A New Year Brings New Things

Happy New Year!

This year, I have set some lofty goals for both my garden and my business. Both are going to require some changes to the way I've been doing things. But the possible outcomes have me incredibly excited!

Starting with my garden...ah, the garden. It is my absolute favorite place to be. While I love sewing, there is something incredibly peaceful about being in the garden. I don't mind the normal garden chores - I covet that time to myself. Threatening to make other people help weed the garden sure buys you some peace.

Last year, I had some pretty miserable crop failures across the board. We had a long, cold and wet spring followed by a summer that never really got "hot". Sure, it got into the 80s, but we normally have stretches of seriously hot weather, with temps in the upper 90s. By July, we can normally guarantee that water restrictions have started. Not this past year. It rained practically every.single.day.

My garden is right next to a bog that developed over a period of years. We've talked about installing a french drain to help alleviate the problem, but the toads lay their eggs in the bog in the spring. I don't want to mess around with their habitat, so I am working around the bog instead of draining it.

My goal last year was to grow 500 pounds of food. I barely grew 1/5th of that goal. The cold weather and constant rain brought fungus and root rot, and a late visit by another groundhog finished off the fall crops.

So this year, it is ON. 

I reinforced the fencing around the garden to prevent it from getting back in. We're clearing some of the brush behind the fence to keep it from climbing into the garden as well. 

I decided to also give sweet potatoes a whirl this year. I couldn't get them to sprout to save my life last year, so I started them super early. I have no idea where I'm going to put them yet, though. They're related to the morning glory, and the vines can be quite invasive.

I've also got the beginnings of my spring crops started. They'll be going out under a row cover in a few weeks. I have 20 broccoli plants and 20 swiss chard plants growing strong.

I also want to give leeks a go this year. I just sowed them a couple of days ago, so not much to see there yet.

Quite possibly the most exciting news - the worm castings were ready to harvest! I got 6 pounds 8 oz of worm castings in 5 weeks. Snowflakes are all MUCH happier. There were a TON of eggs and wee tiny baby worms. Production of castings should speed up now that there is a population boom.

6 pounds 8 oz of worm castings

Wee baby worms!

I spent the day outside in the garden cutting honey suckle vines off the blackberries and I uncovered the strawberry plants. They're showing signs of new growth, and I didn't want to suffocate them with the mulch. 

Garden in January

Have you started prepping your garden for spring?

Busy Busy!

The past few weeks have been very busy here at BLT. I've been processing lots of Easter orders and taking care of 100+ baby plants. So I haven't had much free time to update the blog.

Rainbow eggs have been very popular this year

In my last post, my tomatoes were just coming up. I've since had to rethink my garden plan for this year because some tomatoes didn't do what I thought they would.

(The Giant Sauce, for example. Slow, poor germination and weak plants. I wanted 4 for the garden, but am probably only going to wind up with 2. The spoon tomatoes had some leaf curl, so I lost all but 1 of them. The surviving plant is looking great, though!)

Spoon tomato 

In the last 4 weeks, the plants have seriously shot up, though some varieties more than others. The sweet million is getting a little big for its britches, so it is going to lose those branches when I plant it in the garden. The whole stem will get buried with just the top bit sticking out of the soil. Tomatoes grow roots along their entire stem, so the stem can be buried when you plant.

Sweet Million (Cherry)

  

Spoon tomato

Peppers and tomatoes

Swiss chard

A lot of the tomatoes are already producing suckers, too!

The peas are coming up really well in the garden (I'd have pics, but it's raining). I also planted beets, radishes and arugula (again, pics are forthcoming in drier weather).

I'm also working on something new for the shop! Become a fan on Facebook for a sneak peek!

How To: Build a Pea Trellis

I garden for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest ones is thriftiness - organic vegetables are incredibly expensive at the grocery store, especially enough to feed 5 people. I also love planting something and watching it grow.

I planted sugar snap peas this year, which is one of the earliest spring crops. They need something to climb on for maximum yield and maximum health of the plant. I didn't want to spend eleven bajillionity dollars on a bunch of stuff for the garden, so I came up with a pea trellis using things I had here at home.

You can use a variety of materials for a pea trellis, including twigs! I'll show you how to build a simple trellis using tomato stakes and cotton string.

What you'll need

- a pair of scissors

- a bunch of cotton string (I got this cone at JoAnn's on sale for $9)

- a bunch of tomato / garden stakes, a few feet high. These are usually about $1 each, cheaper if you get them at the end of the season. 

You'll need enough stakes to have one every 2-3 feet or so. 5 gave me enough for my first row, so I went and grabbed some more for the 2nd row from my garage. (I won't be using these for my tomato plants this year because frankly, they don't work. I'll be building a trellis for them as well.)

I'm a conventional gardener and put in rows. So just adjust if you use raised beds. 

Push 1 stake into the ground every 2-3 feet. I went down about 8" and then compacted dirt around the stake. You don't want them blowing around in a thunderstorm.

Taking your cotton string, tie one end to one of your end stakes. I use a bunch of knots. (DON'T cut your string from the cone yet, otherwise you may not have a big enough piece and that is super irritating.)

Wrap your string around the post you tied the knots to, and then wrap it around the next post in line. Repeat this for as many posts as you have in a row, tying it off at the end. Repeat for any other rows you have. Do this at least 2 more times (depending on the height of your stakes); one in the middle and one towards the soil.

You should have something that looks like this. (Should being the operative word here.)

Step in between 2 of your stakes. Tie one end of your yarn in the middle of 2 of your stakes, then wrap it around each horizontal layer. You're now making the vertical space.

Repeat all the way to the bottom string and tie off. Do the same for the rest of your stakes. Just tie a vertical line in between 2 stakes.

You should now have something that looks like this. Plant your peas according to the directions on your seed packet. Once they come up, they'll grab onto your trellis and cover it.

I'll post pictures once the peas overtake the trellis!