Early January garden thoughts

As seen from the dining room January 11th

For a gardener, this is the time of year when you alternate staring out the window with flipping through catalogs. 

You spend hours imagining all of the possibilities for the coming garden season. You think about trying some new vegetables, plan the garden layout, and maybe dream up new a project. 

Over coffee and catalogs this weekend, this is what I thought about:

1. I really want to move the potatoes out of the main garden and possibly into some kind of box or container. 

Ugly potato corner

Whatever I do, I want it movable, so I can put it away after I harvest the potatoes. The front runner right now, which was D's idea, is a box made of pallets - probably cut in half so it's only two feet tall - held together with zip ties or hook-and-eye latches. 

2. I also want to move the zinnias out of the main garden. I love zinnias, and I want flowers for bees and butterflies, but they take up way too much space.

Barely staying within their fence

I'm thinking of making a bed along the fence on the east side of the yard:

Probably next to the asparagus bed, which is the one roughly in the middle of the above picture. I think there's enough room between the bed and the fence for both zinnias and a path for the lawnmower.

3. I want to plant sunflowers again, even though the nasty squirrels will probably ruin them again. I might just mix some in with the zinnias.

Cute little jerk lounging in the sun

4. I think I want to try growing cucumbers on a trellis. I've grown a bush cucumber variety, which is fine, but I'd like to see if I can ever grow enough cucumbers to make pickles. With my limited garden space, that means growing up. I've also recently discovered Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers, and I don't think I can pass them up. I'm wondering if I can re-purpose a bean tower or a tomato cage. I have some research to do.

5. I think I want to grow zucchini. It's not something we eat a lot of now, but if I grew it, we could easily find ways to eat it. I saw a bush/container variety somewhere, which might be the perfect way to give it a try, since I don't have a lot of room for viney things.

6. I want to plant sweet potatoes. A friend gave my mom one plant last summer, and she just stuck it in a raised bed. She ended up with 11 pounds of sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes. 

Those are my garden thoughts right now. Everything could change before I actually plant anything.

Female downy woodpecker

Not the usual birdwatching

We had a little excitement in the backyard on Sunday. The neighborhood sharp-shinned hawk came by for a visit. First he landed in one of the cedars, pausing long enough for me to take a few pictures.

Then he flew down to the ground and had a picnic.

The squirrels weren't fazed by his presence. This little guy hung out behind the grill and ate peanuts.

After about a half hour, the hawk finished his lunch, flew to the tree for a quick break, and then left.

Once he was gone, Scout and I went out to see what he'd been eating. It was a starling.

As much as I enjoyed watching him, I hope he doesn't make my yard his regular lunch stop.

Happy New Year!

The garden - January 1st

I've been trying to ignore the seed catalogs that have been showing up in the mail since Thanksgiving, even putting some of them straight into the recycling (*gasp*), but now that it's January, it's time to dive in.

Uh oh. . . what do we have here?

Looks like something is trying to sneak out of this box.

Apparently I didn't eat my potatoes fast enough.

And, yes, I do keep them in a cardboard box. Obviously, long-term potato storage is something I need to work on.

Maybe this will do the trick

After weeks of the little fuzzy bastards stealing my straw, the asparagus bed that started out like this:

looked like this:

I expect to see a nest that looks like a straw bale every time I look in the trees.

We had some rain last weekend, and I decided to take advantage of it. I filled up the bed with some shredded leaves. The rain helps keep the leaves from blowing around too much.

The squirrels' interests have already turned to other things anyway. I caught this guy

hanging out in the strawberry bed.

The little jerks are lucky they're cute.

What did I learn this year?

There isn't much happening in the garden right now, obviously, so it's about time I sat down and figured out what I learned this year.

1. I almost learned how to can green beans with a pressure canner.

I don't consider it a skill really learned because only two of the four jars sealed, but I used them in green bean casserole for Thanksgiving, and no one got sick.

2. Two kale plants is more than enough. Or I need to learn more ways to eat kale.

Even though they're a dwarf variety, the plants were at least three feet tall, and I hadn't managed to pick much off of them before they froze.

I tried kale chips, and they tasted fine but didn't seem worth the effort. Most of the kale I've eaten has gone into smoothies, and I should have enough frozen kale in the freezer to last me into January.

3. I can start seeds inside!

This was the most exciting discovery this year, but I don't feel confident enough to try tomatoes yet.

4. Speaking of tomatoes, five tomato plants is not enough.

I actually planted seven tomato plants this year, but only about five of them were productive. I had issues that might have been disease, and the plant I "rescued" never amounted to much. We also had rain and unseasonably cool temperatures at inopportune times, which meant tomatoes either splitting or not ripening at all. I did manage to salvage quite a few green tomatoes at the end and ripen them inside.

5. I can grow cabbage and broccoli.

6. It's going to take some time to perfect the hugel. It was interesting to watch the radishes and lettuce all season - I had no idea how big both of those things would grow when left alone - but they didn't hold the soil on the mound, and it kept washing away in all the rain.

June 5th

October 11th

I probably learned more than this, or at least should have, but it's not a bad start.

The latest episode of Squirrel TV

Mama squirrel is hard at work. . .

Stealing my straw. Shoveling it in her mouth as fast as possible with both feet!