A whole lotta digging

There was a whole lot of digging done today.

The Boy took charge and led the younger two kiddos into digging in what we've been calling "The Pit."  He would dig and fill three small buckets.  He'd hand them to The Girl who would dump them on one of the big dirt piles.  There's now only one major raised section in the bottom of the pit.

 

 

Once I finished mowing the lawn, I joined in.  I lengthened The Trench down to what I think is the end.  I'm pretty sure I'm done with the woods end of the trench now.  Once I finished that I started digging from The Pit side.

All told, we moved the following amount of dirt:

• The Trench - 4.2 cu yd
• The Pit - 1.04 cu yd

Still more trench digging

I was able to do some more digging in the trench today.  I did a 2’x2’x12”, a 5.5’x2’x32”, and 3’x2’x12” sections in the trench.  That amounts to 1.46 cubic yards.

 

More greenhouse digging

I did some digging in the greenhouse pit this afternoon.  For a change of scenery, I worked on the drainage trench.  In addition to the section where the little kids had been digging, I now have added two other sections of trench. 

There's a deeper section added on that's 48" long x 32" deep x 24" wide.  Butted up to that is a smaller section that's 24" long x 24" wide x 12" deep.  All that adds up to 0.94 cubic yards.

The new bit is the dark section in the foreground.

Once we're done, the trench will be going farther toward the top of the picture.

Pepper flowers!

A while back I wondered about the feasibility of growing pepper plants as perennials.  I planted some seeds into a homemade terrarium.  They've grown nice and lovely tall.

And now ==> insert dramatic pause here <== they have flowers!

More pit digging today

Another day, another series of pit digging.  I didn't get any dimensions for any of the additional digging, unfortunately.

From yesterday:

As of today:

More greenhouse progress

The three kids helped me dig in the pit for a few hours.

It's not super obvious how much progress we made, but we dug out six different areas between parts of the pit and parts of the water exhaust trench.  It all amounts to 35.5 cubic feet (1.31 cubic yards).

Working on the greenhouse

I wasn't blogging last year, but this past September I started digging a hole to do a partially subterranean greenhouse.  The idea around doing a greenhouse with part of the structure underground is that the earth is a great natural insulator.  It maintains a pretty steady temperature as you get deeper underground.

I started digging in early September (by hand because I'm cheap) until I hurt my hip (the doctor called it a Sportsman's Hernia).  I was told to let it rest 6-9 months to heal up before considering doing anything like that again.  It's been 9 months.

I've decided to be a bit smarter.  I'm not going to dig quite as deep as I'd initially planned.  It won't be as energy efficient, but I'll get done faster and may be able to avoid renting a backhoe (~$300 for a day).

The hole is currently 12' x 17' x about 3.5' deep.  I intend to have the greenhouse be 10' x 15' with a 1' area around it where I will be running drainage pipe around the perimeter exhausting it out to the ravine behind the hole.  The reason I'm doing 10' x15' is that over 150 sq ft and I need to pull permits with my county to do the construction.  😁

Here are two pictures of my hole before I started digging today.

After doing my digging today.

The area I dug amounts to a rectangular area that's 7.5’ x 2.6’w x 1’ deep adjacent to a triangle that's 3’ x 3’ x 1’.  That amounts to 24 cubic feet (or 0.89 cubic yards) of dirt moved today.

More Bibb growth

The Bibb I transplanted a few days continues to grow.  Awesome!

Trying to regrow lettuce

I don't know about anyone else, but we've found grocery costs to have climbed considerably since the Coronavirus shutdown has occurred.  There have also been a number of shortages as well.

To try to address both issues, we've signed up for a box delivery from the Misfits Market.  For the uninitiated it's a company that sources "local" produce from various growers who have produce that's deemed undesirable by grocery store buyers.  These are items that are fully viable for eating, but are considered to be too ugly.  Carrots with more than one root, for example.

In a recent box, we received four rooted Bibb lettuce plants in plastic bags.  We added a little water to them to keep them going for a few days before we ate the leaves in a great salad Wifey made with dinner.  When Wifey harvested the leaves, I couldn't help but wonder if I could get the root base to start sprouting additional leaves.

After a few days in potting soil we appear to have the very beginnings of a leaf or two.

Trying the "Ruth Stout" method of gardening

While meandering through the labyrinth that is Youtube the other day, I came across a video by a couple who grew a considerable amount of potatoes with almost no work.  It after watching it, they referenced a methodology that was developed by Ruth Stout in which you continually add mulch on top of existing soil and keep planting on top of itself.  In that manner, you continually have little/no weeds, replenish nutrients, and have to do very little work as far as tilling or weeding.  They also did a video on that approach.

I discussed it, showed the first (potato) video to Wifey and we decided to give it a shot.

In the video, they laid out a grid of chunks (appears to be 2"+ thicknesses) of straw bales to their field in the fall and let the straw rot.  In the spring they took the rotted hay, fluffed it up and pulled sections apart in areas and laid out seed potatoes.  Once their potatoes were laid out, they covered them up again.

Note: I learned that although the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between hay and straw.  Hay is dried field grasses where straw is hay that has had the seed pods largely/entirely removed.  Hay is often consumed by animals and straw is bedding.

I took a trip to the local Ace hardware and bought 4 small bales of straw.  Wifey and I then laid them down in a grid to rot for the remainder of the winter until it gets to be potato planting time.

Robbins Ave Update - 15 Sprouts!

So I just checked the sprouts under our grow lights.  What I found led me to muse, "Alright, God.  Now I have to think you're just showing off.  And I'm really impressed."

As of this morning, we are up to 15 Robbins Ave tomato sprouts.  We got one more overnight.

Simply amazing.

We have Robbins Ave Tomato sprouts!

A week ago I did a post about trying to save the Robbins Avenue Tomato.


I'm happy to report that we've discovered we are up to a total of four sprouts!

After we finished dancing around rejoicing at the slowly-growing count, I was corrected by Wifey.  The seeds we're trying to resurrect were ones she had saved from the year after we gave up on our old garden plot.  That year we tried to do something, anything while adjusting to new-parenthood on a smaller scale using square-foot gardening methods in our townhouse backyard.  That means the seeds were from 2011, not 2012 or 2013 as I'd guessed in the prior blog post.  That any of them have germinated truly is miraculous.


I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable with more to be completely honest.  Ordinarily I plant 36 seeds each year when the seed is just from the previous year expecting to lose some from seed pods not releasing from the seed leaves, damage during transplant, damage in the garden, or in the case of last year death from bad water.

This is a fantastic step in the right direction, but we're hardly "out of the woods."

Can we save the Robbins Ave tomato?

My wife's paternal grandfather was a very interesting man.  He had a number of interests, but one that he was known for in the family was his love of vegetable gardening.

Until he died a few years ago, he maintained a large garden in his back yard which he spent a considerable amount of time and energy.  Well-landscaped with hedges and trees towering above, the path to the garden opened up on a large clearing that contained a large asparagus patch, some pole beans, beets for canning, peppers, a couple of raised beds for greens, and his pride and joy -- the Robbins Ave tomatoes.  Legend has it that until the early 90's, he used to do gardening on a large plot on a friend's farm.

As I've been told, Wifey's grandfather always wanted the biggest and best tomatoes.  No one knows what varieties he used originally, but I've been told that he started off with a few varieties of beefsteak-style tomatoes, cross-pollinated the varieties by hand and saved the seeds from only the largest and best-looking tomatoes.  The next year, he would start new plants from those seeds.  For 20 years (give or take), he followed this process until the time came that he just couldn't work in the garden any longer.

His enthusiasm begat success in the garden.  For years, family gatherings had pickled beets, garlic, or green beans, fresh tomatoes, asparagus, or the occasional bell pepper used in a dish.  For all he did, his Robbins Ave tomatoes are the main topic among the family (particularly our generation) when the garden is mentioned.

Those tomatoes were revered so much that a year before his death, a professional photographer was commissioned to take a picture of him holding two of his Robbins Ave tomatoes.  Wifey has such fond memories of her grandfather and the magic held in his garden that we have a framed copy of that picture in our kitchen.

 

When we realized that some of the Robbins Ave tomato seeds still exist, it was instinct to us to plant them to try to keep that strain alive.

The odds are slim that they will germinate -- best guess, they're 5 or 6 years old.  I did some research and found that according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension, the average viability of tomato seed is only 4 years.  Also, we only have 19 seeds and they weren't stored in seed bank-like conditions.

Regardless, I'm going to give it a shot.

Transplanting Bay Laurel Cuttings

While visiting my in-laws this past weekend, I noticed that my wife's aunt and uncle have a nice potted Bay Laurel tree in their dining room standing approximately 4' tall and 2' wide in a 5 gallon pot.  Although I understand it had recently been on death's doorstep from someone over-watering it, it appeared to be bouncing back nicely.

I complimented them on the tree and they asked if I wanted some cuttings.  Given we had a baby Bay Laurel that died this past year, I eagerly accepted.

Yesterday afternoon, I retrieved the two cuttings from the wet paper towels they had been wrapped in.  I wet both stems then dipped them in rooting compound per the instruction.  After tapping off the excess, I put them both in a pot of potting soil and watered the soil a bit.  Because I think our water softener is killing the plants, I obtained the water from one of the dehumidifiers in the basement.

Hopefully, the transplants take.  I would have felt a lot more comfortable if I'd had 3-4 cuttings, but at least 2 is better than none.

I did some reading this morning and saw that Bay Laurels can live outside to hardiness Zone 7 or 8 depending on where the information comes from.  If I have success in getting these cuttings to take root, I'd like to try getting other cuttings to grow and try growing the tree outdoors.  I'm not going to try that with either of these, though.

Figuring out why our indoor plants die

I've been thinking.  Last year almost all of my plant starters died.  I never had that problem in the townhouse.  We also had two fledgling geraniums, a baby bay laurel, and two citrus plants die.

We don't overwater, occasionally fertilize with organic fertilizer, don't put the plants in direct sunlight (that don't want it), and maintain proper temperatures for them.

I don't know why I think so, but I think it's our water that's causing the problems.  We have hard water at our house which has caused problems with mineral buildup in some of the water lines.  To address this, we had a salt water softener installed.  I've assumed that the tech who did the work calibrated the unit to provide the proper amount of salinity to the water, but I'm not so sure.

To test it going forward, I'm going to solely water our plants with water obtained from the dehumidifiers in the basement.

I'm also going to do some digging into how to control the softener control system.

Saving my Watermelons from Squash Borers and Squash Bugs

Last year, my watermelons did fantastic for the first few weeks of their life.  Unfortunately, they were wiped out by a predator.  One day I went to the plot, did some work and admired the foliage and the fruit on the vine.  Two days later, I returned and found all the flowers had turned black and the leaves looking wilted.  I was only able to harvest a single watermelon from six plants.

Logically, that means that something had killed everything at the source.

I did a fair amount of research and I have identified two possible culprits: the Squash Vine Borer and the Squash Bug.

The squash bug doesn't appear to attack the melon plant directly, unlike the squash borer.  The squash bug injects a disease called Yellow Vine Decline into the plant as it feeds.  The disease starts to yellow vines, but can and will kill the entire plant.

The squash borer will fly up to the base of a target plant and lay an egg inside the stem.  Once the egg hatches, the larvae feeds on the inside of the stem blocking the water and nutrients from flowing upward killing the plant.  Once it's large enough, the larvae exits the stem and burrows into the soil to become an adult moth at a later date.  I've found some sources that say that the borer will occasionally attack melons.  I think this is a more likely culprit given the rapid death and the fact it came in June which appears to be when the borer moth is said to go active.

Last year, I was applying Seven Dust to my watermelon plants to deter pests.  I can't say that I really applied a lot to the base of the plants, however.

This year, I tried something different.  I had Wifey save toilet paper tubes and installed them as collars around the base of the plants.  I did this for all my watermelons and also put them around the cucumbers just for giggles.

I really hope this works....

Restarting Celery - Take 2

So my first attempt at restarting celery didn't pan out.  This time around, I'll try to learn from my previous mistakes and aim for some modicum of success after transplanting.

With no further ado, I present Son of Transplanted Celery.

Checking up on the restarted carrots - 2 weeks old

Two weeks ago I started an experiment with restarting carrots.  The three restarts have made some very good progress.  All have developed roots around the sides as well as 1-2 green shoots coming up from the middle.

I'm debating transplanting them into soil once it warms up a little bit more.

Reflecting on the failed restarted celery experiment

As I mentioned recently, The Transplanted Celery met its untimely demise last week.

Setting up the restarted carrot experiment, I thought a bit about things I may have done wrong when I tried restarting celery.  Not saying that it should have worked, but I may have not set it up for the best chance at success.

• I should have suspended the celery in the water. 
  
  • I didn't do this.  In letting the celery rest on the bottom of the glass, roots only had a chance to grow from the sides of the lettuce heel. 
• I should have let the roots rest before planting in soil.
•  The gentleman next to us at the garden plot commonly restarts scallions in his plot.  He lays them out to rest for a few hours before transplanting them.  I don't know exactly why that is, but perhaps he's been keeping them going in water prior to transplanting and by letting them rest, they're toughening up for going in soil.
• I should have kept it away from cat-friendly areas.
• The cats got to the celery twice before I moved it back into the kitchen.  I don't know that that's what killed it off, but it surely didn't help it survive.
• I should have researched optimal temperatures.
• When I moved it outside under the raised box cover, I thought that celery is a good spring crop.  I don't know that for certain, but I recalled it may be the case.
• I was wrong.  After doing research for this blog post, celery is both tough to grow and also prefers temps between 55 and 70.  The plant was on its way out before I took it outside, but the temps were between 25 and 50 outside.  All I did was hasten its death by putting it outside.

I will try restarting celery again soon.  No idea if I'll have success with it, but at least I've learned a few lessons to give it a better shot at survival.

Restarting Carrots

Wifey came home from the store with two nice bunches of carrots that still had their greenery.  I recalled reading somewhere online that people had had some success restarting carrots.  After doing a little more research, I decided to give it a try.

I cut the tops of two carrots off approx 1.5" from the top of the carrot and then removed all but 2" of greenery.  A few toothpicks inserted into each have them suspended in some tap water.  We'll see what happens.