May Progress

The tomatoes and eggplants are on their last weekend of intensive baby-sitting.

The spare tomatoes have been transplanted to gallon pots.  The plants that are going in the bed tomorrow are laying on their sides so the growing tips will turn up and I can plant them horizontally to get a better root system.

My broccoli and cauliflower are looking pretty good.  Especially when I compare them to the transplants available in the greenhouses.

I study them each day for the first signs of buds

The lettuce transplants that I half heartedly stuck in the ground are doing well

The potted lettuce transplants are ready to plant

The flat on the right that is taller spent two weeks under grow lights in the basement.  It did give them more growth, but they are not as stocky and strong as the outdoor plants.

Both plantings of all four pea varieties came in well.

Last year I had two kinds that were very sluggish.  One sluggish variety was the Penelope peas shown above.  This year they are thriving.  They turned out fine last year despite their sparse start so I have high hopes for these rows.

Other happening that are not photo-worthy:  the potatoes I planted last weekend are just beginning to poke through the soil and the carrots are beginning to germinate.

The tomato and sweet corn beds have been amended and prepared.  I am trying to warm the soil with polycarbonate greenhouse panels before I plant the corn.  I dug the tomato ladders and cucumber trellises out of storage and brought them up to the garden.

The catnip and spearmint have been re-potted.  If I don't dig them up, amend the soil and replant the main growing tips the whole pot will sit and sulk until I do.  For supposedly invasive, hard to control plants they are pretty docile and a bit finicky when potted.  I have to keep a wire cloche on the catnip or stray cats will come in and destroy it in the night.

Ninety percent of the annuals have been purchased.  Two flats of marigolds, a flat and a half of Sunpatiens, half a flat of begonias and some portulaca.  I keep the frost cover handy to place over them on cold nights or very sunny days when they could sunburn.  The floating row cover allows about 85% of the sun to come through which is similar to the greenhouse conditions they've been grown in.  If you have the time and ability to harden off greenhouse plants it can't hurt. Today I purchased the potting soil and pots I'll need this year and now I have a lot of planting to do.  When I plant annuals into the mulched landscape I put them in large fiber pots with good potting mix and they do much better than the ones that are planted directly into the native soil.

Daffodils are on their way out

The south walkway construction is done.  It was so wet and mucky when Tim was laying this out that when he placed the last railroad tie across the end into the area he had dug out, it floated in the water that had back-filled.  Yes, floated.  He had to stand on it to pin it down.  Yucky  Mucky.  But I'm really enjoying my new walkway and use it daily.

This ^ was the working conditions the days the walkway went in.

This is also why we are redesigning and landscaping the backyard.  It's an unmowable swamp that requires french drains and gravel.

The patio where the walkway pavers were has been dug out.  The sand and gravel mix went to extend a driveway back into the woods

We will replace the RR ties with newer more solid ties and fill the bed with topsoil dug up from other areas of (de)construction.  The top soil will be mixed with compost and I'll have all year to condition it and de-weed it to be ready to use next year.

Phase two of lawn re-construction and re-landscaping involves placing pavers out into the lawn.  

The second layer RR tie will be cut back and the ground beyond leveled.

The landscape bed to the left will be reshaped.

The garden looks pretty wide open today but there is a lot going on.  It's May and EVERYTHING needs to be done.  This year May has been wet and gloomy.  In addition to recording rainfall on my calendar, I've also begun recording sunny days because they have been so rare.  We've had four sunny days this month, and today is the 18th!

Tomorrow's To Do List:

Seed Cucumbers

Transplant Tomatoes

Begin potting Sunpatiens and begonias

The Litmus Test - Soil Testing

Do you test your soil?  They say you really should if you are going to start adding particular elements to it and not just organic matter (compost).  Why would you add Potash if you already had an excess?  Exactly HOW much Nitrogen should you be adding?

There are many universities which offer soil testing through their extension offices.  But to be honest, the sample prep instructions can be a little intimidating.  So just how good are the over the counter tests?  Accuracy varies by technique of course.  I have a scientific mind (according to NY State standardized testing and Facebook quizzes) so I decided to give the tests a try.  I did watch a bunch of Youtube videos to gather info and to learn from other's mistakes.  What did we do before Youtube? 

I took a half cup sample from the center of each bed, from the layer that lies about 4 inches deep,  placed them in labeled quart jar and mixed it 1 to 5 (2.5 cups) with distilled water.  Then I shook the sample well to "dissolve" it in the water, and let each sample sit for almost 24 hours.

The Luster Leaf 1601, which I purchased on Amazon, contains four test vials, and ten capsules for each type of test.  You can test four attributes of ten samples.  You pull apart the teeny tiny capsules and empty them into the left side of each vial.  Then, you use the supplied eye-dropper to add your sample water.  Shake the test well and let it sit for a couple of minutes.  Then you have to interpret the subtle shading by comparing it to the colored scale provided.  The Acid test and the Potash test registered pretty clear results.  The Acid was actually easier to read in real life than it shows in the photos below.  The Phosphrous and Nitrogen were more subtle, but did vary from bed to bed.

Each of my twelve raised beds have had the same components added to them over the years.  The same starter soil.  The same compost in comparable amounts.  Similar soil additives each year.  But they have different crops grown in them each year.  If I am growing tomatoes or cucumbers I am more likely to add nitrogen.  If I am growing peas or a cover crop I am not adding anything that season.  And they have developed differences over the years.  This is apparent in my annual growing results. 

Here are the results for my seven samples.  I did test the cauliflower bed a few weeks ago before I planted them, but I did not take a photo.  Results were PH Neutral, Adequate for Phosphorous, Depleted for Nitrogen and Adequate for Potash.  I think these photos will be useful for future reference.

Bed #1
Acidic, Sufficient for Phosphorous, Depleted for Nitrogen, Adequate for Potash
This bed had a cover crop of buckwheat last year

Bed #2
Slightly Acidic, Depleted for Phosphorous, Adequate(ish) for Nitrogen, Sufficient for Potash
This bed had a cover crop of buckwheat last year 

Beds 3 and 4 have peas planted in them.  Peas grow well in "poor" soil, 

so I did not test this year

Bed #5
Slightly Acidic, Depleted for Phosphorous, Adequateish for Nitrogen, Sufficient+ for Potash
This bed had a cover crop of buckwheat last year

Bed #6
Slightly Acidic, Depleted for Phosphorous, Adequate for Nitrogen, Sufficient for Potash
This bed had a cover crop of buckwheat last year

Bed #7
PH Nuetral, Adequate for Phosphorous, Adequate for Nitrogen, Sufficient for Potash
This bed had cucumbers in it last year

Bed #8
Slightly Acidic, Depleted for Phosphorous, Adequate for Nitrogen, Sufficient+ for Potash
This bed had cucumbers in it last year

Potato Bed
PH Neutral, Adequate for Phosphorous, Adequate for Nitrogen, Adequate for Potash
I expected this bed to be more acidic judging from the amount of moss it grows.

So what do the results above tell me?  My soil, overall, is more acidic than I thought it was.  That doesn't really concern me at this point, but I'll keep an eye on it and perhaps add some garden lime to my composted horse manure as I amend the beds.  I have lime on hand already.   The Nitrogen could use a little boost, but I habitually do that by adding blood meal at the time of planting.  The Phosphorous needs attention.  I have not concentrated on adding that in the past.  How do you add Phosphorous to your soil?  Bat Guano, Bone Meal or Rock Phosphate.  I will probably go with the Bone Meal which has a 4-12-0 N-P-K ratio.  N (Nitrogen) P (Phosphorous) K (Potassium) 

I think the over the counter soil tests worked fine.  The results weren't really surprising.  I will continue to do what I have been doing, but this year I will buy a good sized bag of Bone Meal (P) to add as I plant along with the Blood Meal (N).

Slow - Construction Ahead

Spring is here and we have a lot of plans for outside improvements.  Some are a carry over from last year.  Some have been rolling over for more than one year.

Why did we not put a sidewalk here ^ to begin with?  It's just begging for a walkway.  And - we're tired of the gravel getting in the mulch and the mulch getting in the gravel/  Never ever put mulch next to gravel.  It will drive you nuts.  Always put a good hard edge between gravel and anything!  Preferably a surface that can be swept.

That is the shortest distance between the garden shed and the compost area.  If it isn't muddy I will cut across the lawn rather than go around the long way down the other side of the garden.  This week I dug out the daffodils and day lilies and set them aside.  Next we will dig out the six inches of nice decaying mulch full of earthworms that runs along the fence and set that aside for compost.

To construct the walkway we have to tear up the patio on the right where the cold frame and a pair of chaise lounges have been.  We need exactly that many (24) pavers to make the new walkway.  And I need another large bed to rotate potatoes and squash into.  The cold frame is reaching the end of it's useful life and is slated for recycling.  We plan to replace it with a greenhouse which will be located about where the above photo is taken from.

After 10 years we have finally gotten the garden shed organized to our satisfaction.Tim put up two deep shelves along the empty wall to get all of the machinery up off the floor.  All of the weed whackers, chain saws and leaf blowers have a home along with all of their maintenance items and gas cans.

Behind the door, the string trimmer is mounted on the wall and so is its battery charger!

Now it won't scoot out of the corner without warning and the charger isn't taking up space on the counter..   The DeWalt battery operate tools are really nice.  Last year we got a Home Depot Father's Day special with a string trimmer and little leaf blower and we use them to trim and blow around the garden shed patios each time we mow.

The stick tools were always tidy, but you can see the deep shelves to the left.  The lower one doubles as a work surface because it is just the right height.

 I bought wire baskets for all of my killing stuff (on the left) and growing stuff (on the right).  It is amazing how much more room there is in the cupboard if you just contain things in a basket.  And instead of rummaging around and making a mess, just grab the basket you want and pull it out into the open where you can access what you're looking for.

Speaking of containing things and more room - the contents of these two containers was just laying on the bottom of the cabinet in a cascading pile, or crammed into my large tool box (which now contains only hand tools).  Lots more room.  The top portion of each container is a divided tray which holds smaller items like rolls of tape and snaps and eye bolts etc.  Tape measure, duct tape and WD-40 are items I reach for quite often.

The Broccoli and Cauliflower MUST be getting bigger.  Right?

Waiting is tough.

Lettuce babies are still pretty small.  I sort of abused these, barely hardened them off and just set them on a patio to fend for themselves but I think I only lost three.

I had a lot of seedlings left over still in the seed tray.  Last night I planted a triple row in the bed which will also have a row of cucumbers.  I don't plan on babying these.  They can thin themselves out.  Hence the triple row.  Survival of the fittest.

Second planting of peas from Easter Sunday is just breaking through.  The established row was planted four weeks before that.

There are mounds of daffodils everywhere but the primrose are looking especially nice this spring.  Still waiting on wood hyacinths.  If I don't put these wire cloches over the primrose both deer and rabbits consider them snacks.

Un-Do Re-Do: The Fence

It's tiresome really, all this maintenance and revisiting projects that you thought you'd done right the first time.  The garden is now 11 years old, and for the past few years, a few of the fence rails had been bowing and twisting.  Tim kept saying "I'm going to replace that one" but in the end, he decided to do them all.

The one pictured above really hadn't warped until last year and then it went whole hog, actually pulling the posts out of plumb.

When Tim tried to remove it, it crumbled into a thousand shards.  He mentioned that he ought to get the receipt and take it back to the lumber yard (because we save all our receipts) and let them know that their product was not satisfactory.  But the week after the lumber yard was wiped out by a tornado.

Thank you Karma.  But that was a little extreme.

The 2x4 rails were replaced with a 2x4 topped with a 2x6 to stiffen them

All of the posts were re-plumbed and the whole thing looks fresh and new

The broccoli and cauliflower still aren't doing much yet.  We've had a few sunny 60 degree days, but today they are under a second frost cover to block the 40 mph north wind from sweeping down the tunnel and flattening them.  The temperatures are in the mid-30s and there are a few snowflakes in the air.  A good day to stay indoors.  I'm satisfied that I have my second planting of peas in, the carrots seeded, and the broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce ready to roll once the weather co-operates.  

My spring planting is all done

It will be greenhouse season soon.  I can't wait!

Looking Forward

This time of year when the weather is so changeable, and the seedlings are so small and vulnerable, and the soil looks so bare, it is hard to believe that anything will ever come of it.  To keep my gardening spirits up, I read through old blogs and look at all the pretty pictures and remind myself that there will be food and flowers in my future.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Cucumbers 2014

Nasturtiums

Cantaloupes 2014

Dunja Zucchini 2014

Lettuce 2015

2015

Lettuce and Cucumbers 2017

Blue Lake Bush Beans 2018

Toad House and Portulacac

Black Krim Tomatoes 

June

Broccoli 2008

Carrots

It Will Happen

Lettuce Babies

I have 3 trays of lettuce babies started outdoors, 

and 1 indoors to maybe give them a head start

The peas are loving this rain.  I'm going to plant my next batch 

Good Friday which will be 4 weeks instead of my usual 3

There are some Primrose blooming.  I have to keep them 

covered or the deer or rabbits will eat them

And it's Daffodil time at last!

April Showers Bring May Cauliflowers

The Cauliflower and Broccoli had been out for an hour or so a day for several days. The next step would be to put them out in the cold frame under the 50% shade cloth.  Or... I could just plant them in the ground under the shade cloth.  So that's what I did.

A row cover and a shade cloth.  They are doing well.

They had been seeded five weeks earlier so it was time.  Everything I've read about them says they get transplant shock and don't wait more than five weeks to put them out.  So out they went.

I also have teeny tiny baby pea plants

Two and a half weeks after being seeded.  Right on schedule.

This weekend I will put in the second half.

The tomato seedlings and eggplant seedlings have been put into pots.  They won't do much for about a week, but then I expect them to take off.   I don't want them to get too leggy anyway.