Thursday, February 23, 2012

Mr.Pickles (aka Kiki aka the Cat) woke me this morning.

Blasted Cat.

He wakes me up this morning to harsh hacking noises. Looking out the bedroom door it was easy to see the utility room door was also open. Quick mental calculations mean, crap, the cat ate my stache of plants!

Running out from the covers to shoo him off and assess the damage. Luckily over the last couple days most of them have been moved into the sunroom. Sad bit now is he got the corn. Where they once were 6 inches tall now they remain at 3. I am thankful that there is a raised lip on the dixie cups otherwise he might have opted to chew it from the ground up.

HRMF.

Trudging outside after all the morning ruckus bringing the garden fork with me. Today was testing day. Checking up on how the soil workability is coming along. I want to plant some spuds soon. Lets start in the front yard which is the northern part of our house. The first half of the 10 foot long beds along the sidewalk are already workable. The beds near the house are still very frozen. Can only shove a fork in an inch or two. Along the driveway things are coming along. It should be perfect soon enough for peas. That is in several weeks.

The 100SF long beds in the backyard are workable without much effort. Must have to do with getting more sunlight than the front this time of year. Assuming lack of an ice age the spuds should be on track to be placed in soil in another two weeks. I've read that a few people plant around St. Patty's. My take on it, however, is that if the soil is workable there shouldn't be any reason for me to hold off longer. In nature after all the tubers would have remained in the soil for the entire time.

This afternoon I was working the original garden along the east side of the house. The area was a huge mess when we purchased the house several years ago. It was being used as a compost area. Heavy on woody materials. Somewhat late last year we put down a 16' x 4' garden. It turned out to be a surprise. Although the garden was not bathed in incredible amounts of sunlight it still managed to produce a lot. It would have been better if the idea had occurred to me in the beginning of the year. The tomatoes and peppers would have had another two months to get on. That was also before I learned about double-digging. This year it will be a salad green area. I spent an hour double-digging to renovate the soil for a new season. I want to see if there is a drastic difference in production over last year. Also for some reason the soil over on this side of the house is warm enough to plant in.  It must have to do with a combination of being out of the wind and the bare trees giving access to sunlight.

Tomorrows plan is transplanting all the lettuces in the flat to this area and place plastic over it for a cold frame. Perhaps even taking a picture or two.

15 comments:

  1. All the wood that was dumped in the old garden might turn out to be good organic matter for many years to come. You're planting potatoes very early for your zone! I really hope you see an early and strong crop. If you do, then we'll plant this early next year too. This year we'll probably plant our potatoes just 3 or 4 weeks before the last frost (late March early April). My thinking is that if we plant any sooner they'll lay dormant in the ground until it warms up and risk rotting. I hope your experiment proves my way of thinking wrong, because I'd love to get potatoes out even sooner!

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    1. Wouldn't in nature a potato have a mechanism to cope with the environment. This must be why they are so prolific.

      My approach to things is to see the simple. If things are too complicated then they most likely didn't work that way in nature. Such as if an animal has to consciously choose foods etc.

      Ill plant them March 1st weather permitting. the beds in the back are workable.

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    2. The St. Patrick's thing totally is a good rule of thumb. Works for both potatoes and peas. Last year, however, we had like 18" of snow on the ground for St. Patty's day, so planting was a no-go for me. Then it was so wet... But this year, I'm thinking you could totally plant out potatoes and peas in the next week or 2 as our ground just didn't get nearly as frozen as it would in a typical winter.

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    3. Im probably planting out the potatoes sometime this week while its warm out. What they want to do with the extra time in the soil is up to them. I have a cup of Peas that are about a foot tall. They have been living in the sun room for a week now. Doing alright even though it was supposedly in the teens the other day.

      Today I planted out 15 broccoli, several of my larger lettuce, some chard etc into a garden bed on the east of the house that the soil is very workable.

      Placed all my 2 liter bottles over each plant. Namely for protection from this big fat rabbit I saw the other night....

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  2. I'm with you! Last year we planted our brassicas very early, and we had huge success. We're sticking to last year's schedule, especially because it's been a warm winter. I'm hoping you have great results.

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    1. WHen are you planting your brassicas? I figure Ill do it either tomorrow or sunday when its sunny.

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    2. I try to get mine outside in mid-April, but this year it'll be closer to April 1st just b/c the ground isn't frozen.

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    3. I still have a whole flat of them to put out. Ill probable transplant those into the front yard when it warms up later this month.

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    4. Last year we planted our brassicas and romaine lettuce the third week of March. This year we'll probably plant sooner, because the season is so warm.

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  3. Sounds like kitty will NOT be eating fresh veggies this summer as punishment! lol

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  4. Peas! That's what I need to plant. And maybe you need to plant your cat some kitty grass. :)

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  5. I am first time here and I really like your blog, so I am a new member! I am interested in your gardening project. I have a small plot, much smaller that yours, but I am stubborn to grow something on it! I posted some kitty pictures on my blog today too. Come see it, please.

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    1. Pretty cat. Thanks for taking a look. Work through the stubborness and plants something! ;)

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