Still Learning

This is a local CSA now in their 2nd year. Looks like he's got lumber for raised beds in the pickup truck. And a fox ate 10 of his chickens the next day. I found this out when I went over to his house the next day to pick up 2 pounds of spare onion sets.

















I've read garden books galore. And you really think you know what your doing. But between the printed page and the dirty finger is a leap over a chasm so vast that it humbles you. For example, planting dates on the calender get shredded by unusual weather patterns. This means all those delicate lettuce sprouts that we coming up 2 weeks ago we pounded by 5 days of heavy rain. So it's back to reseeding the bed. The books didn't explain how to protect them. Maybe a cloche, or hoop house over the early beds. In the 60 minute garden, all the garden beds are raised beds with 2x6 lumber with clamps that can hold onto PVC hoops. So yes, you can protect the seedlings.

Currently, I just till and plant in rows. But I think next year I'll take the next step of having some 'high-tech' raised beds that can act as nurseries and hoop houses for earlier starts. Also, I have lots of plate glass (I got them free as scrap from a company that sold glass shelving). So I plan on doing lots of cold frames this fall to extend the season on tomatoes and to start over-wintered spinach.


Garden activities:

1. visited a new CSA - their 2nd year. The had lots of spare onion sets. But Eric said they likely will not bulb due to day length, so use them for scallions.
2. transplanted peppers, reseeded lettuce, worked on deer-proofing the fence. I'm extending it upward another 3 feet.
3. trellised the peas
4. spread wood ash on the chicken run grassy areas - to neutralize the acidity. Did this before the rain that will get it into the soil and not kill the grass. .

World news:
GM and Chrysler head toward bankruptcy. A couple of thoughts: it's a shame the country is not protecting it's industries but the tragectory of the U.S. was not sustainable anyway. So there will be a lot of additional unemployment coming with this. And two, like many others, I welcome the end of the hideous interstate highway culture and a transition to more local economies and trains and trolleys. But a lot of folks are going to suffer. And if these industries are dead and factories closed, where will the trains come from? China? The country won't have good credit. Sigh, even if you are skilled and are 'garden-centric' for food and are prepared - still when others suffer, we will be affected too.


A pair of geese have a nest at the edge of the lawn. Last year a pair tried the same thing but foxes got them. We'll see if these two succeed.














Here is a new hoe I bought at a barn sale two weeks ago. I had never seen this in any book or catalog - but I love trying out new garden tools that might save work. This one, it turns out, is really effective for some applications. It has a good 'push' motion to dislodge thick rooted weeds. You can also step down with it like a spade to get the tap root of dandelions. And you can pull on it to use it like a regular hoe.