Springing to Life

It has been so long since my last garden update. There have been many changes since I last wrote. The garden beds have been completed and amended. Plans are underway for next years greenhouse. The glass sashes have already been secured, now it is time to begin the framing plans. The compost pile has finally been "mastered(?)." Well, it is hot most of the time, thanks to a regular supply of grass clippings from our neighbors healthy lawn, as well as chicken manure from our newest yard inhabitants.


The compost pile gets turns a couple of times a week with new kitchen scraps, clippings, and used chicken bedding being added. Add a little water every 6 inches of layer or so and presto, hot, steamy, rich organic fertilizer for the garden every couple of weeks. I simply spread it around the plants on the surface and let the watering filter it down into the soil. So far the plants seem to like it.

All of the plants in the garden were started from seed except for two eggplants that I purchased at the local farmers market. I could not resist them. The farmer was very friendly and he was doing this from his back yard as am I. The plants looked healthy and strong so I took them home and planted them next to the single eggplant I was able to get going by seed. I even managed to get onions going from seed which is supposed to very difficult to do. Most books I read said to save the frustration and buy starts from the nursery. I tried anyhow and about half of my seed succeeded.


I have had a few volunteers pop up. Most have been removed but a few were allowed to continue to grow just to see what would produce. Last year we planted Greek Amaranth. The leaves were not as tasty as Amy had hoped but the flower is attractive and the plant is impressive. From that experience we learned that Greek Amaranth is also a very prolific seed producer. The seed also becomes a plant very easily with just a little bit of moisture. I have had hundreds of plants sprout. Most have been pulled early on. I allowed a few to grow as I learned that the chickens simply love eating those leaves. The plant grow very quickly. Each morning and evening a handful of leaves get picked and thrown to the chickens who devour them as quickly as they can.

The rest of the plants growing are: heirloom tomatoes, yellow bush beans, green bush beans, onions, radishes, carrots, spinach, mustard, chard, zucchini squash, winter squash, muskmelon, pumpkin, leeks, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, eggplants, Armenian cucumber and sunflowers. I think that covers everything. Here are a few snap snots of the garden taken this morning.

Hot Soon

Today was record hot. I think it may have officially been 99 degrees but things felt so much hotter. The garden is coming along, not as well as I would like but learning a little more each year. One of these years we will have the ultimate garden that you see pictured in the gardening books and magazines, just not this year. I seem to easily get sidetracked by other activities that zap my energies around the garden. I lack focus and follow through with planning. Crossfit is making me tired. Arthritis is showing its ugly head to remind me I am not in remission. I am feeling almost 40 now. I can't rebound from intense workouts the way I used to. No riding to work this year yet as I can't get up early enough to do the 18 mile ride. It may also account for some of my gardening shortcomings. Soon I will force in a ride to work. Soon I will make my plans for the greenhouse I will build for next year. Soon we will take our Father's Day camping trip. Soon I will have some extra days off from work. Soon I will see some friends and family who have been missing from my life. Soon.

Garden Week 5

No pictures this week, just a garden update. I have been awaiting all of my supplies before starting my seeds. Finally, I have all that I need. So today I began by dealing with the perpetual problem of our compost pile. The compost pile continues to not get warm. I believe the problem is a lack of organic matter and nitrogen. It also did not help that it was rained on for a couple of days while uncovered when we were out of town. At the start of the day it was a soggy cold pile of half composted matter.

Today I turned the pile while adding in layers of chicken manure. Once this was done I covered the pile with black plastic. I am hoping the manure will help with the nitrogen and organic matter needs and that the plastic will help to kick start the heating process since the material is still quite wet. Only time will tell. I should see a difference in a couple of days if it works.

The second gardening task was to begin the seeds. I only accomplished the very beginning steps of this. We are using a seed blocker to start the seeds this year and to use it we have to make a soil mix. Part of the mix is coir, a renewable resource alternative to using peat. Unfortunately, it arrives in a block the size of a brick and nearly as hard as one. So the coir sits soaking in a bucket of water to soften up before adding to the mix. The rest of the mix consists of lime, brown phosphate, greensand, blood meal, sand, garden soil and compost. This task is to be continued later in the weekend.

Garden Week 2

It seems like not much has changed since last week in the garden, and in fact at first glance that is so. However, there has been much going on that I realize upon reflection. This was the week that we received our first package in the mail. It contained the tools of life for our garden. It the aerated box we had greensand, kelp meal, brown phosphates, coir blocks, a mini seed blocker, trays and clear domes, and sadly for some... caterpillar killer. From here there is no turning back. We have the technology, we are gaining the knowledge. Now it is simply, ha simply, remaining on track, maintaining the time lines and planning the proper sequences from seeding to harvest.

In the yard we continued to revamp our planter boxes. The second smaller box was constructed in the rear left corner of the garden. We are very happy that all of the material we have used for the garden so far has been reused/recycled. In the larger box the soil was raked through and all the rocks removed, clumps of soil broken apart, and last years plant roots removed. I am very excited about how much the soil has improved from what we started with.

We also remodeled the compost bin. Over a year ago I constructed a compost bin that we have been using. It seemed to serve its purpose well enough, although the pile has never been hot or even maintained an inner warmth regardless of what I have tried. I think I may have discovered the problem. The bin was built with a solid floor and also has not been covered during the rain. These two factors have created a soggy pile during the winter months. So now our bin has been rebuilt to allow the pile to sit on the ground with air exposure on all sides. I must say that it is not the prettiest compost bin nor what I want as the final structure, but it was done at no cost. We blew up our garden budget already this month on seed and supplies so the bin had to be made without funds. I had chicken wire in the garage and pallet stickers from work which will surely rot away. So for now this is it, when the budget allows a new compost bin will follow.

Garden Week 1

So this week begins the 2009 Garden Project. The project is to begin a year round garden in our yard. Our plot is not large. I think in all we will be using about 100 sq. ft. of raised beds. However, I think we will work in some other areas of the yard as well. Fruit trees, berries, and grapes will planted around the yard perimeter and we will probably intermingle some herbs and other edible crops in the yard planting areas.

When we moved into the house about 7 years ago it looked like a typical 50 year old ranch home in the suburbs. Green lawn out from with hedges. Patio cover in the rear with lots of concrete and 1 peach tree. The patio cover was rotting away, the lawn was old and needed to be stripped and re-sodded, and the concrete in the rear was cracked and overwhelming in area. So little by little replaced. The house is small and when company was over there is not a real nice gathering space. So instead of new lawn we allowed it to die. We stripped all the landscape from the front yard, regraded it and built a front courtyard along with a short fence to divide the front yard nearly in half. I remember neighbors walking past and talking to each other about our dead yard. "What are they going to do with this?" The back yard had a similar overhaul, at least in removal. All concrete was broken out and hauled away. Patio cover gone. Now 5 years later we are actually beginning to do something with it. Nothing flashy here. This is about creating a sustainable landscape. Garden, fruit trees, berries, compost bin, worm bins, drip irrigation, the works. It is not about beauty, it is about function. We have thrown in a sandbox for Benen too.

So this week was about getting started. Seeds and supplies were ordered, research has continued, and the raised beds have been started. This week the largest of the beds was laid out and built. All material for the beds is recycled lumber, I repeat function, not beauty. Over the past year the soil has been amended repeatedly with compost from our worm bins and compost pile. The soil we began with was solid clay. In the summer the backyard could have doubled as a parking lot the soil would get so hard. This rise and fall around here like the tides. Winter, ground swell. Summer, ground shrinks and fissures appear. Now the soil in the garden actually looks rich and fertile. Earthworms now inhabit our garden due to the fine soil we are creating. Each shovel scoop produces multiple worms of all sizes. No more asphalt in summer for us, at least in the garden.

Facebook

Somehow during this past year Facebook entered my life. It is something that I let in with trepidation and at present am not sure exactly what I am doing with it, using it for, or what it is using me for. Initially the idea of reconnecting with people from my past and remaining connected with those in my present sounded interesting, not exciting, but worth checking out. It actually had a voyeuristic appeal. Maybe I could see how everyone I have lost touch with is doing covertly. Why the introverted approach, I am not sure. So I checked it out and in doing so was able to say hello to a few old and current friends.

Facebook posts comments between friends on a "wall" for all to read. Seeing these comments between friends, some from my past, some current, some who have known each other for 20+ years enabled me to notice something about myself. I noticed very distinctive chapters in my life. My chapters are not like a book you might read which flows seemlessly and is difficult to put down. My chapters are more like sequels. They have edges, borders, endings. When new chapters begin they sometimes have the same characters but something is not the same. Something has changed. There may even be new characters which float in and out of the scenes without adding anything to the story. It is as if the whole story keeps starting over.

I just finished reading an old friends blog about resolutions. I have never made them, not one ever. I never understood the point. Why make a resolution? I never really got it until now. I do not know if I can do it now. However, I think I really would like to try one this year. So, here is to building and maintaining family, friendships and relationships.

Garden 2009

Last year we started to dedicate a portion of our yard to growing some of our own food. We really did not know a lot about what we were doing but wanted to begin learning. In the past we had made minor attempts with the greatest success coming the first year we tried. Since then, about 5 years worth of time, we had had very poor results. So last year we cordoned off a portion of the back yard with a small fence to keep out the dogs and our then two year old son. We hastily made a raised bed and planted a few seeds. Our results again were poor. Most of our plants either were stunted, diseased or did not bear much food. The only success we had was with our cucumbers and squash but sometimes I think these two are just about fool proof. Last year even our tomato plants had to be pulled.

I learned you get out of it what you put into it. We have a very heavy clay soil that we must really cultivate and amend. I have researched composting and drainage to understand that most of the failure we had last year was probably due to poor nutrients and wet roots. So this year I have a new plan. Heavy composting and working of the soil to improve its composition. Hopefully the plants will thrive in a more fertile soil that does not become water logged, drowning the plant roots.

In the plans are new raised beds. To maximize the use of space and have a longer growing season I am making four planting beds. The goal is to create a year round garden with crop rotations and also elongated harvest times so all the food does not come at once. I have had some time to create a planting schedule and gardening calendar to help organize what needs to happen to try to pull this off. I also decided to take pictures along the way to help capture the results. Hopefully this year will be more bountiful than those of the past.

The garden area, December 2008.

What's under the white plastic? Just some lettuce and parsnips, protected from the frosty nights we have had recently.