Cold returns

Its cold out there today,  some bits of sun, but the wind really does it.
The apple trees are starting to show green leaves. I have not seen hide nor hair of the Jerusalem Fartichokes, so i don't know if that row became a winter larder for a number of small woodland creatures...      The lilies are starting to poke through, the Toronto tulips are beginning to open:

the Fritillaria imperialis is blooming along with an offshoot:

 A look inside the greenhouses

those are the Marigolds

these are the assorted veggies, i can see one Imperial Star artichoke is up and one melon and a summer squash so far.

this is the littler greenhouse and the peat pellets have the Collards and the Pak Choi that have sprouted. The Red Russian kale is also up, but its in one of the seed flats and i want to keep the heat in that one.  I took the pics from the bigger greenhouse by opening the vent in the back.  Its a few degrees warmer inside them and very noticeable.

The grape seems happy enough.  Still no idea where i'm going to put it.

Closer shot of one of the Toronto tulips.

Yesterday i got another flat all planted (this was the windy day re-do),  i did :

Genovese Basil
Garden Sage
French Thyme
Curled Chervil
Greek Oregano
Sweet Marjoram
Anise
and
Sweet Basil


I got the email that my Richters order has shipped:

     1 pkt  S1382     Bergamot, Lemon Seeds
     1 pkt  S2283     Echinacea, Yellow Seeds
     1 pkt  S4122     Mulberry Seeds
     1 pkt  S4510     Pleurisy Root Seeds 
     1 pkt  S5040     Roseroot Seeds 
     1 pkt  S5370     Seabuckthorn Seeds 
     1 pkt  S6925     Wolfberry, Chinese Seeds
     1 pkt  S4102     Motherwort, Siberian Seeds
     1 pkt  S4270     Nettle, Stinging Seeds                












And my order confirmation from Specialty Perennials:

LE29-A8       Leonotis leonurus 'Lions Ear'                                        2       
RU2B-A7     Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors'                                   1       
MDPR-A7   Monarda didyma 'Panorama Red Shades'                      1
HGN8-A7   Scabiosa caucasica 'House Hybrids'(Special Offer)         1
RP05-R        Paeonia anomala(Special Offer)                                     1


So my ginormous seed list is going to get bigger. I resisted the urge to get any Asclepias from SP, though i was done in by the special offers that appear during checkout- they really are pretty good deals, around half off.
Excuses, excuses.


Oh, and i am going to buy a small electric fence setup to protect the garden:
Woodchuck Fry-up

The negative review it got seems to have been written by a nincompoop. Scary that his username implies that he is a pilot.
I have researched a similar setup and it gets decent reviews, plus since we have a local Tractor Supply i'm having it shipped there and if i have issues with it, i can go right there to discuss the problem or return it.

The hoophouse idea is supposed to keep out bugs pretty well, but i am not expecting it to keep out woodchucks.  I was hoping the dog might deter them, but i am not counting on that either, and likely it would be too late to find out even if so.   I was thinking i'd just fence the garden off with something like tomato fence or chicken wire, but i read they can climb that and i don't feel like discovering that they have some sunny day.
So i might as well go with a zapper.  It looks like it would cost the same anyway, the number of metal fence posts i'd need for the chicken wire- or even wooden stakes plus the wire itself...
I expect to get two rounds of wire from this, one low and one a few inches higher.

We'll see how it goes!

Good day for just browsing.

Cooler today, a bit of rain yesterday evening and i think a little overnight. The good thing about having the mini greenhouses is the waterproof  vertical storage. I just zip them closed before it rains and everything inside is safe...as long as the towers don't fall over.

I think i finally got the Jiffy mix in the flats to absorb water. It took a heating pad to warm it to the verge of melting the plastic of the flat and then putting them all outside on the pavement during our almost 80 degree weather from yesterday. Plus constant spraying under the clear dome.  It cooled off overnight quite a bit so i have the flats back inside to get a bit warmer before i plant them up.

But i did some houseplant maintenance, potted up some cuttings i had rooted a very long time ago that have been languishing on the windowsill in tiny glasses of water.
I don't have a lot of pots to use since i plan to pot some of them all up together in a display in a 10 gallon tank- terrarium style, so i used a soda bottle design similar to what is shown here:
Pop Bottle Pots

I found two more places that i'd like to buy plants or seeds at (quick, take my purse and put me in a straitjacket!)

This place has a great assortment of unusual flower seeds, most hardy to my zone 5.
Specialty Perennials

From what i understand, it is a one-man operation and he sometimes gets swamped with orders, so if you order, do so early and expect to wait a while lol

He has a wonderful list of Asclepiads -- aka, Milkweed...  or Hoyas! One of my most favorite groups of plants with fascinating flowers and yummy scents.
I have a house collection of Hoyas, i may begin collecting outdoor types, which are best known as the Milkweeds.  I'm kind of bored with many of the classic flowerbed plants so i think i might enjoy getting some great seeds from SP.

This store also has stuff i love, Hens & Chicks, Semps, Echis....etc.
Squaw Mountain Gardens
I spend a lot of time just looking. Many of these are hardy to my zone. I might re-do the spot i have the Silky Dogwood, Burgundy Hydrangea and the Purple Smoke Bush.... turn it into a rock garden... somehow.  I want to move the Silky Dogwood anyway. I love its berries, but its getting too ungainly and the three bushes are too big to fit well there now.

Anyhow, i got my Hen & Chicks seeds planted and i found a spot for the heat mat since i need to keep the flat at 70 degrees for a while.  They can germinate in a few days or it may be a year... we'll see how it goes!

I also managed to pot up the pathetic little horseradish roots i bought for around $4 at Lowe's.  I dug through the whole box, embarrassing my daughter, just to find the only bag with two roots that were at least the size of my index finger. I don't expect much from them.


So far today, no rain. Cloudy though.

Quiet day, so far.

Expecting rain today, which means there won't be a lot of outside time. Good thing its not supposed to be heavy rain.

I moved the new plant tower out to the driveway to catch any available sun before the clouds take over completely, and this time i strapped the thing to the post of the basketball hoop with a length of stout airline cable my hubby had for tying down the bicycles when the neighborhood kids were in theft mode.

If that doesn't hold i down i will have to stake it to the ground i guess.


Here's the one that behaves:

I need to move it out to full sun soon as well and then the covers can probably come off when the rain moves on.



Pictures of sprouts:

broccoli

buttercrunch lettuce

shallots and Welsh onions

the rosemary that wasn't expected to do anything

I added my seed stash list yesterday, it is going to take some time to finish it. I am amazed at how many different seeds i have. Total junkie. They aren't all veggies either. But a lot are old and i tried to use those up this year -not expecting much of them.
I also ordered more herb and 'stuff' seeds from Richters...


I have been trying to find one plant for about 16 years.

It was a plant i saw when i was visiting my sister when she lived in San Diego, CA. It was some sort of  silvery colored mint that had a bergamot look to it, had those whorled clumps of flowers... i had picked a single cluster because i liked the smell and i brought it back with me and kept it in the console of my car for a few years before it disintegrated.

  I have tried a few plants that turned out to not be it, from wild monardas and cultivated bee balm, to pennyroyal, jerusalem sage and even leonits leonura....    i think i may have finally found it, maybe. It is a leonotis but it is siberica  (Siberian Motherwort) i am trying it out this year. I'm pretty well anchored by smells and i think if it is the right one i will know right off... the leaves are different from monardas- which is how i was also pretty certain they were not the ones as they were growing from seed...
The smell was a little citrusy, minty and herbal.  I am also trying out monarda citrodora just in case.


So, we will see.  But its been a very long search and it might not be over yet.

I prepped up 3 more flats to re sow my herbs that got bunked yesterday. I ran out to the Miracle Grow seed mix so i had bought some Jiffy.  Big difference in textures. The MG seed stuff is much like regular potting soil, spongy and heavy. The juffy mix is very light and almost pure vermiculite and powdered peat.  I'm used to using peat pellets so i am not very well versed on the pros and cons of different brand mixes. But i really like the fine texture of the Jiffy mix. If it works out well i might use only that from year to year.

It does seem dryer though, and if i were to spray it with a regular spray bottle to water the seeds, it would just blow away. I even bought the bags that felt heaviest to be sure i didn't get mix that had dried out too much. I watered the bottoms of the flats heavily and i am going to see if the mix will draw up the water so i don't have to spray,  if it was sunny out today i'd put the flats on the driveway with the clear domes on top and that would evaporate the water to the top. But they are just sitting on my counter for now....  does not look or feel like the mix is pulling the water in yet.  I need to buy a pump mister anyway, i need it for seedlings, but it could also help with this.


I hope my dad will be able to get the tractor out this weekend to rototill the plot....  we need to get that ryegrass tilled under and decomposing. The weeds need to be disrupted too... later any survivors will meet the Mantis tiller, then planting can happen and then i can get the hoops up... or i'll hoop it first.  Have not decided.  I also wanted to lay down some plastic to get the soil warmer faster...  but i think i have 45 days left and when i can only get help on weekends,  we are running out of them.

Eep! 

It is all very exciting for me cause i love this stuff.

Wind...its a big pain in the tusch.

So, i got my new Flower Tower mini greenhouse this morning. I put it together.

Its nice, a tad bigger than my other one and probably about as sturdy, the clear vinyl cover is more heavy duty and the  seams are reinforced. The zippers are also more rugged.

It wasn't windy at all this morning when i started putting it together and it was only slightly breezy when it was done. Just enough to move your hair a bit... i set the Tower up next to the long side of the house.
I didn't figure it would be smart to put anything in it without bracing it with something, so i put a couple bricks and a short piece of 2x4 on the bottom shelf along with 2 extra bags of seed starting mix for good measure. Then i took the seed trays i had prepared this morning- herbs, some veggies and a type of flower or two and put them on the second to the bottom shelf, figuring it wouldn't be wise to make it top heavy.  I left the zippered door open and the vent it has on the back-  thought this would keep it from catching a gust under the cover and lifting it.  Still only lightly breezy out...  went into the house to do some household stuff...   about 20 minutes later i heard a noise that could only be a lightweight, hobby style greenhouse falling over...

It had fallen over in a rogue gust and tipped my seed trays out into the clear domes... ok.... this stinks... but i won't get mad.
I took an empty Sterilite tote and just dumped the soil into it. I had planted some large seeds- like Okra, Birdhouse Gourd and some Nasturtiums.

Easy to ID and find.
So i found all of those seeds ok.

Other seeds i planted were tiny stuff, oregano, marjoram, peppermint... total loss there. I didn't want to waste the soil and even putting it in the compost would be a waste cause its seed starting mix and i only have so much of that. So i decided to just leave it in the tote and i can use it a bit later to sow my onions into it... onion sprouts are distinctive enough that if any of the herbs sprout i won't have a bunch of mystery seedlings.

So, since i emptied the flats for reuse later i set them aside and moved the greenhouse a bit more snug to the house, replaced the weights and went back inside.  A few minutes later, i hear a really strange noise...  it sounds like a small, hobby greenhouse flying through the air.

Ok.... somehow, the wind got under it in a way that it had to have lifted it about 10-15 feet in the air to move it between the basketball hoop and the roof edge (which is too narrow for it to pass between) and set it down about 20 feet away, scattering the wire shelves, wiping out my now-empty seed trays and distributing my plastic seed labels all over the back yard.  It somehow bucked out the weight items and took off.

Greenhouse still with barely a scratch...  amazing. lol  The seed trays are amazingly still intact as well.

So, now i have it under the overhang, pinched between the stroller, the step and the gas grill....  let's see it try to fly away now.


Sometime later today i will get the chance to re-plant the seeds i lost.

*sigh*

I just hope this isn't a preview of things to come: Me, chasing 30' lengths of white row cover all over the yard, out the driveway and down the street.

But in a way it is funny, i bet it looked really cool up about 10 feet in the air. It must have landed gently cause it isn't the worse for wear.

I thought i was going to get ahead of things today. I woke up really early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so i got up and made myself a coffee. With nobody to bother me or get in my way, i had the kitchen cleaned and the dishes done. I picked up the living room too and everyone got up just before i took the vacuum around the house. 
So it looked like i was going to be able to get more seeds going--and i did until the flying greenhouse incident.

I didn't get any pictures.

I think the little one is going to be having finger-foods for lunch today so i can sit with her, but i can be replanting instead of  feeding and dodging purees.

Frost dates of America and more seeds started.

I found a great link for average frost dates for each state and even Canada:

Freeze/Frost Dates

I may be able to recalculate my "Days 'till Planting"  estimate since the one i use is anecdotal based on what i have been told since i was little.

"Don't plant anything until Memorial Day weekend".

I just kinda went with this, but the more i study it, it seems that a number of things can be planted well before that date.  Seeds cane even be sown before then also.  It never meant anything to me because i usually didn't have a lot of luck in tiny spaces, and had seedlings eaten by slugs and replaced them with nursery-grown. Or if i did use my own seedlings and they survived the slugs (usually tomatoes) we weren't dependent on it.  We won't really be dependent on it this year if all goes well, but i have read that a good sized, well tended home garden could save a family of 4 an estimated $500-1,000 a year in food costs...and that is the low end estimate i remember reading.  From a book more than 10 years old.   Yes there is cost outlay in supplies and tools, but most tools can last many years and supplies can also...

i'm thinking of my Remay...
i'm not so sure that will last a second season, but it might surprise me- but if it saves me even half its cost in what i would spend on bug chemicals - it will be nice cause last time i  did get a garden going the sweet peppers were colonized by earwigs, the tomatoes got hornworms (stripped the plants bare in 3 days) in late July- too late to replant...

I should have known better than to try a garden that year for the rain and me, still not fully recovered...  i hope i can manage this year, that's where the older daughter will have to step in.

My goodness, all this planning and i don't  even know if i am physically capable of doing it.  I must be crazy. *sigh*

...anyway, frost dates.  I just went by them and didn't know quite why. But i like the seed starting... this is something my grandparents did, but my parents didn't..  We always had a garden when i was growing up. I remember weeding and picking green beans in the hot sun when i was expected to do it as chore work... and i remember pinching tomatoes and a cucumber or two when i was out playing but didn't want to admit i was hungry lest i be expected to come inside and sit at the table then help clean it up.

Uggh, its a nice day. i can't focus.

So, i'm learning that with things like broccoli and carrots and kale, frost dates might not mean all that much even up here in zone 5.  I realized that some seeds can be planted outside weeks before the last frost date (and i don't mean just radishes) and with the use of low tunnel or hoop houses, the types of early seed increases.

I think its pretty exciting to realize that my limited growing season isn't set in stone as rigidly  as i had thought.
And i would like to be able to have as much of this garden understanding  as i can so that if we do need to depend on it some day, it won't feel like a reality check and it will almost come naturally.


Today's Seed Starting:

Kohlrabi, Purple Vienna- Pinetree
Kale, Red Russian- Pinetree
Italian Oregano- organic, Park Seeds
Chives, organic- Park Seeds
Burdock, Takinogawa Long- Pinetree
Italian Parsley- Richters
Winter Savory- Richters

I think it might be safe to sow the French Marigolds, i may get to that tonight, or first chance i get tomorrow.

I read another interesting tidbit today. To plant peppers in threes.... when the seedlings get their first set of true leaves, snip the weakest of the three, and let the remaining two grow as one plant.  The leaves protect the fruit from sun scald better than when grown alone.  I guess the two plants don't compete with each other.  I think i will try this.

I have cleaning to do now and the baby-naps are getting shorter and shorter! :)

Rain and little Mini Greenhouses

3.07'' of rain is what they tell me we got from the last day or so.  The sump in the basement has been triggering here and there, but its really just upwell seepage and not over the wall flooding- so though annoying, it is not truly damaging....  but then i have not been down to see it since yesterday morning when i had to go down there for some fish tank odds and ends.

I found what looks to be a good deal on another mini greenhouse seed shelf:
Flower Tower

It is much like the one i got 2 years ago and that i like very much, but this also comes with not just the clear cover, but a tinted shade cover and a black-out cover.
Not sure how well made the extra covers are, but the price of $49 for each unit is better than the replacement price for the one i already own- which i can't find for under $65 now... then add shipping. 
But the extra covers are the deal breaker. I have seen replacement covers- just the clear one- cost over $20.

Two Flower Towers with shipping come to $123.30

So, yes.... mentally i am justifying the price!

I can use the shade and blackout for the mushroom projects i plan to begin later in the fall, and if i do try growing seedlings under lights again, the blackout will make a bright shelf easier to live with indoors and keep the seedlings from reaching for the windows when the lights are off.

I think i will try just one for now though. There is no shipping discount on multiple items. I just hope the price won't go up between now and when i want the second one!

...especially since i just bought two more garden books for the eReader...

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
 by Eliot Coleman
and
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times
by Steve Solomon

these links go to Amazon, but i got my eBooks from Sony/Border's bookstore. Great prices!

So i'll be busy reading..!  Yay!

Well, children allowing, lol

Rosemary pie...?

Before i sowed my rosemary seeds, i tried to read up on how best to go about it. Half of the sites i encountered claimed that rosemary was bordering on impossible to germinate and took forever- better start with cuttings. I even found a paragraph on the garden watchdog site where a person was berating Richter's rosemary seed age and germination rates.

My seeds are from Richter's ... so i was thinking, maybe this was going to have been a disappointing waste of my money, since my Rosemary seed are from last year and not fresh right off the bat.
So i sowed the whole packet, i didn't even squander a precious seed flat on the doomed seeds,  i sacrificed a single pie tin and about 3 handfuls of soil covered with a sheet of clingwrap.  The seeds were planted 3-19-10 and set in the window sill of the bathroom upstairs in anticipation of being forgotten with no regrets and no expectations....

and imagine my surprise when i happened to go to the window and move something...and i saw a few specks of green...

So, since i didn't wintersow them, i have to provide light artificially for now because its too cold to plunk them outside. 

Planting tool....
Ok, so i'd say "i need a hobby" when i get excited enough about a new found tool to blog about it, but its a rainy day and i'm too achy to do much housework and i thought it was such a neat thing i took pictures of it.
 
But this IS my hobby.


Ha-ha....

 Strawberry seeds are tiny... not the tiniest seeds on the planet, but very small!
And there are neat things that can be begged off the nurses at the Pediatrician's office.

I don't  know if they simply call it a probe or if it has a special extractive name, but its a pencil shaped tool for extracting things from kids' ears, noses and who knows where else a small child will stuff any number of foreign objects. They come in a few sizes, but this one looked immediately promising from the second i saw it: 

Handy-dandy tiny seed tool.

See how small they are in their cozy little glassine packet?

When i dredge the stick in the packet, it tends to pick up only one teeny seed at a time, exactly what i want. My fingers are too dull to do this job as they are.  So this is an awesome help!

So i was able to plant 27 seeds into 27 Kcups with little effort and i didn't drop any. No seedlings wasted to thinning.  Strawberries are a little iffy in germinating, so this is probably the best way to go about it.


Apple trees.

Hubby went to Home Depot during his lunch break and i had him pick me up a pint of Bonide Fruit Tree spray.  I don't think it is organic, but this year i'm going to simply attack the apple problem with the biggest guns i can find.  I can go organic once i get other preventative measures in place- like deep fertilization, companion plantings-( the ring of chives and welsh onions i plan to plant at their bases) and i can get the trees pruned correctly and get their trunks straightened.  So the non-organic spray will hopefully beat out anything that might add to their weaknesses...

SFG.

I need to figure out if my soil will be fertile enough to do the square foot gardening system this year. It looks like the method begins with raised beds...which i  am not going to do, and they want you to use a combo of premixed soil, compost and vermiculite.  I need to find a way to make sure that after my large amount of kitchen compost (from the outdoor Darth Vader helmet-like composter) and the worm castings from the indoor worm hotel, plus the horse manure and the tilled-in rye grass will be potent enough to feed my plants in such tight spacing. I also need to look at drainage of the soil....  vermiculite might be a challenge to find in large quantities,  i can get peat moss in large bales though.

I won't know any of this until it is all tilled and mixed together... but i want to be prepared if i have to buy more amendments.

So, those are the things i am thinking of on a rainy Tuesday afternoon.... with 52 days left 'till last frost date.

Another Monday...

And its raining, which is fine. Its tomorrow that will be the problem, quite a bit of rain is expected. Along with wind.
The mini greenhouse is holding up and so is the makeshift seedling box.  I managed to get the six-pack flat to accept water enough to sow some Oriental Poppies in it. I hope i get many viable plants from it. I love poppies.

My dad's birthday was this Saturday, so he took the day for himself as he should.  But he did tell me that he works with a guy who boards horses and he can get a few loads of old manure for both my garden and his.

So if the ground stays too wet for him to get to the grass and yard waste compost, we will at least get some well-aged horse poo.

Justin went out Friday afternoon and got me my Remay row cover stuff.  It looks good, giant paper towel roll.  The material looks suspiciously like fusible webbing for stitchery, lol. It seems silly that i feel like i am looking at the same material in a totally new light. As long as it works....and by-the-yard, the real fusible webbing is way more expensive!
I expect, from the thickness of it, that it will let a lot of light through, but i don't think it will last more than one season. But that's ok, i would spend way more than its cost for twice what i need if i were using pesticides.
I am going to get a slug and earwig killer though, i need that to keep the bugs out of my flowers at least.

I am doing yet another graph re-do of the garden, i may steal another 3 feet of space along the shorter side (30'x28') just so i can get one more full 4 foot row. If i don't. i will have 4 rows 4 feet wide and the last row will be only 1 foot wide. I don't need another walking row for the edge rows... so if i don't take 4 more feet, i might just relinquish the extra 3 feet of space that is along the back. It depends on when i plot out the Square-Foot method if i have more room than i really need.
I also need to remember to get myself a few bundles of cotton clothesline to run along the tops of the hoops to make a sort of backbone.
Then bricks, i will need at least 30 nice bricks. I hope i can find some with rounded edges so the Remay isn't worn more quickly than necessary.


I am starting to wonder about my wintersown seeds. I think  its newbie jitters i guess. This year was an experiment, so i shouldn't let it get to me.  I tried a few things that i know may not work, but i had to try for myself. This has been such a bizarre spring it just might work out anyway.
I'm most concerned about those darn Imperial Star Artichokes.  I think it was last year, i tried the method that requires chilling the seedlings for a week,  i did something wrong because the chilling simply killed them. So this year i wintersowed them, but i'm not sure if that will just kill the seeds... and the seeds were from 2008 anyway and artichokes do not have the greatest germination rate. I think i sowed 10 of them..? I guess i didn't write that down. Even if they do sprout, i don't think the early start will replace the chill method that is supposed to convince them that they have already lived one full year.
Even if they don't produce the first year, i may be able to save some root cuttings and use something of a forcing method on them. So its not my only shot as long as the seeds sprout and the plants last the summer.
I love artichokes  so much that i don't plan to stop trying until i am sure i am defeated.

Off, to plot some square foot plantings, study succession crop timing and review companion & intercropping ideas.

We had a little bit of snow last night, not much really. Its the kind that looks sort of like wet felt lying on the ground. It only stuck to the coldest places. Its supposed to stay cold today.
It will be the right time to sow the strawberry seeds, since they need cold treatment i can bypass using the fridge and enlist the aid of the great outdoors. My main gripe is the six pack seedling flats i let myself buy. They never get moist enough from top to bottom. I try watering from the bottom and expect it to draw up, but the top is always dry, i guess i am too timid with the watering.  If i try and water from the top i end up washing out the soil from the cups. its just a messy ordeal. I much prefer the Peat Pellets because they are evenly moist all round, or they don't expand evenly- cluing me in.
But i'm going to use them anyway, but i'll be picking up more pellets when i go get the Remay at Paris Farmer's Union today.  I hadn't gotten a call telling me it was in yesterday and i was too busy in any case...

nope, strike that, they just called, just now 8:13am.  Yay!

Ok, so either i get to have hubby pick it up for me or i will go out after i get the oldest after school. I can't lug both little one and 13'x300' of Remay into the truck without assistance.  I need more seed flats too.... PFU sells plain ones and all the assorted entrails, like 6, 8 and 4-packs, clear domes... I think they have the pellets too.... they even have things like parsnip seeds in bulk.

Besides the natural foods store it is my favorite place to shop.

..............

I wetted the tops of the filled six-packs and the dry bits of soil shed off the water.

So i gave up on that for now and just went with K-cups.
Pinetree gave me 27 Temptation Strawberry seeds. I think they only promise 20, so that was nice.
Got those planted. Also had a few more of the Mary Washington asparagus seeds, so i finished those off and then there were 4 K-cups left so i put in a few Shisho seeds.

So, 50 more cups of seed planted.

Some pictures

Makeshift coldframe of sorts... or maybe a frost chamber...where the wintersown sprouts go to wait out the frost, but it allows them to get full or partial sun during the day and shelter at night.

Broccoli (gypsy) in the front, buttercrunch lettuce next, then cauliflower (graffiti) in the back.
Its a Rubbermaid or Sterilite semi-transparent tote with a scrap of 2x4 and a recycled, frosted, plastic shower curtain folded over it.

Rhubarb.
I think this is the first garden item we planted when we moved in. It does well every year, but i never had the chance to make much of it, but i could have.  Anyway, when its up you know the ground is thawing out for sure!

Hoop test.
One of the 1/2'' PVC pieces, bent to a 4' wde base, steadied by a makeshift footing of cinder blocks. This way i know how high the hoops will be at the center....about 48".  I wanted to see what the minimum straddle i could get, 4 feet will be perfect since i am thinking i might try a hybrid Square Foot technique.  The hoops placed 4' apart and spaced 4' wide will mark my plots nicely...convenient. :-)

Lilac buds are swelling.
My camera can't take macros to save its existence.

Daffodill.
Trying to open, maybe by the time this area gets full sun today, it will.

Houseplants.

Goldfish plant. 

It finally bloomed. I grew this plant from a clipping i took from the waiting room of my Dr's office when i had my test to confirm my pregnancy that resulted in my second daughter. She turned one last month. :) It is quite lush and full now for starting from so tiny a piece.  I wish i had done something like that for my first daughter.

 

Bay Laurel.

 This foolish thing has been little more than a stick for over 8 years.  I have had this plant for a long time. I have used a few of its leaves. I think three years ago it finally developed a second branch- that forked bit at the top,  the shoot from the bottom developed around December of last year.  It has got to be the ugliest plant i own, but i keep it cause it is legitimately a useful plant.

I need to find a way to make it branch out more. I'd snip the tips, but since there are only 3 and they contain all the leaves i don't want to murder the thing.   I have been told to pot it in bigger pots, and in smaller pots... i fertilize it carefully.  It just drives me nuts for being ugly.

This is the plant shelf i made to hang above the sink, under the light.

I overwintered my 6 Hoyas and two of my 3 remaining Passiflora there. Darned spider mites took out my other Passiflora plants.  The window gets nice and bright and there is the tube light up there that comes on in the evenings.

Winter is trying to come back.

But it can't fight the inevitable.

We are  getting some large snowflakes but the ground is warm and wet enough that nothing is sticking. It is almost 40 degrees,  the forecast is calling for colder temps on Friday, an overnight low of 9 (yes...nine) degrees.  This might change or it might not.  This is the time of year that i'm sure makes the weather forecasters seriously question their chosen profession.

Still no luck in getting more seeds started in the flats.  Too many things getting in the way.  When the little one won't take her nap its a challenge to even unload the dishwasher.

But Park's order did come in, so its only a matter of time until i get those seeds going.

I ordered:

Hardy blend Hen & Chicks
"Tiger  Eyes" French Marigold (heirloom)
Chives (i could not find the packet of seeds i know i already had...)
"Arizona Sun" blanket flower (gaillardia)
More marigold seed, could not resist the name: "Aurora Mix"
and some Italian Oregano.

I'm having one of those days, so i don't know if i wrote it down that Paris Farmer's Union called yesterday afternoon to let me know that there is a slight change in my item. It will be in on Thursday, and it will be 13' wide but the same length. It also should be the same material and they said it will be the same price- i don't know if it costs the same or if they are simply being courteous and giving me the price quoted. But i plan to pick it up tomorrow after their expected call.

Grampy did well through the operation, last i knew he hadn't woken up from the anesthesia, but all his signs were looking well.  It took them twice as long as normal to simply remove his bladder which was full of growths...  i pray we get to keep him with us longer... this operation should make things much more comfortable for him.

My sister and her youngest son  will go back to California tomorrow.

Many things...

Rainy out today.  I was having a hard time getting the Agribon-19 in the dimensions i needed. I must have it at least 12' wide. The Agribon is available in 12' widths, but the  only place i fount it was at Vesey's, and only of 50' lengths.  I expect to have four rows needing 29 feet or so (gotta have extra at the ends to close them off) each.  Tried emailing them to see if they can get me 150' in continuous length, but i doubt they will be able to even if they are willing, often the stores get them precut and packaged and they dole out the pieces.

  But on the way back from visiting my Grampy at the hospital, my sister and i stopped at Paris Farmer's Union to see what they might have, and they looked in their catalog. Found something called Remay (or Reemay, a search for "Remay" bears  results in both spellings). This should be a very similar spun material like Agribon. Internet search results in a number of short mentions of the  Remay material, seems all positive-  for uses such as bug repelling, light frost protection, increased direct-sown seed germination, soil warmer, wind protection, sun protection, & small critter and bird baffler.  Just what i need.  Paris can get me continuous 300' for the same price as 3 packages- equaling 150' from Vesey's --- and no shipping charges.  Yeah it could be way more than may need this year,  but for the same price...  it was going to cost that much no matter what i did anyway.  Might as well get twice the material.

So it should be in today at the earliest.  They will call. I'm  going out with my sister to see our Grampy again today so i will check in after that because i will probably be out when they call the house.

I really hope its the right stuff. All this plotting, planning and obsessing....!

Been too busy hanging out with my sister to get any more seeds started,  but she's only here until Thursday morning and its back to California. And Grampy's operation is tomorrow.  It will be a little scary.



Hubby took me to Lowe's on Saturday and we got the PVC for the hoops.  I poked the ground with a shovel the other day to see how deep the frost was, its still there, so no rototilling yet even if it wasn't raining,  but the rain will soften it a good bit.

The Winter Rye has taken off again, very green out there, not even Easter yet.

Not sure what to do with the apple trees.  I don't dare to prune them myself,  i have a book to read about it though, just need the time and the daring.  But i guess i can't make them any worse.  Next i have to look in on what sort of things i can use to organically control what is bugging them.  Companion planting tells me to grow onion family plants around them... i think a bed of chives will do much for them, and chives are easy. Maybe toss in a few Welsh Onions....

Gave my sister a huge basket of yarn the other day.  I opened up my stash and told her to grab whatever she wanted, don't be shy.  Very glad of it, i have lots of nice yarn but no time. She is a knitter and knitting brings out the best in the yarns i had, crocheting does not do them justice since you get a bulkier result. At least with the stitches i use.  We are going to have to mail it to her in a box because it will be too expensive to send on the plane,  think laundry basket of yarn...lol

So, we will see what today brings.

Eep!

My wintersown broccoli has sprouted, lol

Uh, garden not ready.  I guess i will have to move them in and out of sun/shelter daily until a few weeks before last frost.  Or  may have to pot them up.

This warm weather is rather disorienting. I simply don't know what to think. We are missing like 3 snow storms and i don't recall having 60 degree weather in March for many years. I do remember it though....but i am not used to it!

My dad can't get his tractors out of the yard because they have areas that are still very wet, so until they dry out, no work can be done on my soil.  No compost, no tilling...  well i could drag out the Mantis, but the riding lawnmower's rototiller will do the preliminary job better and faster.  And hubby desn't want me playing with the Mantis anyway, i can't control it well on account of my leg. He's afraid i'll either break myself or the tiller. He's probably right. :-p

I may have to order my Agribon first thing on Monday.

My Buttercrunch lettuce is also beginning to sprout, but they were never meant to get planted out, i just want to see if i can get a few mini heads of baby lettuce.  The rest of the buttercrunch seeds i plan to direct sow under the hoops as soon as the garden is assembled.

Off to wrestle with 6-pack planters....!

Another sunny day today.

I went to Lowe's last night with my sister (who is visiting from CA this week) to check out the  PVC they have and to get a bead on the prices.  They were what i expected.  Which is good.  Only change to the plans (so far) is that i found out that the 3/4" schedule 40 will not accept the 1/2" sched 40. It isn't a lrge enough interior diameter-- but the 3/4" pressure pipe is. But the pressure pipe is rather thin walled, and 10 feet of  1/2" sched 40 does not bend to 2-3' wide very easily, i don't know if  the  pressure pipe will split due to the tension.

Any excuse to draw:

.
I have a feeling that the hoop will not arch as pretty and nice as that, i think the uprights will bow so i get more of a half-oval (no straight sides), and the inside edges of the uprights will create pressure on the inside top and the outside bottom of the socket pieces.  But i am not knowledgeable enough to calculate these things.

So i'm going to get hubby to go to Lowe's with me and make sure it is going to work. He is sure it will, but since he will likely feel the need to rescue me in this project if   i flub it, i'm going to try and reduce the level of rescuing needed as much as i can.
He needs to get himself some PVC so he can do some ground wire burying for his radio antennas,  so we will make an evening of it.  I am also going to print off Home Depot's price on the pipe and see if Lowe's will price-match for me.  If they do, the savings might cover the sales tax.

Another thing i was thinking about... if the pressure of the hoops on the anchors will be enough to hold the hoops down if we get wind. If not, i essentially will have made a giant, white, Chinese Dragon kite...  So, i will have to make sure the Agribon is pinned down with heavy things like bricks or we will have to drill holes through the hoops and the sockets and pin them together with some stiff wire (think cotter pin)...adding another step.

Now this is beginning to sound really complicated, but i'm reminding myself that we only have to engineer it once. If it works, it will work the same way for the next number of years. If it does not work, there are a number of ways to fix it.
One of which is to simply cut the 10' 1/2" pipes down to 5' and just do it like the majority of people i have seen online-- shorter hoops, but simpler structure.

Why do i want the hoops to be so tall?
Because we have such a short growing season that i want the plants to be inside the hoops, under cover, in the warmer and more stabilized climate of the hoop houses for as long as possible. I also need long term pest control,  i hope to only need to completely uncover the rows once or twice a week in order to allow things to get pollinated. There are also cats in the neighborhood who have uprooted my plants before in using my smaller garden as a litter box.
Also,  snow cover,  if i leave some of my root crops in the ground, the taller hoops will be less likely (i hope) to get buried in the snow. I am hoping the taller walls will distribute more snow weight more evenly across the structure. ( I also plan to get a more sturdy Agribon material for winter use on the few hoops that will be used all winter.)

Do i think the hoop houses will do all these things?

Won't know unless i try, but from what i have been studying, there is a good chance they will do it, or they will at least help a good deal.

I need to start getting  the companion herb seeds going. I bought a 3-pack of flats with domes that have the dreaded 6-pack seedling compartments.  I dislike the 6-packs, i have the worst time filling them evenly and i don't like the crinkly sound they make, but they were fairly cheap and i needed more.I guess i will see if i can cope this time!

Weather

I just had to comment on the awesomely wonderful weather we had today...  it was well above 60 degrees, i have a thermometer that says it was 70...

and i have a crocus!!!

That is all....lol

Seed flats... and cost calculations.

I have not been visited by the sprout fairy yet... which i understand is a good thing. If stuff sprouts too early any hard freezes might wipe things out.
But i took some pictures:

This is what i have gotten done so far, the tray on the bottom with no condensation in it is the Mary Washington asparagus i finally got planted.  Just before i was about to plant them i read on the package that they needed soaking...  so i put them in a quart jar full of water.  Then i remembered the cool thing about wintersowing... it bypasses all steps like soaking, knicking, stratifying, cold treating and other time consuming steps. Duh.  But after i started them soaking, i could not find the time to plant them.

 This is where most of  the tomatoes live. I started them in the black plastic meat trays that 2 1/2 pounds of hamburger comes in if you buy it at Walmart.  They are only a little larger in dimension as the cardboard trays i have bought tomato seedlings in at the nursery. They also fit perfectly in the fruit and vegetable bags from the grocery store. The yellow tray is lettuce, Buttercrunch.

This row has two flats of mixed seeds. I have 5 of each planted, 10 different seeds per tray. So, 20 different things in total. They are a tomato or two, cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, melons, cucumbers, etc.  The little deli tray on the top is Striped German tomato... very old seed. So old that the company i got them from went out of business more than 5 years ago!  And they tiny white meat tray behind the Striped Germans has 5 peat pellets of Siberia Tomato.

This shelf has the mentioned Mary Washington asparagus and the other tray contains Welsh Onions and  Mirage Shallots

Sixty-five days till planting time! My blog gadget ticker stopped working and when i tried to reinstall it, my computer gave me a virus warning. So i have to count on my paper calender,  but 65 days is how long i have until any hope of planting is advised.

I did some pricing of hoop house materials. I was going to go the metal electircal conduit route for the hoops, but the prices online at Lowe's and Home Depot were showing me that that was going to be way more expensive than i had thought. Most of my sources were saying or implying that the metal would be cheaper in the long run because it was supposedly less expensive per length... but if the online prices are correct, it is not true. Lowes had 1/2" conduit for $1.87 per 10' length. Home Depot had the same online price.  Schedule 40 1/2" PVC in 10' lengths  at Lowe's is $1.13,  Home Depot has it for $1.03.
I also had read at first that the PVC would have to be painted for long term outdoor use, but researching it further, it should hold up for more than 3 years of use without any treatment. It is inherently UV resistant due to its makeup.
So, not only is the PVC cheaper, but it needs no treatment.
The metal conduit might be sturdier, but it is more expensive by too much of a margin, and then i'd have to bend it... a bender for 1/2" conduit is around $38-$45.  Then, since i can't shove the conduit into the ground about 18' without it hanging up or kinking the smooth shape, i'll have to construct anchor pegs- i have seen rebar and dowel pegs used. The rebar is worth a couple dollars each and the dowels need cutting and sharpening even though they are cheap...

Now i do plan to do much of my garden. The corn will be mulched simply with black plastic to heat the soil,  so that part won't need hoops, but the rest i do want to at least start the growing season with them.

HOOPS:
*7 rows
*24' per row
*1 hoop per 4' = 7 hoops per row + end hoops
 = 49 hoops (PVC lengths)

AGRIBON: (AG-19)
*7 rows
*30' of Agribon per row (allowing for extra at the end to close)
*Agribon 6' wide
=  210' Agribon

Whether we use metal or PVC, we still need ground anchors. Hubby and i decided that it would be best to use 3/4 inch PVC lengths about 18" long, sunk 12" deep, leaving 6" sockets for the hoops. Each 10' 3/4 PVC will yield at least 5 anchors.  We will need 98.  So we will need 20  of those.

According to HD, the PVC total before tax will be $79.30
If i go with Vesey's 6' wide Agribon-19 i will need to buy 3, 6'x100' lengths and i'd have 50' to spare, the cost would be with shipping $124.80

About $204.00

If i go with the AG-19 from Johnny's, their 83"x250 is only $45 and about $10 shipping.
And i realized that 6' width won't get me enough edging to anchor it to the ground if i my hoops are up to a 6' span.  I could cut the hoops in half and get 2x as many and have them be shorter but i'd really like the taller hoops and the excess Agribon  on the sides will make a mess if the hoops are too low.

The more i think about it, the lower the cost estimate becomes

My original original estimate with the metal conduit was around $225
Then with PVC replacing the metal it was $204
Now with the wider Agribon from Johnny's, it looks like $135. will do it.

I hope my calculations are correct and that Home Depot will give me the online prices if the store price is different. But, if not, Lowe's will price-match HD and i think the Price Protection policy will apply to PVC.   That is the scary part. Hubby said he saw the 1/2 PVC was around $3 a length when he went there the other day. But the online price is very different:

Now i will need clips to hold the Agribon to the hoops, that should only add a couple more lengths of PVC to the order. The instructions i have seen for making PVC clips is as simple as cutting a 1/4 inch strip out of the entire length of the PVC, then cutting the length into 2" pieces. One 10' length of PVC  should yield about 60 clips. Adding another $2.50 to the total.

So if the prices work out this will be great... if not i will be miffed.

Photo Tutorials and odd root veggies:

 I read quite a few blogs. Normally they are gardening or crafting blogs where the author is constructing some fascinating contraption or modifying something in order to repurpose it.  I decided that i am jealous of never having done my own photo tutorial. So, i think today is the day!

So, to set the stage:

I love the seed starting product known as Peat Pellets.  They are very convenient.  They allow me to sow seeds without having to buy anything but them and the seeds.  I can place the Peat Pellets in most every container i want.  What works best for me is to save  styrofoam meat trays and set the PPs on those. The trays take a Sharpie marker very well and there is plenty of room to write.

But, like i said, they aren't very cheap. I usually buy them by the bag - about $15. for 100.
It saves the work of having to individually fill those rotten 6-pack trays, which always give me trouble,  and they are more compact to store than bags of soil.

My mom gave us her Keurig coffee pot a few months ago, the timer on it ceased to function so she was getting a new one. We don't use timers on coffee pots, so it was a good match for us.  Now the one-cup system always sort of bothered me,  i'm not an environmentalist- really.  But the one-use plastic cup just kinda irked me even though i absolutely adore the brewing system.

Being the seed-starter than i am (i'm a better seed-starter than a gardener, big plans, bad luck, little follow-through) i pretty quickly realized that they were about the same size as my peat pellets. And better, by function, they already have a drain hole precision- punched into the bottom. All that needs to be done is to  remove the lid, the grounds and a quick rinse.  This is a project that is well within my skill level.

So i saved the K-cups over a number of months (about 130 saved), disemboweled them and set them aside (much to my hubby's annoyance) until around now.
Here are the Disemboweling instructions for making the Keurig K-Cup into a little pot for seedling propagation.

 This is a K-Cup. Recently used. Its good to clean them out shortly after they cool off or else things get a bit scary in there.

 Perfect seed-starting size.

Break the foil lid and peel it off. It is a little harder to pull off than usual foil tops because these are not really made to be removed.

It dosen't take very long even though it might separate into a few pieces, the cup is tough enough.

Now, dump out the coffee grounds. They stick to the mini filter, but that is ok. Usually i dump the grounds into a bowl (when i do 20 kcups at a time) and feed them to my worms.

 Then i poke my finger through the center of the paper filter, hook it and yank, peeling it away from the edges.

Dismantling complete.

I don't even have to poke a drainage hole.

Just a quick rinse...

Don't even need to use soap.

All clean and ready to be filled with potting soil.

 The white cups are best because they take a label so well. They also come in black plastic, but i only use those if i must.

They fit 50 to a standard flat, just like the Peat Pellets, and if you drink the coffee anyway, they are technically free.


Yay! My first tutorial.  LOL



So, you see, it is pretty simple :)


I spent some time looking up some info on growing a couple of the unusual root vegetables that i want to try this year.
Burdock is one of them.
Apparently it is quite good, shows up on cooking shous occasionally and is said to be loaded in good vitamins and minerals. Its downside is that the roots can grow about 3' long,  can get quite large around and are tenacious- so harvesting them is challenging!
But i came upon an ingenious idea for making the harvest much easier- if not the prep work:

From one of our customers, W. Takahashi:
I have a tip for growing Gobo without the intense digging normally associated with gobo. I start seeds early inside on a hot pad (Zone 5). Garden prep: Cut 4" PVC into 36" Lengths and then in half lengthwise. Bury the PVC starting 2"-3" deep at surface and the deepest end at 12" (at a cant). I plant the seedlings at the top end, positioned to ensure roots will follow PVC, keeping plants watered & fertilized. Once established, I mulch heavily with straw. I normally overlap each PVC with a 15" spacing of the plants requiring harvesting from the last plant first. Harvesting requires minimal efforts.  Source

I think its brilliant.  Hubby just sees it as more work. I'm wondering it it might be worth it, its a great idea but i don't know if it will ever happen, to be honest. But at least i know the best way to do it if ever!

The Salsify seems pretty straightforward, they are like thinner, foot-long carrots. But i learned that the foliage can also be eaten since salsify is related to the dandelion.

So, off to read a couple more gardening books. "Cash from Square Foot Gardening" and "Garden Encyclopedia".  The Cash book is basically the original "Square Foot Gardening" book, but with extra tips for making it a backyard business... not terribly interested in that- though i hope to be getting enough produce to both donate (and not just tomatoes and zucchini) and put away, bit it was the only square foot book we coulf find for free on the internet.

The Garden Encyclopedia is full of info, as it should be. It even has a section to help me decide how much of each item to grow- production estimates. This will keep me from getting carried away and planting too much of one thing and barely enough of another- while allowing for the plans to preserve.

Between the two books, i am being reminded to also stagger the planting of multi-harvest crops, like lettuce, cabbage, radishes and bush beans, so i don't have them all coming to bear in one week, but that we have one or two harvestables at a time.

More reading, graphing, planning, calculating and thinking.   Yay!

During the little one's nap today, i hope to get the onions, shallots and welsh onions (similar to chives) started and set outdoors with the other wintersown flats.