It’s A Jungle Out There

Nicky's Flower Garden














Cedaredge, CO



After spending the last two weeks in the arid high basin and range region of Colorado, you really get an appreciation for water. Here in Homer we have an annual precipitation of 25.4 inches. Contrast this with Cedaredge, CO, which has 10 inches and you see the difference. However, while we were gone we did not receive much precipitation in Homer. June on average receives only 1.0 inches of rain. Knowing this information I put the garden on a water timer before we left. I figured 15 minutes/day to be enough along with protecting the seedling under remay cloth. Looking at the garden when we returned from our trip to Colorado I should have added another 15 minutes.

Before... ...After

The first thing I noticed when I got back was the potato patch taken over by weeds. Wow, fireweed was everywhere along with the usual suspects. After two hours of using the weed wacker and collinear hoe I was able to restore some garden order.

To begin this weeks tour I am happy to announce the earliest harvest to date of beans, thanks to Tari planting those seeds early in her hoop house at Moose Run. You rock Tari. Also producing early are cucumbers and tomatoes. The greenhouse seems to be the ideal environment for all these plants, regardless of the weather. Much appreciation goes to our house sitters, Bo and Cheryl, for their constant watering. I just wish they would eat more veggies. I still have carrots, onions, and herbs in the greenhouse and they are all doing well. Aphids are at a minimum; they always go for the rosemary. I sprits them with 20% Dr. Bronner's castile soap peppermint solution and they are gone.

The hoop house is rocking as usual, the watering system is working adequately enough, but I am constantly unplugging holes in the soaker hose with my pocket knife. I will be moving to t-tape soon. The cost will be around $70 for four rows 16’ long with all connectors and filters. Garlic scapes are present inside the hoop house, while none are in the outside garden. Broccoli is being harvested along with many greens. The beets will be harvested before he end of the month. Before the trip to Colorado I planted cilantro and basil, it is coming up under the canopy of broccoli. After the broccoli is harvested I will be planting more beets and veggies for the fall. The tomatoes are looking like they are producing nice fruit; it is always an experiment for us in the hoop house because of our elevation. The squash is showing fruit as well, I am already cutting back the massive head sized leaves.

In the main garden everything looks great with the exception of the one carrot bed and the beets. The carrots seedling that look the best had a floating row cover, while the ones that are spotty in distribution had a raised row cover. The picture shows this, they floating row cover was used in the foreground bed. Watering was the same, but the floating row cover really helps against the wind up here that desiccates the tiny plants. Although we may have 25 inches of precipitation in Homer, we don’t necessarily get the benefit when we need it as a gardener. The beets suffered from a lack of water as well, the culprit is an old plugged soaker hose. I may have to look at a more intensive investment of T-tape for the garden soon.

This year we added some runner ducks to the mix. They will be used for manure, possible eggs, and slug extermination. Presently, they are housed in the dog pen at night, duck-tor in the day, when needed. Towards the end of August they will be in the main garden for slug harvest and bugs extermination. But first I have to fence off the berries and any young veggies.

This weeks goals will be amending the garden with compost, grass clippings, and planting more beets, I can never get enough beets. We still have at least 60 days of growing with the proper protection against frost. I will also be building two more solar appliances to get more out of the garden during our harsh shoulder season.

"Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit"

Anton Chekov

Cold Winds of June

The garden is at full capacity as of yesterday. I began the planting outside, as well as shifting things around in the greenhouse Memorial Day weekend. Then Nicky got in and helped complete the task. Although I hardened the plants off , they still looked sickly. This week some of the brassicas have finally improved. The wind has been the constant this season, along with a June 5th frost. Unfortunately, in got the dahlia that I planted out that same day.

Now everything is under reemay wraps or poking out of IR film, which is used to heat the soil and cut down the weed growth. Peas are wrapped in reemay as well to keep the pesky white-crowned sparrows from eating their tender starts. By the way, the peas that were planted under cold frames are up. We have been eating salad from these cold frames, as well as the greenhouse and the hoop house. My favorite is the double purple orach seen on the right. It is growing in a couple of cold frames and the hoop house. This is a mountain spinach and it can grow to five feet tall. It contains three times the vitamin C as spinach. Along with claytonia it fast becoming my spring favorite.


In the hoop house, the brassicas are doing great. I am experimenting with growing broccoli, broccoli raab, chinese cabbage, and broccoli romanesque in this environment. The plan is for an early harvest, hedging on the cool June weather, which tends to be the norm. The hoop house garlic and onions are looking strong. We have already harvested onions from the hoop house that were planted in the fall. This is definitely worth doing again; both sets and bunching onions. The zucs are doing fine and are under wrap in the hoop house.















In the hog garden the starts were planted a week before the main garden, because of the wind protection offered by the willows that soround the garden.














The main garden has been feeling the brunt of the wind lately. It is in the open, great for sun. The strawberry patch is weeded and I have not decided whether to start a new hill outside the fence on the low end of the potato patch. I planted 50 plus potatoes in the patch and in several tires. Last year I did not plant enough for the year. They have been planted at different times for harvesting early and late.














The greenhouse is still giving us spinach, mixed greens, and claytonia. As soon as I harvest the inside beds, I amend with compost and fishbone meal, then I plant tomatoes, cucumbers, or herbs. It is getting tight, but soon it will change. Notice we still have starts, using he soil blocker, in the waits for transplanting outside. Last year, I was able to get four lettuce and pac choi harvests. This year I am adding Chinese cabbage and broccoli raab to the list.
This year Nicky put bean starts, thanks to Tari, and planted beans in the green house.
Around the property, the wild flowers are putting on a fantastic show for us, especially around the spruce forest fringe.

Even though we have a lot more colors in the yard the yellows are standing out in Nicky's gardens.