Do you think about the future? Do you wonder what it will be like? Or do you live like it’s always going to be the way it has been? ~ I found at least 5 entries like this one, all in drafts, abandoned. As I prepare for the growing season with more resolve and urgency …
Category Archives: garden
In Other News
My first Beekeeping class this evening! I’m very excited and plan to report in full. I realized that with all the soil (clay) we’ll be digging up to create the pond, we’ll be able to make an earth oven. There might even be enough to build a small adobe structure around the oven. We’ll just …
Compost and Veggies in the Hoop House
Brrrr, looks so cold with that new banner! The hoop house beds get an airing Inspired by Rob of One Straw, I went out into the cold, bright air yesterday – gloves, woolen cap – to move the compost. The idea was to transfer it from Earth Machine no.1 behind our house, which receives our …
More Seed Purchases
The flower garden (to be). Yes, all the way down there. I ordered more seeds, for those plants that were on back order in my previous order, and lots of everlasting and perennial flowers, many of them beneficials. 2068RO-Atomic Red Carrot OG (A=1g) 1 x $1.80= $1.80 2512LY-Olympia Spinach (A=1/4oz) 1 x $1.00= $1.00 3228MZ-Early …
A Flower Garden for Bees and People
Our back garden, house and veg garden are on a little hill. The slope (in red) is quite steep, and we terraced the part where the soil had been disturbed and was eroding. We put beds on either side (only the two lowest ones shown in brown) and a path of grass in the middle. …
Oh My.
Amie chooses flowers I put in my seed order. I may have gone overboard a bit, again. No, honestly now, not “again”: even more so, than last year. And these are seeds over and above what I still have left. To be honest I am ashamed to publish the list. Oh my. But, truth be …
Of Calcium in the Soil – Part 3
This is the third article in a series on how calcium and other nutrients end up inside our vegetables, and on how to interpret certain soil test results. It is preceded by part 1 and part 2. ~ 3. Water and pH Let’s investigate the water in the soil. For one, water brings the minerals …
Who’s at the Feeder and Hoop House Trouble
I enjoy nothing more, in winter, then sitting by the big window with a cup of steaming tea and a good book or chess game, and observing the birds at the well-stocked feeder. We have the usual flock of juncos, who love playing in the snow. They are having it out with a flock (the …
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Quick Notes on Stored Food and a Peek Inside the Hoop House
So I did all that canning last year and ended up with a little more than what you see in the picture above. So far we’ve eaten half the tomato sauce, a lot of apple sauce and blueberry jam (but not half, not by a long shot), a quarter of the peaches, and some of …
Continue reading “Quick Notes on Stored Food and a Peek Inside the Hoop House”
Of Calcium in the Soil – Part 2
This is the second article in a series on how calcium and other nutrients end up inside our vegetables, and on how to interpret certain soil test results. You can read the first part here. ~ 2. The soil’s ability to hold on to this calcium: colloids and cation exchange capacity The soil needs to …