2016 Garden Totals

Hey there!

I did not forget about you. Promise.

Sorry I've been away so long! Life sometimes just takes over! So let's get back to business.

Here are last year's garden harvested totals. My husband said maybe we shouldn't even post the totals because they are slightly embarrassing. (sad face). In our gardening defense, we happened to have a few trips (some unexpected) over our growing season that collectively added up well over a month away from our garden. The good news was that we installed a drip irrigation system that worked like a dream. But the bad news is that it seemed to not only water our vegetable plants but also watered the weeds taking over too!

Here is a glimpse of total pounds of food harvested from our past years.

   2015: 173 pounds

   2014: 309 pounds

   2013: 433 pounds

New items growing in the 2016 garden were:

• Bok Choy
• Okra
• Potatoes - Purple

2016 Harvest Totals

Basil: 11.2 ounces

Bok Choy: 4 pounds 4.7 ounces

Cucumber: 4 pounds

Leeks: 2 pounds 4.8 ounces

Lettuce: 4.9 ounces

Mint: picked sparingly

Okra: 4 pounds 4.9 ounces

Onion: 1 pound 3.5 ounces

Oregano: picked sparingly

Parsley: picked sparingly

Pepper - Slim Red: 2 pounds 6.2 ounces

Potato - Purple: 12.4 ounces
Raspberry: 2 pounds 13.6 ounces
Rosemary: picked sparingly
Tomato: 33 pounds 0.1 ounce

Total Weight Harvested in 2016...  56 pounds 2.3 Ounces

Still not too bad for a completely organic garden grown from seed.

I am beyond excited to about all the new and exciting things coming up on the blog. I am diving head first into the world of essential oils and will be sharing DIY ways to use them for health and your home.

2015 Year In Review

Happy New Year!

I hope this post finds you relaxing from the whirlwind of last year and especially last month.

We ventured back "Home" to Wisconsin for a 12-day trip over the holidays. We made a quick overnight stop in Asheville, North Carolina to see my brother and visit the Biltmore House, which was decorated for Christmas.

Photo credit Biltmore.com

We had a great time visiting with family and friends. There is always something left on the list to be done or visited for next time. Just this past Saturday we drove (the car adorned with colored Christmas lights including the dog, fish and 2 rowdy kids) straight through 7 states.

Now that we are back to our "New Home" in North Carolina, it is time to look back on how God has richly blessed us in the past year.

2015 Top 10 Favorite Posts

(click photos for link)

Garden Totals

What a year...
Having moved to North Carolina and completely missing the chance to grow seedlings and not yet having a tilled garden... I am a little afraid to add up the garden totals this year.  Even though we reconditioned a 10' x 10' planting bed into a 12' x 24' garden, timing was limited due to the move in March and having to navigate a new planting zone. In Wisconsin, we left behind a tended raspberry bed that we loved and cared for, mulberry bushes, pear trees, apple trees, established asparagus, strawberries and rhubarb.

New to the garden this year was:

• Cantaloupe
• Tabasco Peppers
• Mini Pumpkins
• Rosemary

Here is where we are coming from in garden totals:

   2014: 309 pounds
   2013: 433 pounds

2015 Totals

Beans - Green: 1.5 ounces (Don't know what went wrong. Grew well but no beans)
Cantaloupe: 6 pounds
Corn - Sweet: 7 pounds 4.9 ounces
Cucumber: 14 pounds 2.9 ounces
Lettuce: 27 pounds
Mint: 0.2 ounces (Minimal picking as is new, let grow)
Oregano: Let establish this year
Pepper - Banana: 2 pounds 0.4 ounces
Pepper - Bell: 1 pound 5.3 ounces
Pepper - Jalapeño: 3 pounds 0.1 ounces
Pepper - Tabasco: 1 pound 0.7 ounces
Popcorn: 2 pounds 12.1 ounces
Pumpkin: 1 pound 1.1 ounce (From a small plant that came home from school)
Pumpkin - Mini: 8 pounds 3.5 ounces
Raspberry: 2.9 ounces (Hopeful for this year after some seriously needed pruning)
Rosemary: Finally!!! Let grow to establish
Tomato: 59 pounds 3.3 ounces
Watermelon: 41 pounds 2.8 ounces

Total Weight Harvested in 2015... 173 pounds 8.5 ounces

Now to plan for this coming year's garden! :)

Update From North Carolina

Wow! 2015 has already been full of adventures for our family and we are approaching the half way point of the year!

First and foremost, so sorry for the prolonged absence!

Here is a little bit about what we have been up to...

Right before Christmas, Ron accepted a new job in North Carolina. Just days into 2015, Ron left Wisconsin to start work and this left us, girls back home to sell our house. The house sold fairly quickly, within 3 months from listing to closing. This meant we had a whole house to pack up, a new house, school, and church to find. Oh, and then there was the moving us and everything we own 1000 plus miles away.

Ron found a church right away in the area and they have already been a huge blessing to our whole family.

We found a great home and neighborhood on a little over an acre of land in Eastern North Carolina. It has great sunlight and mature trees! We even have raspberry bushes.

There have been many new adjustments for us all, but we were definitely not prepared to start a garden immediately. After all, I still had to find all the gardening tools in our moving mess.

"Up north" we would not plant until after Mother's Day or even Memorial Day. But down here I was told to wait to plant after Good Friday! That is a huge increase in our growing season and means I have to get moving!

Sadly, we were grossly disorganized with moving, starting a new school and just trying to get around town. Planting has been slow going but is happening and we will keep you posted on the progress!

Here are a few pictures from the beautiful blooms in our yard.

Upcoming Post:  Starting a garden plot.

DIY Weed Killer Spray

Weeding is back-breaking work and too often I spend hours weeding only to have the weeds sneak back in no time at all. Pre-made weed sprays can work wonders, but are expensive and who wants to spray chemicals all over the yard? Not me. I found a better solution that not only works faster and better, but is much cheaper.

DIY Weed Killer Spray
Ingredients:

• 1 gallon vinegar
• 1/2 cup table salt
• 1 teaspoon Dawn liquid dish soap (used the basic blue type)

Mix all ingredients together. I just shaked to combine.
Pour solution in a spray bottle or into a pressurized sprayer. Now attack those weeds.

For best results: Apply when rain is not forecasted for a day or two. Keep in mind this solution will kill anything that is put on. So if you spray plants you want to keep, it will kill them. But on the bright side the spray will also kill off grass if you planning to make a new planting bed.

This a very Eco-friendly way to beat those weeds. We love that we can use this solution and not worry about the kids or the dog being by where we sprayed. We also live on the river and don't want to have dangerous run off adding to the pollution of the river. 

This solution created very quick surprising results. We have many thistles that we are fighting against in a bed we are trying to regain control of. I used this spray in only 4 hours the leaves were already brown and the weeds were on their way to wasting away. Victory! 

Before & 4 hours after application.

Garden Update: Week of 5/25/14

Wow, what a busy week it has been at our house...
Memorial Day charity walk, dance rehearsals and recitals, last day of school, awards ceremony, gymnastics practice, a theater play, pine car derby and oh, yeah gardening.

Despite our busy schedules we were able to get some more of the garden planted...
Jalapeños, sweet corn, popcorn, decorative corn, sugar snap peas, green beans, spinach, broccoli, garlic, horseradish, onions, cucumbers, pickles, watermelons, carrots and quinoa.

And we planted the saddest tomato plants I have ever seen. We found 3 huge, but neglected tomato plants at Aldi's, for 50 cents total. The nurse in me is hoping to bring them back to health. Our tomato plant total is now at 32 (we may need some reinforcements when these are all ready to be harvested and preserved).

Our evenings are falling back into our summer routine, which brings Ron outside after dinner to water the garden. We are hoping to use mostly drip irrigation on the garden but there is a back corner that is getting the sprinkler treatment for the moment. Drip irrigation helps to create wider and deeper roots and makes your plants healthier. 

Here is a peak at the wildlife gracing our yard this past week:

Here is a recap of what else you might have missed from the week:

Garden Update: Week of 5/18/2014

Here is what is happening around our yard this past week.

Our trunk load (no joking... a dump truck load) of mulch is placed and spread in all the planting beds and around the garden fence.

Cleaned up a deprived and ignored bed that bordered our beloved neighbors.

Moved a large burning bush that was blocking our mulberry tree. Unearthed some tulip bulbs in the shady spot that we placed the bush. So the tulips had to be relocated to a sunnier spot in the yard. I love how gardening projects just lead into one another!

Cut the grass for the first time this season. We lowered the length down to 2.5 inches as we wanted the sunlight to reach the grass seed we placed last week. Usually we cut the grass at 3 inches.

Time to get planting...
Mojoto mint, lemon balm, lemon mint, rosemary, pineapple sage, lots of lettuce, kale, nasturtium, 4 peppers and 29 tomato plants (I may have gone a little over board), all but 3 tomato plants were from seed. Hoping to finish up the rest of the garden this week which should go pretty quick as just about everything left is seeds. 

Planted our front door flower pots. Tried the "thriller, spiller and filler method" with the artistic suggestions from my youngest daughter. In this method, there's one tall, eye-catcher, a creeping/vine variety and a species that fills in nicely - all in the same pot! We are hoping get bigger, as long as the deer stay off them.

We attempted to find morels on 2 hikes in the area, but were disappointed. We can't even seem to find any remnants of where they were picked. But lucky we spotted ramps. Everyone in the family helped harvest 2 shopping bags full. The final weight was 2 and a half pounds after removing the leaves and roots. Look for our next post on spotting and using ramps.

 

Here is what else you might have missed for the week:

Garden Journaling

What did I plant here last year? When did I start planting my seeds inside? When will the raspberries be ready to be harvested?

These are all thoughts that can go through a gardener's head throughout the year. But now you can easily take the guess work out of gardening by keeping a gardening journal.

This can be as elaborate as you wish. For me, my garden journal is a simple spiral bound notebook I use year after year. A more elaborate design may include seed packets, plant markers from purchased plants, drawings or photographs.

What to write in your journal?

• The name of plants you grew from seed and when you planted them.
• The name of every plant you place in your garden and yard; perennial or annual. Note where the plants are placed in which planting bed or the direction of the yard.
• Any yard maintenance you did: placing mulch, making a new planting bed or trimming trees.
• Any problems with the weather or animal issues in the yard. 
• Draw out your vegetable garden design for the year. This helps you to rotate the types of plants placed every year which is beneficial for the soil and your harvest.
• A list of what is harvested when and how much or the weight of what was harvested. (this is my favorite part!) 
• An additional thing we keep track of is what and how much we freeze, dehydrate or can from the garden and when. 

Take your que from history, no one in America is better known for his garden journaling then Thomas Jefferson. He spent countless hours chronologizing the garden happenings at his beloved Monticello.

Image Credit: Thomas Jefferson Foundation

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the Earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. - Thomas Jefferson

 

Indoor Seed Planning and Planting

The snow is melting! The birds are chirping!

Another winter is almost behind us and spring is just around the corner. Here in Wisconsin, our winter has been brutal. There were far too many days where a Polar Vortex brought arctic temps down our way forcing many to stay-in and bundled up... even more than usual!

But there is a glimmer of hope in all this cold... it is time to start planning your garden.

First thing's first... There is no point in planting seeds for a plant which is not going to thrive in your area. Don't know which zone you fall into? Check out this helpful planting zone map to get the scoop on what plants fair well in your region. Ours is Zone 5b.


Now on to the fun part of picking out the seeds for your future garden and imagining all the delicious food you can make. Take an inventory of any seeds you didn't plant last year, beware as they may not grow. We have, however, done this in the past with mixed success.

If you are in need of some seeds... You can check out your local garden center.
Or my favorite is to order from Botanical Interests seed catalog. In my opinion, this is a great source for quality, high-yielding seeds. Plus we love getting the catalog in the dead of winter.

If you're just starting to learn how to grow indoors, your may want to pick some plants that are easy to start from seed:

• Vegetables - Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Peppers and Tomatoes.
• Herbs - Basil and Chives.
• Annuals - Alyssum, Cosmos, Marigolds and Zinnias.
• Perennials - Shasta Daisies, Columbines and Hollyhocks.

Here is what we have planned to start indoors for the 2014 season:

Broccoli
Lettuce - Romaine
Onion - Ringmaster
Pepper Chile - Early Jalapeño
Quinoa - Brightest Brilliant Rainbow
Tomato - Principe Borghese
Tomato - Red Siberian
Watermelon - Moon & Stars

Let's get planting.
The back of the seed packet usually specifies how many weeks to begin seeds indoors prior to the last frost in your region. Check out my tutorial on starting seeds indoors for step-by-step instructions.

2013 Year In Review

First of all THANK YOU! I am beyond excited that you have chosen to read our blog.
2013 brought a dream into reality, with the birth of Sustainable Blessings.

Thought it would be fun to look back on all that has happened both on the website and in our yard this year.

Here is a listing of the most popular posts in 2013:



 1. Taco Sauce

2. Amish Friendship Starter

3. Pickled Jalapeño Peppers

4. Homemade Ketchup

5. Dandelion Jelly

Here is a recap of what we grew in 2013:

This year I started weighing the harvests from our garden and yard. Unfortuately, I have not weighted the years prior but I do think we did great!

Basil: 0.9 ounces, plus harvests that I didn't weight. Only had 2 small plants this year.
Beans - Green: 6 pounds 0.75 ounces
Cilantro: Grew great!
Corn - Sweet: 16 pounds 12 ounces. Finally the racoons did not get our crop!
Cucumber: 11 pounds 5.35 ounces
Dandelion Petals: 3.1 ounces. Picked for Dandelion Jelly.
Garlic Mustard: 2.5 ounces. Picked for pesto.
Mulberry: 17 pounds 10.5 ounces. What a suprise to find 2 trees in our yard this year!
Mushroom - Morel: 1.5 ounces. Granted I only found 2 mushrooms... but I was so excited that they grew in our yard! What a treat!
Onion - White: 1 pound 2.5 ounces
Oregano: 0.2 ounces, plus 2 huge bunches that we dried.
Parsley: Grew great but never weighed any.
Pear: 118 pounds 6 ounces
Pea - Sugar Snap: 4.3 ounces. This was a sad little crop. Too bad, since I love Sugar Snap Peas.
Pepper - Green: 1 pound 14.25 ounces. We got lots of peppers but they were very small.
Pepper - Jalapeño: 2 pounds 6 ounces. Grew great! Loved the Pickled Jalapeños we made.
Potato - Red: 3 pounds 1.5 ounces
Potato - Yukon Gold: 2 pounds 8.75 ounces
Pumpkin: 81 pounds 9.2 ounces. Wow! All this from 2 plants.
Raspberry: 1 pound 1.25 ounces
Rhubarb: 1 pound 9.5 ounces
Rosemary: Grew well. I this plant comes back in 2014!
Sage - Pineapple: Delicous but did not weigh. Made the garden smell great!
Strawberry: 3 ounces
Stevia: This was a new plant to our garden. Was a great addition to our sun tea.
Tomato: 39 pounds 8.4 ounces. Frost hit us in mid October, which left us with lots of green tomatoes.
Watermelon: 125 pounds 12.4 ounces. The heaviest harvest of the year!


Total Weight Harvested in 2013...... 433 pounds 3.5 ounces!

Back Yard Wildlife

One of the many reasons we purchased our house was the yard. Our yard is a great mix of mostly wooded, some sun and is positioned on a river. We have been blessed with a wide variety of Wisconsin wildlife. Here is a glimpse at what we can find in our yard.

White Tailed Deer Fawn

Great Horned Owl

Cardinal

Broad-Billed Hummingbird - Female

Monarch Butterfly

Cottontail Rabbit

The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.  - Isaiah 43:20-21

Deadheading in the Garden

As summer winds down, the yard clean up begins. After your beautiful blooms are done your garden is left with spent flowers. Here is a how-to for rejuvenating your plants.

Deadheading... is not what you think it is in the gardening world. But you can rock out to the Grateful Dead and wear tie dye in the garden if you want to. Deadheading in the garden and yard is removing those unattractive spent flowers. Not only will this make your garden appear neater but it helps to strengthen the plant also.

Almost all annuals and some perennials will continue to bloom if the plant is deadheaded.

Daylilly, Columbine and Echinacea.

 

Deadheading can be done by pruning the ended flowers or even by pinching them off with your fingers. Or my favorite method is to let the stem dry out and just snap or pull the stem out of the plant. For plants with a lot of tiny flowers it is easier to deadhead by cutting back the whole plant. If the stem of the flower has leaves on it, try to prune it back so the cut stem is hidden by the rest of the plant. If the stem has no leaves on it like a Daylily, then trim the whole stem to the ground.

You definitely do not have to deadhead your plants. Your garden should be unique just like you are. Columbine is a great plant that if you let go to seed, there will be more plants next year to love. Then you can just move the new baby plant to another area or let the plant fill the planting bed more. I love leaving the Echinacea for the birds to snack on in the winter and the seeds that drop to the ground just make new plants in the spring. Whatever you preference your garden is a labor of love, so just make it your own.

Late Summer Harvest

It’s late August and back-to-school time is upon us, so we decided to escape the pressures of shopping and head out to the garden to see what’s ready for picking.

The kids learned a lot about gardening and responsibility this summer, so it made us really happy to see them enjoy the fruits of their labor (and ours)!

Looks like the Sugar Daddy snap peas are coming to an end for the season. And yes… we up-cycled an old mattress frame as our trellis. It was free and worked great!

Picking snap beans is a lot easier when you have four sets of hands. This is our second harvest through these plants and we hope to get several more. There’s plenty of blossoms and young beans out there.

“Hey dad… beat this one!”

We were happy with how well our sweet corn variety turned out. This particular variety seemed to have two suckers on some plants. This is common in sweet corn and won’t affect the plant’s yield.

According to Iowa State University, suckers are common on some sweet corn varieties and should be left alone. Another recent study showed that with the right fertilization, these little guys actually benefit the yield, but if removed, can negatively impact yield.

Crazy huh? So put down those knives!

Also, stay tuned for an upcoming post on the benefits of Compost Tea to maximize the yield potential of your crop.

We also learned that standard sweet corn cultivars may lose 50 percent of their sugar within 12 hours of harvest if not refrigerated. So get those guys from field to fridge as quickly as you can.




Unhusked sweet corn can be stored in the refrigerator at 32° F for 4 to 8 days. New high sugar varieties are slower to convert sugar to starch and may be harvested over a longer period of time. The high sugar types also have a longer storage life. Sweet corn may be canned or frozen for year-round use.

This information and more (such as growing baby corn for salads) is available in this free PDF Iowa State University Horticulture Guide – Home Gardening Sweet Corn. We love the simplicity of the research they shared. After all, these guys know their corn!

And finally… our youngest was thrilled that our watermelon plants are coming along nicely as well. This is just one of the 15 melons we have so far. Grow baby, grow!

The kids have been naming each melon, but I think we’ll need to come up with something better for this one. “Fatty-bo-batty” simply won’t due.

As we left the garden, we made one last check to ensure that the electric fence was re-hooked up properly… oh, no need. Rufus our guard dog was having a heart-to-heart with his big watermelon-eating brother Chester.