Fruit, leaf, flower, root

This year marks the 10th garden we have planted at our house.  We have been working on crop rotation both within a growing season and from year to year.  A lot of our crops this year really seem to be showing the benefits.

Fruit

Glacier Early Tomato

Thanks to those walls of water I've had tomatoes from a few select plants since mid July.  This bed of tomatoes is my earliest and best looking.  Last year we grew green beans and herbs in this spot.

Leaf

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Mmmm chard so yummy, so pretty, and so much easier to grow than spinach.  Notice the bird netting?  That's a whole other blog post.  Notice the co planting with green beans?  These are great companions.  Last year we grew carrots in this bed.

Flower

Windsor Fava Beans

Coriander aka Cilantro

This is an early photo of my Favas from about 3 weeks ago and they are starting to flower now.  Last year in that bed we grew Zucchini.  I'm not sure what group you actually account for coriander in given that its a leafy herb that flowers.  I count it as a flower because we eat in in all life cycles including the dried pod stage.  Last year in that bed we grew peppers.

Root

Carrots, mixed varieties

Last but probably our most eaten vegetable, the humble carrot.  These are planted along side Beets this year and both seem pretty happy.  Last year in this bed we grew Lettuce.

We have been working on a 3 year rotation but if we had more space would probably go out to 4 years.  Anyhow, I think its paying off in terms of plant health and pest management.  

Tomorrow is already August so we had better soak up the summer while it lasts.

JG

Not the usual vegetable garden fare

I'm really lucky to live in the neighborhood of a world class botanical garden Red Butte Garden.  Even luckier, they have a plant sale annually.  I'm not much of a non-vegetable gardener, but I'm always trying to make my garden beds more varied and beautiful, both for the eyes and for the local pollinators.

This blog post is mostly for me, so that when a few months from now I realize what an awesome plant I have growing, or conversely, what a bust that one was, I actually know what that plant is.  I can't convince myself to keep those little plastic plant tags around.   If you live in the Rocky Mountains, some of these notes may also be applicable to you.

 Miscanthus sinensis 'Yaku Jima' - Dwark Maiden Grass.  Native to Japan.  Going to plant in front yard, North facing, against house

 Thymus vulgaris English Garden Thyme.  Plant in container in backyard.

 Mentha requienii Corsican mint.  Going to plant between stepping stones near kid's sandbox.

 Hyssop officinalis Hyssop.

 Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia Gooseberry-leaf Globemallow.  Utah Native!

 Delosperma Alan's Apricot Ice Plant.  A groundcover.

 Achillea lewisii 'King Edward' Dwarf Yarrow.

Catharanthus roseus 'Titan Punch' Vinca.  I don't know much about this pretty annual except for the color of those flowers.  I couldn't pass it up.

 Ajuga 'Chocolate chip' Bulgeweed.  A groundcover.

 MYSTERY PLANT!!  I've bought this before.  It came home without a label, grrrr.  I will use the power of this internet to try and identify this.

Monarda fistulosa Wild Bergamot or Bee Balm.  Plant in front of house North facing.

African Daisy.  I'm not sure which taxonomy applies to this one.  I know, not local, but according to the local experts, drought tolerant.

 Thymophylla tenuilobia Dahlberg Daisy.  Native to Mexico, Drought tolerant

Penstemon strictus Rocky Mountain Penstemon.  Native, Bee friendly.

Now if it would clear up for a few days, I will finalize a plan for what goes where and plant these beauties.

My vegetable garden is off to strong start. More on that soon.

JG

New Year New Garden Plan

Happy first day of 2016.  I'm not sure when I developed this ritual but many years ago I started to spend at least a part of this first day of the new year sketching out the details for my next garden.  It gives me some time both to reflect on last year's growing and to give some thought to what I will grow in the coming months.  I think I'm a pretty seasoned gardener at this point, but still have lots of new things to try, errors to make, and successes to discover.  I think that planning is a big part of the process.  
Here is how I do it.

1.  Take a seed inventory

If you have a big seed box like me, this can be a little bit tedious, but its worth the time.  I also take this as an opportunity to throw away seeds that are too old.  Seeds do have a shelf life and there are lots of good resources about that online and in seed catalogs, but those with the shortest lives include onions, peas, beans, parsnips.  If you have a pack of these more than 3 years old, it might still be worth a trial run, but I would probably buy back up.

2.  Make a "to buy" list.  If you are really organized, you have kept a running list all year long as you ran out of seeds.  If you are me, you kept a so-so list and step 1 assures you don't get to the first week of April and not have seeds for something you really love to grow. 

3.  Draw out your garden and start to plot what goes where.  Consider crop rotation, space needs, compatibles vs not.
You might ask, "isn't there an app for that?"  There is a really good computer program that you can get over at Kitchen Gardeners international.  
I like to do it like this though

I've got a thing for graph paper and I like to look at my old plans.

4.  Get input form your family.  It only helps to grow 5 kinds of beets if you someone else is going to help you eat them.  Besides, if you have little kids like I do, it gets them in on the action.

5.  Get out those beautiful color seed catalogs that have been coming in the mail and start shopping.  My current favorites are Seed Savers Exchange, High Mowing Seeds, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, and Adaptive Seeds.

Happy New Year and New Garden!