Snow Peas

Oregon Snow Peas March 31, 2012

Never got around to blogging about Snow Peas, but I plant them every year. Last year I decided to try something different, and planted them in hanging baskets. I was amazed at the outcome. I planted them in baskets in a sunny place and they trailed up the sides and produced tons of snow peas! This gave me more garden space to grow other vegetables, and once again, by limiting the amount of trellising in your garden you have more sun on other plants. I foliage feed them every 3 weeks with seaweed extract.

Oregon Snow Peas May 27, 2012

This year I planted 2 hanging baskets and wish I had planted more! I have lots of sunny spots on my fence and play house, and with the success I am having, next year I will expand. My family loves stir fry and these sweet pods taste great. They can get large, so I pick them when they are small to medium and they are tender!  The more you pick the more you get! They produce through out the summer!

Planting: I planted March 31, 2012, but you can plant earlier if you have them in baskets and cover to protect from frost. I plant 3 per hanging basket. Since you are planting in baskets you don't need to worry about good or bad companions!


Watering/Fertilizing: Water moderate until blossoming, then keep moist. Foliage spray with seaweed extract every 3 weeks

Harvest: Pick when pot is small to medium. Check every other day, they grow fast and when they get too big they become stringy. I pick and keep refrigerated until I have enough for a meal.

Enjoy!
Ruby

Lettuce Update And Photos

Green Leaf Lettuce

Rain, sun, and longer days are perfect for success! My flowers are in bloom and the lady bugs have arrived! They seem to like my Green Leaf Lettuce.

Lady Bug on my lettuce

It is beautiful and bug free thanks to my little Lady Bug Friends. It was slug free thanks to a dry April and May.

 Green Leaf and Buttercrunch Lettuce 

Not sure why I find the Lady Bugs on the Green Leaf and not the Buttercrunch, but I will be planting more Green Leaf! I planted the above lettuce April 2, 2012, started harvesting May 18th and still harvesting. I cut the outer leafs of the green leaf lettuce and continue harvesting until it starts to go to seed. The Buttercrunch I harvest when the head is ready to pick...TASTY

Red Sail, Green Leaf and Buttercrunch Letuce

I always plant some lettuce in pots in early spring. If we have a wet April and May the slugs won't get to the lettuce. It is risky to put in the ground this early, although this year was dry and my lettuce I planted in the garden was slug free. I planted my pots March 30, 2012 and started harvesting April 28, 2012

My favorite Green Bean!

Ed Hume French Bush Bean

    Ed Hume Seeds
    Type: French Beans Gourmet Green Bush, Baby Filet Type

     This is one of my family's favorite vegetables in our garden! If you only plant one type of green bean......this needs to be the one!
     I planted mine by seed April 22nd and May 5th they broke ground. This bush bean is easy to grow, and has a beautiful dark green color. It is very productive, tender, flavorful, and easy to pick.
     I enjoy this bush bean, because I don't have to trellis them, and they don't hog the sun for the rest of my garden.

How to plant - I start by adding Dr. Earth Premium Organic 5 to soil before planting. Plant seeds 2 to 3 inches apart. Lay the seeds on their side and cover with about 1 inch of fine soil. Plant with 2 to 3 feet between rows, this makes it easier when you harvest. I enjoy them throughout the summer, so I plant every 2 weeks. You will have more green beans than you can eat, and I always enjoy sharing with neighbors. Plant marigolds nearby to help control pests.

Watering - Water plants lightly, evenly and regularly. Do not water overhead. This wets the leaves and can promote disease like bean rust. Increase watering from germination to flowering, and from flowering to the first pods and through harvest.

Fertilizing - After plant sprouts I start foliage spray with a organic fertilizer, like a fish emulsion, every two weeks for 6 to 8 weeks.

Harvest - This French bean is very slender and ready to pick when it is about 1/8 inch in diameter or 4 to 5 inches long. They can get stringy if you allow them to grow larger. I pick every other day and can't keep up with the quantity this little bush grows.

Ed Hume Seeds
Type: French Beans Gourmet Green Bush, Baby Filet Type

Good Companion: potato, celery, cucumber, corn, carrot, strawberry, chard and cauliflower.

Bad Companion: Basil, fennel, kohlrabi, onion family.

Enjoy!
Ruby

MY GARDEN

Here is the layout of my garden to date! I do this every year, it helps me plan the next year with rotation of crops. The information I find valuable year to year is; PH of soil, date of planting, date of harvest, and the flowers I plant throughout my garden for pest control. I also keep a journal with more detail information on fertilizing, weeds, temperatures, and the general look / health of my garden!

Spring Garden 2012
20'X25'

YARD OVERVIEW

Spring Garden 2012
Total Planted In Yard

Soil Test

Soil Tips:

Want to see the quality of your soil? Here is a tip I got from Ed Smith the author of “The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible.

In the spring before the soil gets to warm. With a spade, outline and remove a block of soil about a foot square and 7 inches deep. Spread the soil out on a board, gently break up the soil, and count the worms. Fewer than 10 worms in your soil sample is bad news. Chances are your soil is lacking in organic matter, and organic matter is the breakfast buffet to a worm. Worms do two things very, very well! They eat and make more worms. Add organic matter to the soil and you supply them with food, and with food they’ll happily make lots more worms.

When I first started my garden 12 years ago I had few worms....don't be discouraged, you can turn in some Mushroom Compost (buy it by the bag at Portland Nursery) as you plant. 

 When I first started my garden in 2000 I bought 4 yards of Mushroom Compost and turn it into the soil in the fall and let it feed my little wiggly friends. I now have over 30per my square block.

My little wiggle friends 
It's going to be a good year!
32 and counting!

Flowers in your Vegetable Garden

Flowers in your vegetable garden:

French and African Marigold Flowers add color and make GREAT vegetable garden friends. Planting Marigolds as a border or among your vegetables are a good organic pest control that repel insects. Marigolds do an excellent job of keeping bean beetles, whiteflies, and cucumber beetles out of your garden.

• The French Dwarf Marigold are very effective for bush beans and beetles will stay clear of my bean rows. 



French Marigold Flower

• African Marigolds are great to plant among larger vegetables like cucumbers, corn or pole beans

African Marigold Flowers

Asters

Plant Cosmos, Calendula and Asters to attract Lady Bugs!

      Happy Gardening,

    Ruby