A Front Yard Farm

Here at the City Girl household we have been embarking on a brave new experiment. Urban Farming!! When this City Girl read about PRI - Cold Climate's new Urban Farm Certification Program she jumped on board fast! And let me tell you, it's been a whirlwind of classes, networking, and just plain urban farming. A City Girl's dream com true! This City Girl is psyched.

My biggest accomplishment so far? Actually REMOVING the sod in half of my front yard to accommodate a new urban farm plot! This was such a big project that I had to recruit help and I will be indebted to my helpers in free veggies for the summer. I incorporated a circular design in order to minimize the square footage taken up by paths. Plus I just think it looks darn pretty! One of my techie co-workers pointed out that it's reminiscent of a computer's power button. So maybe I was also channeling my inner geek? Whaddya think?

So far I've planted a few of my cool-weather seeds, and much of the warmer weather stuff is growing happily inside our back porch until it's late enough to put them in the garden.

Biggest challenge right now? I still have a backyard bed that needs prepping for the upcoming season. And there has been too much rain for this City Girl to get much done back there! I love the rain for my front yard plot, but can't wait for a dry day or two so I can get the back yard ready.

Hey readers? Any tips on foiling raccoons? My backyard plot will once again contain some corn. Last year's was devoured by a hungry raccoon. I hear they are almost impossible to keep away from corn in an urban setting. I'm determined to give it one more go! So if you've got any great tips, I'd love to hear 'em!

Seedlings!!!

So there's a brave new experiment going on these past few weeks in the City Girl household. We're starting this year's garden from seeds! This is a first for me, so I of course, sought some advice from the web. And I found this nifty little idea for starting seedlings in empty water or milk jugs.

Now, before you scold me for my ecological unfriendliness of buying water let me just say that we happen to live in a home old enough to have lead pipe connecting the city water service to our house. Supposedly not an issue if you run your water long enough before drinking, but would you take chances with the adorable twin boys we have? I didn't think so! So bottled water for the babes it is.

But even better if I can re-purpose the jugs right?! So the idea couldn't be simpler. You cut the jug in half, plant your seeds, put the top back on and supposedly this creates a greenhouse like environment which helps them grow even better! Since we have no room in my house for me to leave growing seedlings around anywhere, I had to put them out on our three season porch which is cold. So I also invested in a warming mat and grow light. I told myself it'll pay off in the long run. I didn't mark the day that the experiment started but I'd venture a guess it was around mid-March.

Here's some photos for proof of my City Girl experiment. See how big my tomatoes are getting! And these were taken a whole week ago! In the picture of four jug bases, the one with much smaller plants is my broccoli. All three others are tomatoes. Perhaps my experiment worked too good though: I had needed only six tomato plants and I have 15 healthy seedlings! All the better for sharing, right?



What new things are you trying this year in your garden? Next up, as soon as I get another break from those twin boys, The Great City Girl Garden Expansion! Yup, we're tripling the size of our garden space this year. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Only time will tell!

Growing Cauliflower

Now, I've tried plenty of the usual veggies in my garden before. Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, herbs... But this year is my first year trying cauliflower. And I am forever indebted to Harmony Valley Farm because on our visit there a few weeks ago, I heard them mention the fact that you must TIE your cauliflower leaves to cover the new baby head of cauliflower in order to keep if white. If you don't it will turn brown! I had no idea! So I finally tied my cauliflower the other day. Well, rubber-banded it that is. I found an excellent illustration here.

What about you? Are there any last minute surprising garden tips you got wind of just in time? Or any that you didn't but wish you had?

Oh, and here's our first harvest from one of the square foot gardens, a beautiful little cucumber:

Plastic Bottle Greenhouse for Seedlings

A friend of mine surprised me with four little tomato seedlings the other day. I already have three tomato plants in my square foot garden and trust me that is a lot for this city girl! But I thought I'd give these little guys a shot. Problem is we kept them on the back of our kitchen sink for about a week, and I figured the occasional spray of water they were getting due to my haphazard dish-washing techniques was probably good for them. But I guess it was too much for one little guy.

So down to three seedlings I finally ventured out to the garden to put them in and try out this water bottle mini-greenhouse idea I had read about. Problem is I got around to picking strawberries first (yup, 2 more quarts!) and accidentally stepped on two of my seedlings!!! Note to self: Do NOT put the fragile teeny plants on the ground where you are walking! Whoops!

So I finally put them all in and assembled my little water bottle greenhouses around them. Around the biggest seeding I used a larger 2-liter bottle. But around the tiny ones I just put the regular 20 oz water bottles. The technique couldn't be simpler - you just cut off the bottom of the bottles and press the open bottom of the bottle into the ground until it's firmly in there. I had to plunk these guys in between the strawberry bed & the square foot gardens. Here's what they looked like:

Anyone ever tried anything like this? I'm hoping it'll help these little guys get a bit caught up since it's already almost July and they're just getting started! Once they get going more, I have some tomato trays that will go around them to hopefully help them continue quick growth. Keep your fingers crossed!

Oh, and just to inspire you, check out this water bottle greenhouse and the DIY instructions to build one of your own!

Yard Sharing Anyone?

I recently came across Hyperlocavore.com a site with the goal of promoting Yard Sharing. This seems like a pretty cool idea. It's totally new to me, but I gather that you essentially share yard space with your neighbors for the purpose of gardening. If you have some yard but no time to garden, share it with someone who likes to garden but has no yard. Pretty neat, right?! I checked the entire Minneapolis/St Paul area and found only one relatively new group starting up in Minneapolis. So it seems to be a new thing in these parts.

Here's a link to a YouTube video interview with Liz McLellan who started this site and is a big proponent of yard sharing.

I wonder: Have any of you heard of this? Do you have any experience doing this sort of thing with a neighbor? Would you be interested in it? And how do you see it working for someone like me - a novice gardener willing to do gardening in my own yard so I don't need someone else's yard space, and don't need anyone else to come garden in mine? I wonder for those of us in my kinda shoes, if this could be a nice opportunity to share the fruits of our garden when they become too much. And to trade ideas or even seeds with people right in my neck o' the woods. I'd love to hear what you think. Please add your comments to my blog.

Composting and Gardening Update....

So, we've been composting for about a week now. Goin' good so far. My four-year-old especially likes it. He excitedly did the honors of dumping the first jar of compost from the kitchen into the bin.

The only thing that's been bugging this city girl is the compost containers we've been using in the kitchen are NOT that convenient. I had a coupla glass containers laying around but they fill up fast and the mouths were not very big...which led to difficulties dumping them into the compost bin. So....fast forward to tonight when we run into PetSmart for a few cat and bird things and lo and behold my eyes caught sight of - DOG FOOD STORAGE CONTAINERS! They were cheap ($15), air-tight and just the right size to set next to our garbage can for compost. Yeah!!! I'm already filled with joy ever time I add new scraps to the container...so much easier! Phew!

Another city girl triumph tonight - I picked rhubarb from the garden for the very first time!! And we had a TON! I already baked my first batch of rhubarb muffins...and I have to say they are FABULOUS! I made Cinnamon-Topped Rhubarb Muffins from AllRecipes.com. Why is it that nearly every rhubarb recipe calls for buttermilk? That's one of those things I definitely do NOT keep on hand. So one tip perhaps everyone but a city girl already knows is how to make your own buttermilk substiution. Couldn't be easier:

Buttermilk Substitution
1 3/4 c milk
2 T white vinegar
Let the milk sit out until it's room temperature. Add the vinegar and stir. Let it rest a few minutes until thickens a bit. Voila! Couldn't be easier! Now I can make rhubarb recipes any ol' time I want to!

Before I get outta here I'll share a TipNut.com's 26 Rhubarb Recipes hit list. These are some pretty enticing rhubarb recipes...there's such a variety here that it's hard to believe there's not at least something to fit everyone's taste. Enjoy!