Trees Sprayed

Had some luck a few weeks ago and picked up 4 one gallon pump sprayers at work for under $3 each-  they normally go for at least $12 each at the absolute least.  Now i have a sprayer for pretty much anything i need to use without having to thoroughly clean each before use. So, i have one (different one besides the 4 clearance deal sprayers)  for the fung-o-nil, one for the bonide fruit spray, another for the BT, then one for the organic anti-tomato blight stuff,  leaving one spare for whatever else comes up.

Therefore,  i got the apple, beach plum, prune plum, grapes and cherries sprayed with the Bonide today.
It was great weather.  We had very chilly (though above freezing) cloudy, windy, ugly weather for the last few days. It got to about 70 degrees F by 1pm today. I got to work in the outdoor garden center for about an hour and a half during the chilly part of the early day.  I love that so much it hardly feels like work.  I was hired on in a permanent position so i don't get out there as much as i'd like-  seems the company tends to concentrate on keeping the seasonal people in those spots this time of year.  Even at this time of year,  though it is too cold for most,  i'm all happy just to be outside. When it gets to be in the high 80's-90's i will suffer more than those who chill easily. But i've also lost almost 60 pounds since last year.  I have 60-80 pounds to go but i'm going to feel more comfortable than i did when i had more...creases.....  lol

So, other than the fungonil stuff,  i got the first seasonal spray done. Much easier using the fine spray nozzle  with a one gallon tank than dragging around 75 feed of hose with a drenching hose-end sprayer. We'll see if the finer spray is applying enough of the effective ingredients. It has got to be better than not getting to the task at all.

Also,  i started hardening off the seedlings. Due to the unlevel-ness of my light stand i accidentally may have murdered some of my Meatball eggplant seedlings.Nothing is square in a house over 100 years old and i need to work on getting that light stand at its own level. All the water i was pouring into the flats was not reaching those at the back end.  I did get to water thoroughly today and they all got their dose of fish emulsion fert- which is honestly the first time i have managed to fertilise seedlings before planting. I never had a liquid fert on hand that wouldn't burn the seedlings. This is a 5-1-1 fert and it smells a bit like Thai fish sauce lol.

I still have herbs, cukes/melons, ground cherry and sunflower seeds that must be started soon.
My dad is coming to till tomorrow morning.  After that i plan to spend the following days carving out the rows, installing the soaker hoses,  laying the 20 foot wide 6mil plastic and erecting the PVC hoop houses.

I won't plant anything out until after next week, per : http://icebear7.blogspot.com/2010/05/ouch.html and https://www.almanac.com/fact/three-chilly-saints-mamertus-pancras-and-gervais-word-definition

But i don't wait for the planting glut of Memorial Weekend. It is too late for most and too much all a once for the rest


Its crunch time...a little at a time.

This was unexpected...

4-26-16

About 3 inches of snow.

But it won't last long.

I was feeling pretty ill that day and had to call out from work, which i really didn't want to do.  I really didn't know it was snowing until that evening.  Two days later it is 98% melted away. Some remains in the deeper shady parts of the treeline and against the dim sided of fences and shadows of houses.

Today---

This is what Skirret seedlings look like:

And Leonotis:

And Lemongrass...  (some Stevia on the lower part).

I pulled the Henna and Santolina Tomentosa from the fridge (the seeds were wrapped in moist paper towel and zippy-bagged getting cold treatment).

I got my seed order of herbal tea mints and other interesting things that i bought from an eBay seller.  I'll post that list later.

Frawgs

Leopard frogs are out,  they have been for a few days. The spring peepers have also been awake for about a week but we don't have any of the vernal pools they prefer close by enough to hear them from the house. Leopard frogs seem happy with the trickles in the gully across the way.  Its nice to hear them.  I've meant to try and get audio recordings of the peepers for a few years but haven't taken the time to do so.  Their singing is a deep rooted sign of spring,  like seeing the maples blooming.

I had started a post about my change in jobs but i never put it past draft. I now work in a national chain (big box) home improvement store. I am really enjoying it. My draft was full of my angst about wanting to be perfect straight away and being nervous about an almost total change of direction in career paths. I was pretty spastic but have since settled in. I think i'm going to be ok.  My favorite place to work is, of course, in Outside Lawn & Garden.  It has been cold weatherwise and it hasn't been busy out there very much. Today was my 3rd stint in that department. My first day it was sunny but very windy,  my second day it was gorgeous and there were two of us out there to cashier so it wasn't lonely. Today was chilly, breezy and a few sunny breaks.  The first 2 hours were dull. I saw almost no customers so i sat on my bucket inside the warming shed that is built around the cash register. There is an electric heater provided which is nice. If it is slow and lonely, we are permitted to sit and are allowed to have a book or other things to keep ourselves occupied- which is a luxury.  I've never had a job where sitting and doing "nothing" is not considered a severe infraction. As a cashier, i'm expected to remain within 10 feet of my station. If a customer needs help much beyond that range i have to call a floor employee to assist them. It is a strange contrast to what i am used to. Most places i have worked i tend to be a one person "show". If a task is at all feasible - even remotely- it was my responsibility.  This often meant booking it at top walking speed across the building to fetch, retrieve or locate an item, paperwork or whatever else a customer required. Not that i minded. I like a challenge. I keep thinking.... "I have never, in my life, done so little for so much hourly compensation". This is where my spastic personality comes in. I'm worried the slow season will make me a lazy worker. I've been doing my job at the pace that comes but spring and summer for home improvement stores is like Christmastime for other types of retail stores. Things WILL pick up very soon...  but i don't know what other people's definition of "crazy busy" is. I might find myself completely overwhelmed or i might wonder what the fuss was all about.  Oh,  but it is nice to have a job where i can sit outside and be warm, surrounded by plants and have time to mull my own thoughts.

Seeds of the day

Two more flats done, mostly herbs:

Zinger Hibiscus
Holy Basil
Cilantro
Santolina Tomentosa (in plastic baggie chilling in the fridge)
Henna herb (also chilling out in a baggie in the fridge)
Bouquet Dill
Rosemary
Sweet Marjoram
Curled Chervil
Winter Savory
Greek Oregano
Green Shiso
Red Shiso
Lettuce Leaf Basil
French Thyme
Flat Leaf Parsley
Garden Sage
Strawberry Spinach
Lunaria ("Money Plant, "Honesty"- obviously not a culinary herb)
Job's Tears (the seeds are apparently edible but i want more for beading)
and
Skirret (which is a sort of perennial carrot/parsnip-like creature with tubers that are edible)



So this is today's effort

I've been making plant markers out of the plastic covers of used spiral-bound notebooks that were destined for the trash. They take labeling with a silver Sharpie (seems more reliable a pigment than black or any other color of Sharpie) perfectly and are stiff enough to stay in the dirt but soft enough to bend if i use a clear plastic cover on the flat. The plastic will still end up in the garbage some day but it has been a useful way to prolong it.

This group somehow ended up getting leggy. I think the room might be too warm at times.

I don't think i ever posted a picture of that shelf i made last year out of PVC. I had meant to, so this is what it looks like.

If i don't do it this year, i'll do it next-  add one more level and possibly use 3 fixtures per level.
Speaking of level,  this coming paycheck i will buy something that will fix the uneven hardware cloth situation.  Tilted flats don't distribute water evenly.

Started Seeds Log

Started the following Saturday, April 2:

Toothache Plant (Spilanthus Acmella) -more on that later
Nepitella herb
Ancho hot pepper
Lemongrass
A few more Ghost Peppers so i can have some plants to share
Shooting Star eggplant
Black Beauty eggplant
Martin's Carrot hot pepper
Doorknob sweet pepper
Catnip


Today will be Tomato Day

I just need to make my final choices on what types to plant and which to pass this year.

As usual, i have a fair selection to pick from:

Matt's Wild cherry
Black Krim
Martino's Roma
Riesenstraube
Burpee's Supersauce
3 seeds left of Pruden's Purple
Cherokee Purple
Opalka
Chocolate Miracle
Pineapple Bicolor
Ivory Pear


I'm also planning to try planting watermelon in soil bags this year. I'll get some 2 cubic foot bags of garden soil and set them just outside the actual plowed garden and slip a few seeds in each and see how it goes.  If it does not work i will just give up on melons...permanently.


This morning it seemed like it would be a good day to burn Stanley's cut-offs and maybe give him a dose of Fungonil but the wind picked up again.


I have some odds and ends seeds i need to not forget:

Job's Tears
Honesty
Mexican Hat flower
Leonotis
Ground Cherries
Skirret
pumpkin on a stick

I did remember to buy soaker hose (2 packages of 100' each) and 100'x20' 6 mil black plastic sheeting.  Depending on the configuration options (which i won't be sure of until i can pull it all from the packaging, lay it out, take stock and measure the garden) i may just grab one more 100' soaker hose. I did read that for optimum efficiency the hose lengths should be less than 50'.  My garden is roughly 35'x35' maximum, so this shouldn't be a problem.

  I have been reading up on covering the whole garden.

  I was a little worried that lack of air to the soil might be an issue but a few articles from Ag Exchange sources say that it isn't a problem and the plastic actually collects the CO2 from decomposing matter in the ground. This is beneficial because when you make holes to put the garden plants in, the CO2 is concentrated and released right to and among the leaves of the garden plant. The plants are in a sort of CO2 chimney - like a person taking in supplemental oxygen- it is a boost.  I decided that if i am going to lay down all that plastic,  i'm also going to install the hoops & Reemay again. My biggest malfunction with the hoops was access.  The wind that i am constantly griping about makes opening and closing the hoops very tricky when it is just me trying to control the floaty Reemay.  With the plastic on,  weeding chores should be very minimal. With the hoops and Reemay on,  bug infestations may be severely reduced as well.  The Reemay might also hold in more of that lovely co2 and the plastic will keep it all very warm....  it might be too warm and will definitely need monitoring.  If there's too much generated heat,  i think i could apply wetted newspaper in strategic areas and watch out for slugs, snails and earwigs. I think this stands a chance to be a good strategy overall.

Year of the Eggplant?

I forgot how many eggplant seeds i bought.First off, i bought "Meatball" online from Burpee earlier then at work i got "Shooting Stars" and "Black Beauty" i think i also ordered some "Black Beauty" from a coworker at my other job through a fundraiser at her kids' school - the fundraiser was with Fedco Seeds.  I also ordered more of what i refer to as "pumpkin on a stick" eggplant seeds from Amishland Heirloom seeds. So far, i have only had time to get "Meatball" started (besides the okra and peppers) but i plan to use some time off to start much of the rest tomorrow.

After behaving a little last year on seed buying i went a little crazy again this time.
I still need rosemary seeds though.

I think i have decided that i'm just going to cover my whole garden in 6 mil plastic sheeting and install soaker hose under it.  I had been leaving space between rows clear for water to get under it but weeding around the plastic and the bricks to tack it down wasn't much easier than hand weeding anyway because i couldn't use tools. I've also got a serious nutgrass issue that is getting worse. You can't weed that stuff away.  The leaves break from the stem and any particle of that plant can regrow vigorously.

Half of the dying box elder tree down back fell over, finally.   This should allow more morning sun to get to the garden. If it were my tree, i'd just cut it down.  Its been on its way out for a few years.

I bought some ginkgo seedlings from a seller on Ebay,  I got 10 and 7 of them look pretty good.  Not sure where i'll plant them since i really don't have room.  Maybe i'll have to learn some Bonsai techniques and somehow keep them dwarfed.

Seed starting has begun.

I started two varieties of okra, Clemson Spineless and another type with the words "early" and or "green" in the name. I already forgot. I also got most of the peppers started.

6 King of the North sweet
6 Ghost pepper - last of those seeds
3 Ancient Sweet- my last 3 seeds
6 A sweet pepper called Door Knob
6 a hot one called Martin's Carrot
6 Purple Marconi -sweet- also my last seeds
And with the peppers i put in
6 Meatball eggplants

I've got more seeds i need to buy,  i'm out of a bunch.  I have all the tomato varieties i want but there's beets and carrots i don't have.

I sorted all my seed packets but i need to take the time to peek inside the packets to see what numbers i have.

There are a few orders i have made that aren't in as well as things like potatoes that won't arrive until just about time for planting.

I managed to remember and finally  find a good deal on ramps this year and another great deal on white strawberries (aka Pineberries).  I'm also going to try onions from plants not seeds or 'starts" this year.

I shopped around at Territorial Seeds and am going to try an order there.  I have put in my cart:

Butter bush squash
Wautoma cucumbers
Excelsior cucumbers
Lutz Greenleaf beet
and
Purple 68 carrot

I would also love to try growing some Pusa Asita Black carrot that i found advertised on Baker Creek's rareseeds site. I found them while trying to find a seed source for vegetable marrow type squashes (which are either or not interchangeably called Courgettes). I keep forgetting to try and find some. From what i understand, they are similar but distinctively different from what we call (on this side of the pond) summer squash and zucchini. I found something called Boston Marrow but it is miles away from what i wanted. Going to have to mosey on over to Mal's Allotment and see if i have better luck searching them up by the cultivar names he's growing because when i look things up under "courgettes" i see things that look suspiciously similar to the things i already know.  Like the argument my mother and daughter had years ago about whether yellow summer squash is "yellow zucchini" or "summer squash"...  Both zucchini and yellow squash are "summer squash" but the yellow type is rarely called zucchini....  at least around here. lol

I'm probably going to do another round of peppers once the ones i planted today germinate. I only have one heat mat.  Its too early to start much else.

Its almost that time of year again

And based on this winter,  i have no idea what to expect.

It was an odd winter.  From the hail storm last summer to now.

There was no snow until after Christmas and before Christmas it was very warm.  We had a few medium snow storms which were followed soon after by rain which melted it away, then more warm spells. We did have a cold snap or two which wasn't very kind to the plants where the ground was bare.  I had been trying to plan for some winter pruning but with the unusual temperatures i was not convinced that the plants were dormant for certain and that another unexpected warm set of days would wake them up.  I did get the grape pruning started Friday and i totally pruned the Stanley Plum.  i think i got all of the black knot eruptions but had to cut it back so severely. The big pruners weren't enough and i had to use a small cross cut saw. Then i coated what was left with a fungicide product called Fung-onil.  The weather was just below freezing and the spray on product was thickened at that temperature (more like a splatter than spray) so i ended up applying much of it with a medium sized paint brush. I covered as much surface as i could and put extra care towards the fresh cuts.

Regardless of the weird winter,  i'm going to start seeds soon. I may actually get sweet and hot peppers going on time as well as eggplant. I'm also going to remember to plant okra.

I have made a number of small seed orders so far but it will be inventory time before i go any further.

As far as the rest of the outdoors, the edging is a complete mess.  I'm seriously considering replacing it entirely. Something like this:

The plastic edging simply isn't tall enough to sit deep enough and hold steady,  but hubby thinks it won't look nice. I might try it on a smaller bed and expand on it later if he gives up.

Been so busy and having a hard time remembering where i left off.  Time seems to fly and i realise how much has gone by since my last entry.

The cherries were just beginning to turn pink last time and things were looking ok,  the woodchuck had only just started to cause trouble....

these first pics are from early July:



This is how the cherries ended up.

There weren't a lot for the first year of course, but the color was great and the flavor was nice though more tart than i had hoped.  Maybe they get sweeter as the plant matures or they just need sugar when processed.

The color continued to deepen a few more days later.

I have gotten some eggplant,  the flowers are nice enough.

Luna moths are pretty too.

I have gotten some long turnips too, and there are more coming every few days still.  They are good with roasts and stews. They are called Hinona Kabu.  When they are ready,  they raise themselves out of the ground and the exposed shoulders become purple.

Seaberries continued to grow

The gojiberries have been satisfyingly plentiful.   I have no pictures,  but the blueberries have had their best year yet.

The nice neighbors finally cut down that tree that has been breathing down our roof's neck.  This being removed has allowed much more sun to the side bed where many of the berries and the cherry tree is.

This is the full garden shot on 7/13/15

This is the "mouse melon" plant on the same day.

It is very much a miniature plant in all ways. Tiny tendrils,  minute flowers.

 It has since grown quite a bit and produced a few samples which were nice to have. More pics will appear below.

Flavor burst peppers:

These have done well and are tasty,  heavy producers of sweet peppers.

Tomatoes....before i lost control of them once again.

Adirondak potato flower:

Lots of apples:

Yard long bean plants

Aphid infestation on the Stanley prune plum

Short video of a female ruby throated humming bird in our yard- if it loads and plays correctly. Its a lower resolution video anyway.

One of the eggplants after the woodchuck began going after those.

Woodchuck taste-test on the sunflowers

Woodchuck claw marks on the sheet plastic.

Normally they just come to eat,  this one liked to dig and wallow.  Not sure if it was reacting to the habanero pepper spray i made to spray on the plants in hopes of deterring its eating.  It didn't work in the long run.

And then on 7/28/15,  i came home from work to find this:

And what that did to my garden:

I won't be using this plastic again next year like i had hoped to. Will have to buy new.

I did get a cucumber after that,  this was at least unblemished by the falling ice missiles.

A few days later,  the production continued mostly unchecked

The biggest Flavorburst pepper so far. This was a couple days ago. Many of the fruit had been hit by the hail but this one was fine all around.

Here's a fruit that the "mouse melon" produced. We got a good handful more of them this morning. They go by a few common names other than "mouse melon",  like Mexican Sour Gherkin, "cucamelon" and others.  They have a tart cucumbery taste,  not bitter but citrusy. The inside is a little jelly-like with the seeds,  like horned melon,  the skin is a bit hard but not unpleasant,  its more of a thin rind really.  I will grow them again next year.

Well,  that is all the pictures i have for now.  I hope to have another catch-up post in the next day or so.

6-22-15 another post i forgot to finish

The grapes are being ridiculous, just showing off.

The cherries are beginning to blush a bit. I'm going to have to come up with something to use to cover them before the birds notice.

I just happened to notice this branch full of growing Sea berries.

That was as far as i got blogging that day!