October Full Circle

As tonight's temperatures dip into the thirties, the coldest since springtime, I remember the garden.  Today's weather was beautiful, cool and sunny, a perfect day for tearing down the garden and cleaning out the chicken coop.  The chicken's love going through the generous weed piles in search of insects and seeds.  In return, the garden loves the waste material from the coop.

Admittedly I have not done much in the way of tending to the garden since July.  Instead, over the past two months, the neighbors have religiously made it to the gym each morning in the dark when the place opens before the crack of dawn.  The five hours of much needed exercise each week has to come from somewhere.  I am at peace with the trade-off.  We do not rely solely on our garden for our sustenance.  The garden is a luxury.

If it seems that I have forgotten the garden, the garden has not forgotten me.  For today's weeding I was rewarded with a dozen beautiful squash, six pounds of potatoes, a large bowl of cherry tomatoes, a few Asian bitter melons, and several green peppers.  A small patch of baby bok choy, offspring of some early plants.  There are still more potatoes to harvest this fall, plus sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, and spicy chilli peppers.  And plenty of seeds from sun-dried green beans and okra.

Tomorrow I will finish cleaning up, taking whatever other fruits and lessons the garden gives.

New Layers

Twice a year we replenish our chicken coop with new birds from the local farm supply store.  This is necessary only if nature has since sent the racoons, hawks, or fox to cull the flock.  Sadly, a visit from predators is a common occurrence because our birds free range.  Free-range birds lay bigger and better eggs.

Recall five weeks ago our new chickens arrived.  Today, two of those eight new birds began laying.  Notice the difference in the size of the eggs pictured below.  On the left is a jumbo egg from a mature hen who is about 18 months old; on the right, a medium specimen from a new layer.  In one US classification, any egg over 50 is medium; over 71 grams, jumbo.

Old layer's jumbo 82g next to

new layer's 50g

I lack the experience with chickens to know whether it is normal for two birds to start laying on the very same day.  If I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with the hormones of female animals living together.  Regardless, we are glad to see the new birds earning their keep.

More Planting and Transplating

Next year we want to install shelves along the back wall of the hoop house.  With still three weeks to go before warm temperatures persist, the growing tables are already nearly filled with cucumbers, okra, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and artichoke.  This evening we added eggplant and more tomatoes and peppers transplanted into pots from trays seeded indoors.  Not only will we be giving away loads of tomatoes this year, but we are just about ready to give away tomato plants.

Proudly, all of plants are homegrown from seed, except for two squash that a local boy sold as part of a fundraiser, and one Lima bean that my son planted as a school project.  In the garden we planted beets and more lettuce before a substantial thundershower.  We also put in the ground a handful of frost-bitten tomatoes and artichoke plants to make room in the hoop house.  They are a sort of test.  If it was too early, and they don't make it, we can replace them.  Nighttime lows are predicted to be all over the board this week, as low as 37 and as high as 50.  My gut tells me these plants will all do just fine.

Outdoor Fireplace Progress

Our plan is to construct the neighbor's outdoor fireplace in three phases.  This weekend we completed phase one, from the ground to above the deck.  Phases two and three will rise from the deck to the counter-tops, and from the counter-tops to the top of the chimney, respectively.  Each phase will be spread out over a week or two, leaving some time to apply veneer.  The fireplace must be complete by the planned August wedding reception.

The structure pictured above will support a fireplace with hearth and chimney in the center facing the deck, flanked on either side by wide counters.  Beneath the counter-tops will be dry storage for firewood.  The next phase will begin with the pouring of the hearth which will extend from the back of the structure forward to overhang the deck several inches.  If our calculations are correct, the entire unit will weigh more than a ton!

Easter Asparagus Tips

Typically spring marks the start of the gardening season, and many things mark the start of spring.  There is the traditional planting of potatoes after a thaw, the majestic rebirth of Daffodil bulbs and bamboo shoots around yard, and the activity of honey bees.  There are cherry blossoms, the occasional discovery of a morel mushrooms, and, of course, the ceremonious first lawn mowing of the year.  But, my most favorite sign of spring is probably the spotting of the first tip of asparagus in the garden.

Asparagus is also one of my favorite garden plants.  It tastes wonderful cooked or raw, is universally enjoyed in our family, preserves well, and comes out early in the season when everyone is especially yearning for something fresh.  Best of all, asparagus doesn't need to be reseeded.  It just keeps giving, year after year.

Our first asparagus tip this year was spotted on Easter Sunday.  We will let the tips grow to 9- to 12-inch spears before harvesting.  In the mean time, these tender tips will serve as a form of motivation while we finish weeding, tilling, and planting this spring.

 

First young asparagus tip emerges

next to last year's dry stocks. 

Why We Garden

When you are enjoying yourself working in the garden on an early, warm and sunny spring day, it is easy to forget why we do it all.  With reverence for last year's bounty, I am enjoying this bowl of tomato soup topped with Parmesan cheese and a healthy dose of young basil.  The soup was canned fresh in August from our 2013 tomatoes and tastes as lovely as the day it was made.

First Spring Planting

This evening I am nearly too pooped to blog.  Neighbors met at 6:30 AM Saturday morning--now a recurring ritual--to get a head start on yard work.  We used the trailer to take downed branches from last month's ice storm to the dump where they will be turned into free mulch.  It was our third such trip this spring, and we probably make three more trips to get rid of it all.  Making another trip today was out of the question as scores of other area residents seem to have the same objective this time of year, judging by the traffic at the dump.

At the neighbor's house we put up more garden fencing after planting lettuce and some other vegetables.  I say "some other" because we failed to label them when they were seeded.  They are either cabbage, broccoli, or cauliflower; or some combination thereof.

In our yard we put in spinach and bok choi.  We also accomplished some weeding before putting a short run of chicken wire around the deer fence to keep rabbits out.

Having space freed up from all the planting, we transplanted cucumbers, peppers and okra from trays into pots in the hoop house.  The temperature outdoors was only 65 degrees today, but the hoop house was an amazing 120 degrees even with the door and window open.  The tomatoes were a bit droopy in the heat but they made it through the day.  The summer squash didn't seem to mind a bit.  And to think it was snowing just two weeks ago.

With the next frost predicted for Tuesday night, we're keeping our eye on the weather.  The plastic will have to go back over the row cover for that event.  Nevertheless, this weekend was awesome for gardening.  To top it all off, the lady at the beer store gave me a couple of beautiful Stella Artois beer glasses!

Frost Dates

My favorite site for ordering seeds is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  All of their seeds are heirloom, meaning they have not been genetically modified, and making them safe to save seeds at the end of the season.  Moreover, they have a beautiful catalog, they often include "gift seeds" with your order, and the appear to really, really care about preserving heirloom seeds in their extensive seed bank.  Each year they send a complementary planting guide which allows gardeners determine when to plant seedlings indoors, plant outdoors, transplant, and harvest various vegetables.  To decide when it is safe to plant in your area to avoid a frost, refer to a state or local calendar which shows the last probably spring frost date.

For our area, the last frost date is May 8, with an earliest fall frost date sometime in October. For more information about frost dates, see this article at Mother Earth News.

 Use a garden planner to determine when to plant seeds

indoors, when to plant seeds in the ground, and

when to plant seedlings.

Outdoor Fireplace

When neighbors are not gardening they enjoy doing other house projects, and they have been waiting patiently all winter to begin this one.  Finally the weather is warm enough.  Pictured here is the footer for the planned outdoor fireplace.  The footprint is nearly four feet wide, and more than 12 ft. long. Fifty 60-lb. bags of concrete were used.  On sale for $1.99 a bag, this DIY job was far cheaper than having concrete delivered.  The goal is to have it finished by August for a backyard wedding reception.  The neighbors cut down two tall pine trees last fall, so there will be plenty of firewood.

Saving Tiny Seeds

We grew Virginia Tobacco last year for the first time, more as a novelty than anything else.  I smoked it once just to see.  Way I figure, if we have to survive through hard times, I can put food on the table selling tobacco and homemade hard cider.  (That was a joke.)

Interesting thing about tobacco, it is the very smallest seed I have ever planted.  Think, smaller than poppy seed on your morning bagel.  Maybe even grain-of-sand-small.

This poses a serious challenge in my mind if you're inclined to save seeds.  Last year was also the first year we made a concerted effort to save seeds from every variety of vegetable we grew.  That said, I hardly even tried looking for the tobacco seeds, because I knew they'd be too small.  As it turns out, I couldn't be more wrong.

This afternoon while weeding and wandering around our winter-empty garden, I discovered these pods at the top of last year's tobacco plant.  The stalk is over my head, about seven feet in the air.  There are about two dozen pods on each plant.  And when you break open a pod, it is just full of seeds!

Left: tobacco seeds; right: broccoli, lettuce, spinach, 

and bok choi surviving in the hoop house.

Strawberries Installed

Lots of perennials--such as strawberries, blueberries, asparagus, and many kinds of flowers--do very well in our area.  I recommend planting them in a bed apart from vegetables so that they do not compete for space and nutrients.  Tonight we planted 75 strawberry plants in a raised bed adjacent to a watermelon patch.  I am in favor of raising new beds for the first 1-3 years to allow the soil beneath to improve.  Strawberries, in particular, like well-drained soil, so having raised beds is doubly good for them.  The strawberries will come up year after year.  We specifically ordered three different varieties of strawberry plants that blossom at different times of year so we'll be in fruit from spring to late summer.  Neighbors also put deer fence around the area, and covered them with straw to retain moisture and cut down on weeds.  Neighbor, help me out here!  What kinds of strawberries are they?!?  Edit: the strawberries are Earliglow (Early Season), Allstar (Mid Season), and Sparkle (Late Mid Season).  Also, neighbor says that covering strawberry plants with straw is NOT recommended.

Left: 6 ft. x 12 ft. strawberry patch; right: vegetable seedlings

 doing well indoors under grow lights.

Cucumbers and Bulbs

What to cucumbers and bulbs have in common?  Well, today our bulbs are about in the same phase of their growth cycle as our cucumbers.  Cucumbers are annuals, meaning they have to be re-seeded each year.  By contrast, bulbs are perennial, meaning they die back but come up from the root again next year.  Both sprouted this week.  The cucumbers were planted in a tray indoors ten days ago and have been incubating beneath a plastic cover.  The bulbs--more than a hundred of them--were planted directly in the ground last fall after replacing the landscaping around the walk.  The bulbs will be back, year after year to bring early color to the area.  The cucumbers are just good eats.

Still Snowing

Our unusually harsh winter continues now into spring.  In spite of the forecast calling for rain yesterday, snow began falling late in the afternoon.  We got about an inch of the slushy, heavy, freezing-rain kind before nightfall.  It was the second snow since installing the row cover a week ago.  Luckily the temperature hovered just above freezing all night, so most of the snow melted.  This afternoon we peeked inside the fabric and discovered that the broccoli and bok choi have survived.  Their condition is similar to the plants in our hoop house: slightly frostbit here and there, but mostly living.  The only total loss were four squash plants that really had no business being in the hoop house this early in the season.

Tonight we transplanted more spinach and lettuce, then planted a tray with three varieties of Asian gourds: bitter mellon, long gourd, and luffa gourd.  A second tray contains watermelon.  Just for fun we also transplanted some young onions into larger pots to see how they do.  Honestly, planting onions from seeds seems like a huge waste of time when the farm store sells the marble-size pearl onions (yellow, red, and white) in bulk.

Row Cover

Oh, the signs of spring!  Like the couch somebody dumped on the side of our road because the line of trucks and trailers waiting to dispose of winter yard debris in the landfill is a mile long!  Or, the planting of much needed grass seed over 200 bulbs because it needed to be done and the weather was perfect!

Seriously, the neighbors accomplished many things this weekend.  We removed two loads downed branches, weeded several beds, and distributed compost.  Chicken manure and leaf rot were used to refill the compost piles.  A new raised bed for strawberries was laid out, and a footer started for an upcoming outdoor fireplace.

Pictured here is our first row cover.  We found that, by sawing off two feet of the 10-foot plastic poles, the row is shorter and stronger, and, hence, more wind resistant.  The fabric fits better too.  Inside is a companion planting of broccoli and bok choi above onions and potatoes.  With overnight temperatures well below freezing still, it is hard to imagine the seedlings will survive.  However, we agreed to make this our experiment.  On Friday we will open the cover to check on them.  If they are lost, we can install more seedlings, or seed the area with radishes, carrots, and lettuce.

A Better Way to Weed

A benefit of gardening with a neighbor is the sharing of ideas.  A neighbor can serve as a sounding board and bring new ideas to the table.  Today I tried weeding the garden with fire for the very first time, thanks to my neighbor.  Pictured here is a propane torch designed to singe weeds.  It is very effective, at least it appears to be.  Only time will tell if the extreme heat will discourage weed cover in the spring and summer.  It is not noticeably faster than pulling weeds by hand, but it is far easier on the arms and knees.  A large propane tank will probably last for several days. We used it on two rows today.  Word of caution, it is helpful to have a neighbor around when using the torch to keep an outlook for unwanted brush fire.

Heat- Versus Cool-Loving Crops

In my simplistic view of vegetable gardening, there are two kinds of crops: heat-loving and cool-loving.  When I say cool-loving, I don't mean winter.  Although I have had Swiss chard and mustard greens that overwintered in the ground, I do not plan on anything making through snow.  The point I am trying to make is that some crops do better in summer's hot temperatures, such as tomatoes, peppers, beans and corn.  Others prefer the cool temperatures of spring and fall, like lettuce, celery, peas, cabbage, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.  (Broccoli and cauliflower are classified as "Cole crops" which is often mispronounced "Cold crops" because these plants happen to prefer cool weather.)

With this in mind, I view the planting season in two phases, a cool weather phase followed by the warmer summer season.  The planting of seedlings  is staggered, with the cool-loving ones planted indoors as early as February.  Warmer plants are seeded six weeks before May.  The first group should go in the ground 4-8 weeks before the second.  If you have the time and energy, you can repeat the spring crops in the fall.

In our mid-Atlantic region each group of plants has its challenges.  Either can perish in a late snow or frost and may need to be covered at night.  Cold-loving plants that are kept in a greenhouse, hoop house, or cold frame are susceptible to too much heat, even when the outside temperatures are chilly.  Today our hoop house reached 90 degrees by ten o'clock while the outside air was in the low 40s.

How does one deal with excessive greenhouse temperatures?  Open the windows, doors, and vents.  Water the plants early in the morning.  Cover the greenhouse with shade cloth, if available.  The same techniques can be used in the garden to keep your crops going as seasonal temperatures rise.  This is probably a gross oversimplification of things, but thinking in terms of these two groups--cool and warm--has helped me execute my vegetable gardening throughout the year.

Bok Choi in front of artichoke.

First Day of Spring

On this, the first day of spring, there is little evidence of the half foot of snow we got just three days ago.  With the snow melted, the neighbors got together this week to transplant seedlings from trays into pots, and move them into the hoop house.  We started with an overgrown tray, also our very first tray--spinach, bok choy, and lettuce--planted about six weeks ago.  We also moved into the hoop house some artichoke pots and a tray of onions from February.  The hoop house is beat up from the winter, but it is still functional.  It saw 80 degrees inside at nine o'clock this morning with outside an outside temperature in the low 40's.  Thinning the seedlings today yielded the first salad bowl of baby greens.  Before dinner we planted a tray of okra, beets, and bell peppers; and another of spinach, lettuce, and mustard greens.

Left to right: first seedlings in hoop house;

first bowl of lettuce; and young squash plants

thriving under grow lights.

St. Patrick's Day

I am not as principled a gardener as I should be, but one rule of thumb I like is to plant your first batch of potatoes in March, on St. Patrick's Day.  Well, that didn't happen this year.  Instead, we awoke to a fresh new six inches of snow.  The kids have had so many snow days this winter, they may not start summer break until July.

The seedlings are overgrowing their trays under artificial light indoors as the ground outside is still frozen.  But, it gets better.  This morning I got a call out of the blue from the farm store announcing that our new chickens have arrived and are ready for pick up.  These are the same birds we ordered last fall but never arrived.

Not much to report today about the garden.  No potatoes, but at least we have a glut of chicken.  I hope these pullets mark the arrival of spring.  Cheers!

Pullets are 20-week hens that are about to start laying.

Patience is Virtue

Normally I find myself rushed in the spring, trying to get the garden set up, trying to find plants, trying to plant seedlings.  Not this year.  This year I am working with a neighbor to put together his garden and mine.  Working with a neighbor makes it easier.  We keep on each other, making sure we are planting seeds each week.  This weekend we planted five more trays.  Even though we have had two major setbacks with the hoop house due to weather, we are staying course and waiting for spring.  So far the growing racks are filling up nicely.

Week Six Baby Greens

There is a saying among survivalists, "You are never more than six weeks away from a salad."  That is, if you keep them on hand, seeds take about that long to become baby greens.  Pictured here is our first tray of--left to right--spinach, lettuce and cabbage planted indoors in the first week of February.  Normally we would have transplanted these by now.  With the continuing harsh winter, we are going to keep them under grow lights for another week or so before transplanting and moving them out to the hoop house and cold frames.

Growing Stand

With winter still upon us, we have decided to grow indoors for the time being.  The plans from Fine Gardening inspired us to construct this growing stand.  Materials and light fixtures total about $400.  While the original design holds 15 flats, we shortened the width to just twelve to fit in the room.  It has three 48-inch T-5 four-bulb light fixtures from Apollo Horticulture.  Admittedly some of the lumber was a bit warped, probably from frequent temperature changes, but it is reasonably stable with weight on it.

Seedling Lights

Our goal for 2014 is to plant 100% from seeds.  (Whether that actually happens depends, not only on our growing skills, but also on how irresistible the local vegetable plants look in the Spring.)  The weather has not dissuaded us from continuing to plant indoors in February.  Pictured here is the neighbor's homemade growing rack in his basement.  It consists of two 4-ft. fluorescent light fixtures for a total of eight bulbs to cover four seedling trays.  This weekend we planted one tray of basil, marigolds, and pansies.  No garden would be complete without flowers which serve to attract pollinators and repel rabbits.  We also began vigorously thinning the earlier trays.  Once secondary growths appears we will begin to transplant a few to larger containers.

Snow Storm

If last week's ice storm wasn't enough, this week brought two feet of snow that completely clobbered the hoop house.  We rescued the seedlings which are now safe indoors under artificial lighting.  It may be time to scrap the PVC pipe construction and use wood framing.  The good news is, all the seedlings are doing well, and a warming trend is predicted for later this week.

Eighty Degrees in February

Our hoop house made it up to 80 degrees this afternoon in spite of subfreezing temperatures outdoors.  The structure is approximately 8 ft. x 14 ft., with an eight foot ceiling at the back.  It covers two large potting tables and a 100 gallon Rubbermaid feed tank full of water.  The water tank is a convenient source for irrigating plants, and serves as thermal mass to help regulate the temperature of the hoop house.  The back wall, painted white, is the south wall of our adjacent garden shed.

Ice Storm

As luck would have it, an ice storm struck just days after the new fabric was installed on the hoop house.  We were without power for a day, and about 20% of homes in our county were affected.  It was not the ice that damaged our makeshift greenhouse, but a large branch from a nearby pine that buckled under the weight of the weather.  Despite temperatures below freezing, a valiant effort was put forth to make repairs, encouraged by the sprouting of the year's first seedlings planted a week ago.  A rope was employed to remove the fallen branch, and a roll of clear plastic tape used to repair the fabric.  Back in business, we planted three more trays of seeds.  Lettuce, spinach, and onions in the hoop house; broccoli, cauliflower, and cilantro indoors on a heating pad; and, lettuce, onions, and artichoke indoors at the neighbor's house.

New Fabric on Hoop House

Winter is typically the gardeners' time to enjoy the fruits of the previous year and to plan next year's gardens.  Today, after several very cold December and January weeks with record temperatures in the single digits, neighbors Owen and Felix got a jump on the growing season by doing some yard work.  This afternoon's high was a balmy 55 degrees and our hoop house which was constructed three years ago was in need of some attention.  The work went slowly, starting before nine o'clock and continuing till late afternoon.  But, in the end it was worth it.  We replaced the plastic with a six-year 6-mil material, weeded the floor, put down two yards of free mulch from the dump, and reinforced the hoops in case of further snowfall.  We did a good deal of needed yard clean-up too.  To avoid a clogged rain gutter on the garden shed, we inserted a material in the gutter called Gutter Stuffing, a product that neither of us had used or even seen.  Finally, we planted the first two trays of seedlings, one to start indoors, and another to start in the hoop house.  The indoor tray, which will have a heating pad, has spinach, lettuce, and bok choi.  The tray in the hoop house has cabbage, onions, and heirloom mustard greens.