The Peters Urban Farm Project

I wanted to stop by and give you an update on the garden.

Between the squirrels and baby bunnies, I’ve had my work cut out for me. I have managed to keep many of the plants alive and seeds going; however, will have to pick up a few extra plants at the farmer’s market this weekend to fill in a few items that did not survive our little pest problems.

Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a pic of my lovely Meyer lemon tree that recently started blooming. I am so excited for this little beauty to produce a fruit or two.

The photo above is of our raised garden bed. On the left, along the trellises, I have Minnesota Midget melon seedlings that are thriving! Behind that I had several bush cucumber seedlings, but they were eaten by a very hungry baby bunny. I replanted several seeds after adding the chicken wire and hope it isn’t too late for them to produce a good crop this year. I also have two different types of radish, lacinato kale, bell peppers, banana peppers, green beans and yellow beans in this garden bed. I also direct seeded carrots, snow peas and beets; however, the bunny quickly ate anything that sprouted up. I plan to replace these with additional lacinato kale and green cabbage (for making sauerkraut!).

The florida weave is rockin’ over in tomato land. I have seven different varieties planted, including yellow and purple cherries, a few heirloom slicers, roma tomatoes and striped paste tomatoes.

My containers have had the most pest problems. For a while there, I was having to replant, re-seed or start from scratch on a daily basis. I now have (from left to right) julep mint, hungarian wax peppers (hot), snow peas, lemon and genovese basil, romaine and spinach growing here. I haven’t had pest problems (besides an eager to help 2 year old) for about a week. Knock on wood we are over that hurdle!

A closer view of the baby romaine, lemon basil and spinach. I read that adding basil to pots with leafy greens can keep pests like aphids at bay and I added a couple marigolds to keep the squirrels away.

However, the baby bunny HAS found my baby lettuce and insists upon nibbling at every chance he gets. I have been moving this small container around the garden to keep him guessing.

This container is my absolute favorite – my herb garden. Here I planted oregano, thyme, dill, rosemary (overwintered from last year!) parsley, cilantro and sage.

In addition to these plants I also have a container of strawberry plants,a couple rhubarb plants, two new blueberry bushes and a jostaberry bush (gooseberry/black currant). Unfortunately, all of the unripe fruit on the strawberry plants were devoured by the baby bunny. My rhubarb, which has produced large yields in the past, is nonexistent this year. I am in search of rhubarb donations so that I can experiment with several recipe ideas I have swirling around in my brain! The blueberries appear to be doing fine, but won’t produce much, if at all, this year. And the jostaberry didn’t have blooms when I bought it, so I imagine they were all picked off by the nursery to encourage root growth/strength of the plant.

So there you have it, an update on the Peters Urban Farm! Feel free to ask questions and I will answer them as best I can!