Urban farming

[Jayna]

It looks like I'm not alone in being a garden enthusiast... anyone want to talk homesteading with me?

My mom was always an avid gardener, and taught gardening classes, so as soon as I had a home of my own I planted fruit trees and started cultivating a garden. This year has been one of my most lush gardens ever, and I think that once the tomatoes are gone I may be able to get some kale in and have greens through winter. I also got chickens this year, which I  adore so much! So far, with eight pullets, I'm getting about three eggs a day. I think two of my girls haven't started laying yet.

I think my yard is a bit maxed out at this point, but most of my young trees aren't really producing yet. When they are, I will have apples, apricots, cherries, pawpaws, figs, and persimmons, as well as grapes, raspberries, and blueberries.

I did get a pretty big apricot harvest this year, and dried most of them. I've got a bunch of tomatoes canned (the Cherokee Purple are incredible this year!) and will have a bunch more to go if we get one more week of sun... otherwise I'll can them green, with chilies.

I don't know what the heck to do with all these cucumbers! The beets at least can winter in the ground.

What's everyone else up to with their gardens?

[Opsa]

Funny you should ask...

I was all but neglecting mine until yesterday. I have four small raised veg beds between two long perennial flower borders. This summer I over-volunteered for a bunch of stuff in the area, and had to finally start saying "no" to offers, at least for a while!

I'm in US zone 7. My red and gold cherry tomatoes are still producing. My peppers have slowed down a lot, but are flowering. All my lettuces have bolted. Yesterday I finally got around to pulling the bolts. I sowed lettuce seeds, too- hoping for a late season. I've never started anything this late, so I don't really know what I'm doing, but I've heard it can be done.

I got an Heritage raspberry sprout this spring and yesterday I found 4 ripe raspberries on it, which I promptly ate. (I do organic gardening, so I didn't feel the need to wash them- it had just rained!) What a thrill. They were sweet and nice. There are a few more yet to ripen. I was surprised to se them, as it didn't expect the cane to produce anything the first year.

Today I went out and weeded the gravel between the raised beds, which really, really needed doing. I used one of those gravel raker things, which looks like a wedge-shaped metal loop hinged on the end of a stick. Works great, but doesn't get everything. The area looks much better, now, and I can get my wheelbarrow through places today that yesterday I could not.

What are some other good winter crops for the home garden?

[Bluenose]

Well I live on a very small block and so I have a few herbs planted - rosemary, marjoram, thyme, chives and garlic.  I grow a small lemon tree and a bay laurel plus a couple of blueberry plants (new) in large pots.  That's about it for productive gardening.  The remainder of our garden has been planted with Australian natives mostly smaller or dwarf forms and specifically chosen to attract birds into the garden - which they do very well - and to minimise water use.  We have achieved what Mrs Blue describes as a "faux natural" look.

[Opsa]

  Good one, Mrs. Blue!

We have a hedgerow around the edges of our garden for the birds. Of course, at this time of year (fall here in the northern hemi), I tend to have let a lot of things grow out to seed and it all looks quite... erm... natural.

[Pachyderm]

I am all about the natural. (No surprise, really, given what I do for a living )

The garden at the family home was the result of 20years of "militant neglect", but was awesome for invertebrates, hence birds, and the fact that my mother seems to feel the need to ensure that any living thing that strays within 100m of her gets fed, meant our little wildlife haven was very well populated. Didn't do much for the resale value, but I loved it...

[Jayna]

This was my first year really getting a good harvest from my raspberries, and I'm so excited as I have about two gallons of them in my freezer! Next year I'm hoping the blueberries will kick in. I also am an organic gardener (though tempted to spray for apple maggot next year, as the traps didn't work this year), and I think my garden appreciates that because it's rich with worms and the plants do very well. Almost too well... there's no room to walk out there.

I'm in zone 9 and thinking that for winter crops, kale, mustard, and collards are going to dominate my garden this year, with maybe a bed of spinach and one of lettuce. Turnips, onions, beets, peas, and carrots are also supposed to be good fall crops. I'm keeping my beets in the ground until it freezes, for beet greens (I love them!) I am not sure how to time my winter garden because after the tomatoes go south, I want to let my chickens in to clean out as many slugs as possible. Maybe I'll save the chickens until March.

[Opsa]

Hey! I was just reminded about sowing spinach today by a master gardener who says that he soaks the seeds, first. I put in a row just a couple of hours ago. I love fresh spinach!

You sound like you got a lot of raspberries! What kind did you plant?

[Jayna]

I have two varieties, and both are mystery plants... one a spineless variety taken from an old vacant lot right before the patch was obliterated by development, and one a spiny variety taken from the back yard of a house built in 1907... they could have been planted at any time. They are both excellent and have slightly different qualities of flavor, and one is earlier than the other, so I find they complement each other well. I originally had the patch on our southern fenceline, but after having an addition built I moved them to the south side of the house.

Also, I planted asparagus this summer, and I'm excited about getting to have a few shoots this spring!

[Opsa]

Aparagus- that's another one I'd like to try!

I like that you've rescued plants. I have a rescued Clematis (it was in the path of a mower when I begged it from the landlord) and a rescued white lilac bush that was being torn down. I love both of them.

[Jayna]

I'm huge on rescued plants, and plant and seed-trading! In fact, most of my front yard flowers came from scouring my neighborhood for seeds. Many of which I didn't know what they were when I took them, I just knew that they were thriving and they looked interesting. I have those, some crabapples, lilacs that I started from cuttings from my last house, sage from starts I took, and a bunch of lilies a friend gave me when she divided hers. Oh, and scattered irises that I was hoping would clump, but didn't. There's a lot more than that, actually, but I can't remember all of it. I think the only things I bought were the crabapples and the tulips, and maybe the thyme.

[Opsa]

Swapping is a large part of how I garden, too. I love this, because I am reminded of the person who gave me each plant. It's like having a garden of friends. Some of us Toadfish have sent each other seeds and plants.

[Jayna]

Aw. That's really sweet! The "Garden of friends", I mean.

[Jayna]

Well, it's finally gone and turned cold, and I don't think it's going to warm back up. Time to pick the last of the tomatoes that have half a chance to ripen in the kitchen, and can the green ones with the chilies and onions.

I think the beans are good for one last harvest and then they're gone too. The cucumbers might hold out until first frost. I have two little apples on my columnar apple tree, and my figs are but figlets.

I'm getting about three eggs a day from eight hens, though I think two of them aren't laying yet.

What's everyone else's gardens up to?

[Opsa]

I went and visited friends with chickens yesterday and theirs were laying fewer, too. I had no idea that they lay less eggs when the sunlight decreases! But I guess that makes sense. Sunlight is energy.

This week is still nice, but I think we're going to tank, temperature-wise, next week. Maybe even a light frost! Usually we don't get frost until Nov 1st or so. I have to start thinking about making room for the houseplants to come inside. Gotta re-pot some of them, too.

I'm watering my little sowed cool-weather rows, but it's too early to tell if they're going or not.

[Bluenose]

Well, I've finally gotten round to potting out the new blueberries in big (80 litre) blue cramic pots.  Have started on making a small garden outside the main bedroom window - because this is a paved area the garden will consist of pots with various succulants, the blueberries and some other things yet to be decided.  Also there will be a small water garden.  I will place some treated pine down as a border and fill the area with some red scoria to cover the concrete and make it look like a garden bed.

I've been planting out some garlic cloves that have started sprouting in the pantry.  I have found that when I do this although I usually only get small heads, they are absolutely full of flavour.

On the to-do list, I need to get some more mulch to top up the garden, most of the exisitng mulch has broken down and it is an absolute necessity before summer hits us to conserve water.  Also I have a couple of correas to plant out - they have lovely tubular flowers that are a big draw card for nectar feeding birds - we already have quite a lot of these lovely plants - and we find they do very well in our location.  Finally, I need to get in some "Castella toppings" (a form of reddish crushed rock) to finish off at last the paths round the back yard.  So there's no lack of things to do here.

Spring is well under way, the roses out the front are coming along well, we should be having the first flowers in a week or two.  Most of our eucalypts are in flower - the wattle birds are having "bird wars" over the flowers.  It's quite funny really, while one bird chases anther away from his favourite tree a third comes in and starts to plunder the resource.  Then some rainbow lorikeets come in to feeed and the wattle bird goes bererk - which the lorikeets totally ignore - eventually giving up and sits in the tree sulking making little "brrp" noises to himslef as if to say "rotten lorikeets, don't they know who owns this tree...  ratta fratter..."

[Jayna]

Your yard sounds glorious, Bluenose!

[Aggie]

I wish I could swap seeds and plants across the border with y'all.

Not much for urban gardening here, although many of my houseplants have been grown from fruit seeds and pits (but won't likely reach maturity indoors).  The only real edibles I have on the go are some Korean perilla, a cherry pepper, and a "chuck it all in" planter with two basil plants, a couple of beets that were sprouting anyways (going to eat the leaves) and a chunk of horseradish root that I hope will start to grow.  I think I might have put some squash seeds in there as well, and there are definitely some tamarind seeds which are likely to sprout sooner or later. 

I need to get after the bugs; the whiteflies are a constant presence on the basil plants, but what's really bugging me are how fast the aphids (which I didn't know I had) overran the pepper plant.  I hosed it down with the shower head a week ago and got most of them, but the parthenogenic little creeps are starting to come back.  Neem oil spray seems to keep the white flies knocked back to a reasonable level but doesn't do squat for the aphids.  Time for Safer's soap, I guess.

[Bluenose]

Aggie, have you ever tried garlic spray on the aphids?  Has a good reputation over here.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Then some rainbow lorikeets come in to feeed and the wattle bird goes bererk - which the lorikeets totally ignore - eventually giving up and sits in the tree sulking making little "brrp" noises to himslef as if to say "rotten lorikeets, don't they know who owns this tree...  ratta fratter..."

Are lories bigger, more aggressive or simply something wattlebirds don't mess around with? The lories I've seen are as big as my Cockatiels.

Edit: my wife just showed me my basil plant, it just flowered! Its usually in the window (in the balcony with the 'tiels it wouldn't last a day) and the top where the flowers are was behind the blinds.

[Opsa]

Usually I run around and pop off my basil flowers on a daily basis, as their presence usually commences a sharp change of flavor in the leaves. But at a certain point, I let the flowers go. That point was about a week ago, here. Aside from seed production, the basil is still useful. Put the flowers in flower arrangements. The basil scent makes the house smell wonderful.

[Jayna]

My basil was (is) spectacular this year... I absolutely could not keep up with it, which delighted me! I'm probably going to chop it up and freeze it, to keep the flavor closer to fresh.

There's a man in my back yard taking measurements for a fence... they're getting ready to build townhouses in the lot behind me. Not sure how I feel about that, but at least I'll have a new fence...

[Bluenose]

Then some rainbow lorikeets come in to feeed and the wattle bird goes bererk - which the lorikeets totally ignore - eventually giving up and sits in the tree sulking making little "brrp" noises to himslef as if to say "rotten lorikeets, don't they know who owns this tree...  ratta fratter..."

Are lories bigger, more aggressive or simply something wattlebirds don't mess around with? The lories I've seen are as big as my Cockatiels.

Edit: my wife just showed me my basil plant, it just flowered! Its usually in the window (in the balcony with the 'tiels it wouldn't last a day) and the top where the flowers are was behind the blinds.

No, the wattlebirds and the lorikeets are about the same size (they're both a little larger than cockatiels).  It's just that the lorries are pretty much bomb proof and take no notice of the wattlebirds.     It drives the wattlebirds crazy.

---

You know, I really should put some basil in, it's so good with so many things!  I think I might grow some in a pot.

[Aggie]

I've mentioned it before, but basil roots out beautifully in water from cuttings in a matter of days.  Just buy a little basil, strip all the large leaves (leave the small ones and buds) for dinner, plunk the stems in a glass of water, and plant them once the roots appear.  Ridiculously easy and much faster than trying from seeds.  The last few times I bought basil it had roots attached, but now that it's in a larger planter I will be making cuttings as it gets growing and filling the pot with plants.

[Opsa]

Got some cold weather veggies sprouted out in the garden- lettuces and radishes. It does my heart good to see them.

I tried to start peppers on the windowsill greenhouse, but they haven't sprouted in over two weeks. Do you think the seeds are duds, or maybe I didn't make things right for them?

[Darlica]

Our 3 year old "purple hazel" Habanero Chillies are full of buds and flowers!
-Our Chillies doesn't know they are annual plants, and I won't tell them. I mean, it's like telling a bumble bee that it shouldn't be able to fly, theoretically... 

I did cut the plants down pretty harsh this winter which seemed to be the right thing to do...
The Roccoto chilli seems to be inspired by the others but I think it needs more sunlight to get in the mood,    

[Opsa]

Did you start them from seed? Do the seeds need cool weather to germinate?

[Darlica]

They are all started from seeds, they might have been germinated when I bought them but I don't think so since I've been growing Habanero chillies from seeds of store bought fruits before without germination.

This plants have never been outside or in a greenhouse, not even on a balcony since we don't have one (I still miss the one I had in my old flat)... they have lived their whole life in our living room so they have never been cold. However they do get affected by the having more sun hours now than in the winter as we don't have any extra daylight lamps for them.

[Opsa]

Hmmm. They sound happy. I wonder if my windowsill was too cool for them.

[Lindorm]

The chilies are happily flowering away, and we are helping them to pollinate with a paintbrush. Looking forward to a nice harvest come autumn! 

In other news, the regional council of Skarpnäck, a suburb of Stockholm, recently approved a grant to a "urban farming association", a group of local citizens who wants to use some brownfield areas and other marginal plots to grow garden plants, both flowers and vegetables. This is a local neighbourhood idea, so anyone in the area is welcome to participate. Nice!

[Opsa]

That's such a wonderful use of land. Smart people!

We're having fresh lettuce every night here, now. I'm growing 'Salad Bowl', 'Grand Rapids', 'Black Seeded' and 'Great Lakes', along with some Bib that has re-seeded every year since I first planted it two or three years ago.

I also have sprouts for Swiss Chard, cucumber, peppers and tomatoes.

[Aggie]

I've been doing more wild harvesting than farming out here, but I've planted some N. rustica and wild bergamot (from seeds I collected last fall) in the front flowerbed.  M&P have a couple of small plots fortified against the deer, and those are starting to get planted up with the usual veggie suspects.

I need to start some tulsi in containers or in flats for re-planting ASAP, and probably more rusticas as a backup and/or for planting around.

[Opsa]

How do nicotiana and tulsi cope with deer? I imagine the nicotiana repels them, but I'll bet the tulsi attracts them.

[Aggie]

The tulsi will have to be under netting, or in containers on the balcony.  The sun gets so darned hot here that it's a headache trying to keep containers watered, but perhaps it will be fine tucked in a shadier location.

It's a pretty enough plant that it would fit well in the front flower bed too, I think (under a net).

I've some lemonella balm (extra-lemony lemon balm) that I need to plant out soon, which should be deer proof.  They seem to leave the herbs alone for the most part.

[Opsa]

Ooh, I love my lemon balm, even though it goes everywhere. Sometimes I have to pull it when it gets too invasive, but it never seems to care.

I agree, the nicotiana flowers are all beautiful. I found a volunteer n.rustica growing in a bulb bed the other day while weeding, and just let it be. I have too much respect for the plant to pull it.

[Opsa]

:UPDATE:

We had plenty of lettuce for a couple of months, but then it bolted (shot skyward and began to flower, which makes the leaves go bitter), so I pulled it.

Still have basil plants, and have been making pesto.

The tomatoes have only started ripening during the past week or so. Not too many of them this year. I think I might have a tomato loving varmint around here, as I felt sure there were more on the vine.

I've only had one pepper mature. There are more flowers on the other plants, so I hope for more.

The chives, of course, are chiving along.

Got a crop of raspberries coming along, too.

I am thinking of starting more lettuces in the windowsill. I hear that they do not germinate in hot weather, but one can try starting them inside (in the AC) and they may start up, after which one may get a crop going in the autumn. They were so good, I'm going to take a crack at this.

[pieces o nine]

WHAT!

No zucchinis!

Are you some kinda commie or something?   

[Aggie]

We have a couple of zucchini plants, but the anti-deer netting seems to discourage the pollinators as well, so you'll often catch Dad out in the garden diddling the zucchinis....  

I had something weird happen with the seeds I started in pots and flats.  They refused to transition from seedlings to proper plants, after MONTHS of hanging out on the porch.  The tulsi have finally switched over but are languishing; I've only had one of the rusticas grow up.  All the flat-started bergamots have died.  I suspect it was low overnight temperatures.  The tulsi probably needed more attention; I didn't play it devotional songs (as recommended) as I did with the last batch.

I wasn't able to get any tulsi to take in the garden, but have had better luck with the rusticas and bergamot.  Germination rates were poor, but I have a few healthy plants of each, albeit far behind schedule.

[Opsa]

I am so totally a commie, after last year when the zucchinis went so rampant they tore through my rabbit fence! Capitalist pig zucchinis!!!


My pagan nicos didn't fare so well this year, either, Aggie. They were small, those that came up. I wondered if I had been too busy to give them good vibes.

[Aggie]

One of the plants that took is rocking out; it's the largest I've grown yet (the indoors were not happy plants). 

The city has kindly planted a whack of N. sylvestris this year, and I'll probably poach some for non-ceremonial uses.  As far as I know, it's fairly low nicotine.  I have some ideas on curing it.

[Opsa]

I let my n. rustica cure (that is, wilt naturally) on the plants and what little I tasted during meditation was some surprisingly sweet!

[Aggie]

For lack of a better spot, I'll use this for updates on my little garden in the little city.

I've been putting in some improptu poly coldhouses and row covers, and using a soil thermometer (actually a meat thermometer with a wide range) I've determined that doing so has boosted the soil temperature by around 7^o C at mid-day.  Today, I installed some ventilation stacks out of PVC in the row cover to help shed precipitation and to maintain airflow.  I'll post some pictures later.  The stacks use thermal convection (standpipes are wrapped in black tape) and windflow across the top of the pipes to create airflow in the shelter.

[Opsa]

Oooh, nice coldframes for the Aggie veggies!

I've got spinach, lettuce and beet sprouts. The weather has been warm, but we're in for a cool stretch. Hopefully we won't get a hard freeze, but if we do, I'll run out to cover the wee babbies.

[Aggie]

The row covers have worked well; I essentially just covered the row with plastic with bricks around the edges at first, but after I added the H-shaped vent stacks (the crossbar of the 'H' is inside the covers and supports the middle, the two upper arms protrude above) it looks quite like a little circus tent, and should shed rain and snow. I had some cement roofing tiles, so I built four tiled vents along the perimeter to allow airflow inwards.

I have no sprouts yet, but I'll be interested to see if the poly tents let me get a significant jump on the season compared to other gardens in the area.

I went to a seed swap on Thursday; it was great!  Everyone threw down envelopes and jars of extra seeds on a long set of tables, and anyone who wanted anything got to take it. I left some seeds, gave out some seeds, and got lots of seeds.  I'm going to pull out a ton of flowering perennials (for giveaway to good homes) and put in a big veggie bed. I should have a surplus of food this year to sell and give away (hmm, food bank could probably use some fresh beans).

[Opsa]

Wow, that sounds wahsome, Aggie! I should think about organizing a seed swap here.

There's a threat of frost tonight, but I think the spinach sprouts can handle it.