A sunny Sunday for yard chores

We had a wonderful mild and sunny day today.  And although I could only find a couple hours to get out into the yard, it was a delightful and productive time. Not only did I get some plants moved and pruned -- I managed to murder 7 snails in the process.

So far I am nervous about pruning my existing fruit trees so I have left them alone (though they have only been in the ground for a year so I think that is okay.)  But I do find it incredibly satisfying to clean up my perennials like the hydrangea below.  In turn I removed dead wood, long-spent flowers, and old/mis-shapen canes to set the plant up for its growing season.  I imagine once I overcome my ignorance of fruit pruning and gain some experience, I will feel the same way about tending to my apples, pears, blueberries, and kiwis as I do these inedible plants.

 

Somehow the trim makes the yard look so much spiffier -- and that much readier for spring.

The warm weather is supposed to hold for tomorrow.  And with the help of a neighborhood teenager this afternoon, my soon-to-be-updated fruit bed is weed-free and ready for planting.  I am hoping to take advantage of tomorrow's weather (forecast says 60 degrees and sunny in Seattle) to get my blueberries and strawberries into the ground.  Since it is also predicted to start raining again on Tuesday, this is about as perfect as I could have dreamed.

Silliness

Today I did a bunch of shopping for supplies.  Hit four stores and still couldn't commit to buying half my list because I was unsure of my math. 

On the lighter side ... I ran into this silly video done by an area nursery.  It is their take on civil rights activist General Larry Platt's breakout performance on American Idol -- and it involves growing food.

Fruit starts force a jump start

... and all is good.  UPS dropped a 5 foot long, triangular tube shaped box on my doorstep right before dinner.  The kids were so busy pretending they were animals that I was able to wrestle it into the garage with minimal fuss.  And now I have the promise of summer fruit stashed in various places: strawberries in the fridge and blueberries and kiwi in the garage.  (Thanks Raintree for the owner's manual with the tips on what to do if you are not ready to plant.)

There is nothing like having too much to do to help a person prioritize. Suddenly I know that I am not going to mess with a fancy drip or emitter watering system.  In fact, I think I will water most of my vegetables by hand this year -- which will probably turn out to be a very popular decision with the kids once things warm up.

More work arrives tomorrow

Today I got an e-mail from UPS that my fruit starts will arrive tomorrow.  TOMORROW! 

But luckily, I got that message right before a nearby teenager stopped by to see what yard work I had to offer -- and I added weeding the fruit bed to the list.  He might even take care of doling out compost to all my beds when the yard and I are ready. 

Set-backs and set-ups at Scaredy Cat Farm

I think I got a bit overwhelmed.  Last week when I said that I wasn't going to tackle my weeds until my fruit starts arrived and then I would only have to "order compost, do a thorough weeding job, plant the new fruit, lay down a soaker hose, and cover the whole thing with 2" of compost," my heart sunk.  That was the list for just one of my beds.  My big raised bed still needs to be filled with soil and have some sort of water system put in place.  My small raised bed also still needs soil and water -- plus sturdy trellises so I can grow vines upright. And then I kept getting turned around by my planting schedule.  It was complicated since I aspire to succession planting and four season edibles.  When I ordered my seeds, I didn't even think about seasonal varieties: that you might be able to plant spinach or lettuce year round -- but some varieties flourish in winter and others in summer.

My kindergartner was asking me if I knew what a put-up was the other day.  I didn't.  And it took two days before it came out that a put-up is the opposite of a put-down (ie. a compliment.)  So as I come out of my funk, I am dwelling on my set-ups rather than set-backs.

Set-up number 1: Our large raised bed is in the ground.  It even has holders installed in case I am ever ready to try a hoop system (and then I would "only need" to buy and cut 1/2 inch PVCto length, buy and cut the row cover, and figure out how to secure it so it doesn't blow away -- so maybe in the fall....)

Set-up number 2: I managed to get a few inches of soil into the bottom of our structure.  Plus, I remembered there are teenage boys around here.  I could probably hire one to get more of this task done.  (I am using composted sod for the bottom foot and will be buying better raised bed soil for the top foot.)

Set-up number 3: I did manage to design a planting schedule.  I even allowed myself to pick out a few more seeds to get me through the winter.  And I have decided that just because you can plant in Februrary, it doesn't mean you have to.  I will get started in March.

Set-up number 4:  I let someone else get me a huge headstart on my soon-to-be renovated, time for a nap/cup of tea/good book relaxation area.  They took out the diseased, overgrown fotinia that was turning our eaves into a condo development for young animal families and the arborvitae I never warmed to -- and soon I will regain shade and privacy with plantings of narrow, clumping bamboo, woodrush, and hostas.

Set-up number 5: The end of 'false' spring and the return of the rain predicted for this week has been exaggerated.  There have been plenty of sunbursts to sustain me -- and though they probably won't last (the air is a lot crisper than it has been in a while), I might even be ready for 'real' spring when it comes.

Still trying to get my head around plant succession

I have no business being up this late at night -- but I got started on trying to come up with a garden plan/planting schedule and I just couldn't let go.  I have been doing my research and I found Growing Vegetables by Solomon really helped me conceive of time.  He says to consider your garden as two gardens: one planted with spring/fall crops and one with summer/winter cover crops.  That made sense -- so I started trying to divy my seeds up into these categories and remembered how I thought about growing edibles two years ago and decided it was way too complicated to attempt.  So I turned to the slimmer guide, Maritime NW Garden Guide by Seattle Tilth.  I paged through month by month and made a chart with my veggies and their planting schedule.  It looked like this (C stands for cloched, O for outdoors, I for indoors):

My perusal taught me two additional things about garden planning timing.  One, you switch to summer varieties between April and May.  Two, you switch to fall and winter varieties between June and July.  A bit too complicated for this year's plan -- but good to know. 

Time was starting to make sense, but I couldn't get the swing of how it was going to work in the garden.  So I opened up a word document, created a table the shape of my raised bed, copied it eight times, and labeled each for a month between March and October (I figure February is a lost cause around here -- better to admit defeat and get started next month.) 

 

My charts looked like this (I have no idea why I couldn't just do a screen grab -- I had to photograph my computer?!)  I used dark shading for the spaces I was saving for summer crops, white shading for new plantings, and medium shading for existing plants.  It made a lot of sense until about three months in.  Who knew plant succession was so hard!

And now I have to cry uncle so this scaredy cat farmer get some sleep.  I will try again on Monday.

More on the weeds in my garden

Turns out two of my bad weeds (and they are still bad even if useful) are edible.  I picked up a copy of Winter Gardening in the Pacific Northwest by Binda Colebrook from my local library last night and was thumbing through it this morning.  Both chickweed and dandelion were listed as vegetables.  Chickweed, unopened dandelion flowers, and blanched dandelion leaves can be added to salads -- and you can make medicinal tea from dandelion roots.  Who knew?!  Well given what a simple internet search reveals, a lot of other folks....

Scaredy Cat Farmer?

So I was working on my blog and my 5 year old was looking over my shoulder.  She says, "Scaredy Cat Farmer?  What does that mean?"  So I explain to her that this is my blog and that I am writing down our adventures in the garden this year.  She tells me, "that is silly."  I take the bait and ask, "why?"  "Because you're not a cat."

Well, I am not a farmer either but a girl can have hopes.

The weeds in my patch of the Pacific NW

The picture above shows part of my fruit bed.  It will be full of apples, pears, blueberries and strawberries this spring -- but right now it is full of "green manure."  I wasn't sure of what most of this was so I took a bunch of pictures, plant by plant, and e-mailed them to Seattle Tilth's amazing helpline.  A few days letter, I learned what I had -- good, bad, and ugly.  

THE GOOD: Some of my plants turned out to be desired -- at least by someone.  And one was edible! 

Oregano 

Pansy

Foxglove

THE BAD: These plants are definitely weeds -- but are pretty lightweight fighters for their space in the garden.

Chickweed surrounded by shotweed.  Both are easy to pull and new plants can be smothered with an application of about two inches of compost.  They say shotweed seeds will fly from the plant when it is touched -- which is why it shouldn't be allowed to go to seed.

Cut leaf geranium. Easy to pull and smother with compost.

 

Annual fireweed.  Another one you don't want to let go to seed.  Easy to pull.

Canada Thistle (distinguished from Bull by its lack of spines on its stems).  Has a long tap root -- that can live up to two years without a plant attached?!  Using a weed hound is recommended.

Dandelion.  And nope, I didn't recognize it without its flower.  It also has a long tap root and a weed hound is recommended.

THE UGLY: These are the worst of the worst in my garden.

Weedy vetch.  It resprouts easily and can grow to smother other plants.  Must be diligent about removing all of it.

Oxalis.  This one is an aggressive spreader too.  Looks like clover.  Must dig deeply to remove all of it.  Do not put into home compost.

MY PLAN:  Probably to let it all sit for a while.  Pull the weeds with flowers so nothing goes to seed.  Then when my new fruit starts arrive, set to work.  Order compost, do a thorough weeding job, plant the new fruit, lay down a soaker hose, and cover the whole thing with 2" of compost.  

In the meantime, I rebooted my photo printer and printed out all the pictures.  On the back I wrote out Seattle Tilth's tips (abridged) and drew symbols for the illiterate (2 out of three of my kids can't read yet.)  I made sad and happy faces for weeds and desired plants -- and pictures of plants above ground (for pull it) and a person with a shovel (for go get an adult.)  I am going to stuff them into sandwich baggies so we can carry them into the yard with us -- and hopefully the whole clan will soon be experts at weed identification and eradication!

Planning for crop rotation and succession starting

Perhaps it was the drizzle (and hail) or the start of the Olympics or the fact that we were together as a family for the first time in a week -- but we didn't get anything done in the yard this weekend.  The most I could muster was a planning session in a bowling alley parking lot while my daughter attended a birthday party.

Yes, I settled in with Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades and The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide and tried to wrap my head around two concepts: crop rotation and succession planting.  Crop rotation is the practice of moving types of plants (leaf, root, fruit, cover, flower) around in one's garden so their common pests are undermined and the soil is replenished by the growing process itself.  Succession planting is a means to make good use of small spaces by removing one plant from the garden after it bears veggies and replacing it with another whose season is just starting. 

I can think in three dimensions.  I understand that each plant will require a certain amount of space (length, depth, and height) to mature.  But add time, and I am sunk -- particularly since crop rotation requires that you think in years and succession planting requires that you think in the life cycle of particular plants. 

I am hoping that thinking in four dimensions will come easier with experience but for now I am going to have to do more research.  Maybe I will be able to make sense of this if I start by listing seeds by crop type in order to make a basic layout -- then layer on the successions afterwards.  It seems like it would be much easier if I had more than two beds to work with but that fix isn't in the cards.

Any advice on being able to plan in four dimensions out there?

The epimediums are in the ground ...

I have heard that it isn't good to mess with wet soil because it is damaging to its structure -- but we haven't seen a dry day since Monday and the epimediums were thriving in a box in my garage.  I understand that epimediums are rather rugged for their delicate looks so I am hoping they will over come their rough start. 

They morning started with using my pulaski to break up the soil under the rhodies where the sod used to be.  I did some worm damage but didn't see my green enemy again.  Then I laid down some compost based soil mix and turned it with the original dirt.  I have heard that you don't want to disturb the soil surrounding the plant -- which makes sense to me if you are planting a speciman.  But I am planting a groundcover and want to spread -- so I am more worried that running into a different soil texture will inhibit its growth  than I am worried about overturning weed seeds.  Then I took the epimediums out of their box, careful to keep the orange and yellow bloomers separate.  I bought 5 epimediums but was able to get over 12 starts out of them.  Hopefully this means they will fill in and become a beautiful groundcover quicker.  I laid them out into a nice pattern, made shallow depressions, and covered them with dirt.  My final step was to cover my work with way too little compost (less than 0.5 inches).  Maybe I will fix that later. 

It was a real Seattle day today.  It was raining the entire time I was outside.  Normally I am a fair weather gardner but those epimediums were begging for soil and finishing that raised bed is going to get my attention this weekend (or maybe my husband's....)  The rain didn't mean much until I got the epimediums laid out under the rhodies.  Then it quickened and gave me the feeling I was wearing a hat.  And not a pretty one at that.

Anyone else garden in the rain?

Not a good bug ...

On Scaredy Cat Farm, knowledge is power.  So after I saw this green bug during sod removal on Monday, I sent its picture in to Seattle Tilth.  Their vision is "to transform the NW region into the organic gardening capital of the world."  And I think they can do it because they run a fantastic helpline that is quick, informative, and sympathetic towards newbie gardners like me. 

Unfortunately, this bug is most likely a cutworm.  The helpline would need to see its legs for a positive id --but since I left it to its own devices on Monday, I wouldn't even know where to begin searching for it now.  I guess I am going to have to start bagging and tagging unknown critters until my knowledge of good and bad bugs is complete.

Cutworms can be really damaging to vegetable starts.  They like to eat the leaves off the crown of emerging plants.  I should have eliminated it.  I am not big on smooshing bugs -- but sometimes you have to tough it out for the greater good.

Soil Test Results

Today I had the pleasure of opening my soil test results from UMass' Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Lab.  I actually got the results by pdf last Friday -- but since I was busy with the Northwest Flower and Garden show and our raised bed, I didn't quite get to the results.  It was a pleasant surprise to find the envelope in our mailbox since I had forgotten about UMass' e-mail -- and there is something somehow more exciting to getting your results when you get to tear paper in the process. 

In reading my soil test results, I noticed something about myself -- I don't like to read technical language.  I like technical information but I prefer it delivered through a journalist or an enthusiast.  I am ashamed to admit that I could feel my reticence rise just from the formatting of the words on the page.  And I could feel my brain slow with even the briefest mention of phrases like: soil PH adjustment, ground dolomitic limestone, per 100 square feet....  I think I just know that I am in over my head. 

So I reminded myself that it is okay to fail.  That I am taking on a lot this year with hardscape, irrigation, plant choices, etc. -- and I can work up to the specifics of scientific soil management over time.  This year I am (for the most part) working with fresh soil since I chose to try raised beds.  The soil I had tested won't really be nourishing the majority of my crops (though it could leach) -- and my fruit garden might just have to deal with another year of benign neglect (though there seemed to be no red flags in the results and I do promise to water more regularly this year.)

Finally, I did get the good news I was hoping for -- no significant levels of lead.  So this scaredy cat farmer has bought herself some piece of mind by having a proper soil test done: I won't be poisoning my kids with our produce.  That in itself made my day.

Sod Removal

So today's project was to remove some sod under my rhodies to make way for my new epimediums.  Whew!  I learned to remove sod from reading Cass Turnbull's Guide to Pruning a few years back when we first bought the house and inherited an overgrown landscape.  Turnball would have you cut your sod into 8 inch squares and layer it (upside down so the grass doesn't show) in a wall 2 feet high, 2-3 feed wide, and as long as you would like.  The bonus for making the effort is that your grass turns into quality soil.  Today I didn't put the extra effort in.  Mostly because since I have followed her advice in the past, and I still have put my soil anywhere (it is destined for my superhuge raised bed), I don't have the space to store it.

My husband's tool of choice for sod removal is a spade.  My tool of choice is a pulaski (pictured above.)  I am not sure of the tool's true name.  I think pulaski might be a brand.  Nevertheless, this tool is one I have kept over the years and it is great at sod removal.  I use the ax side to score the grass and the narrow hoe side to pull it up.  It was pretty quick work since much of the grass under the rhodies was mossy due to shade.  I put my remnants into my municipal yard waste bin so they can become compost for someone else.

Of course I ran into some critters while I worked.  Lots and lots of worms.  I tried to give most of them new homes (or at least a chance for a new home.)  Thank goodness I had gloves on!  The worms on the surface were easy to grab and toss but some were more embedded.  I had to dig a bit and then pull.  Worms can offer a surprising amount of resistence -- though in the end it is kind of like pulling a lace out of your shoe.  The one above was huge -- at least 6 inches long.  It could flatten out so it looked a bit cobra-headed at times.  Truly gross -- but I figured it must be an old timer and needed a chance to go on.  I tossed it into my ornamental bed and it bee- lined for a heuchera, clearly its survival skills were still in tact.

I also found this green thing while removing sod.  Grub?  I didn't know what to do with it because I don't know what it is.  So I left it -- and all the 1-2 inch yellow centipede-ish creatures I found (too small to photograph) -- to fend for themselves. 

I stopped my sod removal project once I had opened up space for the epimediums.  Next on my to-do list: add compost, mix soil, and plant the plants.  Hopefully I can get that done this week.  The epimediums are looking very vigorous on my counter and I would rather see them flourish in the ground.

Raised beds are fun!

There have been tons of tasks completed today: 4 strawberries from dear friends were tranfered to the front yard, sod was removed, a small bed was placed, a rose was moved out of the way, weeds were weeded, crocisima bulbs were planted, a lavender and rosemary were removed from the fruit bed and placed in with drought-tolerant ornamentals in the front yard -- and yes, we managed to place our large raised bed and add a mole guard (a project made a bit tricky due to the posts and bracing we used.) So we didn't get as far as we hoped, but if you ask the kids: raised beds are fun.

If anyone is curious, the bed my brother build last month was inspired by the plans made available by Sunset magazine.  I looked into sealing the bed, but didn't find ready access to anything I considered food grade (like linseed oil.*)  I put a query into Seattle Tilth's garden hotline and learned that cedar is supposed to last at least 20-30 years without decomposing.  And while I am not sure those numbers will hold when the wood is near soggy soil, I figure I can get at least a good 10 years out of this bed without sealant.  I am more afraid of chemicals in my food than rotten wood -- maybe in 10 years I will find out that was a foolish decision, but it is the one I am standing by now.

*The linseed oil I found was double boiled -- but apparently manufacturers tend to use chemicals to mimic the boiling process rather than actually double boiling it these days.  I didn't have enough time to look into the potential dangers.

Newspaper seed pots

When I bought my epimediums yesterday, the grower said to plant them immediately.  Well, I need to remove some sod before I can plant and today is to be dedicated to getting my big raised bed into the ground -- so I am going to plan B, temporary repotting.  I remembered seeing these cute little paper seed pots in Organic Crops in Pots by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell and I found out how to do them here in this video with Willi Galloway.  The basics (fold paper, roll, smoosh into pot shape) look like this:

And perhaps most important for me on a Saturday morning ... it is a kid friendly project.  Kids 4+ can help with the folding and rolling.  Kids 2+ can fill the pots with soil.

Unfortunately for me, these 3 inch newspaper seed pots were no where close to big enough to housing the epimediums (hairy roots, sticks, and green shoots -- perhaps these are rhizomes?)  So we ditched the pots in favor of an available box. 

We put in some potting soil, layered in the epimediums, and covered with more soil.  I figure this will buy me at least the week it might take before I can remove the sod and prepare the bed.  Veggies first!

My only concern with my repurposed box solution is the roots might grow together since they are so mature(though I did try to keep a layer of soil between each epimedium.)  But I think both the repurposed box and the newspaper pots could be used as future seed starting methods once I get started with my edible garden.

Anyone use newspaper seed pots or a repurposed box with words of wisdom to offer?

Northwest Flower and Garden Show

I went down to the Seattle Flower and Garden show today.  My first visit ever.  It was a bit overwhelming -- and a major distraction.  But in a good way....

My first distraction was epimediums.  You can't eat epimediums -- but there were the bulbs being sold by Olympic Pennisula growers, and I have been thinking about underplanting the rhodies I inherited with the house with epimediums.  Suddenly, I was buying bulbs, looking for ways to engage my kids in the outdoors, marveling over uses of water, discussing bamboos....

In between, there was some good info on edibles too.  I got tips on my fruit trees, was inspired by chickens, saw a working worm bin, and picked up info on upcoming sales, workshops, and harvest festivals.  I saw Lorene Edwards Forkner speak on Ten Secrets to Great Veggie Gardens.  She had a couple good bumpersticker quotes like "eat your zipcode" and "growing isn't just for gardners, growing is for eaters."  Plus a nice handout that emphasized planting for the local climate, using organic practices, make the most of small spaces, plant successions, etc.  (I am already a convert.)  And she reminded us to start, even start small, there will always be next year.

I made up some cards for my blog before heading out to the Northwest Garden Show.  They just had my blog address on them.  Totally the wrong info (should have been name and email.)  I passed out two -- for the chance to keep in touch with others who are tackling their own veggie gardens.  Maybe it was the wrong venue -- I will have to try Seattle Tilth's Edible Plant sales -- but I thought there would somehow be an easy way to connect with more people swept up in the edible movement. 

So if you are blogging about growing food, let me know so I can check you out.

Soil Temperature Testing

When my seeds arrived in the mail, some packets had the vague instructions to plant at 50, 60 or 65 degrees -- so I figured it would be good to see what the soil temperature is like now in my yard.  I purchased an instant read thermometer last week -- it is supposed to be used for the kitchen ....

I figure I can use it outside as long as I never use it in the kitchen.  To complete my test, I plunked the thermometer about an inch into the soil in a few places around my soon to be garden and waited a minute before reading it.  My soil temperature is about 45 degrees.  It sounds close to ready -- but then we are having an unusually warm winter here in the Pacific NW, so who knows.

After I did my soil temperature test, I decided to look up some information about how to do it accurately.  I found a resource I really liked at the Weekend Gardener web magazine and took away these tips:

1. Don't rely on one reading.  Instead, test for several days in a row and use the average before making any decisions.
2. Don't be random.  Try to test at the same time of day, preferably midday.
3. Test the soil at 2 inches for cool weather crops.
4. Test the soil at 4 inches for warm weather crops.

There was a lot of other detailed information about using soil temperature to make the most of your vegetable crop in the Weekend Gardener's article.  But for now, I am going to end with a tip of my own:

1. Use tape to mark exactly where 2 and 4 inches are on your probe thermometer.  If you use a dial style thermometer for your soil temperature test like I did, the tape won't get in the way of your readings and will let you be more consistent from day to day -- unless you have a good sense of distance.  (Not one of my gifts.) 

Scaredy Cat Farm is launched

So I eat my words from last week.  I will call this blog Scaredy Cat Farm.  I would like this blog to be found -- particularly by other Pacific NW gardeners, by other newbies, by other family gardeners interested in sustainability, by people with real experience who can provide advice (perhaps while recalling their own beginner experiences) -- and this name is more memorable than 0.17 acre farm (though the size of my plot hasn't changed!) 

I installed a visitor meter and confirmed what I suspected.  I am the only one who reads this Scaredy Cat Farm blog -- that makes me my #1 fan!