Fall Garden Planting Started

Fall Garden Planting Started

After my foot injury 2 weeks ago, I started getting worried that my garden planting wasn't happening on schedule. I still had 2 small beds to amend and many things I wanted to start by seed right in those beds. But I couldn't get around the garden very well and I certainly couldn't use a shovel and get up and down off my knees very well.

I called upon the help of my gardening friends and clients. Lo and behold last Sunday morning three wonderful, generous women came to my rescue. The really cool thing about it, is they all wanted to learn how to start a garden bed by seeds.

I coached and guided them and they did the work. Lucky for them we never needed to use more than a small garden shovel and trowel. But they planted many rows of seeds. The weather was perfect for gardening. We had a great time chatting and taking about gardening life and all the wonderful things growing your own food meant to each of us.

Now a week later I have tiny seedlings popping through the ground. In fact they could be seen as early as 4 days after planting!

Let me take you through a tour of my three newly planted garden beds:

The front yard is the newest of beds. This is where the grass was just a year ago! This lovely key-hole garden is now planted with:

Spinach

Chinese kale

Red leaf lettuce

Cilantro

Swiss chard (there are 2 chard plants left over from the summer that have doubled in size in a week since amending the soil!!)

The 2 back gardens are smaller. They were the first beds I used for food 2 years ago. Boy have I learned a lot since them.

The garden bed tucked in the farthest corner of the yard (about 2 ft x 3 ft) is now where I grow the plants that have a longer maturity or harvest date - onions, garlic, carrotts and beets. This year I threw my radishes in with all of this.

You can see the seedling coming up here as well. Notice the fancy plant marker - a plastic knife! Use a sharpie pen and they will hold up to all of the harsh AZ weather!

The third garden bed I call the salad bowl since I put my lettuces there. It is closest to the house and the back door. It has a vent from the crawl space which helps keep it warmer on cool winter evenings. Last year I had lettuce for almost 4 months for the same spot.

What is missing from all of this is the diversity of companion planting. That will come next week when I add the nasturtium and sweet alysum seeds and a few marigolds.

What did you plant this fall?

Happy Digging,

The Garden Goddess

Down 2 Earth Gardens,LLC

4 Weeks to a New Garden - Week 4

4 Weeks to a New Garden - Week 4

Plant! Purchase your seeds or transplants at the nursery. When buying seeds, make sure they suit your garden location. When buying transplants, make sure the leaves look healthy and the root ball is not compacted with roots wrapping around the inside of the pot.

Here are some tips on proper plant placement. Be sure you know and consider:
•Spacing base on mature size
•Height and width
•Root vegetables vs. leafy vegetables
•Water requirements

Use this cool tool to plan your garden:

http://www.growveg.com/Default.aspx

It will help you with identifying mature size so plants aren't too crowded.

What should you do seeds vs. transplants
Seeds – longer germination time
• Acclimate to garden environment from beginning
• 2-3 months longer to harvest
Transplants – instant plant
• Earlier harvest
• Uniform production

Allow space for the mature plant size. Many plants, especially vegetables, need room for their ‘fruit.’ When planting from seed, read the seed packet for recommended spacing. Allow space for the mature plant size.

Water well after planting, then relax.

Now it’s just a matter of time. Protect your garden as it becomes established. Keep birds, cats and other critters away from your garden by tying ribbons to sticks and placing them around the garden. For cats, consider laying down chicken wire over the top of the soil after planting. The seeds will grow up in between the holes in the wire.

Water your new garden daily at first, keeping the soil moist until seedlings are a few inches tall. Once they are, test the soil to see how much moisture it retains and water based on need. A soil probe, pushed into the soil will help with you see how deep the water seeps..

Enjoy your harvest! The flowers will look brighter and the food taste fresher as a result of your tender loving care.

If you missed the first three weeks, you can get the entire article here.

If you are in the Phoenix, AZ area, I wil be teaching this class in-person on September 12th at the Home & Garden Expo Center at 1700. E Washcington St., PHX from 9:30-11AM. Watch my website for more details. http://www.down2earthgardens.com/

Happy Digging,

The Garden Goddess

www.down2earthgardens.com

Garden Planning - Design Tools

August – the dog days of summer. Yes, especially here in Phoenix, AZ. We just had the hottest and driest July on record (since late 1880’s!) and does my garden ever look like it! My water bill is up and at least my plants are alive but not much production from them.

That led me to start researching ways to increase the amount of food I get from my garden (also known as yield). Every gardener has a different way to do it and it differs from coast to coast. One thing I know for sure is I still have more research to do before I decide what I will do in my garden this fall.

I came across a cool software program that helps me determine how many of each plant I can fit in the garden bed. It has just about every vegetable, herb, tree (flowers, too) and the mature plant size. It also has botanical information on the plants.

All I do to start is put in the garden bed measurements and then drag and drop the plants, easily rearranging them until I get them just the way I want them. I can save the plan, start another one and play with it on the computer until I get one I like. Just think about how much time and effort this will save me when I go to plant them!

Here, you can check it out and play with it yourself for 30 days for free and then it is only $25 a year! Click on this link. GrowVeg.com

In Arizona we can plant 2- 3 time a year so this will pay for itself in no time. No more moving plants around and damaging the roots or break the delicate stems of the transplants. And if you are planting seeds and you crowd the plants or find out you put plants next to each other that shouldn’t be, you have to wait a few months until they get big enough to move. Why waste all that time when you can thoughtfully plan it on paper?

Try it and tell me how you like it

OK back to the drawing board – or computer screen that is!

Happy Digging,

Doreen aka The Garden Goddess
www.down2earthgardens.com