Company and Gardening

We have visitors .. my parents .. so in between being a good hostess .. and letting them fend for themselves quite a bit .. the garden is flourishing. 

Our Montmormency (sour) cherries are ready to pick. 

This past spring I made a homemade dormant oil spray (water, vinegar, coconut oil soap, tea tree oil) and applied it to our fruit trees; we have not had any insect pests on the apples or cherries .. A scarecrow, fake owl and bird netting over the tree have helped GREATLY keeping the birds from having breakfast, lunch and dinner.


We're harvesting lettuce, Asian peas, bok choy, onions, black currents, cherries and herbs galore.

With the heat last weak, I decided to try my hand at outdoor Dutch oven (D.O.) cooking.

 The Mr. has set up an outdoor cooking area complete with propane burners and a place to cook in the D.O.

 

Summer is in full swing with home projects (garden gates),

 

mini trips and family get-togethers.

 

 

How does your garden grow?

Oh My

Two months in between posts ..

Pre-occupied I suppose is a good excuse! 

Now that school is out .. and 95% of the garden is planted .. my tasks have been more home maintenance oriented.  Windows, screens and sashes.

  Mowing lawn and weeds alike.  Waxing my linoleum floor (secret delight).

 I LOVE to walk barefoot on freshly waxed linoleum ... takes me back to my childhood before the advent of no-wax floors.  It really was a pain to strip floors and apply fresh wax .. I can handle the master bathroom and consider it a luxury in a weird sort of way.

The Mr. has pulled out box after box for me to sort through:  PAPERWORK!  UGH!! 

The computer has been replaced along with a new printer.  You know I had a Kodak printer that had no driver updates for Windows 8.  I HATE disposable stuff!!

Maybe I'll blog my way through summer.

Easter & The Garden

We had a wonderful Easter with the entire family attending church .. and lunch afterward.  The Mr. had to scoot off to work .. this should be his last Easter to miss out as he's retiring at the end of the year.  The sky was cloudless and our temp was about 68F. 

Easter Greetings from the Mac Family

I was able to get out and work in the yard and gardens for a few hours this afternoon .. Day 7

spring growth is just below the surface

It will take several days to get the perennial beds cleaned up, debris blown and shrubs trimmed.

Soon greenery and flowers will fill this bed

The whiskey and wine barrels have been moved to their permanent locations and filled with potting soil.

I've got bulbs to plant

... and to freshen up the front porch, we have new rocking chair pads to make our afternoon rest periods more comfy to take in the views.

Outdoor furniture is making an appearance!  Can't wait to rock that new grandson!

What's up in your garden?

Day 6

No pictures .. but I did manage to spray the fruit trees with a dormant oil spray that I made using water,  organic clary sage & fir vegetable oil soap, vinegar .. and 1/2 teaspoon tea tree oil.  My pump sprayer was no where to be found . . . so I used a spray bottle .. definitely not a small job!  Thank goodness the trees have not budded or leafed out and are only a few years old.  Now it's time for a lazy Sunday afternoon nap!

Sunday Reading

.... after church (of course).

Organic Fruit Tree Sprays

Soil Care

Companion Plants For Fruit Trees

Guide and Charts on Planting Companion Vegetables and Herbs and Fruit Tree Companion Planting

E How ... Companion Plants for Fruit Trees

Bit by Bit

It's a work in progress .. and nitty and gritty!

Day 5 ~ Was cold, cloudy, sunny, blowy and with snow flurries.  There's something neat about working out in the cold .. with the sound of wind blowing through the tree tops .. and snow flurries .. seems a bit surreal and other worldly.  Perhaps that's why it took me until 3:00 PM to get outside and work in the garden.

The call of the wood stove kept me snug and cozily napping on the couch .. but work has to get done!

I added some wood ash to the raised beds .. just a little sprinkle .. then tilled it in.

I dug the dirt and fine bark down and away from the outside edges of the raised beds and fence posts.  This will help keep the wood from rotting as fast.

Some dead scarlet runner bean vines were pulled down from the wire fence .. the bark was raked and spread out a bit.

My comfrey seeds arrived from here.  I'll be planting some just to use for making organic fertilizer.

The heirloom tomato seeds were getting a little leggy .. so I added more seed starting soil to the tray ... look, they're getting real leaves now!

Hopefully by mid (next) week .. the temps will be more normal and in the 50's.  Now .. that will be some good gardening weather.  What's up in your garden?

A Little Here ...

... a little there.  Work!

Day 4 we purchased these two barrels.  The long one will be planted with deer resistant plants and sit a bit tipped with flowers spilling out .. to be placed in our front flower bed.  The short half barrel will go inside the fenced garden and planted with bulbs and/or tubers that the voles find so tasty.  They both need a good pressure washing .. before filling.  One is from a winery and the other once held Jack Daniels whiskey .. it's a bit charred inside.

Double Dig and Rototill

Day 3

I'm not a big fan of rototilling the soil each year .. it disturbs the earth worms too much.  But the raised beds need more attention.

After double digging around the edges and center of the beds, the Stihl Kombi-System with attached tiller made quick work mixing up the soil

Half way done ..

2013 Garden ~ The Good-The Bad-and-The Ugly

Day 2

top soil mixed with clay taken from our property to mix in the raised beds

Our fickle weather had a little break of sunshine this afternoon so I got out to work in the garden.  I focused on the raised beds as that's where the soil needs the most work.  We bought 'garden' soil from the nursery two years ago .. and again topped off the beds last year.  This mixture was void of any clay .. mostly decomposed plant matter (could be wood and manure) with sand.  The beds sit on top of clay which proved to give poor drainage .. which caused a soil fungus to grow.

 Last year I amended half of the beds by adding/mixing in some clay to the purchased garden soil.

soil fungus .. it's decomposing fine wood in the soil

The beds that had the clay added fared well and most of the fungus is gone.  It did not affect the plants .. so I'm not too worried about it this year.  I just want to mix in more clay and a bit of rich earth to balance out purchased soil.  Today I was able to double dig to a depth of 12-18 inches down to bring up ground clay.

vole tunnels provide good rich soil to add to the raised beds

the tunnels are easily scooped up

Then I added some fresh rich soil taken from the vole tunnels in our yard.  This should give our raised beds a much better blend to help break up the fungus and help it decompose the wood matter a bit faster .. aid in water drainage AND improve the soil quality.  I'll deal with the voles another day. 

This soil took 10 minutes to collect .. the voles, albeit pests, serve as good soil producers

I will test the raised beds using a soil testing kit after I finish this process.  Tilling the soil will bring up more clay from underneath the planters to help give the soil better structure and drainage.  

I have read that not all soil fungus is harmful.  Hopefully by breaking this up, adding more clay and tilling the soil for better drainage, this will not be a problem in this particular bed next year.  That's the risk you take when you purchase a large quantity of soil at once.  Our in ground garden does not have this type of problem as the soil has a good balance of nutrients and good drainage.  All of our garden tools will be cleaned well before using them in the other garden. 

2013 Garden Journal

raspberry canes trimmed and thinned

blueberries are starting to bud

raised beds have been lightly hoed .. I'll be using my small Stihl combi tiller

Planted and covered last fall .. I think it's spinach

Rhubarb .. always first to return

Our in ground garden

Just so you know .. the previous two posts were sporting pictures from last summer.  The real garden doesn't resemble that quite yet .. in fact it's far from it.  No .. the land has been 'scrubbed' clean from the snow and cold weather.  Perennials have turned to mush and dead plant matter .. the stuff that amends the soil to make it more fertile. In the North Woods our winters are harsh .. causing most everything to die back and go dormant.  The land sleeps for quite a while.  Well, things are just starting to wake up.  I'm going to document the 2013 garden adventure .. starting with pruning the raspberry canes.  Today turned cloudy with big banks clinging to the mountains .. every once in a while .. opening up with downpours.  There are probably a few more days of snow before summer .. but for now we are 97% snow free! 

Natural Fertilizer

One4'x8' and another 1/2 same size bed together holding about 50 tomato plants ~ 2012

Yesterday I mentioned making compost tea .. It's really not made from compost .. but from green 'weeds' such as dandelion greens or comfrey leaves.

2012 crop ripened in basement

 I had this 'brewing' all summer; it takes about two weeks.  Here is a link with directions.  I mixed 1 cup of tea concentrate to one gallon of water and applied weekly starting mid summer.

part of 2012 crop ripening in the basement

two teardrop tomato plants produce oodles of goodness

If you read the comments in the linked post (particularly #2) some people make it by just throwing the greens into a bucket drilled with holes in the bottom .. and catch the liquid below in another bucket .. then use this super concentrated version .. diluted .. it's supposed to NOT smell.  Unfortunately .. my version is rather smelly and needs to be strained. I'm going to try both methods this summer.

Another few  links to homemade tomato fertilizer ... I have not tried these but found them interesting.

We Have A 100 Percent

... germination rate on heirloom tomato seeds saved from last year's garden.  I have a nice collection including a few from Mr. H and Lynn S.  I tend to plant more paste type tomatoes because of their great canning abilities in making ketchup and my all time favorite .. roasted roma and garlic tomatoes, and of course canned tomatoes in their own juice.  Instead of canning salsa, I can Mexican style stewed tomatoes.  These jars of goodness are more versatile as they can be used for making chile .. and my favorite 'semi-fresh' salsa. No more hour upon hour of chopping hot peppers and onions.  This is a much easier way to enjoy salsa year round.

 This year I have planted:  yellow teardrop, orange smudge, orange beef steak, Amish paste, roma, Vincent Watts (a large beefsteak type), turkey grape, brandywine .. and mortgage lifter.  How do you like those names?  If you cook with paste tomatoes .. the Amish variety yields HUGE well flavored fruit.  My romas tend to be of average size .. so I like to plant more of the Amish paste to get more bang for the buck in my square foot tomato plot.  Last year we yielded well over 200 pounds of tomatoes in a space of about 4'x12' .. not bad.  The plants grew on five foot high trellises.  This gave plenty of points to tie up the big heavy branches of the plants.

In our North Idaho short growing season, we have to start our plants from seeds indoors well before the average outdoor planting date usually around Mother's Day for plants that don't tolerate frost.  Even then, keeping a row cover handy is a must for those occasional late spring frosts.

Looking  out my window toward the garden, I can just about see dirt .. in and about the last of the snow.  Gardening on a mountain .. we have even fewer hours of sunlight .. and must wait for what seems FOREVER to get out and garden.  What plans do you have for your 2013 garden?  

Nine Weeks

... but who's counting? 

I am!  That's how many weeks until our newest grandbaby arrives; my arms are aching to hold him .. and I'm sure my daughter is about ready to get her body back in shape.  It's been hard on her having two children so close together.

Can it really be February already?  This is the month I usually start my tomato seeds and get bit by the gardening bug.  In truth .. when I look out the window the garden beds are covered in a thick layer of snow.  The monthly budget has been worked out .. bills paid.  We're getting closer to retirement .. hubby is in count down mode.  Living on a budget is the smartest plan by far.  Last week we had two dates .. from sensibly priced to free.  The free one involved sampling chocolates at an event sponsored at our local library and included a mini history lesson.

We had an impromptu Super Bowl gathering at our home yesterday.  Part of our budget is not having cable TV.  Thank goodness our son-in-law brought over his portable antenna and was able to hook it up to the TV in the man cave.  That meant I didn't have to watch or listen to much of it.

My daughter and I prepared a feast .. which seemed larger than even Thanksgiving dinner for some reason.  There will be no cooking required for the next several days.  She and I enjoyed the peace and quiet since the menfolk were downstairs .. so we sewed a snugly baby blanket.

I'm thankful for having my family nearby, access to quality local food, and the ability to cook without the use of overly processed ingredients.  Now if I had stayed away from a cup of evening coffee, I'd be fast asleep instead of wide awake.  What's up in your neck of the woods?

Gardening Is:

Dream away Mrs. Mac!

1. a learning curve
2. evolving
3. fun
4. rewarding
5. a late winter project to break up the doldrums by plotting, planning and planting seed starts
6. good exercise
7. a good dose of vitamin D
8. full of fresh air
9. an endorphin producer

It's early winter and rush of Christmas is over.  Time to start thinking about the garden.  In one month I'll check on my saved seeds and order any new varieties worth trying.  In two months my portable greenhouse will be pulled from the basement, dusted off, grow lights installed and we will have the start to our sixth year of gardening.  Thank goodness for this cycle ... it really pulls me along to get me out of the winter funk.

Are you dreaming about your garden just yet?