*~May Food Growing Mamas Thread!!!~*

[FarmerCathy]

Sorry a thread didn't get started for this month.  I thought someone else was going to start it, that's ok, they can do it for June, though May seems like its almost over already.  I just finally got most of my warm season crops in on Saturday.  Late, but that's ok, first trimester was a bear. 

Getting new pics to post of the garden on my blog as we speak.  http://cathyanddave.blogspot.com/2011/05/we-planted-garden-yay.html

[lunita1]

I just updated my blog with veggie garden photos too... of course, I got interrupted and didn't finish, but it is mostly there...  its the busy time between spring and summer, and the garden is FULL -- I have plants in pots waiting for the cool season stuff to get done.

http://muddytoesandgarbanzos.blogspot.com

[Magpie1972]

My garden is overfull. I had to cull some bush beans and what I thought were peppers turned out to be squash... but otherwise all is looking pretty good. I get to harvest some collards and jalapenos. We also are loving the herb area. I need rosemary but will have to pot it.

http://magpiedelights.blogspot.com/2011/05/garden-update.html

I love seeing your updates!

[HeatherAtHome]

Ugh. I can't come here anymore, it makes me want to cry! ;) My garden is a pile of dirt and my seedlings are still indoors. No wonder us zone 3-5er's have our own thread. 

Your gardens look beautiful. :)

[SpuglyRoo]

Originally Posted by HeatherAtHome 

Ugh. I can't come here anymore, it makes me want to cry! ;) My garden is a pile of dirt and my seedlings are still indoors. No wonder us zone 3-5er's have our own thread. 

Your gardens look beautiful. :)

I'm with you, Heather! Though I'm a little warmer in 6 I still don't have anything to harvest for my work so far.  It's my first garden and it wasn't even built until right before all my summer-harvestables needed to go into the ground so we didn't get any sort of cold harvest (baby steps!).

I was just out there in the drizzly rain while the little ones were napping and I'm so excited that everything is actually growing and getting bigger!  I feel like I just conquered a mountain or something when really all I did was allow a bunch of seed to do exactly what they were designed to do.  I'm so excited!  DH keeps teasing me that he's going to start a hobby that requires all sorts of work and participation from me since my new gardening endeavor required so much work from him.  I just laugh at him.

All of your gardens are looking lovely, I enjoy seeing the pictures and reading what you've all planted.  I'm already adding to next year's list and I haven't eaten anything from this year's yet

[rhianna813]

Cathy, Lunita and Jennifer - thanks for sharing your blogs! The pics are awwwwesome!!!

Heather - Have you read Eliot Coleman books? He lives in Maine and specializes in cold zone gardening. I have his book "Four Season Harvest" and it is great for recommending hardy varities and tips on cold framing, cloches and portable greenhouses. I think he's had shows on public TV too and hear he is quite a charator! Here is his website: http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/index.html 

I am in zone 8 in Oregon but we've had quite and cold spring. Finally in May things are back to normal with a few sunny dry days, followed by massive spring showers. Just what a garden loves and mine is sprouting up nicely with: carrots, peas, spinach, lettuce, beets, chard, broc, cabbage and radish.

The summer veg is BLAH. We've either blown it my not starting them indoors early enough or the seeds are not germinated or the seeds that germinated up n died :-( Might have to succumb to transplants for squash and tomatoes ...   

Rhianna

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by HeatherAtHome 
Ugh. I can't come here anymore, it makes me want to cry! ;) My garden is a pile of dirt and my seedlings are still indoors. No wonder us zone 3-5er's have our own thread. 

Your gardens look beautiful. :)

What she said.

Originally Posted by rhianna813 

Heather - Have you read Eliot Coleman books? He lives in Maine and specializes in cold zone gardening. I have his book "Four Season Harvest" and it is great for recommending hardy varieties and tips on cold framing, cloches and portable greenhouses. I think he's had shows on public TV too and hear he is quite a character! Here is his website: http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/index.html

Takes time and planning to do this though.  It's one of my goals this year, and I've had my yard *full* of stuff for a good 4 years now.  His books are totally worth buying - his little rabbit trails of stories are amusing.

Um, I have three tomatoes in kozy koats (rest are in the greenhouse).  Garlic's up, as are overwintered pansies that happily surprised me.  Been harvesting asparagus for a few days now.  Tiny little fistfuls, but still.  Some of the strawberries are trying to green up, and the ones I have in pots are doing great.  Need to dig up some of the chives-gone-mad.  Love that they're unkillable, but damn.  I've given away so many clumps of it in the last several years as it is.  Raspberries are starting to green up again, so I need to go through that mess and clean it up.  Been harvesting dandelion heads.  Need another few cups of the leaves though to make the jelly though.

And I snagged a few willow branches from the neighbor's yard (with permission), to make some root brew.  I'm planning to take some grape cuttings from my fabulous and yummy Concord grape vine, and trying the willow branch tea, honey and commercial root hormone stuff to see which does best.  For when I want to do this again.  Mwahaha.  We need more grape vines though.  And bonus if I can do it myself and not really have to pay $8-$17/twig from Home Depot.

Yes, my ideas and plans are rather schitzo and all over the place.  It's okay, I know.  ;)

Oh, and Cathy?  I still haven't done this year's garden plan on graph paper!  I know, me!?!  I have no idea what's going on, either.  I'm just completely winging it this year apparently.  Which reminds me...  those of you who still know the details of companion planting - potatoes.  What can/can't I grow by them?  I only have a few places I *might* be able to throw them down, and all I can remember is that they can't go next to the raspberries.

[RosieL]

I wanted to start a May thread but got sidetracked with term papers. I'll be out of the country when june comes around, but this is the kind of thing I was hoping to add:

Member	Zone	Site	Favorite cultivar
Farmer Cathy		Blog
lunita1		Blog
RosieL	7
Magpie1972		Blog

Don't know your zone? Look here: http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/zip.cgi

[RosieL]

Also, I think this is a talk and video all here would enjoy. Be sure to watch (or skip to) the video-in-video portion. It's absolutely breathtaking. http://blog.ted.com/2011/05/06/the-hidden-beauty-of-pollination-louie-schwartzberg-on-ted-com/

[lunita1]

RosieL, I'm in zone 9. I live in the town that FarmerCathy lived in in her former life.  :) 

[HeatherAtHome]

That was beautiful, thank you so much for sharing! :)

If you want to add me to the list, I have a blog http://heatherathomeinthetownships.blogspot.com/ and I'm in zone 4. 

[HeatherAtHome]

Originally Posted by rhianna813 

Heather - Have you read Eliot Coleman books? He lives in Maine and specializes in cold zone gardening. I have his book "Four Season Harvest" and it is great for recommending hardy varities and tips on cold framing, cloches and portable greenhouses. I think he's had shows on public TV too and hear he is quite a charator! Here is his website: http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/index.html 

I've never heard of him, thanks! I have read up a little on season extension etc but it does take a while to get to that place. Last year was my first year gardening and it was all I could do to get my garden together by the last frost date (June 1st). I was hoping to get some things in earlier this year but with all this rain I'm having a hard time getting anything done! Hoping to extend the season late and now I have better ideas on how to put the garden to rest for the winter so that it's quicker to get started in the spring. 

[RosieL]

I think it might work if people add themselves to the list. Quote this post, tab through the table to add another row, then add yourself and links. Once we had a critical mass it'll be nice to be able to quick see who is in what zone, and who has blogs that we can learn from. :) 

Member	Zone	Site	Favorite cultivar
Farmer Cathy		Blog
lunita1	9	Blog
RosieL	7	Garden Log
Magpie1972		Blog
HeatherAtHome	4	Blog

Don't know your zone? Look here: http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/zip.cgi

[RosieL]

Thanks for that link. I'm thinking about building a hoophouse next year for Summer stuff, so I can get them in early. I'd have a lot of reading to do, however. Dunno what the Summer will bring!

Originally Posted by rhianna813 

Cathy, Lunita and Jennifer - thanks for sharing your blogs! The pics are awwwwesome!!!

Heather - Have you read Eliot Coleman books? He lives in Maine and specializes in cold zone gardening. I have his book "Four Season Harvest" and it is great for recommending hardy varities and tips on cold framing, cloches and portable greenhouses. I think he's had shows on public TV too and hear he is quite a charator! Here is his website: http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/index.html 

I am in zone 8 in Oregon but we've had quite and cold spring. Finally in May things are back to normal with a few sunny dry days, followed by massive spring showers. Just what a garden loves and mine is sprouting up nicely with: carrots, peas, spinach, lettuce, beets, chard, broc, cabbage and radish.

The summer veg is BLAH. We've either blown it my not starting them indoors early enough or the seeds are not germinated or the seeds that germinated up n died :-( Might have to succumb to transplants for squash and tomatoes ...   

Rhianna

[jessaries]

It's been a few years!

Congratulations Farmer Cathy!!!!

For some bizarre reason despite our drought I've managed a fairly decent garden this year! In my backyard, the front garden is pitiful. :( I planted the back a month earlier and that seems to have been the Golden Month or something!  My partner built me a pretty rocking structure. Our neighbor gave us a metal greenhouse hoop frame. Partner build a U shaped bed out of untreated wood to fit inside the frame so I have a path. Covered the frame with metal caging (so squash, tomatoes and beans can grow over the hoop making a nice shady canopy for me to harvest in. He put our old storm/screen door on the front, so our chickens can't attack the plants. It's awesome! If the summer gets too hot I'll cover with shade cloth, then in the fall I can use row cover over it, we can walk in it, it's so cool. Some gals want a walk in closet, I wanted a walk in garden. I can post a pic if the description is too wonky! :)

Matt's Wild Cherry have naturalized in our yard, it's crazy, they've only been producing for a few days and today I picked 6 ounces of tiny cherry tomatoes. (and only the ripest of them) I'm happy to watch the pattison squash and Turk's Turban grow! (pattison is just at a harvestable size) For once I have cucumber plants growing and flowering all up a good 3 feet, but not one fruit set! gah! I've gone nuts on butterfly plants this year, so far a few and an ever present red wasp. (eh, they pollinate, but I don't really want to work up next to them!)

Someone in the rodent family is eating the ends off of our unripe peaches. :(

I'm in zone 8b in Central Texas, near Austin.

I have more going on, but will need to come back to gab about it!

Does anyone have a great pizza sauce recipe????  

Thanks!

[RosieL]

jessaries your setup sounds really cool! Any pictures to share? 

[lmonter]

jessaries - I just use regular tomato sauce (bonus if it's home-canned) and sometimes mix in tomato powder or tomato paste to thicken it up a little if need be, and sprinkle on my Italian Seasoning blend.  Easy peasy.  That way I can be lazy and just do regular tomato sauce, but water bath can in 4oz jars for this particular purpose.

I totally want a photo of the walk-in garden.  It's just much more fun seeing the fun stuff.

[SweetSilver]

I would love if y'all could tell this online newbie how to start a garden blog.  Who I am:  a former professional gardener (not landscaper) BK (Before Kids).  Then for 3 years I wrote a gardening column for our small town monthly newsletter.  It was called "The Welcome Garden" and was written not with expertise in mind, but as an avid and curious gardener with a different perspective on gardening and wild things that most residents here had access to.  Two kids, homeschooling, and finally, the death of my dad put writing on the backburner for nearly a year.   I've recently thought a blog or a facebook page could reach many of my old readers, plus new ones, and take the burden of one long article off my shoulders.

     How do I start?

[RosieL]

Hi SweetSilver! I think the easiest way to start is sign up for an account on blogger (http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1) or Wordpress (http://wordpress.com/), then click "create your blog now" and start blogging away. I think blogger is probably easiest, but wordpress would be in a format that would be easy to move later. If, for instance, your blog takes off and you want to establish a website for it specifically, you could easily transfer a wordpress.com blog to your own "SweetSilver.com" site or the like. Good luck! 

What's in the garden now?

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by RosieL 

I think it might work if people add themselves to the list. Quote this post, tab through the table to add another row, then add yourself and links. Once we had a critical mass it'll be nice to be able to quick see who is in what zone, and who has blogs that we can learn from. :) 

Member	Zone	Site	Favorite cultivar
Farmer Cathy		Blog
lunita1	9	Blog
RosieL	7	Garden Log
Magpie1972		Blog
HeatherAtHome	4	Blog

Don't know your zone? Look here: http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/zip.cgi

I'm zone 7 now. 

Originally Posted by lunita1 

RosieL, I'm in zone 9. I live in the town that FarmerCathy lived in in her former life.  :) 

Which one?  Smartsville, Sac? 

Originally Posted by lmonter 

Oh, and Cathy?  I still haven't done this year's garden plan on graph paper!  I know, me!?!  I have no idea what's going on, either.  I'm just completely winging it this year apparently.  Which reminds me...  those of you who still know the details of companion planting - potatoes.  What can/can't I grow by them?  I only have a few places I *might* be able to throw them down, and all I can remember is that they can't go next to the raspberries.

Hah!!  I did write down where everything was planted, but that's it, I just started planting and wrote it down as I went.  :)  I did plant like things in like plots though.  Looking forward to adding what my ds puts in his little plot.