March 2022

     

February Garden List

1. Continue clean up seed starting area

2. Continue to grow lettuce and Radishes

3. Continue to hang florescent lights

4. Work on planting onions and cabbage

Daily Activities

March 5 - Started sprouting onion seeds

March 12 - Planted sprouted onion seeds

March 13 - Watered onions

March 20 - Made seed tapes for radishes and lettuce

March 21 - Turned over potato bed Terra Nova Gardens

                    Still frozen in spots.

March 22 - Watered onions

Saturday, March 5

I planted onion seeds in 18 ounce glasses but only a couple sprouted. So I decided to just dump the rest of three of the packs of seeds on a wet towel; encapsulate it with saran wrap on both sides and see what sprouts. If any sprout, then I'll plant the sprouts. I am sprouting them in the War Room which is a constant 75 degrees. Hopefully, I'll get some sprouts. If not, I'll send for fresh seed.  Onions can be a little hard to germinate when the seed gets more than a couple years old.

This is the method of sprouting of the onion seeds. I place the saran wrapped seeds on the towel seed side down. Two magazines are placed on top of the seeds and a weight is placed on top of the magazines. That way the seeds stay in contact with the moist paper towel. If and when the seeds sprout, I will plant the sprouts. It's a way of first knowing if the seed has germinated and then getting a 100% plant starting seed without waiting two weeks to seed if the seeds are germinating and how many seeds have germinated.

I bought a dragon a few days ago. It's a 100, 000 btu torch that attaches to a propane tank designed for the purpose of weed scorching. It doesn't have to set the weed on fire but just scorch it enough to kill the weed. It's a way to kill weeds without using harsh chemicals. I've wanted one for many years. I do have a propane tank but I'm not sure it's any good. I'll have to take it up to Keith's and see what they say about it.

The roadside at Terra Nova Gardens is starting to look good again. I still have to put down some mulch. I can start buying the truck loads of mulch again. I used up all the mulch that was delivered a couple years ago. I have learned not too chintzy with the mulch. The deeper the better. When I get done, I think I'll need another layer just as deep as the first layer to keep the weeds under control.

It looks really good from where I started from. This area was all dead Rugosa Rose bushes. Then died from many things but the last straw was when they were smothered by bind weed. Bind weed will grow up through and over a bush until it just can't get any sunshine. I have battled bind weed every year that I've gardened here. When the bind weed is under control then comes Creeping Charlie. It's a never ending battle for the land.

Planting the onions in seed starter didn't get a single onion to sprout. I put the seeds on a wet paper towel and sealed it into a Ziploc bag. This is what happened in five days. Sometimes the best way to start seeds is to sprout them first. That way I know that the germination will be 100% for each seed cell. The seeds seem to germinate faster. The normal germinate time for an onion seed is 7 - 14 days. Granted,  the planting of sprouts can be a little tedious.

This is the onion sprouts planted in PVC cells. It takes a lot longer to do it this way, but I think it's a better way. Each cell contains one sprout. Alisa seemed to sprout much better than the other two. Stuttgarter Onions didn't sprout a single seed. The onions seeds are three years old so old seed doesn't sprout too well. That is except for Ailsa Craig.

Monday, March 14

Once again the weeds got out of hand in at Terra Nova. I just haven't been able to control the weeds since 2017. Things always seem to get bumped up more important than weed control in the garden. I tried to remove the carpet from the bed but it's still frozen to the soil under it. This is really a late spring.

It looks a little better. I put together a makeshift burn pit at the end of the bed to burn all the weed debris. I don't want to light the fire until I get the water tower tank filled with water and the hose ready to keep any escaping fire or embers under control. When this gets burned, I'll move the pit over to the next bed and do the same thing there. The garden in general needs mega clean up. 

This will be to potato bed this year when it's all clean up and prepared. I hope it's ready by Good Friday. It's April 15, so I have about one month to get this bed ready to plant. That will be the first bed planted. The bed next to this one will be the onions I believe which will be planted about the same time.

The sprouted onion seeds are starting to peek up through the soil. I received the fresh seed today. I might try to start another 72 cell tray of onions.

Sunday, March 20

Spring solace is upon us. Two more days until the official spring is here but it's not quite weather wise spring just yet. The temperatures are still down in the 30s at night but day temperatures are starting to warm up.

I made seed tapes for Radishes and Lettuce. It's for the newly finished backyard raised bed. I want to plant one 32 inch row of radishes and another 32 inch row of lettuce every week or two with the seed tape. I am hopeful that it will be productive and sustainable through out the garden year. I may need to do double rows. One row of radishes is only 14 radishes and one row of lettuce is only 10 lettuce plants. Once lettuce starts producing it may just take over the radish space.

Monday, March 21

This bed has been dormant for two years. I covered it with carboard and held down the cardboard with rocks. The cardboard is crumbly from the contact with the moist dirt. I managed to pull off the cardboard and pile it up on the compost pile in the back of the garden. I need to get some green in the compost pile. That should be rectified when grass mowing starts. I always have too much grass during the peak season of the mowing year.

I managed to get the soil turned over but it was a struggle because of some frost still in the ground. It seemed that the sides near the rocks were thawed but the middle was not. It was a wet soil. I'm hoping the coming rain will soften the frost chunks and allow me to smooth it out the next time I come to the garden.

Wednesday, March 30

I hauled another 100 gallons of water out to Terra Nova Gardens. I cleaned up the bed for corn just a little. I took all the tires out of the bed. It still needs a lot of work. If I can just continue to little bits at a time, I'll be able to accomplish a lot. I do want to cage in a space for the corn this year. I think it's just going to be 10 feet. I've decided to build a path down the middle of the beds. Each section will be 10 feet with a three foot path in between the beds. That way I can just add on to the cages each year. 

February 2022

    

February Garden List

1. Continue clean up seed starting area

2. Continue to grow lettuce and Radishes

3. Continue to hang florescent lights

4. Work on planting onions and cabbage

Daily Activities

14th - Water lettuce plants in basement

14th - Planted onions in 18 oz cups

14th - Daffodils are starting to grow

15th - Water lettuce and onion seed in basement

27th - Onions not up

Monday, February 14

The garden year starts on Valentine's Day. This is a 90 onion root trainer tray make from PVC. If this grows out to mature onions it would give me an onion every four days. That is about what I would want. I don't expect that every onion start would produce a nice mature onion. And I don't expect that an onion would last a whole year in storage.

Here are the onions that will be used to plant. They are at least a couple years old so the germination rate is most likely not the best. Germination goes down hill fast for onions. I think I'll geminate the seeds in a community container and then transfer the sprouts over to the tray.

Here's a few radish trainers. I tried to use these in the past and it didn't work well but I've since noticed that growing radishes in general doesn't seem to work well. I will experiment with different radishes to see if that could be the issue.

Tuesday, February 15

Ideas are starting to sprout in my head about improvements and expansions to the seed starting area and the several gardens. The daffodils are up with tulips not far behind. The spring flowers looked a little anemic last year but I really don't know what to do to help them out.

The first sign of spring. I do need to rejuvenate the whole spring flower bed. This time I'm going to spend a little more time on the design. But that won't happen until fall. I'm going to do it in stages instead of trying to do the entire thing at one time. I haven't really taken care of it very well. I just planted the bulbs and dowsed it with mulch some years ago and walked away. It think there might be more to it than that. It has looked a little stressed and anemic the last couple years.

I've been thinking about what to plant in the driveway flower pots. I want something different this year. Marigolds do grow good in the pots but I've been thinking about a giant sunflower. I'm not sure if I can pull that off. Since it's in a pot I would have to support it somehow to keep the Nebraska winds from blowing it over.

I'm hoping to be able to spend more attention on yard and garden this year. It seems that Dot always has things happen in March or April when most of the garden activity happens.

I have some potatoes that I ordered but I'm not sure they will be any good. They sent them as soon as I ordered them in January and didn't tell me when they were delivered so they set outside all night in single digit weather. I wasn't too happy about that. Most companies will send potatoes at the right time for planting. I ordered more potatoes from the company I ordered from last time. They will send them in March when planting time. Planting time this year is April 15th. I have a while to get the potato bed ready for planting. The bed I have for that this year has been dormant for a couple years.

Sunday, February 27

January 2022

   

January Garden List

1. Continue clean up seed starting area

2. Continue to grow lettuce and Radishes

3. Continue to hang florescent lights

 

And so the winter garden begins. This is the lettuce crop that will be harvested throughout the winter months.  The second round has been planted directly in the cups but I think I'll go with transplanting in the next round.

Radishes are another story. They are difficult to grow and there will only be a one-time harvest. The radishes are faster growing but need way more attention, planting, and growing time.

Garden December 2021

  

December Garden List

1. Clean up seed starting area

2. Start Winter garden

Winter gardening has started about two weeks ago. This is the lettuce before transplanting. It's 16 days from planting. In about another 10 days I'll be harvesting the first lettuce salad. I'm going by the last time I grew salads. Radishes were a little faster, but I haven't been able to grow radishes after the first time of success.

The radishes look good, but the radish part is not producing a radish bulb. I'm wondering if the soil is too rich for the radishes. If there's too much nitrogen in the soil, then the top will grow great, but the roots won't produce. There could be left over fertilizer in the soil from the reused potting mix. I have discovered that even if the radish doesn't develop the top leaves taste just like radish. So the plant can be used in salads for the radish taste.

Garden November 2021

 

November Garden List

UR Cleanup yards

UR Cleanup seed starting area

UR Plant basement garden salads

UR Test viability of seeds.

TNG Continue to cleanup road strip

November 1

My thoughts for today is to work on Urban Ranch yards. They need a lot of cleanup. I still have some buckets to empty in the bucket garden and one raised bed of tomatoes that needs to be cleaned up. The front needs to have all the flower pots taken down and emptied. So there's much to do today if I choose to do it. I feel like I'm getting a little lazy this time of the year. I suspect it's natural to get lazy during the short cold daylight days of winter.

I bagged up two bags of tomato plants and put them in the trash can. I cleaned up the front yard flowers as well. I still have the buckets and two more tomato plants to clear out of the raised bed. The tomato bed will be the bed to rebuild from landscaping timbers to concrete blocks. Then the raised beds will be completed. I will start on the brick facing.

November 2

My thoughts for today is to finish the cleaning up of the last couple tomato plants from bed 4. I have filled up the trash can so this bag of debris will have to wait until next week. 

The temperature finally dipped below freezing with a low temp of 28 degrees this morning. That officially ends the garden season. Now the plans for next year begins. I still have a few buckets to dump as well. 

I will go to Terra Nova Gardens tomorrow. The high will be in the forties but still warm enough to work with the mulching.

Here's the last bed to be rebuilt. It was the bed that grew the regular sized tomatoes this year. As you can almost see it's quite the mess. It's time to clear it out and get it ready for next year. The 2x2 structure has been there for almost 10 years. It's been support for many different things over the years. But now it has to go.

Here it is all cleaned up. Another bag of yard waste is now ready for the trash can. I'll have to wait until next week as the can is already full. You can see the deterioration of the landscape timbers in this picture. Another load to the landfill will be needed.

The bucket garden has been taken down and the soil put in the storage area. I will be taking all the buckets and pails out to Terra Nova Gardens for storage. I will clean up the patio area so that it looks nicer before winter sets in.  I've been thinking about putting in a drain system around the patio to keep water from setting on the patio and putting pressure on the foundation

November 3

The plan for today is to go to Terra Nova Gardens and continue to mulch the road strip up to the garden fence. Just a little bit each time I go there will get the strip mulched. 

This is a picture of Terra Nova Gardens as it is today. Yes, it's an ugly mess that needs much attention. All I can say is I'm working on it. The mulch given to me is going on the frontage strip but I don't think I'm going to have enough to get it all covered.

The picture isn't too clear but this is turkeys that I haven't seen in a couple years. I didn't think there were any around any more but I guess there is.

It was a good day at Terra Nova Gardens. I moved 15 wheel barrows full of mulch in three hours. That's a good day. Usually I can only move 8 or 10 wheel barrows.

Thursday, November 4

No gardening today

Saturday, November 13

Yes, this is my happy place. The first seed catalog seems to come earlier every year. It used to come right after Thanksgiving but the last few years it started coming earlier. It's never the same catalog that comes first. I suspect there's competition in the seed business and also the opportunity to select seeds before they are not available. The last couple years has put pressure on the seed companies to produce more seeds for folks that have seen the benefit of growing their own food. I usually order from the seed catalog's website but enjoy browsing through the catalogs. The purchased Baker Creek is the Cadillac of seed catalogs in my opinion. They are my first choice for ordering seeds. They are efficient and fast and always throw in free seeds with each order and no shipping cost. I'm hoping that I can get down to their big two day spring gathering this year. I haven't been to one in a long time. Mother Earth doesn't seem to want to have a Fair in Topeka so Baker Creek is the next best.

Garden October 2021

Summer Garden List

TNG Continue to build cage

TNG Prepare strawberry bed

TNG Continue to work on pathway

TNG Continue weed management

TNG Work on water tower

TNG Replace weak posts

TNG Work on North fence.

TNG Work on tree cleanup

TNG Cleanup and mulch road area outside fence.

TNG repair street side fence.

UR Cleanup back yard

UR Start working on concrete block raised bed

UR Work on side yard cleanup

UR Clean up backyard Patio

UR Clean up Front yard Patio

Saturday October 9

The great potato experiment was a bust this year. The potato tower did not work. I bought the indeterminate potatoes that were supposed to produce potatoes up the dirt covered vine but it did not do that. The potato harvest was disappointing but I shouldn't be surprised because I literally just planted and walked away without weeding or watering during the summer heat. However, the potatoes that were produced were good size and taste awesome.

I've started using the mulch that Neighbor Dave got for me. This is the first of the mulching. I am deciding whether to just cut down the Rugosa Rose bushes and let them grow back through the mulch or just mulch around them as best I can. Several of the bushes died because I suspect Neighbor Tim sprayed roundup around them which drifted onto the bush as killed it. I did mulch this area some years ago but not deep enough. This time it will be at least four inches with maybe another layer within a year or two.

I'm slowly making some progress but the rough part is ahead of me. There's some big bushes and even a massive tree that has grow up over the course of the last three years. I'm almost convinced that the best plan is to just take the chain saw and cut everything down to ground level and start over.

Saturday, October 9

Another day of glorious mulching. The mulch is perfect for this project and I hope that I have enough to cover the whole frontage in front of the garden. I have convinced myself to cut down all the bushes with the other weeds and tree sprouts. If Rugosa Roses are as tough as I think they are they will regrow up through the deep mulch. If not, oh, well at least it will look nicer.

Thursday, October 14

I thought this would be a good idea for cutting down the brush but it was a bust. The trimmer did a better job than this blade. So the next thing I'll be trying is to use the chainsaw to cut the heavy top brush and the trimmer and pruners to cut the stubs down to the ground before covering with mulch. 

It's starting to look half way deceit. I still have a long way to go and I'm not sure that the mulch that I have will be enough to cover up the whole front area. The next three section of fence are the worst. It has a big tree in the midst of the Rugosa bush. 

The Rugosa bushes did really good but the bind weed just grows over them and smothers them. Many have died because of that. I'm cutting them all down to the ground and hoping that some will find there way up through the mulch to start over with all new growth. Perhaps I should trim them back every year and not just let them grow wild.

This was the total out of control part of the frontage road. I brought out the chain saw to cut down some actual trees growing there. Some were about three inches in diameter. The stumps are still there waiting for me to drill holes in them and fill them with roundup. In two or three years the dead stump with be rotted enough to just hit with a sledge hammer and they will com right out. 

This is the debris that needs to be hauled away from the front of the garden. I can't get back to do that until Monday afternoon. I'm hoping to be able to pack it down in one load to take to the landfill. If I can't get all in one load then I'll try to pack the rest in the back of the garden to compost down. There's still a lot of work to do. Hopefully the weather will hold for one more week.

Garden September 2021

Wednesday, September 1

Summer Garden List

TNG Continue to build cage

TNG Prepare strawberry bed

TNG Continue to work on pathway

TNG Continue weed management

TNG Work on water tower

TNG Replace weak posts

TNG Work on North fence.

TNG Work on tree cleanup

TNG Cleanup and mulch road area outside fence.

TNG repair street side fence.

UR Cleanup back yard

UR Start working on concrete block raised bed

UR Work on side yard cleanup

Wednesday, September 1

Not much gardening going on today. Maybe some cleanup in the Urban Ranch backyard.

Yea, cherry, grape, plumb tomatoes all gone. Never again will I randomly select tomato plants from the garden center. I have a whole bucket full of tomatoes from the dregs of these plants. I suspect they will just get thrown away. Life is full of lessons. This is one. 

This is the beginning of the third rebuilt raised bed in at Urban Ranch backyard. I'm trying a new method that I'm still perfecting as I go along. I've decided to make the growing space a little smaller in these beds to make reaching into the center easier and well quite frankly, I have plenty of garden space and really don't need to maximum the space.

Well the experiment with the potato tower was a bust. This is the harvest from the spot in front of the potato display. These potatoes were all under the ground where the potatoes were planted and none were up the vines in the rings of soil above ground. Next year I'll use the ring method but will plant the potatoes in layers. I tried this once before but waited until the potatoes were up and growing before planting the next round. It did work but the potatoes that were the biggest were on the bottom of the layers and potatoes were smaller in each layer above the ground. My plan for next year is to plant the layers all the same time. I'm not sure if the potatoes planted way down deep will make it to the surface.

This is the harvest from the ring that was not filled with dirt. It was just a normal potato planting without hilling up. The harvest was about half of the two ring potato plants. I haven't compared the other hills yet but it seems that the two ring potato towers produce more potatoes than just the in ground potatoes.

This is the grass clippings for the summer. I used very little of the clipping harvest. For some reason I just didn't get out to Terra Nova Gardens very much this year. I thought I would be able accomplish more than I have there. I'm hopeful for next year.

I had to blast my way into the mulch pile that my neighbor had delivered for me. I haven't had a chance to use it much so the grass weeds grew up to head high. My farm touch trimmer blazed a path into the mulch pile. I only got two mulch wheelbarrow loads out before it was time to go home.

Monday, September 20

The plan for today is to set the north west corner of the third raised bed at the Urban Ranch in place with the new method that I have devised. I will be using 2x12x8s to set up a form to be able to set the blocks in the right place and height.

It's a good start for the third raised bed. Tomorrow is another work day for the bed. I'm hoping that it doesn't rain much tonight. We are supposed to get rain but I don't know how much. This is two blocks short of being half done. It would be nice if I could get this completed by the end of the week and for sure by the end of month.

Second day of work done. The new method is working much better and faster. I might get this done in one more day. Maybe a day and a half. There's just one more long side to do. There's the long 2x12 guide to set and six blocks to finish the foundation. It will be nice to have another raised bed finished. Next week will be Terra Nova Gardens street front and cage. I'm hoping to get that done before the weather gets too cold to work.

September 23

Another raised bed done. It took three days .... well four counting the initial digging out the dirt. One side is a little wonky but it will be just fine. Next year I'll get the fourth one done and I'll be set for the rest of my life. I'm glad the weather held and now I'm done except for putting the dirt back in. I'll probably wait for that to take the grass clippings from the front and back yard and bury it in the this bed. I should freshen up the soil with the bags of manure and then cover it with more grass on the top. It's a good time to get rid of the coffee grounds too. Fill that bed full of good stuff and let it rest over the winter. Now it's time to concentrate on Terra Nova Gardens.

September 24

Today will be a day of continuing to get fall things done while the weather permits.