Best bud

Pic from a trip a couple weeks ago...

Driving out to Trona to meet for a good ol' Death Valley trip.
Love this dog.

More Summer Prep

That's a bigass pile of compost.  It's a good mix too; after
flipping it the temperature has steadily been climbing and
Today is was actually at 163.  I love composting.

Spent about an hour out back doing more summer crop preparation.  I can't do this... I'm listening to What The Hell Did Jesse Jackson Say with Tim Conway Jr. and it's highly distracting!!

I'll be brief, here's what I did:

• Pulled out remaining Pea plants in the N/S bed (single tear...)
• Removed and bundled up Pea Trellises
• Removed all plants from the raised bed and turned the dirt
• Cleaned up the bed with the bush beans, cultivated and watered
• Moved the blue berry pots to the other side of the fence
• Put away the low tunnels
• Removed some of the (growing) sod clumps on the NS2 bed
• Pulled and ate a carrot
• Watered everything

Not a good photo, my camera (and my lack of mad skillz)
tends to blowout the sky and over expose everything.
Hopefully you can get the idea though... it was nice!

So I hurt my back about 10 months ago and have not ridden (mountain bike) since, I've also been unable to hike or really do anything without being sore afterwards.  I'm 6 weeks into a treatment program that will hopefully correct the problem although I don't feel as much of a change as I would hope.  Anyway, so my Dr. just gave me clearance to ride my bike on a trainer!  I set it up out back and did 20 minutes this evening.  Between the beautiful weather, the sound of the fountain, the view of my garden lit by the near-setting sun and the great book I'm reading I'd say it couldn't have been much better.  Except of course if I were riding with friends, blasting down a trail with a cooler of ice cold Tecate waiting for us when we get back to the cars.... sigh.....

Planning, Prepping and Harvest

basic plan for my two biggest beds, the tallest crops are on
the North edge and the space between the beds is actually
larger than it appears.  I will do a shadow test first to
make sure the pole beans aren't going to shade out the
carrots and peppers

For lunch I walked over to the Japanese restaurant sporting a backpack stuffed with bags of Johnny's seed packets, my garden log, my Vegetable Growers Bible and a Johnny's catalog - The mission at hand was to plan my summer crops in the main EW beds.  I ordered my Hamachi sashimi, Unagi sushi and iced tea and got to work taking seed inventory, drawing the garden layout, listing what I wanted to grow and laying out where each crop would be located.  People were looking at me, I could feel their eyes... they were maybe suspicious of my bags of small white packets and my repeated action of peering inside with one eye closed to guestimate the seed count.

I left lunch an hour later with my plan drawn up and a short list of additional seeds to purchase.  I decided to try and eek one more round of beets, carrots and chard before it heats up too much.  I figure with some appropriate mulching I should be able to keep the soil cool enough to pull off another round.

I asked Vinessa to take a picture because
I was proud of the produce - thanks V!

When I got home I took 30 minutes to spread another 35 gallons of home made compost on the first EW bed, cultivate it in and water thoroughly.  The beds look great, I need to rig up some taller trellises for the tomatoes and poll beans, but I should be ready to sow seeds this weekend.

Vinessa stopped by to grab a harvest box of the usual stuff.  I also took the opportunity to thin my current spinach bed and beets to make a salad for Tonight (and a few more nights).  Compost is heating up well again and everything looks pretty good.  I could have spent the whole day out there.

Monster compost pile temp: 135°F

usual suspects with a bit more escarole than usual...

Movin' On Up!

Bought 60 3" (I think, maybe 4") pots to pot-up my tomatoes to.  I've once again noticed that the organic pots that allow the roots to penetrate result in reduced plant growth.  When I last potted up my tomatoes I transferred from a cell sheet to the organic pots, however I left about 5 or 6 plants in the cells... for no particular reason.  Anyway, when I did this most recent transplant I noticed that the plants there were left in the cells were considerably larger than the ones transplanted to the organic pots.  After some inspection and thought I concluded (again) that when the roots penetrate the organic pot and are exposed to air the plant goes "oh shit!" and stops growing, meanwhile the plant in the cell has it's roots running around in circles making a balled mess but the plant still thinks it should be growing.

While a root-bound plant is a bad thing I think if you manage it appropriately it's better than a plant that prematurely throws on the brakes.

In summary: organic pots are bad, or rather pots that allow root penetration are bad.  Of course there are exceptions, there always are...

Easter Veggies

I've been resorting to dumpster diving for the produce boxes.  I probably
shouldn't have said that out loud.

Was heading to parent's house for Easter dinner with family and decided to use the opportunity to bring along some home growns.  I took enough spinach, swiss chard, escarole, endive and beet tops for salad.  I also pulled some carrots for fun.  Bunching the spinach around the stems works much better than around the leaves.

I was surprised that the "touchstone gold" golden beets were MUCH smaller than the red beets - they went in the ground at the same time, received the same water and nutrients and there is nothing on the seed packet that suggests a different maturity time.

(too) big red beets and the inexplicably smaller Touchstone Gold golden
beets on the right.

The salad bombed and was a disaster due to a botched dressing I made.  Oh well.  The roasted beets and sauteed beet tops went over well though!  Beets are one crop that I will grow much more of in the future, it seems that everyone likes (and wants) them.  I apologize for the coors light, it's not mine, I mean... I'm drinking it but it's all I had in the fridge.  Someone left it at my house, I swear.

I think I've said it before, but I REALLY prefer whole plant harvesting over cut-and-come again.

The two times I've presented my twinewrapped produce I've received
positive comments; it's nice to know that people appreciate small
details like that, makes it worth while.
Here I have two bundled bunches of  "Red Cardinal"
spinach, some swiss chard and more spinach in the background.

Not Fun

I was flipping my giant compost pile into a newly vacant bin, trying to air things out and activate the pile again.  Suddenly I heard a faint squeeking noise and as I dug around with the pitch fork I exposed a baby rat, eyes not yet open and crying from hainvg his warm nest disturbed.  Shit.  A baby rat, really?  I was thankful I hadn't impaled the little guy with my pitch fork at least.

I talk a lot about killing insects and my hate for various bugs but when it comes down to it I'm a hopeless animal lover.  All animals, even pests.  This is not to say I don't do what's necessary when dealing with pests; I'm a huge proponent of the classic Victor brand rat trap, it does what it supposed to and is far more humane than poison or sticky traps.  Still, this was a baby, just barely with it's new hair and crying for mom.  But I had to take care of it and I chose drowning as my method.  I've done research in the past and found that several sources claim drowning as the most humane, non-chemical, non-violent (e.g. decapitation) method to terminate an animal.  With a heavy heart I collected the doomed critter and proceeded into the house to flush him down the toilet.

Before my day was over I would need to do this two more times, each no less difficult or sad.

First Harvest Box

I've been chatting about gardening, ag chemicals, organic methods, etc. with my physical therapist that is helping me with my back correction, actually there are two PTs but Steve is the one that I spend the most time with.  Anyway, I mentioned I could bring him in some stuff as I was already planning to harvest this weekend.  With my appointment in 1 hour I went out and harvested some whole plants, rinsed and bundled them up.  It's the first time I've been through this process and I really enjoyed it, much more satisfying than cut and come again techniques.

I can see myself doing this on a larger scale.

Observations:

1. Bundling with twine looks cool, but is more time consuming that twist ties, plus I can't brand twine!  ;)
2. The spinach leaves want to crack and break when I wrap around them, consider bundling around the stems instead
3. I need a washing setup out back, I'm thinking an old stainless washing station from a restaurant then collect the rinse water and use to water plants and or hydrate the compost
4. Need boxes to place produce in, don't want to use bags as I think it looks cheap.  I think I can scavenge boxes from produce markets, edible arrangements, juice stop, etc.
5. Escarole harvest nicely as a whole plant

Big Beets

I was surprised to learn my red beets had grown quite large, not sure why I was surprised as they've been in the ground for over 2 months.  I had planned on pulling them when they were walnut shell sized at the most, but now they are about 50% larger than that.  I've got a harvest planned for this weekend, Sunday most likely so I will pull them and give away.

I'm still struggling with a garden plan.  I walk out, I look around at my different beds and start to think I have it figured out and then I lose it.  There are so many variables and unknowns:

• How much is the liquid amber going to shade out my lower E/W beds and North ends of the N/S beds?
• How tall will my tomatoes grow, will they shade out the entire other row?  
• How much more can I expect to get out of my winter crops?  They seem to be going strong but I feel like I'm missing the spring planting window!

raised bed porn - I have that special feeling about raised
beds like I do my compost.  I mean... look at it, it's perfect!

I prepped the EW2 (east>west #2) bed, graded it out flat after letting the buckwheat cover crop decompose a bit.  I then dropped about 35 gallons of home made compost and cultivated that in.  Was happy to see lots of worms during all this.  This bed is ready for planting this weekend, I think I will do beans... I think, I'm not sure yet.  AHHH!

I feel like I would really benefit from an experienced gardener/farmer to walk through and say "Plant beets there, do that now, then over there you start your tomatoes, they should have been started two weeks ago!  Do bush beans there and your pole beans there.  Boy!  What the hell are you doing trying to start Spinach now?!"

Yeah, I'd like that.

I was hungry

I was hungry so I walked out to see what I could eat from the garden and ended up yanking out my first carrot.  While not huge, it does have good color and shape and tasted fantastic.  Glad I have many more in the works.

This is the Nelson variety which tend to be short and wide rather than tall and slender.  I just dug down with my fingers and loosened the soil and it pulled right out with very little disruption to it's neighbors.

Partial Success

citrus rind traps are a success, although some improvements are required.

While not exactly "clogged with bugs" there are still enough PBs in each trap to make it worthwhile.  There are twice as many critters rolled up on the soil under the traps.  The first improvement would be to set the traps on top of a small square of weed cloth so they can be collected and disposed of as well.

I'll try to get to these changes Tonight and actually do a collection Tomorrow morning.  It's killing time!

BTW, I haven't yet decided how to execute the bastards.  I'd like to send a message to the others so I'm thinking something dramatic and over the top is in order.  I'll release a few survivors to tell the tale of doom.  Please feel free to make killing suggestions in the comments.

I wonder if I've hit just the right combination of words in this post to show up on some FBI website filter?

"bomb" - there, that should do it!

Citrus Traps

I might as well point out what we have in this photo (Left to Right):

• Red Mustard
• Tatsoi
• Escarole
• Endive

The wet newspaper trap was a failure, but I'm still confident in the strategy.  I've read and/or bed told that pill bugs and earwigs (my new #2 foe) will be attracted to citrus and melon rinds, especially if turned face down.  As I understand it they are drawn to the rind as a food source, but then stay there when the air begins to warm from the sun coming out.  The idea is that you then inspect the traps early in the AM and should find them covered with critters.

I happened to go through a bunch of oranges recently and had about 50 or so perfect hemispherical valencia orange rinds to use for traps.  Tomorrow is another early morning for me, cross your fingers I find rinds clogged with pill.... things (crustaceans?) and earwigs

Potting Up Tomatoes

The tray of leggy, indoor started tomatoes.  They have

good color but are definitely stretching for the light

I had started some tomatoes a while back and they failed miserably!  I attribute this to a few poor decisions with a dusting of newbie-ness:

1. I started them too early
2. I kept them too wet
3. I didn't "pot-up" or transplant

I love tomatoes and am looking forward to growing them more than anything so you can imagine how disappointing it was to have my first attempt at growing from seen fail so badly.  I did some research and armed myself with more knowledge for my second attempt.

I placed a small amount of home-blend seed starter
then backfilled carefully to firm up the soil

One important step that I missed was the "potting up" or transplanting to larger containers as they grew.  Actually, it's not that I DIDN'T do this, but I did it incorrectly.  Tomatoes will grow new roots from the step when you bury it.  When you transplant a tomato plant you can bury it right up to it's cotyledon (seed leaves) and it will kick out new roots from the stem.  This results in a stronger plant with more vigorous root system.  It also addresses the "leggy problem" that can happen when growing indoors with insufficient light. Furthermore you can prune the lower branches and transplant the plant very deep to encourage additional root growth.  Another method is to plant them horizontally and the buried part of the step will root.

A good 2" of stem buried and if these things do what
everyone says they do then it should root from the stem

So I took about an hour work work Tonight and transplanted most of my seedlings from their cell tray into 2.75" organic pots.  The process was rewarding as the seedlings were leggy and weak when in the cells, but after transplanting they just... looked healthier and stronger.

Once they were transplanted I watered them in thoroughly and put out for a bit of late afternoon sun. Now they are back in the safety of the growing room (my extra bathroom) and I will begin hardening them off over the next couple weeks.

Back in the grow room with 14 of light a day

By the way, I have included a link on my blog's "links widget" to a concise and simple article explaining in more detail the steps I basically did here.

Just Photos

Spinach with onions in between the rows

I do this just about every night and it hasn't got
old yet!

Pill Bugs 1, Steve 0

I was researching organic methods to deal with my pill bug issue and read what sounded like a perfectly logical method to capture them; rolled up wet newspaper laid on the dirt.  It made perfect sense to me, I knew that pill bugs breathed through gills (seriously, read about these things, they are kind of cool) and thus required damp environments in which to breath.  I also had observed that they like to crawl into and under things to hide.

Anyway, I was all fired up to try it so I grabbed a fresh cocktail and headed out to the shed to set some traps.  I was excited, I felt like I was really on the right path!

I set my traps, moving slowly to enjoy my drink, AM talk radio and chill time.  I feel asleep satisfied, eager to awake and check my traps, fully expecting them to be saturated with sleeping-about-to-be-smashed pill bugs.
6:15am next morning, shoes and jacket on and I headed out to what would be four empty traps, not a single pill bug in sight.

Corn Looks Promising

It's been warm enough lately that I pulled the lid of my low hoops on the corn bed.  To be honest, I was more motivated by the fact the corn had grown up to the top of the hoop tunnel already and I feared it would either burn or rot from constant contact with the condensation.

The timestamp on the photos is nerdy and will prove a nuisance should I want to print a photo for display, however I think the value of seeing the date/time as a reference is worth it.  I'm planning on reviewing this blog when I prepare for next year to refresh my memory on what was happening.  Well that and I'm so narcissistic I just love to read my own words!  ;0)

Your Days Are Numbered...

Who Is This Is?

I've had sporadic issues with the pictured critter to left.  Usually found chewing away the edge of leafy stuff.  I've looked through my books but can't make a positive ID although I suspect it's either an Armywork or Corn Earworm.

Decided to ask on GardenWeb.com in hopes some wise soul will identify.  Once I know what I'm dealing with I can begin designing my strategy to deal with them.

I've seen them up to 1-1/4" long...

IT'S ON!!

The deceased - inspection prior to composting

The Pill Bugs really escalated things Today, they took it to a level I had hoped to avoid.  Only recently had I accepted that the little shits will chew on the lower leaves of my pea plants, maybe even snack a bit of spinach.  While none of this made me happy I had resolved to leave-them-be after feeling I won the last battle by removing the live sod acting as their fortress and launch point for attack.  With the sod cleared I turned the dirt and (hopefully) obliterated copious amounts of young and breeding-age bugs.  This, I assumed, had sent a clear message that I mean business and will kill indiscriminately if pushed.

CAUGHT IN THE ACT!!

You know what they say about assumptions...

I'm a fool for misjudging my opponent, for making assumptions about an enemy I only recently began to study and understand.  A fool for thinking that anything less that total annihilation would be sufficient!

They killed my snow pea plant, they sucked and chewed away at it's vulnerable stem until it finally gave up, unable to provide water and nutrients to it's top growth it had been tiring for weeks to grow.  I came upon the deceased slumped on it's trellis mesh, limp, pale green baby pods already beginning to curl in the heat of the intense sun... flower petals still clinging to the tips as if not yet ready to send the pod into the world alone.

Brothers, not even 2 months old...

A quick observation of surrounding plants and their stems at soil level proved what I suspected, and deep in my heart already knew; the pill bugs did this.  I took immediate action to protect the living while simultaneously plotting my attack.  This aggression will not stand (extra credit to cinematically-enlightened soul that guesses that movie reference!!), I will not sit idly by while my prize snow pea plants (and who's to say the Spinach aren't next?!) are reduced to compost greens!




OK, I ran out of steam and interest on this post.  If you happened to be enjoying up to this point I'm sorry, but it's late and I'm tired and sleepy.

Maybe too little too late?
A cut up soda can installed as a physical pill bug barrier.

Compost Maintenance

I've also got (2) 35 gal. trashcans full to use!

My compost has been majorly neglected for the past month or more, mostly due to my back being sore and my workload being overwhelming.  I really, really need some compost though so decided Today to suck it up and put a little work into my compost investment.
Two main tasks to accomplish:

1. Add "greens" (in Today's case this was lawn clippings) to the intermediate pile and flip (aerate)
2. Remove and screen the 95% complete compost from the Compost Tumbler and prepare it for the intermediate pile once it's cooked a bit more

I used the opportunity to make a time-lapse video which I haven't done in a long time.

Watering Reminder

They say admitting your problem is the first step to recovery.

I will be the first to admit that I over water.  It's my nature, I walk out in the yard and I look at my plants and I want to "do something" and watering gives me the satisfaction of "doing something".  I have a problem and I'm working on it.

I was out on slug patrol and while looking closely noticed that what I thought was a single spinach plant was actually 3 tightly grouped.  I carefully pulled the two smaller ones out and was pleased to see how deep the tap root had gone.  A very visual reminder of how inappropriate it is to water based on what the surface soil looks like.

I'll think about this doomed spinach, posed on the backside of my spinal decompression receipt (AHH!! $$$!!!!!) the next time I reach for the hose.