we already had a hurricane fence on one side and the house on another. The fence, gate and hardware ended up costing about $200.

A family member had been getting rid of hundreds of these cement cylinders for free, so we laid them along the inside of the fence base to keep the dirt in and the grass and weeds out of the edge gardens.We were glad to get these for free!

Next we framed up the edge gardens and screwed them together to form the border beds. We hadn't built up enough compost since the last batch to fill these up. The Lafayette Utilities System offers free truckloads of mulch for gardening so we picked up a truckload of that to fill the edge gardens. While it is mulch that hasn't broken down completely yet, we were able to cover it with compost with some time to spare to help it break down into rich soil before we planted.

I put up chicken wire around the inside of the picket fence all the way around to keep out any critters that would want to squeeze between the fence boards. (chickens, *cough*) A 50' roll of chicken wire cost $25.

Originally I had used another truckload of mulch for the pathways, and was content to pull a few weeds growing between the gardens. 

That is, until I ran across a great find at a yard sale. A whole stack of bricks for $60! We spent the next three weekends laying bricks and now have brick pathways between the raised beds. If I had known that there would be bricks, I would have bricked first and built the gardens in after to make all of the dimensions fit together just right, but the few gaps we have give it character :)

Finally, the fun part! We put in all of our plants and began the work of growing, harvesting, and cooking! To go from a drawing on paper to the final product was amazing! We are so excited about how our new garden turned out. Soon I will be posting how we did on our harvest.

Here is the final breakdown of how much we spent:

Sod cutter rental: $65

Wood for raised beds: $30

Fence panels, posts, and gate hardware: $200

Chicken wire: $30

Bricks for pathway: $60

Final Cost: $385

A few more pictures of the finished result. It is hard to get a good picture of the whole garden in one...

Do you have a vegetable garden that you love???

Easy way to keep cats from digging up your plants

All of my neighbors have cats, and since we do not, our yard is the free territory that they all fight over. And when I get my gardens ready for planting seeds at the beginning of the season, I'm sure that my raised beds look like huge upscale litter boxes with the cats' names written all over them. There is nothing quite as frustrating as finding groups of cat potholes in a freshly planted seedbed. Even plants bought in six-packs don't stand a chance against a cat excavation.

After lots of different experiments, I have found a simple way that works really well! And it uses supplies that you probably already have sitting around your garden shed.

Simply take metal garden edging and lay it down flat over the soil. The seeds will grow up through the wide holes and the metal is too annoying for the cats to try to dig around.

 I already had some on hand from various gardening projects, and then I found some more marked 90% off at Hobby Lobby when they clearanced out the spring section. Love it when that happens! 

If you have a larger area to cover, cucumber trellises work really well. This wire trellis is just the right size for my raised beds.

As you can see, the plants simply grow up through the holes. Just remember to pull the trellis up before the plants get too big, or it will be stuck there until it is time to pull the plants up.

You can also use chicken wire that has wider holes. I have been using this method for a while now, and the cats will literally dig in the ONE SPOT that I don't cover. But all of my little seedlings come up right where they should :)

Do you have any other tips and tricks for keeping out the cats?

How to Overcome the Evil Squash Vine Borer

I love the veggies in the summer garden from the cucurbit family: zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. But every spring when the first leaves of the seeds push up from the ground, I know the race is on. Can I get a good harvest from my garden before the Evil Squash Vine Borers destroy my entire crop of plants? It takes a lot of diligence to hold them off, but it IS possible. 

To overcome the enemy, you have to study them. They are most attracted primarily to summer squash and zucchini and occasionally to cucumbers, winter squash, and pumpkins. In my garden, they love them ALL!

They begin as these orange and black flying insects...they just look evil. 

You can try to stop them from laying their eggs on the plants by using row covers of mesh fabric. The only problem with this method is that the row covers also keep away the bees that are necessary for pollination for fruit production. I've never tried this method.

 

Once the flying insects lay their eggs at the base of the plant, the larvae hatch and bore into the stem of the plant. There is little evidence that they have taken up residence in your plants, but there is some. The first sign is an orange sawdust-like substance at the base of the plant where the borer entered. 

As the borer eats it way along the stem the leaves wilt. This is the time to catch them! If the borer goes unnoticed, it will eat its way all the way up (or down) the stem until it cuts off nutrients to the plant, and overnight the plant goes from a leafy green growth to a limp, flattened mess. Once this happens it is usually too late. 

Once you see the evidence of where the borer entered, take a knife and make a slice vertically along the stem until you find the nasty culprit, a white grub-like larvae.

I know it is hard to cut open the stem of your plant, but it will pay off in the end. If you catch the evil little grub then the plant has a chance of surviving even the worst damage. Cucurbits can regrow roots from any part of their stem, so simply bury the stem past the part where the damage was done and give it a good watering. The plant should be able to recover.

Once you have killed one, don't get too smug! They will be back, and back again, and yet again... They are persistent, so you have to be persistent too! Once they have bored to their hearts content, they dig down into the dirt, form a cocoon and wait to emerge as flying insects in the spring, so it is important not to let them get away.

Here are a few other tips to help keep them under control:

- Rotate plants so that you do not have cucurbits growing in the same area more than once every three years

- Immediately pull up and throw away (not compost) any plants that have been taken over by the insects

- Do not compost any cucurbits that may have been affected

- Plant multiple crops throughout the season so that in case one crop doesn't make it, you have a backup

- Use row covers during early plant development before they are flowering

- Thoroughly till the dirt after pulling up plants so that you expose the cocoons (you may even find some so you can squish them!)

- As plants grow, mound dirt around the exposed stem of squash and zucchini plants to keep them from being exposed

- Keep an eye on you plants, looking along the stem each day to find the early signs of orange sawdust and wilting leaves

- I know it hurts, but keep cutting along the affected stems until you find the perpetrators and then rebury the stems to promote new root growth

Good luck, and good harvest! Do you have any other tips or tricks that have worked?