Planning...part 1

In my quest for a more productive and user-friendly garden, I visited a friend's garden.  Her garden never seems to stop producing the most delicious vegetables (she sends me home with boxes of veggies) and she is always cheerful when talking about her garden...which leads me to believe she's doing something right to make this easier and enjoyable.  Besides her method for irrigation to be addressed later, I saw that her rows were in an east/west direction, while mine are in a north/south configuration.  Does that have something to do with productivity?  I think it might.  I planted corn on the west side of my garden...clearly not thinking that the corn would grow rather tall.  Tall, indeed...so much so, that it blocked the afternoon sun for my cucumbers.  That, paired with our inadequate irrigation, made for some unhealthy looking cucumbers and soggy pumpkins. The rows weren't clearly marked either, which made it hard to navigate when things were actually growing.  I'm pretty sure my size 10 feet in muck boots, mashing around aimlessly, didn't help matters.

One similarity, between her garden and mine, was that it was a mess...old stuff from last season still hanging around.  She said that in the next few weeks, she will tear that stuff down and turn some of it under.  Is there a hard and fast rule about turning things under?  I typically put all my garden waste in my compost pile.  I feel like the compost would be better to rototill into the soil...  I don't know.  Something to find out.  I certainly don't want the crazy potato wedges popping up in the middle of my zucchini. 

Back to the issue of irrigation.  She has soaker hoses pinned down to the ground at the base of each row.  Good idea.  We initially thought the sprinkler system would work well, but it didn't.  We ended up with areas of extreme puddling (was always good for a laugh when I nearly slipped and fell numerous times) and many plants didn't get watered enough.  Timers on that situation would be good too...

Herbs...another area to reevaluate.  I planted basil, chives, flowering oregano, parsley, and cilantro between the potatoes and the peppers...  I tried chives some years ago and my cats ate all the plants.  So I thought to plant them in the fenced garden...yes,  yes, I know, the cats can get over the fence, but they seem to understand that great bodily harm will come to them if they do that.  Anyway, this year, the basil and the flowering oregano conquered the chives.  I lost them somewhere in the foliage of the more bushy herbs.  Too bad, as I love chives!  The cilantro did well, although I ignored it for a week or so and it flowered.  Apparently that isn't a good thing.  I cut it back and it came back nicely.  It's the "yum" ingredient in my guacamole.  So, back to reevaluating the herbs.  I think that in order to control the growth, the flowering and the general health and welfare of the herbs, I should plant them in pots.  They could be in the fenced area (chives at least, so the cats don't eat them) or possibly out of the garden entirely and watered when the other plants are watered with a drip system.  Then in winter, I could move them to a more sheltered spot and move them back when the weather is better.

So, plans for this year so far:

*  Change the rows so that they run in an east west direction.
*  Pin the soaker hoses down at the bottom of the row.
*  Tall things like corn should not be blocking other things that need sunlight to thrive.  I might just rethink the whole corn thing...Fresno State does a pretty awesome job of growing sweet corn.  Maybe leave that to them. 
*  Herbs should move out.
*  Add something, in addition to the compost, to the soil to make it more appealing to plant growth.  Plants other than weeds...I grew those really well. 
* a mesh type cover in one corner so as not to pre-cook some of the veggies. 

I think the next step is to sketch out what the garden should look like for maximum yield (I read that fancy word in Sunset magazine).  I think this year's key to success is to stick to some basics...tried and true...and maybe experiment with one or two other veggies.  Basically I need to keep my blinders on when I go buy plants...it's kind of like going to the grocery store hungry. 

Paper and pencil...

The beginning...again

January 25th...I'm sitting here at a desk trying to make a list of things to do to make my garden
a) more productive and
b) easier to take care for

Unfortunately, all I can think of is food.  Maybe I should start thinking about the food I will be growing.  Warm tomatoes with a little salt...yummmo!

Okay, so things that went wrong last time:

** Our irrigation system wasn't optimal...we installed sprinklers which worked nicely until things got too tall, too bushy, etc. and then some things didn't get water and things like tomatoes got pock marks...ew!  Lesson learned there...soaker hoses would be better.

**  Potatoes are probably best left to the Idahoans.  I followed directions, but all I grew were potato wedges with nasty looking feeler things.

**  The soil sucks.  I will definitely need to ammend (is that right word?) the soil.  Not sure with what though...

**  Placement of rows wasn't good as far as squash and cucumbers were concerned.  I often stepped on vines, breaking them as I lumbered through.

Things that went well:

**  The tomatoes that didn't have blemishes were bomb!!

**  The squash and zucchini were tasty and grew well.

**  The herbs were pretty successful, although they got a little out of control once the summer season was over.

**  The fence and gate that husband built was awesome...kept the doggies out!

Well, now that's all said...what is my plan for this year?  Seeds are in the stores now, although I have never started anything from seed.  Might be an adventure.  I got an email from Territorial seed company proclaiming that NOW is the time to start asparagus from seed.  I'm a fan of asparagus, but not sure if that's something I want to grow this year.  I tried okra last year....bahahahahahaha...those should be on the "didn't work out so well" list.  I grew something that could easily have been used as some sort of Medieval weapon.  So, back to seeds...I guess I could get those little kits that have the peat moss disks in them to start the seeds.  Where do you put those?  I have so much room in my house. Not!!  Oh wait, I did start some things from seed, but I put the seeds directly in the ground...no bueno.  The carrots were like tadpoles...the onions never did anything.  Yes, little peat moss disks might be the way to go this year.

Alrighty, so here is my list of things I would like to harvest this year:

tomatoes (big and cherry...oh and those ridiculously yummy yellow pear ones)
squash (although the guy selling down the street identified them as sqush...lol...reminds me also of the "orka")
cucumbers (eating & pickling)
pumpkins (they will NOT die this year!!!)
corn???  Maybe...
onions
green onions
peppers (not so many this time!)
eggplant
chives
parsley
cilantro
basil

I think that's it, but I'm sure I will look at the seeds and the little plants at the garden shop and feel adventurous and confident that I will be able to make some sort of random vegetable grow.  I should post a photo of okra on my credit card as a solemn reminder that vegetables should be eaten, not used in warfare. 

Poultry...well now...I have 13 bodies out in the coop.  Eleven hens and two #%^$#@! roosters.  One crows quite prolifically, while the other makes really horrible attempts at crowing.  The red rooster is a mean one...he also serves as my husband's rugby team mascot.  Comical.  I have been letting the crew out into the remains of last year's garden to nosh, although many of them were confused by this whole scenario.  They follow me throught the gate...well, most of them do.  There are a few stragglers that seem to lose their way and then try to break through the fence, which ironically is made of chicken wire.  It's kind of funny in a mean sort of way to see them bashing their heads into the mesh wiring, thinking they will reach the desired num-nums.  When in fact, all I think they get is a chicken sized headache and maybe a few small lacerations on their faces.  Once they get in...with some direction from the only one with a real brain, they happily eat anything they can find.  I figure the chicken poop being left certainly can't hurt the garden any.  Maybe even help. 

Well, I ceratinly wrote much more than I had intended to.  Next, outlining the plan...