I've been a bit slack in keeping the blog updated. A busy work schedule, a camping trip, etc. have contributed to my blog-less state!
However, I have not been slack in the garden. With thanks to my dear wife and children, and our neighbors, the garden has been happily tended when I have been MIA.
Now that we're hitting the tail end of the official summer (we had a heat wave hit here a couple of weeks ago, but the weather has now descended into 70's and 80's with intermittent rain), I though I should update things. In the spirit of "back to school" (which a couple of my sons will experience next week), I have decided to pass out grades for my garden:
Weeds - A
What does this mean? That I've been successful in keeping them under control? Or that they've been menacing my gardening? Well, a little of both. The planters themselves have been nice and weed-free for the most part. A few stragglers exist, easily pulled, or shaded into obscurity by the dominant vegetable plants. Outside of the planters, it is amazing how the weeds will flourish! I had the grounds CLEAN more than once this summer. I did so in mid-July, before our August camping trip. HOWEVER, just last weekend I had to hurry-up and cut down some prolific flowering and seeding weeds before they spread their legacy into my next year's plans. Definitely will be in the 2010 garden (frown).
Beans - A
The green and purple pole beans have done extremely well, producing an abundant crop, more than we can eat! The taste of fresh beans is wonderful! The purple beans grew more vigorously and matured earlier than the green - the green beans came on later but have picked up the slack as the purple are waning. Definitely will be in the 2010 garden.
Lettuce - A
I've had really good results with the lettuce, particularly the butter leaf varieties. Nice growth through July (when it got a little warm) before bolting. I grew a few rows between the bean trellises, which was a nice choice to fill in the dead space. Definitely there in 2010.
Zucchini - B
Great plants - lush, HUGE leaves. They seemed to take a little longer than expected to flower and fruit. The production has been good, but not nearly as vigorous as what I remember in the good ol' Central Valley: there, six plants were OVERKILL for a family of 5+! A similar number here has been nice, but not overwhelming. Will be there in 2010.
Beets - C
Still waiting to harvest them. They seem to be a little late in maturing, and not quite the size I would expect. Planted them in June, so I thought we'd have them by now. There are some small ones that I'll pull out today. Seems like last year they were late, too. Last year, the leaves were nice additions to the various stir-fry. 2010 - I'm a sucker for beets, so I'll probably have a few.
Turnips - C
They seemed to do better last year. I haven't harvested one yet. There are a couple that look ready. Fairly vigorous. 2010? We'll see - I'll probably plant them.
Sweet peas - C
Nice overall production, but the plants really fizzle out quickly. I have them in the same box as the beans, and they did start producing a little earlier, but for overall production, they just don't match the beans. Also, this variety is a sugar pea variety, so when the pods start to fill-out, the peas tend to be a little woody. Not sure if I will plant them in 2010, as they are best right off of the plant, and the household is not passionate about peas.
Crookneck - D
Really disappointed. They live in the same planter as the zucchini, they look just as beautiful as far as plants go, but only ONE actually harvested to date. There are lots of little ones, but nothing that resembles a harvestable squash. I'll not plant them in 2010.
Tomatoes - D-
Sob, sob. The plants are GREAT, very lush, much better looking than last year, BUT nothing yet to eat! Not even the cherry or pear tomatoes - I did have those to munch on this time last year. Perhaps the plants need to be "stressed" more - possibly a little chopping to the roots. I can't really cut back on watering too much, now that nature is kicking in. The weather is cooling. I have 1 1/2 planter boxes with them, and I had thoughts about having 2 next year with multiple varieties. I'm not so inclined, now. I think we need an actual hothouse to make this worthwhile. Ugh. I better like $5 tomatoes if I go that route! I'll plant them in 2010, but I better find some way to make it work.
Corn - I
The corn is forming ears, and should be ready in a couple of weeks (the first planting). I should have planted them 2-3 weeks earlier. Mental note for next year.
Pumpkins - I
I planted this short-maturing variety a little bit late (since the so-called maturity guide on the packet would have put them maturing in August if I planted them in early June, far too early for Halloween), but the plants are a little small, some flowers, no setting fruit yet. Hmmmm. I hope I get at least 5 decent pumpkins.
So that's the mid-August 2009 4x8 Farmer's report...
Stay tuned!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wait Loss
"And now, here's a message from our sponsor"
Weight loss - something that most of us need to do. But this isn't a post about what "we" need to do. It's about what "I" need to do (and am trying to do).
For a few years now, I have been waxing whimsical about my thirtieth year on Planet Earth. That was the year I made a serious effort to get into shape. My regimen began with dieting, jogging, eventually gym membership and weight training. All the things you're supposed to do to get in shape.
And, in shape I was! Over the course of several months, I dropped about 40 lbs (hitting a "peak" low of 206), had a cholesterol of somewhere in the 140's, a pulse rate in the high 50's, blood pressure of something darn low - my doctor said I was in the shape of a 19 year-old. Yeah!
I played volleyball, basketball and softball on our insurance-league teams and other rec leagues. One of my friends, who hadn't seen me for a few months, thought I was ill, I had lost so much weight! I felt GREAT!
Alas, the gym membership ceased and the daily regimen changed. My job within the company changed, and I moved away from the peer-support within the office. I went vegetarian for a while, trying to keep the weight under control without the regular exercise program, but ultimately I regained my taste for fat-laden delicacies. Oh, and I started a new hobby - homebrewing.
Needless to say, the weight came back on, besting my former max by about 25 lbs.
After procrastinating (for what, sixteen years?), I decided to do something about it - with some thanks to my current employer and their wellness program. We started a team walking challenge on June 1 (we did it last year, too, but I didn't take it all that serious). As of my June 4 physical, I weighed in at 267 (and that was even down a few lbs from a mid-May doctor visit), blood pressure was 117:70, pulse at 70 (without caffeine), and cholesterol at 228.
Over the past 5 weeks, my walking regimen has gradually increased from 1.5- 2 miles daily to 3.5-4 miles and is a walk/jog at a 50:50 ratio. I visited the doctor on July 6, and my blood pressure was 104:70, pulse at 62, and I'm really starting to feel good. I swam with the boys yesterday at the local pool, and managed to get a good 45+ minutes of aerobic-type exercise (lap swimming, treading water, etc.) - something I wasn't able to do when we did a mid-winter swim at the Y in January.
The weight loss hasn't been as rapid as I had hoped - as of today, I'm 10 lbs lighter five weeks into this. Perhaps that is just fine - I wish I knew what my weight loss rate was when I was 30, it just seemed more rapid. Who knows?
What else motivates me? There are several hangers with dress pants the next size down in my closet beckoning me - my current pants are getting a little baggy, a little worn, and need to be replaced soon. I'm just not quite able to slip comfortably into the "new" old ones. Yet.
My goal is 220. Not as low as when I was 30, but I really feel I can hit this if I persevere. According to the weight loss experts, 2 lbs a week is healthy, so I'm looking at hitting my goal by Thanksgiving. Just in time for the holiday feeding frenzy! Ugh.
Weight loss - something that most of us need to do. But this isn't a post about what "we" need to do. It's about what "I" need to do (and am trying to do).
For a few years now, I have been waxing whimsical about my thirtieth year on Planet Earth. That was the year I made a serious effort to get into shape. My regimen began with dieting, jogging, eventually gym membership and weight training. All the things you're supposed to do to get in shape.
And, in shape I was! Over the course of several months, I dropped about 40 lbs (hitting a "peak" low of 206), had a cholesterol of somewhere in the 140's, a pulse rate in the high 50's, blood pressure of something darn low - my doctor said I was in the shape of a 19 year-old. Yeah!
I played volleyball, basketball and softball on our insurance-league teams and other rec leagues. One of my friends, who hadn't seen me for a few months, thought I was ill, I had lost so much weight! I felt GREAT!
Alas, the gym membership ceased and the daily regimen changed. My job within the company changed, and I moved away from the peer-support within the office. I went vegetarian for a while, trying to keep the weight under control without the regular exercise program, but ultimately I regained my taste for fat-laden delicacies. Oh, and I started a new hobby - homebrewing.
Needless to say, the weight came back on, besting my former max by about 25 lbs.
After procrastinating (for what, sixteen years?), I decided to do something about it - with some thanks to my current employer and their wellness program. We started a team walking challenge on June 1 (we did it last year, too, but I didn't take it all that serious). As of my June 4 physical, I weighed in at 267 (and that was even down a few lbs from a mid-May doctor visit), blood pressure was 117:70, pulse at 70 (without caffeine), and cholesterol at 228.
Over the past 5 weeks, my walking regimen has gradually increased from 1.5- 2 miles daily to 3.5-4 miles and is a walk/jog at a 50:50 ratio. I visited the doctor on July 6, and my blood pressure was 104:70, pulse at 62, and I'm really starting to feel good. I swam with the boys yesterday at the local pool, and managed to get a good 45+ minutes of aerobic-type exercise (lap swimming, treading water, etc.) - something I wasn't able to do when we did a mid-winter swim at the Y in January.
The weight loss hasn't been as rapid as I had hoped - as of today, I'm 10 lbs lighter five weeks into this. Perhaps that is just fine - I wish I knew what my weight loss rate was when I was 30, it just seemed more rapid. Who knows?
What else motivates me? There are several hangers with dress pants the next size down in my closet beckoning me - my current pants are getting a little baggy, a little worn, and need to be replaced soon. I'm just not quite able to slip comfortably into the "new" old ones. Yet.
My goal is 220. Not as low as when I was 30, but I really feel I can hit this if I persevere. According to the weight loss experts, 2 lbs a week is healthy, so I'm looking at hitting my goal by Thanksgiving. Just in time for the holiday feeding frenzy! Ugh.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Summer has arrived! If only for a week...
Summer 2009 in the great Inland Northwest officially came with a sub-60's day. We had some nice days in the 70's during the week, but June 21 came in with a ppphhhhffftt (as Bill the Cat might have said).
I really thought Hoopfest the following week would have brought us 90's, since Hoopfest always seems to mark the Official Heatstroke Weekend for Spokane (I intend to play in 2010, so it will probably be in the 100's. Mark my words). It, too, was comfortable in the low-80's.
However, Old Man Summer finally showed up on the extended 4th of July weekend - the week was solidly in the mid 80's and by Friday, hello 95! For tomatoes and summer squash, mid-90's is the equivalent of heaven. We could almost hear them grow!
Yet, in the tradition of the Inland Northwest, 95 on Saturday become 75 on Sunday!
Our local Climatologist Cliff Harris has predicted a short summer. Hopefully, it won't be this short...
I will say that everything is looking great so far!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Loss of a Loved One
The last week of June 2009 was a difficult one for many of us. The world lost several icons. Farrah Fawcett. Michael Jackson. Ed McMahon.
On June 29, we lost Peachie the Cat.
Peachie adopted us in 1998. Our son Kent (shown with Peachie in the photo), then two years old, toddled up to the back door, crying out "Mo-mo! Mo-mo!" In his arms, he clutched this limp, purring ball of fluff, with wispy orange-yellow and white fur and soft brown eyes. Kent's cry of Mo-mo! was his way of telling us he had a cat like Morris, our orange-and-white tabby. And now, we had two cats.
Peachie was named after our favorite video-game heroine, Princess Peach, of Super Mario fame. We (Clark, Emma, and Dad) were hooked on saving the Princess in Mario 64 (which is my all-time favorite video game!), and the cat had the good fortune of having Peach's "peach" coloring. I don't think she minded.
Peachie was two years old when she came to us, according to our vet. For some odd reason, orange-yellow cats were the rage in our neighborhood. We brought Morris with us when we moved to Reedley. Peachie came, and there also was a short-term family member named Corduroy (Emma's favorite bear, and favorite story), who looked suspiciously like one of Peachie's siblings. Later on, we were adopted by another cat, appropriately named Peanut Butter, who was white with orange patches. In fact, orange-yellow pets were the rage at our home for a time - we even had a Golden Retriever named Chester (who needed more than an in-town backyard, and eventually went on to live with Emma's friend Ruthie and her family out in the country). One day, near our garden, I saw yet another orange-yellow and white cat that looked like Peachie and Corduroy. I thought I was going mad! Fortunately, our next cat Hunter was a gray tabby, breaking the trend.
Peachie (and Hunter) were the world-traveler pets in our family, having lived in California, Idaho, and Washington. Neither one really liked the snow, however.
Peachie had a caretaker's heart. Whenever someone was ill, Peachie would snuggle up to them, warming their lap, and often sleeping with them at night. She preferred that we keep our bedroom doors open, as she would venture from bed to bed - when the door was shut, she would claw at the base of the door to be let in (or let out). In our old house, with door handles (not knobs), she learned the art of opening doors, so no unlocked door was safe. She groomed our cat Morris II (our current cat), and began to groom us too. She had this amusing habit of climbing on the back of the couch and licking your hair, and would do it for as long as you would let her. I smirked every time I saw Peachie nonchalantly sneak up on one of our unsuspecting friends as they sat on the couch, as I fully knew what was in store!
Her purr was unique, one that I won't forget. She purred loud, with a bit of a squeaky recoil as she inhaled - kind of like a squeaking fan belt. She didn't meow that often, but would occasionally have this "Mmmmrrroooww" whenever she was trying to get our attention.
Peachie loved to join us in the garden. She came out often during our Spring preparation, walking along the edge of the planters, supervising and approving our work.
Over the last month, I noticed that Peachie was slowing down quite a bit. She loved to look out the windows and the glass sliding doors, and would sit at an open door, but wouldn't venture out, even during Spring and Summer (Peachie didn't like Winter here, unlike Morris, who loves frolicking in the snow. We have nicknamed Morris "Snow-Cat"). Her gait was slow, and the roughhousing with Morris was fewer and further between. She was sleeping more and more, a bit unusual even for a cat. And, her purr changed. The squeak was gone.
Reid, our son of hole-digging fame, was also the designated cat feeder. He developed this cat-call that would bring Peachie and Morris to the kitchen, no matter if they were dead asleep. Since Morris was banned to the garage at night (because he has this irritating habit of waking up between 3am and 4am, and crying mercilessly until someone - usually me - gets out of bed and lets him out the front door), Reid corralled Peachie every night, tucking her under his covers.
The last week was the toughest - and the most telling. The cat-call didn't work anymore. Peachie spent a lot of time hidden in dark places - the closets, behind furniture, and her gait was very slow. She didn't cry as if she was in pain - she just was slow. She ate and drank very little. Dorris and I had agreed that it was about "time". Reid continued to bring her to bed, and he and I spent a lot of nights talking about it being Peachie's "time".
The weekend came, and Peachie was not able to move well from room to room, and she would lay for hours in one place on her journey. I put a couple of towels in a berry-flat cardboard box, gently lifted her into it, and placed her within reach of water and food. A while later, I found Reid next to her, petting her while tears streamed down his face. I told him that it was Peachie's time to go, that she had a great life with us, she cared for us and loved us, and that she would want to be here at home when she passed. My voice broke as the tears streamed down my face.
Later that night (it was Saturday), I sat by Peachie, petting her, and telling her it was okay to go. Again, more tears.
I think she heard, and understood.
The next day, off we went to church, and when we came back, Peachie was gone. We made preparations - the boys helped with her final resting place, and I fashioned a cross out of redwood - and we held a simple service for her.
The loss of a loved one is hard. God gave us His Word for instruction and comfort, and through the life of our cat Peachie, He provided a great instrument for teaching our children unconditional love and loss. If God grants us pets in heaven, Reid and I have decided that we want Peachie there with us.
R.I.P Peachie. We miss you!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
What's In The Garden, Anyway?
Time for a role call...
Tomatoes -
Early Girl x4
Yellow Pear x2
Bloody Butcher x2
Mr. Stripey x1
Yellow Cherry x1
Purple Pole Beans
Kentucky Pole Beans
Sugar Peas
Salad Bowl Lettuce
Bibb Lettuce
Raddichio
Spinach
Red Beets
Yellow Beets
Crookneck Squash
Zucchini Squash
Sweet Corn
Basil
Oregano
Thai Basil
Sage
Thyme
Cilantro
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Weed Gehenna
My eleven year-old son Reid is the anointed "hole-digger" of our household. If I need a hole dug, Reid is "da boy". All I need to tell him is where, how big, how deep, and a few minutes or hours later, it's dug (He also pockets a little cash in the process).
Last year, I built five planters. Four were built and put into service - the fifth was built later in the season, and actually a little too late to be useful. But in preparation for the planter, a hole needed to be dug. Reid was in business!
My planter installation goes something like this. The planters I build are uniform, and are 4' x 8' x 12" high. I use two 2" x 6" boards for the siding, which gives me an effective planter soil depth about 9" above ground level. Since certain plant roots can penetrate the soil beyond the 9" depth, I dig out the soil about 18" below ground level and mix my amendments (compost, pre-composted plant material, sand, etc.) in with the native soil. This gives me a nice, deep loam for those deep rooted plants.
Well, the location of the fifth hole Reid dug turned out to be too shady to make a decent planter... so I ended up with this nice little pit near my fence line. Hmmm. What should I do with this? It was too far away from our back door to be a cozy fire pit - our neighbors have a great fire pit, where they roast hot dogs and marshmallows, but it is less than 20' from their back door - this hole was a good 100+' from mine, and it was in a garden area, not a patio. Should I fill it back in? I wasn't sure I wanted to pay to fill it (cheapskate!), and I certainly didn't want to do the back-breaking labor myself for naught. Besides, the soil exhumed from the hole is sandy, and could be used for filling one of my other planters if need be.
As I was weeding my non-growing areas over this past weekend, I noticed I was creating a nice bale of weed debris, and then it struck me - I could use the hole to make a "weed gehenna"!
What is a "weed gehenna"?
In the gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verses 43-48, Jesus is talking with His disciples about hell, which He used the word "gehenna". In hell [gehenna], "the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (verse 44, NASB).
The word "gehenna" was derived from an actual place outside of the walled city of Jerusalem, whic was a refuse pile for trash, dead animals, etc. In other words, it was a dump. The fires of gehenna burned on, smouldering and seemingly without end, and the worms helped the decomposition process along. You could say (or at least I could!) that gehenna was like a giant compost pile.
I like compost piles. You can take plant matter, manure, a little moisture, and after a little time has passed, voila! Compost! In layman's terms (since I couldn't give a biological explanation, anyway), the moisture causes the plant and other matter to heat up (the microscopic things start a feeding frenzy, eating away at the food source), and when things cool down, the worms get involved, also eating up the food source. The heat and the worms digest the vegetation and other matter, turning it into black gold - nutrient-rich compost.
So, my hole is a "weed gehenna" - a compost pile, where the worm does not die, and the fire (heat) is not quenched!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Inland Northwest vs. The San Joaquin Valley
Comparisons are inevitable. In basketball, it's Kobe vs. LeBron. Football - Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady. Gonzaga vs. Wazzou. Marsha Brady vs. Laurie Partridge.
(huh?)
As far as gardening is concerned, how do I compare my current home (Newman Lake) with my old one (Fresno)?
What I miss about Fresno:
1) The early Spring - February (Believe it! On some occasions, plum trees would be blooming in January! One year I kept a journal, and I was picking tomatoes at the end of May! Up here, I'm lucky to plant my tomatoes by the end of May!)
2) The hot summers that really kick the squash, peppers, and melons (Last year in Newman Lake, I grew - well, tried to grow - cantaloupe and watermelon. I ended up with tennis-ball sized melons!)
3) The Fall (Sometimes, Fresno gets an Indian Summer where October doesn't turn cool until late and stays in the 80's and even the 90's. Gardens keep on producing.)
What I don't miss about Fresno:
1) The air (whoops, not a gardening topic! Let's try again.)
1) Hardpan (I don't miss the feeling of the shovel head stopping like it hit concrete 6" below the surface. I don't miss the barren alkali soil that can't grow anything but scrub brush, either).
2) White flies (I almost forgot about them. They are little moths that are smaller than mosquitos, but are everywhere. They coat everything with a sticky goo that is awful, and actually causes millions of $$$ of damage to the cash crops. If a hard freeze doesn't hit, they live happily through Winter, too.)
3) Regular flies (I hate flies. In October, in Fresno, when the weather starts to change, the flies start congregating all over the houses, literally walking vertically and upside-down on the walls and eaves, and not flying. It's like they know Armageddon is coming. Ugh.)
4) The lack of winter (Because there isn't a hard, lengthy freeze, the bugs never go away. And, it just gets foggy. Snow can be fun. Fog is not.)
What I like about Newman Lake
1) The Summers (This is cool crop paradise - lettuce and other leafy greens thrive here. And, it is pleasant to work in the garden when it's not 100 outside.)
2) The soil (The sandy soil is easy to work with - once you get the rocks out! - and you can build it up with amendments. No comparison to the dreaded hardpan.)
3) The Summers, part II (It gets light at 4am, and doesn't get dark until 9:30 - plenty of time to work on the garden.)
4) It Rains! (Yes, it rains up here, giving you a reprieve from watering. It almost never rains in Fresno.)
What I don't like about Newman Lake
1) The short growing season (Unless you are greenhouse-equipped, you won't pick a tomato or a pepper until late-July or August)
2) The lack of flies (Kidding!)
In terms of straight miles, Spokane is about 760 miles from Fresno - it is driveable in a day. But in terms of gardening, it is amazing the effect this distance has. I wonder what kind of growing season they have in Hay River in the Northwest Territories (due North of Spokane by about 920 miles)? By comparison, Lancaster is about 900 miles due South of Spokane, and not much different climate wise from Fresno.
Maybe Newman Lake has a lengthy growing season after all...
(huh?)
As far as gardening is concerned, how do I compare my current home (Newman Lake) with my old one (Fresno)?
What I miss about Fresno:
1) The early Spring - February (Believe it! On some occasions, plum trees would be blooming in January! One year I kept a journal, and I was picking tomatoes at the end of May! Up here, I'm lucky to plant my tomatoes by the end of May!)
2) The hot summers that really kick the squash, peppers, and melons (Last year in Newman Lake, I grew - well, tried to grow - cantaloupe and watermelon. I ended up with tennis-ball sized melons!)
3) The Fall (Sometimes, Fresno gets an Indian Summer where October doesn't turn cool until late and stays in the 80's and even the 90's. Gardens keep on producing.)
What I don't miss about Fresno:
1) The air (whoops, not a gardening topic! Let's try again.)
1) Hardpan (I don't miss the feeling of the shovel head stopping like it hit concrete 6" below the surface. I don't miss the barren alkali soil that can't grow anything but scrub brush, either).
2) White flies (I almost forgot about them. They are little moths that are smaller than mosquitos, but are everywhere. They coat everything with a sticky goo that is awful, and actually causes millions of $$$ of damage to the cash crops. If a hard freeze doesn't hit, they live happily through Winter, too.)
3) Regular flies (I hate flies. In October, in Fresno, when the weather starts to change, the flies start congregating all over the houses, literally walking vertically and upside-down on the walls and eaves, and not flying. It's like they know Armageddon is coming. Ugh.)
4) The lack of winter (Because there isn't a hard, lengthy freeze, the bugs never go away. And, it just gets foggy. Snow can be fun. Fog is not.)
What I like about Newman Lake
1) The Summers (This is cool crop paradise - lettuce and other leafy greens thrive here. And, it is pleasant to work in the garden when it's not 100 outside.)
2) The soil (The sandy soil is easy to work with - once you get the rocks out! - and you can build it up with amendments. No comparison to the dreaded hardpan.)
3) The Summers, part II (It gets light at 4am, and doesn't get dark until 9:30 - plenty of time to work on the garden.)
4) It Rains! (Yes, it rains up here, giving you a reprieve from watering. It almost never rains in Fresno.)
What I don't like about Newman Lake
1) The short growing season (Unless you are greenhouse-equipped, you won't pick a tomato or a pepper until late-July or August)
2) The lack of flies (Kidding!)
In terms of straight miles, Spokane is about 760 miles from Fresno - it is driveable in a day. But in terms of gardening, it is amazing the effect this distance has. I wonder what kind of growing season they have in Hay River in the Northwest Territories (due North of Spokane by about 920 miles)? By comparison, Lancaster is about 900 miles due South of Spokane, and not much different climate wise from Fresno.
Maybe Newman Lake has a lengthy growing season after all...
I Wanna Rock! (Well, no I don't)
In the words of the immortal Dee Snider, lead singer of Twisted Sister...
"I Wanna Rock!"
Well, Dee, you never lived in or around Spokane, did you??
Rock, around here in Spokane, means rocks. Everywhere. The soil is full of them. Big rocks, medium sized rocks, small rocks, pebbles. Drive around, and you see stacks of rocks. Rocks lining the landscape. Rocks are the landscape. There is even a place on Harvard road and Trent that sells rocks! Even Calvin the Manure Man's compost is full of them!
(Calvin is a real farmer just down the road from me, and he boards horses. He has a pretty good supply of manure, and he works it in with green matter, turns it, and it makes really nice compost. However, his compost has a few rocks in it. Like everything else that resembles dirt around here.)
Last year, when I blended Calvin's compost into my planter boxes, I pulled out the bigger rocks (those that were 3" and up), and lived with what I had. This year, I decided to clean up my boxes and screen them out.
I built a 2x2 screen using 2"x4" redwood and 1/4" hardware cloth. The screen worked great - it filtered out all but the smallest rocks, as well as any other foreign matter, and it fluffed up the compost too.
BUT, screening out one 4'x8'x12" planter worth of soil is quite a job, much less for five planters!
"I Wanna Rock!"
Well, Dee, you never lived in or around Spokane, did you??
Rock, around here in Spokane, means rocks. Everywhere. The soil is full of them. Big rocks, medium sized rocks, small rocks, pebbles. Drive around, and you see stacks of rocks. Rocks lining the landscape. Rocks are the landscape. There is even a place on Harvard road and Trent that sells rocks! Even Calvin the Manure Man's compost is full of them!
(Calvin is a real farmer just down the road from me, and he boards horses. He has a pretty good supply of manure, and he works it in with green matter, turns it, and it makes really nice compost. However, his compost has a few rocks in it. Like everything else that resembles dirt around here.)
Last year, when I blended Calvin's compost into my planter boxes, I pulled out the bigger rocks (those that were 3" and up), and lived with what I had. This year, I decided to clean up my boxes and screen them out.
I built a 2x2 screen using 2"x4" redwood and 1/4" hardware cloth. The screen worked great - it filtered out all but the smallest rocks, as well as any other foreign matter, and it fluffed up the compost too.
BUT, screening out one 4'x8'x12" planter worth of soil is quite a job, much less for five planters!
"Organic-Like" Gardening
I am an "organic-like" gardener. What on earth is "organic-like"? It's 100% organic, but I can't prove it's "certified organic", so in deference to those who are "certified organic" , I'll be content with calling it "organic-like".
I use composted manure as my soil supplement. My redwood planters have a soy-based stain, so there is no leaching of whatever back into my garden soil, and I would NEVER use pressure-treated wood (or old railroad ties) for my planters. I strategically plant catch-crops to attract certain bugs and repel others. I have a literal worm garden in each of my planters that carried over from last year. I only use natural and organic fertilizers (bone meal, blood meal, fish emulsion). I don't use any herbicide in my planters (I do use a little Roundup on the perimeters of the compound to get rid of rhizome grasses, but most weed reduction is done mechanically). I don't use ANY pesticides in my garden area (and am not really fond of them for other uses). Someday, I hope to have an organic, thriving lawn - I'm in my first year of experimenting with a Microclover (R) mixture planted in a small area, and if my wife approves, I'll re-seed everything.
Living in the San Joaquin Valley as a kid in the 60's and 70's, there was no such thing as organic. Farmers sprayed, and sprayed, and sprayed. And it worked... sort of. The bugs went away. Weeds disappeared. Ground spraying, aerial spraying, hand spraying, you name it, they sprayed it.
When I was about 3-4 years old (circa 1965), we had bugs everywhere. Dragonflies, praying mantis, ladybugs, stink bugs (beetles). We had an irrigation canal next to our house, and canals tend to spawn all kinds of bugs. One of my favorite activities could be called "whack-a-dragonfly". Armed with a flyswatter (there were lots of flies, and my mom must have had a dozen flyswatters in the house), around dusk I would go out to the front yard. Dragonflies were buzzing around everywhere. I would chase them, flailing my flyswatter at them to knock them down and step on them. It was truly a noble sport for a 4 year-old! (It probably led me into my youthful passion for tennis a few years later).
I don't know just when the spraying began in earnest, but it wasn't long after that when I noticed the dragonflies disappeared. By the time I was 10, I don't remember any at all. And the mantis were disappearing, too. I used to see their egg-cases everywhere, and in the springtime, these TINY mantis would crawl out and start looking for gnats to eat. It was cool!
By the time I was a teenager, only the flies were left, it seemed.
One time my dad, growing weary of all of the flies around the house, came up with a unique solution to rid them.
We had a field next to our house (probably alfalfa) that was in need of crop dusting. Alfalfa attracted butterflies, which would lay eggs in the alfalfa, hatching furry caterpillars that loved to eat the alfalfa. As a young boy under 10 years old, I remember seeing those caterpillars everywhere, and they were really cool to squish because they had these greenish-yellow innards that were alien-esque. From a farmers perspective, though, they were more than a nuisance - they were lost profits. The answer? Spray, spray, spray!
Back to the flies. Whatever pesticide they used to kill the caterpillars, it wasn't selective - it killed many-a-bug. Even the good bugs, like praying mantis, ladybugs, it didn't matter. The mindset then was KILL 'EM ALL!
So my dad's reasoning probably went something like this:
1) The crop duster will be spraying the field for bugs;
2) Flies are bugs;
3) The house is next to the field;
4) The crop duster flies over the house;
5) The crop duster can release the spray over the house;
6) The flies die!
That was how it was in the 60's and 70's (well, maybe not the aerial spraying of your home - although Gov. Jerry Brown did order aerial spraying of the dreaded Medfly in the San Jose area in the early 80's). Shell Pest Strips hung on the eaves of the house (I think we even had some inside the house, too). We had metal hand pump-sprayers that held Raid with DDT for household spraying. We didn't know any better.
It's no wonder we have had such an explosion of cancer, kidney, liver and other chronic diseases in the post-WWII generations.
So, thanks to reading some of J.I. Rodale's (and others) literature about ten or so years ago on organic gardening, I decided to "go organic". Or in my case, "organic-like".
I use composted manure as my soil supplement. My redwood planters have a soy-based stain, so there is no leaching of whatever back into my garden soil, and I would NEVER use pressure-treated wood (or old railroad ties) for my planters. I strategically plant catch-crops to attract certain bugs and repel others. I have a literal worm garden in each of my planters that carried over from last year. I only use natural and organic fertilizers (bone meal, blood meal, fish emulsion). I don't use any herbicide in my planters (I do use a little Roundup on the perimeters of the compound to get rid of rhizome grasses, but most weed reduction is done mechanically). I don't use ANY pesticides in my garden area (and am not really fond of them for other uses). Someday, I hope to have an organic, thriving lawn - I'm in my first year of experimenting with a Microclover (R) mixture planted in a small area, and if my wife approves, I'll re-seed everything.
Living in the San Joaquin Valley as a kid in the 60's and 70's, there was no such thing as organic. Farmers sprayed, and sprayed, and sprayed. And it worked... sort of. The bugs went away. Weeds disappeared. Ground spraying, aerial spraying, hand spraying, you name it, they sprayed it.
When I was about 3-4 years old (circa 1965), we had bugs everywhere. Dragonflies, praying mantis, ladybugs, stink bugs (beetles). We had an irrigation canal next to our house, and canals tend to spawn all kinds of bugs. One of my favorite activities could be called "whack-a-dragonfly". Armed with a flyswatter (there were lots of flies, and my mom must have had a dozen flyswatters in the house), around dusk I would go out to the front yard. Dragonflies were buzzing around everywhere. I would chase them, flailing my flyswatter at them to knock them down and step on them. It was truly a noble sport for a 4 year-old! (It probably led me into my youthful passion for tennis a few years later).
I don't know just when the spraying began in earnest, but it wasn't long after that when I noticed the dragonflies disappeared. By the time I was 10, I don't remember any at all. And the mantis were disappearing, too. I used to see their egg-cases everywhere, and in the springtime, these TINY mantis would crawl out and start looking for gnats to eat. It was cool!
By the time I was a teenager, only the flies were left, it seemed.
One time my dad, growing weary of all of the flies around the house, came up with a unique solution to rid them.
We had a field next to our house (probably alfalfa) that was in need of crop dusting. Alfalfa attracted butterflies, which would lay eggs in the alfalfa, hatching furry caterpillars that loved to eat the alfalfa. As a young boy under 10 years old, I remember seeing those caterpillars everywhere, and they were really cool to squish because they had these greenish-yellow innards that were alien-esque. From a farmers perspective, though, they were more than a nuisance - they were lost profits. The answer? Spray, spray, spray!
Back to the flies. Whatever pesticide they used to kill the caterpillars, it wasn't selective - it killed many-a-bug. Even the good bugs, like praying mantis, ladybugs, it didn't matter. The mindset then was KILL 'EM ALL!
So my dad's reasoning probably went something like this:
1) The crop duster will be spraying the field for bugs;
2) Flies are bugs;
3) The house is next to the field;
4) The crop duster flies over the house;
5) The crop duster can release the spray over the house;
6) The flies die!
That was how it was in the 60's and 70's (well, maybe not the aerial spraying of your home - although Gov. Jerry Brown did order aerial spraying of the dreaded Medfly in the San Jose area in the early 80's). Shell Pest Strips hung on the eaves of the house (I think we even had some inside the house, too). We had metal hand pump-sprayers that held Raid with DDT for household spraying. We didn't know any better.
It's no wonder we have had such an explosion of cancer, kidney, liver and other chronic diseases in the post-WWII generations.
So, thanks to reading some of J.I. Rodale's (and others) literature about ten or so years ago on organic gardening, I decided to "go organic". Or in my case, "organic-like".
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Raised bed Genesis - The Summer of 2008
I had planted conventional gardens over the years - till the dirt, form the rows, plant the seeds (or baby plants), water the rows, weed, Weed, WEED, and eventually pick my bounty. That's gardening, or so I thought.
We moved up to the Inland Northwest in 2003, to Coeur d'Alene Idaho, and in 2006, we moved to Newman Lake Washington (a mile or so over the Idaho border). We moved into a large home on an acre, and the prior owners had this really cool chain-link fenced-off area they used for a garden. Because deer and other critters tend to munch on anything that looks good, the old owners wisely set-aside this area and critter-proofed it.
Our first summer here, my daughter Emma hankered for a garden, so she went forth a-planting. She made rows this way and that way, planting vegetables and flowers from seed and small plants. The morning glory and all the other indiginous weeds grew as well, competing with the good plants for food and water. Soon, the garden was overgrown and the battle was lost. I do recall eating a couple of pear tomatoes that summer, but not much else.
2007 was a gardening sabbatical for us - my job held a lot of travel and I was in the thick of working on a Master's degree, and no one had the burning desire to plant a garden (or really, weed, water, weed, Weed, WEED).
2008 was a new year. I had a new job with no travel, my Master's was finished in April, and I had the gardening bug, but this time I was introduced to the idea of RAISED BED GARDENING! That's right, container gardening! What a great idea - build some wooden beds, add soil, and grow plants without weeds! NO WEEDING! GARDENING COULDN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!!!
So I started Googling "raised planters" and found a design that looked great (from Sunset Magazine, I believe). 4' x 8' redwood planters. Just build 'em, stain 'em, fill 'em with soil, scatter seed and plant plants, and all was good. During a warm spell in May, I built four of them and stuck them in the compound, bought some tomato plants and some seeds, and made me a garden!
The problem was that Winter hung around too long, Spring really didn't come until late June when Summer was supposed to show up (it snowed on June 1st), and Summer didn't come around until mid-July. My poor tomato plants looked miserable until after the Fourth of July - they were purple, had little growth, and just didn't look right. Excepting the HoopFest weekend in late June (and it always heats up in the 90's for HoopFest), the temps were in the 60's and rarely got above the mid-70's during the whole month of June, and the nights were still in the 40's! Bad, bad BAD for tomatoes and most everything else I was trying to grow. Only the lettuce was really enjoying this "global warming".
I finally picked a regular tomato in August, and considering all of the plants I planted, I had a pitiful harvest. In fact, many of the tomatoes I planted from 4-packs didn't even produce a single ripe tomato! The best results came from those plants that were in 4" and 6" containers (so this year, 2009, I only bought 4" and 6" tomatoes). I ended up picking and ripening quite a few green tomatoes, as things were shutting down by early October.
The Summer of 2008 is now known by all local gardeners to have been one lousy growing season, one of the worst on record. Fortunately, that first season did not break me, as I regrouped and started with great visions of a bountiful 2009!
More to come...
We moved up to the Inland Northwest in 2003, to Coeur d'Alene Idaho, and in 2006, we moved to Newman Lake Washington (a mile or so over the Idaho border). We moved into a large home on an acre, and the prior owners had this really cool chain-link fenced-off area they used for a garden. Because deer and other critters tend to munch on anything that looks good, the old owners wisely set-aside this area and critter-proofed it.
Our first summer here, my daughter Emma hankered for a garden, so she went forth a-planting. She made rows this way and that way, planting vegetables and flowers from seed and small plants. The morning glory and all the other indiginous weeds grew as well, competing with the good plants for food and water. Soon, the garden was overgrown and the battle was lost. I do recall eating a couple of pear tomatoes that summer, but not much else.
2007 was a gardening sabbatical for us - my job held a lot of travel and I was in the thick of working on a Master's degree, and no one had the burning desire to plant a garden (or really, weed, water, weed, Weed, WEED).
2008 was a new year. I had a new job with no travel, my Master's was finished in April, and I had the gardening bug, but this time I was introduced to the idea of RAISED BED GARDENING! That's right, container gardening! What a great idea - build some wooden beds, add soil, and grow plants without weeds! NO WEEDING! GARDENING COULDN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!!!
So I started Googling "raised planters" and found a design that looked great (from Sunset Magazine, I believe). 4' x 8' redwood planters. Just build 'em, stain 'em, fill 'em with soil, scatter seed and plant plants, and all was good. During a warm spell in May, I built four of them and stuck them in the compound, bought some tomato plants and some seeds, and made me a garden!
The problem was that Winter hung around too long, Spring really didn't come until late June when Summer was supposed to show up (it snowed on June 1st), and Summer didn't come around until mid-July. My poor tomato plants looked miserable until after the Fourth of July - they were purple, had little growth, and just didn't look right. Excepting the HoopFest weekend in late June (and it always heats up in the 90's for HoopFest), the temps were in the 60's and rarely got above the mid-70's during the whole month of June, and the nights were still in the 40's! Bad, bad BAD for tomatoes and most everything else I was trying to grow. Only the lettuce was really enjoying this "global warming".
I finally picked a regular tomato in August, and considering all of the plants I planted, I had a pitiful harvest. In fact, many of the tomatoes I planted from 4-packs didn't even produce a single ripe tomato! The best results came from those plants that were in 4" and 6" containers (so this year, 2009, I only bought 4" and 6" tomatoes). I ended up picking and ripening quite a few green tomatoes, as things were shutting down by early October.
The Summer of 2008 is now known by all local gardeners to have been one lousy growing season, one of the worst on record. Fortunately, that first season did not break me, as I regrouped and started with great visions of a bountiful 2009!
More to come...
A Farmer Has to Farm
I enjoy farming - more so now that when I was actually a "farmer". Once upon a time, I drove tractors, set siphon pipes, raked and baled alfalfa, drove a pickup (well, still do), pruned trees, picked fruit... you get the picture.
Over my post-farming life, I have planted a few gardens. Why? Because there is nothing quite like the taste of a vine-ripened tomato. But what about those "vine-ripened tomatoes" sold at Safeway (or Albertsons, or Save Mart, or Yokes)? Ha! They are NOT even close! And turnips? Ohhhh, there is no comparison. Every turnip I have bought at a store is the same - large, woody, dried-out and quite frankly, not very good. But taste one fresh out of the garden... tart, juicy, YUM!!!
Corn is sugar-sweet when it's fresh-picked. Peas - oh BABY! Squash are buttery, mild and delicious. The list goes on and on...
Growing a garden is one of those glorious hobbies that most anyone can do, it's not particularly hard as long as you plan things out, and you reap rewards that you can eat.
This blog is about my journey as a raised-bed vegetable gardener in the Inland Northwest. I'll share my own experiences, hunches, and opinions about farming in 4' x 8' redwood planter boxes. I'm also very interested in hearing from other "4 x 8 farmers"!
Over my post-farming life, I have planted a few gardens. Why? Because there is nothing quite like the taste of a vine-ripened tomato. But what about those "vine-ripened tomatoes" sold at Safeway (or Albertsons, or Save Mart, or Yokes)? Ha! They are NOT even close! And turnips? Ohhhh, there is no comparison. Every turnip I have bought at a store is the same - large, woody, dried-out and quite frankly, not very good. But taste one fresh out of the garden... tart, juicy, YUM!!!
Corn is sugar-sweet when it's fresh-picked. Peas - oh BABY! Squash are buttery, mild and delicious. The list goes on and on...
Growing a garden is one of those glorious hobbies that most anyone can do, it's not particularly hard as long as you plan things out, and you reap rewards that you can eat.
This blog is about my journey as a raised-bed vegetable gardener in the Inland Northwest. I'll share my own experiences, hunches, and opinions about farming in 4' x 8' redwood planter boxes. I'm also very interested in hearing from other "4 x 8 farmers"!
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