Plans for 2006

Below you'll find a list of all the stuff we want to grow next year. It may seem like a huge list, but it's not that much longer then last year and we're planning on putting in a lot of beds. Yes, you read that right, everything is going to raised beds next year. The side garden with its 6" rise did so much better then anything else that we were convinced that raising the beds with landscape timbers (or 2X12s) is the only way to go. We'll dig the area under the beds and add some topsoil and compost on top to fill the foot deep boxes. Hoppefully this will translate into hugely enhanced yields and just a generally more positive gardening experience.

We're also going to slowly expand our fruit collection and maybe add a few nuts. We'll see. We're also trying to make sure the front yard looks as good as it tastes and to that end some of the front yard bed space will end up being dedicated to (mostly) edible flowers.

Front Garden

This is the garden in the front yard. It's going to be made into two 4' wide and 8' -10' long beds. The back one will be almost entirely tomatoes and the front one will be cherry tomatoes and flowers. Should be neat and will hopefully yield more tomatoes then anyone will know what to do with.

• Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Pansies
• Marigolds (Small)
• Purple Basil
• Snapdragons

Fence Garden

This is the garden next to the neighbor's fence. next year it'll be at least one (and more probably two) 4' x 8' raised bed rather then the mess is was last year.

• Bell and Sweet Peppers
• Pole Beans
• Snap Peas
• Broccoli
• Eggplant
• Salad Greens
• Brussels Sprouts

Containers

We've done peppers in containers before. They work really well in 12" pots. The Jerusalem Aritchokes (AKA Sunchokes) will be grown in either a big Rubbermaid bin (like the worms) or a large trashcan. That'll keep them from spreading and also keep the voles at bay. Should be a neat experiment. The strawberries will either be in a terra cotta strawberry pot or in some variation on the strawberry tower theme.

• Hot Peppers
• Strawberries
• SunChoke

Back Gardens – No Vine

The back garden is going in in front of the Blackberries. Yes, in that sunny spot in the back yard. For reference the little green things in front of the shed are the blackberries.

• Radishes
• Onions
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Garlic
• Beets

Back Garden - Vine

This is another raised bed (or possibly just an uncontained hill with a trellis) in the back yard. Hopefully it'll be a hugely healthy, incredibly viny and massively productive part of the garden.

• Spaghetti Squash
• Loofah
• Acorn Squash
• Watermelon
• Cucumbers (Pickling and Slicing)

Flower Garden

This is the area right in front of the house where the shade plants and the roses are, on both sides of the front walkway. This is completely Gretchen's territory in the same way that the vegetable only gardens are my territory. I can only imagine what she's going to do with this space next year.

• Sunflowers
• Bleeding hearts
• Red Daylillys
• Marigolds (Barn)
• Roses

Herb Garden

This is the side garden. Hopefully we'll get it to fill in with only herbs and that'll make it more funtional and perhaps a bit more attractive. I wouldn't be surprised if we got another Jerusalem Artichoke, but that wouldn't be in the plans.

• Chives
• Chamomile
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Fennel
• Lemon Balm
• Mints
• Parsley
• Tarrigon

Trees & Misc

These are all single specimen trees that will go in around the yard. I'm certain that I'll talk about each one in loving detail once we get them.

• Asian Persimon
• Che Fruit
• Bamboo
• Rhubarb

Future Plants

These arte plants we're considering for the year after next/the indeterminate future. They might even go in sooner if all goes well and we have both the time and the money. We'll see.

• Filbert / Hazelnut Bushes
• Paw Paw
• Corn
• Amaranth
• Cabbage
• Summer Squash
• Asian Pear
• Pomegranate
• Currants

Jerusalem Artichokes

Hello again. Just wanted to drop in a quick post about the last harvest of the season, the Jerusalem Artichokes.

To refresh your memory they're the tall sunflower looking plants that grew in the side garden. We were hoping to have excessive quantities, but the voles got all but one of the seed tubers I put in, so we got one small patch that ended up in the middle of a large cluster of Sage. It seems to have worked out relatively well though. As you can see to the right they get pretty yellow flowers in late summer/early fall. As they grow they get very thick and tend to lean (at least when planted near the house.) The picture to the left is the first harvest. We got two more harvests of about that same size out of the one small patch of Jerusalem Artichokes. As you can see they look a lot like ginger, but they can be cooked and eaten like potatoes. They taste a lot like Artichoke hearts. They're really quite tasty. They're also (reportedly) great for Diabetics. I like them because they're a fun (and incredibly easy) plant, something to harvet from the garden well into winter (I dug the last of them last week (early January) and almost impossible to get in the Grocery store. In other words the prefect garden vegetable. I'll be putting more in next year with saved tubers from this year's crop. It'll be an interesting experiment in sustaining the garden with less inputs. I'll be sure to report in after we see what comes up.

Current Plantings, Third and Last Edition (yes, I know it's late)

Fine, kill me for procrastinating, but here it is, the final look at what we planted last year, just before I put up what we're planning to plant next year.

The Fence garden

The fence garden was a strange experiment/accident that ultimately changed significantly where we thought we could plant things. Essentially we had extra tomato and watermelon plants and since I am constitutionally unable to actually throw something away we kind of stuck them beside the blueberries in an area where they might do OK. We basically didn't do anything to them. I put them in, halfway staked one tomato (of two) and let it go. The tomatoes were pretty prolific (a few pounds at least per plant, which was good for our garden) and the watermelons pretty much covered the entire area. We got 5 melons from the patch. All in all a pretty good result from an area that we'd, up to then, pretty much ignored.

The other dwellers in the fence garden are the two rabbiteye blueberry plants. If you squint you can just see them in the back of the picture above. They're doing great. Hopefully next year we'll get a significant amount of berries off them We got about 10 last year, so I'm hoping for a pint or two at least.

As a bit of inappropriate background the soil around here (Southeastern VA) is naturally quite acid and most of the wooded area behind our house is covered in wild blueberries. We thought that was great until we netted a few so the birds didn't get them and realized that they're just not that good. They're tiny, dry, not flavorful and just generally unpleasant. So we got to clearing out the wild plants and replacing at least some of them with cultivated varieties. Seems to be going well so far.

The fruit

We put in a Fig tree, two Blueberry bushes, two Blackberry bushes, a Pineapple Guava and three Apple trees. Last year we got about 10 Blueberries and a dozen Figs. They're all growing like gangbusters. Everything has survived, gotten bigger and seems to be loving where we put it. Our hope is to harvest a little of everything (except apples) next year and then the year after we'll get real harvests (Except the apples. They'll begin to bear in two years and really get going in 3-5.). It's really exciting for me to grow fruit trees. Theres something about putting something in the ground that (assuming no one screws it up) can bear fruit for my great-grandchildren. It makes me happy. Ah well. That's about it for what we grew in our first year of seriously improving the land we're living on.

Suburban Farm - New Year

Happy Monday!

I know you haven't heard 'bout the farm in a while (like two months.) Well, there's not much happening since it's winter. We did get the apple trees in November and planted them in the front yard. I would include a picture, but they look like sticks that have been partially buried. The trees are only two years old, but they seem healthy and appear to like the location that they are in.

On December 12th we lost a dear friend and companion, our cat Riley. We wanted to thank you all for being so supportive. We miss him terribly, it's amazing how much space in your life one cat takes up. The other four seem to be adjusting, and we're still trying to figure out who will be the alpha now that Riley is gone. This spring we are going to plant a tree and place his ashes under them. We haven't picked out a tree yet, it needs to be something truly special.

Since it's the new year, Ryan and I have some big plans. We are going to post a list of all the tasty and wonderful plants we hope to put in this spring. We are definitely going to put more gardens in - once again biting off way more then we can hope to chew. The garden in the front that is exclusively for vegetables is going to be expanded to accommodate two raised beds that will be 4ish by 8ish. (It will also make my flower bed larger and I hope to add another six rose bushes to my surprisingly thriving rose garden.) We will also put in some raised beds in the back yard and on the side next to the blue berries. Hopefully all these raised beds will help us deal with the swampy conditions that continue to plague us, even when there's no rain. We are also getting chickens this spring, so stay tuned for Ryan and Gretchen's adventures in chicken raising. The first task is to build them a home - I can assure you this will provide many a humorous tale.

Before Christmas we did manage to bottle a bunch of the wine. We got some of the fig, and some of the pear into bottles. We have more fig and pear to bottle, along with some peach. If the world starts to end anytime soon, we've got enough booze to keep the entire county so drunk they don't notice. We also froze some watermelon that needs to be juiced and fermented sometime in the next week or so. We can't stand to watch food go bad, or uneaten. We also can't eat more then half a watermelon or a pound of figs between the two of us. This leads to much booze - since we can't think of any finer way to keep this stuff around. To be fair - we do pickle, make jam, can, and experiment with some of this stuff too. Pickled pears anyone?

We didn't get around to making our barley wine in time to toss it into Santa's sleigh, but we're still planning on brewing before January is out. This is actually good news, provided that Ryan and I can show some restraint. When we give bottles of the barley wine, we always tell you too keep them for a year before opening them. Well, I know for a fact that many of you have about as much restraint as Ryan and I. Next year, however, you will be getting a barely wine that has already been aged for a year and ready to be opened! - on the condition that we didn't drink it all. I will make the following recommendations to all of you who missed the Long Night Ale this year - call us regularly and leave death threats on our message machine. I am pretty sure nothing short of bodily harm will keep us and our grubby fingers out of the best brew on earth. (If you haven't tried it yet - I'm sorry. You have missed one of the finest things man could possibly experience, aside from sex and the perfect cup of coffee.)

We are also trying to assemble a collection of our favorite recipes. We get a lot of requests for them, and there is no such thing as bad food in our house. I was thinking of including one here that we absolutely loved!!! Rachael Ray's Fool-i-ya-baise Seafood Stew. We made the whole meal, including the anchovies and olive salad that was dressed with lemon and olive oil. (FYI - evidently you have to warn wayward diners that they might eat an anchovy. How were we supposed to know?) It was fantastic and quick. We substituted the white wine for vermouth and we used our homemade chicken stock that had plenty of gelatin in it. The gelatin comes from cooking the bones to death and gives the stock a great mouth feel. We'll be making the stock later this week so I'll fill you in with the next Suburban Farm.

So that is all for this week - you'll hear from us again. We wish you a fine new year and many happy new beginnings.

- Gretchen, Ryan, & "the kids"