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!

Awww..September arrives!

Well, as the summer winds down, your thoughts should turn to harvesting the last of your summer crop and if you are of the mind, beginning preps for fall crops.  I have busily been harvesting that which is ready.  My friends the squirrels have become more active lately and thus are also partaking of my last crops.  Luckily, there is enough for all of us so I don't begrudge them the few items they have absconded with.  Everyone has to eat after all.
I did some harvesting of the summer crops this morning.  I decided it was time to pull my watermelon I have been eyeing for quite some time.  As seen below, it's a Celebrity watermelon that has grown to 17" and 15 lbs.  Haven't cut it open yet but we will tonight.  This is the first time I've grown this type so we shall see what all that time and effort has come to.

With fall in mind, last weekend I planted 18 po.ts in my two hydroponic systems.  The crops are essentially various lettuces, carrots and a smattering of various herbs.  It may be a little late on getting them planted but as you can see, they are taking off rather nicely.  The first system to the left is one that I bought from cleanairgardening.com after seeing similar systems at Disney many years ago. The one on the right is a makeshift one I cobbled together after buying the fixture

from a closeout sale of a retailer.

Both systems work well but I would give the nod to the Clean air system for it's compact size.   But the re-purposed unit is quite good with root crops like carrots which is what you see in some of the bowls.  I feed them with the nutrient solutions I also buy from Clean air seen below to the left.  The Coke bottles have each nutrient solution and I mix 3/4 of a teaspoon of each into a gallon of water and flood the systems with that in the morning and evening.  Growth is always good.

My wife, son and I also picked our concord grapes yesterday that we have growing along our fence. We made organic (because I don't do anything but water them) grape juice and jam.  Can't wait to try the juice tomorrow morning.  I'm going to either grow more vines from cuttings or buy more plants to increase our yield.
Well, that's all for this Sunday afternoon.  It's been quite active this weekend and probably will stay that way for another month or two if the weather holds.  Hopefully by next week, I will be able to report on my progress of getting sunflower seeds from the plants we have along our driveway.  Until then, happy gardening everyone!