Simple gardener math

To produce high quality vegetables and fruit in a condensed space would be about 5 acres to live off of confortably; preferably flat land, out of the floodplain. If 1 acre is roughly $20,000 in our area, and we got about 5 acres, then 5 of my friends over a year ls time would only have to save about $1,667.00. At that point, whose in? Let's live off grid now. 

Gardening with art & zen (peaceful water & rock features)

To help you get your home garden started, visit gardens in your area. It will help you visualize and learn what type of plants grow well together, positioning, and types of plants that do best in your area. This garden I visited yesterday was a wedding venue, and I absolutely adored it. The hosta plants were large and in charge! There was even a lime tree growing fruits in my area's gardening zone 6-- I was shocked. The only explanation I had was that this garden was heated in the soil. I'm not sure...

This particular garden was filled with perennial and annual flowers, red maples, pines, tomato and pepper plants, water features and sculpture pieces that made the garden a piece of artwork. That is the thing to remember, your garden is a blank canvas. You can choose the colors, the methods of planting much like painting, and you can have as many bushes, flowers, or trees as you want on your canvas. 

Starting garden in Late Spring mid-May

One of the things to remember when starting a garden- whether as a novice or expert- is that you should accept that projects are always a lesrning experience. You have to experiment with growing crops early or late for your area; types of soil and compost to use at different stages of planting and for different plants; type of container or location; and amount of watering. There's so many factors that contribute to the experimental successes. 

I try all kinds of methods of growing. Mostly because my situation changes all the time to the quality of a garden I can or do produce. I either don't have time, or don't have enough money, or I-am-just-plain-fed-up. For me lately, gardening can just feel like an expensive hobby with little reward. Houseplants are a little different because you tend them year round with the knowledge that their purpose is air quality and aesthetics, not necessarily to produce food. Houseplants have nearly become the only thing I can tend to! 

I have the houseplants outside full time, now that the area has become hot and humid during the day. We're having flood after flood, and tornados, in our area. For the people, here, it is one natural disaster after another. 

Before we got more rainfall this week, I got a piece of the garden shoveled, tilled, then hoed in wildflower seed, cosmos, marigolds, zinnias, cucumbers🥒, cilantro, lettuces🥬, peas🫛, squashes, beans 🫘 & pumpkins 🎃 Some of those may be too late and some may be too early, but again- it's about experimenting! 

Additionally, I have started germinating some pepper, tomato, and flower seeds. I have basil, cilantro and mint growing with my houseplants and some snapdragon flowers on my porch.  

Mint

Basil

I can utilize my mini greenhouse for the starter plants on the cooler nights. In fact, I keep my cacti plants in the greenhouse right now

This week, I had some personal time off from work, so I took advantage of this time to care for some of my houseplants, germinating the starter plants, and prepping a part of the tilled garden. It was a rainy week, so hopefully the seeds planted will take root and get to growing. I'll need to check the garden at least twice or three times a week from here on out, and to prep the rest of the garden. Which means, I'll need to shovel and till to expand the garden to plant more bean seeds, peppers, transplant tomatoes, and try to use the rest of seeds in inventory. 

One of the most crucial lessons I have learned in successful gardening is growing lots of flowers amongst your herb, fruit and veg gardens. I cannot stress this enough. If you're not attracting pollinators into your garden, then you're going to have a difficult time getting your plants to bear fruit and keep pests away. The most successful home growers have established large varieties of flowers throughout their yard. 

Both of my grandmothers have long standing patches of a variety of flowers. 

Poppy

Peonies

Clematis

Wisteria

Wisteria 

Iris

Roses 🌹 

Dianthus

Petunias

Impatiens, begonias, cannas, tomatoes, & colelus

Remember to have fun, experiment, grow big flower beds, and grow with intention this year. Don't ever feel like giving up; start again small and start with the basics. Good luck this year! 

March & April Favorites (flowers, food, & festivities)

I hope all you gardeners are out there getting prepped, starting seedlings and germinating seeds. I'm going to start germinating radish, lettuce, tomato and peppers seeds. I want to be able to till some garden spaces too, but this weather is not consistent. One day it's freezing, then thr next it's nearly 80, and then will rain and continue that cycle every week. 

All that to say, Spring always has its quirky weather, but seeing all the flowers and trees blooming makes it all worth it. Here are just a few photos of the Spring garden this past March, and a few seasonal dinners! 

Scilla flowers

The Crocuses, scilla, and daffodils are always the first to bloom, and I should be seeing the blueberries, peach, pear and plum trees blooming this week.

Purple crocus

Some seasonal favorites for Spring dinners is root veggies and leafy greens. This is baked cauliflower, tomato, lettuce, vegan caesar dressing. 

One of my favorite dinners is a baked sweet potato and chickpeas with fried spinach on top and agave and balsamic vinegar glaze. Notice I always top everything with chili flakes/oil...it's a guilty pleasure.

Another spring favorite was the vegan shepherds pie for St. Patrick's day. 

Another essential spring ingredient is asparagus. We baked some tofu, asparagus and mushrooms over top of rice. 

This April, I germinated radish and basil seeds. I wrapped the seeds with a moist paper towel that went in plastic bags. I tried to germinate lavender, cilantro, dill and lettuce seeds but that was a bust. I decided to directly sow lettuce seeds in pots. We'll see how it goes. I'm at trying to have a small container garden at my apartment. 

I checked on the old forest garden a couple days ago, and there's some pears, peaches, and  blueberries growing fruits. 

This forest garden is a little out of control, and it needs taming as I have let this garden become invaded by thorny bushes, mimosa and maple trees. I'll try to cut back all these bushes and mulch the old hugelkuktur beds. I noticed there was a lot of animal activity here, so I'm sure the birds and rabbits will get to the berries before me. 

Last night, I was given some free cucumbers. So I pickled them in a sweet brine like gherkins. I used salt, sugar, pickling spice, dill, and vinegar. They were pretty tasty, and gets me excited for all the summer veg to preserve!