Current Status

There is so much to write about regarding my "winter" plantings. I will start with just an update of the greenhouse and garden area. I have several plants trying to grow despite the unseasonably warm weather. Yesterday, we hit a high of 75 which resulted in the greenhouse heating up even though I had the venting window and door pretty much wide open. The temps inside went into the 90's which is not good for the cool season crops I have growing. Here is the temp at 3 yesterday afternoon.

Despite that, the seedlings appear to be working hard to grow. Here are my spinach (round containers) and lettuce (rectangular) plants. The lettuce seedlings are quite small as they were delayed in sprouting. Not too bad as they struggled early due to our warm weather in the middle of October. I plan on working in some slow release fertilizer this week once the temps drop a bit. That should spur their growth as I water them.
 
I also have leaf lettuce growing well in the one of the grow boxes alog with carrots continuing to progress. I will need to cut the leaf lettuce soon. I will add them to the salad lettuce I recently bought. Then I plan on planting both of the grow boxes with lettuce as I now have a feel for how to manage them.

 
Additionally, I have Giant Ceasar and Swiss Chard growing along with a small planting of radishes. My wife mentioned she had a white onion with top growth that she was using in a roast. She cut off the top and gave it to me. After researching onions, it was apparent that you could plant that and there was a decent chance it would grow another onion. Always open to experimentation, I decided to give it a try as I had nothing to lose. Here are a couple snaps of the plantinng.
 
And heres how it looked this morning. Seems the plant has responded enough to give me hope. As I say, only time will tell.

Once the weather eventually turns, the plants should begin to grow in earnest and the greenhouse will become more productive. One thing I learned last year is that the plants grow at a much different rate than they normally do. But, grow they will.
Speaking of growth, the Winter Rye I planted in my garden beds is probably the best I have ever seen. It is not only taller for this time of year, but it is much thicker and more dense. I am truly excited as this will be a huge step for my garden soil health. Here are a couple pictures of the beds.
  
On another note, I have been collecting various compostable items to place in one or maybe two of my composters. Besides my neighbors contribution, I decided to strip the leaves off of a bunch of branches I was going to cut up. I piled them up on a tarp to begin drying them out. Then I collected my front lawns clippings when I cut the grass on Monday and piled them over the leaves. I did the same thing with the clippings from my back yard and added them to the pile. This is the result that followed all that work.

I also have been collecting cardboard from the various packages that we get. I cut them up and put them into my one cart. I'm letting them sit there to soak up the rain and my periodic watering from my rainbarrow I have to empty before it freezes. Here is the cardboard and a picture showing the current state of the cuttings as of this morning.
 
The weather here in the last few days has been wierd. Mornings have been misty/foggy then the sun breaks through in the afternoon and we have summer. Here are a few pictures to what we woke up to this morning.
 
It was warm with a light rain and pretty dense fog.
So, as can be seen, there has been alot going on in the greenhouse/gardens. I have also been trying to finish all the outside tasks that need to be completed before the cold weather sets in along with maintaining the growing. It's been a little hectic at times but progress is happening. From what I can tell, next week is going to be appreciably cooler than this week.
Well, that's all I have for now. I will write soon about my indoor gardening attempts that I am just setting up and all that entails. Until next time, Happy Gardening Everyone!

Hello Again

After many issues with my computer, I had to relent and buy a new laptop.  Happily, I received my new laptop Sunday.  And what a relief it is to have a machine that works.  Took a little time to get used to it but I think i have the hang of it now.  Now that the issue is resolved, there is much to tell/relate.  Given winter is right around the corner, time is of the essence.

I was doing chores this past Thursday in my backyard.  Having completed my work there, I went out front to discover that a sizeable tote of spent flowers and plants was sitting in my driveway.  Apparently, one of my neighbors knows that I am an avid composter.  If it's green or brown, it will most likely end up in one of my 4 units.  So, I carried it back to my garden area to begin the prepping process.  I put the cuttings into my wheel barrow.  Here is the result of that.

I then took a shovel and sliced through the mass in order to speed its decomposition.  I lightly watered them down and went on with my chores.  Here is how they looked after the chopping.  I was happy to get these as its a pretty good unexpected haul and will definitely go a long ways to giving me the bulk that is necessary.

I put the container in my driveway, not knowing who exactly gave me them.  I then worked in my greenhouse and went inside my house, noticing that the container was now gone.  Next morning, I woke up to yet another set of plant debris in my driveway.  This one was a little bigger in mass than the first one as shown below.

I then added these to the previous donations and cut/watered them like I did before.  Here are before and after pictures of my compost treasure. 

I went to put the container back in my driveway and my neighbor accross the street walked over to retrieve her container.  I thanked her for it and she said it was easier to do this than to bag them up and she knew I composted so might as well put them to good use.  People surprise you sometimes.    

I have left the cuttings in the container and actually added a few pots of spent soil and some grass cuttings.  It rained on them over the weekend so they are off to a good start.  I'll add them to my working composter at the end of this week before the weather turns.  

It's great to be able to post again without the computer wonking out on me.  There is a lot to cover and I will do so over the next week.  I have a bunch of competing outside tasks to get accomplished this week as the weather is currently unseasonably warm and I plan on taking advantage of it.  I'm not complaining but as we all know, there are only so many hours in a day.        

So, in my next post, I will take stock of the progress of the seedlings I have currently growing.  Lots to write about but It will get done.  Until next time everybody, Happy Gardening!

 

Weather issues

It's been awhile since I last posted.  That is because I have been fighting a very tenacious cold that just won't go away.  Just seems to have the ability to linger on - mostly through a cough.  But I figured it was time to check in so here we go.
Lots going on actually around the area.  Spring has taken leave so Winter has been the dominant feature of the weather.  We had temps hit lows in the teens and actually had a "snow" event this past week.  Today, Sunday the 10th, was probably the mildest day we have had in awhile.  Temps have been in the 50"s today and we're supposed to see a general trend of warming for the coming week.  All good news indeed as I need to get the garden rolling.
I have recently been adding vegetable scraps to my composters(pictured below) to try to get them reignited with micro biological activity.  Each of them have had about two sets of scraps put in them.  I will wait until we get more consistent weather then I will begin adding more mass to them.

They are about 1/2 full each with seasoned compost ready to use once the temps moderate. I will have to prepare my three beds first by cutting and working in the winter rye that is currently growing in them.  Here is one of the beds I have.  The Rye grew well despite the colder temps we have had.

I will wait for about a week or more before I begin the process of cutting the rye down to begin working it into the soil.  The reason I am waiting is that we are possibly going to have yet another set of colder days around the 21st through the 23rd.  I am trying to let the Rye grow as much as possible in order to maximize the input into the soils.  One week of good temps has often added and inch or more in the past.  

Well, next week, weather and health permitting, I will begin diving in big time into the gardens.  Till then, have a great gardening week!

Time to begin?

That's a tough question to answer.  The weather is at times saying yes and then cruelly, no.  We are currently at 43 degrees right now.  I walked out to my garden plots and the when I dug into the soil, it was cold and wet.  Not a big surprise as the weather has been quite seasonal.
So, what can be done given the soils are not ready for planting even the hardiest of seeds.  My answer is quite simple.  I will begin the process of clearing out my plastic greenhouse.  I placed one of my remote thermometers in it to get a gauge of what the temperature ranges are at this time.  Once the coldest temps are consistently above freezing, I will then set up the various hydroponic systems I have and  begin seeding in the early crops.  I was behind the curve the last time I planted in it and the crops bolted before I could get a decent crop produced due to too much summer heat.  It's a delicate balance to get the seeds in at the right time.  One season is not like the other in this area. 
I did a little cleaning around the beds when I was outside Saturday morning.  The rains and snows took a little toll on the them.  Nothing huge as everything looks to have come through the winter.  The winter rye is in a sort of dormant state but that will change with a few more weeks of 50 degree weather.  It will be soon enough before I have to cut the rye and start working it into the soil.
I also eyed up the area where I will be building the glass greenhouse this spring.  Lots to do there so I just need to start chipping away at that in small chunks.  The next step is to remove the bricks and paver stones in the area of the greenhouse floor.
Once those are removed, I can then use the rototiller to break up the ground where I will be starting the base of the unit.  That won't be for a little while yet as the ground is wet and we are expecting some freezing temps in the near future.
I took out some kitchen scraps this afternoon and buried them in the unfinished composter.  I did this in order to get the processes moving to create bacteria once the temps moderate.  There will be slow decomposition for now and even that is fine.  It was deep enough to perhaps awaken or feed the existing microbes that exist that far down.   
It was nice to get out in the yards and tool around the various points to get the gardening juices flowing again.  Spring is about a month or so away but hope has been rekindled.  It should be an interesting year given my focus on making the garden contribute to our household.  There is  big difference between gardening as a hobby and gardening to augment our food supply.  We shall see how it turns out.  It is a challenge for sure.  So, there is where the gardening progress is at this point in the year.  Till next time, Happy gardening everyone!

Time to get back into gear

After having spent the last week on a glorious cruise in the Western Carribean, it sure is hard to get oneself back into the swing of things.  But, we must trudge on as the saying goes putting one foot in front of the other.  As you may or may not know, I am not actively gardening this year due to the confluence of various factors.  And that is where I am today - a gardener without a garden.
While I do not have an active garden in my backyard, I am assisting a friend with his.  It's a different feeling working on someone else's yard.  But, at least I get snippets of time working in his garden so I am not totally cut off from the activity - my passion.
His is a traditional garden in that it is layed out in a semi-rectangular space.  He has many tomatoes, asparagus and cucmber plants in the space which do not show up well on this photo. 

We dug a trench system aroungd the bed due to the heavy rains we had in late June.  The water runs from his neighbors fenced yard to the right and runs accross the plot.  It resulted in many plants dying from root rot.  Hopefully the trench will direct some of the heavier rains away from the plants.  I haven't been to the plot in about two weeks due to all the work and vacation activities involved.
I will get some up to date pics this weekend hopefully.
My beds are another story though.  They are what you would call laying dormant or resting this year.  It may turn out to be the best thing though as resting fields is a practice of many gardeners in order to allow the soil to recharge.  I will need to begin to work the plots and I still have a my greenhouse to construct later as fall begins.  Here are the beds in the current state of being.

As I said, they need some tender loving care over the next few months.  My goal is to add store bought amendments (OMNI rated) to the beds along with some home made compost and leaves I gathered last fall.  That should do the trick for right now.  But, before I add the amendments, I will need to till the beds to loosen the tension of the soil surface.  I do this so the the nutrients that are being added are absorbed deeper into the soil.
That's all I have at this time.  When I get up and running in the next few days, I will add more entries into my blog.  So, happy gardening everyone!  Until next time - garden away!   

Beginning of another year

Here's hoping that you had a wonderful New Years and this year is your most productive one yet.  As we inch into the new gardening season, one has to take stock of where you are in order to guide your efforts to an even more glorious harvest.  For me, this year, that means many things.
First off, I have decided to forego my ususal routine of growing most of my own vegetables from seed.  I have decided to purchase most of my plants from two or three growers in my immediate area.  My reasoning for growing my own plants was that the growers were not offering the plant selections I liked to grow.  There was a paucity of heirloom plants available and an overabundance of the usual hybrid varieties.  For me, there is nothing like the taste of the heirlooms.
After visiting the various plant sellers throughout last year, I noticed that between three of the them, I could find almost all of the varieties I wanted.  And, to make it all the better, they were at very affordable prices.  It appears that the growers have finally caught up to me and other gardeners in regards to the superiority of taste of the heirlooms.
I still do need to take stock of my seed inventory which I will complete this week.  An indirect result of the aforementioned decision to curtailing my growing efforts will be a much smaller seed stock and, of course, less purchasing.  I just need to be sure I have the seeds for the various plants that can be started directly in the garden.
All of this will allow me the luxury, if you will, to concentrate more efforts in building my soils to peak richness.  Last fall I planted winter rye in all three of my beds to overwinter them.  I have written several times last year about the benefits of this which I firmly believe in.  The beds are in great shape given the weather we have had recenlty.  Two weeks ago we had wind chills in the negative 10 degree range and have just entered another colder than normal period this week.  It's supposed to right itself by this coming Friday.
Here are the beds as of last week.  I think they look great and the rye is actually holding up much better than I would have anticipated.

               

I will be waiting until probably late February to cut the rye down to the soil level.  Then I will wait for the cuttings to rot for about a week or two.  Once rotted, I will work them into the soil with either a fork or a light roto-tilling.  The object is not to distrub the roots or the sub soils.  This serves many purposes.  The cuttings will act as an immediate green manure, the roots as nutrients for the plants over the growing season as they break down and the light rototilling will not introduce imbedded weed seeds to the sun and warmth required for them to grow.
After I do this, I will need to add a mix of composted horse manure and compost in order to build the necessary fertility and structure in the soil.  One has to be careful to be sure that the manure does not have wood chips or shavings in it as those are detrimental to vegetable growth.  People sometimes use cow manure but that is courting disaster with pathogens if it is not composted correctly.  My choice is to use the safer horse manure.  I will be researching various local suppliers of this as I like to stay as local as possible.
I also have a new 8X6 greenhouse to place in my gardens.  Not quite sure where but my guess is at the end of my beds at the southernmost end.  This will, by proxy, be a reason to reset my beds.  I am thinking of getting rid of my blocks and do a more intensive planting scheme.  I am still playing with various alternatives so I havent really come to any hard choice although I will need to do so in a short time.
Well, that's all the news in the gardens at this time.  Just begining to piece it all together one step at a time.  So, until next time, Happy Gardening to everyone!       

Pre-season Fall gardening preparations.

Yes, it is almost that time of the season again.  Yesterday was absolutely a beautiful day so I decided to take advantage and do some preps early.  I cleaned out my bed that has protection for when the weather takes a change in course.  So, I pulled the few weeds there were and decided it was time to add some of compost for nutrient enrichment.

I pulled several shovel fulls of compost and screen sifted them so that I wouldn't have any unfinished compost in my beds.  Here is a picture of before and after compost to show you the reason for the sifting.  The compost in the wood bin is unsifted and  you can certainly see the difference in the compost in the wheel barrel bed.

Then, after sifting several loads, I unloaded it into the bed where I am going to attempt to grow the winter crops.  This is probably about ten shovel fulls of sifted dirt.

I then spread it out to even the bed out.  I will let it now sit and work its way into the soil beneath it.

So, I will water this area a few times to allow for the compost to release the nutrients deeper into the soil.  That, in turn will supply the plants I put in there with the nutrients at their root level.

All the while I was doing this, I was being closely watched by our neighbors super inquisitive dog Meg.  I don't mind a bit.  She's really a sweet dog.  Hopefully she is picking up some pointers.

While I was doing all these preps, I noticed there were several cucumbers and a lot of new pepper blooms.  I watered the area around noon yesterday and followed with another soaking in the evening. A ritual that I always follow with no bad results.  

So, this morning, I went out to the garden and picked the cucumbers.  Can't believe all the cucumbers and peppers I am getting this year.  And no, I am not complaining.   

We will be enjoying these over the next few days.  There is nothing like eating fresh vegetables you have grown from seed to what you see.  Very satisfying indeed.  Well, that's all for now.  Hope you are having a great season.  Happy Gardening everyone!

My tools of gardening.

No matter how many gardeners I run across in my travels, they always seem to have a few tools that I have not seen before.  Whether that would be a generational hand me down like an antique weathered trowel one of their parents used or a random item they picked up at a yard sale, they always have seemed to peak my interest.  If pursued, most of the gardeners can relate a story or memory that made the tools more than just that - a tool.  No, these have a connection that goes far beyond the utilitarian purpose the item serves.
So, that got me to thinking about some of the tools that I have accumulated throughout my years of gardening. I don't have any that I would say are generational hand me downs from my side of the family as my parents were not enthusiasts of gardening.  But, I do have some beyond the ordinary tools that I have acquired or bought.
For instance, I have a hoe that was given to me by my father in law that his dad used many years ago.

 As you can see, it isn't something you are going to find in any store, flea market or yard sale.  It is kind of rough looking but has a very menacing look to it.  I cant remember ever seeing tines that big and thick on a hoe.  I have used this untold times in my garden and I can tell you, it is very effective at loosening the soil and removing deep rooted weeds with little effort.  But beyond that, I have memories of my wife's grandfather and I can envision him taking this hoe and swinging it with authority.  I am sure this piece is the result of him taking the head piece and fastening a new handle to it.  He was just that kind of man.  And therein lies the connection.




Another piece I have is what I call a root killer.

 Much like the hoe, it also came from my wife's grandfather.  It doesn't look like it, but it too is a heavy piece.  Seems that he had several pieces that were of this ilk.  I know this is because these were probably made during the 40's or 50's when almost everything made, was made to last.  And, attesting to this fact is that they are still around and I have continued to use them.  I did in fact use this to remove a stump last year.  Sure, there probably was an easier way but I do get a kick using these.  I can attest to this pieces' heft and it's strength.  It is a fitting testimony to both that generations grit and the pride they put into their work.  



And yet another piece from Grandpa's collection - I didn't realize I had so many until I started this blog entry - is an old wooden handled potato fork.  At least I think that's what is called.

I haven't grown potatoes but maybe this will give me the motivation to do that.  

Next, is a pitch fork that probably is for bailing hay.  I can attest to it's ability to reach way down into my garden soil in the spring.  I don't have any hay so I had to re-purpose it.  

Next is a sifter that I use on my compost.  And, yes, I pulled this out of grandpa's garage.

You can see the aging and I was told that he built it himself.
The next piece may bring back good or bad memories of when you were young, depending on your age naturally.  I actually do remember using one of these and I have used it here in my yards.  See, before there was the invention of the weed whackers, we had to use this.                                            

Oh man, I spent countless hours in my parents front yard pushing and pulling one of these contraptions.  It did the job alright but it was and still is kind of a back breaker.  I bought this at an antique store in Annville Pa. called The First Floor Attic.  I have used it since then but generally only in the Spring to cut a definitive edge.  Then I use my weed whacker to maintain the edge.
And finally, I bought this piece at the same store.

I wasn't sure what it was actually but I later found out from my wife that it was a chicken feed spreader.  Who knew there was such a thing?  Well, besides my wife that is.  I saw it and figured it would be a good compost spreader.  I actually use it to spread almost any soil amendment I use such as vermiculite, sand or peat moss.  It works really well and doesn't overload me.

So there you have it.  My collection of old tools still in use in my gardening endeavors shared for the whole world to see what my family and friends have known for many years.  That I am a bit fanatical about my gardening and the tools I use.  Hopefully, this has been a bit of a walk back into your past or an enlightenment of what people used over the years.  I get a sense of when I am using these, that I am reconnecting to the past in some way myself.  I hope you have enjoyed it!  Until next time, Happy Gardening!