Whew, another day of racing around in the evening. Hehe, no I'm not complaining about the extra hours of light. It's just racing around made my heart pound a bit funny. Of course I was carrying around 60+ pound pallets. Yep, I got my pallets today. Thank you BCI Communications... whatever you do. hehe.
Actually the pallets weren't exactly what I was hoping for. The measurements were fine, but the materials weren't quality. The entire pallet is made out of cheap plywood slats, even the blocks are stacked plywood squares. My dad picked them up for me this morning. He doesn't think they'll last more than a few years. His suggestion was to use lath trellis and 2x2s. Maybe, but I doubt it'll be sturdy enough.
By racing around, I mean I got to my car, drove to my brothers, got the truck with the pallets, brought them home, unloaded them (whew!), took the truck back, came home in my car, got the kids into shoes, took them outside, played with them for a bit, then carried the pallets to the very back of my lot where my bin was, then put three sides together. Oh yeah, then I planted pole beans, bush beans, peas and corn, in two hours. If I were wearing my heart rate monitor I bet I would have burned 1,000 calories. hehe
I left the front off because they're so darn heavy that it isn't particularly convenient to move around. I need to rig up a hinge or two to allow me to get inside to mix it up and put more in. I think I may use the lath trellis idea for a door. That way it's easier to move around. I guess then technically I could make three bins with 8 pallets if I put them side by side and use the interior common walls for two bins. Hehe unfortunately I don't have room for three bins without encroaching on the pear tree.
Sorry that I don't have pics tonight. My wife's out at a board meeting for the preschool and has her phone with her. I may be getting my dad's spare digital camera this weekend so I can use that to take pictures. I think it's like 5 mega pixel so it's much better than the perfectly adequate 2 mp camera phone with auto focus.
You know I'm addicted to gardening when I race out at dusk to take my compost bin's temperature. 152 degrees about 8-10 inches into the pile. According to Joe at Ft2Garden.com that's in the middle of the "zone" and I shouldn't turn it until the temp drops out of the 140-160 zone. That I can do. I think this weekend I will invest in a pitch fork. I love my aunt's short handled one with a stirrup handle. It'd be perfect for small jobs. I also have to check out Wally World for nylon trellis netting. Judy got hers there and MAYBE for the first time ever my Walmart and hers will carry the same merchandise.
Also in the "I'm addicted" category, it's dark outside and I remembered when I was planting that I wanted to plant more radishes. I know you get 16/SF but once you pick them the spot's empty, and I could eat two or three a day myself in a decent salad. I think I need more than 6 SF devoted to them even if they do take a month (package says 22 days, yeah right, in Seattle!?!) to mature. Good thing I've got more space in bed#2 after re-figuring how much I'm planting.
Lastly I'm going to start more Precocious corn because I want to get three rows of each variety planted and then let them come up, fill in blank spots and then plant the rest in a few weeks. I sure hope this works because I'd really like corn, especially seeing Judy's amazing corn success.
Ok, not so lastly I guess. I checked out my potato bins and the Buttes are really taking off despite the overcast and 50ish weather. They're definitely plants, kind of cabbageish, but I'm sure they'll change soon enough to look more like Judy's. Maybe. Oh, and the Yukon Golds actually have sprouted all but one seed potato, though much smaller and farther behind.
Enjoy your garden! I know I truly am far more than my wildest dreams! And thank you for the kind words folks have been leaving and emailing. I appreciate it immensely!
It is Good to hear your composter is working out for you, they can divert a lot of your house hold waste. If we go to the butcher for our meat as appose to the styrofoam trays form the grocer we only put out a small kitchen garbage bag a week. I have been composting for a while, I must admit through that I never look after it the way you are suppose to but it does make good compost anyway, even in the shade.
ReplyDeletehe's new. I made my first finished pile of compost in about six weeks and now it takes about three or four months. I learned that it works even when you're not monitoring it daily, heh. Besides, until I built my new raised beds this spring I didn't have any use for the 3 cu. yards of it I had piling up at that point. Learned to slow down production to meet demands. I should work for the oil companies...
ReplyDeleteAbout the radishes, you've got me depressed, I only planted two squares of them but I'm think I should have done at least four times that much. I eat them as a snack-food, the more "kick" the better... and they're almost a negative calorie food so it's great.
1 cup (120g) of sliced radishes = 20 calories.