Be joyful though you have considered all the facts
Yesterday Amie and I made hotcaps (or some version thereof) for our lettuces, some of which are bursting out of their already large containers downstairs. I had hoped to transplant them into the cold frame before today, but the weather has been in the extremes. Three days ago, for instance, the max in the (unvented) …
Continue reading “Hardening Off the Lettuce, and Our Version of Hotcaps”
I’ve pruned our house, that is, pulled all the suckers! That is, I unplugged all the appliances that suck electricity even though they’re not in use. Like battery chargers of all kinds (they don’t need to be charging anything to be drawing electricity anything that has little lights or clocks, like the microwave anything on …
Continue reading “A Page from my Garden Book, and Pruning the House”
Finally an outdoor garden photo! The construction of the cold frame is done and we placed it in front of our house to the south and at the top of a slope. That place gets optimal sunlight during the winter, but not much during the summer, as it will be shaded for most of the …
The growing rack is filling up. The bottom shelf is now exclusively a “hot box”, where the most heat-loving seeds go to germinate. Yesterday I added three kinds of basil (Tulsi or sacred basil, Genovese and sweet Italian) and greek oregano to the already resident eggplant, peppers, parsley and rosemary. The second shelf is the …
Just last week I wrote that I was thinking of purchasing Edible Forest Gardens by Jacke and Toensmeier, but that it was too expensive. Luck and generosity came my way so I could buy it anyway. Amie really got to see how happy books can make her, when the mailman brought the big box (2 …
Continue reading “Edible Forest Gardens: Bought it After All”
Compost bin 1 at 92 degrees F In the Germination Area sowed second batch of Onions, Leeks, Catnip sowed first batch of Garlic Chives 2 Rosemary sprouts emerged 1 Parsley sprout 15 Sweet Marjoram 15 Thyme 3 tiny Mint sprouts 1 Lemon Balm sprout (but it’s probably a stray Marjoram) 1 Pepper seedling (looks stuck …
Mama’s potting bench in the basement The situation at our “homestead” is very complex, and getting more so as I gather more information and experience. I feel like I’m that not-so-proverbial teacher who is only one step ahead of her students, and I’m teaching French! Today, for instance, I was transplanting the lettuce seedlings (the …
The Pachy Patch in Summer 2008 yesterday was a perfect summer, spring, winter’s day: cloudless sky, 60F, the mildest of breezes, and some good hard labor. I went out, turned the two defrosted compost bins and then tackled the Pachysandra patch, a.k.a. the vegetable garden. Ah Pachysandra… It took over five hours of hacking and …
One Our renovation project has so far generated a fair amount of scrap materials. Luckily it’s mostly wood and only some drywall, which is virtually not reusable. Of the wood DH and I have saved most: we take out the nails, tease off the drywall and have built up a nice stack of project wood …
Continue reading “Three for the Neighborhood, or How I Scored Unlimited Amounts of Horse Manure”
The Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce is doing well. I fed it some Tomato Food (Terracycle Wormpoop) the other day, as it was immediately on hand. There were no instructions on the bottle, so I eyeballed it. Oops! Their leaves soon curled under, a sure sign of overfeeding. Luckily it wasn’t too bad. The wormpoop is a …
Continue reading “Seed/Ling Update, and Thyme, Parsley and more Onions,”