The Evolution of a Tiny Farm...

Hello Again. We have done some amazing things since I last posted. First of all, we built, filled and planted fourteen planter boxes in our backyard. Four of these are waiting till we hve chosen the just right fruit trees. Ten others have been planted with all sorts of the heirloom veggies we grew in our greenhouse. We chose one or two of each of our tomato plants, two types of zucchini, six types of watermelon, red and green cabbage, dinoaur kale, japanese yubari cantelope, crane melons, crenshaw melons, beurre de roquencourt beans, country gentlemen corn, chiogga squash, butternut squash, and many more that I cannot think of off the top of my head. We planted herbs including stevia, cilantro and basil. I also bought about twenty four asparagus plants from a local nursery and filled one entire box with just asparagus. We built eleven trellises to grow all the cucumbers including marketmore, yellow, and dragons egg. We are also trellising watermelon and cantelope to see how it does this year. 

I cannot believe how quickly everything is growing! I have spent the morning attaching cucumber and melon plants to trellises and today, we will finally get around to supporting the tomato plants. Some of them have strted climbing around and I'm hoping I haven't waited too long. 

We originally wanted solely heirloom vegetables in our garden. But, I broke down and bought a few things from the local nursery to supplement the rest. I bought the asparagus I mentioned above, pepper plants (I forgot to get seeds when we were planting seeds and it got too late). I also bought a couple additional yellow tomato plants because, come on, there are never enough yellow tomatoes. Ever. 

Overall, our garden has strted out as a full success. Strawberries do not do well in our climate although I know a few gardeners who are magic enough to grow them here in hot Sacramento. Not me though. Anything that is fragile will basically die on my watch. So, our strawberry plants kicked out a few berries and then fizzled up and died. I am also growing a few cool weather crops out of total disregard for advice given regarding kale, cabbage and broccoli crops. So, these will rpbably not make it either. I placed them all behind cucumber trellises in hopes that the shade will be nurturing for these, but don't expect miracles here. 

We sold seedlings for a number of weekends in a row. This was a lot of fun but I must say, I gave most of what we grew away. I had hoped to make some money back from the investments made for both the greenhouse and the planter boxes but, I am a horrible salesman! Its not that I can't sell. But, rather than charge people money,I just get so excited with everyone else's interest in gardening, that I get carried away and I gave away most of the seedlings. Oh well, they all went to good homes. That was the more important point. 

And, next year, I must do two things differently. I must plant about half of what I planted this year and I must start earlier. I could have been plating and selling about 6 weeks earlier. So, I expect next year to be more profitable. 

I am grateful to all those people who purchased seedlings from us this year. I was truly glad to meet you all and see the heirlooms we had painstakingly tended find good gardens to go to. 

A Field of Dirt & Greenhouse Photos

This is the greenhouse. It measures 5 1/2 ft. by 10 ft. It is very well constructed and has proved to create a humid, warm and fruitful environment. If you are interested in purchasing a greenhouse like this, contact us.

 

Here is the field of dirt that is now our backyard. It is beautiful and on its way to becoming something more than a useless lawn. 

It Begins...

Hello all,

Last year we began this project by building a large planter box in our backyard. Below is posted some photos from the project. It was a simple project and we were pleased with the results. Our whole family and some neighbors got involved. First we built the boxes and then filled them with soil. Then, planted seeds and seedlings and you can guess the rest. The photos will speak for themselves. 

Some of you may cringe when you see the treated wood we used. Although we lined the boxes with two sheets of heavy liner, for the rest of the project, we will only use redwood. 

 

Planting Little Seeds..

 

Hello everyone,

Today is April 7, 2012 and we ripped out our backyard. This morning, Buck and I went out and rented a sod cutter. Or, maybe it's spelled SAWD cutter because the guys at the rental shop spelled it just so. Anyhow, what a machine! It packs a whollop and you had better not let it fall on its side! But, my husband cut strips of our exquisitely manicured crab-grass lawn. Our good friend Rich painstakingly removed all the sod with the help of the kids. And we tracked muddy dirt all over the house. But, our lawn is GONE!!! Goodbye to that useless plot and Hello to a lot with a higher purpose! 

Had I planned better, I would have realized we would have tons of sod left over. Luckily I watched a youtube video (I attend the University of Y.T.) wherein a lovely woman pulled out her entire front yard and replaced it with cardboard and mulch for the winter so she could plant in the spring. She placed all that sod next to her house, covered it with a tarp and could look forward to some yummy compost in a year or two. We took that advice and built piles of sod which we will cover and let cook.

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzsyaXPVNKs&feature=relmfu 

I took Joann's ideas and modified them to fit our plan. We pulled out all the (crab) grass, and will lay down some layers of cardboard. Then we will place our planter boxes (not yet built), build trellises, fill the boxes and plant the seedlings. 

Today we got to say hello to a gazillion little creatures, wormy worms, beetles, rolly pollies, caterpillars, inchworms, ants, more worms. We also were on the lookout for the two wrens that live in our yard and have built a little nest. And, I found some volunteer sunflower seeds from last year's sunflowers. Hello Spring!

Its people like Joann in NE Seattle, The Gettles of Baker Creek Seed Co., and John from growingyourgreens.com who have inspired us to make big changes in our lives. While I have always loved to garden, I am still learning everything I can about growing vegetables. I am reading every homesteader article, and watching all the YT videos. We bought all our seeds from (90%) Baker Creek, 5% from Amishland and 5% from Granny's Seeds. And, we purchased something I've always wanted.....

A GREENHOUSE!!! I'll go into that in a later post. I just wanted to get something on this page and start sharing and documenting our trials and errors. There are so many little parts to this story that I cannot wait to share. Thank you all for your encouragement. 

I have a video and tons of photos of all of our hard work. I will post them as soon as possible. See you soon!