I feel like I’m cheating by titling this with the month of January. We are so close to February I do not deserve the timliness that January brings with it. Ah well. The earth grows slowly at this time of year so there is no rush. Our lawn to food project continues and we are even nearing the remodel of our dog house that will soon be a chicken coop. Pictures will come soon.

As for the food…we had our city deliver some leaves to our house this year. We don’t have much room on our lot so we had them dumped in the driveway and on the lawn. We had to get the pile off the lawn first otherwise it would kill off the grass and just look unsightly. It took us a few days to get it done but we did it. We’ve got 5′x20′ area covered in cardboard and topped with 3′ of leaves and we are still adding compost into the pile.

Some people ask us why we are using leaves. The main reason is that we want to do it as cheap as possible and leaves do turn into soil. Rich soil. Our house also sits on an old spring bed so it’s quite rocky and it would take a lot of time to get all the weeds out of the ground. I feel that this is going to give us the best growing medium while using the least amount of monetary resources. It may take a bit more time but with some attention to detail and an active approach to helping the compost along I think we will have a really great spot to grow food in.

We had a fairly small garden space this year; about 160 sq. feet of garden space but we definitely had a variety. Here is what we planted for our summer crop and their performance in our sunny garden with late afternoon shade.

Summer Squash – Italian Zuchinni
Fast, healthy growth of course. We only had one plant since the other two didn’t survive but we still managed to have enough zuchinni to keep us satisfied.

Summer Squash – Ron de Nice
We planted two of these that we grew from seed. Fast growth also with lots of vegetables. This is the summer squash that we ate most often and I loved it because it coud be stuffed or sliced since they are round and oh-so-cute.

Tomato – Oregon Spring
Of course they did great. Super good tomato with hardly any seeds. Love it!

Tomato -

Bell Pepper -
Bell Pepper -
Cantaloupe – I grew this heirloom variety cantaloupe from seed and I really didn’t get the starts big enough before setting them out so they had a slow start. Some  melons  did start but we were never able to harvest and enjoy them since they didn’t ripen. I am trying these again next year but putting them in a really hot spot.

Watermelon – I had the same experience with these as I did the cantaloupe. I’ll be trying these again too.

Cucumber – Japanese Climbing
I love having climbing cucumbers because it saves on space to trellis them and they trellis so easy since you don’t have to give the cucumbers any extra support. We enjoyed lots of Cucumber-Tomato Salads from the abundance that we harvested from just two of these plants.

Cucumber – Lemon
Some surprise Dahlias popped up in the garden and I never moved them. Their presence shadowed the one lemon cucumber plant we had. Thankfully my neighbor, whom I gave two other Lemon Cucumber starts, graciously shared her prolific harvest. Yum yum.

Basil -
I planted my basil near the base of the tomato plants. It did well here while being offered a bit of shade  during some of the hot days. I’m still harvesting basil now.

Strawberry – unknown variety
I don’t know what happened with these strawberries that I planted in the spring but we  didn’t get but a few berries from about 16 plants. I have planted some more strawberries in a different lettuce bed and those are producing better right now. I’ll have to  get some information about growing strawberries .

Lettuce – Mesculun mix
Harvest quickly when the leaves are still small and tender and the lettuce won’t bolt.

Lettuce – Rocky Top blend
This lettuce bolted quickly and when it wasn’t bolting I thought that the texture wasn’t very crisp. I’m a mesculun kinda girl.

Share what’s growing in your garden.

This year we are growing Cilantro, Basil, Parsley and Thyme. When I grow herbs I like to pick only what is needed so that the rest can stay on the plant and be super fresh when I am ready to use it. But there are times that I pick too much and there are other times that I like to cut some cilantro to encourage more growth to occur.

So for whatever the reason is that you have for needing to keep your cut herbs fresh try this tip next time. Just put your herbs in a small glass container with water in it just like you would cut flowers. This keeps them fresher longer. The glass can even be placed in the refrigerator if desired but if you plan to use the herbs in the next day or two the windowsill is just fine.

I was able to harvest a good amount of organic gourmet lettuce today and as I was on my way into the house to wash it I commented to Sammy that we needed a salad spinner. As I entered the house I began brainstorming a way to dry the lettuce quicker and more efficiently than my hand-patted small harvests had been over the last couple of weeks.

Here is how I was able to dry my organic lettuce quickly, from start to finish.

We grew heirloom Rocky Top Lettuce Mix from www.rareseeds.com. This is the type of lettuce that does not grow back so when I harvest it I pull it up by the roots and gently shake off the excess dirt so it stays in the garden.  Before I place it in our bowl I cut the roots off and keep them in a pile to add to the compost later.

Next, I fill a clean sink with cold water and place all the lettuce in the water. Swish, swish and then I take the leaves of lettuce out and lay them on a towel that is layed flat on the counter. When I’ve gotten all of the lettuce out of the sink I place a folded up kitchen towel in the bottom of a large bowl and I place all of the lettuce in the bowl with the cut ends down.

Leave the bowl of lettuce sitting out at room temperature for 5-10 minutes and when you return it will be as dry as a salad spinner would get it. Now you can put your bounty in the fridge to keep for your next meal. I like to keep mine in a reusable produce bag.

Placing all of the lettuce in the bowl with cut ends down may seem like a big organizing task but it isn’t. And not every piece has to be lined up perfectly, just getting them vertical for the most part will drain the water down into the kitchen towel.

Do you have any tips on cleaning garden produce that tends to yield more soil than is desired? Share them here in the comments.

Neem oil is my favorite oil this year. With so many uses, you’ll be glad to have some around the house.

Neem oil is derived from the fruits and seeds of Neem trees. The smell isn’t great, some say it’s a nutty mix with some garlic and it has a bitter taste so don’t use it in the kitchen. Read more…