The Modern Victory Garden

My daughter and I were visiting this evening via text messages.   She is working on a plan to give her flock of chickens more outdoor yard area and in the process is also working on setting up suitable space for the addition of some goats in the future.   Her enthusiasm was quite infectious and as a person who loves to plan and execute projects (most of which revolve around small scale agriculture), I immediately identified with her somewhat consuming interest in the matter.   It does indeed seem that the apple does not fall far from the tree!                   

Part of my long time passion for food gardening is that it is a productive outlet for the life energy I seem to channel into planning and making what I dream up – actually happen.   I suppose I could apply that energy and aptitude to something that yielded financial rewards but honestly that does not hold the same appeal for me because the labor of a modern victory garden provides not only material rewards of beautiful nutrient dense food, but feeds my need to redesign and recreate my own part of this world – continually evolving and pushing the limits of what has been accomplished previously.   It is a process by which I define myself, through a continual transformation of this little patch of earth that for a brief time I have stewardship over.   Mind you, it’s not like all the plans work out or are even worthy of having been tackled, but more often than not they result in good things and my life is definitely enriched in the doing of it.   Dreaming up, planning, and then executing the next “thing” is an affirmation that I am indeed alive and that tomorrow holds interesting and worthwhile pursuits.   When we quit dreaming (whatever the source of our passion may be) that is when we cease living.                             

I hope you are not only feeding your family from the fruits of your gardening efforts – but feeding your dreams and plans as well.                                   

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                               

Root crops that are held in the ground for fresh harvests over the winter  that are left too long in the ground once the days start warming up and the day length starts increasing will generally begin sprouting in an attempt to go into a second year of growth.   For biennials like carrots and parsnips the second year is all about seed production rather than root development.   In fact, the roots of biennial crops will actually become less edible as the second year of growth progresses.   As I mentioned earlier in the week, I am seeing some signs of increasing growth throughout the property and on Sunday I noticed that the last of the parsnips were putting out new top growth too.   This is my cue to harvest the remaining roots as they will only decrease in quality from here on out.    There really was not that many of them left in the bed, but I harvested all that remained.         

Harvest totals for the week of January 23rd through January 29th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Parsnips 0.75 lbs

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 3.50 lbs                                                  

Eggs collected this week – 8                                                                 

SEED STARTING

I am officially into my peak seed starting season.   The onions, celery, and celeriac are all emerged and growing.    My ultra-early start tomatoes that I seeded last weekend are starting to emerge.   The plants I started for the Giving Garden have their first true leaves and will soon need regular drinks of very dilute kelp emulsion tea.   All in all, things are progressing right along and as usual, I am constantly juggling to make more room under the lights for the newest items to be seeded.   This weekend, I started cabbages (Famosa, and Parel), kale (Dwarf Siberian Improved and Beira), Tatsoi, pac choi (Ching Chiang - dwarf), and kohlrabi (Koliribi).   I started all of these items in micro soil blocks as they are fast germinators and so keeping them adequately hydrated should be easier than slower starting items.   I used an old cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and then I marked which group of 20 was what by placing masking tape on the edges of the pan with the crop and variety name indicated.   The micro block maker does 20 small blocks which are sized to plant up later into the medium sized soil blocks.   The blocks are easier to transplant if they are cleanly separated from the other blocks in the group.   I used my dough scraper/cutting tool to help separate the blocks more after they were formed.   It is the perfect tool for the job as it has a thin sharp edge, is not overly long (6 inchs), and has a handle to hold on to at the top.                                                           

These were covered by a plastic humidity dome and placed under the grow lights along with all the other seedlings.                    

GARDEN BED TIDY UP

The weather was windy and overcast all weekend, but for the most part it did not rain and the daytime temps were in the mid 40’s.   I took advantage of the mild conditions on Saturday to do some garden bed tidy up under the long grow tunnel cover.   I removed the items that were played out, eaten too badly by slugs to be useful, or had been freeze damaged by the period of days we had two weeks ago that were in the mid 20’s.   This resulted in several large sections that are now empty under the bed.   I cultivated and weeded the entire bed, and used my sharp hoe to scrape the weeds away adjacent to the edge of the bed.        

As you can probably tell from this picture, the soil was actually pretty dry under the cover so I gave everything a good watering while I was at it.          

The kale and the swiss chard have all been previously harvested pretty hard, such that they currently do not have much usable leaves on them.    However, they are showing signs of good new growth at the central growing point and I expect they will be producing harvests again very soon.                                   

There are two small sections of this bed that have baby radish and swiss chard seedlings growing that were seeded earlier this winter.   The swiss chard starts are very small yet but appear to be holding up despite the slug attacks.   Here's a golden swiss chard plant.                                

Further on down the bed is the last of the late summer planted crop of golden beets (a rogue red beet plant appears to be in among them), and the young pac choi plants I put out several weeks ago.                          

Once the bed was weeded, cultivated, and watered, I let it sit exposed to the ventilating effects of the mild breeze that was blowing Saturday before I recovered it with the tunnel cover.                                                 

There is just over two months left before I will need to plant this bed with the current year’s potato crop – assuming reasonable weather conditions, I should be able to continue getting good harvests from these overwintered crops during that time frame.                                                     

How are things going with your season extending efforts?   Have you begun any seed starting yet?                                

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

February 2nd is not only “Groundhog Day” but also marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox – a point in time also known as Imbolc.   By the time February 2 arrives, we have completed the most difficult portion of our ascent out of winters darkest point (December 21st – winter solstice), and are heading towards the longed for beginning of spring (March 21st – spring equinox).   It’s a time of optimism because the low point of winter is behind us and it is possible to actually feel, taste, and see the promise of spring just around the corner.   It’s also the point in time where items that I have overwintered in the garden (or the greenhouse) begin to respond to the increasing sun strength and day length by putting on some noticeable growth after a long period of near dormancy.   It’s the real turning point in the transition out of winter and I look forward to it each year.                                                

Despite the wintery weather over the last several weeks, I have begun noticing some definite signs that Imbolc is almost upon us.   The garden walkways have tiny new shoots of grass and weeds emerging (which the hens have been happily gobbling up!); items in the unheated greenhouse are growing a little faster now, and the garlic that was planted late last fall has sent up shoots through the very thick mulch of rough finished compost that blankets the bed.    I went out into the dark tonight to get a picture to show you.    It is a flash photo on a very dark evening so the picture is not very good quality, but I think you can clearly see how uniformly the bed is sprouting and how much the sprouts have grown.      

This is why I always celebrate Imbolc (groundhogs day).   As a gardener it marks a real milestone in the cycle of the seasons - heralding the arrival of the transformational magic of the first green shoots, which are like a healing tonic for those of us weary of the dark days of winter. 

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                      

Winter finally arrived this past week.   We had a heavy snow storm on Wednesday followed by more snow mixed with freezing rain on Thursday.   The temperature never got above 25 degrees during these two days of winter storms.   However, by mid-day Friday the temps moderated back to our normal range for this time of year (night time lows of mid to low 30’s and day time highs of low to mid 40’s) and the moisture laden storm systems steadily pumping through our area turned to rain - lots of rain.   As you can imagine, we are a big soggy mess at the moment as the rain and snow melt has nowhere to go since the ground is so saturated already.                                                       

Despite the steady and rather heavy rain, I ventured outside for about an hour on Sunday to watch over my hens while they enjoyed some free range time.   They did not want to stay out in it long as it really was a soaker of a day, but they were happy to get some fresh greens and a few worms and grubs before they declared defeat and retreated to the relative dryness of their covered yard.   While the hens were busy foraging, I made use of the time to harvest the last of the leeks and some kale leaves.                                                

Several days of below freezing temperatures had made the leeks outer leaves a bit slimy, so it was time to just harvest all that remained.   I peeled away the outer leaves, trimmed up the roots and gave them a good rinse – and ended up with some nice leeks for my efforts.   The kale leaves harvested was a mixture of the Siberian Dwarf Improved kale that is growing under the protection of the grow tunnel and tree kale leaves.   I have to tell you that I am more and more impressed with the tree kale plants.   They were looking very stressed during the multiple days of mid 20 temps, but as soon as it warmed up the plants just perked right up and now look like the winter weather never occurred.   Apparently tree kale is just as hardy as regular kale plants.   They produce abundantly too.         

Harvest totals for the week of January 16th through January 22nd (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Kale 0.25 lbs
• Leeks 0.50 lbs

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 2.75 lbs                                          

Eggs collected this week – 8                                               

WINTER DOINGS

Saturday morning, I took the time to create my annual Seed Starting Schedule.   I also set up the 2012 Harvest Tally page, although for now it is blank, as I only post the totals on a monthly basis and January is still a work in progress.   As you can see from the schedule, the seed starting process for 2012 is now underway in full force.   There will be a steady stream of seed starting from now until late spring.   Last week, I started the celery and celeriac and the main crop of onions.   Saturday I got the ultra-early start tomatoes seeded.   Unfortunately, I am already struggling for room under the grow lights and things are just getting going!   Part of the issue is that I am also starting seeds for the Giving Garden so I have more than my usual number of flats vying for space under the lights.   I am just going to have to move the more cold hardy items out to the unheated greenhouse a lot faster this year in order to free up space for items yet to be seeded.   First items moved out to the greenhouse were the Ailsa Craig Exhibition onions I started late last year.   Hopefully these plants will continue to grow in the greenhouse with less warmth and light then they had indoors, but it’s a chance I had to take as they needed to be moved to make room for the tray of soil blocks seeded with tomatoes.                

The greenhouse at the moment has several items growing in it.   I have some containers that I seeded with some spinach last week.   It may yet be too cold for them to germinate but if that proves to be the case, I will just reseed them again later.   In the other large containers I have some baby napa cabbages, baby carrots, dwarf pac choi, and some young lettuces.   The lettuces are looking pretty tough after the string of below freezing days last week.   They may (or may not) bounce back from that set back.   The dwarf pac choi plants are looking good though.              

That’s the way it goes with mid-winter growing efforts, some efforts fail and some thrive.   The trick is to keep a steady stream of new items coming online to increase your odds of success.                              

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

The Urban Farm Handbook giveaway had a total of 31 people who tossed their name into the drawing.   On Wednesday I prepared slips of paper with everyone’s name on them that entered and put them in a bowl; tossed them energetically to mix them up; and then my husband did the honors and pulled the winning name out of the bowl.    And the winner is….             

Molly Schultz!                                      

Congratulations Molly!   I have sent you an email requesting your mailing info so I can get this on its way to you.                                       

There were so many people interested in this book, that I was wishing I had a stack of them to give away.                                                     

In other news, we had a fairly sizeable snow storm over the past 24 hours and are currently blanketed in a heavy layer of white stuff.      Temperatures were in the low to mid 20's and cold.                                        

I swept the snow off the grow tunnel cover mid day.                

Forecast is for freezing rain and then a warm up to rain in the next 24 hour period.   The long term forecast is for a week or so of moderate to heavy rains.   Between the melt and the rain it is going to be very wet and chill around here for a while.  Wednesday afternoon I dug into the grow tunnel to trim up the kale plants to give my hens a treat (since they were confined all day to their covered yard due to the snow).   While I was in there I noticed that the kale plants are showing a renewed amount of growth in the main central portion of the plant.   The day length has been noticeably increasing in the past week or two and I think the plants are beginning to respond.    Hurrah!                                                 

It (obviously!) will still be awhile before real growth gets going, but I am encouraged to see the first signs of approaching greener days.               

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                

It was another week of minimal fresh harvesting.   As always though, we use stored, frozen, and canned items a great deal in the preparation of our evening meals, but the fresh harvests are at their annual low point for the time being.   If you are interested in what was cooked and what garden produce was used (whether fresh, preserved, stored, or frozen), you can always find that information on the calendar page.   I always note the harvests, what was cooked for dinner, and what garden produce was used in the preparation of those meals.                                    

Sunday afternoon I harvested some fresh chard leaves just before the snow began to fall.                                               

This was used to make the Sunday evening meal of stir fried boneless/skinless chicken breast strips in a homemade Thai peanut sauce served on a bed of cooked (stir fried) swiss chard leaves.   Usually I use spinach for this recipe but swiss chard is a great substitute.   Hot cooked rice served as a side dish.   This is one of our favorite meals featuring spinach or swiss chard leaves.   I found this easy peanut sauce recipe on the internet some time ago and have made a few modifications to suit our tastes.                                                

Simple Thai Peanut Sauce

• 1 13.5 ounce can of coconut cream (or coconut milk) 
• 1/4 cup of Thai red curry paste
• 3/4 cup of creamy natural style peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup of water

Mix all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.    Turn the heat down low and simmer the mixture for 3 to 4 minutes.    Be sure to stir frequently so that the sauce does not scorch.     Remove from heat - use immediately as a sauce for stir frys or allow to cool to room temperature if using as a dipping sauce.     This makes a fairly large batch, but the extra sauce keeps nicely in the fridge for several weeks or can even be frozen.

Harvest totals for the week of January 9th through January 15th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Swiss Chard 0.25 lbs

Total For Week 0.25 lbs

Total Year to Date 2.00 lbs                                  

Eggs collected this week – 7                                               

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

The Review

I have been following the amazing journey of Annette Cottrell for approximately three years now via her blog (Sustainable Eats).   I began reading her blog during the first full year of the journey that her husband, Jared, likes to refer to as her “Crazy Bus”.   This journey was one of having her city dwelling family no longer support the mainstream food industry with their purchases, and devoting herself whole heartedly to the concept of growing as much of their own food as possible and buying the rest from local farmers.   Her husband supported her in this scheme but was not nearly as enthusiastic.   In fact, often when she would come up with a new thing to undertake he would be heard to mutter…”Next stop on the Crazy Bus.”   Thankfully Annette’s “Crazy Bus” did indeed depart the station and has taken a road less traveled that has yielded inspiring results, a lot of lessons learned, and connected her (and her family) to a diverse community of like-minded people.   One particular individual that Annette ended up connecting strongly with was Joshua McNichols.   He and his family had a somewhat parallel journey with their own unique experiences and approach.   Together they collaborated and wrote a book called “The Urban Farm Handbook” that not only describes and contrasts their individual journeys to sustainable eating, but lays out an inspiring introduction to the whole concept and possibilities of achieving a more sustainable urban kitchen and garden.   Whether you live in an urban area, the suburbs, or on a rural property, there are vast opportunities to feed ourselves and our families in a more healthful and meaningful manner.   Those opportunities can be nothing more than just changing our purchasing habits, or if we are really in for a ride on the “Crazy Bus”, we can go all out and integrate the concepts of growing and preserving our own food; small animal husbandry; eating seasonally and buying locally; building a food community; and preparing food from scratch starting with the freshest and most sustainable sources possible.   The choice of how far to go with this food journey is for each of us to make individually, but the rewards for choosing to travel this road are abundant - whether we choose to amble down it on foot or hop aboard the “Crazy Bus” for a wild ride.      

The Urban Farm Handbook is an inspiring introduction to the many areas where we can make decidedly different choices in how we obtain and prepare the food we eat.    It covers a wide waterfront of topics including purchasing and using whole grains; vegetable and fruit gardening (intense growing on small urban properties in particular); raising chickens for eggs; raising small animals for meat and dairy, sourcing your food locally when you cannot grow it yourself; building a food community where you live; and a variety of other topics that all contribute to an improved quality of life via the products and resources we use daily.    Naturally, any undertaking that covers so many topics is limited in how in-depth it can go on any one item.   However, while each topic area can (and does) have books devoted only to that subject, what I really liked about this particular book is that it gave a strong enough overview on each topic that someone could easily get successfully started without further research, and are likely going to be inspired enough to seek out more information on their own.   I also appreciated that there was something in each section for readers of all experience levels – from novices to those with years of specific experience.   I personally found several items that inspired me to give it a try, including some of the many delicious recipes that are interwoven through the book.      

Both Joshua and Annette have engaging writing styles that achieve a happy balance of good story telling and delivery of useful information.   In addition, the quality photography throughout provides visual appeal and the organization of the information flows well from chapter to chapter.   There are literally hundreds of tips and resources provided, many of which will be particularly useful for people like myself who live in the Pacific Northwest region.   Recurrent throughout the book are the concepts of “seasons” and the continuum of choices (or steps) we can take from relatively modest steps - to going all out on each subject.   Also woven throughout the book are personal contrasts of how differently Annette and Joshua often approach the same undertaking.   Reading about their individual methods and philosophies not only provided more information to use, but also emphasized that no one approach will work for everyone.   The underlying message is that the “Crazy Bus” journey will be quite different for each one of us - as it really is all about deciding what makes sense and feels comfortable given the unique circumstances and resources we each have to work with.   Regardless of where you may find yourself on this continuum, I think The Urban Farm Handbook is a great resource to help you to eat the most nutrient-dense and sustainably produced foods possible.   

The Giveaway

When Annette announced that this collaborative writing effort was being released, she asked if I would be willing to read and review it for her.   When I answered to the affirmative, she made sure a copy was sent to me free as a gift.   Little did she know that I had already placed an advance order and purchased one already!   The result of this is that I have an extra copy on hand of The Urban Farm Handbook by Annette Cottrell and Joshua McNichols that I am going to giveaway to one of my blog readers.   If you are interested in having your name thrown into a hat for a drawing for this book, just leave a comment to that effect on this blog post and let me know.   All the names posted as being interested by end of day Wednesday January 18th will be put in a hat and the winner will be drawn at random by my husband (who does not know yet that he has been volunteered for this duty) and announced soon thereafter.   Good luck! 

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!       

Not much fresh harvesting occurred this week other than some beets I pulled on Sunday.   We did use stored, frozen, and canned items a great deal, but the fresh harvests are somewhat limited at the moment because the kale and chard have been previously harvested pretty hard and are not bouncing back quickly during these darkest days of winter.   There are some green onions, parsnips and beets available for harvest, and coming along in the green house are some young lettuces, Napa cabbages, and dwarf pac choi that will not be too much longer of a wait before ready.   In the meantime, we are leaning heavily on our stored supplies and are very glad to have previously put by an ample supply from the prior year garden. 

Sunday afternoon I harvested both red and golden beets.   I really did not need them for the Sunday dinner preparation, but thought I would harvest them in the light of day and put them in the fridge to use early next week.                

Harvest totals for the week of January 2nd through January 8th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).                                                  

• Beets 0.75 lbs

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 1.75 lbs                                  

Eggs collected this week – 7                                          

SOME WINTER GARDEN PROJECTS

This winter is actually shaping up to be a “normal” winter for us (so far), which is a pleasant change from the past two winters which had significant periods of below normal temperatures.   Two good things come from this.   First, the perennial plantings and the crops being over wintered are faring well, and second, the mild daytime temperatures affords the ability to do some garden projects much earlier than a harsher winter would allow.   So long as the weather continues to hold, I intend to take full advantage of that good fortune.   Sunday was a particularly mild day with a high temperature that reached a balmy 50 degrees so I definitely spent some time in the garden and tended to a few winter projects.       

About a week ago I had given the bed of cranberry plants a good weeding and finished the job on Sunday by following up with a trimming of the longest runners that were trailing over the edge of the bed, which not only keeps the bed tidy but also encourages the plants to put energy into development of uprights (where the fruit is formed).   I sprinkled some garden sulfur around the plants because a quick test with the PH meter indicated the soil could use some acidification.   This was then followed with a sanding which helps the many long runners to root and establish a more solid mat of plants from which more uprights can eventually form.   This bed is in its third year and the plants are finally really developing a decent foundation and have some nice uprights formed, so I have some reason to hope that this may be its first year to produce berries (usually takes 3 to 4 years).                    

Another project tackled on Sunday which is not nearly as much fun as tending to a promising bed of cranberries – was the removal of dead pole bean vines from the support structures.   Is there anything more tedious than unwinding the vines of pole beans from netting?!   It really has to be a fine day and I really have to have nothing better to do to get in the proper mood to tackle that particular winter task.   I had run out of excuses however to ignore it any longer and the weather was indeed fine, so I completed it for yet another year.   The funny thing is that I will happily plant more pole beans just as soon as the soil warms sufficiently and blissfully forget the royal pain in the butt that those longed for vines will give me come next winter.   It’s a good thing our garden memories are shrouded in the springtime by a haze of green shoots and warm sunshine - or pole beans would never get planted and enjoyed for dinner!     

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

You may recall that I previously posted about a coyote attack on our flock of hens that occurred Friday morning December 23rd while they were out free ranging.   I happened to be looking outside just when it happened and yelled so loud the coyote actually heard me and dropped the hen he had grabbed!     After chasing the coyote off the premises, we found the hen alive but she had all the feathers tore off of her back and a bad bite wound.    We immediately cleaned the wound, and began a regimen of irrigating it with a 10% Povidine – Iodine solution and giving her Amoxicillin twice daily.   We set up an isolation area in the coop for her, which gave her the company of the other hens while keeping her safe from them as well.    The particular hen that was attacked is one of two favorites we have in the flock.   We call her PG (short for Pretty Girl) because she has really beautiful plumage.   Or at least she did prior to the attack.    She also happens to be one tough little lady and despite the large gash in her back she quickly began eating and drinking well and managed to get around remarkably well right from the start.   After about six days in the isolation area of the coop and enduring patiently our twice daily wound care regime, she declared she was quite done with that nonsense and was ready to rejoin the other hens.    Back into the big group she went and carried on as if nothing had ever happened.   Truly an amazing lady!       

It’s been almost two weeks now since the attack and she continues to progress nicely.   We can even see some stubs of new feathers starting to grow in on her back where she was scalped.   Here she is last Monday while out with the group for a little supervised free ranging on the front lawn area.                               

Her wing feathers tend to cover most of her damaged back area, but you can see a glimpse of her damaged back in this picture and you can tell how many feathers were lost in the attack by comparing the plumage of one of her sisters’ at the top of the photo to hers.    She was not willing to sit still for a good close up photo opportunity so I don’t have a good image of her injury to share with you.    She is sick-to-death-tired of us messing with her back so her patience for any further fussing around with it is gone.   It’s probably just as well as it was a gruesome wound and not very nice to look at.   Thankfully it is healing up nicely and not nearly so awful to look at as it once was.      

We are delighted at her strong recovery and hope she will go on to yet enjoy a long life - in chicken terms at least.                                  

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                                      

My daughter flew back to Pennsylvania late Friday night, which brought to an end our week of celebrating the holidays and enjoying her being home for a visit.   We ate out quite frequently in the past week but did prepare some home cooked meals too.   Most of those home cooked dinners however, used items in storage or frozen rather than fresh harvest items from the garden.   I did harvest some lettuce leaves to top our New Year’s eve blue cheese hamburgers with, and on Friday I harvested some green onions to use in combination with frozen red peppers (diced) and garlic from storage to make spaghetti and meatballs.   The lettuce leaves and green onions were not enough to make my minimum harvest tally weight however, and I never got a picture of them.                                  

Sunday afternoon I dug up some parsnips.   These will be cooked by simply peeling and slicing them and then sautéing them.   If I don’t use them for the Sunday night dinner preparation, I will use them for Monday’s evening meal.                                    

Harvest totals for the week of December 26th through January 1st (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Lettuce & Greens 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)
• Onions (green) 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)
• Parsnips 1.00 lbs

Total For Week 1.00 lbs

Total Year to Date 1.00 lbs                                           

Eggs collected this week – 10                                                 

KICKING OFF THE NEW YEAR

I spent the first day of 2012 kicking off the new garden season.   First thing I did was to go through my seed box and discard the used up packets (with just a few seeds remaining) and items that were getting very old and shop worn.   I had donated much of my extra seeds to the Kingston Farm and Garden Co-op Giving Garden throughout 2011, so there was only a small amount of usable items to carry forward into 2012.    I then did an inventory of my other supplies noting what needed to be purchased to restock.   There actually was quite a good supply on hand of most regularly used items so the list was pretty small this year.   Last week, I had prepared my 2012 garden plan/layout so my seed requirements were established.     Armed with all of this information I then placed my annual seed and supply orders.     

On Sunday afternoon I spent an hour or so out in the garden and weeded the bed of cranberry plants and removed spent vegetation from two containers of strawberry plants.   While I was out puttering in the garden, I checked on the lettuce and dwarf pac choi seedlings I transplanted out on Friday afternoon.    These seedlings had spent about a week being hardened off before transplanting by leaving them for longer and longer periods of time in the unheated greenhouse.    All of the lettuces and a few of the dwarf pac choi plants went into the containers in the greenhouse.   The majority of the dwarf pac choi were planted into an open section under the long covered grow tunnel.   I took the precaution of sprinkling some Sluggo around the newly transplanted items because the slugs have been particularly fierce this winter.    The young plants seem to be doing okay despite the colder weather the past few days.   

It’s hard to see in the last picture, but if you look carefully you can see baby carrots which are also growing in several of the containers in the greenhouse.   I just tucked a few of the lettuces and dwarf pac choi in with them where there were some open spots.                                

I also checked on the onion plants I direct seeded late in August that are over wintering in the garden (unprotected).    They are doing remarkably well.   I hope they hang in there through January, which is usually our coldest month of the year.                                                    

The last thing done to wrap up the old year and ring in the new, was to finalize the 2011 harvest tally recap and set up the harvest spreadsheet for not only the new month but for the new year as well.   While a bit of a hassle to keep these kinds of records, I do find it useful to have comparative information to refer back to periodically.     2011 was a particularly low production year for the garden due to the abnormally cool summer we had.   I certainly hope 2012 gets us back to a more typical level of production.                                                               

There will be more onions and some early spring greens to start in the weeks ahead.   Keeping a pipeline of hardy greens going to plant out in the covered grow tunnel and the unheated greenhouse as other items are harvested and removed is important to keep fresh harvests coming as we slowly crawl our way out of the darkest days of winter towards the longer and warmer days of spring.   It should be noted that we put the shortest day of the winter behind us last week, so it is all uphill from here!    

Happy New Year Everyone! Let’s make it a great one.                   

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener