2019 Garden Thread

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Work continues on the new garden space. My husband finished building the boxes, and the kids and I worked on loading them up with organic material we’ve been producing and collecting. They’ll get a good thick layer of purchased compost, too, but that part isn’t done yet.

We were also able to use the trellis frames that moved with us from our former home. They were built only three feet wide, but we replaced the old (and worn) trellis netting with some four foot wire fencing that we got from friends who no longer needed it. We have more supports to build, but we’re making progress. (If you look closely in the background, you might be able to see some of the branches that had to be cleared for this project. They’re slowly providing the chips we’re using around the beds.)

I have some cool season plants in the very back bed (dill, green onions, Brussels sprouts, and parsley). The more heat-loving plants continue to spend most days outside but have been coming back inside at night recently. The frost date actually just passed, but the temperatures are low enough at night for me to bring them back inside. The peppers got potted up again, the cucumbers for the first time. It’s looking like it may be possible to plant them out next weekend temperature-wise. We’ll see.

This week has been a spring break devoted to yard work (there’s a lot going on other than this spot, too, but it’s not quite gardening). We’ll be back to our regular schedule tomorrow, but it was nice to have some extra time to work and to make it a real family project.
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The snow has just left our place in the last couple of days so now we've got to play catchup with planting. Wife planted 90 strawberry plants today while I re-arranged the chicken coop for more roost space for the additional dozen pullets I'm picking up tomorrow. Then this weekend we're off to Saltspring to pick up the rest of the apple trees we ordered but couldn't plant because of the weather. It was 20C here today!

I spent the day giving them 42 lineal feet of roost and how do they thank me? By cramming themselves into eight feet of roost!
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DuaeGuttae said:
Work continues on the new garden space. My husband finished building the boxes, and the kids and I worked on loading them up with organic material we’ve been producing and collecting. They’ll get a good thick layer of purchased compost, too, but that part isn’t done yet.
Click to expand...

Just a note on building beds. I have built dozens for our local community garden club, and what I have learned is that it is better to run a short 2X2 or 2X4 up the inside corners and screw the side boards to that. If you butt them up against each other and screw them to each other, then you are running your screws into end grain, and end grain wood does not hold as well and rots sooner.
 
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I finally started some seeds this week. Last year I started them on January 22nd. Bought some local lettuce, mizumi and pa choi starts yesterday and planted some in the greenhouse and some outside. The kale made it through the winter and is putting on nice new growth now. I harvested some overwintered carrots which taste great. And surprisingly we have several lettuce plants that made it through the cold and snow and are now putting on new growth.
 
Montanalocal said:
Just a note on building beds. I have built dozens for our local community garden club, and what I have learned is that it is better to run a short 2X2 or 2X4 up the inside corners and screw the side boards to that. If you butt them up against each other and screw them to each other, then you are running your screws into end grain, and end grain wood does not hold as well and rots sooner.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the beds. We did not know that and will keep it in mind for the future.
 
I use corner brackets that you can find at HD or Lowes for $1 each. They're reusable as they're galvanized. 1 for each corner, top and bottom.

Without the brackets, 2x material will last around 9 years up here. The corners always blow was out and rot.
 
Special project in the garden this week was installing gas lifts on the compost bin - we have neighbours from all over the hood dropping of their scraps and we've had a couple of bruised arms ,whacks to the back of the head, and near chicken beheadings because it wasn't propped up properly.

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EatenByLimestone said:
Why do you have a top on the bin?
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Living in the PNW, if you didn't have a top on the bin you'd have a soggy, anaerobic blob by June. And the chickens would have it launched all over the yard!
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Probably keep larger vermin out too, like raccoons.
 
...and rats and mice...sooo many rats. Wife wanted to try open composting on the ground and have the chickens mulch it for us, but decided having a rat buffet wasn't for us.
 
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Nice, much better than the bins I cobbled together.
 
Last of the "deer" fencing going up...
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AlbergSteve said:
Last of the "deer" fencing going up...
View attachment 242661
Click to expand...

Why is “deer” in quotation marks?

Beautiful compost bins, by the way. I read about them the other night when you posted the link and then stayed up way too late reading your wife’s blog. I talked with my mom about it and will send her a link as I think she would enjoy parts of it. She likes seeing “young people” learn how to do what she so loves, and the photography is lovely.
 
It’s getting hot and dry down here in Texas (about 80 yesterday and today). We were forecast to have rain this weekend and today, but despite clouds and moisture in the mornings, there was nothing to wet the soil. The afternoons have been full of blazing sun. I’m very glad to see shade creep over the new garden location when the sun heads west. It’s fierce down here, and gardening is all about getting crops in early enough to pollinate before the height of summer. That’s a real change for me from my former, colder location.

I’ve been using the dregs in the large rain tanks and carrying watering cans from the small barrel across the property to the garden where I planted out the cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes at the end of last week in the hopes that they would have a lovely weekend in the rain. I’m still hoping for a good storm ( but not too fierce) to water those plants for me and to refill our supplies of rain water. (We do have tap water, but it’s not my preference for the soil, and irrigation is pretty restricted anyway.) Overall, the plants seem to be doing well in their beds, so we need to finish getting up the last of the supports that we hope to need eventually.

As I was giving the citrus a good soaking this morning, I noticed that I could see baby limes. That was particularly cheering as this was the tree that did get some exposure to temperatures in the low 20’s when winds worked apart some of our frost cloth closures earlier this month. The lemons are covered in blooms (probably way too many for the plants to support), but we are enjoying them.
 
DuaeGuttae said:
Why is “deer” in quotation marks?

Beautiful compost bins, by the way. I read about them the other night when you posted the link and then stayed up way too late reading your wife’s blog. I talked with my mom about it and will send her a link as I think she would enjoy parts of it. She likes seeing “young people” learn how to do what she so loves, and the photography is lovely.
Click to expand...
Our deer fencing is usually more rudimentary, just wire stretched on posts, this is more decorative, more pleasing for the humans to look at while still keeping the deer out.;lol
 
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DuaeGuttae said:
It’s getting hot and dry down here in Texas (about 80 yesterday and today). We were forecast to have rain this weekend and today, but despite clouds and moisture in the mornings, there was nothing to wet the soil. The afternoons have been full of blazing sun. I’m very glad to see shade creep over the new garden location when the sun heads west. It’s fierce down here, and gardening is all about getting crops in early enough to pollinate before the height of summer. That’s a real change for me from my former, colder location.

I’ve been using the dregs in the large rain tanks and carrying watering cans from the small barrel across the property to the garden where I planted out the cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes at the end of last week in the hopes that they would have a lovely weekend in the rain. I’m still hoping for a good storm ( but not too fierce) to water those plants for me and to refill our supplies of rain water. (We do have tap water, but it’s not my preference for the soil, and irrigation is pretty restricted anyway.) Overall, the plants seem to be doing well in their beds, so we need to finish getting up the last of the supports that we hope to need eventually.

As I was giving the citrus a good soaking this morning, I noticed that I could see baby limes. That was particularly cheering as this was the tree that did get some exposure to temperatures in the low 20’s when winds worked apart some of our frost cloth closures earlier this month. The lemons are covered in blooms (probably way too many for the plants to support), but we are enjoying them.
Click to expand...

Dont worry about citrus trees having too many blooms, they will drop the ones that it cant support on its own.
 
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Plants all tucked in for the night!

It’s getting cold down here in Texas (for Texas in spring). The wind is roaring. Tonight it’s supposed to be about 40, tomorrow about 36, and Monday near freezing. A couple of my peppers have flowers starting, so all my peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers are getting a little extra protection for a few days. I don’t think they’d be killed, but I understand they can be stressed and stunted.

The lemons, limes, and blueberries have tiny fruits, but I think they’ll be okay. Please let me know if I’m wrong about that.
 
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I got to starting the spring lawn cleanup yesterday. I checked the asparagus bed as it usually comes up early and, under a layer of leaf mulch, it's still frozen rock solid. Well, I guess I'll check it again in a week or so.
 
Busy weekend here, blueberries and raspberries transplanted, three types of black berries in, another 40 strawberry plants, and two pear trees.
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And we had to move a crabapple that we planted two years ago that wasn't in quite the right spot!
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I am really hoping that the poppies AND the peonies come up this year!
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the crocus are up!
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They're off to a good start but might not flower this year.
 
Dogs? Stake a little 18" fence of chicken wire around them for protection. Or maybe a tomato cage would work?
 
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