Back to Eden Update

Results finally came late September of 2013!! It was not what I had hoped for, but certainly better than we started out!!

Catching up

Hi, folks, sorry I have been absent for so long, but it has been a busy and worrisome time.  Busy because my growing partner has been producing enough vegetables to keep us going (our small CAS) and worrisome because my garden has been in never never land!! However, I must say things seem to be turning around.  Its a little late, but better late than never!!  The peas planted early and late spring finally decided to make a showing-not all of them but quite a few at least.  We also planted again last Wednesday, July 24th, using plants about 6 inches tall and they seem to have taken well.  I am at this point planting for fall crops and hoping for better production than the spring crops did.   While some things did very poorly, things like cabbage and Brussels sprouts just kept growing.  We have added another 8' X 4' raised bed for more carrots and another is in the process of being made for beets.

Probably the biggest problem I have had with the wood chips gardening has been getting things to germinate.  I have not solved this problem yet, but am improving.  Seeds that are current (2013) and should have had no problem growing, did not germinate and then many germinated quite a while after they should have. Especially greens.  Paul says he starts tomatoes in the doors as they will not have time to produce tomatoes otherwise and that he plants pretty much everything else in the ground. That's how I like to work, but this year I had no luck with the latter.

On the bright side, many things that did not do well to start with are now gaining strength and seem to making up for lost time.  I have faithfully fertilized with fish emulsion, chicken manure and when I could afford it, Blood Meal.  So I am hoping this has finally paid off.  I'll keep you posted and hope you haven't given up on me! See you soon!

Oh! One other thing, my daughter and granddaughter have been helping me re-do my Blog template and we have been having some problems with the pictures not showing for some folks.  We are working on getting this corrected, please bare with us!!

Cleaning up the perimeter

One of the problems I struggle with is slugs.  So in an effort to eliminate one aspect of gardening problems in the great Northwest, we are trying to use the wood chips to help on that front as well.  The pictures below are of the before, during and after of our operation on June 21st,  I am very grateful to my husband, Bill, for all his help on this project, without him and the tractor it would have been overwhelming.

These are the before pictures, as you can see, with all of our rain, it doesn't take long for the weeds to take over!!          This is two different views of the fence line.  The very green plant in the foreground of the second picture is a rosemary plant.  I was very careful to prevent it from being uprooted during the mowing part of the project!!

          As you can see we mowed the weeds and grasses as far down as we could get them.  We placed wet newspaper on the ground on one fence line, however we ran out of paper and it's one of those projects that if you don't finish it today, it'll never get done. So when we ran out of paper we just used the chips.  I'll let you know if there is a definite difference in preventing the weeds from regenerating with or without the paper.

           The wood chips are down and what a difference!! It looks so neat and clean!! You can see the rosemary plant is still there in the second picture!! I am hoping we can keep the weeds down and the slugs out but we have a ways to go! This is a 3500 square foot garden and there are still a lot of weeds to overcome.  In the actual garden where we chipped last fall, the weeds are few and come out over all quite easily. It's the outer area that is the problem at this point.  To me this indicates the chips are doing their job, I just have to get plenty of them around the outside of the garden area.

For those of you who are skeptical about the Back to Eden gardening, I hope this is helpful.  I am very excited about this adventure in gardening and hope you enjoy watching it develop. I would love feed back from any visitors to my blog.  And if you are doing this type of gardening, I'd love to hear from you about what you learned  I am going to post a few after pictures of the tomato plants and squash plants that looked so bad earlier, I just have to get out there and take the pictures!! Talk to you soon!! Jan.

The sun is shining!!!

Wow, it's gorgeous outside! I can't wait to get out there and plant! I know it's suppose to rain at some point, but I'll take the sunshine while I can get it.  We are hoping to thwart the slugs by getting the grass around the outside of the Main Garden Bed under control today.  Our plan is to drop the fence and both mow and cover with paper and wood chips the entire parameter of the garden.  I know the slugs love using the grass as a cover -I just can't always keep up with the mowing and weeding. Hopefully the wood chips will help keep the grass down and make the weeding easier to keep up with.  I am going to take a before and after picture so you can see what we are doing.  Then I will keep you posted on if the slugs are more under control.

Here are a few pictures of problems I have had and how we are combating them. This is a tomato plant that definitely needs nitrogen. We added Blood meal and it helped a lot.

       

This is a Zucchini plant with the same problem.  It was so yellow that it looked like a crookneck squash!! Honest it doesn't show here, but it glowed!! It is now a nice green after the blood meal application.  These are things that Paul Gautschi recommends in one of the videos I watched. At times, it is easy to think I have made a mistake going with the wood chips, but truthfully, I think its just going to take commitment and perseverance this first year and lots of prayer!!  After all, when I started this I pointed out to God that if it was going to work it would be up to Him because I needed all the help I could get.  So far he has guided it's progress and I'll trust Him to keep it going!  I'll post the after pictures later so you can see how well the blood meal and also fish emulsion worked. See you later.

Things are looking up!!

Well, we have been busy fertilizing and adding Bloodmeal to the soil to help with the yellowing of the squash and tomato plants and it is working!! There were squash plants that looked like crookneck-a very yellow summer squash-and they didn't have any squash on them!! But they have improved in the green color they should be and we're hoping this trend continues.  I have re-watched some of the Back to Eden videos online and am very encouraged to hear Paul Gautschi talk about early "problems" and how he combated them.  Were this simply my home vegetable garden the problems I am having would not be quite so frightening, however, we sell weekly boxes of vegetables and I must find answers quickly or possibly loose some of my customers. 

The fun part is learning how to use a new type of gardening that not only lessens the work that goes into growing the vegetables, but conserves water (we are on a well-and they are frightfully expensive to drill if you run it dry!) and does not take tilling.  When you till the ground, you may lose what little good soil you have, by covering it with the chips, you add to what you already have -it just takes time!

I grow in raised beds as well and they have proven to be a real help. Since winter squash takes up so much room in the Main Garden, I use the beds to grow them.  At this time I am limited in types I can produce adequately and keep it to Acorn and Sweet Meat squash.  If you have never had Sweet Meat Squash it's a must try! The outside of the actual squash look much like a lime green pumpkin that has been dusted with flour. Last year I had many that weighed between 5 and 20 lbs.  A couple of reasons I like this squash are that you can actually cut it with a knife and it is ready earlier than Hubbard.  The inside is deep orange and is unbelievably sweet.  I cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, place it cut-side down on a cookie sheet with just a small amount of water and roast it in the oven at 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.   Last year I had one that weighed 19lbs 15 oz and it took close to 2 hours. Most only take about an hour to an hour and a half. Once a fork will pierce it easily, I scoop out the flesh and toss the rind into the compost pile. At this point I simply freeze it in quart bags and pull it out all winter long to heat and enjoy. Don’t add anything to it until you have tasted it, we use it with no additions.  It's absolutely delicious!! Give it a try.

There really is hope!!

Well today I am very encouraged! While things are progressing, some items have been hesitant to pop out of the ground!! Things like peas and green beans! I have been doing research and listening to videos that feature Paul Gautschi from Sequim-he is the originator of the Back to Eden concept of gardening which I am trying to accomplish.  After listening to him, I discovered that I was on the right path and what additional things I can do to help my less than happy tomatoes and squash plants!

So the good news is that Garden of Hope shareholders' boxes will be ready tomorrow, Wednesday the 12th after 11 a.m. and until 7 p.m. Please contact me as early as possible if you have to arrange to pick up outside of these hours. 

For those who love to grow their own vegetables, I can't recommend Back to Eden enough!! Its an amazing concept and I'll keep you advised of how I am coming along with my own garden.  This is a no till method and is wonderful for water conservation as well.  Whether you buy fresh vegetables and grow a few as well, or you grow all of your own, this method seems to me to be a really super alternative to tilling your ground and spending the summer making sure it gets watered and fertilized! Stop by again for more adventures in gardening and eating really great vegetables. Have a great day!!

Well, according to the weather reports, God is listening to our prayers-sunshine is in the forecast!! And that usually means less slugs!! What more can we ask for?

While we have some produce doing well, we have much that has suffered in this cold, wet stretch.  Boxes for this years shareholders will begin soon-they will be light as they usually are this early in the Spring-but as produce increases, you'll find the abundant produce in your boxes will make up for it. Please contact me if you have any allergies to contend with, we will do our best to make sure you don't get items that could cause you problems. Keep the prayers coming, we need as much warm weather as possible to get the plants producing!!

Have a happy day! Jan