March 10, 2013 - The Peas are Planted

Today I dug four new garden beds.

Two 10 1/2 foot rows of Burpee's Garden Sweet Peas were planted on the south side of the kennel garden, and protected with folding wire fencing.

Two 12 foot rows of Sugar Lace Snap Peas were planted on the north (left) side of the kennel, also protected with the short fencing. 

Two new beds were made at the west end of the kennel.  The small bed (back) will probably be the home to a couple of cucumbers that can be trained up the kennel's chain link.  The 2' x 8' bed in the foreground will possibly be planted with parsnips.

All four of the new beds were amended with many bucket loads of composted manure.  I think I might have worked off a couple of pounds today!  But I wasn't quite finished for the day.

I hauled 8 more buckets of manure for the raspberry bed.    Then I began cutting strips of old nylons and tied a few canes to the wires.  I was just getting started with the tying, when Son John showed up with a nice surprise.

See the green fence posts and the plastic mesh fence?

Can you see where he's going with this?

The RV dealership where John works is replacing their 4' chain link fencing, which is in excellent condition.  It was just going to be disposed of, so John decided it could be repurposed as a sturdy garden fence for me!  This first section, which happened to be exactly the length of the west garden, is one 23' long solid gate.  John will remove the wheels, and the end posts will slip right over the two green corner posts.  He brought a 5' gate, on wheels, that will be installed where the tiny gate is now, along the south end of the garden.  That will allow me to at least get the garden cart through!  He has all the posts, railings and chain link to do the entire garden.  No way will Annie and Otto be able to get in!

Well, back to work.  I'm in charge of removing all the old fencing.  I also walk around with level in hand, so John keeps everything plumb and level.

March 9, 2013 - Taking Advantage of the Weather

This morning I planted a 4-pack each of Horizon Orange, Quadrato Rosso D'Asti, Red Marconi and Quadrato Giallo D'Asti sweet peppers, and two 4-packs of Early Jalapeno hot peppers for sons John & Scott.  Then I headed outside and began working on the garden, because the sun was shining and the thermometer read 60 degrees.

 First I tackled the mess of leaves behind the shed, so they wouldn't blow in every time I opened the back door.  The leaf sucker/shredder took care of them quickly.

There....that looks better!

The garlic growing behind the shed looks pretty good, although it's difficult to see it in the photo.

I dumped the shredded leaves into this future tomato bed, which won't get planted until May, and topped it off with several 5-gallon buckets of composted cow manure.

Then I dug it all in with my new baby.  This little thing is a back saver.  It's quiet, I can start it by pushing a button, I can guide it with one hand and it works great on my 2-3' wide garden beds.  I LOVE it!  I just about bought it at Lowe's last week, but decided to check out the reviews on Amazon first.  I'm sure glad I did, as Amazon's price was $88 less than Lowe's, including sales tax.  I ordered it Monday night, and it was on my doorstep by noon Wednesday.

About ten more buckets of manure, and the onion bed was ready to till.  That probably took all of ten minutes, including smoothing out the bed and having it ready to plant.

All finished!  I planted around 120 Walla Walla sweet onions in the 12' x 2' bed.  Now, if it would just rain.

March 8, 2013 - More Spring Cleanup

It wasn't as warm today as it was yesterday, but it was still comfortable working in the sunshine.  I got the entire east garden cleaned up, so it's ready for forming the planting beds now.  The plan, so far (you know I'll probably change my mind) is to plant most of this area in corn.  I got all of the compost area cleaned up, too.  I still had three bags of chopped leaves, but I can probably incorporate them into the garden beds as I dig them, or use them for mulch.

I set the tiny lettuce and leek seedlings out for a bit of sunshine.

Then I went to town and bought my Walla Walla Sweet Onion plants.  The plants are gorgeous this year.  The past two years they haven't been nearly this nice.  There are supposed to be 50 onions in each bunch, but usually there are at least 60.  For $1.49 a bunch, there's no way I'd bother trying to start them from seed.  I should harvest about 50 pounds from these two bunches.

While I was in town, I went to the dollar store to look for a doggy pooper scooper.  They didn't have any, but they did have these cat litter scoops, so I bought two....one to swoop and one to scoop!  They worked great in the too-tall grass, and we can now safely walk through our back yard.

March 7, 2013 - Full Steam Ahead!

Last night I planted a flat (72 cells) of spinach, 54 Olympia Hybrid and 18 Space.  This morning I planted a 6-pack each of Early Golden Acre cabbage, Gonzales cabbage and Hybrid Super Blend broccoli.

It was gorgeous outside today!  According to the weather man, it was only 56F.  Believe me, working out in the sun it felt much, much warmer.  After I got the seeds planted and under their humidity domes, I headed out to construct a leaf bin in my "compost corner".  I had a section of porch railing that we removed from the patio last fall, which worked well for one side after adding extra pickets.  The existing fences were utilized for two sides, and I framed up a piece of lattice for the removable front.  I used zip ties to hold it in place, so I can just cut them to take off the entire panel to get to the contents.  I got most of the many bags of chopped leaves dumped into it, but I'll have to let them settle for a few days before I can add the rest of them.

I still have a bit of tweaking to do, two more pickets to cut, paint and add on to one side, but it's looking much better than the stack of black plastic bags that used to be there.  I'll soon have this corner all cleaned up and lookin' good.

I have seedlings growing everywhere!

 Spinach, leeks and lettuce in the mini-greenhouse in the shed.

All tucked in for the night.  I'm keeping the light on at night for warmth, but letting them stay really cool all day.

Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli, along with bags of seed potatoes, in the laundry room window.  As soon as these seeds germinate, they'll go out to the shed.

Peppers on the warming lights in the bedroom.  

March 6, 2013 - Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

It's raining today!  We've had very little winter snow or rain, which is usual for our area, and our sandy soil dries out very quickly after we do get a bit of precipitation. It's 46F outside, so I took advantage of the intermittent rain showers and sunshine, and put the few seedlings out for a nice drink.

 Tiny leek seedlings, just six days after planting.  They are actually more visible than they appear in the photo.  They have been inside, under lights, all week.  Today they will be moved to the cooler mini greenhouse in the garden shed.

Lettuces, planted five days ago.  Little Gem, on the left, is slow in germinating.  It is seed from 2010, so it may just be too old.  Anuenue, in the center,  is still tiny, but germination looks to be quite good.  Red Sails, on the right, is the most robust and has 100% germination.  These will also move out to the shed today to make room on the indoor shelves for the warm weather seedlings.

Three more varieties of lettuce were planted inside today:  Yugoslavian Red Butterhead, Paris Island Cos and Buttercrunch.  I still have eight more varieties to go, but they will probably be planted directly in the garden as needed.

I decided to start my peppers today too, as it's too rainy to do anything in the garden.  I planted Early Jalapeno (3), Grand Bell Mixed Colors (8), Happy Yummy (4), Horizon Orange (3), Quadrato Rosso D'Asti (6), Red Marconi (6) and Quadrato Giallo D'Asti (3).  

March 5, 2013 - Can Spring Be Near?

I love seeing the daffodils turning yellow. I feel like spring is right around the corner, and I hurry out to pick my very first bouquet of sunshine. Looking back, I find photographs of the first daffodils from the past five years (2010 is missing, but they are mentioned in a blog post), and the dates they first came into blossom.

From the top:

3/30 2009

3/04 2010 (photo missing)

3/15/2011

3/08/2012

3/05/2013

They were very late in 2009, and very early in 2010 (I noted they were in full bloom when we arrived home from Arizona).  They seem to blossom whenever they feel like it, and pay no mind to what day of the month it is!  

March 4, 2013 - Harvest Monday

Broccoli in February?  Never!

Never say never.....

This photo, taken on September 30 last year, shows the broccoli "tree" I was trying to remove during fall garden cleanup.  I had cut it back as far as I could, with the tools I had on hand at the time, but gave up on trying to dig it out as I had injured my ankle and it was too painful to use the shovel.  Imagine my surprise last month when I found this................

I picked this little morsel on February 27.  The broccoli tree lived through a very cold winter and is now producing side shoots!  There are several more little buds forming, too.  I won't be weighing these surprise harvests, but I will be eating them  :-)

March 3, 2013 - And So It Begins

Spring must be near. I spent the day cleaning up the garden shed. I should have taken "before" pictures to show just what a mess had accumulated over the winter. I couldn't even walk through it, it was filled with folding fencing, plant supports, dirty buckets of all shapes and sizes, lumber, garden tools propped against the walls, the old rototiller that ran its last time when we dug in the leaves earlier this spring. And dirt, dirt, dirt....everywhere!

I called Son John and asked him to bring me a 1/2 yard load of composted manure from the nursery, so he loaded what he could in the dump trailer, and put the rest on a tarp in the garage.  While he was here, I had him install a garden tool hanger on the back wall, so everything now has a place of its own.  The rototiller went home with Son John, who will rebuild the motor and hopefully get another 30 years of service from it.

The cart of compost will stay nice and dry, and it's close to the garden now.  It has to be taken in by the bucket load, as there is no gate large enough to take the trailer into the garden.  All the trash was picked up, and the leaf blower did a good job of clearing out the dirt and cobwebs.  Buckets and pots were neatly stacked for now, and will get a good washing when I have time.

Shelves were all cleaned off and items neatly arranged.  The mini-greenhouse was readied for the cool weather seedlings.  Lights are hung inside, and trays are waiting to be filled with seedling mix.

After we were so nice to our spoiled little dogs last fall, moving the kennel over next to the patio and covering it so they would have a dry area to "do their duty" through the winter months, they never did use it.  Oh, Annie did pee in it, enough to kill the grass, but the poops were still all over the back yard.  So yesterday, when Daughter Amy, Granddaughter Alicia and her Boyfriend Aaron were here, we took off the tarp and they and Mr. Granny carried the kennel back out to the garden for me.  I had them set it in so the long side was parallel to the cedar fence, with enough space to walk behind it.  That will give me a nice long 6' high chain link for snap peas this spring, and for the Fortex pole beans in the summer/fall.  I'll be able to pick from both inside and outside the chain link.  We also left enough space in the corner for the compost bin, which I'm in the process of building.  I still have several bags of leaves to be added once I get a sturdy area for them.

I also moved the 4'x8' garden box to the center of the kennel.  That has always been unused (but filled with flowers) space, but I needed a spot for the spinach and beets.  They have to be covered to keep them from being infested with leaf miners, so I had planned on installing PVC hoops to hold the netting.  However, last fall John brought over this metal rack from his work, thinking I could find good use for it.  Aha!  Perfect for holding the netting!  I'll have to fill the box up with good compost first.  That's going to take a lot of bucket loads!

Inside, leek seeds planted three days ago are already emerging, as are several lettuce seeds that are only two days from planting.  They will soon be moved to the mini-greenhouse in the garden shed, and joined by yet to be planted cabbage and broccoli.  Next week the peppers will be started, followed by tomatoes and flowers, which will all be grown on these shelves in the house.

Spring has begun.