I posted about a year ago that we wanted to build a greenhouse. After Wifey found a great deal on some windows and a door, I scraped most of the windows to remove flaking paint and we worked to clear a space for it. Then we got a ton of rain over the year and progress ground to a halt.
Since then, things have changed a bit. Wifey convinced me to move the site from adjacent to the driveway pad, between the garage and the garden to the other side of the house and nearby to the pool deck. I'm still not exactly certain it's going to get as much sunlight, but the new site should allow for us to build it in such a way to have a wider frontage facing the south sun.
We cleared a spot for it, as well. We had a bulge of overgrown juniper, camillas that didn't flower, and dogwood all competing for space that were removed. I removed a tree that was leaning toward the house that, unfortunately, turned out to be an American Persimmon. Not a huge loss, though, since no fruit ever reached the ground that I'm aware of. I also trimmed up the canopy of another adjacent tree to ensure we got a fair amount of sunlight to the site.
Wifey contacted the county to find out where the line was about whether we needed to get permits. Based on what she found out, we don't need a permit for anything under 150 sq ft. If we follow the guidance of the golden ratio of design, we could have a structure with the footprint of 9 1/2' x 15 3/8'. That would yield a foot print of 146 sq ft.
I've been reading about ways to heat the greenhouse. As much as I love the idea of having a geothermal setup, with all the trees we have in the area, I'm concerned about how to run the piping without damaging roots. There's also the issue of power which doesn't exist out at the site and which I'd rather not have to pay for. For now, I'm leaning toward trying composting as a means of heating it and using water barrels for thermal mass to help retain the heat collected inside. I'd eventually like to try to have a solar-powered setup to give bonus heat on especially cold periods.
I'm torn about the plan for the foundation. On one hand, I think that elevating everything and building on posts would simplify things considerably. On the other hand, if we sunk the foundation down a few feet under ground (frost line in Maryland is 30"), we would get the benefit of having a modicum of consistent temperature thanks to soil temps at that depth being relatively stable. Digging to that depth would also allow for us to have the option of small trees (dwarf banana, dwarf avocado to name two) with the benefits of added height. The obvious downside is that working at depth also complicates things. I don't know that that's an undertaking (and potential expense) we're going to be willing to undertake.
So, we're making some slow progress, but still have a ways to go before we can seriously tackle construction.
Showing posts with label Plot Planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plot Planning. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Merry Christmas - a year in review
Merry Christmas to whomever may end up reading this.
This is my first post since July. The family is in a lull from post-present hysteria while the kids are playing with toys and whatnot so I figured I'd try to do a post for a change.
This year was WET. Just for reference, as of late November Baltimore had received 22" of rain over the yearly average and had broken the previous record for rainfall established in 2003. We've had more rain and a little snow since then.
We also didn't get a ton of heat. Our typical summer alternates between very dry and marginally wet, but extremely hot and humid throughout. Although we had temps over 80 pretty reliably, we generally didn't spend a lot of time in the mid/upper 90's (as is typical) until August.
Garden
Tomatoes
Unfortunately, our tomatoes were very sad this year. Last year Wifey did a lot of canning of tomatoes; this year was the opposite. Thankfully, we were able to harvest a few of her grandfather's heirloom tomatoes. We saved seeds from those.
We learned we didn't like the Black Vernissage tomatoes. Too hard to figure out whether they were ripe or not.
Beans
The purple pole beans did quite well this year. We saved seeds from them to reuse for next year. Thankfully, I planted them relatively early this year allowing them to get reasonably established before the deluge began. They were a real topic of conversation at the farm market and at the farm stand where we "tithed" veggies.
The green beans really struggled, however. I planted the entire gallon bag of seeds I'd accumulated from the previous year with most rotting in the ground. I should have considered mounding the soil up where I would plant them for better drainage. This practice is recommended in a book I have about gardening in Colonial Williamsburg (VA). I ended up getting quite a few beans, but they weren't as prolific as if even a majority of the beans had grown.
Cantaloupe
I built a small arbor for them to climb at some point. They did, but all the rain eventually rotted the roots as well as the single cantaloupe that reached harvesting-size. Worth trying again.
Tomatillos
The tomatillos were pretty prolific despite all the rain. We harvested a lot of them and Wifey was able to make a few batches of tomatillo salsa for our tacos al pastor. Very enjoyable! Worth growing again.
Pumpkins
The baking pumpkins turned out reasonably well. They vined out aggressively which eventually became somewhat invasive. We harvested about 6 pumpkins which made for good pumpkin bread. Worth growing again in a smaller number particularly if I could figure out a way to trellis them.
Peanuts
The peanuts grew somewhat, but rotted in the ground. Not really worth growing again.
Cucumbers
The Edmonson cucumbers are really strange-looking. It wasn't obvious from the catalog pictures. Although they were a decent size, they didn't have a ton of flavor. Probably better to try another variety. We were able to barter some at the farm market, though.
Peppers
Once again, the bell peppers didn't do anything. For one, they were shaded mightily by the tomatillos. The rainfall couldn't have helped, either.
Wifey planted two starters of jalopenos in the front bed. They did quite well. Don't know why.
Okra
Holy cow did we get a lot of okra. Wifey fried some and we froze quite a bit to go in soup or jumbalaya. I also saved a lot of seeds from when I was pulling out the plants.
Strawberries
Our strawberries really didn't do much. Possibly due to all the rainfall. We're not sure they're worth the space they're taking up.
Orchard/Yard
Pear
We only ended up with a single pear this year. We got a lot of rainfall right after the flowers came out. As a result, most of the flowers came off the tree. The single pear was a good one, though.
Figs
Once again, no figs we could harvest. We did end up with some very small ones toward the end of the season. I'll chalk it up to having to regrow all the above-ground growth due to last year's extremely cold winter.
Apples
We didn't harvest any apples this year. Similar to the pears, we lost a lot of flowers due to rainfall. The few apples we did get had a number of rot spots.
Blueberries
We were able to get some blueberries this year. Not a ton because the bushes are still small, but some. The deer nibbled on some of the new growth reminding me that I need to cage those plants in.
Peaches
We bought two peach trees for the orchard. Unfortunately, I didn't put up deer netting in time. They ate all but three of the peaches on the trees as well as lower vegetation. The peaches that survived rotted on the trees.
Persimmon
We bought and planted a persimmon tree this year. I put up deer netting as soon as I lost the peaches so the persimmon fruit was saved from the deer. I lost a few of them due to rot, however, we were able to harvest and eat 3 or so. Tasty.
Quince
Wifey saw someone online was giving away quince plants. We took them off his hands. I'm not sure if one or both survived the transplant. We'll see in the spring, I suppose.
Kiwi
I built the structure for a kiwi arbor and bought 6 kiwi starters. Unfortunately, all but one of them died. I'll retry the experiment in the spring.
Mulberry
I bought two mulberry starters. Each is quite small, but seem to have made it through the rainy year.
Elderberry
I bought three elderberry starters. One was assaulted by tent caterpillars (which traveled from nearby black walnut trees), but seems to have survived.
Raspberries
We got a very few raspberries this year. The canes are all still getting established. Interestingly enough, the ones I got from a friend at work are sending out volunteers nearby. Great news!
Inherited Peach Tree
We learned that the dwarf peach tree we inherited when we purchased the house is some sort of Korean variety. A woman at our old church was very excited when she learned what it was and made some sort of peach "wine" out of it.
Inherited Japanese Dogwood
We have learned that an unknown variety of dogwood in the front is actually a "Japanese Dogwood" or "Kousa Dogwood." The fruit (which it grows in abundance) are edible, apparently. Unfortunately we didn't learn this until the tail end of the fruiting season.
Hickory
Technically not a fruit, but regardless I'll write it up here. No hickory nuts this year. From some reading I did the other day, I've learned that hickory trees generally don't produce nuts except for every other year.
Black raspberries
There are some residual inherited black raspberry canes by the woods line here and there. We got no fruit this year. I'm not sure if it's because of the rain, because we'd never pruned them (until this fall), or something else. We'll see what next year brings.
This is my first post since July. The family is in a lull from post-present hysteria while the kids are playing with toys and whatnot so I figured I'd try to do a post for a change.
This year was WET. Just for reference, as of late November Baltimore had received 22" of rain over the yearly average and had broken the previous record for rainfall established in 2003. We've had more rain and a little snow since then.
We also didn't get a ton of heat. Our typical summer alternates between very dry and marginally wet, but extremely hot and humid throughout. Although we had temps over 80 pretty reliably, we generally didn't spend a lot of time in the mid/upper 90's (as is typical) until August.
Garden
Tomatoes
Unfortunately, our tomatoes were very sad this year. Last year Wifey did a lot of canning of tomatoes; this year was the opposite. Thankfully, we were able to harvest a few of her grandfather's heirloom tomatoes. We saved seeds from those.
We learned we didn't like the Black Vernissage tomatoes. Too hard to figure out whether they were ripe or not.
Beans
The purple pole beans did quite well this year. We saved seeds from them to reuse for next year. Thankfully, I planted them relatively early this year allowing them to get reasonably established before the deluge began. They were a real topic of conversation at the farm market and at the farm stand where we "tithed" veggies.
The green beans really struggled, however. I planted the entire gallon bag of seeds I'd accumulated from the previous year with most rotting in the ground. I should have considered mounding the soil up where I would plant them for better drainage. This practice is recommended in a book I have about gardening in Colonial Williamsburg (VA). I ended up getting quite a few beans, but they weren't as prolific as if even a majority of the beans had grown.
Cantaloupe
I built a small arbor for them to climb at some point. They did, but all the rain eventually rotted the roots as well as the single cantaloupe that reached harvesting-size. Worth trying again.
Tomatillos
The tomatillos were pretty prolific despite all the rain. We harvested a lot of them and Wifey was able to make a few batches of tomatillo salsa for our tacos al pastor. Very enjoyable! Worth growing again.
Pumpkins
The baking pumpkins turned out reasonably well. They vined out aggressively which eventually became somewhat invasive. We harvested about 6 pumpkins which made for good pumpkin bread. Worth growing again in a smaller number particularly if I could figure out a way to trellis them.
Peanuts
The peanuts grew somewhat, but rotted in the ground. Not really worth growing again.
Cucumbers
The Edmonson cucumbers are really strange-looking. It wasn't obvious from the catalog pictures. Although they were a decent size, they didn't have a ton of flavor. Probably better to try another variety. We were able to barter some at the farm market, though.
Peppers
Once again, the bell peppers didn't do anything. For one, they were shaded mightily by the tomatillos. The rainfall couldn't have helped, either.
Wifey planted two starters of jalopenos in the front bed. They did quite well. Don't know why.
Okra
Holy cow did we get a lot of okra. Wifey fried some and we froze quite a bit to go in soup or jumbalaya. I also saved a lot of seeds from when I was pulling out the plants.
Strawberries
Our strawberries really didn't do much. Possibly due to all the rainfall. We're not sure they're worth the space they're taking up.
Orchard/Yard
Pear
We only ended up with a single pear this year. We got a lot of rainfall right after the flowers came out. As a result, most of the flowers came off the tree. The single pear was a good one, though.
Figs
Once again, no figs we could harvest. We did end up with some very small ones toward the end of the season. I'll chalk it up to having to regrow all the above-ground growth due to last year's extremely cold winter.
Apples
We didn't harvest any apples this year. Similar to the pears, we lost a lot of flowers due to rainfall. The few apples we did get had a number of rot spots.
Blueberries
We were able to get some blueberries this year. Not a ton because the bushes are still small, but some. The deer nibbled on some of the new growth reminding me that I need to cage those plants in.
Peaches
We bought two peach trees for the orchard. Unfortunately, I didn't put up deer netting in time. They ate all but three of the peaches on the trees as well as lower vegetation. The peaches that survived rotted on the trees.
Persimmon
We bought and planted a persimmon tree this year. I put up deer netting as soon as I lost the peaches so the persimmon fruit was saved from the deer. I lost a few of them due to rot, however, we were able to harvest and eat 3 or so. Tasty.
Quince
Wifey saw someone online was giving away quince plants. We took them off his hands. I'm not sure if one or both survived the transplant. We'll see in the spring, I suppose.
Kiwi
I built the structure for a kiwi arbor and bought 6 kiwi starters. Unfortunately, all but one of them died. I'll retry the experiment in the spring.
Mulberry
I bought two mulberry starters. Each is quite small, but seem to have made it through the rainy year.
Elderberry
I bought three elderberry starters. One was assaulted by tent caterpillars (which traveled from nearby black walnut trees), but seems to have survived.
Raspberries
We got a very few raspberries this year. The canes are all still getting established. Interestingly enough, the ones I got from a friend at work are sending out volunteers nearby. Great news!
Inherited Peach Tree
We learned that the dwarf peach tree we inherited when we purchased the house is some sort of Korean variety. A woman at our old church was very excited when she learned what it was and made some sort of peach "wine" out of it.
Inherited Japanese Dogwood
We have learned that an unknown variety of dogwood in the front is actually a "Japanese Dogwood" or "Kousa Dogwood." The fruit (which it grows in abundance) are edible, apparently. Unfortunately we didn't learn this until the tail end of the fruiting season.
Hickory
Technically not a fruit, but regardless I'll write it up here. No hickory nuts this year. From some reading I did the other day, I've learned that hickory trees generally don't produce nuts except for every other year.
Black raspberries
There are some residual inherited black raspberry canes by the woods line here and there. We got no fruit this year. I'm not sure if it's because of the rain, because we'd never pruned them (until this fall), or something else. We'll see what next year brings.
Sunday, March 4, 2018
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.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Working on the greenhouse
As I mentioned a little while ago, Wifey and I are going to build a greenhouse to go next to our driveway. That job benefits us by getting rid of the overgrown juniper (which we don't care for) and gets us the greenhouse.
Today, The Boy and I cut back the first juniper we'll be removing. Once that was done we recruited The Girl to help us haul everything to the gorge in the woods behind the house to toss everything in there where it'll break down. I've seen what our local landfill does with yard waste and we're doing better by the earth the way we do it.
I also scraped flaking paint and dried out caulk from two more of the wood windows. No pictures of that.
Today, The Boy and I cut back the first juniper we'll be removing. Once that was done we recruited The Girl to help us haul everything to the gorge in the woods behind the house to toss everything in there where it'll break down. I've seen what our local landfill does with yard waste and we're doing better by the earth the way we do it.
I also scraped flaking paint and dried out caulk from two more of the wood windows. No pictures of that.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
More seeds are started
No point in taking any pictures, but within the last few days I've started the seeds for the following plants:
- Napoleon Sweet Bell Peppers
- Tomate Verde Tomatillos
- Old Virginia Tomatoes (slicing)
- San Marzano Tomatoes (roma)
- Black Vernissage Tomatoes (cherry)
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
More started seeds
Last night I got some more seeds started. Bell peppers and tomatillos are now in the ground. Since the tomatillo seeds are from last year, I'm a little apprehensive that they will actually sprout. I've been told that seeds up to a few years old will still sprout, but I can't remember if I've ever tried it before.
I followed the same method as always.
- First I put the peat plugs in the mini-greenhouse and pour a lot of really warm water on them to make them grow.
- Then I use a chopstick to poke holes to the required depth of the seed (which varies).
- Set the seeds in place.
- With the chopstick, gently push the seeds into the holes to the required depth.
- Loosely cover each seed with some of the peat.
- Label the cells so you know what's growing in what spot. This is particularly important if you're growing multiple varieties of the same type of plant.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
We are on the board!
It's the end of January. I had planned to have a lot of my seeds started by now and as of early last night haven't planted any.
That came to an end, though. I now have Lacinato Kale and Green Globe Artichokes started. I have a lot more I need to start, but this at least is a start on spring veggies (the kale) and something that'll take a while to grow (artichokes).
That came to an end, though. I now have Lacinato Kale and Green Globe Artichokes started. I have a lot more I need to start, but this at least is a start on spring veggies (the kale) and something that'll take a while to grow (artichokes).
Friday, January 5, 2018
Seed order has arrived from Southern Exposure!
I'm happy to report that the seed order -- minus some seasonal items like onions which are lagging -- from Southern Exposure has arrived.
I have some Spring planting stuff (kale, especially) that I may need to get started sooner rather than later. I don't plan on starting the Summer stuff for another few weeks.
I have some Spring planting stuff (kale, especially) that I may need to get started sooner rather than later. I don't plan on starting the Summer stuff for another few weeks.
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Additional crops for this year - the seed orders are in!
After doing my research for the last few weeks, I just placed my seed orders for this year with Southern Exposure and Baker Creek.
Garden Crops - Southern Exposure - $58.40
Orchard - Baker Creek - $46.50
The orders totaled about what they have been the last couple of times (about $100), but this total is as high as they are because I ordered a few things that are pricey, but that I shouldn't have to order again. The Yellow Potato Onions are multipliers (similar my Egyptian Walking Onions) so, in theory, that should keep us in onions for the future. The Kiwi vines and Mulberry bushes will go in the orchard to produce for the future, as well. I hope to be able to finally do more seed saving on vegetables besides beans this year.
In addition to what I ordered, I have some leftover seeds from last year's plantings that I intend to put to use again.
Garden Crops - Southern Exposure - $58.40
- Beans - Dean's Purple Pole Beans
- Beans - Scarlet Runner
- Kale - Lacinato
- Spinach - Long Standing Bloomsdale
- Heat tolerant greens - Jewels of Opar
- Okra - Fife Creek Cow Horn
- Onions - Yellow Potato
- Peanuts - Carwile's Virginia
- Bell Peppers - Napoleon Sweet
- Winter Radish - Black Spanish Round
- Tomato - Old Virginia
- Tomato - San Marzano
- Corn - Black Mexican
Orchard - Baker Creek - $46.50
- Dwarf Everbearing Mulberry
- Hardy Kiwi
The orders totaled about what they have been the last couple of times (about $100), but this total is as high as they are because I ordered a few things that are pricey, but that I shouldn't have to order again. The Yellow Potato Onions are multipliers (similar my Egyptian Walking Onions) so, in theory, that should keep us in onions for the future. The Kiwi vines and Mulberry bushes will go in the orchard to produce for the future, as well. I hope to be able to finally do more seed saving on vegetables besides beans this year.
In addition to what I ordered, I have some leftover seeds from last year's plantings that I intend to put to use again.
- Radish - French Breakfast
- Radish - Cherry Belle
- Carrots - Little Finger
- Carrots - Cosmic Purple
- Carrots - Scarlet Nantes
- Cucumbers - Edmonson
- Tomatillo - Tomate Verde
- Musk Melon - Anne Arundel
- Tomato - Black Vernissage
- Artichoke - Green Globe (from seed)
- Pumpkin Winter Luxury Pie
- Zucchini - Costata Romanesca
- Brussels Sprouts - Catskill (Long Island Improved)
- Flowers - Marigold (Spanish Brocade)
- Flowers - Carnation (Chabaud Picotee Fantasy)
- Flowers - Chamomile (German)
- Flowers - Sweet William
- Herbs - Hyssop
- Herbs - Basil (Bollo Napoletano)
- Herbs - Calendula (Resina)
Saturday, December 23, 2017
Aronia developments
I’ve heard back from the PhD Botanist and traded a few emails back and forth.
Apparently, Aronia (aka Black Chokeberry) is a relative of apples and pears. Since those are intolerant of juglone, his supposition was that Aronia would be as well.
In some good news, he offered me a few Aronia plants in March to see if they can/will survive in my orchard before I invest in others. I will tag up with him then.
Apparently, Aronia (aka Black Chokeberry) is a relative of apples and pears. Since those are intolerant of juglone, his supposition was that Aronia would be as well.
In some good news, he offered me a few Aronia plants in March to see if they can/will survive in my orchard before I invest in others. I will tag up with him then.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Adding to the orchard
Although there are a lot of options for permanent plantings of fruit, some are things I don’t see us eating very much of.
Things I definitely want to do:
Things I definitely want to do:
- Plant some more raspberries in the row.
- I think two more purple raspberries and a few (< 4) more red raspberries.
- Plant two more blueberry bushes.
- Plant two Asian persimmon trees.
- We like the consistency of the Asian persimmons. We don't like that you need the American variety to be mushy before they're considered edible. I don't see us ever needing more than 2 trees of this.
- Plant 2 mulberry bushes.
- They're tolerant of Black Walnut (juglone).
- They can get rather tall so they need to be "topped" to maintain the desirable height.
- Since they send suckers, there's no need to plant more than a minimum.
- The fruit helps strengthen eyesight, is loaded in resveratol (excellent vs cancer), good as brain tonic, has protein, and is generally good for your immune system and digestion.
- Plant 4 Aronia (aka Black Chokeberry) bushes.
- They are a natural understory planting and work well at the edge of the woodland.
- Debatable whether they can be planted near to black walnut -- I have sent an email to a botanist PhD about that.
- Fruit are high in antioxidants as well as vitamins (especially C) and minerals.
- Plant 2-4 Elderberries.
- They're tolerant of Black Walnut (juglone).
- Fragrant, edible flowers along with the fruit.
- Berries contain Vitamin A and B and more vitamin C than oranges, also loaded with antioxidants. They also have been used to treat respiratory problems as well as cold and flu.
- Need to be two+ varieties to ensure pollination, fruit development.
- Plant kiwi vines.
- Unknown whether they can grow near Black Walnut.
- Commercial growers use two ~6' tall T-shaped structures 15'-25' apart with cables stretched between them.
- You need male and female vines to pollinate. A single male plant can pollinate up to 6 female plants. Baker Creek sells packs of 2 female and 1 male plants. I'd buy two of these sets and plant them on opposing ends of the structure with the idea of growing them toward one another.
Monday, December 18, 2017
Increasing food prices?
I goofed up my packed lunch today. I mistakenly thought that a container of leftover Bolognese sauce was chili. Oops.
On a hunt for something reasonably healthy and inexpensive, I went to a local Subway to grab a sandwich. A flyer they had on display caught my eye, though.
I'm somewhat skeptical that the prices of tomatoes tripled overnight. Yes, there have been snowstorms in the midwest already, but I have a hard time believing that tomato prices were teetering on the brink of a price hike but the last snow in Detroit made somebody say,"That's it! We've had it! Stop the presses! We're tripling tomato prices, dad gum it!"
All that being said, if tomato prices really are considerably higher than they were 8 months ago, that's pretty notable.
And it makes me even more determined to get more into seed saving in the future. If I can keep doing that, I'll be even more independent of external pricing. Should I be able to grow in excess of what the family needs, then maybe we can take advantage of that.
On a hunt for something reasonably healthy and inexpensive, I went to a local Subway to grab a sandwich. A flyer they had on display caught my eye, though.
I'm somewhat skeptical that the prices of tomatoes tripled overnight. Yes, there have been snowstorms in the midwest already, but I have a hard time believing that tomato prices were teetering on the brink of a price hike but the last snow in Detroit made somebody say,"That's it! We've had it! Stop the presses! We're tripling tomato prices, dad gum it!"
All that being said, if tomato prices really are considerably higher than they were 8 months ago, that's pretty notable.
And it makes me even more determined to get more into seed saving in the future. If I can keep doing that, I'll be even more independent of external pricing. Should I be able to grow in excess of what the family needs, then maybe we can take advantage of that.
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Updating orchard fruit locations
I've beginning doing some planning for what else we can plant in the orchard. That made me realize it's been a bit since I've updated the fruit layout.
The last time I updated the fruit layout was October 2, 2016 for the apple trees. A lot has changed over there since then, namely 6 blueberry bushes, 4 purple raspberry canes, and 6 red raspberry canes.
Below is what we have now.
As with before, the red circles represent the black walnut trees (juglone = bad for some plants) and yellow show the apple trees. The new additions are for blue are the blueberry bushes, purple are for the purple raspberries, and pink are the red raspberries.
The last time I updated the fruit layout was October 2, 2016 for the apple trees. A lot has changed over there since then, namely 6 blueberry bushes, 4 purple raspberry canes, and 6 red raspberry canes.
Below is what we have now.
As with before, the red circles represent the black walnut trees (juglone = bad for some plants) and yellow show the apple trees. The new additions are for blue are the blueberry bushes, purple are for the purple raspberries, and pink are the red raspberries.
Monday, December 11, 2017
2017 - Looking back, part 3
This continues the series looking back at our
crop-list for 2017. The first post is found here and the second is here.
Food Production
Unfortunately, we didn't weigh and catalog everything we harvested; there were times when Wifey would harvest something and not get a picture or times we'd get something for a recipe (or fresh eating) and not get a picture. For example, there have been a number of salads and smoothies made using the spinach, kale, and/or lettuce with no accounting of how much was used. Looking back, we regret not cataloging what we grew. It's really nice to have an idea of how much money we saved (or not) vs buying at a market.
We'll have to resume that in the future.
Food Preservation
Tomatoes
Wifey canned 52 quarts of tomatoes as well as 7 quarts and 2 pints of marinara sauce. There is also a 1/2 gallon of frozen cherry tomatoes. Lastly, we have 2 quart bags of frozen marinara sauce.
Beans
We have 1 gallon bag as well as 10 quart bags of frozen green beans. All have been trimmed and blanched to make for easy cooking when we need them.
Nuts
We have a gallon bag of float-tested hickory nuts (in shell) as well as 2 quart bags of shelled hickory nuts. All the hickory nuts are in one freezer or another.
Apples
Although we didn't harvest any of our own, we made a couple of trips in the fall to Larriland Farm and picked apples there. We dehydrated two gallon bags of sliced apples for snacking and addition to oatmeal. The apples also provided for a lot of our breakfasts and lunches over the last two months. Hopefully, I'll be able to do similar posts referencing our own apples instead.
Food Production
Unfortunately, we didn't weigh and catalog everything we harvested; there were times when Wifey would harvest something and not get a picture or times we'd get something for a recipe (or fresh eating) and not get a picture. For example, there have been a number of salads and smoothies made using the spinach, kale, and/or lettuce with no accounting of how much was used. Looking back, we regret not cataloging what we grew. It's really nice to have an idea of how much money we saved (or not) vs buying at a market.
We'll have to resume that in the future.
Food Preservation
Tomatoes
Wifey canned 52 quarts of tomatoes as well as 7 quarts and 2 pints of marinara sauce. There is also a 1/2 gallon of frozen cherry tomatoes. Lastly, we have 2 quart bags of frozen marinara sauce.
Beans
We have 1 gallon bag as well as 10 quart bags of frozen green beans. All have been trimmed and blanched to make for easy cooking when we need them.
Nuts
We have a gallon bag of float-tested hickory nuts (in shell) as well as 2 quart bags of shelled hickory nuts. All the hickory nuts are in one freezer or another.
Apples
Although we didn't harvest any of our own, we made a couple of trips in the fall to Larriland Farm and picked apples there. We dehydrated two gallon bags of sliced apples for snacking and addition to oatmeal. The apples also provided for a lot of our breakfasts and lunches over the last two months. Hopefully, I'll be able to do similar posts referencing our own apples instead.
Saturday, December 9, 2017
2017 - Looking back, part 2
This continues the series looking back at our
crop-list for 2017. The first post is found here.
The Weather
This year the weather was interesting. Not the norm. I'll quote the intro page of the Southern Exposure Seed Catalog.
Crop List
Peanuts
We purchased a peanut starter for The Boy's part of the garden from a local food market that trends heavily toward organics. It grew and looked great, but we didn't harvest it until it was too late. All the peanuts rotted in the ground. I think it'd be worth trying to grow another in the future.
Corn
We grew a variety of open pollinated sweet corn called Aunt Mary's. We've never grown corn before. Although the corn got nice and tall and had a number of well-formed ears, they tasted very starchy. It never got sweet.
Lettuce, Spinach, and Kale
We grew Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce, Long Standing Bloomsdale Spinach, Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale, and Red Malabar Salad Greens (summer spinach). I would grow all but the Red Malabar again; the leaves tasted like dirt. I only ate it raw, but really didn't care for it in the least. Didn't bother trying to cook it. It's a shame. I liked the idea of a heat-tolerant spinach variety. That said, it was pretty. I liked the purple vines it grew on.
Carrots
We grew Scarlet Nantes and Cosmic Purple carrots. The Nantes were tasty and grew well in our soil. Due to my goof in planting -- accidentally mulched over them preventing them from doing anything -- we didn't get any of the Cosmic variety. I'll try both again.
Sweet Potatoes
Holy cow, did we ever get sweet potatoes. We had never grown them before and had no idea what to expect. We weren't sure when to harvest them due to there being varying info available on the internet and in my gardening books. As a result, we have some huge ones as well as some smaller ones and they are everywhere in the garden. It would have been even worse if we hadn't cut them way back a few times.
Wifey is convinced we will find them in the asparagus bed and far garden path for years to come. I have a hard time disagreeing with her.
Others
I'd intended to grow some other things -- brussels sprouts, cantaloupe, zucchini -- but because almost all of our starters died (I think from the water softener), we had to go with what we could get from the food market that we trusted. Most places we could get plant starters beyond there sell GMO stuff. Won't do that.
Front Bed
We converted the front planter bed from overgrown juniper bushes and scrubby ornamental pines to a permaculture bed. We planted a dwarf Kieffer pear tree, four artichoke starters, and a number of herbs. I'm happy to report that the pear tree did well and produced over a dozen large, tasty pears in its first year. The artichokes survived and have been mulched to try to help them survive the winter. Most of the herbs we planted survived with a few perishing. In the spring, I'll be evaluating what did and didn't make it through the winter and plant more to supplement.
The Kieffer pear sent out a shoot (a sucker, I guess) from the base. I've removed it, got some fledgling roots to come from it, and planted it in a pot (currently in the garage to overwinter) and am hoping I can get it to survive another year with the idea of planting it elsewhere in the yard in the future.
Others
Nut Trees
We discovered that we have 3-4 pig nut hickory trees in the side yard going to the orchard. We have harvested, float tested, dried, shelled and consumed the nuts and have been pleasantly surprised by the maple flavor they have.
Peach Tree
Wifey did some reading and found that by thinning the extensive peach growth on the dwarf tree we have in the front year, you will end up encouraging the peaches that are left to grow to an edible size. Although there appeared to be some merit to that theory, she didn't discover that nugget until later in the summer so the results are still somewhat inconclusive. We're looking forward to thinning things out considerably earlier this year.
Citrus Plants
Wifey and the kids got me two tiny citrus plants last winter. Neither survived. I can't help but wonder if they succumbed to the same water-related issues as my seed starters. I'd like to try one more plant in the future to see if my theory that watering with the condensed water from the dehumidifier fixes that problem.
The Weather
This year the weather was interesting. Not the norm. I'll quote the intro page of the Southern Exposure Seed Catalog.
It's been another interesting weather year - in Virginia, we had a mild summer, with only a few hot spells. Then August here was downright cold, staying in the 70s and 80s, and that slowed down our heat-loving crops[.] Warm early fall weather helped us get some harvests off these crops, but still had is longing for a more "normal" summer next year!Although we are in Maryland instead of Virginia, we had similar weather with similar results.
Crop List
Peanuts
We purchased a peanut starter for The Boy's part of the garden from a local food market that trends heavily toward organics. It grew and looked great, but we didn't harvest it until it was too late. All the peanuts rotted in the ground. I think it'd be worth trying to grow another in the future.
Corn
We grew a variety of open pollinated sweet corn called Aunt Mary's. We've never grown corn before. Although the corn got nice and tall and had a number of well-formed ears, they tasted very starchy. It never got sweet.
Lettuce, Spinach, and Kale
We grew Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce, Long Standing Bloomsdale Spinach, Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale, and Red Malabar Salad Greens (summer spinach). I would grow all but the Red Malabar again; the leaves tasted like dirt. I only ate it raw, but really didn't care for it in the least. Didn't bother trying to cook it. It's a shame. I liked the idea of a heat-tolerant spinach variety. That said, it was pretty. I liked the purple vines it grew on.
Carrots
We grew Scarlet Nantes and Cosmic Purple carrots. The Nantes were tasty and grew well in our soil. Due to my goof in planting -- accidentally mulched over them preventing them from doing anything -- we didn't get any of the Cosmic variety. I'll try both again.
Sweet Potatoes
Holy cow, did we ever get sweet potatoes. We had never grown them before and had no idea what to expect. We weren't sure when to harvest them due to there being varying info available on the internet and in my gardening books. As a result, we have some huge ones as well as some smaller ones and they are everywhere in the garden. It would have been even worse if we hadn't cut them way back a few times.
Wifey is convinced we will find them in the asparagus bed and far garden path for years to come. I have a hard time disagreeing with her.
Others
I'd intended to grow some other things -- brussels sprouts, cantaloupe, zucchini -- but because almost all of our starters died (I think from the water softener), we had to go with what we could get from the food market that we trusted. Most places we could get plant starters beyond there sell GMO stuff. Won't do that.
Front Bed
We converted the front planter bed from overgrown juniper bushes and scrubby ornamental pines to a permaculture bed. We planted a dwarf Kieffer pear tree, four artichoke starters, and a number of herbs. I'm happy to report that the pear tree did well and produced over a dozen large, tasty pears in its first year. The artichokes survived and have been mulched to try to help them survive the winter. Most of the herbs we planted survived with a few perishing. In the spring, I'll be evaluating what did and didn't make it through the winter and plant more to supplement.
The Kieffer pear sent out a shoot (a sucker, I guess) from the base. I've removed it, got some fledgling roots to come from it, and planted it in a pot (currently in the garage to overwinter) and am hoping I can get it to survive another year with the idea of planting it elsewhere in the yard in the future.
Others
Nut Trees
We discovered that we have 3-4 pig nut hickory trees in the side yard going to the orchard. We have harvested, float tested, dried, shelled and consumed the nuts and have been pleasantly surprised by the maple flavor they have.
Peach Tree
Wifey did some reading and found that by thinning the extensive peach growth on the dwarf tree we have in the front year, you will end up encouraging the peaches that are left to grow to an edible size. Although there appeared to be some merit to that theory, she didn't discover that nugget until later in the summer so the results are still somewhat inconclusive. We're looking forward to thinning things out considerably earlier this year.
Citrus Plants
Wifey and the kids got me two tiny citrus plants last winter. Neither survived. I can't help but wonder if they succumbed to the same water-related issues as my seed starters. I'd like to try one more plant in the future to see if my theory that watering with the condensed water from the dehumidifier fixes that problem.
Monday, December 4, 2017
Oh, yeahhhhhh....
Wifey's a funny bird.
Upon checking the mail, she said, "After we get the kids inside and showered, I think you're going to need a few moments to yourself."
I was bewildered until I saw what she was holding.
Upon checking the mail, she said, "After we get the kids inside and showered, I think you're going to need a few moments to yourself."
I was bewildered until I saw what she was holding.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Oh, it's so on!
While at work yesterday afternoon, I got a text message from Wifey. It contained a picture and a funny and cheeky message.
She's a funny one, that bride of mine.
It's too early to plant any seeds (unless it's for spring planting), but it's still interesting and a little exciting to get my seed catalogs. I can't blame her for being bemused with the "kid in the candy shop" mentality I exhibit both as I start perusing the options and once I get close to deciding on what to get and plant.
I generally don't start the seeds until right around the beginning of January. Regardless, I'll likely be ordering seeds within the next few weeks.
She's a funny one, that bride of mine.
It's too early to plant any seeds (unless it's for spring planting), but it's still interesting and a little exciting to get my seed catalogs. I can't blame her for being bemused with the "kid in the candy shop" mentality I exhibit both as I start perusing the options and once I get close to deciding on what to get and plant.
I generally don't start the seeds until right around the beginning of January. Regardless, I'll likely be ordering seeds within the next few weeks.
Monday, November 20, 2017
2017 - Looking back, part 1
This will be the first of a multiple-post series looking back at our crop-list for 2017. I don't know how many posts I'll do in total.
Seed starting
In the townhouse I started most of our veggie, herb, and flower plantings from seeds for each of the last few years we were there. At the new house, I took the same approach with dismal results. I don't know that any of our tomato plants survived and none of the tomatillos, flowers, or herbs survived. Only a few of the peppers made it.
After a bit of thought, I've come to the conclusion that I think they died because of our water. We have "hard" water at the new house and use a salt system to soften the water. With that in mind, it would stand to reason that the water I was applying to the plants is a bit salty. The next question is what that is doing to our bodies, but that's for another forum.
Going forward, I intend to collect and keep the water coming from the basement dehumidifiers to use for watering our started seedlings.
Crop List
Tomatoes
We planted a number of varieties of tomatoes in the garden. Of those varieties, only the Roma (San Marzano) and Early Girl were ones I would grow again. Here's the catch: Early Girl is a hybrid and owned by a company under the Monsanto umbrella. Because the vast majority of my seedlings didn't make it, I purchased seedlings from a store near us and was labeled as non-GMO.
Unfortunately, the "Monsanto" label kills it for me. Much as I thoroughly enjoyed the plants, I won't grow them again. And, being a hybrid, I can't start them from seed, anyway.
Peppers
The few pepper starters that survived their salt-water demise didn't produce much. I keep trying "California Wonder" and never get anything larger than 1.5". I need to do more reading on why they do what they do. I did purchase some supplemental peppers that went red and got sweeter with age. I don't recall the variety, but it doesn't really matter. They also didn't get all that large, either.
Beans
As with previous years, I grew Kentucky Wonder pole beans and Scarlet Runner beans. The Wonder did great and we have a number of bags of trimmed/blanched/frozen green beans from them. The Scarlet Runners didn't do much of anything and didn't produce. I suspect a large part of that was due to my planting them late due to all the yard rehab we had to do this year.
Potatoes
Wifey and The Boy thoroughly enjoyed harvesting the potatoes (both sweet and regular). The Yukon Gold Seed Potatoes and Carolina Ruby Sweet Potatoes seem to be winners. Wifey also planted some variety of purple potatoes, but I can't figure out where she got them. Not Baker Creek or Southern Exposure according to my records.
Onions and Garlic
The continuation of the Egyptian Walking Onions are doing reasonably well. I expect there to be even more next year once they're better established.
The garlic did nothing this past year. I discovered that I had mulched (leaves from the property) too heavily and buried the cloves. Thankfully, they didn't rot but they also never developed into anything usable for this year.
We planted Yellow Potato Onions in the early fall for next year. Supposedly these are perennial onions so I look forward to seeing how we can cultivate more for future years.
Asparagus
We planted a number of crowns (3 bags' worth) in raised boxes. A number of them have come up. We're following conventional wisdom to leave them alone for a few years to expand to usefulness.
Strawberries
This fall my parents gave us a number of cast-offs from their strawberry patch. I planted half of them in the downslope side of our garden. There wasn't room for more without crowding.
The Orchard
Apple Trees
I really goofed up this year by not putting deer netting up around the apple trees until late-spring (or was it early summer?). As a result, they were decimated by deer. They all rebounded for the most part, but we didn't harvest any apples; the deer had them all. I have since removed the deer netting and relocated the supports to provide a larger diameter around the trees. I will be hanging new netting this weekend.
Blueberries
In addition to the 4 blueberry bushes we had last year, we planted two more in the spring. I'm tempted to plant two more in 2018. Yes, they'll get large enough in time to provide for the family, but I just like the idea of having plenty. Besides: why not?
Raspberries
Raspberry plants were a new addition to the burgeoning homestead this year. I planted 4 "Royalty" purple raspberry starters in September followed by 6 transplanted red raspberry canes transplanted from my friend's property. I don't know much about the red raspberry canes other than that she said they produce twice a year.
From the University of Maryland webpage about raspberries and blackberries.
Seed starting
In the townhouse I started most of our veggie, herb, and flower plantings from seeds for each of the last few years we were there. At the new house, I took the same approach with dismal results. I don't know that any of our tomato plants survived and none of the tomatillos, flowers, or herbs survived. Only a few of the peppers made it.
After a bit of thought, I've come to the conclusion that I think they died because of our water. We have "hard" water at the new house and use a salt system to soften the water. With that in mind, it would stand to reason that the water I was applying to the plants is a bit salty. The next question is what that is doing to our bodies, but that's for another forum.
Going forward, I intend to collect and keep the water coming from the basement dehumidifiers to use for watering our started seedlings.
Crop List
Tomatoes
We planted a number of varieties of tomatoes in the garden. Of those varieties, only the Roma (San Marzano) and Early Girl were ones I would grow again. Here's the catch: Early Girl is a hybrid and owned by a company under the Monsanto umbrella. Because the vast majority of my seedlings didn't make it, I purchased seedlings from a store near us and was labeled as non-GMO.
Unfortunately, the "Monsanto" label kills it for me. Much as I thoroughly enjoyed the plants, I won't grow them again. And, being a hybrid, I can't start them from seed, anyway.
Peppers
The few pepper starters that survived their salt-water demise didn't produce much. I keep trying "California Wonder" and never get anything larger than 1.5". I need to do more reading on why they do what they do. I did purchase some supplemental peppers that went red and got sweeter with age. I don't recall the variety, but it doesn't really matter. They also didn't get all that large, either.
Beans
As with previous years, I grew Kentucky Wonder pole beans and Scarlet Runner beans. The Wonder did great and we have a number of bags of trimmed/blanched/frozen green beans from them. The Scarlet Runners didn't do much of anything and didn't produce. I suspect a large part of that was due to my planting them late due to all the yard rehab we had to do this year.
Potatoes
Wifey and The Boy thoroughly enjoyed harvesting the potatoes (both sweet and regular). The Yukon Gold Seed Potatoes and Carolina Ruby Sweet Potatoes seem to be winners. Wifey also planted some variety of purple potatoes, but I can't figure out where she got them. Not Baker Creek or Southern Exposure according to my records.
Onions and Garlic
The continuation of the Egyptian Walking Onions are doing reasonably well. I expect there to be even more next year once they're better established.
The garlic did nothing this past year. I discovered that I had mulched (leaves from the property) too heavily and buried the cloves. Thankfully, they didn't rot but they also never developed into anything usable for this year.
We planted Yellow Potato Onions in the early fall for next year. Supposedly these are perennial onions so I look forward to seeing how we can cultivate more for future years.
Asparagus
We planted a number of crowns (3 bags' worth) in raised boxes. A number of them have come up. We're following conventional wisdom to leave them alone for a few years to expand to usefulness.
Strawberries
This fall my parents gave us a number of cast-offs from their strawberry patch. I planted half of them in the downslope side of our garden. There wasn't room for more without crowding.
The Orchard
Apple Trees
I really goofed up this year by not putting deer netting up around the apple trees until late-spring (or was it early summer?). As a result, they were decimated by deer. They all rebounded for the most part, but we didn't harvest any apples; the deer had them all. I have since removed the deer netting and relocated the supports to provide a larger diameter around the trees. I will be hanging new netting this weekend.
Blueberries
In addition to the 4 blueberry bushes we had last year, we planted two more in the spring. I'm tempted to plant two more in 2018. Yes, they'll get large enough in time to provide for the family, but I just like the idea of having plenty. Besides: why not?
Raspberries
Raspberry plants were a new addition to the burgeoning homestead this year. I planted 4 "Royalty" purple raspberry starters in September followed by 6 transplanted red raspberry canes transplanted from my friend's property. I don't know much about the red raspberry canes other than that she said they produce twice a year.
From the University of Maryland webpage about raspberries and blackberries.
Red raspberries produce new canes as suckers from the root system, so they are usually grown in a hedgerow. They are the most winter-hardy type of raspberry and may be either of two types:With that in mind, I think I have primocane-bearing raspberries.
- Summer-bearing types have the typical biennial life cycle of a bramble. They fruit from late June through July of their second growing season.
- Primocane-bearing types, also known as everbearing raspberries, are an exception to the bramble life cycle. Primocane-bearing types have the ability to fruit in the early fall of their first year on their primocanes. They then fruit a second time, in June, on buds below those which fruited the previous fall. The fall crop, however, is more abundant. Therefore gardeners treat the canes as annuals, rather than biennials, by mowing the canes to the ground in winter after the fall harvest. This keeps the plants more manageable.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Mr Stripey and Big Boy tomatoes aren't worth planting
As I mentioned in my last post, The Boy and I removed some tomato plants that were never productive. After my starters never did anything (I'm blaming the water softener), I purchased a number of varieties to see what worked and what didn't. Two varieties of tomato that I bought were a complete waste of money.
Of the four or so Mr Stripey and Big Boy tomato plants that I had planted, I didn't get a single tomato out of either variety. With each type, they'd get to a decent size, develop a number of splits while green, then start changing colors. All I got out of each type was an expanded cloud of fruit flies.
I won't ever plant those tomato plants again. They weren't worth the time, money or space they occupied in the garden.
Of the four or so Mr Stripey and Big Boy tomato plants that I had planted, I didn't get a single tomato out of either variety. With each type, they'd get to a decent size, develop a number of splits while green, then start changing colors. All I got out of each type was an expanded cloud of fruit flies.
I won't ever plant those tomato plants again. They weren't worth the time, money or space they occupied in the garden.
Friday, January 27, 2017
Some of the seeds have arrived
Last night, my seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange arrived. While I'm still waiting on the seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds to show up, they represent a very small minority of the total.
Depending on how chaotic things are around the house tonight, I may try to get some of the seeds started. I have a Pinewood Derby car to finish up first, though.
Depending on how chaotic things are around the house tonight, I may try to get some of the seeds started. I have a Pinewood Derby car to finish up first, though.
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