October 9, 2008

Well, something's wrong with my blog. I couldn't edit my last post. I just gave me an error and didn't show anything.  So here are the pics of my hoop covers and other cold weather protection efforts in the daylight.

And here are my potatoes and cantaloupe tent.

Any one taking odds on the on the cantaloupe maturing?  My ignorant guess would be not likely, but it's no skin off my noes if I cover them and water them or not.  Growth has occurred.  It's a start.

And finally I think I mentioned the wind damage to my rose.  Well here is what it looks like!  Maybe if we tie it up it will grow right again after we prune the heck out of it?

Now on to this week's to-do list.  It'll likely be the last comprehensive to-do list for quite a while since I will be helping move my folks and then prep their house for sale.  Boy I hope I can come up with more than just this list but I'm not big on forward thinking into uncharted territory.

• I still can't find the plastic for the original hoop cover.  I may need to buy more.  Grrr.


• Buy some 1/3s to create that box under the compost cover.  It'll mean dismantling it but in the long run it should be better to be able to open and close it, not to mention smoothing out the low points.


• Make some pickles. I've got tons of pickling cukes ready to go.  Maybe past ready.  Plan is for that to happen tomorrow.


• Mow my yard.  I had hoped to have leaves all over the place first so I could get a great compost mix of carbon and nitrogen all in one pass of the mower.  For some reason it hasn't happened despite the foul weather clearly signaling to the rest of us that it's fall.  I may fluff it again after I take apart my cover, or I'll just dump a new pile in the empty bin to compost over the winter.  Not sure.


• Figure out how to use my corn bed for fall/halloween decorations and gut the bed.  Since corn is a heavy nitrogen feeder, but I fed it liberally while it was growing, so do I need to feed it more? 


• Um, is it rhodie planting season? I am not sure.  I need to plant one in a bare spot in the front yard rhodie hedge between the neighbor's property and mine.  If you recall, I'm looking for a blue one.


• And drum roll please! Harvest potatoes! Dry them and bag up the compost.
  

That just about does it. I'll try to figure out more for this weekend, but for now that looks like quite a bit.

Enjoy your garden and stay warm!

October 8, 2008

Well, interesting post today.  Today was clear and cold.  Well, low 50s cold, but it felt cold walking around with my fall jacket on.  So I checked the forecast and low and behold, the low for tonight is in the upper 30s.  WHAT!?!  Yep, I read it right.  Near freezing.  And me without my hoop covers up.  Time to put my set-up skills to the test yet again.

When I went out there though, I remembered that I didn't have time to set up my pea trellis yet.  No problem, grab the screw gun and the three inch screws.  So the trellis isn't plum (that's level for us construction novices), it'll work.  And unfortunately the left over twine doesn't quite make it.  So I tie more twine on and get it threaded.  Unfortunately it took longer than expected, but doesn't it look good?



Do you see how dark the photo is? Yep, it's getting dark, and I haven't started putting the covers on.  Of course I didn't think that far ahead and took the time to train some of the taller peas to grab the lowest thread.



I kinda got clued into the diminishing light when the flash went off on this shot.  Oops.  Better hurry.



Once I got all the hoops up, it was time to unroll the plastic.  Once I got the two far side, smaller beds unrolled, I noticed quickly that the plastic for the small bed was too short. I ran out of plastic.  Oops, yep, I cut the plastic for bed #2 too long.  Drat.  I knew it was going to be close when I bought it, but I should have measured better when cutting it last month.  But it wasn't so bad, I figured out how to fix it.  I dropped the PVC to the ground rather than have it resting half-up the bed.  That shortened the hoops and made it fit just right!  Nothing's that tall in that bed anyway.  And since I read that the 4 mil plastic won't last longer than a year, I will have an opportunity to get it right next time.  hehe

Sorry to say the pic of the covered beds was taken well after dark.  I was using a flashlight to put the clamps on.



Notice bed #1 still doesn't have plastic on it.  Well, in the dark I couldn't find it.  Where could a 25x10 sheet of plastic get to in my house?  Tis a mystery for another day.  All that's in that bed are carrots, radishes and lettuce.  All things that should stand a light frost, if we have one tonight.  As I'm writing this it's still 52 degrees in the garden.

But while I was looking all over for the plastic, I did find a small piece of 4 mil clear tarp.  So I removed the 1 mil drop cloth from the potato bin and put the small piece of plastic over the potatoes, and used the bigger drop cloth draped over a board pounded into the ground as a T-pee covering my cantaloupe SWC.  Sorry again for the dark pics.  Maybe I'll change the pics out tomorrow if I take new pics.



By the way, a quick glance at the cantaloupe showed me that they're as big as eggs now!

Enjoy your garden and stay warm tonight!

October 6, 2008

Not much to talk about today.  Mostly wanted to thank those who commented yesterday. Rebekah, thanks for trying, but even copying and pasting that long address took me to the iVillage homepage instead.  Thankfully using your search parameters helped me find it.  Well, I found 107 possible answers.  I will have to look it up later.  Until then they're sitting in a tupperware container drying on their own, for good or bad.



When I got home I had a good idea, it hit me as I got out of the car... rain drops, tons and tons of them.  Hey, I wonder how my compost cover is holding up?  So I ran into the back yard and checked.  Sure enough, the middle of the full compost bin was too low and it was puddling there.  Not horribly, but retaining water.  I think I'll need to keep the pallet gate shut and use a 2x4 to flatten out the low spot.  Either that, or this weekend dig out a bit under the low-end pallet wall. When we were installing the cover I could tell the edge of the wall nearest the pear tree was up a bit, likely resting on a root.   I'd hate to disturb a root, but it's the easiest solution to the flow problem.

Also this weekend I think I'll take advice and use a hair drier to try to heat the pipe to bend enough to reach across only 3 feet.  Otherwise I could swap out 2 of the brackets and PVC pipes from my original hoop cover, which are only 1/2 inch rather than the new pipe at 3/4 inch.  Maybe that'll bend farther without breaking? 

Lastly, I couldn't help but get excited at work today.  Someone said it's supposed to be nice on Saturday.  Nice could mean actual sun.  Actual sun Saturday would mean I FINALLY dismantle my Butte potato bin.  What I and countless other people have been waiting for since March is about to arrive.  It's almost time to find out what kind of harvest I got from my late-season russetts!  I am so anxious it's unreal.  The weekend can't get here soon enough, though if this weather remains foul, I am not sure I'll harvest.

Enjoy your garden!

October 5, 2008

What a day!  The forecast was dead on, if not a bit warmer than expected.  The day started early with a smoothie for the family.  Then my father showed up and we went to Lowes for the corregated fiberglass panels.  I'm really glad my dad went too because he's better at planning things than I.  We ended up getting three 12-foot panels and three of the corregated 1 by's.  It was a pain standing in line to pay because they were so flimsy that you couldn't stand them on their edge or they'd buckle and crack.  Here's what one looks like next to the kid's playset.



So we started by using scrap wood to build up one end with a 4x4 and a 2x2 in the center.  Then we started screwing it down to the corregatd 1x's.



I like how one panel covers both beds perfectly.  What I don't like is that it is not easily removable.  I also noticed a bit of a dip in the middle that couldn't be helped.  I guess I could shim the middle to make up for it.  But what we can't change is the middle of the bins. It won't handle much weight but hopefully the pitch will keep the rain from pooling.  However if it snows hard we'll have to get out there and clear it fast.  Hehe the covers cost $60 in materials.  But doesn't it look good!?



So check that off the list.  Of course while we were working my neighbor came out and had to comment on how many blackberries were ripe in the back 40.  So even though it wasn't on the list my dad and I geared up and went to do battle with the bramble once again.  The nemisis...



And the prize...



As you can see, the dead canes are thick and numerous.  The rest of the year is scheduling out to make it very unlikely that I'll get back there with a saw-tipped weedwhacker.  And boy would it be hard work to remove all those dead canes to allow for the new canes not to grow on top of a mountain of dead branches like they currently do.  Most of the harvest today came using a rake to pull vines down to something reachable.  The bramble is well over 10 feet high.  In other words, it's a mess.  Cleaning it up may have to wait until spring.  But today we got about another gallon of berries, bringing the total jelly harvest to about 3 gallons.  That should make enough jelly for three families to have homemade jelly for the coming year. Whew!

The next item of the list was the daunting task of fall cleaning of the beds and removal of the trellis.  I got my motivation up by starting with the cucumbers.  First I harvested everything ready to harvest.



And all that's from plants that are almost covered with powdery mildew.  I chickened out and didn't rip out the plants.  Despite the rapidly spreading disease, the cukes keep on growing.  So I took pains to unthread the vines through the trellis, keeping all the vines that had inch-long cukes growing. 



Notice how I just left the vines sprawling all over the place.  And look at what I am still hopeful to harvest.



The scene was chaotic, but the kids had a blast playing in the garden with daddy.



But there was still a ton of work to do... and I had a party to go to in the evening!



Next task was to harvest every tomato that had any chance of ripening this winter wrapped in newspaper. I got a decent harvest, mostly of Early Girls.  I am on the look-out for an early variety slicer that's slightly bigger and NOT owned by Monsanto.  For salads I think I'll grow a couple cherry varieties.  But anyway, here is the harvest I still have to bleach and wrap in newsprint.



The next step was to attack the tomato jungle.  It was much easier to remove than the cukes because I wasn't saving it.



So all the dead vines and the totally green tomatoes went into the yard waste container.  I didn't want to spread the blight to the rest of my plants in my compost.  I don't have the means to kill it off like Cedar Grove likely does, especially since we can now compost meat and bones and pizza boxes etc.  /boggle

After the tomatoes came out the toughest task was next.  The pole beans twirl themselves up the trellis and were all but impossible to remove gently.  So all I could do was rip and rip and rip.  I only broke the trellis in two places.  It took forever, but I was in the zone.  During my demo I found about a pound of beans that were in various states of green/brownishness.  So I pulled them out and will attempt to dry them and harvest bean seed for next year.  I guess I'll have to figure out how to dry the beans now. Ah research!

The next time I stopped to take a picture, this is what I had left!



So the dauntiing task was finally finished.  We folded up the trellis and hung it and the tomato cages in the shed for next year.  A note on my shed.  It's 8x8 and very disorganized.  I've got shelves that I don't even use.  I really need to gut it and organize things better. I bet I could store a ton more stuff in there if I just had the time to do that.  Maybe this fall or winter I'll bundle up and head out there, set up a tarp to keep the stuff dry and organize.  Anyway, here is the shot I took as I was removing the 2x4s.



What a change from yesterday huh?



I didn't have time to set up the trellis, but I moved it over to the bed, and I also have to clean up the SWC for next year.  Unfortunately it's filled with water so it's going to be harder to empty.  Maybe I can handle both items some day this week if the weather holds and I can get home before the sun goes down.

Although based on DoubleD's advice I didn't want to set up the hoop covers, I did want to see how the hoops worked and train the PVC to bend right.  Unfortunately the first pipe I installed was an oopsie.  I didn't think of the fact that the small bed is only 3 feet wide rather than 4 feet.  The 3/4 inch pipe didn't bend well enough and it creased and broke.  Drat.  I didn't think of that before hand.  I should have gotten thinner walled PVC I guess.  Thankfully I bought more than I ended up using so I had extra and I can use the pieces for a top brace for the small bed.  But to try to train the PVC to bend that much, I bent it temporarily between the foreground holder and the second bed over.  The hoops look great together!



Hopefully in a week the PVC will bend enough to make it to two feet more to the bracket.  If not, i've got to re-think the materials for the hoop cover for that bed.  x this is me crossing my fingers, hehe.

Lastly, I am not sure what to do with Judy's marigolds.  They're mamoth.



But I don't want them under my hoop cover, unless they're perennial?  If not, i wonder if they'd hold up to being kept in a vase.  I could get a month or two of fresh flowers working through this 1 SF.  Speaking of flowers, I didn't take a picture, but that wind storm we had the other day destroyed my centerpiece rose bush. It's currently laying down in the rose garden.  /sigh  I hope if my aunt and I can butcher it it will stand back up and grow again.  If not it will be a major loss of a very mature rose bush.  Of course I would replace it with something other than pink, hehe.  Maybe yellow for my son.

So, going through my to-do list, here's what I crossed off.

• Plant garlic in the blueberry bed.  I couldn’t find out if it companions they dislike each other, but they companion with raspberries, so I’ll give it a shot.  I plan on planting six inches apart with I think 4 inch spacing.  My brother will set me straight and provide the seed from his 2008 harvest.  Keep it going in the family.


• Plant more lettuce, successioning it in October for late Winter harvest.  My existing lettuce is doing better such that I may even get some to harvest soon.


• Harvest final cukes and tomates for storage and ripening. 


• Rip out the beans, cukes and tomato plants.  I think the only ones I’ll compost are the beans because the rest have succumed to blight or mildew.  I don’t want to take the chance that it’ll carry on in my compost.


• Remove the trellis and install my old tiny 2×2 trellis with jute twine that I had up when I first started.  It will fit nicely under the hoop cover and be my only trellis this winter. I ran out of time... next week maybe, it'll go up easily but I may need to re-string it with twine.


• Buy the corregated roofs for my compost bins and install them.  The rainy season has started!


• Consider covering the beds. Not sure.  Maybe DoubleD will chime in to help me decide. Per DoubleD, not yet, see above.


• Buy a few bags of beauty bark and mulch the new blueberry bed.  Maybe install landscape fabric under it to keep the weeds and trees from creaping into it. I decided against the landscape fabric partly because I was lazy, partly I forgot and already had started, and partly didn't have that kind of time to sculpt the fabric around everything and get it covered with a limited amount of bark.  I may regret that. hehe


• Help my aunt transplant plants to wherever she wants them, including the one into my front yard. She didn't ask me, and she got my father to help do everything she needed. I'm sure I'll help tons once the new house closes next week.

So all in all, it was a very productive weekend.  And until I was writing about it, I didn't even think about the work week to come.  Perfect!  Just as a garden should do!

Hope you enjoyed your garden this weekend!

October 4, 2008

Boy am I sore, and not just because I got a tetnus booster Friday and my arm aches whenever I move it.  Today was a decent day, though I wish I'd got a bit more done.  The weather cooperated for the most part, it only rained slightly when I was working.  But most of my day was spent spinning my wheels.

I got the truck and went to Lowes, but I couldn't figure out what was the best option for covering my compost bins.  It looks like the best option is to buy 12' corregated fiberglass, but it's fairly expensive considering the bins and what fills them are free.  I would need 2 sheets at $18 a piece, and that's for the thin stuff.  Not going to break the bank, but is there a cheaper way?  I've asked my dad to go with me to help me figure it out tomorrow.  So much for checking that off my to-do list today. 

I did however, get the beauty bark there.  I got three bags total or 6 cubic feet.  One bag was pine dust and the other two were small piece beauty bark.  I figured since pine needles are very acidic, then pine bark would be too.  I put that down first, and then layered the beauty bark over it.





Not sure what I'll do against the house.  It's under the eve, but I don't want anything growing there either.  I've got a bag of sandy mulch that is left over from the compost rings I cut out around the fruit trees. Maybe I'll fill it in there. It won't look good but either that or I buy another bag of bark at the store tomorrow. Since it's only $3.50 I may just do that.  By the way, doesn't it look nice!  Now for the grass to grow back outside the bricks.

Another thing I checked off my list was to plant lettuce.  It was raining and terribly windy when I did it, so I just sprinkled a few seeds on the ground and covered them with some finished compost.  Note that I'm using the original batch that's been cooking nicely since I started my second bin.  I even transported a couple worms to my bed.  Doubt they'll survive, they never do in my beds for some reason.  But unfortunately, the packages of lettuce got wet in the rain. I hope the seeds are ok.  Since two of them are Monsanto owned now, I won't be buying them again.

The third thing off my list was to plant the garlic.  When I picked up the truck from my brother, I grabbed three of his biggest garlic heads.  Then I used a garden hand rake to clear the ground of beauty bark in five rows about three feet long in my old blueberry bed. 



These three were in between the two bushes, and the other two were on the other side of a bush.  I found a great deal of worms in the clay-heavy soil, as well as quite a few weed roots spreading out underneath the bark.  Very interesting, they weren't morning glories but they acted very much like them.  So I cleared out the area where I was planting the garlic to the best of my ability in the short time I had.  Then I used a hand shovel to break up the dirt in a small hole pattern where I would plant the clove.  Finally I covered the cloves with the beauty bark that I raked away.  According to my brother you plant them only a half-inch deep, but I think I went a bit more than that with bark.  Let's hope they make it through easily enough.



When I was talking to my brother, he questioned whether garlic would do ok in an acidic soil, and if so, would it change the taste of the garlic?  So I looked it up online (after I planted it, hehe live dangerously).  Apparently garlic likes slightly acidic soil.  Since I didn't amend the soil between the bushes except for beauty bark, which is slightly acidic, I should be fine. /whew!

I'm not sure what I'll go when I run out of space to plant between the bushes.  Maybe I'll get a kiddie pool and plant half garlic and half yukon gold potatoes in six inches of dirt.  Unfortunately I wouldn't want to put it on the grass where it would kill it.  Hehe maybe I could put it on the roof of my shed, kinda like a roof-top garden.  Wouldn't that be funny?

So unfortunately I only got three of my chores done today.  Thankfully tomorrow is supposed to be mostly cloudy with no rain.  That way I can get a ton done.

Before I went in though, I had to re-cover my potato bin several times because the wind was so strong that it blew off the tarp (I ended up weighing it down with a brick).  I also examined the cantaloupe plants.  Unfortunately they look like they're coming down with blight due to the damp dark weather we've been having.  Maybe I should use stakes to create a make-shift hoop cover and cover it with the plastic I'm using for the potato bin right next to it.  I think there's enough.  Anyway, here is the biggest cantaloupe growing to-date...



All the plants have females on them now, but I'm not holdling out hope for any but this and another one that are growing nicely after I juiced them with fertilizer.

Well, it's late and I've got a long day ahead of me.

Enjoy your garden!

October 3, 2008

Well, the week is over, and it appears for the time being, the financial industry has calmed down a bit.  Who knows what the bail-out package will turn out to do, but know this, the economy isn't getting better overnight.  Without confidence in the investment, credit and consumer markets, the stock market will ebb and flow, banks won't lend to each other, and people won't consume again.  And frankly I don't blame the consumers.  If they can't use their homes as ATMs (DO NOT DO THAT, pay off your mortgage as soon as possible), then they won't consume like money's going out of style.  In case you're wondering, I've done all this and it ain't that hard, even to keep it up for 5 years...

All that means that it's every family for themselves!  Take ownership of your own household.  Spend less, make a budget and stick to it. Cut out what you don't need.  Use that savings to put it away for a rainy day.  It may rain sooner than you think.  So try to build up 6 months of your budget in conservative savings accounts and let it sit there and don't spend it on anything unless you ABSOLUTELY need to.  It's as simple as that. 

OK, sorry for the rant, but someone's got to say SOMETHING about taking your own financial present and future seriously.  Oh, one more thing... start a garden, start one in a small sunny patch in your yard, on your patio, in pots or SWCs, wherever.  Just start growing something for your family to eat!  Lettuce, carrots, radishes, they're all amazingly easy to grow.  If you're not already a gardener, then start! 

Ok, for some reason I felt compelled to start with that.  Of course you're already a gardener, nobody comes here that doesn't garden.  So add a veggie, preserve something, bake some bread, stretch!  And let me know what you're doing...  Oh and if you want to start a budget and cut back voluntarily, let me know that too.  Or don't let me know, just do it!

So, for me, I couldn't be more happy about the weekend, despite the rainy weather we're having, I have tons to do and I'm excited to get started.  I called my brother to order up some garlic for planting and the truck for going shopping for beauty bark and corregated fiberglass.

Not sure how much I'll get done tomorrow (shopping for sure) as there's an 80% chance of rain.  But Sunday is supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of 58... burrrrr.   No problem, I've got sweatshirts I should pull out. 

Well, that's enough for me. I didn't have much but wanted to rant away. 

Enjoy your garden and start a budget...

October 2, 2008

Where has the year gone? Fall is here and it is time for winter planting and prep.  So this weekend, despite being crappy weather, will be busy in the yard.  But before my promised to-do list, a couple of things to mention.

The first is a great honor that my friends bestowed on me.  It started with Granny's Blog getting an "I Love Your Blog Award" which you have to pass along to seven more blogs, but she passed it on to a good mutual friend EG's Blog who generously passed it along to little ol' me.  /bush.  These two are great friends and extremely knowlegeable.  So I guess it's up to me to pass it along.  I don't normally do chain letters, but this is a worthwhile cause! ddf

It's a really really hard decision, I like so many blogs that I try to get to at least weekly.  But I think I have to go with one that couples both decades of gardening experience, well written prose and an amazing friendship and desire to help others, something gardening is ALL ABOUT!  Drum-roll please... A big thank you and endorsement to DoubleD's Blog!!!  She's local, she's always around to talk gardening or finanical news. She's a homesteader and the CFO of a major municipality in the PNW.  Who'd have thought a person like that would have the time!  She's nothing short of amazing!

 

 

 Boy was that a hard decision. If you could only see the blog section of my bookmarks, it's amazing!  I look forward to the weekend when I have time to cycle through them all.

Another difficult decision... I get a ton of spam.  Thankfully Judy fixed it so I have a spam stopper program, so it's much easier to control it.  They're easy to spot, a few words and a half-dozen URLs from places nobody would want to go.  However, today I got a different sort of spam comment.  For one it didn't get caught by the spam killer. For another, it was well written and polite.  Finally, it's an advertizement for not only a gardening product, but an organic one.  They wanted to give away organic bug spray to one of my readers.  I looked at their site and found that they sell at Albertson's down the street, so they're legit.  All pluses.  So, do here's the message she sent.  What do you think of it? Do you want to participate?  I could have them send it to me and then I'd forward it on to you so you didn't have to provide your address.  I'll leave it up to you.  Doesn't matter to me.

"Hi there!

My name is Alyssa I am with Branding Brand, an online marketing firm that represents EcoSMART, an organic bug spray that is 100% safe around children, plants & pets.

Given the interest of your blog, we’d love to give your blog readers the opportunity to win an EcoSMART product by randomly selecting someone that comments on any of your blog postings. It’s a great way to generate more interaction with your blog.
All we ask for in return is a link to our website (www.ecosmart.com/household) and for you to provide us with the address of the winner so we can send them their free can of EcoSMART (or we can send you the product to send to the winner).

If you’re interested please let me know.

Thanks!"

Ok, that done, here's my to-do list:

• Plant garlic in the blueberry bed.  I couldn't find out if it companions they dislike each other, but they companion with raspberries, so I'll give it a shot.  I plan on planting six inches apart with I think 4 inch spacing.  My brother will set me straight and provide the seed from his 2008 harvest.  Keep it going in the family.


• Plant more lettuce, successioning it in October for late Winter harvest.  My existing lettuce is doing better such that I may even get some to harvest soon.


• Harvest final cukes and tomates for storage and ripening. 


• Rip out the beans, cukes and tomato plants.  I think the only ones I'll compost are the beans because the rest have succumed to blight or mildew.  I don't want to take the chance that it'll carry on in my compost.


• Remove the trellis and install my old tiny 2x2 trellis with jute twine that I had up when I first started.  It will fit nicely under the hoop cover and be my only trellis this winter.


• Buy the corregated roofs for my compost bins and install them.  The rainy season has started!


• Consider covering the beds. Not sure.  Maybe DoubleD will chime in to help me decide.


• Buy a few bags of beauty bark and mulch the new blueberry bed.  Maybe install landscape fabric under it to keep the weeds and trees from creaping into it.


• Help my aunt transplant plants to wherever she wants them, including the one into my front yard.

Well, that's about it for my to-do list.  Another busy weekend. Let's hope Mother Nature cooperates.  Doubt it.  But that's what why we PNW gardeners have webbed feet, hehe.

Lastly, I have not been so happy with Master Gardener Smith and his Edibles column in the P-I.  Not particularly useful to me despite my love of fruit/veggie gardening.  Instead, this week's article from Ann Lovejoy was great!  It talked about composting and mulching with leaves, something we used to mulch last year and I plan on using for the final push for composting this year before it goes dormant for the season.  But then she mentions garlic and lettuce planting (two things on my to-do list).  Great article!

Enjoy your garden!