Carrot Patch

Last summer was my first time growing carrots so I wanted to share a little bit of what I learned about them. I had a lot of questions about them but found there was so much information online that it helped me to be confident in trying them. I learned how to thin them out but this was a vegetable that took a lot of patience because I didn’t see any huge growth right away. The first step was waiting for them germinate after several weeks and then waiting for them to get to at least 3 to 4 inches tall before the thinning could even take place. At first I didn’t think that what I was doing was going to work but with patience they began to get bigger and was rewarded with many healthy looking carrots by the end of August. The location that I chose to grow my carrots was in a 4x4 raised bed which shared a space with beets and also sugar snap peas and some valentine sunflowers. I grew a variety of carrots, which included Danver and also a rainbow blend.  I really loved the dark red and purple variety, so for this spring 2024 garden, I purchased some cosmic purple to try and also more Danver variety because they did so well.

This is the raised garden bed that I chose to grow them in.

 

 

This is after our harvest.

Growing Beans

Deciding on the right type of bean to grow is fairly easy once you know how much space you have to work with. I researched the two different types of beans and decided that the pole bean was the right decision for me. I had so many other low growing veggie plants that I didn’t have room for the bush bean variety, and it was more about being creative and getting the most use out of the space I had to work with. 

I have always loved the idea of vertical gardening so it was an easy decision. I built a small arbor using some old fencing that the previous owners left here and made the arbor connect between two 4x4 garden boxes. At first I wasn’t sure how it was going to come together but I love how it turned out in the end. 

In the beginning I started indoors with some seeds in pots and the first ones that I planted out were eaten up by some kind of pest, so I decided to try again and popped a ton of seeds in the ground at the base of the fencing to make up for what I had lost.  They were very slow to germinate as the shade from the arch was an issue at first but with time they took off and eventually filled in very nicely. 

I grew cantaloupe on the opposite side of the arch which did very well. Both were planted in separate boxes, so they did not share the same soil. Typically if you grow them in the same soil they will help each other.  Since beans add nitrogen to the soil and the cantaloupes thrive on nitrogen rich soil, they make good companion plants, but I did not plan it this way. They were grown in completely separate boxes but sharing the same trellis.

It was fun picking beans overhead and I loved how it created so much privacy from the front of the yard. I also added some small solar fairy lights which added a lot of charm to the garden in the evenings. I will definitely be growing beans again in the same box, but the cantaloupe will have a different home this summer in a location that gets more sun and heat. The beans attracted so many pollinators. There were a lot of hummingbirds, hawk moths and wasps. I was stung one day by a wasp when I was picking beans and that was not a fun experience. Got me right through my gardening gloves and was very painful!

The hummingbirds were very active and fun to watch as they zipped back and forth between the beans to the flowers. They also were fun to observe when they used the arch as a shelter and sat on the vines resting when they needed to. I really enjoy the wildlife that the garden brings and how we can get up close to learn more about these beautiful creatures.

  

The video below shows a hummingbird resting on one of the vines under the arch and he is grooming his feathers.

The beans that I grew in the photos above are Blue Lake Pole Beans from Botanical Interests

Sleeping Bumblebees

With all the new flowers that were blooming last spring, there was also a ton of buzzing among them. I was watering the hollyhocks one afternoon and discovered this bumblebee sleeping in one of them. I grabbed my camera and took a quick video before he flew away. But he never flew away and remained in that flower. As I began to look around I noticed there were others bees in the flowers as well and they all seemed to be sleeping. So I had to look up online to see what I could find and if they do really sleep in flowers. Come to find out, they really do sleep in flowers! I feel so fortunate to have been able to have witness this. Having a garden has taught me so much and I love that it also provides the wildlife with shelter when they need it.  Click on the video below to see the sleepy bumblebee in the hollyhock. Listen closely and you can hear the bees buzzing in the background. The hollyhock variety is called Indian Spring Mix and this is the second year growing these. I started the seedlings indoors in the spring of 2022.

Growing Lisianthus from Seed

It’s getting to be that time again for seed starting, beginning early with my new favorite flower Lisianthus. This flower amazed me last summer, producing the most dreamy rose like blooms. After seeing so many photos of this flower online, I decided that I wanted to try them out. I started them in January which is suppose to be about 22 weeks out from my last frost date here in zone 6b. The first thing that I noticed when growing these from seed is that the first set of leaves were tiny. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong, but read that was common for these plants to take a really long time growing in this initial stage. The next thing that happened is that the soil began to form fungus which I learned to control by using cinnamon and vermiculite on the surface. It is so helpful to be able to learn from others who have grown these already and that is why I believe that I had so much success with this. Once the second set of leaves showed up and were getting bigger, it was very encouraging and I just continued to keep them well watered and under grow lights until early spring.

After reading about the care of these flowers, I decided to go with online advice and I provided some support for them. I used bamboo stakes and garden twine to make the structure after they were planted. There were a few leaves and petals that were being eaten by something but for the most part they were easy to care for and pest free. After several weeks the stems grew much taller and buds formed. I cut flowers and added to vases and gave to friends. It was definitely hard to make the first cut because I wanted to enjoy them longer in the garden but I also know that I would not get more flowers unless I did cute them. After the first set of blooms faded, I cut them all the way back to the base and was able to enjoy a second flush in very late summer/early fall. I started with Apricot Arena III, Borealis Yellow, Super Magic Apricot and Roseanne Green seeds. The variety that did the best and enjoyed the most was the Apricot Arena III. I just cannot get over how beautiful these flowers were. If you have any desire to grow this flower and and have patience in the beginning, you will want to give them a try, I would highly recommended it. The pictures posted here are from last year, starting with the seedlings to vase stage.

Today I’ve prepped my seed starting mixture and Im beginning the process all over again. I am hoping that I have as much success this spring as I did last year. Im trying something different this time though and I’m using some seed that I collected from last years flowers to start a few of them. I also bought some new seeds in my favorite color, apricot.

Growing Kale

Last summer was my first time growing kale and it turned out to be one of my new favorites. The seed variety that I tried was from Botanical Interests, called Premier Kale Blend. Over the years I’ve made several changes to what I grow and a lot of it has to do with what I get the most use out of. I don’t like to waste food. 

For instance, I love tomatoes but I have found that lately I am not as fond of them as I once was, and I end up with more than I need.

Growing kale has been amazing because I use all of it. At first it was a little overwhelming but once I learned how to blanch it to freeze for smoothies, it changed everything. The amazing part of blanching the leaves is that you can store it away in the freezer for months and shrinks down to become more manageable and easy to store. I filled up a 14 gallon Tupperware container with kale leaves and after blanching, the contents fit into two small one gallon ziplocs. After blanching the leaves for a couple minutes, they should be dried with a towel and placed on a cookie sheet to freeze for a few hours before placing them into separate bags. I am definitely growing more of this variety this coming spring. This seed packet comes as a mixture so you don’t know what you’re going to get. I think that was the only down side of it, but I was happy with the varieties that it produced and the results and its on my list again for spring.

Stringing sunflowers for the Birds

I wanted to share a little project with you that can be done when you have extra sunflower heads that you don’t plan on saving for the following year. I like to save seeds but I also find that I end up with an over abundance sometimes and it’s more than I need. Most of the time when the seed heads are left on the plants the birds do find them, but I like to tidy up the garden towards the end of summer so I don’t have so much clean up to do in the fall so this extra step helps, plus I find it a fun project.

What I started doing is harvesting only what I need, and the remaining heads I make a string wire and hang it on the fence line for the wildlife to enjoy. This way I can remove the old plants and get a head start on the yard clean up and it’s also fun to watch them eat. 

For many of my other plants, like the black eyed Susan’s and other perennials I leave the spent flower heads attached and allow to overwinter this way until early spring when I will cut them back, This also provides shelter to the animals during the cold months. 

For the stringing of the sunflower heads, it’s best to string them when they are still moist and not dried so you can run string or wire through them more easily. For my project I used wire. You can also make these ahead of time and hang them indoors to dry, then take them out during the coldest part of the inter months to feeds the wildlife, 

Sunflower seed harvesting

This past year I decided to grow some new varieties of sunflower and the Valentine variety turned out to be my most favorite. They were amazing in all of the flower arrangements that I threw together. Even by themselves they looked beautiful. 

I made sure to harvest the seeds from these as I plan on growing more next year. I learned a few things about collecting the seeds and making it much easier to clean than previous years. I decided to cut all the sharp pokey edges off first so that when they dried, they were easier on the hands once these are completely dried up. After they are dried, I just popped out the seeds using a sharp tool and then labeled and stored them for next year.

For growing placement this year, I added a few of the plants in the corners of the vegetable and flower beds just to see what would happen. I really had no idea how tall they would get but they were perfect size in the flower beds only reaching about 4 feet tall. I like to intermix flowers among the vegetables as it attracts more of the beneficial insects to the garden and also helps with pollination and just looks amazing having flowers spill out of the edges of the boxes.

It’s interesting because the sunflowers that I planted along the fenceline turned out to be much taller than the ones that I planted in the raised beds and were about 2 feet taller. Im not sure why that was. Maybe the larger plants were able to get more nutrients along the fence as they had tons of native soil to grow into. Sounds like that could be a possibility. It’s a pretty good guess. I posted a short video of my sunflower seed harvest below, starting in September and I continued harvesting the sunflower heads into October.

September 2,