The Edible Garden Project: May 2013 Update

All the seeds have sprouted and our edible garden is growing mighty well - even though the Seattle weather seems to be on some sort of roller coaster ride (we've even had hail). Things seem even better when I go back to look at last months pictures of all the teeny tiny sprouts. In even better news, our living situation has finally been straightened out and we'll get to stay in our rental house for at least another year. Phew!

That means we've planted the center bed and after moving it, the first bed will also be planted for a fall crop (or winter, depending on when we get it moved). Overall, we should have a much grander and more varied harvest than last year. 

How grand and varied a harvest you ask? Well, at this point we've got about 50 different varieties of of edible plants growing around our property and I've got the full inventory in the rest of the post.

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The Edible Garden Project: April 2013 Update

Well, it's been a month since our 2013 edible gardening plans were tossed up in the air and the roughest part is that we still don't have any kind of closure or sense of exactly how and when our living situation might change. So we soldier on with a mobile version of our original plans.

It's been a chilly month in Seattle and our sprouts have been appearing rather sporadically. Although the addition of our Windowfarm (read more about that here) means that not all of our edibles growing quite so slowly. As I mentioned last month we started with the full grown plants but also began the process to start a few other plants from seed. 

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The Edible Garden Project: March 2013 Update

You're probably wondering why in the world I would have a bunch of filled containers on top of a beautiful rich soiled raised bed.

The answer? We are renters.

Specifically, we're renters who dream of being homeowners. We like to grow stuff, build stuff, and do stuff. In the house we've been living in for almost the past three years, we were lucky enough to have our landlords approve our plan to build three raised beds in our front yard last spring. 2012 was a wonderful year filled with an amazing garden that made all the passers by stop and gawk. We built the beds thinking we'd be living in the house for at least 5 years. Figuring that another 2 or 3 years were in our future, the investment of time and energy didn't seem like a waste.

It turns out, life happens and plans change - now we have to adapt. If things go as planned, our lovely little house will no longer be a good fit for us by September and it will time for us to move to a new home (we're crossing our fingers that we may find the means to buy this time). 

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The Edible Garden Project: February 2013 Update

If you're relatively new around here and wondering why a gluten free food & travel blogger is writing about edible gardening - it's simply because growing your own food is a mighty simple way to make sure you're eating gluten free. Plus, I enjoy it and I like to share - so there's that too.

It's almost time to start planting for the warmer months ahead and I'm super excited for our garden this year! We're adding a number of new things to the mix including even more planting space. 

What major changes are we making based on lessons learned from last year? 

• Our cucumber and pepper plants are going in containers in our back porch area which acts a bit like a greenhouse. 
• We're not planting fennel - it takes up way to much space in raised beds and doesn't yield a whole lot.
• All of our greens, herbs, carrots, and beets will be all be started from seed and for everything else we'll pick up as starters from the Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sales. 

In addition to the containers above, we currently have three raised beds and will be adding a fourth mini-bed for herbs. Oh and now that I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I forgot about our two Russian tea plants, pink lemonade blueberry, and lingonberry plants that also live in containers. This year will be the first that we get to harvest some of our tea!

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The Edible Garden Project: January 2013 Update

Sometimes gardening isn't all that pretty and that's certainly true of our experimental winter garden. With a dog trodden and mud covered front yard - nothings going to be that pretty.

It's been awhile since the last update, but some of our plants are still going strong. On the other hand, the arugula, bok choi, kohlrabi, and cabbage don't seem to be changing that much week to week. I think this may be our last attempt to grow all of those except the arugula.

On the other hand, all of the plants have held up suprisingy well through the major frosts and cold weather we've been having here in Seattle. Even more impressive, at least in  my mind, is that our cover hasn't blown away yet!

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