There is a produce bonanza in the backyard, which I happily discovered upon return from vacation. I did a fair job last year of incorporating the harvest into our meals, but I knew I could do better and this summer is off to a great start. I have been picking the greens (lettuces, arugula, collards, spinach) often and either eating, giving away to friends, or
Garden Tour
The Fo-Po Garden Tour was a lot of fun, and it was some serious motivation for us to get things wrapped up and the yard looking good! We met some really nice people and I am always happy to talk about plants with anyone who will listen. There is so much to recap… where to begin? First off, the patio is now complete! The final
Friday Farm Trip
Sauvie Island is a small farming community about 15 minutes outside Portland. It’s on a small island with one small bridge connecting the area to the outside world. Come Springtime, there is an ever revolving U-pick produce bonanza. And this is probably my favorite way to spend a Friday evening. Although I love supporting the local farmer’s markets, it’s even better to carpool out straight
Fo-Po Garden Tour
As I’ve mentioned before, I am participating in the first annual Fo-Po Garden Tour this Sunday from 10am-2:00pm. I am technically outside the Foster-Powell neighborhood in Portland, but they are letting me slip in anyways. Everything is suppose to be really informal, but alas I find myself freaking out a bit in preparation!?! There is so much to do: finish the patio, stake the young
Patio Progress
I am officially tired of working on the patio. The project was a good idea, and I am sure there are lots of benefits of working on it ourselves. But I’m sick of it. We spent all day Saturday working away outside. We filled the dug out area with fine gravel from Mt Scott Fuel. Then we rented a compactor thing, which Jay was nice
June Harvests
Things are trucking along quite well on the ‘ole urban homestead this June. We are happily reaping some of the rewards from our perennial plantings last year. The two cherry trees have enough fruit to snack on between breaks in yard work. The artichokes have been prolific! We had a feast of them last night for dinner. I left about half of the artichokes to
Office Produce
I have been bringing excess produce into the office now for about a month, every Wednesday. This has really kept my vegetables on a steady production schedule – trimming things back every Wednesday morning just encourages the plants to produce replacements by the weekend, when we typically pull more from the garden for our dinners. For some reason my beet leaves and swiss chard leaves
Potato Tire Stacks: Progress
This past winter I decided to try growing potatoes in tires. I have never grown potatoes before, mainly because it seems they take up a lot of space. Living in a small urban lot, space is a premium. The method is basically planting 2-3 seed potatoes per tire. Once the leaves get high, you add another tire and fill with dirt, leaving about 4″ of
Backyard Permaculture Layers
The design for our urban landscape is based on the food forest concept stemming from permaculture principles. One of the several important aspects of designing a food forest means utilizing “layers” in the garden. Here are those layers: The canopy (large trees) Low tree layer (dwarf fruit trees) Shrubs Herbaceous Rhizosphere (root crops) Soil Surface (cover crops) Vertical Layer (climbers, vines) Last year I focused
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