Late August/Early September Update on the Urban Farm

I tried growing yarrow from seed at the beginning of the summer
and it never came up. I found this plant at Lowe's for $5. It's perennial
 and helps keep pests away from plants.

August really was a crazy-busy month! I can't believe that fall is just around the corner. I know completely understand while schools in the pioneer/agrarian days were mostly open from harvest through until the planting begun. You needed all those extra hands to just get the work done.

One crookneck squash plant removed, two celery and a dozen
radishes put in.

I recently read an interesting article that in days gone by, summer was not for play and fun. How contrary to our current culture of summer vacations! No, summer was for planting...the partying happened once the harvest was in. Without the harvest, you didn't eat through the winter, so the party began once the canning, smoking and salting was complete.

This is my newest grow bed. A great suggestion from my
local hydroponics store! THIS is what urban farmers spend
their birthday money on!

We are a far cry from having enough through the winter, but it's a start. And by the local, organic farmer's market prices ($3-$4 per pound!), I estimate that I have already harvested about $100-$150 worth of food. I truly think that's a very low estimate, but I'm prone to exaggeration, so it's good for me to think small.

The peas are coming up!

But...the harvest has only just begun. In the last four weeks, I've planted 4 kinds of lettuce, peas, sugar snap pea pods, 3 varieties of kale, collards, green beans, 2 kinds of spinach, 4 different beets, a rainbow of chard, 5 kinds of radishes, parsley, as well as furiously and feverishly fought off cabbage worm from my cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, green cabbage and bok choy.

The cauliflower is looking better after almost daily organic
insectisidal soap spraying,

I'm now also preparing my green houses and getting ready to repurpose my potato tubs for cold frames that will be placed near my kitchen door. I'm hoping to continue spinach, kale, collards and lettuces, well into December.

I found the plain wooden crate in a neighbor's trash pile, brought
it home, painted it purple, lined it with landscape fabric, and
planted bok choy & kale in it.

I've also been talking a lot with my local hydroponics store about how to cost-effectively start a flood and drain system in my basement as soon as the weather turns cold.

The tomatoes look very tired! I had way too many in the large
Smart Pot grow bed.

With every spent pepper, tomato, squash or zucchini plant that is pulled up, I immediately ask myself, what I can put in it's place. Depending upon the current phase of the moon, it's either a root crop or an above ground one. Without a definite cold-frame system in place, we're probably at the end of above ground planting in our area. So I've taken cuttings from my two favorite tomato plants and am attempting to propagate them so I can place them in my sunniest location inside, like I did last year. The harvest will be smaller and less frequent, but to have a vine-ripened tomato in February with 10 inches of snow on the ground is totally worth it!

I told the girls they could spray paint the outside
to make the compost bin look better.

I've also been trying to get my composting ramped up. It's time to start a second wormery and I've finally gotten some concrete blocks around the outdoor pile. I'm not the best at paying careful attention to the outdoor one, mainly because the mosquitos have been brutal this year. It's my goal to get it finished so that come Spring I'll have oodles of compost to supplement any purchases that need to be made.

So that's it for now. I'll leave you with a few photos of some of my harvests. I hope you've had a successful growing season and continue to grow as long as your local weather allows.

Preserving the Harvest: Basil

[Note: This idea is not originally from me.]

One of my annual summer dilemmas is how to preserve my herbs. I absolutely love fresh herbs. Saying "love" in this case, may be an understatement. 

I grew up in a household where my mom's seasoning skills stopped with salt and pepper. She had herbs, but every time I experimented with a new recipe and asked if we had ______________, you could expect the following response: "I do...but I've had them since we were married." (at that time, about 20 years!)

Let me just say that the perfect example of my initiation into the world of fresh herbs was the first time I tasted fresh parsley in a dish. I never understood why you added dried "grass" (aka parsley) into a recipe. It had no smell, no taste and just took up space on the shelf. With my first parsley pesto...the stars aligned and I was hooked.

I adore fresh herbs so much that I have attempted to grow basil, rosemary, cilantro, chives and parsley,  inside in the winter with varying degrees of success.There is always a corner of my summer garden exclusively dedicated to herbs.  There is truly nothing that compares to the fresh spring and summer herbs that go from garden to the table!

But...you can only use so much of a good thing at one time. And this year, with about 20 basil plants (cinnamon, lemon, thai, holy and the traditional Genovese) around the farm, I'm itching to find a better way of preserving the harvest.

I've dried basil in the past and it's an okay substitute, but it loses a lot of flavor in the drying process. I dry herbs by tying bundles and hanging them in my kitchen. It's a great conversation piece and last year, hanging over our dining room table from the chandelier above it, I have to confess, it looked pretty cool. Going back to basil though, drying just wasn't cutting it. (No pun intended!)

A couple of years ago, I read about chopping them, placing the pieces in an ice cube tray and covering them with olive oil. After freezing them, you are supposed to have little cubes of flavored oil to use in your recipes. The first time I did it, they came out beautifully. The second attempt, they were little oily globs of herbal goo. I had to completely pitch the second batch unless I wanted to just scoop them out as I used them. The first batch mocked me from their plastic baggie as I impatiently threw away the second batch.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when a friend said, "Oh, I just make little ice cubes of water and herbs with them and toss them in recipes whenever I need them." What?! It's a simple as switching out the oil for water? Why didn't I think of that? I saw the exact same thing somewhere "out there" (Facebook, Pinterest, who knows?) a few days later. 

So this isn't original with me and thanks for hanging through this explanation. I really just want you to know that we're all still learning together so don't be afraid to experiment. learn, grow and move on to the next thing.

In a few very easy steps, here's what you do:

1. Pick and wash your herbs (photo above)

2. Chop them in your food processor, with just a little water (I use purified water). Only use enough to keep the leaves from sticking to the sides of the food processor/chopper.

3. Scrape down the sides to make sure it is all chopped small. You can add a little more water, as needed to keep it from sticking.

4. Put a little spoonful in each cube and top off with enough water to fill the cube.

5. Freeze until solid.

That's it. Other than freezing, it's about 10 minutes from start to finish. I don't think I can contain my excitement about this revelation. I've already lost several pieces of basil this year because I dried them and they didn't turn out well. But now, we can look forward to pestos, teas, sauces and ice creams (yes, ice creams!) all winter long!

Garden Grove Organics, Covington, KY

Today I made my first trip into the hydroponics store that I noticed several months ago while serving at the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. Garden Grove Organics is located at 701 Scott Street in Covington. It may be a small store, but they had a lot of variety, plus a very knowlegeable sales person who helped me find the right product that I hope will save my eggplants. I simple described what's happening to them and he knew a great remedy straight away.

The prices may be a smidge higher than a larger chain, but these are products you're not going to find at the big box stores, like Wal-Mart, Home Depot or Lowe's. I will gladly pay a dollar or two extra to help out a local business and get personal service, instead of trying to figure it all out myself and purchasing things I don't need.

If you're local, need garden or hydroponic supplies and want someone who actually knows what they're talking about to assist you, head down to Garden Grove Organics in Covington. I think you'll feel good about your purchase and confident that their advice is appropriate for your gardening needs.

Update on the Urban Farm

Things are growing on the urban farm. There are dozens of flowers in full bloom, like these marigolds that help keep pests away from the tomatoes.

I bought this rhubarb at the local farmers' market. It has been growing well without the anticipated transplant "shock".

All around the house, I've been pulling up the perennials that have apparently not been separated in several years. Getting under the root systems proved to be rather complicated. But beds halfway around the house like this one above, now have tomatoes, arugula, cucumbers, beans, zucchini, peppers, and summer, spaghetti and butternut squash.

The potatoes are doing great! I've added potting mix as they've grown and it's up to the brim now. The only thing left to do is occasional watering and to wait for the harvest (plus...keep the pests off!).

Three bed bags are filled with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and zucchini, plus marigolds and different types of herbs interspersed for pest control.

Several varieties of basil are planted throughout the tomatoes. A pot of oregano sits in the bed bag too. Rosemary in another bag is also a good pest deterrent.

These potted Mortgage Lifter tomatoes are coming along well and should be ripe within the month.

The corn, Asparagus Yard-Long beans and Christmas Lima beans have all sprouted.

The Rainbow Chard has been harvested for baby greens and is still going strong.

A bed of crookneck squash, Luffa gourd, Rainbow chard and tomato has had some great blooms lately. Plus, we've harvested a few Chioggia beets from the pot in the background.

We've also planted several annuals to bring the pollinators, which are scarce in this area.

Impatiens have always been one of my favorite annuals, but in the apartment, we never had a shady place to put them. Here on the urban farm, we have one strategically placed plant hook that makes impatiens a possibility again.

Along with lettuce, chard and beets and a plethora of Tendercrisp celery, we've harvested some less than stellar cauliflower, red cabbage and broccoli. With temperatures that rapidly go from 40s to 80s in May, the wide variance and upkeep on water demand evidently influenced the final product. I'm thinking that a fall harvest may have a much better chance and that gives us time to get some beds built for late summer plantings. We've already started several cauliflower and celery plants that will go out in late July to early August. 

This photo was taken almost two weeks ago. The cauliflower are starting their third set of leaves and the celery have just sprouted in the last day.

From this update, you can probably tell that it's been quite busy here on the urban farm. My eldest chastised me (via Houston) that I was pulling up all the pretty plants in place of veggies. [I should point out that she's the Vegan. Irony?] Anyway, she arrives home from Houston on July 31st. She'll probably miss the flowers, but just to prove her wrong, I've left an entire side of the house in bloom.

Enjoy Abbey!

It's Growing Time!

Now that you have your seeds and plants in the ground, it may seem like you have nothing to do but sit back and watch your plants grow. Nothing could be further from reality. Your plants need water, occasional fertilizing, pruning and general TLC. 

Check on your plants daily. Observe the buds, blooms, shoots and yes, even what pests may be lurking under their tender leaves, munching new holes through them more rapidly than you can spray. Aphids and many other small pests can be blasted off with a spray hose, but stubborn worms and insects may need a homemade concoction sprayed on to keep them at bay.

Now is the time to enjoy your garden. You've done the hard labor, the maintenance is minimal and the overwhelming harvest has yet to begin. Take a few moments everyday, or as often as possible to look at the blooms, observe the bees, butterflies and the beautiful show that Creation displays for you. 

Dare to take off your shoes in the dirt or the grass and I promise you that you'll feel relaxed and revived. The sights, sounds, smells (especially if you rub some basil or rosemary between your fingers) will ignite the desire to grow more, do more and eat more from your own backyard or patio.

Smart Pot Big Bag Bed: A Product Review

It's raining outside, so I thought I'd use the break from my break-neck pace of planting to give you my first product review. And for the first, it sets the bar high because I have yet to find a down side to the Smart Pot Big Bag Bed.

Moving into our home at the peak of planting season, I knew I'd be hard-pressed to get everything out that I wanted in time for summer growth. In one of my Urban Farm Magazines (a periodical that has since closed) I first saw an advertisement that indicated Smart Pots could be used as raised beds. I mentioned my plans to use these to a friend and she got one for herself and has been growing cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, bok choy and herbs in it.

Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?

It should! The Big Bag Bed holds 100 gallons of potting mix and has 13.5 cubic feet of growing space. It's round, so that is the only "difficult" accommodation that my linear mind grapples with. On a square foot garden scale, I should be have the equivalent of 13+ squares, but going by the 5 gallon bucket per tomato plant standard I've used in the past, I should have about 20 "spaces" to use.

If you're an accomplished gardener, you'll be able to "eyeball" how many plants you can use. If you are a beginner, start with the 13 square foot space idea and tuck in lots of small herbs and plants that don't need large root space.

One word of caution: at 100 gallons, this is going to take a lot of potting mix. I went discount by mixing my own from peat, vermiculite and compost. This will be your greatest expense, because at $40 or less for the Big Bag Bed, I really don't think you can build a raised bed for any less than this. I've also been told that just like a wooden raised bed, you need only amend the soil in years to come and that the bag itself should last up to 10 years.

If you want an easier way to garden quickly and something that will pay for itself in the long run, this is definitely an option to explore!

Wow! Has It Been a Busy Month!

I notice it's been just around a month since I launched this blog, and I have yet to update anyone about what's been taking place. It took a little longer than anticipated to complete our closing. So now, not only have we been scurrying to get things moved, boxes unpacked and necessities found...I've personally been on hyper-drive trying to get the urban farm up and running.

Just moving 25+ 5 gallon container pots from apartment to house has been physically demanding...but worth every achey muscle! I've been having some pretty long days, but for the most part, deep sleep has been an amazing fringe benefit of all this effort.

On an urban farm, every possible available square inch is used for growing food. Over time, we'll pull up the perennials that outline the entire house, and instead create raised beds, or work with the current beds, as I did with the two Green Globe Artichokes planted today in these beds. These artichokes can grow up to 5 feet. As they grow, we'll pull up the other bushes and perennials in their path.

There's no denying, this is tough work. But when I see these gorgeous Red Acre Cabbages and feel the tennis-ball-sized heads growing inside, or I harvest a small head of Winter Density Lettuce for lunch, I am reminded that it is more than worth it.

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Come back soon for my first product review!