So much going on!

Hello garden people and not gardening people. We've been so busy juggling so many Ranch projects that we've had little or no time to take pictures or do any updates. A quick run down of things to come: strawberry bed (forever), garden hoopa, bamboo fence part deux, growth, growth, growth, bioswale and the vandalism of bioswale, additional rain barrels, still yet even more growth, Greasel, the refinishing of the deck, a new tomato bed and so much more.

We'll start posting items as we get the the time and friendly photo evidence.

But a quick note; the salad greens have been coming up fat and steady and Marina has once again demonstrated why she is the dressing maven. She made a ginger dressing the other night that was outstanding. She just pulls them out of an invisible hat. Another reason why this is indeed, The Lucky Us Ranch.

So much to tell!

The little sproutlins are popping up all over the house. We're a museum of Styrofoam and plastic. Not the best things to have around but when you're using them for seedlings over and over again, then I guess it's alright.

The nasturtiums came up inside but outside they seem to be hiding along with the breadseed poppies. The cold crops having survived three freeze scares after a whole lot of straw, leaves, sheets, and whatever else we could find were put on top and around all the wee plants. The tulips are looking good, transplanted bulbs are doing well.

Marina has built a bamboo gate, a waddle fence, and a rain chain for the rain barrel, which is full after a huge storm.

I think that some pictures are in order. Farm cat Topher thinks so too.

Babies!

Here are the toilet paper roll seedlings in their egg carton tray. Broccoli babies, aren't they cute? (Night-blooming jasmine in foreground)

If I'd thought about it before this picture was taken, I would have pulled off the t.p. first. It's like the kid in school with the yearbook picture that's wrong, somehow... maybe he has some ketchup on his face, and you just know his mama was mortified when she saw the wallet-sized photos she was going to have to send to family.

Ah, well. Actually, this picture was taken a week or so ago, and the weather was sooo nice today, and is supposed to stay nice for the coming week or so, that I thought it was time to plant.

The way this is supposed to work is, to minimize the disturbance to the roots, you just plant the whole thing in the ground after opening up the bottom a bit. And that's just what I did on the ones that were singles. But see, since some of these had two baby plants come up, I gently shook the soil and separated those. I know I am supposed to just plant the whole thing, after all, that was the point. But when it comes to thinning them, I just can't bring myself to do it. It's like that scene in "Sophie's Choice", when Meryl Streep has to decide which kid to keep... it's very traumatic for me.

So instead I try to plant them both, disturbing the roots horribly. Probably won't matter anyway, it really is too early to plant, I think. Not just broccoli, either. We planted all kinds of things today.

So good night broccoli, brussel sprouts, peas, lettuce and onions. Sleep well in your new beds.

Fence, New Beds

On one hand, there is something funny and quirky about having a border of thick, lush, poison ivy growing beside our driveway. It reminds me of the mixed message I used to get at the end of the “Beverly Hillbillies”. I could have sworn there was a long list of “make-yourself-at-home” type phrases as they were smiling and waving from their front porch, only to finish with “Don't come back now, ya hear?” (Turns out it's actually “Y'all come back now,” but that isn't how I heard it.)
Ultimately, though, we decided the poison ivy had to go, so we've been working hard digging up roots and trying to smother what's there with layers of cardboard, paper, leaves, compost. At first, we were just going for the worst spot, but in an unusual burst of enthusiasm, brought on, no doubt, by the spring-like spell we are having, we extended the initial poison-ivy smothering bed all the way down the drive. If we are successful, we will no longer have to run out to meet our visitors with “get out on the right side of the car!” greeting.

Famous friend Steve brought us a load of cane last year, and we have found so many uses for this sturdy stuff. We built tomato tee-pees that worked beautifully. But still there was so much left, and I felt guilty every time I looked at the stack. At the same time, I was annoyed by the neighbors straight behind us. Their landlord decided to trim back all of the overhanging trees (grr! not like he was planning a garden in back, or that they were in danger of possibly breaking off onto the house, 300 feet away! He just doesn't like trees, obvious when you look into that barren back lot.) So now my flat-back, sheared trees cannot block the ugly that is the back of the the two houses on the other street. Poor trees.

But back to the cane... here is the last of it, serving to obscure the view through to the other side and to serve as a backdrop for what is sure to be a stunning naturalized understory garden. I am hoping to get some more cane from Steve so I can finish this thing. Eventually.

Making a fence by hand from cane gives me new appreciation for the workers in some distant land churning out those 6 foot panels. This is hard work.

Another Farmer's Almanac Challenge

From the Farmer's Almanac:

Remember on St. Vincent’s Day,
If that the Sun his beams display,
Be sure to mark the transient beam—
Which through the casement sheds a gleam;
For ’tis a token bright and clear
Of prosperous weather all the year.

St. Vincent’s Day (today, Jan. 22) is heralded for its weather lore. A sunny day signifies “more wine than water” and means that the sap might begin to rise. Frost on that day presages a delayed crop.

So, looks like we're in for a good harvest, because the sun is full-on today. Oh, I hope it's right. I'd hate to be tricked by a poem.

What to use to start seedlings

This is the “Cheap Tip” of the day from our other blog, but it is a great garden tip, so I am reposting it here. Turn your used toilet paper rolls into starters for your seedlings. When they get large enough, you can put the whole thing in the ground, no need to shock your little babies as they make the transition. They stay put in the cardboard, which decomposes in the ground.

Last year, we did not start collecting these soon enough, so we had a shortage. We made some from newspaper, making tubes (slightly wider than the toilet paper tubes) and folding the bottoms in. Mostly they stayed together, but I should have bunched them together in a container of some kind, like this guy on the ever-helpful Baker Creek forum... Here's a picture from his post:














I like peat starts, but at this quantity, they are kind of pricey. And I like the small, plastic planters, but I never have enough and I wouldn't think of buying them new. I like reusing plastic containers with holes punched in the bottoms, but since I am limiting my plastics now, I don't have enough to use.

So, it looks like paper planters are going to be all up in my garden this year. I think it's a good thing.

Garden Tag

I'd never thought about it before, but our friend Denise mentioned copper garden tags. I had to look them up to see one, and immediately I thought I could make something similar. So here is the homemade version using all found materials. Some I saw were fixed, some dangling. I went with the dangling version.

I used an aluminum soda can, a wire hanger, old jewelry findings and beads and wire. I cut two tags, one slightly larger than the other, then wrote backward on the opposite side. I folded the edge of the larger piece over the smaller, so there would be no sharp sides to it, poked some holes and dangled some beads.

Not sure how I feel about the beads yet. Here are instructions for making a copper version. They're very pretty, and you could easily do it this way too. I just found a beautiful idea for leaves and raffia, and I like the look very much. Maybe I will try one like that next.

Seed Inventory 2009

Here we are, dreaming of this year's garden. We have all of our seeds spread out in front of us, making us shake with delight (like just before our cat Topher gets a bite of tuna). So here is the list:

New and partial packets (all heirloom seeds from Baker Creek)
Just in... heirloom seeds from Bountiful Gardens! I will add them in purple.

• Squash (“White Bush Scallop” summer squash, “Red Kuri” & “Pie Pumkin” both winter, loofah)
  
• Peppers (“Tabasco” & “Chinese 5 Color” both hot, “Purple Beauty” & “Golden Cal. Wonder”, both sweet)
  
• Greens (Pepper Cress, Mesclun mix, “Ford Hook Giant” chard, “Romanesco Italia” broccoli)(“Arctic King” butterhead lettuce, celery)
  
• Fruit (Kiwi & melons-"Banana", "Tigger", "Kiwano")(black currant, "Moon and Stars" watermelon)
  
• Eggplants (Rosa Bianca, Rotunda Bianca)
  
• Grains ("Stowells Evergreen" corn, "Love Lies Bleeding" amaranth "Country Gentleman" corn)
  
• Root crops ("Bull's Blood" & "Chioggia" both beets, "Cosmic Purple" carrots) ("Giant Zittau" onion)
  
• Herbs (Summer Savory, Sweet Annie, Soapwort, Cumin, Wormwood, Oregano, Lemongrass, Thai Sweet Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Anise Hyssop, Catnip, Cilantro, Dill)(Borage, Chamomile, Toothache plant, Meadowsweet, Savory, Sweet Cicely, Valerian)
  
• Beans & Peas ("Molly Frasier" climbing, Hyacinth Bean, Snow Pea)("Envy" Soy bean, Fava Bean)
  
• Tomato (Brandywine, Paul Robeson, also tomatillo)(Chadwicks Cherry Tomato)
  
• Cucumber (lemon, delikatesse)
• Flowers, other (Poppy, Nasturtiums, Sweet Rocket, Asparagus)
  

We also have some nigella and clematis seeds we collected from established plants. It's gonna be an exciting year.

Carpet Weedkiller?

As we work on our garden, we read or hear about ideas that have worked well for others and are eager to try these things. I am not sure that all of these are GOOD ideas, but since this is the 'show me' state, we like to see these things for ourselves.

Steve (friend with much more gardening experience) told me about a house he recently worked on, a very nice house that belonged to an old woman who'd passed away. The garden space was covered by old carpet, and at first Steve could not understand why anyone would do such a thing. Ugly outdoor patio area? Garden as landfill? He removed the carpet and saw the rich, weed-free soil underneath, and realized this must have been this old-timer's way of prepping for the following season.

I was especially excited about the idea of using old carpet. We'd pulled up some nasty carpet from our house when we first moved in. It was part of our 'greening' up the house efforts, but I knew that carpets were a major issue in landfills and wasn't looking forward to being part of the problem. With this new idea, I could put the carpet to work AND keep it out of the landfill. Happy days.

But now, I am concerned. Since carpets leach toxins (one of the reasons they are a problem in landfills) it’s possible that our carpet is doing just that, right now, in our vegetable garden! How will I know if my soil is safe? I am hoping it will be okay, especially after we add the layers, but I would hate to think our effort to do something green turned out to be really, really brown.

I asked for help in the ever-entertaining “I Dig My Garden” forum on the Baker Creek website, and got a wide range of suggestions and helpful (and not as helpful, but funny. High heels? Oh, it does digress there) advice. Ultimately, though, I don't think anyone knows for certain. I will probably remove it, just to be safe. After all, we will be topping all of this off with cardboard, newspapers, leaves, compost and soil in the Spring.

Testing the Wisdom of the Farmer's Almanac

According to the Farmer's Almanac “If there is no wind on New Year’s Day, the summer will be dry; if there’s a good breeze, there will be rain enough for a decent crop.”

The Farmer's Almanac is full of this kind of stuff, but I never know if it's true. By the time the results are in, I forget what the forecast was. This year, though, I am going to test it out. New Year’s Day was not windy here in Springfield, not one bit. So if Farmer's Almanac wisdom is right, we are in for a dry summer. Looks like we are gonna have to get those rain barrels hooked up as soon as the weather turns fair.

ADDENDUM: Not to let the Farmer's Almanac off the hook, but it was exceedingly windy on the day we made the no-till bed by the fence (Dec. 30) and again, on Jan 3.

New Year, New Bed

Here are some pictures of the new bed we are planning. This location is plagued with poison ivy. Shortly after we moved in,
we noticed the poison ivy hedge on that side of the driveway and avoided it. This year,we did our best to fight it by digging up all the sprouts as they emerged, but soon, we lost the battle. Someone suggested round-up, and the problem was so bad that we actually considered it. Depending on how this year's poison ivy battle goes, we may resort to it.

Since neither of us have much experience with gardens, we may not have done this correctly, but this is our attempt at a no-till garden, a-la Ruth Stout. (We used this method in our main garden as well, but were not as careful or deliberate with the layers.) We started with a layer of cardboard, to act as a barrier between the poison ivy and the plants. We covered this with several layers of newspaper, then watered it all down. On top of this, we put a thick layer of dried leaves.















Cardboard, newspaper and leaves (from friend, Steve. Thanks!)















I am pouring more water on the whole thing (cardboard, paper, leaves) to hold it in place.

On top of all of this, we brought in the top layer from our compost pile, the green stuff that hasn't decomposed much. On this, we put a thick layer of dark, finished compost.















Compost topping over thick layer of wetted leaves, newspaper and cardboard.

On top of all of this, we added a layer of topsoil, then a final layer of leaves as mulch. After this, we took the emptied leaf bags, cut them flat, and staked them into the bed. I was hoping the plastic would help the leaf mulch keep the weeds out, but I am not sure if this was a good move or not. I hope the plastic doesn't leach anything awful.















We trimmed the sides with small bits of sticks, which we hope will become mulch. In the Spring, we plan to plant a hedge of amaranth (from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. It's called "Love Lies Bleeding, and Thomas Jefferson grew it in his Monticello garden too) and maybe something in front, preferably another food crop.

ADDENDUM: After some thought about the possibility of what might leach from the plastic, we removed the black plastic bags. The leaves are fairly mulched and should stay in place (mostly).