Friday, July 8, 2011

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

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

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.


Friday, May 13, 2011

MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN. LOWS IN THE 30S. HIGHS 45 TO 55.

The weather has been cold, just like in last year's blog, the cold winds blow right out of the glacier's across Kachemak Bay. Every now and then the sun shines and reminds us that spring is hear, but it has been cold. We actually has snow in the air Friday morning.

Inside, the starts are enjoying the little bit of sunshine and heat from the wood stove. The tomatoes are producing fruit and the flowers are ready for the hanging baskets outside on the porch



Yesterday we rented a rototiller breaking new ground for a new potato field (16' x 30') and another field (50' by 50') in the old horse pasture.

We ordered some oats and were given barely by a local gardener to plant in this field as an experiment.

The green house looks great with spring greens and seedlings. We have been munching on greens for a couple of weeks. Carrots are up in the raised beds in the greenhouse, cilantro is doing great, as are the rest of the herbs.



Outside in the raised bed under the solar pod we have more greens, overwintered-leeks, and snow peas planted. The bed has been above 50 degrees for two weeks now.

This fall I hope to try overwinter carrots, a specific variety of course, under the solar pod. We have now had onions and leeks, so why not try carrots. Due to the success of the solar pod and after listening to Dr. Jeff Shmeenk from UAF speak about heating soils in cold climates, we have decided to build more solar pods. Since this will be the second time building a solar pod I am going to make some changes from the pods built in Solar Gardening by the Poissons. Too often I have had the snow collapse the structure when a sudden snow in the fall broke the solid plastic. Instead, I will use visqueen and reemay, as I use now. It is cheap, easy, and it works. More to come.

The hoop house is doing great. I planted beets, broccoli, garlic, day-neutral onions planted, many variety of greens, celeriac root, fennel, and radishes to kick the season off. In a few weeks, the zucchini will be planted in the remaining holes.


In the hog garden, the garlic has come up and I planted beets, scorzonera, and parsnips. The last two are poking up. I checked the temperature today and it was 55 degrees F. I hope to broad fork the hog garden this week and plant some broccoli and cabbage. I did amend this year with alfalfa pellets. So far the hog garden has been producing a bountiful amount of nettles that we have been eating them steamed and as nesto.

As the buds start showing on the berry shrubs it is evident that the snow shoe hares were not able to get all of the branches. We have lost several local birch and the snow shoe hares are still running around, but they are not eating any of our berry shrubs anymore.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

May Day 2011

We still have snow on the ground and snow was flying in the air May 1st. However, the rhubarb and chives are pushing their heads up through the frozen ground. Looking around the garden the snow shoe hares wrecked havoc on our currants, goose berries, and mock orange. The only surviving limbs and buds are those low to the ground that were protected by the snow cover. No pruning this year. I pulled the mulch of the garlic, so the sun will start heating the soil.
It was below freezing last night, hopefully the bulbs will be okay.

The seeds in the cold frame and solar pod have sprouted. In the greenhouse, all the greens are growing in the 80 degree temperatures and it is time to grow some more starts.

I finally replaced the old visqueen on the hoop house with some 6 mil UV protection greenhouse film. The film cost $200 for a 24" x 50' roll. This film is definitely a marked improvement over the old stuff, it feels more supple and stretches, and has a smooth finish. I am going to try attaching it differently to the hip board. This time I am going to have the hip board on the outside, with lathe holding down with fill with screws. I got this idea from the high tunnel.org site.

I put a center pole instead of the shoulder board. The last change made is adding diagonal supports using stainless steel wire. I used the diagonal wire supports two years ago for shear support, but did not use it last year. I don't think I needed it, plus the steel wire rusts and discolors the hoop house film. Because I am adding another four feet to the hoop house, I figure it will not hurt to have the stainless wire. Upon completion the hoop house feels very stable. Now the heat is warming the soil.



Sunday, April 17, 2011

Spring Skiing

The green house was up to 103 degrees today and the soil was at 55 degrees. The plants are looking great. I actually have a couple of onions that are sprouting from bulbs left in the greenhouse beds over the winter. Outside we have beautiful crust snow, which means you can ski or mush anywhere you want during the morning hours. The following is an iMovie put together from some clips of the day taken behind the house. Enjoy.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Mid April and the Greenhouse


It is mid April at 1300 feet and 59 degrees north latitude. We still have snow on the ground, even though we have not received a lot of snow this winter. Our morning temperatures have been in the 20's and the afternoons are in the low 40's.

Earlier this week we received our missing March snow. This maybe a good thing as the added snow depth and spring crust sets up for harvesting more wood for the winter fires.

Inside the greenhouse, many young greens are sprouting, along with some starts from Tari at Mooserun. Tari gave me some claytonia, miner's lettuce, greens, and bok choi, which I planted the second day of spring, March 23rd. They are covered with reemay cloth and are doing fine with no heat in the greenhouse. During the same time I planted spinach, arugula, and more frost hardy greens. Last week I planted some carrots. The soil is 60 degrees during the day, so this should work. By the way, last year I started on Easter weekend, so this year I am almost a month ahead of last year.


The greenhouse temperature today at 7:30 pm was 60 degrees. Not bad. The highs have been in the 90's with a few 100 degree days.














Outside it still looks like winter. I brushed off a low tunnel and the cold frame soon they will come into production. Next I will be putting the film on the hoop house. I am in search of some local way of getting some 6 mil UV film, instead of visqueen. The visqueen lasted two years, but I would like something to hold up in the winds that we get in the spring and fall.