Stumps

While Tim was digging for the drainage line from the downspouts to the water storage tank, he was unlucky enough to have aimed his line directly through the middle of this stump.

So he had to remove it, leaving a large, gaping, two foot deep hole full of water in the midst of the drainage project.

Now this was no surprise. We've had dealings with this stump before, and we knew it was lurking here somewhere. We just hoped we were headed narrowly past it, not through the middle of it. And, it broke the tractor... again. Here's the back story. Along the edge of where the chicken run will be, between there and the garden site, there used to be a double row of over a dozen very large hemlocks. The first row was cut before we bought the house.

The second row was cut early in our renovations. There were 8 left at that time, and the top fell out of one, narrowly missing the house. So we called a tree service to come and remove the monstrosities. This left us with 6 stumps in the yard, and 2 in the over grown edge where the blackberry patch is. Tim turned the stumps in the yard over and buried them where they sat. In our defense, we did not intend to live in the house. We planned on having it as a rental. We certainly didn't plan on gardening over those stumps. And he said at the time he would probably live to regret it. But, they were too heavy to move. This particular stump tore the metal attachment the neighbor fabricated that bolts to the tractor bucket and provides a handy attachment for a tow chain. TORE the metal. Which exactly what it did this time too. But what do you do with 6 very large stumps that you can't move? I guess the question is what do you do with 1 very large stump you can't move, because that's where we are right now. I guess it's going back into the back woods to provide a home for furry chipmunks or something, but it's going to have to be pushed there, because it has made it's feelings known about being hung from a chain.

So, back to the drainage project. We have the downspouts from the coop and garden shed, as well as the back half of the house routed through here to the storage tank. That will provide a lot of free rainwater for watering the garden.

The tank has been sprayed with undercoating and is ready to go in the ground. See how it is hanging from the tow chain attached to the inside of the bucket? One of those attachments is what the stump tore. It didn't break the bolts, it tore the darn metal. Heavy metal. Can you tell we're annoyed? And sort of impressed. Anyone want a stump? You have to pick it up yourself. We won't deliver.

Seedlings

The eggplants and peppers are doing well, and the tomatoes were planted last night. How many bad things can happen while carrying a flat of wet seed starter from the kitchen sink, down what can only be called a glorified ladder, into the basement? Plenty I'm sure, but miraculously, I didn't get any dirt or water anywhere.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate thinning seedlings? It's best to do it early before you get too attached. But, how do you know you're doing the right thing? How do you know you won't need that plant? How do you know you saved the right one? Uggh... I hate it.

Someone please remind me next year to leave the Rosa Bianca eggplants off the list. I simply can't stand the suspense. They were the last to germinate again this year. Only one of 4 seeds came up. I transplanted a vigorous White Lightening in the blank space instead of killing it, so at least I got to save one thinling.

Raised Beds - the half laps

Thursday my husband Tim and neighbor Mike spent cutting the end pieces for the beds, and half lapping them. Here they are stickered and weighted to keep them from twisting with the changing spring weather. That's 48 half laps for the end pieces.

Friday the three of us did the sides. We had perfect weather. Eighty plus degrees, and a nice breeze. Even though we ordered a new batch of ties, what we got were some that had been in the back of the lumber yard, under a pile of snow. The ones in the center were wet and frozen solid. They've been sitting for almost a week here as we waited for them to thaw and dry. The dry ones were about a hundred pounds. Some of the wet ones were probably between 180 and 200 a piece. And we had to move each one 4 times, and spin them three times. Fun. I did my share of lifting and carrying, and I woke up with only one stiff bicep. I guess I'm in better shape than I thought!

First Tim marked them and took most of the wood out with a chain saw. Two cuts per end. Times 24, equals 48 ends.

Cut down, then spin and cut from the other direction.

The first stage "done" pile is growing.

Then we moved them into the garage where Tim used a dato blade and radial arm saw to clean the corner and smooth away the last quarter inch of wood. That poor saw! We almost stopped it at least half a dozen times, but it held up, and everyone came away with all their fingers and toes!

Now the second "done" pile has grown. We stickered and weighted the long pieces, and covered them with a rubber membrane since it is supposed to rain all this week again.

This is the waste from the two stacks of half laps.

I was thinking if the 6" bed was not deep enough, that someday I could add another layer. But I can tell you now. That is never ever ever going to happen! I had decided that about half way through the 5 hours of lugging 100+ pound ties. My husband voiced it at the end. He's never ever ever going through this again! He did get through it pretty quickly though. And we only had to remind him twice that he wasn't building fine cabinetry. He had suggested that as a "safe word" phrase before we started. Since my husband is a perfectionist, most projects require a "safe word" to keep things in perspective. Heck, some projects require a whole committee to keep him from going overboard!

Besides the ties, we also have gates reacdy to go. I didn't think to get a picture, but the neighbor fabricated them from mtal and a piece of cattle panel. They look really nice and are a vast improvement over the plastic snow fence gate I've had for the past 3 or 4 years!

Electrical

Yesterday my husband dug the electrical line from the house to the garden shed. Can you tell? Neither could I. Here's a hint.

What's cookin' in my garden

nothing...well, nothing photo worthy.

We are approaching the end of the second March on record where our area has had zero recordable snow fall. Which means it has been absolutely gorgeous out. The snow is gone, the ground is firm. We've had just a little rain and the lawn has been rolled. It is absolutely killing me that I don't have the perennial beds raked and edged, but I think I'll get that done this weekend. After all, it's supposed to be pushing 80 degrees, and I have Good Friday off. There couldn't possibly be a better situation.

I planted eggplants and peppers last Sunday, a week later than usual, but I'm stalling a bit. All but two varieties are up and doing well. The tomatoes go in this weekend.

So, what have we been up to? Planning. We have a HUGE project in the works. We are converting the 50x50 vegetable garden into raised beds. 12 beds, 3x12. 6 are mine, 6 I will share with the neighbors. This is both expensive and a mind boggling engineering feat. Why is that? Because the ground slopes, and the fence must be level. And so must be the planting beds. This is keeping my husband up nights. We have 15 inches of fall in 54 feet. Which, actually is ideal since we will be running french drains under the walks, and we need some fall to get the water to the ditch. But, he hasn't worked out how to make everything level on a slope. Don't worry about him. He'll figure it out. He'll get the back hoe out, and I will spend endless hours standing with the survey stick thingy making notes on a piece of paper while he shouts across the lawn and quizzes me endlessly on what numbers I just wrote down. I've been through it all before.

In the mean time, we have been collecting materials. The fence will be cattle panels on 4x4 posts, with 6x6 posts at the corners. Two gates which the neighbor is supposedly fabricating which are wide enough to drive the smaller tractor through. The beds will be 6x6s half lapped at the corners. The paths will have stabilization mat and gravel but also 2x2 concrete pavers between the beds, and 3x3 concrete pavers up the middle. All these pavers have been pile around here for years and used here and there as necessary. They have finally found their final purpose. Under the fence will be 2x6 edging to keep the gravel in and the grass out.

Somewhere under the center walk will be the 500 gallon tank collecting rain water from the roofs. There will be a spigot on a post for the garden hose. The drain lines must be run as well as the electrical. We also need to run the electric to the garden shed and chicken coop.

So, yes this is a huge undertaking. But, when we're done, I will have low maintenance beds which (with intensive planting) will give me MORE row space than I had before AND I will never have to rototill the paths and wade through muck ever again. I will just have to fight the usual battle against purslain which will probably continue to thrive even in gravel paths.

So, that is just a breif preview of the next two months. I will be documenting each stage. The goal is to have one raised bed done in time for planting tomatoes and eggplants.

I Find This Hard to Believe

I placed my eggplant, pepper and tomato seed orders, and I stuck to the plan! I followed the list and plan that I laid out last year. I didn't make any changes. That has NEVER happened before!



You see, I'm a planner. I plan right down to how many pots I have for starting seeds. I have grow lights and heat mats for three flats. I have three flats of pots carefully collected and matched up from previous purchases. These flats are carefully washed, disinfected, and stored each year.



Eggplants and Peppers go in one flat because they are shorter than the tomatoes. They get started 2 weeks earlier too, which is the second week of March. Here is my seedling potting plan.

Some of these seedlings will go to my mother and father for their gardens. There are also a couple of extras for unplanned disasters. I have bad luck with seedlings for black varieties, so there are extra extra of those.

I actually stuck to this list. I went to Gardeners.com and used their bed planning tool to double check my numbers. But, we'll save my planting plan for another day.

Also, I am eating asparagus from the fancy grocery produce department. Somewhere in the world, it is spring!

Winter ~ Dreaming of Gardening

With seed starting still almost a month away, I have finally allowed myself to think about gardening.... just for a minute. I went through my old seed packets, cleaned house, consulted my garden layout, and made a list of things to order. Next I sourced some of my favorite hard to find items such as White Pearl Cucumbers, and Ichiban Eggplants. Thank you Google! Next week I will begin ordering.

In the meantime, my husband and I have had gardening in the back of our minds. I am looking forward to putting in raised beds. My husband, prone to flights of fancy, has (as usual) deviated from "things important to me", and created his own project. He has been watching too much Living With Ed and has decided my garden should be completely off the grid. He has obtained a free 500 gallon tank, and has scrubbed it to within an inch of it's life, and is now planning to bury it next to the garden shed and route all the downspouts into it to collect water for watering the garden. He was also planning to put in a solar panel and batteries, so he doesn't have to dig an electric line out there. Thankfully, it was cost prohibitive. Estimated to be around $2000, and since I'm in the garden shed after dark, well, NEVER, that ought to have paid itself off in about 40 years. I will probably regret this when we get chickens again, and want the heat and lights on timers to increase egg production, but for right now, I'm glad he has given up the solar idea. Now if I can only get him out of the garage and focused on actually building the raised beds.....