Baby steps towards the future gardens of Beebe

[phil]

I didn't know much about the monarch's but was hearing that they reproduce along the way, as they migrate and I though that was quite fascinating.

I had a little chuckle when I had my steps removed and someone refeered to the abscent staircase as mother in law steps

I dug a ditch once and screeded all the rocks out. layed some leaky pipe down to get rid of a muddy area. It was a lot of work but thought the process would be interesting in certain places where I might actually find things that had been buried like outside the old postal distribution outlet that burned down near me.

when I bought one of the first thigns I did was laid weed cloth down and got 27 yards of crushed and had a guy with a machien spread the stuff. since then Ive been pondering adding some crusher dust as that would turn it into a hard surface. as it is if I spin out in the snow, I just keep going and it automatically digs down and spreads crushed gravel, which is kind of nice.

I dont know if its the same there, but here they have a difference between a permanent structure and a building so if it basically floats on the ground and isn't too big I dont even think you need a permit.

I want ot build a garage but Im torn about it, maybe a laneway suite or maybe just wait as this covid thing has caused everyone to become more thrifty. in some respects it feels like we have cycled back into the days of the depression but not many near me are hurting to the extent of not having food.

here, because there are so many new houses being dug in, there is an excess of topsoil, they truck it out of the city to make way for more concrete and gravel. I see adds for "free clean dirt" I guess that's an oxymoron.

[Lily left the valley]

{snip}I dont know if its the same there, but here they have a difference between a permanent structure and a building so if it basically floats on the ground and isn't too big I dont even think you need a permit.

Because the city lumps does include food crops as a possible business, whether it's temporary or not doesn't matter. Even if the intent is to grow food to feed your own family, the footprint is how they decide if it's deemed commercial or not. There is a home the next street and down the block a bit that has a tall hoop house that they used to take down every year when we first moved here. Last year they used it all year round. From the street, you can also see an enclosed back porch of sorts that looks like it could be a hothouse (the whole house is one story above ground, ranch style), but I've never wandered onto the property to see for certain. I've been meaning to write a note to them to leave in their mailbox for a while now, asking them if they've had trouble with the town due to their food gardening. This winter I might finally get around to that.

{snip}I want ot build a garage but Im torn about it, maybe a laneway suite or maybe just wait as this covid thing has caused everyone to become more thrifty. in some respects it feels like we have cycled back into the days of the depression but not many near me are hurting to the extent of not having food.

here, because there are so many new houses being dug in, there is an excess of topsoil, they truck it out of the city to make way for more concrete and gravel. I see adds for "free clean dirt" I guess that's an oxymoron.

Because our garage was built before the city enlarged the distance that must be between a building on either side of a property line, our original hope to just extend our garage back alone the same line was dashed. The newer requirement is a min of 5' from building edge to property line. Our grandfathered garage's farthest roof overhang edge is right at the property line between us and our neighbors to the east. Building out a long form with one car in front of the other style wouldn't be as convenient as a side by side two car garage, but we also considered extending far enough back to add garden tool storage and a small shallow greenhouse at the back of the garage too, if only to use for seed starting. We simply didn't want to lose any mid yard to more garage, but may eventually change our minds on that. This is because our property is a long rectangle, so widening the garage would eat further into whatever the remainder of the full 50' we have, and would effectively split the yard in half plus add shade in areas we currently do not have any and grow food.

I still need to look into whether with neighbor's permission on that side if we can get a variance. The city might allow it given our grandfathered garage, plus it would be built out away from their home, so not a hazard by any means, and instead would just be nestled under their property line conifers that have branched out to our side over the decades. Mary and I get along, but I don't know if that's something she would be comfortable agreeing to or not if the building department says they will give a variance with her permission.

As to the "free clean dirt", that's usually means it is dirt that will be free of rocks, wood or trash. "Clean dirt" or "clean fill" can also mean that the material does not contain industrial waste at a level that results in a health risk exposure. Around here, folks have advertised for both "free clean fill" and "free screened fill", the latter meaning it won't have rocks in it above a certain size, but might have some pebbles. They don't usually say use the word dirt.

[Lily left the valley]

Some garden planning news:

Our garden budget is always low. We spent roughly $100 last year overall because of the two blueberry bushes that were really an impulse buy we weren't expecting to find when we did--our highest overall spent by far. Since eyeballing the next door house that is supposed to go up for sale, I told Sean we had to take a hard look at our finances if we really do want to do something like that in future. We decided that we want to pay off as much of our non-mortgage/car debt as we feasibly can this year. This will be greatly aided by the fact that we are one of the families that still has not gotten their initial stimulus (frustrating then, bonus in the near future), which we'll now be able to claim when we file our taxes. The so far mild winter and lower price of oil than last heating season will help this too (already has, actually).

All that said, we still agreed to a very strict budget despite the addition of Sean's recent nominal raise. That means not getting take out more than once a month, and no non essential spending for this year. The nearest thing to an exception was our garden because we do eat out of it. We set aside $25-50 to expand with more native fruiting whatever shrub/s; Sean wants to get a specific variant of rosemary starter a place sells locally; and if anything is left some non edible natives. If my budget and math are right, we'll at least halve the debt but can't be sure because his pay isn't steady as it depends on how much he's needed or not. We're hoping it will be more because it's likely things will not slow down for the post office this year, but we didn't want to set a high goal based on a maybe, and of course something could go sideways at the house. *knocks on wood hoping otherwise*

As I have mentioned before, I have been trying to get my hands on some sundial lupines (Lupinus perennis). I had found a place in the midwest that sells seeds for them (Prairie Moon Nursery), because the native nursery (Nasami Farm) here in MA doesn't sell them as seeds. Then I recently found The Wild Seed Project in Maine's site also sells them, which is less distance for shipping and their profit goes towards the program and expanding their native offerings. With Sean's consent to use part of our native budget, I bought a packet of sundials, and because the only shipping options were more expensive than the seeds (guarantees tracking, so I do understand why), we agreed one more packet was still feasible so I poked around and out of a few I narrowed down for him to pick from, he liked the Meadow bottle gentian (Gentiana clausa) best. So that was $13.99 gone (with S&H), which would narrow down what we could get from Nasami. If memory serves, the Rosemary starter he wants is near to $5. That left us with about $30 which will limit us to one or two native shrubs--but we were ok with that.

Then, out of the blue, a friend in a polly ticks group I hang out with gave me a $100 gift card he received but won't use for Territorial Seed Co.! (We often share such things within the group. I recently offered up a coupon code for a wine club I had received that another friend used as a Xmas present for his wife.) This wonderful surprise falling into my lap is still something my brain hasn't accepted. I don't have a final list for the order there yet, but from discussions Sean and I have had, we will use it all to expand our kitchen garden with some crops we haven't tried yet, and a few where the seeds we got from other places didn't do well (like the pie pumpkins). The bulk of it will likely go to a few garlic varieties though I am dithering about that mostly because I'm not an experienced garlic grower and it really will gobble up most of the gift.

Lastly, I'm in the process of moving over my blogs to a new host. WordPress sent out a notice at the end of last year letting everyone with free blogs know that they'll be inserting "featured posts" (paid content written by advertisers) into our blogs and there is nothing we can do about it other than switch to paid plans. Since I have a few sites that vary wildly in subject matter, it was cheaper to move to a new host and buy a few domain names. I still haven't finished migrating all the data, but when I do I'll change my links in our blog list here. One of them is garden specific, hence my mentioning that here.

So there's the news!

[Lily left the valley]

I haven't had time to sit down and put together the seed order from Territorial, and I know I need to do it tonight because twice now things that were in consideration are now sold out. The seeds from the Wild Seed Project arrived. The genetian seeds are super tiny--I could barely feel them in the envelope and opened it to check just to make sure there were some in there. I think poppies might be the only close in size I've tried to sow before (and were promptly decimated by birds taking a dust bath--not a single one survived.)

I definitely think I'll be trying to start more seeds indoors this year, even if only to put them in a shallow water bath to see which ones start sprouting. I've been thinking of trying to fabricate a light weight water only system with saved plastic tubs and garden twine that can hang in the bathroom and office windows. I could set up a rack in the bathroom but the window is in the tub cove so it would have to be moved during bathing. That wouldn't be the worst sort of inconvenience, but the awkwardness/shift consideration of lifting it over the tub edge with little room to maneuver other than backwards between the toilet/sink is what has me leaning towards hanging. The office windowsill is often taken up by cats, and given how my desk is oriented, there's not enough floor space to put a rack in there between the sill and where my office chair is. So hanging it really is the only option if we want to use that window. I've tried using the sill in the kitchen, but we currently use it to store often used things and that room doesn't have a radiator which keeps it cooler overall in winter despite the two smaller south facing windows in there.

I've been looking at the plant by recommendations in Farmer's Almanac for our region, and am just starting to seriously make a schedule in the hopes of rotation within whatever south facing windows we end up using.

I'm also trying to figure out when I will finally restore the small bird bath I bought ages ago that's still waiting patiently in the garage. I need to get more paint for that. I thought we had bought green and yellow, but I can only find an unopened can of yellow Rustoleum. I have some small wire brushes, but I'm thinking about getting a wire wheel drill attachment because there's simply so much area that needs restoring.

I have not yet made time for finishing the plot I had started on for this year's garden. I need to go back and check a few sizes because they seem too small on the current draft.

As far as indoor plants, the hobbit plant that really turned out to be a gollum is happily surviving. The spider still isn't doing too well since the cats munched on it. I think it needs a repot and some nutrients to encourage it to grow again. I've also been thinking about moving it into the downstairs bathroom. The grocery store bought African violet is doing amazing but not flowering. I still haven't repotted that, and when I do I'll add some food it will like to try to encourage more flowers. I need to get back to looking for a shallower style pot like my Grandmom had for hers when I was growing up.

[phil]

on the news here they were saying that due to covid they are selling out on seeds even before it's planting time. They said a lot of people are laid off and more interested in gardening.

not having a garage myself I just have a couple of car tents and I havent; had any complaints about them. the fabric tops die after a few years. last time I bought a 75 dollar tarp and it was 20 x 50 which I had to cut down but the spare piece was good to cover a car I have stored with a boat on top of it. before I found that tarp I tried a few of the cheaper ones , or buying replacement covers but the covers are almost as much as a new tent. I bought a bunch of 1/4" rope and strung it up all over between the bars so it is supported a lot better when it snows and that helped them be more rigid too. one of them I mad blocks for and lifted it a foot to get my raised van in there. If someone near you has one where the cover wore out you can sometimes get the pipes for free and you could put plastic over it and make a fine green house. some of the building plastic doesn't degrade so fast , there are two types. one dies after about a year the other seems to last forever without sun degradation.

the only webspace Ive rented was here, its based in texas.
https://www.alwayswebhosting.com/

I wouldn't mind buying a little space just to play with again. I dont know how the prices compare. They seemed ok but I dont have a lot of experience with that. at one point I paid them for the domain name and then they just automatically charged my visa when the "rent" came due and it upset me because I was looking after the site for a non profit so I didn't want my visa linked, but they cleared up the issue quickly when I complained about the unapproved charge. I think it was sort of a convenient "mistake" not a scam.

[Lily left the valley]

on the news here they were saying that due to covid they are selling out on seeds even before it's planting time. They said a lot of people are laid off and more interested in gardening.

Some of the suppliers are also having issues because staff got Covid or had to quarantine due to contact with someone that did. I've seen at least two big companies post regular updates of where the orders or ability to make new orders stand. I did get the order in on Feb. 5th and already have some of it. The two tomato transplants won't arrive until April, and the garlic will be here in fall.

A recent find I feel downright dumb about is I had stored some of the potato and sweet potato slips in the garage. A mouse (or mice) chewed up quite a lot of the sweet potatoes, but curiously enough left the regular potatoes alone. I think it might be that the sweet potatoes might not have dried enough for that thicker skin that develops. You'd think after the sunflower seed debacle, I would know better. Apparently not.

I actually noticed that when I grabbed the old birdbath I mentioned in my last post to use as a temporary platform style birdfeeder when the temperatures really plummeted earlier this year combined with our first deeper snow this year. Between that and the tops of the lids of the medium sized metal trash cans we use for weed burning, I've been putting out a mix of sunflower seed, blueberries, raisins, cherries and cranberries. This time of year a lot if not all of the food they forage from in our yard is gone or buried in snow. I did put some oatmeal out a few times on the bins only, but I'm careful with that because we do have intermittent rain showers between snows, and if it gets doused bacteria or fungus is a concern. That's why I don't put it in the shallow birdbath because it easily collects water, whether from rain or snow melt. With the bin lids, the shape helps shed the water from either.

I also experimented with some root cellar type storage methods in our actual unfinished cellar this year in the corner that gets the least amount of heat. Sadly, it's too damp down there--things started to grow even though they were covered. (Maybe if I had used sand instead of what was sun dried soil this might not have happened, but the humidity down there is high.) So until we remedy the causes of the humidity, I'll continue to only store our root crops in the spare bedroom that has no heat. Some potatoes I only put in a cardboard box did sprout up there recently, but far less grew over what I put in the cellar.

We've been having some fairly wild swings in temperatures the last week and change. 50°F some days, 29°F in others, with most nights still near or well below freezing. So even though the last big snow is almost gone, I know the ground still isn't workable. This week I need to finish filling out the planting calendar.

I also broke down our usual To Do List which is awesome to behold into three groups: Needs/Wants/Greeds. Then picked three from each. In the past, we kept trying to do too much at once, and that often results in a lot of barely or partial finished projects, but little completed. Sean thinks this will work out better too, so I guess we'll find out in time. The idea is we start with Needs, and if we get the 3 done then before we should start on the next 3, we'll decide if we want to do the next 3 that aren't time specific in case something happens (like lots of rain) that might hold us up later, or if we want to tackle a Want. At best, we might get to a point where we do the 3 Wants and then try to decide on a Greed, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

With Sean's work schedule still being so heavy, I'm honestly a bit worried about what will get done or not. Last year we did so little because we kept thinking his schedule would lighten, and instead it got worse. I definitely put off way more than I should have because although some things are just easier/faster with two, I kept pushing off the things I certainly can do alone.

[phil]

sometimes I think of jobs I want to do , that I will enjoy doing and then mix in one that is less fun, and if it's rainy or sunny that affects it. sometimes things just step up in priority and have to take precedence. some waits because of economics. I'm doing inside stuff now and looking forward to when it stops raining looking forward to being in the sun. i was looking through lily's pictures and admiring that everything is still unpainted. It's nice that no one ever took a brush to all that beautiful original woodwork.

[Lily left the valley]

sometimes I think of jobs I want to do , that I will enjoy doing and then mix in one that is less fun, and if it's rainy or sunny that affects it. sometimes things just step up in priority and have to take precedence. some waits because of economics. I'm doing inside stuff now and looking forward to when it stops raining looking forward to being in the sun. i was looking through lily's pictures and admiring that everything is still unpainted. It's nice that no one ever took a brush to all that beautiful original woodwork.

We are lucky in that our wood is so wonderfully grained, and it also helped that the same family owned the place straight through to us (minus the short stint of the granddaughter absentee renting it). I think we lucked out also in that although the house did not escape the carpet all the rooms era (in which we lost shoe moulding), at least warm wood was all the rage until the point where the matriarch was alone and in no mind to change anything. So the worst I have to deal with is alligatoring of the finish and a few obvious places the kids carved into trim really isn't much concern, just items on the To Do List (which is awesome to behold).

One project I'm going to be crazily trying this year is to take the wild blackberry ramblers and try to make a low living hedge in some places.

[Lily left the valley]

The recent cold snap only reminded me why I've been reticent to start seeds indoors. I still remember last year's mid May snow!

I had mentioned getting the gift card and ordering tomato starters. I'd never ordered such to be shipped before, and didn't realize until later that one can adjust the delivery date. I meant to call Territorial to try to change it, but then other things have been going on and then not long ago I got a notice that they were on their way.

They arrived on April Fool's, which felt rather fitting, really. They looked worse for wear. I'm lucky that I happened to be on the computer when they sent an email telling me they'd been delivered because I didn't hear anyone come up the porch and they could have been stuck outside in near freezing temps for hours! The night temps have ranged from upper teens to low 20°s F and some days weren't even breaking 30°F for the last few days. I did have to cut back the first leaves on both, and we lost one small lower branch on the one variant from shipping.

After some watering and south window time, at dusk I put them on top of the radiator cover in the downstairs bath because the cats never try to sleep there and it's one of the ones with that insulating layer under the lid so I thought that might help keep them from getting too hot. Yesterday morning they had perked up, and I gave them a fine mist of saved rainwater at dawn to hopefully mimic dew on the leaves--the leaves looked much better even an hour later.

When I went to get some pots for them to upgrade their acreage, I realized we had no potting soil left. So I called Agway and ordered and paid for potting soil; a fertilizer specific for tomatoes; and they finally had more compost thermometers in so I tacked that on as well. (I also plan to use it to check soil temps before putting things in the ground this year--something we've not done before but want to try since I found a guide for this.) Sean picked that up on his way home from work. (Yes, he's still working six days a week.) I'm still a bit worried about the leaves, especially the Little Napoli (determinate Roma/paste) which is both a bigger plant and thus bigger leaves than the Candyland Red (indeterminate cherry) that supposedly will grow fruit that tastes like currants. (I'm not 100% sure of the Latin because I haven't had time to understand the classification hash out wiki describes about tomatoes--maybe later this week.)

So I gave them a bit less than earlier fine mist. I had read some folks use common aspirin crumbled to try to help their vascular system, so I researched it and it turns out there was a study with salicylic acid, but when other studies have tried to reproduce the results, none could reliably. The consensus seems to be that the SA was doing more good to help the plants stave off disease and pests which often cause leaf wilt. The vascular claim was one of those internet falsehoods that even after disproven still persists, partially because older or dead freebie blog sites do not go back and change information so it lingers and shows up in searches when someone (as I did) does a search for "aspirin and tomato".

I finally did remember that when we first moved to Gardner and I got permission from our landlady to garden a bit out front of our multi family I think I had found an open bag of fertilizer in the garage left behind by the former owner of the building who had been an on premises landlady. I had a nagging feeling I had used such before, but that was a dry variant. I do know about fertilizer burn and ways to avoid, but decided it was best to hold off at least one day because they might not need it just yet, and it might give them yet another shock. They already started drooping again just a wee bit after the transplant, but at least the branch curls are completely gone on the Napoli. In a few hours when I move them back to the south window, I'll see how the leaves look then.

They've both been sucking up water, and apparently that's also something that can stress the plants--too much water. Because they were so dried out when they arrived, it turns out I was overwatering them because a few sites said mature plants typically need 1" of water on average, and I definitely provided more than that. So now I have to let them dry out a bit and now that I learned the best way to test for how wet or dry their soil is...hopefully their recent soak was too brief for them to develop root rot!

The potting soil used for both plants is not exactly the same, which is part of my concern. The Napoli's seems finer and stays soggier the the soil that came with the Candyland. Now that they both have a similar soil mixed in with the what was in their shipping pots, perhaps that will help even out the water distribution. Both of them had roots wrapped around the outer bits of their starter soil, and I tried to loosen them a bit, but gave up because I didn't want to cause too much root damage. Time will tell...

The night they arrived.

The next day in the morning after the leaf misting perk.

Then last night after I finished repotting them.


I think I've mentioned before that we had bought one of those plastic cloches you can get at big box stores in fall of 2019 because it was on closeout since the gardening season was over. I'm going to be watching the weather to see when might be best to move them out and keep them under there, with some gallon plastic jugs filled with water which will act as a heat sink during the day, then release same at night. I need to do more research, and likely will use some of our leaf mould to try to insulate the base area inside and out of the cloche better.

[Manalto]

Ah, tomatoes! You're lucky to be growing them in New England. Down South, it would get to the point where the tomatoes were green and then they would develop patches of rot. I think it's a calcium deficiency which I'm going to try to treat with lime. New England produces the most flavorful tomatoes.