Gardening Idea

A friend of mine sent me the address for a very interesting gardening idea. I checked it out this weekend. The concept is so simple that it's brilliant. This gal, like me, started seeds indoors, and like me she had no good space, no good light and couldn't afford the gro-lights or heat mats. Her "Eureka!" moment was when she realized that even some of the tender annuals would harbor over seeds and she would get volunteers the next year. With some old seeds and some carry out food containers, she created an experiment. She set up some starter trays. Put them out in the garden while still winter. Almost everything came up. Everything was already hardened off by the process. She had no damping off. All she had to do was transplant from the container to the prepared location in the garden when the soil was workable.

The details are on her site. I can't remember if her address was .com or .org. Sorry about that. So, you will need to do a search for wintersown. All the information is there and she also has a tomato seed exchange that puts most seed catalogs to shame.

After reading through this web site I grabbed my coffee can where I save my garden seed. Seeds tend to lose about 10% germination viability for each year saved. At least, thats the rule of thumb. I keep my unused seeds in a sealed container for two years and after that I pitch them. My can was full! I had four different kinds of green beans. Three kinds of peas. Three kinds of carrots. Kale, pumpkin, corn, cucumbers, beets and lettuce mix. Now I just need some containers with lids. My normal seed starting trays won't work. They are just made too cheaply. I have a couple of milk cartons. A couple of clear soda cups from the convenience store. Of course I just cleaned out the kitchen a couple of days ago and threw away a bunch of stuff!!! I still have some styrofoam cups that I can put clear sandwich bags over. I have two barrels half full of well broken down compost.

THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!! I know, I know... I obviously don't get out much. But, it's exciting for me. I'll get a start on it this afternoon and let you know how things go. That reminds me..... the cutting experiment. It went extremely well. Almost everything rooted. Then when the plants were potted into soil, everything took off growing. It was looking so good! After about a week and a half a couple of things died. Suddenly about a third of the plants died. Then the rest bit the dust also. It is down to one of two things. Not enough light or toxic potting soil. I had heard from several sources that the government allows a certain amount of industrial waste to be put into products like bagged plant soil, fertilizers, etc. I know of one green house owner that will no longer buy american made soil or starting medium. She gets hers from Canada. It used to be that everything I planted grew. I would have most of the kitchen, the dining room table and the top of the fridge covered with seedlings. Now .... nothing grows for me. With that in mind I will start my winter sown project in my own compost and topsoil. Kind of sad.... I had one tomato from the cuttings that was over a foot tall. Oh well... we learn from our mistakes.

I keep telling myself that if i were a pioneer, I'd be dead now. I would have starved! Maybe my happy thought for the day should be that I'm not a pioneer.

Louie

I'm Back.....FINALLY!!

Yesterday was a miracle. In a catholic scheme of things, probably a minor miracle, but for me a miracle none the less. We have our internet service again! Woohoo!!!

It feels a bit like coming out of isolation ... no longer a prisoner.

A lot has happened. We had gotten caught in the recession. The old house that was suppose to provide the down payment on the new, never sold. It has gone back to the bank. I wish it had gone sooner. Paying double mortgages, taxes, some utilities, not only wiped us out financially but was emotionally de-moralizing on the back of Mac's recurrence of leukemia.

Mac's graft vs. host side effect from transplant has improved. One steroid has been reduced in dosage. It feels like a huge surge forward.

We had to start making use of the local food pantry. That is a life event that is very hard to describe. On one hand, it had gotten to the point where we had to chose between food or buying gas for Mac to get to work. On the other, there was the fear that by my taking the food, maybe someone who needed it more was going without. In general, it's just a shitty place to be. This is where I found myself starting to live in fear again.

The desire for fresh food has lit a fire under me to get a good garden in. I've worked hard on that. I would like to dig out at least two more beds. I want lots of fresh lettuce but wonder if I have any chance of getting it before rabbits and deer. As always... I NEED A FENCE!! An asparagus bed has been started. Strawberries donated from a friend. Rhubarb! Many tomato plants. An herb garden. Watermelon, beets, cabbages, broccoli, brussels sprouts, hot peppers and sweet peppers. Pole beans are started on a trellis of huge and unwieldy looking branches. Zucchini and acorn squash. I suppose this is proof that a person shouldn't go to the garden center when hungry!

The yard is mown. The iris are blooming. The acorns I planted so long ago are still so tiny, but they have such mighty leaves on them now! I'm passing out of the dark and into the light and I hope there aren't any more dark patches for me for a long, long time.

I've missed you all. It's soooo good to be back.

Louie

P.S. I found a local garden center called Yutzy's down in Decatur City. They sell vegetable starts at twenty five cents a piece or ninety-eight cents for a four pack. Herbs for sixty-nine cents for a well started single plant. We are going to eat well this summer thanks to the very nice ladies who run this greenhouse.

The Garden, pt. 1

We have begun work on the garden. The garden that will save me... that will nourish me.. that will keep money in my pocket. Very little of the farm is flat. It is a vast green, seductive undulation.. mother earth.. a fertility goddess crafted of soil. Because of this I need a kind, thoughtful way of doing raised beds. I don't want to build the beds over and over so had hoped for a miracle and retaining wall block. The lottery ticket didn't win and no one accidentally unloaded a truckload of block in my yard. So, I decided it was time to get creative. I have opted to go with the lasagna method of gardening and to build up the ends of the beds, so my lasagna doesn't wash away. My solution was to build a retaining wall of the soil itself.

The method is the same as the pioneers used in building their sod houses, except in my case, I am sure that I haven't displayed the same amount of proficiency. The garden bed is marked and the edges cut with the shovel and then gone under with a straight edging shovel. The turf slab is lifted and inverted (grass side down) and stacked as you would a concrete block so the seams are staggered.

So far, so good. We have gotten a little bit of rhubarb and asparagus planted. They seem happy

With luck, we will get around eighty tomato plants in. A couple of corn patches. Strawberries. Various herbs. Beans, both pole and bush varieties, green and yellow. Beets, which will be canned both pickled and plain. Snow peas. Onions. Sweet potatoes. Carrots. Every good thing that I can think of.

We have had to rely on the local food pantry lately. Much of the food is donated as it is past it's sell by date. While I am thankful for what I have been given, I dream of fresh food. Veg that burst with flavor and juice. Tomatoes eaten in the garden and warm from the sun. Carrots that are sweet and that don't .... well, bend. I am anxious to get my oven built outside and to bake bread that tastes like how a good bread should taste...not some tasteless white cellulose.

I will take care of this fertile earth and I am hoping that it will take care of me too.

Louie

Gardening Basics

There are certain gardening basics that you have to deal with. Of course, it has to be the right temperature for the plant you are trying to grow. You have to consider length of growing season. What depth you plant the seed and throw in a little crop rotation. I have to admit that I was never told to make sure that you don't have a mouse in the garden.

I had assumed that my smaller seeds had gotten flooded out. Torrential downpours seem to be the norm right now. But when not one of my big ol' heavy bean seeds germinated then I started to really thing I had screwed up in a big way. I think that is a hint of a personal problem when my first thought was to doubt my ability to push a seed into the ground. Then yesterday while weeding, I heard some serious munching going on. About the third time I heard the noise, I saw the grass rustle and it was a mouse. Makes you wonder just how much the little buggers can eat, apparently a lot.

So, now amidst my gardening basics I will have to add mammalian pest control. Maybe if I got better at weeding then the neighborhood owl would get in there and eat the little nipper. I heard somewhere that ducks would even eat smaller mice. This makes me really like the idea of ducks, even though they are incredible poop machines. I suppose if I get sick of the duck I could eat it then. Because the mouse would be gone, my beans would come up and I could have my duck with green beans on the side.

So now the question is how do I plant seed while the varmint is still at large?

I think the answer might be to just go play with the horses instead. And then mow. And then find some lunch. Then I think I'll plant some more flowers. I might set out my red bud trees. I need to set out the jug for some sun tea today.

Yup! That's the plan! I'll just have a full day of avoidance.

back in the saddle

Well, after all of the hospital time, Dr. office visits, infusion center visits and all of the days of home IVs and med sorting, walking stairs, NAGGING...Mac is having his first day back at work. It would be nice to have a little break down. A reward for being the good little care giver, but if I pulled my finger out of the dam, I'm not sure that I would have my sanity tied back up into a nice little bundle by the time he got home. So I will forego my self gratuitous meltdown and start planning for spring.

Mac says we live on an acreage. He says that he is not a farmer. He does not farm. He does not want to farm. He says that we live on an acreage and an acreage is just an over sized yard. He just wants to have things nice.

I'm not sure how that can be .... I live on a 38.5 acre mini farm. I want to raise the majority of our food to take the burden off the paycheck. I want the little farm to be able to make it's own mortgage payment. I want to prove that you can run an environmentally sound, small family farm and survive.... actually THRIVE!! I just have to do it so Mac doesn't notice.

So, here is the plan..... first, triple the size of the garden. Second, get on top of cleaning up the woods and then get started planting ginseng and starting morel mushroom spawn. Those will be cash crops. Third, burn off the weeds and rough patches and cut out cedars in what will be the hay field next year. Fourth, start prep work for where the vineyard will go next spring. Fifth, get some sheds built!! There is just never enough storage!! Sixth, start collecting apple trees for what will be the orchard.... someday. Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg, and we will have to see if I can get it all done while Mac is at work, so that he continues to think that he lives on an acreage. It can be done! I'm just sure of it!

Tough old broads can accomplish anything. (pictures to follow)

louie