This growing season is over. I noticed that the temperature this morning was 46 so I know that things are cooling off quickly. In one weekend, the air was much crisper and the breeze nearly earned a scarf around my neck as I made coffees at the Purple Moose. (I will definitely consider it this weekend.)

But before the cooler air this weekend I spent a warm afternoon in the yard. I picked some kohlrabi, some peas, onions and took one rhubarb plant down to the dirt. I also tore out some slug infested marigolds that I was tired of looking at. I still have more work to do to prepare for winter, but I got started and I always try to enjoy and blooms until they literally freeze. Then they go in the trash. I think I may have a few weeks left before I put up the planter boxes and pull everything out of the garden.

The leaves have begun to turn, the fireweed is red and the mountains are beatiful. I really want to do a hike before it snows. I think I will go take some photos of those mountains!!

Excitement and Disappointment

I have seen some beautiful gardens around town, flowers and vegetables blooming and growing. I am just a bit envious because mine just really sucked this year. I don't use this word a lot. I don't want the boys to hear me and repeat it, but it is the only thing I can come up with. I didn't grow much, the broccoli got root maggots, only a few lettuces germinated, it rained too much and my dirt was either soggy and puddley or dry from all the wind. Sucky.

Honestly, I am okay with it. I had a lot of fun. My hubby built my beautiful planter boxes and picked up loads of dirt for me. The boys kept their distance and didn't play in them or trample anything:) I learned a lot and got some good advice from friends. Even though everything is not done growing, summer is over...the summer we never had! and I am already looking forward to next spring to get going on this project again. Here are a few things I will do differently or in addition to:

1. Mix Potting Soil, Steer Manure and Coffee Grounds into the beds before I plant.

2. Use Miracle Grow Seed Starter.

3. Use plastic trays not the pressed paper seed starters.

4. Purchase more starters from Jacobson's. I really liked this greenhouse and everything I buy there does well/did well. Broccoli, Kohlrabi, Zucchini, Lettuce, Strawberries. Early May.

5. Look for a Mini Greenhouse for my own starts. Peas, Lettuce, Onions.

6. Prep Raspberry and Strawberry beds.

7. Plant Marigolds in both veggie beds.

8. Work on my Perennial plans...I have a lot of big ideas for lanscaping around the house!

I will take more pictures soon when the end is nearer and I have something to show for all of my work:)

July Photos

End of June

Well, this has been quite an adventure. My confidence has gone up and down like a riding a roller coaster as I have watched my transplanted onions, zucchini, lettuce, broccoli and peas poop out on me and then perk up again.

The zucchini failed and I pulled it out, fluffed up my dirt and added some potting soil to help hold moisture. Just yesterday I planted new seeds and covered them with some plastic to help keep them warmer. We have had a horrible June. A lot of wind, rain and cold temps have visited this month. Plenty of friends have told me that me garden has felt the effects and it has not just been my doing.

I also replanted my lettuce seeds right in the garden. I believe I saw some sprouts yesterday, but not in every place I planted. I don't think I will use the same seeds next year, the seeds I planted inside didn't germinate either. And the neither did the spinach.

But the broccoli, peas and kholrabi starts I planted are doing great. I am really happy with my first attempt at a garden and have some ideas and tips to try next spring. Now I just have to get out there with my camera and say some more prayers! :)

Visual Progress...I have SPROUTS!!

The zucchini sprouts are their favorite.

I have some very curious boys... who are so very helpful!

Procrastination or Divine Intervention?

I need to find out if there is a Saint I can pray to for my garden. (I will google that right after I finish this post.) I have been feeling a bit of guilt for planting my seeds what I thought may had been too late. But this afternoon the clouds rolled in and while it smelled like rain, there are some wet snowflakes falling outside my window. Actually, this is the second Spring snow in the last couple of weeks so I think God is saying it is okay and those little seeds will be just fine.

With everything going on in my family, remember that I have 4 little boys, a husband and a geriatric dog, I know that those plants are not going to make it into the ground the first week of June. And with this weather? Maybe they aren't supposed to be! So I have about 5 weeks or so to get the planter boxes built and the ground ready and the final decision of where on earth to plant everything!! And that is the most difficult part...where to put my garden??? Oh, and I need to find a place with some good dirt to order. I am going to need a couple a pick-up truck loads for the boxes, to fill the retaining wall for my ferns, and to till into the back area behind the shed for my Raspberry bushes that will be coming soon.

So I am off to google the Saints!!
p.s. I have Broccoli sprouts today. Are they supposed to be fuzzy or is that mold? Hmmmm...

Denali Seeds

PEAS- Olympia
Short Vines, Yeilds Double Pods

ZUCCHINI- Black Beauty OP
Mid Season OP Variey

BROCCOLI- Green Sprouting Calabrese
Early Heirloom Variety

LETTUCE- Salad Bowl
Leaf

SPINACH- Bloomsdale Long Standing
Bolt Resistant OP Variety

CARROTS- Tendersweet
Late, Very Sweet Nearly Coreless

ONIONS- Evergreen Bunching
Hardy Bunching Onions over long season

Two Jiffy Trays.
15 plants each
Planted 4/19/10

Alaska Gardening Guide

I have been doing a lot of Gardening homework in all of my free time. I don't have much of it so I had to read very fast! My good friend Laura, who has used some of her free time to become a Master Gardener, allowed me to borrow a gardening book. After reading a few pages and checking out the Appendixes, I knew that I had to get one of my own so that I could write notes, scribble and fold pages over. Alaska Gardening Guide by Ann D. Roberts has given me all the beginners knowledge I have needed to start this monster of a project. Ooo, and I just noticed that the title also says Volume I, Alaska Vegetables for Northern Climates. Are there more volumes?!? I can't wait to find out!

One section asks a few questions...
1. What kind of garden do I want? Herb, vegetable or flower? Well, all of them of course!! But the more realistic answer involves some details. Herbs don't really interest me this year. I want to grow some vegetables and start with ones that I know my boys will eat and those that I will use. I don't need to learn how to grow veggies right now that are risky.

I want to grow...
Broccoli
Carrots
Lettuce
Spinach
Zucchini
Onions
Peas

I already have three rhubarb plants that produce more than I can use!! And I plan on transplanting some Raspberry bushes to begin giving us some berries next summer. Flowers are a must. I love looking at them and deadheading blossoms. I am sure I will love weeding too. It is tedious work but I like detailed work and the time away all by myself in the beds will be blissful, yes even while weeding! I have experience with Pansies and Marigolds and I would like to add Gladiolas and Nasturtiums to my planters and half barrels.

2. How serious do I want to get about gardening? Well, I want something that I can enjoy doing. It will be small, maybe two 4x6 raised beds.

3. How much do I need to feed my family and how much will I need to plant to obtain that? Whew! I have no idea to either of those questions. I went to a U-Pick farm last year and picked a lot of veggies. The first thing I noticed was that they lasted longer in my fridge so I didn't need to buy broccoli or lettuce so frequently. That also helped me see how large some of these plants can get! So this one will keep me guessing and provide all the info I will need for next year.

On paper it doesn't look like much. The list looks pretty short and manageable...but we will see. I am an organized mom, but this may be tough! But that's okay...those veggies can bring it!

Press Conference Statement

Keeping a journal or a diary has always been a desire of mine. There have been many, many, many attempts. I have tried the "Oooo, my new journal is so cute, I will surely write in it everyday...every week...okay once a month. I promise." I have tried keeping a food journal to help me lose weight and a prayer journal to help clear my head and remind me that God is in my life everyday...every week...well, at least once a month. Where are those journals anyway?

I am not a good writer, but I like writing. I mean, I like the act of writing. I believe in the Pen and the Paper. I believe in the quick Scribble rather than the Backspace key. I love to doodle while I think. I am a horrible typer. Computers confuse me and error messages scare me!

This year I joined the Facebook society and have also begun to peruse some personal blogs about subjects that interest me like knitting, cooking and parenting. Blog. I have no idea what it means or how it originated. Maybe I will google it sometime. As I was skimming some of these blogs I kept thinking "journal." But the truth is I may have been more interested in the decorating of it all. The fonts and backgrounds, color schemes and photos were alerting my creative signals and reminding me of my graphic design days.

So I decided to enter the blogging society as well. And coming up with a subject was not difficult at all. My last three summers in my new town of Palmer, Alaska have been calling me to garden and grow some of my own food. But that first summer I was preggers with my second set of twin boys. The second summer I was just way too busy with my four boys and this last summer, the budget was way too tight to begin the investment. I didn't even plant pansies in my boxes last year!

So here I begin, with a brand new cute journal and a subject I am interested in. I don't really have a blueprints for this adventure. It is now March and I have awhile until I harvest anything. I suppose I will begin some research, record information and ideas. I hope this journal will help me as I learn my lessons and it grows as it decides to.

-A Very Inspired Blogger-

p.s. This entire entry was handwritten, edited with scribbles and arrows and doodled on prior to posting.