I LOVE SCOTTS PRO WEED FABRIC

 Well I'm back for a while. Still working on my weedy half acre and loving it.  It's just too bad I lost 3 years of garden notes. Most is still in my head so  I will be sharing my new garden hacks and maybe some old ones that did not work !!!!

  Well I finally gave in to the black weed cloth . at the hubbys  insistence, or lets just say he bought all this crap on Amazon , I gave it a whirl. I was using newspaper and straw. It did the trick but I had a mess to clean up at the end of the season. To make a long story short I planted the main garden on March 21 and here it is June 15th. I honestly did nothing but turn on the drip for 3 months . No weeding at all.  As you can see some are growing up next to the plants but it was a 15 minute job. This stuff is called Scotts 25 year pro fabric. It is beyond fantastic.  if you are gardening in a large area it saves time and back pain.  I have a 24 x 24 area and it cost under 50 dollars to keep my garden virtually weed free.  I shudder to think what my first garden would look like without weeding for 3 months !!!

 

   

  Here's my strawberry patch  . I started with 2  six packs of plants and expanded over 2 years with cutting off the runners.  the black fabric is great for these too!!!  this is my patch 3 months after my March cleanup . You could not see the black cloth due to the over growth. My only problem is that earwigs and roly poly bugs love to live under the fabric. I use food grade diatomaceous earth  and sprinkle it around the base.

Planting day March 18 2015

Finally getting to my planting day post. Between leaving my ipad at my parents and life in general , Im a bit late.
Im starting with the hummingbird garden as it has really come into its own this year. I planted the vine on the wall 3 years ago. FINALLY it blooms. 

As my husband now works full time at home I have plenty of help. He is also bringing his own form of creativity to the yard !!  we have added 2 more teepees and moved them closer to the grapes. Hopefully I can train the grapes over the trellis.  We are growing cucumbers , egg gourds and green beans on the teepees.   So far so good .

For the last 2 years I have had mulch on the trees.  This spring it was evident more was needed. As it was heavy and hard to work with I decided to try straw and cardboard.  Works well but I did like the mulch better .The straw while being cheaper is kind of slippery. My trees are doing good. I should have a real harvest of apples and apricots this year.  Its been 3 years so they are on track. Not quite sure about peaches and plums as they are later varieties.

My avocados have tons of blooms . We are crossing our fingers. The citrus is also finally starting to take off. I have started pruning them like trees so Im not so sure how much we will get this year. We live in a very heavy citrus area however so its not a problem. I am growing zucchini, melons and giant pumpkins here this year .Hopefully.  Also I have doubled my canning tomatoes and they are along the fence.

my poor burned out original garden is getting the onion , corn and popcorn rotation this year. I have a special new place for the peppers !  I planted the onions in October and planted new ones behind in march. Potatoes will be along the back.

 

And here it is the "PEPPER PALACE"  !!!  If it looks like my old chicken coop you are right!!!! They weren't using it so I took it back. I have tomatillos on the side and have blocks of the following peppers , Anaheim, poblano, jalapeno, yellow banana, habanero , and yellow, red and green bell peppers. Plus a heirloom tomato experiment. I can tell already they are much happier here. Years of chicken shit!!!!

Death and destruction . It's that time of year.

 So yes my blogging was embarrassingly limited last year. As with most of us life took over and with my hands in so many pies blogging had to take a backseat. My gardening time was limited but not unsuccessful. The weeds grew a little higher and beauty pruning lacked but with my systems in place I still grew about 35 % of my food supply. Maybe even a little more but who wants to count. It takes all the fun out of it.

   The one thing I did realize last week while I was enjoying my garden fresh coleslaw, marinara made out of my frozen tomatoes and the best popcorn I have ever eaten , was that the blog had helped me to understand how to grow year round and gave me an understanding of processing to eat year round. I want to continue to learn and have a source to check back on. As my life and living exists on the Internet it still is the best way for me to journal.
 
So I am kicking off the blog with my garden at its worse. Or worse looking. This year I will be blogging  the garden at its worse and best. For me and not to impress. I grew up with having to invite people into your clean home. Last year the blogging lagged for many reasons. One of which was I had no time for cleaning it up. Yes I did weed and stuff but not picture taking kind. So here it goes...

 Our first and probably only frost . First week of January I was putting up the Christmas lights as everyone was taking them down. My r2d2 propane heater is a success. Notice the lemons and if you look real hard you can see my 5 tangerines on the tallest tree. The lime tree did well . Fruit was harvested until October. No grapefruit yet.

I guess papaya trees don't like the cold .never even considered moving it until it was dead . Crossing 

our fingers it will grow back. Who even eats papayas  

These are the cherry tomatoes that ate my yard. Total death after one night of 28 degrees. Doesn't matter though . This year I learned that green tomatoes won't mature during short sunlight days. Yes I tried to let them get green in the house. They sucked. 

 Winter garden fared well. It surprises me how the plants can freeze solid 4 days in a row and stil live . That empty looking space is my onions. Got them in late but they are now growing. 

Planting Day !!!! March 17

 Oh how I love planting day!!  This year I was a week early. With the false spring we had, actually it was just damn early, I felt like I was late.
  Everything in my garden has broken a full month earlier .My apricot , plum and pomegranate trees all have fruit starting. I have also added 2 more trees, an Anna apple and a local nectarine variety. 
  One of this years projects is making homemade solar dryers for the fruit. I plan on using  some old kitchen cabinet drawers found at a yard sale. I'm sure it will be posted later in the year. 
   On the road side of the trees I have seeded some corn and soybeans. I plan to keep corn in the flood plain but will rotate it with soybeans. I am staggering blocks of corn planting them 2 weeks apart. The first seedlings have broken ground and next week I will plant the second block. No sign of any soybeans yet. 

The grapes are growing like a weed and already have tons of fruit. This year I will plan on trying some white grape jelly . I was overwhelmed last year with grapes and not prepared. Looks like Garden Girl needs a new face!

 The main garden is getting an overhaul. Due to intense planting the last 5 years I am seriously rotating my crops. I have moved the jalapeño and yellow peppers to the far side and added an extra row of potatoes. I did enjoy growing them last year . No more crazy straw planting or big potato bins. Hilling  with dirt is fine. I have plenty of garden space and they grow well that way. 
  I have planted pea seeds in the former pepper rows. It will be interesting to see how they grow and hopefully they will renourish that area. My kale is still growing great and I see no need to pull it up as I just keep cutting the tops off. 
   I am also growing zucchini, only 2 plants as it is more than enough for us , and I have increased the spaghetti squash to 6 plants. That was an enjoyable vege for us last year. 
  The eggplants were reduced to 2 as I'm the only one who eats them and In its place I have increased the asparagus plot. They are doing well and maybe we will get enough for a dinner or 2 this year. 
  The tomatillos have been moved  to the outside of the pen along with the Roma and San Remo Italian cooking tomatoes . This will increase my growing space  and I can use the pen sides as support. Last years planting of onions between the plants was a great success. I will definitely do that again.

 

My citrus looks like it has finally bounced back . Even the tangerine has blossoms. Hopefully we will have some citrus and they will start to grow. I wanted dwarf plants but geesh this is ridiculous .      The onions are growing like weeds . I let them go to seed last year and am  thinning them as I use them. My Bell peppers and Anaheims will be next to the onions as well as a slow  bolting form of lettuce I found at the nursery.

The most exciting thing of all is that my Hass avocado is blooming. Crossing our fingers for Avocados this year !!!

FRIED GOOSE EGGS ????????

  Yup I finally did it. I made a fried goose egg. So far Mother Goose has laid 5 eggs. As I get strange looks anytime I try to give them away and my husband has threatened to leave me if I feed him goose scrambled eggs , I gave frying a shot. To be honest it is not something I will do again. I have no problem with over easy runny yolks but this one is about 1/4 cup of yolk. Too much yolk for me. In addition the white has a strange spongy consistency after being cooked. No more goose fried egg for me.

Hummingbird heaven!!

  Yes I have a little bit of hummingbird heaven right here in my garden. the bees and butterflies appreciate it too!   It just seems like yesterday, actually 2 months ago,that I cut this back to the ground . With this false spring we had , actually an early spring, it has really taken off.
  

                                                                       

  Good thing too because this little hummer has returned to the nest built 2 years ago on an extension cord. Excited for more baby hummingbirds !!!

Broccoli, broccoli and more broccoli !!!!

 The broccoli in my winter garden grew great guns and I am ashamed to say I did not take advantage of my bumper crop. We had an extremely early spring and the 80 degree weather in February caught me off guard. A large portion of my plants bolted before I had a chance to eat all of it .I did have some very happy chickens as most of the month broccoli was on the menu. 
                                 

At the end of it all I had a lightening bolt idea! I should try and freeze some! DUH !!! Well all I can say is next year I will be more prepared. The reason for keeping this blog.

  I guess my winter broccoli never did this well. I am planning more broccoli next winter and will definitely give the seal-a-meal it's work out. I have used all of the broccoli bags but one and it was definitely acceptable. 

                             

                          

                                       

As I had a lot of almost blooming broccoli and stems , soup came to mind. Honestly it did have a bit of a pithy texture but very tasty and it froze excellent as well. I have enjoyed many tasty  quick soup lunches the last month or so!!!