Tonka Tuesday – Gardening

A tonka poem has the syllable pattern of 5/7/5/7/7. Here is my tonka for this Tuesday.

Gardening

Garden planted now

Waiting for seeds to grow well

Water when not raining

Patiently wait for nature’s course

Harvest when time, not before

Brassicas close, the lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, parsnips, carrots, and peas.

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Clover? Really?

This year, the raised bed in my greenhouse had an unwelcome surprise. Clover. I’m not sure how it got there, but I know how to get rid of it. Pull it. I had to be careful to do this on a rainy day. Why? I’m allergic to bees which find clover very attractive.

While pulling, I had to pull some of my intentional plants. These were separated from the clover and replanted immediately. I did lose a parsley plant that was choked out by the clover before I had a chance to pull it. I also lost one garlic plant when the leaves separated from the bulb. It wasn’t a total loss because I used the bulb in supper that evening.

Once the clover was pulled, the raised bed looked much better. It will need to be monitored for clover from now on, and I will be careful to pull it early, before it has a chance to flower.

The appearance of the clover in the raised bed of my greenhouse goes to prove that weeds will show up anywhere, anytime.

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Greenhouse and Arctic Freeze

My greenhouse is unheated, and there is an arctic freeze coming.  The forecast calls for twenty-nine tonight, minus four then next night, and nine the night after that.  A very frigid start to the week.  So far my greenhouse is doing well, except for the brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and brussels sprouts) that were affected by the last very cold night.  Brassicas are hardy down to zero degrees, if they don’t have a head on them.  The cauliflower and broccoli are not looking too well.  Surprisingly, everything else is looking good, even the plants in pots on the workbench and greenhouse floor.

We have a propane heater that can go into the greenhouse for the next two nights.  I don’t exactly like the idea of the fumes.  The greenhouse is not air tight, so the fumes will be able to escape, which is good since they aren’t exactly healthy for my plants.

Let them freeze, or use a heater that puts out toxic fumes….hmmm, quite the choice.

The heater goes in.  I’ll keep you posted.

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Away for a while

I know I’ve been away for a while.  I apologize for neglecting this blog and everyone who follows it.  As you know, life tends to happen between plans.  Let me update you on the garden and greenhouse.

We have moved the chicken coop completely into the garden.  We close them in at night and let them out into the garden in the morning.  They love the extra space they have and love to walk with me whenever I enter the garden to give them food or water.  The rooster does his mating dance for the hens regularly.  Sometimes they mate with him.  Sometimes they don’t.  All of the brassica plants that I had in the garden have been eaten, of course.  They started with the leaves and quickly moved onto the stems.  Well, so much for early broccoli or cabbage, at least in the garden.

The greenhouse is another matter.  The brassica plants there are doing well.  We also have parsnips, carrots, and peas.  The peas are small and may not do much.  We’ll see soon enough.  The plants in pots on the work bench are overwintering nicely, too.  I have mugwort, evening primrose, garlic, onions, strawberries, brassicas, and sage.  They’ll be good and strong and ready for transplanting in the Spring.  I also have heather and rosemary in pots.  The heather can be transplanted into the garden in the Spring.  The rosemary will have to stay in the pot so I can carry it in and out of the greenhouse.

Trying to water the greenhouse in the winter can be a bit of a challenge.  If the hose is frozen, I have to use the one gallon waterer.  It takes a lot of time to water that way, but it’s doable.

I hope all your gardening endeavors are going well.

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First Snow of the Winter of 2013

I awoke this morning to snow falling outside.  So, after getting ready for the day, I took my camera and my dog for a walk.  There was just a light dusting of snow with more falling.  The air was brisk but the wind took the mist of my breath away before it could form.  The snow stuck to the grassy and dirt areas but not to the sidewalk.  Walking was easy, not slick at all, which is important to me since I tend to fall often and well.  This year hasn’t been too bad when it comes to falling.  Some years are really bad for falling.  One year, and I forget which one, I fell so many times that my family talked about special shoes or other things to keep me from falling.  I was sure once or twice that had broken my ankle or something, and since I don’t feel pain, I could have without realizing.  Well, not really, without feeling pain, I would feel the bone give, break.  I’ve dislocated my knee before and felt the bones move.  It’s an odd feeling.  I knew it should hurt, but it didn’t hurt at all.  Not feeling pain is scary.  I’ve gotten hurt before without realizing it.  Burns, cuts, scraps, bruises, happened without notice.  My family rightfully worries about me.  I do as well.

I walked toward my greenhouse and noticed that the dirt area near the new garage.  I took a photo of the grass and the dirt area before taking a photo of the snow on top of my greenhouse.  The plants inside drooped with the night’s cold, but once the sun comes out, whenever it comes out, they’ll perk back up again.  Most of the plants in there are hardy down to fifteen degrees.  Some are hardy as long as frost doesn’t touch them, or so it seems.  I’ve had such a hard time with rosemary overwintering outside up here on this mountain.  I have one in my greenhouse for its second winter.  So far, it’s doing very well.  It had flowers on it just a few days ago.  Beside the rosemary, sits a heather plant.  It also has flowers on it.  Maybe the heat of the greenhouse confused them.  I hope the flowers don’t make them more vulnerable to the cold.

I walked past the greenhouse without opening the door.  The chicken coop was the next thing I wanted to check on.  The chickens were all inside the coop, which kept them out of the cold and weather.  The coop is not heated so they aren’t exactly warm, but they aren’t freezing.  I worry about some of them.  They were injured by a raccoon who removed many feathers from their tails and necks.  The black one looks especially scrawny.  I hope the others are helping her stay warm.

Trees all around my home offer their protection from the wind, but because of the size of the open area, their protection is limited.  Still, they wave good morning to me as Thor walked toward them and  into the woods.  I take photos of him and the trees and the path to the woods.  He’s on his way to the creek.  He loves to play in the water, and he loves to drink the water.  It amazes me that he doesn’t feel the biting cold of the water on days like this.  Maybe he just doesn’t care that the water’s so cold.  Maybe all he sees is,….WATER!

I turn around to go back inside.  Over my home, I see the smoke coming out of the woodstove.  I love going into a toasty warm house after being out in the cold.  On top of the woodstove, there’s a tea kettle that will be nice and hot by now, so I’ll make hot chocolate once I go inside.  Too bad I don’t have marshmallows.  I love to watch them melt on top of the chocolate and stick to the inside of the mug and wrapping my hands around the cup.  I take photos of the smoke rising from the chimney in front of the trees and disappearing into the wind.

Once inside, the cats meow for attention or food, usually it’s neither, but they’re cats so who knows.  Salem, the black cat, fuzzes around my ankles.  Callie runs up the hall rather than take the risk that she might actually get petted, which she might actually like and that would scare her more than anything else.  Puff lies near the woodstove purring contentedly.  Warmth and her person and safety and more.

Life is good.

Snowy trees in the backyard. I’ve taken several photos of these same trees during this snow event. You can compare this on to the ones in previous posts.

My greenhouse is covered in snow. Bet the plants inside are happy.

My dog, Thor, enjoying the snow.

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Greenhouse Photo Update

I will try to add more photos later.  (It kept saying there was an error with uploading.)

A closer look at the brassicas, which are cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts.

Praying mantis on top just over the West door.

This will be the second winter for this plant that is supposed to be an annual. It will overwinter in my bathroom.

Brassicas, greens, parsnips, carrots, and peas are in the raised bed.

This stink bug is hoping to find refuge from the winter’s cold in my greenhouse. Of course, he might not since my greenhouse is unheated.

This long-horned grasshopper also hopes to find warmth this winter.

The strawberries in the gutters did very well this year. I’ll let you know if they survive the winter.

These plants are mugwort and evening primrose.

This spider is making a meal out of a stink bug that flew into its web. I’m sure this spider has an egg sac or two somewhere in my greenhouse.

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Greenhouse in the Fall

I’ve been busy in the greenhouse getting  ready for winter.  I’ve cleared the raised bed of cucumbers, squash, parsnips, carrots, and weeds.  Then I cleaned off the boards that join, one on edge and the other on flat.  These boards separated from each other allowing weeds to come through from the outside.  Johnson grass and Creeping Charlie being the worst two offenders.  A weedeater and lawn mower took care of the outside, while hard-working hands took care of the inside.  Once done with both jobs, expanding foam was put into the gap to prevent further intrusions.  I went inside until the next day.

With the raised bed now empty, I dumped my eight gallon containers to discover a nice assortment of potatoes.  They ranged in size from small marble to hand size.  I replanted any potatoes that had too much green on them.  This experiment is to find out if they will overwinter in the greenhouse.  I also transplanted two sweet potato plants.  The new potatoes went into the house where they made an excellent addition to many suppers.  The first night we had beef tips and gravy over new potatoes.  Another night, we had new potatoes and peas as a side dish.  On the third night, we enjoyed pot roast with new potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, and spices.  Yum!

Now, the raised bed is planted with lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, parsnips, carrots, and peas.  I’m really looking forward to enjoying a fresh salad in January.

What are you planting in your fall/winter garden?

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Greenhouse update

I went out to the greenhouse yesterday.  My goal was to clear off the work bench for the winter.  I went out there early before the heat of the day.  I took a dying pumpkin down to the chickens and moved my garden wheelbarrow over to the greenhouse door.  Then I got busy.

This year’s compost delivery was a disappointment in that it contained many weed seeds.  I’ve never had such a problem before.  I’ve contacted the compost business to let them know.  They were quite concerned.  I might order from them next year, or I might find somewhere else to get compost.

Anyway, in the greenhouse, I had many 72-slot trays and pots that were overtaken by weeds which killed the plant I actually wanted.  I emptied these out into the wheelbarrow.  They will go into our garden in the spring, or maybe it will just be dumped in the field so we don’t have to worry about weed seeds in the garden which already has too many weeds.

Next, I transplanted young hibiscus and evening primrose into pots for the winter.  I know I could just transplant them outside, but I want to keep them in pots until they have good strong rhisomes.  I did this with rhubarb also.  All will be transplanted outside come Spring.

Once that was done, I gave everything a good watering.  The lettuce, spinach, and kale are coming up in the raised bed.  The swiss chard and peas haven’t come up yet.  The strawberries look great.  I’ve put several runners in pots so they will take root.  They will also be transplanted outside, or maybe in one of the greenhouse’s many gutters.

The entire time I was working, I also caught grasshoppers in a jar.  I took them down to the chickens once I’d done the day’s work.  The chickens had a feast.  I collected eggs, then went inside.  I quit at a good time.  As I was coming up the hill from the chickens, my knee popped and the bones moved in way that bones should not move.  I propped my feet up once I sat down.

I hope your fall garden is doing well.

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Planting our Fall Garden

Our fall garden this year will include leaf lettuce, head lettuce, kale, swiss chard, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, peas, garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes, beets, radishes, and maybe sweet potatoes and turnips.  The family hasn’t voted on those two yet.

First, we will go down and prepare the garden the same way we did in the spring.  We have to remove the tomato cages, which isn’t a problem since early blight took our tomato plants.  Next, we will hand weed the garden raised bed.  The tiller will be used in the rest of the garden.  Then, we will plant seeds and transplant the ones I started in the greenhouse.

Speaking of the greenhouse, I’ll also start greens in there and bush beans.  I might also put a few pea plants.

If you’re planning a fall garden, get busy.  August will be over before you know it.  Plants will survive best if they are mature before first frost.  Most of the plants I have listed above are hardy down to fifteen degrees Fahrenheit.  Broccoli and cauliflower are hardy down to zero degrees Fahrenheit, but only if they do not have heads on them.  If they have heads, they are hardy to fifteen degrees.

Happy gardening.

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Thor and the Raccoon – day 8

Thor is doing great.  He’s being his normal, happy self.  He got some loving from me first thing this morning before I took him for a walk.  We checked on the chickens and cats and greenhouse.  There was a light misty rain falling that didn’t bother Thor or me.  We walked around for about thirty minutes.  My shoes were soaked by the time we came back in.  He went to his boy’s room and plopped down on the bed.  I took a shower and started my day.

In other words, no news is good news.

Thor doesn’t seem affected by the bite or the booster shot.  Yay!

I’ll be in touch.

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