Planting notes for garden box 1

Since I've had C.R.S. (Can't Remember Sh ...Squat) since Iraq, I thought to make notes.  My wall calendar is a little short on space, as it has notes on setting eggs in the incubator and trying to breed bunnies, so here is as good a spot as any to make notes.

• Garden box #1 (the first we set up) was re-weeded three days ago while the moon was in the air sign Gemini (which is good for fruit trees, but not much else I cultivate).  I discovered one of the digging forks' handle is totally toast, as if it had absolutely no treatment for the wood at all.  This was the one we bought new in '13 or '14.  The digging fork I picked up at the flea market of unknown age is still in good working order.  Go figure.
• Since the moon phase is waning (and we hit the 3rd quarter officially tomorrow) this is a good time to plant below-ground crops.  I selected daikon radish, carrots, and beets, with intent to pickle most of the harvest.
• Burpee brand daikon long radish, ordered from website so nothing fancy on the packaging.  Marked 300 seeds, packed for 2017 (except goats happened last year), origin Italy (I so love what Italians have done with any vegetable that catches their fancy!), lot 20.  Three rows, as it's a main focus for this box.
• Burpee brand carrot, Burpee A#1 Hybrid (I think I have Queen Anne's Lace growing out in the uncultivated areas around us, which is basically wild carrot and will cross with domestic carrots).  Again, a nothing-fancy package from the website.  Marked 1500 seeds (that ought to keep me busy this season), packed for '17, origin USA, lot 14.
• Burpee brand beets, heirloom Cylindra variety.  These are supposed to grow as fat cylinders for easy slicing.  Nothing-fancy pack from website, was in the lost-for-a-month package with my Roma tomatoes the other year.  Three rows.  Marked 1000 seeds, packed for '17, origin Italy, lot 14.  I must have planted some a year and half ago, but don't recall if they sprouted or not.

I have this set up as radish-carrot-beet-carrot-radish etc, so the beets and radishes are separated by the carrots.  Beets and radishes aren't antagonistic to each other, but according to the companion planting chart I like, they are neutral about each other but both love being by carrots.

Hubby cheered when he came outside and saw me finishing up planting and watering.  He says he is very much looking forward to homegrown garden-fresh produce again, now that the worst of the troublemaker goats are contained in a hard pen.

Still to do today: test the garlic to see if any still have life in them.  I read in a blog discussion a while back ago that garlic doesn't keep well more than 2 seasons.  I am also going to check some beet seeds from '13 and '14.  Call it a little science fair project.

Companion planting herbs article

I tend to pick up the current issue of Herb Quarterly if it looks to have an interesting article or two most seasons.  Tractor Supply usually has it, although I could not find the summer 2017 issue in any of the usual places last year ... I probably ought to subscribe.  I'll get round-to-it.

This season's issue caught my eye the other day last week, and then I got really excited: an article on companion planting with the focus on herbs!  I have Louise Riotte's books Carrots Love Tomatoes and Roses Love Garlic (both in one hardback volume), along with Tammy Hartung's Homegrown Herbs and Miranda Smith's Your Backyard Herb Garden, which have some notes on companion planting as well.  Just starting with the HQ article and a stack of 4x6 index cards, I can tell this will be more of a series of posts than just one long post, so I thought to post up my sources in case anyone wants to get these and follow along.  David the Good over at theSurvivalGardener.com has expressed an interest in my notes on the topic.  Right now I am thinking to divide the herbs into common versus uncommon and annual versus perennial, so it's looking like there will be four posts all told.

Big honkin' update

OK, so the honking is courtesy of the neighbor's ill-humored goose ... actually, is there any other kind?  Big update - pretty much a month's worth because I've either been busy, or been sulking because I'd rather be busy instead of my back hurting.

Chocolate is getting fat.  She is starting to look like she swallowed a whole watermelon and it got stuck sideways in her midsection.  She's the first I expect to kid, around Valentine's Day.  Prim is about two weeks' (at most?) behind her there, with Tangie supposed to be after that, then Molly.  Flora is still not pregnant, but then again she still looks to be growing.  She's now almost as tall as her mother, Molly.

Pigs are still doing fine.  It looks like they may be done growing up for the most part, so that means Boston Butt's days are numbered for sure.  He's still the smallest in the pen, and Cerridwen is still the biggest.

Still no baby bunnies yet ... I have not figured out where I am going wrong on this project.  At least they all let me pet them at feeding time now.

The two hatches of Wyandotte chicks are growing, growing, and growing!  I'm planning for a third hatch soon.  Checking the calendar, it says February 5th & 6th are good days to set eggs.  I've decided not to replace any of the Silkies from here out.  They just don't seem hardy enough to thrive here with my management style.  Either that, or I got very high-maintenance Silkies.  That ought to give me more room to grow out more Wyandottes.

Now, for the planting idea.  When I talked to Sis for my birthday, she said an indoor herb garden is her big 2017 project.  I mentioned that I've been researching to grow a big ol' mess of herbs here as well, and she says I need to post up everything I find out.  Those will be separate posts, but to start with: put ALL seeds in the refrigerator.  Store them there, until you are ready to plant them.  Off the top of my head, parsley and sage both need one and two weeks fridge time, respectively.  I don't recall what others you mentioned having, so either comment here or send an email to give me the list to look up.

I think I can now say I have graduated from a black thumb to a brown thumb.  No, I am not suddenly overrun with mint (though I would welcome that) but I am having a lot better success with starting seeds.  In the case of the Roma (VF) tomato seeds, a little too much success for me to handle on my own.  So, here's the story:  I ordered seeds directly from Burpee, including a true-breeding strain of Roma (VF) tomatoes.  They mailed it out on December 5th, and tracking had no other updates so I emailed their customer service on the 15th.  They canceled that order, made a new one, and mailed that out on the 18th.  That package arrived between Christmas and New Year's, so I was happy and forgot about it.  A little before my birthday, I open up what i thought was a scrip refill from VA, but it was seeds from Burpee ... the lost shipment.  I plant those seeds first, because I figure at best I'll get half to sprout.  Oh yeah, and I planted the entire package - which said 250 seeds, but there was more like 270.

I have 264 Roma tomato starts!  And this is after my neighbor Marty bought a couple last night.  I've also put 50 Little Gem lettuce starts in a bed, and probably the same amount of "Toy Choi" pak choi in another bed, with some of both left over for Marty again.  (She also got the Old German sucker that I knocked off the parent plant while transplanting.)  Pretty much all those seeds from the lost package are sprouting quick, fast, and in large numbers.  Now add to that a second flat of seeds, with 51 Boxcar Willie tomatoes, and 81 Pruden's Purple (actually a dark pink) tomato starts.  It's probably a good thing the Black Krim, Aunt Ruby's German Green, and Big Rainbow seeds were all too old to sprout.

I also have Red Russian kale, three varieties of broccoli, a colorful mix of cauliflower, Bloomsdale spinach, four kinds of sweet pepper, and six kinds of greens sprouted.  No joke.  Lynn (my friend who owns/runs a plant nursery) says it's because I am using better quality seed, actual seed starting mix, and am doing things at the right time.  Along with all that, I've also been reading and learning how to plant, along with when to plant for Zone 9b and by the astrological calendar.  Laugh if y'all want, but it is all coming together a lot better this year than the past five years.

This should give y'all an idea of what I've got going.  Meanwhile, I'd like to get another bed planted before it rains this afternoon.

Planting notes, 7 Aug

So, hubby took my camera out the other evening while I was milking and grumping about getting hardly any pics in focus, and he took a bunch of pictures of all the goats (from all angles, as well).  I did try to pull those pics off the digicam, but apparently the computer and cam are not talking to each other today.  So, you'll get a text update.

First, our chicken thief returned last night.  This time it got a Silkie hen who was setting a nest, and almost everything in the nest as well.  I discovered it quite early this morning, when I heard a chick cheeping LOUDLY.  Along with the missing hen, I also found a dead hen - the last black one.  She has no marks on her, so either internal injuries or she literally died of fright.  I am guessing the wet smell of chicks hatching is what attracted it.  We still don't know what is preying on our chickens, but we did learn what the problem was the other evening: the pulser in the fence charger died.  Tomorrow afternoon, the big brown truck will bring us not only a new pulser, but new poultry netting as well - this one 48 inches tall.  Let's see if it can get over that.  Of course, if it does then we are dealing with something not only big enough to carry Feyd off the other night, but something that can climb the trees well enough to bypass the fence ... the only thing I can think of that could do that would be a Florida panther.  (Yes, they are real.)  Recap: good news/bad news first thing this morning.  One hen missing, one hen dead, one new (really loud) chick.

I managed to accomplish the task I wanted to do today a little after lunch: spreading forage and clover seed in the goat pasture.  The goats followed me around as I tossed the seed, trying to figure out if I had treats, then getting annoyed that they couldn't find the grain seeds.  I tried to tell them, "Curiosity killed the cat, ya know," but the look I got basically said, "What does our crazy little cousin have to do with this?"

Talking to Lynn afterwards, I asked if she starts any seeds this early.  She not only said yes, but she meant to tell me the other day that August and September were the months to start tomatoes and peppers as well as herbs.  So, I plan to start some seed trays tomorrow - parsley first as it takes just-about-forever to sprout.  One of the herb gardening books poetically puts it, "Parsley must go to the Devil and back seven times before it will sprout."  It may sound silly, but it sticks in my memory.  Speaking of memory, I read rosemary is good for memory, and students in ancient Greece used to wear crowns of rosemary for tests.  Again, odd visual ... and it stays in my memory.  My rosemary is still alive, but still not yet big enough to start harvesting.

In case anyone is wondering, I am also trying to learn a bit of basic herbalism to go with the culinary uses.  I'll have to get a picture of all my herb books: growing/gardening, medicinal uses, and of course magical properties as well.  Those of y'all who don't believe in magic can just think of it as learning the old folklore associated with herbs.  If y'all want to take it a step further, plant herbs when the moon is in Libra (by the astrological chart, not astronomical one).  Same with pasture and field grains and grasses.  If it takes magic (or folklore, if you prefer) to overcome my black thumb, then magic it shall be.

Update for past week

OK, no good excuse for the radio silence this past week, other than I've felt more like doing things than blogging about them.  I intended to catch up yesterday, but got hit like a ton of bricks with a lower digestive tract bug of some sort.  It knocks me flat around lunch time - hit fast and hard, so I was not inclined to go too far from the bathroom.  Funny thing was, yesterday I woke up feeling normal, with a bit of energy and planting plans ... go figure.

Today I am still staying close to the house, but so far so good.  I moved the newly hatched chicks out to the brooder tub, as right now we have no broody hens and Pollux has his wings full with last month's horde of Wyandotte chicks.  This month, Azar's group had a horribly low fertility rate, and then only two of the four who developed made it out of the shell.  Spikey's group fared much better, with nine of the no-so-little cheepers out and popping around.  Only one didn't hatch.

Spikey's chicks definitely have his wide and flat back ... a couple I observed ended up on their backs when they flopped out of the shell for the first time.  It took them a bit of effort to flip over on their feet.

On the plant side of things, I did manage to get the cheater-starts of Swiss chard in the ground, and have plenty more that I started from seed ready to move.  I also have a few spinach starts, some broccoli starts, and of course peppers and tomatoes to transplant into larger pots.

The one really impressive volunteer mustard green continues to impress - I am going to do my best to get every seed from it once it bolts.  The original parent plant was a Florida broadleaf variety, if memory serves, but I will be calling this strain Putnam broadleaf if I can keep it going.  It is strong and healthy, and keeps putting up new leaves (to the bunnies' great delight).  While we have no idea how it tastes, the rabbits certainly approve of it.

Oh, of the old seeds from 2013 that I planted a couple weeks ago, I have some white radishes sprouting.  I was a bit surprised to see that the other morning.

Pics later - I am still trying to get caught up after yesterday's gastric fireworks.

Sprout rates and damping off

While still waiting for the rain to finally get here, I decided to get a few pics of sprouts and make notes on germination sprout rates.  First up, the happy wild success: the turnip seeds I planted earlier this week have sprouted overnight.  Hooray for me - the bunnies and birds will be quite pleased, as turnip greens are their favorite treat.

new turnip sprouts

Next up, the peppers tray (planted almost a month ago) which has good and bad.  The good news is hubby will have a good amount of jalapeno pepper plants, and I should have a decent amount of pasilla bajo peppers.  The bad news is the sweet peppers didn't do as well.  So far, one Cubanelle pepper plant and four "Tangerine Dream" sweet pepper plants.  No bell peppers sprouted, and no Marconi Red Italian sweet peppers, which I had high hopes for as a substitute for the Carmen sweet peppers I enjoyed so much in 2013.

Pepper plant sprouts

The Swiss chard tray planted two weeks ago is also a bit mixed, but I am seeing some late sprouting seedlings, so it may turn out better than it looked yesterday.  It now looks like all but the Lucullus variety sprouted decently, with the canary yellow being the most vigorous.

Swiss chard sprouts

Broccoli and spinach ... it's a half-and-half situation.  The broccoli popped up immediately, especially the Calabrese variety ... and is suffering the same fate as the tomato seedlings listed below.  The Waltham and de Cicco varieties are slower to sprout, but they may end up being the better plants.Spinach was very hit-or-miss, with no sprouts from the Satin, Bloomsdale Long-Standing, or Round Leaf varieties.  The Giant Noble variety sprouted, so I do have some baby spinach sprouts, and the Tendergreen mustard spinach (looks a lot more like a mustard than a spinach!) is also up.

broccoli, spinach, and mustard spinch sprouts

Now, about those tomato seeds I planted the middle of last month .... They came up alright, although when I first took the clear plastic cover off there were only two Old Germans sprouted.  That is the reason why I will likely have more Old German variety than Mortgage Lifter.  I didn't know what was going on until someone posted about a similar problem with his rhubarb sprouts, and the answers were all, "That is damping off."  No solution given, because apparently most people just replant when they get damping off instead of attempting to save the seedlings.  Uhhh ... y'all will notice the empty seed packets in the tray.  I don't have more, and have not yet located more of either variety.  It seems this year's heirloom variety will be Brandywine/Pink Brandywine.  No sign of Mortgage Lifter or Old German in any of the stores yet, and I've even checked the East Palatka Ace Hardware.  (*Bleep!*)  So, I am letting the tray dry out a bit (hopefully only enough to kill the fungus responsible but not the seedlings) and will just see if any of the Mortgage Lifter plants survive.

tomato sprouts with damping off

The other two trays are pretty much are busts, although the Seven Top turnip (greens mainly) seeds did sprout, they are also  too "leggy" and look damped off as well.   Nothing has sprouted so far in the salad tray.  I'll try it again in a week or so, with different varieties.  On all the seeds that did not have even a single sprout, I will scatter those into the compost heaps, and any volunteers will just be a pleasant surprise.

Planting notes 31 Jan

Went outside and did up a bunch of seed planting.  In the eastern-most box, I planted (pre-soaked) beet seeds (Ferry-Morse "Ruby Queen" from 2013).  In the new box over the old compost heap, I planted "Purple Top White Globe" turnip seeds (Ferry-Morse recently bought, 2016).  In the original garden box, closest to the front door and starting to fall apart, I planted carrot seeds (Burpee "Scarlet Nantes" from spring 2013).  In the original salad box by the mimosa stump, I planted parsnip seeds (Ferry-Morse/Lilly Miller "Hollow Crown" from 2013) and white radish (Ferry-Morse/Lilly Miller "White Icicle, short top" from 2013).  If the old seeds come up, then they come up ... if not, I will plant something else.  I emptied those seed packets, sowing more thickly than recommended because I probably won't get a decent sprout rate from seeds that old.

I've been working hubby pretty hard, bringing home more compost purchased from Lynn's nursery as we made new planting beds.  Yesterday he emptied the truck bed in the morning, and I had it filled up again in the afternoon on my way back from Palatka.  I had asked if he'd feel overwhelmed or upset if I got more so soon, and his answer was, "Not if you bring me some beer to recharge after all this work."  So, I found the new variety pack from Samuel Adams and he announced the first new flavor he tried last night after emptying the pickup bed again to be tasty.  The homesteade runs on coffee, beer, and chocolate.

I still have a six-pack of "Bright Lights" Swiss chard to transplant, and then I need to move some sprouting trays out to the big walk-in greenhouse so they get more sun.  Then I want to start some "Red Burgandy" onions in one of the new trays.

Salad seeds started

I felt motivated to do some more planting this evening after hubby and I went out for dinner to celebrate the successful auction.  This time I planted two types of lettuce, some green English cabbage, and something called corn salad, which I have never tried but am quite curious to taste.

two kinds of lettuce, green English cabbage, and corn salad

So this tray, marked with a Heinz ketchup pack (what can I say?  The cat has not brought either of us nice colored twistie ties recently) consists of:

• Burpee "Salad Bowl" lettuce
• Burpee "Ashley" red lettuce
• American Seed "Early Green" cabbage
• Burpee corn salad

I guess I am really feeling the gardening urge so far this year.  Here's hoping the motivation sticks!

Oh, a short chicken note: We took six Wyandotte chicks from out underneath one of the "dragons" who was still on the ground with the chicks who did not figure out hubby's stairs of scrap wood from the deck.  After we got those six and put them in to cuddle up with Pollux, our capon chick nanny, hubby moved four more Wyandotte chicks up into the nest boxes with the other dragons.  My comment was, "It's a good thing chickens can't count, or I'd be in a LOT of trouble tomorrow morning!"

Rainy day notes

No pics today - while the rain has let up from the earlier line of storms, it is still dreary and grey and blah.  The chicks made it through their first downpour, with most looking dry and warm, unlike the "dragons" aka the broody pullets.  Anyone who does not think that an appropriate nickname for broody bantams has never tried to pick up a chick in front of one.  I have no idea what Dude did this morning, but he was getting his fluffy butt kicked all around the tractor by one of the black pullets.

I had the unpleasant chore of culling one of the splash Silkie chicks.  It was not using its lower leg or foot, but was walking on the end of the drumstick, with the rest of the leg and foot off to the side at an awkward angle.  It may have been stepped on, or that may have been a hatching injury we just did not see, but after a few days it became more noticeable instead of getting better.

I  have a new egg customer: the fellow that runs the smoke shop where I buy my tobacco and filters.  I need to get his name today, because it really is bad form to not know.  I took a dozen eggs up to the family at the Latin Italian Grill ... only to find out they have chickens even with a restaurant to run.  When I commented that I honestly didn't think they had time for livestock, Lee said the one who does the chickens "goes 90 miles per hour every minute he's awake."

I got some more planting accomplished: starting tomato seeds indoors.  I planted some Home Farmer "Old German" and some Burpee "Mortgage Lifter" in a 72-cell starter tray, with cool little 6-cell packs that I filled with the seed starter Lynn sold me, plus the egg shell fragments from the hatch.  Every single time I have moved a tomato volunteer from the compost heap, it has had its roots wrapped around at least one piece of egg shell, and usually several.

Tomorrow I will be selling some layers, plus Silkie Boy.  I am now certain I have at least one black cockerel, and suspect a second.  The Pretties have us very well stocked in eggs, so some of our less favorite layers will go to the livestock auction to be someone else's layers.  Not all culls end up in our refrigerator!

Pepper seeds planted

Here's a link to the video as well.

Hubby grabbed his digicam instead of hunting down a notebook and pen, so here are some planting notes:

• Home Farmer "Classic hot" jalapeno peppers for hubby's scrambled eggs.  I still cannot eat jalapenos at all.
• Ferry-Morse "Latin Flavors" pasilla bajo peppers ... fully ripened and dried, these make the BEST barbecue sauces.  They rock in enchilada sauce as well.
• Ferry-Morse Cubanelle sweet peppers.  Note on back says great for frying, which I interpret as fajita peppers.  I'll be experimenting on the pick green versus ripened to red difference.
• American Seed Marconi Red Italian sweet pepper.  I'll need to see how it stacks up to the Carmen sweet pepper from the other year, which I have not been able to find in seed or start since 2013 spring.  I may still  have some seeds from then, but last year when I tried planting some I failed.
• Burpee Tangerine Dream sweet pepper.  Short blurb on back says great fresh or pickled, so I think it may be comparable to banana peppers.
• Ferry-Morse Grand Bell pepper, mixed colors.  Everyone needs some bell peppers, especially now we have the recipe for sweet-and-sour from the 1968 Betty Crocker book.

I had a very pleasant birthday yesterday, and hubby took me up to Leo's for lunch, then we pillaged Wal-Mart to score seed starting trays and some more seeds, plus peeked in on TSC (needed a new bag of bunny chow) and Home Depot but neither has the spring gardening section set up yet.

Chicks are now hatching in rapid succession in the incubator, starting at zero-dark-thirty this morning.

Condemning seeds, aka planting

Yesterday, I decided to condemn some more seeds to being buried (hopefully!) alive.  I planted some beets and parsnips in the garden box where the chard used to be, until we buried it with a bed-load of compost from Lynn.  We cannot keep up on making enough compost here on property, so until I decide we have enough planting beds, we'll just supplement via Lynn's nursery.  She even has a couple Bobcats to turn the stuff easily (and load it into the truck).

Funny thing: I saw movement out the corner of my eye while planting, so looked up and there were ten of the twelve guineas, having hopped the perimeter and strolling over to see if I was doing anything interesting.  I was quick to brush dirt over the seeds, so my rows probably won't look very straight when they come up.

I have another bucket load of compost in the back of the pickup again today, and we are also waiting on lumber delivery this afternoon.  I had hubby make me a list, and went into town yesterday to pay and arrange delivery.  With 30 2x4s plus some 3/8" plywood and a couple 1x6s, he should have plenty of wood to build me broody/nesting bases for most of the tractors, plus a rabbit cabinet to get the bunnies' cage up off the two pieces of scrap 2x4 it is currently sitting on.  He used up the last 2x12s to make the current box awaiting fill dirt, which I think I may just fill up with carrot seeds.

Since my gardening attempts have had only limited success so far, I have decided this year I will plant by the signs ... yes, of the zodiac.  The feed mill up in Lake Butler was handing out calendars that have that info on them, along with sunrise/set times, moon rise/set times, phases of the moon, and notes for which days are favorable for not only planting, but working with livestock, including specific days to set eggs.  If conventional methods aren't working as well as desired by themselves, then it time to augment with a little magick.

I cut down one broccoli plant that had not given us even a little sprig yet, and cut it into three parts for bunny treats.

Final note: hubby ordered a computer thingy to fix my picture issue, so I ought to be able to do pics again by next week.

More canning and some planting

I managed to wrestle one pic from the digicam's card: the previous canning party involving chicken harvested at the end of last month.  I am finishing up more canning today, after having a 100% seal rate yesterday on the four quarts of meat and three quarts of stock.  Today I finish up the stock (four more quarts) plus a quart and pint of stock from the time before last that didn't seal at room temperature but sealed at refrigerator temperature.  Pretty pic:

pints of chicken meat
and quarts of chicken stock

I do need to go out and put garlic cloves into the dirt - they sprouted on the table after I had given them a mild baking soda solution soak.  At least I know they are viable!  And yes, that is a correct usage for the often overused word viable ... able to live.  I have two cloves of elephant garlic, and two bulbs of regular garlic cloves.

It's supposed to rain today, but the sun is out and right now there are only a few wisps of clouds in the sky.  That could always change in under an hour though.  We kind of wish it would, as it is close to 80F again today.  Cold front is coming ... Friday's forecast low is in the 40s.

Rambling update 11 November

OK, so it's been nearly a month since I posted.  Whole lot of shtuff going on, just not typing away here on the blog.

• Dad and Tammy visited right before the chicks hatched, and both thought the house and property and chickens were cool.  Tammy got a picture of every bird on the property!  LOL  Dad kept cocking his head and looking at the Silkies, commenting they look furry.  Tammy's best comment was about the Wyandottes, saying: "I always thought chickens were just ... chickens.  I never realized some could be so pretty!"  When the slips were let out, even more entertainment and comparisons to Jurassic Park.
• Hubby's grandmother died right before Halloween.  She had been bouncing between the hospital and the rehab wing of a nursing home for a little over a week.  The funeral was last week Thursday.  She'll be missed, and remembered fondly here, as she was our #1 fan of our chickens.  Not just watching them, she said our meat birds were the best she'd ever tasted.
• I finally saw a couple sprouts from all those seeds I planted last month - but only marigolds.  Everything else in the garden boxes are transplanted starts.
• A majority of those transplants are doing good!  The broccoli is going great guns, and the Greek oregano start I planted last spring is running riot and now takes up almost a sixth of the box it's in.  I found some curled parsley and fernleaf dill starts, and those are settling in nicely, although the three different varieties of basil are trying to stay alive.  One Swiss chard start from the spring is not only still alive, but thriving.  A nice big leaf that broke off last week made some tasty omelettes.  Most of the spinach starts are making an honest effort, despite insect damage that also hit the green sweet basil pretty hard.  The purple and spicy globe basil plants are untouched so far (knock on wood!).
• It is official: I am hosting Thanksgiving this year.  Just the in-laws, as brother-in-law is over in Korea, his wife and their two sons are down with her family, and Grandma will not be dining.  Since Uno the GLW full capon is not inclined to nanny chicks, he'll be the bird of honor for the meal.  I'll even be sure to serve him on the china platter I picked up last year at Pomona Park's "Everyone's Having a Yard Sale" weekend (which I skipped this year).
• We planned to move Uno to the isolation crate, but that was quickly changed when I saw one of the pied guineas getting pecked.  Neither of us know what started it, but the poor thing has lost feathers on its back and right wing.  I tried putting Blu-Kote on it, but then the little stinker got loose and we both had to chase it into the iso crate, so I'll try again after dark.
• We have a nice cool spell, and all I can think is, "Man if I still had my good pain pill, I could get SO MUCH done!"  As it is, VA took them from nearly everyone, and it's a high bar to get them back, so I'll just have to be content with what I can do without it.
• Two cockerels slaughtered this morning, another two tomorrow morning, then the last two from Luanne hopefully Friday, leaving Nipper and Brother, Feyd's test-breeding sons - for the weekend.  I need grow-out space now.
• Did the 4-week weigh-in for the Wyandotte chicks.  One pullet is lagging that far behind, and either had an injury or a neurological defect, and so needs to be culled.  I need to crunch numbers and play with basic statistical functions, not only because it is the geek thing to do, but because I would like to establish a baseline norm and also a cutoff point at four week intervals so I can compare among different batches of chicks.

For the upcoming rainy days, I have canning and baking planned.  Here's hoping.

Planting note spinach, chives, and marigolds

Just a note about planting seeds here.  The spinach is Burpee "Satin" variety, the chives are garlic chives (also Burpee) and the marigolds (edible flowers for us and the chickens) are "Crackerjack Sunset Giant" variety.  Yesterday I transplanted starts from Home Dept: two fernleaf dill pots, one regular green sweet basil, and another curled parsley.  I have been watering daily in mid-morning when the garden boxes are in the shade.

Parsnips and Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds planted

Planting note: parsnips (Ferry-Morse Hollow Crown variety) and carrots (Burpee scarlet nantes variety) planted in the garden boxes where I transplanted the broccoli, red cabbage, bell peppers, parsley, purple and spicy globe basil, and Italian oregano starts the other week.  One of the bell pepper plants has opened a blossom, and the other has a couple ready to open soon.  The two success stories in the one box are Greek oregano and the green onions.  If neither of those two seeds sprout in two weeks, I'll plant some more.  Eventually, something ought to grow other than rope grass and sand spurs.

Learning about Potatoes!

Hello! Household 7 here. ( pardon the joke)
Recently we planted potatoes, 14 seed taters in one of our garden boxes behind the shed.
We actually planted two sets of potatoes in two boxes. But this post is looking at the first box of 14 plants. I've been watering every evening and have watched the start to grow. A few of them have gotten quite big! Some of them I have yet to see at all. Which has been bothering me. I was excited to see 8 of the 14 plants the other evening. very good so far. Looking at the instructions on the bag they came in it says to add another 6 to 8 inched of soil when the plants are about 8 inches tall.  I misread the instructions and covered all of them. two days later we are seeing the three tallest plants popping up out of the soil. Looks good. Except something seemed odd, so I reread the instructions.
Just today I uncovered the smaller plants and while I was at it I scratched around for the other potato starts. They're still there and still starting.

 I'm not very sure whats keeping them from growing as fast as the others. I recovered them with soil and will wait for them to get going.

I think what I have learned so far is to follow the instructions. I will be more careful. I think if I had done it right from the start they would all doing fine, those first few are really looking good.
It's nice to know that the other starts may yet grow.

I expect i will be digging around for the starts in the second box soon, they were planted only a day after and I have yet to see anything from them.
I think I am paying more attention to them because this is our second time trying potatoes. the first time I'm not sure what we did wrong.

Thanks for reading.

Planting notes for equinox week

OK, a big update on what has gone into the ground this past week.

• Last Sunday and Monday we planted potatoes, German Butterfinger and Yukon Gold, one in each box on the north side of the shed so they will be well shaded.  We also reviewed the planting notes on the bag for the Yukon Gold potatoes.
• Beets (Jupiter variety) undersowed in the newest bean bed after consulting the companion planting color-coded simple chart.
• Carrots also undersowed in the other two bean beds.  Another packet of Ferry-Morse rainbow assortment in the old pea patch (which also has now four volunteer sugar pea plants up) and Danvers 126 in the original garden box that has the purple bell pepper start and a couple silverdusts on one end along with the assorted garden beans.
• Beets (Ruby Queen variety) put into the other half of the cabbage/chard box.  The cabbage looks like it is starting to head, and the swiss chard looks impressive, so it's time to test just how good a substitute it really is for spinach (which is struggling in the old tomato box, although volunteer dill plants look decent but not spectacular)
• The sweet corn in the old compost heap is rocking it ... pole beans will go in sometime this week, along with zucchini and summer squash, with a perimeter of pumpkins as well as the volunteer acorn squashes.
• Speaking of compost, we have run out of our homemade compost and I bought a Bobcat bucket load from Lynn up the highway ... and I will likely need another bucket load or two before this season's planting is done.
• New fruit trees for the orchard: a bit of a surprise!  My neighbor came over with two orange tree saplings in one hand and his shovel in the other, and planted them for me on Wednesday "Nosotros somos amigos!")  He also showed me how big of a "crater" to put around citrus trees, so we'll be digging up more rope grass in the near future on the rest of our struggling citrus trees.
• Garden fresh salads should begin this week, as the green leafy lettuce from the seeds I collected last year are looking great out there.  I may not know exactly what variety or strain these lettuce plants are, but I do know they are thriving.  I also have a volunteer green romaine lettuce coming up from under the layer of compost, so I will save seeds from that one as well.  Finally, the blush-tinted lettuce (Ashley variety) and the collards I planted in that box are also rocking it, alongside even more volunteer acorn squash.
• Tomato starts are up and need transplanting.  All three varieties planted have sprouted: San Marzanzo, Brandywine, and the Mortgage Lifter seeds from 2013, so I will be taking an assorted dozen next door as a "Muchas gracias por los arboles naranjes." ("Many thanks for the orange trees.")  The other 70-some-odd will go into the walk-in greenhouse we bought at Big Lots and hubby put together over a week ago.  Dad called me Friday and one of his questions was if that was up and running yet.
• Raking up the fallen dead leaves is now a high priority here, after seeing tangible and very positive results!  Must make more compost, for possibly the autumn, and definitely for next spring.

So that is a summary of the past week's playing in the dirt, with some notes for this week's round of playing in the dirt in between chickening and building for chickens.  LOL I wore my cute little cheapie Tractor Supply T-shirt to the county fair yesterday, and the folks at the UF Ag extension booth noticed and commented on it: "Living Life One Acre at a Time."  I mentioned it was so appropriate because while we only have about two and a half acres, we're doing most of this by hand, so it really is "One acre at a time."  Ya know, we may have the front acre almost covered by now.

Just to keep this from being a solid "wall of text" here is one pic of my silver dusts, shortly after I transplanted them.  I have two more pics, but the pic card is not playing well with GIMP right now.

three silver dusts with a couple aloe veras

Beans and corn sprouted

So Saturday, hubby found the bean sprouts peeking up through the compost.  Then we both went over to where I planted the corn, and sure enough there were little green blades popping up!  This morning they are obvious enough for the camera to focus, so here are pics.

garden bean sprout

newest garden bed with beans

corn sprout

corn bed, with a couple volunteer acorn squash

Yup, there are at least two volunteer acorn squash growing with the corn already.  No bother, as we are planting squash in this bed anyway.  Probably crook neck summer squash and zucchini - we do love stir-fry zucchini!

Now, in other news ... last night after we went to bed, as we were almost asleep, we woke to the noise of a shotgun.  Next door.  He fired off at least half a dozen shots, so we knew it was serious.  I asked this morning, and sure enough, the bears are awake already.  Grrr ... this bear was trying to open up their pig pen, so they are doing repairs this morning.  It did get one of their chickens, but both cows and both pigs are unharmed.  That's particularly good, because the cow is about to calve and the sow about to farrow!  I guess the electric netting fence will be tested sooner than we hoped.  Cross fingers and knock on wood that the bears are successfully deterred.

Bean booster and a gardening book

We have been busy-Busy-BUSY the past couple days.  The weather has been just beautiful for this time of year, and - except for afternoon crash-naps - it has seemed a shame to spend such nice days indoors.  I bought more starts the other day: the last three Mysore raspberry canes I needed to make my nice symmetrical formation in front of the pumphouse, some dusty millers/silverdust starts, and a purple bell pepper start.  The raspberries and the silverdust flat were on clearance markdown.  I only paid $3 each for the berry canes (regular $7.98) and then $3 for the dozen silverdusts (regular $9.98) so that just rocked.  I also bought more seeds.

Speaking of seeds, I finally got the "gourmet blend" of garden beans in the ground this morning.  I had them out and soaking to wake them up, and I saw "Pea and Bean Booster," and this time I bought some because I knew what it is!  Let me back up a bit: Tractor Supply has bargain boxes of books, where each is only $5.  I have happily pillaged this box, usually for cookbooks that sound interesting but also for two gardening books, both Storey guides.  One is for growing organic orchard fruits (my trees may celebrate when I start reading that one!) and the other is Growing Organic Vegetables and Herbs for Market.  I figure market growers should know a thing or two about getting better crop yields ... and so far this book is not disappointing.  In fact, it has quite an informative section all about soil, and one chapter that includes microorganisms in addition to minerals.  A section mentioned inoculates to put with peas, beans, and various other nitrogen-fixing legumes.  As soon as I read it, I realized I see it in the seed racks, labeled "Pea & Bean Booster."  You know, if Burpee had labeled it properly "Pea and Bean Inoculate," I would have immediately realized what it was ... but then again I am a bit of a geek.  This year I bought it, and this year I am using it.  According to the book, I need to treat it like my bread yeast.

the book, the inoculate booster, and the bean seeds

Oh, a slight annoyance: there were a few broken bean seeds in my packet.  More than I usually get in my grocery-bought field dry beans.  I am a bit irked.  As y'all can see in the picture, it is not difficult to tell which seeds will be which colors.

I have hybrid silver-and-gold sweet corn seeds soaking right now, and hubby leveled out the original compost pile to make a squarish bed where we will give the "three sisters" planting a try.  Corn gets planted first, otherwise the pole bean plant will strangle it - I learned that the hard way up in Tennessee.

Finally, the really big announcement: I have MINT coming back from last year!

Transplanting cabbage and chard

A big trip to town today, which included hitting both Tractor Supply and Lowe's ... and both have their early spring planting stuff out finally.  I picked up only two transplants this time: 45 day cabbage and swiss chard "bright lights" variety.  Most of the stalks on the chard are a red almost fuchsia - fun fun.  I shoveled a bit more compost from the 2yr old pile into the garden box, as it had settled a bit after our couple days of rain.  Here they are:

the garden box with cabbage and chard added

45-day cabbages and bright lights Swiss chard