Lilac Wine

I figured it sounds nice, so i'll go for it.
It took me about two days and a few trips out to the backyard for lilac blossoms. Luckily i have more than enough lilacs even after giving away better than half of what the new yard came with...

After picking, i soaked them in the sink.  A few insects came spluttering up from the water, they went outside.

Salad spinner

This is what 16 quarts of sorted lilac flowers looks like... they are in a 5 gallon stock pot.

My recipe is for a 5 gallon batch. I found a few online and i'm sort of taking from a few of them to come up with my own.  Its for fun, so its just as much experiment as anything else.

I'm starting with 3 gallons of water to boil:

A watched pot never boils, so no peeking!

When it gets hot enough and hubby (who forgot to buy the sugar i sent him out for) gets back ...

The sugar...

The recipe i based this on calls for 12# of sugar.  So i measured out 2 pounds and then just dumped in two whole 5# bags.

Boil...

Add flowers

Will they all fit?

Barely!

I added a cup of lemon juice to try and get a good acid balance. I will have to taste it to adjust it later.


Allow to cool for 24 hours

Add a "do not disturb" note

That's it for the next 24 hours...
After that, its the yeast and the other 2 gallons of water that needs to be boiled then cooled.

Sprout report for the replanted seeds:

Tomato, Empire Hybrid- 1
Tomato, Siberia- 2
Tomato, Black from Tula- 4
Cucumber, Summer Dance- 5
Cucumber, Alibi- 6
Summer Squash, Sundance- 5
Winter Squash, Long Island Cheese- 2
Winter Squash, Red Eye- 2
Acorn Squash, Carnival- 5
Melon, Hales Best- 2
Melon, Rocky Ford- 4
Watermelon, Pony Yellow- 5
Watermelon, Tom Watson- 3
Tomato, Yellow Pear- 5
Ornamental Eggplant- 4
Salsify, Sandwich Island Mamoth- 5
Half Bush Bean, Appaloosa- 1

and lo and behold... one of the Zsa Zsa peppers is shouldering up.  I guess this is the way things go when a seed company names a plant variety after a diva.  Apparently this pepper requires heat.  Not "does better with"  but must have. 

Off to finish reading "Root Cellaring"

Very grateful for today's rain.

I'd have to look back and check for sure... but i think we had gone about 3 weeks without significant rain until last night.
The way i remember it is that its been more than 2 weeks since we got Molly and i have not had to walk in the rain to take her out for her potty break until this morning.

But the garden has been quite dry even though i had been trying to water it every other day. The carrots and parsnips got water every day.  The dry weather makes it difficult for garden amendments to make their way into the soil, i could still see specks of the lime hubby spread out a few weekends ago.

I need to get the worm castings out of the worm bin. It is going to be a messy project to separate the Red Wigglers from the finished material. We have been sprinkling the liquid from the bin around in the garden, the bin produces about a pint of liquid every few days. I need to put it in a hose end sprayer and broadcast it on the garden, i  bet it will make a big difference.  I also can't wait to see how many worms i now have. I started with only one pound last winter. The selling companies like you to buy 2 pounds, but even the lowest prices are a bit on the ridiculous side and i wasn't worried if it started out slow. Considering how they consume kitchen scraps, i bet i have quite a few more than before.

I decided to try making Lilac Wine after reading about it in the comments of another blog i follow.
I have 13 cups of petals prepared so far.  I only have 5 gallon carboys, so i really should make at least 4 gallons in it. This means a lot of petals.  Good thing is that i have plenty of lilac flowers available for picking.  Some are starting to go by, but some are just about right.  Good thing is that plucking the petals is something i can do seated at the table.
I have most of the materials on hand,  the rest will require a quick trip to the LHFS.

Off to pluck more petals...!

Row cover is done....for now.

Since i only ended up having enough hoops for three full rows (out of 5), i only needed to cover those three.
It was not too difficult really, or complicated, but it did take a lot of fussing.  If i had an extra person to do little things like hold one end of the row cover while i pulled the other end taut, i would probably have smoother looking rows.  But it certainly is functional and i don't think it looks all too bad.
Someone driving by won't think i have garbage in my yard.

The hardest part of it was cutting it to the right length without wasting a whole bunch of it at the ends.I thought the wind was going to be a real problem, but it actually helped.   I had started earlier today when there was no wind, but about 20 minutes after i got out there- it started to pick up. I thought it was going to be more trouble,  but the wind really made it easier to drape the cover over the hoops and release the folds.
Sometimes the wind got too frisky and blew the cover out of my  control, but it was easy to straighten it back out.

Those binder clips are great!

*

Waiting to go in

When i got them all finished (or as finished as i felt like them being) , i planted the hardy stuff:

Kale- Red Russian
Broccoli- Gypsy
Pak Choi-  Brisk Green
Collards- Vates
Kholrabi- Early Purple Vienna
Cabbage- Point One
Swiss Chard- Bright Lights

Add that to the parsnips,  3 types of radishes and the two types of carrots and i almost feel accomplished.

Of course, this means i have to do another plan...
see this:

Yeah, its blurry and it makes my eyes hurt too, but what i mean is that since i had to cover only 3 rows and still plant out some early stuff, i had to rearrange things by which rows were ready to use.
 So all the brassicas and suchlike went into the same row. Since they are one of the veggies most readily attacked by bugs, they needed the row covers immediately.
That means that Row 3 where most of them were scheduled, will not be where they are put.  They will have to go in Row 2.
So, yeah...more shuffling.
Glad i enjoy it....wish i had more time!

Got the electric fence done today too. Just one strand for now- i will have a total of 3 when its done. I need to go turn it on, its 8pm and the woodchucks come out in the morning so i should turn it on before bed.  I put lots of marking flags on it. I don't want to zap people, just groundhogs and the cats that try to use the garden as a litter box.

The tomatoes will go in Row1 soon.

Almost done reading "Root Cellaring",  great book so far!

Almost 10pm.  I need to go to bed and try to sleep!

Row cover going on.

I'm in taking a break.
I put two pieces of row cover on the hoops. I took the little one outside with me and she played in her big stroller and had her cold drink of milk. But after watching me put the second cover on, she lost patience- plus she needs a nap.  
Everyone is napping today except me.  My oldest daughter is home from school, not feeling well --she slept until Noon.  Her dad is taking his lunchtime nap upstairs.  The little one is having a small snack before her nap...

I have a whole mess of things to do.

Its going to rain  tomorrow, and the nighttime lows for the rest of the week are expected to be in the mid 40's.... Since my row covers can give me as much as 4 degrees of frost protection,  now might be a good time to plant all the hardier stuff.  So i need the row covers on before they go in and before the carrots & parsnips sprout. The radishes are coming up and i need them protected with the Remay before they attract their pests and the cover also is supposed to help warm the soil. So, today needs to be the day.

This will also let me clear out one of the mini greenhouses. I can put some of the flats right in the garden rows to harden off.

****

Ok, got the little one to sleep. Big sister is staying inside to watch her...
Back to work.

Grapes...

Well, i finally got my grape planted. And it was tough considering how hard the soil was to dig...rocks and roots and all manner of hard packed ground.
I had to dig the hole extra large just to be sure the roots would actually be able to grow someplace.  I backfilled it with some of my own finished  compost and some of my dad's loam.
I wove it a support structure beforehand. I had to make it sort of like a dreamcatcher because i didn't have any heavy enough posts or the ability to dig the holes for the posts. I also had no wire. But this should work at least for a few years.... if the grape survives our winters up here, which i came to realize just today that it probably won't.
Unless we have a very mild winter and i mulch the dickens out of it...
And then it might not be hot enough up here for it to have decent quality fruit.

See...before i bought it, i read the label.  Its a Suffolk Red seedless....  the tag said its hardy to Zone 4.
Zone four!
I am in Zone 5, so i figured why not take out a bit of insurance in getting the type rated to an extra zone colder...  There were supposed 'zone 5' grapes available at Lowe's that day, but i thought it would be best to not push it.
This is its information page. I double checked to see if there was a problem in my eyesight...
Lowe's Plantfinder

Botanical Name:Vitis labrusca 'Suffolk Red'
Common Name:Suffolk Red Seedless Grape
Bloom Time:Spring
Water Wise:No
Deer Resistant:No
Light:Full Sun
6+ Hours Direct Sun (it can get that where i put it)
Growth Rate:Fast
Average Size:As trained
Spacing:Varies
Flower Color:Insignificant
Cold Hardiness:Zone 4
(-20 to -30°F)

 I usually do more research than just one source, but i didn't get around to it until now.
But now that i have, i think i can sympathise with a wet hen. Cause i am mad.
I can't find another source that labels this cultivar as hardy to Zone 4 .... consensus indicates it is hardy to zone 6!
Zone 6!!!
Also, it needs AHS Heat Zone 5...

I happen to be AHS Heat Zone 4.
 

I can't win. This grape is likely doomed and i just spent 3 hours digging a hole for it and weaving it a support system.
I'm not really upset about that, i'd have to do that for any grape, and i'm not mad about the $6.98 i spent on it.... its not that bad.
What i am mad about is the complete misrepresentation of this plant's hardiness and ability to set a crop.

I do hope this link is correct about the Zone 5 hardiness....  i hope i can lean that way and we have a few mild winters so it can establish itself. But with the heat zone needs,  i don't know if i could expect the fruit to ripen or to be sweet.
The thing is that hardiness sometimes just means that the roots don't die.  If the vine croaks to the ground every winter, i won't get grapes off it ....ever.
If i wanted fast, annual vines and maybe flowers, i'd have bought Dutchman's Pipe seeds.

I may have to just be content with Concords.  I wanted to try playing with winemaking someday to supplement the homebrew hobby, but i don't know if i will ever find good varieties for this because even when i try to get a grape to learn viticulture with, it turns out that its likely to be a losing battle.

Ho-hum...

 So, anyway, i used a 3/4"x 10' piece of PVC-( i seem to have a lot of that stuff lately), bent it over, pegged it to the ground and slid 1.5" pipe over the pegs to stabilize it a bit more.  Then i wove the netting. I would have done one or two more rounds of weave but i was running out of twine rather fast and as it turned out, i had just enough to get this much done. I need to center the knots more too so it looks better, but i ran out of 'nap time'.

I have some berry plant seeds coming that i can fret over and i'll take a wait and see approach to the grape.

On a bright note,  ALL my used books came in.

All today.

They look great, good condition and many, many days sooner than expected. All from 3 different sellers too.
I can't wait to dig in.
The book "A Countryman's Year" came with an inscription. It was given to "Dad"  for Christmas, in 1987 from Marcia and Dave.  I wonder if Dad ever got to read it.  I hope so.

I was inspired by another blog i read, to take an aerial shot of the *The Back Fourty (yards/meters)*....

Turns out, its a great photo of hubby's beautiful radio antenna....
I wish i could grow flowers up it, but it will make it not work very well....according to hubbs.
I only half believe him. It just seems too convenient. lol

Sprouts, round 2.

 And that one bulb is always going out....

So, we may be getting rain on Wednesday. We sure could use it. I have been enjoying the bright and warm weather, but its getting very dry.

I think that's pretty much it.  Digging that hole this morning was too much.

The usual babble...

I found this little tidbit in "Root Cellaring"...

A low temperature of 28-31*F is considered a Light Frost
A low temperature of 24-28*F is considered  a Moderate Frost
Anything below 24*F is considered a Severe Frost

Sending hubby out to get some supplies. I planned to go myself, but he wants to just go and get back i guess. Either that or he watches the kids while i go out, or he waits for me to pack up and unpack the little one at each stop while we are out.  I agree his going would be the simplest.  Just that when he goes out to get stuff i don't always end up with the exact thing i intended him to get. I try to send him out with item numbers and everything, but there is often a little snag like the quantity i want isn't available or maybe it comes in a different color than i needed, or maybe its cheaper in a different size so he goes for it-- but when he gets home, i say that the option was not interchangeable..,

I hope that does not happen this time. lol

I need him to go to Staples or any office supply store and get a few boxes of large binder clips. They are 2" wide and hold up to 1" thickness. I think they will make good row cover clips for the hoops. The hoops are 1/2" interior diameter and i think about 3/4"  outside diameter.  They run about $3.70 for a box of 12. Four boxes should be enough for now.  I expect them to rust a bit and to not be very gentle on the Remay fabric, so i plan to cut some paddings of either synthetic fleece fabric or even use some of the heavy  gauge clear vinyl i have lying around.  The fleece will hold some moisture, the vinyl won't... i'll test it out as i go.
I also need some clothesline rope. Cotton would be best, but i think the kind that looks much like plastic raffia might be fine. As long as it is not the type that looks like the plastic version of metal cable.... but i think i might want to run the rope across the tops of the hoops- like a spine, to prevent the center sections from sagging. Too much sagging will cause billowing and movement when the wind blows. Billowing could chafe either the plants or the fabric and it also catches wind which might allow thew whole contraption to get airborne.  At the least, i will need some soft rope to gather and tie the row cover material to close off the ends. I think if i tie it in a tight bow i will be able to loosen it so when i lift  up a few feet of the sides i will have enough give.
I may need to fashion some sort of cotter pin anchor to the end hoops for insurance against this. I think a hole drilled through both hoop ends and the sockets and pinned with a simple galvanized nail will do it.

The final thing i need is a pack of grease pencils. They also call them China markers. The pull-string-and-peel-away type. They are great for marking plant tags and for making notes on calender pages tucked into plastic binder sleeves. I want assorted colors, but searching Staples' website, they only sell them one color at a time, by the dozen... although the assorted color packs exist, it looks like they don't carry them... unless its just not listed onsite.

We'll see how he does ;o)

I was thinking about using leftover plastic grocery bags for sandbags to tie down the row cover fabric. I'm not sure how well it will work (because smooth plastic is slippery) so that is another thing i'll have to see about when we get to it. I might not need bags at all if the row clips work well enough. Herrick Kimbal over at Wizbang, uses his home made, giant, wooden clothespins for his hoops. I'm not sure how windy it has ever gotten on him, but he seems to have good luck with 2 clips per hoop.

Both types of cucumber seed and the salsify are all coming up fast under lights...

1pm update.

I ended up going shopping for the stuffs i needed. It was probably a good thing since it was enough trouble for me.
I went to Staples and i looked through the pen & pencil aisle, didn't find the grease pencil/China marker by looking myself. So i asked for help, and they thought it might be in the art and classroom stuff aisle,  i saw the charcoal pencils there that look almost the same... but they weren't there either.
So i figured i could just get them at another Office supply store, but i might as well get the binder clips while i was at Staples.
Well the binder clips were easy to find, but they were $4.99 a package! --and there were only 2 boxes on the shelf Online price is $3.49 a package...  So now i was just mad. I planned to get 4 packages of the binder clips and i was going to be a fair amount more than i had been led to believe it would be.
So i put my empty basket away and went to walk out the door, and the man at the register noticed and asked me if i wasn't able to find what i needed.  I told him about the pencils and the price on the binder clips. He told me that they price match, which i knew- but other stores make you print out the price at home then bring it in. I hadn't done that cause i wasn't expecting to need it,  but Staples does not make you do this.  That was soooo cool!  So anyway, he was able to find my pencils and 4 boxes of binder clips, they price matched and if they hadn't done that it would have cost me another $9.00 because the pencils were also more at the store- but price-matched to the online listing.
So as weird as it was, i'm glad i went because hubby would have just taken the 2 boxes of clips, given up on the pencils and would not have known about the price matching.

I went to the Dollar Tree for the rope. I decided that their plastic raffia type clothesline rope would be best since it won't swell when it gets wet like cotton rope will. Since i plan to gather the row cover at the ends (kind of like a covered wagon) and tie it like a ponytail right at ground level, i will be easier to untie without soggy and swollen rope. The soft, plastic rope will stay dry.
The Tree also had it in 3 colors, so i thought i could color-code the rows,..  if i instruct my older daughter to help me weed the "blue row" i won't find her untying the "yellow row". Eh, it might make a difference, if not- it all costs the same.
I also got a couple cotton nets they had there.  They are decorative nets, for hosting a Luau....   but i'm going to try them, they are 6'x8' and if they work even for the 3-4 months i will need them, it will be great. If not, i'm only out a few dollars and i'll have to buy nylon ones next year before everyone is out of them like they are now. Hah!

But it looks like the row covers might not get done today or at least in the next couple hours because hubby is taking a nap.
But he did set up the little weather station he bought me : http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/1910/
Its so cool!   We will need to put the wind sensor in a better place later because the overgrown cedar baffles the breeze too much in the area that the sensor is in. We have had some big gusts that it hasn't 'felt'.

Oh, the recently planted seeds update-  Yes the cucumbers and the salsify have come up, but so have the Yellow Pear tomatoes, the Rocky Ford melon and the Sundance summer squash.

They're off...

Alibi cucumber and the Salsify have already sprouted. Other than that, not much else going on. I was surprised they came up so quickly so i figured i ought to make a note of it.

Rain in the area but it looks like we are going to miss getting it. Things are getting a bit dry. I did some weeding in the flowerbed and saw a snail shell but no live snails or slugs. I don't know if it is the dryness or the snail bait i put down, but either way i am grateful,  The sevin dust and the diatomaceous earth mixture i used on the lilies seems to have knocked down those horrible red beetles that ate my plants last year and left gooey black frass on what was left.

I pulled a lot of what i was told was a type of goldenrod out of the garden. I have had it in there for a couple years now, each year trying to remember if it was a weed or a desirable plant and then forgetting what it looked like in the spring when it needed to be dealt with. This is why i blog now.

I bought a copy of "The Countryman's Year" by David Grayson. Found it at Amazon for just under $3, but of course the shipping was still $3.99 , grrrr...  But i wanted it and it sounds like something i would enjoy.

I planted the rest of the  Graffiti cauliflower last night, in peat pellets. I will keep them inside and see if anything grows. I am now out of them.  If they don't grow i won't be getting them again.  I thought i'd go easy on myself and buy a type that didn't need to be blanched but maybe it wasn't the best type to get?

Things i need to get going before too long:
Teasel...ornamental
Germander...herbal tea
Roma tomato- i found one last seed hiding in the corner of the seed packet
Rose orach...a salad 'green', red in this case
Cabbage- found a seed packet that should be used up

that's not all, but being climbed like a tree by a cranky 15-month-old is not conducive to list typing and remembering things *sigh*

Seeds...

Those Zsa Zsa pepper seeds just like to sit i guess....  i just decided to put them on a heat pad. My actual Seedling Heat Mat does not seem to be working anymore, but i did dig up a ZooMed heat pad for reptiles that i had saved from when we had pets that needed it. I have never had germination trouble with peppers, sweet or hot, so i am annoyed with these seeds.

Asparagus seedling count... out of i think 70 seeds i got 40 to germinate so far.  There are more coming up here and there so that number might increase,  but if it does not i have plenty as of now. It is a good deal, 40 plants for about $2.00 from seed.

Now that i have had more time to wait and see what definitely did not survive the frost i counted them up. Since it was quite a disruption and i had no extra seeds of some things, i will have to redo the GrowVeg plot.... again...  Funny thing is thaat about 2 weeks ago, i thought i wouldn't need to do that again until January lol.  I'm lucky that i enjoy these things.  Someone around my age who is more into Clubbing, partying and stuff like that would probably find me incredibly boring.
Good. 
That way they leave me alone! ;0)
I am a novice home brewer, i love a glass or two at a time of a good wine, i intend to grow some fruits that can also be made into wine, and the only mixed drink i really enjoy is a sweet-tart margarita,  but i don't understand the obsession with getting drunk every weekend or even every night.  I like to be social, but frankly i am more interested in tomato varieties than pop culture and social alcoholism.

Oh, where was i...? Oh yes, how boring i am.  And to prove it,  here is another boring list!

Of what maybe made it through the frosty night and what seeds i replanted out of the remainder of my Ridiculously Large Seed Stash:

What made it:
Tomato- Pruden's Purple (5)
Tomato- Yellow Pear (2)
Tomato- Polfast (3)
Tomatillo- Purple (4)
Tomato- Roma (2?)
Artichokes- Imperial Star (2)
Sweet Pepper- New Ace (2)
Hot pepper, Jalapeno- Fooled You (4)
Summer Squash- Patty Pan Sunburst (1)
Eggplant- Slim Jim (5)

Anything not listed was a total loss.

Assorted Herbs survived, many of the perennial flowering plants i sowed did fine. The herb that took the hardest hit was the Basil, i had 2 types and i lost at least half of the 18 cells i seeded.
I did lose the single Loenotis leonurus seed that had sprouted at the time so i have to find the space to start those again.
Other plants that went through the cold night that aren't listed have done fine. Like the asparagus, broccoli, pak choi, lettuce....  The only thing that isn't doing well with no real excuse is the durned cauliflower. The two sprouts that didn't get sunburned haven't grown hardly a bit and the seeds i stuck in over a week ago have shown no sign of sprouting.  Really disappointing.  I almost wonder if the seedlings that croaked really were sunburned, they may have been from bad seed.  So maybe i got 2 packs of bad seed this year.  Not good.  I might put the few remaining cauliflower seeds into peat pellets and see if it was a bad batch.
Things are starting to get frustrating.

This is the list of what got replanted, 6 each except the salsify- 12 of those:

Tomato- Empire Hybrid
Sweet Pepper- Red Knight
Hot Pepper- Chiltepin
Tomato- Siberian
Tomato-Black from Tula
Sweet Pepper- New Ace
Cucumber- Summer Dance
Cucumber- Alibi
Pattypan Summer Squas- Sunburst
Summer Squash- Sundance
Winter Squash- Long Island Cheese
Winter Squash- Red Eye

Acorn Squash- Carnival
Melon- Hale's Best
Melon- Rocky Ford
Melon- Banana
Watermelon- Pony Yellow
Watermelon- Tom Watson
Tomato- Yellow Pear
Eggplant, Ornamental- Scarlet Chinese
Salsify- Sandwich Island Mamoth
Beans, half bush- Appaloosa
Job's Tears

Later i'll edit my stash list so i don't miss ordering anything for next year that i want to plant again. I already started a list of things to buy again when i was low on them, but now i am out.

I also put together a list of the "Last Chance" varieties at Pinetree, those are the seeds they will discontinue before next catalog. A few of my favorites are on it, so i need to stock up on those and store them well in hopes that get back in the catalog before i use them up or they expire.  See, i may need to get a mini fridge for a better reason that before.

Still reading Root Cellaring, the beginning is full of garden advice so far and i'm getting into the part of the book where they are starting to discuss actual storage. They put in a nice list of varieties that they have found to be 'good keepers' well suited to root cellar storage, i am finding that to be very helpful and i recognise many of the varieties and their suggested sources.

 I may stick pretty close to their suggestions for next year.

Its cloudy today and i went out to water the carrots and radishes i planted. The radishes are no-shows so far and i don't know if the carrots are sprouting...? There are sprouts here and there under the boards and i don't know if they are weeds. They aren't numerous enough for me to tell if they are in the grid formation i made my seed tape in...I'm used to tiny gardens made mostly up of weed-free potting soil and bagged manure, not wild dirt. Seed tape is more obvious without weeds. And have not tried growing carrots for at least 3 years now and it has been longer since before that.  So i really don't remember what a carrot seedling looks like with just seed leaves.  So, since it is a cloudy day i took the boards off and hopefully if the seedlings are not weeds the sun won't burn them. I thought carrots are supposed to take weeks to sprout, so i am befuddled.

I'd like to know where my radish sprouts are...
Again, i see sprouts in the radish bed, but they aren't coming up in a line like the seeds i planted.  I know things shift a little when watered or the roots sometimes move the leaves off to the side, but not halfway across the row.

I'll just keep waiting.

Yay

I found an ebay seller that sells spores of  Matteuccia struthiopteris. Known as the Ostrich fern, but known to us Mainers (whether they know the botanical fancypants name or not) as the edible Fiddlehead.
This is one of those native spring delicacies that people from away tend to be leery of.  They grow in many other states and i'm sure people eat them, but it seems to be more of the thing to do up here.  In other places, people keep them as pet plants in shade gardens, having no idea that they have something yummy in the ground.
I have been trying to establish a patch in the yard for a few years, i have only a couple hold-outs left since the shady spot they were in has become less shady as  we have cleared out an overgrown and dying cedar  that was hit by lightening a few years back.  There is one of those 'trees' left and as soon as possible, i want that removed too. Its really just an overgrown hedge plant that got away from the previous owner and instead of being a neatly clipped landscape bush, it is now a towering 35' monstrosity.  Anyway, its not long for this place, the only reason i haven't pestered our Tree Man to come take it now is because there is a family of Blue Jays nesting in it. So, hopefully later this fall.... 
Ok, where was i...
Oh yes,  so the seller sells spores and i think i can handle starting those indoors and then planting out the ferns in a nice shady spot on the opposite side of the shed that is next to my garden.
The older ferns need to be moved there once things around the house (spring cleaning/rearranging) cools off.
I am also hoping to get some Ramps (wild leek/wild onion) from Oikos to plant there as well... yummy leek-like Ramps and delicious and limited seasonal Fiddleheads.

I can't go tramping for Fiddleheads anymore on account of my bad leg and my uncle who used to supply the family with them, has been gone for a few years now.   I think of him when i see them actually...

So, hopefully i can have good luck with this plan....

She also sells Huckleberry seeds, i plan to try those too.  And i ordered more letuce seed from her.

Yay!

Pictures

I took some pictures the other evening. They were taken near a baseball field where our daughter's softball team plays sometimes.

It was so cold out,  but the surrounding forest looked so green and lush.

My new camera lens has some lint inside it, so it is really hard to get the focus right.

 The big tree looks like it wanted to lay down for a nap.

These are pictures i like to look at on hot summer days...

Just reminding myself...

I need to prioritize the Parsnip planting today.  I feel like i am so far behind. Probably because half the other blogs i read are by people who live at least one zone south of me and that puts me about a week to 10 days behind them per zone. But i can keep myself in check to some extent by reading the Johnny's Seeds blog. They are in my zone so i can pretty much follow their lead.
They had Globe Artichokes survive the winter under their row covers this year.  I think that is awesome. They are taking root divisions and planting them out right about now.  My Imperial Star Artichoke (same as theirs) seedlings withstood the hard frost of the other day and that softened the blow of losing all else. Artichokes are up at the top of my list for favorite veggies, like in the top 5...and i'm a vegeholic. But its hard to grow them up here and the grocery stores want a lot for them.... other than pickled or canned, there isn't much else to get. Pickled and canned are fine, but fresh is a goal i'd like to achieve.

The Jerusalem Artichokes are looking good. Getting taller, it looks like all 4 varieties are making a good showing. I can't wait to try the different ones side-by-side and see what characteristics they have.

Found this Video on YouTube.  I hope it links.  I need a hoe like this cause i think it will save me a lot of trouble if i can imitate this method.




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Circa 1:38 pm

I got the parsnips planted. So that is one thing accomplished today. I also put up the last 2 hoops that i still had. I need to get the rest of them this weekend and install them so i can get the broccoli and suchlike out there.

My used books are on their way,  their estimated delivery dates are both June 3...

I am reading "Root Cellaring" now, so far it is interesting.

Seed day..

Got my seeds from Amishland Heirloom Seeds this morning. The seeds look good, She was unfortunately, out of one of the seed packs i really wanted, it was a mini melon that is very early since it needs much less growing time.  Since i lost most all my melon plants in the frost on Monday, i was looking forward to this little melon.  BUT- its not like it is her problem, she is a small operation and it is early May. I was happy she had enough seeds for me at all this year. Snooze, i lose....  but i will remember to order from her next year!  I hope to add her to my recommended shopping list too.

I also managed to replant many of my seeds, there were a number of them that i had no replacement seeds for and there are now even more that i am totally out of.
I am mostly upset about the Roma tomatoes...  i really wanted lots of paste tomatoes this summer. We use those more than the juicier types and i hoped to learn how to can this year and spaghetti sauce was high on my list. Hubby loves tomato products.

But i separated out the 'hopefully not dead' and i have about 1/4 left... the Roma tomatoes are among those but i completely lost my Garden Peach and Black from Tula tomatoes.  The Romas might pull through.  I have one Black from Tula that i kept, the seed had just sprouted and it almost looks fine.  But i don't know if it will get anywhere cause late seedlings are often very weak and don't do a whole lot after  finally sprouting.  But i kept some just in case they pull through,  even then i expect weak plants. This will be a hard setback to recover from.

I really wish i'd brought them in, but the forecast tripped me up... still i should have simply taken the precaution.

I was pretty surprised to see that the Slim Jim eggplant and the New Ace peppers were fine. At least from where i can see. The seedlings must be small enough to have withstood the frost. The ZsaZsa peppers are still no-shows.  Even the second batch i planted 6 days ago (and have kept inside) are showing absolutely nothing.  I have never had unexplained bad germination from Pinetree before...  i wonder if this is a batch problem or if it is too early to tell.  Obviously they are not a good wintersowing variety since they were the only seeds that did not do anything..
Everything else i planted was... if it wasn't such a weird spring the seedlings probably would have stayed smaller and taken that hard frost better.
I got an email from Farmer's Almanac yesterday and they had an article on how the last 3 days historically carry frosts...  If they had sent it Sunday, i might have taken it as historical advice.

This is stuff i need to remember for next year! lol

But in all i guess it is ok.  I fortunately had some seeds left, and there is a good nursery nearby, though i really wanted to do this completely on my own this year... I almost made it!
I will have to edit my Ridiculously Long Seed List...maybe  it won't be so ridiculous after all.

Scary thing is that i may go hog wild next winter and buy another huge bunch of seeds to replace all the empty packets i produced this year!  It almost makes me look forward to January.


Oh, i did plant a few Salsify seeds to fill up space in the resown flats and i took the Marigold flat and resowed in the cells where nothing had sprouted. So i am out of those Marigold seeds.

I have to go through my herb flats and resow some more no-shows and my Basil that got frosted.

I consoled myself by ordering some books at Amazon.
I found some pretty decent used prices...
"The Pruning Book"  i got for $6.84 shipped
"Seed to Seed"  for $11.94 shipped

I also bought "Root Cellaring" on Kindle for PC -which i thought was awesome since i use my netbook for reading PDF books, and now i can read Kindle books without buying a Kindle.  "Root Cellaring" cost $9.99, no paying for shipping.  Amazon had a few other books for a few dollars that i grabbed andthere were a couple good freebies.  So i have plenty to read- as if i didn't before. :0)

I checked Henry Field's website for my Fig tree since i have heard nothing...  shipping date is now set for May 19-26..... *sigh*
My Venous Orange isn't looking so hot.  The curled leaves dropped a couple days ago. It simply looks yellower than the others, so i don't know if it will slowly die or not. But the other two do look fine.

I didn't get the Parsnips planted yet,  with the replanting i had to do, i ran out of time.
So i think that is it for today.

Things to do...

So, today i need to take a close look at what got frosted the other night and assess what might pull through and eliminate what most certainly won't.  Then i need to restart seeds of what i still have left.

Where i was trying to use up some very old seed (8+ years), i might not have enough left.... once i figure out what i do have, i will have to re-plot my planting plan.  I may end up with some empty spaces...

I also have to get the parsnips planted, before i do that i need to get the spade fork in there and try and loosen the soil deeper than where it was tilled. It just needs a few more inches.

I ran out of hoop pipes, i should have plenty for sockets, but i need 14 more of the 1/2".

Good thing is that it is all reusable next year.

I need hubby to help me spread the Remay over the hoops, hopefully this weekend so i can get the broccoli, pak choi, onion and other hardy stuff set in and get my radishes protected before they sprout and attract bugs.

I also need to tag my tulips, daffs and other perennials so when my mom helps me dig out the flower beds this fall i will have some idea of what is what so it can be put together again nicely.  I'm giving her all my Iris.  They are just too big for my front gardens. Their fans are too large and they are too tall and the slugs love them because they are in shade for a good part of the morning.  There are three colors going on, but the colors are scattered. 
When we bought the house, my first project was to pull everything out of these gardens and get rid of all the weeds. I put back all the good stuff and planted a few of my own things.  But the iris colors are all random in there.  But i think my mom would like to have them all grouped by color, so i will try to tag those as well.
I have not gotten to the decorative plant tag project yet. For that i will actually have to get my husband to watch the little one for a whole day and do my daily chores for me. 

I also need to separate out some of the seed flats. I keep calling them 6packs but they are actually 9 cells. But anyway, i have some things in the flats that either didn't come up or have not come up or were frost bitten. I need to cut out the cell packs that have plants in them and put them all in new flats so i am not wasting space.  Also i can replant in the empty ones.

I have way more things to do than i have time to do it in, but isn't that the way of things :0)

Carrot & Parsnip Seed Tape

Simple DIY. I actually saw seed tape for sale at a big box store a few weeks ago. I sort of laughed at the price...

Its easy to make if you don't mind being a little nit-picky.
I don't like to thin, so i rarely sow direct because when i do i tend to oversow and annoy myself.

So here's how i do it.

Paper towel.... 2 ply is great, the cheapest is actually better than what i have because it is thin.
 Don't separate the ply right yet, it will save work later if you don't. If you want narrow rows use a mid grade TP.

Get a ruler, glue, pencil and a felt marker and seeds.

check the spacing of the seeds and get ready to mark your grid.


I'm spacing mine closer since i plan to harvest them small...  my garden soil is not very deep so i can't expect long roots at all.

This is why i leave the ply intact until marking is finished and use a felt pen. Saved half the effort.

 I have even gotten this marker to mark through 4 layers of ply, but 6 seems too much...or i would need a juicier marker.

So now i separate the ply.

Running out of room at the edge is ok because you can overlap them in the garden to keep relatively even rows

Glue dots...

Oh, yes... its not a bad idea to put a sheet of waxed paper underneath to keep the glue from getting on the work surface,  but if it does, the paper toweling pops off ok if you are careful.

Tiny carrot seeds,  these are Cosmic Purple. (funny, they don't look purple- lol)

.Tedious, but i'd rather do this comfortably seated at the kitchen table than bent over a row with the wind blowing everything to kingdom come.

The lick-a-toothpick method works great for this.

 The glue (unlike some seed starting mixes) is more than happy to grab the seed from the moist toothpick.

Label  it so it won't get mixed up.

Lay them aside separately to dry or they will stick together if the glue spots touch. I think that would make a huge mess of the situation!



 I'll put these in the garden once i get them all finished. I want at least6 squares of paper towel in size for each variety.
But it does take time to make them...


Planting out.

Its good to let them dry completely, just so they don't stick to each other.  Try to do this on a still day...  In the last few years i have found my home to be on one of the breeziest areas i have ever known.  Its almost constant and just strong enough to be irritating.

But anyway,  spray down the dirt.  It gives the paper something to adhere to immediately so you have an extra split second to grab a few clods of handful of dirt before the breeze picks it up.

Rocky I

Quick, hit it with water before the wind blows it away!

This is actually the last sheet of seeds, the rest you can see are covered in dry dirt. The wind was being too pesky for me to take the time to grab the camera. 

I also had to work fast because i had the little one out there with me, in a stroller and she wasn't being very patient.


So, i covered the covered and well watered seed tapes with plywood boards and i hope those don't blow away!

Ouch.

Frost last night.
The forecast said 31 for a low.
But actual low was around 27 degrees.
I have proof!

...

I have no idea which will come back and which won't.  Kinda stinks, looks like things got just a bit too cold.  Since some things are alive it had to have been just on the edge.
If i had expected the temps to be almost 5 degrees below what was forecast, i would have brought them all in.
Good thing is that much of what i may have lost can be replanted as seeds in the garden, that is the normal procedure for them anyway.  I was hoping to get a head start if possible, but that's not gonna happen.
So....  its back to the drawing board for most of what was growing so well.
I'm going to let it go a couple days to see if anything perks back up, if not i will restart some of those tomatoes- at least the ones that i still have seeds for.  They will need to be started indoors in the normal way because the outside will be too cool for the soil to allow quick germination.  There should be enough time for them since they always get leggy on me when i plant them the usual 4-6 weeks before planting. Even when i have them under adequate light.

But i'm going to try and make the seed 'tape' for the carrots today.  I might try and take pictures of how to do it.
Carrots are one of those things that really need to be planted like this, otherwise i would have to lean over my rows planting individual seeds forever.  I don't sow carrot seeds very neatly and i hate thinning. 
So, let me gather my materials and find my camera....

Cold.

It was supposed to go down to 31 degrees tonight and tomorrow night, but the forecast writeup changed and now it says 34 degrees is expected for both nights. I still have most things in the greenhouses, so all i have to do is move the stuff i was hardening off undercover just in case it frosts.
I did plant a few short rows of radishes, Hailstone, french Breakfast and Round Black.  I only did one strip of each except the French Breakfast, that was 2 lines. I put them where the corn should go later.  So they won't interfere by the time the corn needs the room.  I really want radishes and i probably could have planted them about a week earlier.  I should get the onions in as soon as i can.
I will probably spend most of tomorrow cutting more sockets and hopefully finish up the hoops.
By the time i get them all up it should be time to get stuff in and the cover over them.

Lettuce

I am am a seedling thin-o-phobe.  I hate to thin seedlings,, i usually avoid having to do it by only dropping one seed if i think i can get away with it. But yesterday evening i decided i needed to thin my buttercrunch lettuce and some of the pak choi peat pellets had two plants in them.  I figured i had waited long enough,  i had wanted the thinnings to be large enough for eating.  I also thinned out a couple collards.

I got quite a bit, probably enough to put on a few burgers, but we ate them right up. I didn't even think to take pictures until it was mostly gone.

Its a big deal enough to take a picture because this represents  the first harvest of any sort this year.

The pak choi were about 3 inches high, the buttercrunch was about 6 inches and the collards were just getting their 4th set of leaves.

It was all pretty yummy, we each had a few bites. They didn't need dressing.

Technically they didn't come from the garden, but its still the first edible of the year grown at home.

I got to make my Avocado soup today also.  Its a cold soup, basically a guacamole.

3 Avocadoes
2 cups water
2.5 teaspoons Lowry's seasoned salt
1 cup heavy cream
juice of one lemon

avocadoes, lemon juice, seasond salt and water go into the processor or blender.  Wizz 'till smooth. Then add the cream and pulse to mix it in, blend too long and it will become butter, so just get it combined. Then chill it at least one hour.
If i had cilantro that would be a garnish. I think i have sour cream, a dollop in the center of the serving bowl will go nice.  I do have some green onion,  i'll probably garnish with that too.
Its a Low Carb delight.
I also made some deviled eggs with a nice pate' i bought at a local sausage kitchen. It has black truffle in it.  Wish i could garnish the eggs with caviar...  lol.  Yeah,  i don't get caviar too often, but sometimes i like to pretend i could.  Even if i had the money for good caviar, i'd probably spend it on something far more practical.... and likely enjoy it longer.

But caviar, pate'... the closet foodie in me just loves to think about it.

Well, as of yesterday we have officially had Molly for a week.  She is getting on well with us. I think she was depressed for the first few days, she wouldn't eat.  She drank well enough, but not her food. But she would accept treats, so i knew it wasn't anything serious.  She is eating normally now.
She prefers to spend much of the day outside, so i put a temporary tie-up out there.  We haven't decided where to put her permanent tether stake yet.  I have her in a nice shady spot in the grass and she goes from napping in the sun to the shade from late morning to early afternoon when she likes to come in and stretch out on the cool tiles of the kitchen floor.  In the evenings, she naps on the armchair we designated as 'hers'.
She is a good dog for a small house and a small yard. They don't need miles of walking or large open spaces to run.So that is good. But she is a beggar.  A shameless beggar. So we gate her away from any room where there is food.

But its all fine.


Got to decide what to do with that grape plant. Its still in its pot.  It will need a trellis of some type so i need to decide how to peg up a single plant or decide if i want more than one and then what will i do?