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View Full Version : Another Pacific Northwest Gardener Joining the Group!



kitsapFG
12-31-2008, 09:55 AM
Hello everyone! I have been a frequent visitor of GardenGirls site - and an occassional lurker on these forums. Finally decided to actually join and participate in the discussion forum. So here I am!

I live in Kitsap County Washington state - Hood Canal area. Zone 8b - classific maritime pacific northwest climate. Mild most all of the year - but never really warm and often cloudy and damp. I have lived in this area going on 5 years now - prior to that I lived almost 20 years in central Washington state (desert conditions - very hot - very little rain). I have been a food production gardener all of my adult life - but the past ten years have been more intense in focus to that end. Our food production garden produces 100% of our vegetable needs and getting close to 50% of our fruit needs. My goal for 2009 is to get the fruit production up to at least 50%. I currently have about 700 square feet of growing beds - but am in the process of expanding and will be adding even more growing beds this spring. This will increase production of items for preserving - but also will provide more rotation room and a sunnier location for heat loving crops.

I keep a website (http://www.freewebs.com/kitsapfreedomgardener/)on food production gardening, and participate in other forums as well. I look forward to getting to know all of you better over the coming the months.

Laura

rosemom
12-31-2008, 10:34 AM
Welcome. This forum has so much to offer - it needs more members.

plantoneonme
12-31-2008, 12:46 PM
Love your website. Glad you could join us.

Kim

Garden Green
12-31-2008, 07:29 PM
Welcome to the group and love the site! I'm digging through it now.

Sinfonian
12-31-2008, 07:43 PM
Hey Laura, glad you could join us. The party's already started, but it wasn't much of a party with out you! Hehe just kidding. Welcome!

kitsapFG
12-31-2008, 11:23 PM
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! :waves at my buddy Sinfonian. :D

Sinfonian
12-31-2008, 11:49 PM
:waves back

Actually, when I saw the title, I thought yeah! Another PNW gardener. Then I saw it you were from Kitsap, and I thought, hmmm, could it be Laura? Sure enough, twas you, my good buddy from across the Sound.

MoniDew
01-01-2009, 01:07 PM
Fantastic friendships forming at the forum. Fabulous!

gardengirl72
01-02-2009, 12:05 PM
Thank you for signing up. It is great to here about how you have maximized your climate and food production.

Any idea how much you grow in terms of gross weight? That is something that I have been working out myself. It seems more impressive when you think about how many pounds of food you can get from mother nature.

Thank you and welcome,

kitsapFG
01-08-2009, 10:28 AM
I have never tried to keep a running tally of production by weight - mainly because alot of my harvest is done daily and weighing the produce and recording it is just one more thing to do when prepping dinner on a busy work night! I certainly do harvest large amounts during the height of the summer garden season - when I am canning and freezing etc. But my garden is also a four season harvest garden - so I am constantly harvesting on a steady basis for regular household eating. This means I am popping out to the garden after work and picking a handful of carrots, a colander of lettuce etc and that happens virtually every day or about 3 days a week during the winter months (use preserved items about 4 days a week during the dark days of winter).

It WOULD be interesting to know and I have thought about how to do this without being too disruptive/fussy - but so far I have not come up with a practical way to accomplish it and still get the benefits of my four season kitchen garden.