Here goes nothing!

I remember when my kids were little we used to plant peas and all kinds of fun to eat things .. as they got older it became harder and harder to keep up and honestly gardening is not something I’m passionate about.  With the recent Coronavirus and subsequent quarantine I was cleaning up my back room and found a bunch of old seeds.  I thought to myself..what the heck! ... so 2 days ago I began a little garden of my own... green peppers, cucumbers and of course jack o lantern pumpkins 🎃.... let’s hope something grows.. I always say the only thing I can grow well is children ❤️...Tricia

We did clean up the yard a few days ago too.  I planted some wildflowers in my planters but it’s been freezing here at night so who knows!

And we cleaned up my flowerbeds and my dads peonies are still alive! That at least is something! Right?!!

Coronavirus Victory Garden at Camp Crain 2020

This is Snowshoe Inn today.   Still winter here

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In the heated greenhouse you can see micro greens on bench potatoes  chitting  on floor in trays, and other tender plants I have been overwintering

Trays on bench with micro greens and baby greens.

April 2nd 2020.  It is still very cold here at Snowshoe Inn.  Temperature this morning was 13 degrees F.  Forecast high is 36 degrees F.  Not very spring like but winter does not give up with out a good fight here.  In my heated greenhouse I have been overwintering my tender perennials and citrus trees.  The citrus trees started dropping leaves in January.   In Late February and early March new leaves began to appear.  Today I gave the citrus trees and my potted blueberry plants their first shot of fertilizer.  Also today I cut my seed potatoes and set them out in trays to cheat them.  If soil warms enough I hope to plant my first crop of potatoes in a month.  Then I will plant my second crop of potatoes a month after that.  We are planning on heading out to Upper Klamath Lake Monday for five days of isolation from caroniavirus and do some canoeing.  We are at the end of the spring water fowl migration.  I hope we can see some birds on the water.   On or about the middle of April I will begin succession sowing of my spring and summer crops in heated greenhouse.  I have redesigned garden and will have raised bed to help organize plantings.  I hope to be better organized this coming growing season.  Feel free to follow along with this blog this summer..

Spring Snowshoe Inn 2015

Here at Snowshoe Inn, cold nights limit what can be sown out doors or in unprotected areas.  Five weeks ago I sowed arugula, spinach, kale, cabbage etc.    I  have a small greenhouse with heat cables under the greenhouse, this provides lite bottom heat.  Today I out planted the arugula and spinach in unheated green house. 

bottom heated greenhouse

Arugula and Spinach in cold frame

Leeks in bed

garlic doing quite well

Garden time! 4.13.15

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted on here.  My garden last year wasn't the focus of what was going on in my life, maybe that's why I haven't put much down recently.

This last weekend I spent some good time weeding the garden and figuring out where I want everything to grow.  I cleaned out some of the overgrowth of weeds and miscellaneous that was growing around the perimeter of the garden in addition to pulling the weeds in the beds.

After gutting the kitchen last summer we kept the old cast iron sink.  I'm going to be using that to plant some sunflowers in.

I have a whole bed of garlic currently growing, and I'm looking forward to getting that bed back when they are mature enough to harvest.  I've also found potato plants all over!  :)  I need to be more disciplined about planting them in one spot.  As it is, I feel sure that I shouldn't be planting any more potatoes ever in my life.

I've given up planting quite a few things I realized this when I was seeding yesterday.  I don't want to fight with the bugs that I can't control.  I just have given in to them.

I am working on planting some big pots on our porch full of mosquito repelling plants.  In the last four years I feel as though our mosquito problem has gotten out of control.  And with such a mild winter, I am sure it is going to be a painful summer if we don't figure out a way to control them this year.

I also have some grape plants a friend has given me that are growing beautifully.  I'm very happy to see them getting green and lovely right now.

I hope to invest in some raspberry plants and maybe a huckleberry.  The one I planted a few years ago died.  My blueberries are flowering now as well.  And the asparagus I put in is finally popping out.  I think most of it got pulled out when I was weeding throughout the years.  But there are a few left.

I'll post a few photos of progress as it starts to show.  I hope all of your gardens are doing well!
e

Spring is in the air!

Two weeks ago I had decided I wasn't going to plant a garden this year.  We're in the middle of a bathroom remodel and as soon as that is finished we plan on starting in on the kitchen and this fall is the basement.  The garden is a back burner for me.  BUT since the weather was so lovely this last weekend I got suckerd into planting some easy to maintain veg.  Beans, beets, kale, garlic (planted last fall actually) corn and some squash/zucchini.  I have tarped everything else off and hope to have a nice clear patch of ground to garden on next spring.  :)

Hope all of your gardens are planted and you're doing well.

-e

Late Winter projects

Well the end of January, So many seed catologs have been in mail box over the past few weeks.  Time to get serious about next season's gardens.  Time to order seeds and get early season plantings sown in greenhouse.  I am thinking about trying a straw bale garden this season. 

Keep warm & dry

Bob

Looking Back

Last night I spent about 30 minutes picking "The Fruit Of My Labor" out of the garden.  Knowing I'm headed to Korea for work again, I anticipate the weather getting cooler and cooler and I'll be losing a lot of what is currently just hanging around.  I thought I'd share the bounty of my my garden with friends and coworkers before I leave.

These are a few of the realizations that I had while reflecting on my 3rd garden's "success".

#1 - I don't eat most of what I grow.  I give a lot of it away.  I haven't been cooking as much lately because I either exhausted from work or exhausted from projects.  Most of my food is packaged or bought out.  Which makes me sad, but until my life changes, that's the truth of it.  I also give a lot away because I like to share it.  It makes me extremely happy to hear someone say they like what I've grown!

#2 - I'm done with the hard veggies.  I'm seriously, DONE.  I don't give two figs to try growing cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts or cabbage again.  Anything that aphids eat, I'm not interested in.  I'm done fighting that fight.  The aphids win.

#3 - I don't know SO MUCH about gardening.  I've got a compost bin, but I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to be doing with it.  :)  It sits there full of "composty things" in it...and I'm baffled about what to do next.

#4 - I don't know how to harvest, or when to harvest most of what I seed in my garden.

#5 - I over plant.  I admit it.  I need 1 tomato plant a year, and I need to remember that, because I make the same mistake every single year.  And who needs more than one zucchini plant?!  Honestly!  They grow so darn fast I can hardly get out there fast enough to harvest them before they're so big they taste awful.

#6 - On the up side, I did pickle some veg this year, and I really quite enjoyed that.  I think that's a fun way to enjoy what I grow and not feel so overwhelmed to eat a mass of tomatoes in one sitting.

#7 - I'm investing in raised beds this next summer.  I'm not convinced I'm a good gardener  but before I give up on this hobby entirely, I'm going to try and do this in a way that is more rewarding for me.

#8 - I'm TRILLED to see the huge pumpkin in my garden this year.  I get a huge smile whenever I go out there, knowing that guy is going to be the coolest carved jack ever this year. I don't care how old I get, carving pumpkins is so fun.

#9 - I do know I'm learning.  I do know that as much as I don't know, I know more now than I did two years ago, and as I go forward and learn more of what I like to grow, what I am good at growing and what my garden WANTS to grow I can only get better at this, and maybe at some point in my future when my career and house projects aren't taking up so much of my time this little hobby will get more of my brain power and I can do the proper amount of research I should be doing to make it a success.  In the meantime, I do enjoy myself when I have the time to devote to it.

#10 - This year, I'm not putting straw down when I put the garden to bed, and I WILL do some research about that compost bin before then so I'm fully prepared for next spring.  :)

#11 - Bush Beans, and climbing beans are VERY, very different, and should not be seeded in the same location....note to self, put the climbing beans on something they can climb on, or they will choke out the bush beans.

Happy Gardening family.   I hope everyone else has had a successful summer of veggies.

The Return of the Never Ending Zucchini

My garden has, remarkably, kept itself alive while I was focused on house projects.  I don't have much diversity this year, but things ARE growing, which considering my lack of interest in it most of the spring is pretty impressive.

I went for 3 separate zucchini plants this year with a cucumber and a pumpkin thrown in....but when things were not coming up, I threw in a few more seeds to see how it would go.  Low and behold, I have a garden full of spreading zucchini plants that are overtaking everything else.  Every morning I go out there i move the tendrils into a new direction trying to navigate the other plants...each morning I feel like I've gotten another foot of growth!

My peas are looking very "pea'y" and growing up the bed frame we put out there.  I have tried a few, and they're delicious!  

My first 2 blueberries!  YAAAY.  I'm not really sure when they are going to be ripe.  I'm just enjoying looking at them at this point.  It's been 2 years now and these are the first two I've gotten.  

The asparagus is in an awful spot.  I think I might have to start over entirely with the Aspargus as soon as I put the raised beds in.  At this point I feel like it's not worth my time to manage them in any way.  

I'm giving up on all veg that Aphids like.  I'm just...SO discouraged.  I've tried non-chemical methods, (soap and water only, water every single morning, washing leaves) and this year, I even resorted to chemicals to kill the aphids.  Chemicals showed the best results but they are still eating my cabbage and kohlrabi alive, I feel so defeated with this issue.  I'm just, DONE trying.  Next summer, I'm not going to try again.  I'm going to do hearty veg and not worry about it.  

3 tomato plants is 2, too many!  Once again I have the most bountiful tomato plants ever!  I've got so much fruit on the limbs they are sagging everywhere.  I don't have enough stakes to prop up all the limbs.  

This year, I bought onion starts from the Portland Nursery and wow have they taken off!  They're lovely to look at and sooo fragrant!  LOVE them.  

saddest little cabbage ever....

Garden #3

Wow.  I cannot believe it's the 12th of May and I'm only now getting my seeds in the ground.  Derrick and I have been so focused on getting the yard project done we have ignored the garden almost entirely this year.

Today I got the garden raked up, and I put seeds in.  I did not think it out this year like I did last year, I literally went through what was left of my seeds from last year and threw them in rows.  The mice got into my seed stash this winter so I didn't have a lot to choose from.  I put what was left in a sealed container, I hope that will keep the remaining seeds for next year or later this summer.

I have some leeks, carrots, cauliflower, two types of beans, peas, tomatoes, jalepenos and some potatoes.  I  might sneak to the store in the next week or so and buy some corn too, I just am in love with fresh corn.

I've given up on spinach and lettuce, I can't eat it fast enough, and I did buy some starts of cabbage and kholorabi this year because I was just so late with everything, I didn't think I'd see anything if I didn't.

oh!  And 3 mounds for zuccini this year, 2 for winter squash and 1 for cucumbers!

Spring or still Winter?

Winter still has not given up at Snowshoe Inn.  Last week we had weather in the 60's today the high was 31 degrees F.  Saturday Fred Meyer had there cutting sale for geraniums and fuchsias.  I picked up about 40 plants.  Had to quickly move them from car to greenhouse.  We continue to harvest greens sown in August from cold frame and cold greenhouse. 

 As I post this it continues to snow.  Nearly 7 pm and about one inch of snow on the lawn areas.

 Snow drops are still hanging in.  They have been up quite a while.  It has taken them several years to become this vigorous.  I am excited that they are doing so well in our climate.
 

 Cold frames earlier in day, no snow yet.  I harvested spinach, lettuce and other greens from them for tonight's dinner.  Fresh and crisp when it was 29 degrees at the time they were harvested.
 Here is the lettuce and other greens before harvesting them tonight.  Plenty of greens to keep us going until I sow more when the real spring arrives.

 This is garlic planted last September.  I can not believe how much they have grown this winter/spring.

 This is a gooseberry Joshua sent me for my birthday last fall.  The buds started to swell several weeks ago and now leaves are beginning to emerge.  I hope they can handle the cool weather to come this spring.

Some of the crocus planted in a grassy area west of the cabin.  It is interesting to see them flower.  The flowers move across the grassy area each week as things warm up.  Last season they were actually came up through the snow. 

Spring in Central Oregon Cascades

Winter does not give up with out a fight here in the Central Oregon Cascades.  We have had several snow falls in the past week.  The snow does not stay long but night time temperatures are normally below freezing every morning and often down to 17 degrees F.   I continue to use my cold frames and heated greenhouse to over winter crops planted in fall.   We are full swing in harvesting Leeks and spinach sown in the fall.  I moved one of my heat pads to the greenhouse bench and now have a few early crops sown for spring. Bobbe is excited to have basil, and cilantro coming up.  I will grow these in pots for early harvests. 

Not much happened this summer

This years garden was not as joyful as last years.  I feel as though I put much more thought and preparation into this years layout, selection of vegetables, placement of flowers to decrease pests and I got very little productivity.  My green beans were wonderful, I had 1 successful head of cabbage, 1 acorn squash, a boat load of tomatoes (next year only 1 plant), a few peppers that never got spicy, and 2 full onions....

Oh, and my lone sunflower, after seeding and reseeding two different types of sunflowers only one ever made it up.  Again, I have large stalks of brussle sprouts and no sprouts to show for it.  I've not given up on them....but my goodness how much taller will they get without giving me anything to eat?

I was very successful in growing a very nice selection of weeds this year.  Those and my tomatoes were the only thing that seemed to work out....I didn't even get one zucchini!  And I planted 2 plants.

I would like to put in all raised beds for next year, but I think that cost will have to be moved to another year until we can get some money socked away again.

I'll have another year of weeding and hunkered over working with my rocky soil before I can have the luxury of a full garden with raised beds.

I hope your crops were more successful than mine this year!

Tiffany's Garden-The Watermelon Capital of Oregon

Well we  are finally going to post on Tiffany's garden.  We transplanted the garden in her stock trough in May.  She started to harvest Swiss Chard soon afterwards. 

In July we were up for Justin's birthday party.  The garden is beginning to produce.   

Fall Gardening

It is hard for me to plan too far ahead but July and August is time to start planing and begin sowing fall & winter gardens.  Once the cooler weather of fall arrives growth slows down.   Last winter I harvested spinach from 24 plants and a few dozen leeks all winter and continued to harvest those plants until June when they finally bolted.  This winter I will be growing more spinach, kale, carrots, leeks.   On this side of the mountains having a lite frost frost blanket and poly cover removes much of the stress that out in the open growing puts on the plants.  The wind and cold rains seem to be hard on plants.  I have lots to learn about fall and winter gardening but during the winter I have time to enjoy my garden in my high tunnel.

Fall leeks

Last weekend I transplanted 4 rows of fall leeks.  I still have later sowing to transplant for late fall and early winter and late winter harvest.  I had mom;s neighbor cut two old culverts into 18, 24, & 30 inch sections.  I transplanted yellow squash and winter squash into them Sunday.  I do have a few kale beginning to get large enough to harvest a few leaves.  Next weekend I will transplant my summer tomatoes to the large cold house.  I am going to put them in large 17 gallon landscape pots.  With the warmer weather this week things should begin to grow. 

Keep warm & dry

Bob

Happy 4th of July!!

I spent the morning weeding out my garden (much, much over due).  It's an amazingly sunny day here in Portland.  The weeding was pretty easy to do, even though there was so much of it.

After replanting my lettuce, some flowers beans and my acorn squash I feel much better about my garden.  Everything is peaking out at me now.  Everything but the sunflowers.  And I don't expect them until later in the summer.  We need some warm days before I expect to see them.










I hate admitting it, but Derrick was completely right.  I'm going to do raised beds next year.  This bending over and weeding my whole garden is really becoming a much bigger chore than I anticipated.  I think this fall we'll put the raised beds in.  I think we'll have a total of 10 beds, including the 3 we already have.

 A lot of rows not growing...might replant.  No leeks so far, no Cauliflower so far, no carrots....and not one single flower has come up to bring the good insects to eat all those aphids.  May just run to the store and buy some that have already been started....we'll see how that works out.

 The pile of weeds before I carried them away.  

Fall & winter garden

Well seed catalogs are out for fall & winter gardens.  Territorial Seed & Johnny's Seed are my primary sources of seeds and information.  www.territorialseed.com  ,  www.johnnyseeds.com
Ellie, I am learning how to do more on Blogger  :)

  Time to order garlic cloves, I am going to plant 50% hard neck and 50% soft neck this year again.  The hard neck has the scipes that are fun to harvest and enjoy this time of the year.  The hard neck garlic do not keep well so they are also the first to be used in fall cooking.  I save the soft neck for late winter- summer cooking as they store better.  I have 3 or 4 cloves left from last season's harvest.  I planted two 4 X 7 beds of garlic last fall, so I will have lots to cook with this summer and next winter.  I am looking forward to sowing spinach, kale, cabbage, winter beets, winter carrots in August in the unheated greenhouse.  I will be taking out the old spinach from last season next week in my free time.
It is interesting, I checked my soil temperature Thursday, it is only 55 degrees now.  One reason things grow so slow here. Check your soil temperature and let me know how you compare.  I have to remember that just a few weeks ago it was snowing and we had 20 degree nights.

Well time to go.

enjoy

Bob

Sunday June 10th

Bobbe's ready for summer

 Sunday was a great day and our geraniums are out and I pray no frost.  We will see if I jumped the gun.  Mom was out for Sunday dinner and spent most of the day on the patio.  :)

Bob

More faith that spring is near

Early June Snowshoe Inn

 Things grow so slow at this elevation.  I harvested the last of the leeks I sowed last summer today.   We had one of the small leek in our salad tonight, Bobbe plans another meal with remaining leeks.  I am so happy with the leeks from last year.  I have multiple varieties in the greenhouse nearly ready for out planting for next  fall and  winter harvest.

The spinach we have been grazing on all winter has gone crazy and beginning to bolt.  I will pull the remaining spinach and put in compost pile in a week or so.  I have new seedlings in the raise beds and and greenhouse nearly ready for transplanting to garden soon.  Another success for Snowshoe Inn garden.
The garlic I planted last fall are looking great (compared to last year).  The low tunnel is a great success on this plant.  The garlic in the low tunnels are nearly twice the size of the ones from the open garden.  I plan to compare total production between low tunnel and non low tunnel garlic when I harvest them in July or August.  I am still cooking with the garlic harvested last summer.  The hard neck garlic do not keep as long as the soft neck garlic.  This year I will cook with the hard neck varieties first and keep the soft neck varieties for later in the season.

The asparagus is a disappointment so far.  I have had problems getting it established.  I have a few roots that are well established but not enough to provide a real meal at one time. The roots I planted last year are just starting to come up now.  Still quite small.  I am fertilizing them with compost and keeping them weed free as best as I can.  The roots I planted this spring still have not come up.  It seems to take forever for first year roots to come up.  Last season some of the roots did not come up until very late in the season.   We love asparagus but if they do not do better soon I will pull them out and put something in that produces better.

The herbs this year are coming on.  The Cilantro   Is a real challenge,  I need to get in the groove and sow new plants ever two to three weeks.  The plants it herb garden are beginning to bolt already.   The parcly is fine, Oh, the chives are great for the early season.  Everything else is just slow to produce this early in the season.   I transplanted my french Tarragon today to a large pot.   I am  thinking about planting two  her gardens, on in pots near the back door, and a second in the fenced garden.   It just depends on if I can find the free time.

After nearly 40 years of marriage I learned that Bobbe loves black berries.  Very hard to grow here.  I had had a couple of plants here for two seasons and no berries yet.  I moved the one surviving plant to the blue berry house today.  We will see how it does.  I am thinking about going up near Sutton Lake a digging a bunch of the native wild black berries from there to my garden.   They are great flavor but very low production.  Better to have a few great berries than none.  I am thinking about the same thing for the native huckleberries.  I may make a trip the the east side of Mt. Hood and take cuttings to be rooted and transplanted to my garden.

Well I have stuck my neck out and hung my fuchsia baskets and put out many of the other tender perennials out today.   It has been quite mild and no frost for the past few days.   I check the weather forecast via the NWS for this area nightly.  If frost is in the forecast I will put the plants in the house.

Like I have said in the past it gardening here was easy it would not be as much fun.

Bob