Grunt and Grungy's Garden

One more step down the road

2012-01-23T18:27:00.002-07:00

2012/20/01
Well, the stent has been installed, with an immediately noticeable improvement in blood flow. I could feel the difference before they finished the cleanup. Still had some initial swelling left, which went away and returned several times over the course of the first day and a half, with no discernible reason for any of it. It seems to have settled at partial facial swelling now, noticeable to me, but perhaps not everyone else. I can lean forward, bend over, and kneel now without feeling like my head is going to pop, so the main purpose of the stent (reopening the flow in the Vena Cava) has been achieved. I am now learning what pace I can do things at = for the past almost two months, I have been able to do nothing but walk, and that at a greatly reduced pace. I can walk a bit faster now, but that is going to have to be explored, to see what is a comfortable pace now, that will not have me chuffing in a block or two.
2012/22/01
I chased the snow blower yesterday, at a much reduced pace from what I am used to, but I managed to do almost all of what I wanted to before I wore out for the day. Got up today, and rediscovered the “pleasures” of over doing it on muscle sets. It has been so long since I have done anything using more than walking muscles, that I feel every stria of muscle that was used more than once yesterday. Break out the menthol cream, and coat the affected parts. With in the hour, most of the pain is gone, but the muscles still don’t want you abusing them again. I will hit the area with more menthol tomorrow, and push myself into service. It’s the only way to get past this in any decent sort of time = work through it. I am going to do extremely easy work, to give myself a bit of a break, but I will work through it
Things change even as I write this from day to day. I have been modifying the results in the past, but I think that is a mistake now. I will leave what gets written as things progress. It will help me keep better track of what is going on too. The fluctuations in facial swelling seem to have subsided now, and my throat has stopped puffing. I am a bit fuller in the face than I remember, but I can live with that. Still feeling slightly out of phase with the universe, but not bad enough to quantify. It will change or not, and I will get on with my life.
I have to drive over to Trail tomorrow morning (about 90 miles) through one of the more notorious mountain passes. I am getting an echo-doppler scan of my heart, what ever that is. Because of the time of year and the weather we have been having, I have to plan in an extra two to three hours travel time, to allow for avalanche control.
2012/23/01
Just back from the “echo doppler “ scan (read ultrasound) of my heart. The “pericardial effusion” (read fluid around the heart) is gone, the rest seems to be okay. The fluid was the initial reason for the scan = to see if it had increased enough to be causing the backup effect on blood flow. I was fairly sure the fluid had departed before i got the scan = I have been feeling radically better in the past 24 hours, and at the same time, dropped almost 8 lbs of weight = the only way I could drop that much weight in that short a time is by passing it out of my body, and I can assure you I would have definitely have noticed that amount of solids leaving me. Initially the weight loss alarmed me, as i have been fighting to maintain weight, even when my appetite was flagging. My chest and abdomen feel much better than they have for weeks. My breath comes easier, i have far fewer undefinable pains in my chest (you know the ones = your not sure if they are muscle aches from some action you have performed, a knock you don’t remember, or what). My stomach no longer feels slightly off, making it much easier to get enthusiastic about approaching a meal. It may all be just coincidence, but I will put it down to the stent returning blood flow to normal, which gave the rest of the systems a chance to repair and reset to a more normal function.
I have already regained about 2 lbs of the initial weight loss, and will likely be able to put most of the loss back on just by cutting back on coffee a bit (coffee is a great natural diuretic, but I don’t want to dehydrate), and eating normal meals. The problem with dropping the 8 lbs, is that those lbs were on while I was having all of my treatments, and indicate the weight that I should be carrying. I am sure that increasing my water retention now will not be a problem (won’t put fluid back around my heart) because there are no longer outside influences pestering my insides = no more radiation or chemo. I believe they set up the conditions (constriction of the Vena Cava) that created the fluid build up in the first place. Right or wrong, that is what I think.
The past 24 hours have increased my feeling of well being immensely, even before having the ultrasound. The physical sense of well being is comparative of course, but still immensely rewarding to me.

And the adventure continues

The suspense still isn't over

2012-01-07T20:31:00.001-07:00

Saw the oncologist on the 5th, and I know about the same as before I saw him, with a tentative confirmation of what I already suspect. Something is pressing against the vein that feeds blood from my head back to my heart, slowing the return and causing a build up of pressure in my head if I lean forward, bend over, or exert myself otherwise. This should be taken care of with the installation of a stent, which I am awaiting an appointment for.

There is a small amount of fluid around my heart (pericardial effusion), and fairly advanced emphysema = which is hardly surprising after smoking for 56 years.

The requirement for me to have a stent installed is possibly caused by advances made by the largest tumor I had = or by a clot = or inflammation from the radiation treatments. The major tumor in my lung has been reduced by ½, the smaller tumors in my lymph nodes have disappeared, but the largest tumor in my lymph nodes may be aggressing already. That is all unclear, because they did not use the contrasting dye when they did the latest CT scan, as I had a reaction to either the dye, or the Advair I had been put on at the same time. My bet was on the Advair, the family doctor went with the dye. I think I was right, as I still had the reaction when I stopped taking steroids. They switched me from Advair to Symbicort, and no more reaction. Unfortunately, someone forgot to correlate the data, so they didn’t use the dye in the last CT scan.

Once the stent is installed, they will do another CT scan, with the dye, and give me steroids in case of a reaction. Since the only problems I am experiencing right now should be cleared up with the stent installation, there is no rush to get a look at what is going on inside = if it is the cancer aggressing, there isn’t much they can do, as I have already had all the radiation there that I can handle, and the location makes it inoperable. A little more time will just give them a better base to make estimates on, as to what is going to happen, and the time frame involved.

Regardless of the actual circumstances, I am optimistic. I have known from the start that there might not be the best of outcomes, despite the assurances of the oncologist.

I have already been blessed with a long and full life, and do not feel that things are going to end anytime soon. It would be nice to have some clear information about what is going on, and what to expect, but it really doesn’t make that much difference. They could tell me I have 40 years left, and I step in front of a bus the next day, or they could tell me it’s short time, and I go into complete remission. Neither way is going to very much change the way I face the world tomorrow. I do not look forward to things ending, but I have always tried to live so that I will have no regrets.

This is not a farewell posting by any means. It is notice that I am going to pull back from the world a bit, and do a few more personal things, put some of the gardening aside for now, and live a bit more in the now. The emphysema says that I am not going to be quite as quick off the gun, or last quite as long at what ever I am doing, and the calendar has been telling me I can’t pack as much as I used to, or as fast, but I will still do what I want to = just a little slower.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

This is still the way I look at things.

And the adventure continues.

Now I wait.

2011-12-06T19:39:00.002-07:00

Monday I went for my CT scan. Now I wait for them to tell me what they think has been accomplished. I have to go with the certitude that the cancer is now gone, and time will let me get back to what I was for healthiness. Right now, I am still someplace close to the bottom of the cycle = not much wind yet, and I can feel that there is still some interior inflammation from the radiation. I don’t have the strength I had before the treatments, but that will change.

My appetite has returned with a vengeance, but I’m not bloating up as a result = yet. I eat a meal, then want something more about an hour later, no matter how much I eat at the meal. Then I want to start snacking about a half hour before the next meal. Evenings are a series of small snacks until an hour before bed = usually fruit is what I want then, so it doesn’t load me too heavy for sleeping.

I was able to get in the garden this week, and rescue the leeks that had been frozen into their bed before I could get them out. Leeks, like onions, will take a fair amount of frost with no harm. We’ve had a few warmer days here, and 95% of the snow is gone. The ground in the beds has mostly thawed, which allowed me to fork out the leeks. I cut them slightly shorter than the tall ice cream pails I store vegetables in in the spud pit, and filled a pail to put in the pit. I do not know if they are going to store well or not, but I know that once the ground is frozen, I can’t get the leeks out of the ground anyway.

There are a few ice chunks left yet in the soil in the spud beds, or I would have planted my potatoes, and mulched them heavily until spring. Forecast for the next few days shows freezing lows, and single digit highs for the near future, so I likely won’t get to plant my spuds until spring, as the soil is unlikely to thaw again.

No snow left on the valley floor, but you only have to go up about 300 feet to find it. The mountains all have their bright winter coats on, but so far the amount of snow has been fairly reasonable. No problems going through the pass to get to the CT scan.

The ground in the garden is all clear now, but frozen solid, so I still can’t do much. I’ll try to scare up enough energy to get stuck into the pruning, and get that job out of the way. If I can get that done, the next major job before spring is knocking most of the growth off of the stumps along the driveway = I haven’t done that in about 3 years, and some of the growth is getting tree sized now. To do the stumps, I need to have a lot of extra energy, because the cleanup after I knock them down is going to be a lot of work = some of the growth is about 10” in diameter, so I’m not going to be picking up one end and dragging it to the burn pit

I have my tomato, melon and squash seeds processed and baggied, but still have about half of the beans to thresh out and clean. I’ll get a list posted sometime soon, I hope.

And the adventure continues

Season wrap up

2011-11-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

I’m pretty much back to normal now. I can eat pretty much anything, with only minimal care about swallowing, my weight is stable, and energy levels are coming back up.

I have an appointment for a CT scan December 5, and there will be a video conference with the chemo oncologist some time shortly after that, which will tell me how they did with the radiation and chemotherapy. I am confident that they have done what they said they would, and gotten rid of the cancer, but the verdict will be what it will be.

I got everything harvested, with the exception of the leeks = they are frozen in place now. I had them hilled up very nicely, so there would be more nice clean white stems on them. The hills are frozen solid now,and any attempt to get them out is going to thoroughly mash them. Still have to thresh out the majority of the beans, but they are all nice and dry. There are three bundles of Ethiopian lentils hanging under shelter, waiting for me to figure out just how to beat them out. They are dry enough that I think most of the plants are going to basically powder when I start thrashing. It doesn’t look like the pods are going to hold on to the seed very much = actually, I’m hoping I can get something around the bundles without losing too many seeds in the process.

Most of the tomato detritus is still in place in the rows, along with the rest of the debris. Cornstalks still standing, lots of immature onions frozen stiff and unusable now, Florida weave stakes standing alone and lineless now (I got most of the lines out of the way, but not past that). Potato beds are all set to receive seed potatoes = I intended to put them in and cover with a few inches of mulch, but we got a hard freeze (-9.5C or 14.8F) the night before they were to go in the ground. The ground was a little too stiff to dig them in, so I guess I do it in the spring. The leeks were supposed to come out right after the spuds went in = they aren’t going to be trialed in the spud pit this year after all.

Got all of the apples off for juicing. Still have four boxes in the basement, for consumption through the winter = that is a first here too. Usually, there are too few apples worth looking at at the end of the year, to do more than make juice. I can juice apples that are not in good enough shape to store for the winter, and there are usually too few left that have enough flavor to put in storage. This year, there was a bumper crop of good flavored apples on my Red Delicious. Most years there is either a poor crop, or the flavor just doesn’t develop in them, and they aren’t even usable for juice. I saved two boxes of Red Delicious, and got two mixed boxes of MacIntosh, Golden Delicious, Spartan and Jonogold from my neighbor for juicing all of her apples for her.

Most of the pruning is still to be done. Hopefully we will get some milder windless days through the winter, so I can get it done before spring. I would have preferred to get more done before the garden season ended, but I’m satisfied that I got the necessaries out of the way. There’s always next year to do better in, and I don’t foresee having any limitations to what I can do from now on.

And the adventure continues

JUICING

2011-11-06T10:23:00.004-07:00

Eating is almost back to normal now. Still have to watch temperature and bite size, but with thorough chewing, almost everything is back on the menu now. Have to increase my fluid intake a bit more now, and stay hydrated. No stamina at all presently = the last round of chemo, and the over all effects of the radiation treatments, have me down to maybe ten minutes at a shot, then rest for a bit, and start off on what ever is next. I'll keep plugging at it, and pushing myself a bit, just to keep active, and try and shorten the recovery time. Still have 90% of the garden cleanup to get done this fall = if the weather holds for me for another three weeks, I might actually get some of it done.

Got into the orchard and picked the apples on Friday, and even had time to pull the last bed of carrots = the church will definitely be getting some of them, as there are at least another 6 pails = spud pit only holds 14 pails, and I still have to put spuds in it. There are already 6 pails of carrots in the pit, and I want to put a pail or two of leeks in, just to see how they do.

Finally got to press apple juice yesterday. It took me longer to get the press set up than it did to macerate and press the juice. One load in the press gave us 65 quarts of juice = still have another 40 quarts worth of apples to do for us today, and probably another 100 quarts or so for the neighbors. I did remember to take photos of the equipment and process, but rather than post 18 photos, I’ll give the link to the album they are in.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108421163807481105353/JUICING

All this and Epigenetics too

2011-11-02T20:58:00.003-06:00

In the first few days after the last post, eating became substantially easier. I still have to be careful with temperatures, make sure I chew everything very thoroughly, and swallow small amounts at one time = but I am eating almost normal amounts of softer foods = noodles, ground meat in soups, fish, and vegetables. I’ve already picked up about 2 pounds of what I lost, so I should be able to get back to what they will consider an acceptable weight for next week.

Temperatures are starting to drop at night (-9C or 15F), but we are still getting reasonable daytime temperatures (10C or 50F). If I can get enough energy together, carrots and spuds will hit the pit in the next couple of days, provided we don’t get rained out of digging. Still have to get the macerator and press wrestled out of the basement, so we can make some apple juice = I don’t think we have enough pears left to make pear juice, but I might try a small batch, if we can find enough to make it worth while.

Canned 44 quarts of pears, which finishes what Shaoling has not given away or been frozen. I guess we must have had a few nights that were colder than I thought, because we lost most of the remaining Asian pears to water core, which means they were frozen. Checking the max/min thermometer memory, we have already been down to -14.5 C (5.9F), so I guess the water core should be no surprise. I suppose they could have gone to a juicing attempt, but it didn’t occur to me until later.

I caught part of an interesting discussion/explanation of epigenetics on CBC’s “Quirks and Quarks” on the way home from my second to last chemo treatment.

It is standard knowledge that DNA is formed from a combination of the parents DNA, and does not change through the life of the progeny. Epigenetics were explained this way = If you take the DNA as a string of letters that gets punctuated into words and sentences, epigenetics is what happens when the progeny are still in the womb, or in the early stages of life. Experiences and circumstances that significantly impact the mothers health and life style or quality, alter the punctuation to prepare the offspring for life. It does not alter the actual DNA, but rather alters the state of the expression of the DNA = turning some processes on, and others off. For example, if food is in short supply for the gestation period, then the ability to convert food into energy and save it is cranked up, trying to ensure the progeny will be better able to survive. If water is in short supply, the processes that regulate water utilization are fine tuned, to allow better usage in the progeny. The epigenetic “punctuation” may be changed to some degree by life experiences, or perhaps by chemical means (something they are trying to figure out).

The study that found this, used data from a long term, large bodied medical study, (for what I dis-remember) that had blood samples of those studied for a long period of time. They were looking for information that could show if there was any genetic footprint left on DNA by living in poverty. They tested DNA for individuals over a period of ten years, and could see the “punctuation” was altered by several indicators of poverty during the gestational period and early life. The “punctuation” was so definitely changed, that they could pick out individuals whose mother had smoked during the pregnancy, and even to some degree, the children who had two parents who smoked while the children were young. This would also tend to explain Fetal Alcohol Syndrome = scrambled “punctuation”.

The above might be something that would appear a bit strange in a gardening blog, but the phenomenon would be the same in the plant world = what your plants experience in your garden influences what their progeny are going to act like in the next generation. Gives you pause to think about how you might be able to “engineer” a little change in production or size in a variety, by how you treat this years plants. It would also explain why some varieties change over a fairly short period of time when grown in the same location year after year = epigenetics start changing the punctuation. Good examples are Blacktail Mountain, and Small Shining Light watermelons = first time I grew them, they came in at a size that was just about perfect for two people for one meal = this year they are about three times that size. And my weather conditions here are almost identical to those that Blacktail Mountain was developed in, with the exception that I have been feeding and watering mine somewhat more than the originals got. I have heard of people who have grown Blacktail Mountain for longer periods, and are now getting 20 - 30 pounders. I suppose the way to get back to the original size would be to grow them in less than optimal conditions for a few years, and get some of the original “punctuation” back, or re-punctuate in some way.

It is going to be squirming its way through my so called mind quite a bit now = what changes could I make if I........

I am now eating almost normally = only a small amount of pain when I get careless with swallowing. Tomorrow I get my last chemotherapy treatment. Sometime around the end of the year I will have another CT scan, and talk to both the Chemo and Radiation oncologists sometime in early January. There will be periodic checkups after that, to make sure things stay good, but other than that, I expect life will get back to what it used to be for many years to come = Shaoling says she wants "at least twenty years", and I intend to give her as many of them as I can.

We did get one carrot bed dug and into the spud pit = 6 pails worth. Still have almost as many more to pull from the other bed = they have sized up much better than I expected them to. I have a feeling the church is going to be getting quite a few of them, so I will have room for the spuds in the pit too.

This weekend should see us making apple juice, if the weather cooperates. I will be stripping the apple trees on Friday, weather permitting. For a change, all four trees have a good amount of fruit, and they have had enough water this year that they have a reasonably good taste = juice should be very good. I am fortunate enough to have a very good wine press to process the apples with. I'll try to remember to get the camera out and document the process, from box, to macerator, to pressure cooker. The result always beats anything you can buy.

And the adventure continues.

Last Pick Off

2011-10-24T16:33:00.001-06:00

I am slowly getting a few things done around here now. All of the beans have been picked/pulled, and are spending at least their nights in the greenhouse. The larger piles of greener pods get dragged out on tarps for the day, if it’s sunny, trying to get them dried down so they can be shelled and frost treated before storage. All of the vines have been cleaned up, and the poles are stacked, waiting for me to decide next spring if they are still strong enough to use again. I will likely grow more bean varieties next year, as they are a nice trouble free crop that needs no babying through the summer. Takes me a bit longer to set up in the spring, and a year like this stretches the growing season a bit later than I like, but they are good calorie return for effort = the local church can use the extra calorie/protein input for their lunch program, and I like beans a lot myself. The only real crop producer in the squash was the Musquee/Muscade de Provence, but I have a feeling they got a few extras during the growing season.

I have dill scattered through all of the main garden beds, and it will be even more so next year = I think about 80% of the umbels shattered on me while I was in Kelowna, which means not only the beds they grew in, but the pathways have an abundance of seed in them. If I get the time to till at least the beds before freeze up, I may be able to reduce at least some of the volunteering by burying the seed. The pathways are going to be dill central, if I give them a half chance to get started. There are onions all over the place that are no where near mature enough to try and harvest, most don’t even have identifiable bulbs on them, they’re just over sized green onions. If I can get one bed tilled before freeze up, I think I’ll try direct seeding a bunch of Australian Browns this fall = if they come up YAHOO!! = if they don’t, I still have lots of seed. I think I’ll try the Amish Bottle in one end of the same bed too = if I get to do it at all. I know I am letting myself in for a lot of weeding in the spring, until I find out if the onions will do anything.

Carrots and spuds are going to have to be pulled/dug very soon, and stuck into the spud pit. I’m going to try putting some leeks in a bucket or two as well, just to see if it will work. Next summer I may dig another pit, and use it for fruit storage = apples and pears. I know the regular pears won’t hold long, but some of the Asian pears will hold several months.

There are going to be a lot of tomatoes going into the compost bins this year = likely over a ton. Nobody came around to pick any = I guess they thought it wasn’t worth the labor, and I’m just too lazy to feel like picking them so they’ll come take them away. Frost has put an end to pickability now, so it’s just a matter of taking the wheelbarrow around and filing it up for the compost bins. Ah well.

I did find out this year that I have not been watering enough in the past = Shaoling misunderstood my watering directions while I was in Kelowna, and was watering every other day while I was gone = the plants showed the effects very quickly, and I ended up with an almost normal production from most of the plants, despite the extremely off year, weather wise.

So next year, everything gets much more water than last year, unless it turns out to be an extremely wet year. This year was a bit wetter than usual, and for the most part, much cooler.

Still not much stamina yet = I sleep well and long, and have to kick start myself to get out the door and get going, and don’t last very long yet, but keep plugging at it. The radiation oncologist warned me it would be like this for several weeks, and would then get gradually better = the chemo doctor gets to hit me for one more series of three treatments, which will likely make me stumble a bit again = that will happen the first week of November. After that, things should start getting steadily better. They will do another CT scan in early January, and let me know how successful they have been = they can’t do it sooner, because the radiation has everything inside inflamed, so nothing will show clearly. I am expecting to hear that all is as they wanted it to be, and the cancer is completely gone.

This week has had frost every night, starting with just enough to bother the tomato plants, but not the fruit, getting slightly colder every night, until it has reached the point that there are no longer salvageable tomatoes left, or anything else aside from spuds, carrots and leeks. The leeks don’t even realise it’s getting cold, and the carrot tops are only just starting to show the effects. Spud tops were still growing until the first frost hit them.

We have been watching skeins of geese build up in a couple of fields alongside the road we do our morning walks on = probably close to 1000 birds gathering in one field over the past few days. Wednesday morning was one of those fog bowl events, where the fog gradually tips its way off the fields, and exposes the mountainsides across them. The geese started lifting off when we were still about a half mile from our closest to them, wheeling under the fog, and clamouring as only they can when they are about to leave. I wanted to sprout feathers and follow them, a feeling that I have had every time I hear that sound, spring and fall, since I was twelve years old.

I can remember the first time I ever heard geese heading south. I was sitting outside on the back porch,with my grandfather, watching the skeins of geese stream across the face of the moon, singing, = both of us shivering and shaking, and unwilling to leave long enough to get a coat or blanket to keep warm with. It was probably about 1948, in the south Okanogan, just north of Oliver. A magical time in a magical place that is no longer there.

The radiation oncologist has had his final statement verified = I am having more trouble swallowing, I am very aware of my chest, and have less energy and endurance = even a mild Tai Chi session is more than I can comfortably handle. I’m managing to keep my weight up, which is difficult when every swallow causes a twinge, even with just liquids. The saving grace to all of this, is that it should start to get better in about another ten days. I believe I have hit what he would describe as the lowest or worst point now, where I will sit for a few more days, then progress upwards.

I’m not feeling sorry for myself here = I bought this ride with 56 years of smoking, and knew it was possible for most of those years. I am talking to myself here, as much as to the followers of the blog.

I will give a plug here for a stop smoking drug, because for me it worked extremely well, when nothing else has. If you really want to quit smoking, give Champix (Chantix in the USA) a try. I understand that it can have some bad side effects, but had none myself. If you get through the trial dosage with no problems, but have side effects with the full dosage, try doing the trial dosage for the whole treatment. For me the whole experience was stress free = no physical withdrawal symptoms at any point, no feeling like I was going to crawl out of my skin, no loss of sleep, or lethargy. I did fall off the wagon four times while using the drug, but after that, no problem. I eventually started forgetting to take the medication for a day or two at a time, then just quit taking it altogether.

Got out in the garden for the final go around of picking tomatoes = got about 70 lbs of greens and maybe 5 lbs of ripe, or close to ripe tomatoes, that were protected to some degree by foliage. Now I can go around, and pull all of the sidelines and Florida weave from what is left. That will make it much easier to pull what I can and put it in the compost bins. I think I’m going to be seeing a lot of volunteers for the next few years.

I am finding a bit more energy, and eating just a bit easier the last two days. I have about four pounds to regain by November 1, and I feel like it will be possible to do it. If I don’t, they may hold off on the chemo then, and I’d just sooner get it over and done with. I do believe I have passed the low point now, and should be starting up the other side. What the last chemo does to me, I don’t yet know, but don’t think it’s going to be that large a problem. So far, except for the 70+% hair loss, there is nothing that I can attribute directly to the chemo. I would imagine that part of the debilitation i feel is due to the chemo, but I can’t tell how much.

My last chemo is next week.

And the adventure continues.

2011-10-13T17:39:00.003-06:00

I managed to keep my weight up enough to get this round of chemo. I just have to make sure I don’t lose any weight over the next three weeks. Since I will be eating at home for two of those weeks, it should be no problem. They have adjusted the last three treatments to Nov 1, 2, & 3. to allow me to have the pre-chemo blood test done in Creston, the town nearest where I live, on October 31. They do a blood test before each chemo series to make sure they haven’t beat your system up too badly to continue beating it. Actually it is a good thing they do = they can seriously compromise your immune system, if they hit you too hard, and that and red blood cell count are the two main things they look at. Weight loss is a general systemic indicator that they are doing a bit too much. In my case, the weight loss is a side product of the radiation, not the chemo, but they will not differentiate between the two.

I also found out that my receiving chemo and radiation at the same time for three of my four chemo series is a bit unusual = most often they only do two of the four series in conjunction with radiation. Doing them at the same time apparently substantially increases the effectiveness of the chemo drugs. I’m not sure why they made the exception with me = providential timing, trying to recoup the time lost when I fell through the cracks, I was in better shape than most when my cancer was discovered, the extra is needed to accomplish or make sure of a cure, or my attitude said I could take the extra hits. What ever the reason, I’ll take it as it is given. They know a lot more about what they are doing than I do, so I won’t second guess them.

I am looking forward to getting back into the garden for real this weekend, even if I won’t have the stamina to accomplish all that I would like to. I won’t have to short-plan everything to prep for coming back here. Being able to drop a project in mid-stride, and know that I can come back to it the next day, is not something I have looked at as a bonus or a luxury before, but it is.

So far, I have brought about 90 lbs of tomatoes, 30 lbs of squash, and 15 lbs of dried beans, to the kitchen here at the lodge. I’ve also put about 20 lbs of cherries tomatoes and 20 lbs of plums = Green Gage and Italian Prune Plums, in the activities/TV/lunch room. I have a hard time eating the cherry tomatoes and plums, but I nibble a bit from time to time = they usually last about two days, and are all gone.

One of the places I walk past on a daily basis here, has a filbert/hazelnut tree in the front yard. Last week, the morning after we had a fairly strong wind system go through here, there was a woman raking up leaves and debris from one part of the yard (not where the tree is), and I commented on passing, that there were a lot of nuts under the tree. She replied “Take them if you want them, no one here eats them.”

I came back later with a few plastic grocery bags to pick them up, and filled two of them, about 10 pounds. These will make some excellent nut butter this winter, among other things. This week, I paid her back with about 30 lbs of tomatoes (two tall ice cream pails full). I figure we made an even trade = we each gave away something we couldn’t use, and received something we wanted = although she didn’t know at the time that it was going to be a trade.

This next bit will sort of date me a bit, and it’s slightly political, which I usually steer clear of, but it’s something that has been going through my head every time the news mentions anything about the “Occupy Wall Street” phenomenon that has hit all 50 states.

Buffalo Springfield originally released this in 1967 as For What It's Worth but it’s more commonly known as Something’s Happening Here. Judge for yourself if it’s as applicable now as it was then.

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What gets me about the whole phenomenon, is that half the politicians seem to be blind or tunnel visioned about it. One has been on the news saying he is becoming alarmed at how pervasive it is = when he should be alarmed at why it is so pervasive it is = something is seriously broken in the system, and it is not just an American phenomenon. There are versions of it starting in many parts of Europe, it is about to migrate to Canada, and likely will show up elsewhere.

Combine this with what has been seen to happen in the “Arab Spring” phenomenon, and I think the politicos have to start looking real hard at the rule books they have created due to manipulations by big business, both home grown and multinationals. I strongly dislike the violence that I see at things like the G8 and G20 summits, but I think what they have been like will be nothing compared to what may come if no one listens to what is coming out of the “Occupy Wall Street” phenomenon. So far it has been almost entirely non-violent, and I would hope it would continue that way = but I know that sooner or later, if something doesn’t start happening as a result, some group is going to hijack the forum and start preaching violence by example. It happened in the 1960’s, and will happen again. The “99%” want to be heard.

And that’s all the “political comment” for this week.

There are a few new photos of this years garden at https://picasaweb.google.com/108421163807481105353/KOZULACOLLECTION2011

and

https://picasaweb.google.com/108421163807481105353/GARDENFINAL20111008

Many of the tomatoes look less than optional, but the photos were taken in October.

I will leave it at that for this post. The next one will be posted from home in about a week or ten days, after I have had a chance to really see what has been happening in the garden, aside form stupendous weed growth, and great late tomato production. Except for the cherry tomatoes, it is hard to see where anything has bee taken from most of the tomato plants, but I know there has to have been at least 1000 lbs taken since the first week of September. I’ll try and document a bit of that and add it to one of the albums.

And the adventure continues.

One short week left

2011-10-10T23:08:00.005-06:00

Swallowing got to be enough of a problem that I started losing weight I didn’t want to lose, and had fallen below my start weight for chemotherapy. Had a visit with Dr. Davies, my chemotherapy doctor, and she gave me a prescription for “Dr Akabutu’s Mouthwash” = I saw the list of ingredients = the first on the list is 2% lidocaine. It has to be made up fresh by the pharmacist, and takes them about an hour to make it. It doesn’t completely dispel the pain if I swallow wrong, or too coarse a food, but it mutes it enough that I have regained 2 pounds in a day and a half. To me this is very important, because Dr Davies told me, if I lost more weight, they would have to hold my next chemo series back until I regained some = and that I do not want.

Next week I start my third of four chemo series. After that, the final series is scheduled for Oct 31, November 1, and 2. The end of next week also sees the end of my radiation = which is what is making my throat sore. Basically, the peripheral radiation from shooting the tumor is cooking the lower part of my larynx, and the upper swallowing muscles in my esophagus. About two weeks after I finish radiation therapy, I should start to notice a lessening in discomfort when I swallow = after that things get better in a hurry.

For those of you curious about the mouthwash, it was easy to find with Google =

The formula:

For a 240 ml Bottle

Glycerin

Cortef 10 mg (cortesone)

Ratio-Nystatin susp 100,00 U/ML (anti fungal)

PMS-Lidocaine viscous 2% 100ml

Lens Plus 360ml (saline solution) which contains salt 0.9%

It does not taste as bad as you might think, but it’s also not a flavor that I am likely to become enamoured of. The taste leaves your mouth fairly quickly, and it does make it possible to swallow somewhat easier, but care and temperature control must be exercised.

Energy levels are pretty low now too = I can still do what I used to, just not quite as fast, and it takes a little more for me to convince myself to get moving. The initial burst of 180 paces a minute when walking is a thing of the past, but the walk still goes at the usual 120 paces a minute.

We have had rain here the past three days, so walking gets a little more complex = have to watch for breaks in the rain, and hope they are long enough to let you stay dry. I have still managed a minimum of 5 kilometers a day (~3 miles), but getting started is sometimes problematic. Since getting the magical mouthwash, I have been taking in enough extra calories that I have a bit more energy.

I got very few photos of the garden this year, because garden photo season seemed to coincide with the start of my cancer treatments. Tomatoes didn’t started ripening until after that, so I have almost no photos of any tomatoes with color this year, which is a shame, because I have all of the Kozula collection in the garden, and most of them are uniquely and beautifully colored. Weather and time permitting, I will try and get some photos of the different varieties this weekend = they likely won’t get posted until I am back here next weekend, if I do take them, as I don’t like to waste good garden time on editing photos. I need some photo documentation of what was grown this year for myself as well, because I know I will not remember what color half of the varieties were without it.

The forecast for the next few days has lows of 3 C, which means the tomatoes may get hit with frost this weekend = we often get a touch of frost here, when the forecast is 3 or less. I hope it doesn’t happen, but if it does, the call goes out to come strip the plants, and I start ripping beans down and inspecting for frost damage before storing to dry. Melons and squash are close enough to the ground they may not be affected if there’s only a light touch, but a killing frost means I start processing and freezing squash immediately, and melons may or may not be usable right away. Seed harvest will get a big boot in the butt = do it or lose them. It looks like most of my walks while I am home this weekend, will be in the garden, for one reason or other.

Well, I’m back at Kelowna again. Got most of what had to be done, done = I think. Got to take the photos of the Kozula collection, but the plants and fruit are showing the effects of weather in most case. Considering that it’s already October 10, it’s hardly surprising. A real different year. I still have grasshoppers flitting around, if the day warms up enough for them to move, and there are still yellowjackets showing up in unusual places, hiding out to try and survive a little longer.

My Chires Baby corn has decided it will tassel and start ears now, thank you. Supposed to be 75-85 days = I planted it first week of June = 120 days, and still no cob formation.

This long row of squash foliage is one hill each of Musquee de Provence, and Muscade de Provence. I wanted to see if they were actually the same variety that had just been misnamed someplace along the road. It seems they are the same thing = I can see no difference in the fruit from the two hills. I duplicated the experiment in a different area of the garden, with the same result, but lower production.

This barrow load was hiding under the squash foliage in the above photo. 94 Kilograms, or 208 lbs.

The greenhouse has become bean drying central for the moment = also onion and what ever else makes it in here.

There are a couple of cucumbers and a few tomatoes waiting for me to get to seeding them, but they will hold until I get home at the end of the week.

The majority of the beans have been picked but not threshed. There are a few bush beans that need to be done,and a couple of lima beans that I am leaving up as long as I can, because they haven't started to get dry pods yet. Got very few chick peas, a much smaller crop of soy beans than I expected, and far more Ethiopian Lentils than I expected. Now I just have to find out if I like eating them = I hope so, as they are a very good source of protein and are high in calories as well = and they are dead easy to grow. I tried munching a couple while they were immature, and they are as sweet as peas, but somewhat different flavored.

I have this one week of treatments left = actually only four days = then I go home to stay, and get to wear myself out in the garden, instead of wearing out my shoes walking. I am hoping for at least a few days in the garden before frost hits hard, but likely won't get it. Fall rains started last week, and the forecast is for lowering night temperatures = down to 2C Saturday. Being home and able to work in the garden will definitely speed my recovery along = too many things to do to lay around, regardless of how little I feel like getting started. Keeping myself moving is the best way for me to rebuild, provided I stoke enough calories in = and Shaoling will see to that. I look forward to Friday, and going home. They didn't wear me down as much as I expected with the radiation or chemo, and I have been lucky enough to have missed most of the side effects of the chemo that were possible. I have lost about 70% of my hair, but not all = yet. I expected to be able to polish the dome before this = I still may, but it doesn't seem like the second round of chemo cost me any hair at all.

And the adventure continues.

Five weeks done

2011-10-02T22:35:00.003-06:00

Home for the weekend now. Eating is becoming problematic = one little bit of inattention when chewing and swallowing, and I get brought up short very quickly. I knew this was coming, but it is somewhat disconcerting when even taking a drink of water requires paying close attention to what you are doing.

I am going to be doing a lot of blender work in the next few weeks, and learn to like everything served cool to cold. This makes it possible to swallow, but in small amounts, and carefully. It’s only going to be for a few weeks, so I’ll weather it okay.

The tomato seeds I left to ferment last week, may or may not be okay = I’ll have to germination tests on most or all of them, after they dry down. Some of them ballooned a bit from being immersed so long, which may or may not mean they are toast. Most of the beans still need to be picked, at least partially, to ensure I get the seed I need for next year. Melons have to be gathered and labelled = half at least are not mature yet. Squash are still playing hide and seek in the leaves, the pears are starting to drop at the least excuse, so it’s about time to pick them, and get ready to process what I can’t store.

Even under the present circumstances, I just love this time of year, even when it drives me nuts to be so far behind everything = and that happens every year.

Shaoling has finally conceded that we have far too many tomatoes for us to use, and she really hates to waste food, so we are going to be opening the gates to all comers pretty soon. She was a shop keeper all of her working life, so she want to sell everything we can’t use ourselves, and yet share with those who can’t afford to pay.

Next year is still a mystery to me, as far as knowing what will be planted. I do know that the garden is not going to be allowed to consume all of my time, but I also know that I will, one way or another, plant every foot of bed I have = just not possible not to. I know there’s going to be a lot more sweet corn, and a lot of that is going to get processed for winter use = soups stews, and the occasional batch of kernel corn smothered in butter. Probably a lot more squash going in too = the church can use them for school meals all through the winter. And a large contingent of beans, as usual. Have to look around and see what strikes my fancy now. And beans, lots of beans = They also benefit the church's lunch program, and they look so damned impressive when they get going.

Processed another 30 varieties of tomatoes for seed. Never did get to picking the beans, but they’ll be fine for another few weeks anyway, if need be. I have it set up now so that Shaoling can pick them, and label the buckets she puts them in with the varietal name = She can copy from the special labels I put up. She tries very hard to pick up as much as she can for me, trying to keep me from tiring myself out (futile effort, which I think she knows, but she wants to help as much as she can).

And I only just remembered to take photos of the spud pit as it now is = I saw my camera bag as I was loading the car to travel back to Kelowna, which jogged my memory.

I get 14 tall ice cream pails in the pit = it was designed to accommodate them, with a little play left over, so I can squeeze in another half row down the center, if need be.

The rack on the bottom keeps the pails off the soil, and allows ventilation through the pails (about 24 3/16" holes in the bottoms).

I use half length fiberglass insulation batts in feed bags, to insulate the top of the pit.

I put a double layer of batts on top of the pails, one layer running cross ways, the other going length ways.

I never have mouse problems in the pit = the cats like to sleep on the batts in the winter.

It is still going to be a few weeks before I dig up spuds, carrots and leeks to fill the pails. I don't know if the leeks will do well or not = I do know that we get a hard enough freeze here that I will likely lose most of them if I leave them in the soil. Onions didn't size up worth a damn this year, so I have none to hang in the basement. I know they require a little more air movement than they would get in the pit, so I won't try them there.

We are starting to get sizable harvests on our pears, both Asian and European varieties, so I may try building another pit for fruit storage = have to keep them away from the veggies or they speed the ripening there. More things to cogitate for the future.

And the adventure continues.

We need a little help here

2011-09-28T20:52:00.005-06:00

We need a little help here, so this is an aside from talking about me and mine = I have a American forum-friend that has sort of painted himself into a corner with his desire to help those who need it. He started to gather seed to send to a seed distribution agency ( Wintersown ) that sends seeds to people in need.(free, private, non-profit), and suddenly found himself with a pallet load of seed (800 lbs). He is unsure how, (and cannot personally afford) to send the seed to the seed agency.

If anyone out there can help with this it would be a boon to him and Wintersown . I will send personal contact information for him to any who contact me about this.

I think someone who tries this hard to pay it forward should get a little help from the rest of us = my own seed money receipts are going there.

On a more personal note again, still no sign of me starting to feel as badly as I am apparently supposed to be feeling. While my energy level could not be described as particularly high, I am having no trouble getting started in the morning, and once in motion, I keep on going. Don't have quite the sustained speed capabilities walking, but still walk faster than most I see around me.

It is likely that my good luck will not hold forever, and that I will, sooner or later, start to feel like the knot hole is getting smaller by the day, but for now, I revel in the level of goodness and life I feel within me.

I will make a full post when I get home for the weekend again, and try to catch up on some of the photos that should be posted.

And the adventure continues.

Four weeks done now.

2011-09-26T12:56:00.004-06:00

I think for a while the blog is going to become a bit more like a journal for me and my trip through the medical system, and back to good health. I will keep it garden oriented as much as possible, but I think it is likely going to slide into my current circumstances fairly often.

Last weekend I didn’t quite get to seeding the tomatoes in the greenhouse = a few other things got in the way. We canned another 58 quarts of tomato juice, I picked a few more seed tomatoes, and I picked all of the dried pods off of 6 or 7 varieties of beans.

Speaking of making juice, I think I have created a monster = Shaoling has never had a garden before, and had never done any canning before this year. I introduced her to canning with cherries. Now she wants to make juice out of everything in the garden and orchard.

At least 200 quarts of tomato juice (which is normal for this household anyway). Carrots are next on the list, if I plant enough, and celery, and onions, and all of the other ingredients for a good mixed vegetable juice.

We have already made 30 odd quarts of cherry juice, in addition to the canned cherries.. She wants to make plum juice, and pear juice and apple juice, and if we get a good producing peach tree going, I am sure peaches will be on the list, as well as apricots, if we get a good crop.

I will quite willingly go along with all of it, for the simple reason that walking through the garden with her renews for me the awe and excitement that got me hooked on gardening in the first place. It awakens memories of walking through the garden with my grandparents, at eye level with the hornworms when they were discovered, the explanations of who and what they were and would become if left alone, and why they were not left alone. I used to love running to the nearest free range chicken with one.

I am now walking 2.6 kilometers (1.5 miles) before breakfast, doing the first and last 400 meters (.25 miles) at 180 paces/minute (8.2 kph or 5.1 mph) and slow down to 120 paces a minute (5.5 kph or 3.4 mph) for the rest of the walk). I do the same walk 3 to 6 times a day, depending on how wired I feel, and what else there is to do here. I should have the same energy in the garden!!

Over the weekend I seeded 30+ tomato varieties using chemicals, and got another 20 varieties ready to put chemicals on, then got sidetracked for a bit doing other things = and had to leave them to ferment until next weekend. I will see just how they do, sitting for a week in the greenhouse, with its cool nights, and pass judgement on them when I get home. If they need re-doing, I still have the tomatoes available to do them, if not, then it’s just a matter of cleanup = then I can turn my attention to the other three trays of less ripe tomatoes that are setting int he greenhouse waiting for me to gut them. Cleaned a couple of squash, ripped up the Ethiopian Lentils and hung the bundles to dry under cover, for thashing later, stripped off all of the dry soybean and chickpea pods, and cut the grass int the pathways, some of the orchard, and the yard.

The Bradshaw plums are ripening now = I had forgotten just how good they can be = they are a variety I ate as a kid, and put in the orchard for the memories. Italian prune plums are coming on, apples and pears getting very close = The Asian pears have to be thinned a whole lot more than I have been doing so far = I’m only getting half sized fruit, because I am leaving far too many on the tree.

Time to start getting the spud pit ready for storage use = the carrots are sizing up, most of the spud plants have died back, and this year I will try sticking some of the leeks in the pit as well, just to see how they do. I have a rack in the bottom of the pit that keeps the pails off the ground, and holes drilled in the bottom of the pails to allow ventilation of the contents. Feed bags with fiberglass insulation go over top the buckets, and keep everything from freezing. I have already sprayed the interior of the pit with fixed copper, to eliminate any fungal growth, at least for the first half of the winter.

You can get an idea of what I am talking about from these photos =

I will take some more current photos when I am home again this weekend, and update this post with them.

I’m back at the lodge again, starting another week of radiation treatments. I am no longer taking Prednisone, and it’s two weeks until my next chemo treatments, so no other meds either. This will be the first period that my body will be dealing with everything on its own. I am supposed to be entering the period of my treatments, where I start to feel the effects of the radiation and chemo = so far, nothing much that I notice. I have had no steroids or other meds for 36 hours now, and still feel somewhat wired, where I am supposed to start feeling fatigued. I did try to counter the lack of steroids by drinking my four cups of coffee this morning, and it seems to have done more than that = I felt more wired than I did while drinking coffee and taking the steroids = time will tell I am sure, in the meantime, no more coffee = I could not sit still and felt extremely speedy for about three hours after the last coffee. Tomorrow morning will likely tell the tale about whether I stay energetic and hungry, or start to feel like they say I should.

And the adventure continues.

Drip Irrigation System

2011-09-17T21:00:00.004-06:00

For some time, I’ve been meaning to do a proper rundown on my drip system, complete with photos. I am going to start by giving a general description, and linking to some of the photos that I have already posted elsewhere, that reasonably represent what I do. I will try to get into the garden and take some photos to go with this, when I am home this weekend, but I tried to do that last weekend too.

I keep this blog ad free on purpose, but do occasionally plug companies or products that I like and use myself. I have no affiliation with any company I name here, other than being a satisfied customer. I also reserve the right to pan any company that I am dissatisfied with = and they will have to be very deserving of the pan before I will give it.

That being said, I buy my ⅛” micro-tubing from http://www.submatic.com. I have dealt with them since 1980 or 1981, and have always been satisfied with their service.

I make my own punch from a block of wood

and an appropriately sized nail, sharpened to a fine point. End clips are made from pieces of what ever I am using for feeder lines, or garden hoses or what ever comes to hand and will stay in place. If you are covering the drip lines with mulch or anything else, the end clips are not really necessary = they just convert the water to a drip, instead of letting it squirt across the bed (if you are running higher pressure/volume to increase watering, they can squirt quite a ways). The best feeder lines are the black plastic variety, although that can get a bit expensive if you have any amount to purchase. Cheap garden hose will work very well, but usually has the disadvantage of getting stiff after a season or two, and does not hold onto the emitter lines quite as well. If you are not going to be rolling the lines up to move them, garden hoses are a good cheap alternative = if you will want to be able to roll them up every year, spring for the black plastic.

You can make your individual emitter lines what ever length and spacing best suits your needs. If the drip lines are always going to be in the same locations, and the crops are going to be the same or similar every year, you can get very particular with your emitter layout, and reduce your water consumption accordingly. for instance, if you are always planting tomatoes with the same spacing,in the same rows, you could easily put very short emitter lines in exactly the right position, and reduce the amount of micro-tubing and water required. If you are going to be rotating things through the beds, or re-orienting garden areas, you might want to do a more general configuration, with longer and closer spaced emitter lines. I move stuff all over my beds, so I tend to do longer lines, and closer spaced. Since I have no water constraints, I tend to use a bit more, and a bit more frequently than I might otherwise = for me it pays off in larger harvests.

One of the advantages to using the micro-tubing is that it is very easy to clean a plugged emitter (which I seldom have to do) = pull the end cap off, and stick a piece of 16 gauge wire down the emitter line (metal guitar strings are great for this = they are stiff and don’t kink). When you cut your emitter lines, cut them at an angle

so you won’t plug them by pushing them against the far wall of the feeder line. If you make your emitter lines too long, they are going to be difficult to clean, as the wire will want to bend and kink. If you have an emitter in the wrong place, just cut it off at about 1”, and burn the end closed, or just pull off the end cap, and burn the end closed, leaving it in place in case you change your mind again.

I run a header line across the top end of all of my beds, and use the cheapest taps I can find to control the water on each bed (usually water tank taps). Run the largest diameter header line you can, to allow the largest volume possible to your feeder lines, bearing in mind that the first restriction in the line sets the volume for all of the line behind it = ie the tap that regulates your water sets the volume that will flow through the lines downstream from it. If your first tap is ½”, that is what regulates the volume you pass to the rest of the system. This doesn’t necessarily say to put the rest of the lines in at ½”, because you also have to deal with friction in the lines, which can make a difference if you have longer runs. I cobbled my initial header lines out of what ever was available here when I started, so I have a mix of 1”, and ¾” headers, which is all made moot by the fact that all of my taps controlling the beds are ½”. The individual feeder lines on the beds are a mix of ¾” black plastic, ½” black plastic, and ½” and ¾” garden hoses. My beds vary in length from 40’ to 100’, with emitter spacings from 9” to 18”staggered down each side of the feeder line. Emitter line lengths are from 6” to 15”, mostly around 9”. I can adequately water 400 emitters at once, using two hours for watering time. This gives me enough time to water my whole garden in one day (I have two taps and two header systems, with about 1100 feet of bed). If you use water soluble fertilizer (MiracleGro, etc) or lots of well filtered compost, other teas, or molasses,invest in an injection siphon.

It greatly simplifies feeding your garden, and cuts down on waste as well.

Because all of my lines are either plastic, or garden hose, I don't have to worry about winter frost damage. I disconnect the feed line, and open all of the valves and taps in the system, so there is no chance of water getting trapped in anything metal. The worst that might happen is a joint may get forced apart if water gets trapped in it, and it freezes solid.

In addition to the drip irrigation, I hand water new plantings of beans, carrots, onions and similar, two or three times daily, until they are large enough to mulch around. It substantially reduces the losses from stress.

Two weeks in

2011-09-13T20:13:00.005-06:00

My first week of treatment consisted of 3 chemo sessions, and 4 radiation treatments. I am now in my third week of radiation, with another 3 sessions of chemo next week. Already feeling slight improvements, and so far, no bad side effects, although I know they are coming.

I'm staying in the Rotary Lodge behind Kelowna General Hospital during the week, and driving home Friday nights and back again Sunday evening, or Monday morning, if my first treatment is late enough in the day. It's a 5 hour drive each way, and I will go home every weekend, unless I start to feel too rough to make the drive. I have a mattress in the back of the Montana (all seats pulled to give me ample room), so I can pull over and recoup with a nap if need be.

Total treatment routine for me will be 12 chemo sessions = 3 consecutive days, a two week break then another 3 days, etc. and 33 radiation treatments. I expect things may start to get a bit unpleasant after about week four or five, but I am willing to be disappointed in that respect.

I've been taking Prednisone for a rash since just before the treatments started, and it is keeping my appetite at a higher than usual level, and my weight is staying up with no problem. I am also wired all the time, also due to the Prednisone. I'm walking 10 t0 15 kilometers a day (6 to 10 miles), just to keep the energy under control.

A note on the garden and home front = I have seeding tomatoes picked for almost everything now, and they are waiting in the greenhouse for me to process when I get home this weekend. I will have to do chemical processing for this years seeds = I'm only home for two days, and fermentation takes more than that here, but less than a week, which is when I would be here next to finish them.

I have about 60 varieties that I have to get seed from this year, and some of those will have multiple entries, because they are stabilization grow outs, and have presented more than one good expression. So I am looking at 70 to 80 batches of seed to process. I'm not really rushed on these, thanks to having the greenhouse to hold them in, so I'll split the time I have, and do a day of tomato squishing, and a day of bean picking = they can hang and dry in the greenhouse too.

In the two weekends I have been home, we've processed 46 quarts of tomato juice, and a half dozen quarts of kosher dills. Shaoling picks the tomatoes on Thursday, and cuts them into canning pots and puts them in the oven Friday evening to cook. Saturday morning we start processing the tomatoes into juice, and can them in the pressure cooker through the day. If there is more than one canner load, it goes in the oven Saturday night and gets processed before I leave Sunday afternoon.

It's going to get interesting a bit later, when the pears start wanting to be canned, and the apples are ready for juicing, and we still have tomatoes to process. Storage is going to become a bit of a problem for a while too, when I start bringing the squash in from the field = I have only a slight idea of just how many squash are out there hiding in the leaves. And I believe I have a few watermelon hiding someplace under the tomatoes and squash in the main garden. This weekend is going to full of discoveries, I think.

And the adventure continues.

Personal Update

2011-09-02T23:39:00.001-06:00

I think I will start this by quoting something I first wrote in 1998 =

“There aint no reboot, rewind, or start game over. This is the only run through you get, so get it right, and do it now, because you have no guarantee the game will continue.

You may feel that this is only the first inning, period, quarter, or half, but I tell you it is the bottom of the ninth, the end of the third, the last kick of the fourth, and the end of the second half, and you have no guarantee of getting off of the bench again.
If you have to play in pain, do it. If you wait for the pain to leave, the final buzzer, bell, or whistle may go before you get back in the game, so don’t wait.

Make the statement you want to make, and play the game as you want to play it. Don’t wait for the rules to change = they won’t, unless you change them yourself.

Lest you think I am saying what I don’’t do, I tell you I am playing the game I chose, and have made my own rules long ago. Things I don’t want to do, I ignore. Face, appearances, respect of others, all of the things that we run our lives by = they are not for my rule book, unless they fit with what I feel my life should be. I do what I do, because I must to be me. The only person whose respect I have to work at keeping, is me. If I do what I can live happily with, I am doing alright. I respect my own value set more than most others, and if I meet mine, I don’t need to worry about meeting those of others.”

I have put off writing this post for several reasons. At first it was because I was not ready to share with the world what was going on with my life yet, as I had not fully absorbed what it meant to me, and how I was going to deal with it. Another reason I did not post, was that I did not have enough information myself yet about anything/everything, and would be unable to answer any of the questions that I knew would come.

Since I now have enough of an information set I think it is time to post what is transpiring.

I was diagnosed with lung cancer in May. To be specific, Type 3A lung cancer. The designation indicates that I have cancer in one lung, it has spread outside the lung to some of the lymph nodes, but not metastasized = I have had a total bone scan, a CT scan of my abdomen and head, and a bronchoscopy with ultrasound and a biopsy thrown in. The lung and nymph nodes are the only locations there is cancer.

The prognosis, based on the statistics for Type 3A, and how I am presenting the symptoms is good. The median survival rate for a diagnosis of Type 3A is 15 months (that is the point at which 50% of those diagnosed will have died). The 5 year survival rate is 23%.

Because of the way I am presenting the symptoms = very good general fitness, still good lung function despite 56 years of smoking (I quit August 23, 2010), no weight loss, and no difficulty swallowing = the oncologist says I will be in the 23%. He also said that he thought he could cure this, not just drive it into remission, and that is the premise he is treating me on.

I know this blog has been badly neglected and very infrequently posted to for some time. I could make excuses about various things happening that made it impossible, but the fact is, life just sort of got in the way, and the garden got looked to first.

I've had my bell rung again with this latest development, and will listen up a little better to what I preach in the above quote.

As a result, the garden is no longer going to be the sole focus of my life. I will still garden in a big way, but it's going to have to fend for itself a lot more than it has in the past. I will expand the variety of things I grow, but reduce the amounts of some of the crops at the same time.

The orchard will see better maintenance, so I don't end up taking 3/4 of the crop off with a pruning that should have been done two years earlier. Thinning will take place on time for a change, watering will be more frequent, and there will be a lot of manure spread around the trees for a change.

The trade offs come in that I will actually go fishing, and do a little travelling for a change. Things that I have shunted aside for most of the past nine years here, in favour of spending more time in the garden, are going to get done again.

It's not that I don't still love gardening = it's just that I have been reminded that I do not have all of the time in the world, and there are still flavours of things out there that I have not sampled.

I will keep you all apprised of what is happening, as it transpires.

Strangely enough, this might also result in a lot more gardening content being posted as well, as there will be more time to do it in (I think).

As with everyone else, I have more facets to my life than gardening and this blog = I have just faced away from them for a bit too long, and will start doing at least a few of them again.

I do ask that you not let this announcement change or shade the way you interact with me. I am still the same guy, and I still plan to be around for a long time. If you think this has me thinking long about my mortality, don't = I just started crossing tomatoes, and am going to be replacing a few fruit trees that have had to be removed.

Life is the great adventure, and no adventure is complete with out days or periods where things do not go as planned, or it would be a very dull adventure.

Urban Homestead, Urban Homesteading

2011-02-21T08:00:00.004-07:00

This is a bit of an unusual post for this blog.
It isn't about directly gardening, or improving how you do it, but about attitudes towards the whole gardening movement/lifestyle.
There is a family or group of people someplace in the USA (I don't know which, or where, or have many details on exactly what they are or do, because they are obviously not an entity that I am interested in knowing about, for reasons that will become clear) that has taken it upon themselves to copyright the name of a movement that they had nothing to do with starting.
Taking out copyright protection on a particular product that you are instrumental in creating and popularizing, or the name of a particular article, organization, or farm is one thing = taking out copyright protection on a movement that was evident and named 30 years prior to your using it is just plain ludicrous.
A quick Google gave me an instance of its usage in Boston in 1975 (http://www.archive.org/details/section810urbanh00bost), and it may have been in use before that = I didn't bother chasing any farther.
I don't know or care if they are going to try and make money off of the copyright, or just use it as a club to prevent use of the phrase/name in ways they disapprove of, it just rankles. I think the world could use a little break from "copyrightitis", and snobbery branding.
Don't know what I mean? How much do you pay for what used to be called "runners" and "sneakers", because they have a logo on the side. Quality and effectiveness (which are usually questionable) aside, you are paying more for the name than the product. I doubt you would be so accepting in a fancy restaurant, if the fancy "steak tartare" was listed on the menu for what it actually is = raw hamburger, raw eggs, onions, capers and anchovies.
Call the runners what they are, and see if you still want to pay $100+ for something that won't last a summer, and is no better for your feet than the $15 imports that don't have the fancy logo (that were probably made in the same country, if not factory).
But that's another rant.
I doubt that there is anything happening on their urban homestead than hasn't been happening in gardens and yards in cities since the '30's reminded the world they could go hungry even in civilized countries, but even if there is, it doesn't justify the copyright.
They didn't invent the phrase or the concept, by at least 30 years. Whether they use the club or not, it has no basis to legitimize it. Like patenting life forms, it should not be deemed legitimate.
Just my two cents worth

The Latest Seed List

2011-01-25T14:08:00.003-07:00

I finally have a link to the 2010 FALL SEED LIST . The list has been up for about two weeks, but I forgot to add the link here. Please check through it, and ask for what tickles your fancy.
I will try to update and add to this blog on a more regular basis, and offer what I can for information about what strikes me as necessary through the season. If you have questions, or suggestions for topics to be covered, drop me a line, and I will see if I can offer any constructive input.
I hope you will all have a great 2011 gardening year.
Cheers
Dan

Another new spud bed

2010-06-01T01:35:00.002-06:00

This is just to show you how quick and easy it can be to establish a new bed. In this case, it will be used this year to grow potatoes, although you could do the same thing without the potatoes, just to establish a bed for use next year, with a minimum of labour.

This is what I started with. I didn't even bother to mow the grass before starting.

Cardboard installed, first loads of mulch in place, and seed potatoes nested in the mulch. My "guard cat" is a paranoid wuss.

And here is the finished bed, just waiting for the potatoes to show up. Total time between the first photo and the last one is one hour, twenty five minutes, and that includes the time to mow the grass for the mulch.

When the potato plants start flowering, probably early August, I will add another heavy coat of mulch around the base of the plants, perhaps twice in a two week period. The plants tend to put out most of the tubers almost on the surface of the mulch then, and they will sunburn if they don't receive another blanket of mulch, just as they would if you didn't hill them. Come harvest time in the fall, I won't need a shovel, as the tubers will almost all be above the cardboard. And since they are totally surrounded with green mulch, there should be no scab on any of them. I will try to remember to post update photos of the progress of this new bed.

Next spring, the soil here should be much easier to dig, than it would be right now, and it will have a fairly high humus content due to the amount of broken down weed roots and mulch. Most of the cardboard will literally dissolve over the summer and winter. I will also expect a fairly high worm population when I do turn the soil.

Cheers

Dan

I'm late again

2010-05-30T02:27:00.006-06:00

It has taken me a bit longer to get back here to post than I had intended. I am slowly getting caught up with bed prepping, and lost some ground with my transplants.

I waited ten days after the latest frost date I've seen here, before I started planting out the beans and corn that I had prestarted. I guess I should have waited a few more days, because we had a very light frost four days later, and I lost over half of the beans I had planted out. The corn fared much better, with only 4 or 5 plants out of about 700 being affected at all by the frost. I also lost a good percentage of my squash plants in my hoop houses, as I had no heater going (there was no frost warning). Surprisingly, I only lost two melon plants. I would have thought they would be even more susceptible to frost than the squash, but apparently not.

Any varieties I lost that I have enough seed for to plant out now, and still have some left for another try next spring, I will try direct seeding, and hope to get enough to save seed from. The beans that I can't replant, I will direct seed some other variety as a replacement = I like to see the teepees filled out.

Now, how to "cheat" on making new garden beds.
I started by tearing the turf out along the border of the new bed section I wanted to create, and throwing the beaten out turf on top of the bed I was making. It looks like I have done more digging than is actually the case, as I beat the soil out of the roots, to help kill the weeds and break them down a bit quicker. I have actually only dug out about an 8" (20 cm) border around the bed.

Then I covered the bed with a couple of layers of cardboard. If you don't have cardboard, newspaper will do, but you will have to put it on at least 5 pages thick, and heavier would be better. Don't use glossy colour magazine pages, as the inks and dyes often have heavy metals in them, and you don't want to incorporate them into your soil.

Since this bed is going to have a melon in it for this year, I only manured the hole the hill is going to be located in. Some of the soil that is on the cardboard will be pulled up around the base of the melon plant when I transplant it.

Then, to make it a little less ugly for the summer, and to help break down the turf under the cardboard, I buried the cardboard in mulch. This mulch happens to be recycled from the top of another bed. Make your mulch layer at least 3" (8 cm) thick, heavier than that if you have mulch to do it with. Almost anything organic will do for this, as you can scrape it away later, if you don't want to add it to your soil.

The way I have done this is a bit more labour intensive than it has to be, but that is a matter of personal choice. The cardboard could have been laid directly on the sod, without digging the border, and just the hole for the melon dug out and manured, and the mulch added. I wanted the bed to already have an established border when I dig it out this fall or next spring.

There are other ways of creating new beds without having to fight the turf while it is still alive. Probably the best known of these, is "lasagna gardening" http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

I'll post a couple of photos next time, making a new bed without digging the border first. It is worth noting that you can do this on areas you don't intend to plant this year, and even leave it to be done until early in the fall if you don't have the time to spare now. Of course, the longer you have for the cardboard and mulch to kill and break down the turf, the easier it will be to turn the soil next spring.

Until next time, have fun in the dirt.

Cheers
Dan

Catching up

2010-04-28T01:42:00.007-06:00

I'm not sure yet just how this years garden is going to do. I think I am going to be caught up with the bed preparations by the time things are supposed to be hitting the ground, but that could just be me being delusional.

I've cut way back on the tomatoes this year = Less than 40 varieties, with the total number of plants undecided yet, but probably 150 to 200, way down from the 500+ of the year before last.

As I did last year, I will be growing out 45 varieties of beans, only 8 of which are bush type, so there will be a whack of teepees in the garden again. They will be interspersed with 11 varieties of melons, 9 different winter squashes, 7 pea varieties, and 8 unique corns, most of which are flour or flint types, with first nation origins.

Something that many of you may not know, is that flint/flour corns can be eaten as a sweet corn, if you harvest while they are still in the milky stage, before the kernels change to their final colour. Some varieties are less flavorful then than sweet corns. Some rival the best sweet corns, with the bonus of having more than just sweet for taste.
Some of the corns I am trialing this year are sweet corns, and I am looking forward to seeing how well they do here, with our hot days and cool nights trying to lengthen their DTM.

I'll also have onions planted in their own bed, as well as stuck in here and there throughout the garden beds = the only interplanting that will occur this year. There should be a block of carrots, and another of beets, and a half dozen varieties of peppers, both hot and sweet (provided they germinate for me), a half dozen beds of potatoes that were planted late October last year, and enough tobacco plants to last me for the year (23 varieties).

Last years experiment with interplanting everything proved to me that it is possible to do without loss of production in anything. It also proved to me that it is only really doable if you have a smaller garden than I have, as the maintenance on the interplanting adds a bit more time and work.

If you don't keep on top of them, the pole beans will strangle the tomatoes, the squash will climb the pole beans, and the melons will hide under the tomatoes and pole beans, and try to climb the corn. Squash runners will need tucking back into the beds about every second day, or they will take over the pathways. I did learn how to keep the squash and melons from getting too aggressive, but I'll save that for another post, when I can take photos to illustrate.

I've been in the garden until dark every day the weather has let me play in the dirt. Still lots of weeds to get out of the beds before I can transplant, and still lots of manure to dig in for this years feed for the plants. Another 6 or 8 beds to turn from turf into garden, and I'll probably "cheat" a little on how I do that, but I'll leave the explanation for that process for the next post.

Cheers
Dan

Seed list is finally ready

2010-02-08T23:03:00.003-07:00

We have had a more than eventful winter so far, but we finally have the seed list pulled together. There are offerings of beans, corn, peas, melons, squash, tobacco, and tomatoes, with links to the albums for each at the end of their respective listings. http://tinyurl.com/ygnh8v9
I'm afraid you will have to put up with me (Grunt) running the blog for now, as Grungy is busy battling cancer, and unable to post. I think we will be a bit more active here now, than we have been in the past couple of months.
for now, I will say, check out the seed list(s), and see what strikes your fancy. Make up your list of wants, and email us at grungysgarden@gmail.com and include your address. I will be starting to ship out seeds this week, but there are no guarantees as to how soon I will get your order out, although I will be as quick as I can.
Start doing now (if you can) any of the things needed to get your garden ready to go. If your soil isn't frozen solid, start chinking out weeds or digging in compost or manure. If it is frozen, and you can find your beds, start putting the compost and manure in place to be dug in when you can. It gets you outdoors and into the fresh air, and cuts down on what has to be done when everything needs to be done at once.
Wishing you all a great gardening year.
Dan

2009-11-21T01:11:00.003-07:00

Just a brief assurance that the blog has not been abandoned. We are experiencing an open fall, with weather that, most days, allows me to work in the garden. I am taking advantage of that, so the indoor work (computers, database, etc.) gets neglected. We had a mixed year for weather, with a few things doing exceptionally well, a few things doing atrociously, and most things just doing okay, but very late maturing.
Photos of "other than tomato" grow outs can be seen at http://www.picasaweb.google.com/danvaltrial
Some will have seed available later, some may not due to insufficient return. some of the peas and beans we only had 3 or 4 seeds to start with, and they will have to be regrown to increase, so may not be available. This years seed list will be posted here, when ready, but that may be a little while yet. As long as the weather lets me be outside, the indoor work is going to be deferred. Who knows, I may even get caught up out there.

"Just a little busy right now"

2009-05-06T03:16:00.001-06:00

Just a little booster to let everyone know that the blog has not been abandoned, just set aside until we can catch our breathes again.
We have about 900 tomato seedlings in the hoop houses now, with 285 having already gone out the door to one of the local nurseries. We also have a few peppers and eggplants keeping the tomatoes company, 20 varieties of squash and 20 of melons that have just poked their heads up, and over half of the 55 bean varieties sitting in their paper pots, getting ready to germinate. 23 varieties of peas have already been prestarted and planted out. along with a handful of chard, lettuce and carrots.
The first batch of prestarted corn goes out tomorrow, or the next day that is good enough to get into the garden. Onions and a small patch of carrots have already been planted, and the onions are starting to emerge.
A few new beds have been dug, but there are still more than 200' of beds to be de-turfed and readied for planting, and another 600 drip emitters to be installed. The pathway drip system has to be assembled and installed, and another 1500 or so emitters fitted to those lines. All of the established beds, about 1100', have to be weeded and prepped for planting, and another 40 poles for bean teepees strung and erected.
The layout of this years garden has been committed to paper, and already altered on the ground. It should be interesting to see, as we are inter-planting everything throughout the rows, and trying a few vegetables that are new to us (collards and Couves Tronchuda, or Portuguese Cabbage) and a fairly fleshy leafed kale variety. Onions, beets, carrots, chard, and what ever else crosses our minds will get stuck in here and there throughout the garden rows, and maybe given a separate spot just for the heck of it. We might be pushing the envelope a bit with some of what we are trying, but it should all work, and will hopefully prove that you have room for more than you think, even in a fairly small garden.
There will be photos posted, as there are developments that warrant them, so stay tuned. First photos will likely come towards the end of May, if all goes anywhere near according to plan.
Have a great gardening year, and above all, enjoy it!!
Dan

Continuing the planting and germination

2009-03-16T23:41:00.003-06:00

Today was the first day at planting tomatoes. These will become the early workhorses in the garden. With a little bit of luck we should be eating tomatoes by mid-July or earlier. The lettuce, collards, carrots are up and doing well. The hot peppers are continuing to poke their propeller heads through the soil. Now if we could just get more sunny days and a lot less clouds, everything would be hunky dory.

In about 10 days time the first batch of tomatoes will be transplanted into individual pots, and then as the first germination chamber empties, we will begin planting the main bulk of the tomato varieties.

Germination Success

2009-03-02T21:39:00.004-07:00

Remember when I told you, we were doing some experiments with our germination chambers in the entry "A New Year Begins", well yesterday the lettuce poked up. Today it was followed by collards and one single chard. The germination chamber has been sitting out on our deck, with only 2 - 100 watt bulbs in the bottom and an old blanket over night over the top. The night time temperatures have been getting down to minus 6C, but we are getting about 20C rise inside the chamber.
Am I happy and excited or what!!!

Plant Labels

2009-03-02T21:25:00.002-07:00

Have you ever wished for a cheap sturdy plant label? Look no farther than you closest window. Okay maybe not your window, but if you have a source of old Venetian window blinds, you have an very good source of labels. First remove the strings that allowed you to raise and lower the blind slats. Once you have removed them and have the slats themselves free, you can cut them into lengths of whatever size you wish. We cut most of our every 6". Grunt stacks them up about an inch high and runs them through the bandsaw. But they can be cut with scissors. Once you have the label the length you would like you can turn it into a hanging label by using a hole punch. (And yes a single paper punch will make a hole in them.) Run heavy cord, twine or twist tie material to form the hanger. You can use either a marking pen or pencil to write on the surface. If using a pencil, I would choose either a carpenter's pencil or a primary pencil as they have a wider lead. At the end of the season you can use an eraser for pencil writing or tape over the writing using either duct tape or masking tape. In fact if you go to your local thrift shop or dumpster dive, or are lucky enough to live near one of the hardwares that custom make the blinds to width, you should find a cheap enough source that you would not have to salvage the old ties.
Personally I figure that I should wear out the old stuff first.

A New Year Begins

2009-02-24T09:20:00.004-07:00

A new year begins in Grunt and Grungy's garden.
The soil and the trays are ready and this afternoon, I will be planting hot peppers, eggplants, and Cape Gooseberries in one tray (to be transplanted later, once they are up and have their true leaves). In another in cut off milk jugs, I will plant some early lettuce and collards. (Craving greens about now as there is still about 16 inches of snow on the ground.) And in the third tray we are doing an experiment with some corn and beans to see how long we can hold them in tall paper pots before their root penetrate the sides and try and grow together into a solid mat that is difficult if not impossible to separate.

We want to give the corn and beans an early jump start plus in our soil there is small threadlike white worms, that if the soil temperature is not just right, will burrow into the seed and eat the embryo.

Since there will be a fourth tray in the germination chamber, we will have to decide what else we want to plant, either for doing experiments on, or getting an early start. I will let you know what we have decided tomorrow.
Is any one else out there getting itchy fingers to start planting something? Please let us know either here under comments or at grungysgarden@gmail.com. Would love to hear what you are growing and how it is doing. Happy Garden!

Another way of Saving Brassica seeds

2009-02-20T11:48:00.002-07:00

Todays method is brought you by Frank Van Keirsbilck who is Orflo on Homegrown Goodness.
Thank you Frank.

Growing seeds from all sorts of brassicas, especially cabbages is something that seems to be frightening lots of people. But, this is really not necessary, if you stick to some rules, it's in fact easy to grow out seeds (if you can spare the place , of course).

Most brassicas are biennal, so this means they need two years to form seeds, there are however some noticeable exceptions: broccolis or even early cauliflowers,, rocket or aragula and a few others grow seed in one year time, some others are even triennal or perennial.

The first thing to do is to find out what variety you have (this is mostly easy, as it's written on the seed packet), and what species this variety belongs to.

The most common grown species are brassica juncea(mustard and others), brassica napus (rutabaga, rapeand others), brassica oleracea (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, kales, collards, kohlrabi), brassica rapa (turnip, browwoli raap, chinese cabbage,..), crambe maritima (sea kale), eruca sativa (rocket or aragula), raphanus sativus (radish)). These species will never cross with each other, but will cross with other varieties within the species. Thus, a broccoli will not cross with a chinese cabbage or a rutabaga, for instance, but it will cross with Brussels sprouts or collards!

So it's perfectly possible to grow out one variety of each species in order to save seeds from these.

Another thing that's really important is that brassicas are outbreeders, meaning, if you have only one lonely cauliflower that's flowering, it won't set any seeds (again, there are some lesser-grown exceptions). Two plants work, but are just a very small genetic base for seed production, so grow out at least 10 plants of each variety, more is better (10 is really an absolute minimum)

So, how to start? Just start sowing seeds from the brassicas as you would do normally, plant them out and watch them grow. Whenever winter arrives (I'm talking about the most common biennal brassicas here), make a selection: take the best plants only (and keep them apart) for seed production, and eat the smaller or different shaped ones. This is important, it's a way to select better and better plants (and seeds) for the future. Have a good look at the plants, for instance:is the variety you want seeds from originally round, and are there some flatter-shaped ones in it? Select the round ones, then, unless you want to create a 'new' flatter variety (then you should select the flat-shaped ones, off course). Depending on the climate you have, and on the cold-resistance of the brassica varieties, take them to a conservation room, or leave them in the garden. Don't eat anything from the selected plants, this is better. Take a second look after the winter: did they survive easily, did they get many rotten leaves or sicknesses,... Take, again, the good-looking healthy ones and keep these, plant them out in spring if you had to place these inside. And make sure this is the only variety within the species you will re-grow... or isolate them, as described further.

Most brassicas flower very easily , one noticeable exception is cauliflower, which needs to be cut with a knife in the middle of the plants, in a sort of X-shape. After flowering and, of course pollination by insects, seeds start to form, first on the low side of the plants, and slowly this formation will creep up to the top . Build a sturdy support around the plants, the stems loaded with seeds can fall over and you could lose a lot. It takes quite a long time for seeds to start really ripening off, I never noted it exactly, but it 's at least two months in my climate. Whenever the pods start changing colour, from green to mostly brown , and start to look a bit brittle, it's time for some action. Depending on the varieties and species, pods can suddenly burst open and shatter some seeds, so when you feel they are completely dry, take them and put them in some sort of bag. Be careful , at this ripening stage, birds can cause a lot of damage, so, if necessary, cover the plants with some sort of netting. Another cause of damage are all sorts of aphids, these can easily be taken off.

It's best to leave the pods to ripen completely on the plants, brassica seeds usually don't develop further when the stems have been cut away from the plants .

The seeds, if kept and a dry and dark room, can be used for a long time, some 4-5 years, so you can build in a sort of yearly seed-growing rotation if you want to keep on sowing different varieties from your own seeds.

Off course, there are also methods for growing out two or even three brassica varieties of the same species in one year: build some isolation cages over the brassicas, each variety gets one isolation cage, let's suppose you want to grow out three brassica oleracea varietes: red cabbage, a kale variety and Brussels sprouts. So, when you have placed the cages over the selected varieties (before flowering, off course), open up on day one the cage of the red cabbage, and keep the other two closed, on day two open up the kale cage, and keept the other ones closed, and so on... This will reduce the amount of seeds somewhat, but brassicas are mostly very prolific seed producers, a harvest of one pound of seeds from 10 plants isn't exceptional, although this depends a bit on the variety.

Another method for growing out two or more seed-brassicas is having a minimum distance between the varieties. There's lots of discussion about this one, some yell out it has to be 2 miles, at least, others speak of less than half a mile. I'm pretty sure all these persons are right... So, where do all these differences come from? First of all, insect varieties, some have a wider range than others, European honey bees for example go as far as 5 miles to pollinate (this is just an indication, because these bees aren't the main pollinators for brassicas), other hover flies or mason bees or... fly only a few hundred yards away from their homes. So, that's the first difficulty, second is a sort of physical barrier: if two brassica varieties are separated from each other with a large field of wild flowers, a big hedge, a house, ... they could perfectly well produce 'true ' seeds , even if they are only 100 foot from each other! You have to search and experiment a bit...every place has its own specific circumstances, what works in one place, could fail in another...

Some brassica varieties (I'm thinking especially about mustards and Chinese cabbages here, but there are some others) have a tendency to bolt too early, without having formed a true crop. Don't use these for seed-saving, you will only select on this early-bolting characteristic, and that's really not a good thing to do, again, follow the rule: take the best varieties....

If you want to go a bit further, you could try and start creating your own brassica variety. This is infact also easily done, but it takes time. I'll illustrate this with an example:

two brassica oleracea varieties: you have a red cabbage and a savoy cabbage, and you want to create a red cabbage with the familiar curly leaves of the savoy cabbage... grow out a line of each of these two varieties, right next to each other , and select only one plant (the best looking and healthiest, off course) from each of these two varieties. So now you have two plants that are quite close to each other, so they surely will cross-pollinate. That's the first step, the second step is sowing out the produced seeds the next year, and select again on the plants you have grown out, do this for some years, and you might end up with the curly red cabbage...But this could take some patience....

2009-02-18T10:26:00.004-07:00

This how to save seed from brassicas, brought to you by Tim Peters on Homegrown Goodness.

Brassica's fall into 2 major groups for seedsavers, annuals and biennials. these 2 groups each need a different approach to seedsaving.

Annual brassica
these are those that if sown January (midwinter) onwards until late spring may go to seed. Many mustards, ch. cabbages, many broccoli, early cauliflower, oriental turnips, are in this class.

Biennials (or functionally biennial)
These are cabbages, brussel sprouts, kolhrabi, most cauliflower esp. the later ones, rutabaga, most turnips from Europe... etc. These for the most part need to be planted early enough so that when the cool and shortest days of fall start to lengthen again the flowering mechanisms are triggered. There is a fine line sometimes between being big enough and to big ...esp. if you are leaving them to the rigors of the outdoors

Since brassica are a dry seed, it is best if they mature in dry weather. From the flower bud to dry seed is anywhere from 40-60 days. Frost can kill the developing embryo in most varieties so this needs to be a frostfree time (mustards excepted). Keep this in mind and plant early enough to accomplish a warm weather flowering and a dry weather maturing. this means getting to know your varieties, and your climate. If you can not get a dry weather maturity, harvest when the pods yellow and let dry down inside... they can be hung from rafters, etc.
When the pods are dry the seed can be extracted by vigorously moving the stalks in a beating motion from side to side in a 35 gallon plastic garbage can. The material dumped onto sifting screens, and finally fan winnowed in a wheelbarrow (see my wheat threshing/seedcleaning techniques). ...Air speed on the fan will be lower than used for wheat, ...you drop the seed/trash mix and move your drop to where the seed is going into the barrow, and the trash is going over the lip onto the tarp spread under the barrow (if you have a mishap you can pick up trash and seed and re-clean). For large quantity of threshing proceed as for my wheat threshing techniques.
feel free to contact me at any time at atimberline@yahoo.com
Tim Peters

Planting Time - Or starting your transplants

2009-02-17T14:31:00.007-07:00

Now is the time we start thinking of starting the seeds of our vegetables and fruit that will need transplanting. So today I will be covering our germination chamber. It was made from some 1/4" plywood, bubble wrap, staples, wood screws and a small amount of lumber,(a couple of 1"x2" or a 1"x4" ripped in half, and a 1"x8" cut into 1 inch strips (or any 1" thick lumber that can be cut into material for slats)). Plus a few electrical pieces we will discuss later. You can see the construction details at http://picasaweb.google.ca/TVgrunt/2008SEEDSTARTING
Click on the photos for a larger photo.
Remember that these particular starting chambers were designed to accommodate the materials on hand, the size of the trays we were going to use, and the space that they had to fit into. You can use any dimensions that work for you, but plan them out before you start cutting the materials
First we built an open topped box out of the plywood and 4 pieces of the lumber cut to 1" x 1" x 18" long. Cut the sheet of plywood into 2' x4' pieces and then cut one of these pieces in half to make 2 - 2'x2' (end pieces.) The other 3 are the bottom and 2 sides. The lumber pieces are attached vertically to the end plywood piece with wood screws making sure that the bottoms of the end pieces and the plywood is flush. Attach the sides to the ends, by using wood screws to hold the long plywood pieces to the end pieces, again making sure that the bottoms of the 1"x1" and the plywood are flush. Measure the distance between the upright 1x1"s (on the ends it should be somewhere between 20" and 21" and on the sides the distance should be somewhere between 44" and 45"). You will need to cut 4 more pieces of 1"x1" for each of the lengths that you have measured. Insert one piece the right length between each of the upright 1"x1", flush with the bottom of you open rectangle. Screw these piece to the plywood. When joining I would suggest a screw every 6 inches a long the length.

Turn your open rectangle upside down, and attach the 3rd sheet of plywood to all 4 pieces of 1"x1" supports. This will give you an open box that is 2'x4'x2'high. Turn the box over so the open top is up. Now take the extra 1"x1" that you cut and attach them flush with the tops of the upright 1"x1". Done correctly you will have a lip that is about 4" from the top of your box. This will become the support for your slatted inserts.

Making the inserts. Measure the internal dimensions of your box. Set 4 strips aside for rails. Cut the rest of your 1" strips crosswise, to the length of the width of the interior of your box - 1/2" (this will allow you to lift the inserts out easily) . Take four pieces that you have set aside for rails and cut them to a length that is 1/2 the length of your inside measurement of your box minus 1/2" (again for ease of removal) and lay them parallel to each other, at a distance that the rest will reach across and end up flush with the outside edges of the rails. Attach each slat with a screw at each end. You will leave a slat's width between each slat to allow the heat to rise up into the upper chamber. Make sure that you embed the screws tightly. I would use 1 1/4" wood screws here.

Tomorrow, we will continue making our germination chamber.

Seed Starting Tips #6 - Or when to start your transplants

2009-02-15T08:55:00.003-07:00

One should start the vegetables that have a longer or warmer soil requirement ahead of time, but the question keeps coming up - when do I plant them. Below is just a general rule of thumb, based on your last spring frost date.

Tomatoes - 6 to 8 weeks
Cabbages - 10 to 12 weeks (make sure you have a deep enough pot for the roots)
Onions - 6 to 10 weeks
Eggplants 10 to 12 weeks
Peppers 10 to 12 weeks
Corn 2 to 3 weeks (again a deep pot - at least 6 inches)
Beans 1 to 3 weeks (again a deep pot - at least 6 inches)
Squash 2-3 weeks ( use a paper pot so the roots are not disturb while transplanting)
Melons 2-3 weeks ( again use a paper pot to prevent disturbing the roots)

Soil Preparation - Part 7 (or Gardening Tools Part 4)

2009-02-15T07:52:00.003-07:00

It was brought to my attention, that I missed an important tool. And it is important. So for #10 ---
10. A good garden rake. While working in the garden I use the straight headed rake with short (about 2" long), slightly curved teeth that is roughly16" wide. It allows the gardener to rake the soil smooth and level, or if need be turn it over so the teeth point upwards, and push dirt around for small hilling jobs.

Later on, in this blog, I will continue discussing more tools and accessories that I have or would love to have to make gardening that much more enjoyable, but these first 10 I would consider the basic gardening kit.

Once you soil has been turned, amended with the first basic amendments, I would suggest that you have your soil checked for pH and low or missing elements. There are soil testing labs which will do either a minor or major analysis and most will give you recommendations on what is lacking and what you will have to add. There are organic (my preference) or chemical additives that you can use to bring up the elements (both trace and major) up to ideal. I would repeat testing every 5 years or so just to make sure that everything is at an ideal range.

To help keep your garden up to snuff, remember to mulch everything well with lawn clippings, leaves, and yes pulled weeds that are tossed on top of the mulch so that their roots dry out and they die. The plants will love you as it provides shade on their roots in the heat of the summer, and between natural breakdown of plant material and worm activity you are providing nutrients and humus to your soil. Also with a good mulch cap, it will help hold in moisture, and the weeds are kept down. (This is an added bonus for those gardeners of us who really don't care for weeding.) In the fall turn all your mulch under, so that it can continue breaking down and feeding the worms overwinter. To get a jump on the following spring, put a new layer of mulch on your garden as it will help prevent your soil from freezing and prolong your worm activity. Come early spring take your rake, and pull the new mulch back to allow the soil to warm up. After you plant or transplant you can pull the mulch back around the seedlings and plants, and have a jump on weed prevention. We mulch every chance we get, as the old mulch breaks down from underneath, new mulch is added to the top. When we can achieve it we have a mulch cap that can be 4" deep.

One of the frequent questions we are asked is "Doesn't that add more weed seeds to your garden?" The very short answer is - Yes, but if you mulch every year and prevent them from growing, it doesn't make a difference. Eventually the seeds die and add to the humus content and if the weeds are mulched they can't grow and take over the garden. I would call this a win-win solution.

Soil Preparation - Part 6 (or Gardening Tools Part 3)

2009-02-12T07:37:00.006-07:00

I guess I should have modified the last couple of posts in this section because they were nothing but notes on garden tools. However, a good set of tools is required for soil preparation and I could not think of a better time to cover the basics.
Just a couple more items that I find handy and then I promise I will get back to dealing with the soil preparation itself.
9. a multi marking dibble stick. Basically this is a make it yourself tool. You will need a couple of 1" X 2" boards 2' to 3' long, some 3/8" doweling, a drill with a 3/8" bit, a saw to cut the dowelling in 2 inch pieces, some wood glue and 3 or 4 - 1 1/4" wood screws. Take one of you boards and mark it at 1" intervals, then draw a center line along the long way of the board. You should have a series of crosses all the way along the board (like ++++). On each cross, drill a 3/8" hole. Now take your dowelling and cut it into 2" pieces. Lay you drilled board on a solid flat surface, and then, one at a time, wipe a little glue around one end of your dowel, and insert it into a hole in the board, pushing it firmly enough that it ended up flush with the back of the board. Once you have filled each of the holes with a dowel "tooth", turn you board on it's side over night to let the glue dry well. Looking down at while it is on it's side it should look like a short toothed comb. Next morning, put the toothed board on top of the second board and using wood screws, firmly attach it together. The second board acts as a stopper to prevent the dowel from pushing upwards and out of the top of your dibble stick. The multidibble stick can then be used in the garden to mark where your seeds go, as well as make a hole to plant the seed into.

Meanwhile back at soil preparation. The heaviest part of the work is behind you now, if you have your long rows of bare, turned earth, with the amendments added.
Your back is aching, your hands are blistered, and by now you are wondering if it is all worth while. But your transplants are up and healthy and looking for a new home where their roots can roam. Now is definitely time to start "hardening" them off. For the first couple of days, bring them outside after 3pm and allow them a couple of hours of daylight when it is warmest. Then for another 2-3 days bring them out in the morning, but provide them light shade from 11 AM-3 as they are not quite use to full sunlight and you want avoid sunscalding. After 5 or 6 days they can remain outside all day. But you have to make sure to keep them moist as they will be transpiring very heavily. After a week to ten days they are ready to transplant into your new beautiful garden.
While you are waiting for transplanting, you can now plant the rest of your garden according to the seed requirements. Beans, carrots, beets can be directly seed, into the soil, using your multdibble stick. We put a couple of carrot seeds into each hole. Beets are planted 1 per hole. Peas are every other hole. Beans go into every 3rd or 4th hole. Once the seed is dropped into the holes, turn your dribble stick over and gently scrape the dirt back and forth over the holes to fill with soil and very lightly tamp the surface once to settle the soil around the seed. After you get finished planting the seeds, use a watering can, or your drip hose or even a sprinkler hose set on gentle spray, to throughly water the ground to a depth of at least 3 inches to give the seed enough moisture to start growing.

Tomorrow we will deal with transplanting your seedlings.

Seed Starting Tips #5 - Fighting damp off and other soil diseases

2009-02-10T08:38:00.004-07:00

A couple of tips for helping to prevent damp off in your starting trays.

The first is if you haven't planted yet. 24-48 hours before you intend to plant you starter tray, make up a solution of 1 TBSP hydrogen peroxide (get it at the drug store) to 1 quart of water and drench you soil. Let it drain well and discard the excess water.

The second tip is for after your seedling start emerging. Get yourself a container of Thyme. Take a enamel or glass pot and a couple of quarts of water. Bring the water to a boil. Toss in a handful of dried thyme, turn off the heat, cover and let it steep until the water cools to room temperature. Strain out the the thyme leaves and use the resulting thyme tea to water your seedling. Thymol (the active ingredient in thyme tea is a mild antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal ingredient) and an ounce of prevent = a pound of cure.

Soil Preparation - Part 5

2009-02-10T07:53:00.004-07:00

Tools continued:
7. Hoses - needed to move water first from your source and secondly to water you plants. Make sure you have a good quality hose that is long enough to reach all of your garden area. If you can afford it, snap off/snap on couplings come in real handy.
8. Watering hoses - Very few plants really like getting their heads wet and so my advice is to consider drip irrigation. It will reduce a lot of disease problems and it doesn't have to be expensive. Find a couple of old garden hoses that shall we say are past their better days and leak some. Take the leakest 1 and cut it into 1" - 1 2/2" (these become the dripper end caps of you emitters and prevent the water washing out the soil around you plants root ball), and next purchase (this is the most expensive part) a couple of hundred feet of micro tubing (1/8" diameter or smaller, some are actually sold as gallons per hour and if you have this type I would suggest using the 2 gallon rather than the 1 gallon type as it doesn't plug up as easy), plus an end cap for you better hose. Cut the microtubing at a 45 degree angle into pieces approximately 8"- 1' long. Make your self an awl out a regular 2 1/2" nail driven through a small piece of wood (you can shape it fit your hand comfortably) and puncture a piece of the dripper end cap in the center. Take care not to push the awl all the way through the piece of hose, only one side so that the microtubing end is inside the cap. As you with draw the awl, force one of the precut pieces of microtubing into the opening. The hose should shrink back around the microtubing and form a tight fit. Do this for all the pieces you have cut into sections. Now take the second hose and pierce it at roughly 8" or 9" intervals, (again only through one side and not right out the other side of the hose) . As you make the holes, insert a capped piece of microtubing in each one. When you get done you will have a hose that you can lay along the base of you row and water the plants from the bottom. Since we use raised beds we place one of these hoses along the base of the plants when we transplant in the spring, it stays there all summer and then we raise it off the ground when we turn the garden in the fall. If you aren't set up the way we are, just roll it up in the fall and lay it back out in the spring. An even cheaper way of doing a large area is to use 3/4" plastic piping that you can purchase in 100 foot rolls (or longer) and cut to length.

We will continue with tools and accessories tomorrow.

Soil Preparation - Part 4

2009-02-09T07:44:00.004-07:00

Now we will resume our regular programming. Today's topic is about some of the tools you will need and maybe a few extras that you will definitely like to add to your collection. For those of you who are taller you may want the longer straight handles on your tools. However if you are short like me, I find the D-handles much easier to work with. The only exception to the above suggestions are the Spading fork and Border shovels and there even you taller people might like the D-handle as it is easy to reef on the tool.

1. Spading or Digging Fork - This fork has 4 prongs, that are roughly 1/2" - 3/4" wide by 1/4"- 3/8" thick and roughly 8-10" long. In my opinion the thicker and longer the prongs, the better. Also make sure that you get one with a sturdy handle (I prefer a metal one) that is topped with a D. This is one of the two "work horses" use around our place. I use it to bust up new soil, and turn the beds spring (lightly) and fall (deep turning working the mulch into the soil for more humus). It is also very good for lifting out plants after you have sliced around them with a shovel or spade.

2. Border shovel - This is useful for cutting tough turf, and other odd jobs such breaking up matted compost and manure. I cannot stress enough to get your tools with the best metal and handles you can afford. Especially if most of your gardening will be done by hand or you are doing large areas. It will pay for itself in the long run, especially if you take care of them properly.

3. Digging Spade - This is another of the garden "work horses". As the name implies, it is used to dig in your garden. Especially if you are doing a deep or double digging job. You will find it handy when loading or unload you compost or manure to move it to where it will do the most good.

4.Hoes - For those of you who do not used raised bed gardening, a good hoe is essential. My personal preference is a Draw Hoe, as it can be used for multi tasks. Weeding, hilling, soil movement and chopping, all come to mind as I picture this variety of hoe in action.

5. For those of you who used the raised bed method of gardening, I would suggest a Hand Mattock, with the hoe blade on one side and cultivator on the other. (By now you probably have gathered that raised beds are usually more hands on, with out the massive back aches of a flat garden, but we won't go in to the pros and cons of the two types of gardens here at this time.)

6. A bale of binder twine or heavy twine of some type. This will be used in a variety of places.
Marking straight rows. (Cut the twine to the length of your rows plus a foot. Tie a sharpened stake at each end and then shove one end at the beginning of your row, walk out to the end of your row. Wrap excess string around second stake and embed. Take you hoe or a marking stick and slide it along the taunt string and voila - a straight row is marked.)
Tying up plants or securing them to supports.
Using as supports for bean poles - One center pole with strings run down from the top and spaced 18" to 3' in diameter and pegged at that distance, will make a lovely bean pole teepee.
Making bundles of plant material easy to transport to compost bins.
I am sure once you put your mind to it you can find a hundred and one things to do with twine. (And if you do please either leave a comment or contact me at grungysgarden@gmail.com as I would love to do a blog post of what can be done with twine later on this summer. Thank you in advance.)

This post is getting long and I will continue it tomorrow under Soil Preparation - Part 5.

Tips From Fellow Gardeners #4

2009-02-08T06:38:00.004-07:00

We interrupt our regular programming to bring a tip from a fellow gardener, Mike Hannon, who you can visit at:

http://subsistencepatternfoodgarden.blogspot.com/

Growing peppers in a northern garden

My wife and I always have luck growing pepper plants even though our springs are cold, and summers can be hot and dry. Neither of which is conducive to growing peppers as they prefer a warm humid environment. Here are a few tips for growing peppers in a northern garden.

Peppers like acidic soil much the same as tomatoes and lightly limed soil with adequate moisture and a pH around 6.0 - 6.5 will help prevent blossom end rot. We don't use lime but instead are always incorporating finely crushed egg shell powder into our compost since we have chickens. After digging moderate amounts of compost into the soil the peppers are planted deeply, all the way up to their first set of leaves, since peppers are shallow rooted and sensitive to moisture fluctuations. They are set about 15 - 18 inches apart well after the last frost date when the soil has warmed and before the first flowers develop. You want the peppers leaves to just touch when fully grown. We find that those little cages that don't really work for tomatoes are perfect for holding peppers and eggplants.

The peppers are mulched with grass or straw around mid June when the soil has warmed. If using straw we are careful to cover the straw with a thin layer of dirt as it can burn the leaves when sunlight reflects off of it. Peppers need humidity, so keeping the mulch damp is important, we use an overhead water system for the our gardens but always walk the garden and deep water everything a couple times a week during the hottest part of summer. Dark colored rocks and bricks placed around the peppers absorb heat from the sun and help to keep plants warm at night and extend the growing season. We use red bricks from an old walkway, but have noticed that dark rocks seem to hold the heat longer.

When the peppers are off to a good start we give them a little fertilizer in the way of compost tea 2 or 3 times during the summer. Be careful not to go overboard on the plant food though as it stimulates vegetative growth and excessive growth can delay fruit production.

Peppers are picked as soon as they are ready so that the plant can put it's energy into growing the rest of the fruit. Although some of ours do not fully ripen on the plant most will change color if stored in a warm, dry, shady area. One can also pull the whole plant and hang it upside down until the fruit is needed. You may wish to trim all the leaves off first as they will fall off a couple days after the plants are suspended.

Another trick to make peppers last into winter is to carefully pot the ones with the most fruit up and bring them into a warm environment. We were able to pick peppers all they way until Christmas this last year using this method. Better yet, plant a few of the them in a pot in the first place and then all you have to do is move them in the fall. Remember, plants confined in containers will need to be watered daily.We avoid this by burying the entire pot in the ground and mulching. All peppers are a perennials and can be overwintered, most will stop growing in the winter and lose most of their leaves, but will leaf back out in spring.

While realizing everyones local and growing conditions differ, we hope this article will be of some benefit.

Soil Preparation - Part 3

2009-02-07T05:53:00.006-07:00

Still getting short of time digging that garden? Another quick and easy procedure is for your melons and squash. It is very similar to planting your potatoes, but slightly more work.

First locate where you would like your squash/melons to go. You should allow at least 8 feet for vining varieties and 3 feet for bush types, between each "hill"or section. Take your spade or shovel and slice and cross slice an area about 36" X 24" rectangle at the center of the section. (Please remember we are working towards 3' wide beds.) Pull out the sod and knock off as much dirt as easily possible. (You can add this turf to your growing pile of composting material we discussed in Soil Preparation # 1.) Dig the soil well with your spading fork(at least 14 " deep) and remove any stones and rubbish. Now is the time to incorporate soil enrichments as melons and squash are heavy feeders. Use 4-6" compost, or well rotted manure plus 2 Tablespoons of Epsom Salts, and a handful of bone meal. If you soil is already on the acidic side, up to a teaspoon of lime, can be added. Good general garden soil has a pH of 6.5 - 6.8, although plants can grown in soil slight on either side of this pH range. Since you have added bulk and "fluffed" the soil, water it and let it set for a couple of days to settle back down as far as possible. You will still probably have a small mound or "hill", which is what you want.

In a short growing season, start your melons/squash in paper pots (1 seed per pot and 3/4"-1" deep) in a heated "greenhouse" up to 3 weeks before the soil is warm enough. (I usually figure about a week before the last frost is due in my area.) For those of you who are blessed with a longer and warmer growing season, you will be able to plant directly in the "hill".

Assuming that it is warm enough, now it is time to plant your melon and squash. Again plant at the 3/4"-1" depth, if direct seeding. If you are transplanting by the paper pot method, tear off the excess "collar" of paper, dig you hole at the depth of the pot and gently (REMEMBER: squash and melons do NOT like their roots disturbed) transplant into the hole, mounding the soil slightly over the soil of the pot. Plant 3 plants to a hill in a triangle shape about a foot apart from each other. Water them in well and keep the soil moist. At planting time, since there are many insects that love to eat fresh growing tips of both squash and melons, we cut the bottom out of 1 gallon milk jugs and a hole in the cap (leaving a 1/8" rim on the cap), place them over the seedlings and bury the bottom of the jug about 1/2" into the soil, run a stick through the mouth of the jug into the soil, then take a piece of tulle or remay put over the top of the stick and milk jug and secure with the cap. This allows the excess heat to escape and prevents the wind from blowing your milk jugs away.

Break out the mower and again mow the intervening strips of grass (both between the rectangles and the pathways) as short as possible. Cover with 2 or 3 layers of cardboard and the put mulch 2-3" deep over the top of the cardboard. Water the mulch well to cause it to cake up and form a cap over the cardboard and help exclude any sunlight.

Done the way described above, you can plant your squash and melons with only a 3' pathway between beds. Again you can mow the grass strip in between beds, cover with cardboard and mulch with grass clippings, hay or even sawdust to help kill back the grass and weeds under you cardboard, and by fall you will have a much easier time of turning those pathways into gardens.

An addition tip here. If you are using sawdust on your pathway. Sprinkle it liberally with high nitrogen fertilizer (the first number of the 3 that is on the bag label), as it will help break down the sawdust into rich compost. Do this once a month all summer.

Now that your squash and melons have taken off and are filling the milk jugs full of lovely green leaves, it is time to let your "babies" face the world. Carefully remove the jugs (and store for next year). When the plants start putting out runners (on vining types) or you see the first flower bud on bush types, top dress you "hills" with another inch or so of manure or compose. If you are unfortunate not to have either available, then sprinkle a small handful of slow release fertilizer around the plants on your hill, remembering both types are very heavy feeders.

A couple of notes here.
Squash and melons of the same family cross readily so if you have more than one variety, and want to keep your seed "pure" you will have to bag both male and female blossoms and do the pollination yourself. You can reduce the chance of cross pollination, by also planting different families together in your rows. ie a Pepo type and Maxima type of squash should not give any viable seeds.

Happy growing and keep your eyes out for squash bugs. We are blessed that they aren't around here. But if you live in an area where they exist, a suggestion would be to make hoop houses down your rows and cover your melons and squash with floating row cover that is pinned down on all sides.

Soil Preparation - Part 2

2009-02-06T09:37:00.010-07:00

Still a lot of work to do and time is catching up with you. Well today's tip is the "Easy Way To Plant Potatoes" with the subtitle "A Lazy Person In The Spud Patch".

If you have fresh lawn or pasture that is going to be turned in to a garden, the following tip will interest you. It really is killing two birds with one stone.

First mow your grassy patch as short as you can. Then take a shovel or mattock or Portuguese Hoe, and and literally rip a strip back about 2 inches thick and 4-6" wide and long, for each hill you wish to plant. Place your seed potato on the bared earth and push the strip back over the potato, upside down. Now mulch the sod well at least a foot and a half on both sides and between each plant, leaving a small opening, where you first entered the sod. The potato will push it's first sprout out here. Water the area well, and allow Mother Nature to take her course. Plant the potatoes about a foot to 16 inches apart in your rows. Keep the soil moist and once the sprouts are up and reaching for daylight, keep adding mulch a little at a time until you have a reasonably thick mat that is 4"-6" thick.

Keep adding mulch as needed, as a lot of the potatoes will be formed on the surface of the turf, and can still be sunburned through light mulch. Once the potato vines have bloomed and started to die back, comes the time to dig them. Pull back the mulch and starting at least a foot and a half on either side of where the sprouts emerged, use your spade or digging fork, proceed to dig your potatoes. Do not be surprised at the size of the spuds. We grew one that fed a family of 4, two meals. But be careful as there may be lots of potatoes under each plant and most will be large and easy to spear or slice.

The advantages are that you get your first crop without the digging and prep work, you kill back the grass in the sod, and as you dig the potatoes you are preparing your land for next year's garden.

Happy planting.

Soil Preparation - Part 1

2009-02-04T03:12:00.004-07:00

Okay, now you have your seeds, you potting mix, your pots, you have successfully started your little sprouts, and the snow is finally gone. You are excited. Finally your going to grow a vegetable garden. Yippee! Then you look out the kitchen window and discover a yard full of nothing but grass. Bummer. But don't get in the dumps. You still can plant that first garden and things will only get better from this year on.

First select a site that gets at least 6 or more hours of sunlight with in reasonable distance of your taps. Lay out where you want you rows to go and how long. I would suggest 10 to 3o feet as a reasonable row size. You will want to be able to plant enough of any type of vegetable to feed your family. This first year will be the hardest, especially if you are doing it by hand rather than having a rototiller do the initial turn over. If you have access to either a person with a tractor/rototiller (the easiest way to start) or even a heavier duty garden rototiller, then I would suggest that you work your soil completely with it and eliminate the steps that follow. If you are starting from scratch with a lawn or pasture, try and have the garden worked at least two times before planting season, about 10 days to 2 weeks apart. This will help destroy the grass and weed roots and give you a much "cleaner" soil to work with.

But getting back to the old fashioned hand turning method. As soon as the snow goes, cover your garden area with a couple of layers of cardboard, weighted down as it will help start killing off the lawn grass and weeds. Now mark out where your rows will be. Work the garden one row at a time. Lift off the cardboard about 2 feet wide for the full length of the row. Take a sharp spade and slice the grass along each edge between the cardboard layers, then cut length wise two more times so that the slices are about 6" wide. Go back and cut these slice horizontally every foot. Starting at one end of the row, lift the sod out and beat off most the soil back into the garden row. Take the turf and stack some place out of the way, upside down. Continue doing this until you have a row 2 feet wide the full length of your garden. Now get out your spading fork and break up the soil well, removing rocks and other non soil components. Sprinkle a handful of general all purpose slow release fertilizer, a couple of handfuls of epsom salts (magnesium and phosphate) and a couple of handfuls of bone meal for every 20' feet of row. Remix the soil in each bed. Now move the cardboard back another 6 inches on each side, slice and cross slice. This time you turn the sod upside down right back on the edge of your row. Pull the cardboard back over the turned over sod and mulch well (3-6") with lawn clippings and or chopped up leaves. Moisten the whole area well. Leave 3 feet between each turned over area. You can mulch these strips with lawn clippings, leaves, even sawdust. This summer, these will be your pathways. In the fall after harvest, if you have the time, You can do your pathways the same way as you did your original beds. If you are into raised beds, like we are you can shovel your new pathway beds up onto your existing new beds, take your fork and work the two layers together.

Now getting back to the turf that you have stacked up in some out of the way place. Sprinkle a couple hand of high nitrogen fertilizer over the top of the stack. Wet it well, cover with cardboard, so light can not penetrate the covering and cover with a tarp. Occasionally check to see that it is still moist (not soggy) and recover. In a year or two you will have some lovely soil which you can return to your garden beds.

Seed Starting Tips #4 - Starting mix

2009-01-31T23:02:00.003-07:00

You've got the seeds, the pots and now what to use for potting mediums. I generally make up two slightly different potting mixes.
The first is used for starting small seeds that I will be transplanting into individual larger pots. I use a large tub for mixing my starting mixtures in, so this will be in gallon (4L) measures.
4 parts peatmoss (4 gallons)
2 parts perlite (2 gallons)
1 part fine vermiculite (1 gallon)
2 Tablespoons of all purpose fertilizer (I use Miracle-Grow 20-20-20)
2 Tablespoons superphosphate
1/4 cup of lime
Mix it well and then add a gallon of warm, preferably rain or snow water or tap water that has sat overnight to get rid of the chlorine. Turn it over and over again until the moisture is evenly distributed through out the mixture, and the put in planting containers.

The second mix is for transplanting seedling after they have their first set of true leaves, or for very large seeds that are planted individually into pots such as beans, peas or corn.

Take 1/2 of the previous starting mixture and add the following:
3 gallons peat moss
1 gallon perlite
1/4 cup of lime
2 Tablespoons all purpose fertilizer
2 Tablespoons superphosphate

Again add 1 gallon of warm water, mix throughly and put in planting containers.

Happy puddling and gardening.

Seed Starting Tips # 3 - need more pots?

2009-01-31T06:12:00.006-07:00

It's getting that time, when the fingers are itching to get into the soil. You have gone through all your starting containers, drew up your list of what you want to grow and discovered that you have more seeds that will need to be started indoors, than you have starting pots. What to do? Spend a small fortune buy more seed starting pots or kits? Or would you prefer a cheap source of pots that you can make while you sit in front of the TV in the evening, or convince the kids that this will be a really great craft project. And most of all you have the necessary equipment just laying around. You will need a ruler, a pair of scissors, a pencil, some old newspapers (make sure that they have vegetable oil printing - most black and white are this way today in North America), a cylindrical object that is about the same diameter as the transplant pot you want and at least 1 and 1/4 the height of the finished pot, and some masking or scotch tape.

Measure the diameter of your form (the cylindrical object). Say for example it is 1 1/2" wide. Figure how tall you want your pot to be. For example 3" tall. Then take your ruler and measure your newspaper in strips that are 4" wide. (3" (pot height) + 3/4" (1/2 the diameter of the form) + 1/4 of an inch for overlap. Cut the newspaper into strips and then roll the strips around the form 2 1/2 times. This will give you the length of strip that you will need for each pot. Cut as many strips as you want pots.

I mark the height of the pot on the form with a permanent marking pen, so that it is easy to know exactly how high up the form I need to put the top of the paper strip.

Take your strip, wrap it two and a half times around the form. Tape (just a short piece) the edge closed so it will hold while you are doing the next steps.

Go around the bottom of the strip of paper folding it in towards the center. It will overlap and this is what you want. When you have all of it folded in, take another small piece of tape and secure it closed. Slide the new "pot" off the form. And volia - a new pot. If you only need the pots for a short time say 2 weeks you can now put them in your tray and fill with dirt. If however you are planting something like tomatoes which may be in the pot for up to 6 weeks, take an old baggie (I find that sandswich baggies slashed across the bottom to let water flow freely in and out), slip your pot into it and fill with dirt. Paper pots will allow roots to grow through the edges and into the next pot if you do not have a barrier. You could also uses a column of plastic wrap secured with tape or a rubber band to form the barrier.

Fill you watering or insert tray with dirt filled pots, plant your seeds or seedlings, water well, and often as necessary, and happy gardening.

When it comes time to transplant out,remove the plastic barrier and tear off the very top of the pot so that no paper is above the surface of the soil. It should tear off fairly easy at the soil line. You want to do this, so that the paper will not act as a wick and draw the moisture away from you plant's roots. And transplant right away so everything stays nice and moist.

I find that it is easy to make pots up to 3 1/2" in diameter and and as small as 1". They can range from 2 1/2" to 6" tall, which will give you a lot of options for whatever types of seeds you want to start. For example squash or melon seeds, I would use the 3 1/2" wide by 2 1/2" tall pots. On the other hand, corn and beans which have long roots, probably would be started in a 1 1/2" wide by 6" tall pot. Just consider the root structures of your plants, how long they will be in the pots, and the ease of transplanting. Remember you transplant the plants, pots and all.

Tips From Fellow Gardeners #3

2009-01-25T03:08:00.001-07:00

Johno of Bishops Homegrown bring today's tip.

"For those starting tomatoes a little early, fertilizing with fish emulsion and keeping the lights on for 16+ hours a day helps keep them in the vegetative phase until transplanting."

Seed Starting Tips #2

2009-01-24T19:56:00.003-07:00

Soon it will be time to start your seeds indoors or your heated greenhouse or germination chamber.
Peppers should be started 8 - 10 weeks before transplant time with bottom heat of 75-80F
Eggplant should be started 8 -10 weeks before transplant time with bottom heat of 70 - 75F
Tomatoes and Cape Gooseberries should be started 6 - 8 weeks before transplant time with bottom heat of 70 - 75F
Squash can be started as much as 4 weeks early if planted in a container that will decompose in your soil or if you are extremely careful not to disturb the roots while transplanting. Good temperature for bottom heat is 65-75F
Corn can be started in deep plug pots about 2 weeks before transplanting.
Beans and Peas started 1-2 weeks before in paper pots (which will break down once they are buried in garden soil.
Cold crops such as cabbages and kale can be started as much as 12 weeks before transplant time, but only require normal household temperatures to germinate.
Please remember that once you seedlings germinate that they must have good light and continued warm while they are growing. About 2-3 weeks before transplanting out,( and I would suggest 2 weeks after your last expected frost date,) start "hardening " your seedlings off by slowly lowering the temperature, and on sunny days put them in light shade (or set them outside in the early morning and again in the later afternoon, avoiding the brightest sun between 11AM and 1 PM) and exposing them to your normal gardening conditions. Gradually expose them to more sunlight everyday.

Seed starting tips

2009-01-17T12:18:00.004-07:00

Soon it will be seed starting time, and today's tip is about pre-germination of your seeds.

What you will need is seeds, plastic ziplock type lunch baggies, paper napkins or coffee filters (you could use paper towels but seedling roots have a bad tendency intermesh in fibers). Open and layer you paper flat. Sprinkle the seeds lightly over the 1/2 of the surface, carefuly fold over once or twice, spray or sprinkle with water to moisten the paper and slip into the baggie. Stand on its end or hang vertically in a warm place. Check baggie / paper daily and as the seeds germinate, transplant into soil medium. This will allow you to get a great start and only grow viable seed. Happy growing.

The above method also is a great way for germination testing. Use anywhere from 10-100 seeds (depending on how detailed you want your precentages).

Tips From Fellow Gardeners #1

2009-01-14T22:02:00.002-07:00

First tip comes from Lavandulagirl from Bishops Homegrown site.

I wanted a system that I could contain, but still get a good amount of compost out of. I came up with a way of doing it that worked really well for me. I start with 3 large rubbermaid garbage cans (The largest ones available at the hardware store). I drill holes in the can, with a 3/4" drill bit, until the can will definitely drain well. (The bottom will need holes, too.) Once that is done, I place them where I want to keep the compost. I begin filling the first can with compostable items, up to about 2/3 of the way to the top, trying to layer "browns" and "greens" as much as possible. Once I reach that level, I upend that can into the second one. This effectively turns the compost, while keeping it contained. I add a mix of greens and browns (generally grass clippings and dead leaves) and close the can. Then I start adding things to the first can again. When the 2nd, full can has sat for a few weeks, I water the composting material thoroughly. (This can be done with rain water, if your climate allows) and turn it into the last can, again mixing it up. The first can will then be turned into the 2nd can again. The items in the last can are then used to layer with raw items going into the first can. By mixing between the 3 cans like this, you can have compost ready in less than 2 months.

Now, keep in mind that I am using black cans, and have lived in relatively hot areas of the country while utilizing this method. Therefore, the compost runs pretty hot, generally about 155 fahrenheit. Of course, there is some spillage when you're turning the cans out, but generally, this method gives you usable compost in less than 2 months, and only takes up the space of 3 garbage cans. It's a really efficient way of containing the compost in a small space.

Tips From Fellow Gardeners

2009-01-14T21:51:00.003-07:00

I just thought I would introduce a new area on this blog. It is called Tips From Fellow Gardeners. Here we will posting ideas and tips from ourselves and other gardeners who would care to share some of their wealth of knowledge and practical ideas.

If you have any tips or ideas, that you are willing to share please send them to me in an e-mail to grungysgarden@gmail.com, giving your idea and how you would like to be acknowledge as the supplier of the tip.

Cheers,
Val

Hope you had a great holiday season

2009-01-08T20:00:00.003-07:00

Hi Everyone,
We hope that you had a great holiday season and are now ready to look forward to the NEW YEAR. If you have notice that this blog site has been idle the past couple of weeks, my apologies. Our holiday guests, although very welcome and enjoyed, unfortunately and quite unintentionally added a not so nice surprise gift to the mix.
We are just now starting to surface from the battle of a head/chest colds.

My Mama always said look for the silver lining, cause things always could be worse. So here's my take on it. I suppose it could have been worse, one of the guest could have also brought the stomach flu with them. Now that would have been an unpleasant site.

Has everyone started to dig out from the weather yet? We manage to collect about 20 inches of really wet stuff over the holidays and now we are getting rain to make it even wetter. Thank goodness for the snowblower which kept most of the snow off the need areas such as driveway and paths. I personally think we should see if we can't vote for Mother Nature to consider winter over and spring due to start any day now.

Starting tomorrow back to gardening topics - cheers, Grungy

Saving Seeds - Part Seven - Squashes, Melons.& Cucumbers

2008-12-15T09:45:00.003-07:00

Squashes, melons, and cucumbers are commonly know as the flirts in the gardening world. They have a bad tendency to cross easily with other members of their own "families". Thank goodness it is also just as easy to prevent them from doing so. It is only a matter of carefully paying attention to you plants and watching for the female flowers to start to appear. You can tell the female flowers, by the little bulb like structure at the base of the blossom.
There are basically two methods for preventing cross pollination. The first is to bag both the female and male blossoms, and when they are both ready, quickly pick the male blossom, go to the female blossom and unbag both. Rub the pollen off the male flower unto the pistil of the female blossom, discard the male blossom, and rebag the female blossom until the flower withers and drops loose. Then you can remove the tulle bag and mark the growing fruit, for harvesting. If fertilization occurs and you are successful the bulb will start growing and become which ever fruit you have desired. Unsuccessful pollination will be indicated by the bulb (very immature fruit), turning yellow and eventually dropping off the vine.
The second method is to use tape. (I prefer the 30 day masking tape as it isn't quite as sticky and therefore allows me easier peeling while I work.) When you notice the female blossoms first appearing gently tape the upper end of the blossom closed and tape several male blossoms (again at the tip, to prevent the blossom from opening and allowing pollinators access to the flower) at the same time. When the female is ready, and this take a little while watching to see the differences in stages of blossom developement, again you remove the male flower, then go to you female flower and untape both. Do your fertilizing, and retape. Make sure you mark the fruitlet so that you know which one to pick for seeds. A large wide rubber band slipped over the fertilized blossom is probably on of the easiest to use and will not cut off circulation of nutrients to your fruit.
It probably seems redundant to prevent both blossoms types from being visited by bees or other insects, but you don't want to risk having stray pollen mixed with the pollen you wish to use for your cross. And bees, especially bumblebees and solitary bees love collecting pollen from the large yellow/orange blossoms. Lots of pollen and larger bloosoms (easy access), seem to intice the bees to the blossoms.
In a few weeks to a few months you squash or melon or cucumber will be ready for harvesting. Allow them to mature on the vine as long as possible and get fully ripe or in the case of melons, summer squash and cucumbers actually over ripe. Then harvest your fruit.
With melons, cucumbers and summer squash, split your fruit in half and scrap out your seeds into a large enough container that you can add a little water. Avoid as much flesh as you can while you are doing this. When you have harvested your seeds, add enough water that the goop can float about inch and a half to two inches above the bottom of your container. Allow the seeds to ferment 1-3 days at room temperature, stirring 3 or 4 times daily until the mature seeds start dropping to the bottom of the container. (Old canning sealer work wonderfully as you can see this happening.) The stir vigorously to release all the seeds from the goop, allow the mixture to rest for a half hour so the goop will float and then scrap it off and rinse your seeds a few times to ensure they are clean. Spread out on styrofoam plates and allow to dry completely. Then bag and label your fresh seeds.
Winter squash is handle slightly different, because they should be picked and stored at room temperature for a minimum of 2 weeks and preferably 6 weeks before you process them, to allow the rinds to cure. They also have the advantage that you can scrap out the seed cavity and then process the flesh for delicious dishes. When I scrap out the seed cavity, I manually go through the pulp and select only the plump full seeds with whatever flesh clings to them, and then ferment those seeds. Again you wash, dry. bag and label the clean seeds.

Saving Seeds - Part Six - Carrots

2008-12-12T19:03:00.005-07:00

Saving carrot seeds takes a long time. Carrots are a biennial plant, which means that they will flower and set seed the second year. Hence the long time. If we want to save carrot seed, the first thing I do is make sure that there is no Queen Anne's Lace anywhere near my gardens. (QAL is a relative of the carrot and will cross quite easily.) Then the simple thing to do is in the fall before it gets really cold, but after the first frosts, is cut the carrot top to about 1 inch of the surface. (I generally leave a small patch of carrots of whatever variety that I am growing for seed the next year right in the garden near the end of one of the beds.) Then mulch the area quite thickly. Use enough mulch to keep the below ground portion of the carrot from freezing and turning to mush. In the very cold climates, this may take several bales of hay or straw to achieve the desired protection. The idea is to keep the carrots cool enough that they will not try to grow, yet warm enough that you do not rupture the cell membranes. If you are in a really cold climate, dig your carrots and bury in damp sand in a place that is just above freezing.

Come spring, make another check for Queen Anne's Lace and either remove it or remove the flowering buds before they open. (Check everyday if you leave it to flower later.) As soon as the last chance of frost has arrived remove your mulch and allow the carrots to form new tops. Thin your carrots so that they are a minimum of a foot apart in all directions, although 2 feet would better. I do this once I am sure which carrots are producing the best tops. Allow nature to take her course and in a couple of months the carrots will produce showy umbrels of white flowers which will set and produce lots of seeds. Once the flowers start to show a fade in color use fine tulle and twist ties or string and secure the umbrel (s) inside. Be generous with size of bag you make around the umbrel to allow it expand properly. After the seeds have matured and turned brown carefully cut the umbrel from the plant below where you have tied on the tulle.

Over a dish of some type (I use a styrofoam plate) turn the enclosed umbrel upside down and give it a shake to loosen the seeds from the plant. If you were to save the umbrels from just one or two plants you would have more than enough seeds (usually) to sow the average garden for years to come. Remember to put you freshly harvested seeds in a cool dry place for the longest viability.

Although I personally have never seen them, I have been told that at least one variety of carrots produce purple umbels. if any one know what variety (ies) do this please let me know.

Next time we will be discussing squash and melons.

Seed Saving - Part Five - Peas and Beans

2008-12-10T00:25:00.006-07:00

Peas and beans have their reproductive parts enclosed so it very rare for them to cross naturally. However some bees like bumble bees have been know to help you along, so I would suggest that you plant different varieties several feet apart, as a precaution.

When collecting these two types of seeds, make sure that you allow the pods to mature and dry as much as possible on the vine. In fact if the weather will co-operate with you allow the pods to start cracking open before you harvest. Should the weather be helpful then save your most mature pods and finish drying them on screens in a warm dry place. When you shell the pea and bean seeds, select only those that are full, firm and plump for your saved seeds. After shelling allow them to dry completely (at least a week at room temperature) and select the best looking seeds (see the above) to store. The not so perfect ones make a great dried bean or pea soup.

Store in a cool dry place such as a paper bag in your fridge's crisper or in a cool room for a couple of weeks and then freeze and thaw (in the fridge) two or three times to kill any bugs that may have decide to hitch a ride in your seeds.

Once you have alternated the freezing, thawing cycle a couple of times the beans and peas may be stored in a cool, dry place if you are going to plant them in say the next 4-5 years. If you want to keep them longer than that I would suggest after the last thaw cycle, that you put them in a new paper bag, rolling it up tight to exclude as much air as possible, label, place in a glass canning sealer which contains about a 1/4 tsp. of desiccant and tighten down a glass and rubber band lid or a regular canning lid. Place in your fridge for 3 weeks to allow the final respiration slowing and evaporation of extra moisture, then pop your jar into a freezer at around 0F (-17.5 to -18C). Again when you go to retrieve your seeds from cold storage reverse the process. Put your seeds (the amount you are going to need plus 10%) in a new sealer without desiccant and thyme tea cotton ball (squeezed out) (to provide the start of the return of moisture to the seeds) back in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. Soak you seeds for about 15 minutes to jump start the seed absorbing moisture, then plant like always.

Next time we will be discussing saving carrot seeds.

Seed Saving - Part Four - Corn

2008-12-08T23:29:00.004-07:00

Some types of plants must be saved by using isolation techniques. One of these is corn. You must use distance (about 1 mile), a timing differential, or a barrier method to prevent the pollen of one variety of corn from fertilizing another variety.
A timing differential is done by selecting varieties that will have pollen shed at different intervals. I would recommend at least a week between dates. To be absolutely sure that purity is achieved with this method, remove the tassels of the first variety about 2 days before the due date of pollen shed of the next variety. Take your hand sprayer and spray down the varieties vigorously as to wash any pollen that may be clinging to the plants. After a good rinse, gently shake the corn stalks to remove the water droplets from the first variety. Using a paper bag and either a twist tie, or rubber band, enclose the ears of the first variety you wish to save for seed. Alway select probably twice as many ears as you think you will need. The paper bag ensures that the following pollen sheds will not accidentally fertilize any unfertilized ovums of the previous corn varieties. If you carefully follow this routine you can grow several pure varieties each year. Once the corn kernels have been fertilized and the silks change color and start to dry back it is safe to remove the paper bags. Please make sure that you mark which ears you have protected and use those for you corn seed. It also helps to provide physical barriers to prevent pollen being carried in by the wind. Surround your garden by wind breaks, build breaks with plants such as beans or extremely tall tomatoes, or build screens out of lathes and plastic. These will help break the wind currents and aid in preventing airborne pollen.

Barrier method is achieved by enclosing your patch in a pollen proof barrier, such as a greenhouse. If you choose to do this, remember you must use an extremely fine filter on your intake for your airflow, so that you will prevent pollen laden air from being sucked in and blown over the awaiting pollen tubes ready to fertilize the ovum.

Isolation techniques is making sure that you are at least one mile from the nearest neighbor growing corn. If you live in the country and are a distance of more than a mile from other gardens, and you are growing only one variety of corn, you are probably safe to consider you corn kernels pure and non-hybrid.

Next time I will discuss peas and beans.

Seed Saving - Part Three

2008-12-03T05:18:00.003-07:00

Seed saving really starts shortly before your transplants and seeds go in the ground. The first thing is to determine that you have an open pollinated variety of seed. Hybrids will not breed true to type. Then you must decide what methods you will be using to ensure pure seed if you wish to be able to grow the next generation, that is exactly like the one you are going to enjoy this year. There are several methods of obtaining pure seed. The first is to grow only one variety of any type of vegetable or flower. With only one variety of both pollen and ovum, you can only get the offspring of that particular variety.
If you plant to plant more than one variety of the same type of vegetable, then you are given several options with varying degrees of success, depending on which type you choose. Beans and peas are considered self fertilizing and rarely cross even with the help of pollinators, such as bumble bees. Tomatoes are also self fertilizing however, if you have bumblebees or orchard bees or solitary bees that are able to penetrate the anther cone you can and often do have cross pollination to some degree.
There are methods for getting around this however. The first is to bag the blossom (or blossom cluster), preventing the insects from approaching the flower. The second is to build a remay or screen cage which encloses the entire plant and again prevents pollinators from the flowers.
If you are willing to risk a 0-3% crossing (and this is as good as a lot of commercial seed growers will accept), then you select several batches of tomatoes for seeding (to lower your risk) or select tomatoes that were set when the pollinators aren't available. (In our locale this is between about the 2nd week of July until the end of July. The solitary and orchard bees are done for the year and the few bumblebees around here aren't in large enough numbers to be just pollen hunting during those weeks.)
Another way to lower your risk of cross pollination is to separate your varieties by at least 10 - 20 feet. Bees are like the rest of us, they do not want to work any harder than they have to.
A third way to reduce cross pollination and preserve your heirloom varieties (or heritage or open pollinated), is to plant 4 plants of the same variety close together and select your seed tomatoes from those that are found in the center of the plants. Again it is much less likely for pollinators to get to blossoms, before the tomatoes set themselves.
For those plants that are not considered self fertile, the only method of ensuring pure seed is some form of isolation and then doing the cross yourself. The pollen can be collected using an artist's paint brush or q-tip and then applied to a selected isolated flower when it is ready to be pollinated. It is best to collect the pollen just before doing the crossing.
Although it is more labor intensive, if you do the proper isolation of blossoms you are able to save more seeds from more varieties of plants in a much smaller area.
One final note. Make sure you mark each of your chosen "fruit" so that when it comes time to harvest and save seeds, you will be sure to save from right ones.

Seed Saving - Part Two

2008-12-01T17:48:00.004-07:00

Cold Storage for Seed
This is a prolonged method for saving seeds. Most of the information I give here is a home modification of what the Kew Gardens explained a couple of years ago. The best way to save seeds is for long storage is to place them in sealed glass vials. However since the average householder doesn't have access to glass tubing and a bunsen burner, the second best was suggested to be a glass container sealed with a rubber stopper. This is much easier as almost anyone can obtain rubber stoppered test tubes and this is what we use, for smaller seeds.

First one must have clean seeds dried to room humidity. One should check for viablity at this point. Place a very small amount of desiccant in the bottom of the test tube and block with a wad of paper (keeps the desiccant off the seeds but allow the moisture to seep across to the wad). Place a label on the inside of the tube. This will ensure that you will not lose the label or the information on it once it is in storage. Add your seed. Stopper tightly. Place seeds in your fridge for period of 3 weeks, where the seed will go into a "dormant" state, losing more excess moisture and slowing down the respiration rate. Once the seeds have this conditioning they are ready to place in the deep freeze at -18C.Grunt has made me several boxes, about 9"x9" with shallow holes in the bottom that will hold 100 test tubes.

We add a list to each box of seed giving the position of each tube of seeds and also keep 2 master lists (one of each box and one of all the varieties saved). This is done both by hard copy and on the computer.

For larger seeds, such as corn or beans, one can place desiccant (1/2 tsp.) in the bottom of a canning jar (1 or 2 quart or 1 or 2 litre). Place your seeds in a paper bag, roll up securely, tie shut. Place the bag inside the jar and use either a sealing lid or glass lid plus rubber ring and metal sealer ring. Treat seeds the same way, with a 3 week stint in the fridge.

When you go to recover your seeds remember to reverse the conditioning step except you place them in a test tube without desiccant. Also you can place a small cotton ball soaked in thyme tea inside the rubber stopper. Use thyme tea as it contains natural antibiotic and antifungal properties. Remember to squeeze out all excess moisture and replace the cotton ball every 2 to 3 days. After reconditioning, it also helps to soak the seeds in water for 15 minutes to an hour before sowing.

Seed Saving - Part One

2008-11-28T16:52:00.003-07:00

Seed Saving is a large part of many gardener's yearly chores. It probably would be a "chore" for more people if they just realized how easy it really is, for most types of seeds. In this section of our blog, I will be dealing only with those seeds that the average vegetable or flower gardener will encounter, and not those which require special treatment such as water plants. For the ease of understanding, I will refer to the following conditions. 1. when seed is first harvested the germination rate is 95% or higher, and 2. prolonged storage germination rate will remain above 74.9% (this is what several commercial seed companies deem as acceptable for selling).
The first thing to realize is that there are three types of seed storage, room temperature, cool storage and cold storage. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
-Room temperature, which is as the name says, is keeping seeds at room temperature. It is preferable, to keep the seeds in a cool room such as a cold room, or basement or at least a room that can be kept below 70F. This is shortest term for storage and result in a fairly short term viability for most seeds. The advantage here is that there is no need for any special equipment or conditions to maintain your seeds. T
-Cool Storage temperature - this is where seed is stored in the fridge at around 4C. It will prolong seed viability for several times the amount of time that room temperature storage gives. Tomato seeds should remain viable for at least 10 years. Net result - longer storage of viable seeds but offset by the amount of fridge space required.
-Cold Storage temperature - this is the longest storage alternative, where after conditioning seeds are held at about -18C in the deep freeze. They will last a very long time this way, but require more time and expense to prepare and store.

Let us deal with Room Temperature storage. Requirements are a cool area, a storage container of some type, collection containers (ie coin envelopes, baggies, regular envelopes, film canisters, ect., anything that will keep your seeds together and that you can label.)
Always collect your seeds when they are mature enough to grow an offspring. For most plants, this is when the seed has fully formed, the fruiting body is ripe, and there is a distinct change in color in the seeds (often going from green to brown or black). Of course there are exceptions such as tomatoes, where once the gel has fully formed around the seeds and tomato fruit has started to change color, the seeds are viable.
Prepare your seeds, by making sure they are dry, especially if you are using a moisture tight container such as a baggy or film canister. Once they feel dry (an added precaution to help make sure that they are dry enough is to wrap the seeds in a paper towel, which will blot up any excess moisture.), you slip them into you selected collection container which you will label. I would suggest that you include the name of the seed, varietal name if known, date harvested and any special treatment that the seed may need to get it to germinate. Once labelled, and filled just tuck you collection container into your storage container.

Cool Storage - basically the same requirements as Room Temperature Storage, except that you will also need a compartment in you fridge. (I use one of the crisper sections.) This type of storage requires you to make sure that your seeds are dry. If in doubt, dry for a longer period of time or add a drying agent to your container of seeds. A quick common solution is to wrap up table salt into 5 or 6 layers of paper towel, or some dry rice grains done the same way. If you are going to get into seed saving in a larger way, talk to you druggist or florist and see if you can get some desiccant Wrap a very small amount in a paper towel and tuck in with your seeds. Either right in the collection container if using a moisture proof one or in your storage container if using a paper container such as an envelope.

We will go to Cold Storage next time.

REMEMBER : all the methods I have or will discuss are only modifications of other people's methods. Most storage methods have been used in various forms for years, and I can only discuss what we do. If it sounds familiar, it is only our modification of what others have done. If I know the source of information I will direct you to the person or organization which started me down that particular path.

How does our garden go - part 5

2008-11-20T10:51:00.003-07:00

I know why this month is named October. It has nothing to do with the Julian calender. The number oct is for eight, and this is the eighth month, garden has been in full swing.

With the peaches done, the pears, both European and Asian, are harvested this month, along with the grapes and apples. The canning kitchen takes on a fruity air, with the prepping and canning of pears, pear and apple butters, and of course juices from all three types of fruit. Most years, Grunt has the fruit press and macerator (a home built machine that "chews" the whole fruits into fine pieces) set up around the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. (Of course, this year with everything being late - we just finished juicing last weekend (Nov 20th).) I have sewed 4 heavy duty bags that fit inside the press and after the fruit has been reduced to a pulpy mass it is scooped into the bags, which are tied shut and dropped into the chamber. Pressure is applied and the wonderfully sweet juice runs out into the collecting plate on the bottom and into waiting pails. Dozens and dozens of prepped jars are waiting in the kitchen, and as each pail is filled it is brought in, the juice is poured into the jars, lidded and processed through a pressure canner. Our neighbour, Alex, who helps Grunt outside at the press takes his juice home and his wife Ruby, pours their juice into washed and rinsed 2 litre plastic milk jugs. They freeze theirs, and when they want "fresh" juice, they merely remove the frozen container into the fridge the day before, allowing it to thaw, and then shake the container. I would do it too, but deep freeze space is limited in our household due to our seed banking passion for storing heirloom and open pollinated seeds. Once the pulp yeilds up it's juice, it is either fed to the chickens or goes into the compost pile. (I think the worms wait all year for juicing time. Go out a week or two later and they have all moved over to where the pulp has started to decay.)
The vegetable garden, has not been neglected. The soil continues to be weeded, the mulch fluffed and turned, and finally the fall amendments added and scratched in. Early in the month the bean poles are lowered and the beans pods are picked and sorted by the degree of of ripeness. Fully ripe pods are set aside for dried beans (some go to our seed bank, some are traded, most are stored and cooked later on). The not quite ripe beans are shelled as soon as possible in the evenings and processed as "shellys" which are canned and used as side dishes during the coming year. The empty vines are removed from their string supports and taken to the bulging compost bin. Can you guess what our evening activities are for a couple of weeks?
One is always amazed how naked the garden appears by Halloween. It is hard to believe how lush everything looked, only 3 months before, when the growth was at it's fullest.
Leaf raking and hauling also occurs in October and into November. As soon as the trees drop about half their leaves, I dig out my trusty leaf rake and start making leaf windrows. Grunt brings up a tarp and rakes them onto it, when it is so full that no more leaves can stay on it, he drags it down to the area where he will be sitting up the shredder/mulcher (near the corn stalks and the "L" of the compost bins). He makes a huge pile of leaves that he covers with a tarp to keep off the rain (or snow). When the last leaf is raked up and transported to the holding area, and the day is nice, the shredder is fired up and all the cornstalks and leaves are reduced to tiny pieces about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch in size, and blown into a pile in the corner, which is covered with a weatherproof tarp. This combination of leaves, corn stalks and hay (when we can get it), will be used for the first mulch on the gardens, come spring planting time.

November - No more growing gardens outside, by mid month, no more soil turning, no more harvesting, no more long days outside (besides it is getting dark early). No more running out to the gardens to harvest fresh vegetables or flowers for the tables. No more hot days or weeks of sunny weather. Seems like November has a lot of "no s". However there are other enjoyable gardening "chores" to do. Now is the time to bag up individual packets of seeds, post trading lists on the forums. purchase bubble envelopes and stamps and let the trading begin in earnest. We must be nearing Christmas. Just about everyday there are envelopes stuffed with packets of seeds, either coming in or going out or both. One quickly learns what the postage is to and from several countries. Incoming seeds, must be catalogued, and filed. Seed bank donations are prepared and put to storage. I often wonder what the mail delivery people think of what is going on. The lady at the post office becomes one of you "bestest" friends. When you walk through the door, a bag of envelope in hands, she just smiles, reaches for the custom declaration stickers and opens the stamp drawer. She knows what you are there for and is quick to help you with the weighing and paper work.

December is a planning month. Next year's varieties lists are drawn up, and gone over. Garden space is alotted for each type of vegetable. Last year's records are gone over, checking for production and problems, and plans are drawn up of what is in line for next years garden. Seed catalogues are checked, both the paper and internet type. Ideas are exchanged by e-mail or snail mail. One has a chance to do some in depth reading of the previous year's posts and collect oodles of new ideas.

This is also the month that "Santa" tucks some of his goodies under each "good" gardener's tree. Maybe it's a subscription to a garden magazine, a new book, or if you have been really, really good, some new gardening gadget.

So now that I have shown you our garden over the year, we wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and a Great Gardening Season each and every year. Hopefully you will write us and tell us your stories or offer suggestions and or tips.

How does our garden go - part 4

2008-11-19T00:27:00.004-07:00

September brings the rush of the closing the growing season as autumn and frosts draw ever nearer. Usually the first week of September finds us harvesting the last of our eating corn crop. What isn't eaten fresh, is cooked and sliced off the cobs, then quick frozen in meal sized packets of real heirloom flavor to be savored over the coming winter and spring months.
On the first Thursday of the month in the afternoon, we set up tables outside and invite all our friends and neighbors to help us with the tomato tasting trials. They are given cards that are number 1-15 and asked to taste pre-cut samples of tomatoes and then rate them, 1-10 and give a comment or two on the taste. We later post a list of which varieties they were and have them circle the numbers if they wish to have seeds from which ever varieties they liked. I find it amazing the different responses that we receive about each variety. Laughter peals out as spouses find that their opposite, rates the same tomato exactly opposite. One will give it an 8 or 9 and the other will place it at 2 or 3. The results are complied and added into the comments that you see when we post our tomato lists for trading.
Nine days after the taste testing, when we are sure that we have adequate sample of all our open pollinated or heirloom tomatoes, we hold what we prefer to call the "Great Tomato Pick Off". Starting at 1 pm, Sunday afternoon the tomato garden is thrown open to anyone who wishes to come and pick the tomatoes. We supply picking pails and the pickers supply containers to take their goodies home. This past summer, 39 people hauled around 2500 pounds out of the patch. After the picking is finished, we supply beverages and the people bring snackers and we set around and catch up on how everyones' gardens have gone over the summer. Would you believe that all those tomatoes were picked in less than 2 1/2 hours?
When the last guest leaves, I clean up the snacking area and Grunt goes down and starts stripping off the side lines to allow the tomato plants to flop over.
Monday morning finds me, pruners in hand and a couple of buckets (one for green and one for ripe tomatoes), back in the patch. I prune off all the branches about 6" above the ground and strip off all the missed tomatoes. The branches are piled into piles that either one of us (who so ever has a couple of minutes to spare) will wheelbarrow up to the cold compost pile. As I finish a section, I go back and pull the roots out, shaking off the dirt and adding them to the growing piles.
While I am working in the 'mater patch, Grunt picks the seed corn cobs, and cuts down the corn stalks, piling them by where the chipper will be set up. The corn plant roots are de-earthed and laid down in the bottom of next year's compost pile. The corn beds are then weeded and the mulch is fluffed to break up any clumps. With a transplant shovel the mulch is turn in to a depth of 12- 13", and the bed is top dressed with the fall amendments. Using a spading fork the corn bed is turned one more time to work the rotting mulch throughout the soil, where over winter it will finish breaking down and provide a deep, humus rich bed for whatever we decide to plant there next year. If it isn't carrots, ( since they don't appreciate unaged compost), we will top dress the corn beds with manure to age over winter and supply additional nutrients.
Each evening after supper the pails of green tomatoes are gently rolled out into cardboard flats and transported into our spare guest room where we maintain a temperature of 55-60F. Once there, they will slowly continue to ripen, providing us with fresh tomatoes, well into February. The ripe tomatoes, minus the few that we eat for meals, are transported to the local food bank and nursing homes. Of the 4000 - 6000 pounds the garden produces, we will eat, or can about 1500 pounds. The rest are eaten by other folk who also appreciate the old fashioned tasting tomatoes. As each row in the tomato patch is cleaned up the branch and root piles are removed to the cool compost bin. It, like Topsy, grows and grows. The bin is 6' X 6" and often by the time we are done it is also over 6' high.
When the corn patches are finished, Grunt bends over the necks of the onions, if need be (as it help speed ripening) and then starts digging a trench in one of the beds to winter store our root crops. As soon as the trench is ready, the potato, carrot and beet harvest begins. They are dug in turn and the beets and carrots lose much of their tops. Then each type of vegetable is stored in its own section of the trench, covered with a very thick coat of mulch, a tarp, a plastic sheet and another tarp to keep the soil from becoming soaked from rains and snows. Doing this provides us "fresh" root vegetables until the following April. Whenever we need the vegetables, Grunt brushes off the snow, lifts the tarp and burrows under the mulch and brings in a pail of mixed potatoes, carrots and beets. Then he carefully recovers the trench to prevent it freezing.
Near the end of September, (or early October, if the weather holds), the squashes and the last of the melons are picked, their plants are ripped out and added to the compost pile. The melons are eaten and the seeds are saved as soon as they are available. The squashes are washed and wiped down with a damp bleach water rag, and then dried and allowed to finish curing their rinds at room temperature, for a couple of weeks. Then they also find their way into the cold room with Grunts assistance.
As soon as the onion tops die back they are harvested and allowed to cure either right on the bed if the weather is nice or under a tarp leanto should rain threaten. A few days there, we rub off the loose onion skins, trim off the roots and tops and bag them in 10-20 pound bags to hang downstairs.

How does our garden go - Part Three

2008-11-16T08:36:00.006-07:00

Part three brings you to the tales of July and August.
We're busy, busy, busy, as most gardeners are. There is the seemingly endless cycle of weeding, watering, mulching and training the various types of plants to grow where we want them to be. Thank goodness our 12 year old niece, loves to run the mower and cut the grass. I am sure glad she had decided to spend the summer holidays with us, as it is a tremendous help having a 3rd body to take up the slack.
Providing we have a decent start to the spring, by the end of July the tomatoes are reaching towards the sky, loaded with blossoms and setting fruit like crazy. If we are lucky and have select early varieties, by mid-July, we are occasionally snacking on fresh heirloom tomatoes, with their various combinations of flavors and textures. Ummmm! Chopped up with fresh lettuce, and green onions, a little vinegar and olive oil dressing makes a wonderful change to the diet.

Towards the end of July, while Grunt struggles mightily to keep up to the rampant growth in the garden, my interest diverges somewhat toward the orchard and the commencement of canning. Around the 20th of the month the sweet cherries are ready to go, followed quickly by the early apricots.

August seems to be filled with days that do not have enough hours. The garden still needs it's care and attention, and by mid month is when we start to harvest the tomatoes in bulk. When they come through the door, the seeders are set aside for a few hours while the rest of the tomatoes are processed either as whole, stewed, chunked, or salsa. While these are going through the pressure canner, I slice the seeders in half, squeeze out the seeds in to baggies to ferment (thanks to Dave (American Gardener) for the tip) and then put the rest into a large pot to cook slowly in the oven in preparation for juicing or saucing. It hardly seems like I get one batch done, and Grunt is bringing in some more tasty heirloom/open pollinated tomatoes to do. When the tomato section of the garden gets ahead of my processing, there is a line up of people who are willing to drop in and take extras of my hands. They love the old fashioned vine ripened taste.
And if that isn't enough, the late apricots and early to mid season peaches and early pears, crowd into the processing line up. I try to save an hour or so each day to at least look at the garden and do some of the minor weeding, or mulching chores.
Although we are busy, this is one of my favorite times of the year. Every day brings something new and wonderful outdoors. It is the height of insect activity and the first batch of nestlings are now learning to fly. It seems like you can actually sit (if you had the time) and watch everything grow.
By mid to late August, the first of the melons are ready to harvest, and our diet goes from the usual meat, potatoes and two veggies, to one very high in fruit and vegetables. The heirloom melons and early summer squash are also yielding up their seeds for the seed bank, although they must dry throughly and won't be banked for another month or so. And with a warm summer, the first ears of sweet corn add that wonderful taste and aroma to the kitchen.
Towards the end of the month our "helper", has to return to school, so we cut down watering the lawn, so that it will not need as frequent mowings. This tolerable to us, because by now, the garden beds usually have a nice thick mulch coat that can be as deep as 4 inches.
Near the end if the month it seems like everything wants to be sampled, and picked, and preserved towards the coming winter. No wonder our grandmothers were so busy with all their heirloom vegetables, and they looked forward to the coming fall and winter.
Coming soon - Part 4 September and October........

How does our garden go - Part Two

2008-11-16T01:02:00.003-07:00

Part 2 brings us to the months of May and June and a great speed up in outdoor activities. Please excuse the house - you can tell that Martha Stewart doesn't live here. Most days are spent outside, from can see to can't see.

May - May 1st, I do the final sowing of transplants, with the heirloom or open pollinated melons and squash (thanks to a suggestion by Canada Mike) replacing the now emerged beans.
Also during the first week, the final push to finish adding the amendments and turning the soil is finally done, using a garden fork. (We have about 1000 X 3 feet of raised bed, which equals about 3000 square feet of turning to do. Who needs to go to the gym? We also try to cut the grass during this week, as it provides the first layer of mulch (with all the shredded leaves from last year) on the beds, and it is now growing at that "first flush of green" rate.
Once the beds are turned and the lawn has been mowed, (we are hands on gardeners), Grunt sets up the bean poles and pegs down their strings, runs the side lines for the tomato arms, and generally prepares to start transplanting the tomatoes, and peppers. Since May 4th is our supposedly last frost date, we also sow the beets, carrots, onions, potatoes and other direct seeded vegetables at this time. (If we find the time they can also be planted the last week of April.)
Starting May 15, weather permitting, comes the push to do the transplanting. Grunt takes care of the tomatoes and beans and I (Grungy) commence on the Cape Gooseberry, corn, melons, squash, and peppers in that order. Should we have a nice spring we can generally be done with the transplanting by the end of May, although some years find us finishing it in late June.
Did I mention mowing - every week to 10 days the grass has to be mowed and as soon as I finish my share of the transplanting, I start mulching all the beds. It helps hold in the moisture, provides nutrients as it breaks down and slows or eliminates the need for weeding. Did I mention I HATE weeding?
We grow mostly Open Pollinated (O/P) and Heirloom vegetables. It would be totally this way, except I have yet to find a good winter storage onion, that will come close to "Copra". Anyone have suggestions?

June find us finishing the planting and tranplanting schedule, finishing with the onions. We plant them in a thick line and then when they are about 6-8 inches tall, we thin the first line and transplant the spares into 5 more rows, planting them roughly 4 to 5 inches apart both ways.
Mowing and mulching are in full swing now as we are on agricultural irrigation water and everything is watered at least once a week including the lawns. The garden beds themselves, depending on the weather and the plant uptakes can vary from 1 week down to every other day, for about 2 hours. The lawns receive an eight hour soaking if the weather has been dry. All of our irrigation is done with drip lines, including the lawns. It cuts down on water loss, and most of the plants prefer to have the water applied to their roots (this is especially true of tomatoes).
While we are mulching, we also are weeding. Our worst offenders around here are dandelions, creeping charlie, quack or couchgrass and knapweed, with wild chicory and chickweed thrown in for good measure.
By the end of the month, the tomatoes have taken off, and Grunt finds he is filling his days by tucking in branches that pop out of his side lines. We rarely prune our tomatoes, as we want to see what nature will provide as intended, and we aren't into producing the biggest tomato for the fall fair. (And pruning 300+ plants would just add too much to the workload.) Between mowing and mulching and weeding, and greeting guests, I find my days getting quickly filled, and when our heads hit the pillow at night, we know that we have been doing something. Oh the feel and smell of fresh turned earth!

How does our garden go - Part One

2008-11-14T23:09:00.002-07:00

Thought I would start this off, by describing how our gardening goes through out the year. This first installment is the months of January to April.

January -
is a preparation month. It starts off by cleaning and sterilizing the starting trays. Then comes the mixing of the potting mix. We use a mixture of peat moss, vermiculite and perlite, and supplements such as epsom salts, fine bonemeal, superphosphate, and miracle grow. Stir well, add a small amount of snow or rain water to moisten the mix and make it damp. The trays are then filled and stacked awaiting planting. We are also busy filling seed requests and preparing seeds for the seed bank.

February -
continues seed trading, seed bank preparation, and around Valentine's day, Grunt sets up the first germination chambers and starts the lights which provides bottom heat, and warmth to the seeds and seedlings. By the 20th of the month, eggplants, peppers and Cape Gooseberries have found their way into their nice warm dirt beds to begin sprouting. The germination chambers are set up outside where the plants will receive only natural sunlight for growth. By the end of the month, we are done seed banking and the test tubes of precious seeds are in their boxes and having a deep cold sleep in the deepfreeze.

March - begins the real push into planting. By the end of March (usually starting around the 15th - 20th) all of our planned tomatoes are planted and germinating in the chambers. With the snow usually gone, Grunt is getting active in the actual garden, doing the spring preparation work, or making new beds. Meanwhile I am preparing the new trays for beans, corn, ect. to be planted and helping outside in the gardens or doing early pruning and trimmings. During his rather busy days, Grunt will set up our hoop greenhouses, and put out the heaters to start warming them up.

April - Now is the time for transplanting our little sprouts into their "grow bigger" transplant pots and transferring them a tray at a time over to the hoop houses. As the germination chambers empty of peppers, tomatoes, ect., near the the 2oth of the month, corn is planted out into deep paper pots, to get a jump on our cool spring weather. By the end of April, tiny spears of corn are popping through and they move into the line up in the hoop houses to make way for deep paper pots of bean seeds. By the end of April seed exchanging has slowed down and now when we have a spare moment we can start cataloguing our new aquistions.

More about May to August next time .......

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2008-11-14T00:49:00.001-07:00

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