Urban Farm {June & July}

Hello Hi Hey bloggy land!

Boy! Just when I feel like I can catch up and become decent at blogging regularly, life just rears its head and says, "Ah hell naw!" So I apologize, but here I am with an update on the ol Urban Farm!

Our last update, May, showed the little sprouts / seedlings of our soon to be flourishing garden! These photos were taken in late June.

We are stoked. Things are filling in nicely, although the top bed, which was planted about 4 weeks later than the bottom one, is having a slow start on carrots and beets. I admit that I left the tiny sprouts for one too many days with no water, but I am redeeming myself now! I'm hoping for a September/ October bumper crop utilizing the covers I sewed earlier in the year.

Anyhow, lets catch up to this week!

 

As you can see, we had out first harvest! The garden is rocking right now! We harvested Curly Kale, Spinach, Sugar Peas, and Heirloom Carrots and made ourselves a salad!

My goodness it was fantastic! We had such a good time in the garden together choosing our veggies as well! Hubs kept getting confused about what veggies were what, since planting and tending to the garden has been largely my job!

It is so nice to finally be able to reap some rewards for my hard work, and it feels great knowing we are eating as local and organic as possible! Hubs even commented how cool it was that the scraps from the veggies went right into our compost, which will be used for next years garden! Circle of life friends! It's worth the hard work and time!

On another garden note, I'm having a bit of trouble with my tomatoes. (Shocking, I'm sure). They are flowering like crazy but not fruiting! So frustrating! Upon further investigation, I've come to realize that there aren't very many bees in our backyard to help with pollination. I purchased some lovely butterfly and bee attracting plants, and I'm hoping that will help! Otherwise I may have to resort to pollinating by hand with a teeny tiny paint brush! It is not below me! I need the tomatoes! So if you have any advice and tips about tomatoes, please spill!

And, lastly, please stop back by tomorrow!! Big big news on the ol Urban Farm... a garden isn't the only thing we've  been growing!!! Are you dying of suspense?! See you tomorrow!!

Urban Farm {May}

Hello friends!!

Life is moving right along here at our Urban Oasis! Our last farm update brought you the birth of our two raised bed gardens.

Since then, we have fully planted one of the beds, and the other is about half planted. Since we divided the beds into square foot increments, we are able to fit many veggies in in an organized manner.

 

We labeled each section with a rock with the plant name written on it, as you can see here with the peas. 

 

Did you know peas are a cool weather crop, and can be started outdoors as early as March?! They are considered snap peas if you harvest earlier, and sugar peas if its a later crop. Peas are easy to grow and heavy producers, and you can freeze your harvest! Holla for filling the freezer with home grown goodness! 

Here is a look at Bed #1, fully planted and labeled for your viewing pleasure. 

 

 We will likely be doubling up some of these veggies in the other bed, carrots for sure, since we will go through a lot of those. 

I'm sure you've noticed and are wondering about the PVC hoops on the beds. If you follow me on Instagram (@lololalala), then you've seen the progress on what are now hoop houses. We installed these hoops, and sewed plastic covers for the beds to extend our growing season and protect our crop from both the unpredictable weather here in Bend, and our fruit bat pit-mix puppy, Cash. So far so good as well! As you can see from the photo above,  if you squint, all of our starts have sprouted!! 

In the other bed, we have planted two types of heirloom tomatoes, which we bought at a local garden store, Zucchini, Tuscan Kale, and more peas. I will definitely be putting in more carrots, and maybe some broccoli and arugula. 

I am loving the gardens so far, and spend at least 30 minutes a day tending to them, and our herb garden in the front yard. You may remember our successes of years past with this built in planter box. Last year we decided to take all the plants out of it and put in an herb garden! Best idea ever!! It worked fabulously and is easily accessible when cooking! Herbs are very easy to grow and quite expensive at the grocery store, so I highly recommend growing your own! 

Here's what we have growing so far. The Tarragon, Thyme and Rosemary all survived the winter and returned for 2013, and the Cilantro, Parsley and Mint are new additions as of a few weeks ago. We will be putting some Basil in soon as well, but for now we have a thriving basil plant (for 3.99 from Trader Joe's, get one, best purchase ever) indoors so we aren't missing out in the basil department. 

We will close this post with some hilarious pics of our pets, my constant garden companions. 

 

Here is our cat Zeke defying gravity by running DOWN the fence... 

 And here is our fruit bat Cash, investigating the plastic cover of one of the hoop houses. He is quite the trouble maker, but overall a fantastic dog. 

So that's where we stand so far on the Urban Farm. Its still early, but I am feeling confident that we will get a decent crop this year! Any tips or garden advice, especially on growing tomatoes? That is the one plant I am most intimidated by. 

Speak up in the comments!