Our Compost System

We've used just about every method of composting: sheet composting, the 14-day method, vermicomposting (earthworms), and the make-a-pile-and-leave-it-alone-for-a-year-or-two method, and combinations in between. We still have some piles and bins with compost in them from a year or more ago. We still use and like vermicomposting.

But we've decided that all that pile-building and turning and watering and hauling is too much work. Instead, we ... Read More >>

February in the Garden

February is just about the last chance to plant peas. Also plant mesclun, lettuce, beets, cole veggies (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale), radishes, Swiss chard, turnips, carrots, and potatoes.

Choose the Right Carrot Variety for your Soil
When choosing carrot varieties, consider the heaviness of your soil. Sow short, stubby carrots in heavy clay soils and longer, tapered ones in looser sandy soil. Tips of the tap roots will grow four to six inches further down than the edible portion.

Plant bare-root asparagus, horseradish and artichokes.

Prune fruit trees if you haven't already. Feed them. Mulch avocado trees.

Make a compost pile.

Start seeds indoors for:

• Cole crops (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage) -- 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost. That would be the first part of February. These can be transplanted into the garden two weeks or so before the last frost.
• Tomatoes -- 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost. That would be mid February.

January in the Garden

Today is home-grown and home-made meal day at our house. This morning we had eggs (from our chickens), sausage (made Saturday), biscuits, and milk (from our goats).  

Tonight we are planning Rosemary-Lemon Chicken, roasted cabbage, snow peas, butternut squash, and our home-made soft-drink.  Oh, and home-made ice cream for dessert! All food ingredients but the squash were harvested in the last few days or will be later today. The squash was harvested in summer. The ingredients for the soft-drink are not home-grown, but we do make it ourselves. The vanilla extract in the ice cream, is not home-grown, but it is home-made.

Several cabbages are ready to harvest, which means that we'll be making sauerkraut in the next few days.

January is time to plant garlic, onion, and shallot bulbs.

It's time also to prune roses. By the way, if you have plants that have been damaged by frost (like our kiwi vines), do not prune off the damaged parts. They may be ugly, but they'll help protect the rest of the plant from further frost damage.


Rake your lawn and/or your neighbors' lawns for leaves for your compost pile.

Once all the leaves have fallen from your fruit trees, you can prune them. While you are pruning your deciduous trees you can also trim your conifers.

Purchase and plant bare-root roses, fruit trees, vines, and veggies. Camellias and  Azaleas, too. 

Spray your roses and deciduous trees with a dormant spray.

Order seeds and supplies from seed catalogs (more on that in the next post).

Finding More Space

Last week we spent a few days cleaning out the garage and some corners and edges of the yard.

As far as the garage goes, the plan is to make plenty of room to set up an aquarium for a breeding colony of tilapia. We want to be able to raise our own on a continual and constant basis--more sustainability from home. If possible, we also want to have room to put in a fish tank to hold the rest of the tilapia during the cooler months where it is easier heat the tank, while we grow trout in the outside tanks. The trout need the cold water. We'll see what happens.

As for the yard, we cleared some brush and some wood piles and trimmed some trees so that we can have a little more planting space, or more space for our poultry. Between the new beds in the front yard and the space gained in the backyard, we'll be adding about four hundred square feet of growing beds. We'll also be adding some shelter for the ducks and geese for nest boxes and some pens for keeping them confined when we want or need them to be out from under foot.

Do you have a sunny lawn in your front yard? Why do you have a sunny lawn? You water, weed, fertilize, and mow. Why not put in edible landscape in that sunny spot in your front yard? With a strong hardscape (the structural elements: walkways, fences, planters, trellises, etc.) and the right choices of plants, you can water, weed, fertilize, just as you would with a lawn, but instead of mowing grass, you can harvest fruits and veggies that are good to eat.

Although we have had herbs and dwarf fruit trees in our front yard for several years, we are just now putting in raised beds and trellises for growing garden vegetables. We’ll be posting details along with photos of our experiment as it unfolds.

There are several good books available to show you how. Our current favorite is Yvette Soler’s The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden.