"Hey, Urban Farmer guy, it's almost July and you haven't told us what happened in May yet. What's the big idea and what in the world is going on in the urban farm?!"
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| James with the last Blue Hubbard Squash's from 2019 |
You are most certainly correct and thank you for calling me out on that! It turns out that it's very challenging to juggle a normal, Monday thru Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job, being a landlord, and taking care of the urban farm while writing a blog and social media posts!! It's pretty fun though and I wouldn't change anything about it!
You can always follow me on Instagram if you want more timely updates on what's happening on the urban farm!
May, May, May....... what did happen in May?! Good thing I took lots of good notes and as usual, enough photos to fill an Antonov 225 airplane!
Snow in April is almost a certainty in Colorado, you're not out of the woods yet though when May rolls around. I'm never surprised to see 90 degree highs or 32 degree lows (if not colder) in the forecast. Sometimes you see both of those on the same day! While keeping track of the weather, you're trying to figure out when you're going to plant everything, weed, finish the urban farm projects that have been on your to-do list forever, and make time for fun things such as reading, hiking, biking, etc. While you're doing all of that you always have your eye on the sky for building spring thunderstorms while hoping your newly planted seedlings aren't going to get pelted with hail or a tornado or downdraft. Plus there's always a chance that the weather can dip below freezing, even at the end of May, so you really have to keep a close eye on the weather forecast and as such, your planting schedule changes almost daily.
May's Harvest:
-0.34 lbs - Green Garlic
-0.08 lbs - Mixed Greens
-0.26 lbs - Turnips
-0.24 lbs - Radishes
-1.08 lbs - Lettuce
-0.33 lbs - Kale
-0.50 lbs - Green Garlic (yup, more)
-0.76 lbs - 2 Celtuces and 4 Garlic Scapes
3.59 lbs (1.63 kilos) of Fresh, Local, Beyond Organic Food. All grown in my backyard where most chumps just grow grass, YES!!!
-I know, it's really not that much food for what is supposed to be the greatest urban farm of all-time!!! Just wait though, just wait for the coming months...
Early May:
-The Great Composting Experiment of 2020 Has Begun, MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! One of these days I'm going to write a nice, informative blog post on what this experiment is and what it entails. Until then I'm just going to keep mysteriously referring to it and you can let your mind go wild with what you think it may be. It might just be as thrilling and riveting as watching a Unicorn battle a Narwhal!
-50 Gallons of normal, homemade compost was spread out across the urban farm. With a thin layer I was able to cover about 3/4 of the planting rows.
-LOTS of weeding in the vegetable and sunflower area as well as the wildflower front yard. Weeds were everywhere, but I stayed on top of them (for the most part).
-The 3 PVC trellises were erected! The new sandbags still need to be filled with sand, bricks don't cut it, but a whole bunch of sandbags should hold these in place even when they turn into giant sails when they're covered in beans!!
-Reading breaks were taken here and there, lots of books to read!
Late May:
-The Dahlia tubers were removed from their natural environment, burlaps sacks in the make-shift root cellar (laundry room in the basement, I'm not even kidding), and put into their pots and covered with dirt / compost so they will hopefully grow once again and grace me with their flowery goodness!! This is probably what I'm the most nervous about for this year because I enjoyed them sssssoooo much last year and I'm oh so worried that I didn't store them properly and they won't come back. However, a few of the tubers did have some small amounts of growth on them, so there's hope (hopefully)!
-Coneflowers, Marigolds, and Super Cactus Zinnia seeds were planted in some pots as well, why not?!?!
-Weeding happening all over the place.
-Garlic was thinned a little and I very much enjoyed 0.34 lbs of green garlic!
-MARGARITA DAY, WWWOOOOO!!! You gotta have some fun and enjoy the journey. My margarita day was filled with well, margaritas (duh) and reading in the hammock, it was pretty great!
-19.7 ounces of lettuce was harvested, it was delicious!
-Stuff was planted....
-#2 and #3 Trellis' were planted (everything was planted outside from seed).
#2 Trellis (house side):
-Cucumber Muncher
-Cucumber Lemon
-Marigold
#2 Trellis (fence side):
-Dragon Tongue Beans
-Winged Beans (I still don't know what these are, but I can't wait for them)
#3 Trellis (house side):
-Cucumber Dar
-Lemon Cucumber
#3 Trellis (fence side):
-Blauhilde Beans
-Winged Beans
-Middle Section was planted (one day I'll come up with better names for these planting areas):
1) Marigolds
2) Cantare Beans
3) Cantare Beans
4) Chiba Green Soy Beans (Edamame)
5) Chiba Green Soy Beans (Edamame)
6) Fava Beans
7) Fava Beans
Summer Herbs after the Favas (woot woot, I found a space for the summer herbs, hopefully they like it here):
8) -Bee Balm Lemon
-Lemon Balm
-Basil, Blue Spruce
-Basil Lemon
-Basil Cinnamon
9) -Basil Dark Purple Opal
-Toothache Plant
-Dill Bouquet
Next to 4 Patio Posts:
-Beans
-Cucumbers
Planted the same next to the two small fence posts.
-Marigold seeds thrown on edge of shed
After the Summer Herbs (more towards the fence) I planted:
-Broccoli
-Artichoke
-Celery
-Cabbage
-20 Some Tomatoes (I'm normally more exact than this)
-46 Pepper Plants (that's not a typo, I did have 57, but I gave 11 of them away)
-The ducks visited again, they landed about 10 feet away from me while I was meditating in the yard, they're pretty cool ducks!
-More planting:
-Brussel Sprouts
-Kohlrabi
-Eggplant
-Goosebery
-Ground Cherry
-Kale - Dazzling Blue
-Swiss Chard - Perpetual Spinach
-Amaranth - Chinese Multicolor Spinach
-Tatsoi
-Bok Choy - Purple Lady
-Shanghai Green Choy
-Kale - Russian Red
-Bok Choy - Suzhou Baby
-Orach Red
-Swiss Chard - Vulcan
-Swiss Chard - Five Color Silver Beet
-Spinach - New Zealand
-Mizuna - Beni Houshi
-Red Malabar Spinach
-Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
-Little Gem Lettuce
-Buttercrunch Lettuce
-Solar Flare Lettuce
-Tennis Ball Lettuce
-Okra - Jing Orange
-Okra - Clemson Spineless
-Beets - Detroit Dark Red
-Beets - Chioggia
-Beets - Golden
-Replanted some Radishes in the Radish Rows
-Purple Coneflower and Marigolds were planted (from seed) along with all of the vegetables sporadically. We'll see if those help keep pests away at all.
Planted on #2 Side of Urban Farm (starting at the fence):
-Melon Charentais
-Watermelon Strawberry (I hope these work out, I've had a tough time with watermelons in the past)
-Pumpkin - Winter Luxury
-Flowers
-Pumpkins - Connecticut Field
-Flowers
-Early Prolific Straightneck Squash
-Table Queen Acorn Squash
-Desi Squash
-Spaghetti Squash
-Zucchini - Ford hook
-Butternut - Waltham Squash
-Delicata Squash
-Blue Hubbard Squash (uh oh, watch out for these!!)
-Flowers
-Corn was planted (True Gold)
-Replanted Hakurei Turnips (might be too late to replant these, but time will tell)
EVERYTHING IS NOW PLANTED!!!!!
Now I just have to weed and re-plant what doesn't grow, HAZAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Garlic with Orach |
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| Compost Piles |
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| Compost Spread Out |
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| Mushroom Among Garlic |
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| Purple of Sicily Cauliflower Seedling |
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| Duck in Garlic |
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| Ants on Radishes |
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| Peppers |
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| Lettuce |
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| Cabbage Roots |
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| Random Mushrooms |
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| Produce From Ollin Farms |
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| Dahlias after re-potting |
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| Rocky Mountain Columbine |
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| Fresh Picked Lettuce |
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| All-Blue Potatoes |
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| Seedlings |
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| Bees on Bachelor Button |
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| Strawberry |
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| Spinach |
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| Radish |
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| Kale, Radish, and Turnip Harvest |
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| Yard Artifacts - History is Crazy |
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| Garlic Scapes |
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