Urban Gnomestead

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Bremerton, WA
Urban Gnomestead

I am a local garden consultant with a WSU Horticulture Basic Certificate.
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09/22/2024

As of 5:43am here in the Northern Hemisphere we have entered into the Fall equinox.

A day of the year where we have 12 hours of both day and night. You should most definitely get out and enjoy the day today.

I love the change of seasons but the downfall to this time of year is our day lengths are getting shorter and shorter for the remainder of the season. Soon in the PNW we have those long dark rainy days.

There is a good reason for each season, much like each season of life, and we just have to remember to find the positive.

Get outside as much as possible during the day's light hours throughout all of fall. The cool air is good for you. Plus, there is lots of stuff to do in your garden to get it ready for winter.

Decorate your house with pumpkins, mums, and lights!

09/14/2024

October Garden Talk is all about mushrooms!

Come and learn how to grow mushroom kits at home, what to do with your kits after, how to expand your kits, and how to grow mushrooms in your garden.

I have kits available for order that will be picked up at the class on Sunday October 13th at Ridgeline Brewing.

Order form link below!
All orders have to be placed by October 1st.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Qh-1_bzYkvnQB8xQ-cNdQxrfQRovpe2pfFsAzLdxGl0/viewform

09/13/2024

Mushrooms are popping up everywhere and foraging is fun

BUT

Always get a positive ID first
Know how/where to harvest
Be respectful of nature
Don't harvest everything

09/10/2024

Apples are almost ready for the season!

I cannot wait for these yummy apples to be ready. They have gotten so big this year.

This is the 4th year for my 5 in 1 grafted apple tree from Costco and this is the first year I have gotten huge apples from the tree.

09/09/2024

What to seed in the garden through September!

Now is the time to get a lot of winter greens seeded into the garden.

Last chance for Lettuce, head lettuce, and Asian green knowing that they will need to be planted under some kind of cover protection.

Fava beans can get planted as early as the end of the month, I typically will wait till end of October. This is just to be safe that they don't grow too much before winter sets in.

Seed your radishes and salad turnips weekly through the end of the month.

Now is a great time for quick harvest greens like your spinach, endive, arugula, mustards, and mizuna mixes. They will be ready to go before the frost sets in.

Cilantro and parsley seeded now will be ready more during the winter months or early spring.

Let's not forget the good cover crops. If you are wanting to get your beds cover cropped for the season we need to get that done ASAP!!

09/06/2024

We harvested 327 cucumbers the other day and I cannot believe we had a guess this close!

B.J. Herman you the winner girl!

Pickup your 10 FREE cucumber at the Poulsbo Farmers Market tomorrow!!!

09/04/2024

Let's play a game!

Guess how many cucumbers we harvested this morning. Leave your guess in the comments below!

Winner will receive 10 FREE CUCUMBERS at the Poulsbo Farmers Market on Saturday.

Winner announced on Friday morning!

09/02/2024

Visiting my MIL yesterday and I noticed she had a large patch of Mullein growing this year. I instantly got excited.

I harvested many flower heads with their flowers open.

Older leaves from the stem, if they didn't have mildew.

Plus, a ton of fresh first year growth leaves. Cutting those above the heart allows it to still grow this year and into the next. You can see what I mean in picture number 2.

Time to dehydrate it all for future oils, tincture, and teas.

08/31/2024

Record planters with Spider plant for sale

$15 each

Message me if interested!

08/31/2024

The Kumquat tree is done flowering and I am very excited if all these little babies actually set, only time will tell. I do have to say that this tree was always being visited by hummingbirds and bumblebees and that makes me super hopeful that I will have so much fruit this winter if so!

08/27/2024

Fresh elderberries are going into the dehydrator!

Harvest your elderberries into a bowl with a good pair of scissors. This will keep you from losing a bunch of them to the ground.

Wash and lay out to dry on a paper towel.

Trim back as much of the stem as possible.

I dehydrated mine at 135 degrees for 24 hours.

Stems come off easily once they are dry. Then, store your berries in an air tight container.

08/26/2024

These little roots may not look like much but they are going to sprout and turn into nice Shampoo ginger plants.

I have them rooting in nice loose well draining soil and because of the weather they are living inside where it is warmer. Hoping they root quicker and start setting on growth.

I am leaning towards growing then in pots all the time even though we are considered zone 8b. Maybe for at least a couple years to see if I can get it to produce a flower and provide a natural shampoo.

Thank you

08/21/2024

Spent the day making lavender wreaths.

It made the house smell like heaven while also making me sneeze. 😄

Time to let these girls dry completely.

08/15/2024

Propagating reusable balls.

I got a large pack of these and am trying them out most on my thornless blackberry. I put them 3-4 leave nodes down from the new growing tip on the first year canes.

I hope they root in the next couple weeks!

I also decided to give them a try on my eucalyptus and lavender. Soft wood & hard wood sections of lavender.

It will be great if these work the way they say they are supposed to work. By keeping the plant attached to the mother and basically "layering" style propagation this allows the plant to still access all water and nutrients while trying to set roots.

I don't know if I am actually doing it correctly for these plants but figured it was worth a try.

Stay tuned!

08/12/2024

Mater Monday!

Going to talk about some of my favorite tomatoes over the next few weeks.

Today, I give you Sakura Cherry Tomato!

The only downfall to these beauties is they are not open pollinates so I cannot save their seeds and be true to type.

What I love:

1) Large cherry tomato
2) Full body flavor
3) Crack resistant
4) Large trusses
5) Holds up well on the vine while others mature.
6) Productive in cool and warm weather
7) High yielding
8) Disease resistant

How to grow:
1) Start seeds in the middle of March
2) Can be planted out early May and do okay with the cool temps.
3) I still keep them covered if nights dip down into the 30's.
4) Train to 3 leaders at most
5) Keep trellised upwards for good growth.

Where to purchase:

08/11/2024

Citrus flowers are blooming and that sweet smell lets you know it's time for its 3rd fertilizer treatment.

Time to give the plants another feeding to help them keep healthy during this important stage of growth.

I use Down to Earth Citrus fertilizer, as directed on the box.

Hand rake it into the top bit of soil to keep it from crusting over and be protected.

Water in well!

08/09/2024

My firework poppies have been super productive this year.

Does anyone like to use poppy heads in flower arrangements...hit me up! I will have some for about a week before they get too dry.

08/08/2024

📣 Hey local peeps! 📣

I am putting together a bulk perennial plant sale from a nursery. If we order in bulk we get a better price and cheap shipping of only $2 a plant.

I have an order form in my BIO under my linktr.ee link. Orders have to be placed by August 18th and will ship to us in October for fall planting.

Blueberry plants: if you order at least one of each you will have blueberries all summer.

Strawberry plants: order in bundles of 25 crowns.

Elderberry plants: are considered self-fertile but you get better pollination if you have one of each

Fig tree: is a super easy cold hardy plant to take care of. The variety offered is supposed to be easy to maintain at a 6' height even and still produce well.

Let me know if you have questions.

08/01/2024

Happy August!

Hopefully in the PNW your garden is doing well. Your tomatoes should be regrowing and setting more flowers after that crazy heat wave.

It's time to get a bunch of stuff seeded or started for overwinter.

Get your carrots and beets done ASAP or be prepared to cover them with a frost protector through the cold months. Usually a better time to ensure full maturity would be July 1-15. If you do them now it will be cutting it close to being mature before the day length drops and they might need winter protection as they keep growing slowly.

If you are starting seed in a greenhouse make sure it has a shade cloth on it and good ventilation. August is predicted to be a hot month for us and that isn't always the greatest for seed starting. Another option would be to start then in the shade when the soil can stay cooler, since you are starting all cool weather crops. Once they have germinated move them to the part-sun/part-shade zone so they don't get leggy. Slowly move them into full sun as the weeks go.

If you directly seed your over-winter crops in place instead of in cell trays, which is possible, you will just need some protector over them. Examples would be mini domes, wire trash cans, shade cloth cover, etc. You will also want to use some sluggo plus to help keep the slugs and pill bugs from eating the new sprouts. They love their microgreens just like us.

07/26/2024

I never realized how quickly the plums ripened.

The month of July was hot and dry at the beginning and I believe that just increased the speed at which the plums matured.

Italian Plums are the best to grow for a couple of reasons.
1) They are free stone!!!!
2) Easy to maintain (summer pruning)
3) Eaten fresh, canned, or dehydrated

This tree was from
Variety: ITALIAN PRUNE EUROPEAN PLUM

07/25/2024

07/23/2024

What causes your squash plants wilt???

There are plenty of causes for wilting leaves, but lack of water is only one of them. It could be caused by root rot or stem-boring or root-eating insects, but since your plants recuperated overnight, that’s not the problem either.

"Day-wilters" are in a situation where they lose water to transpiration more quickly than their roots are able to absorb more. Big leaf plants have a larger surface area to transpire quickly.

How to help beat the heat:
💦Water squash plants with 1 inch of water a week, in the morning
🍂Mulch the surrounding soil heavily
🐟Fish fertilizer drench before heat waves

07/08/2024

Sacrificing a few of my mesh bags to see if I can keep the critter from eating a few clusters of hazel nuts.

This is an experiment because I am not convinced they won't just chew through the bags to get to the nuts.

I'm just a girl that wants to finally try the hazel nuts she has been growing for a few years now.

07/06/2024

It's that time again!

See you all July 14 at 1pm for beers at Ridgeline Brewing

All things RASPBERRIES

Click the bell for a reminder

07/05/2024

Happy July...a little late but it's been busy.

Here is an updated What to Seed post for the month of July!

I have broken it up into what to seed indoors/greenhouse, meaning will need to be transplanted, and outdoors, meaning to be direct seeded into soil.

Address

Bremerton, WA

Telephone

(360) 550-5103

Website

https://growoya.com/URBANGNOMESTEAD, https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=580941&u=2052323&m=52284&urllink&afftrack, https://d

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Videos

Open season on cucumbers!! #cucumber #cucumbers #cucumberseason #farmlife #pnwgardening #openseason #huntingseason #kitsapcounty #kitsap #bremerton #silverdale #poulsbo #portorchard

It's Farmer Jen's birthday today!!!! Send her all the good wishes today because she deserves them. 🥳Happy Birthday Boss Lady 🥳 @rootsfarmwa

Preparing Hakuri Salad Turnips for the market! #hakuri #hakuriturnips #turnips #market #farmersmarket #thisishowwedoit #kitsapcounty #womenwhofarm #produce #whatittakes #smallscalefarming #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativefarming

Wacky Wednesday...carrot style! Life is too short..enjoy the time you have doing what you love with the people that matter the most in your life. Carrot season always provides the most entertainment, especially when it's super hot or super cold. Laughter is the best medicine. #carrots #carrotseason #carrot #funnycarrot #wackywednesday #humpday

Farmers Appreciation Week! Sweet thank you cards from kids in the community showing their appreciation for local farmers. #thankyou #farmerappreciation #farmersmarket #poulsbo #kitsapcounty #poulsbofarmersmarket #loveyourfarmer #supportlocalfarmers

Time to go #slugs #slugsoftiktok #pests #farmcritters #farmlife #farm #farming #kitsapcounty

July was a total hit around the GNOMESTEAD. #julysofar #julyharvest #julygarden #gardeninjuly #growingfoodinthecity #pnwgardening #zone8b #kitsapcounty #canteatgrass #growfoodnotlawns #dontforgetthepollinators #pollinatorgarden #pollinators #vegetables

Oya watering system update! I am loving the Oya watering pots. I am currently having to fill them once a week. This is really great with how busy I am out at the farm this time of the year because after a long day I don't always water to go out and water. Plus, the pesky raccoons cannot chew through these like they did my drip system. The reclaimed hot tub water hasn't had a negative impact on the plants either, which means I was able to neutralize it well enough. Between these raised metal Bridie Garden Beds and Oya watering systems, I feel like I have the best garden set up yet! Affiliate links for both these products are in a link on my BIO. #oyapots #growoya #wateringsystem #reclaimedwater #waterconservation #birdiegardenproducts #raisedbeds #epicgardening #growingfoodinthecity #pnwgardening #zone8b #kitsapcounty #poulsbo #portorchard #silverdale #bremerton #canteatgrass

It's Christmas in July...in the way of all the vegetables! #christmasinjuly #julyharvest #vegetable

The difference between male and female cucurbit flowers. Male flowers have long stems with a flower at the end. Female flowers have the fruit at the base and the flower following. This is true for all plants in the cucurbit family. #cucumber #cucumberflower #maleflowers #femaleflowers #pollination #growinkitsap #growyourownfood #growingfoodinthecity #bremerton #silverdale #poulsbo #portorchard #manette

Garlic Braiding classes coming for 2025! Garlic is being planted this October. Flowers are planted next March. Garlic will be harvested next June/July Classes coming at the end of next July! #garlicbraiding #garlic #learningnewskills #bremerton #silverdale #poulsbo #portorchard #kitsapcounty #callow

Dry lavender for vases or sachets Harvest your lavender either in the early morning or late evening. I bunch mine in stems of 60. This makes a perfect bunch size for a small vase or easy to dry. Cut down long stems if using them for vases or leave them be for sachets/art projects. Hang upside down to dry in a cool place out of the sunlight. 1 week hang time for wreath making and them finish drying completely. 1 month dry time for sachets or vases. Hanging upside down allows the flower heads to stay straight. #lavender #dryinglavender #harvestinglavender #driedflowers