Tips for Planting the Summer Vegetable Garden

Here in southern New Mexico, we pass our last frost date near the beginning of May, so it is time to plant the summer garden. This will be my family's 9th year of vegetable gardening, and in that time we have learned many lessons on what makes gardening successful here. Every location has its own unique challenges, yet there are some basics that every garden needs, including good soil, the right amount of water, and plenty of sunshine.

Plan It Out

Each year, before we start planting, I take a little time to plan out the garden. When it comes time to actually plant, there are always a few deviations from the plan, but the initial planning gets us started in the right direction. When planning our garden, I make sure to do each of the following:

• Take stock of old seeds - We always seem to have some old seed packets from previous years of gardening. We typically find that most of the old seeds will still germinate well for a few years beyond the "Best By" dates on the seed packets. If we're unsure, sometimes I will test a few seeds to make sure they will germinate by planting them in a small pot indoors where I can water them daily in the weeks leading up to our last frost date. 
• Plan for companion plants - One way to help plants thrive is to plant "companion" plants which are mutually beneficial to each other. For instance, tomatoes will benefit from being planted near parsley and dill, and would enjoy the afternoon shade offered by sunflowers. Basil likes to be planted near tomatoes. For more ideas, check out my article on companion planting with herbs. 
• Get a rough idea of plant placement - We always make sure to plant the summer garden in a location with at least 6 hours of sun per day. Although we've tried experimenting with raised bed gardening and container gardening, we have found planting in the ground to be our most successful method for summer gardening. To reduce pests and diseases, we also make sure not to plant the same type of plants in the same location year after year. Based on the expected size of each type of plant, I will make a rough plan of where different types of plants will be located.

Prep the Soil and Add Compost

Good soil is key to a flourishing garden. The ideal soil will have plenty of nutrients for the plants, will drain away excess water to prevent root rot, and will also retain enough moisture to keep the plants from drying out too much between waterings. Although I have experimented with several no-till methods, I generally find it beneficial to turn over the dirt in my garden annually down to a depth of about 12-18 inches. This ensures that the ground is not too hard-packed so that roots can easily grow, and it also helps to mix nutrients evenly into the soil since certain areas may have been depleted by previous plantings.

Overly sandy soil drains too quickly and the plants can dry out too much, whereas areas with a high clay content in the soil can have the opposite problem of draining very slowly and becoming very hard-packed (which makes it hard for roots to grow). Since the native soil in my garden area is very sandy and highly alkaline, I amend it each year to improve its nutrient-content and water retention. Compost and peat moss are both excellent additions to my garden soil. [In places where the native soil is acidic, peat moss would not be a good addition to garden soil (since it is highly acidic)].

Compost is my favorite soil amendment, as it adds many nutrients to the soil as well as humus (which helps with water retention). Compost can be expensive if purchased by-the-bag, but by having an active compost pile it can be produced at home with vegetable scraps and yard waste. Another good option to check into is whether or not there is compost available at the city landfill. In my area, we can get compost for free at the city landfill.

At our house, we let our chickens do the work of composting for us. Using a method I learned about in The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, we have deep mulch in our chicken coop, which consists of leaves and other dried vegetation from around our property. The mulch combines with kitchen scraps and chicken manure to make compost. The chickens do most of the work of turning and mixing the compost; I only occasionally need to turn over the soil under the roost areas where the manure can start to pile up. Because we live in the desert, I do need to water the mulch fairly regularly in the hot months to ensure that the compost is moist enough. With this deep mulch method, I was able to harvest 5 wheelbarrows full of beautiful compost to be used in our summer garden this year.

Each year, I add more compost to my garden so that over time, our garden soil is improving year by year. One caution when using compost is to make sure that it is fully composted before planting vegetables in it to ensure it will not burn the seedlings. A good general rule of thumb is to amend the soil with compost and then wait 1-2 weeks before planting.

Get to Planting

Once the soil is ready, we can start planting! Some plants, like tomatoes, are planted individually with plenty of space between plants. Other plants, such as corn and beans, are planted in rows. And then squash, cucumbers, and melons are planted in hills. Seed packets for each type of plant include instructions for how deep to plant the seeds and how far apart they should be spaced.

We typically plant everything from seed except for tomatoes. When transplanting tomato plants, it is a good idea to plant them much deeper than other seedlings. The bottom of the main stem (which includes some leaves) should be buried in the ground. This will give the tomato plants a head start as roots will grow off the main stem.
This year, the edible plants we're growing will be:

• Tomatoes 
• Pumpkins 
• Cucumbers 
• Sunflowers and Marigolds 
• Sweet Potatoes 
• Watermelons
• Green Onions
• Carrots 
• Bush Beans
• Basil, Thyme, Oregano, and Rosemary

Make it Beautiful with Flowers

Planting flowers in the vegetable garden makes the garden beautiful to look at and it aids the vegetables, too. For instance, sunflowers can provide late-afternoon shade for tomatoes, marigolds can benefit strawberries, and zinnias can attract lots of beneficial pollinators. Nasturtiums are also great to plant as bugs are more attracted to them than to the veggies. My daughter, especially, loves to plant lots of flowers in our summer garden.

Set up the Watering System

Where we live, the yearly rainfall is only 8-11 inches so supplemental watering of the garden is absolutely required. I have experimented with many different types of watering systems for our garden, including sprinklers (which end up using the most water), watering with a hose by hand (which I find time-consuming and laborious), and drip irrigation (which doesn't work particularly well in our very sandy soil as the water drains straight down rather than spreading to an area around each emitter). Thus far, my favorite watering methods are using soaker hoses and/or sprinklers in combination with an automatic timer. In areas where the soil has more natural humus content, drip irrigation may be a good match.

Mulch

Once we are done transplanting and our seeds have started growing well, it is highly beneficial to apply a layer of mulch to the garden. Mulch helps to keep the ground from drying out too much, and it also keeps the plants off of the moist ground. I have successfully used alfalfa hay, shredded wood, broken down sticks/vegetation from our property, and pine needles as mulch in our garden. One key is to make sure that I apply the mulch over the top of the soaker hoses, which allows the moisture to be retained very well in the ground.

Get the Kids Involved

Gardening is an integral part of our homeschool curriculum. When kids are involved in the garden, they gain an appreciation and understanding of where their food comes from. It teaches them about the life cycle of plants, lets them feel responsible and confident, and gives them skills for their own gardening endeavors as they grow up.

My children have each had their own gardening space in our family's garden since they were 3-years-old. As they grow older they are given larger areas to garden in each year. Many family memories have been made when we are working alongside each other in the family garden. And my children are immeasurably proud when they get to harvest food for our table from their own gardens.

Watch it Grow and Enjoy the Harvest

Once our garden is planted, it's time to enjoy watching it grow until the foods are ready to harvest. Years ago, a friend gave me the great idea to keep a gardening journal. Each year, I record what was planted, when it was planted, and how it faired. This helps me keep track from year-to-year of what worked best, which specific varieties did not tolerate our climate well, etc.

Vegetable gardening is beautiful and healthy way to be involved in the production of healthy foods. It allows us to celebrate the seasons as we observe the cycles of growth, abundance, and decay. For our family, gardening is a tradition that enriches our lives as well as our relationships with each other and our land.

Do you have a vegetable garden? What are your favorite things to grow?

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Snapshots of My Family's Summer Garden

Back in May, we planted a Family Garden. Each member of our family chose a few types of warm-season plants for our garden, and then we got everything laid out and planted. We all work on the garden together most Saturday mornings. Our children have been so excited to watch their plants grow and produce food; they are so proud of what their hard work has reaped and will offer a garden tour to anyone who visits our home. We've had some issues with pests and varmints, but overall our Family Garden is thriving!

Our garden, with the coops and other chicken yards in the background

This year we planted:

• Ian (5 years old): Sugar Pie Pumpkins, Sunflowers, Painted Hill Corn

• Alina (8 years old): Sugar Baby Watermelons, Sugar Baby Corn, Zinnias, Fairy Garden Flower Mix

• Sarah (the mother): 3 types of cherry tomatoes, Max's Yellow Zucchini, Butternut Squash, Okra, Amaranth (all consumed by varmints), 3 types of cucumbers (all consumed by varmints), Pencil Pod Bush Beans

• Ryan (the father): Birdhouse Gourds, Zinnias, Sunflowers

Ian and his corn plants

Ian and his pumpkins, which are taking over everything

The Weed Brigade, cleaning up the area outside the garden fence

Alina and her watermelons

Some of my cherry tomatoes

Alina's flowers and corn

My husband's Birdhouse Gourds

One of Ian's pumpkins

Alina and her corn

  Did you plant a summer garden this year? What is your favorite plant to grow?

Planting Fruit Trees

Fruit trees are one of the easiest ways to grow our own food. Few foods can rival fruit that is fresh-picked from a tree.With very little maintenance, fruit trees will grow and thrive, producing more and more food each year. 

We moved to a larger property about a year ago. Bees buzzing around fruit blossoms have become a herald of Spring for me, so it was bittersweet leaving behind the apple, plum, and apricot trees at our old home. They were just finally starting to produce a good amount of fruit, and we missed being able to pick fruit in our own yard last year. So it's time to plant some new fruit trees!

The Right Time for Planting Trees

Here in the desert Southwest, Spring, Winter, and Fall are the best times to plant fruit trees. The intense summer heat and lack of rain can be too much for newly-planted trees, so it is best to give them some time to get established before summer arrives. We planted four apple trees last autumn, and today my children helped me plant two more apple trees plus two peach trees. 

Inspired by his sister's chicken egg business, my 5-year-old son has been planning to have an apple business.  He has been saving money for trees little by little, but given that it will take several years for any substantial apple harvest, my husband and I decided to go ahead and get some trees in the ground for him last Fall.  With the help of a recent birthday gift from grandma, my son now has one more apple tree for his business. He is very proud of his three apple trees, and asks many people if they would like to be his apple customers.

Tips for Planting Fruit Trees

Whenever I have gardening questions, I always rely somewhat on my mother to point me in the right direction.  She has a truly stunning backyard and much experience with gardening here. I also found many helpful pointers in my Extreme Gardening: How to Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts and Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2 books. Here are some tips we implemented in planting our new fruit trees:

• I used my Sunset Western Garden book to select varieties of apple and peach trees that are suited for our climate zone.
• Because apple and peach trees need a certain amount of winter chill in order to produce a good amount of fruit, our trees are planted in the coolest part of our yard.
• The planting holes were dug to about the same depth as the roots of the trees, but several times larger around.
• The soil that was used to backfill the planting holes was not amended; this way, the trees will adapt right away to our sandy soil. 
• Each tree was planted slightly below the level of the surrounding ground, so that water will pool around the trees.
• I created a half-circle rain-harvesting berm around each tree to capture rain water. These are oriented so that the water flowing over the slightly-sloped ground during our July-August rainy season will naturally collect around the fruit trees.   
• There is a ~3-inch layer of composted manure around the base of each tree, to increase water retention and provide nutrients throughout the coming months.  I made sure the compost is not in direct contact with the tree trunks.
• Each tree was planted with the graft (where the rootstock and fruit tree are joined) facing East, to protect it from the wind. 
• Because we have high winds in the Spring, I placed some heavy rocks at the base of the trees to prevent them lifting up from the ground when the high winds hit.
• Regular water will be provided to the trees because it does not rain here very often at this time of the year. Over time, I will move the watering source away from the trees to encourage the roots to spread out further and further.

Companion Planting with Fruit Trees

One of my favorite things about the Extreme Gardening book is that is provides companion planting suggestions for each type of plant.  For instance, it lists the following as good companion plants that can be planted "thickly around the tree(s)" that we planted:

• Apple companion plants:
• Artemisia
• Chives
• Garlic Chives
• Marigolds
• Nasturtiums
• Onions
• Peach companion plants:
• Basil
• Chives
• Garlic Chives
• Nasturtiums
• Onions
• Strawberries
• Tansy

Because our fruit trees are planted outside of our fenced yard, I will only be planting companion plants that rabbits don't prefer to eat.  So we will plant marigolds and green onions around the apple trees, and we will plant basil and green onions around the peach trees.

Looking Ahead

We are planning to plant many more fruit trees on our property over the coming years. Pears, plums, and apricots for sure, and maybe some pecans, pistachios, and almonds. I love the idea of having a food forest, and am very interested to see how the rainwater harvesting techniques pan out.

What homesteading tasks are you working on this Spring?

Our Adventures in Backyard Chicken Keeping

This article was originally published in the March/April 2013 issue of Real Food and Health magazine.

We Decide to Get Chickens

My family lives on a small suburban plot of less than 1/4 acre, and over the last five years we've dedicated more and more of our yard to growing our own fruits, herbs, and vegetables. In the hot, dry desert where we live, I'm not sure that gardening is any less expensive than buying local produce at the farmer's market. Much has to be done to improve our soil and frequent watering is required during the many warm months. Yet I feel that there is an intrinsic value in knowing how to produce our own food, and in observing the cycles of growth and decay in our own back yard. I want my children to know where their food comes from, and to learn the skills for producing their own food as they grow up. The next logical step was for us to get chickens.

I've never owned or cared for any farm animals, but with the encouragement and support of a chicken-keeping friend, we decided to take the plunge and get two baby chicks. Springtime comes with lots of baby chicks at our local feed stores, and we were overwhelmed by the loud sound of hundreds of baby chicks peeping. The baby chicks seemed unbelievably tiny and fragile, like irresistible little fluffballs. We selected one Plymouth Barred Rock (known to thrive in our desert climate) and one Araucana (known for their beautiful blue-green eggs). We drove home with the pleasant sound of cheeping emanating from a little cardboard box.

Tips for Planting the Summer Vegetable Garden and Deep Mulch Gardening

This post is an updated version of one that was originally published in April 2011.
 
We've passed our last frost date here in southern New Mexico, so it is time to plant the summer garden! I'm excited for the year ahead, and hoping to try a few new techniques this year. I have a couple new raised beds for more planting space this year, and I'm going to try out deep mulch gardening in some areas instead of my usual method. The keys to a happy garden are good soil, the right amount of water, and plenty of sunshine.

Plan it Out
Before I planted my first summer garden a few years ago, I drew up a little plan of my garden and mapped out where I would plant everything.  Then I actually planted things and learned that the "plan" was totally off. These days, I still like to do at least a bit of planning ahead for plant placement. I do the following:

• Take stock of old seeds - If you've previously planted a garden, you may still have some old seed packets.  Figure out what you've got and what you still need for this year. I only had to buy a couple seed packets this year. 
• Plan for companion plants - For instance, tomatoes will benefit from being planted near parsley and dill, and would enjoy the afternoon shade offered by sunflowers.  Basil likes to be planted near tomatoes. For more ideas, check out my post on companion planting with herbs.
• Get a rough idea of plant placement - Make sure to find a nice, sunny spot for your plants.  To reduce pests and diseases, it is a good idea to make sure you don't plant the same type of plants in the same location year after year.  I also need to re-think plant placement a bit each year because my compost heap changes locations and other plants (like strawberries) have taken over more area in the garden.

Prep the Soil and Add Compost
Good soil is key to a flourishing garden.  The ideal soil will have plenty of nutrients for the plants, will drain away excess water to prevent root rot, and will also retain enough moisture to keep the plants from drying out too much between waterings. Even if you have great soil, at a minimum you'll still want to turn over the dirt in your garden annually (unless you want to try the deep mulch gardening technique, which I will describe later in the post). This ensures that the ground is not too hard-packed so that roots can easily grow.  It also helps to mix nutrients evenly into the soil since certain areas may have been depleted by previous plantings.

If you don't have very good soil, you'll need to amend it to make it better.  Overly sandy soil drains too quickly and the plants will dry out too much.  In some yards, there is clay soil which is problematic since it drains very slowly and is very compacted (which makes it hard for roots to grow). The best thing to use for amending your soil is compost!

Compost is basically decomposed plant matter, and it is full of nutrients.  Using compost is a great way to enrich the soil as it retains just enough moisture and provides all the fertilizer your plants will need to grow and thrive.  The ground in my yard is full of sand and rocks.  Every year I remove more rocks and add more compost, so over time my garden soil is getting better and better.

Compost is also great to use because it can be very cost effective. I have two large compost piles, and it is wonderful to put all of my vegetable scraps plus yard waste to such good use.  If you don't yet make your own compost, check to see if your local city has any available.  In my area, we can get compost for free at the city landfill.  You can also buy compost at the store.  Whichever compost you use, make sure it is fully composted before planting your vegetables in it.  My mom uses store-bought compost and finds it best to amend the soil and then wait 1-2 weeks before planting.

Get to Planting
Once your soil is ready, you can start planting!  Some plants, like tomatoes, get planted individually with plenty of space between plants.  Other plants, like corn, get planted in rows.  And then squash, cucumbers, and melons get planted in hills.

When transplanting tomato or tomatillo plants, it is a good idea to plant them much deeper than other seedlings. The bottom of the main stem (which includes some leaves) should be buried in the ground.  This will give the tomato plants a head start as roots will grow off the main stem.

This year, the edible plants in my garden will be:

• Tomatoes
• Butternut squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, and yellow squash
• Cucumbers
• Sunflowers, marigolds, and nasturtiums
• Strawberries 
• Swiss chard
• Watermelons
• Pumpkins
• Green onions
• Celery
• Corn
• Parsley, basil, oregano, dill, mint, and thyme

Make it Beautiful with Flowers
I take a queue from my mom and always plant flowers in with my vegetables.  This makes the garden beautiful to look at, but it also aids the vegetables.  For instance, sunflowers can provide late-afternoon shade for tomatoes, marigolds can benefit strawberries, and zinnias can attract lots of beneficial pollinators.  Nasturtiums are also great to plant as bugs are more attracted to them than to your veggies. For more information on companion planting with flowers, check out the Extreme Gardening book.

Set up the Watering System
Where I live, we have a yearly rainfall of only 8-11 inches so supplemental watering of the garden is absolutely required!  If you don't get regular rain in your area, you'll also need to supplement the water in your garden.  I know many people who like to use sprinklers or even water with the hose by hand, but my preferred method for watering is a drip system. Drip systems are wonderful for many reasons:

• Drip systems deliver water directly to the ground around your plants.  This keeps the plants healthy and beautiful as many do not like having their leaves wet.
• If you use a timer with your drip system, it will ensure that your plants get watered on a regular basis. This is a must for me as I can't be trusted to remember to water my garden all the time.  
• Drip systems conserve water since the water goes directly into the ground where it is needed, instead of up into the air.

Setting up a drip system can be complicated or simple.  My drip system is part of the overall landscape irrigation system that we installed.  However, you can easily set up a drip system off the hose bib in your yard as well.  They even sell drip system kits at the home improvement stores.  If you want more info, check out this free irrigation tutorial site.  

Mulch!
Once you are done transplanting and your seeds have started growing well, it is a good idea to apply a layer of mulch to the garden.  Mulch helps to keep the ground from drying out too much, and it also keeps the plants off of the moist ground. Alfalfa hay is especially good to use as a mulch because it provides nutrients to the soil as time goes on.

Deep mulch gardening, which I will be experimenting with this year, is a method whereby you add lots of mulch (at least 8-12 inches) and leave it in place.  Then you just separate the mulch a bit to plant.  This method is supposed to involve no digging or weeding, as more mulch gets continually added on top while the mulch on the bottom breaks down.  Where I live, the trickiest part of implementing this method will be watering.  I'll let you know how my experiments with this method work out.

Get the Kids Involved 

Getting your kids involved in the garden is wonderful.  It teaches them about the life cycle of plants, lets them feel responsible and confident, and gives them skills for their own gardening endeavors as they grow up.  Even very young children can participate, although when they are under 2-years-old their contributions will look more like getting filthy in the dirt. My daughter has had her own little garden space since she was three-years-old.  She helps me plant seeds and transplant seedlings into my garden, but she especially loves having her own space where she can plant anything she wants, however she wants!  And she is immeasurably proud when she gets to harvest food from her garden and watch us all enjoy it at the dinner table.

Watch it Grow and Keep a Journal!
Once your garden is planted, it's time to enjoy watching it grow until the foods are ripe.  A friend gave me the great idea to keep a gardening journal.  Each year, I record what was planted, when it was planted, and how it fared.  This helps me keep track from year-to-year on what worked best.

What are you planting this year? Have you tried deep mulch gardening?  What are your tips for planting the summer garden?

This post is part of Fight Back Friday!

Easiest Plants for Beginning Gardeners

Over the few years I've been gardening, I've learned that some plants require lots of effort, but some are very easy.  If you are just getting into gardening, you may as well start with the easiest plants! The easiest plants:

• keep coming back year after year with no additional effort
• produce plenty to harvest
• don't require any special fertilizers or other special treatment

Since I live in the desert, we have large temperature variations.  We see temps over 100 degrees every summer, and usually get down to the low teens in the winter (except the previous winter when we had a freak snow storm and temps of -10F). In my garden, the easiest plants to grow are:

• Strawberries
• Green onions
• Celery
• Parlsey
• Thyme
• Mint

Strawberries
Growing strawberries seems to be my freak superpower.  I started with 25 plants about 3 years ago, and these have propagated so that now I have a bajillion plants.  During peak strawberry time I harvest about 20-40 berries a day for over 6 weeks.

Tips for Strawberries

• Strawberries reproduce by sending out runners. Make sure to plant them in an area where they have plenty of room to expand since the runners will slowly reach out to cover more and more area.
• Strawberries like sandy soil!
• Mulch around the base of the strawberry plants. This really helps prevent all of the berries from being eaten by bugs. I use straw or hay to mulch the strawberry patch. Pine needles are supposed to work great as well.
• Conventional strawberry growing calls for mowing down the plants after the harvest. I DO NOT do this! I just let the strawberries grow and grow. By the end of the growing season, they grow to where there is no space to walk in a 10-foot X 10-foot area. In the Fall, I invite friends to come over and dig up some strawberry plants to transplant into their own yards. I just make sure they dig them up in rows, so I have some space to walk again in the strawberry patch.

Green Onions

I use green onions as companion plants for my strawberries and apple trees.  Whenever I need some green onions for cooking, I just go snip some off a few green spikes.  Some of the green onions in my garden have been growing for over 3 years. 

Tips for Green Onions

• When you need some green onions for a recipe, do NOT pull up the green onions.  Rather, just cut off some green parts and leave the rest in the ground.  The onions will continue growing new green parts!  
• Leave some green onions growing long enough to make seeds.  Once the onions have been growing over a year, they will make flowers and seeds. The seeds can easily be collected and planted, or just left to drop where they are if you want more onions in that location. 

Celery
My three celery plants have been growing for over 3 years. They do not tend to make any big stalks like the ones you buy at the store, but they make lots of little stalks and celery leaves.  This is a great way to always have some celery on hand for making soups and stews. I do still occasionally buy celery at the store when my daughter is requesting to eat ants on a log (celery filled with peanut butter with raisins on top).

Tips for Celery

• Plant the celery in a location where you can leave it growing for years.
• When it is time to harvest some celery, just cut some directly off the plant and leave the rest in place.  It will continue to grow new stalks and leaves.   

Parsley
I originally planted parsley as a companion plant for my strawberries, and to have a little for making homemade ranch dressing.  Parsley has really proliferated in my garden, and has even started popping up around my apple trees.  Parsley is great because it attracts beneficial pollinators and predaceous insects to the garden.

Tips for Parsley

• Plant parsley in a location where you would welcome more parsley plants. In the late spring, parsley will drop lots of tiny seeds that will readily grow into new plants.
• When it is time to harvest parsley, just cut off what you need and the rest will continue to grow. 

Thyme
I planted some thyme in my garden bed and a little in a pot a few years ago.  These plants are perennials, so they just keep on growing throughout the year. I love having fresh thyme on hand for cooking savory dishes.

Tips for Thyme

• Thyme will grow well in a variety of locations, ranging from pots to garden beds.  
• In the winter, the thyme leaves will turn a dark purplish color.  Although they look different, they still taste great.
• If your thyme gets too big or scraggly, don't be afraid to prune it back. 

Mint
Fresh mint is delightful to have on hand for throwing into some iced tea in the summer.  It is also great for stomach upsets and digestive woes. I like to just chew on it whenever the mood strikes me.

Tips for Mint

• Mint is notorious for taking over wherever it is planted. Mine is planted in a pot so that it can't spread too much.
• Although the mint plants will die back when winter arrives, many more mint plants will pop up once warm temperatures come back in the spring.

What plants keep coming back year after year for you?

Time to Start Seeds for the Fall Garden

As summer winds down, it is time to start seeds for the Fall vegetable garden.  Where I live, I will be able to transplant my seedlings outdoors in about a month.  In other parts of the country where it is cooler, you can start your Fall garden even sooner.

Cool Season Gardening
In previous years, I haven't had much success with cool season gardening.  This year I am excited to have a new location in the yard where there will be more sunshine. I've recently received my order of seeds from Botanical Interests.  I'm planning to plant following vegetables this Fall:

• lettuce, two varieties
• kale
• swiss chard
• green onions
• snap peas, two varieties
• beets
• carrots, three varieties
• leeks
• napa cabbage
• bok choy
• broccoli
• cabbage

Will you be planting a Fall garden?  What are you going to plant?

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet, Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist! 

Make a Food Preservation Spreadsheet

Summer is in full swing now, and that means I'm doing lots of food preservation!  Since the preserved foods are starting to add up, I thought a spreadsheet was in order (really, I'm always looking for another excuse to make a spreadsheet).

This spreadsheet will help me keep track of how much food is preserved and how much gets used each month.  This way I can really stretch out the food over the seasons and not end up with 15 quarts of zucchini to use come next April.  This spreadsheet would also be great to use when we get our yearly portion of beef steer; that way I would know just how much to use each month to make it last all year.

Making your own spreadsheet is easy, but I'm also happy to share the excel file with anyone who wants it.  Let me know if you'd like a copy.  You can also print this spreadsheet on Google docs (thanks to one of my readers for showing me how easy this is to use!).

What are your favorite foods to preserve?   

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist, Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet and Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

Tips for Planting the Summer Vegetable Garden

We've passed our last frost date here in southern New Mexico, so it is time to plant the summer garden! I'm excited for the year ahead, and hoping to have better success than last year (when I was plagued with drip system problems and consequently didn't have a very happy garden).  The keys to a happy garden are good soil, the right amount of water, and plenty of sunshine.

Plan it Out
Before I planted my first summer garden a few years ago, I drew up a little plan of my garden and mapped out where I would plant everything.  Then I actually planted things and learned that the "plan" was totally off. These days, I still like to do at least a bit of planning ahead for plant placement. I do the following:

• Take stock of old seeds - If you've previously planted a garden, you may still have some old seed packets.  Figure out what you've got and what you still need for this year. I only had to buy a couple seed packets this year. 
• Plan for companion plants - For instance, tomatoes will benefit from being planted near parsley and dill, and would enjoy the afternoon shade offered by sunflowers.  Basil likes to be planted near tomatoes. For more ideas, check out my post on companion planting with herbs.
• Get a rough idea of plant placement - Make sure to find a nice, sunny spot for your plants.  To reduce pests and diseases, it is a good idea to make sure you don't plant the same type of plants in the same location year after year.  I also need to re-think plant placement a bit each year because my compost heap changes locations and other plants (like strawberries) have taken over more area in the garden.

Prep the Soil and Add Compost
Good soil is key to a flourishing garden.  The ideal soil will have plenty of nutrients for the plants, will drain away excess water to prevent root rot, and will also retain enough moisture to keep the plants from drying out too much between waterings. Even if you have great soil, at a minimum you'll still want to turn over the dirt in your garden annually. This ensures that the ground is not too hard-packed so that roots can easily grow.  It also helps to mix nutrients evenly into the soil since certain areas may have been depleted by previous plantings.

If you don't have very good soil, you'll need to amend it to make it better.  Overly sandy soil drains too quickly and the plants will dry out too much.  In some yards, there is clay soil which is problematic since it drains very slowly and is very compacted (which makes it hard for roots to grow). The best thing to use for amending your soil is compost!

Compost is basically decomposed plant matter, and it is full of nutrients.  Using compost is a great way to enrich the soil as it retains just enough moisture and provides all the fertilizer your plants will need to grow and thrive.  The ground in my yard is full of sand and rocks.  Every year I remove more rocks and add more compost, so over time my garden soil is getting better and better.

Compost is also great to use because it can be very cost effective. I have two large compost piles, and it is wonderful to put all of my vegetable scraps plus yard waste to such good use.  If you don't yet make your own compost, check to see if your local city has any available.  In my area, we can get compost for free at the city landfill.  You can also buy compost at the store.  Whichever compost you use, make sure it is fully composted before planting your vegetables in it.  My mom uses store-bought compost and finds it best to amend the soil and then wait 1-2 weeks before planting.

Get to Planting
Once your soil is ready, you can start planting!  Some plants, like tomatoes, get planted individually with plenty of space between plants.  Other plants, like corn, get planted in rows.  And then squash, cucumbers, and melons get planted in hills.

When transplanting tomato or tomatillo plants, it is a good idea to gently pull off a few stems from the bottom of the plant.  Then plant the tomatoes deep so that the bottom of the main stem (where you removed the stems) is buried in the ground.  This will give the tomato plants a head start as roots will grow off the main stem.

This year, the edible plants in my garden will be:

• Tomatoes and tomatillos
• Butternut squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, and yellow squash
• Cucumbers
• Sunflowers, marigolds, and nasturtiums
• Strawberries and raspberries
• Green onions
• Celery
• Parsley, basil, dill, and thyme

Make it Beautiful with Flowers
I take a queue from my mom and always plant flowers in with my vegetables.  This makes the garden beautiful to look at, but it also aids the vegetables.  For instance, sunflowers can provide late-afternoon shade for tomatoes, marigolds can benefit strawberries, and zinnias can attract lots of beneficial pollinators.  Nasturtiums are also great to plant as bugs are more attracted to them than to your veggies. For more information on companion planting with flowers, check out the Extreme Gardening book.

Set up the Watering System
Where I live, we have an annual rainfall of only 8-11 inches so supplemental watering of the garden is absolutely required!  If you don't get regular rain in your area, you'll also need to supplement the water in your garden.  I know many people who like to use sprinklers or even water with the hose by hand, but my preferred method for watering is a drip system. Drip systems are wonderful for many reasons:

• Drip systems deliver water directly to the ground around your plants.  This keeps the plants healthy and beautiful as many do not like having their leaves wet.
• If you use a timer with your drip system, it will ensure that your plants get watered on a regular basis. This is a must for me as I can't be trusted to remember to water my garden all the time.  
• Drip systems conserve water since the water goes directly into the ground where it is needed, instead of up into the air.

Setting up a drip system can be complicated or simple.  My drip system is part of the overall landscape irrigation system that we installed.  However, you can easily set up a drip system off the hose bib in your yard as well.  They even sell drip system kits at the home improvement stores.  If you want more info, check out this free irrigation tutorial site.  

Mulch!
Once you are done transplanting and your seeds have started growing well, it is a good idea to apply a layer of mulch to the garden.  Mulch helps to keep the ground from drying out too much, and it also keeps the plants off of the moist ground. Alfalfa hay is especially good to use as a mulch because it provides nutrients to the soil as time goes on.

Get the Kids Involved 

Getting your kids involved in the garden is wonderful.  It teaches them about the life cycle of plants, lets them feel responsible and confident, and gives them skills for their own gardening endeavors as they grow up.  Even very young children can participate, although when they are under 2-years-old their contributions will look more like getting filthy in the dirt. My daughter, who is now 4 years old, has had her own little garden space in my garden for the last couple years.  She helps me plant seeds and transplant seedlings into my garden, but she especially loves having her own space where she can plant anything she wants, however she wants!  And she is immeasurably proud when she gets to harvest food from her garden and watch us all enjoy it at the dinner table.

Watch it Grow and Keep a Journal!
Once your garden is planted, it's time to enjoy watching it grow until the foods are ripe.  A friend gave me the great idea to keep a gardening journal.  Each year, I record what was planted, when it was planted, and how it fared.  This helps me keep track from year-to-year on what worked best.

What are you planting this year?

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet, Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop! 

Herb Gardening, Companion Planting, and the Easiest Herb to Grow!

Growing herbs is a great way to start growing your own food.  Herbs don't take up much space, and they are wonderfully versatile.  Herbs can be grown in a traditional garden, but they can also be grown in pots or even on a sunny windowsill. In my kitchen, herbs are essential to adding variety to our meals.  

Companion Plant with Herbs
As described in the Extreme Gardening book, companion planting is "putting plants together that help one another to grow and thrive". Many herbs are great as companion plants for other plants in your garden.  Some herbs that can be used as companion plants (from the Extreme Gardening book) are :

• Basil attracts beneficial pollinators and repels pests.  Basil is especially beneficial to plant near cauliflower, tomatoes, and apricot and peach trees. 
• Bay leaves repel ants, caterpillars, grubs, and moths
• Chives benefit carrots, parsley, roses, and stone fruit trees. Chives also deter aphids, crickets, and grasshoppers.
• Coriander (cilantro) is a general insect deterrent that attracts beneficial pollinators and predaceous insects.
• Dill attracts beneficial pollinators and predaceous insects, and it also helps produce bigger ears of corn.
• Fennel attracts beneficial pollinators and predaceous insects.
• Lavender is a general insect repellent that attracts bees and butterflies. It is especially beneficial to plant lavender near eggplant and swiss chard.
• Mint is a general insect repellent that attracts predaceous insects.  It is especially beneficial to plant mint near cabbage. 
• Parsley attracts beneficial pollinators and predaceous insects.  It is especially beneficial to plant parsley near asparagus, chives, tomatoes, carrots, and roses.
• Rosemary attracts beneficial pollinators and disrupts the sensory mechanisms of most insects.  It is especially beneficial to plant rosemary near brussel sprouts, melons, squash, and any other fruits and vegetables that need pollinating.
• Sage repels many insects and especially benefits cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes. (Sage should not be planted near cucumbers as it makes them bitter.)
• Tarragon benefits eggplant and peppers.
• Thyme attracts beneficial pollinators and deters caterpillars, flies, and moths.  It is especially beneficial to plant thyme near eggplant and cabbage.

My Herbs
My first homegrown herbs were some parsley plants that grew wonderfully with a great bounty.  Even better, I allowed them to go to seed and now I have volunteer parsley plants popping up throughout my garden and near one of my apple trees.  Parsley is wonderful in soups and broths, plus I use plenty of it in my homemade ranch dressing.

I also grow basil both outdoors and on a windowsill.  Growing some indoors means I have access to fresh basil even in the winter.  Basil is of course great in marinara sauce, but it is also wonderful in soups and stews.  Fresh basil gives homemade pizza a great taste.

Dill is another herb that has many uses in the kitchen. It is great on roasted root vegetables. I especially like to add some fresh dill to veggie ferments as it lends the finished products a wonderful fresh flavor.

And the homegrown herb that I use the most is thyme!

Thyme: the Easiest to Grow
In my experience, thyme is the absolute easiest herb to grow.  Thyme is a perennial, so while most other outdoor herbs die back every winter, thyme keeps growing year-round!  It also has a profusion of tiny pink flowers and will reseed easily.  This means you'll always have plenty of thyme.  I've had some thyme growing both in my vegetable garden and in a pot for a few years. Thyme will grow well in a wide variety of climates: it is regularly over 100 degrees here in the summer and this past winter we had a freak cold snap with temperatures below -10 degrees; the thyme is still growing strong!

It's great to have access to fresh thyme all winter long as it pairs so wonderfully with meats and is so tasty in soups and stews. Try it in my Creamy Chicken and Thyme Soup or Braised Short Ribs. 

Do you grown your own herbs?  What types? 

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet, Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade!

Time to Start Seeds for the Summer Vegetable Garden!

Why grow your own food?
A great way to get fresh, local produce is to have your own vegetable garden.  Harvesting foods from your own yard is wonderful, for adults and kids alike. Because you can harvest your foods at the peek of ripeness, the flavor of your garden-grown foods will be so much better than the produce that is typically found at the store. And when you grow your own food, there is no wondering about what chemicals may have been used on your food. 

Why plant from seed?
Small vegetable plants can be bought at the store, but I prefer to start all of my plants from seed. This is a great way to save money as seed packets cost only one to three dollars, and will yield many plants.  I am still using some remaining seeds from packets that were bought two years ago!

My daughter and I also get great joy from watching the tiny seeds turn into plants. Plus, you have an endless selection of seeds to choose from, whereas most stores will only stock a few varieties of each plant.

What plants should you start early?
Although the time for planting summer gardens is still a few months away, now is the time to start some plants from seed. This will allow your seedlings to be ready in time for planting outdoors once the last chance of frost has passed.  The plants that I like to start early are those that take a long while to produce, including:

• Tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Bell Peppers
• Celery

Here in the desert southwest, we have a very long growing season, so I can start the remaining garden plants (such as zucchini, squash, and cucumbers) outside in a month or two . If you live somewhere that you have a very short growing season (or just want to get a jump-start on the garden), you may want to even start some of these plants indoors as well.

How to start seeds
Basically, the seeds will need soil, moisture, and light.  I have started seeds in either a seed tray or just in small pots.  I have a friend who has had good luck even just using paper cups. I don't use any fancy store-bought soil; rather, I just scoop some compost-enriched dirt from my garden out back. I also don't use any growing lights (although I'm sure the plants would be happier if I did).  Instead, I just put them in a sunny windowsill. As for seeds, I buy all of mine from Botanical Interests (a great family-operated business). Once they are planted, you'll have to keep the seeds moist until they germinate, and then make sure they don't dry out too much while those tiny roots are growing.

If you are ready to take the plunge, there is a good seed starting tutorial here.

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet, and Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade!