Spring Is In Full Swing

Our Chocolate Peppermint Patch

It's Springtime, and all of the springtime activities are in full swing here on the mini-farm.

The first kids of the year have arrived; Inga, one of our milk goats, surprised us yesterday morning with a buckling and a doeling. All three are doing just fine. Ilsa, Heidi, and Gretchen are expected to kid within the next two weeks or so.

Egg production is in full swing.

Our goose, Buttercup, is firmly settled onto her clutch of eggs--about fifteen of them. She is about two weeks into her 35-day task. She was off the nest today for a few minutes but returned to duty after a bite to eat and a splash in the water barrel. Wesley, our gander is a watchful, careful, sentry.

Early crops are ready to harvest: beets, turnips, rutabagas, chard, spinach, carrots, collards. A full crock of cabbage-soon-to-be-sauerkraut sits on the counter in the kitchen.

Fruit: Apples, Peaches, Citrus, and Almonds have set. Olive tree is in bloom (this year, we're expecting our first crop). Goji is also in bloom. Pecan is about to bloom.

Mints: Peppermint, Spearmint, Chocolate Peppermint, and Apple mint have are giving abundant harvests.

A month ago or so, we began starting our intended crops from seed in flats and pots in the nursery area. We are using one of our aquaponic growing beds to keep the seedlings well-watered and fertilized. We've been planting out our peppers (Bell, Pepperoncini, Padron), tomatoes (Early Girl), eggplant (Black Beauty), cucumbers (pickling and slicing), squash (zucchini), and herbs.

We still have quite a few things to plant out:

50 San Marzano tomato plants--an Italian heirloom sauce tomato. We intend to grow enough to can 75 quarts of tomato sauce this summer, which will beat the record of 50-plus quarts a couple of years ago.

Russian Black Cherry Tomatoes, Tomatillos.

Herbs: marjoram, sage, summer savory, rosemary, chives, and basil.

Dozens of pepper plants--Pepperoncini (both Greek and Italian styles), Anaheim, Poblano (Ancho), Habanero, Cayenne, Padron, and of course, Bell.

Sour Gherkins, Tigger Melons, Watermelon, Honeydew, Cantaloupe.

Squash: Spaghetti, Delicata, Acorn, Pennsylvania Dutch. We'll be using a "three sisters" approach to grow these squashes along with popcorn, and pole beans. Oh, and pumpkin.

Grapes: Red Flame (from cuttings), and Black Monukka.

If we can do this on our small lot, you can too! Start small. Grow at least one thing you like to eat. Get started.

August for Southern California Gardeners

For many gardeners, August is a time to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labors. It's too hot to do anything strenuous in the garden. If we've planned well and worked the plan, watering and harvesting should be about all we really have to do. Most of the plants in the garden are ready to take it easy, too after giving us much pleasure through the season, and now a plentiful harvest.

Crops for a Fall Garden
What to Plant	Days to Maturity
Arugula	40
Beets	60
Broccoli	80
Brussels Sprouts	90
Cabbage	95
Carrots	80
Cauliflower	75
Chard	55
Kale	60
Kohlrabi	60
Lettuce	50
Mizuna	45
Mustard	40
Onions*	60
Radishes	30
Rutabagas	75
Spinach	45
Tatsoi	45
Turnips	50
*Onions for scallions can be planted in late summer or early Fall. Onions and garlic for bulbs should be planted the first week in November for harvest in the Spring.

However, if you're not ready to wind down, in the first part of August, any summer vegetable can be planted. Especially those that love the heat: Okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, watermelons, squash and really any crop that will finish before the days get too short in the fall. We'll be direct seeding Okra, squash, beans, dill, basil, and cukes; setting out transplants of the others.

Near the middle of the month, we will be starting our fall crops from seeds for transplant in September and October: broccoli, cabbage, kale, and cauliflower. 

We like to begin our cool season garden near the end of September because in our inland valley, some September days can be just as scorching hot as the hottest in August. Better to wait for cooler weather near the middle or end of September to set out the cool season transplants.

This chart shows good candidates for the Fall garden, along with their respective days to maturity (the beginning of harvest).  Add to the number of days to maturity another 30 days or so to sprout from seed and to grow to transplant size. In our USDA Zone 9 garden, the first frost comes in mid-December. So we have 90 frost free days from the middle of September until frost.  While many of the cool season crop can stand and even enjoy a light frost (kale, cabbage, and spinach taste better after a frost), any on this list can be safely grown and harvested before the frost.

Time to head to the store to get some seeds, seed starting potting mix, and some containers to start in.

One of Our Favorite Dinners

This dinner we enjoyed a few nights ago may not be fancy, certainly not gourmet, but it is very satisfying, and tasty!. With the garden in full swing and harvests coming in everyday now, we have opportunity to have meals like this that are entirely from our mini-farm. This is one of our favorite dinners because everything on the plate--meat, herbs and veggies--is home grown: the roast Muscovy duck, (with celery, onions, thyme, parsley, and rosemary), sauteed garden peas (with mint), green beans, and sweet pepper.

Of course, we'd like all of our meals to be like this one: home grown. Currently, the meat, milk, fish, eggs, veggies and fruits we're harvesting account for more than 50% of the calories we need. By emphasizing variety and focusing in recent years on growing nutrient dense crops, we can provide for almost all of our nutrition needs. However, because we don't have the space to grow more calorie-rich foods--grains, potatoes, etc.--we "import" them. Ideally, we will be able in the future to have enough surplus of what we can grow, to trade for the staples we cannot grow. With each passing season we come a little closer to that goal.

For example, increasing the number of our laying hens by 25% allows for 25% more eggs than we need. These we can sell or trade. By dedicating just 10% of our growing space in the garden to "cash" crops, we have been able to raise a little money to help pay for our "imports."

You can become more self-sufficient, too. If we can do it, so can you! Start small. Grow a few vegetables. Herbs are pretty easy. Get a couple of chickens--you give them table scraps, they give you eggs! Not only will the food you grow be more nutritious, but it will be more tasty than anything you can buy at the supermarket--because you grew it!

Spring Garden and the New Kids on the Block

The garden is happy after the much needed rains.

Red Cabbage -- Makes great sauerkraut!

"Red Salad Bowl" lettuce.

Chamomile for a soothing tea.

Sweet Banana Pepper - one of Chloe's favorites.

"Anna" Apples

The New Kids on the block.

Heidi and her brand new kids (21 May 2015); still wet. One of each: a buckling and a doeling.

Getting the hang of walking.

The doeling getting a lick from mama.

Square Foot Gardening with Kids!

A Square Foot Garden is more than just a perfect place to grow vegetables--it is an ideal environment for sharing and teaching kids of all ages, and this book will show you how. 

If you liked Square Foot Gardening, and you have kids or grandkids, you'll love Square Foot Gardening with Kids.  It "offers you the proven methods Mel Bartholomew has developed himself to entertain and amaze the kid in all of us. Kids can learn many valuable life lessons from creating their own garden--such as the importance of following instructions and doing your chores, basic skills like counting and water conservation, and learning to appreciate the nature of food and why it is important to respect it, but more than anything, this clever, colorful new book captures the essence of growing edibles for anyone, regardless of age: it is fun and rewarding."

Click here for more information.

Good for Beginners: Square Foot Gardening

We highly recommend this book. We're still using the principles we learned in the first edition. The second edition is even better.

Grow lots of food in a small space. For example, you can grow all of your salad veggies and a bit more in a four foot square bed.

Click here for details:
All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less Space

Some Suggestions for the Beginning Gardener

 If you're just getting into gardening, here are some suggestions to help you have a successful first year.

1. Start with easy crops. Here are several garden veggies that are good confidence-builders--they are fairly easy to grow, clearly show progress as they develop, are very forgiving, and generous with their bounty:

• Beets
• Bush Beans
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Green Pepper
• Lettuce
• Onion
• Pole Beans
• Radish
• Summer Squash

2. Plant your favorite(s). Even if your favorite is a little more work to grow, give it a try. There's no use in learning a new skill if you don't accomplish something pleasing for yourself?

3. Don't plant anything you're not going to eat. If you don't eat green peppers, don't grow them. Similarly, if you don't plan to eat a thousand radishes in a month's time, don't plant a thousand radish seeds. If you eat about a radish a day (that's a lot!), then plant a dozen or so every two weeks.

4. If you can't make it to the garden to work everyday, plant veggies that
don't need to be tended or harvested everyday: cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, carrots and beets.