Freezing Rain Reflection

Has it really been 2 months since I last blogged? Eek gads. Where to even begin?

Frost & weather reports:
First frost: October 25th
First killing frost: November 11th

We had several evenings in the teens, followed by a week in the 50s-60's and now we are facing another week below freezing with a "wintery mix" that has begun (yesterday was 65F) with a thin sheet of pellets.

NOAA seasonal forecast says that the midwest will have an equal chance of both above or below normal conditions so...whatever that means.

Raised bed reports
The lettuces under cover in the brick bed are thriving. I cover them with an old heating blanket when it dipped in the teens and mulched around them with leaves. The seedlings (rutabaga, turnips) that were in the other brick bed have disappeared. Initially I had poor germination and then the rollies ate what was there and then they disappeared all together. I'm having more and more troubles with the rollies this year. I can't seem to keep seedlings or young starts. I guess I have too much mulch/protection for them.

Hoophouse report
The hoop house is doing great. It withstood some crazy winds that resulted in complete destruction of it last year. I only had to do a little tucking back into place this time. The ground has still not frozen inside. It can get incredibly warm in there on sunny days and at least one time ( a night around 14) I saw the first frost on the parsley (but near the doorway). Otherwise, seeds are germinating, stuff is growing (albeit slowly) and I'm harvesting kale, chard, parsley and cilantro. I am having problems with either or both rollies and slugs. I don't know what happened to my 3 toads, but they aren't doing their job!

I think the key is, and this is difficult to do, but to start seedlings earlier (during the heat and drought of the summer). The most successful plants are the kale and these were the ones the plants self-sowed themselves. Many of my transplants have been eaten or aren't growing quick enough to harvest. The peas are still growing and I hope to have an early crop from them. I should probably start more on the south side wall.

I've been amazed at the success of starting seeds in there. I think everything I started has germinated. The benefit of the seedlings in the containers raised off of the ground is that the rollies haven't discovered them either.

Stuff I'm eating in November.

Suggestions for next year:
Start winter seedlings earlier- probably will have to do this in the basement since it is so hot & dry outside late summer. Grow more peas in hoop. Have a pot of green onions in the hoop. The ones growing in the garden have been good, but the days in the teens frostbit the growing tips back. Keep more herbs in the hoop- parsley, thyme, marjoram, oregano, cilantro, etc. Add another shelf in the hoop for vertical gardening- gives more growing space w/o changing the footprint of the hoophouse.
Harvest more green maters. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've actually been good at keeping up with eating them and not letting them rot in the basement this year AND they have been delish. How special is it to have fresh salsa in November?

100% fresh and homegrown salsa in November

Damn. 

 Hoophouse Dreams

    Lots of seedlings coming up in litter buckets.   

          Cilantro, spinach, lettuces, broc, pansies

           Happy Pansies                                                            

                                            Kale havested

 

Ginger slowly growing

 I need to have these every winter

Experimental yogurt cheese from 2lb container Greek yogurt.

Mix 3/4 tsp salt. Drain in cheesecloth, twisting tighter several times over 2-3 days.

Very nice on toast. 

Meager potato harvest. Kennebecs. I'll keep trying. The sweet potato harvest yield- 2, 5gallon buckets. Most had split, but were large. I started with 1 bundle of Georgia Jet starts.






                                              Made some Rhus Juice from sumac berries we collected on

         our Thanksgiving hike, mashed in warm water, 

strained and added honey. Good!

Try to appreciate the fine and rare things of winter. 

Until next post-Peace.

Happy Fall in the Garden

Just a few quick updates.

I have waited to harvest the mother load of peppers until many were red. It also means I can process the greatest number at once. I use these mainly for these 3 purposes: beans & rice, soups, breakfast taters.
I think I should plant an entire garden bed of assorted peppers next year and stake them! Most of these were weighing the plants down.

Pepper harvest:
Includes Red Marconi, Jimmy Nardello frying peppers, Friariello di Napoli, bananas, bells.

Prepping for freezing: 

Wash cycle

Chop and spread on cookie sheet for freezing.

Once frozen through store in freezer bags.

While I'm at it- saving seed.

I've decided I need to do more of this. The best reason

to start keeping seed is that I should be able to establish my own

ecotype strain of plants that do best in my garden over time.

This Pandora Striped Rose eggplant got huge, but didn't produce a lot of fruit. I grew 3 varieties of eggplant this year and the Japanese types did the best. I think I should just stick with those. I'd also like to grow more eggplant next year. 

Seedling progress. At least some of all of the seed I started in pots is up now- leeks, spinach, kale, pak choi, broccoli, parsley, cilantro and lettuce. In the raised beds the turnips and rutabaga have germinated and in the hoop house some seedlings of either or both kale and sprouting broccoli have germinated. I'm still waiting to see if any of my Cascadia Peas come up. 

Hoop house slow progress:

Still collecting brick. Planted 1 parsley, 6 bright lights chard and 3 tree collards.

Seedlings popping up on right side. 

Harvested Oaxacan Green corn. 

Traditionally used by the Zapotec Indians of S Mexico 

for green tamales.

Harvest 11 unknown volunteer squash that came up in the compost

I had spread in the garden. Maybe I should save some seed. 

It's obviously more productive than anything I've ever tried to intentionally grow!

Chickens say- Happy Fall Ya'll!

Take Two

I kill plants. I mess up. Stuff doesn't work the way I think it should. I try again. This is gardening.

Take two. I ordered all of my seed in time. I planted all kinds of wonderful fall stuff and then it stopped raining. I don't think we had any measurable rain in August. I heard it was the 3rd driest on record. Geesh.
And this stuff started leaking from the gutters today:

Unknown clear liquid running from the gutters.

I started some seeds properly in pots and then the slugs or rollies ate them. Why not? They were the most luscious stuff around. Tender, juicy and all in one pot- what more is there to love? So I've replanted.

Lettuces, leafing cabbage, spinach, cilantro, kale, chinese kale, leeks....

Another Take Two: I dream of hoop and green houses. Not kidding. I built a super mini hoop house last September and then some crazy ass winds shredded the plastic one day and all was pretty shot. I'm building it up more this year and it will be bigger AND better. Cross fingers.

Last year:

This hoop house/high tunnel was 4.5ft x 11ft

This year I've widened it (thus lowering it), and adding wood. I started this morning and then the rain came. Hallelujah!

This year:

This one is 7ft X 11ft. 

I'm going to add lots of structural support with a 2 x 4 frame + door and end supports. The beds will be slightly raised. I'm thinking of putting down a stone path for added heat absorption/radiation, possibly cattle fencing & tulle over before adding the plastic. The cattle fence adds support and possibly used for summer climbing veg and the tulle would help if I wanted to grow squash or eggplant next summer in here. I could always add the tulle in spring however. 

I saw a great use for old hose cut into about 5 inch sections, cut down the middle and used for clamping the plastic to the conduit. It would be free compared to the cost of either greenhouse clips or binder clips (which I've used in the past). I also tried hair clips with little success. Another good idea I saw was running a line of rope tying the conduit together for horizontal support. I may do that if I don't do the cattle fencing. 

After a cool summer, followed by a very hot and dry late summer I am ready for cooler days and a new garden. 

Get deals now:

I picked up this pathetic Habaneros in a 3-pack for pennies. I stuck them in this pot for overwintering. Poor things each had 1 big fruit on them. I should pick them, but they are kind of neat. It's a good time to find end of season deals on annuals, as well as options from the orphan stands at the box stores. 

Wildlife

I know I'm not the only one happy about the rain.

I kill plants. I mess up. Stuff doesn't work the way I think it should. I try again. This is gardening. 

You should try it. 

Mini High Tunnel Hoophouse Project

If it weren't for the damn mosquitoes everything would be perfect to be working on outside projects. They aren't going to stop me however. I'm the perfect candidate for West Nile. While I make cold frames from the same concept each winter I thought I would expand up on the idea after seeing a youtube video on how to raise the hoop concept so that you can get inside of it. The only additional materials I needed to get to the end of the project today was rebar.

Step 1:
This is the site of a former raised bed. I had to enclosed the garden with chicken wire to keep the chickens out since this is being installed in the Orchard, aka Chicken Yard, and because I am not going to enclose this in plastic until the nights get near freezing.  Hoe, weed a bit, remove large sticks and created a very narrow path down the middle.

Step 2:

Placed narrow (6 inch) strip of cardboard down to mark the path. I'll be lucky if I don't fall on my arse with this path. Notice it doesn't go all the way to the end of the bed to maximize planting space. This is a very small hoop house and I'm planting intensively. 

Step 3:

I harvested 2, 5 gallon buckets of compost from the floor of the chicken coop and spread around the planting space. This is all the soil amendment I am adding since the soil was in good organic condition already. 

           

Step 4:

I hammered in 10, 4 ft pieces of rebar about half way into the ground. These will support the conduit hoops. The rebar cost just under $3 a piece and has been my only cost since I had the other items around. 

Next I bent the conduit and stuck it over the rebar on both sides of the bed. 

Some people have a centered length of conduit connecting all of the hoops, but my bed is longer than the length of the conduit and the hoops seem strong enough to not collapse (famous last words?).

Step 5:

Plant! I planted mache, 3 varieties of kale, spinach, arugula and several lettuces and marked their perimeter with sticks. 

How do I get in there to eat that yummy seed?

What I have left to do is cover the high tunnel in plastic and create an entryway. I haven't decided if I want a door or a zipper. I saw that you can buy a tarp zipper and attach it to plastic to act as a door way w/o needing to build a door. I'll probably build a door though. It will go on the east end to limit cold NW winds from entering. I will cover it when it gets colder. Right now I need it to rain on these seeds so I don't have to water in the meantime. 

Dimensions: 11 feet long and 4.5 ft wide. 

It's an experiment. If it works I may even try erecting a propagation bench inside where I can start some seeds next spring. We shall see. I'm kind of excited to have an almost greenhouse.