Category: garden

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garden Politics

Native Soil

Why am I showing you a picture of dirt? 

I’m showing you this dirt because I made it. It’s important to me. It’s no ordinary dirt. This dirt has a story to tell.

As I’ve shared before, our family is on a journey transforming our yard, from something chemically controlled and non-native to something organic and more respectful to where we live.

So what’s that got to do with dirt? Specifically the dirt in this picture? 

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garden

The J.R. Organics Farm Tour

Three and a half years ago I got a CSA membership with J.R. Organics for Christmas. We’ve stuck with it and we’re glad we have.

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garden

Garden Update

This is our 3rd spring with a garden. Our skills are definitely improving. Here’s a quick rundown of how it’s going.

  1. Carrots – We tried a different, more exotic variety this year. They didn’t do anything. It’s time to tear up that spot and plant some beans.
  2. Chards – This is our first time with swiss chard, a regular in our CSA box, and it’s gone great. Once it matures you just start cutting the outsides off that you want to eat and it keeps going. It’s starting to slow down a bit as the weather warms up, I think they are likely going to be done soon.
  3. Beets – Another first time planting. We learned a lot about separating them this year. We planted them in a great big bunch, which made for amazing greenery but relatively small fruit. So we picked the big ones and replanted the little ones. So far, so good.
  4. Green beans – They never took off this year. No idea why, but it was a weird spring, too. So no  telling if it was us or the weather or the soil.
  5. Peas – Third year trying english peas and third year of failing. We have no idea what’s going wrong!
  6. Celery – Huge success with celery. Wow! It got huge, was delicious, and is currently going to seed. We’ll store the seeds for next winter and try planting them.
  7. Strawberries – One of the great things about strawberries is that they just keep going and going. We’re getting a pint or so every day right now, which Jackson manages to claim for himself.
  8. Onions – First time with onions and they turned out great! We harvested half of them this week and we’ll pull the other half soon. Big, pretty red onions. We’ve also been planting green onions and other things with roots that are leftovers from our CSA box… so awesome that it just starts growing again.
  9. Sweet corn – We planted sweet corn about 5-6 weeks ago and the stalks are already up to my waste. So fun to see them thriving, I spotted the first husk today.
  10. Tomatoes – Our neighbor gave us a large patch in our shared way back yard and we filled it up with tomato plants. I just came in from weeding and taping them up, big old bumped crop is coming! From a distance it doesn’t look like much. But when you get inside the gate you can see these plants are thriving out there in the sun. Drip irrigation and full sun is perfect for tomato plants. They are now bushy enough where I’m no longer worried about the summer sun burning them up.
  11. Herbs – We cut our herbs all the way back this winter and they are back with a vengeance right now. Unlimited mint, rosemary, and oregano.

How is your garden going?