Raised Trench Carrot Harvest

Last year we grew the most delicious carrots. The problem was we left more carrots in the ground than we actually brought up. I don't know what the secret is to digging up carrots without breaking them and never did figure it out. This year, I knew we wanted to have our own carrots again, but we had to figure out a better way to harvest them. After thinking about it, we came up with the idea to build boxes that would act as raised trenches. Oxymoron, I know. But that was the best term I could think of to describe what we were doing.

We stared by building boxes out of 1x6's, adding square supports in the corners. Each board is attached with screws so we can easily take the boxes apart at harvest. We used untreated wood knowing the boxes would probably only last a year or two.

Before placing them in the garden, we dug out a trench about 3 inches deep so the boxes would be partially below ground level. Then we filled them up with dirt and planted the carrot seeds.

Then we patiently wait all summer while everything else grows and the carrots take their time. I'd like to saw we did an excellent job pulling weeds and all that maintenance stuff, but it didn't happen. At some point during the late summer, we realized that the critters (rabbits maybe?) got into the garden, which is completely fenced in with chicken wire. They found one row of carrots and completely devoured all the plants. Yep, an entire row of carrots-gone. They had got into the second row, but not all the way. I don't know what stopped them, but I was glad we were going to have a least a few carrots. Fast forward to mid October and the looming first frost. It's time to harvest the carrots!

I sent the husband out to take the screws off the corners. Don't mind the massively overgrown weeds all around. 

After the top board was removed, we could start to see some decent looking carrots.

After removing the bottom board, we just pushed the rest of the box backward so it was easy to move the dirt away and grab the carrots.

After a quick rinse and trim, we ended up with a decent amount of carrots. Next year, I'm thinking about adding chicken wire over the top of the boxes so the critters can't get in there and dig up the veggies!

Roasted Cupcake Squash and Brussels Sprouts

It's been a crazy gardening season. It started out so much cooler than usual, which wreaked havoc on all the plants that thrive in warmer weather. Then it rained. And rained. I'm fairly certain I saw Noah go by. Then it finally remembered it was summer and warm weather came. The zucchini did great. We have been eating zucchini daily for about 2 months and I was able to freeze a lot too. The corn didn't fare as well. All of the rain completely flooded out the green beans-not a single plant survived. And because of the super soaked soil, the weeds took over nearly everything else. The one bring spot was the cupcake squash. I was concerned at first because when the cooler weather decided to stick around for a few weeks, we only had male flowers-no fruit. But soon, we had so many I couldn't keep up with them.

If you haven't seen cupcake squash yet, here's what they look like.

They're about the size of an onion and taste similar to zucchini, but with a nutty taste. And like zucchini, if you don't pick them on a regular basis, they will grow to amazingly large size! We had a few that were missed and ended up about the size of my head! We like to add them to salads raw, but my favorite way to eat them is roasted.

Roasted Cupcake Squash and Brussels Sprouts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet, toss together brussels sprouts (cut in half, long ways), sliced squash, olive oil and salt. I used olive oil infused with Italian seasoning and garlic.

Roast until veggies are tender, about 30-45 minutes, stirring around about half way through.

When veggies turn a light golden brown, they're ready. Finish off with some pepper.

I like the squash by itself, but pairing with brussels sprouts is the best combination! They hold up really well to roasting, much better than other summer squash, but still have a delicate taste. We're just about to the end of this growing season, so I don't have too many more of these left. They will absolutely make it into next year's garden.

Garden 2014

Now that this year's garden is wrapping up, I can look back on the good and the bad from this year.

We really expanded our growing area this year, easily doubling what we've done in the past.

Things really took off and we had lots of veggies!

As it turns out, my husband really likes fresh peas! 

And even though I swore I would keep up on the weeds this year, I didn't. 

We still got a good harvest and learned that carrots are not one of our favorite things to dig up. 

I canned, froze and dehydrated a lot! I also picked up new recipes along the way.

I already miss the flourishing garden, but I'm ready to start planning for next year!

Growing Potatoes 2 Ways

Second post this week! Small victories make me happy.

Monday, I posted my Loaded Potato Soup recipe. I mentioned we grew about 50 lbs of potatoes this year, but I didn't tell you how we grew them. Some time over the winter, I saw a Pinterest board about growing potatoes. There was a pin about growing them in feed sacks. I thought it was genius! No more digging and digging-just cut the bag open and potatoes would fall all around me! It was a grand vision. I had high hopes.

So when we began our garden we decided we would plant some in feed sacks and the rest in the ground. Both groups were hilled up as the foliage grew, and both were watered regularly. I poked small holes in the feed sacks to ensure good drainage. The feed sacks were unrolled as the plants grew. By late summer, I was sure we were going to have hundreds of pounds of potatoes.

Mid season potato growth

When we finally opened the sacks, I was so disappointed to find only 2 or 3 potatoes per sack. We grew three varieties-purple, red and fingerling. There was no difference in the type of plant-each produced about the same amount. The plants put all of their energy into growing upwards. But, our potatoes in the ground went crazy! We were digging up potatoes for what seemed like hours! It took me about 2 hours to get them all cleaned and ready to be stored in the basement.

Washing potatoes is one of the most boring tasks. I should have pawned this off on one of the kids. 

I'm not sure what went wrong with the feed sack method. It's possible I didn't really read the directions on the post the image was pinned from. I've done that before, with disastrous results. Has anyone had success with this method? Any suggestions on how I could improve that method?

Even during the heat wave and drought...

We have managed to keep the garden green and growing! Today, we picked tomatoes, potatoes, purple beans, cucumbers and a random pumpkin!

Guest Post: Urban Gardener

Meet Audrey:

She's a 20-something insurance professional who lives life adventure to adventure. (She's also the one who tilled my garden, but that's a story for another day.) She enjoys being active, whether you define that as biking through Indianapolis or knitting on her couch. You simply won't find her sitting still. She enjoys seeking out the beauty others overlook or dismiss. This year, Audrey decided to set out on a new quest, cultivating a garden on the small patio of her lakeside apartment. Keep reading to see what she planted, harvested, and most importantly learned in the patio planter experience!

The Urbanization of the Vegetable Garden

I'm an apartment person. I don't particularly care for mowing grass or replacing garage door openers. I do, however, love fresh produce and I cook primarily from scratch. As we all know, there's a huge difference between the produce department in a grocery store and the local farmer's market, but there's nothing better than food grown with your own love, a little sweat, and maybe a tear or two.

But how can I grow my own juicy tomatoes and spicy chilies...and maybe strawberries? Hmmm...

Then my boyfriend's mother brought me an upsy-downsy tomato planter. Plants in containers! It makes so much sense I don't know how I didn't think of it before now. Then it occurred to me that I could grow many things in containers. I did a little reading online for some tips.

I started with the grape and big red tomato seeds as well as basil, chives, cilantro, jalapenos and a packet of assorted bell peppers. I bought some cheap pots and found some free pots that I could poke holes in (I even had chives in a pizza express cup that's been moving around with me since college).

This was getting fun. I love to be able to nurture things. So I wait. I went to my local farmers market to pick up some veggies one day and the proprietor asks how my pots are coming along and casually mentions that his starters are on clearance. $2 a flat! I'm going to need more peppers, and some roma tomatoes are a given, so let's see what's over there. I picked up some dusky eggplant, several healthy looking cayennes, a few more bell peppers, some cherry peppers, okra, and some squash and zucchini plants that I wasn't so sure about. I even grabbed a cantaloupe plant just to see if it could work.

The upsy-downsy tomato idea had already been scrapped. The bucket just isn't big enough, but it's perfect for cayenne's and cherry peppers.

I chose the healthiest starters I could find and stuck them in buckets hoping for the best, my mouth water at the thought of fried okra.

One of the most important things to consider when planting an urban container garden is that the nutrients in the soil are quickly depleted. I used miracle grow and bought an organic pesticide for the aphids. The best part of container gardening, in my opinion, is the lack of furry thieves leaving half-eaten tomatoes around...well, besides my dog. He thinks green tomatoes are tennis balls. I also had some casualties due to the notorious Indiana summer storms. Next year I'll find a way to weigh down the buckets more.

As for the results? I have more jalapenos than I know what to do with. I've made some killer dips and my famous poppers with them. I have tons of fresh tomatoes and what I can't eat immediately either get turned into tomato sauce or sundried tomatoes. I've made pesto with the basil and I love having fresh herbs always on hand. Plus I'm saving a fortune. The eggplant never set fruit so I think I'll try another variety next year. Mildew killed my squash and zucchini, but I didn't think they'd make it when I bought them. I lost interest in my cantaloupe when it overtook my balcony and I just kind of let it go. The assorted bell peppers are gorgeous and one of the plants is producing a beautiful purple fruit that's just a little sweeter. Oddly, they turn green when you cook them.

Summer is coming to an end now and soon the plants will wilt, but I'm planning for next year already. I'm hoping to score a habenero plant and I'll probably try some other tomato varieties. I intend to grow more romas because I absolutely love them. I had so much success with the peppers that I'll be sure to grow them again as well and I can't imagine buying those blister packed herbs ever again. I'm also hoping to grow some green beans and garlic, and I'm going to give squash and zucchini another shot, but from seed this time.

So in closing, if you think you can't have home-grown veggies in a cramped space, why not become an urban gardener? It's a fun and rewarding project and my veggies rival the ones at produce stand down the street.


This post was linked to some of the parties shown here




Canning Week is coming! August 23-27 is canning week here and over at my blogger buddy's page here. We'll be having a linky party, recipes, tips, tricks, and GIVEAWAYS!!! See the button on the right? Go ahead and slap that on your blog and let me know so you can get your entries in early. We're also on Facebook! Join up to our group for an additional entry!