16 Mar planting notes

A bit of planting before the rain hits sometime tonight.
Transplanted: mustard greens, one Golden Jubilee tomato, "twin" red bell and yellow bell peppers.

Seed planting: more Burpee "Snowbird" snow peas in the snow pea bed where some previous did not sprout, plus some of last year's Burpee "Kitchen King" garden beans in between the rows of snow peas, and also in blank spots between the fernleaf dill, marigolds, and various yet-unidentified peppers and tomatoes.  American Seed "Alaska" green pea planted in the box where the Green Arrow variety did not sprout.

Must do posts on the compost ...!  Or maybe hubby will post up on it, as he spent the week getting up close and personal with the main compost pile.

Also posts on the fruit trees, and the chickens.

Repairs and transplants

Hubby fixed the PVC pipes between the well pump and the storage tank last evening, and we did have water although the pump did not want to shut off.  We cut the circuit breaker, then turned it on this morning and noticed a small leak .... small leaks under such pressure never stay small.  Bah.  The problem seems to be the threads in the well pump hole, and by now the local hardware stores have closed for the day.  Guess we'll be going up the highway tomorrow to the big box stores.

While we were at the hardware store earlier this afternoon, I picked up some more cheater starts to transplant.  I have some Bonnie Red Sails lettuce and some Bonnie Georgia Hybrid collards.  The collards are mostly for the chickens, since the turnip greens I planted in the fall are just not keeping up with the birds' appetites.  The red lettuce will go into some salads, and probably some will go to the chickens as well.

I'll get pictures eventually.  I already missed the peach blossoms, but the Meyer lemon and the Persian lime have buds that should bloom soon.

Not my best week

Along with the usual aches and pains associated with the latest cold front, this week has had a bit of a crappy start and so far finish.  We kicked things off Monday morning by burying my almost-13 year old cuddle kitty, who died in his sleep from the looks of it.

Chester the Cuddle Kitty, 2001-2014

This morning I fell in the pump house while doing laundry and landed on the PVC piping between the well pump and the storage tank.  Hubby has been working on the repair using supplies left by the previous owner.  To his great credit, he was not upset about suddenly having probably a full day of work - his main concern was making sure I was okay.  It feels like I'll have a rather deep bruise on my side, and I still feel jarred/shaken up over an hour later, but no blood or broken parts.  It's freaky to just fall like that.

At least the snow peas have started to sprout.

Edit: It's 2014 ... I knew that.  I just hit the wrong number.  Twice.

Six eggs in one day

I feel a little bit like the little tailor of fairy-tale fame, but today marks the first day all six layers have left us an egg on a single day.  I may need to plan a quiche for next week.

18 Feb two varieties of lettuce

Quick note: put two varieties of lettuce seeds on the prepared dirt in three boxes.  Used Burpee Salad Bowl and Ferry-Morse Grand Rapids that were in my refrigerator over the winter.

Lovely day for hanging out the laundry.

15 Feb planting peas

In garden box 4, I worked in fallen leaves, then set up tomato cages and planted green (English) peas around those (American Seed Green Arrow variety).  Used up whole packet by planting last 6 seeds on fenceline.

Next to garden box 2 we worked in more fallen leaves - the trees have been quite generous! - then set in the boxy/linear trellises and planted snow peas (Burpee Snowbird variety).  Half a packet of seeds remains to plant more in two weeks.

Last fall, I had done a bit of an experiment along the fenceline, planting one section just forked and hoed, one section with top soil forked and hoed in, and a third section with compost and top soil forked and hoed in then planted green beans and snow peas.  Not unexpectedly, the bare ground section had the lowest sprout rate, but the snow peas did better than the green beans there, so I learned that they will grow in straight sandy soil although they certainly have no objections to organic matter or enriched soil worked into it.

Planting notes first week of Feb

No pics ... I'll get to those eventually.  I have now started the early spring planting, kicking off on Saturday with transplanting broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce starts that I picked up at WalMart on Friday.  On an impulsive whim, I also bought garlic bulbs and asparagus crowns ... now I need to quickly dig beds for them.  From what I've found online, asparagus beds in Florida usually only last about five years instead of 20-30 years up north.  Even so, that is still a better cost:benefit ratio than buying spears in the grocery.

Back in November, I had planted top-crop turnips, spinach, and lettuce ... and only got turnip greens and tomatoes, which died around New Year's with the first big cold front of the year.  The turnip greens have been doing quite well, much to the chickens' delight.  I plan to plant them more kinds of greens, as they have laid through most of the winter.  My neighbor mentioned to me yesterday that her hens aren't laying, so I gave her four eggs that were waiting to be carried in and in return she gave me a small round of Mexican bread she made (it was GOOD!).