July Garden Updates

This is our first July garden update

We are excited to show everyone what we have growing. We have been keeping up on orders between our website and Etsy shop so we are making an effort to get caught up on our garden updates for July. While we have had some great successes, we have run into some mitigation issues we are handling.

Our flowers are blooming, and the tomatoes and summer squash looks amazing. 2 of our larger raised beds have an overgrowth of morning glories that may impact the growth of some of our more rare pumpkins (Yokohama and kikuza). These seeds are hard to come by so we need these guys to grow so we can have them available for the 2023 growing season for everyone. In addition, we will have part two and update everyone on the pumpkin patch. We had 1 very large sunflower pop up as a volunteer last year and while we loved its company, it reseeded we have a huge infestation in our patch and the pumpkins are getting blocked out so once we tidy up the patch we will have an update soon.

In the meantime, I put together a short video to show everyone our "tomato village" where we are growing 28 tomato varieties, our summer squash container garden, with the exception of some dwarf winter squash varieties (butterscotch butternut squash and butter bush mini butternut squash). These are both container varieties of butternut squash that will thrive even in a 5-gallon container, they're available if you would like to learn more.

We have showcased some of the flowers that are just now blooming. The next update will have or herb. garden, pumpkin patch update, chili update, gourd tunnel, squash tunnel, and a daytime video of the main garden.

Something new content for our customers!

We added a resources / free stuff tab at the top of our homepage. Some of the fun additions include tea recipes you can make from everyday herbs and flowers from your garden, how to build a scarecrow, videos by my friend Brian from Next Level Gardening on how to maximize tomato yields as well as how to build a bamboo trellis, a 4 step downloadable pdf on how to build a scarecrow, a printable template to create your own seeds packet, how to troubleshoot termination hurdles for different seed varieties, botanical coloring pages for kids, and much more.

We are adding to it every week and there is a lot coming down the pipeline. It's all free for you guys to enjoy. If you have any ideas or would like to see something, leave a comment so we could put it on the list.

Take a look

Thank you for taking the time to check out our blog.

We appreciate you visiting the site, and checking out our blog. When we say we are growing all of these with you guys, we truly mean it. If you have any germination issues, we are here to help.

Leave a comment if you have any questions, or ideas for the resources page. We also do have Facebook and Instagram where we advertise giveaways, sales, gardening tips, and tricks, etc.

June Garden Update

Pumpkin Patch update!

There's a lot growing on! We transplanted all of our pumpkins at the beginning of June due to the winter storm in May. We are growing all of our heirlooms as usual but we are growing some exciting hybrids so we can update our photos and videos. The hybrids include Blaze F1, Hooligan F1, Gooligan F1, Black Kat F1, Casperita F1, Orangerita F1, Mint Prince F1, Jade Knight F1, Colorado Sunset F1, and Dark Knight F1, Sleepy Jack F1, Specter F1, and many more. We are also growing more Thai Rai Kaw Tok and Yokohama so we will have fresh stock after October.

We will showcase more of our pumpkins in the July update. :)

Sunflowers Galore!

We are wanting to update photos and videos for all of our sunflowers this year so we are growing all of the following: Earthwalker, Lemon Eclair, Strawberry Lemonade, Strawberry Blonde, Butter Cream, Pinot Noir, Plumb, Teddy Bear, Mammoth Sunflower and Chocolate Cherry.

Harvest time!

We are in zone 5a,b so we are always behind some other folks in the warmer zones, but so far we have been able to enjoy cabbage, kale, several kinds of lettuces, radishes, and kohlrabi.

Yedikule Lettuce, Boston Bibb, Big Boston, Bronzed Beauty, Oak Leaf, Blond Paris Island, and Romaine.

Early Purple and Early White Kohlrabi

Organic Red Russian Kale, Merlot Lettuce, French Breakfast Radishes, Caramel Spinach, Mayan Jaguar Lettuce, Bloomsdale Lettuce, Red Cherry Radish, and Bok Choy.

Other Growings on...

Some volunteer wildflowers, a volunteer tomatillo plant, money plant seedlings, a birds & bees wildflower mix, and our tomato garden.

Local Wildlife...

We have garter snakes all over the place. We love these little guys as they help with the bad bugs, and they deter rodents. They love the water and we always try to keep a dish of fresh water for them in the garden.

We will have more updates soon! We like to remind everyone we are home-based so while we don't have a physical location for folks to visit, we enjoy sharing our blog so you can see our operation and what we have grown. One of our goals is to procure a piece of land where we will be able to grow more varieties and have everyone come visit us.

Winter Storm In May!

How to handle wind, frost, and cold temperatures when you have already put your transplants in the ground.

Growing up in Colorado, the weather is always a surprise. We often tell folks who move here to keep an umbrella, winter coat, and shorts in their car since the weather is usually an absolute wild card. We had just direct-sown several seeds as well as putting many of our transplants into the ground and out of nowhere, we were hit with a winter storm. The nights were down to 28º(F), and we had several inches of snow. This happened 3 years ago to the day, but we weren't anticipating any more frost or snow as the 10-day forecast hadn't reflected any danger until the storm came out of nowhere. We were able to make it through the 4 days cold front with minimal loss. Here are some tips on what to do if this happens to you.

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Container Gardening

While we do grow a large variety of plants every year, we block off the majority of our property for our pumpkin patch. We use over 120 containers for various tomatoes, chilis, eggplant, tomatillos, beans, etc. This may be larger scale than the average garden of course, but the same information applies. When you see cold temperatures coming you have a couple of options for your containers.

The first and easiest solution is to bring your containers inside. Plants can still survive with little to no light for a bit so it's safe to bring them inside, even if you don't have a south-facing window. Since we had so many, we utilized our garage space. We would open the garage door to allow natural light when the daytime temps were warmer or used our fluorescent garage lights when it was too cold to do so.

Take out containers, Tupperware, and plastic cups.

All of these are an absolute must for gardeners in colder zones!

Whenever we order takeout, we wash and save our clear plastic to-go containers. There is a Thai place near us we adore, and we order soup often. These containers are clear plastic and hold about 38-40 ounces of soup. When snow, frost, or even wind are in the forecast, you can cover your plants with these. In essence, these act as a mini-greenhouse for each plant. The sun will go through the plastic and generate heat inside the container, while the container holds in the heat, much like the inside of your car may be hot when you open your car door on a warm day.

We had our plants covered with containers, clear Tupperware, and solo cups during this storm. They were able to stay frost-free and warm enough to survive once the days warmed up again. The only caveat to this is to remove these in time. Once the days get warmer and the sun comes back out, the temperatures under your containers can elevate quite a bit. Solo cups won't get as warm as quickly since they are usually colored, but any clear container will heat up quickly. If they aren't removed once the sun comes out, the plants can actually bake inside. If this is a concern, you can cover the plants with protective containers, then put a blanket or tarp over them to provide shade. You can also use this method for your container garden items, we opted to bring ours in as we didn't have enough protective containers for all of our plants.

Tarps, mulch, and burlap

Tarps, mulch, and burlap can all be used to cover raised beds and containers. The key is to make sure that all sides of the tarp are tucked in or held down in some way to keep the warmth in. We will have some more updates now that the weather is warm.

What other helpful hints would you offer those who may encounter winter weather conditions during gardening season?