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4. Site Description

1. Location is my front yard in Tenino, near Offut Lake and Wolf Haven.
2. A grassy field with large blackberry brambles at edges. Before the grass gets tall, there is a raised bed about 3’ tall x 9’ x 4’, with 3 stacks of old tires behind it that have room for one tall plant a piece. A compost bin sits to one side of the raised bed.
3. 9’ x 4’ x 3’ tall; rectangular area with 3 circular tire planters behind; flat topography; 0% slope; 8 hours of sun; soil is dark and loose with good drainage; principal species include: Sugar Snap Peas, Zucchini, Squash, Rhubarb, Red Onions, Shallots, Beets, Carrots, Lettuce Mix, Swiss Chard, Green Beans, Basil, Cilantro, Cherry Tomatoes, Regular Tomatoes, Yellow Tomatoes, and Anaheim peppers; animals present: birds, moles, and some cats and dogs; the site’s story is that it is the garden my landlady has planted every year for the past 5 or so years and I helped her with it last year. The vegetables were abundant and delicious; I love eating my own fresh grown veggies and since I was going to do this garden anyway, I figured I might as well get credit for it!

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6. I like eating my own fresh vegetables that I grew because it makes me feel more in relationship with my food and the land. All my vegetables are food vegetables rather than medicinal because I’d rather go pick the medicinal ones from the woods.

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8.  Sugar Snap Peas: Pisum  sativum; Fabaceae; The pea plant is an annual plant, with a lifecycle of a year.  Peas are a cool-season vegetable crop. The seeds may be planted as soon as the soil temperature reaches 10 °C, with the plants growing best at temperatures of 13 °C to 18 °C. They do not thrive in the summer heat of warmer temperate and lowland tropical climates, but do grow well in cooler high altitude tropical areas. Many cultivars reach maturity about 60 days after planting. Peas grow best in slightly acid, well-drained soils. Peas have both low-growing and vining cultivars. The vining cultivars grow thin tendrils from leaves that coil around any available support, and can climb to be 1-2 m high. A traditional approach to supporting climbing peas is to thrust branches pruned from trees or other woody plants upright into the soil, providing a lattice for the peas to climb. Branches used in this fashion are called pea brush. Metal fences, twine, or netting supported by a frame, are used for the same purpose. In dense plantings, peas give each other some measure of mutual support.

Squash: Cucurbita pepo; Cucurbitaceae; Summer squashes, including young vegetable marrows (such as zucchini [also known as courgette], pattypan and yellow crookneck) are harvested during the growing season, while the skin is still tender and the fruit relatively small. They are consumed almost immediately and require little or no cooking.

Rhubarb: Rheum. Rhabarbarum; Polygonaceae; a perennial plant that grows from thick short rhizomes, comprising the genus Rheum. The large, somewhat triangular leaf blades are elevated on long, fleshy petioles. The flowers are small, greenish-white, and borne in large compound leafy inflorescences.

Rhubarb is actually a vegetable, but is often used in food as a fruit. In the United States until the 1940s it was considered a vegetable. It was reclassified as a fruit when US customs officials, baffled by the foreign food, decided it should be classified according to the way it was eaten.

Red Onion: Allium cepa; Alliaceae; Onions may be grown from seed or, most commonly, from sets. Onion sets are produced by sowing seed very thickly one year, resulting in stunted plants which produce very small bulbs. These bulbs are very easy to set out and grow into mature bulbs the following year, but they have the reputation of producing a less durable bulb than onions grown directly from seed and thinned.

Shallots: Allium oschaninii; Alliaceae; Unlike onions where each plant normally forms a single bulb, shallots form clusters of offsets, rather in the manner of garlic. Shallots are propagated by offsets, which, in the Northern Hemisphere are often planted in September or October, but the principal crop should not be planted earlier than February or the beginning of March. In planting, the tops of the bulbs should be kept a little above ground, and it is a commendable plan to draw away the soil surrounding the bulbs when their roots have taken hold. They should not be planted on ground recently manured.

Beets: Beta vulgaris,; Chenopodiaceae; Spinach beet leaves are eaten as pot herb. Young leaves of the garden beet are sometimes used similarly. The midribs of Swiss chard are eaten boiled while the whole leaf blades are eaten as spinach beet; in Africa the whole leaf blades are usually prepared with the midribs as one dish. The leaves and stems of young plants are steamed briefly and eaten as a vegetable; older leaves and stems are stir-fried and have a flavour resembling taro leaves. The usually deep-red roots of garden beet are eaten boiled either as a cooked vegetable, or cold as a salad after cooking and adding oil and vinegar. A large proportion of the commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilized beets or into pickles. In eastern Europe beet soup is a popular dish. Beetroot can be peeled, steamed, and then eaten warm with butter as a delicacy; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as a condiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Garden beet juice is a popular health food. Betanins, obtained from the roots, are used industrially as red food colourants, e.g. to improve the colour of tomato paste, sauces, desserts, jams and jellies, ice cream, sweets and breakfast cereals. Roots and leaves are used medicinally against infections and tumours, and Swiss chard as a hypoglycaemic agent by diabetic patients. The Romans used beetroot as a treatment for fevers and constipation, amongst other ailments. Apicius in De Re Coquinaria gives five recipes for soups to be given as a laxative, three of which feature the root of beet. Hippocrates advocated the use of beet leaves as binding for wounds. Since Roman times, beetroot juice has been considered an aphrodisiac. It is a rich source of the mineral boron, which plays an important role in the production of human sex hormones. Field Marshall Montgomery is reputed to have exhorted his troops to 'take favours in the beetroot fields', a euphemism for visiting prostitutes. From the Middle Ages, beetroot was used as a treatment for a variety of conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood. Platina recommended taking beetroot with garlic to nullify the effects of 'garlic-breath'. Today the beetroot is still championed as a cureall. One of the most controversial examples is the official position of the South African Health Minister on the treatment of AIDS. Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Health Minister under Thabo Mbeki, has been nicknamed 'Dr Beetroot' for promoting beets and other vegetables over anti-retroviral AIDS medicines, which she considers toxic.

Carrot: Daucus carota; Apiaceae ; a root vegetable, usually orange or white in color with a woody texture. The edible part of a carrot is a taproot. It is a biennial plant which grows a rosette of leaves in the spring and summer while building up the stout taproot, which stores large amounts of sugars for the plant to flower in the second year. The flowering stem grows to about 1 m tall, with umbels of white flowers. Carrots can be eaten raw, whole, chopped, or grated into salads for color or texture, and are also often chopped and boiled, fried or steamed, and cooked in soups and stews. A well known dish is Carrots Julienne. Grated carrots are used in carrot cakes and carrot puddings. The greens are edible as a leaf vegetable, but are rarely eaten. Together with onion and celery, carrots are one of the primary vegetables used in a mirepoix to make various broths. Since the late 1980s, baby carrots or mini-carrots, carrots that have been peeled and cut into uniform cylinders, have been a popular ready-to-eat snack food in many supermarkets. β-carotene, a dimer of Vitamin A, is abundant in the carrot and gives this vegetable its characteristic orange color. Furthermore, carrots are rich in dietary fiber, antioxidants, and minerals. Ethnomedically, the roots are used to treat digestive problems, intestinal parasites, and tonsilitis.

Lettuce: Lactuca sativa; Asteraceae; a temperate annual or biennial plant most often grown as a leaf vegetable. The Lettuce plant has a short stem initially (a rosette growth habit), but when it blooms the stem lengthens and branches, and it produces many flower heads that look like those of dandelions, but smaller. This is called bolting. When grown to eat, lettuce is harvested before it bolts. Lettuce is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera. Both the English name and the Latin name of the genus are derived from lactis, the Latin word for "milk", referring to its milky juice of the plant.

Swiss Chard: Beta vulgaris; Amaranthaceae; While used for its leaves, it is in the same species as the garden beet, which is grown primarily for its roots. Chard should be directly seeded into the garden in early spring to mid-spring. Plant seeds 1/2 to 3/4 inches deep (8 to 10 seeds per foot of row) Thin seedlings to 4 to 6 inches apart. An alternative method is to thin the seedlings to 2 to 3 inches apart; then, when they are large enough for greens (6 to 8 inches tall), harvest the excess plants whole, leaving a final spacing of 9 to 12 inches between plants. Maintain sufficient soil moisture to keep plants growing well. Cut off the outer leaves 1 1/2 inches above the ground when they are young and tender (about 8-12 inches long). Be careful not to damage the terminal bud, at the center of the bottom of the growing rosette of foliage. Chard goes by many names—Swiss chard, leaf beet, seakettle beet, and spinach beet to name a few. It is a beautiful large-leaf vegetable with wide flat stems resembling celery. The ruby variety is especially charming with its vivid red stem with broad dark green leaves. If you like spinach, you will adore chard. The flavor is mild yet earthy and sweet with slightly bitter undertones.

String Beans: Phaseolus vulgaris; Fabaceae;

Tomato: Solanum lycopersicum; Solanaceae;

Anaheim Pepper: Solanaceae

9. See map

10. As organic is possible but I am only helping with the gardening, not in charge of it, so it is not quite as organic as I would have liked (specifically the fertilizer used was not organic, though it wasn’t chemical either, a mixture of horse and chicken manure along with mushroom compost)