Urban Garden Update

 My babies are growing!

Everyday when I go out to water my garden, it is so exciting to see how things are growing and changing!
The kids are super excited too!  I think my infectious enthusiasm is rubbing off.
I just wanted to share a few pics of things and how they are going.

First are my blackberries.  

They are already getting buds and flowers.  

I water them about 5 days a week and they get the weekly feed mix that I give my garden grow box.

That mix comes from the Mittleider Foundation here.

The package comes with full instructions.  You have to mix it with Epsom Salt 

and a 16-16-16 fertilizer.  

The fertilizer was a little hard to find.  I finally found some at Walmart.

Next are my potatoes.  They are getting so big!

I just did my first added layers of topsoil and sawdust, along with the weekly feed mix today.

 Broccoli.  My kids favorite!

Crazy I know, but I'm oh so grateful!

The arugula is growing like crazy!  

We actually had our first harvest yesterday for Easter Dinner. 

More pics at the end.

My tomatoes are growing like crazy too.  

I had to make some Tomato cages out of bailing wire today to support the branches.  

If you look really close, you can see my first baby tomato all green and super cute!

The strawberries already have berries on them, along with more flowers.  

I so can't wait for these to be ready. 

Store bought strawberries just don't have the flavor and intensity that homegrown do.  

That's one of the main things we miss about Washington.  

The berries are to die for!

All my fruit trees are also putting out their spring greenery!

Now that it's getting hot, like 90's by the end of the week, 

I'm going to add another day to my watering schedule.

In the winter it is once a month. 

But in the summertime, it's every two weeks.

So on the 1st and the 15th, I'm watering my trees.

Finally my first harvest of arugula.
I mixed it with some green leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes, and orange bell peppers for my dinner salad.

This was our Easter dinner, arugula salad, roasted potatoes, honey glazed ham, 

and my Garden Vegetable Breadsticks. 

I wish we could have shared it with our extended family nearby, 

but two of my kiddos have the stomach flu and we definitely don't want to share that!

Exciting things are growing!

Exciting things are coming!

Please come back often!

I'd love for you to join me.

My Urban Garden Part 3 - A Tour

Let's go on a quick tour of my back yard.  I have a tiny urban plot, but I want it to be as productive as possible. I have learned a lot about growing stuff and I'm happy to share.  We eat a lot of fruit and veggies, and would love to be able to provide that for ourselves and not be dependent on the stores.  I have a large family, 5 kids which include 2 teenage boys so I'm trying my best to provide for them wholesome nutritious food.  It will take time, my trees won't be productive til next year, but I can be patient.  Well sort of.

It's tiny, I know. Only 20 by 44 ft.

But I have the following growing in that tiny space:

Peaches

Nectarines

Apricots

Plums

Blackberries

Potatoes

Basil

Oregano

Rosemary

Cauliflower

Broccoli

Cabbage

Onions

Tomatoes

Apples, Anna and Golden

Strawberries

Sweet Potatoes

Grapes, Thompson Seedless and Red

Navel Oranges

and Grapefruit.

I wasn't sure if Blackberries would grow in AZ, since they grow like weeds in WA, but I was assured by the great people at Root Phoenix that they would.  That's where I bought them, along with the apple trees, strawberries, and seed potatoes.  I also bought their tree food which is shown here.

The schedule for the fruit trees is to water 1 time a month during the cold season, and

every 2 weeks in the warm season.

He said don't use a soaker hose, but just fill the basin around the tree.

The feed schedule is every Valentines Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day.

Follow the directions on the package for feeding the trees.

These are the grapes.  I'm going to build a structure for them to grow on that will eventually cover my south window with grape vines.  I definitely can't wait for that!

These are the 2 apples with Sweet Potatoes planted around the circle of the basin.

I know they look really close together and close to the wall, but you can keep them small and train them

to grow into a bush, rather than a tree.

I'm going to keep my trees small, about 4 ft by 6-7 feet tall.

They don't need to be dwarf trees either.

Any tree can be trained and trimmed to be the size you have room for.

You can also plant them in a hedgerow along your property line.

Here's the south side of the house.  The apples are in the background, with the grapes under the window.

This was before the the citrus were planted.

These are my citrus trees, Navel Orange and Red Grapefruit.

The grapefruit actually is already bearing fruit, but it did cost more.

Bare root trees are around $12-$25 dollars.

Fruit bearing trees are closer to $100 dollars.  

Most of mine are bare root trees and

I will have to wait a year before I get fruit from them.

Eventually I would like to add a brick or stone border to the trees and strawberries. 

I'll have to get back to Craigslist and see what I can find.

Last is my grow box.

After planting, I realized I need more, well want more grow space.

I'll have to go on another hunt for wood.

The sand/sawdust mix is pushed up on either side and a trough along the center.

There will be a PVC pipe along the center with holes in it.

I just haven't done it yet.  For now I'm using my hose.

I also did the strawberries the same way, only

they are on the ground by the apple trees.

Doing the trough method, the water goes straight to the roots where they need it most.

I've kind of set a personal goal with this Urban Farm.

I would like to see if I can grow 1 ton of produce.

Come harvest time, I'll put together a weight tracker to see if I can accomplish my goal.

I think its possible, it just will take time.

All good things come to those who wait!

Be sure to come back as I get back to canning, recipes, and quick upcycles.

My Urban Garden Part 2

Today it's potatoes.

I took a class at Root Phoenix recently and learned a ton about my fruit trees.  

One of the gems I took home was that Apple Trees love Sweet Potatoes.  

What?  Yep. 

There is something perfect for Apple trees in the leftovers from groing Sweet Potatoes.

They are super easy to get growing.  

You have to get Organic Sweet Potatoes first.

Regular Sweet Potatoes are sprayed with a growth inhibitor.  

I know I was skeptical at first

because I thought all produce you buy at the store is not self propigating. 

 I was wrong.

So I went to my local Sprouts and picked up 3 Organic Sweet Potatoes. 

I also got 8 seed potatoes from the amazing people at Root Phoenix. 

They said to leave them in a window sill for a couple of weeks or until the eyes start to grow.

When I brought them home, the kids asked how I was going to grow potatoes in a window.

I told them to just trust me.  I know I do weird stuff sometimes but it will be OK in the end.

I promise.

I also scoured Pinterest for ideas on how to grow potatoes. 

 I loved the Wire basket lined with straw idea but decided to change it just a bit.

Source.

I totally scored on this project because I still have some scrap 2x4 pieces left from my gleaning from my local construction site.  I also picked up some 1x1 pieces.  

Plus nearly every house in AZ is built with chicken wire. 

Seriously.  

They cover the foamcore with it then spray the stucco on top.  

I lucked out and got a large roll of left over chicken wire that 

was exactly the size I needed for my potato basket.

So here's the pieces I cut for the structure.  

The 1x1 pieces are 36 inches long.  

In hindsight I could have cut them smaller, 

but it was exactly the width of the chicken wire so I didn't have to do any extra wire cutting.  

Bonus!

I cut 4 pieces of 2x4 to 25 inches, and 4 pieces of 2x4 to 30 inches.

I made the square base with the shorter 2x4's and the 1x1's and screwed it together, then

staggered the longer 2x4's around the outside of the base to make it more stable and screwed it all together.

I used my staple gun to attach the chicken wire to the upright 1x1's.

I also needed some straw.

I went to my local feed store and asked if I could glean some of their loose straw.

They said yes.

So I got all my straw for free.

I did spend $4.50 on soil, and $0.25 each for the seed potatoes.

I can't remember how much the organic sweet potatoes were.  

Not much because I only got 3.

I layed the straw down and pushed it up the sides as much as possible.

I will probably get more as the potatoes grow and I need to keep them covered.

 I poured most of the soil into the cage and arranged the seed potatoes like shown.

Then I covered them up and kind of pushed them a little deeper into the soil.

I gave them a good soak and they are done.

I put them between the blackberries and the grow box.

Next I planted the Sweet Potatoes.

They have been sitting in the window along with the seed potatoes.

The eyes are also just starting to grow.  I cut them in large chunks.

They look like I washed them, but I didn't.  

It's just the juice from the Sweet Potato that got on my hands as I was cutting them.

They got planted in a circle around the base of my apple trees, kind of like

numbers on a clock.

Now I have apples and sweet potatoes growing in a space about 4 ft by 6 ft.

I'm so excited.

I just wish I could speed up the process.

I'm ready to harvest now!

Come back tomorrow and I will take you on a full garden tour with a schematic of

how big my yard is and all the things I packed into it.

I think you'll be surprised.

My Urban Garden Part 1

 Finally I'm ready to share my Urban Farm.
It's mostly done, I still have to plant the veggies
and the citrus, but that will happen today.

First things first though.
We needed to build a grow box for the veggies.
Since we are on a shoestring budget for this Urban Farm
I needed to get creative.
Luckily I was able to score loads of pallets for free off
Craigslist and I haven't even scratched the surface of using
what I have.

It's kind of an obsession.  I see them everywhere.
I'm not kidding. I still have a lot of pallets in the side yard and for some reason I want more!

So nearly all the wood used here I got for free.  Even the 2x6's that are the top edge of the grow box.  I just went to my local home construction site and asked if I could take some of their scraps.  They gladly obliged since it's less trash weight they have to pay.
They're happy.
I'm happy.
Win ! Win !

The only thing I paid for are the long pallets you see along the fence.  Those were $2 each from my local salvage yard.  I'm going to cover them with chicken wire to allow my vining plants room to grow.

I also splurged on a high quality exterior house paint to paint the boxes with. I needed them to last for a while and that was the best option to prevent sun and water damage to the wood.

I chose a fun blue color to off set all the green that will be happening soon!
I painted the interior and the exterior of the boxes.

But let me share a little of the process.

First we decided how tall we wanted the boxes to be. Then measured the pallets and cut them down with a rotary saw.  Luckily I scored some super heavy duty pallets that were not coming apart anytime soon.  Those were the main structure for the grow box.Since all the pallets had openings between the slats, we needed to used some other pallet wood to cover them up.  The kids loved helping pound nails into the wood.

And really since it's pallets, I didn't care that they were perfectly spaced. 

Kind of adds to the rustic-y-ness.

You should also know that no one in my house is a master carpenter.

Again... rustic-y-ness.

Our dog Daisy was just happy to be outside with everyone.

As was all the kids!

Definitely a family affair.

Working alongside the kids is 

a necessary experience for all of us!

After all the slats were nailed in place,

we joined the pallets with screws and extra boards on the outside

and the tops were covered with the 2x6 boards.

It kind of makes a U shape that we pushed up against the back wall of the yard.

We used a few pieces of Rebar to pound in the ground and secure with

metal U straps.  I'm going to paint them to blend in with the rest, 

but haven't gotten to that yet.

Since our yard was all rocks before we moved in,

we saved some when we scraped them all off and used that as

the base of our grow box.

That was a nightmare job if there ever was one.

If I never have to scrape up rocks again it will be too soon.

After the box was painted inside and out, it was time to fill it.

I am using sand and sawdust.

The sand was $20 from Home Depot for a 1/2 ton.

I got 3 large bags of sawdust from my uncle who really is a master carpeter

with a sand alone shop and every tool you can imagine.

I just asked for his extra sawdust and he happily obliged.

If you don't have an uncle like that,

check with your local Home Depot or Lowes and ask what they do with

the sawdust from cutting lumber.

They will probably let you have it for free.

I'm using the Mittleider method for gardening.

It doesn't use soil, just sand and sawdust.

You feed the plants exactly what they need when they need it.

No weeds.  No extra cost for soil.

Hooray!

We added the sand and sawdust in layers, then everyone stuck their hands in and mixed it all together.

Very fun and therapeutic at the same time!

Then my Husband climbed inside and smoothed out the whole thing with a rake.

Here's a pic of my youngest dreaming of fresh fruits and veggies soon to come.

Well at least that's what I imagine him to be dreaming about.

That's what I'd be dreaming about.

One last look before I fill it up with plants.

I'm sooo excited.

And I literally spent less than $50 on the whole thing. 

Not to bad!

Come back soon and I'll show you my potato box, garden plans and more pics of the yard.