Interesting Month

October has been an interesting month for Farmer Craig and his garden. He has had to deal with many things - some we should have seen coming.

*$^&@)! Dogs
If the title of this section doesn't give you some idea as to what happened, I don't know what will. The day after Craig planted his new berry bushes we went out to water them. Imagine Craig's reaction to see that not just one, but both of his blueberry plants had been uprooted. One of the plants was stripped of all its leaves and lay broken in the center of the yard. The other was just slightly injured and lay next to its now empty hole in the ground.

Immediately we replanted both bushes, however I was less than optimistic that one or both would survive the ordeal. My fear turned into a reality over the next few days. Thankfully, the only plant that was lost was the one that had been dragged around the yard. The other which had sustained only minor injuries has since recovered and is showing new growth.

We replaced the dead plant during the weekend with the same type of blueberry bush. In order to prevent this devastation from happening again, we put up a fence around the bushes. Hopefully this will act as protection until the bushes has established themselves and the dogs are not able to do damage.

Spicy Porch
While we were picking up a new blueberry plant we happened across some new herbs that we did not have in our garden. Craig pointed out that we have very little space, if any, in our garden, so we chose to place them in a planter and set it on the railing of the back porch where they were sure to get a lot of sun.

We planted one tri-color sage plant and one English Thyme plant. We didn't have much room for more than that in this particular window planter. Thus far the two herbs are growing nicely. Especially the thyme. It has already expanded. The tri-color Sage smells good and has grown in height, but not branched out.

Invasion of the Insect Kind
Around the first of the month Craig noticed some small holes in the leaves of some of his plants. After a brief inspection, we assumed that a small bug had gotten in and had lunch one day. The holes were not that big or numerous, so we didn't think anything more about it.

This past Friday we went out to water the garden and low and behold the Broccoli leaves looked as if they were not plants, but swiss cheese. This time we bent down and looked more closely. Lining the stems and underside of the leaves of the broccoli plants (not just one, but 4 of the 5 remaining plants) were small, 1/2 inch, green caterpillars. There had to be at least six per plant, they were everywhere!

We trimmed off the now stripped leaves and left the ones that we not completely demolished. Along with the eaten limbs and leaves we removed the little green plant munchers. We allowed Craig to look closely at them and we took the chance to explain how they eat the leaves to make them strong enough to change into butterflies. His response was "I know mom. I read the book about the hungry, hungry caterpillar." If there was any doubt that kids retain what is read to them, that squashed it. Once the caterpillars were removed we had to take it a step further to prevent their (and other future invaders) from returning.

So, as you can imagine that step was to resort to pesticide. We had hoped to avoid this, but if we didn't want to lose all the broccoli, and potentially all of Farmer Craig's crops, we had to. This is the one part of the gardening that we did not allow Craig to participate in. Even with gloves, my husband and I felt that the risk was too high of him inhaling the poison, getting it in his eyes, or even on his skin. Today we went out and checked the plants. As of right now thy are insect free with no new damage to any of the plants.

Garden Maintenance. 
With the major disasters of the month now behind us it was time to get back into the routine of the garden's care. As with any growing thing, Craig has learned that his garden needs to be cared for. Today he spent the majority of the morning going through his garden on a "weed hunt". We have had the discussion that if the weeds grown in his garden, they will make it almost impossible for the vegetables to grow up healthy.

He also took time to "feed the veggies". It has been at least 2 weeks since all the vegetable has been put into the ground. Some have been in much longer. According to the websites and local extension offices, it is important to fertilize the vegetable between 2-4 weeks after planting. This was done today. Using Miracle Grow Shake & Feed.

Once the fertilize was on the ground, using a hand rake, Craig worked the little granules into the soil. He made sure to wear his gardening gloves, since he knew the food was for the plants only and "not for little boys". He did a great job and worked the soil of the entire garden by himself.

Since the granules needed to be put into the soil when it was dry, we did not water the garden today. We will be sure to do it in the morning before we get moving for the day.

Fall Has Finally Arrived!

Over the last few weeks we have watched our weather very slowly change from unbelievably hot, to tolerable, to finally beautiful. Ahhhh, Fall, thank God you are finally here! There has been some changes in the Farmer Craig's Garden during this time and Craig wants everyone to be as excited as he is. 

Tropical Storm Nichole

Although it was no where near the storm that it was predicted to be when it hit our fair state, Nicole still dropped a fair amount of rain on our little garden. Craig in his ever sweet and concerned way, worried excessively that his vegetables would float away. I assured him they would not, and while I am sure that he knows his mom would not lie to him, he still checked quite often to make sure. One thing that was nice about getting all the rain, was that we didn't have to water the garden. So for about a week, we just checked on the garden from the dry comfort of the back porch. 

PBS grows ideas and gardening interests

Craig and I have fallen into the habit of watching a local gardening show on PBS, and the other night they were talking about locally grown types of lettuce. I wasn't sure how much Craig actually retained while watching until after the segment he looked over at me and said: "Momma, he said we could cut the leaves and eat them now." Our lettuce is head lettuce, meaning that the produce we will eventually harvest is growing into a round "head" under ground, however the segment on the PBS show explained that if the above ground leaves were getting too big and blocking other plants, they could be cut back and eaten so as not to waste them. Well, we were in no danger of having the lettuce leaves overrun the garden, but from that moment, he was set on "cutting the leaves". Well, this is Farmer Craig's garden, so we cut. 

Wielding his green safety scissors Craig headed into the garden. The first lettuce plant he cut very carefully, and cut very few leaves. The second plant he moved a little too quickly and took the entire top of the plant, and only a small bare stalk remains now. We may lose that plant, maybe not, who knows. The third and fourth plants were handled a little better. They all lost more than they needed to, but he was so proud that we just let him work.

Craig also took this opportunity to harvest some mint and basil. These plants are growing extremely well, and had we not cut them back some, they very well may have begun to over run the front of the garden. 

With the lettuce cut, and the mint and basil harvested, Craig stood behind the piles of green bounty and smiled. We brought the greens in, washed them, and divided them in half. Craig was very excited to share his "vegetables" with family, so off to Grandma & Grandpa's house we went. 

The remaining half at the house has been put to good use. The basil is being dried in our dehydrator, the mint has been used in morning hot tea, and the lettuce has been in several "mini-salads". 

NEWEST UPGRADES

Beds Finished

The back bed of the garden closest to the house has been completed. The once deep hole in the corner has been filled with a generic topsoil and then the entire bed filled with garden soil. Also the area closest to the front of the garden was cleared and filled with the good soil. Craig and I both agreed that it was best to remove the dividers and make the garden one large, square plot. 

Basil Gone Wild

As I stated above, the basil plants have taken off into what can only be called miniature trees. Even after harvesting several "branches" from the plants, they were tall enough to be blocking light from the struggling turnips planted behind them. The few remaining turnip plants have had a rough go of things ever since our loving bulldog nosed his way into the garden and dug them up for a place to lay, so we figured relocating the basil would be the only right thing to do. So, the basil has entered the spice & herb relocation program. They are now living in the back bed of the garden closest to the house and live under the names Sal and Gary - Oh wait, we promised not to reveal that information...

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme...

Well, actually just the parsley. Since the basil relocated to...you-know-where, Craig needed to fill the vacant areas they left behind. This was an issue easily resolved as Craig picked out parsley to fill the slots. 

NVOTB (New Veggies On The Block)

Since there was open space in the back bed, next to "Sal" & "Gary" and a full row available in the front of the garden, Craig chose two new vegetable to fill the areas. In the back, Cauliflower now grow. This is something that I know Craig likes as we eat it quite a bit with our broccoli. Again, just as with everything else, it will take about 2-3 months for the cauliflower to be produced. They should be ready about the same time (maybe a little bit after) the broccoli is ready to be harvested. This will make a great combination, both in color and taste for dinners this winter. 

The very front row of the garden is now home to rutabagas. 

This was another one of Craig's insistent choices. Just as with the turnips, he swore up and down while we were at Lowe's that he "loves" rutabagas. Again, he has never (to my knowledge) had a rutabaga in his life. 

The growth time to produce a rutabaga is about the same as all other things we currently have in the garden. We are looking at about 3 months before we will have definitive proof if Farmer Craig truly loves rutabagas.

We have found that the hardest part of this garden has not been the sometimes back breaking work that we have put into it, but rather, it is the waiting. It is hard for a 4-year-old to understand that he has to wait anywhere between 60 to 90 days to get to eat the vegetables he is growing. I honestly think he believes that the grocery store is growing them in house. He asked me "why don't our vegetables grow as fast as the ones at the store?" If anything, this garden is teaching him patience. Heck, its teaching me patience. 

Raspberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries, Oh My!

While we were at Lowe's Craig spotted plants with pictures of some of his favorite berries on the tags. Of course he instantly wanted to have them growing in "our garden". I explained to him that the berry plants are actually bushes, and that there would not be room in our little area. His response: "But Mom, we have a whole big yard!" Well, how do you argue with that? 

L-R: Raspberry / Blueberry (1&2) / Blackberry

We purchased one blackberry plant, one raspberry, and two blueberry. Why 2 blueberry? Well this is where reading the labels really helps. Blueberries require 2 different kinds of blueberry plants in order to produce fruit. I read this purely by accident. I was honestly looking to see the amount of sun and water that would be required. Sure glad I did, otherwise we would have been super disappointed when we never got any blueberries! We planted the 4 plants outside of the garden but along the side of its fence. Hopefully the dogs won't go nuts on them and dig them up. I guess if we had to, we have enough extra fencing we could make another small fence around the plants. 

Now the garden is full. Barring the unforeseen, we have no more room to add any new veggies, spices, or herbs. That should be OK. Most things can not be put into the ground much later than right now and be expected to survive or produce. Going forward there are still things that Craig and I would like to do. For one, we would like to replace the wire fencing with a wooden one with a true gate. Secondly, we would like to gravel or rock the garden walkway. The dirt path becomes mud more times than not, and it would just be easier on everyone (and our carpets) if we could limit the amount of mud that is traipsed through. 

What we hope for now is a mild fall and winter. Last year was so cold that many farmers lost a lot of what they planted, we definitely do not want Farmer Craig to experience that. If it does look like it is going to frost early or stay cold for a really long time, I guess we will be investing in some tarps. As for now, we are set.

Full Garden + Berry Plants