Sorry for the hiatus folks. I've gone from 12 hour days to 14+ this week, including my holiday, hehe. I know Wednesday was my watering day, but it just didn't happen. I'll try to get out there or convince my wife to do it.
The weather's been in the upper 40s to low 50s for quite a while. Sure it's been stormy, but what do the plants care for wind and rain under a hoop cover. I didn't expect them to get any light right now anyway, hehe.
I've been working slowly through my book, Four Season Harvest. So far it's a cross between we're so great and you can do it to. Some times I just want to start gardening books in the middle. Tell me what to do, if I wasn't interested in doing it, I wouldn't be reading the book, hehe.
So far, I've learned a number of interesting tid-bits. Like leaves aren't good for your compost. Who says? Ok, I guess I'll give you that they don't break down through normal decomposition, but every time I've thrown them in there you can't find them the next week or two. Besides, I mulch them up with a mower first. I think I'll be fine. The other thing I learned about leaves is while leaf mold is great for plants, it takes years to develop. Sorry, I don't have that kind of time to devote any part of my yard to. I'll stick to compost thanks.
Lastly today, I am reading about creating microclimates for your garden. The only thing I could do for my garden (since I can't move it to a "warm" spot of my yard) is to build a stone wall behind my garden to trap heat. I thought that was what my beige garage wall was doing, but if not, I've got six inches behind the beds I could do bricks. Naw, I'm guessing microclimates are more important in New England winters. This is the Pacific NW after all. We're not in zone 8b for nothing. If it gets to 20 degrees here the world ends, hehe. Of course my hoop covers don't keep my garden beds any warmer than outside the beds. Maybe it's a microclimate after all.
Sorry folks, I'd love to have waxed philosophically about some point of the book by now, but so far it's not been that enlightening. I'll think more and try to sneak a post in between sleep and work.
Enjoy your garden!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
November 9, 2008
Well, I'm exhausted after a good long full day. It started out with our kids graciously allowing us to sleep in a bit. I actually beat them up at 8. While the kids were waking up, I headed out to the garden. I didn't get out there yesterday and vowed to get a garden tour out. Besides, there were to-do items for the garden.
I'm getting back into the swing of gardening under cover. I've got watering pretty much down, having not done that since last April. But after that, I wanted to take some pictures for you all.
Here's the standard shot for comparison purposes.
It really is looking like much of the lettuce is actually ready for limited harvest. We won't be having daily salads, but I really would like to have a simple salad this week.
And if you notice, the succession lettuce that supposed to be ready come December and January...
Much of the succession lettuce needs to be thinned, and also have started growing their first true set of leaves. Perfect timing to thin and transplant. Not sure if any of it will take hold, but if nothing else, I've thinned it down to one plant per area. But if it all works out...
All these squares will provide daily salads in December and January! And next year I'll grow more squares of fall lettuce. Heaven knows I've got the room for it.
And in the front of that bed, look how well the carrots are growing... well at least this one so far!
Sorry for the bad photos, the camera doesn't do well under the covers. Not enough light I guess. hehe What does that say for the plants?
What does grow well under there are shooms. Sheesh, every week I clear these out!
But I can't say that plants don't grow well, look at these radishes...
Of course, getting home so late and not eatting well has resulted in me missing a great spinach salad with tomatoes, cukes and radishes. The tomatoes are rotten, the cukes are going to seed (yeah!) and look at these radishes!
But don't worry, those were just the past-prime ones. There are plenty more good ones where that came from.
The spinach has tons of huge leaves that are ready to eat. And boy do I want to eat them. Of course there's leaf miner rot, but not so bad that the rest isn't edible.
And what's that growing behind the spinach? Yep, my peas are gamely trying their best to grow in this weather. No doubt I should have planted them earlier. Who knew. Next year. But regardless, look at this!
I've counted no less than 5 blooms that will eventually produce peas. Of course I hope to see more growth and tons of blooms, but no sun's going to bake them, so I hope to have peas harvested all winter long.
Unfortunately, time slipped away from me and I didn't get a shot of my cauliflower, which is doing very well. The green onions are past their prime but probably still edible. The cukes are completely toast, but next weekend I should have some ready to try to save the seeds.
The reason I didn't have much time was that I wanted to make pancakes for the family and I needed to run to the store for eggs. Of course, the Dervaes just head outside to get eggs. No, I'm not going to get chickens, but someday I may.
After breakfast, I left the family yet again to head over to my folks house. We packed and moved two loads of stuff from the old house to the new house. The reason for the packing was that we've run out of boxes. No boxes, no packing. And as you may have suspected, the family is getting a bit frayed at the edges that it's taking so long. So this weekend we all started helping to pack. Unfortunately my dad's and brother's knees aren't what they used to be, so I ended up doing most of the box carrying. Up the stairs and down the stairs, all day long. Boy am I sore. Everyone was exhausted. But it was little old me telling folks to keep it moving as we lost light. Moving in the dark sucks.
Well, I'd hoped to take a nice hot bath to relax some of my sore muscles, but I think at 10 I'll be much better off if I just hit the sack. LLOONNGG week ahead of me. So I'll head to bed and finally start my book. Then I'll try like mad not to surf the garden sites on the bus ride, instead doing what I used to do before I got my blackberry... read a book on the bus.
I hope you enjoyed your garden this weekend, the weather cooperated for the most part around here!
I'm getting back into the swing of gardening under cover. I've got watering pretty much down, having not done that since last April. But after that, I wanted to take some pictures for you all.
Here's the standard shot for comparison purposes.
It really is looking like much of the lettuce is actually ready for limited harvest. We won't be having daily salads, but I really would like to have a simple salad this week.
And if you notice, the succession lettuce that supposed to be ready come December and January...
Much of the succession lettuce needs to be thinned, and also have started growing their first true set of leaves. Perfect timing to thin and transplant. Not sure if any of it will take hold, but if nothing else, I've thinned it down to one plant per area. But if it all works out...
All these squares will provide daily salads in December and January! And next year I'll grow more squares of fall lettuce. Heaven knows I've got the room for it.
And in the front of that bed, look how well the carrots are growing... well at least this one so far!
Sorry for the bad photos, the camera doesn't do well under the covers. Not enough light I guess. hehe What does that say for the plants?
What does grow well under there are shooms. Sheesh, every week I clear these out!
But I can't say that plants don't grow well, look at these radishes...
Of course, getting home so late and not eatting well has resulted in me missing a great spinach salad with tomatoes, cukes and radishes. The tomatoes are rotten, the cukes are going to seed (yeah!) and look at these radishes!
But don't worry, those were just the past-prime ones. There are plenty more good ones where that came from.
The spinach has tons of huge leaves that are ready to eat. And boy do I want to eat them. Of course there's leaf miner rot, but not so bad that the rest isn't edible.
And what's that growing behind the spinach? Yep, my peas are gamely trying their best to grow in this weather. No doubt I should have planted them earlier. Who knew. Next year. But regardless, look at this!
I've counted no less than 5 blooms that will eventually produce peas. Of course I hope to see more growth and tons of blooms, but no sun's going to bake them, so I hope to have peas harvested all winter long.
Unfortunately, time slipped away from me and I didn't get a shot of my cauliflower, which is doing very well. The green onions are past their prime but probably still edible. The cukes are completely toast, but next weekend I should have some ready to try to save the seeds.
The reason I didn't have much time was that I wanted to make pancakes for the family and I needed to run to the store for eggs. Of course, the Dervaes just head outside to get eggs. No, I'm not going to get chickens, but someday I may.
After breakfast, I left the family yet again to head over to my folks house. We packed and moved two loads of stuff from the old house to the new house. The reason for the packing was that we've run out of boxes. No boxes, no packing. And as you may have suspected, the family is getting a bit frayed at the edges that it's taking so long. So this weekend we all started helping to pack. Unfortunately my dad's and brother's knees aren't what they used to be, so I ended up doing most of the box carrying. Up the stairs and down the stairs, all day long. Boy am I sore. Everyone was exhausted. But it was little old me telling folks to keep it moving as we lost light. Moving in the dark sucks.
Well, I'd hoped to take a nice hot bath to relax some of my sore muscles, but I think at 10 I'll be much better off if I just hit the sack. LLOONNGG week ahead of me. So I'll head to bed and finally start my book. Then I'll try like mad not to surf the garden sites on the bus ride, instead doing what I used to do before I got my blackberry... read a book on the bus.
I hope you enjoyed your garden this weekend, the weather cooperated for the most part around here!
Friday, November 7, 2008
November 7, 2008
Dang Horizon Air. I spent 3 hours running all over Sea Tac airport trying to catch a ride to Spokane for the groundbreaking ceremony of a project over there. Unfortunately they didn't inform anyone that it was canceled until you got to the gate. Then after waiting in a half hour line with the rest of the passengers I found out that the next flight was overbooked and the one I was on would get me there an hour after the event ended, and an hour before I was to return. Insane! Thank goodness the client agreed and the kind folks at the gate on the other end of the airport took pity on me and refunded my money. On the bright note, I found that it's painless to take the bus from downtown Seattle to the airport and it's only $1.50, compared to the $45 I spent on the cab ride down there.
Also unfortunately I didn't get a chance to crack my book. Though I did want to thank the folks who thought it was a good idea to have a discussion about the points I find interesting in there. I am really looking forward to reading it. However, I got back to work around 1 and immediately hit a wall. 12 to 14 hour days will do that to you I guess. I'm not as young as I used to be.
Of course that didn't stop me from going out to dinner and a very fun showing of the Little Mermaid at the Seattle Aquarium. The kids had a blast seeing the wall of fish (a floor to two-story ceiling aquarium with tons of fish in it), and the octopi that were HUGE. Very cool! Then it was candy, popcorn and juice while they watched the movie.
The only garden thing I'll comment on is that we've had several days of winter storms. Heavy rains (flooding in outlying areas) and extreme winds. Not only did my garden stay warm and dry, but my hoop covers held up like the troopers they are! Hehe. Pretty cool.
Well, we start moving again at 9 am but hopefully I'll get out to take some pics of the garden to share before I head out.
Enjoy your garden!
Also unfortunately I didn't get a chance to crack my book. Though I did want to thank the folks who thought it was a good idea to have a discussion about the points I find interesting in there. I am really looking forward to reading it. However, I got back to work around 1 and immediately hit a wall. 12 to 14 hour days will do that to you I guess. I'm not as young as I used to be.
Of course that didn't stop me from going out to dinner and a very fun showing of the Little Mermaid at the Seattle Aquarium. The kids had a blast seeing the wall of fish (a floor to two-story ceiling aquarium with tons of fish in it), and the octopi that were HUGE. Very cool! Then it was candy, popcorn and juice while they watched the movie.
The only garden thing I'll comment on is that we've had several days of winter storms. Heavy rains (flooding in outlying areas) and extreme winds. Not only did my garden stay warm and dry, but my hoop covers held up like the troopers they are! Hehe. Pretty cool.
Well, we start moving again at 9 am but hopefully I'll get out to take some pics of the garden to share before I head out.
Enjoy your garden!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
November 6, 2008
Wow, I think I've worked more than I've done everything else over the last several days. Insane. And the truely sad part is it isn't getting any better anytime soon. At least tomorrow I've decided when I get back from Spokane at 5pm I'm going home. I've GOT to get some real rest before working all weekend at my folks houses, helping them move.
So, tonight, getting home after 14 hours of work, I went out to visit the garden with a flashlight. I needed to water. Ironic that I needed to water in a flash flood rain storm. With the hoop covers up, my plants could easily die without water in the pouring rain. The odd part is that the weather's not been particularly cold since I put them up. Well, we did have one or two cold nights, but the rest of this time has had lows in the 40s. That, and I know my Mel's Mix could handle even the worst down pours. Instead I used potable water to give my veggies a drink.
The cool part is that it looked that my plants have grown since last week. At least by the light of a flashlight they looked bigger. I may even try to convince my wife to make me a salad some night when I leave work. Maybe.
On a separate note, my wife picked up my book from the library. So I'm about to start Four Season Harvest. I was thinking, if I learn great things out of it on a regular basis, maybe I'll comment on them here, providing fodder for my blog. How does that sound? Just a thought.
Enjoy your garden and start bailing...
So, tonight, getting home after 14 hours of work, I went out to visit the garden with a flashlight. I needed to water. Ironic that I needed to water in a flash flood rain storm. With the hoop covers up, my plants could easily die without water in the pouring rain. The odd part is that the weather's not been particularly cold since I put them up. Well, we did have one or two cold nights, but the rest of this time has had lows in the 40s. That, and I know my Mel's Mix could handle even the worst down pours. Instead I used potable water to give my veggies a drink.
The cool part is that it looked that my plants have grown since last week. At least by the light of a flashlight they looked bigger. I may even try to convince my wife to make me a salad some night when I leave work. Maybe.
On a separate note, my wife picked up my book from the library. So I'm about to start Four Season Harvest. I was thinking, if I learn great things out of it on a regular basis, maybe I'll comment on them here, providing fodder for my blog. How does that sound? Just a thought.
Enjoy your garden and start bailing...
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
November 4, 2008
Election day is here and gone, and thus ends the nearly 2 years of political junk. Ah, no more negative adds that are so clearly garbage it's laughable. Anyhow, I really hope you voted. How you voted is totally up to you, but I hope you made an informed decision and looked at all sides.
Sorry that I haven't been posting a ton lately. Mostly it's because there's nothing to say. My garden is growing, slowly. But frankly, I haven't seen it so I can't really report on it. I have always had a goal to post daily updates, but I'm running out of things to say.
I will say that yesterday I finished the first draft of my article for Garden Girl's ezine. And thanks to the comments, I think I found my muse and wrapped it up perfectly. Of course, we'll see. I've never done something like this, but it's fun. And honestly, since I wanted to make people realize that they too could start a garden with absolutely no experience and a black thumb and still grow amazing produce for their family, this allows me to reach more people. It's all good.
Another random comment I will make is that a month ago our wonderful city decided to switch to bi-weekly yard waste and recycling on alternating weeks. I was against it and told them so. We create more recycling than one can recycle every other week. As for the yard waste, with all the other stuff we can recycle now, I'm not sure I want Cedar Grove's compost, hehe. Thank goodness I make my own! Anyway, today is the day to put out the yard waste container (of course my recycling bin is full). Driving home I didn't see one person having theirs out. Much as I'd like to hope they all had compost bins for their yard waste, I think it's that nobody's raking their leaves until all the leaves have fallen. I for one am waiting to put them into the bins until I only have to rake once. Hehe actually I don't rake. Since I've got to mow them into little pieces anyway, that's how I get them scooped up. And anything that remains on the ground will compost in place. Bonus.
Well, I'm exhausted, so time to hit the sack. Tomorrow I need to water.
Enjoy your garden!
Sorry that I haven't been posting a ton lately. Mostly it's because there's nothing to say. My garden is growing, slowly. But frankly, I haven't seen it so I can't really report on it. I have always had a goal to post daily updates, but I'm running out of things to say.
I will say that yesterday I finished the first draft of my article for Garden Girl's ezine. And thanks to the comments, I think I found my muse and wrapped it up perfectly. Of course, we'll see. I've never done something like this, but it's fun. And honestly, since I wanted to make people realize that they too could start a garden with absolutely no experience and a black thumb and still grow amazing produce for their family, this allows me to reach more people. It's all good.
Another random comment I will make is that a month ago our wonderful city decided to switch to bi-weekly yard waste and recycling on alternating weeks. I was against it and told them so. We create more recycling than one can recycle every other week. As for the yard waste, with all the other stuff we can recycle now, I'm not sure I want Cedar Grove's compost, hehe. Thank goodness I make my own! Anyway, today is the day to put out the yard waste container (of course my recycling bin is full). Driving home I didn't see one person having theirs out. Much as I'd like to hope they all had compost bins for their yard waste, I think it's that nobody's raking their leaves until all the leaves have fallen. I for one am waiting to put them into the bins until I only have to rake once. Hehe actually I don't rake. Since I've got to mow them into little pieces anyway, that's how I get them scooped up. And anything that remains on the ground will compost in place. Bonus.
Well, I'm exhausted, so time to hit the sack. Tomorrow I need to water.
Enjoy your garden!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
November 2, 2008
Well, today was fun and productive. It started out very early, since kids don't understand day-light-savings. And since I'm the one that gets up with the kids on Sundays, I didn't get to sleep in. But the kids and I played and had fun. The Pumpkin Fairy came last night and traded 95% of their candy for a build a bear stuffed animal. Much better for their teeth, hehe. So we played with their new friends until mommy woke up and then I made french toast and smoothies for breakfast. When the rain cleared for a bit, the kids and I went out to play.
I cleaned out the two SWCs. The new one I built survived nicely to grow another day. But Toasty's handmedown didn't fair so well. It broke in several places so it's no longer water tight. So I guess I'll recycle the plastic and build several new ones for next year. Just a hint. I recall finding the bins on sale for spring cleaning at the big box stores. That's when they get in their major inventories and need to get them out of the store cheap. That's when I'll build a few more.
The dirt went on top of the compost bin. Supposedly it helps to add compost to a compost bin, so how about a ton of used Mel's Mix. I also mowed up all the fallen leaves in the back yard and dumped the mulch into the compost. When I added the kitchen compost though, it smelled to high heaven. What that told me was that the lid on my kitchen compost bucket is doing great! No smell or bugs get in or out.
In the garden I finally cut the excess plastic from my original bed that I had been bunching up on the ground, and added it to the back of bed #3 to completely cover it with plastic. While I was doing that. I noticed I only have a handful of tiny cukes growing. The weather has really stunted their growth, as has the complete blight of the vines. My hope is that the cukes will grow bigger and turn yellow so I can harvest seeds from them. Why not? I've only got three seeds of each variety left to plant next year. Hopefully I can harvest a bunch of seeds to make more pickles next year and the year after and after!
Five minutes after we came in, the sky opened up and it starte pouring rain. I knew there was an 80% chance of rain for a reason. hehe
After lunch I went over and did a load of stuff worth of moving. After working in the garden, all those stairs was a bit much. We were all cranky so after one load we decided to call it a day. It was dark when I got home so I played with the kids until bed time and then snuggled in for the evening in front of the computer.
You see, while I was moving I got an email from none-other-than Patti the Garden Girl! I'm a member of her message board (among many other boards), but she's brought together experts in various fields and created someplace special to get questions answered and have discussions about all aspects of urban sustainability. It's a cool place. So anyway, the email wasn't her regular newsletter. It was addressed to me. She wanted to know if I'd write about my story for her ezine! Very cool. So I spent a few hours drafting something up. And if I'm lucky, I'll get to write again for her readers. Little old me. Who'd have guessed? I'm nothing special, but hard work and tons of failure has taught me a lot. Funny though, I post here and elsewhere every day, and I write for a living. But for some reason this assignment is hard. I guess I want it to be perfect, and I'm so not perfect in anything else I do. Sometimes it's a problem at work, but I am less concerned with perfection than the big picture. Now I get to refine and rewrite until it's as good as I can make it. It'll be fun. Anyway...
Enjoy your garden!
I cleaned out the two SWCs. The new one I built survived nicely to grow another day. But Toasty's handmedown didn't fair so well. It broke in several places so it's no longer water tight. So I guess I'll recycle the plastic and build several new ones for next year. Just a hint. I recall finding the bins on sale for spring cleaning at the big box stores. That's when they get in their major inventories and need to get them out of the store cheap. That's when I'll build a few more.
The dirt went on top of the compost bin. Supposedly it helps to add compost to a compost bin, so how about a ton of used Mel's Mix. I also mowed up all the fallen leaves in the back yard and dumped the mulch into the compost. When I added the kitchen compost though, it smelled to high heaven. What that told me was that the lid on my kitchen compost bucket is doing great! No smell or bugs get in or out.
In the garden I finally cut the excess plastic from my original bed that I had been bunching up on the ground, and added it to the back of bed #3 to completely cover it with plastic. While I was doing that. I noticed I only have a handful of tiny cukes growing. The weather has really stunted their growth, as has the complete blight of the vines. My hope is that the cukes will grow bigger and turn yellow so I can harvest seeds from them. Why not? I've only got three seeds of each variety left to plant next year. Hopefully I can harvest a bunch of seeds to make more pickles next year and the year after and after!
Five minutes after we came in, the sky opened up and it starte pouring rain. I knew there was an 80% chance of rain for a reason. hehe
After lunch I went over and did a load of stuff worth of moving. After working in the garden, all those stairs was a bit much. We were all cranky so after one load we decided to call it a day. It was dark when I got home so I played with the kids until bed time and then snuggled in for the evening in front of the computer.
You see, while I was moving I got an email from none-other-than Patti the Garden Girl! I'm a member of her message board (among many other boards), but she's brought together experts in various fields and created someplace special to get questions answered and have discussions about all aspects of urban sustainability. It's a cool place. So anyway, the email wasn't her regular newsletter. It was addressed to me. She wanted to know if I'd write about my story for her ezine! Very cool. So I spent a few hours drafting something up. And if I'm lucky, I'll get to write again for her readers. Little old me. Who'd have guessed? I'm nothing special, but hard work and tons of failure has taught me a lot. Funny though, I post here and elsewhere every day, and I write for a living. But for some reason this assignment is hard. I guess I want it to be perfect, and I'm so not perfect in anything else I do. Sometimes it's a problem at work, but I am less concerned with perfection than the big picture. Now I get to refine and rewrite until it's as good as I can make it. It'll be fun. Anyway...
Enjoy your garden!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
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!
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!
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