Nutritious “weeds” that are delicious for the win!
#verdolgas
#purslane
#foraging
Why are we persisting tenaciously through what we’re calling this year’s corntastrophe?
Corn is incredibly important to my daughters’ and husband’s Mexica/Indigenous Mexican ancestors. Each year we harvest, nixtamalize, and process our corn into masa for tortillas.
Bringing that incredibly valuable past into our present feels more important than the frustration we’re facing, or even more valuable than the increased $$ we could make repurposing the 120 sq ft of 3 sisters beds for masa corn into crops we could easily sell at our markets.
But this year is definitely testing my resolve 😰. Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you posted on how our corn (and other urban farm crops) are doing.
#growyourownmasa
#culturallysustaininggarden
#urbanfarmingdenver
Usually my corn has a few stalks lean after a strong wind, but nothing like I saw yesterday after returning home to see over half of the stalks leaning 45+ degrees. 😬😰
You see I’m propping them up for now, which probably isn’t encouraging the stalks the strengthen, but let me know what your thoughts are if you have ideas.
#growyourownmasa
#urbanfarmingdenver
#frontyardcorncrop
Early summer tour of the sunny side of our urban farm
Let @princessgardenswormfarm share her knowledge with you about how to set up a worm bin. And then find yourself a few months later ready to use those castings directly or, like I did in this case, to brew some worm tea.
I pulled about 5lbs of worm castings and brewed it in 5 gallons of water and a few tablespoons of molasses. I kept a fish tank aerator/bubbler going so that all those microbes can have a party and replicate into a super rich tea for my plants.
My favorite part? It’s virtually free being made from dead leaves and kitchen scraps, and keeping a worm bin is pretty darn low maintenance.
And I love these close-the-loop moments when food we’ve grown in the garden provides scraps for the worm bin which in turn provides nutrients to the next generation of plants that will feed us (and the 🪱🪱🪱)
#growyourownfood
#urbanfarmingdenver
#vernicomposting
#wormtea
Learn from my composting mistake! Let that pile FULLY process and cure, even of the temp is showing as inactive and the remaining organic material is a duplicate of what mulches your garden beds.
Why? As I share here in this video, there may still be critters eating on that organic material to break it down, and they will transfer over to your beds.
My faulty assumptions? If the compost pile temp is low, then the presence of decomposers still working is low as well. And just because the only remaining organic material left replicates what you use as mulch, doesn’t mean that you should give it a go.
In short, ya girl should’ve waited and squeezed my wallet one more time to buy the compost I needed for these last 5 beds.
All in all, everything will be fine. 2 of the 3 sisters are doing great, and I’ll try and replant the beans alongside some deterrent. (Still debating between coffee grounds or diatomaceous earth - so if you’ve got thoughts, let me know!
And as always, stay tuned. I’ll keep sharing what I learn as we continue on this project to grow our own food and share with our community.
#growyourownfood
#urbanfarmingdenver
#compostingfails
I’m always looking for ways to grow more food on our little urban farm here in Denver Colorado. This year that means leaning even more into dense companion planting.
stay tuned this season and see how what I’m calling our “family reunion bed” does as I try to tuck a lot of beets and carrots in the shade of the already established tomatoes, basil, and marigold plants.
#growyourownfood
#urbanfarmingdenver
#squarefootgardening
It’s Market Day! Comment if you need our address to come through.
Denver Peeps…’tis hail season, and I got lucky during the last storm. Here’s the status here after quite a bit of hail last night.
How’d everyone else fare?
#denvergardening
#gardeningwithhail
So in addition to the details provided in the reel, here’s what else I’ve learned:
Converting to a 1/2-inch tubing set-up? Then likely each head in your existing lawn sprinkler system will have a maximum run-length of 200ft, and…if your run length is too short, there won’t be enough demand on the line, which popped an emitter or two out in my first go. Yay for failing forward!
I’m still learning precise calculations for how much 1/4-inch tubing can pull off of one converted sprinkler head - because, in part, this depends on the pressure which can be measured with a liquid-filled pressure gauge.
My confession? Irrigation professionals would likely shake their head at me, but I used a lot of approximation and trial and error.
In one zone, I have about 125 feet of 1/2” tubing with about 75 emitters.
In another zone, I have about 35 feet of 1/2” tubing with a dozen emitters as well as another 70 feet of 1/4 tubing with drip emitters every 6 inches.
Finally in another zone, I’m breaking a rule because I’ve got about 70 feet of 1/4 tubing with drip emitters every 6 inches pulling on that location, and there’s a second lawn sprinkler head that runs in that same zone. I read this is a no-no, and we’re contemplating how to rectify this. But so far, everything is working.
Also…because I have to keep things cost-effective, I ended up mixing brands of irrigation tubing, emitters, adapters. (I know…the professionals would likely cringe) But I made sure any threading across differently-branded parts actually fit well, and again, so far so good.
In short, affording a professional conversion job was not an option for me, but I want to decrease the water demands of my garden irrigation system.
And until, I can get my hands on about 30-50 reasonably priced ollas, this will have to do in the meantime. I’ll update as the season continues.
#diygardenirrigation
#growyourownfood
#urbanfarmingdenver
Now in my 11th year growing food, I use bird/deer netting around my raised beds to keep out squirrels and the like.
However, seven years ago we lost a ton of produce to some pesky squirrels, so my solution the following growing season was to try this fork idea. What a mess it was, and I hated all that plastic in the garden.
BUT these images remind me of the learning journey and the crazy things I’ve tried, and they bring me gratitude for knowledge gained from both successes and failures.
I promise to share both - wins and failures - ‘cause real talk - it takes both to grow.
Soooo much learning has happened over the past 15 months that has led to this point, and it is a wonder reminder that…
… as long as we’re willing to learn, we can DIY a lot
… as long as we quiet our inner-hyper-critic (and the perfectionist voices out there), we can create solutions and engineer systems that work using what we have and/or can afford.
Detailed post coming soon sharing what I’ e learned and what worked for us.
#growyourownfood
#diyirrigation
#urbanfarmerdenver
Have you seen this great tomato trellis that idea using tposts, 10ft electrical conduit, and PVC L and T couplers? If not, it’s a great one, but the tall enough tposts I found on sale for indeterminate tomatoes were too big for even 2” PVC couplers.
So…I had to innovate, and I find this is often the case with projects around the farm. I’ve had to learn to trust my problem-solving ingenuity, even if I don’t have decades of being handy behind me.
My hope is that folx who are aspiring to grow your own good see that we don’t need to have years of experience growing and building and repairing. We can be resourceful and innovative.
This tomato trellis tweak is just one example of how I’ve grown to trust my inner-engineer. I hope you trust yours too!
#growyourownfood
#tomatotrellis
Giving no dig a go in this raised bed following the termination of a cover crop that I had growing here over the summer. Previously, I have turned the top 4-6 inches and most recently posted about doing so in a raised bed for potatoes this year.
Several folks suggested that I refrain from turning at all, so in this particular raised bed, I’m going to give that a go.
Follow along, and I’ll update throughout the season.
For more details on how I use cover crop, peep the highlight for cover cropping on our 1stavefarm page.
#raisedbeds
#covercrop
#nodigexplorations
Here until 5 today, and here’s what’s left. Comment or msg if you’re in the Denver/Aurora area and want to come through. I’ll send you our address via DM
It’s Market Day!! 3rd Saturday of every month for our Denver/Aurora area friends in Colorado.
If you’d like to come through drop a comment or message, and I’ll send you our location.
Plant Sale!
This Saturday, May 18th from 12pm-5pm
Comment or message for location.
All plants will be hardened off and ready for immediate planting.
Peep our page for a post with prices.
Look… food costs have been going up, and many of us are expanding hobby gardening to more of a food-production operation.
Even for the hobby gardener, buying starts is expensive. And if you’re trying to grow a lot of food, that means a lot of starts, so if you’re not yet starting your own seeds, definitely consider taking on the challenge next year.
Here are practices that have helped me grow healthy and thriving starts:
1. Cover your seedling trays when you first plant. They need moisture to germinate. (Optional: invest in a low temp heating mat)
2. Once those seeds sprout, take them off any heat, remove the covering, and get them CLOSE under some good quality grow lights. I use Barrina T8 144watt - no sponsorship here.
3. Plant seeds in things that have openings on the bottom (even the sides). Then put your seedling containers in larger 10x20 trays so that you can bottom water. These encourages roots to stretch down deep and removes any stress on fragile, new seedling stems that can be caused by overhead watering. (Pro-tip: don’t be afraid to let your starts get a little dry in between waterings. We don’t want roots rotting from sitting in water all the time, and we want to train those roots to stretch to find water. )
3. Feed your seedlings. Seed start mic has very little, if any, actual nourishment for starts. I use diluted seaweed extract when bottom watering, and I do this about every 10-ish days.
4. Okay, the work of potting up and managing growing seedlings’ proximity to lights does take work. This is where I remind myself of the hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of $$$ I save from starting my own plants and growing my own food.
See more about this energy and time expenditure in my first comment, and I’d love to know your thoughts on this.
#growyourownfood
#startyourownseeds
#urbanfarming
I love to plant a tomato deep, and I mean DEEP, to set up a robust root system. To that end, I’ve potted up some of the tallest tomato plants (including romas, beefsteaks, and brandywines as well) into these deep pots to kickstart all of those stem hairs to launch off into an abundant root system.
MARKET DEETS to get your starts:
Sat. May 18th, 12pm-5pm in east Denver - comment or message for details on the specific location.
Other starts available will be:
Basil
Melon
Cucumber
Squash (summer and winter varieties)
Some peppers left from our previous market
Some turmeric & ginger from our previous market
Helpful herbs/medicinals/pest mgmt plants like:
Marigolds
Calendula
Yarrow
Sage
Oregano
Fennel
And, of course, SWEET POTATO SLIPS 🍠🌱
#growyourownfood
#plantstarts
#urbanfarmdenver
