Made in the shade

Ever wonder if you can grow any veggies in the shade, or at least in part shade? You might be surprised! I read something a while back that helped me remember what goes where: If you grow it for the root or the fruit, full sun. If you want the leaf, part sun is enough.

So for example, tomatoes, peppers, corn, broccoli, squash, and beans need full sun. Oddly enough, peas grow great in part shade, as shown by the plants that are almost as tall as my fence already! But so do spinach, chard, kale, and lettuce. Even winter squash was on the list of part-shade plants. However, I'm not convinced about that one yet. Cucumbers are also supposed to be ok with part shade, although mine are all doing poorly this year - they keep getting drowned!

Here's a few things I've learned in the past couple years that might not fit very well into any paradigm, but have worked for me! Because I use the square-foot gardening method in my raised beds, my plants are VERY closely spaced. Last year I had carrots that ended up being underneath my summer squash leaves, but they still ended up quite large. Perhaps they would have been larger in full sun, but they were big enough for me! Another thing that works well is to plant lettuce seeds near your squashes. They'll take off well in spring with full sun, but then, as the sun gets hotter in summer, the leaves will shade them so they won't bolt. I'm still pulling up the last of the lettuce I seeded in the end of April!

Everything against the fence mostly gets just morning sun. You can't see it all because the giant lovage plant is in the way, but there's rhubarb, chives, garlic, peas, several leafy plants, and a few perennials. And given that they all have fairly crappy soil (it's mostly overturned sod with some manure worked in), things are looking better every year!

The same spot when I first planted it just 2 years ago!

Science!

I have a biology degree. I'm not using it in my job nor do I ever intend to use it, but I got it because I love the natural world and and very curious. And I still love to run experiments. For example, tonight I experimented with pulling runners out of my strawberry bed and planting them in front, hoping they'll eventually provide a dual-use ground cover for my berry bushes in the front yard.

On a grander scale, I am planning to build an eco-system in the rest of my front yard! I've been reading a few books on permaculture, the most useful being Gaia's Garden. I'm only partway through it, but already I'm excited about building a perennial food garden that sustains itself. That means it retains water, provides its own nutrients through living mulches and nitrogen-fixing plants, provides species that attract beneficial insects, and provides food for our family. It sounds very intricate and I'm very excited to continue to learn about this topic and see how it works in my own yard. If I'm able to do it properly, it should be very low-maintenance, which would be amazing!

The trickiest part is that I hope to spend less than $100 on the whole thing. Can I do it? We'll see! My first step will be to cover the weedy lawn with cardboard and mulch to kill it. Then I'm supposed to plant some sort of nitrogen-fixing cover crop to build up the soil. I have a few clover seeds still, but certainly not enough for my whole lawn. Any ideas?

Broccoli that tastes good? Impossible

I've never REALLY enjoyed broccoli. I eat it because I know it's good for me, but truly enjoying it? That's a tough thing to ask. So why I decided to try growing it this year is beyond me. Perhaps because my mother-in-law grew these 4-5 foot tall plants last year and I was impressed. Maybe just for the challenge of it. Either way, I'm so glad I did! This broccoli is like nothing I ever imagined - I can't even begin to describe it. Let's just say that both my 1 year old and my 3 year old chowed down, as did the neighbor kids, and even me. No dip needed! 

So in case you're interested in trying out broccoli, here's some tips! 

1) Invest in a lightweight row cover. It'll keep those pesky cabbage moths from laying their eggs on your plants. Those are the little green worms that destroy all brassica plants! (cabbages, kale, kohlrabi, broccoli, and cauliflower) I have had no problems with the worms this year. In the top photo, it's the stuff that looks like a blanket. 

Back in June when the garden wasn't going wild.

2) Don't seed all your broccoli at the same time! I seeded mine in March, all at the same time. And I had 8 large heads of broccoli mature, all at the same time. Whoops. Good thing it was excellent broccoli.

The photo's a little grainy, but doesn't it look juicy? Even the stems were tasty!

3) Plan for a fall crop. My broccoli was finished with its main heads in the end of June, and basically done with any off-shoots in mid-July. So instead of just letting it grow and getting itty-bitty sprouts for the rest of the summer, I started some more seeds back in June, and planted them last weekend. Of course, this was before my epiphany about not seeding them all at the same time, so I'll be getting a giant crop of broccoli again in September! Heigh ho, heigh ho, over to the freezer it will go.

Berries

Gotta start somewhere! Let's start with the strawberries. 

Two years ago I planted two pots of strawberries from Costco, and I believe they are both June-bearing. They have a huge amount of fruit in late June, and another, smaller flush of fruit in August. My technique, which seems to be growing a prolific amount of berries, isn't from a book. I think it's a composite of a few things I read. So here it is! I pick the strawberries in June, I let the runners go wherever they want, and in fall, I use a pair of clippers to chop off all the leaves, leaving them where they lay for mulch. Then I spread on a bag of composted sheep manure (sheep manure is the least likely accessible manure to be contaminated with pesticides/herbicides, and best for organic gardening), and let it be. That's it! If anyone is interested in some strawberry plants, I have tons of runners this year, and I'm sure there won't be space for them all. 

The bottom photo is to show how far the strawberry plants have spread in the past 2 years. The little things growing up the back are my blackberry canes. Hoping to actually get some blackberries off them next year! Last year they grew to the top of the fence, but because we had no snow this winter, they died back and I had to start again with first year canes. These are Doyle's Thornless Blackberries, and once established, are supposed to be quite prolific.

Welcome to the garden!

When my neighbor mentioned to me that she had commented to her mother that I "garden on a whole different level", I started thinking that maybe others might be interested in what I've learned. I love to read and have read oodles of gardening books, had endless conversations with my dad and mother-in-law, both of whom have extensive gardens, and done some experiments on my own. 

In my fairly small suburban plot I currently grow 7 types of fruit, 7 types of herb, and over 20 types of vegetable. Plus, I have secret plans in the works for the front yard, which is small, dry, and weedy.  

So, I'll take lots of pictures and share what wisdom I have gained, and hopefully others will post and share wisdom as well!