Ok, the weekend is upon us and I have a long to-do list before the rain expected again tomorrow.
1. Buy a new laying hen (my senior girls only lay sporadically). I want one that lays white eggs so I can tell if she is working or loafing
2. Move the chicken house to a better location
3. Buy asparagus – it’s in season, and a good price. Time to buy what’s “in season and local”
4. Fertilize (side-dress) and lime the raised-bed crops.
5. Spray bug-repellant on the crops long before the rains wash it all off. This means I need to make the tobacco juice tonight for the bug repellant. I will post the recipe later.
6. Plant any root crops I have before the new moon May 3, 2011. (see moon phases chart). It has been too rainy and stormy to plant anything. I still have onions, beets, kohlrabi, & carrots to get in the ground.
7. Dry out the formerly flooded basement.
Filed under: Backyard farming, container gardening, greenhouse gardening, organic lettuce | Tags: backyard farming, container gardening, greenhouse gardening, organic lettuce
April 28, 2011. Above is the lettuce in my greenhouse. It is a loose-leaf lettuce which is great because you pick the lower large leaves while the plant continues to grow. You can see 3 of the $1.77 Wally World coolers that I filled with good soil last fall. Around the beginning of January I planted the lettuce seed. It did sprout and start slowly but didn’t get really active until March. Then it sprang into action long before anything was really growing outside at that time. I have been picking lettuce for weeks now.
If you want to play the “Where’s Waldo” game, you can probably identify: a) the 2 outdoor solar lights (I have stuck into the containers for night-light), b) curled parsley and the ph meter in the foreground, and c) do you see the pea plant growing out of the lettuce? I planted peas at the same time I planted the lettuce, just to see if it would still germinate because it was an old package of seed. To my surprise I did have some peas that made it! Yesterday I harvested peas to put on the salad I take to work each day.
I have all this lettuce and still Lots of lettuce seed left. I paid less than $2 for the package of lettuce at Hirsch. Now there is a bargain.
Also, Last night was the Fun Run sponsored by the local hospital and folks, it was fun; the weather was awesome! I debated which to carry; a camera or a bottle of water. In the end, the water won so I don’t have photos. But, I will post some as soon as the PR dept. releases them. It was just 5K which is 3.1 miles, and I walk that on my treadmill all the time but you know what? It is different when you are going up hills, and doing a run-walk.
Filed under: container gardening, organic asparagus, Photo Calendar | Tags: asparagus, gardening, howell county gardening, organic, photo-garden calendar, raised bed garden, square foot garden
April is for Asparagus here in Howell county Missouri. This photo I took in my asparagus raised bed actually a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t have a blog set up then. So in my photo-garden calendar, I would put this actually at the beginning of april.
This started completely as an experiment last year; I wasn’t sure if the location had enough sunlight, if the deer would eat it, if the ph was accommodating, etc. Also, last year was a terrible drought and I lost my entire garden so I assumed the tender new asparagus plants would not make it. But there was probably enough mulch (straw from me and leaves & grass from mother nature) to keep moisture levels acceptable so that my asparagus made it!
I actually was surprised to see how well it matured over one year. The first year planting asparagus, you are not supposed to pick any, so as to allow the roots to get stronger. This will encourage the next year’s growth (this year) to be bigger, thicker stalks. As you can see above the stalks are thick and hearty. In fact, I skipped several days and by the time I went out again, the little new shoots were already tall, woody and blooming. Lesson: pick the asparagus when it is ready, and check it daily.
Today’s note: This morning as I write this, I don’t hear thunder (yea) and Brandon Beck on KY3 says it’s supposed to be a nice day today. But we sure got another drenching yesterday!
Tonight is the local hospital’s Fun Run to raise $ for a good cause. Shall I blog about it tomorrow? It doesn’t have anything to do with my garden but we are all looking forward to a dry day and all us adults running outside like a bunch of kids on a school-day-off. It will truly be fun!
Filed under: container gardening, greenhouse gardening, Photo Calendar, raddishes | Tags: container gardening, greenhouse gardening, Howell county mo, photo calendar, raddish
Wow – We had the strongest storm (wind) last night that we have had so far this past week! And that is saying a lot since we received over 12″ of rain from Thursday to last night (Tuesday 4/26/11) and as I understand, that’s more in 5 days than we got all year last year! Course we were in an awful drought. It is supposed to rain again today. Maybe I better check my map, am I in Seattle?
So for a bit of bright news, here is a photo of some raddishes at 7 days. I tried this experiment last fall and it has worked wonders. With a cheap styrofoam cooler from Wally World, poke holes in the bottom for drainage, fill with your best soil mix and just plant. Last winter I had a couple under lights in the house with the lid under to catch drain-off, but I put these little babies in my greenhouse.
Filed under: Backyard farming, organic gardening | Tags: backyard chickens, organic gardening, raising chickens
April 24; Rain Again. In fact people all over the area are dealing with flooded basements, uncrossable bridges, and high water areas that make driving impassable. However, my chickens are really enjoying it. Here they take a stroll around their yard even in the rain. I knew turkeys were dumb, and wouldn’t come in out of the rain, but I didn’t know my chickens would do the same. They were really enjoying the mud and water.
Filed under: Photo Calendar | Tags: gardening, gardening calendar, organic gardening, photo calendar
One thing I have always wanted to do is make a photo calendar. It would be a calendar with photos of what is happening in nature, and what I should be doing in my garden at that time. There are probably a million photo calendars already out there on the bloggisphere, but I want one for my location and climate.
So here goes. If I get lazy, just kick me in the rear, that will make me get started again!
Today’s photo is of a dogwood on my property. Here in Missouri we have thousands of dogwoods, and they started blooming a couple weeks ago. I should have gotten a photo then, but this is what it looks like today. Remember too that we have had wave-after-wave-after-wave of thunderstorms, so we have not seen the sun for days and this photo is a little dark.
Oh yes, I am in zone 6b.
Filed under: General | Tags: environmentally friendly, gardening, green, natural, organic
Like all bloggers, I am opening my first post with a Hello World greeting. Probably because so much effort is taken to decide on an appropriate name for the blog, setting it up, choosing just the right theme, etc. That by the time it is actually launched, several hours (at least in my case) have gone by and my brain no longer works.
I think I need a cup of coffee and then to get some exercise. It’s raining today; bummer. Guess I’ll get on the treadmill.
Well, tomorrow (or tonight after supper) I will jump back on this page and edit it. So if you land here tomorrow, you no doubt will find something more interesting than the ramblings of a tired blogger.
Regardless, I want to speak out and talk about a passion of mine, which is living close to the earth. Eat healthy, grow fruits & vegies, use natural and environmentally friendly products for cleaning, personal care, gardening, etc. If you are interested in the same thing, check back now and then. Or better yet, leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.
greenapple2012 