Sharon's Garden: Front Yard Farms

http://daniellecornelius.com/

Front Yard Farms

Well I have made the leap to start my own little business. Do what you love and the money will follow, right? The name I have chosen is Front Yard Farms. My intent is to help people create beautiful veggie gardens and create food for themselves. Teach people sustainable practices as well as help with some ornamental gardening, selling herbs and veggie starts as well as ornamental starts. I visited my friend Monica's garden to give her some advice. She is a fairly experienced gardener so it was inspiring as well as helpful for me to get my mind really in the mode of my business plan. My next project is to help my dear friend Danielle, who has a bit of a brown thumb. We are going to get that brown thumb nice and green. Danielle has really taken on the responsibility to live in a more sustainable way. She has really gotten into the spirit of recycling everything, networking with others to generate good practices in her home and life, and has really made an effort to take good care of her mind and body. So she has decided as part of her process that she needs to become more one with nature and be able to be a little more self sufficient in her garden. We are going to start out with baby steps. She has a few things in mind that she wants to accomplish. First she wants to grow her own food, second she wants to compost more and understand the process, third she wants to be able to have fresh cut flowers for her house, and finally she wants to learn to can the veggies she grows. The last part is not something that I will provide for other clients but I am going to teach her what I know about canning. I should also say that much of this process for her is going to be therapeutic. She is going to challenge herself in an area that may have been a little overwhelming for her. Her husband does most of the gardening and now Danielle wants to be an active participant in the process. So we are going to start some projects that are just hers alone. I will blog about it here and Danielle is going to blog about it on her blog. Look for a website coming soon for Front Yard Farms. A woman on a mission to spread the love of gardening one person at a time.

Planting Schedule

Today I planted some more seeds indoors. I got quite into the spirit of things today by pasterizing soil at home. I baked my potting soil in the oven for thirty minutes at 250 degrees. You may think this is a bit extreme and a bit stinky. It is worth it in the end when you see those darling little plants poke their heads out of the soil in those pots lining the window sills.
Once I got my soil out of the oven I started basil, Walla Walla onions and some pickling cucumbers. We will see what happens with the onions. I understand that onion seeds don't save very well. Meaning you should by or save new seeds every year. Many other seeds save fine for a few years under the right conditions. Keeping them dry and cool. I also started peas outsided today. I plan to start some chamomile, leeks and more cucs inside this weekend. On the 20th I will start some coriander, eggplants, and start some leek seeds outside. March 27th I will sow carrots, bush beans, lettuce, spinach, radish, kohlrabi and watercress outside. April 17th I will sow cucs, onions, more radishes, and tunips outside. I will continue to plant turnips, lettuce and possibly carrots every three weeks after the 17th of April to get a good winter crop going. I plan to plant lettuce under a cucumber trellise. When the last frost has happened, which should be about April 3rd and the soil is quite warm I will start to move my starts outside. Is there anything magical to these dates you ask. No. It is just how I planned my planting schedule this year. In years past I have scrambled around trying to get plants in the ground and being a bit late on most. Who knows if I do the garden dance enough they may become magical dates. There is quite a good chart for winter gardens on Territorial Seeds website.

I busted out the pots and dirt today people...

Okay as promised here is a sneak peek at my schedule of planting. Today I managed to start some tomatoes inside in pots. (The other half is in Vegas for three weeks so I can pack the kitchen with little pots of treasure with no complaint). I started Morgage lifters, a Japanese black tomato that is actually from Russia, claims to have a rich flavor, mmmm. I started two others, one collected from a friend's garden I have renamed the Cherry Lynsky and another that my mom renamed Cucamonga. Hopefully I will get those little peas in the ground. Hopefully it won't rain too much. So stay tuned I will be writing out a complete schedule or it may got like this. But I'd like to be able to give those of you that want it a heads up so you can plan. Happy gardening.

Planting Schedule

I have made a commitment.  Well at least I put it on my calendar with the goal of following through.  I have decided that I am going to start my seeds indoors on February 7th.  I will make every effort to log the days that I start seeds and plant things.  I am really focusing on my veggy garden this season.  I have been inspired to grow fall and winter veggies this year.  During our "lunch time chats" at the MG program a gardener that has been growing winter veggies for twenty years brought in a sample of his beautiful crop.  In the past I have been too late to get my starts in the grown for fall and winter veggies or been intimidated by the process.  I am making it a goal of mine this year to write on the calendar when to put in all my seeds and plants.  Maybe I will get it right this year.  Or at least some of it right.  Stay tuned for planting schedules and some good info on vermiculture.  

Getting geared up

I am anxiously awaiting my seeds to arrive in the mail.  I ordered them a few days ago.  Mostly veggies.  I am looking forward to getting my peas in the ground and their supports up.  I am going to make every effort to record dates here that I am putting seeds and plants in by request of a friend.  I want this blog to be helpful and inspirational for people.  I hope to be putting up my own website soon to offer support and consultation to fellow gardeners experienced and beginners.  This weekend I hope to draw out some plans for the front yard.  We plan to remove the rest of the lawn and hell strip of grass. Because lets face it the only reason for grass was to show wealth after WWII.  Lets make a new green movement of gardens and food in our front yards to show our wealth.  Our wealth of getting back to basics.  Family, sustainable living, eating organic and feeling the earth beneath our hands and knees.  Lets do it for us, for our families, for our children and our communities.  Gardens can save lives, can save someone sanity, can save someones spirit and soul.   

Getting Creative

Well it is that time that we start getting our seed and Dahlia catalogs in the mail. I love to peruse through the catalogs and daydream about warmer days. I have been flipping through the Territorial Seed catalog as well as the Swan Island Dahlia catalog. If you have never been to the Dahlia farm in September it is truly a treat. You should really check it out. Acres of beautiful flowers. It is much more rewarding to get up and close the these beauties. As far as the seed catalogs go it is amazing how many different types of beans there are. Green, yellow and purple. I had to purchase a few types. I am truly excited about a dark almost black tomato. It originates from Russia and apparently has a taste that is indescribable. Rich and thick. Sounds good to me. I can never resist the interesting tomato breeds. I am going to take a shot at growing eggplant this year. Big Daddy (Danny) loves eggplant Parmesan. So we'll see if we can get some good meals out of those.
On another note a friend of mine was so inspired by all my talk of my worm bin. She found it necessary to carve a scare crow from a potato. He is now happily living among the worms. Protecting them from any intruders. I hope to give a class at my plant exchange on worm bins for all those enthusiast even those of you that just want to recycle more.