El Jardin {parte dos}

The garden is slow to show lots of progress. Here is a bit of a check list...

El jardin es lenta para mostrar el progresso. Pero, aqui esta un lista de las vegetales con el progresso.

Our first radish!

• Radishes/Rabano: great, almost ready to harvest {son bueno, casi lista para cosechar}.
• Green beans/Frijoles verde: look good & are growing, no beans yet {estan creciendo, no hay frijloes todavia}.
• Summer squash/Calabaza {?}: a degree of yellowing , but we're working on that, no fruit yet {esta amarillo, no hay frutas ahora}.
• Basil & Cilantro/Albaca y Culantro: these were both re-sown, they are coming up prolifically now {los dos se volvieron a sembrar, hay un montone de estos}!
• Green onions/Cebollas verde: initially we sowed these & transplanted them ({hey're so delicate/estan muy delicado}. Meredith & I sowed more in a permanent spot in the garden {al principo sebramos estos y transplantarlas, hemos sembrado más de un lugar permanente en el jardín}.
• Tomatoes/Los tomates: our original round of tomatoes just kind of crapped out {both those we transplanted & those we did not}. go figure. we re-sowed these as well  I guess we'll let them mature a bit more before we transplant them this time {los primeros tomates no son buenos, volvemos a la sembro tambien}.
• Okra/Okra: its just kind of there. not much growth {simlpemente, estan alli, no un crecimiento mucho}.
• Watermelon/Sandia: I need to dig & prep a hole outside of the garden to provide it adequate space to grow down the hill. we have two watermelon plants {necesito excavar un hueco afuera del jardin, porque sandia necesita una grad cantidad de espacio. tenemos dos}.
• Carrots/Zanahorias: we just did not sow enough to begin with, so we sowed a lot ... should have lots of carrots {no tenemos muchas, entonces vamos a sembrar muchas mas}.
• Peppers/Pimientos: we have a mystery hot pepper {3 of them}, jalapenos & bell peppers ... they're all a bit slow, but I think they'll pick up {tenemos una misterio pimiento picante, jalapenos, y pimientos dulce. son lentos ahora}.
• Cantaloupe/Melon{?}: it did not even germinate, we sowed again {que no germinaron! hemos sembrado mas}.
• Spinach & Lettuce/Espinaca y Lechuga: our spinach looks puny, we sowed more. the bibb lettuce & butterhead are struggling. we sowed more {es insignificante. son luchando. y uno tiempo mas, hemos sembrado mas de los dos.

That's what we have thus far. Here are some pictures. Enjoy! ...

Que es lo que tenemos en este momento. Aqui hay algunas fotos. Disfruta amigos!...

All our radishes!

Ready for harvest!!!

Cilantro seedlings.

Basil!

Green beans, lettuce & broccoli.

All the re-sown seeds!!!

Also, I think we are about to try our hand at strawberries. The plan is to take small plastic buckets, drill holes in the side, all around, fill it with soil, and plant the strawberries all around the outside of the bucket ... and as they grow they can just hang off the side for us to harvest them. Once these get going there will be pictures! I am excited about the potential, if the birds dont eat all of the buds (like last year)!

Tambien, pienso que nosotros tratamos producir las fresas. El plan es tomar cubos pequenos, con huecos en el lado, llebar con tierra, y plantar las fresas en el cubo. Entonces, cuando que crecer vamos a recogerlas.

Lastly, to my spanish speaking friends ... please let me know how my spanish is throughout this post. I did most of it myself, only using a translation aid for my lack of vocab. All the grammar is basically my own doing! So...let me know! Thanks!

Finalmente, para mis amigos que hablan espanol, por favor hagamelo saber como mi espanol en este post. Muchas gracias!

El Jardin

Meredith and I have started what we hope will become a fairly significant garden! We are using a couple of raised beds, and a hillside bed we constructed. Our aim is several fold ...

• To grow & produce our own organic & fresh veggies & fruits
• To spend as little as possible & produce as much as possible
• To produce sufficient amounts to be able to give some away

In Haiti, about 3" of topsoil which is extremely shallow

Having said that, we are seeking to use all organic techniques (as much as we can control). There is some real significance to organics, not to mention it is a simple way of making yourself mindful of the 100's of 1000's around the world who must garden organically simply by their God given places of life (where access to synthetics is limited or cost prohibitive). So, we are using various meals (ie: bone meal, blood meal, etc) for nutrient inputs, as well as using a live composting method (or trench composting), where basically we are burying what will become our compost before it is decomposed, then covering it with our layer of soil. This expedites decomposition, since its already in the soil, nutrients will be readily available as it decomposes. This is a technique often used to re-establish top soil in areas where erosion has degraded top soil layers. As the materials decompose, they re-introduce micro-organisms to enrich the soil again.

We began with seed (organic seeds, to the best of our knowledge), simply because it is so much more fun to see entire plants come from something as small as a seed! Also, purchasing seed is much less expensive than purchasing pre-grown plants. Further, nursery grown plants are almost always produced utilizing synthetic inputs.

We sowed 19 different plants or varieties of plants. We have had about 90% germination rate, with only our cantaloupe & basil not germinating. We've sown more basil, &are going to sow cantaloupe again to see if we have better results. The repertoire of plants is as follows: basil, broccoli, carrots, cantaloupe, cilantro, green beans, green onions, bibb lettuce, okra, a generic hot pepper (not organic), Jalapeños, Bell peppers, radishes (a great little spice to a salad), spinach, summer squash, sunflowers (for fun and beauty), Beefsteak tomatoes & Yellow Pear tomatoes, and watermelon!

1st half of the hillside garden, planted w/ 12 of the 19 plants

Transplanted radishes!

Extra green beans, lettuce, & broccoli

A raised bed for cilantro & basil.