Saved Seed

One good thing to come from last year's garden was the bean harvest was not large enough to eat, but the seed harvest from those same beans was good enough to replenish next year's garden.

This is the tray full of seeds and pods that I shelled this week.

I grew a couple of heirloom beans: Christmas Beans and Tiger Stripe Beans.  they are quite lovely to look at.  I am told they make great soup, but that I am hoping will be part of my experiment for this year.

We are getting a new plot, but we are going to try for one that was unused last year so the ground was fallow and the diseases may be less prevalent.  We will have to go through the lottery for this but it will be worth it to move from the patch with too much disease.

The gardens will not be moved this year, probably because the Park District did not vote yet on giving the land to the City of Elmhurst, but I have not followed the papers much this winter and the Website for the Park District is not the easiest to navigate.

In addition to the heirloom beans, I saved herticote vert (thin green bean) seeds as well as sweet pea seeds.  I got the original sweet peas from Seed Savers so I know that I can save the seed and use it this year it was not a hybrid.

I was unable to save melon seed because the plant never gave a viable fruit, but I do have some seed left from last year and I may try to use that and see what happens.  Much seed is only good for a year after harvest and I have to check to see if Melon falls into the category.

It was easy to shell dried beans.  The seed coat split open easily allowing access to the seed.  The hardest to harvest were the green beans as the coat shrank as it dried gripping the seed tightly.  I had to smash the coat between my fingers to extract the seed.

Since all of these beans were harvested in September they were quite dry and most had opened before I even began shelling.

For now I have placed them in seed envelopes I made myself.  I got the seed packet template from a vendor on Etsy.  I just print them in various sizes, cut and glue them.  Then I label and stuff them with seeds.  I use the smallest ones for herb seeds mostly.  The package size is about 1 1/2 inches square and I place them inside greeting cards.

The packet has room on the back for growing info, like sunny and seed depth for growing, etc.  For these I transferred the information from my garden journal from last year.  Now I remember why I kept that journal with all the info about the plan and the planting!  Over the winter months I created my own colorful garden journal filled with pictures from my gardens and you can get a digital copy on Etsy.

Final Garden Layout - Community Patch

Well I had a design plan.  Something I worked on for several weeks before going out into the garden.  I have to admit, I knew that this plan would change at planting time -- I was right.  I started planting hearty plants on May 18.  Added more seed and a few other plants on May 26 and finished with Zinnia seed, Dalias and herb seedlings and basil plants on May 31.  The I added lavender and more basil on June 3.  At which point there is not much space left to plant.  However, the patch next to mine (71) is empty and neglected, so if I do find more plants I want to grow, I may start planting them over there!

Plan on a clip board for reference on planting days

Here is the original hand written plan:

Here is the final version of that plan:

I have officially run out of room (I think) so there is little I can add to the plan now.  The first compromise was I bought more tomato plants than the original plan called for.  As a result this took the space for musk melon and zucchini, so I had to move them.  However I decided not to give the tomatoes a full 3 feet of space, going instead with the recommendations of the square foot gardening book and giving them a bit less space and caging them right away.  I will keep them trimmed and hopefully not regret this decision.

I added more paths to the garden than the original plan called for as well.  I realized how unrealistic I was being about walking in the soil as I began to plant things into the space.  I still may regret not adding one more path through the middle of the vegetable patch, as I am already having access issues.

There is much to tell about each of these plants, so I will focus on each one separately in other posts and then link them back to this one as they are written so you can just bookmark this post if you want to know the details of the plants.

Here is a breakdown by bed of the plants (the bolded letters are those used on the garden plan):

Thyme Bed
French Thyme
German Thyme
Silver Thyme
Golden Lemon Thyme
Common Thyme
Doone Valley Thyme
Lemon Thyme

Herb Bed
Kentucky Colonel Mint
Tri Color Sage
Common Sage
Dill
Hyssop
Parsley
Cilantro
Summer Savory
Greek Oregano
Fennel
Bronze Fennel
Sunset Hyssop
Tarragon
Spearmint
Calendula

Tomato Bed
Early Girl
Better Boy
Roma Tomato
Mortgage Lifter
Cherokee Purple
Pineapple Tomato
Sweet 100 Cherry
Grape Tomatoes
Sweet Basil

Salad Bed
Red and green early greens
Micro Greens (from seed)
Red Rib Sorrel
Collard Greens (from seed)
Red Giant Mustard
Arugula
Butter Crunch lettuce
Tiburan Poblano Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
Root Celery
Broccoli
Yellow Spanish Onions (I think they all died)
Zinnia (Flower from seed)
Lemon Basil

Vegetable Bed
Burp-less Cucumbers (climbing)
Bush Salad Cucumbers
Sunflower Teddy Bear (Seed)
Better Belle Peppers
Black Beauty Zucchini (seed)
Hale's Best Jumbo Muskmelon (seed)
Dwarf Gray Sugar Peas (seed)
French Filet Bush Beans
Tigers Eye pole Beans
Christmas Lima Beans (Climber)
Dalhias (3 plants as an experiment)
Acorn Squash

Choosing What to Plant in your Garden Patch

This is harder than you might think to decide what to plant. In my previous post I listed a number of plants that I bought, but I admit that I am using years of experience about how many and what types for my garden.  Even though I have never done this type of garden, I have gardened before now.

If you are starting small, you have to limit yourself to a handful of plants. If you are growing vegetables start with what you like to eat and what you can't find fresh locally. Corn takes a lot of space and remains in the garden a long time before it's ready to be eaten. If you have corn farms nearby, you might want to use your small garden for vegetables that give a longer harvest, like tomatoes, lettuce and beans. My husbands said - NO corn in the garden for just this reason.  He said , if you want corn go to the farmer's market, they always have it and it is good.

Flower gardens can be even harder. Start with what colors you like. Rather than basing your dream on a photograph from a magazine, take a look at what your neighbors are growing successfully. They may even be able to give you a division or two.  The Men's Garden Club of Villa Park is having their plant sale May 9 & 10 and many of the plants available have come from local gardens so not only can you find out how they did, but you know they grow here!

Probably should not start with this!

Take a walk around a couple of garden centers and read the plant labels. Then play with combining the plants that strike your eye until you find a combination of 3-5 plants that pleases you. Make sure all the plants have the same growing requirements (Sun, water, pH...) and that none of them are going to require more care than you can give them.

Keep the variety of plants limited. It makes a better composition to have more plants of less varieties than to have one of this and one of that.

Let the planting begin

Sometimes you have to plant when you have the time, even if that's high noon on a Saturday. But the ideal time to plant is on a still, overcast day. The point is, stress your new plants as little as possible. Here are a few easy steps to follow:

·                        Water the plants in their pots the day before you intend to plant.

·                        Don't remove all the plants from their pots and leave them sitting in the sun for the roots to dry out.

·                        If the roots are densely packed or growing in a circle, tease them apart so they will stretch out and grow into the surrounding soil.

roots

·                        Bury the plant to the depth it was in the pot. Too deep and the stem will rot. Too high and the roots will dry out.

·                        Don't press down hard on the plants as you cover them. Watering will settle them into the ground.

·                        Water your newly planted garden as soon as it is planted and make sure it gets at least one inch of water per week. You may have to water more often in hot dry summers. Let your plants tell you how much water they need. Some wilting in noonday sun is normal. Wilting in the evening is stress.

·         

      Mulching

      You hear a lot about mulching, but it really does make a major difference in a garden. Mulch conserves water, blocks weeds and cools the soil. Organic mulches like shredded or chipped bark, compost mulch from old leaves and grass, or event straw, will also improve the soil quality.

      Plastic mulches are nice in a vegetable garden to heat the soil around warm season crops like tomatoes, peppers, melons and squash.  Whatever mulch you choose, apply it soon after planting, before new weeds sprout. Apply a 2-4 inch thick layer of mulch, avoiding direct contact with the plant stems. Piling mulch around the stem can lead to rotting and can provide cover for munching mice and voles.

·         

K

      Keeping a Record

      Keep a record of what you have planted or better yet, keep the labels that came with your plants. This will help answer any questions about what the plant may need if it starts looking poorly and will remind you next year of what you liked and what didn't work. It also helps to take pictures and label them. You'll remember color combinations and favorite plants.

·        You can start a garden journal (check out one of my early posts for two types which will work great.) With a garden journal you can record how plants perform, when flowers are in bloom, how large a harvest was and all kinds of information that will help you make a better garden next year.

Hopefully when you were selecting plants you did some background checking and didn't select too many prima donnas. All plants are going to require some maintenance. The idea that perennial plants require less maintenance than annuals is wrong.  Choose a few good gardening books and read up on the plants you choose, so you have less surprises.

It may happen that one of your choices isn't happy and dies.  That is a fact of gardening life and not a sign you cannot do this.  Move on and replace it with something else.  I love to grow thyme.  Thyme dies.  Plants you have had flourishing for multiple years, just die. Each year I choose a new variety of thyme to grow, just in case one of my long-term residents, takes a bad turn.  This year, I will be trying several new plants!!

Water Needs

At the very least your plants will require an inch of water a week.  If it rains regularly, good for you and your garden!  If not, don't let your plants get drought stressed.  Once a plant is stressed it will never recover fully in this growing season.

My first challenge of the Community plot was an email informing me that the water is not turned on at the garden and that they will be repairing leaks and that the water may not be fully functional for some time.  I think this means I will need to bring filled watering cans when I plant later this week.I shudder to think about filled watering cans in my car!!

Enjoy the Garden

You've heard the saying "Stop and smell the roses"? Gardeners can be the worst at taking that advice. We're so busy with our heads down at soil level, pinching, pruning and pulling every weed, that we often don't appreciate what we've created until someone else tells us.

Step back and enjoy what you've accomplished.

Come back Friday and Saturday for the details of my garden planting for this year!

Planning the Community Patch - Plans and Journals

Excited as I am to get working in a garden, it is too cold and the soil is not anywhere near warm enough. Besides the Park District will not officially let us in before April 1, so I have another day before I can legally get in, but truthfully I will be surprised if we can get in before Easter (April 20, 2014).  There have just not been enough warm sunny days followed by warm nights to break up the ice in the soil so it can be prepared and staked and marked.  At least the snow is off the ground now!

So for now I content myself with planning.  However, having a good plan and way to record your information is vital to overall success in any garden space, but especially a small space like this one.  For that reason I recommend drawing out a plan and keeping records in a journal.

Draw a Plan

Now I don’t want to choose the plants just yet, but it is always a good idea to draw a plan of your garden even if only to get a feel for how it will look and force you to think about placement and plants needs and spacing.

At this point I do not need a fancy diagram, just a general outline of the space and how I want it look.  I can work and rework placement of tomatoes, sage, basil, etc. with this diagram and a couple of books that tell me plant specifics.  Then I can rework the design if I mistakenly planted the taller Lovage in front of the low growing thyme.

The books I suggest are as follows:  For herbs I generally use Rodale’s Encyclopedia of Herbs edited by Claire Kowalchik and William Hylton (Rodale Press: Emmaus, PA, 1987) and Park’s Success with Herbs by Gertrude Foster and Rosemary Louden (Geo. W. Park Seed Co: Greenwood South Carolina, 1980.) 

For  vegetables, I checked out my local library and found two great resources.  The Beginners Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables by Marie Iannotti (Timber Press: Portland, OR, 2011) and Seed Starter by Maureen Heffernan (Macmillan Publishing: New York, NY, 1997.) 

Keep a Garden Journal

Keep a journal of your activities in the garden. Record a list of the varieties of vegetables grown. Record seeding and planting dates, insect and disease problems, weather and harvest dates and yields. This information will be valuable as you plan future gardens. 

 I have kept journals for my herb garden for years, noting the plants, the yield and the diseases, if any, my plants experienced.  For this garden I decided to use both a journal and a file box.  For those who want to craft a journal, I found this great template that you can download and print.  It even has instructions for how many copies of each page you should make. 

For the file box I wanted a card for each plant or seed that I am planting.  The seed packet or plant information will be stapled to the back and the details of growth I will write on front.  I can then carry the box to the Patch with me and write as I work. I will keep pencils and blank cards in the plastic file box and carry it along with my tools at the garden when I work.