Cover Cropping

IMG_1597, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Cover crop for this year is shaping up pretty well. This is red clover - good for fixing nitrogen, less good for weed suppression. It's building up slowly, but I think it will be ready for winter. If it's still there in the spring, I will "plow" under or just compost it. The goal is also to limit erosion and protect soil life from cold, etc. I also think it might help promote that fungus that interacts with roots...but I have no scientific evidence for that. Got the seeds from High Mowing - pricey, but good company to support. One other detail - squirrels seem to be having a pretty fun time killing it here and there. One day...I will have my revenge.

Next year I am thinking about trying rye or oats.

Dahlias

IMG_1592, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

The Dahlias have really come on strong at the end of the season. Perhaps due to all the rain, and maybe the raised beds, which helped with drainage. We have over twenty flowers on one plant right now....with more on the way. This plant was from the Columbia Pike Farmers Market. Their plants always do pretty well. The beds in the background are filled with clover as a cover crop.

peas climbing in the summer past

peas climbing, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Just about the only thing we got this summer - peas. Well I guess we also got some potatoes, lettuce, mustard greens, and a bunch of carrots. I didn't take the soil buiding process seriously enough. Threw down a bunch of ground up leaves and expected them to turn dirt in 6 months. It didn't work.

whiskey barrel planter

whiskey barrel planter, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Got this here puppy dog at Meadows Farms...kinda pricey, but a pretty cool barrel half. I put it on a couple bricks, drilled some holes in the base, and lined it with weed block and...tadaa!..a new place for plants. Got the idea in my head after reading some of the Square Foot Gardening book. Good book, though I don't quite agree with everything. So add a grain O' salt and you'll be fine.

Good Enough to Drink

compost tea, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Got this compost tea from the Soil Machine 2000. Sometimes it just shows up and sometimes I add water (moisture being an important element to composting) and then drain the excess.

Drive for Life

IMG_0182, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Check out this crazy grocery store potato. He spent a winter in the ole potato n onion box and spent the time sending out roots on a quest to nowhere. That failed and so then he started some baby taters right there in the box. Never saw that before. You gotta admire his pluck. He really is endeavoring to persevere. I rewarded his efforts by planting him in a nice spot. We shall see what comes of this.

Taters!

IMG_0180, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Here's some red fingerlings just about to go into the ground. They are from the Maine Potato Lady. I've always felt potatoes could be my ticket to financial independence. Largest harvest for least acreage. Worked for the Irish (never mind that pesky famine thing) and it can work for me. Although we've gotten some tasty tubers (argh) we've never quite realized my potato dream. Last year was particularly disastrous. I went looking for my bag of seed potatoes to plant and found them, but they didn't look lke what I ordered - different kinds of potatoes, not red fingerlings, not the right size. I considered complaining to the Tater Lady, but planted them anyway in my designated potato spots. Couple months later, I find my actual seed potatoes and realize I just planted grocery store spuds in my prime spots. Didn't get much.

This year will be different as these guys all have their own dedicated spot with nice mulchy leaves and decent sun. I can almost taste them now.

And here's an idea that I might try someday: http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/gardening/how-to-grow-100-pounds-of-potatoes-in-4-square-feet-081760

Half and Half

red and yellow living in perfect harmony

Onion sets about to be planted. Got these from the Maine Potato Lady.  I didn't naturally think of using these, but seeds never seemed to work and Bambi's parents always used them and so...we tried them out last year. They worked well and we discovered another vegetable that squirrels, mice, rats, and rabbits mostly ignore. They do well, don't need too much love, and you can consume them at your leisure. For about 4 bucks plus shipping ( 50 cents more for the red) you get 70 starter onions. That works out to about a 6 or 7 cents apiece. It should also be noted that onions, like so many other things, have a lot more flavor when you grow them yourself. 

Last year's did well, but didn't get much bigger than a golf ball. I read something about planting them near the surface for increased size. I did not try this since the squirrels mess with anythig they see even if they don't want to eat it. I am hoping the new loose "soil" will allow bigger growth. I have doubts about the ground up leaves, but I think they are closer to soil than I previously thought....and getting closer all the time. 

Extra Compost

IMG_0134, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

The joy of unintended consequences: Pollan writes a a book about food production, Michelle Obama starts an anti-obesity push for school children, my school district starts a "fresh snacks" program to get kids HOOKED on healthy new foods - my class gets fruit or veggies every Friday...so far so good. But the stuff is sent to the school on Monday (or Tuesday) and doled out to a couple grades each day. My day is Friday - the end of the week. Turns out that if you want kids HOOKED on healthy foods, you probably should not send slightly damaged veggies, or maybe they shouldn't be sliced on Sunday and served on Friday. This week's peppers were slimy...not high on a ten year olds list of "ways to make veggies fun." Anyway - I got a nice pile of compost this time. Yum!

Laundry Day!

Laundry Day!, a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

The garden also doubles as a clothes dryer. I figure I save about 50 cents a load with line drying. I have the line on two pulleys so I don't need to walk around the garden for this. For some reason I became obsessed with laundry lines on pulleys a few years back. Nothing better then sending your clothes out to dry - save money, reduces emissions and mountain top removal and you get a little exercise for free. The only thing is I can't plant snow peas under the line, like I did last year. Disaster.

Next time I take this pic, all the clothes will be tan, gold, or red.

Official Radio of the Garden

IMG_0021 a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

This here's the official garden/deck radio. I finally decided against outside speakers and went for this tiny Tivol iPal (hate the name, like the look). I thought it would have greater flexibility since it has a rechargeable battery and doesn't need to be tethered to anything. When not in the garden it fills in as kitchen radio which we were also considering purchasing. It gets great reception which was an important consideration and gets loud enough to enjoy, but won't bring the cops or annoy the neighbors. Its tiny and sounds good and also has a ipod jack. I'll be out back listening to WPFW until the mosquitos come.

I Hear the Rain I Hear the Rain

IMG_0048 a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Ok, so the garden and mulch paths aren't handling the rain quite like I wanted. An overflow tube runs from the rain barrel and down one of the garden paths. I took a little time to grade that particular path away from the house and to go with the flow of water from the overflow tube. It is kind of working, but it is turning some of the paths into a kind of liquified mulch. In a way, this might be evidence that it is effective and sending the water where I want it to go. I just need to continue the "water path." Right now, it ends prematurely a few feet from where it will eventually end up and so it is kind of backing up and getting stuck mid-garden. Some day, I will try to send it to the very back of the yard - the compost zone. I have heard that in olden times, there was a creek there that got filled in during the 30's/40's.

On the bright side, the basement has not flooded yet. There is a lot less water by the side of the house compared to days of yore. And - overall, the yard feels less waterworld-y.

Columbia Pike Video

Nice Video on the Pike...nothing about gardening though...skip past the intro to get to the good stuff.

Rain Barrel Action!

MVI_0039 a video by okfuskee on Flickr.

Here's the rain barrel doing its thing in light to moderate rain. Some might wonder - why a rain barrel? Isn't water pretty cheap around here? Well right after we moved in we had a 100 year storm that put the basement under about 6 inches of water. Ever since then, we have been doing many different things to prevent future such events. Everything we have done has been external to the house...well almost everything...I did caulk a few coins into some basement holes that were squirting water like some dutch levee without a dutchboy. Bambi didn't like that idea even though each coin was selected to be meaningful in some way - MA quarter, Ohio Quarter, CT quarter (It has a tree!) and I think something from 1976... to be patriotic or something. Also I finally caulked one bad window...but anyway we did nothing drastic inside. We graded the earth around the house to slope away, took out a few planter boxes on the side of the house that seemed to collect and hold water against the house, took out a wide concrete walkway on the side that sloped into the house, and have added great quantities of organic matter to our clay soil. The result has been a gradual diminishment of basement flooding. At this point, we haven't seen it flood for quite a while. Anyway, the rain barrel takes 55 gallons out of the equation - not much...but maybe enough to take it past the critical mass needed for flooding, and when it does fill, the overflow tube sends the extra far out into the yard.

We do save a few pennies on water but that doesn't feel like much. A bigger issue is the amount of water that no longer ends up as storm run-off which is costly for local government and damages the Chesapeake Bay. Looking for more info? See Arlington County's Sensible Explanation and their What Can I Do Website has other ideas that go beyond the rain barrel.

And one last thing...it is kind of fun...hoping for rain so I can get some free water to water the native (and not so native) plants in the front.

To get even more up close and personal with that spout, click here.

Mulched Up

IMG_0032 a photo by okfuskee on Flickr.

Got all energetic, loaded up the mulch wagon a couple times, and got most of the garden paths done. Looks pretty good. At first I was all uptight about making the cardboard covereage perfect...that wore off pretty quick. Got 2-6 inches of wood mulch down most places. Should help with weed suppression, flooding, and muddy shoe syndrome (MSS). Over time, it will compost and be usable in the beds. Thought there was something else to say....ummm...smells good...oh yeah: I was worried about laying down some mulch that would make a great slug habitat (as in the Great Slug Attack of the summer of ought 9) but this stuff is (I hope) too well ground for slugs...too fragmented to make good shelter or a good slime trail surface (he said...starting to wonder an' worry).