Spring is in the air!

As everyone knows, spring has sprung.  The days are getting longer and even in the Pacific North Wet the days are getting brighter.  Bulbs are blooming and trees are budding.  Even our fledgling fruit trees have buds and flowers on them.  My wife wants to let them fruit, but I'm in favor of continued growth of the tree which would mean snipping the flowers so all the energy goes into growth.  Ah well, she'll win out so why do I bother.

Well, some of you may have read about my scout Pack Meeting activity with soil blocks.  Well the next weekend (last) I broke out and made a bunch of my own.  You can see below that I packed them in as tight as I could on the left. The only challenge I've seen with doing that is the roots growing together, which is no big deal if you just tear them apart.  The other thing I recall from prior years is the spider web fungus that grows between the cracks.  My research showed it was nothing to worry about, so I don't.  Anyway, as you can see in the far left of the picture, the initial plantings from the night of the scout meetings sprouted fast with my new heating pads (black pad under the white trays).  They work very well if I say so myself.  A thermometer between the tray and pad was 90 degrees.  Not bad for $25 each. Gotta love Amazon Prime.

I digress.  You can see the sprouts reaching for the sunlight.  I had to fix that quick or they'd get leggy.  So out to the garage I went and hooked up my lights. I had to buy new chains and S-hooks because they got misplaced in the garage.  So I'm about $100 into my garden hobby this year.  Oh well. The stress relief alone is well worth the cost.  Thankfully the PVC frame held up like a charm. Below you can see it all hooked up.  Looks like I bought too much chain.  Oh well.

The other thing that happened this weekend is that we had an unwanted house-guest.  No, not my mother-in-law, we love her to pieces.  It was actually a woodpecker. Dumb bird kept waking up my son as it was pecking right below his window in the garden area.  I didn't take a picture of the first hole that went all the way through to the attic, I just covered it in a hurry on the way out the door to the theatre.

The wood is salvaged from the floor we replaced in my son's room.  Going to need to weatherize it if I don't replace the siding on that side of the house, but that'll be very expensive.  Unfortunately it just made the woodpecker move over... and start pecking right into my son's bedroom! That call made me drop what I was doing at work and run home.  Thankfully I found the bird hadn't gotten through to the drywall.

You can see the black tar paper.  It's not horrible.  But I had had it.  I needed to go to drastic measures.  Not only did I put another board up, but I stapled up temporarily a 4 foot swath of chicken wire.

Boy was that a process, two stories up. We even had my youngest hanging out the window (blocked by a ladder) holding up the wire while I stapled it in place.  Here is a close-up.

My wife didn't think it would deter the bird enough, but an hour after I wrapped up, what did I hear? A woodpecker pecking a few houses down.  Not that I wish that on anyone, but come on!

After that we went on a nice spring walk and grabbed Subway for dinner.  Great to see so many neighbors out weeding or just going for a walk.  Gotta love spring!

July 3, 2011

This post isn't exactly what I'd planned it to be. I've been working on a concept for a bit but it just hasn't come together.  However, going through my pictures I realized I took a fun chicken video that I wanted to share.

So this post will be short as I'm just getting in from a fun pre-4th BBQ at my brother's.  He makes the best burgers on the planet.  He takes the amazing recipe I've used for years (since he shared it with me) and has doctored it further to add home-grown spices galore.  It is so flavorful it's unreal! 

Anyway, I've always said I picked the wrong Buff Orpington.  She's way too aggressive for such a docile breed.  Don't get me wrong, from the way they eat at the food trough or when I put the treat bowl in their ark (left overs and scraps), it's like she's 4th fiddle.

I know I say some harsh things about her in this video, but she is still a sweety... a strong willed one but cute as a button. Just don't pick her up as she fights like mad and tries to get away.  I can't remember how many times I chased her around my garage when she got out of the brooder. hehe.

Otherwise, all the chickens are growing well.  I believe Buffy is the largest bird, barely overtaking Summer for the biggest.  I saw my brother's birds today and his Buff Orpington is one of the smaller birds.  Odd.  Anyway, sorry if the video quality is poor. I tried uploading again from Photobucket and it didn't work, so this came directly from the camera uploaded to Blogger.  Anyway, it's the audio that's important.

Enjoy! And Happy 4th of July to all of you. Stay safe!

April 26, 2011

Man, my blog schedule is filling up. Must be Spring! But I wanted to get this post out there, so it'll offset the coop construction posts.

I was out the the garden the other day, taking my tomatoes for their walk and checking on the rest of the garden.  What I found was my spinach bed was sprouting like mad. 

I've been reading my garden buddy's blogs and found many using row covers for their spinach to keep the leaf miner flies away.  I've had issues every year with leaf miners, so I figured I'd give it a try.  I saw them with their fancy mesh covers and thought... "I've got something like that."  Sure enough, I'd saved the mesh covers from our recent couch purchase for gardening.  They tear easily, but I found a small one that was in good shape.  So, I threw it over the bed and weighed it down with some scrap 2x2s my kids were playing with and left all over my garden.

That was all fine and good for a few days, but when it rained, the mesh would be plastered to the ground. That couldn't be good for the poor little seedlings.  So I had an idea.  I could use some of those scrap 2x2s to raise the row cover!  I just leaned them up against the side of the bed, sort of wedged between the bed and the hoop cover stands.

It wasn't as easy as I'd hoped, but I manged to wrangle the row cover over the bed, held up by the 2x2s.  It doesn't have to hold up to a Fall wind storm, and it's very temporary, so I don't care if it looks good.  As you're likely well aware by now, I'm a function over fashion kind of guy.

Since this time, I've thought about maybe throwing my hoops up and draping it over them.   I'd probably need one of the bigger covers for that.  Of course, this is only temporary, RIGHT?!

How long does this need to be up?  Watering's a pain, but not nearly as painful as destroying ruined spinach! If it needs to be up for a long time, I'll definitely get the hoops out and make something more user-friendly.

Thoughts?

Enjoy your garden!

April 6, 2011

Quick post for now. I need help!

What's eating my broccoli seedlings?

I had it under a milk jug cloche that was fairly well seated in the soil.  I wonder if it's not the same thing that's continuing to eat and eat again my butter crunch lettuce head in a different bed?

I couldn't log onto Gardenweb for some reason, so I'm pleading to you all for advice.  What is it and what do I do about it? 

I tried to look it up on the net and found only cabbage moths, which I know I have problems with, but have not seen any moths yet this year.  Also, remember that my beds are 16 inches tall and surrounded by inhospitable gravel for paths.  I thought of slugs, but haven't seen any and have no idea how they'd have gotten in with those obstacles to overcome.  Unless they came in in the compost?

Thoughts?  Thanks for any and all comments!!

Enjoying the sudden snow storm here in the PNWet?

March 22, 2011

First off thanks for all the comments on my last post. I love comments. It shows folks care about what I babble on about.  While the seedlings grow upstairs with relatively little aid from me, I turned my attention to CHICKENS! Yes, they arrive tomorrow whether I'm ready or not.  And no, you haven't missed all the posts about me building my chicken coop with my brother and father-in-law, because there haven't been any. Our coops are not started, let alone done.  The good news is that we won't NEED them for a few months, but life is going to become a bit more chicken crazy until then, so taking time out to build two coops is not as easy as it sounds... hehe.  But as my brother said, everyone he's read about had grand plans to build their coop before they got chicks, but didn't, and they turned out ok. 

The main reason we haven't built coops has been the weather.  It's rained off and on every day for the last month, making it tough to work outside.  That and I tried to get my brother to work over here but he must not have liked that idea because he's never mentioned it again.  Oh, well. It'll get done, especially as the weather improves.

For now, I've got more important things to worry about. The chicks need a home.  I've been accumulating supplies over time and now believe I have everything I need for the first month or so.  Last night I set it all up for a dry run.  Since the chicks need to be kept at 95 degrees for the first week, I wanted to make sure I had the light hanging at the right height to give me 95 degrees on the floor of the brooder box.  A few adjustments and a few hours later and presto!

I liked the water dish that hooks up to a mason jar.  It's not like we don't have THOSE lying around, and they go through the dish washer well.  I had planned on getting the metal feeder that did the same thing, but after talking to the folks at the Bothell Feed Store, the small feeder wouldn't be enough for when they get bigger, so I got the 18 inch tray feeder.  It's a bit overkill for the brooder box, but for now I'm pinching pennies so it'll work for their entire lives. Oh, and did you notice the direct access to water there in the spare bathroom?  Quite handy. Hehe.  Now here's my brooder box looking down.

I sure hope this gives them enough room to for 4 to 5 weeks.  I hope my four girls don't out grow it until I have a chance to set up their teen-age box in the garage.  Also, I hope the weather heats up enough that I won't have to heat the garage other than the heat lamp. 

On the gardening front, I actually took the hoop cover off the salad bed to allow Mother Nature to water again.  I was a bit worried because it had been 3 days and no rain was expected that day.  What was I to do? I haven't de-winterized the outdoor faucets yet, so I have no water outside.  That reminded me that this spring's other project is to hook up my rain barrels.  Fun, fun times!

When I got the cover off, I noticed the lettuce was growing well, except for one plant that looks like it's been devoured by something.

Slugs maybe? Sure hope it comes back. I've got no more buttercrunch seedlings started.  I'd have to plant something else in its place.  Time will tell I guess.

Well, I hope you're interested in my chicken adventure, because I expect you'll be seeing a lot about it in the coming months.

Until then, enjoy your garden!

July 9, 2009

Well, I got out into the garden for the first time in ages. That is, not just to water it after dark.  I was getting tired of humming Gardening At Night by REM, hehe.

Much to my surprise, my garden marched along without me.  The kids have been harvesting carrots left and right.  In fact, they harvested a slew of them at once (against all I've taught them).  Thankfully, I learned from Good Eat's that storing carrots with an inch of stem left on them in bubble wrap is the best way to keep them fresh for a long period. 

I also found this in the garden.



These are (I believe) my bloody butchers that I should have pinched the blooms off of instead of letting them form fruit.  Sure I have early fruit (probably the earliest in the neighborhood), but the plant is less than half the size of the rest of my plants.  As I have read, all the energy went into the fruit and not growing the green vines, despite repeated watering with fish emulsion.  Oh well, I will get to save seed from these to create an earlier maturing variety next season (hopefully).  Anyway, aren't they cute?

I also found these during my personal garden tour.



These are likely yello pear as I found another that is likely roma.  I can't wait until these go from green to yellow!

Well, as I said, the garden marched on for two weeks without me.  I knew my cauliflower and broccoli were ready to harvest, but when you eat out every night and get home exhausted, it's tough to harvest in the dark.  What that meant is that my nice, tight broccoli and cauliflower bunches got leggy.  They're still edible I think, just not the peak of freshness.  Grrr.  Thankfully, I found this when I was out there.



I realize I don't have a hand in there, but you can tell by the 2x6 there that this is about 3 inches wide.  I pinched the inner leaves together and clipped them with one of my handy dollar store clips.

Lastly, I was giving the potato bins some much needed water and saw the pest damage was getting worse.  Contrary to popular belief, I don't know everything about potatoes.  Mostly I know about growing them, not pest problems as I haven't had too much of that.  Any idea what's causing this?


The plants look healthy desptie all the holes.  I hope that means the potatoes are growing bigger in the tower.  I also hope I kept them watered sufficiently so they aren't deformed.

Well, I'm back, and feeling better (though still sore and tired) back in the garden.  Thanks for all the kind words about the house.  It was listed today and there's an open house both days on the weekend. Fingers are crossed that it's a quick sale.

Oh, on a separate note, I just realized that this is my 400th post. Wow, that's a ton, hehe.

Enjoy your garden!

June 24, 2009

Thanks all for your comments.  As for the carrots, they were this year's first planting.  I was thinking back to what I had planted there last year to see if there could have been overwintered carrots there, and that's impossible.  Last year I had corn there.  Quite odd since they came from this year's seed too.  Unfortunately I'm not sure if they were bad Danvers or Purple Haze.  All I can say is there were a ton of them all together in the middle of the carrot patch.  My wife did me a favor and yanked them.  Here's another shot of the lot of them on top of the cole crop leaves destined for the compost bin.



There were about a dozen of them, all woody with thick 3 foot tall bushy stalks.  I didn't pay attention to what I planted where in the carrot patch, I figured if it was purple I'd know when I pulled them, which we have pulled one that tasted fine.  Well, enough about carrots.  What else do you give Rudolph at Christmas?  Yep, apples.

Last night I was at the Mariner's game in a suite for work.  They were loosing of course so I was chatting with the folks in the room and happened upon a gardening conversation.  A co-worker was talking about her apple orchard and her failed experiment at covering them with panty hoes booties.  Aparently it is too much work for a 20 foot tall tree, let alone a half-dozen of them.  So when it came up that I had a small tree with a dozen or so apples, she offered to give me her booties.  Tonight after watering the garden, the boys and I went out and covered some tiny apples.  We wouldn't have done it if we had a bigger tree or tons of apples, but a dozen is no big deal.



Little Owen proudly standing next to his apple tree.



They may be a bit big to cover, but better late than never.  The kids weren't a ton of help, but they sure had fun trying.  Owen for instance held the bag of booties (I have about 200 of them), and Logan put the booties over the apples.



Then, instead of using ties to close the ends, my co-worker suggested I just tie the ends together.  So I twisted the ends and simply tied them in a knot.  Not sure how well it will hold as the apples grow, but I'll check on them each time I water.



Don't they look silly?  Why do this, you ask?  Well, Western Washington is under a several decade-long Apple Maggot quarantine and we have a major Coddling Moth problem (did I mention Washington is the Apple capital of the world?).  How they found my little tree I have no idea, but last year before I picked off the tiny apples to let it grow, I found a couple of moths coddling.  I thought they were a dead leaf so I grabbed it to remove it... eww.  Anyway, I practiced organic pest control... I stomped on them, hehe.  Now I just hope I caught them before the moths found them.

Not only was I productive in the garden tonight, but the kids enjoyed themselves helping me.  Isn't life grand?!

June 17, 2009

Hmm, if you haven't noticed, there are no pics in my ever-popular Potato Bin page.  I was sure I wouldn't have problems since my garden buddy that hosts this blog site offered up her site to house my potato bin pics so they would never go down.  You may recall I had to spread the wealth after the Times article caused my file server site to overload my bandwidth (I'm cheap and won't pay for service since this is a completely free site, no inflow or outflow).  Anyway, I've emailed Judy to see what's up with the pics.  I have them elsewhere if necessary, but I don't recall the order they're in so it'd be wrong if I replaced the links back to either of my pic services.  Rest assured that the pics will be back as soon as possible.

As for the garden, I took care of some spring cleaning in the cool weather after the heat we've had of late.  In fact, according to Cliff Mass, we've had 29 day without rain, which was a record for spring in Seattle.

I needed to rip out some bolting spinach.



And as you can see, the spinach leaf miners had their way with the spinach yet again, so it didn't go into the compost.  Oh, and I didn't even attempt to save seed because this is a hybrid.

Another plant that unfortunately needed clean-up was the transplanted Spanish Lavender. 



I had big hopes for a small plant that wouldn't spread, but would attract bees like nobody's business to complete the bluberry triangle for proper cross pollination.  Unfortunately it's too late in the season for proper transplanting and this plant is too old to transplant well.  After hearing both those things from my Aunt the flower queen, I didn't feel so bad about killing it.  However, I do plan on buying a new one next  year. I love the space it gives me in the blueberry bed.  Heck, I'd have room for another blueberry plant, though I think I want to plant strawberries in that bed in front of the blueberries.  It would cut down on weeds and I could make a nice patch next to this lavender plant.

Lastly, I had to clean up some errant bumble bees.  They have found their way into our laundry room that's right under their nest. 



So far I've found three huge ones, two of which I've successfully transplanted outside.  My dad says as a kid they would catch them in their bare hands and wouldn't be stung as long as the bees couldn't see light. I'm not that brave, hehe, so I used a gallon mayonase jar, hehe.  Anyway, I say for their sake because if they are coming in through the holes in the ceiling for the pipes, that means they're in the attic and have got to go.  I really want them to have come in through the open back door and made their way to the laundry room (unlikely) trying to get back to their nest.  I am still holding out hope that I can keep this nest until they abandon it in the fall.  They did great on the blueberries and fruit trees, but I've got tomatoes and melons for them to pollinate for me soon.  Grrrr.

Hope you've had a chance to do some spring cleaning (the garage is another matter all-together, hehe). Enjoy your garden!

June 14, 2009

Well, another busy weekend in renovation land.  Thankfully we're getting close to being done so it should go on the market this month. YAY!

Big post day today. Yesterday I tried to write one but couldn't find the motivation or a topic even.  Today I have far more to talk about than I can get into a decent sized post.  That means check back tomorrow for part two, and maybe the next day and so-on.  I'm on a roll now.

Why the change you ask?  Well I'll tell you.  I WORKED IN THE GARDEN TODAY!  Yep, three hours in the garden made all the difference in the world.  I went from tired and miserable to energized and excited.  The power of a garden folks, it's undeniable!

So what did I do today to cause the change?  Well, nothing really, but a ton, if you know what I mean.  I guess to start I should tell you what I DIDN'T get done today.  My goal for this weekend was to install my trellis.  My tomatoes are well past needing it, and my peas are in desparate need of something to grab a hold of.  So yesterday I went into the shed and searched for the 2x4s for my trellis.  I found them in the rafters of the shed, really the only place to store them in there.  Unfortunately less than a foot away from the stack of wood was a tennis-ball sized paper wasp nest teeming over with little fly-like wasps.  Funny looking things. I would have mistook them for flies if I hadn't seen their nest.  Well, I couldn't get my wood down without disturbing them, so I didn't.  

This morning I killed them.  Yep, no debate there.  Bees are one thing, but wasps are another.  Sure they serve a purpose in nature, I get that, but not around me and my family.  So, when I woke up I threw on my heavy coat, a hood and heavy gloves, grabbed a can of raid and went to battle.  Tactically, I opened the shed door, crouched inside, took aim and shot!  Two seconds later one or more wasps came swooping down out of the nest in a dive formation.  Thinking fast, I slammed the shed door and beat a hasty retreat into the house. Hehe. Yep, I'm a coward when it comes to stings.

Then it was off to painting all day at my folk's place.  Mostly I painted the half-bath in the basement.  I had a 3 inch roller, a 9 inch foam roller, a regular roller and a brush.  I used them all painting that bathroom.  It looks good now but boy was it hard work.  I was glad when we cut off early and I could head home.  Thus the reason I got time in the garden.

Let's just say there was too many small projects to fit into one post, so I'll mention some of the things that didn't get pics attached and were just so-so.

I hit the one plant that's got a dozen tomatoes growing on it, with a nitrogen boost because it's my smallest plant.  All the energy's going into producing tomatoes and none to green growth.  I hope the nitrogen will help it grow some more vines.

I also turned the compost. It needed it.  I only added the kitchen compost, some shredded newspaper and water, but the aeration was appreciated.  I'm sure just mixing it up and adding a bit of stuff from the kitchen will heat it back up nicely.  Oh, and I threw some corn cobs in there. My wife had put them in the kitchen compost bin and I just left them there.  I know the cobs don't decompose well at all, but I can just pick them out next time I fluff it.

Ok, now for the perfect ending to this post.  Remember that broccoli that was nearly done?



Well I noticed some yellow on it, like flowers wanting to form, so it had to be harvested.



Isn't it gorgeous!  Well, we had 1/3 of it for dinner with some Costco Lasagna and garlic bread.  As good as the meal was, the broccoli stole the show. 



What's more is that my wife tried it and actually liked it!  She hates broccoli.  Well, chaulk another veggie up to "it's better when we grow it".  Cauliflower is like that as well.  She only eats it when it's ours. hehe.  Speaking of cauliflower, look at what I found this afternoon!



So now I've got four broccoli heads forming in various stages and two cauliflower.  This is my favorite time I think.  Sure the tomatoes will be great, but fresh broccoli and cauliflower are to die for!

I hope you had as much fun in your garden as I did in mine!

June 8, 2009

Well, another weekend essentially gardenless for me.  Fortunately the folks place is coming along nicely such that it should be done by month-end.  Unfortunately that means my garden is getting farther behind.  Of particular concern is my rapidly growing potato bin potatoes.  I'm so behind on both hilling up and adding boards that they're just like last year where I swore I wouldn't let them become stems.  Drat. Come monday now I have time and I'm feeling so bummed about it that I'm almost tempted to just let them mature with the few boards I've got installed.  Grrr.  This season is all about letting the garden grow iteself.

I'm seeing stuff in the garden that I have no time to figure out what or why.  For instance, I came home the other day and was watering the broccoli and cauliflower (I'm watering them via side-dressing wand spraying the dirt next to the plants, keeping the leaves dry), only to find this.



I had been proping it up for days but for some reason it's toast.  Nothing else in the area has been touched.  No clue.  Looks like insect damage, but in the absense of any other damage I'm hesitant to nuke it or anything.

I'd admit that this next shot proves other damage, but it's on the complete other side of the garden area from the cauliflower, and this has been going on all season.



Oh, and I checked it this evening and it seems to have rebounded with new growth, so hopefully whatever's getting the cukes has missed it's chance with this one.  Of course I've got a half dozen new sprouts I would protect if I had time.

The good news is that despite my negligence, the broccoli seem to be maturing at a rapid pace.  Soon I will have fresh steamed broccoli.



Sorry for the dirty hands, I was at a loss for a unit of measurement for perspective, hehe.

About the only thing I've had time to do in the yard, other than water, has been to play with my kids... yep they mean more to me than my garden, go figure.  While I was out there, I saw some cool things that I thought I'd share, just to prove not everything in my garden is edible (despite my big plans to the contrary).

In the rose garden, my Dr. Huey's are blooming.  They're apparently any variety crossed with a red such that when it dies, it comes back to life as the red rose it started from, but it only blooms once a season.  Apparently the former owner planted several of them, and either they killed them, or I did from ignorance in my first decade in the house.  Either way, I wanted to take pictures of the beautiful red roses.



Note that the one on the left was moved 3 feet to plant my blueberries last October.  See, it's pretty indestructible, just blooms once a year.  Ain't it pretty.  Parton the ball, the kids live outside this summer.

I also saw something pretty amazing in the front of the rose garden where I have my irises.  I have blue and yellow.  So how did this get there?



They're gorgeous, but definitely not my brilliant yellow (they bloomed also).  Anyway, here are my favorite.



See Dan, I can take pictures of flowers also.  Of course mine have ugly walls, SWCs and extension ladders in the background, hehe.  /sigh.  I guess I'm not like Dan after all (he's a genius with the camera).

I sure hope you've had time to enjoy your garden!

May 28, 2009

Boy am I tired.  I'm not as young as I used to be.  Yesterday was the final show of Village Theatre's season.  Much as we enjoyed the evening, it was a very late night, followed by an early morning.  Unfortunately I was so exhausted this evening that I almost didn't head out to mow the lawn despite the calf-high grass.  It must have something to the 75 to 80 degree temperatures we've been having for the last several days.

I actually did get out and mow.  It took just over an hour and a half, which isn't bad, and the kids had fun "helping" me when I did the back yard.  The whole thing took two hours of course because I had to do the compost.  I hadn't aerated and turned it since I mowed last, which is bad, so it was difficult to turn before I added the new grass.  I actuallly had too much new material so I ended up dumping about half a 96 gallon yard waste container on top of the pile at the end.  No pictures were taken this time because it was too dark at the end.  In the end I am excited about the amount of compost that I'm making this year.  It seems like more than last year, though I'm not sure how that's possible.

Mostly this evening I spent my time staring into my rose garden.  I was searching for the bumble/carpenter bees to try to identify them.  You see, my recollection is that they had fuzzy butts which would make them bumble bees. However, EVERYTHING about their behavior screamed carpenter bee.  I've been doing a TON of research and carpenter bees nest in eves and facia, where this hive is.  They create the same size hole as I saw.  The males hang around the entrance "defending" it while the nest is being created, which would explain the bees lounging on my siding the other day.  The interesting thing about carpenter bees is that the very agressive males have no stingers so they're all bluster and no bite.  The other interesting clarification I learned is that bumble bees don't die when they sting you like honey bees, so they can sting you over and over, though you really have to piss them off to get them to attack (like get too close to their nest).  Finally, both types of bees are beneficial to gardeners, so I guess it really doesn't matter for the garden, but it does to my house (carpenter) and kids safety (bumble).

I could go on and on with all I've learned, but what I was really looking for was their torsos.  Carpenter bees have hairless black behinds and bumble bees have colorful furry ones.  When I was out there looking, I saw all sorts of bees.  My attention was first drawn to what looked like three wasps comanding the entire garden to themselves.  You know, the elongated, banded torso of and the long antenna.  Scary fighter planes is what I think of. 



Thankfully they ended up flying away over the top of my house after pawing all over all the plants.  Really odd since wasps don't like plants.  After they left, I did see several bees come and go, but they didn't hang around or go slow enough to see them, and none were lounging around the entrance. 

It wasn't until I was watering the plants in the shade that I saw a ton of bees all over my flowering rosemary plant.  They were definitely bumble bees, I got within a foot of them.  The same went for my flowering rhodie tree. However, I couldn't be sure if these were just traveling bumble bees or if they were the ones from my house.  It wasn't until I found one hanging out on the siding under the nest.  It clearly had a fuzzy behind.  I tried to get a picture of my bumble bee, but the silly bee was in the shade so my picture didn't come out.  You'll have to take my word for the fact that I have bumble bees that act exactly like carpenter bees.  So they're dangerous if the kids disturb them while they dig in the rose garden, but hopefully they'll just do fly bys over their heads until winter when they will abandon the nest and I can plug the hole. 

Of course I planned on painting the house so that would definitely anger them.  Not sure if that'll happen this summer, but if so, that'll take some thinking.

Ok, enough about bees, though that has monopolized my time ouside of work for 48 hours, hehe.  While I was out there I had to snap a shot of my purple/blue irises.



Of course my son likes the yellow the best, but they're not quite in bloom yet.  Arent these pretty?

While I was watering the scraps, I had to make note of the fact that I think I have a volunteer (weed?) in my watermelon bin.  I say this because I planted three seeds and got two different plants sprouting.



I guess I'll let them grow and see what happens.  Odd though.

Lastly, I was downloading pics from my phone, I guess I'd snapped some silly pics that I'd like to share.  First is when I was upstairs putting some things in storage I realized I still had my light setup going.  What I had really forgot is that I had some seedlings growing under those lights.  Unfortuantely I hadn't watered them in a few weeks, so there was no hope for them.



They USED to be Italienshier lettuce.  What I had THOUGHT they were originally was stevia, they were growing so slow.  It's ok that I don't have them to plant, I still have TONS of lettuce to harvest.

Whoever said I didn't have enough space to donate a CSA share of my garden clearly overestimated the amount of salads our family can eat.  Hehe.  I've still got tons of open squares to plant in my garden.

My final pic tonight was taken one morning on the way out the door to work.  I still have tons of sprouting potatoes that I don't have room to plant.  I would compost them but with my luck they'd grow and I don't want plants growing in my constantly shaded compost bins.  But look at these sprouts searching desperately for dirt to grow.



Enjoy your garden!

May 26, 2009

Short post tonight as not much to report on, but I had to share.

First off, I was catching up on my blog reading/commenting and came across KitsapFG's blog from the other side of Puget Sound.  I got half-way through her to-do/done list and had to stop to head out to the garden.  I've been seeing holes in my broccoli leaves and she had sprayed with BT, so I thought I should do so.  Thanks KitsapFG! 

However, the big news.  I've got a environmental dilemma here.  I've been planting flowers and other plants to attract bees to my yard.  We don't have honey bees here and haven't for several years, so for us bumble bees do the lion's share of the pollinating, so I love seeing them whenever I can.  I can sit there and watch them on the blueberry bushes.  They bring a smile to my face.

Until now.  I was standing in my kitchen making dinner tonight when outside my kitchen window I saw two fat bumble bees sunning themselves on my siding in the rose garden.  I thought it odd that they wouldn't go home as it was getting close to sundown.  Then I saw a bee fly up into the corner of my garden area above the kitchen window.  Seconds later I saw three fly down from there.  Some quick math made me say some choice four letter words.  Thankfully the kids are at their grandparents tonight, hehe (the last few sentences were literary embellishments).  Needless to say it meant I had a bumble bee nest in my house.  Sure enough, I went out to the rose garden and saw the hole where they were coming out of.  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Why couldn't they have made their nest in a tree where I could point it out to my sons and say not to shake the tree and make them mad!?  No, they had to make their home where they are not supposed to be.  Now I have to kill them.  I really don't want to kill them. 

Maybe I'll wait until fall when the growing season's over, hehe.  Grrrrr.

Not a happy day in my garden for sure, hope you enjoy yours!

November 30, 2008

Sorry to all the folks out there that have checked back over the last few days looking for a post from me.  I've been sick, spending quality time with the family and not gardening until today.  In short, there was nothing to say, so I was silent.  For some reason I'm not as creative as my pal EG at coming up with innovative things to do and say.  That man is always doing something interesting!

Anyway, today I went out to water the garden and get some chores done outside.  As I'd said, I've been fighting a cold and have tired easily.  So all I planned to do was water, take some picutres and then mow the leaves as I had a clearing of the fog for an hour or two.

Frankly it had been a few days since I actually went out to the garden at all.  Shame on me, but the weather had been damp, almost assuredly keeping the soil under the covers hydrated, and a few extra days of mushroom growth couldn't hurt.  So what the hey, I relaxed (and helped my folks some). 

The first thing I noticed when I went out there is that the wind had toyed with my hoop covers a bit.



Of course they still worked, but not nearly as well as they should.  If the results of my temperature tests had shown that the sealed covers kept the inside temperature higher than the outside, I would have been worried.  The plastic had come out from under my bricks in front, so the air would flow freely.  Ah well, it hasn't froze in the last week, so no harm done.  Of course the proof would be inside the covers.

Since the most discheveled cover was on Bed #3, I started there.  As expected, everything was fine. Look at the king cauliflower holding court over his subjects. 

 

After I picked all the mushrooms out, I moved finally to the back of the bed where the rotting remains of the cucumber plants.  The vines were nearly gone and one of the three cucumbers I was leaving to save the seed rotted.  Oops.  But I saved one good one and one so-so one.  Let's hope I can figure out the right way to save the seeds.  Of course with my luck they'll be hybrids so the children won't stay true to the parent.

But the cool part is that the back of that bed is now clear and ready to replant with peas early spring.



I figure the roots will decompose in place and be fine for the soil.  Either that or they're part of the onions next door. /shrug

Next I moved to Bed #2 and watered.  See, here's me watering for grins.



As you can see, the proper spacing for wild mushrooms is not being followed here. Mel would not be pleased.  That and some of those spinach leaves could be used to play tennis with.  I realized this weekend when I wanted to make a salad that our dressing is expired.  We like the sprays that are minimal calories per spray.  I use so little dressing with our scrumptous veggies that it's perfect for me.  Too bad they don't have much of a shelf life.  So tomorrow I'll pick some up from the store on the way home.

Look at these radishes!  They're in great shape.  Gotta keep my mother away from them or she'll harvest them all for radish and butter sandwiches.  Don't ask. hehe.



I'm skiping the spinach, which on close inspection is showing much less leaf miner damage than I had originally thought.  That's good news, both for this harvest and hopefully future plantings come spring. In the back of the bed are my stunted pea plants.  Theses are the ones that are supposed to get 30 inches high but are at most 18 inches, and others have reported them growing 5-6'.  Not for me.  Think next time I'll try the Cascadia variety and see how it compares.  Anyway, lookie what I found on close inspection...



Peas!  Sure they're small and few in number, but I'm hopeful that this is the first of many to come.  I actually saw two emerging from their flowers.  Not a meal, but a good taste test to share with the kids when they've gotten a bit bigger (the peas, not the kids, hehe).

Next I moved on to mow the leaves.  Thankfully I had enough gas in the mower to do the job without having to fill it again.  I hate to leave much gas in the tank over the winter.  I ruined a mower like that once.



Boy, if only I had more time today (we had a dinner date with my folks to get ready for) and was feeling better, it would have been a perfect time to break out my pitch fork and mix all this up to get some more aeration and possibly some more heat and decomposition of the leaves, which had some decent grass clippings mixed in.  I could tell that by the funky patterns I was making in the grass, which really should have been mowed completely or not at all.  Oops. Well, we've been having great fall weather (really pretty dry), so you never know.  Maybe next weekend I'll have the time, weather and energy to do a proper mowing.

Anyway, while I was out doing zig zags around my front yard to catch all the fallen leaves, I noticed something odd about my sidewalk area.  It was right about when I was figuring out that there was something wrong with my grass where it meets the sidewalk that my neighbor came over.  If you recall from the summer, two of my neighbors had mentioned in conversation that my yard was the only one on the block to not have my sidewalk edged.  See, my family has an edger, it's just that none of us can figure out where it is.  Each of us says the other has it, which normally means I do, but I've looked multiple times. 

Well, my neighbor explained that while he and my arborist neighbor were edging, they both decided to take pity on us less fortunate neighbors (in the edging department).  Each of them edged their neighbor's yard.  Of course my neighbor had 250' plus of edging to do as my pie-shaped lot is far bigger than my neighbors.  So after profusely thanking him for his assistance, I felt compelled to remove the sod from the sidewalk.  So, under the weather, with the fog rolling in, light fading and time creaping along toward when we had to be over at my folks for dinner, I started scraping the sidewalk.  Some of it came up really easy, such that I could just coil it up like an electrical cord.  Some I had to get down and rip it out with my hands.  When time, light and energy ran out, I had done just over half of my sidewalk.  At that point my neighbor brought over his blower and I blew the sidewalk clean.  Boy it looks good now.  I just need about an hour to finish it up next weekend.  Here's really hoping for good weather!

Well, I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend.  If you shopped like my wife did, here's hoping that you found deals and maybe kept some of the struggling retailers afloat.  If you recharged like me, I hope you spent more time in your garden than I did.  Enjoy!

November 1, 2008

Well, today was a traditional fall day.  Off and on rain, overcast skies, and tons of wind.  Of course we were moving most of the day.  Didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but all of us were exhausted afterwards, so it was all good. 

When I got home, I watered the garden.  I didn't see too much to do out there so all I really did was take update pictures from under my hoop covers.

I'll start with my lettuce.  The squares that just aren't growing nearly fast enough.  Next year I definitely plant more than one square per variety.  Who knew.  Still, they look good, if not a bit stingy on their growth.



You can see the leaves look tasty.  If I harvested them now I'm sure they'd taste awesome.  Unfortunately I could really only get one meal out of them.  And then I'm not sure they'd have enough left to grow again.  Even if they did, how long would it take?  So I am going to wait longer.

Thankfully, I may not have to wait until next fall to plant more squares of lettuce.  As you can see, the October succession plantings are sprouting now.



I've got tons of viable lettuce seedlings of each variety.  I'm going to wait until they grow their first true leaves before I pull them and replant them in adjacent squares.  I've definitely got the room.  That way, if Steve Solomon is right, come December and January, I'll have decent lettuce.  Just later than I'd hoped.  Keep your fingers crossed that they transplant well and grow like the book said.  Hehe.

Speaking of slow growth, but growth of some kind, here are the very last plantings of carrots way back when.  Oh my goodness they've taken a while.  But contrary to what I've since read, they are actually growing in this fall weather, rather than not at all.



When I last lookd at them a week ago, they just had their firs leaves, now they've almost all got their first true leaves.  I'm so proud of the little guys, hehe.  The rest of my carrots are doing very well. I'm still excited to see just how the ones I thinned/transplanted do.  I may very we have stubby carrots since I broke the root vs. pulling the long thin one that grows into a carrot.  We'll see.  I've got nothing to lose.

The middle bed (#2) is doing far better I'd say.  The spinach is doing as well as ever.  Boy does it like this weather.  Unfortunately so do the leaf miners.  No biggie.  So far at least they haven't infested too badly and I can cut away what they've eaten. 

I'm happy that even the succession plantings (replants of bare spots) are doing well.  They're a big winner this season despite the continued bug problems.  I don't know if you can pic it out, but on the far left, there's actually a pea plant growing.  I must have dropped a seed when I was planting the trellis line.  Why THAT seed decided to grow when dozens of his compatriots didn't, I'll never know. I don't think I'll risk transplanting it since the rest of the trellis squares are pretty full.  Or full enough.



While they're only a foot tall, I found my first flower today!  Of course I want to see dozens and dozens of flowers, but at least I know they're growing in this climate.  Sure I should have planted sooner.  Next year I'll do that.  But for now I'm just hoping for the best.

What you don't see really is all the mushrooms that continue to grow like crazy.  I swear I didn't plant them. hehe.  I understand they're not bad for the garden, so I just dead head them whenever I can reach them.  Ah, the joys of PNW gardening.

Well, tomorrow was initially going to be another moving day, but my folks aren't ready for us to move more stuff, so my brother called it a family day.  Not sure what we'll do. I really want to spend some time with my wife and kids.  You know, let them know that daddy is still alive.  Although theres a 70% chance of rain tomorrow.  I might consider trying for a fall hike.  I'm sure my wife will think I'm crazy, but I really want to keep my kids liking to hike.  Probably won't, but we'll do something fun.

Maybe I'll get a chance to clean out my SWCs.  The dirt will go nicely into the compost bin.  Speaking of that. My aunt has a yard waste container full of leaves for me.  The fall colors are so beautiful these days, but all I can think of is how beautiful they'd look in my compost bin.  Hehe EG and others have me salivating over loading the open bin full of leaves, a little compost and tons of coffee grounds.  Maybe I'll spend some time doing that tomorrow.  We'll see.

Lastly, I can't believe I haven't mentioned this.  At work we've always had a recycling container for glass and cans, and of course for paper.  But about a year ago, our building has decided to be "green".  I know, it's the "in" thing to do, but for those of us serious about it, we'll take anything we can get.  So about a month ago, these showed up in the break rooms.



Seems even the bags are compostable.  They even posted these signs telling you just what you can put in there and what you can't.  Now I wouldn't compost bones and pizza boxes and the like, but Cedar Grove (if it is going there) is more set up to compost anything and everything.  Around our shop, paper towels are a big thing.  They're used for everything, and thrown away.  They're also clearly compostable.  So some of us made a sign to remind folks that paper towels are not garbage, and to compost them.  Unfortunately people are stubborn.  So the latest manuver in the battle is to move the compost bin closer to the door than the garbage can.  Men tend to use a paper towel to open the bathoom door on the way out, and then toss the towel in the trash in this break room.  Now the closest recepticle is the compost bin.  So far it's working.  Not perfectly, but it's better than it was, and that's all I can ask.  Hehe.  Some people.

Well that's it for me.  Time to hit the sack to get up with the kids and plan a fun day.

Enjoy your garden!