Archive | June, 2008

To build a trellis

by on June 10, 2008 in Tools, Products & How To

Stephanie asked me to write up how I made the new pea trellis. I was glad to have something to pull me away from work, so I got right on it!

I’ll start with a list of supplies (I got everything from Lowes):

  • ($10) 6′ steel fence post x2 (the ones sold as 6′…they are actually longer, with the part that goes in ground)
  • ($8) 1″x4″x10′ boards x2 (this means they are 1 inch thick, 4 inches wide and 10 feet long)
  • ($3) 1″x2″x8′ board x1 for the center post
  • ($3) Wire – old metal hangers and a couple spare landscape staples is what we used.
  • ($4) Twine…the stuff from Lowes is far from spectacular and breaks if stretched too far, but it served it’s purpose, cheaply
  • drill with drill bits, pliers, a couple screws, and scissors or a knife
  • ($6-30) Post driver. We made our own with a short piece of pipe, maybe 3-4″ with a pipe cap screwed on it (cost a little under $6). Top the post with that and hammer away. Or you can buy a premade one, but those are over $20. Up to you. It protects the post from the blow of the hammer.
  • A helper tall enough to reach up to 6′ (I know your toddlers would love such a job but they’re a little short!)

Assuming you’ve got a spot picked out, weeded, amended if needed, and any other soil prep done, measure just short of 10 feet…don’t make this a permanent mark, just a rough guideline. Drive the first post in so the anchor plate is a little underground. Lay one of the 10′ boards down so the end of it sticks out about an inch from the edge of the post you installed and move down to the other end. Drive the second post down so the other end of the board also sticks out about an inch.

Now measure to the middle (approximately) between the 2 posts and hammer the 8′ board down so it’s sturdy… mine only needed to go down a few inches so I plan on making my “Garden of Eatin’” sign to hammer on the top chunk sticking up.

With your helper, hold up the board to go on top so it’s almost to the top and the edge is about an inch overlapping the post – check to make sure the other end also overlaps the other post! Adjust as needed (you can pull the posts in a little if needed), then drill 2 holes just big enough for your wire, on each side of the post…I think a picture might be needed here to illustrate what we’re trying to accomplish:

Hopefully from that, you can see how the holes are drilled, with wire pushed through and twisted (enter pliers)….if you get it tight enough the little nobby things will keep it from sliding down (good technical manual I’m writing here, eh?). Finish that side, then do the same on the other end.

Use your drill and a couple screws and connect the center board with the top board. This is particularly important if you go with a more narrow board, like a 2″ instead of the 4″ I used, to keep it from sagging.

Now on the bottom, do the same thing on each side and the middle, but you really only need 1 wire to attach the boards to the posts (they won’t have the weight on them the top ones will)…keep the board slightly off the ground to prevent rotting:

Not to attach the twine. There’s 2 ways. The first way uses the drill to put holes for the twine to go through:

I think it looks nicer, but it takes longer and it makes the board unusable for anything else. For me, it took too long, so I moved on the the second:

In either case, start at the bottom, tie a good knot then carefully stretch the twine around the top board. It needs to be taut, but not too tight. If it breaks on you, you’ll know it was too tight! Consult your seed packets to know how far to space the twine. I did this after my peas were well established, but I would probably plant 2-3 seeds per string if I was direct sowing to ensure they all get used.

In the end, this is what I got:

A hearty serving of spam

by on June 10, 2008 in Blog

I had to blacklist a lot of porn and medical phrases and add a anti-spam spot to the comments form, just this morning I had 25 comments that had to be zapped  :irked: Please, please use the “Contact Me” link over to the right if you have any problems submitting a comment. I love them! I don’t love the nasty porn crap I got subjected to this morning however (to be clear, I’m not anti-porn…but this stuff is nasty) and the medical stuff is annoying. I don’t have erectile dysfunction. Lots of other dysfunctions, but not that one! ;)

Fall/winter cover crop

by on June 9, 2008 in Tools, Products & How To

Having never been able to be somewhere where I could contemplate the next season’s garden, I had never heard of a cover crop until I started researching gardening this spring. I learned, at a minimum, that planting a cover crop is a darn good way to add vital organic matter and nutrients into your soil with a minimum of cost and labor. Always a plus.

There’s much more to learn about it, so I went off in search of the how-tos and whys and whats.

What and why is a cover crop?

The cover crop (also known as green manure) is generally a single crop planted between seasons over the entire area. There are summer and winter crops and perennials, but I’m going to concentrate on winter crops in my research for now. Once the winter garden is in, I’ll do some summer cover crop research.

Cover crops are used to

  • fix nitrogen problems
  • loosen soil
  • prevent erosion
  • prevent leaching of nutrients (which apparently is called a “Catch Crop”)
  • suppress weeds
  • deter pests and diseases

Fava beans, clovers, vetchs, Austrian peas and other legumes add nitrogen to the soil. It sounds like a nifty scientific process involving bacteria drawing nitrogen from the air and fixing it on the legumes roots, to be released into the soil when the plant dies. Cool. Rye, barley, wheat, buckwheat and other grass and cereal crops are more for the last 5 reasons list above. Many farmers and gardeners combine types to get the benefits of both.

How?

Turn or till your area – hand turn it if at all possible so all your good wormies don’t get sliced up – and rake it smooth. Using a broadcast seeder (I got one from Lowest for $8, nifty little thing), spread seed over the area and rake it in to protect the seed from birds. You can plant in rows if you want, but everything I’m reading says broadcasting is fine….and faster.

When?

Immediately after harvesting…you can even do it in sections if you have one area that will be dormant for sometime, while you wait for another crop to mature. Let the plant grow and start to flower, then depending on the kind of plant, cut it, till it, let it die if it’s sensitive to winter cold, or let it go til spring and kill it then. They must be killed before going to seed.

My conclusion?

Based on the research from my references below, my plan will be to plant a legume with a grass and wait for it to start flowering, the mow it down, let it dry for a couple days, then till it under. After that, the garden will get our compost and the peat moss and sit for a couple weeks, then I’ll plant whatever I can at that time. For me, it looks like I might be able to get in broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, garlic, and lettuce, just based on Territorial Seed’s chart in their Fall/Winter catalog…may need to get some row covers, but that’s cool.

References:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/fs/fs304-e/

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/sustainable/peet/cover/cover.html

http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s-3-81-789-1-1-2,00.html

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/covercrop.html

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=1036&storyType=garden

2008 Sunset Western Gardening Book

And for a sixth post today

by on June 8, 2008 in The Growing Garden

I don’t normally break up a day’s information into multiple posts, but I wanted to try it out today. Other then Blotanical only seeing the latest 2, I like it better. If you’re reading this one, check out all the others from today!

While at Lowes getting the wood for the trellis, I picked up a rosemary plant (organic and 1/2 off the already marked down price) and a basil plant. Errr, I thought it was basil. Chris and I are sick and not wanting to be in public and the kids were good but very active, so we were rushing and I saw a good looking plant in the sweet basil spot so I grabbed it and headed off.

After I finished the trellis, I harvested the rest of the radishes and planted more, then went to plant the rosemary and basil. I pulled the basil out of it’s pot and looked at the tag. Doh! Peppermint! :lol: I love peppermint, so it’s all good, but wow, I goofed. So I planted it and the rosemary, and added another row of lettuce where the spinach refused for a second time to come up.

The garden then finally got a good Earth Juice feeding – it’s been raining for over a week, which is good, but I needed a sunny dry day for feeding them – and I called it a day. My sinuses are stuffed with cotton again and my chest and throat feel like death. But I’m satisfied by doing garden work, so it doesn’t seem so icky :)

The corn and the carrots

by on June 8, 2008 in The Growing Garden

Sounds like a book.

This is the biggest corn so far…a few not far behind…they’re all out of seedling stage but some much smaller. 4 got trampled by a 2 year old today so we’re down those most likely, but they’re still doing well.

I really like the leaves on carrots.

Awww

by on June 8, 2008 in The Growing Garden

It’s so little and cute :)

Thanks, lady

by on June 8, 2008 in General

Doesn’t this little guy seem to be saying something? Like, “thanks for putting up a PROPER TRELLIS, you SLACKER“?

Yeah I thought so.

My camera settings were odd in Super Macro mode for proper contrast and brightness, but the kids were literally climbing on my back as I kneeled to shoot, so, ya know.

Photoshop fixed some of it.

Taters

by on June 8, 2008 in The Growing Garden

May 26:

Today:

New Pea Trellis

by on June 8, 2008 in The Growing Garden

Went to Lowes today and got a couple 10′ lengths of board and redid the peas. They are much happier (and taller!) now. It was delicate work removing the old twine (which I reused as much of as I could) and keeping the vines from breaking or bending too far.

First Harvest

by on June 7, 2008 in Harvesting & Preserving

I noticed the radishes were looking rather large so I checked their packet and they are ready in only 30 days! Nice! So I went out and plucked the 4 biggest out of the ground.

They taste…like radishes. Better then store bought but still, I’m not a big radish fan, Chris is. Good smooth flavor to start with a bite afterwards.

The kind is White Icicle by NK Lawn & Garden. Another company I bought from before finding out about Monsanto. I still can’t find out much about them, so I won’t be buying anymore until I know it’s “Safe Seed”. But I’m going to plant more of the seed I have to have some more next month! :D

More lessons from the field

by on June 7, 2008 in The Growing Garden

continuing on a previous post….

Pea and bean trellis needs to have vertical lines to climb the best. And “garden twine” from Lowes is crap. Look at it wrong and it snaps.

Boxes are cute and fun and special garden layouts attractive, but not practical for economical and effective watering. Next time I’ll probably do plain ol’ rows. With real drip irrigation.

Name tags…permanent marker on plastic tags, genius. Writing on wooden popsicle sticks with regular pen, not so smart. I’m not sure which tomatoes are which, or which peas are which!

There’s things growing!!!

by on June 6, 2008 in The Growing Garden

I was feeling rather guilty, not checking on the garden today, so I bundled up (it was like 55F out – how did I manage living in sub-zero Idaho for so long?!?!) and went out. Plucked up a few weeds and noticed 2 itsy bitsy little green strawberries and a few tiny little pea pods! OMG! I’m GROWING things! Yeah I was growing them before, but I’ve been kinda skeptical that anything would bear food, ya know?