Spring planting is about to begin!!!!

 Well, if you need proof that Spring is about to burst forward, I will be happy to oblige. I emailed three of the companies with whom I do most of my business. I inquired regarding the availability of onion and potato starts. Two of the three responded within an hour or so. Both had onion starts and one had potatoes while the other was expecting them this coming week. The third company never responded.

Given that it is getting real close for plantings, I decided to check the progress of my various composters to get a gauge of where I stand when I distribute the soil over my beds. All looks good as can be seen in the pictures here.

I took my rototiller and ran over the beds to cut down the rye. Once I completed that, I waited two days and ran the tiller through the beds again to cut the remaining live rye further. Now fun will begin. I will mix the various bags of manure and manure/compost mixes I have accumulated in with the leaf mold and compost I have processed over winter. One point to mention here is that I will sift my leafmold and compost to remove the big pieces. I will take those big pieces and put them in one of my composters to allow them to continue to decay. My plants in the greenhouse are doing very well despite the warm temps we have been having. I am keeping the vent window open which seems to help with the temps both in the day and overnight.
I went out today to water the plants given all the unusually warmer temps. Seems I will be needing to cut some lettuce and spinach soon. Here is one of my planters of lettuce that shows one batch of lettuce.

I have many other pots of spinach and lettuce which I need to cut also. There will be many more salads to come in the near future.
During this past week, I set to the task of getting the bamboo poles in for my fence. After two days, I was able to get the poles completed. I will have to now get the fencing bought and installed. Here is a snap of what the garden now looks like.

So, progress is being made on many fronts. I have seedlings growing in the basement, plants continuing to grow in the greenhouse and many "to do" items on my list. One by one, I will hopefully get these finished. There definitely won't be any lack of work to complete nor blogs to write.
So, until next time, Happy Gardening Everyone.

Leaf Mold progress

It has been roughly two weeks since I loaded the remaining leaves into my four composters and the garbage can composter. I decided it was time to check progress on them as I want to insure they are decomposing at a steady rate. This is going to be a major additive to my soils this spring.

So, I checked on the garbage cans' current status first. Despite the rains of the past weeks, the top layer looked dried out. This wasn't surprising as we have had many windy days here and it is uncovered. So, I decided to turn the leaves by using my compost turner. When turned, the leaves were putting off steam as it was 37 degrees at the time. They were moderately wet and looked as though the breakdown was in process. Here are pictures of the leaves before and after I turned them.
 
They will need to be moistened and turned several times before spring in order to speed up the breakdown needed.

I then checked the composter where I alternately layered ground wood chips and leaves. Upon opening, the leaves at the top were dried much like the other unit. So, I began to turn the front half of the pile to see if there was any difference between them and the untouched remainder of this pile. The leaves that I turned were moderately wet in comparison and also seemed to be breaking down. A good sign. Much like the other unt, they too will need more water and turnings to get them into a rapid state of decomposition.Below are before and after glimpses of the unit.
 

All in all, I am happy with the progress but do need to attend to them more frequently. I have a desired result that is time sensitive. A lot will depend on the weather as colder temps will impact these piles more than anything else. Only time will tell.
Well, that's all I have for now. I will be updating the greenhouse progress in my next post

Indoor gardening

Last week was a very busy one for me. During the week, I discovered an infestation of pesky gnats in my cucumber planter. I decided I had to take action as I certainly did not want it to spread and time was of the essence. Given that the cukes hadn't even started to peek through the soil as they were seeded in a few days prior, I decided to do another boiling water treatment. I took the water and poured it over the soil as I strirred the soil with my trowel. I did this to insure the water penetrated further than the 2" where the eggs may be. I got the water super boiling which resulted in it steaming for quite some time. I checked it the next day and there were no signs of the gnats. Thankfully!

I seeded in three varieties of cucumbers about two weeks ago.  My reasoning for this is I had two older packets of cuke seeds and wanted to run a test to see if they would still germinate. I put those on each side of a very recently purchased variety I really want to grow. Figured if I got a plant from either of those, I could always transplant it.  And, much to my amazement, all the seeds germinated.  Guess I don't need to buy any new seeds for this coming year.
Speaking of seeds, I have been watching several Youtube gardening and other similar types of channels. A recurrent theme recently has been that there more than likely will be a seed shortage next year accompanied by pretty steep price increases. Some suppliers have already annouced price increase of upwards of 100% for next year and some even more. Now, I certainly didn't think I needed any seeds but I decided to check my inventory. And, upon further analysis, it turned out I did need a few seed packets. So I went to the local seed supplier I buy from to check out if the rumors were true.

After shopping and deciding what I needed and wanted, it turned out I needed more than I was aware. Guess I got a gardening bug while I was there. They had a meager supply showing in the shop but they did have everything (and more) that I wanted in their warehouse storage area.
So, I bought 15 various seed packets for a total of $28.00. Not too bad considering I bought quarter pound bags of peas and corn at over $4.50 a bag each. I was quite happy that they have not - at this time - raised their prices. I asked about this upcoming years prices and availability. They have no plans for price increases and are still waiting to hear from their seed supplier on availability. They're assuming it's all good. Which, if it pans out, is good for our area.
So, when I came home, it dawned on me that I needed to organize my seeds in a better way. I decided to bite the bullet and organize the seeds alphabetically. I had them by season but it just wasn't working out. After about an hour or so, I had them all laid out ready to pack. Here is a picture of my seed packs.

I haven't counted them but I would imagine there are about 225-250 packets. I am going to count them and update my spreadsheet in the near future. After loading the seed packets into my container and putting the larger bags into ziplock bags, I put them into my dorm refrigerator for safe keeping. Here is the refrigerator as it now sits.

The top shelf has containers with single type seeds in them. The second shelf has the seeds combined by alphabet. And the bottom bag has Bean seeds and packets from last year. While not ideal, it does make finding a particulat variety a little easier at this time.
I was driving through my neighborhood recently when I came upon a bounty of leaves that were bagged in clear plastic bags. What were these people thinking about? They're gardeners no less. So, I stopped and very matter of factly threw 6 of the bigger bags in the back of my car. I drove to my house, dumped them on my driveway and looped back around. I again piled 5 bags into my car and repeated the unloading. I then thought about what I was going to do with these. Then it struck me.
I took the bags and put them on the ground around my greenhouse. This way, I thought, they would decompose with all the sun that area gets throughout winter. And, they would act as a wind barrier for my greenhouse. Two wins there. Below are pictures of the bags and the bags placed around my greenhouse.
 
I guess I am just a little different. Most people don't understand the value of them. I have 4 composters that are filled with leaves from my tree. I have a 32 gallon garbage can that I perforated with a ton of holes that is also filled with the leaves. And I have the 11 bags I just appropriated with little effort. True story - I used to stop on my way to and from work to snag bags of leaves along the curbs. My wife (and neighbors most likely) probably shook their heads when they saw me unloading those bags. The reason for all this effort is that leaf mold is perhaps as close to the most perfect soil addititve you can find. I am frugal for the most part. Not of out necessity but out of resourcefulness. I can't stand to buy processed soil from anywhere. Paying upwards of $10.00 for a 2 Cu. Ft. bag of soil when I can create my own seems like a waste of money. Last year I spent more on soil than I ever have. And, the reason was that I just retired last fall and lost focus on my composters due to other priorities. That was a lesson learned that will never be forgotten. Here are pictures of my composters and the one garbage can as they sit now. I will need to water them down if it doesn't rain soon to assist with their decompostion.
 
I have lots more to tell so I will be posting again in the near future.  Until then, Happy Gardening everyone.