tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21935216944384263712024-03-07T18:22:02.133-05:00GardenDeskStudying Organic Gardening TogetherMarchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.comBlogger220125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-20197011616933781692011-01-20T07:00:00.003-05:002011-01-20T07:09:48.058-05:00GardenDesk has moved againI apologize to any of you who have followed me over the years because I know I have moved this blogs location several times - what a pain. I'm sorry.<p>Well, I have now moved back to just <a href="http://www.gardendesk.com/">www.gardendesk.com</a> and am using typepad again. I left this old blogger blog in place for now since my moving has caused some confusion. If you want to see the most current posts, <a href="http://www.gardendesk.com/">click here</a>. Also, you can find my current rss feed at <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/GardenDesk">feedburner</a>.<p>
If you are interested, I wrote a whole post detailing why I've mad these changes. You can see it <a href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2011/01/getting-back-on-track-with-garden-desk.html">here</a>.<p>
Once again, I am sorry for the inconvinience. I hope to see you over at the new <a href="http://www.gardendesk.com/">GardenDesk</a>!<p>Happy Gardening!Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-23209004647031270842010-06-16T22:13:00.007-04:002010-06-24T22:28:34.111-04:00Benefit with vermicompost from your own wormery!<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>As you may or may not know, I have a worm bin full of thousands of redworms that I keep in our dining room. The whole family enjoys feeding the worms our vegetable scraps and <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/2009/04/worms-are-multiplying-babies.html">watching the babies </a> hatch. My worm bin is the <a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000028021637">Gardens Alive Worm Factory</a>.<p><img src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e17f31970c-800wi" /><p>I have written before about setting up the worm bin <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/2009/02/im-ready-for-worms.html">here</a> and <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/2009/03/worms-are-doing-great.html">here</a>. I have written about how to <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/2009/09/harvesting-vermicompost-worm-castings.html">harvest the worm compost</a> from the bin, but I have never really shown why vermicompost is so great.<p>Worm castings, or vermi-compost is the super compost - the best organic natural fertilizer possible for your plants. I have always read this and believed it, but this year I decided to put it to the test.<p>Remember the <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/2010/03/planting-peas-and-potatoes-for-pattys.html">Pea bed</a> that I prepared back in March? In that bed, I put two rows of chicken wire fence with two rows of peas on either side of each fence. Afther the peas got growing, they looked like this:<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/PeasandGreenhouse.jpg"><p>For my experiment I put freshly harvested worm compost as a top dressing on the two rows of peas on one fence and not on the other.<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/Vermicompost_4.jpg"><p> After a few weeks, the pea vines on the composted side grew so much bigger than the other side that they reached above the fence and fell over! They also yielded many more peas! The easiest way to show you the difference is by this split screen picture:<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/Vermicompost_Pea_Compare.jpg"><p> The left side had the vermicompost added. Look how much thicker the vine is than the one on the right. The right side did well too. I never would have known the power of the worms if I hadn't done this side-by-side test. The peas were fabulous, by the way.<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/PrettyPeas.jpg"><p>On the same day I added the worm castings to the peas, I transplanted my last early tomato plant. I added a generous amount of the worm compost to it's hole as well.<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/Vermicompost_2.jpg"><p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/Vermicompost_3.jpg"><p>It may be just a coincidence, but that is the plant that has been giving us our early ripe tomatoes so far! The other early tomato plants haven't ripened yet. Sounds fishy doesn't it? Or should I say wormy! I'm convinced that the vermi-compost made the difference. It makes me want to get another tray started on my Worm factory right away. Each finished tray makes quite a bit of compost.<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/Vermicompost_1.jpg"><p>I have a friend that has been asking me about worm composting and how to do it. That has made me realize that I never really written a comprehensive how-to compost with worms post. I am now in the process of doing that. It will be added to gardendesk.com as a page. Worm composting is one of many topics that I write about but don't really give good details to the beginner. I apologize for that and am working on making that better. That is why I started the GardenDesk page arm of this site. So far I do have a <a href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/composting/">general composting page</a>, a <a href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/seed_starting/">seed-starting page</a> and a <a href="http://www.gardendesk.typepad.com/insects/">beneficial insect page</a>. Soon I will add a worm composting page and several others.<p>For now all I can do for my friend is refer her to my <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/search/label/vermicomposting%20%28worm%20farm%29">worm composting thread</a> and recommend some books like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0977804518?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0977804518">Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0898159946?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0898159946">The Worm Book </a><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height="1" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0898159946" width="1" border="0" />. Also, my <a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000028021637">Worm Factory</a> came with a great little informational booklet that I am loaning to her. She has said that she may buy the same bin that I have which made me remember the Gardens Alive online $20 off coupon that they have. You can get that by clicking here:<p><a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-3804733-10646623" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.gardensalive.com';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;">
<img src="http://www.ftjcfx.com/image-3804733-10646623" width="234" height="60" alt="Save $20 on any order of $40 or more! " border="0"/></a><p>I posted that primarily for her, but anyone can use it. It leads to the main Gardens Alive page and is good for any of their products. If you are looking for the Worm Factory, you then need to search for "Worm Composting System". I highly recommend worm composting and endorse the Gardens Alive Worm Factory.<p>Other than my friend reading this, I'd love to here others thoughts on worm bin composting. Do you have one? Have you made one yourself that you are happy with? Does the idea intrigue you or disgust you. One thing is sure, vermicompost IS nature's super-compost!<p>Keep Growing!<p>- Marc<p><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-59982914534268796242010-06-15T15:20:00.003-04:002010-07-13T21:41:45.707-04:00Enjoying our Early Tomatoes and more!<P>Wow, it has been a long time since I posted here. I have a bunch of reasons why and some strange stories to go along with them. For now though, I'm going to try to get back to blogging as if I never stopped because I have countless things to report.<p>This year's garden is the biggest and best we've ever had! Possibly one of the most exciting things to report is that we are now eating a few early tomatoes!<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/2010Tomato_1.jpg"><p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/2010Tomato_2.jpg"><p>This was the first one we ate but actually the second one picked. It was harvested on June 6th. We missed our <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/2008/06/first-ripe-tomato-on-june-5th.html">early tomato record</a> by one day, unless you count the first ripe tomato picked. The first one, picked on June 3rd was a huge, record-sized beefsteak tomato that looked like this:<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/2010Tomato_3.jpg"><p>Does that count? It reminds me of when a pullet lays its first egg. The first one is always a tiny strange little egg. (Our <a href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/search/label/Raising%20Chickens">chickens</a> are doing great by the way.) I've never seen tomato plants operate in the same manner, but this one did! Side by side they look like mother and child.<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/2010Tomato_4.jpg"><p>Tomatoes aren't the only thing we have harvested during my sabbatical from blogging. We've gotten a generous amount of lettuce, spinach, sugar snap peas, broccoli, and have begun harvesting cucumbers and almost zucchini. Much more is planted and doing well. I will try to get caught up here and post regularly about it all. I have enough to write that I could post every day if I'm able to get my act together. For now however, I'm going to enjoy some fresh sliced tomatoes with my family.<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/2010%20June%20July/2010Tomato_5.jpg"><p>How are your tomatoes doing? What about the rest of your garden?<p>Keep Growing!<p>-Marc<P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-77095196971191814992010-03-17T06:24:00.000-04:002010-03-17T06:24:00.475-04:00Planting Peas and Potatoes for Patty's Day!Happy St Patrick's Day!<p>Here in Kentucky, instead of wearing green we can plant it! Green Peas that is. Local farmers also say planting potatoes is fair game on St. Patrick's Day. I don't know if I agree with either because in many years it stays really cold until mid-April. This year however I am going to take a chance along side my neighbors. Of course I can never garden exactly like regular folks so I'm planting the potatoes in the greenhouse beds.</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310fac130e970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401310fac130e970c" alt="Potatoes2" title="Potatoes2" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310fac130e970c-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>I may have overdone it a bit in buying 50 pounds of Kennebec Seed Potatoes, so I won't put all of them in the greenhouse. Later when I am no longer worried about frost, we plan to put the rest in the row-garden portion of the yard.</p><p>That is unusual for us because we primarily garden in raised beds which is where I planted the peas. The ground was still pretty wet last night which illustrates another reason why I love gardening in raised beds.
</p><p>Last night I cleared out the bed closest to the greenhouse with a rake to make room for some peas. If I wanted to plant them in the regular ground as in a traditional row garden, it would have been way to wet to plant. I planted four rows of peas, each row on either side of a chicken wire fence.
</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310fac1362970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401310fac1362970c" alt="Peas1" title="Peas1" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310fac1362970c-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p></p>Later I will add more support poles to the chicken wire pea fences. It was very important for me to put the supports up before I planted the peas so I would know where exactly to place the rows.<p>Also, I usually have a problem planting tomatoes and things that need support because I plan to add the support later, but sometimes I don't get around to it. After doing this with half of my tomatoes last year, I vowed to ALWAYS put the support up prior to planting. So here is my quick pea supports.<p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310fac13d6970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401310fac13d6970c " alt="Peas2" title="Peas2" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310fac13d6970c-800wi" border="0" /></a><p>The other fun thing about preparing this pea bed was watching the chickens watch me. You can see the coop in the background on the right in the previous picture. I treated the chickens to an occasional worm as I turned over the soil. They were delighted!<p>Taking worms over to them gave my back a break every now and then. I'm not yet in gardening shape so even prepping one 4x12 raised bed wore me out. That's another reason why I like raised beds - you can work only a few beds at a time and still be very productive.<p>Later this week in the outdoor garden I hope to plant beds with broccoli, cabbage, lettuce and spinach. I think my pea bed is a pretty good start. I just hope they germinate well. Maybe by planting them on St. Patrick's Day I'll get the luck of the Irish!<p>Happy St. Patty's Day!Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-35837901034718627562010-03-08T18:49:00.004-05:002010-03-08T19:59:43.042-05:00Is Winter Really Over?<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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I actually got hot outside today while I was pruning the apple trees. It was 62 degrees and the snow is just about melted! Could winter be over? I don't think I can believe that since we have had record amounts of snow this year.</p><p>Here in Kentucky we didn't get near the snowfall that the east cost got, but we did get 27" in February and more that a foot of it all at once. It was hard to keep it off of the greenhouse.</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d909a970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401310f7d909a970c" alt="Greenhouse in snow 1" title="Greenhouse in snow 1" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d909a970c-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>My daughters favorite thing about having a greenhouse this winter was that when we were playing in the snow, we could go in there to warm up. It was also a great place to keep the sleds!</p><p>
<a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d911a970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401310f7d911a970c" alt="Greenhouse in snow 2" title="Greenhouse in snow 2" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d911a970c-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>The only thing we could do in the garden was go sledding.</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d91c3970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401310f7d91c3970c" alt="Sledding in garden 1" title="Sledding in garden 1" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d91c3970c-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d9233970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401310f7d9233970c" alt="Sledding in garden 2" title="Sledding in garden 2" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401310f7d9233970c-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>That picture was taken during one of our smaller snowfalls. Most of the time the garden beds have looked like this:</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170872970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a9170872970b" alt="Garden in Snow" title="Garden in Snow" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170872970b-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>There was a lot more snow than we are used to. Even playing in it got us much more tired than usual.</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170a36970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a9170a36970b" alt="Lots of Snow" title="Lots of Snow" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170a36970b-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>It was our first winter as chicken owners. I learned that chickens do not like snow!</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170b08970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a9170b08970b" alt="Chickens in snow 1" title="Chickens in snow 1" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170b08970b-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>During the last snow, about eight inches blew into their pen and the girls refused to leave the coop. When they would jump down into the snow, they would squawk and flap around like they were being attacked! I actually had to shovel out the snow, put new wood chips down, and bait them out with lettuce from the greenhouse.</p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170bd1970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a9170bd1970b" alt="Chickens in snow 2" title="Chickens in snow 2" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170bd1970b-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p><a style="display: inline;" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170cb1970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a9170cb1970b" alt="Chickens in snow 3" title="Chickens in snow 3" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a9170cb1970b-800wi" border="0" /></a></p><p>They still spent most of their time inside, but at least now they would come out to eat and drink. That's also about the time they start laying more eggs again. Now that it has been warmer, there are some days that every hen lays. Soon I will be able to let them back out in their grazing pen.</p><p>There will be a lot going on in the garden pretty soon too. I do have some early tomatoes and lettuce started and have much to share with you.</p><p>Most of the winter I have been writing pages for my new gardendesk.com site (as opposed to this blog). Now I plan to turn my attention back to blogging, so stay tuned here.</p><p>In the meantime, check out one of my new pages. The ones I have done are <a href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/seed_starting/">Seed Starting</a>, <a href="http://www.gardendesk.typepad.com/insects/">Beneficial Insects</a>, <a href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/composting/">Composting</a>, <a href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/composting/">Garden Bargains</a> and <a href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/tomatoes/">Tomatoes</a>! I hope to write more as well - Spring can be very busy and exciting.
</p><p>So what do you think? Is Winter almost over?</p>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-23969495155438172792010-01-19T07:46:00.004-05:002010-03-08T18:49:12.740-05:00A Welcome Sight!<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>Seed and gardening supply companies are clairvoyant! They seem to know the exact moment when you become sick of winter and spring fever is beginning to set in.<p>Last week, my car got stuck in the snow at the end of our driveway. All I could do was put my boots on and walk up the hill to the house. Since the car was now parked closer to the mailbox than the house, I decided to get the mail first. Expecting mostly bills, I was pleasantly surprised to find with those bills some of my favorite garden catalogs!<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/Jan_Feb_2010/GardenCatalogs.jpg" /><p>The best catalog that I got was Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I wrote all about them and their catalog <a href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2008/12/today-is-one-of-my-favorite-days-in-the-garden-season.html">last year</a>.<p>The other catalogs I got on the same day were <a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000008816646&pubid=21000000000129375">Henry Fields</a>, <a href="http://www.totallytomato.com/">Totally Tomatoes</a>, and <a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000024364067&pubid=21000000000129375">Gurney's</a>. Wow - Jackpot! I will put these with my other favorites and decide what new seeds plants and supplies to buy this year.<p>What a great cure for Spring Fever!Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-6823303891607745202009-12-01T12:58:00.000-05:002010-01-02T13:01:16.813-05:00Greenhouse Growing Update<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>You may remember that we built a <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2008/10/greenhouse-almost-finished.html">new greenhouse</A> last Fall.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse1.jpg" />
<P>It came in handy this spring as we used it to raise a lot of seedlings. The main reason I wanted a greenhouse however was to have the ability to grow salad crops all winter long like Eliot Coleman teaches in his new book, <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603580816?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1603580816">The Winter Harvest Handbook.</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1603580816" width=1 border=0 />
<P>It doesn't have to be heated, but it does need raised growing beds inside to grow the crops in. I wasn't able to finish the raised beds when I built the rest of it last year, so I got them ready this September.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse4.jpg" />
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse5.jpg" />
<P>The plan was to grow many perfect little seedlings inside under my <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/03/seed-starting-operation-is-now-cat-proof.html">giant light stand</A>. That didn't work out because we had a huge flood in our basement right about the time I should have been starting the seeds. Instead I was busy tearing up wet carpet and drywall.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse2.jpg" />
<P>The light stand was still in that picture, but eventually it was dismantled. It will be put back together in the garage. (I'll post more about that and about the basement renovation later.)
<P>Anyway, instead of starting seeds inside and planting seedlings in the greenhouse, I direct seeded in the greenhouse growing beds.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse3.jpg" />
<P>I planted lettuce, spinach, oriental greens, radishes, carrots and beets. We have been able to eat the radishes and some of the lettuce so far. This is what the growing beds look like now:
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse6.jpg" />
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse7.jpg" />
<P>As you can see, direct sowing caused my lettuce bed to have bare spots and many of the plants are too close together. We tried to thin them but they are still bunched together. Much of it is still growing well. I still want to try to fill the gaps with new plants. I'm new at this, so I don't know if that will work.
<P>It is still above freezing during the days here, but soon I will have to add a 2nd layer of plastic over the beds with small hoops or cold frames. I know I can keep the veggies from freezing. I just don't know how much the growth will slow as the day lengths are getting so much shorter.
<P>No matter how much or how little success we have this Fall/Winter, I am having fun giving it a try. And the fresh lettuce is tasting real good!
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/December2009/Greenhouse8.jpg" />
<P>I hope it lasts all winter! </P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-71362548650056255322009-11-07T12:47:00.001-05:002010-01-02T12:57:57.773-05:00I want to build another chicken coop!<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Our chickens are now giving us a good amount of eggs. We only have five hens and are averaging four eggs per day.
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a661165a970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a661165a970b " title=Organic_Eggs alt=Organic_Eggs src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a661165a970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>Recently I posted an update on <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/10/update-on-our-chickens-and-the-coop.html">our chickens and the coop</A> that we built for them. In that post, I told you that I love having chickens far more than I expected. We have never kept chickens before, so we started out small. Now I'm wishing that we had more but I only built a small coop. We could fit a few more birds in there, but the best option would be to build a 2nd coop. Last year I had trouble finding info on how to build a chicken coop so I made with without plans. It worked out pretty well, but I think I can build a coop faster with some good plans. Again, I've been searching for info on building an easy chicken coop, and I think I may have found it!
<P>Its a ebook simply titled <A href="http://01675ksvkubo4we7rejbl8-mb3.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=CC" target=_top>Building A Chicken Coop</A>. It promises easy step-by-step printable plans for coops of all different sizes. It also covers things that are not as usual to find in chicken books such as what the cheapest and best materials to build with are. The first line of their promo sounds great: "Discover How To Easily Build An Attractive And Affordable Chicken Coop That Protects Your Chickens From Predators,Maintains Their Health And Delivers More Delicious Eggs". Wow, that covers all of the important stuff! I'm excited to check this out.</P>
<P>I can't wait to build something new for the chickens so we can get a bunch more in the spring. In the meantime, our five are enjoying the new grazing pen I made for them.</P>
<P><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401287561e19a970c " title=Chickens_Grazing1 alt=Chickens_Grazing1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401287561e19a970c-800wi" border=0 /> </P>
<P><br><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a66116e2970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a66116e2970b " title=Chickens_Grazing2 alt=Chickens_Grazing2 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a66116e2970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P><P>My current coop will have to do until I have time to read <A href="http://01675ksvkubo4we7rejbl8-mb3.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=CC" target=_top>Building A Chicken Coop</A> and decide which coop plan to follow.</P><P><img src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a661161c970b-800wi" /> <br>If you want to see for yourself more about the book I'm talking about, you can <A href="http://01675ksvkubo4we7rejbl8-mb3.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=CC" target=_top>Click Here!</A></P>
<P>Hopefully we will have a mild winter and I can get started building a new coop before spring. I'll let you know how it goes!</P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-75131932831293799382009-10-27T12:39:00.001-04:002010-01-02T12:45:20.399-05:00Pollan's Botany of Desire comes to TV and DVD!<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Many gardeners are familiar with author Michael Pollan, especially for his acclaimed books, <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143038583?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0143038583">The Omnivore's Dilemma</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0143038583" width=1 border=0 /> and <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143114964?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0143114964">In Defense of Food</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0143114964" width=1 border=0 />. But do you remember his book <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375760393?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0375760393">The Botany of Desire</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0375760393" width=1 border=0 /> from 2001? </P>
<P>Well now The Botany of Desire has been made into a 2 hour television special to be aired tomorrow night, October 28th on PBS.</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a623a4cb970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a623a4cb970b " title=Botany_BG_Home alt=Botany_BG_Home src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a623a4cb970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>I was able to view an advance DVD copy of it, and I recommend that all gardening and food enthusiasts tune in. The premise of both the movie and the book are that we humans "think" we control plants and use them to satisfy our own desires, when actually the plants are controlling us. About the film, Michael Pollan says, "We don't give nearly enough credit to plants. They've been working on us, they've been using us, for their own purposes".</P>
<P>Pollan and producer/director Michael Schwarz takes us on a beautiful voyage around the world to get an up-close and personal look at the history of how four very important plants have crossed paths with mankind. They profile the Apple, the Tulip, Marijuana and the Potato.<p>Watching this riveting account of plants prompted me to get <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375760393?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0375760393">The Botany of Desire book</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0375760393" width=1 border=0 /> as well. The movie does a good job of capturing the essence of Pollan's original work, but of course the book goes into even more detail. If you like the movie and haven't read the book, I urge to to pick up a copy.<p>What the film accomplishes that the book can't is visual in nature. The photography is beautiful and illustrates the growing processes well. It is also nice to see Pollan and other experts talking instead of just reading quotes. The film is broken up into four half hour segments, each concentrating on one of the four plants. It wouldn't surprise me to see it later aired as a mini series in half hour segments. There is no official word about that. As of now the only airing is slated for October 28th at 8:00 p.m. on PBS stations. After that, it is scheduled for <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GXG59Y?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002GXG59Y">DVD and Blu-ray release</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002GXG59Y" width=1 border=0 /> on November 3rd. Here is what the DVDs will look like:
<P><A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GXG59Y?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002GXG59Y"><img src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a67b2527970c-800wi" border=0 /></A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002GXG59Y" width=1 border=0 /></P>
<P>The DVD is a great addition to your video library, but you have a golden opportunity to see it for free tomorrow night!</P>
<P>Watch the special and then come back here and let me know what you thought of it. Do you agree with me that it is visually beautiful, interesting and informative? Does Pollan make you think differently about your relationship with the plants in your garden? Let me know your thoughts!</P>
<P>Thanks - Marc</p><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-1928832430874251752009-10-14T12:36:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:38:50.411-05:00Update on our Chickens and the Coop<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P><DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">I just realized that I have never posted about our adult chickens on Garden Desk! That's crazy because we absolutely love our chickens. I never knew how much fun they would be, and the eggs are delicious!</DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"> </DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">We did manage a post back in April about <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/04/raising-chickens-new-to-gardendesk.html"><font color=#f2984c>raising our chicks</font></A>. We raised the chicks in our garage while we built our outside coop. We built the coop mostly out of wood that we already had from an old deck that I took apart a couple years ago. The coop construction took much longer than anticipated but they have been in it for three or four months now. here it is: </DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/ChickenCoop1.jpg" /> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br>We were able to put it right in front of the garden and beside the greenhouse.
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">When we would read about keeping chickens, it seemed that many people let them roam around during the day. Around here experienced farmers were telling us to watch out for the many predators, some even during the day. We have to watch out for hawks, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossums, weasels, rats and the neighbor's dogs. Many people told us that we wouldn't be able to keep our chickens alive.
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">With this in mind, we tried to build a very secure coop. The building that they sleep in is in the very center, up on stilts with no outside walls. The small window openings have two layers of wire over them and we even put wire mesh down under the floor boards.
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/ChickenCoop2.jpg" /> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br>The rest of the coop is all under tin roofing with two kinds of wire around the perimeter. The wire is also buried in concrete at the bottom about 18 inches under ground! The door has a second latch about a foot off the ground so nothing can squeeze in.
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">If anything does manage to sneak in during the night, they shouldn't be able to get in the wood building. The chickens have a small door that they use during the day.
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/ChickenCoop6.jpg" /> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br>They go inside at dusk and then I lock their door.
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/ChickenCoop7.jpg" /> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br>Here they are coming into their building:
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/ChickenCoop5.jpg" /> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br>The other wall is hinged for us to get inside for cleaning. It also has the nest boxes built into it. When closed it also has a heavy duty latch. Here is what it looks like from the outside:
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/ChickenCoop3.jpg" /> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br>Here is the nestbox part of the inside:
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e6f908970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5e6f908970b " title="Nest Box" alt="Nest Box" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e6f908970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> <br></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">The chickens' main feeder and water hang from the building under the nest boxes.
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/Chickens.jpg" /> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br>All summer we fed them plenty of fruits and vegetables, an occasional worm or grasshopper and grass that we pulled. Recently, I thought they should get to graze in the grass on their own. In order to keep them safe while grazing, I constructed this crude grazing pen:</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e6fddd970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5e6fddd970b " title="Grazing Pen1" alt="Grazing Pen1" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e6fddd970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> <br></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">I can lock them in if I want to clean out their coop, or I can connect the two units with portable chicken wire sides and top that roll out of the way when not in use. You can see what I mean from this angle:</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a63d73e4970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a63d73e4970c " title="Grazing Pen 2" alt="Grazing Pen 2" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a63d73e4970c-800wi" border=0 /></A> <br> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">The chickens love grazing in their new pen in the evenings. At nightfall, they go back inside to their roosts and I disconnect the pen and lock them safely in their coop.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">The chicken coop and grazing pen are working out pretty well, especially since I built it without any real plans. The chickens have adapted well to it and are laying eggs almost daily now. As good as getting fresh organic eggs is, I think my favorite part about our chickens is that they are super friendly. They are more like pets than farm animals. They actually enjoy being held and get excited when they see us.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e70c7a970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5e70c7a970b " title=Pet_chickens alt=Pet_chickens src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e70c7a970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> <br></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">Raising chickens is great! As long as winter goes well, I hope to get more next spring. Of course then I'll have to build another chicken coop!</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">Thanks for reading!</P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-25430896507838757732009-10-13T12:32:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:35:40.917-05:00Accidental Pumpkins?<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>Look what we got from the garden - 2 very nice pumpkins.</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a639a856970c-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a639a856970c " title=CompostPumpkins1 alt=CompostPumpkins1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a639a856970c-800wi" border=0 /></A> <br></P>
<P>Actually, they grew behind the garden and actually, we didn't even plant them. We didn't do so well managing our compost pile this summer. Instead of turning it, we just kept adding to it. A lot of plants grew out of the compost pile, including volunteer pumpkins!</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e3308d970b-pi"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5e3308d970b " title=CompostPumpkins2 alt=CompostPumpkins2 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e3308d970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>I guess they came from last year's Jack-o-lantern. Pretty funny, but we'll take it. As a compost enthusiast, this is kind of embarrassing. I even used to teach seminars on how to compost and how to build various compost bins.</P>
<P>Harvesting these pumpkins last week made me get serious about building new compost bins this weekend. I now have two sets of double-sided pallet-made compost bins. I will clean up this mess and start new in the new bins. I will take pictures and post them soon. In the meantime we will enjoy our compost pumpkins!</P>
<P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-19853881257789482632009-09-29T12:23:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:27:49.183-05:00Easy Potato Harvest!<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>We grew a few different kinds of potatoes this year and in different ways. Recently we harvested our red potatoes which were grown in the most interesting way. This harvest was done with just my bare hands and I didn't even get very dirty! Here is one of the plants pulled up with the tubers underneath:</P>
<P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5aafc85970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5aafc85970b " title=Potatoes1 alt=Potatoes1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5aafc85970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P> These were grown in a small cinder block raised bed. The growing medium was not dirt. It was a soil-less mix of peat moss, rice hulls and other organic material. Since this medium is so loose, you can harvest these potatoes by just reaching into to mix. </P>
<P></P>
<P>It is pretty hard to show you what I mean in words or pictures, so here's a first for GardenDesk - a video!</P>
<P>
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<P>It really is that easy. My favorite thing about harvesting in this way is that it is easy to steal away new potatoes any time while they're growing. I didn't get a video of that earlier in the year, but below is a good simulation. Ignore that the plant has died back. This technique worked the same way while the plants were growing.
<P>
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<P>I just reached in every so often and took a new potato without harming the plant.
<P>So if this mix is so great, why isn't my whole garden like this? First of all, it is a bit expensive. More importantly, The mix dries out quickly and is really hard to keep watered while the plants are growing.
<P>I actually found this mix last year and thought maybe it would be good to have many beds like this. Before buying too much, I conducted a side-by-side test comparing this mix with my regular raised bed of garden soil, compost and peat. I grew one tomato plant, one pepper plant and four cucumber plants in each 4 foot square bed. Here were the results - this first picture is early in the season:
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0a70970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0a70970b " title=Raised_Bed_Test1 alt=Raised_Bed_Test1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0a70970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P class="asset asset-image">At harvest time, it looked like this:</P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0aef970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0aef970b " title=Raised_Bed_Test2 alt=Raised_Bed_Test2 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0aef970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P class="asset asset-image">My normal soil is on the left, the soil-less mix is on the right. Both sides yielded about the same amount of produce, but the new mix dried out too much. I think you can tell that the cucumber vines in the back were a bit smaller. So last year I was a bit disappointed with the new mix.</P>
<P class="asset asset-image">This year I began dismantling the cinder blocks but ended up keeping the new mix side of the bed. I planted the potatoes on a whim and now this mix has new value to me. I think I will reserve it for root crops from now on. Maybe I will move it into the greenhouse. </P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0dda970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0dda970b " title=Potatoes2 alt=Potatoes2 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5ab0dda970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P class="asset asset-image">These reds are oh so delicious! For only 4 feet of growing, I can't complain with the amount we got, and harvesting as shown in the video is so easy. Forget the pitch fork! What fun. </P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-74611104229853110322009-09-28T12:19:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:23:08.426-05:00Old Friends, Yellow Tomatoes and Salsa!<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>My tomatoes didn't perform as well as I had hoped this year. We had plenty to eat fresh, but not enough to freeze or can any. There just weren't many tomatoes on each plant. I'll admit that I grew too many different heirloom varieties with too few plants of any one kind. There were never very many tomatoes of the same kind ripe at any given time.</P>
<P>Just as I thought we would not have any fresh garden salsa or spaghetti sauce this year, we ran into a dear old friend at the grocery. She only grew one kind of tomato and had a gazillion of them! She invited us over to pick some. Here is what we picked:</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/YellowTomatoes.jpg" />
<P>They were organically grown, and as you can see from the picture, they were yellow tomatoes. Could we still make salsa without red tomatoes? We were up to the challenge.
<P>These friends are a generation older than me and were neighbors of mine growing up. More summer days as a boy were spent playing on their farm than at my own house, so it was great talking with them and catching up on how each other's families were doing. I think their gardens were the first I ever saw as a youngster. What used to be an acre or more of vegetables is now just a small plot, but they are still better gardeners with that tiny garden than I am with a larger one. Their 6 tomato plants produced far more than my 30 plants! That is a bit humbling for me, but I was so glad to get to see them (and glad to get the tomatoes!) We said our goodbyes and headed home to process the tomatoes!
<P>It was getting late in the day already, so the whole family pitched in to make to work go faster. My daughters did a great job getting the skins off the tomatoes and cutting them up.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/YellowTomatoes2.jpg" />
<P>Renee and I mixed their bright yellow tomatoes in a large pot with the other salsa ingredients. It instantly smelled delicious. It didn't look quite as appetizing. The other ingredients changed the color to an orange-brown.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/YellowSalsa1.jpg" />
<P>We canned 10 pints of this odd salsa as well as a few pints and a few quarts of yellow spaghetti sauce, which looked equally as strange. </P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/YellowSalsa2.jpg" />
<P>The only thing that didn't look odd was one quart of plain tomatoes that we will use in chili.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/YellowTomatoes3.jpg" />
<P>That jar looked fairly pretty, but more resembled canned peaches than tomatoes. I wish we could have canned more of the plain tomatoes - now I'm sounding greedy.
<P>It was quite a blessing to get these tomatoes in the first place, and to get to visit with the farmers who grew them.
<P>By the way, although it looks odd, the salsa tastes great!</P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-42908691250641493542009-09-24T12:18:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:19:04.192-05:00Fall in the Garden<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>Now that it is officially Autumn in my garden, I have taken my Summer blinders off and noticed that it actually is beginning to look like Fall.</P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a598eeae970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a598eeae970b " title="First Fall Foto" alt="First Fall Foto" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a598eeae970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P class="asset asset-image">The trees in the background are just beginning to turn colors. Several of the beds are empty now after their residents have been harvested. The white row cover in the middle is protecting new fall cabbage from those awful cabbage moths that produce the even more awful <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2007/10/organic-gardening-techniques-dont-always-work.html">cabbage worms that I struggled with last Fall</A>. Several beds have been re-seeded with lettuce and spinach.</P>
<P class="asset asset-image">All that's left to harvest from the Summer's bounty is sweet potatoes and the last of the green beans, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. Soon it will be time to turn our attention to the Fall/Winter crops in the greenhouse. </P>
<P class="asset asset-image">I guess I must admit, Fall is actually here.</P>
<P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-15288164408893936592009-09-21T12:13:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:16:00.023-05:00Harvesting Vermicompost (Worm Castings)<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Back in March, we began raising red worms in our kitchen with <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/03/the-worms-are-doing-great.html">our new worm factory</A>. </P>
<P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: block" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e17f31970c-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5e17f31970c " title=WormFactory style="MARGIN: 0px" alt=WormFactory src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e17f31970c-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>By April they were already having many little <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/04/the-worms-are-multiplying.html">worm babies</A>. We kept feeding them all summer and adding trays for them to expand into. We started with 1000 worms and by now I estimate that we have over 5000! They are hard to take pictures of because they don't like the light, but here is my best shot:</P>
<P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: block" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e18534970c-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5e18534970c " title=Worms style="MARGIN: 0px" alt=Worms src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e18534970c-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>The best thing about raising worms inside is that they give you an easy way to recycle your kitchen vegetable scraps. They break down the veggies and create the best plant fertilizer on Earth - vermicompost!</P>
<P></P>
<P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: block" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e18799970c-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5e18799970c " title=Castings1 style="MARGIN: 0px" alt=Castings1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5e18799970c-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>Once again, this is not an easy thing to photograph. Here is a closer look at a smaller amount:</P>
<P></P>
<P>
<P class="asset asset-image"><A style="DISPLAY: block" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a58af8a2970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a58af8a2970b " title=Castings2 style="MARGIN: 0px" alt=Castings2 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a58af8a2970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>They look like coffee grounds but have no oder at all. I was able to get quite a bit of these plant nutritious worm castings from the bottom tray which I will add to our new greenhouse growing beds.</P>
<P></P>
<P>After harvesting this compost, I created a new bedding environment for the worms to move into just like I detailed at the bottom of <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/03/the-worms-are-doing-great.html">this previous post</A>.</P>
<P>We really like having these worms. Have you ever raised worms or considered it? I recommend keeping worms to any avid gardener!</P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-50963563136137456102009-09-20T12:10:00.001-04:002010-01-02T12:12:58.272-05:00Oh Deer!<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<script type="text/javascript"
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</script><P>Twice now we have looked out the window and were surprised to see three young deer in our backyard. They eat a little from the tomatoes, a few leaves from the apple trees, and then just walk around aimlessly.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/Deer1.jpg"><br>This one is looking at the tomatoes.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/Deer2.jpg"><br>This one is leaving the apple tree.
<P>I wonder if they lost their mother who should still be guiding them. You can still see their spots and they seem lost.
<P>The funniest thing about their tour of the yard is that both times they have been very curious about the chickens. They stare at the coop and the chickens inside with puzzled looks.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/Deer3-1.jpg">
<P>They don't seem to be afraid of anything except when the chickens flap their wings. Both times the deer walked around a bit and then disappeared into the woods. They don't seem to be eating much from the garden.
<P>I just hope they don't come back in the spring and eat everything! They are magnificent animals. For now we are content to just watch them when they come. Next spring will be another story! </P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-8807593180778878142009-09-19T12:06:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:08:54.011-05:00Still picking green beans<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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With Fall almost here, there is not as much to harvest in the garden right now. But if you walk up the path between the chicken coop and the greenhouse, the first bed you come to is the green beans.</P><p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/PickingBeans.jpg"><p>This bed gave us lettuce in early spring and then early potatoes in summer. The third planting was green beans, and now they are ready!<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/PickingBeans3.jpg"><p>My wife and I picked a heaping bowl full of them. She also picked some late tomatoes. I only found one ripe tomato from my topsy turvy. When I carried it in with the beans, it looked like a green bean sundae!<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/GreenBeanSundae.jpg"><p>With this heaping bowl of beans, we froze 5 quarts and made 5 pints of Dilly Beans. We have never tried pickled green beans before, so we only made a small batch.<p><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/September%202009/DillyBeans.jpg"><p>If we like them enough, we will make a lot more next summer. <p>Since green beans are probably the easiest thing to grow in the garden, I don't know why I don't plant more. Next year!<P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-59058582232080477492009-08-18T12:04:00.000-04:002010-01-02T12:04:42.795-05:00Update on my Upside-Down Tomatoes<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<P>At last we have been harvesting delicious tomatoes from both of our upside down tomato planters. The <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WYNP0?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0001WYNP0">Topsy Turvy Planter</A> is still doing the best.</P>
<P> <A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5592ca3970c-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a5592ca3970c " title=TopsyTurvyRedTomatoes alt=TopsyTurvyRedTomatoes src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a5592ca3970c-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>As the tomatoes ripen, the plant is looking worse. Some of the leaves are yellowing or turning brown. I don't know if this is due to uneven watering or a nutrient deficiency in the soil. For the soil in both planters, I used about half organic potting soil and half coir (coconut fiber). I saw how the coir worked so well retaining water for the worm bin that I thought it would do well in the planters. The only problem is that I don't know if that is cutting down on the nutrition going to the plant.</P>
<P>To remedy this next year, I plan to add Tomatoes Alive organic fertilizer to the planters. Tomatoes Alive has been successful for me in the past but what will make it even better for the topsy turvy is that Gardens Alive is giving away a pound of tomatoes alive plus when you buy a <A href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000028631862">Topsy Turvy II</A> from them.
<P>I don't know if Topsy Turvy II is any different from my Topsy Turvy, but I want to buy at least one more of them for next year, so I might as well get it with the Tomatoes Alive from Gardens Alive. </P>
<P>If I use their internet coupon -<A href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000024778398&pubid=21000000000129375">$20 Off $40 purchase</A>, I can get three for the price of two! Or maybe I'll just get two and buy something else small to qualify for the $20 off. I love everything they have. If you have never browsed the <A href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000023785673&pubid=21000000000129375">Gardens Alive!</A>site, I strongly encourage you to. They have a lot for the organic garden. Back to this year - The tomatoes are looking good from our hanging planters.</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a50219e5970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a50219e5970b " title=TopsyTurvyRedTomatoes1 alt=TopsyTurvyRedTomatoes1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a50219e5970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>The overall plant doesn't look as good as it does on the Topsy Turvy advertisement, but does anything ever look as good as the ad? I think next year I will prune of the lower branch side shoots (which are actually higher since it is upside down). This would help the overall upside-down tomato appearance.</P>
<P>In conclusion, When I wrote my first post <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/02/do-upside-down-tomato-planters-work.html">Do Upside Down Tomato Planters Work?</A>, I thought that they were more of a novelty than a real planter. Now that I have tried a couple different ways, I think that the Topsy Turvy is a solid product. It is probably still better to plant tomatoes directly in the ground, but if you don't have room or if you just want some gardening fun, give the Topsy Turvy a try. If you want to know more of the pros and cons of growing with planters, I wrote a more in-depth post on this subject at <A href="http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/08/scoop-on-upside-down-planters.html">Simple Green Frugal Co-op</A>.</P>
<P>Next season, I am going to try strawberries and cucumbers in one too. How can I already be talking about next year's tomatoes when there is still so much harvest and then the Fall garden to tend to this year? I don't know. I guess its an obsession. :)</P>
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I told you in my <A href="http://gardendesk.blogspot.com/2009/07/unusual-weather-unusual-harvest.html">last post</A> that we have had success with onions and peppers. The Bell Peppers have continued to be incredible this year. We have Green and Yellow Bell Peppers and now some are beginning to turn red for us. There are so many peppers on each plant!</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a4fb8f20970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a4fb8f20970b " title=Pepper1 alt=Pepper1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a4fb8f20970b-800wi" border=0></A> </P>
<P>The size of these peppers are much larger than I'm used too as well.</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a552c2dd970c-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a552c2dd970c " title=Pepper3 alt=Pepper3 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a552c2dd970c-800wi" border=0></A> </P>
<P>In years past, I never got such great peppers unless I used <A href="https://biosci.infusionsoft.com/go/gbp/mlgd/" target=_blank>great big plants</A> liquid compost on them like I did <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2007/07/perfect-pepper.html">the year before last</A>.</P>
<P>You may think I'm bragging about these peppers but I'm not. You see, for whatever reason I usually can not grow very good Bell Peppers. Most of you reading this probably grow peppers like this every year, but I usually only get one or two small bell peppers from each plant.</P>
<P>So what is different this year? Did I amend the soil or use fertilizer? No, but something is different next to the bed that is producing these wonderful peppers. </P>
<P>They are right behind our new chicken coop that has a slanted highly reflective silver roof!</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a552c952970c-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a552c952970c " title="Pepper Chicken Coop" alt="Pepper Chicken Coop" src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a552c952970c-800wi" border=0></A> </P>
<P>Could these pepper plants be benefiting from the reflective rays? I think so, because I also planted peppers from the same batch of seedlings elsewhere in the garden that are performing in their normal lackluster way. Here is a picture of one of them:</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a4fb9a50970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340120a4fb9a50970b " title=SmallPepper alt=SmallPepper src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340120a4fb9a50970b-800wi" border=0></A> </P>
<P>That is how my pepper plants usually look! Pathetic compared to my bed of bountiful peppers.</P>
<P>This summer has been unusually cool and wet which have not been good growing conditions for tomatoes. Peppers are supposed to do best with heat as well. Do you think it is possible that my peppers are so good because of the chicken coop roof? I guess without conducting soil samples in the two locations we can't be sure that the soil is the same, but I think it is. I really think the <em>only</em> difference is the reflective roof. </P>
<P>Am I crazy?</P>
<P>
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<P>In most years, we are blessed with a bountiful harvest. Usually by now we have an overabundance of cucumbers and tomatoes, along with beans and potatoes. In past years we haven't done well with Bell Peppers and have had trouble getting our onions to grow very large.</P>
<P>This year is very unusual. The main season tomatoes are very late and we have only had a few good cucumbers. On the other hand, our Bell peppers and onions have been amazing!</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/onionsdrying.jpg">
<P>We have well over 100 large onion bulbs drying right now.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/Onions2.jpg">
<P>To grow large onion bulbs you need many growing days of warm but not "hot" temperatures. Usually here in Northern Kentucky,our weather is not condusive to growing large onions because we typically go quickly from a cold Spring to a hot summer. This year has not been typical. Our Summer has been unusually cool. July 2009 is now officially the coldest July ever recorded! Our "normal" average high temperature for July is 85 degrees. This year's average was 69 degrees. That kind of weather is not great for growing tomatoes, but oh how the onions love it!
<P>And of course we love the onions! I guess in a way the vegetable garden is like the stock market - it pays to diversify.
<P>The other vegetable that has been unusually great this year are the Capsicums. The weather explanation doesn't fit here at all. I do have a theory about why we have harvested about 75 large peppers from one 4'x12' bed. I will share that theory and some pepper pictures in my next post.
<P>Happy Gardening,
<P>- Marc</P>
<P>
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<P>Before this year's growing season even began, I posed the question <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/02/do-upside-down-tomato-planters-work.html" target=_blank>"Do Upside Down Tomato Planters Work?"</A> There has been a great deal of discussion about this lately, especially about the Topsy-Turvy Upside Down Planter.</P>
<P>I decided to conduct an experiment this year and bought a <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WYNP0?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0001WYNP0">Topsy Turvy</A> and another upside down tomato planter that was really just a hanging basket with a whole in the bottom. They are hanging side-by-side on my deck.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/TopsyTurvy2.jpg">
<P>The tomatoes in both planters are growing well, but the Topsy Turvy plant is thriving! It is performing as well or better than the main tomatoes in the garden.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/TopsyTurvy01.jpg">
<P>The Topsy Turvy's plant is much larger than the one in the other planter, and there are more tomatoes forming. I think this has to do with the volume of soil that the roots have.<p> <p>
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<p> <p>The other planter is working and I would think it was doing well if I didn't have the Topsy Turvy to compare it to.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/TopsyTurvy1.jpg">
<P>
<P>So my answer to my previous post's question of whether you can really grow tomatoes upside down is YES. However, it is still easier to grow tomatoes in the ground. Upside Down tomatoes have to be cared for in the same way that any container grown vegetables do. You must use a light soil mix like potting soil mixed with coir or peat moss. You also have to keep up with the watering without over-watering. Tomatoes like deep watering every few days. It is okay if they almost dry out in between waterings. I think most peoples biggest mistake with container-grown tomatoes is watering too much. Tomato plants don't like constant "wet feet". Too much water leads to rotting fruits and fungal disease.</P>
<P>With proper watering though, growing tomatoes in hanging containers is a great way to go. I plan on getting a few more <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WYNP0?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0001WYNP0">Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planters</A> for next year!</P>
<P>Here is one last picture of my hanging tomatoes with my daughter next to them to show how big the plant is.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/July%202009/TT4.jpg">
<P>I can't wait to see how big it gets and how it looks with ripe tomatoes on it. I will post again when that time comes! What about you? Is there anyone else who has had success with the Topsy Turvy or any other upside-down planter? I think the majority of talk about these planters is about how they haven't worked out. I would love to hear from you if you have found success. Thanks!</P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Wow, a lot has been going on with my family and in the garden lately. I have many many posts to share with you to catch up, but first let me show you my birthday present from my wife and daughters.</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340115717a64b0970b-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed40888340115717a64b0970b " title=Winter_Harvest_Handbook1 alt=Winter_Harvest_Handbook1 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed40888340115717a64b0970b-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>Its Eliot Coleman's new book - The Winter Harvest Handbook. Officially the title is: </P>
<P><A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603580816?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1603580816">The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1603580816" width=1 border=0 /> </P>
<P>The subtitle is important to me because that is exactly what I am hoping to do this year. Our new greenhouse is ready to grow veggies all winter long!</P>
<P>This was a great birthday surprise because I didn't even know Eliot Coleman had a new book out. It was just released. As you may know, Eliot Coleman is my very favorite gardener and garden author. His other two books, <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/093003175X?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=093003175X">The New Organic Grower</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=093003175X" width=1 border=0 /> and <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890132276?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1890132276">Four-Season Harvest</A><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1890132276" width=1 border=0 /> are on my list of <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2009/03/the-best-gardening-tools-are-books.html">25 favorite gardening books</A>.</P>
<P>I can't wait to read more of The Winter Harvest Handbook. So far, I can tell that it is packed with even more of Coleman's wisdom. He outlines the way he accomplishes growing so much organic produce, all year long.</P>
<P><A style="DISPLAY: inline" href="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401157085317d970c-pi"><img class="at-xid-6a00e54efed408883401157085317d970c " title=Winter_Harvest_Handbook2 alt=Winter_Harvest_Handbook2 src="http://gardendesk.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efed408883401157085317d970c-800wi" border=0 /></A> </P>
<P>This book was only part of a fantastic birthday week. I have been able to spend some extra time with my family, we are eating tomatoes, peppers and onions from the garden, and we finished building the chicken coop! My hours at work are changing which should allow for more time in the garden and for blogging. Hopefully, I will get pictures on soon of the chickens and the garden and get back to regular blogging.</P>
<P>Happy gardening everyone!</P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Things have been so busy this spring that the garden has fallen a little behind. There are still lots of veggies growing out there, but I haven't been able to finish building the new raised beds that will allow me to grow almost twice the produce that I have in years past. </P>
<P>I'm still hopeful for the crops that start from seed, but I was getting pretty worried about all the tomato seedlings I had waiting in the greenhouse. Instead of waiting for the finished beds, I tilled a new area in the yard to accommodate a single row of tomatoes. </P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/June%202009/TomatoRow1.jpg" /> </P>
<P>The plants are still pretty small, so maybe you can't see them in the above picture. Here is a closer look: </P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/June%202009/TomatoRow2.jpg" /> </P>
<P>I was able to quickly mound up the soil so it is sort of like a raised bed. What this new row doesn't have that my beds do have is great soil. I add loads of compost to the raised beds. This tomato row is just the ordinary dirt from the yard. Since I don't use any chemical fertilizers, how am I going to keep these tomatoes healthy without compost? I'm using <A href="https://biosci.infusionsoft.com/go/Tomatopage/mlgd/">Great Big Tomatoes</A> </P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/June%202009/GreatBigTomatoes.jpg" /> </P>
<P><A href="https://biosci.infusionsoft.com/go/Tomatopage/mlgd/">Great Big Tomatoes</A> is a wonderful product from the Great Big Plants company. I have used Great Big Plants for the past few years and wrote about it <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/great-big-plants/">here</A>. </P>
<P>Great Big Tomatoes is basically an organic concentrated liquid compost, rich in the nutrients that tomato plants need to grow big, healthy, and delicious. I just learned about Great Big Tomatoes and am excited about using it. All I have to do is mix a little in a gallon of water and use that to water my tomato plants. Easy.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/June%202009/GreatBigTomatoes2.jpg" /> </P>
<P>I'll give you an update later in the summer when these plants are big and beautiful. I'm glad I was able to move some of these tomatoes out to this row method. When I do get my new beds finished, I will now have room for many other veggies. But I don't think I could have put my tomatoes in the new row without <A href="https://biosci.infusionsoft.com/go/Tomatopage/mlgd/">Great Big Tomatoes</A>. I'm glad I found out about it.</P><P><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script>Marchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16158642649837777716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193521694438426371.post-73830749594026782562009-05-19T11:31:00.000-04:002010-01-02T11:32:48.435-05:00Frost is a real Danger for Tomatoes and Peppers<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><P>Here in Northern Kentucky, most people believe that everything should have been planted in the vegetable garden already. Most people plant on the first nice day in May and believe that planting on Mother's Day is definitely safe. Most of the time this is true but the official average last frost date in my area is May 15th. </P>
<P>It is now past May 15th so it really should be okay now, right? You would think so, but the May 15th date is <em>an average</em> of the last 50 years or so. If you remember from Math class how to find the average, that means that sometimes the last frost is <em>after </em>the average date. That is what almost occurred last night. The weather forecast called for a frost advisory, and since frost is deadly for tomatoes and peppers, I had to protect them. </P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/FrostProtection1.jpg"></P>
<P>It was easy to cover the beds that I used last Fall as my <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2008/11/building-stoop-houses-to-help-with-frost-protection.html">stoop houses</A> because they were already equipped with a place to add hoops. I then just covered the hoops with plastic. The main tomato bed that I have planted was not used last year for hoops so I had to do something different.</P>
<P>I simply pounded some scrap lumber in the ground as end posts and attached a cross beam.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/Protected_Tomatoes1.jpg">
<P>Then I draped a piece of plastic sheeting over the beam to make a quick tee-pee over the tomato plants. The only thing you have to be sure of with this method is that the plastic is not touching the plants. The frost and cold can go right through to the plant leaves if they are up against the plastic.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/FrostProtection2.jpg">
<P>The temperature in the garden got down to 35 degrees, only 3 degrees above freezing! I don't think we actually had a frost, but I was still glad to protect these heat-loving plants. They seemed to make it through the night okay.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/Protected_Tomatoes2.jpg">
<P>I only have about 15 of my 75 tomato plants in the garden so far, so it wasn't hard to cover them all. I'm glad I still have the others inside the greenhouse because the weather this spring has been cold and rainy. I will not be getting ripe tomatoes by June 5th like last year. At this point, having ripe tomatoes by July 4th sounds good.
<P>Oh well, I just hope that we don't have any more 35 degree nights at least until October.
<P>
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</script><P>I have had a couple of email questions about tomatoes and about how my <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/early-tomatoes/">extra-early tomatoes</A> are doing. There was also a comment from <A href="http://mammasmeanderingmind.blogspot.com/" target=_blank>Amber</A> asking for an update on our Greenhouse. These are related topics because we will not have ripe tomatoes in May this year due to how slow I was in finishing the Greenhouse. Renee and I built most of it <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2008/10/greenhouse-almost-finished.html">last Fall</A>, but there were several things not completed that prevented the early tomatoes from going in there in time. The tomatoes are doing well and I will post specifically about them later. Its just that I don't think they will be ripe early enough to beat last year's record of <A href="http://www.gardendesk.com/2008/06/first-ripe-tomato-on-june-5th.html">June 5th</A>.</P>
<P>The good news is that I finally completed the rest of the Greenhouse construction. The things left to do this Spring were:</P>
<ol>
<li>Install an exhaust fan and run electric to it
<li>Build windows to use as vents
<li>Build inside grow beds and fill with soil/compost
<li>Extend retaining wall and back fill for future greenhouse expansion </li>
</ol>
<P>That proved to be a little too much to accomplish quickly, but it is now almost complete. The first item on the list was the hardest and the most important. Most people think that a greenhouse needs to be hot, and that is true during cool weather. The biggest struggle with a solar greenhouse is that in the Spring and Summer it can get TOO hot. This time of year is particularly difficult because nights are cold and sunny days get hot. With all of the vents closed up for the night, our greenhouse can easily get to above 120 degrees by mid-morning. The new exhaust fan is thermostat controlled to come on and expel the hot air in that scenario.</P>
<P>Here is a picture of our hoop house from the back where the fan is:</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseFanOutside.jpg"></P>
<P>I was able to install the fan myself. </P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseFan1.jpg">
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseFan2.jpg">
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseFan3.jpg">
<P>Getting the fan put in place was all I could do since I am not an electrician. Later I had an electrician friend come to run the electricity to the fan. In the meantime I set about completing the other items on the list.</P>
<P>I built the windows so I could have flexibility in how much venting to allow each day.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseWindow1.jpg">
<P>Then I built the raised beds along one side and along the back. This is not a requirement for all greenhouse structures but it was in the book <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1579903843?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1579903843">The 12-Month Gardener</A><img style="MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none! important; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none! important; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none! important; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none! important" height=1 alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gardes-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1579903843" width=1 border=0> by Jeff Ashton, where I got the plans from and I think it will be a great way to grow lettuce and spinach all winter long.
<P>The hardest part was getting the wheelbarrow in to fill up the beds.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseInsideBeds.jpg">
<P>I was able to put boards down as plank ramps to go up and in.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseInsideBeds2.jpg">
<P>
<P>I also had to tackle the retaining wall. The spot where we placed the greenhouse didn't naturally fit there. There wasn't enough space for it so we had to build a retaining wall and then fill in behind it with fresh dirt. Originally I wanted the greenhouse to be 14 feet by 24 feet. Since we had to move so much earth, we only built half of the wall and then built half of the greenhouse. Next year I want to expand to the full 24 feet so the rest of the wall needed to be put in and back filled.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseWallAgain2.jpg"></P>
<P>I moved about 50 wheelbarrow loads of dirt from the spot I dug out to fit the chicken coop in (more on that later). I forgot that we would need to run the electric through that space, so I had to dig part of it out again to make the trench for the electrician to run the pipe with electric wires in it.</P>
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseElectric1.jpg">
<P>My electrical friend came over and did a great job with the pipe and the wiring.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseElectric7.jpg">
<P>He was able to splice in to an existing outside outlet that used to power a swimming pool pump.
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseElectric2.jpg">
<P>He put in an outlet and switches to control a light that we will install later and the fan.</P>
<P> <img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhouseElectric4.jpg"> </P>
<P>And finally, here is the fan working!
<P><img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/Greenhousefanfinal.jpg">
<P>Now we can put plants in our greenhouse without worry of them getting too hot.</P>
<P> <img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/naturehouse/May2009/GreenhousePlantsIn.jpg"> </P>
<P>We may not have been able to use it much this spring, but from now on this greenhouse will grow thousands of plants for us. Our goal is to be able to harvest something from the garden in all 12 months of the year by leaning heavily on this structure in the winter. I'll show you more as we get it all going.
<P>This greenhouse was a little more work than I thought it would be, but it feels good knowing that we built it ourselves from scratch with only a little help from our electrician and a lot of help from <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1579903843?ie=UTF8&tag=gardes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1579903843">The 12-Month Gardener</A>. What a great book that is!
<P>Happy gardening!
<P>- Marc
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