Putting up your Crops Part 1: Peppers, Peppers and More Peppers

It seems that one vegetable we have no trouble growing is peppers.  This year we grew literally hundreds of peppers, and unlike the tomatoes that still had pounds and pounds of fruit on the plants as well, these peppers were all ripe.  That's right, plant after plant of brightly colored, waxy, practically perfect peppers.  We didn't even bother with the less than ideal candidates, they went straight to the worms or chickens - It's no surprise my egg yolks these days are more vibrant than an orange crayon.  Unfortunately a good half of the most ideal candidates didn't make it to the plate.  This isn't really how I wanted to see the culmination of our hard work and the magic of nature end.

This brings me to the question of what to do with all the excess.  Do we really just feed it to the chickens?  If you knew me well enough you'd know that I give everything to my chickens.  Obviously the first thing you'll want to do is eat as much as you can while it's fresh.  But then what?  The society we live in today separates us from our cultural traditions of eating seasonally.  What I'm getting at is if you can't fathom eating 20 winter squash in your lifetime let alone 6 months, then you may have to focus on a few preserving methods that can help you increase your variety.  One easy way to store perishable produce is by freezing.  Now this is a big subject, and I'll leave you to do your own homework on the matters of the process, but each vegetable has a different reaction to freezing (think blackened potatoes) and you have to counter each potential problem with a different process. For most vegetables this process is blanch, cold water bath, and freeze.

To understand how to freeze your food successfully it's important to understand the dynamic that causes it to go bad in the first place, enzymes.  The enzymes in fresh produce are what causes rot.  Even though enzymes are massively beneficial to our health, we don't want them destroying our food before we get to it.  The goal of freezing is to slow this process down, and it works well.  But for longer storage times it's simply not enough.  What you'll need to do is blanch (cook at high heat for a short period of time) your vegetables before you freeze them.  Again, each vegetable is different.  Raspberries, blackberries & strawberries for example are great to just pop in a bag and chuck in the freezer, and spinach is not.  Most times you'll only need to blanch for a few minutes at boiling temperatures.  This kills off a vast majority of the enzymes and greatly slows decay.

Now lets say you're a gardener and a hunter, just hypothetically, and you've just bagged yourself a deer. We can all understand that when the freezer is full of meat, you 'ain't gonna put no stinkin' green beans in there.'  So what then?  There are options.  One of the easiest is to grow what stores well. Vegetables such as winter squash, potatoes and long keeper tomatoes, all of which require no refrigeration, can last anywhere from 3-12 months. Store them in a well ventilated area that maintains a temperature of around 45-65 degrees. For better shelf life you can wrap them in non-glossy newspaper. There's other staples that store great and are begging for a spot in your garden too. How about garlic, oregano or dill? Herbs require minimal work to store, in fact with most, you pretty much hang them in an area with similar climate conditions as above, and let them dry out. Then just stuff them in an airtight jar or paper bag.  Easy peasy. 

There you go, everything that's required to get through the long cold winter.  Well, hopefully.  Not sure?  Ok ok, I've got a few more tricks too.  But you'll have to check back for part two.  I mean, I'm not writing a book here.

Forward: Fighting Monsanto!

Some good news comes out of India.  The fight to maintain their food heritage is about to be brought to court as Monsanto is being sued by the Indian government for violating the Biological Diversity Act (BDA).  Of course this isn't the first battle with GM crops for Indian farmers.  Suicide among farmers in India is not uncommon.  However, recently the rash of deaths has been blamed on money and failed genetically modified crops.


"famine and pestilence are part of India's ancient story.

But the death of this respected farmer has been blamed on something far more modern and sinister: genetically modified crops."

http://wakeup-world.com/2011/10/11/indian-government-files-biopiracy-lawsuit-against-monsanto/

What we've harvested so far

Well this year has been an excellent year, so far. However, not without some sweat off the brow.  I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, because we all know you just want to see the inspirational pic(k)s, the fruit of our labor, the reaping of our sow (?), alright enough of that. Up first..


Spinach

There was a ton of spinach, before we blanched it.  It shrinks considerably when cooked, so we'll definitely need to grow more.  At 8 lbs. of spinach we'll figure $12 total.


Peas

These are your standard sweet pea.  As you can see we have a few over-ripe ones in here, but we'll use 'em anyway.  These peas took 2 people a combined 5 hours of shucking.  Yikes that's a ton of work.  The flavor of some is great, most are only ok.  Notes for the future, pick sooner, before the pods start turning yellow.  Also, invest in a shucking machine, they are on Amazon for as low as $25.

We did end up with 6 quarts, it felt like 10 pounds.  So we'll figure about $20 worth of veggies.

Potatoes

What better staple for long storage than potatoes?  High in energy and, umm.. productive?  I'd say we got less than we could have.  I'm not sure if I should attribute that to the soil (which is mediocre), the seed spuds from Walmart, or some other factor I haven't yet thought of.  This is from 2lb. seed and doesn't really show everything I planted (I still have 20 plants in the ground).  All in all, we've got 30 lbs. so far.  We'll compare the yield of our last harvest, which looks to be better.

These are some delicious potatoes, a more earthy flavor and buttery in texture.  I'll say $2.99 for 5lbs. so $18 total.

Raspberries

You can tell a raspberry is ripe because it pulls away from the center and they practically fall off when pulled. These are a treat to harvest, especially around breakfast time.

We managed to a few pints of berries, some went straight in the freezer.  I expect as these plants develop we'll double or triple the production.  Since I love berries, that's not enough.  We've started another raspberry and I have plans for 3 more blackberry vines started next spring.  We also had a few blueberries, which are really challenging in Utah due to the alkaline soil.

Overall 8 pints, and at $2.99 a pt. that makes $24.00, and they taste good to boot!

Last but not least..

Garlic

We planted these last fall, and it's been a joy to watch them grow.  I loved harvesting, drying and cleaning the garlic because it makes everything smell so damn good, even though it lingers on the fingers.  After they hang for a couple weeks in a dry well ventilated area, garlic is relatively easy to prepare for storage.  Just wipe off the dirt, and when needed, peel back a layer of "skin" to reveal a fresh clean layer.

Just this morning I cleaned mine, first by cutting the tops off with clean pruners, it was better than coffee.  Trim the roots back (I just twisted them off).

I'll only store the unblemished bulbs.  Overall 21 bulbs, or 5 lbs. These are very nice gourmet garlic, so $25 total.

Other than that, we harvested a ton of strawberries, although I didn't count how much  We also already have 14 jars of pickles and I think the cucumbers will be the winner in overall productivity (again).  We've just started dabbling in fresh and dried herbs, using fresh dill & dried coriander with our pickles, and screwing up a batch of chamomile.  There's definitely more to come.

Forward: Hedge Farm!

I read an interesting article regarding investment hedges over at www.observer.com. One that actually makes a lot of sense, farms.

It may seem a little odd that in 2011 anyone's thinking of putting money into assets that would have seemed attractive in 1911, but there's something in the air-namely, fear. The hedge fund manager and others like him envision a doomsday scenario catalyzed by a weak dollar, higher-than-you-think inflation and an uncertain political climate here and abroad.

The rest over at observer.com

Forward: Interview with Dr. Don Huber Discusses Science Behind New Organism and Threat from Monsanto's Roundup, GMOs to Disease and Infertility

A must watch regarding GMOs, Roundup and the problems they may bring to our food. Also, Be sure to sign the petition to prevent the spread of GMOs into Alfalfa. Sign the petition here.

Dr. Huber Explains Science Behind New Organism and Threat from Monsanto's Roundup, GMOs to Disease and Infertility from Food Democracy Now! on Vimeo.

Tomato Primer

Tomatoes are most certainly the top plant for home gardeners.  Nothing compares to a vine ripened delicious variety such as Brandywine, or that unique acidic bite of a mortgage lifter.  Even a Long Keeper that stays edible for months without refrigeration tastes great compared to store-bought when it's grown in the garden.

A few quick tips for growing tomatoes:

• Start seeds indoors 8 weeks before the last frost
• Transplant your tomatoes deep, taking leaves off the stem.  Tomatoes will send roots out all along the stem
• Be prepared to stake your plants, almost all tomato varieties will require support
• Give them lots and lots of water (with good drainage)
• Don't over fertilize with Nitrogen after flowers set

For more beginner tips on tomatoes, Redwood Barn has a great Tomato Primer explaining some of the tomato basics.  This should help you in determining what to plant and what to expect.

To go a little bit further I'd like to explain determinate and indeterminate growth types.  Determinate, essentially, will grow to a certain size and then start to flower.  Once this type starts to flower the plant focuses primarily on setting fruit, and doesn't usually grow much more.  Indeterminate on the other hand, will grow and set flowers all year long.  Sometimes these indeterminate tomatoes can be trellised up 6' or higher, and with proper care you can harvest a hundred or more tomatoes all year long from one single plant.  A good list of tomato cultivars and their growth type can be found at gardenweb.com.

Mid Spring Update

I just wanted to post a few pics of where we are up to this date.  Everything is coming along quite nicely.  We've got a lot of maturing plants in the garden, even before some people have started.

Our Broccoli row has onions, chard, dill, cilantro and broccoli.  We're trying to get double the production in the same space by planting the broccoli two to a spot.  One plant is about 3 weeks behind the other, so shortly after harvesting the first crowns and cutting down the finished broccoli, the second batch of plants will be able to take advantage of the now available sunlight, giving us another crop from the same patch.  I'll let you know how it goes.

The lettuce row is actually half lettuce and onions, half potatoes and radishes.  We have a few varieties of lettuce including crisp head, butter crunch, and many leaf types. It's planted thick as you can see, which means lots and lots of delicious young leaves for your fresh salads.  Thin & harvest all at once.

The garlic, which was planted last fall, is coming along nicely.  Some of these plants have a stem nearly an inch in diameter, and they are growing very vigorously.

 That's it for now, more updates to come.

The Amazing Cover Crop

Back when I first started this blog.  What two months ago?  I touched a bit on covercrops and how they benefit your soil in a lot of important ways.  But that doesn't really give it due coverage because this is an excellent way to put a huge amount of biomass back into your soil.

So why do we need so much biomass?  You might think this is pulling nutrients from the soil, which would be the case if I were to cut it off and remove it.  But that won't be the end result of this little patch.  No, instead the sole purpose of this piece of turf is to feed our soil.  This Rye grass will help renew the life under the top layer, the activity we don't see without a microscope (or at least without getting down on all fours).

At nearly 16" high in only 8 weeks (really only 6 if you consider the less than ideal growing conditions this small plot has gone through), there's no question that the shear volume of organic matter you can grow is worth the time and effort.  In another week we'll be tilling this into the soil, supplying food for bacteria, fungi, insects such as worms and really the whole system.  There are alternatives of course, but unless you're going to douse your fields with fertilizers you're going to need a strong soil food web.  This type of cycle is essential in natural ecological systems, and strong chemical free gardens. 

Not only has this plot provided enormous quantities of converted solar energy for the soil, it's also given my chickens nutrients and energy as a food source and a nice protected spot for dust bathing.  We'll be working a cover crop into our tight rotations whenever we can, and you should too.

Chickens in the Run

Here are a few photos from the garden.  As you can see we have setup a couple temporary fences and have given our chickens access to their forage for the first time this year.  They stayed in the run for about 4 hours - dust bathing, hunting bugs and eating the grasses.  The sides are covered rows, the one on the left has broccoli and other complementary crops, the right has more chicken forage.  The end fences were easy to build, they took about 10 minutes and with some already available fencing, 1/2" EMT pipe and 1/4" rebar the dollar cost was really low.

Feds Fight Against, Raw Milk?

 How far should government go in ensuring our food is safe?  Well the Washington Times shows how far the Feds would go.

A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.

There comes a point where food regulation does more harm than good. Everyone in our country should be able to choose where there food comes from, and how it's produced.  This is the third such story I've read in the past 2 years.  I'd guess there are more such cases that are unaccounted for.  But what do you think?

“I look at this as the FDA is in cahoots with the large milk producers,” said Karin Edgett, a D.C. resident who buys directly from Rainbow Acres. “I don’t want the FDA and my tax dollars to go to shut down a farm that hasn’t had any complaints against it. They’re producing good food, and the consumers are extremely happy with it.”

The way I see it, whether you are for raw milk or not, the real question here is do we want our taxpayer dollars funding this kind of control?  Read the rest of the article here.

Support Local Food: Take This Short Survey

Being interested in helping develop a market for local food, i've created a quick Food Survey that everyone should fill out.  I'm interested to see the results, and I hope to post them here in the next few days.

Forward: An Interview with Joel Salatin

There's a lot to be said about our food industry, and those picturesque landscapes printed on shrink-wrapped packages of meat don't even begin to tell the whole story.  However, questions are beginning to fly, ones that need answers.  The voice of the people is growing ever louder, demanding the truth, as we drive full speed further away from the link to our food.  Many have found the answers, although perhaps to their distaste.  Yet one man may possibly understand the problems we face with our food more than any other, Joel Salatin. if you haven't heard of him before, he has been running his family farm Polyface Farms, providing real food from happy animals to local only customers.  Guardian.co.uk did an interview with Joel that's worth a read.

Salatin explains. "What happens is all these things we're seeing – campylobacter, E coli, mad cow, listeria, salmonella, that weren't even in the lexicon 30 years ago – that is the industrial paradigm exceeding its efficiency. So these Latin squiggly words that we're learning to say – bovine spongiform encephalopathy – are nature's language screaming to us: ENOUGH! And the question then is: what will it take for us to listen? And my contention is that Wall Street is still wearing conquistador mentality and uniforms, and nobody is listening to the pleadings of nature saying: 'Enough.'"

The interview is a really good summary of what is an amazing success story.  However, to get a more in-depth story I strongly recommend the book: The Omnivore's Dilemma.  Joel has written a ton of books explaining his operation.  he is also featured, in a sense, in the movie Food Inc. which you can watch at your pleasure here.

Damping Off - AKA Seedling Death

I've learned something new today, and just in time too. This morning when I checked on my week old sprouts I notices a few, particularly the broccoli and chard, were not looking too hot.  Fortunately this was covered the exact same day in my gardening class, Damping-off was the phrase.  I was too reluctant to ask what this term meant, but I had a good idea and the internet helped me confirm my suspicions in anonymity.


"Damping-off is a general term applied to the rotting of seeds, germinants, and succulent seedlings. There are two stages: pre-emergence damping-off kills seeds and germinants before they emerge, post-emergence damping-off affects young seedlings after emergence." - http://forestry-dev.org/diseases/nursery/pests/damping_e.html

Symptoms
Post-emergence symptoms include: fallen sprouts, indented lesions around base of stem, slimy stem, sprout discoloration and wilting.  Pre-emergence is harder to diagnose, usually the only sign is that the seed did not sprout.  You can dig up the seed and inspect it for decay to confirm the problem.  The main cause is fungal.  The problems are brought about by over watering (most common), and infected seeds, soil, water or tools.

Treatment
The best way to control the problem is to prevent the various fungi from developing in your growing medium.  For starters, your plants need good airflow. You want to keep the top of your growing medium dry while maintaining good moisture (not soaked) below.  You can also try some anti-fungal treatments, sprinkling cinnamon on the surface of your freshly planted seeds will destroy fungus on the surface. You can also try spraying your plants with a little chamomile tea, which is also anti-fungal.  There are of course commercial products available too.

For more information I found a great article about damping-off over at Tom Clothier's Garden Walk & Talk, check it out when you get a chance.

Until next time growers.

Growing Garlic

I've been anxiously watching, and the garlic is finally poking up.  Planting garlic is best done in the fall.  These plants actually do much better when they experience the harsh winter months, tucked deep under the soil's surface (about 3 inches).  Now like onions, which are also of the Allium genus, it's easier to plant a pre-developed bulb or clove.  Of course you can plant from seed but the bulb plantings come up much sooner and grow much more vigorously (although I've heard transplanted onions grow larger).

This medicinal and culinary herb has been cultivated
for thousands of years.  

It is thought to have originated from central and
southwestern Asia, and has since traveled the world
with the help of humans.

I'll not get into all the health benefits of garlic, but I did find this snippet over at tonicfoodclub.com:  

"Garlic is one of the most powerful foods.  The list of benefits and uses is impressive.  Here are just a few:

• lowers cholesterol
• prevent blood clots
• reduce blood pressure
• prevents cancer in 3 ways:
• helps the immune system fight cancer cells, inhibits tumor cell metabolism and reproduction of cancer cells
• protects against bacterial and fungal infections."

So when fall is approaching and you're thinking of putting the garden to rest for the year, go ahead and buy a bulb of good seed garlic and find a few nice spots to grow this amazing plant.

Mealworm Update

The mealworms are in full production mode.  I now have hundreds of adult Darkling beetles, ready to lay eggs.  The chickens are anticipating the crunch of their favorite high protein snack.  Unfortunately they aren't quite ready, as these things take time.  Speaking of time frame, a complete time table can be found over at www.sialis.org.  Bet, over at sialis.org also has some great information regarding raising your own mealworms, and I highly recommend this easy project for your chickens and other birds along with your reptiles if you have them.

Just in case you didn't see the colony before, here are a few pictures of the bugs transitioning to the pupa stage.  All of this took place about 2 weeks ago.

Seeds Per Ounce

When it comes to seeds the package can be a bit confusing, 500mg, 100mg, 100 seeds, 1 ounce.. I want to shed some light on this.

Seeds are calculated by weight ranging from milligrams to pounds.  To clarify 100mg is 1/10th of 1 gram, and there are 28.35 grams per ounce, and finally 16 ounces per pound.  So one ounce of seed is much much more than 100mg even though the price may not reflect that.  In reality however, the type of seed has a lot more to do with the quantity in the package. I found this info over at Weekendgardener to help you choose the  packet that best suits your needs.

Vegetables

Beets:1,600
Broccoli:9,000
Brussels Sprouts:9,000
Cabbage:9,000
Carrots:23,000
Corn:120-180
Cucumbers:1,100
Eggplant:6,500
Lettuce:25,000
Onions:8,500
Peas:90-175
Peppers:4,500
Pumpkins:100-300
Radishes:2,500
Snap Beans:100-125
Spinach:2,800
Squash:120-400
Tomaotes:11,500


Flowers


Blanket Flower:15,000
Calendula:3,500
Candytuft:9,500
Coneflower:40,000
Cornflower:6,000
Cosmos:4,000 – 5,000
Larkspur:8,000
Marigold:9,000
Morning glory:800
Nasturtium:175
Poppy:260,000
Stock:18,500
Strawflower:45,000
Sunflower:500-700
Zinnia:2,500 – 4,000


Buy in confidence, and don't let the marketing gimmicks get you.

Who said it wouldn't fit?

Lately in life, I'm finding I'll do anything I can to get what I need done.  A good example of this is with the fence I needed built.  Now unfortunately, I don't have a lot of money.  So it was my duty to get this thing built myself.  The first step was to get the supplies.  Not so easy when you are determined to save a hundred bucks on insurance by not driving your truck.  Hey, I've got more important things to spend that money on, and I'm insured through Geico, so I'm already saving 15%.

Believe it or not, it did fit.

 Obviously it was an entertaining trip to the hardware store.  I got a lot of looks, and by now I've learned to enjoy the extra attention.  Being weird is fun anymore. Anyway, we ended up getting the fence built without a hitch, and all it needs is the finishing touches.

The fence just needs stain and a gate.

My point is don't let potential problems deter you, but rather rely on your gut instincts and determination to pull you through.

Transplants Aplenty

Transplanting is a virtual necessity for the backyard grower.  Many of us live in an area that doesn't give enough growing days to do things otherwise.  When transplanting we are taking a plant that has been raised in a controlled environment and putting it out into the world.  Much like anything else it's going to need a lot of care for this transition. We're going to go over some of the basics for this now.

When
The proper timing varies greatly from plant to plant.  If you're buying your plants from a nursery they are probably ready to be hardened off immediately.  For plants grown from seed, most times the best reference is on the package.  A few things to look at are the number of true leaves.  There should generally be anywhere from 4-8 true leaves before you transplant.  You'll have to coordinate this with the weather outside.  For example, tomatoes cannot go out before the last frost.

Not only do we need to have the date right, the time of day is also important.  On the day you want to transplant wake up, make breakfast, chill for a while, eat some lunch, go for a walk, read some of that book you've been into, and then right around 4pm get to business.  Most people will want to do their transplanting first thing in the morning, when really the evening is best.

How
Before we take our plants out of their pots and put them in the ground we need to harden them off.  The best way to do this is to put them outside for just a few hours on the first day, then add an hour each day for a few more days.  Plants need an adjustment period for the leaves to get used to the extra sunlight and doing this will prevent your plants from getting fried.  Once the plants appear to be taking the extra sun well they are ready.

Start by preparing your spot in the garden, get your hole dug and ready.  Then loosen the transplant by squeezing your container to push the soil away from the edges.  Then put the plant stem between your fingers and turn the pot upside down.  With a little coaxing it should come right out.  Next, check the root ball, if the roots are compacted along the edges then you might want to loosen them up a little by massaging them.  The concern with the roots is that the growth pattern caused by the container can bind them and potentially kill the plant.  If there aren't a lot of visible roots then plop it in the hole as it is and cover it up.  Wait!  Not too deep.  Many plants have a point that leaves grow from, look for that and do not bury it.  Usually you'll want the level to be the same as it was in the pot. Some exceptions to this are tomatoes and peppers, which send out roots along the stem if it is buried.

After the plants are successfully placed in their new home you'll need to give them plenty of water and some soluble nutrients, such as liquid fertilizer or fish emulsion.  You could even give them a misting with a spray bottle.  A little extra care can go a long way.


Which Plants
Most plants can be successfully transplanted with relative ease.  Tomatoes, broccoli and lettuces to name a few.  On the other hand some plants cannot have their roots disturbed, such as melons, and so transplanting these are very difficult.  Likewise, any root crops are not going to do well in a confined container.

Hardy Crops for Spring

Ok, so spring is basically here, even if the weather doesn't show it.  No need to worry we'll take care of those garden blues (or should I say greens?).  Right now many of you are probably wondering when you should start planting your vegetable garden.  Really this is a two part question, when and what are both important questions to answer for a successful spring start.

Since this time of year is so full of surprise snow storms and cold nights we enlist the plants that thrive in the cold weather, or hardy plants.  My incomprehensive list of these plants includes:

Broccoli
Head & Leaf Lettuce
Spinach
Radishes
Onions
Peas
Kale
Leeks
Carrots
Beets
Turnips
Kohlrabi
Swiss Chard
and a bunch of herbs & flowers

Now before you go out and start sprinkling spinach seeds on your snowy garden patch (which will work believe it or not), let me explain a few things.

First off, you need to know how bad it really is out there.  So get on your favorite weather website and check the historical data for your zip code.  I like to use www.weather.com which gives me the average.  What you're pushing for is the time of year where the nights don't drop below freezing.  Now if you're like me you can probably push it a little further, say 30 degrees, by protecting your plants with row covers, plastic containers, a sheet or some mulch.  A word of caution: don't be surprised to get a night so cold that it kills everything off, this is a risk you have to take.

Once you have your timing down, you can get an even bigger head start by starting plants inside.  Just look at your packet of seeds to see the average weeks before the last frost you should start your plants. Grow lamps or a nice sunny window work great for this type of endeavor.  I bring this up because even though hardy plants are cold tolerant they don't exactly grow well when the temperatures and weather are simply too extreme.  Some of the best plants for transplanting include broccoli, lettuces, onions (from seed), spinach and most herbs. These are the ones to start first, as in now, like today. Other plants don't transplant well: carrots (or any root crop for that matter) and peas definitely fall under this category so don't bother.  Putting transplants out at the right time and in the right way is something we'll cover tomorrow.

Once you've got your transplant worthy seeds in a cozy spot on the window sill you can start looking at these other aforementioned plants.  Peas and radishes and the root crops should go in the ground once you've had a chance to get your soil worked.  That means that sunny warm weekend that you had nothing planned for is now full. Peas need a trellis so plan for that. Do not delay on this because even though it may be a few months to get peas, the vines grow tall, fast. Radishes are one of my favorite crops because they reward you with edibles in no time at all.  Usually about 30 days from when the seeds go in the ground you'll have nice plump red globes begging you to bite in.  If you're new to gardening I'd grow radishes first just for the confidence boost.

Most everything else, the beets carrots and all the other crazy vegetables that are cold hardy tend to take some time to come up so don't get discouraged if you don't see activity.  Plants know when it's safe, and if you've planted too soon the seeds will just wait it out. Smart huh?  In fact there's a lot to be said about this, and a whole bunch of ways to take advantage.  Unfortunately I cannot discuss that today, but like those smart seeds, when the timing is right, I will.

That's it for today folks.  Stop on by tomorrow for a rundown on how to manage your broccoli, spinach, onion and lettuce starts as well as some tips on transplanting.

Up Until Now

There’s never a whole lot of activity in the winter months.  Anticipation sets in, so be careful not to get ahead of nature.  Planting too early, or even working the soil too early, can be an unintentional step in the wrong direction. Fortunately there are a lot of things that can be done to speed up the process.

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Here we have exhibit A, our four raised bed rows covered in plastic.  Why plastic?  Well, a lot of reasons really.  A plastic “mulch” can suppress weeds, retain moisture and, in our case, dry and heat the soil.  A word of advice, if you don’t dry your soil before you till it you’ll have a bunch of nasty clumps that roots cannot penetrate, and therefore don’t thrive in.  We chose clear plastic which lets in sun rays and traps heat.  This plastic is simple painters plastic, disposable and cheap.  There’ll be more on this later.

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Fast forward to March 7^th, just two days ago old man winter decided he wasn’t done.  Admittedly we were a bit worried, never having tried this new (to us) product, Agribon.  Row covers come in many shapes and sizes, and I recommend these excellent season extenders.  When most people will wait until the sun is shining every day, you eager gardeners should be out planning and constructing your row covers.  This photo shows some Agribon in action. At 28 degrees, and under 4 inches of snow, the plants live.  Naturally, there’ll be more on this later.

Buttercrunch & Crisphead lettuce just chillin'

Broccoli under the Agribon

The Polish is warming her tootsies

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Now on to the chickens and their antics, have you ever seen a chicken warming up next to a dryer vent?  I didn’t think so.  I'll admit, I love the chickens.  In fact, they are more spoiled than my dog.  They get first dibs on scraps.  Did you know that chickens are omnivores?  They eat grains, vegetables and grasses as well as meat and dairy.

Chickens are a delight, and I recommend them.  But they are also a chore, and I think everyone who is considering them needs to come back Saturday for our chicken preview weekly episode.  Until then, here are a handful of pics of the fuzz butts perusing the yard in search of something green.

Chickens foraging on some Winter Rye

Wait a minute, they're digging holes in my garden bed!

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Well that wraps up the early season summary.  To close I’m going to suggest a few great sites for buying your garden seeds, check ‘em out, then get out there and start planting (but not too soon).

www.burpee.com

www.johnnyseeds.com

www.rareseeds.com

www.parkseed.com

Post One

Welcome to the BackyardGrower blog.  Much like a lot of other things this year, we are just starting, and over the next year we’ll be showing you the fun, challenges, and rewards of growing.  A backyard garden is the main focus here, but we also grow chickens, bugs, and more - all in the backyard, well mostly.  If you haven’t been following on facebook check back tomorrow for the replay of what’s been happening.

Good luck and happy growing.

-ddgrower