Sprouts, Cucumbers, and Lettuce

I finally got around to spraying the Brussels sprouts with soap again. The broccoli needed spraying too. The aphids are taking over slowly. I find soap works OK if you cover every tiny part of the plant and spray regularly. I probably ought to look up how long it takes for eggs to hatch and aphids to reproduce to make sure I'm not getting multiple generations not being sprayed, but I've never done that. I try to spray once a week, but in reality it tends to be more like every two which isn't enough to keep them down.

But as long as my little Brussels sprouts stay aphid free I'll be happy. It sure does seem like a lot of work though. Especially this week. We are getting a heat wave that is lasting over a week. I'm a true heat wimp. I've been known to faint in the heat. Needless to say, I do all my work in the early morning during weeks like this.

Other bad news is that I saw my first wilted leaf. I never got wilt in the cucumbers at my last house. We had cucumber beetles, but they didn't seem to spread it. Here we get it ever year like clockwork. I've learned to use a row cover early and only let them out after they have started to run. It delays the inevitable. It is too bad the wilt has started as I'm trying to learn how to make fermented dills and I could use more cukes for experimenting. But it will take it a while for the wilt to take them down. Probably weeks. The bacteria starts with one leaf and it travels very slowly up and down the stem and the leaves die one by one. Hopefully it will be a while still before it gets transferred to all the other cukes. I'm trying Lemon cucumbers for the first time and they haven't even set any cukes yet.

But there isn't all bad news in the garden. I sowed some lettuce last weekend. It is up even with the heat. I'm using this as a little nursery row. I'll transplant them to better spacing when they get bigger - and all the other lettuce has bolted.

This and That

Cappuccino Rudbeckia

Most of what I do in the garden is never recorded. Deadheading some flowers here. Pulling some weeds there. Trellising, tying up, harvesting, pruning. So many little chores that don't take very long. But I'm out in the early morning to get them all done before the heat hits.

Prairie Splendor Echinacea

Since my perennial bed around the peach trees is new this year, I've been enjoying seeing what the new flowers look like as they bloom. I have the above two right next to each other. I think I'll have to fix that in future years. Both are beautiful, but they really don't go well together. The Rudbeckia would be much better off by another pale yellow echinacea that I have with some coreopsis in the front. Right now I have the red Rudbeckia by that one. A switch is in order. But not now. Maybe in the fall, or maybe next spring.

The cukes got tied up. They love to go sideways across the trellis instead of climbing it. I have to encourage them. While I do this I check the plants for cucumber beetles. I knock them into a jar of soapy water whenever I see them. I do this check every morning and also if I'm out later in the day. I've only gotten a few so far, but they always multiply.

Behind them are the zucchini. I check them every day. When I see both a female and male flower at the same time I ought to uncover them. They really want to get out. I figured the squash vine borer ought to be gone soon, but I read the Extension Service Newsletter. "In years with mild temperatures such as we are having this summer, SVB adults tend to remain active throughout the summer rather than dropping off in summer. . . " Damn. They aren't going to go away. I'll have to uncover and just cross my fingers. I haven't seen a ton of them around, but if I see a few, you can bet there are more out there that I can't see. And it only takes one borer to severely set back the zucchini if not kill it.

The squash that grows under the corn needs constant work. I have to keep it UNDER the corn but of course it goes to the light and tries to escape. My garden isn't big enough to let it run free. So every couple of days I check them and tuck the tips back where they belong and make sure it isn't actually climbing up the corn. While I do this I pull any weeds I see.

Yesterday I needed a bit more. The shorter ones had some bamboo poles under them to keep the cats from digging. But I didn't think I needed them anymore. The corn was large enough to keep them out. So I pulled out the poles. At the ends I put in some smaller sideways stick to keep the cats off the bare soil around the squash. Those won't last long as the squash is growing fast.

In addition since I'd removed that big row cover next to the corn, the wind could now knock it down. One of the problems with growing corn in a raised bed is that it lodges easily. The soil is very soft and you can't hill the stalks up. So I stake the outer most rows, which protect the inner rows from the wind enough that they are usually safe.

Next up was the cilantro. I let it go to seed every year so I can collect both green coriander and ripe coriander (the former for the kitchen and the latter for sowing). Once the seed starts to set the plants can get top heavy and fall over. So I tied them to the fence. Hopefully it is good enough to keep them from trailing on the ground.

The last chore was to pick and prune the currants. I pick the gooseberries while I prune to make picking easier. The currants are younger and I haven't had them very long. It didn't hit me until afterwards that I should do the same thing. It would make the picking so much easier. Live and learn. I like how the Pink Champagne currants grow. They send out new strong shoots from the base instead of lots of side shoots. So I could cut all the old wood out. The Jonkheer van Tets likes to have some of its stronger shoots as side branches which makes it harder to prune. That last one I have to really keep under control as otherwise it blocks the path. But I can't let either get too large, so pruning every year is a must.

I do have one more currant, Rovada, but it isn't quite ripe yet. Soon though. That one I'm trying to train as one leader across my fence, but it is resisting. Hopefully if I'm persistent it will work. If not I'll just let it bush out as that space can take it. But if you have ever seen a photo of Lee Reich's espaliered currant bush you will know why I want one. The red fruit hanging down from my white fence would be very striking. But only if I can get it to grow correctly.

Today was pretty similar, though I didn't get outside as quickly. I deadheaded the daisies and dianthus. I weeded the front perennial bed and near the garden shed. I uncovered the zucchini as it indeed had both a male and female in bloom. I tied up the cucumbers. I extended the trellis for the beans a tiny bit. I staked the last succession of corn. I tucked in the squash, melon, and sweet potato vines that were trying to escape their beds. I swept part of the walk that had sand all over it (the ants have moved in). I noticed some signs of aphids on the Brussels sprouts - ack! I'll have to bring out the sprayer tomorrow and deal with that. Sigh. I watched the hoverflies dance around the cilantro flowers. Then it was time to go in for breakfast. I love my mornings in the garden.

Rock Wall Garden

My rock wall garden technically isn't in my yard. The pavement is a private way and technically owned by all the people that live on the road. But upkeep is the responsibility of the house in front of the area so I get to put whatever I want into it. And we are the last building (with two townhouses) on the road. My townhouse mates didn't want to deal with it, so it is all mine. I put my strawberries and espaliered fruit trees there.

Persimmon

The first tree in the row is an apple tree - Pink Lady. It is its first year and is growing slowly. Above is the second tree that is a persimmon. This one and the next one - a two in one plum tree (Redheart and Shiro) are also in their first year, but they aren't going to be really espaliered. I figure it is easier to let them grow more naturally. But they will be shaped to stay along the wall. I'm not really sure how to prune a persimmon. I'm going to have to look it up. But the plum is much like a peach and I have experience with that at least. I'm pretty sure I can make it do what I want. I hope.

My big problem comes with the older trees that were put in a couple of years ago. This is their third year. Above is my pear tree - Honey Sweet. I need one more rung of branches, but I've got no main trunk going up. When I cut the top off to get side branches only two started. I bent them both over to follow the wire. I was sure when spring came I would get more choices of branches. Pears really want to go up. But the only upward branch is four inches into the left branch. Or way down about eight inches on the trunk. I need an upward branch. So I need to make a decision. Do I cut these beautiful branches off to try to get a good upward branch? Or do I take the one that is four inches into the branch? Or do I take one that is about eight inches down and in the back of the current trunk? I'm pretty much a novice at pruning fruit trees. I never had any before I moved here.

My second issue was the next tree down which is a Liberty apple. With the heavy snow it bent the trunk a little over even though it was pretty well attached. One of the branches didn't move with it and broke off. It was still alive but was barely attached. I figured I couldn't leave it there as it wouldn't support much. Luckily there was a branch coming out the back. The bend isn't perfect, but my only other choice was to take a branch from father down and it would look very weird. Hopefully it will work well.

But good news on the espalier front is the first of the branches on the bottom row finally grew together. Whoot! A line of green all along. I pinched out the end of the branch where it met the other. I've been doing a lot of pinching and tying up of growing branches all spring long and I'll keep doing it. I go out about every two weeks for this chore. They grow quickly in the spring.

Though technically not an espalier and in the garden proper, I have my weeping Santa Rosa plum. Like the other plum in the wall garden, this one is going to be pruned to be a linear tree. It only has a depth of three feet from the wall to the main garden path. It really wants to lean against the side of the house. And it was listing over to the side. So I shored up its support. The trunk of the tree is very thin and not strong at all. Hopefully it will get thicker quickly. This tree was planted last year.

Bean missing its top. Will it regrow?

And in sad news the groundhog found a way into the garden. He ate some lettuce and the beans. I'm pretty sure I know where he got in. When the fence was put in it was put about a foot in front of the corner of the house and there is a small gap between the fence and the trim of my front stairs. I've added more cobblestones to that corner. And I've draped some netting over the fence itself. I don't think he can climb it but if he tries I'll know because he will pull it off. And I checked carefully for digging, but couldn't see any signs of that. Honestly that is usually how a groundhog gets in.

Only two bean plants were left from the groundhog gorging. Some may or may not grow back. Sadly I only had four more Golden Gate bean seeds which I planted. So I might get to harvest beans. Maybe. If the groundhog doesn't make it in again. Now I don't eat beans. But I love seeing them grow so I decided to grow them for my townhouse mates. Hmm maybe I have a different variety in my basement. Well if these get eaten too, I'll go look.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Whoohoo! Rain! Today is our third day of rain. For the most part it was a nice gentle rain. We have over 2.5 inches which is great but it is about to stop. I'm sure the plants are really happy for the water. The temperatures on the other hand dropped 40F (22C) in two days. On Saturday we had a high of 91F (33C). Yesterday it was 51F (11C). The sweet potatoes aren't too happy, but I think they will recover when the weather gets better.

The last couple of days has brought in something else. A small but hungry groundhog. At first he was just eating the weeds in the grass. I was good with that. But he has taken a liking to some of the new plants in the perennial bed. Namely the rudbeckia and gaillardia. So I've covered them with some bird netting. It isn't the prettiest for a spot near my front door, but I need them to get established before the wildlife munches on them. These plants were transplanted out as little seedlings just over a month ago. And just so you know, my vegetable garden is well fortified. It has a good three foot fence and in most spots it has hardware cloth that goes down a foot. Groundhogs around here are nothing new.

With all the rain, getting out to the garden and getting things done has been a challenge. I harvested and preserved greens both Sunday and Monday. I picked during breaks in the rain. One of the beds I picked was supposed to get corn and squash planted yesterday. I hadn't even gotten the bed totally cleared. I picked the spinach, but hadn't pulled and composted the plants yet.

So in one nice break I got out to clear that bed out. It is the uppermost bed. Though as you can see it still has greens in it. Those are self seeded Deer Tongue lettuce. I'll probably have to pick them before planting (rescheduled for tomorrow), but I may be able to leave some in to grow full size. The corn and squash don't need all the space immediately. But as you can see from the beds on the left I plant my corn in a grid and if the lettuce plants are in the wrong spot they will need to go.

While I was cleaning up I got under the Asian greens row cover (lower most bed) and cleaned up the waste from the bok choy and tatsoi I picked the other day. It just got left there because the rain had started again. That bed will be sown in corn and squash too. But I'll wait another week for that one.

Weeds and the Kale Bed

I've been doing a lot of weeding over the last couple of days. Mainly because we had one coolish day. Yesterday I didn't need to rush to open all my windows early in the morning to cool down the house, then watch the weather and when it started to heat up, close all those windows and the blinds to keep the cool air in. I could keep the windows open all day long and listen to the birds sing. And be in the garden without overheating.

This morning I had a different kind of weeding. My neighbors have a tree that neither of us like particularly. I've been invited over in the past to cut it down when I asked. But it is persistent. I forgot last fall, so this year it is pretty big. I cut off all the branches that were overhanging my fence. Which really is good enough for now.

The straightest sticks of a decent diameter (not too large, not too small), I kept for stakes. They aren't perfectly straight like my bamboo, but not bad.

This morning I pulled off the row cover to my kale and cabbage bed so I could pick the kale. While I was under there I checked out the rest of the bed.

I'm trialing three early cabbages side by side this year. Point One is supposedly a very quick cabbage from Pinetree. I didn't give them as much space as the others. They are supposed to be small and quick. This and the others were planted 46 days ago. They say it is ready in 48. I'm not buying it. But they have started heading up. As you can see it is a pointed head type of cabbage. As is the next one. I have four of these and they are all at the exact same stage. They are a very pretty blue green.

Early Jersey Wakefield is listed at at 63 days. Like the previous cabbage, it has barely started to head up. I planted three of this variety and they are all exactly alike.

The last one is the only round cabbage in the bunch. It is Golden Acre. It is listed at 62 days. This one looks like it is the farthest ahead of all the cabbages. True to its name it is a slightly yellowish cabbage and looks really pretty.

The problem is of the three Golden Acre that I planted, two look like this. This is damage from cutworms. If they can't cut something off at the soil level, they will climb the plants. They like to get into the center and eat that as it is the most tender. I'm not sure if the two plants can recover.

I intercrop turnips in my cabbages. If the cutworms are there, they usually go after the turnips as the turnips are so tender. They leave the cabbages alone. Sadly they really like the Golden Acre. To be fair to the cabbage though it has been the worst cutworm season ever in this garden. I used to have really bad cutworms all the time at my last house, but here they don't seem to be as prevalent. Except this year. I might have to start planting in cutworm collars again.

Rain

Before yesterday the last time it had really rained was April 21st - almost a month ago. Not that we got a lot. We could use about 2" now to really soak the soil. Don't get me wrong. I'm really happy we got that quarter of an inch, but I noticed that even the weeds along the bike path were starting to wilt. And there is no more rain in the forecast. Nature really needs a good soaking right now. We aren't in any trouble or anything. The rivers are still running high from all the snow we got earlier in the year. But May is typically wet around here. I've been wondering if I should water my apple trees. The ones in the rock wall bed get plenty of water as they are on a soaker hose because the strawberries are there. Strawberries really need regular water thus the hose. But trees are more resilient. And their roots go down deeper. But the apples just set a lot of fruit and I'm thinking if I want to eat it and not have it drop, maybe the hose should come out.

Since it was raining I did some housework and got some buns made. Mine are gluten free. I used to love to make bread, but now that I can't eat any at all from the store (because they contain gluten or potato starch) it seems a bit more of a chore. I still need to make my mock rye. Maybe today. What I really ought to do is make two loaves and freeze a lot. But my mock rye is sandwich bread and I only have one pullman loaf pan. Hmm should I invest in another?

I did get a little gardening done. I saw that the long range forecast is for a warming trend. Usually I'd start rooting my slips about a week from June 1st, my planting date. But since it is getting warmer and not colder I figured a few days early would be nice. Their spot is already empty as it had the overwintered spinach there earlier.

In addition I killed yet another cutworm. The day before I got four. I go out every morning for this chore. Half my carrots are missing already. I know there is at least one cutworm left. I couldn't find him as he didn't drag his leaf down into his lair. He just chopped the leaf off and ate it on the surface. Every time I squish a cutworm I wish I had chickens to feed them to. I'm sure they would appreciate the cutworms more than I do.

I've also noticed that only two of the asparagus crowns are still alive - sort of. I planted ten two years ago. Last year half of them didn't come up. This year half of the remaining didn't come up. The two left are very weak and they aren't long for this world. Asparagus hates it here. So mine is destined to come from the store from now on. Does anyone remember Kate and Garden Bloggers' Death Day? That was a hilarious meme. I would have had so much great death material for this month if the meme was still around. But on the good side I have a 4'x 4' area that needs to be filled - the other half bed that died last year is filled with Brussels sprouts and spring onions. The empty area has volunteer dill all over it. I'm thinking of thinning it out on one side of the bed and sowing some cilantro on the other side. Last year I didn't have nearly enough green coriander. But I have space to fix that this year.

Overwintered Spinach

Weedy spinach bed

Yesterday morning was time for my second and final picking of the overwintered spinach. The spinach comes to a close every year when the plants start to bolt and the leaf miners start laying their eggs.

Leaf miner eggs

I saw this on the back of the spinach leaves which is a sure sign to eat those leaves or lose them. I don't protect my overwintered spinach in the spring since bolting is just about the same times as the miners hit. Last week when I was picking the spinach I had to be careful as a swarm of paper wasps were working in the bed. I don't know what they were after. I like to think it is cutworms since they are taking down my carrots, but it could be the flies that were starting to lay eggs on the back of the spinach. Whatever they were after I wouldn't want to cover the plants with netting to keep them out. I do my spring planted spinach. If I didn't it would be too damaged from the leaf miners as those plants are too small yet to pick.

After picking I immediately brought it in and blanched it. Some I kept in the fridge for dinner, but the rest was frozen. I always boil the overwintered spinach as the oxalic acid content is higher than the spring spinach. Boiling removes a good amount of it. I've also found that I like to cook up large quantities of greens like kale, mizuna, and spinach right away. It is so much easier to store cooked and small. If I had to put them all in the fridge without being cooked down, they would take up way too much space. Last year I would wait until I wanted to eat some. This year I'm being more proactive about it. I like it too as it makes cooking up dinner much faster. I only do this for greens though as I like them plain - either steamed or boiled. Things like bok choy or tatsoi I tend to cook into things, so they are are still cooked when needed.

If you notice in that first photo, I hadn't weeded this spinach bed. All the spring ones are done. I've been having trouble convincing myself to pull the johnny-jump-ups. I even have volunteer chamomile in the bed. The jump ups have been a bit out of control in the yard over the last couple of years. I pulled them every where else in the yard, but I left them here. I just like them too much. But soon I'll pull the whole bed. It is destined to be my sweet potato bed come June 1st. At least if the weather permits.

Weeds and Pests

I had weeds in my spinach.

Weeds in my carrots which are bigger than the carrots themselves.

Weeds in my parsley which is mostly self seeded fennel. Basically weeds all over the garden. I didn't finish but I certainly got a lot of the weeding done. The spinach had huge gapes all over. The worst was in one bed that the cutworms got to. Half the plants are missing. The carrots also had cutworm damage as did the turnips in the cabbage bed. I found a lot of cutworms. You can tell where they are because they take a leaf - or in the case of carrots, they take the whole plant - and cut it at the soil surface and drag it underground. You can see the top of the poor plant sticking up but half buried. Sadly I couldn't find all the ones where I found damage. Especially in the larger spinach beds and the chard.

Above is some cutworm damage too. The cutworms can't eat through the leaf stalks as they are too thick. So they will just go up the leaf and start eating it. Though in spots you can see that they tried to cut the leaf off and failed. Around those plants I'd just dig in the soil near the plant.

Bad cutworm! It had plenty of weeds to eat, but no it wanted my plants. I'll be out each morning looking for cutworm damage. I just hope next time I find it, I can find the cutworm. I couldn't for the last two carrots that bit the dust. Each day I miss one is another carrot that dies. Each day I find one is another cutworm that dies. If I win I get to eat. If the cutworm wins he gets to pupate and make more cutworms to annoy me again with the next generation.

Sometimes when you have your head down and focused on killing cutworms gardening seems rather futile. Especially when you can't find the little buggers and know they will kill more of your plants. But then you look up. Mostly things are growing well. Spring has sprung. A cool breeze is in the air and life is pretty good.

I so rarely take photos in this direction for some reason. From this you can see the steps to my kitchen door. I love having a garden that is right outside my kitchen. Even if it does have cutworms in it.

Birds and Flowers

Yesterday I noticed a flock of sparrows in my garden. They were on the netting row covers, hopping around. I was afraid they would break the netting as it is so fragile but they didn't. One however did get under one of my row covers. He is in the above photo in the upper left. Just a blur as he was desperate to get out. I went out and lifted the cover. I fully expected there to be a hole where he got in, but no. The only place I could imagine was at one corner there was a bit of fabric that wasn't tacked down well enough. But he would have had to crawl under a thick bunch to get under. Needless to say I tacked it down better after I let the poor bird out.

I haven't been out much over the last handful of days as I've had family in, but before they came I got a few plants in so I wouldn't have to keep them alive during that interval. I put in the last succession of baby Asian greens. I put in my zinnias in four spots - the wall garden, the new perennial bed, the front door flower pot, and the edge of the vegetable garden. And I put in four Brussels sprouts. I hope they grow. I really need to make them a row cover which I hope to get to today. Right now I just have them under some scraps. Now all I have left are twelve soil blocks. Two groups of six. A succession of lettuces and my basil. I should probably get those in soon too as the weather is going to be so nice over the next week.

I didn't get a lot of chance to go out and see what is happening in the yard. But we are in the middle of a long warm spell. So the blooms have been bursting out. The peach blossoms aren't particularly big or showy, but they are a pretty pink. I have two peach trees. Redhaven was planted in 2011 and has given us so many peaches already. It is just covered in flowers as you can see above. The other is Stark Elberta Queen and it was planted last year. It is still a pretty small tree even for a dwarf, but it is blossoming too. If it sets any fruit I'll pick them off. I need this tree to get bigger first. Maybe next year I'll let it set. It is supposed to be a later peach than Red Haven as I want to extend the peach season.

Also in the front yard the strawberries are in bloom. As you can see some of the flowers are losing petals already. Usually I get the first berries in mid to late May. Last year the first harvest was May 31st - very late. I think the earliest has been the 19th. I'm hoping our warm spell right now will give us the earliest yet. Can you tell I'm impatient for my first strawberry?

Also in the rock wall garden are some newly planted fruit and some that were planted in 2013. So this is their third year. For dwarf trees sometimes that means fruit, but I've espaliered these trees and they grow more slowly when you have to cut them back to force branches in certain spots. So there are no blossoms. Though the pear tree is looking very healthy.

The currant and gooseberry blooms aren't really much to look at as the blooms are green, but they sure are floriferous. I'm always shocked by how many blooms a currant puts out on a small little plant. I suppose the berries aren't big, but still.

The Ginger Gold apple is just covered in blooms. I'll have a huge thinning chore this year. Last year it didn't do much, but the year before it did. It isn't supposed to be a biennial bearer and I did thin the fruit in 2013. I'm hoping it doesn't keep being biennial. The best I can do is thin and hope, unless anyone has other suggestions.

Our other apple tree in the back yard is Honey Crisp. It was planted the same year as the Ginger Gold. The Ginger Gold is 7' tall. The Honey Crisp is 4'. But at least it is blooming well this year. So I'll let the fruit set and just assume I'll have a tiny tree there. At least it will be easy to net to keep the squirrels out. I think I'll need help netting the Ginger Gold this year. Without netting I wouldn't get any peaches or any apples at all. The squirrels would eat them all - though the groundhogs sometimes get the low lying fruit.

I guess the only flowers that I haven't talked about are the blueberries. They too are in bloom right now. There are still a lot of buds that haven't opened too. I'm thinking about netting these this year. I always net my strawberries so I can get something but the blueberries have been unprotected. I often don't get more than one or two ripe ones. Interestingly enough I never net the currants or gooseberries and the squirrels don't eat those. But the blueberries they love.

My Most Hated Chore

Everyone has a hated chore in the garden. One of mine is cleaning up after everyone else's cats. I am not a cat person. I do appreciate them catching mice in the garden. They do. Well Molly does at least, who is the townhouse mates' cat. But cats can be a pain. They like to dig and leave their poo all over the place. I always have to put something like netting or bamboo poles on the soil so they don't contaminate it. Cats carry parasites and I don't want that in my food.

After

Also to encourage them to go elsewhere I give them a spot for it. It is under a small overhang so it keeps the soil dry which the cats like. But after all winter, cleaning up after them is not a fun chore. I was kind and only showed you the after photo. The before was pretty disgusting.

In that above photo you see my hose reel. I got both of them out and connected up. Sometimes it takes me a while to get it done, and sometimes I'm pretty good about it like this year. I think the nice weather has really got me doing my chores in a timely manner.

Yesterday I found some ramps being sold at the supermarket to eat. But they had their roots on them. So I figured I could plant them and see if they grew or not. I didn't get to them yesterday, but did today. I put them under the maple tree with my townhouse mates multiplier onions.

Yesterday the strawberries also came. I tossed them in to the fridge for the night. I only ordered 10 of them. I already had lots in the garden. But they die off over time. So I've been ordering more every year to fill in sections. I tend to like Earliglow as they don't die off as quickly as some others. Whatever diseases have come in, they seem at least moderately resistant to it.

Raspberry bed

And last but not least I got some of the yard cleaned up. I tidied up the perennials. And fixed the raspberry patch. The massive snowfall made the posts lean over. I put them back up and trimmed off the dead spots from the hard winter. They are starting to leaf out. I also noticed they are starting to spread again. They almost died off the year before last due to lack of rain. It isn't that we don't get rain, but that area is to the southeast of the house. A lot of our rain comes in from the northeast. Last year I put up a soaker hose and ran it when we had little rain. Usually raspberries are weeds around here, but I guess they don't like being dry. I'm really happy they are spreading again. I missed the bumper crops of berries.

Sewing

Earlier this week I decided to get some indoor garden work done. Sewing isn't usually a garden chore, but this time it was. I write in my garden plan which plants will get row covers and which kinds. Last year I found the fabric netting that I use for most of my row covers wasn't quite tall enough for the onions and storage carrots. So this year I decided to add 50% more width to it to make it the right size.

I needed three extra wide swaths of netting. A 16' one for the onions which spans more than one 8' bed. A 13' one for the carrots that take up a whole 8' bed. And a 12' one for the chard which has one foot of the bed taken up by beans that can't be covered. The chard only takes half the width of the bed, but it gets really tall.

I rolled out the bolt of netting and cut them at the appropriate lengths. The first one was 16'. I used the other half for the 13' one. For the 12' one I only cut 6' as I could use the other half for the rest. Then I sewed them together.

The finished pieces were labeled. And I was done.

It makes it sound so easy. But have you ever had one of those days where little things keep going wrong. I'm usually a measure twice and cut one kind of gal. Well the cutting went well. But when I sewed them together I sewed the top of the narrow piece to the side of the wide piece. How on earth could I make that mistake? I could see sewing the top of the 6' piece to the side of the the smaller piece. 6' is pretty long. But the three foot top is short. I can see the end of it. Well I got my ripper out and very very carefully ripped the stitches out. The netting is very fragile.

After shaking my head at myself I started again - triple checking this time. I started the sewing machine and my needle broke. I had somehow wrapped the thread around it the wrong way it it broke it right off. At least this one was easier to fix than the sewing up the wrong side of the cloth. I put a new needle into it and thought if something else goes wrong the universe must be telling me something. So of course my thread broke immediately. Can you guess what stupid thing I did this time?

Can you believe that when I replaced the needle I had gotten the thread caught in the mechanism. I had to unscrew the needle to get it out. But no I didn't stop. I'm stubborn. I did have a bit of minor difficulty after that. The fabric likes to grab onto parts of the foot and especially the screw that holds the needle in. I think I have a couple tiny tears in the first one I did. I learned how to hold the fabric away from the foot better as time went on. I went back and couldn't find the tears, but I'll find them when I put it up I'm sure. I keep a needle and thread out in the garden to fix row cover holes.

In other news we are having a warm spell. Last night didn't get below 50F (wow!). And today is supposed to get into the 60s. I've been shoveling more of my beds off. I just have a small corner left. The shoveling has helped a lot since before today we had some cool but sunny days. That dark soil really helped absorb the sunshine. The snow wasn't melting very fast on the beds, but it melted quickly once it was tossed on the brick path.

I'm So Behind

Why is it when you go on vacation and come back life is so hectic? It erases all that nice relaxation. Yesterday I had time to read two blog posts. I know I'll catch up, but it will take a while. Those really aren't my priority. Yesterday it was food shopping and cleaning up. I did go out to pick some vegetables for lunch at 12:15. I finally got to eat at 1:45. I should never go out to the garden for the first time right before lunch.

I noticed the broccoli had been knocked over by some storm while I was gone. I propped them all back up, but one head is really leaning sideways at this point. Then I noticed the chard had leaf miners in it. I had to clean all the eggs off the backs and pick off the bad spots. Then the cabbage was all bolting (in October?) so I picked what I could and cleaned that up. Sadly not much. I finally got to picking some carrots and green onions. I was pretty hungry by the time I fed myself.

I was noticing the date on the calendar. Usually the first weekend in November is the best time to pick up leaves to store for the next year. But I didn't have even one empty slot in my compost bins, much less the two that I need. So I finished sifting the compost out. One bin done. Today I've been working on the last leaf bin. There is a lot of good leaf mold in that bin, but it is mixed in with undecomposed leaves that need sifting out. It is a long slow process. I decided as I sifted I would put it on the finished beds. We are getting a freeze or frost on Sunday night so all the tender plants will die. So any tender plants could be removed.

I picked all the butternuts left in the bed. These set in September and might not really be good. I won't add them to the tally unless I can actually eat them. But for now I'll let them cure. They are such tiny little things.

Then I picked all the mustard seed off the plants. It is supposed to rain tonight and they don't need to get wet. They need to dry.

I have three large bags drying and one that I picked earlier in the year. So hopefully I'll have lots of mustard seed once they are all winnowed.

Then I brought a wheelbarrow filled with compost and leaf mold over to cover the bed.

So far I have three beds done with compost on them. Once they are covered with compost, I cover them with bird netting cut to size. This keeps the cats out. I just have five beds to finish and lots of leaf mold to sift through. I need to have it done by Sunday and I ought to be if I do three more tomorrow and two more on Friday.

And not to be forgotten I picked some seed from the zinnia. I like the yellow and red the best from these, so I chose seed from them. I couldn't find a lot of yellow as the plant had fewer flowers. I suppose I shouldn't choose fewer flowers for my seed, but the red one was the most abundant of all the plants, so maybe they will balance out in the end. I can always hope.

Things to get done this week in the garden: clean up five more beds, finish sifting leaf mold, pick all the chard and freeze, pick at least half of the kale and freeze, pick most of the parsley and freeze in cubes, pick and freeze any cilantro that is bolting, take down zinnias by the driveway as they are mostly dead, and collect leaves to fill two bins. Hopefully I won't find anything else that needs doing as that is enough. Oh yeah, and write my Garden Collective end of the month post.