As a combined effort to avoid over-processed foods with mystery sources and a desire to do something productive with my yard, I am going to have a garden this summer. We're also in the process of making a spreadsheet (yes, Dad, if you're reading, I said spreadsheet) that helps us find Farmer's Markets throughout the summer (and winter, there are some excellent winter Farmer's Markets). I figure, we should be able to eat local pretty much all summer.
This is my garden when it was a dream, really a figment of everyone's imagination. My parents came to help put this baby in place. That's them in my enormous back yard in the figment of a garden. The garden goes here mostly because the corner to the right of what you can see has some trees that we plan to tear out, and we also buried my dear childhood dog, Allee, in that area, not a great place for gardening, ya know? The tricky part about the south side of the yard is the shadow you can see running the length of the yard. As the season goes on, I think this shadow will shrink a bit as the sun begins to move a little differently in the sky, but we still accounted for the shade in the digging of the garden.
These are some of the things I've planted by now. The green things are herbs mostly: thyme, basil (x2 because it is so yummy), hot oregano, chocolate mint, and a goji plant for indoors. The other two green things are asparagus plants. I guess these guys take 2-3 years to get to where they produce asparagus, but once they start, they are unstoppable. They'll grow for like 20 years. Hope everyone loves asparagus! Then, I planted some bulbs of garlic, elephant garlic and onions. I also planted some carrots I started inside several weeks ago. Hope those babies make it! They said they were alright in this zone at this time of year. Oh, and there's also rhubarb in there. An all-time favorite of mine. And for those of you wondering, yes, I can count...most of the time.
What do you attack such a garden with? Well, I would like to tell you we used a tiller, but being broke, we did not buy or rent one. We don't even have a lawn mower right now... Anyway, back on topic, we (my dad, actually, as shown in the picture) used a pickaxe. My dad did most of the breaking of ground, my mom and I did a lot of the shoveling and weeding. With a yard that's pretty much a blank slate (as seen above), there's not much in your way but weeds. They were impressively established having gone years without being challenged, but they eventually gave way. The wood lying on the ground is from the fence breaking in the wind. It is going to need to be replaced this summer. Our house is a constant project that we love very much and are also hard-pressed to keep up with right now. We're always gettting a little further in things, but it's so old and hasn't been really cared for in so long, it's a lot to bring back up to speed.
There's Jason, my husband, and mys sister, Kirsten finishing the tilling. Her dog, Saoirse really enjoyed the yard. After the garden was in, she seemed to particularly enjoy barreling through the poor new garden. She's a rescue pet, can we blame it on that? Probably not, she's just a dog. The garden is starting to shape up in this photo. You can see the difference between the garden and the weed-yard we keep. Some day, we envision sod and REAL landscaping, but I am getting ahead of myself, as you can see. This is today and this is phenomenal progress. Day by day.
One last piece of grass/weeds to remove. We'll probably have a lot of weeding to do this season, but it's alright. Gotta start somewhere. I planted a garden in Bissau. It's a photo in an earlier blog on here. I was tending those poor seeds until my last day on the continent. Apparently, they have indeed sprouted. I just need to call someplace home, so this is it. I am growing my own food in my yard this year. Maybe next year, I'll try a winter garden. I hear those can be extremely successful, and besides, how rewarding would it be to still be eating food from your garden in December?
It's all tilled and the plants are ready to go where they are meant to be. I'll get you some pictures of my indoor makeshift herb garden some time soon as well. I bought a few more things for it today. It's seriously absurd that for the price of a container of an herb at the store, you can buy an entire plant, and if you care for it properly, you'll have those herbs for a long time. Genius, I say. I also am amazingly fanatical about perennials. How brilliant is it that even in Colorado, things can live through the winter and make more fruit and such the next year?!
This is me planting the first thing. Anyone who knows me well won't be surprised that it was garlic. I just adore garlic. I have been hearing tales that garlic shoots are a thing worth noshing, and can't wait to have them growing in my own yard.
Root part down, pointy part to the sky, about a few inches deep and voila, garlic.
To the left is the garlic going into the ground. Um, yes!!!! I am intrigued to know how to pick garlic and how one clove turns into an entire harvest and all that. The elephant garlic was planted as one clove (yes, that is ONE clove) and the others were to be planted as an entire head of garlic all together. Wonder what's going to happen. Will we get one head of garlic per thing planted? I certainly hope it somehow multiplies. Just ONE garlic would be kinda disappointing for this kind of work.
There it is all lovely in the ground and about to be buried. Later, it will hopefully be like 10 heads of garlic that are eager to be eaten! One can dream. It seems like garlic farmers would go out of business if you needed an entire head of garlic to get one in return. Surely, there's better stuff to come than that.
This is the garlic securely in place and the asparagus waiting to be planted. Those things will turn into an entire BED of asparagus. Again, I totally don't get it. Those plants look NOTHING like asparagus, and they also look nothing like photos you see of growing asparagus. I am guessing that's the miracle God performs in the dirt. This wispy thing turns into a stalky enjoyable food item. Side note: I have been much in love with asparagus of late. I want it all the time. There's something satisfying in eating those green spears. They're tender and flavorful. Yum. What's your favorite veggie?
Oh, to completely take a tangent here, those hands belong to my sister, and she is consuming a San Pellegrino Limonata. It's like sparkling lemonade, except amazing in every way. It's made with real lemons and tastes like summer in a can of goodness. Drink some. You will be glad you did.
My sister helping me plant a row of onions. We talked about the value of having rows of things with trenches beside them for the water to go in. Who knew it was so funny that the garden is laid out this way. My dad has always used a hoe to dig the trenches, and he did this time as well. Then, you kind of make a furrow (seeds don't get planted that deep anyway) in the top of the mound and put the seeds in and then close it back up. I really enjoyed having my dad and mom there to help me with my first garden. Some of my best memories growing up were of being in the garden with them during the summer.
There it is after an entire day's work. The lumps closest to the camera are for asparagus and garlic, the rows have carrots and onions, and out of your view is the rhubarb. It later got moved because it needed more sunlight and is now quite a happy plant. This is a good day's work, and was lots of fun. I have high hopes for this little plot of land and hope to show bountiful pictures of the products. If not, maybe it will at least be entertaining. Since taking this photo, I have added rainbow swiss chard, kale, and collard greens to the garden.
Fun is in the dirt!
I'd love to know any new tips on gardening that you have. I am a newbie and am seeking wisdom. I will show you my indoor garden next time!
Hello! We've been a little busy around here lately. I have made no new progress on the understanding of my old fashioned (and lovely) sewing machine. But I DID get another family heirloom. My husband's parents were in town this last weekend and his mom brought a family heirloom to share with us. It's a rhubarb plant. I guess it's been in the family for several generations. It's from Illinois and belonged to my husband's great grandma. It has traveled many miles and lived a long time to make it to our house here where we've begun to baby the thing. Not expecting much off of it this summer, but hoping for a lot next year!
We've been experimenting with pizza dough recipes, too. Found our all-time favorite, I think. It's called a stracciatella pizza crust. It's basically crispy where it should be and chewy in the middle and really pretty easy to use. We make the entire recipe and divide it into pizza-sized lumps of dough and freeze them. Best pizza dough yet, and we are kinda turning into homemade pizza officionados. I would rather make pizza than buy it for SURE. I am never disappointed by the homemade stuff any more and I know what's in it. I should be more clear, the homemade pizzas are better than anything else and I don't have to take the risk of going out and paying for something I don't really LOVE, plus, some of those really delicious pizza places charge like $3 per topping...I mean, really?! A good pizza has to have at least 5 toppings. Who wants to pay $15 JUST for toppings? Not us. So this is the new thing. My husband does the crust and I make the sauce and assemble the toppings. I love cooking with Jason, so this is quickly becoming one of my favorite meals. 
