Shared Earth

Here's a website where you can offer up part of your land for gardeners...

http://www.sharedearth.com/

Fruit Apps

I just found this fruit sharing app.  Looks really nice!

http://neighborhoodfruit.com/

Looks like you can register a tree in your backyard as being fruit bearing, and if you'd like to share the fruit, you can allow people to contact you to come pick it.  They also have an app for fruit trees on public lands.

Today's Harvest

So today I pulled some leftover green beans, my first turnip, and a broccoli head.  I should have a couple more turnips in a week or so.  I've got plenty of mesclun right now, but haven't cut any yet.

Brooklyn Limestone Blog

Mom sent me a link to a really nice blog, Brooklyn Limestone but more specifically, a DIY Vertical Garden.  Take a look....

Another Xmas Gift

Look what else I got for Christmas!  This was a tin sign from MyPetChicken.com.  I've put this on the door going into my garage.

Xmas Gifts

I got this magazine (oh how I want chickens!!)!  And a subscription to Mother Earth News!!!

When are Turnips Ready for Harvesting?

I'm on day 60 of growing my Purple Top turnips.  They're really tall and leafy already.  The packet of seeds says 40 days to maturity -- so we're already way past that.  The websites I've read say they are like carrots in that they will start poking their shoulders out of the ground when they are ready to pull.  One of mine is poking through, as you can see below.  However the rest are not.  So I'm thinking I should leave these in a bit longer.  Folks also say that when they get as big as a walnut or golf ball, is when you can pull.  So I don't think this guy is as big as a walnut -- so again, gonna let it be.

Turnip poking through the ground

Checking in on the Garden

Finally got some time to check up on the garden....

Broccoli coming in nicely

Harvested lettuce varieties

Mesclun on the left, and swiss chard growing on the right

Oldest square foot garden -- lots of lettuce varieties

Newer square foot garden -- turnips are REALLY big!

Tomatoes that won't turn red

Another Strawberry

I pulled this the other day -- yum yum!  I also got some more everbearing strawberry plants and planted them.

Here's what I pulled off my older plants

The top tier is the new bunch of everbearing strawberries I planted

Here's the whole fountain planted with lettuce and strawberries

Finally!  A Post

I used to not like the winter time change because it meant leaving work in the dark, and not feeling like going to the gym at night because it's too cold and too dark.  Now that I'm gardening I don't like the time change because I get home too late to check on my veggies.  And no veggie checking equals no posts.

But this holiday weekend I finally got to spend some time outside.  Here's what I did.  I spent some time yesterday finalizing one of the planter boxes we just built.  After we built it, I didn't feel like mixing up too much soil....  but as you can see further below, I finally mixed up the soil, added the string/grids, and planted it.  I planted it with mesclun, radishes, beets, beans, and carrots.

Before -- no soil (I was lazy)

After -- more soil, the grid is up, and things are planted

Better Homes and Gardens Article

There's an article in this month's Better Homes and Gardens about the next hot trend being Urban Homesteading.  It suggests a couple of ways to learn more about it.  One of those ways they suggested was reading the book "Farm Anatomy" by Julia Rothman.  It looks very nicely illustrated, very pretty.  Definitely not something I'd want to buy for my kindle, since the illustrations are the main point of the book.

Also they suggest the following blog:  SeattleHomestead.com

Blingy Chicken Coop

Check out this article -- a $100,000 chicken coop from Neiman Marcus (aka "Endless Markup"):

http://now.msn.com/neiman-marcus-dollar100000-hen-house-is-a-gift-for-chicken-lovers

http://now.msn.com/neiman-marcus-dollar100000-hen-house-is-a-gift-for-chicken-lovers

I've Been Gone for a Week

I've been on travel to DC for a week and so haven't been posting.  However, it's been pouring rain while I've been gone.  I just got home today and looked at my veggies and they are BIG.  Here are some pictures.

Tall planter boxes full of different varieties of lettuce

Mesclun -- looks really nice

Turnips are really growing big

Original planter box -- alot of lettuce, chard, kale

More lettuce

Obviously we like eating lettuce.....  I just turned off the sprinklers, as it looks like more rain is coming.  I also pulled a ton of lettuce leaves off while it was raining.  We've got beaucoup salad for the week.

CSA Today

Here is what we got in our CSA box today.  We swapped the pomegranate in for 4 small granny smiths out.

Swiss chard, beets, apples, squash, pomegranate, mushrooms and eggs.

So we've decided to stop the CSA box once our 12 week obligation is up.  Only because we're getting too far ahead on veggies.  My square foot garden plots are really coming in with tons of lettuce and veggies, and we can't keep up with everything.  So we've decided to drop the CSA, in a couple of weeks, and then just buy a few items from the farmers market as needed.

CSA Box and Brussels Sprout

Here's my CSA box this week.  A bag of mesclun, bag of mushrooms, two apples, one lime, one small jar of honey, 5 eggs, green beans, snap peas, two tomatoes, one onion.

The CSA box I got this week

We then went to our grocery store, Fresh and Easy, to get some bread for the week.  While there I saw Brussels sprout off the plant!  Check out below.  I've never seen them this way before, and really didn't know they grew this way.  Always bought them in a bag...  and don't grow them myself...

Brussels sprout

Mom's Veggie Garden

Here are some pictures of my mom's start to growing a container garden with some lettuce, radishes, carrots and spinach.

Mom's three containers

Carrots and radishes

Mesclun

Spinach rows planted at different times

Strawberry Bloom

Look at my strawberry blooms!  They look a bit prehistoric!  I also have two more strawberries growing.