My Chicago Garden » Garden

Boston Baked Beans Baby

tyler — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:41:20 +0000

I have an unhealthy relationship with baked beans. No really. If you want to cause an angry discussion, then argue with me about what are proper baked beans. (sorry, you’re wrong if it involves meat, tomatoes, hot peppers or other abominations)

The best commercial beans on the market are from Bush’s….fact. End of story. [...]

Honey Flow Bee Report

tyler — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:00:45 +0000

Bee report for July 23rd. The honey flow is in full force and the bees are spending all day socking away as much honey as they can. This year has already out performed last year for me.

Hive #1 is the strongest this year with 2 full honey supers already and probably another [...]

New bee packages

tyler — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:34:02 +0000

The bees arrived 2 days ago, but it has been too cold and wet to risk putting them in the new hive so they have been staying in our laundry room. Well, the weather broke earlier this morning and the entire family was able to go out to the new bee yard and [...]

Looking back and forth

tyler — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:54:56 +0000

I’m not one for new years resolutions, but I do like taking the time to look back on the year and make plans for the future.

Looking back at my plans for 2010 I didn’t do too bad.

2010 Plans

Took a beekeeping class Went camping at Starved Rock Went on a short vacation with [...]

When I feel that chill

tyler — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 22:04:55 +0000

When I feel that chill, smell that fresh cut grass I’m back in my helmet, cleats and shoulder pads Standing in the huddle listening to the call Fans going crazy for the boys of fall

The Boys of Fall by Kenny Chesney

Fall is my absolute favorite time of [...]

First honey harvest

tyler — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:47:50 +0000

So last week I went out to the bee yard to check the progress of my hive not intending to harvest any honey yet. But once I got there the bees had nearly filled the 5th super on the hive (bottom two are for brood/pollen the middle one is a mix of honey/brood/pollen [...]

Best part of blueberry picking is the dairy farm…wait..what?!

tyler — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:00:13 +0000

Last weekend we headed out of Chicago at a normal time in the morning with plans to hit the Mac Wood’s Dune Rides up at Silver Lake. It just so happened that lunch time put us near Benton Harbor, MI so I used my iPhone to do a search for a [...]

Bees may have a home!!

tyler — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:13:25 +0000

Chris Saad of Honey Trails and I spent 2 and 1/2 hours today with the folks behind Pushing the Envelope Farm. Essentially what they have is 13 to 14 acres of property that is adjacent to the Continental Envelope factory in Geneva, IL. Actually, the owners of Continental Envelope, and their family [...]

Yes…we have a garden

tyler — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:53:32 +0000

Looking back over the past few months I realize that MyChicagoGarden hasn’t posted anything about gardens. How can that be?!

Anyway….here’s what I can tell you. We have a garden. It’s very small. At least by my measurements. I have 3 cabbage plants (on the right in the picture) that are growing [...]

First day with the bees

tyler — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:09:12 +0000

Unfortunately my bees arrived while I was out Storm Chasing and so Melissa and the girls had to go pick them up for me. Chris Saad of Honey Trails was gracious enough to not only let me place my hive on his property (hopefully temporarily) but also to hive my bees for me. [...]

Ignorance & Fear & Bees

tyler — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:01:56 +0000

Unfortunately, the world is full of ignorant people. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, it is a state of being. When ignorance is combined with irrational fear, it becomes a potent force. One that can not be fought easily and without personal cost. Combining the two conditions you get a near [...]

Busy few weeks ahead

tyler — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:57:47 +0000

I have a bunch of projects in the works that need to happen before I head out to the great plains to go storm chasing with the folks at the College of DuPage at the end of the month.

Wire up the Jeep for two batteries

I have a dual battery rig being delivered [...]

The bees are coming!!

tyler — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:25:13 +0000

I’m just about finished with my bee keeping class. I have my notes put together and I think I’m ready. I’ve paid my $75 for the bees and I’m anxiously awaiting their arrival sometime in mid April.

I also picked up my bee hive from Honey Trails as well as a couple extra pieces [...]

Beekeeping 101…Class begins

tyler — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:22:52 +0000

I started my beekeeping class last night at the Wheaton Park District. There were about 20 people in the class and the instructor said the class was full in early December. I had heard the waiting list was at least 10 deep at one point. Many of the folks were around my age and [...]

Looking back, and forward

tyler — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:52:26 +0000

2009 In review

Purchased a worm bin in early March and got it going. Still going strong in the garage. Spring started on March 15th for us with a trip to Scooby’s Went to the Wheaton Native Illinois Plant sale, like we do every year. Need to get in line no later than 7:30am. [...]

Tomatoes next year?

tyler — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:09:17 +0000

I have limited space in my garden and have decided to not grow garlic to save about 1/8 of the garden space. I also decided not to grow tomatoes in the raised beds since they take up so much space too. Probably another 1/8 of the garden. Both decisions recovered about 1/4 of the [...]

2009 – Southern Wisconsin Apple Picking Trip

tyler — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:18:01 +0000

We just finished our annual U-Pick apple trip to Southern Wisconsin. My younger sister Summer came for the trip. We picked 1/2 bushel of Cortland (my favorite), 1/2 bushel of Fuji, 1/2 bushel of Jonagored and a 1/2 bushel of Liberty.

We spent our 3 days and 2 nights at the Timber Ridge Lodge [...]

Seriously?! First frost and Snow this weekend?

tyler — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:01:24 +0000

The graphic says it all. *sigh*

First chance of frost, no scratch that…SNOW!!…will be this weekend, specifically late saturday evening/early sunday morning. Not sure why I’m surprised really. It’s right on the average first frost date of October 15 +/- a few days.

Harvest any late season crops Saturday morning or they’ll probably be [...]

Raspberry jam for the masses

tyler — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:46:10 +0000

Used about 5 pints to make 1 quart of crushed raspberries. Added 6 1/2 cups of sugar and a pouch of pectin. Looks like I’ll need to go purchase some new glass ware next year, I seem to only have odds and ends left. The rest went into the freezer. We learned a cool [...]

2009 Raspberry U-Pick Trip to Plow Creek Farm

tyler — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:43:52 +0000

We took our yearly Raspberry U-Pick trip to Plow Creek Farm about 2 hours SW of Chicago. We picked 10 pints worth ($2.50/p). I typically make jam/preserves out of most of it…but we save a couple frozen ziploc bags full for putting on icecream. Apple picking in a few weeks! Yeah! Fall is my [...]

Trip Report for Western Michigan/Mackinac Island/Blueberry Trip

tyler — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:12:42 +0000

I finally got around to writing up our trip report for our 5 day trip up the Michigan west cost along Lake Michigan. Beautiful country up north. Great fun was had by all. Read about it here. [...]

Glen Prairie, possibly the best restaurant in town

tyler — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:51:44 +0000

I can’t say enough about Glen Prairie. I had been driving by the restaurant on Roosevelt in Glen Ellyn for many months and repeatedly thought to myself how horrible it must be given that it’s a “hotel restaurant”. It’s attached to the newly remodeled Crown Plaza hotel. I’ve now learned that it’s not [...]

Garden Update

tyler — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:06:25 +0000

About 20 days ago I noticed the first signs of a japanese beetle damage and the little buggers crawling over some of the yard. At the end of the season last year I picked up one of those yellow bomb looking Japanese beetle traps on sale. I figured it couldn’t hurt and if it [...]

Garden Tour – June 8

tyler — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:35:16 +0000

A quick garden tour…

The blueberry bushes from last year. We are still picking off the flowers to encourage growth of the bushes instead of berry production. In the back row are peas and my new zig-zag trellis system. In the front are some beans and in the bottom left corner is a [...]

Life is good

tyler — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:47:39 +0000

Here’s what Sierra (my oldest girl) and I did this morning. What could be better than sitting in the garden reading a magazine with your dad?

So much for push mowers

tyler — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:40:53 +0000

When my lawn mower died last fall I decided I was going to switch to something more “green” and use a push mower. Our front yard is rather small and a little work would do me good so I’m the perfect candidate for a push mower. I did research online and from all [...]

mychicagofairygarden?

tyler — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:38:09 +0000

Sierra created a little fairy garden for her part of the garden. I have to say it’s pretty cute. I’ve spent the last 2 days trying to convince her that fairies are real. No luck.

While she was building the fairy garden I was around on the side of the house building the grape [...]

Get out and garden!

tyler — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:10:20 +0000

Wow! Wonderful weather today. In the low 70s for the first time in a long time (on a weekend anyway) and the soil is warming up nicely. With potential for a frost rapidly dropping and about 3 weeks from May 1st (traditional last frost day in Chicago area), I’ll be pushing th is weekend to [...]

2009 – Wheaton Native Illinois Plant Sale

tyler — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:35:39 +0000

Wheaton has announced their Native Plant Sale.

Mark your calendar for the Native Illinois Plant Sale from 8:30 a.m. to noon April 25. The sale – which is sponsored by the Environmental Improvement Commission, the City of Wheaton and the Wheaton Park District – will be at the Wheaton Public Works Building, 821 W. [...]

Spring is here!

tyler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:49:05 +0000

We had our traditional first day of spring on March 15. At our house we start spring on the first Sunday we can eat out at Scooby’s.

One week earlier the girls and I got our worm compost bin built and started. Now we are just waiting for the [...]

Non-edibles?

tyler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:52:02 +0000

Yes yes..I broke one of my own rules and I’m once again attempting to start flowers from seeds. But at least these are considered companion plants to my vegetables. I never had much luck with flowers in the past, but I figured since I had some extra squares available in my APS system I [...]

Best seed starting ever!

tyler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:54:47 +0000

WOW!!! I’m overwhelmed with joy at the seed starting going on right now. My new APS system I posted about a few weeks back is working like gang busters and it couldn’t have been easier. I plan on starting another set tomorrow. I did not have much luck with the oregano, but the seeds [...]

Are bees coming to the garden?

tyler — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:01:14 +0000

Native/Wild bees come to the garden all the time. But what I’m talking about are the managed honey bees. Back in April 2008 I contacted the Illinois Bee Keepers Association expressing interest in adopting a colony and allowing someone to place an apiary in or near my garden. I traded emails with the [...]

Researching Garden Sheds

tyler — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:59:51 +0000

Our house doesn’t have a basement and the people who built the 2 car garage made sure it was exactly 2 cars. So needless to say we do not have enough storage space. The garden shed out back is about to fall down so I’ve not felt comfortable storing more than large garden items [...]

Seeds are started

tyler — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:38:03 +0000

If you’ve followed along for the past few years, you know that I’ve not had much luck with starting my own seeds indoors. After some careful thinking, I’m almost positive the reason I have not done a good job is that I spend so much time away from home (work, vacation, etc) that watering [...]

Does it really take all the fun out of composting?

tyler — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:46:38 +0000

Over on Rosemarie’s Garden blog she has a post about the ‘new’ electric composter intended to be used in/under/around the kitchen. She outlined several reasons why she dislikes the idea. Given that I have one of those on my ‘gift list‘ I thought I’d respond with the reasons why I like the idea of [...]

New Web Cam

tyler — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:32:23 +0000

Just a heads up that I’ve added a web cam to the website. It points at the garden and updates every minute.

Nifty!

Seeds of Change Garden

tyler — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:24:53 +0000

It just so happens that the Seeds of Change catalog came today and it had every seed item I wanted. So this year I’m going with a 100% Seeds of Change garden. Which also means all the seeds are 100% Organic stock. $72 dollars later. On the pricey side but [...]

Christmas in the Garden

tyler — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:57:15 +0000

First Catalog of the 2009 Season

tyler — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:26:29 +0000

The first seed catalog of the 2009 growing season has arrived! Fedco get’s the honors this year. 137 pages of gardening pornography. Time to grab my pen and start circling possible choices for next year. I already have a list of seeds to buy over on my planting [...]

2008 Potatoe Harvest Video

tyler — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:48:57 +0000

Back in late September we harvested our potatoes. I created a movie and sent it to Erik over at GardenFork.tv. After making it, I realized it wasn’t very educational so I doubt Erik will use it. Here’s the video from that effort. My wife (Melissa) is behind the camera, the crazy kid in the [...]

Last week + First frost is here!

tyler — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:25:02 +0000

Time to break out the frost protection and/or take your last harvest. If it doesn’t frost tonight, it will tomorrow. And there’s a possibility of a hard freeze and snow at that!

I took the opportunity between 40mph wind gusts to run out and do my last harvest of beans and green tomatoes. Wind chill [...]

Where is our first frost?

tyler — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:46:41 +0000

Much like the past 5 months, the weather in the Chicago area has been…shall we say…abnormal. More rain than normal and below average temperatures made for a fabulous growing season for the home gardener. But all good things must come to an end. This growing season has been holding on for much longer than [...]

2008 U-Pick Apple Trip

tyler — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:29:38 +0000

We spent the last 3 days up in the Lake Geneva area of Wisconsin, just over the border from Illinois. It’s a beautiful 1 1/2 hour drive from Wheaton, IL through some of the best farm country in the nation. (though not the most beautiful, that’s reserved to south west Wisconsin/north west Illinois/north [...]

Official start of fall

tyler — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:50:34 +0000

Sorry for the delays in posting. Here’s a rundown of September.

Four weekends ago we harvested the red clouds potatoes

Two weekends ago I made my order for garlic from Seeds of Change. My notes from last year say they should arrive in November sometime. I’ll be growing a soft-neck variety next year [...]

2008 U-Pick Raspberry Trip

tyler — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:47:20 +0000

On labor day, our family took our second annual U-Pick Raspberry trip down to Plow Creek Farm, about 2 hours south west of Chicago. Prior to leaving I had researched on their website to make sure the season was up and running and how the crop was doing. I noticed that blackberry season was [...]

Back in the swing..sorta

tyler — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:26:05 +0000

Sorry for the delay in posts. It has taken several weeks to get back to normal..sorta.

I was able to harvest 12+ cucumbers but was only able to use a handful for my refrigerator pickles. I ended up using one to make an absolutely wonderful cold salad using the lemon infused olive oil from [...]

Garden Tour (7/9/08)

tyler — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:53:26 +0000

I needed to start planning to put the garden to bed for a few weeks while we go on vacation. So today was as good a day as any to walk around and do a tour and start cleaning up before we leave on friday.

The north side of the driveway we planted last [...]

Cabbage Pest damage

tyler — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:30:27 +0000

The Illinois extension has this to say about Cabbage Worms.

"It is almost impossible to raise cole crops in Illinois without controlling these pests."

Well I can tell you I agree with that statement. My cabbage plants were decimated last year (my first year growing vegetables in IL). I decided to run a [...]

In defense of big box stores — a response

tyler — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:24:58 +0000

Over on the My Skinny Garden blog, Gina brought up the topic of big box stores, and in particular their return policy on live plants. Here was my response…..

Im a non-selective shopper [except under rare occasions where a particular store has made me particularly mad] , however I always give the local guy [...]

First Harvest – 2008

tyler — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:42:24 +0000

First thing to be harvested this year is something new for me. Lettuce was on the menu for dinner tonight! Our family doesn’t eat much salad at home, yet we like eating salad when going out for dinner. Doesn’t make much sense, but we do. I took some cuttings from the various lettuce [...]

$8 soaker hose system!

tyler — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:49:52 +0000

A few months ago I saw what to me was a new soaker hose system and it had been tempting me ever since late winter when I saw it on the shelves. Only problem was it was basically a very thin soaker hose and a 1/2″ distribution tube and they wanted $38 for it. [...]

Woodchuck?!?!

tyler — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:39:54 +0000

We knew something was living under our deck the last year but we have never seen him. Tucker (our dog), was always sniffing around the edge and practically destroyed a stacked full-cord of wood on the edge of the deck trying to get at something under it.

Well the animal popped his head up [...]

Garden Tour (5/10/08)

tyler — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:02:52 +0000

What a wonderful day to play in the garden! The temperature was wonderful and prospects of rain tomorrow. So I took the opportunity to do a quick look around the garden to see how things were doing.

My wife and I hit the the Native Plant Sale in Wheaton a weekend or two ago [...]

Compost gold mine found!

tyler — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:36:48 +0000

Brian of cybology.com, and member of the Men’s Garden Club of Villa Park (not just for men!), just clued me in on a compost gold mine.

If you’ve ever looked for different kinds of compost/manure/etc at the local stores around you, you probably have noticed that all the big box stores seem to sell [...]

The weather gods hate me!

tyler — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:13:14 +0000

Man! I can’t win this year. Two days of below freezing have completely obliterated my poor little tomatoe plants.

You can see the row of 3 tomatoes in the first picture. Yeah…that’s them…the brown lumps of goo. Just two days ago they were busting out of their store pots begging to be let [...]

A couple questions answered

tyler — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:17:02 +0000

1) What are you using for the seed potatoes?

I maintain a planting diary that is fairly up to date with the latest information about the garden. If you check the diary you’ll see that I planted Red Cloud potatoes and Kennebec. The Red Cloud’s I got from Moose Tubers (a Fedco company) and [...]

One mistake and everything dead

tyler — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:46:42 +0000

Well it happened. In preparation for this weekends garden activities, I put my seedlings out in the cold frame to harden them off with a bit of outside weather a few days ago. And with all the hustle and bustle I forgot they were there!!! They got fried when I forgot to lift the [...]

Seedling update and last frost of the season

tyler — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:30:19 +0000

It looks like the last frost of the season might just be in the next few days. Which means the next weekend will be the first plausible time to get the garden work finalized and get some direct sow seeds in the ground. Current forecasts show a trend upwards for temperature but be ready [...]

It’s officially spring!

tyler — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:29:04 +0000

Here at our house we decide when spring is by the first sunday it is warm enough to eat hot dogs at Scooby’s outside under the umbrellas (on North Ave in West Chicago). Well yesterday was that day! Yeah!!!! The girls even spent some time down in the creek behind the house. Melissa [...]

Is it spring?!?!

tyler — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:10:22 +0000

Just a few weeks ago we had snow on the ground and Shorty (because of his short tail, as compared to Fatty Lumpkin who is big and fuzzy) was munching on left over popcorn.

But today was the first full day of working outside in the garden!! The first bit of manual [...]

Warm enough for tree houses and woodpeckers

tyler — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:02:48 +0000

Sierra (my 4 year old) wanted to eat in the tree house tonight so we had an early dinner. While eating dinner we heard and saw a woodpecker making what looked to be a new home in the upper parts of a large dead limb in a tree on the edge of the creek [...]

Hey! It’s green in here.

tyler — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:07:33 +0000

Sprouts are up! Sierra and I also planted a couple butternut squash. My wife noticed us doing this and informed me that I had never started squash indoors. That caught me by surprise, but she’s right. Hurm…wonder if it will make any difference. Last years squash crop was _EXTREME_.

First picture is from a [...]

Seed planting has begun

tyler — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:42:19 +0000

Yeah! It’s that time again in the house. Dirt is flying and seeds are being jammed down into starting pots. The garage is still too cold to put the seedlings out there so my wife gracious allowed me to bring the seed starting indoors. The girls have agreed to check them every day and [...]

Quick update

tyler — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:53:37 +0000

A bunch of things are going on at the same time….I’m still putting together the seeds I need for the garden this year. I think I have everything but cauliflower, I can pick those up somewhere local. There is a new layer of 8 inches of snow in the garden, with another 10 inches [...]

2008 Begins

tyler — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:59:52 +0000

I snapped this picture early this evening as a light snow fell. My camera, nor my photography skills do justice to the beauty of the trees covered in a light dusting of fresh snow.

A new year has started and I have at least a few things I want to try and [...]

Water as a cold frame heat sink

tyler — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:25:37 +0000

I happened to be out taking pictures of the family making a snow man and took the opportunity to snap a couple pictures of the garden in winter. Man is it ugly.

You can see the 3×8 (roughly) cold frame still hanging in there. I’m having problems getting a steady signal from the wireless [...]

Seeds – It’s that time of year again

tyler — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:47:31 +0000

I don’t know if I’m getting anxious or what, but I have this feeling I should have received my seed catalogs by now. I thought for sure Seeds of Change would have sent them by now, but it doesn’t look like they are out yet. And my Park Seeds catalog just arrived a few [...]

Shadow Casting

tyler — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:25:49 +0000

[warning...math makes my brain bleed so I take no responsibility if the information below is completely wrong or calculates the shadows in effect on the moon instead of my house. Use at your own risk]

So I got to thinking of how to use the southern side of my house for growing plants. I [...]

Ever used “fatwood”?

tyler — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 01:00:28 +0000

So it’s 28 degrees outside with a very light snow fall and my wife’s family is up for the thanksgiving holiday. I enjoy making and having fires in my house and have come to love our double sided fireplace that is the center of our house. I found this interesting product at one of [...]

Decided to plant raspberries

tyler — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:20:35 +0000

My wife and I have decided to plant the remainder of our driveway fence line with ‘Heritage’ raspberries. We’ve never grown raspberries so this should be interesting. From what I’ve researched the ‘Heritage’ variety is the most popular world wide and is one of the varieties recommended for Northern IL by the extension office. [...]

Hard Freeze this morning

tyler — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:39:39 +0000

Well the NWS forecast was off by at least 10 degrees maybe even 20. We had what is called a hard freeze (see below) this morning, not a first frost. The remaining tomato and pea plants are showing signs of damage even though I covered them with a plastic tarp. And even the tomatoes [...]

Frost Advisory!! Cover them plants!

tyler — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:40:34 +0000

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:18:44

FROST EXPECTED ACROSS NORTHERN ILLINOIS TONIGHT…

.STRONG HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. UNDER GENERALLY CLEAR SKIES WITH LIGHT WINDS…LOW TEMPERATURES WILL FALL INTO THE LOWER 30S. FROST IS EXPECTED OVER MUCH OF THE REGION…WITH WIDESPREAD FROST OVER NORTHWEST ILLINOIS.

ILZ006-013-014-022-023-032-033-039-280345- /O.NEW.KLOT.FR.Y.0005.071028T0600Z-071028T1300Z/ LAKE ILLINOIS-DUPAGE-COOK-WILL-KANKAKEE-LIVINGSTON-IROQUOIS-FORD- INCLUDING THE [...]

gardenfork.tv community

tyler — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:20:02 +0000

Eric over on gardenfork.tv dropped me an email to tell me he has started a community website for gardenfork and realworldgreen (his other show). If you like the show head over, signup and participate. The url is http://thegreenhouse.ning.com/

Those of us in the western suburbs of Chicago better prepare for the [...]

Cold frame completed

tyler — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:59:31 +0000

I got the cold frame completed this weekend. I had to buy about $50 more of material because of mistakes I made during construction. I wasn’t working from a plan so I knew I ran the risk of things not lining up just right. I also added two handles on either end for easier [...]

Alternative to Master Gardener?

tyler — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 02:45:10 +0000

Given that I have had so little time to actually do anything in my garden, I took the last few minutes of my day before I crash into my bed and checked out the local blogs (see links on the bottom right of the page) and found a great post over on Rosemarie’s garden [...]

No frost…yet

tyler — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 02:49:19 +0000

yeah! NWS forecast was off by at least 2 degrees, maybe as much as 8 degrees. My home weather station reported a low of 40 during the overnight. The forecast for the next 7 days has temperatures in the low 40s in the evenings so we should be good to go for another week [...]

First Frost Tonight? I Hope Not!

tyler — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:36:21 +0000

The great folks at the National Weather Service are forecasting 38 degrees across the Chicago area but the computer model point forecast is showing 35 degrees tonight for Wheaton. Ouch! That’s one degree below their 36 degree cut off for frost. That’s a good 3 days ahead of my planning, but well within the [...]

Cold frame almost ready!

tyler — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 04:00:08 +0000

I probably could have built the cold frame in one weekend but I wasn’t dedicated to doing it. I came very close though. The materials were obtained from Menards (have I mentioned Menards completely out classes Home Depot and Lowes by orders of magnitude?)

First I had to reduce the size of the 4×8 [...]

Cold frame it is

tyler — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 03:21:15 +0000

I did some basic math and measurements and some architectural type drawings and figured out that a greenhouse would just not work…at least like I had been thinking. So I went back to the cold frame plans.

I remembered I had a book called “Four Season Gardening” that had some plans for a cold [...]

Getting Ready for Fall

tyler — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:38:40 +0000

Actually it’s already fall, but we won’t bother with the details. I took about 10 apples from the batch we picked at the U-Pick farm yesterday and made apple butter.

While the apples were cooking down, I went out in the garden and ripped out the butternut squash. I harvested another 8 squash off [...]

U-Pick Apples 2007

tyler — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:43:37 +0000

Our family started a tradition of sorts last year of visiting a U-Pick Apple orchard at least once a year. This year we visited Royal Oak Farm up on the border of IL and WI. Holy Cow! That’s an orchard. They have over 10,000 apple trees of over 24 varieties. We spent the night [...]

Diary started

tyler — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:20:48 +0000

I’ve started a planting diary page.

Beans and peas harvest has started. I didn’t plant enough of them it looks like as I’m only pulling in a handful of either one. It’s barely enough to snack on. Which is what I’ve been doing.

Squash plant is still going psycho!! I have 15 squash [...]

Podcast discontinued

tyler — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:00:52 +0000

It’s with a sad heart that I say that I must discontinue the podcast. I’ve decided to switch to the less time consuming blog format. To get a perspective on the effort involved in doing a 10 to 15 minute podcast like MyChicagoGarden, I was finding that I would have to spend a good [...]

Plantings for a Fall Harvest

tyler — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 03:27:03 +0000

I cleared out the cucumber plants today. I harvested another 10 or so before I pulled them out. There’s no point continuing to harvest the rest of the year. I can’t handle the amount I have now! My sister in law also came over to pick up some cucumbers. She’s going to make some [...]

Episode 13 – Garden Update

tyler — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:18:49 +0000

In this episode I’ll give another update on the status of the garden. But before I get into that I had a few people over the last month ask me to mention a gardening related event that some of you may be interested in. If you, or your organization, live in the Chicago area [...]

Episode aired on gardenfork.tv

tyler — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:22:44 +0000

I filmed a quick episode of MyChicagoGarden for Eric over at gardenfork.tv. He was kind enough to run it on his internet TV show/blog/podcast thing. I’m linking to it from here so folks can check it out. More to come!

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Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

tyler — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 22:17:06 +0000

Over on May Dreams Gardens there was a post asking what was blooming in the garden. So here’s my list.

Besides the ones shown below I have squash, lettuce (mix), carrots, cabbage, chives, basil, oregano, and corn.

Sunflower (Discovery Mix) Zennia, or is it Aster?!? I can’t remember what I planted here! Nasturtium (Whirlybird [...]

Episode 12 – Visiting a Worm Farm

tyler — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:05:39 +0000

The family and I visited a worm farm, actually it’s a purpose built garage behind a house in the middle of a sub division. But the owner can produce 80 tons of worm castings a year and hundreds of thousands of worms. If you have visited a local Ace Hardware store in the last [...]

Episode 11 – Getting Started Again

tyler — Sun, 20 May 2007 03:52:13 +0000

Over the last two months we’ve been moving in to our new house and getting all the emergency repairs done, like a new roof and plumbing in the laundry room. A few weeks ago we had a load bearing wall removed in the kitchen to make room for a more open floor plan in [...]

New podcast this week..honest

tyler — Wed, 16 May 2007 04:24:51 +0000

Garden is up and running and I’m about to take another shot at some more seed starting to try and recover from some bad experiences early in the season.

I promise to have a podcast up this weekend even if it kills me.

I got the Worm farm video converted over to my PC [...]

Delay again..but no worries

tyler — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:35:52 +0000

I didn’t get a chance to edit the podcast before leaving for my sister wedding in California. But trust me..we have one almost ready to be published. The family visited a worm farm about a week ago and I took about 30 minutes of video that I need to edit down and send over [...]

We are coming back…

tyler — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:40:25 +0000

I’ve decided to keep going with the podcast. My wife will be joining me for some of them or doing guest appearances as well as my oldest daughter Sierra. You hear her voice in the intro. I’ll probably be cutting back to doing one podcast every 2 weeks, and providing more updates via the [...]

gardenfork.tv

tyler — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:55:37 +0000

I just found a cool website/blog/tv show over at gardenfork.tv

They have episodes on building a low cost grow light and seed starting. Which is perfect timing since I’m expecting my seed shipments any day now. You should check out Eric over at gardenfork.tv!

In between tearing out my kitchen and garage I’ll be [...]

Garden work about to begin

tyler — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 05:42:15 +0000

My wife and I have decided to go with a professional landscape architect at the house in Wheaton. I’ll post some pictures as soon as I can find the camera memory card reader, but for now…just trust me that it needs a whole yard makeover. From what I heard from the neighbors the previous [...]

On hiatus for a month

tyler — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 03:01:25 +0000

We close on our new house next monday (12th) and will be moving in and getting the house worked on and all sorts of small odds and ends so I’ve decided to put the podcast on hiatus for a month. During that time I’m going to evaluate if I want to continue the podcast [...]

Episode 10 – Reading Seed Catalogs

tyler — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 03:20:13 +0000

It’s that time of year to put in your seed orders. Back in December I reminded you to place your requests with a few seed companies so you’d have some information to help you make your decisions. Hopefully you did that and now have 4 or 5 catalogs on your kitchen counter. In this [...]

Found a new garden podcast

tyler — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:25:30 +0000

I was surfing iTunes looking to see if any new gardening podcasts had started and I found one that is actually really good!

It’s the Alternative Kitchen Garden. The associated blog is fluffymuppet.blogspot.com

The author’s name is Emma, and she lives in the UK. She basically talks about whatever topic she’s interested that [...]

Episode 9 – Science Fairs, Whole Foods Market, Peat Moss and a garden update

tyler — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 05:14:32 +0000

In this episode I’ll talk about spending the morning judging an elementary school science fair, then a little about Whole Food markets, a cool new website for vegetable growers and then I’ll ramble on about the controversy around using peat moss in your garden. Then at the end I’ll catch you up on how [...]

Episode 8 – Companion Planting

tyler — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:28:23 +0000

This episode I’ll be talking about Companion Planting, or if used as a primary method in your garden, companion gardening. Done properly it can reduce, if not eliminate, the majority of reasons why you would need to use chemicals in your garden. Companion planting is a mix of gardening fact and folklore that advocates [...]